Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

This carefully planned "adultery case" was adjudicated by Bao Zheng's ingenious plan, and finally turned into a sinister slander case.

After the heavy sentence was given to the Wang family who indiscriminately framed important officials of the court in order to seek a light sentence, Zhao Zhen successively appointed several loyal and upright ministers to work with Bao Zheng to investigate the looming mastermind behind the scenes.

The influence of Yu Lu Ci disappeared from the moment the truth of the 'adultery' case came to light.

Until the turmoil subsided, Lu Ci, who was far away in Yanzhou, was still unknown—his close friends tacitly kept the matter a secret, and left it to the frontline affairs before making interesting anecdotes.

Lu Ci also had no time to pass letters to Hongyan, a good friend in Beijing and China, and told each other about elegance: Since Zheng Jian resigned, the court did not appoint others to replace him, but simply divided the vacant posts into three, and each of them was appointed by the Guanzhong counter-insurgency. Wang Shao, who made great contributions, Lu Ci, who performed brilliantly in Linlu, and Liu Ping also took the lead.

He was already very busy with the military affairs of his own route, but now he was even more at a loss.

In this long and intense tug-of-war, time flies by.

For the generals involved in it, it seems to be a dazzling effort, but for ordinary people and the treasury who are increasingly unable to supply military supplies, it seems extremely long.

It has been two years since the day when the allied forces of Song and Fan launched a war against Xia Liao.

The fundamental reason why the Song people have not called a stop and are still supporting it is that the east and west lines are advancing side by side and ushering in great victories one after another.

Although Li Yuanhao is arrogant, he is indeed a hero.

After ascending to the throne in a notorious manner, he took his time. On the one hand, he married Liao and actively repaired it.

Under his strong call, almost all the people of the Xia Kingdom were soldiers. When the army was at its peak, it could gather 40 pieces.

In Li Yuanhao's vision, this is an invincible and invincible army.

It's a pity that the facts are frustrating: Tubo, who first greeted Zhesiluo, is far stronger than he imagined. The long-prepared onslaught not only failed to defeat him in one fell swoop, but also caused him a great loss of face and loss of troops. escaped back.

What surprised him the most was that the Song people, who had always been weak and peaceful, would form an alliance with Tubo and take the initiative to start a war against him!

Because of this move that completely exceeded his expectations, he completely lost the opportunity to recuperate, and had to fight with the whole country, with the support of the Liao people.

This Song Xia allied army is also extremely difficult to deal with.

When the Song army was led by the old man Fan Yong who could only hang the book bag, and the allied army mainly relied on Zong Siluo, he was still able to cope with it, and he had a close relationship with him.

However, after Song Ting suddenly woke up and transferred the veteran Cao Wei who had been on the battlefield for a long time, the situation suddenly changed and he completely fell to the enemy.

Even though Li Yuanhao was still fighting to the death, he knew very well in his heart that Xia Guo had a chance of winning by being brave in a surprise attack, but when it comes to being punctual according to danger, the competition is the consumption of national strength.

Most of Xia's treasury was obtained by his father's groveling to Song Ting, or by sending people to pretend to be horse thieves and rob overseas business travelers.

Even Tubo, which has been in a divided and chaotic state for a long time, can't match it, let alone compare with Song Dynasty, which is famous for its wealth?

As early as half a year ago, Xia Guo's treasury was exhausted, and now he has the strength to rely on Khitan's support.

But the Xia people also knew that this was nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst.

Yelu Longxu is definitely not a good father-in-law who spreads kindness.If he can't recover this debt in time with principal and interest, as his son-in-law's most reliable ally, he might have thought of turning his back on him and asking for it back from the creditor instead.

The Lord of Liao didn't even need to do much: once he had negotiated a "peace agreement" with Song and Fan, it would be fatal enough to cut off his aid suddenly.

Li Yuanhao also secretly sent envoys to Song Fan, willing to pay tribute in exchange for the opponent's retreat.

But whether it was Ji Siluo, who hated him for taking advantage of the situation, or Cao Wei, who had insight into the most beloved trick of the Xia people's ancestors, they all chose to retort and refused to give him a chance to negotiate a peace.

Not only that, they deduced from this that he was at the end of his battle and victory was imminent, and they also asked the allied forces to take the offensive completely, abandoning the original reservation, and launching a more powerful offensive against the city.

Even if Li Yuanhao, the lord of the country, personally sits in charge and gathers the elite troops of the Xia Army on the western front, he can't hold on and retreats in successive defeats.

Renduo Spring City, which is located on the border and is also the forefront of the war, fell into the hands of the enemy as early as a year ago.However, the allied forces of Song and Fan were not satisfied with the results of the battle, but continued to advance boldly towards the north: Bone Dragon City, Zhuoluo and other cities on the east side fell next; The city wall crashed down and was also captured by Song Fan.

As soon as Xiliang City was captured, not only the morale on the western front was greatly boosted, but also on the eastern front.

The generals on the Eastern Front, led by Di Qing himself, also made impressive achievements in the past two years: at first they were relatively conservative, and only operated in the area where the security forces were stationed. Zhang Kang and Zhong Shiheng were also dispatched, and Yang Wenguang was transferred from Linlu to guard the city.

With the increase of generals, the number of soldiers that can be led also increased. After the number of soldiers under his command reached 5000, Di Qing was no longer satisfied with the three border cities, but after Xia and Yinzhou were captured, He crossed Hengshan valiantly, and marched towards Yanzhou on the west side with high morale.

Going northwest of Yanzhou for two days and two nights, you will arrive at Lingzhou City, which used to be Song City, but fell into the hands of Xia Jun for many years. If you can win Lingzhou City, the meaning is far more than the poet's feelings of regaining the homeland. , and has the actual military significance of being able to storm Xingqing City and finally join forces with the Western Front.

For Song Ting, who was paying close attention to the battle situation, the outstanding performance on the Eastern Front really exceeded everyone's expectations: the Eastern Soldiers, who were thought to only play a role in disrupting and restraining, did not succeed after their initial brilliance. It seemed to be a flash in the pan as some people maliciously speculated, but it went smoothly all the way, and its momentum was not inferior to Cao Wei's Western Army.

As the envoy of the second route, Lu Ci was not like Di Qing who was a civil servant and personally led troops to kill the enemy, but the role he played was clear to everyone.

Once the battle line is stretched, the most important thing is nothing more than two aspects: one is that the king's trust in the generals who lead the troops alone will not fade, and the other is to ensure the continuous supply of food.

Seeing this situation, when Lu Ci was attacked by the 'adultery case', the courtiers who wavered in their hearts and chose not to contribute to the flames, but chose to stand by and watch were even more fortunate.

Thanks to not following the booing, it was possible to avoid damaging the edge of the Eastern Army.

Of course, there are also those who disagree - it was Lu Ci's great luck, the strong generals on the eastern front were like a cloud, and the soldiers were like weaving. Anyone who is in the commander-in-chief position can also do a lot under the influence.

They obviously deliberately underestimated Lu Ci's great trust in the general and his perseverance in winning authority for the sergeant-these two played a great role.

It is precisely because Lu Ci has many experience as a commander, and has maintained correspondence with Cao Wei for many years, and he understands the real situation in the army very well-the chief general is out in battle, and once he is subject to too many restrictions, he will often be restrained and forced to miss the opportunity to fight against the North. The levy plan has had a serious impact.

Lu Ci dared to delegate power, and also dared to submit letters to the imperial court frequently, striving not only for the two military lines under his jurisdiction, but also for other generals to do things freely: if the general cannot have the authority of saying nothing, the deputy general and the ministers of the attendant will serve as deputy All the warlords can make their own decisions and go their own way. How to implement orders and make progress?

There is no doubt about employing people. If the military commander can be given full power to be in charge of the military power under his command, then the whole army can work together and plan smoothly.

Although Lu Ci's proposal was contrary to the trend of using literature to control military force that the Song Dynasty had implemented since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhao Zhen finally chose to listen to Zaizhi after careful consideration.

The cold wind was blowing, the snow was flying, and soon it was the first month of the month.

If it was in the territory of the Song Dynasty, I am afraid that there are already lights and festoons everywhere at this time, full of festive and festive atmosphere.

But in this distant foreign country, there is nothing else except for the companions who also have red noses from the cold in the ice and snow.

Xu Shixi has been away from home for more than two years. During this New Year's Eve, the soldiers who miss their loved ones, the commander Cao Wei chose to rest for three days after discussing with Ji Siluo, so that the soldiers could be accounted for and avoid the wind and snow.

Xia Jun's spies naturally did not miss the news, and quickly reported the incident after hearing the loud and clear singing from the tent and the sound of chopsticks hitting the wine bowl.

After hearing this, Li Yuanhao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Song people's emphasis on New Year's Day means that they can finally rest for a while.

If it were a year ago, he might have thought about taking advantage of the situation and sneak attack: Cao Wei and Zong Siluo are both cunning and scheming, who knows if they dare to relax at this moment, will they have other precautions? means?

Xia Jun was in a very serious situation right now, and he really didn't have the energy left to take the risk of a failed sneak attack: Even if the sneak attack was successful, it would not benefit the overall situation of the war if it caused some chaos to the Song Army.

Song people celebrate this festival, but Fan people can't.

Li Yuanhao sat quietly in the tent, stroking the long sword under his palm, suddenly lost in thought.

During this rare quiet moment, he couldn't help but think of the sentence his father said the most when he was alive.

——Don't be too hasty.

It's a pity that he was full of ambition and conceited at that time, so he didn't take it seriously, and only thought that his father was used to bowing to Song people, and he was timid and cowardly.

Little did he know that the always soft lamb would show his fangs and fight back blatantly, forcing him to be almost desperate now.

Li Yuanhao sighed deeply, and buried his face in his palms.

Now, no matter how unwilling he is, he has to admit that under his impulsiveness, Xia Guo has been pushed to the end of the road.

He really regretted it.

Li Yuanhao stared at the dancing candlelight, and gradually fell into deep thought.

Just when the Xia army relaxed slightly, on the fifth day of the first lunar month, the Song army camp was still peaceful, but behind the Xia army camp at night, a horn that symbolized the attack suddenly sounded.

It turned out that Guizhang, the vanguard led by Gu Siluo, traveled day and night, secretly made a big circle, and approached the gate of the village from the north of the river, where the road is the most rugged and difficult to navigate, and the defense is the weakest.

After the fan general Guizhang preemptively occupied the favorable terrain, he immediately ordered the erection of the general's army flag, beat the drums, and launched a fierce attack with a fearless attitude.

Immediately afterwards, the Song army, who had a peaceful appearance for years, also filed out. Their military appearance was strict and solemn. How could Xia people think that they were slack in celebrating the New Year?

Cao Wei quickly led the army to follow up, holding the five-color command flag with his own hands, and launched a strong attack from the front to the city wall.

The sudden siege from front to back, especially the fear of being copied from the rear, really plunged Xia Ying into a brief chaos. Fortunately, General Xia came forward in time to quickly stabilize the morale of the army.

The city wall of Xingcheng has become riddled with holes in the continuous battles in the past few months. After three days of dormancy, the Song army actually used the power of the craftsmen accompanying the army to remake dozens of trebuchets with local materials.

Seeing that the city wall was crumbling, and the people in the city were terrified, causing commotion among the army, General Xia gritted his teeth, and after hastily deliberated, he simply opened the front gate of the city, allowing the army to come out in full force.

——At this moment, they turned their heads around, taking advantage of the fact that the back road was taken, they broke the boat, and they were about to fight to the death with this group of old opponents who had besieged them for several months.

"I can't ask for it!"

Cao Wei laughed out loud, and neatly tore off the cloak that was in the way, and threw the command flag in his hand to the lieutenant behind him, and then he clamped his horse's belly and rushed into the stalemate of the battle.