Prime Minister

Chapter 1234 I Walked Through the Snow to the Mountain Top

Chapter 1234 I Walked Through the Snow to the Mountain Top

Shen Kuo could not control himself for a moment with the imperial edict in his hands.

Since Shen Kuo took the wrong side in the ninth year of Xining and was demoted from the post of Sansi Shi to Jiujiu Sheren, his official career took a sharp turn for the worse.

In another time and space in history, Shen Kuo served as the governor of Fuyan Road, and successively captured Dangxiang Futu, Wubao, Yihe, and Jialu, which can be said to be an outstanding ability.

However, when building Yongle City, Shen Kuo had different opinions from Zhong Yan and Xu Xi. Shen Kuo's opinion on the location of Yongle City was correct, but in order to please Xu Xi, he agreed with the other party's opinion against his will.

Several major mistakes in Shen Kuo's life were caused by blindly catering to his superiors.

This time, Shen Kuo also failed in this matter. He failed to support Yongle City and was demoted to the deputy commander of Yunzhou Tuanlian and settled in Suizhou for his inadequate response. In the end, he was treated the same as Su Shi.

On the other hand, Zhong Yan, who had previously opposed the construction of Yongle City, did not suffer any punishment although he did not provide sufficient support.

Although Shen Kuo's situation improved afterwards, he was away from the political center. He lived in seclusion in Mengxi Garden, which he purchased in Runzhou, and finally created the famous "Mengxi Bitan". During the Shaosheng period, Shen Kuo died of illness.

Shen Kuo wrote many works in his life. In addition to Mengxi Bitan, he also wrote books on a wide range of subjects, including science, music, and medicine.

It was an unexpected gain.

But Shen Kuo spent the second half of his life in a state of frustration, and his talents and ambitions could not be fully utilized.

He originally wanted to make achievements as the governor of Fuyan Road and then return to the central government, but he was put under control due to the defeat in Yongle City.

But in this time and space, Shen Kuo held the imperial edict of appointment and was promoted from the commander of one route to the commander of three routes.

Shen Kuo thought to himself, "I have followed three ministers, Wang Jiefu, Lu Jifu, and Han Zihua, which can be said to be a three-time change. Now I can finally say that it is not easy anymore and I can focus on doing what I want to do.

Thinking of this, Shen Kuo accepted the imperial edict and also accepted the congratulations from the generals.

The messenger lowered his voice and said to Shen Kuo: "After Han Shumi leaves office, we will go to Huanzhou to announce the imperial decree. We also ask Shen Zhiyuan to lead a group of troops to Huanzhou to take over the situation!"

Shen Kuo was shocked when he heard this and accepted the order on the spot.

Shen Kuo then ordered Liu Changzuo to guard Pingxia City, while he led the general Zhe Keshi to select 3,000 elite soldiers and envoys, and set off for Huanzhou a moment later.

Shen Kuo followed the army forward, and soon it was dusk, but the troops were still marching along the road. The Zhe family was a general of the Western Army, and Zhe Keshi was originally a Dangxiang.

Nearly half of this elite cavalry were converted Tangut soldiers, and Shen Kuo and Zhe Keshi were like his students.

He often sang Bai Juyi's "Bind the Barbarians" to teach his generals.

At this moment, the moon was full and the stars were sparse. Shen Kuo chanted, "When I was imprisoned in the barbarians, I missed the Han land. When I returned to the Han land, I was kidnapped and became a barbarian captive."

If I had known this would happen, I would have regretted coming back. I would rather be in two places than suffer together!

I tied up the barbarians and suffered a lot among them.

Such injustice should have never happened since ancient times. The heart of the Han people is Han Chinese, but the body of the Tubo people is Tibetan.

This is how Shen Kuo treated the foreign generals and soldiers. There were originally many Han people among the foreign generals and soldiers who converted from the Dangxiang. However, the imperial border troops did not know the greater good and rudely classified them as foreign people, causing them to suffer unjust accusations.

There was no clear dividing line between the Han and the Yi peoples. Over the thousands of years, there were many cases of Han people entering the Yi people and Yi people entering the Han people.

This song of Fu Rong was widely sung among the troops in Jingyuan Route, and it also invisibly resolved the gap between the Han army and the foreign army.

Listening to Shen Kuo's loud singing, many soldiers followed suit, and the messenger among the army could also recognize Bai Juyi's Fu Rong Ren, which talked about a Han citizen who risked his life to escape from the Longyou area occupied by Tubo back to the Tang Dynasty, but was wrongly exiled as a Tubo.

Upon hearing this, the envoy thought to himself that Shen Kuo was really good at commanding the army and Prime Minister Zhang really had a good eye for talent.

……

When the news reached Han Zhen's house.

Han Zhen was only half an hour early. At that moment, he had the idea of ​​changing his mind, holding his own army, refusing to accept the imperial edict, and even raising an army to rebel.

But it was just a passing thought, a thought that came to me when I was angry.

Han Zhen understood that this was no longer the Five Dynasties period. At that time, if a military leader or military governor killed an envoy sent by the imperial court, it would be considered a rebellion with just a word. They would be killed and that was it. The imperial court would not even dare to do anything to them after the killing.

Now that he has been a general for many years, the Han family has many connections in the northwest military, and he is nominally in charge of the six privy councilors. However, if he were to rebel, he would not only have no chance of success, but also would not have the courage to do so.

Han Zhen was gambling. If Weizhou won, the emperor would definitely deny Zhang Yue and support himself. If he wanted to destroy the Dangxiang, attacking from Hengshan was the overall situation.

But Weizhou was defeated, so all we can say is that the victor takes all, and I have nothing to say.

Han Zhen recalled that when he was young, he and his brothers played in the courtyard enjoying the snow and discussed politics with their fathers and brothers. He was extremely envious.

But his father Han Yi said worriedly: "I don't want you to be officials, but if you want to do it, you must think it through. Being an official is dangerous and can easily harm yourself. If you are just average in intelligence, and no one guides you, and you don't have a strong family background, you will be defeated one day."

"No matter how great you were before, you can't stand two or three blows. A letter, or even a sentence, can uproot your decades-long foundation."

It was also a day of such heavy snow and such scenery. Han Zhen took his father and brother's words to heart.

He felt that with a background like the Han family and the guidance of his father and brothers, he would surely be able to thrive in officialdom and achieve great achievements.

At this time, outsiders reported that Shen Kuo, the governor of Jingyuan Road, had led elite troops to the outside of the city. Han Zhen was secretly angry when he heard this, "What a great Zhang San! I don't have such aspirations, but I have also been prepared for this intention."

Han Zhen cursed, "Who is Shen Kuo? He is a Ren man! He doesn't even know how to discipline his wife. How can he be a real man?"

"You are worthy of being a military commander!"

Han Zhen immediately said: "I won't associate with such people!"

After saying this, Han Zhen selected dozens of his trusted officers and soldiers, and went straight to Qingzhou from Huanzhou on the pretext that there was an emergency in Qingzhou, without even meeting the envoy and Shen Kuo.

When the envoy arrived at Huanzhou City, he was shocked and angry to learn that Han Zhen had left Qingzhou without permission.

……

Somewhere in Bianjing.

"You, the Song Dynasty, want to ally with the Jurchens to deal with the Liao Dynasty. How ridiculous!"

Yelu Yixin showed disdain when he heard this.

Li Xian said solemnly: "We don't know much about the Jurchens. We only know that they were the ancient Sushen, and were called Wuji in the Northern Wei Dynasty and Mohe in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Now the Jurchens are said to be descended from the Heishui Mohe, but we don't know exactly how they came to be."

Yelu Yixin said: "We Khitans are not that troublesome. We distinguish between those who braid their hair and those who don't. You Han people neither shave their hair nor braid it, but we Khitans only shave our hair but don't braid it. The Sumo Mohe only braid their hair but don't shave it, and the Jurchens both shave their hair and braid it."

Li Xian suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. I'm glad to learn from you."

After a pause, Li Xian asked, "Then why did the King of Wei say that our dynasty cannot ally with the Jurchens?"

Yelu Yixin did not answer but asked: "Is the Liao Kingdom threatening to attack the Song Dynasty? Is the condition that they take me, Yelu Yixin, back?"

Li Xian was stunned when he heard this, then nodded and said, "The King of Wei is wise, but my lord will not return the King of Wei to you."

Yelu Yixin was silent for a moment, then sneered, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness. The Liao Dynasty divided the Jurchens into two groups: the raw and the cooked..."

After Li Xian learned the news from Yelu Yixin, he walked out and reported to the emperor and Zhang Yue who were in the meeting.

Among the Jurchens today, the Wanyan tribe is the leader.

The Wanyan tribe had united with the Baishan tribe, the Yehui tribe, the Tongmen tribe, the Yelai tribe, and the Tugulun tribe to form a tribal alliance. The Wanyan tribe was cautious in dealing with the Liao Dynasty. At that time, many people from the Shengnuzhen tribe and the Wuguo tribe rebelled, or the Shunuzhen could not stand the oppression of the Liao Dynasty and fled to the Shengnuzhen area.

The Wanyan tribe helped the Liao Dynasty to suppress the rebellion or captured the fugitives and sent them back to the Liao Dynasty to show their loyalty to the Liao Dynasty. At that time, when the Liao Dynasty's eagle envoys came to the various Jurchen tribes, each tribe had to send women to warm their beds for the Liao Dynasty's eagle envoys, and some even specifically requested married women or wives and concubines of the nobles of each tribe.

This was also part of the Liao Kingdom's obedience test.

But the Wanyan tribe endured it, and continued to regard itself as the agent of the Liao Kingdom, attacking and destroying any Jurchen tribe that dared to resist the Liao Kingdom, and constantly attacking the surrounding Jurchen tribes to strengthen its own strength. At this time, the leader of the Jurchen Wanyan tribe was Wanyan Helibo, and now the Wanyan tribe alliance has reached 30 tribes.

After hearing about the Jurchen Wanyan tribe's forbearance and shrewdness, Zhang Yue was truly impressed. This political strategy and strategic fortitude were simply amazing.

Therefore, Yelu Yixin concluded that neither Goryeo nor Jurchen would agree to his request to join the Song and rebel against the Liao, unless the Song Dynasty stood up first and confronted the Liao.

After listening to Li Xian's report, Zhang Yue felt a little ashamed. The plan of contacting the Jurchens and Goryeo to deal with the Liao Kingdom was like a mirage.

It really is true that 'what others promise you doesn't count, only what you decide for yourself counts'.

Upon hearing this, the emperor looked at Zhang Yue and asked, "What do you think?"

Zhang Yue was somewhat embarrassed, as he always considered himself to be "meticulous in his plans" in front of the emperor and his ministers, but he had made mistakes in his judgment on the affairs of the Jurchens and Goryeo.

This is also the path dependence of the time traveler.

Zhang Yue knew that the Jurchens would betray the Liao Kingdom in history, but he did not expect that this progress would be so far away. The Wanyan tribe is not only not a threat to the Liao Kingdom, but a loyal thug. No wonder Yelu Yixin sneered when he heard that Zhang Yue was planning to instigate the Jurchen Wanyan tribe to rebel against the Liao Kingdom.

Zhang Yue said: "Yelü Yixin said that in recent years, many Jurchen tribes on Yinglu rebelled, but they were all wiped out by the Wanyan tribe. I remember that the same thing happened in the history of Zhou Shishang."

The Zhou Dynasty was also among the Qiang tribes in the west, but it also constantly captured Qiang people of the same Qiang ethnic group and offered them as tribute to the Shang Dynasty as human sacrifices for sacrifices. It gained the trust of the Shang Dynasty and was finally named Fangbo by the Shang Dynasty.

However, no one talked about this matter after the Zhou Dynasty, which was covered up by the Zhou Dynasty. Just like many big men who made their fortunes, they all had an ignominious history, so they avoided talking about it, and later generations also avoided talking about it for the sake of the respected ones.

Later, the Zhou Dynasty also deleted the practice of human sacrifice in the Shang Dynasty and vigorously abolished this system. This is what is so valuable.

Confucius, a descendant of the Shang people, fully supported this practice. So when he later learned that people had resumed using figurines for burial, this bad memory came to his mind again, and he left behind the words "The one who first created figurines will have no descendants."

After a pause, Zhang Yue said, "Your Majesty, let's contact the Jurchens and Goryeo first. There is no need to make any preparations. Let's trade first to deepen our relationship."

"I believe that important matters should be handled by oneself, and one should not rely on others."

The official agreed and said, "I think so too."

"But everything in the world has its yin and yang. Even if there are pro-war factions within the Liao Kingdom who advocate the use of military force against the Song Dynasty, there must also be pro-peace factions who advocate prudent and slow progress. For example, the Liao minister Yelu Po is against the use of military force."

Zhang Yue said: "I think we should fight this war first, and then negotiate with Liao."

The emperor was hesitant and said, "If we cannot negotiate with Liangzhou, what if the Tanguts and Liao attack at the same time?"

Zhang Yue said sternly, "Your Majesty, things have come to this point. We cannot retreat even a step, or our efforts will be wasted."

"I was born in poverty. Whenever I encounter hesitation, I always like to recite Li Bai's "The Difficulty of Traveling". I want to cross the Yellow River, but the river is blocked by ice. I want to climb the Taihang Mountains, but the mountains are covered with snow. I sigh at the difficulty of fate!"

"But now I have another poem. No one can help me reach the top of the mountain, but I will climb the snow by myself. If I am not destined to do so, I can still climb Kunlun alone."