bookrandom Chapter 1078 Three Brothers
Chapter 1078 Three Brothers
Chapter 1078 Two Brothers
Tong Guan talked with Renda Baozhong for a whole day.
Ren Duoya Ding seemed to be listening intentionally or unintentionally.
That night, Renduo Baozhong said to Renduo Yading, "The Song emperor's offer is very sincere. Not only did he give us the post of Jiedushi, but he also gave all of us in Renduo a Song official position. He also offered a large sum of money to recruit my father and me, and promised us that we could keep our old land and be our own tribe."
His younger brother Renduo Xizhong said, "Why not surrender to the Song Dynasty? No matter how you look at it now, the Song Dynasty is more powerful. In the past few years, Gui Zhang was killed, Aligu was captured, and even Wen Xixin surrendered. I'm afraid it will be our turn next."
Renduo Baozhong nodded and said, "This Tong Guan really knows Qingtang very well. Just as he said, the Liang family controls the six armies of the left wing and is suspicious of our Renduo clan. Once the Song Xihe Road troops, Qingtang, and the Uighurs attack together, I'm afraid we will be unable to resist."
Renduo Yading said: "The Liang family is powerful, but for a big family like our Renduo family, there is nothing they can do. They can only give me power and allow me to manage the troops."
"No matter how powerful the Liang family is, they will not be so shortsighted as to swallow us up. Instead, they will make use of us."
Nita Baozhong asked, "Could it be that father still cannot let go of the position of the commander-in-chief of the two armies?"
Renduo Yading said: "Yes, our Renduo tribe and half of the other tribes have always valued noble races and attached themselves to powerful countries."
"For so many years, we have been in the land of Qingtang Dangxiang Outuo. Qingtang is a noble race, and Dangxiang is a powerful country. We borrowed the power of Dangxiang to lead many tribes near Liangzhou. But if my Renduo tribe is to surrender to Song alone, how many tribes will respond?"
"Those who follow Song are just ordinary people, but those who follow Dangxiang have the power they have today. What would you choose?"
Renduo Xizhong was silent. The Renduo tribe originated from Qingtang, while the two military supervisors had mostly soldiers from the Dangxiang and Uighur tribes. Once they rebelled against Xia, not many tribes would respond.
Ren Duo Baozhong pondered for a moment and said, "But what if the Liang family knew about our contact with the Song envoy in Liangzhou City?"
Renduo Yading said, "Today I see that Song envoy Tong Guan is smart and capable. He will be a strong enemy in the future. You send people to pretend to be thieves to rob and kill Tong Guan, and present his head to the Queen Mother. In this way, not only will the court not say anything, but they will also praise our Renduo tribe for our loyalty."
Nita Baozhong nodded and said, "I'll arrange it right away."
However, when Wen Nezhi was giving a farewell party to the Song envoy the next day, he told Renduo and his son Tong Guan that they had returned to Qingtang City overnight.
Ren Duo Baozhong was shocked and angry when he heard this. He failed to kill Tong Guan, and instead he let him see his true strength.
After Tong Guan returned to Qingtang, he immediately submitted a memorial to the government, saying that the most cunning and ferocious among the western bandits was only Ren Duoya Ding.
In addition, if anyone in the army who is good at painting can draw the portraits of Renduo Yading and his son Renduo Baozhong, they can give them to the border generals. When they encounter these two people, they can recruit brave men to kill them or capture them alive.
After receiving Tong Guan's memorial, the emperor was overjoyed and thought that Tong Guan had improved his skills after following Zhang Yue for several years.
May of the second year of Yuanfeng.
Tong Guan, Miao Lu, and other Qingtang tribes led by Wen Xixin sent troops from Qingtang to attack Renduoquan City and Liangzhou City respectively.
Renduoyading personally faced the Song army.
Wang Hou, Li Hao, Miao Shou, Zhao Sizhong, Bao Shun and other generals led more than 100,000 Han and foreign soldiers and laborers to besiege Lanzhou City and Sazongpu City, while Li Xian stayed in Xizhou City.
Since the loss of Huizhou and part of Lanzhou, Western Xia has focused on the management of Lanzhou City on the south bank of the Yellow River.
Originally, Lanzhou was only 600 steps from east to west and only 300 steps from north to south, so it was not a big city.
However, Renduoyading knew that the Song army would definitely capture Lanzhou City before he dared to go north to attack Liang, so he reinforced and expanded Lanzhou City, built many castles around it, and built a floating bridge on the north bank of the Yellow River, with forts set up at both ends of the bridge and stationed troops.
Jincheng Pass was also rebuilt last year.
As soon as the Song army attacked Lanzhou, reinforcements and food supplies from Western Xia were continuously sent to Lanzhou.
Wang Hou knew that Lanzhou could not be taken in one battle, so he immediately led an army of more than 100,000 to surround Lanzhou on three sides. He cut down trees on all sides to build siege equipment, built high-platform artillery vehicles, and attacked the city with firearms.
Renduo Baozhong personally commanded the troops north of Lanzhou.
The two armies fought fiercely.
In June, Zhong Yan personally led the vanguard of Fuyan Road's main troops, totaling 39,000 people, out of Suide City and advanced in a square formation.
Gao Zunyu led an army of more than 60,000 and 200,000 civilian laborers and marched slowly behind.
In the direction of Jingyuan Road, Shen Kuo, Zhong Shidao, and Liu Changzuo, while in the direction of Huizhou of Xihe Road, Zhang Zhi led his own troops of more than 20,000 to attack the Tiandu Mountain line.
The three armies set out at the same time as scheduled.
However, when the news reached Bian Jing, the Song army had not made any progress after nearly a month of fierce fighting in Lanzhou, Liangzhou and Renduoquancheng.
This made the emperor very anxious, and he repeatedly sent Cai Bian to Zhang's house to inquire.
Previously, the emperor had sent imperial physicians to Zhang Yue's house to inquire about his condition and to find out whether he would return to the court. However, this time, Zhang Yue actually caught a cold and became really sick.
Zhang Gen is still in class these days, and Zhang Cheng is accompanying him at home.
Zhang Cheng was not as well-read as Zhang Gen, but he was very considerate of his parents. Knowing that Zhang Yue was in a bad mood recently, he talked to him.
Last time, this boy made a feather fan. Zhang Yue asked him what he meant.
Zhang Chengdao said that he hoped he could assist the country like Zhuge Wuhou.
Zhang Yue was deeply moved when he heard this. He named Zhang Cheng "Cheng" in memory of Zhuge Liang.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Cheng made a feather fan to motivate himself. However, Zhang Cheng was more like Zhuge Liang than himself, so Zhang Yue felt a little ashamed.
He remembered that there was another person in history who often compared himself to Zhuge Liang, and that was Zuo Zongtang.
Zuo Zongtang was very conceited and often referred to himself as "Jin Liang" and "Lao Liang". He once had a couplet "There were two Simas in the Western Han Dynasty in terms of literature, and one Sleeping Dragon in Nanyang in terms of economy".
In addition to Zuo Zongtang's most famous couplet "Make the best wishes, make average connections, and enjoy the lowest blessings".
Zhang Yue's favorite is the poem written by Zuo Zongtang when he was young and went to Beijing to take the imperial examination and passed by the Dongting Lake Temple: "The long journey is three thousand miles, and I am originally a passer-by; the management of eight hundred lakes, you are also a scholar."
There is a bamboo room next to Zhang Yue's study.
The study was used for reading, handling government affairs, and receiving confidants, while the bamboo room was for his own use and no one else was allowed to enter. It was used exclusively for viewing maps of the five routes of Shaanxi and military reports.
He also didn't want his intention to monitor the troops to be known to most people.
As a prime minister, his words and deeds are of concern to many people. After all, in the eyes of most people, Zhang Yue is a prime minister who should be peaceful and gracious, and should educate the nations with virtue, and should not have the idea of raising troops and loving war.
Looking at Xingqing Prefecture of Western Xia on the map, this was the purpose of the attack on Xia. Five hundred years later, this place was named Ningxia. It was one of the three major expeditions of Wanli. It had long been a frontier of the country but was recovered due to rebellion.
Five hundred years later, Ningxia changed from a frontier area to an inland area.
think carefully.
The martial spirit of the Han people is ingrained in their bones. The big rooster is not a gift for recharging. Although it has been wronged in modern times, the territory will not lie.
Generation after generation of pioneers, we can still recall Zuo Zongtang carrying his coffin to the battlefield when he recovered Xinjiang.
Can his own achievements compare to those of Zuo Zongtang?
Yes, I have always known that life is like a journey, and everyone is just a passerby, but it is enough to accomplish a little on the journey. You see, the temple master who governs the 800-li Dongting Lake was also a scholar.
Now that Zhang Yue had just recovered from his illness, he sat in the bamboo room, lit incense, and read the military report with a feather fan in hand. It was not surprising that he saw that the offensives in Lanzhou and Liangzhou were blocked.
This time is different from the five-way attack on Xia in another time and space in history.
The Song army's Xihe Road captured Lanzhou and Huizhou in one go and broke through the Tiandu Mountain Military Supervisory Office, while Qingtang's attack on Liangzhou was unsuccessful.
At that time, Western Xia focused its attention on the other four routes, so Xihe Road was caught off guard.
This time, his business on Xihe Road has already grown to a certain scale.
After Aligu was captured and Dong Jian led Qing Tang to surrender, Western Xia had already greatly strengthened the defenses of Liangzhou and Lanzhou. They had long been on guard against your sending troops from these two routes.
Therefore, the surprise attack would not have any effect.
Compared with the five routes to attack the Xia Dynasty in history, although there was no surprise attack effect, Zhang Yue felt that as long as the Xixia troops were delayed, it would be enough. He expected that as long as the Xihe Road could delay the Xixia troops, the pressure on the Jingyuan Road and Fuyan Road would definitely be greatly reduced.
Zhang Yue stood in front of the map and used a feather fan to indicate the route of the troops.
Making decisions on the battlefield is not his strong point, and it takes more than ten days to exchange information after returning from the front line. Without the ability of an airborne radio, he has to leave it to the front-line generals to make the decision themselves.
However, since the emperor had sent someone to inquire, Cai Bian was still waiting outside the door.
I heard that the emperor was so overworked in the campaign against Xia that he fell ill a few days ago.
Zhang Yue then wrote back, saying that Lanzhou and Liangzhou were not the targets of this advance, and that it would be a joy if they could get them, and it would be no big deal if they could not. He expected that in the near future, there would be good news from the three routes.
After Zhang Yue finished writing, he walked out of the bamboo room and met Cai Bian.
Cai Bian had already been promoted to the position of Longtu Pavilion attendant, and was highly valued by the government because of his attendance at imperial lectures. This was partly because he was Wang Anshi's son-in-law, and partly because he was Wang Anshi's own staff member.
It seems that the government is really sparing no effort in undermining its own people.
"Meet Lord Jian'an!"
Cai Bian was delighted when he saw Zhang Yue.
Zhang Yue smiled and handed the letter to Cai Bian.
Cai Bian knew that Zhang Yue was giving him face, so the emperor repeatedly sent him to the prime minister's residence to ask Zhang Yue to inquire about the matter of conquering Xia.
The two exchanged a few words, and Cai Bian asked, "Does Lord Jian'an know about the recent rumors in the court?"
"What rumor?" Zhang Yue asked back lightly, shaking his feather fan.
Cai Bian hesitated.
In fact, although Zhang Yue was recuperating at home, he kept hearing some words coming from him.
For example, he first opposed the advance and then agreed to it, he was wavering and indecisive.
Whether they supported or opposed the use of military force against the Xia State, many ministers had complaints about Zhang Yue's decision.
He is now recuperating at home, and no one dares to speak directly to him, but Zhang Yue also has information channels, for example, he knows who is opposing what.
Cai Bian said: "When the First Lord attacked Wu, although Zhuge Wuhou, as the Prime Minister, was always against the attack on Wu, he also worked hard for the country."
"Why can't people in the world understand?"
When Cai Bian said this, he expressed his indignation in a restrained manner.
Zhang Yue smiled with admiration when he heard this: "Yuan Du, I was right about you!"
Thinking about the time when he was claiming to be ill, Cai Jing and Wang Gui were getting along very well, but Cai Bian came to visit him from time to time, although this was also because he was following the emperor's orders.
But the fact that Cai Bian could say these words shows how clear-sighted he is and how high his emotional intelligence is.
(End of this chapter)