bookrandom Chapter 1200 Tong'an City
Chapter 1200 Tong'an City
Chapter 1200 Tong'an City
Ever since learning the news of the capture of Renduoquan City, Zhang Yue's frown has not relaxed at all.
It was not because of Aligu, but because he secretly communicated with the Tanguts and took advantage of them. He did not dare to turn against the Song Dynasty yet, but he attacked the Song Dynasty's ally, Qingtang Lord Dong Zhen, and repeatedly persuaded his subordinates to invade the land south of Qinghai.
This time I got the chance to clean it up.
In the curtain room of the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Su Che said: "When we were attacking Renduoquan City, Wang Hou, the governor of Xihe Road, sent troops from Lanzhou to recapture Jincheng Pass, which gave our army a foothold north of the Yellow River."
Chen Guan said: "Prime Minister, it seems that Renduo Yading has no long-term plans. The reason why he has not taken any action so far is obviously that he is powerless."
Zhang Yue nodded slightly, not knowing whether he agreed or disagreed with Chen Guan.
Su Che said, "Prime Minister, when will the troops be dispatched to Liang Province? I think your Majesty and the ministers are getting impatient."
Zhang Yue looked at the northwest map in front of him and fell into deep thought.
Zhang Yue recalled an example he gave when he was talking to the emperor about the Bayesian formula.
There are twenty balls in a bucket, and no one knows what color they are, so they are taken out four at a time, and then based on the colors of the balls that have been taken out, they gradually approach the correct conclusion.
But there is a question here, which is how long you will do it.
If time is infinite, you can definitely achieve your goal, but the problem is that there is an efficiency issue involved here.
For example, with the goal of attacking Liangzhou, he successively captured Gugulong City and Renduoquan City, which were all steps towards his goal, just like taking a ball from a bucket.
The last step is to draw a conclusion, which is the step of attacking Liangzhou.
What are the chances of success in attacking Liangzhou now?
Chen Guan looked at Zhang Yue's expression and asked tentatively, "Prime Minister, can you capture one or two more cities to test the strength of the Dangxiang?"
In fact, what Chen Guan said was exactly what Zhang Yue meant.
But it's like the author writes a big plot, but keeps talking about other things, and the readers lose their patience. It's the same in the court. You, Zhang Yue, have been calling for the attack on Liangzhou since last year, but it has not been fulfilled. How long do you want to wait?
Zhang Yue said: "Everyone in the court, from the emperor down, is eagerly waiting for my attack on Liangzhou. If we delay any further, I'm afraid their patience will be limited."
"Besides, the Liao Kingdom will intervene sooner or later. According to the rebel Ren Duo Chu Qing, the leader of the Tangut Kingdom, Li Bingchang, has already sent envoys to the Liao Kingdom twice to ask for reinforcements. It seems that we can't wait any longer."
Zhang Yue paused and continued, "For the Tanguts' military campaign, all matters in the court had to be compromised. After I collected all the profits from the salt notes, it was convenient for merchants and civilians, but how should the court and the localities divide the salt profits? All the localities were asking the court for money, as if without this money, the local income would be difficult to sustain. At first, I also wanted to distribute more of the salt profits to the localities, but after each place reported it, I found that it was far from enough."
Chen Guandao said: "Local governments all want to gain more for themselves. Some of them really want it, and some of them pretend to want it. In short, they are all afraid of being at a disadvantage."
"When the salt profits were distributed, everyone had enough to eat. Now that we have to ask the central government for money, everyone has become a beggar and can only cry poor."
Su Che said: "This is also due to the accumulated problems. The lower-level officials are all in office for a short term, a few months at the shortest, and two or three years at the longest. There is no intention to stay in office for a long time. No matter how much money is spent, there is no room for the next generation to think."
"I've been in office for so many years, and I've only seen people under budget go short of the budget, but never over budget. They all spend until all the money is gone."
"I'm just afraid that if you save more money, the court will know that you have a surplus and allocate less next year. I think of what Wang Jiefu said back then, that officials should stay in office for a long time, which can be said to be foresighted."
After hearing Su Che's words, Zhang Yue thought that it was rare for him to have such a change of attitude towards Wang Anshi.
Indeed, reforms are all done out of necessity. Now the situation has become so serious that we have no choice but to do so.
How do the central and local governments share the profits from salt?
Cai Jing in another time and space just refused to give it and was finally criticized.
Cai Jing was not stupid. He gave all the money he collected to Song Huizong, and took on the infamy of all officials in exchange for the emperor's favor. He blatantly bribed the emperor with money, but if you think about it carefully, this deal is actually worthwhile.
Zhang Yue recalled that after Song Huizong received the money, he said to Cai Jing complacently, "This is the extra money given to me by the Grand Tutor."
But Zhang Yue planned to use all the money from the salt profits to attack Liangzhou.
However, if he failed to capture Liangzhou, even if he dealt with three more Li Dings, he would not be able to suppress the anger. Therefore, he had to capture Liangzhou and put all the real money into practice, so that he could truly establish his authority.
Now, I have saved enough money to attack Liangzhou. I have more than enough to conquer three Liangzhous.
Zhang Yue said: "At this point, I will tell you the truth. In fact, my most important thing is not to conquer Liangzhou and eliminate the Tanguts. For me, opening up the Hexi Corridor and reopening the Silk Road is the most important thing."
"Only after we have completed this step can our trade profits continue to flow."
After hearing what Zhang Yue said, Su Zhe and Chen Guan kept silent. If this word got out, Zhang Yue would definitely piss the emperor off to death.
"Yes, it is very important to restore the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties. However, compared with the miserable life of the people in the late period of Emperor Wu of Han and the An-Shi Rebellion after Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the price was actually very high. I would rather let every citizen of the Song Dynasty live a good life."
"But we still have to get things done. I'm afraid there won't be much money left this year. All the salt profits from the imperial court this year will be used to conquer Liangzhou. I'm afraid there won't be much for the local governments to share. We need to owe them some money."
Su Zhe and Chen Guan looked at each other and realized that Zhang Yue was really planning to not pay.
When the officers of various military provinces and regions find out about this, they will probably burst into curse words.
As they were talking, Peng Jingyi came in and said, "The Prime Minister has an urgent report from the Central Government. The Tanguts have sent 500,000 troops to attack Fuyan Road!"
Su Che and Chen Guan were both surprised.
Chen Guan said: "Prime Minister, the Tanguts finally sent out their troops, but they went to Fuyan Road instead of Xihe Road. This is really unexpected."
After Chen Guan finished speaking, he saw that Zhang Yue's tightly furrowed brows had finally relaxed, revealing an expression of relief.
Chen Guan suddenly realized that the reason why Zhang Yue was so slow to act was because he was worried that the Dangxiang would not respond. Now that he had the news, it was the best news. Thinking about it carefully, it made sense. Now that the Song army's heavy troops were all in Xihe Road, it was reasonable for the Dangxiang not to attack Xihe Road.
Su Che said: "Instead of responding to us in Liang Province, they sent troops to Fuyan Road. This means you fight your battles and I fight mine."
Zhang Yue got up and went back to his bedroom, saying to the two of them, "No matter how the battle in Fuyan Road goes, I only want Liangzhou!"
Chen Guan and Su Che watched Zhang Yue's back. Chen Guan said to Su Che, "Prime Minister, this is a good idea. It would be unwise to withdraw troops to attack Liangzhou at this time."
"But I think Fuyan Road can be lost, but the dispute between two countries is not about the gain or loss of a city or a place, which is really difficult."
Su Che said: "A deer rose up on my left but I didn't blink; Mount Tai collapsed in front of me but I didn't change my expression."
……
As the Dangxiang invaded the Song Dynasty, the peace between the two countries that had lasted less than a year was completely shattered.
Li Bingchang, Liang Yibu, and Weiming Amai personally led the troops, gathered 500,000 soldiers from west to east, and headed straight for Fuyan Road.
Now the governor of Fuyan Road is Zhong Shidao. This is inseparable from Zhang Yue's promotion and nepotism over the years.
When Zhong Shidao heard that the enemy was coming, he organized his troops into 22 armies with the help of 20,000 soldiers from Huanqing Road. He left half of the troops in Yanzhou City and the other half outside Yanzhou City.
After the Dangxiang troops crossed Hengshan Mountain along Wuyankou, they split into three groups.
Although the Dangxiang had 500,000 soldiers and horses, their elite troops were only more than 100,000.
The eastern route monitored and threatened Qingjian City, while the central route was led by Weiming Amai to surround Saimen Village, Long'an Village and Jinming Village.
The western route was the main force of the Dangxiang troops, led by Li Bingchang himself. In one day, they passed through Shunning Village and Anyuan Village and arrived at a place fifty miles outside Yanzhou City.
The Dangxiang's intention was obvious: to wipe out the Fuyan Road in one fell swoop and destroy the Song army's vitality.
However, upon learning that the Song army had not left any troops to defend the city, in order to deal with the eleven armies of the Song army outside the city, Li Bingchang ordered his men to build eleven forts around Yanzhou to deal with the eleven armies of the Song army.
Afterwards, the Dangxiang surrounded and besieged the city of Yanzhou.
Zhong Shidao personally took charge of Yanzhou City and led his troops to repel several attacks by the Dangxiang army within five days.
At this time, the Song army reinforcements from Yongxingjun Road and Jingyuan Road had arrived. Li Bingchang was forced to withdraw the siege and then turned to besiege Jinmingzhai.
After two days of siege, Jinmingzhai fell. Li Bingchang led his troops to retreat, and Zhong Shidao led his troops to pursue and kill thousands of enemies.
The Dangxiang sent out 500,000 troops, but they only managed to capture Jinming Village. They had no intention of forcing the Song army to transfer troops from the western front to provide support. Although they won the battle, they also lost it.
……
While the battle on Fuyan Road was in full swing, in the direction of Xihe Road, Miao Lu, the son of Miao Su, and Wang Shan left Renduoquan City and attacked Tong'an City (now Huzhu County, Qinghai).
Tong'an City is located to the west of Renduoquan City. Like Renduoquan City and Gugulong City, it is surrounded by Liangzhou.
The three cities are all located outside Liangzhou City, guarding the defense line in the south of Liangzhou.
In another time and space, Tong Guan forced Liu Fa, a famous general of the Song army, to attack Tong'an City. Liu Fa had no choice but to lead his troops to attack, but was defeated in Tong'an City.
In this battle, almost all the elite troops of the Song army were wiped out, and together with the auxiliary troops, nearly 100,000 soldiers were killed in the battle. Liu Fa himself was killed by a miscellaneous soldier of the Dangxiang army and his head was cut off.
After this battle, the wisdom of Liu Fayi, a famous general, was completely destroyed, and Tong Guan concealed the military intelligence by turning defeat into victory.
The Battle of Tongwan City was also the last battle between the Song Dynasty and the Dangxiang. The Northern Song Dynasty stayed here forever, staying at the last step of recovering Liangzhou City.
Liu Fa's son and Miao Lu's son both participated in the Miao-Liu Rebellion in the Southern Song Dynasty. Later historical books were reluctant to give their fathers the names, and their deeds were buried.
Now Miao Lu and Wang Shan, two generals, have also arrived here with their troops.
This Tong'an City is also known as the Niu-Ge City, and it was operated by the Dangxiang people for a long time.
After the two arrived, they were not in a hurry. On the one hand, they stationed troops under the city to invite a fight, and on the other hand, they sent troops to clear out the foreign tribes outside the city.
Anyway, the main force of the Dangxiang troops had been taken away by Li Bingchang, and Renduoyading had just been defeated. The Dangxiang were simply unable to rescue the isolated city of Tong'an.