bookrandom Chapter 1322: Building Yongle City
Chapter 1322: Building Yongle City
Chapter 1322: Building Yongle City
Zhang Gen left the palace as soon as he received the appointment to compile the daily records.
Before Zhang Gen arrived at the gate of the mansion on horseback, his personal attendants were already waiting for him outside the gate.
As soon as he saw Zhang Gen, he rushed into the mansion to tell him.
"Erlangjun is back home!"
"Erlangjun is back home!"
Looking at the red gate of the Zhang Mansion bathed in the twilight, Zhang Gen had a feeling of being both familiar and unfamiliar. He walked into the gate and did not go anywhere else. He first sat down in the study where he used to study.
Looking at the familiar scenes and objects, they are all arranged as they were when I left. The four words "farming and studying to pass on the family" on the hall are still so familiar, and the Podocarpus in front of the gatehouse has grown very tall, and its needles rustle in the evening breeze.
The door outside the hall was wide open, and Shiqi Niang and Zhang Cheng were already hurrying over.
Zhang Gen came back to his senses, saw Shiqi Niang and bowed down.
"Mother, I am an unfilial child!"
After saying this, Zhang Gen burst into tears.
Shiqi Niang helped Zhang Gen up and looked at him carefully before saying, "Gen has lost weight."
Then Shiqi Niang hid her tears and spoke seriously.
"Loyalty, filial piety, integrity and righteousness are the foundation of the family and the country."
"You have been loyal to the country and guarded the border for the court for five years. This is a great filial piety and a good man of my Zhang family."
After Shiqi Niang finished speaking, Zhang Cheng thought to himself, Mother is still the same as before. Even though we haven't seen each other for many years, she never forgot to talk to me first.
But after not seeing him for five years, the brother who used to be a young boy who didn't know what sorrow was has now grown into a man with a determined gaze.
When Zhang Cheng saw Zhang Gen, he called him "brother".
Zhang Gen nodded.
Shiqi Niang dismissed her attendants and asked, "What did His Majesty say when he met with the Emperor today?"
Immediately, Shiqi Niang signaled Zhang Cheng, "Brother Cheng, stay and listen."
Zhang Gen said solemnly, "Mother, His Majesty said that he would grant me the position of Imperial Attendant."
Then Zhang Gen briefly told Shiqi Niang what happened in the palace.
Shiqi Niang heard this and said, "The attendants go in and out of the palace and write down the emperor's words. The Wang Zhen in the court today is the descendant of the former prime minister Wang Wenzheng (Wang Dan)."
Zhang Gen said, "Mother, Wang Zhen is a man of no learning and no skills. He couldn't even pass the imperial examination. In order to grant him the title of imperial scholar, the government ordered the Academy of Scholars to test him, but he still failed in the end. It was just a formality."
"When he arrived at the Golden Palace, as the attendant of the emperor, His Majesty asked him to delete his remarks, and he did so. He has no integrity at all."
Shiqi Niang said, "Brother Gen, a smart man often comes from a poor family, but a clumsy man will never be short of money."
"All the rules and regulations in the world are designed for the poor. There are no rules to speak of for the children of the rich families."
"You have only been in the government for five years, and you have already been given a red robe! How can you say such a thing?"
In the past, Zhang Gen would have kept silent at this time, but now he said, "Back then, Wang Jinggong and my father both wanted to implement the square field and equal taxation law in the reform, but why did it end up in nothing?"
"The child will understand something."
Zhang Cheng said, "Second brother, the pen of history is like a knife but it needs someone to hold it!"
Zhang Gen thought to himself that his younger brother, who used to be timid in front of his mother and himself, now has such insight.
Over the years, Cheng Ge'er has also grown up.
Zhang Gen was relieved in his heart but he scolded: "Since I am the attendant, I have my own limits."
Zhang Gen said to Shiqi Niang, "Mom, do you want to go see Zhi Ge'er first?"
Shiqi Niang said, "What do you mean by visit Zhi Ge'er first? Go to the Huang family first!"
Zhang Gen was stunned for a moment before he remembered that he was still married.
Shiqi Niang said, "You didn't listen to me these years and delayed my youth for five years. Come to my house tomorrow to make amends!"
Zhang Gen immediately said yes in fear.
Zhang Cheng laughed secretly in his heart. No matter how powerful his brother was outside, he was still afraid of his mother in his heart.
……
The wind from the northern border brought gravel and sand to the city walls. As soon as Li Shunju, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, stepped onto the blue brick floor of the Yanzhou Governor's Mansion, his black boots shook off a layer of yellow sand.
Li Shunju, the chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, arrived at Yanzhou, where the governor's office of Fuyan Road was located, to meet with the governor Xu Xi.
"The plan to attack Mingsha City from Jingyuan Road has been rejected by the Privy Council!"
Xu Xi's face sank when he heard this. To leave through Jingyuan Road was the plan he had previously submitted to the emperor, and it was also the grand strategy for attacking Xia that Zhang Yue had originally planned.
He guessed that the case might have been rejected by Cai Que or the government, rather than coming from the Privy Council.
"Your Majesty, we should advance from Hengshan. The Yellow River has flooded this year. We have been fighting the Liao Kingdom for two years. The treasury is empty. It would be of little use to send manpower and materials from Hengshan. The court should make a long-term effort here."
Li Shunju took out the yellow silk imperial edict from the secret box and said, "Shen Shumi advocates taking Yinzhou first, but the emperor wants to hear the real opinion of the governor."
Xu Xi said, "In the past two years, we have been fighting with the Khitan in Hedong, but the Tanguts have also been busy gathering 20,000 to 30,000 troops to invade and plunder. Our army had to abandon Yinzhou and Youzhou and move the people into the border. Is it okay to take it now?"
Previously, in order to deal with the Liao army's invasion of Hedong, the Song army had to abandon Yinzhou and Youzhou and carry out strategic contraction.
Now that you are back in Yinzhou, are you sure about Youzhou?
Li Shunju said: "Last month, the Western bandits gathered 50,000 troops to invade Huainan Town. Now the imperial court and the Dangxiang are on guard at the Jingyuan Road."
"In this way, Hengshan can take advantage of the opportunity to attack."
Xu Xi remained silent.
Li Shunju said: "The emperor said that Hengshan is a vast area of thousands of miles, with fertile soil for farming, strong people who are good at fighting, and salt and iron are also available."
"We can start from Yinzhou, then move to Youzhou Wuyancheng, then Xiazhou, and then the three counties in turn, including the land of Hengshan, and finally Yanzhou to take advantage of the two pools. In this way, the strong soldiers, war horses, and the benefits of the mountains and swamps of Hengshan will all belong to China."
"This is also the wise opinion of Shen Shuyuan."
Seeing that Xu Xi still did not answer, Li Shunju said, "It has always been Xu Jinglie's idea to attack the Tanguts from Hengshan. Why is he silent this time?"
Xu Xi said: "This dynasty lost more than they won when they went out of Hengshan, but now they have more wins than they lost when they went out of Jingyuan, so I am still worried."
Li Shunju said: "Xu Jinglue, haven't you heard that the military situation is unpredictable and it changes from one time to another?"
"Your Majesty is still waiting for Xu Jinglie's reply."
Xu Xi said: "Since we must leave Hengshan, I have no choice but to obey the emperor's order. However, the location of the city building is different from that of Shen Shumi."
"But Shen Shumi advocated taking Yinzhou first, which is a good move. However, the last time our army withdrew from Yinzhou, the old city was burned down. Moreover, although Yinzhou is located in Mingtangchuan and does not meet Dinghe River, the southeast of the city is swallowed by the river, and the northwest is blocked by natural moats. It is not as strategic as Yongle City."
Li Shunju asked, "Build Yongle City?"
Xu Xi nodded. He had advocated the strategy of attacking Hengshan before and had repeatedly examined the geographical advantages of Hengshan. However, the strategy was rejected every time he presented it to Zhang Yue, or it was Zhang Yue who instructed the emperor to reject it.
His original plan was to build the city of Yongle, not to build the city of Yinzhou like Shen Kuo did.
Although Xu Xi had made great military achievements in Jingyuan Road in recent years, building Yongle City had always been his obsession.
After Zhang Yue was removed from his position as prime minister, Cai Que instructed Shen Kuo to revive Hengshan's old strategy, clearly intending to leave the new party's mark on the war situation in the northwest.
Following Zhang Yue's strategy, they attacked Mingsha City from Jingyuan Road, but the gains were minimal, and Cai Que's contribution was not evident. That was why they had to re-propose the Hengshan attack plan that Zhang Yue had shelved several times during the phase.
The Hengshan strategy was first proposed by Fan Zhongyan, and later advocated by Han Jiang and Zhong Yan, and later by Shen Kuo and Xu Xi.
But now Xu Xi is no longer so obsessed with the Hengshan strategy.
Xu Xi understood the underlying situation very well, so he proposed building Yongle City, a plan that he had first proposed and was rejected by Zhang Yue.
Li Shunju thought that this plan was different from what the government and Shen Kuo had proposed.
However, the general direction of implementing Yokoyama's strategy is consistent, with only adjustments in details.
Although Shen Kuo was a privy councilor, the emperor never trusted him. On the contrary, the emperor always trusted Xu Xi, otherwise he would not have bypassed Shen Kuo to ask Xu Xi. Although commanding beyond one's level is always a taboo in military strategy, it is a common practice for the emperor today.
"Building Yongle City is the beginning of the strategy to govern the five states!" Li Shunju hesitated for a moment and said, "I will immediately report this matter to Your Majesty for a decision."
Gold Medal Express is an expedited delivery service of 800 miles.
Ordinary express delivery is six hundred miles.
Thanks to the court's repairs of the roads between Bian Jing and Shaanxi under Zhang Yue's administration in recent years, the envoys could bring back news from the central government within 17 days of their trip.
Of course, the government still convened ministers from three ministries and one court for a meeting, which delayed the meeting for a day.
The result of the discussion was that the court agreed to Xu Xi's plan to build the Yongle city, and at the same time rejected Shen Kuo's plan to build the Yinzhou city.
At the same time, the court also decided to set up six camps in Yongledai, Shengtaping, Yishi, Shibao, Wuyan to Changchengling, and six forts from Beiwangchuan, Lingmei, Mote Temple, Zhiwei, Luopakchuanchuan and Buniyabao.
The largest village had a circumference of 900 steps, and the smallest was 500 steps. One village employed more than 130,000 workers.
The larger fort had a circumference of 200 steps, and the smaller ones had a 100 steps. Each fort employed 13,000 workers.
From this we can see that the government intends to invest heavily, using Yongle City as the base and gradually advance to Hengshan.
The imperial edict was delivered by the eunuch Zhang Yuqin, who was also the military supervisor of Xu Xi's expedition to Hengshan. In order to give further instructions to the army, the emperor also verbally told Xu Xi that since he was now the general, he should comfort the soldiers, share the hardships, reward and punish equally, and do his best to carry out the words of Chuigong the day before, and wait for extraordinary achievements.
Xu Xi and Zhang Shunju received the imperial edict and immediately summoned all the generals in Fuyan Road to announce the court's grand strategy of building Yongle City and capturing Hengshan.
However, as soon as it was announced, it was opposed by all the generals.
All the generals of Fuyan Road said that in the past, when the court marched out from Jingyuan Road, it could get support from Xihe Road and Huanqing Road at any time, but if it marched out from Fuyan Road, how would the other routes coordinate?
This returns to the situation where the five armies are fighting independently.
At the same time, facing oppression from the Liao Kingdom, Hedong Road was completely unable to send a single soldier to support it.
Not only was the strategy of leaving Hengshan opposed by the generals, but the location for building Yongle City was also opposed by the generals.
Yongle City is located to the west of Mizhi River, to the east of Youzhou, and adjacent to Hengshan Mountain. There are mountains on both sides, and only one road is accessible for carriages and horses. Building a city here is certainly advantageous, but it is also a place that the Dangxiang people must fight for. At the same time, there is no drinking water in the city, only the wet beach of Wuding River, which floods from time to time, and the water supply is extremely unstable.
Veteran general Qu Zhen said bluntly: "Yongle is a place of death. There is no well in the city, and we have to rely on wet beaches for water. Even Fan Wencheng did not dare to make a move here. Does the governor want to flood the city with the blood of the soldiers?"
Faced with the unanimous opposition of all the generals, Li Shunju and Xu Xi also looked extremely ugly.
During the break, Li Shunju asked, "Xu Jinglue, why do all the generals oppose this?"
Xu Xi said: "I have only been in office for two months. These generals are all former subordinates of Zong Shidao. I cannot convince them."
Li Shunju said: "Since I have the emperor's order, why should I care about everyone?"
Xu Xi glanced at Li Shunju and thought to himself, I still need you to teach me how to do things.
Xu Xi returned to the hall and immediately took out the emperor's imperial edict. Seeing that it was the emperor who personally instructed the plan, the generals of Fuyan Road dared not say anything. However, several generals still said: "The city of Yongle will die!"
Seeing this, Xu Xi had no choice but to imprison these generals and wait for their fate after the war.
After several generals were escorted out of the hall, they looked at each other and laughed, "Mr. Xu Jinglie has really suffered from this."
Finally, the plan was approved and submitted to the emperor, who also issued an imperial edict, ordering Shen Kuo to move his headquarters to Yanzhou and for all other troops to cooperate with the operation in Fuyan Road.
But everyone knows that this is empty talk.
After the Song army occupied Tiandu Mountain, the Jingyuan Road, Xihe Road, and Huanqing Road could arrive at any time to join forces, but the troops from Fuyan Road were inconvenient to move except for the Hedong Road, which could help a little. Even if the rescue troops arrived, the war would be over soon. Moreover, this was an external battle.
In fact, this has returned to a situation where the general is trying to challenge the Dangxiang country.
July.
Xu Xi, Li Shunju, Qu Zhen and more than ten other Han generals led an army of 80,000 divided into the front, middle and rear armies to Yongle City to build the city. They were accompanied by 160,000 laborers, totaling 250,000 to 260,000 troops.
When the first shovel of loess broke through the loess of Yongle City.
Standing on the mountain, Xu Xi looked at the baggage train winding like a snake in the Mizhi River, and the turbid water of the Wuding River rushing with mud and sand.
The strong wind from the northwest blew sand and gravel, and the outline of the mountains in the distance looked like a dormant beast.