Prime Minister

Chapter 1255: Soil Demand (2 parts combined into 1 part)

Chapter 1255: Soil Demand (Two Updates in One)

A scholar died!

Or a newly-minted scholar!

Zhang Yue let out a long sigh. He had heard of the dead man. He was a famous scholar in the Imperial Academy.

"Cai Jing's actions are a bit too extreme. Does he really think that the Imperial City Bureau's spies are useless?"

"Cai Jing may not be unaware of this, but he placed his bets on me and the court's tough national policy towards the Liao Kingdom."

Zhang Yue thought of this.

In fact, the Imperial College was going to send hundreds of students from the military school to serve as the commanders of the Three Auxiliary Armies, but this plan was aborted due to the impeachment of the censor Liu Bojun, who accused him of deliberately inserting his cronies in order to secretly control military power. This move also caused dissatisfaction among many students.

Imperial College has always been Zhang Yue’s base.

He was a student of the Imperial College and had served as the judge of the Imperial College. He cooperated with Wang Anshi to personally designate the reform charter of the Imperial College.

Since Xihe Road, there has been a tradition of using students from the Imperial College who graduated from military studies as generals. This diplomatic office was also the first popular employment option for students from the Imperial College who graduated from economics studies besides becoming officials. In addition, Qian Yi founded a medical school in the Imperial College.

So it is not surprising that the Imperial College strongly opposed it.

At the same time, Wang Anli opposed the cession of territory in the inner court.

Cai Bian also contacted many officials to express his opposition.

The public is buzzing with discussion.

The development of things at this point was somewhat beyond his control, but let it be.

Zhang Yue sat in Dingli Temple and refused to come out, and no information was passed to any outsiders. This was known to everyone inside.

Although this action was not deliberate, the Imperial City Bureau would have discovered it if they had investigated.

The eunuchs in the palace also had their own secret friends who would speak for him, mainly because he was willing to spend money, even using the prime minister's salary to bribe the eunuchs. So he knew the official's movements like the back of his hand.

Not to mention Shi Deyi and Li Xian in the palace, even Zhang Maoze who was beside the empress dowager had a good relationship with him, and sometimes he even did not hesitate to humble himself to make friends with them.

He planted cliques everywhere, spied on the ruler, manipulated public opinion, interfered in military power, made friends with eunuchs and relatives of the emperor’s wife… He was getting closer and closer to becoming a treacherous minister.

But the treacherous ministers wanted to seize power.

Don’t loyal officials want to seize power? If they don’t seize power, how can they accomplish great things?

Sometimes, there is only a thin line between loyal ministers and treacherous ministers.

Anyway, I will retire after working for two more years and see if I can be reinstated in the future.

Qian Yi once told himself that the emperor's health was not good and he would not last long. But who knows? In history, the emperor became ill because of the defeat of Yongle City, but in this time and space, the biggest cause of his illness was eradicated by himself.

In any case, Zhang Yue will treat these two years as his last term in politics.

While I was thinking about it, the little monk brought me a vegetarian meal.

The food in the temple was bland, but Zhang Yue was very satisfied.

He was frugal as an official, and he also ate simple meals at home, reflecting his humble background.

The young monk brought a large bowl of rice, a pot of tea, a plate of vegetables and tofu, some pickled radishes, and some shiitake mushrooms from a wooden tray.

Although it looks so simple, this little bit of tofu and mushroom is a special meal prepared by the temple. The rest of the food is no different from that of ordinary monks.

It is said that simple food is the most nourishing, and a simple life is the real life. People who do great things can eat both the best food from the mountains and the sea, but they can also eat the simplest food and are used to such a simple life.

Frugality can cultivate virtue and also bring blessings.

Never indulge in food and material desires just because you are in a high position.

Zhang Yue picked up the vegetables and put them into his mouth along with the rice. Each grain of rice tasted fragrant, just like eating abalone and shark's fin.

After taking a sip of tea, he picked up a piece of pickled radish, bit off half of it, and chewed it in his mouth, feeling crisp and refreshing.

Zhang Yue exclaimed with satisfaction that the vegetarian food in Dingli Temple was exceptionally sweet and delicious.

If you can endure hardship, you can accomplish anything. This is the true meaning of Cai Gen Tan.

Zhang Yue chewed the crispy pickled radish and thought, by now the public opinion and the hearts of the people outside must have changed!

If I were still in the prime minister's position, everyone in the world would know that being tough on Liao was my attitude.

Not fighting is fighting, and he does not do things under compulsion.

There is no need to easily reject the majority opinion.

Zhang Yue did not respond at all to Liu Bojun's impeachment.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yue wrote his third letter of resignation to the emperor.

It doesn't matter even if the emperor knows that he is retreating to advance.

A wise person never speculates on other people's emotions, nor does he make any explanations. Instead, he lets others speculate on his emotions.

However, this time, after Liu Bojun's impeachment, there were almost no officials who took advantage of the situation. This shows that the officials had learned their lesson after several lessons.

This made Zhang Yue a little disappointed.

Could it be that my strategy of retreating in order to advance is so crude and obvious to everyone?

So that the officials may misunderstand and fear being held accountable later?

Are you such a petty person? Don't judge others by your own standards.

……

Xiao Xi, an envoy from Liao, arrived in Beijing.

Xiao Xi looked at the familiar city of Bianjing with great confidence.

He believed that he would be able to gain what he wanted by coming to Bian Jing. With the Northern Dynasty having millions of soldiers and the Southern Dynasty having both civil and military power, the Southern Dynasty would surely surrender and obey his orders under the threat of the Liao Dynasty's large army, and he would achieve his goal without bloodshed.

As he walked along, he had already had this premonition when he saw the servile and fawning appearance of the Song Dynasty's envoys.

A group of carriages and horses drove to the streets of Bianjing, but Xiao Xi's eyes narrowed when he saw a scene that was different from before.

But the people watching had unfriendly expressions, and many of those who looked like scholars even had fire in their eyes, full of indignation.

Although there were Song Dynasty soldiers maintaining order on both sides, Xiao Xi had no doubt that these people would come and tear him to pieces if no one stopped them.

When I came to the Song Dynasty in the past, didn't these southerners come to watch with laughter? They even felt close to the neighbors of the Northern Dynasty.

When have they ever been like this!

"Fan dog!"

Xiao Xi was startled when he heard the angry curses from the people. He turned his head and saw a down-and-out man who was drunk, with his shirt open, revealing his hairy chest, pointing at him and cursing at him while he was riding a horse.

Xiao Xi was furious. How dare such a poor-looking man insult him?

But when the big man finished cursing, the people around him cheered and applauded, and many of them also cursed him as a "foreign dog"!

Some people shouted: "These foreign dogs just killed so many of our people in Cangzhou, and now they dare to come here to demand land and money!"

"Do you really think there is no one left in our Song Dynasty?"

"If you really fight to the gates of Bianjing, I will sacrifice these three hundred kilograms of flesh and fight you!"

"Let's see who will be the traitor!"

"Everyone should punish the traitors!"

Xiao Xi was furious and looked at his companion beside him and said angrily: "What are you talking about? Is there no one in charge of the Southern Dynasty?"

The envoy's expression was somewhat complicated, and he finally said helplessly: "I don't know about this either. Please stay in the hotel first, and we will talk about it later."

After saying this, the other party's host turned his face away and ignored him.

Xiao Xi did not get angry when his companion, who had almost grovelled towards him before, treated him like this. He just slowly arrived at the post station amid the shrill cries of "foreign dogs".

But the posthouse was surrounded by people at this moment, and many common people and scholars were shouting and cursing.

The deputy envoy of the embassy and the judge of Dezhou hurriedly reported to Wang Gui. Wang Gui ordered Su Song of Kaifeng Prefecture to arrest the people who were causing trouble. Su Song evaded responsibility for a while and did not try very hard.

After the people surrounded the post house and cursed for a while, they saw the yamen runners coming with gongs and immediately dispersed.

The next day, hundreds of scholars beat drums to petition and knelt down at Xuande Gate to make their request.

When Wang Gui and Sun Gu saw this scene, they both walked around Xuande Gate.

……

Dingzhou.

It was the border between Song and Liao.

This is a place name that appears quite frequently.

In the past, Mi Xin, Tian Chongjin and Li Jilian were all stationed here as governors of Dingzhou.

Since his arrival, Zhang Dun, the governor of Dingzhou and the pacification commissioner of Dingzhou, has been actively preparing for war and reorganizing border defenses.

As Zhang Dun said, he prepared a field army in Dingzhou, including cavalry.

In fact, although the Song Dynasty was short of horses, the Dingzhou Army had never been short of horses. The horses of the Uighurs, Dangxiangs, and Tibetans were all equipped to the Dingzhou Army first. Now that the imperial court has conquered Liangzhou, two hundred Liangzhou horses were transferred last month to be allocated to the Dingzhou troops first.

But Zhang Dun still felt that what he gave was too little.

Zhang Dun worked very efficiently in Dingzhou, eliminating the old army and training new ones. Others asked him why he did not train the old army but used the new one.

Zhang Dun said: "The old army is corrupt and useless. The only way is to replace it with a new army."

Now the Khitans frequently invaded the border and caused many incidents. Soldiers and horses escorted the common people across the border to cut wood, and drove the laborers to fetch water.

There were many troubles on the border, but Zhang Dun was able to walk calmly as if he were riding a carriage, and his ability to command his generals made everyone respect him.

On this day, Zhang Dun and other generals inspected the military situation in the mountains outside Dingzhou City. Here they could vaguely see Khitan soldiers appearing and invading Song territory.

However, Zhang Dun did not take it seriously and brought dozens of riders with him to inspect the situation together with the state governor, the road commander and other generals.

Around noon, they caught two black dogs from a nearby village, killed them on the spot, and cooked the dog meat in a large pot.

Zhang Dun and his generals took dog meat from the pot and drank strong liquor.

Early spring in the north is still extremely cold. In such weather, eating a pot of boiling and fragrant dog meat is a real luxury.

One general laughed and said, "Dog meat is not good enough to be served on the table. We thought that a god-like figure like the Marshal would not eat it. Unexpectedly, the Marshal ate it with great enjoyment."

Zhang Dun said as he ate heartily, "When I was young, I loved to seek immortality and often ate and drank with a few monks who did not abide by the rules and regulations."

"So not only dog ​​meat can be eaten, but snake meat, snake meat was also eaten."

"Besides, what's wrong with eating dog meat? In the past, Fan Kuai killed dogs for a living and still became a general."

All the generals laughed when they heard what he said and praised Zhang Dun for what he said.

"There is one black dog, two yellow dogs, three white dogs and four spotted dogs! Thanks to the Marshal, we are able to eat black dog today. What a treat!"

The generals laughed again.

Zhang Dun's nonchalant behavior is also very popular.

However, none of the generals dared to be rude in front of him. Although the generals had not read much, they instinctively smelled a very dangerous smell from Zhang Dun.

Unlike ordinary scholars, a scholar with a sense of chivalry should never be provoked. This kind of person is very scary. He really dares to kill people, but he can also keep people alive.

If you offend such a person, there will be endless troubles.

As they were talking, the aide brought a report.

Zhang Dun wiped the grease off his hands with a cloth, and after reading the court report, he became furious.

"They always resign their positions and avoid their posts, without trying their best. If one does not work hard to accomplish great things, how can one achieve anything?"

All the generals and ministers present looked embarrassed, as they knew that Zhang Dun was scolding the central government again.

The target of his scolding was none other than his stupid and good-for-nothing brother, the then Prime Minister Zhang Yue. After Zhang Dun became a high-ranking official, he had nothing good to say about Zhang Yue. Moreover, there was a fixed item, whenever there were officials from the local area or passing by, he would visit him.

After chatting with him for a few words, Zhang Dun began to criticize the government and then criticized Zhang Yue.

Many officials felt embarrassed after hearing Zhang Dun's words.

Many of them have worked under Zhang Yue before. Even if they had never worked for him, they would not dare to agree with your criticism of the prime minister.

However, due to Zhang Dun's prestige, they did not dare to refute.

So they were at a loss as to whether to sit or stand in front of Zhang Dun, and would often find an excuse to leave.

As for the staff and generals in the Marshal's Mansion, they were not so lucky.

They can't leave!

Every day during this festival, the generals could only keep their heads down and remain silent. If Zhang Dun called on them to agree with a few words, they would be finished.

Zhang Dun said: "He is willing to sacrifice his integrity for the sake of small profits, and he is afraid of his own safety when doing great things. How can we entrust the world to such a person?"

"You are a coward if you dare not take charge of your country. I have never been wrong about you. You have really brought shame to the Zhang family!"

After scolding him, Zhang Dun seemed to still be angry.

What made him angry was that Zhang Yue left when something happened instead of sitting down and sticking to his political views, continuing to maintain a tough attitude towards the Liao Kingdom, and now allowing Sun Gu to come forward to negotiate peace with the Liao Kingdom.

Zhang Dun paced for a while with his hands behind his back, and said to the generals: "Things have come to this point. If we continue to be tolerant, the Khitan will only take advantage of us."

"No one in the court can take on this heavy responsibility. Only we can shoulder this heavy burden ourselves."

"From tomorrow on, if Liao people cross the border to fetch water or cut firewood again, they will be driven away!"

When Zhang Dun gave the order, all the generals were shocked. The Khitan troops were heavily concentrated on the border. What would happen if you drove them away like this and then led to a war?

The generals did not dare to disobey and had to stand up and accept the order.

The generals were unaware of Lu Huiqing's letter to Zhang Dun, and now that there was no one in the court to restrain them, the two of them could do as they pleased.

As for ceding land to Liao in order to negotiate peace?

Needless to say, both Lu Huiqing and Zhang Dun would absolutely not agree to this.

……

The Liao envoy's intention of raising an army to hold the enemy accountable was obvious.

After the chief envoy Xiao Xi and the deputy envoy Xiao Delite arrived in Bian Jing, the emperor first met with the envoys in the Purple Palace and then held a banquet in the Chuigong Palace.

When facing the emperor of the Song Dynasty, Xiao Xi was still tactful in his words and asked Song and the Dangxiang countries to stop fighting and return the Dangxiang's former territory.

Then Xiao Xi handed over the letter, saying that the Emperor of the Northern Dynasty told the Emperor of the Southern Dynasty that it would be best if the Western Xia issue was resolved as soon as possible, otherwise it would damage the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Up to this point, everyone is fine and no one is fighting.

The emperor did not answer, but appointed Cai Que to answer on his behalf: "The Westerners have been rebelling for many years, so they must be conquered. Why bother sending an envoy from the Northern Dynasty?"

Xiao Xi disagreed with Cai Que's answer and asked, "I heard that the campaign against the Tanguts was initiated by Prime Minister Zhang. Why is he not here today?"

When this was said, Cai Que replied that Prime Minister Zhang was ill and recuperating.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Xi and Xiao Delit left without saying anything.

Scholar Cai Jing reported to the emperor that the Liao envoys must have ulterior motives when they arrived in Beijing, and requested that the court convene all officials to discuss and decide on the issue of war or peace.

The emperor did not listen, but gave gifts to the Liao envoys after the banquet, but the envoys thought the gifts were too little.

After that, Song and Liao negotiated.

Sun Gu was the chief envoy for the negotiations, and his right and left hands were Zhao Tingzhi and Li Gefei, both of whom were sent by Wang Gui.

Sun Gu knew that his every move was under Wang Gui's instructions.

Sun Gu was also very aggrieved. He did not form any cliques in the court and was always known for his integrity.

Therefore, although he was the Privy Councilor, he was not powerful enough to compete with powerful ministers like Wang Gui and Zhang Yue in the court, so he had to let them control him.

Even Sun Gu knew that the government's request for him to negotiate peace was only a temporary measure and that they were just using him as a chess piece.

However, out of loyalty to the emperor, more importantly, he was worried that if the Song and Liao dynasties went to war, the people of Hebei would suffer, and this could not be ignored.

In the spirit of caring for the people and being loyal to the emperor, he felt that he had to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, but even if he was faced with a knife, he had to complete his mission.

As soon as Xiao Xi came up, he asked aggressively: "Was it his intention, your intention, or your intention for the Song Dynasty to insult our ruler?"

Sun Gu was also an experienced negotiator. He avoided the question by saying, "Your Majesty once said that if a border conflict breaks out, the war will not end. Is this the intention of a ruler to care for the people and the creatures?"

"Now that your majesty is willing to stop the war, we will do our best to make it happen."

"Then why did those stubborn people along the way dare to insult the envoys in the street? Was it the Southern Dynasty who instigated this?"

Xiao Xi still felt aggrieved about being insulted in the street.

Sun Gu said: "Your country killed our Cangzhou soldiers for no reason. The people of our dynasty are naturally filled with righteous indignation and want to seek justice. A few days ago, they beat the drums to report and bowed to the palace to encourage the court to fight with Liao."

"Fortunately, Your Majesty, considering the century-old friendship between the two families, issued an edict to appease the people and not let them act rashly. How can your Excellency say that it was our dynasty that instigated the people?"

That’s right, the common people were willing to fight with you, the Liao Kingdom, but it was we, the peace-loving people of the Song Dynasty, who took the initiative to stop it.

"Really? This is similar to the situation in our dynasty."

Then Xiao Xi sneered and said, "Stop talking nonsense. The Tanguts have reported to our dynasty that they have been invaded by the Southern Dynasty for nearly 20 years since the Xining period. Many cities have been built in key places, and more have been built since this year. Now the territory is being reduced day by day, and they have repeatedly requested our dynasty to send troops to help."

"Our dynasty has been related to the Tanguts for generations, and their ruler is your Majesty's son-in-law, so we should rescue them. However, since the two dynasties have been friendly for many years and have a pledge, it is difficult to agree to their request. I am specially sent here to discuss the matter. Return Liangzhou and all the lands that were occupied by the Tanguts after the second year of Yuanfeng."

Sun Gu was shocked when he heard this. The Liao Kingdom did not play by the rules. It had said before that it would only return Liangzhou, but now it suddenly changed its mind and occupied the territory of Dangxiang in the second year of Yuanfeng.

In this way, not only Liangzhou, but also Lanzhou and other places will be lost.

It’s a pity that Sun Gu had previously used Xi’an Prefecture and Deshun Army as bargaining chips in exchange for Liangzhou.

After drinking his tea with a sullen face, Sun Gu continued to sit at the negotiation table and argue his case.

Xiao Xi sneered a few times, ignored him, and let the deputy envoy talk.

At this time, one of the Liao envoys dressed as a Taoist said, "I wanted to make a clay medicine furnace, but unfortunately there is not enough clay to mix it."

Xiao Xi immediately stood up and picked up a handful of soil from the ground.

Sun Gu asked why?

Xiao Xi replied, "I am here to speak to you in compliance with the Emperor's command. If you do not obey, I will take you back."

When Sun Gu heard what Xiao Xi said, he was shocked on the spot.

A moment later, Sun Gu met the emperor and reported the negotiations.

The emperor was very angry when he heard that the Liao envoy went back on his word and suddenly changed the negotiation conditions.

Sun Gu said: "Your Majesty, the Liao Kingdom's intention to send troops to punish us is obvious, and you need to explain your current strategy."

"Only if Zhang Yue and Han Zhongyan are severely punished and all the lands acquired by Zhang Yue after he came to power are returned to the Tanguts can we make peace and stop the war."

The official was angry when he heard this and asked, "How can this be possible?"

"If you continue to cede land like this, I won't be the emperor anymore!"

The emperor stood up, he still underestimated the shamelessness and ambition of the Liao Kingdom.

Ps: It is a little less than the previous one, I will make up for it next time.