sbdcsierra Chapter 275 The Situation of the Song Dynasty
Chapter 275 The Situation of the Song Dynasty
The second day of the second month in the third year of Zhiping in the Song Dynasty and the second year of Xianyong in the Liao Dynasty is commonly known as the Dragon Raising its Head Festival, also known as the Spring Ploughing Festival, Agricultural Festival, Qinglong Festival, Spring Dragon Festival, etc. It is a traditional Chinese folk festival.
In farming culture, "the dragon raising its head" indicates the growth of yang energy, increased rainfall, and the vitality of all things.
Since ancient times, people have regarded the Dragon Raising its Head Day as a day to pray for good weather, ward off evil spirits and disasters, and bring good luck and fortune.
At this moment in the Song Dynasty's Bianjing City, under the leadership of Emperor Yingzong and his wife, Prince Huan and his ministers bowed respectfully and offered sacrifices to God.
If there was any major disaster during these three years, it would probably be the severe flood in the first year of Zhiping (1064).
The capital, Song, Bo, Chen, Xu, Ru, Cai, Tang, Ying, Cao, Pu, Ji, Shan, Hao, Si, Lu, Shou, Chu, Hangzhou, Xuan, Hong, E, Shi, Yu and other states, as well as Guanghua Army and Gaoyou Army were all full of floods.
Emperor Yingzong, deeply aware of the difficulty of governing the country, sent envoys to inspect the country, dredge rivers, provide relief to disaster victims, and exempt them from taxes.
In this way, when the new policies were implemented, the above places became the most powerful regions and pilot areas supporting the reforms.
Thanks to the new policy's comprehensive coverage from top to bottom, in just two years, the areas once devastated by floods have restored their economic vitality and generated even stronger reform momentum.
However, what followed was that Emperor Yingzong's health gradually became weak.
In the past few years, although there were no more time-consuming and labor-intensive "Puyi" activities, Emperor Yingzong's health was getting worse day by day under the pressure of the complicated affairs of the new policy reform.
For example, on the 23rd day of the first lunar month, Xiao Yi, the Liao Kingdom's Southwest Recruiting Envoy, led his troops south to Yanmen Pass.
The court had already made corresponding preparations and measures to deal with the situation, but upon hearing the news, Emperor Yingzong was so nervous that he fainted in the Wende Hall.
After resting for a while, Emperor Yingzong woke up and issued an edict to promote Prince Huan Zhao Ceying to the position of "Regent".
This scared many people inside and outside the court, fearing that something might happen to Emperor Yingzong in such a tense situation. Fortunately, nothing irreversible happened in the end.
When the news was passed to Han through the hands of someone with ulterior motives, it was the time when Yelu Hongji, Xiao Boyu and others were discussing the withdrawal of troops.
"My Lord, do you think this will cause any unrest?"
Li Xian, the current eunuch in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, lowered his head and asked Han Ming in a low voice.
Looking at the cautious Li Xian, Han Ming couldn't help laughing. This guy is also an interesting eunuch in history.
Li Xian (1042-1092), courtesy name Zifan, was a native of Xiangfu, Kaifeng (present-day Kaifeng, Henan Province). He was a eunuch and general of the Northern Song Dynasty.
During the Huangyou period of Emperor Renzong, Li Xian was appointed as an Inner Yellow Gate official and promoted to a Gongfeng official.
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, he was active in the northwest border, and together with Wang Shao, he recovered Hezhou. He also defeated the Tibetan leader Xia Muzheng and captured Lanzhou, and was in charge of the military affairs of Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road.
He was promoted to the position of Xuanqing Envoy due to his merits, and was in charge of finances for a time, saving six-tenths of unnecessary expenses. However, he also repeatedly violated military orders, missed opportunities for battle, and was constantly impeached.
After Zhezong ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Gao was in charge of the government. Li Xian was impeached for "being greedy for merit and fame", "deceiving the emperor and harming the people, and bringing disaster to the country", and was demoted to the general of the Right Thousand Oxen Guard and lived in Chenzhou. His final official positions were the envoy of Yanfu Palace, the inspector of Xuanzhou, and the supervisor of Mingdao Palace.
In the seventh year of Yuanyou (1092), Li Xian died at the age of 1094. In the first year of Shaosheng (), he was posthumously awarded the title of Jiedushi of Wutai Army. He was given the posthumous title of "Zhongmin".
It can be said that this gentleman is a man of some ability, otherwise he would not have been assigned to the northwest as a military supervisor, and he also cooperated well with Wang Shao.
"Please tell His Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Huan that as long as I am here, there is nothing to worry about!"
Han Ming knew the purpose of Li Xian's visit. It was simply that Emperor Yingzong was afraid that his health was not strong enough and there were still many opposition forces in the court. He was afraid that if someone took advantage of the opportunity, they would launch a palace coup or something like that.
Moreover, the generals who could support them wholeheartedly were Han Ming, Gu Tingye, the brother-in-law of the "Terracotta Warrior" of the Shen family, and all the people from the Geng and Duan families were leading their troops outside.
It is impossible to say that he is not worried. Compared with external threats, Emperor Yingzong is more worried about the death of the ruler and the transfer of power.
"Then I will convey the Marquis' words truthfully." Li Xian bowed politely.
"It just so happens that I recently had Liao bring back quite a few interesting and fun items from the Northern Kingdom. I've also prepared a few for the angels. You might want to take a look and see if there's anything you like."
When it comes to being a human being, Han Ming does not have so many burdens of being a civil official or an important official, and he cannot lose face. He always remembers that anyone he can use is a good person, regardless of their background.
Li Xian couldn't help but feel touched when he saw that the Marquis of Anyang, who was now in great favor, actually prepared a gift for him.
After all, to be honest, eunuchs in ancient times were a kind of creature that was neither human nor ghost. Those who knew about it had to understand that they were accessories to the imperial power, and being respected was the greatest gift.
It's nothing like Han Ming, who gave him some errand fees and small gifts every now and then. Qingyun from the Prince's Inner Court next door made a lot of money from Han Ming.
"My Lord, you are really embarrassing me..."
Li Xian was so moved that his eyes were filled with tears. Then he left the tent under the leadership of Yong Zeng.
"What do you mean?" Gu Tingye turned around from the side of the screen, his expression a little solemn.
"Everything is fine. Maybe some people just think that now that the sky is clear and the rain has stopped, they can go out and make trouble again!"
Han Ming poured two bowls of tea for himself and Gu Tingye, and said in a deep voice.
"I heard that Concubine Liu seems to be very active in front of the emperor recently!"
Gu Tingye didn't know where the news came from, but this reminded Han Ming of the rebellion farce at the end of the original drama.
However, the Empress Dowager Cao had already dealt with the matter herself. Who would still support Concubine Liu and allow her to act so pretentiously in front of the emperor?
"She can't do that. The emperor wouldn't do such a thing to the little prince she gave birth to, a young prince with a young mother."
Han Ming drank his tea happily and made a casual comment.
"But we have to be on guard. The official's dragon body just started to deteriorate, and someone couldn't help but want to jump out..."
Gu Tingye said very cautiously.
"Alas, it's my fault too. I made such a fuss when I deposed Prince Liang (formerly Prince Yong)."
"To the point where everyone thinks they can do whatever they want just by relying on the military power in their hands, tsk tsk tsk..."
Han Ming shook his head and smiled helplessly. If you ask him if he regrets it, he will say that he does not regret it!
Such an interesting thing, and someone is endorsing him, so he can do whatever he wants.
"The Liao army shouldn't attack the Xin'an Army and Langcheng Stronghold on the right wing anymore. Transfer Gao Zunyu and Shen Congxing, the two uncles of the emperor, back to Tokyo Prefecture for garrison."
"This should make the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and His Royal Highness Prince Huan feel much more at ease."
Han Ming didn't wait for Gu Tingye to ask any questions and directly came up with the solution.
"Also, the battle with the Liao Kingdom cannot be dragged on any longer. Without someone in charge of Tokyo Prefecture, these demons and monsters are starting to show up one after another."
"I don't have the energy to fight with these cowardly guys."
Han Ming took out all the regulations, and Gu Tingye naturally felt a lot more relieved.
"The Liao Kingdom's eastern army's retreat is clear. Next up is the western army. Do you need my support?"
When Gu Tingye saw Han Ming walk to the military map, he couldn't help but ask.
"It's difficult to coordinate. Yelu Hongji will not withdraw his troops until he sees the Western Route Army withdraw from Daizhou."
Han Ming stood in front of the military map with his hands behind his back and sighed softly.
"The stalemate between the two sides is what they want to see. But I remember you transferred the brothers Di Liang and Di Zi from the Sun-Holding Heavenly Martial Army north, didn't you?"
Gu Tingye looked at Han with some confusion, as if he realized that the other party was short of troops.
"I've sent them to Mount Wutai to fight guerrilla warfare. I think they'll have news soon."
Han Ming waved his hand indifferently, looking for where he could send some more troops to revitalize the dead battlefield.
"Good boy, you are doing one thing after another!"
"I thought you were just going to move the Western Army north and let the Hedong Army set up an ambush on their own?"
Gu Tingye looked at the other party in surprise. He first learned that Han Ming had transferred the Bongri Tianwu Army from the court in order to fight a breakthrough battle on their eastern route.
As a result, they were arranged to ambush Xiao Yi's grandson directly on Hedong Road.
"We both know the situation of the Hedong Army. If we can defeat them, will Wu Xun go around calling for help?"
"Even if we ask them to defend the city and the pass, they might not be able to hold it steady. Let's set up an ambush? I'm afraid they'll lose both the people and Daizhou."
Han Ming shook his head speechlessly. The Song army’s problems were too big, so it was better to take it slow!
"So it's reasonable for Yanmen Pass to give up its territory voluntarily." Gu Tingye felt that Han Ming's tactic of 'luring the enemy into a trap' was very good.
"But fortunately, Brother Wu is good at training people, and the Song army under him is still well behaved and hasn't caused any trouble."
"Honestly speaking, it's not easy to hold off the Liao army for this long. Let's ask for credit for him in the victory report to the court this time!"
Han Ming stretched and yawned. He and the top brass of the Song army hadn't gotten much sleep since last night. The feeling of staying up late reminded him of the overnight stays in Internet cafes in his previous life.
"You should have a good rest. I won't disturb you. There are still many things waiting for you to do."
Gu Tingye was about to get up and leave after he finished speaking, but Han Ming's resentful voice sounded from behind him.
"If you hadn't said that last sentence, I would have rested better!"
The resentment of the workers took shape in Han Ming at this moment.
“Hahahaha…goodbye, goodbye…” ￣□￣｜｜
Gu Tingye quickly opened the tent door and slipped away, fearing that Han Ming would suddenly attack and hurt someone in the next second...