In fact, the looting and destruction of the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty was not the most excessive, and the most outrageous and excessive was the puppet Qi emperor Liu Yu, who was a Han Chinese.

In order to loot all the treasures in the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty, Liu Yu actually sent the government's regular army to excavate, and gave them a special name - "sand team".

In China's long history, it is not uncommon for superiors to dig up the graves of their ancestors for various reasons: for example, Wu Zixu excavated the tomb of King Chuping, "whipped the corpse of 300", known as the most poisonous tomb robber; For example, Xiang Yu, who excavated the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, is known as the most bullish tomb robber; There is also Liu Qu, the king of Guangchuan in the Han Dynasty, who "excavates all the domestic tombs", and is the most perverted tomb robber; Wait a minute.

Among these countless groups of tomb robbers, the most professional and influential are of course Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Liu Yu in the early Southern Song Dynasty.

In order to raise military funds, Cao Cao set up official positions in the army, such as "General Faqiu Zhonglang" and "Captain of Touching Jin", to specialize in studying and carrying out orders to rob tombs.

Unlike Cao Cao, Liu Yu directly set up a "Tomb Robbery Bureau", in which various levels of "sand officials" were set up, and the corresponding scope of tomb robbery business was demarcated, creating a Guinness record for tomb robbery for the Chinese emperor.

Under the impact of tomb robbery on this scale, the consequences of the Northern Song Dynasty Imperial Mausoleum are self-evident.

Because of this, when Zhang Tao, the soldier who presided over the tomb sweeping ceremony, returned from Henan, he was deeply embarrassed and did not know how to report to Emperor Gaozong.

It's too difficult to do this kind of explanatory work!

If you don't say it, you have to say it. After Zhang Tao did his best and used a lot of ambiguous and specious language to report, Emperor Gaozong couldn't help but ask directly:

"What happened to the Imperial Tomb?"

This time. Zhang Taoren is anxious and intelligent. Suddenly a sentence popped up:

"Never forget this thief!"

Never be forgotten. Unsolvable hatred, what does this mean, Emperor, don't force me to say it in public, right? It's also too ugly to hear.

According to historical records, Emperor Gaozong's eyes were black, his head was dizzy, and he suddenly lost his ability to express himself, so he had to go back to the palace to rest first.

Of course, this is not because Emperor Gaozong is in bad health. It's not that he has a deep relationship with his ancestor. The problem is that the destruction of the ancestral mausoleum has shattered the signboard he has been holding high.

According to the suggestion of the previous prime minister, Zhao Ding, Emperor Gaozong held up the sign of filial piety for the sake of peace: why should you grovel and bear the burden of humiliation? It's not for my old mother, your queen mother!

However, this statement is now self-defeating.

All for the old lady of Emperor Gaozong. The unquestionable excuse suddenly became hilarious. Is his wife more important than his ancestors for eighteen generations?

For this question, Emperor Gaozong couldn't answer it, and Prime Minister Qin Hui couldn't answer it well, and the only thing Emperor Gaozong could do was to excuse himself from feeling unwell. Flee back to the harem to avoid the questioning of the ministers.

So, Emperor Gaozong's eyes were black. The dizziness is probably just a public performance of the heaviness of his mood, and taking the opportunity to go back to the harem to be happy and happy, while avoiding the questions of the ministers.

As for the several new conditions proposed by Jin Xizong, although it was an obvious difficulty for the Jin State, although Emperor Gaozong could not accept most of them, but all of this, in the mouth of Prime Minister Qin Hui, turned out to be the goodwill of the Jin State, indicating that they still like peace and are not willing to start a war easily.

Qin Hui's statement is not completely unfounded. At the very least, the Jin State did return large areas to the Southern Song court, including the Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo, the Henan Mansion in Xijing, and the Guide Mansion in Nanjing, and until now, these places are still under the administration of civil officials sent by the Southern Song Dynasty.

According to Qin Hui, as long as the Jin State did not send troops to recover these cities, it meant that the peace negotiations had not been invalidated, and the Jin and Song countries were still moving forward on the track of peace.

Qin Hui said this, which means that he didn't say it, once the Jin soldiers forcibly reclaim these cities, it will not be a question of whether there is peace, but a question of the ongoing battle

At this juncture, a guest named Zhang Hui suddenly came to the Southern Song court.

This Zhang Hui's identity was an official of Zhongshu Province of Emperor Qinzong of the former dynasty, and after the Jin soldiers invaded the south, he had been living in seclusion in the north. This time, he crossed the Yellow River at night and rushed to Lin'an, just to bring two pieces of news to Emperor Gaozong.

First, the Jin State was already preparing for war and invaded the Southern Song Dynasty at any time.

Second, after years of conquest and several infighting, the combat effectiveness of the Jin army has declined sharply, far less than the bravery of the past. ”

According to Zhang Hui, as long as the officers and soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty could cross the Yellow River first, they could even take the opportunity to recover Hebei and occupy Yanyun and other state capitals.

For a while, the government and the opposition were excited, especially the military, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and other hawkish figures could no longer hold back, and they wrote letters one after another demanding that they immediately advance to the north.

Among them, Han Shizhong's attitude was the strongest, and he once again reiterated that he would send his army to the forefront.

For such a situation, Emperor Gaozong and Qin Hui had no choice but to raise the banner of calm again.

Where is this, I haven't figured anything out, what are you fooling around? First of all, the source, such as this Zhang Hui, is he reliable?

In order to quell the growing opposition in the court, Emperor Gaozong and Qin Hui began to be ruthless.

First of all, Han Shizhong was given a verbal warning, and Han's book was characterized as "a loyal warrior who does not know the general situation." "Ordered him to correct his attitude and reflect seriously so that he would not do it again next time.

Now that the situation is tense, the military still has to focus on appeasement. However, for the handling of civil officials, Emperor Gaozong and Qin Hui showed a momentum of cutting through the mess with a quick knife.

Han Hong, the military magistrate of Lizhou, wrote a book on "peace and non-planning", but was removed from the imperial court and sent to Lingnan for management.

Mao Shudu, who joined the army in Lin'an Mansion, said that the Jin State detained Wang Lun, and he was suspected of defeating the alliance, and he was afraid that he would "take me by surprise and commit the border of Jianghuai", and as a result, he was also immediately dismissed and investigated.

Chen Lu, a servant of the Criminal Department, asked for the Yellow River Bridge erected in Tongzhou to be demolished to prevent the Jin army from making a comeback, but was driven out of the court on the spot.

In the imperial history, Liao Gang suggested: "Please bring up the old lookers." in the vicinity of the feudal town". It is required to strengthen the defense as soon as possible. As a result, he was also expelled from the Goshidai.

The new governor Li Guang suggested to the emperor that "peace cannot be feared and preparations cannot be removed," and he was immediately dismissed from all posts in the court and reduced to the people.

What is even more heart-wrenching is that Zhao Rong, the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture of Jin, and Wang Wei, the prefect of Shouzhou, successively led the military and civilians of the whole city to return to the south, and Gaozong and Qin Hui actually wanted to send them back to Jin. Han Shizhong, who was so angry that he was present, opened his mouth and scolded: "Zhao Rong and Wang Wei did not forget that their parents and wives in the Jin Kingdom had all been slaughtered. You still can't bear to drive them back, how can you restore the hope of the Central Plains? ”

And so on and so forth

For the sake of that peace agreement that existed in name only, Emperor Gaozong and Qin Hui were almost frantic and could not listen to any different opinions, even some relatively moderate and objective opinions.

Emperor Gaozong regarded the heavenly agreement given by the Jin people as a talisman, held it firmly in his hand, and once he encountered any fright, he was like an ostrich, buried his head in the sand, and then regarded it as no danger

Just when Emperor Gaozong and Qin Hui were still sticking to their ostrich policy to the death and without a lower limit. The Jin State's Wanyan Wushu had already prepared for war, so he truthfully reported the progress of the preparations to Emperor Xizong.

Jin Xizong's reply to Wanyan Wushu was: "... The land of the Central Plains of Henan. In fact, it is only given by heaven, and the sky does not take it, and the enemy is long-term, and it is very troublesome...... Su Xingshi asked for guilt and restored the territory. ”

Jin Xizong's edict on sending troops is written in a way that quotes scriptures, chews words, and has the style of a Han people, but the whole article is all robber logic, which is the dividend of the strong.

No wonder Yue Fei once said: "Dogs and sheep have an alliance and faith!" ”

In May of the tenth year of Shaoxing, the Jin State brazenly tore up the agreement with the Southern Song Dynasty that had been signed for less than two years, and the Jin State led the four-way army of the Jin State, with a total of 300,000 soldiers and horses, to invade the Song Dynasty again.

The first road was led by the right deputy marshal Wan Yan Sali to attack Shaanxi; the second route, led by Nie Lijin, attacked Shandong; The third route was led by Li Cheng, the former pseudo-Qi general, to attack Henan; The last road was personally commanded by Wanyan Zongbi, who led Kong Yanzhou, the prefect of Dongping, Li Qiong, the general of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Zhao Rong, the former governor of Suzhou, to Kaifeng.

As for the purpose of the operation of this dispatch, Wanyan Wushu said very clearly at the oath meeting:

"We can attack now, and we can defend when we retreat. This time, it is not only necessary to regain Henan and Shaanxi, but also to go straight to the south of the Yangtze River and complete the great cause of dominating the world. ”

The news that the Jin State tore up the alliance and sent troops to invade soon spread to Lin'an City. What is surprising is that up and down the government and the opposition, inside and outside the city, there is silence and indifference.

Obviously, everyone has been mentally prepared enough for the invasion of the Jin Bing. I have made a mistake to such an extent, and it is even more strange not to recruit gold people to fight!

Because of this, everyone put all their eyes on Prime Minister Qin Hui.

As the principal and initiator of this matter, Qin Hui should give everyone an explanation anyway, right?

For such a strange atmosphere, the eight-sided exquisite Qin Hui had already smelled a strong smell of blood; This feeling made him shiver involuntarily.

Yes, Qin Hui was scared,

According to the custom of the Song Dynasty, the prime minister must be perfect.

Even the slightest flaw, such as drinking too much the night before and a slight gaffe the next morning, has to be blamed and resigned. What's more, his mistake in leading the national policy disgraced the emperor and demoted the country.

But the problem is, once he resigns...... Then it's dead!

At this time, Qin Hui's mind appeared in Cai Jing's tragic situation in his old age.

According to records, Cai Jing was exiled to Lingnan in his later years, and when he left, he also carried a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry. However, on the 3,000-mile road from Kaifeng to Changsha, it was difficult for Cai Jing to buy a mouthful of rice, a plate of vegetables, and a cup of tea, because the people along the way hated this huge greed and evil and did not sell him "food and drink".

After arriving in Changsha, Cai Jing had nowhere to rest, so he could only live in a dilapidated temple in the south of the city, suffering from illness, hunger and cold, and unspeakable suffering.

At this time, Taishi Cai Jing really began to introspect: "Beijing has lost the hearts of the people, why is it like this."

In the end, Cai Jing "stuck to his belly and back" and died of starvation. After his death, because there was no coffin, he had to wrap his body in cloth and bury it in a leaky garden dedicated to burying the poor, sick and homeless...... (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you hans2006 and vela2003 for your tips and support.