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Cai Jing and Tong Guan are like a pair of happy enemies, to paraphrase a word in later generations: love and kill each other.

Tong Guan's background is not good (he can't be a eunuch), although he later became an apprentice of the famous military eunuch Li Xian during the Shenzong period by chance, but Li Xian actually did not pave any way for Tong Guan.

Of course, because of Li Xian's relationship, Tong Guan knows the northwest region very well, which is also one of the reasons why he was able to soar in the future.

The reason why Tong Guan was able to stand out from a bunch of ordinary eunuchs was because he got acquainted with Cai Jing.

That year, that is, in the autumn of the first year of the Yasukuni Dynasty in Jianzhong, the forty-eight-year-old Tong Guan came to Hangzhou as an official of the inner court, presided over the Mingjin Bureau, and collected calligraphy and paintings scattered among the people for Zhao Ji.

Cai Jing, on the other hand, was impeached by the Minister of Taiwan, was expelled from the imperial court by Zeng Bu, and lived in Hangzhou.

In Hangzhou, Cai Jing began to interact with Tong Guan.

In addition to being a famous politician, Cai Jing was also a famous calligrapher, and he was recognized as a great talent in the Manchu Dynasty when he served as a scholar of Hanlin at the beginning of Zhao Ji's accession to the throne.

Hearing that Tong Guan, who had the opportunity to meet Zhao Ji, came to Hangzhou, Cai Jing immediately went to visit.

The two hit it off at first sight and have been close friends ever since.

Cai Jing's cultural literacy is indeed superior, he helped Tong Guan to make suggestions, help Tong Guan collect and identify calligraphy and paintings, Tong Guan has repeatedly been rewarded by Zhao Ji, especially Cai Jing helped Tong Guan collect the Southern Tang Dynasty Zhou Wenju's "Heavy Screen Chess Diagram" painting, so that Zhao Ji as the world's treasure, can't put it down.

Tong Guan was very grateful to Cai Jing, and in return for Cai Jing, Tong Guan often presented some of Cai Jing's calligraphy masterpieces to Zhao Ji and said some good things for Cai Jing.

Soon, the political situation of the imperial court changed, and Cai Jingshan returned to the political arena again.

Soon after, Cai Jing defeated Han Zhongyan and Zeng Bu and became the prime minister who monopolized power.

At this time, the Qingtangqiang regime was in turmoil, and Cai Jing felt that this was a good opportunity to actively expand the border, so he suggested to Zhao Ji to take the opportunity to send troops to the west to recover the Qingtangqiang and restore the northwest homeland.

At that time, Cai Bian's father, Cai Bian, was in the Privy Council, and Zhao Ji asked Cai Bian: "Can Shanzhou and Huangzhou be restored?" ”

Cai Bian thought it was okay and recommended Wang Hou, the son of Wang Shao, as a general.

Cai Jing strongly recommended Tong Guan to serve as the supervisor of the army, on the grounds that Tong Guan had followed the supervisor Li Xian to the Northwest Front more than ten times during the Song Dynasty Shenzong, and had a relatively comprehensive understanding of the mountains and rivers in the border areas and the talents and characteristics of the generals of the Northwest Army.

To be fair, Cai Jing's recommendation of Tong Guan has both public and selfish intentions.

From a public point of view, the reason for Cai Jing's recommendation is valid and in line with the actual situation, and Tong Guan is indeed very suitable to serve as a supervisor.

From a selfish point of view, Cai Jing is also a child.

Going to the Northwest Front to serve as a prison soldier was a major turning point in Tong Guan's life.

Since then, Tong Guan has finally embarked on the road of soaring.

In April of the second year of Chongning, Tong Guan left Tokyo with the title of official official in this road and came to Xizhou (later Lintao, Gansu).

At the beginning of June, Wang Hou followed in the footsteps of his father Wang Shao and Tong Guan in the footsteps of his master Li Xian, and they personally led the army to set off - their goal this time was to recover Huangzhou.

The Song army marched towards Huangzhou in two ways, and encountered constant resistance from the Qiang army along the way, but the army was invincible.

After the troops approached the city of Huangzhou, Wang Hou and Tong Guan ordered the two armies to attack together, demanding to take Huangzhou in one go.

After a fierce battle day and night, at dawn, the army advanced into the city.

Soon, the area of Huangzhou was about 1,500 li, the population was about more than 100,000, and there were about a dozen walled cities, all of which were under the control of the Song army.

Zhao Ji was overjoyed when he heard the news, rewarded hundreds of officials, and Tong Guan was also promoted to the envoy of the imperial city.

In March of the third year of Chongning, Tong Guan and Wang Hou launched the campaign to recover the Qingtang Dynasty, and they led an army of 100,000 to set off from Xizhou, and the troops were divided into three routes to continue the westward expedition.

The Song army engaged in a fierce battle with the Qiang army near Zongge City (later known as Ping'an, Qinghai), and the Qiang army was defeated.

The Song army captured Zongge City and advanced with victory, heading straight for the city of Shanzhou.

The lord of the kingdom, Xi Rosa fled alone, and his mother, Princess Qiuzi, and other great chiefs opened the city gate and surrendered.

When the news was transmitted back to Beijing, the whole country rejoiced, the government and the opposition were sensational, and Tong Guan and Wang Houwei became famous.

The imperial court decreed that Shanzhou should be changed to Xining, taking the meaning of peace in the west.

Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, the Qingtang region, which had fallen into the hands of Tibet for three hundred years, was finally recovered by the Song Dynasty.

The border area was more than 3,000 miles, more than 2,700 generals were recruited, and more than 700,000 households were registered, and the border of the Song Dynasty crossed Qinghai to the west to the border of Qiuci.

In this process, there was one thing that made Tong Guan famous in the army.

It happened on the march of the Western Expedition to Qingtang.

One day, when the army marched to Huangchuan, Tong Guan suddenly received an edict from Zhao Ji from the fast horse, ordering him to return to the division, the cause was a fire in Taiyi Palace, and Zhao Ji was worried that it would be unfavorable to leave the division.

After Tong Guan saw it, he quietly folded the edict and stuffed it into his boots.

Wang Hou asked, "What is the will of the officials?" ”

Tong Guan smiled and replied, "The official family urges us to succeed quickly."

After occupying Qingtang City, at the celebration banquet, Tong Guan slowly took out the imperial pen edict and showed it to the generals.

Wang Hou was shocked when he saw it, and said, "What if this dispatch fails?" ”

Tong Guan smiled slightly and said, "I have calculated it, and I will definitely win a big victory." In case of failure, of course, I Tong Guan alone will bear the responsibility, and it has nothing to do with you. ”

For Tong Guan's courage and mind, all the generals sighed and admired.

Tong Guan resisted the decree, not only was not blamed by Zhao Ji, but was deeply appreciated, and made an exception to promote Tong Guan to the envoy of Jingfu Palace and the observer of Xiangzhou.

This incident not only allowed Tong Guan to establish an image in the army, but also established an image in Zhao Ji's heart.

Two years later, Wang Hou died of illness.

Since then, the military situation in the northwest frontier of the Song Dynasty has mainly relied on Tong Guan to support.

Tong Guan also became an indispensable and irreplaceable military pillar of the Northern Song Dynasty.

The reason why Tong Guan has a high prestige in the Northwest Army is that in addition to the position factor, there are two other important points:

First, Tong Guan was willing to spend money, and the pensions he gave to the fallen soldiers were very generous.

The second is that Tong Guan attaches great importance to affection, he accepts the sons of fallen generals as his righteous sons, provides them with food, clothing, shelter and transportation, allows them to receive a good education, and arranges suitable jobs.

In addition, Tong Guan is also very willing to pave the way for himself - he has a very bold personality, is very measured, can fight righteousness and squander wealth, and is generous, whether it is a harem concubine, a palace maid eunuch, or a Taoist minister, he can get benefits from him, and he is never stingy.

What's more, Tong Guan is meticulous, very insightful, and very good at figuring out Zhao Ji's interests and intentions, so he can always get to the point when he does things, which makes Zhao Ji very satisfied with him.

Slowly, Tong Guan's wings gradually plumped.

Four years ago, Western Xia provoked another incident, and Zhao Ji decided to crack down.

Tong Guan ordered to come to the Northwest Front and immediately make arrangements to launch a counterattack against Western Xia.

Xihe Jinglu made Liu Fa lead 150,000 cavalry out of Huangzhou, Qin Feng Jinglu made Liu Zhongwu lead 50,000 infantry out of Huizhou, and Tong Guanqin led the Chinese army to Lanzhou to respond to the two armies.

Liu Zhongwu went to the Qingshui River to build a city and left troops to defend it.

Liu Fa fought a fierce battle with the Xia army in the Ancient Bone Dragon, beheaded the enemy at the first 3,000 levels, and won a complete victory.

The arrogance of Western Xia was beaten down.

Zhao Ji was overjoyed, and then issued an edict, appointing Tong Guan to lead the Song Dynasty's northwest frontier of Huanqing, Qinfeng, Jingyuan, Hexi, Yongxing, Yanqing and other six routes to pacify the envoys, unified command of the northwest frontier army, waiting for the opportunity to destroy the Western Xia, recover the homeland.

The pacification envoy was first set up in Shaanxi because of the need to fight against the Western Xia, and he was a commander of the military region at the road level.

Zhao Ji appointed Tong Guan as the chief of the six military regions in the northwest with the aim of improving the army's ability to coordinate operations so as to grasp the initiative in the war, and at the same time, it also reflected a high degree of trust in Tong Guan.

Since then, the elite divisions of the entire northwest region of the Song Dynasty have been under the control of Tong Guan.

Tong Guan also began to get rid of Cai Jing's control over him.

Tong Guan began to be arrogant, and the selection of military and political generals and officials in the northwest completely ignored the imperial court, bypassed Cai Jing, and directly played Zhao Ji.

This not only hurt Cai Jing's self-esteem, but also undermined the system of the imperial court, which caused Cai Jing to be extremely dissatisfied, and the relationship between the two began to crack.

Later, Zhao Jinian and Tong Guan made outstanding achievements in the northwest to open the border, and issued an edict to award Tong Guan Kaifu Yi and the three divisions.

Kaifu Yi Tong Sansi is an honorary official title that shows the emperor's grace and high social status.

Cai Jing resolutely opposed and refused to carry out this edict, and he said angrily: "Tong Guan is a eunuch, and it is a bit too much to let him serve as the envoy of the festival, how can he be granted the envoy again?" ”

Tong Guan was also very angry when he heard about this, he secretly contacted the ministers such as Cheng Shi Gongbi in the Imperial History, Zhang Kegong and other ministers in the imperial history to impeach Cai Jing, and then he encouraged Guo Tianxin to enter the palace and said to Zhao Ji: "There is a sunspot in the sun, and the Lord is repulsing the minister, otherwise it is unknown." ”

Cai Jing resigned because of this.

Later, Tong Guan, who wanted to make greater contributions, came up with the idea of recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun.

But He Zhizhong and Zhang Shangying, who replaced Cai Jing to preside over the government at that time, were all useless in Tong Guan's eyes - Tong Guan believed that whether it was Zhang Shangying, Zheng Juzhong and He Zhizhong, they were far worse than Cai Jing, Cai Jing was bold and decisive, as long as he saw the right things, he would dare to act resolutely and without flinching.

Tong Guan thought: "If you want to start a war against the Liao State in the north, it will never work without a strong imperial court as a backing. ”

So, Tong Guan secretly helped Cai Jing to regain his appearance, and he said to Zhao Ji: "When the minister went to Liao, the lord of Liao said to the minister that the Southern Dynasty did not use Cai Jing and could not cause peace. ”

Soon, Cai Jing regained his phase.

Although Tong Guan caused Cai Jing to lose his phase, he helped Cai Jing recover his phase, which seems to be two tops.

But that's not how the account is calculated, this time Cai Jing has left the court for three years, which is definitely a heavy blow to the Cai family.

What's more important is that Tong Guan's overturn made Cai Jing, who was already a very popular minister, lose his phase, and his overhand made Cai Jing, who was demoted to the end, regain his ability to phase, which made the Cai family deeply jealous.

Moreover, Cai Jing has three ups and downs, and then Tong Guan has always been at the peak of the power of the Northern Song Dynasty, which cannot but make the Cai family think.

In this regard, the Cai family has actually made a conclusion, that is, Zhao Ji is inseparable from Tong Guan, who controls the most elite army of the Northern Song Dynasty, so Tong Guan can be like this.

This also made the Cai family think of meddling in the army.

But the Central Forbidden Army was firmly controlled by Zhao Ji's absolute confidant Gao Yu, the Northwest Forbidden Army was firmly controlled by Tong Guan, and the Hebei Forbidden Army is now in name only, and there are only some township troops in the name of the Hebei Forbidden Army, and the Cai family has no chance to meddle in the army at all.

What's more critical is that the Cai family, who are heirlooms of poetry and books, has never been in contact with the army, so there is never a suitable candidate for development in the army.

Therefore, the development of the Cai family to the military was shelved.

Now, Cai still took the initiative to ask for help, which made Cai Chong's heart move.

But—

Cai Cheng quickly shook his head and said: "The army is not comparable to the place, it's not that we can find an official position for the sixth brother, and the sixth brother can control the army, not to mention, how old is the sixth brother, seventeen years old, at such an age, at best, he can be a middle-level officer in the army, not to mention the old horseman who pinned down Tong Guan, he is the sole leader of the army, I'm afraid he can't do it." ”

In the Ming Dynasty novel "Water Margin", Tong Guan is an incompetent straw bag image, he led hundreds of thousands of troops to conquer Liangshanbo, but was ambushed by the heroes of Liangshan, was beaten to lose his armor, and fled back to Beijing alone.

But the real Tong Guan is not like this, he led the army to attack Tubo, attacked the Western Xia, and made outstanding achievements in the northwest.

In Cai Zhen's opinion, such a child is by no means something that Cai Yi, a yellow-mouthed boy, can shake.

Cai Qian said leisurely: "You can't just look at the eyes, my father is seventy-two this year, that is, Tong Guan's old puppet is sixty-five this year, how many years can they be in charge of the Great Song Dynasty?" Five years, ten years, fifteen years? And we are still young, and Cai Yin, Cai Shu, and Cai Tong are younger. ”

Cai Yi completely understood what Cai Qian meant this time, and he said, "So...... It is also a good choice to let the sixth brother go to the army for development. ”

Cai Qian said: "Our Cai family already has eleven bachelors (Cai Jing's six sons and five grandsons are all bachelors), and there is no shortage of civil officials, but he is the only one who can go to the battlefield like the sixth brother." ”

Cai Yi understood what Cai Qian meant, and they should envelop Cai Ying.

Cai Zhen, who has become a second-grade Dayuan, is not the kind of person who is indecisive, he groaned a little, and said, "Where does the sixth brother want to go?" ”

Cai Qian said: "He said, he doesn't pick, the Northwest, Hebei, the Central Forbidden Army, even the township army can be." ”

Cai Yi frowned and said, "This is too child's play, isn't it?" ”

Cai Qian said: "I haven't finished speaking, the sixth brother still has three conditions. ”

Cai Yi was slightly surprised: "He still has conditions?" What conditions? ”

Cai Qian said: "The first condition, he wants to lead an army alone. ”

Cai Zhen said: "This is not difficult. ”

Cai Qian said again: "The second condition, he wants to build this army by himself." ”

Cai Zhen said: "Build it yourself? What does he mean by that? ”

Cai Qian said: "He said: The Northwest Forbidden Army is now completely controlled by Tong Guan, the old horseman, and he went there to lead an army, and he was also designated to be overtaken by Tong Guan." And the Hebei Forbidden Army, because it has not fought for many years, is now only a group of people who are eating and waiting to die, which is useless. As for the Central Forbidden Army, their skills in cultivating gardens are a hundred times stronger than their ability to fight wars. Therefore, if our Cai family wants to control an army, and if we want this army to obey our Cai family, we can only start from scratch. ”

Cai Yi listened, sighed, and then said: "The sixth brother knows a lot about things in the army...... Okay, I'll go and discuss with my eldest brother about this, the official family has recently intended to let him serve as a privy deputy, and it shouldn't be a rejection of his request to build an army. ”

Cai Qian opened his mouth and wanted to say: "How can he be virtuous, he can also serve as a privy deputy envoy, if the official family lets him hold this position, sooner or later he will be mistaken for the country." ”

But when the words came to his mouth, Cai Qian swallowed the words back, and then changed his words: "Third, the sixth brother hopes that we can give him more opportunities to fight, he said, strong armies are all fought, not trained." ”

Cai Yi listened and said, "The sixth brother's ambition is not small. ”

Cai Qian said: "He is only seventeen years old, how can he not have any ambition?" ”

Cai Yi thought about it for a while, and then said, "You let him prepare, I will arrange his affairs as soon as possible." ”

……