Chapter 170: War and Peace
Zhao Ta took the throne for three years and worked hard to develop the economy, expand production, and train the army, maybe God also saw that it was not easy for him, but the wind and rain were smooth every year, and there were no major natural disasters in the country, that is, Kaifeng, which was threatened by floods for eight out of ten years, was not threatened by floods. After all, the Great Song Dynasty has a thick foundation and occupies a fertile land, after several years of recuperation, all industries are revived, and border trade is prosperous, so as to quickly recover its vitality.
While strengthening himself, Zhao Ta not only stopped paying the Jin State the Sui tribute, but also cut off the land transportation to the Jin State, robbed the other countries to pay the Jin Sui tribute, and also blocked the coastal ports, sinking all the ships that entered the Jin State no matter where they came from. And constantly sent troops to harass Jinjing, forcing them to support a large standing army, these means depleted the financial revenue of Jinguo, the economy tended to collapse, and in the fourth year of Xingguo, Jinguo's economic situation further deteriorated, and it was impossible to infringe on it.
But at this moment when the situation was improving, Zhao Ta couldn't figure it out, in the past, he was shouting every day to invade the Jin Kingdom, but the call to welcome back the first emperor was getting weaker and weaker. At the beginning of his reign, such recitals, which were often piled up on the desk, have become a rarity, replaced by recitals calling for cuts in military spending, armaments, and troop reductions. It seems that the government and the opposition have forgotten the 'shame of Jingkang' that has just passed a few years, and have completely immersed themselves in the good days of economic development, political communication, and harmony.
How simple it is that 'if you forget the war, you will die'. Zhao Ta also likes to live a peaceful life like everyone else, and is tired of war, but a rich country does not strengthen the army, and he is busy disarming and returning to the field just after the crisis, and he will inevitably take the old road. I worked hard to build the economy and restore people's livelihood. It's not also to be able to resist strong enemies on the outside, and to be safe and secure on the inside. But when the strong enemy has not been destroyed and the national shame still exists. They forgot too quickly, and a piece of music by Yue Fei, the head of the soldiers and horses of Dingzhou Road, caused a storm in the court...
Yue Fei wrote to Zhao Ta that the military horses had been trained and the grain and grass were sufficient, and the Jin army was weakening day by day, so it should start a northern expedition to recover Yanyun, smash the Yellow Dragon, and welcome back the first emperor. Some courtiers called it belligerent and that the country had just stabilized. The bandits are peaceful, and the smoke has not been extinguished, but the war will start again, which is not good for the country and the people.
And his remarks about destroying gold also aroused criticism, and they thought that they should take this opportunity not to fight again, but to negotiate peace in exchange for the first emperor, even if it cost money. There are also people who think that it has now been restored to the old realm of the Liao and Song dynasties, and they have also seized Yunzhou, and they have taken advantage of it and can make peace with Jin. Reproducing the 100-year peace after the Liao and Song Dynasty's 'Lanyuan Alliance'...
Zhao Tan understood clearly from above, and understood in his heart that under the specific historical conditions of foreign invasion and constant wars, he continued to improve the status of the warriors, so that the military generals' power increased, and their status and prestige increased, which conflicted with the traditional national policy of the Song Dynasty to control military with literature. The contradiction between the traditional national policy of using literature to control military force and the increase in the power of military generals will always exist. And this contradiction will also rise and fall with the change of the anti-gold situation, such as today's seems to be peaceful, this contradiction will begin to strengthen.
Yue Fei was nothing more than a trilateral vassal. The fact that a letter of recital caused so many fierce remarks from them was nothing more than a fear that the war would break out again, and the warriors would inevitably be reused. To further threaten their position, it is better to take advantage of the present opportunity to prevent the outbreak of war. What is for the country and the people is mostly an excuse. Regarding this matter, Zhao Ta unusually did not express his own opinions, nor did he refute their remarks, but remained silent, but the matter did not subside, but continued to ferment.
First of all, after hundreds of students of Taixue worshiped and became martyrs of Jingkang on Qingming Day, the crowd was excited, and they wrote a seal sheet with blood as ink and entered the palace. Xuandemen once again staged a big scene of 'Fu Que Shangshu', the students read out the text of the gold, read the poems of the martyred ministers, shouted slogans, attracted a large number of people onlookers, some anti-war courtiers were chased and beaten, insulted, and could only avoid in the palace.
The day after the students went to school, the students of various military schools also 'spontaneously' went to the Privy Council to ask for the Northern Expedition, but their attitude was much more 'civilized' than that of the students, and they always maintained a strict military appearance, advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, strictly abided by military discipline, and did not beat or scold people, and always maintained restraint.
After the students of the two schools of literature and martial arts went to the book, there were also various guilds in Beijing and China jointly wrote the book. These people gathered in front of the palace gate from various markets, and there were not only bigwigs from all walks of life, but also stall owners who killed pigs and sold meat, people who played tiles, soup in restaurants, chefs who went to the stove, Taoist priests and monks from all walks of life, different costumes, and so on.
In the past, it was said that there were seventy-two lines, but the Song Dynasty was a period of great development, but there were one hundred and eight lines in Beijing, which can be said to cover every grassroots level in all walks of life, and there were many people, and there were no less than 10,000 people who came to the palace. Their 'big march' caused a sensation in the city for a while, but they were much more affordable than the students' march, donating all kinds of materials and silver money totaling millions of yuan to fund the military.
The matter became bigger and bigger, and the officials were clawed for a while, and they played one after another, and some asked the emperor to issue an order to appease the people; Some people think that they can't encourage this trend, so they should coerce the imperial court, and they should send troops to suppress it, so as not to cause turmoil; Some say that the voice of the people should be listened to, and the court should respond to what the people think; Some people think that the people's will is available, and it is a good opportunity for the Northern Expedition to destroy the shame of the Jin and Snow countries.
The emperor still did not express his attitude, and the deacons did not dare to make judgments. But things are still developing, the debate of war or peace has spread from the court to the people, from the capital to the surrounding roads and Jiangnan, and officials from all over the country have also played, their attitudes are more distinct, advocating the Northern Expedition and waging war against Jin, and most of these people are the main war officials who were replaced after Zhao Ta ascended the throne.
On the contrary, the voice of the Lord and the Lord's voice came mostly from some scholars and bureaucrats who had been suppressed by Zhao Ta, and their purpose was very simple, so as to provoke the contradictions between the civil and military forces, so that Li Gang and other scholars would re-align themselves, so as to force the emperor to re-appoint them and Jin Yuan. The voices of the people in Jiangnan are much weaker than those in Jiangbei, and many of them have not experienced the invasion of the Jin Kingdom, and their feelings about the death of the country are weaker. But Jiangbei was swept away by the Jin army, and their family was ruined and hated the Jin country to the core.
Just when the two sides were arguing, Zhao Ta suddenly received a report from the Dengzhou naval army, saying that he had captured a merchant ship from Liaodong during the sea patrol, but the people on board claimed to be Qin Hui in the imperial history of the Great Song Dynasty. They found someone to identify and confirmed that it was Qin Hui, who was taken away by the Jin army when Bianjing City was broken, and now ask the emperor to decide.
Zhao Ta is a little funny, his appearance has changed the fate of many people, and many good generals have become silent and disappeared into history because of his appearance. He originally thought that Qin Hui and other traitors would eventually be run over by the wheels of history and turn into dust in the red dust, disappearing without a trace, but he didn't expect him to reappear in his sight, and he didn't know why he came to find death again...
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After Qin Hui landed, he showed his identity, explained the experience of 'getting out of danger', and immediately received courtesy, and was warmly entertained by the local scholars. These made Qin Hui feel a little relieved, and he had some confidence in his return mission, but he was a little worried about Xinjun's attitude towards him.
It turned out that the Jin State had formulated several strategies against the Song Dynasty before, but none of them could be implemented, and the form became more and more unfavorable to them. To this end, the top Jurchen decision-makers of the Jin Kingdom met again at the beginning of the year, and the central content of the meeting was to discuss how to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty
At the meeting, Jin Taizu's distant nephew Chen Wang Wanyan was worried about the "re-emergence of the Song family", but he "could not be coerced" by military strength alone, so he thought that he should find ways to destroy it from within the Song Dynasty. In order to implement the plan of attacking the war with peace and discussion, they further analyzed the situation of the ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty, believing that Li Gang and others were determined to take revenge, while Zong Ze and others were accustomed to being more powerful in military affairs.
Therefore, some people proposed that only the Song ministers sent in the Jin State should return first, and threaten the Song to submit to them, but we "pretended not to listen to them reluctantly". Everyone thinks this is a good ploy, but who is the right one? They proposed Sun Fu and others, but they were denied by Zong Han, thinking that they had 'lost their temper', resented the Song Dynasty, and would not get their original status if they went back, so he proposed that it would be better to send Qin Hui back.
Zong Han said that he liked Qin Hui very much, so he "put him in the army", and in less than half a year, "his words were fulfilled". He believes that Qin Hui has not only taken refuge in the Jin State, but also is very strategic. "If he returns to the country, he will be victorious and can help me." At the same time, it is also believed that Qin Hui wrote to the Jin State in the last years of Jingkang to ask for the Zhao family to be saved, became a prisoner, and also left a reputation of 'loyalty' in the Song court, and was 'the highest in the world'. With this charming coat as a disguise, sending Qin Hui back will easily cover up his true face as a traitor, and he can also win the trust of the Song court.
Others also felt that what Zong Han said made sense. And after Qin Hui sold himself to join the Jurchens of the Jin Kingdom, he did continue to show with practical actions that he was sincere in serving the masters of the Jin Kingdom. But everyone is still not very relieved of Qin Hui, and a group of people have tested Qin Hui many times, and finally came to a conclusion - 'Nanchen is poor, only Hui is gentle', that is to say, they have completely trusted Qin Hui after many tests!
Therefore, the Jurchen rulers of the Jin State informed Qin Hui of the decision, asking him to 'negotiate peace as internal help' after returning to the Song Dynasty. That is, Qin Hui Nangui was asked to act as a traitor and sabotage Song's anti-gold cause from the inside. Of course, Qin Hui was very happy, and as a result, the Jurchen rulers also "returned to the south", and a shameful political deal between their masters and slaves began...... (To be continued......)