Chapter 672: A New Chapter

Xu Wei has been waiting for news from Yelu Dashi these days, but he didn't expect this Khitan hero to move so quickly.

In the main hall of the Sichuan Shaanxi Xuan Disposal Division of Xingyuan Prefecture, Xu Weizheng and the officials of the department met with the envoys of the Khitan State. I heard that this group of people almost robbed the Yi Shengzhilong in the area of Renduoquan City, but fortunately the Yishengzhilong knew some Chinese, otherwise, I am afraid that it would cause a diplomatic storm.

This time it was not Xiao Duolu who came back, but a person with a serious surname "Yelu". As we all know, the upper class of the original Liao State is mainly composed of two surnames, one is the national surname Yelu, and the other is the surname Xiao. Among them, Yelu is the surname of the Khitan people, and Xiao is the surname of the Xi people. After the Xi people surrendered to the Khitan, the Liao lord "cared for his subordinates and planned to be a nation" and regarded them as his own people.

This person's name is Yelu Yuanshu, his official title is very awkward, and Xu Wei didn't remember it, anyway, he is a general under the command of Lord Liao. Yelu Yuanshu first represented Emperor Liao and forwarded a gift to Xu Wei. They are all special treasures of the Western Regions, and they will never be seen in Middle-earth.

After Xu Wei thanked him, he didn't start with Xiao Duolu, and he asked, "I don't know how the previous envoy is doing recently?" ”

"Duo Cheng Privy Counsellor asked, Xiao Duolu is not serving in the army now, I believe that Xu Shumi will see him soon." Yelu Yuanshu laughed.

This sentence attracted the attention of all the Sichuan and Shaanxi officials present, and soon? How so? Could it be that Yelu Dashi agreed to our proposal and is going to attack Western Xia? Xu Wei's heart jumped, and he asked quickly: "Last time, I asked Xiao Duolu not to convey the news of Lord Liao, I don't know ......."

"I'm here for this." Yelu Yuanshu is sè way. He paused, and the look on his face became serious. "Since Xiao Duolu did not return to the country and brought Xu Shumi's message, my lord attaches great importance to it. After a long discussion of the courtiers, it was finally decided to unite the Song Dynasty, force the Xia, attack the Jurchens, and shame the Snow Country! Welcome back to the Holy Lord, rebuild Daliao! The current Khitan people can be called "exiles", although Yelu Dashi has laid thousands of miles in the Western Regions, but the roots of the Khitan people have never been there. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Yelu Yuanshu has such a look.

As soon as these words came out, the hall was full of jubilation. In addition to the Khitan envoys, there were also Ma Kuo, Zhang Qing, Zhang Jun, and Wan Qiaoduo of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Disposal Division. These people all knew Xu Wei Lianliao's plan, and when they heard that Yelu Dashi agreed, how could they not like it? If Dashi can help open up the Hexi Corridor, not only for the Khitans, the eastern crusade and restoration of the country will become feasible; Yu Da Song and Yu Xijun all have great benefits. From now on, the good days of the Jurchens are over!

Xu Wei couldn't help but move a little, and slapped the big tuǐ: "Okay!" Liao Zhuguo is the hero of the world! Decisive moments, extraordinary courage! Honorable envoy, dare to ask when your country will move troops? ”

As soon as these words came out, those Khitan envoys all looked at each other and smiled. Xu Wei was confused, what's so funny about what I said?

Yelu Yuanshu saluted: "Here, please ask the privy minister not to blame. It's just that because of the long distance, it is difficult to inform in advance. More than two months after Xiao Duolu did not return to the court, my lord had already issued an edict to send troops. ”

The hall was dumbfounded, and the officials of the Sichuan and Shaanxi Xuanfu Disposal Department almost suspected that they had heard it wrong! Xiao Duolu did not return to China in May last year, when Wu Jue died, Ma Kuo had been to Hu Sihan's ears, and he knew that it would take half a year to get there from Shaanxi at the earliest. In other words, if Xiao Duolu does not return to Hu Sihan's ears, it is already the end of the year. Prepare for another two months, and then send troops, calculate the time, isn't it after opening the chūn? Not so long ago?

In addition to being delighted, Xu Wei was also a little surprised. At the beginning, when he did not suggest to Xiao Duolu to attack Xia and open up the Hexi Corridor, Xiao Duolu also said something like the Khitan party has always been friendly. He originally guessed that after Xiao Duolu didn't go back, Dashi would definitely hesitate again and again, but he didn't expect him to be so resolute!

Immediately after, another question appeared in his mind, since the troops had been dispatched, how was the fight going? When he asked this question, the answer was even more surprising.

"My lord takes Xiao Hulira, the king of the Southern Courtyard, as the main commander, Xiao Chara, the secretary of the Privy Council, as the deputy marshal, the tribal leader Yelu Yanshan is deployed as the capital, and the guard Yelu Tiege is the capital supervisor, and 110,000 horsemen are sent to attack Shazhou from Hamili. At present, Shazhou, Guazhou, and Suzhou have been successfully captured, and there are quite a lot of party defenders. Eyesight, our army is besieging Ganzhou, and King Xiao is sending it down, that is, to inform Xu Shumi, according to the original plan, the two armies will meet in Xiliang Mansion to discuss the follow-up. ”

Yelu Yuanshu's words were shocked.

The Khitans have already gone down to Sha, Gua, and Su Prefectures, and are besieging Ganzhou? Then the next thing is Xiliang Mansion! Jerodashi is so fast!

Just when Xu Wei was still in shock, Yelu Yuanshu asked: "When I came down, I stayed in the area of Renduoquan City, which has been recovered by the Song army, presumably Xiliang Mansion is already like a bag for the privy minister, right?" ”

Xu Wei smiled and didn't answer immediately. To be honest, he did repeatedly give orders to Xihe Shuaisi to prepare to attack Xiliang Mansion, which should have been done a long time ago. It's just that Oriyan led the army to King Qin halfway and asked him to help take care of the Central Plains. So it was delayed, and now, the Khitan army is about to hit the front, and the Western army has not yet moved.

"Well, if you go back, just go back to the commander of your army, the plan has not changed, and your two armies are still meeting in Xiliang Mansion." Xu Wei said with a smile.

"That's the best, it's not a secret, it's not difficult for our army to take Sha, Gua, and Suzhou, but Ganzhou has been attacking for many days. And Xiliang Mansion is an important party town, if the Xiliang soldiers come to help, it will be troublesome. So, please also ask Xu Shumi to ......" Yelu Yuanshu said with a smile.

Xu Weizheng said: "Don't worry, I guarantee that not a single soldier of the Xia army in Xiliang Mansion will be able to advance westward." "He's not bragging, he's not looking to save face. After capturing the two places of Renduoquan City and Jisang City, the Western Army has already posed a huge threat to Xiliang Province. However, the situation in Western Xia was there, and they were powerless to look westward, and their forces were focused on dealing with Xiao Heda. Taking Xiliang Mansion is not a difficult task for Yao Pingzhong's Xihe army.

Seeing that he was so confident, Yelu Yuanshu was also relieved. Although, the Khitans did not have a good impression of the Southern Dynasties, and even less of the Song army. However, several envoys were sent to Shaanxi, and they often received news through party members, and what they heard and saw proved that the Western Army was not what it used to be. An important reason why the emperor made up his mind to abandon the party and unite with the Southern Dynasty was that he knew that the Western Army would recover all of Shaanxi in one fell swoop and drive the Jin Army across the Yellow River. Of course, later, the Western Army even returned to the Western Xia affairs, which made the emperor even more impressed.

After talking for a while, Yelu Yuanshu changed his words and mentioned something.

"Xu Shumi, Song Liao used to be a country of brothers, and this time they joined forces again, always through the privy council. What my lord means, this time I came, one is to pay a visit to the minister, and the other is to see if it is convenient to go to Jiangnan? ”

As he said, all along, the Great Song Dynasty and the Khitan have been in contact through Shaanxi. So much so that Yelu Dashi was suspicious, the affairs between Song and Liao, did the governor of Shaanxi say it? Don't have to go through Emperor Song? Last time, Xiao Duolu didn't come, and he asked about it vaguely, and learned that it was because Xu Wei had the power to "act cheaply".

After hearing this, Yelu Dashi ordered to go out to conquer Wenwu and go to worship Xu Wei to see if there was a chance to go to Jiangnan and meet Emperor Song, which would be more secure.

Xu Wei reacted quickly and immediately replied: "This is natural, even if the envoy doesn't mention it, I will arrange it." Although Xu Wei was ordered by the Son of Heaven to guard the place, he was a courtier after all. The imperial court granted me cheap power, originally to save the emergency. Song Liao met with a smile and enmity, such a major event, of course, must be decided by the saint and the imperial court, how could Xu dare to abuse power? In this way, you have worked hard all the way, and you will rest in Xingyuan for two days, I will arrange it as soon as possible, how about it? ”

Yelu Yuanshu was overjoyed, and the deacon said: "In this way, it will be more difficult for the privy councillor to bother!" ”

"You're welcome, tonight, I set up a banquet to pick up the wind and wash the dust for you, and I also wish you and me that we can defeat strong enemies, settle the world, and continue the friendship of brothers!" Xu Wei said with a smile.

"Good! It will arrive by all means in the next! Yelu Yuanshu said happily.

In the next two days, Xu Wei tried his best to arrange official duties, and only did one thing at home, writing a recital. Although he has the power to act cheaply, it has the meaning of reporting after the fact. Regarding the formation of party items and contacting the Khitan, although he has always presided over these matters, he has also reported them to the imperial court.

It's just that it's routine and not detailed. And the imperial court probably didn't pay too much attention to this matter, maybe the people in Hangzhou thought it was not very reliable. This time, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Khitan envoy to go to Jiangnan, he had to explain this matter in detail, so as not to confuse Zhao Guanjia and the sixth brother.

After the manuscript was written, he sent it to Xingzai with a special red letter card from the Privy Council. In the official communication of the Song Dynasty, the emperor's edict should be transmitted with a gold plate, and it was written that "the text in front of the emperor shall not enter the shop"; Next, there is the blue card of the Privy Council; Next, it is the silver plate used by the local divisions. The gold plate in front of the emperor stipulates that it travels 500 miles in a day and night, and the blue plate of the Privy Council is 350 miles in a day and night, while the silver plate has never been 300 miles in a day and night. Xu Wei now wears the title of "Knowing Privy Council Affairs", so he can use the blue card to deliver the message.

After sending the script, he arranged for Yelu Yuanshu to go to Hangzhou. Immediately afterwards, a military order was sent to the Xihe Shuai Division, ordering Yao Pingzhong to send troops to collect Xiliang Mansion, and at the same time sent the transfer judge of the Shaanxi Transfer Division to serve as the former transfer envoy of the army, responsible for coordinating grain and grass. As for himself, he won't go this time, you, as a military commander, send your generals to fight, and go in person if you have nothing to do, which makes the people below think that you don't trust him.

However, it was said that in Hangzhou, after quelling the coup d'état, the DPRK and China began to purge. All officials who had anything to do with the Emperor were dealt with. Serious ones, such as Huang Qianshan, Wang Zongmi, Luo Ruji and others, lost their lives. second, such as Wang Ciweng and other generations, were also removed from the list. The rest of the knot is either degrading or settled.

Xu Liusheng was promoted to the second minister, and he took this opportunity to squeeze out some officials who were not involved in this matter, but who strongly advocated peace, and sent them to local posts. His approach was criticized by the Taiwanese admonition. The Song Dynasty was relatively politically enlightened, and one of the most important manifestations was the smooth flow of speech. Although the Imperial Historical Observatory is only a supervisory body, it has neither administrative nor judicial power, let alone military power, but from the emperor to the hundred officials, no one dares to take Taiwan's advice lightly. Why did Luo Ruji dare to jump up and down and make a lot of nonsense? Because he is a speech officer, he can hear about it, and he will not be guilty of it.

When Bao Gong Bao Zheng, a famous minister in the Song Dynasty, was a speech official, in order to oppose the emperor's promotion of Zhang Guifei's uncle to be a Xuanhui envoy, he gave direct advice several times, but Song Renzong was unmoved and insisted on his own opinion. Bao Zheng was on fire, and the officials of the entire Yushitai, after the next dynasty, intercepted the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, and in front of hundreds of officials, he fiercely opposed the emperor's practice, and even openly said that Uncle Zhang Guifei was "garbage in the prosperous world, and the devil in the daytime".

In front of the courtiers, the emperor was not easy to attack. Bao Zheng was also his trusted courtier, so the emperor retreated, and said in a consultative manner: "How about not being a Xuanhui envoy, but a festival envoy?" Anyway, the festival envoy is a rough official. ”

Renzong's original intention was to say that the Jiedu envoy in my Great Song Dynasty was no longer as powerful as the five dynasties in the late Tang Dynasty, and most of them were granted to military ministers, and they were regarded as the highest glory by those rough people who led troops, so they were called "rough officials".

How do you know that this sentence stabbed the hornet's nest, Bao Zheng said angrily: "Jiedu has made Taizu and Taizong have done it, I'm afraid it's not a rough official!" With this move, he spat on Renzong's face. After the court debate returned to the harem, the emperor's concubine stepped forward to ask if she was going to the official position for her uncle, Renzong was angry, and while wiping his face with his sleeve, he blamed: "You know that you have to make an envoy for your father, and you know that Bao Zheng is the imperial history!" Look at the saliva that spits on me! ”

"Diancheng spoke forward, spit in my face, you just want to Xuanhui envoy, Xuanhui envoy, don't you know that Bao Zheng is the imperial historian?"

It is not difficult to see from this incident that the Song Dynasty attached great importance to speech officials and tolerated speech officials. Although Xu Liang is the second minister, he was attacked by a group of officials, and it stands to reason that he should be humble and cautious and be more restrained. But Xu Liang didn't do this, he had personnel power in his hands, so he first removed the Yushi Zhongcheng and replaced him with a person named Zhou Wei. As a result, he was met with a strong backlash from the officials, and he was even more ruthless, and transferred several of the most resolute Zhengyan, Si Zhi, and Yu Shi from Taiwan.

This is called controlling speech. Emperors don't usually do that, but he dares, why? Because it was Zhao Chen's instructions. After this change, Zhao Chen realized that he was still too soft-hearted, if he had listened to the opinions of the deacons earlier and cleaned up the officials who had something to do with the emperor, wouldn't there be no follow-up?

Of course, if you are prime minister, it is not enough for you to just change the number of officials, but when you come to power, you must have a governance program. Xu Liu is also ambitious and vows to surpass his father. The focus of his administration was on war preparedness. As for the civil administration and economy, it is enough to continue the previous policy.

So how to do combat preparation? Before Zhao Ding, he had already made a plan for 500,000 elite soldiers, would you follow it? Xu Liang is really not afraid of picking up people's teeth, he thinks that Zhao Ding's previous plan is very good, 500,000 elite soldiers is a reasonable number, and he must continue to implement it. But it is not enough to have soldiers, there must be generals who can recruit and fight habitually, so he proposed the method of selecting generals. Before, the promotion of military ministers was actually in the hands of the army commander. They reported to the higher authorities and said who had merit and what should be done, and the court approved it. Whether this is the case or not, the imperial court does not know. The method of selecting generals is to take military merit as the only criterion for promotion.

There are soldiers, there will be, and the next thing is to refine the equipment and train the combat power. Because of his service in Shaanxi, he was very familiar with the Western Army, and he believed that the fact that the Western Army was able to make many feats in the war against Jin was inseparable from its sophisticated equipment and flexible tactics. The generals of the Western Army, represented by Xu Wei, placed great emphasis on weapons and equipment, as well as strategy and tactics, which were lacking in the Southern Song Army. Xu Liang decided to transfer officers from the Jinghu Xuanfu Division, the Jiangxi Xuanfu Division, the Liangzhejiang Xuanfu Division, and the Huaixi Xuanfu Division to observe and exchange in the Western Army.

Zhao Chen was very supportive of his measures, and all of them were implemented as planned, and he also praised Xu Liang to Shen Ze as "the true prime minister".

However, the emperor was not all satisfied, he believed that although Xu Liang's package was good, it lacked a main line and an overall strategy. You only said what you want to do, but you don't specify why, what are your plans for the future?

Xu Liang didn't think of this, but he knew that as soon as the grand strategy of the imperial court was proposed, it could not be changed hastily, and it was necessary to completely put an end to the change of the imperial decree during the reign of the emperor. Once the strategy is formulated, then the whole country will work towards this goal. So, on this point, it is important to be cautious. If you make a mistake in strategy, you will be wrong every step of the way.

Just as Xu Liu was seeking answers in many ways, his cousin helped him a lot. This day is April 26, Xu Liang is still the same as usual, after the early dynasty, he ate the emperor's grain and rice in the palace, and then went to the Zhongshu Political Affairs Hall to take care of it. I first went to talk to Prime Minister Zhao Ding for a while, which was nothing more than to exchange what things to focus on in the near future, and then sat down in my office hall.

This position was originally sat by Zhao Ding, but the position where Zhao Ding is sitting now is Zhu Shengfei's. Zhu Shengfei was sent away by the emperor, and the ministers originally thought that Zhu Shengfei had the merit of supporting the establishment back then, and after quelling the coup, he should come back. Unexpectedly, the emperor did not recall Zhu Shengfei, but gave him a palace position, and rewarded him with a lot of property, which had the meaning of letting him retire, but not letting him become a minister.

Zhao Chen is not a merciless emperor, and he also remembers Zhu Shengfei's loyalty. But loyalty is one thing, and power is another. This time the coup d'état, he was more disappointed in Zhu Shengfei, there is no prime minister who should have the courage and adaptability, he only knows shock and panic, how can he be in power? It's better to keep the glory and wealth to retire.

After Xu Liu sat down in the office hall, he saw that official documents had been arranged on the table, and one of the notebooks was specially placed in the center of the desk. He picked it up and looked at it, and suddenly came to his senses, because this book was given by his cousin Xu Wei.