On March 21, the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124 AD), yesterday I took the time to familiarize myself with the overall environment of the Prince's Mansion in the Lower East Palace, and by the way, I enjoyed a rare family fun. As soon as I got up and dressed today, I heard Xia Xiang knocking on the door and saying, "Prince, Mrs. Tong asks to see you." I thought to myself that this old boy came very quickly, for a eunuch like Tong Guan, he must focus on attacking the heart, after all, he does not have family concerns like Cai Jing, and for Tong Guan, who has been in charge of military power for nearly 20 years, no matter how tough the political means are, it is not as good as the bloody battle scene on the battlefield. Thinking of this, he instructed Xia Xiang outside the door: Take it to the main hall and entertain it with tea. Xia Xiang answered, called Sanxiang to accompany him, and then went to the main hall!

As soon as I entered the main hall, I saw an old man in purple clothes kneeling down and saying loudly: Xiaguan Tongguan greets the prince! This voice is indeed not like the imaginary voice of the inner servant, rich with a bit of vicissitudes, which may have something to do with Tong Guan entering the palace as a eunuch at the age of twenty, after all, the physical characteristics that an adult man should have at this age have also been developed, and the inner servant's purification is equivalent to walking through the ghost gate, and the best age should be between six and eighteen years old. Therefore, Tong Guan entered the palace at an older age, but he also has the advantage of being older, and he has an advantage in dealing with people and normal development. Seeing this, I immediately raised my hand and said: Captain, please get up, please sit! I went straight to the main hall of the main seat and sat down gently, and then fixed my eyes to see the Tong Guan sitting under the hall, the ancients said that Tong Guan "burly, great view, under the beard of ten, skin and bones as strong as iron" Indeed, it may be a long-term military career, resulting in Tong Guan's skin is a little dark, the figure is very burly, the eyes are particularly bright, with more than ten beards, plus the national character face, it is true that the old man has relatively high requirements for appearance in terms of employing people, although Tong Guan is nearly seventy years old, it looks like a kind and friendly grandfather next door. Thinking of this, I suddenly heard Tong Guan get up and arch his hand and say: Yesterday the shock caused the prince to be injured, how can he be entangled in official affairs, today I came to visit, and I hope that the prince will forgive his sins! After finishing speaking, he got up and leaned over and stood with his hands arched.

No wonder it's a human spirit, and if I am usually injured, I will care about me by virtue of your identity as the school captain, the master, and the prince of Jingguo, and you will come to visit. As the head of the eunuchs, the day before yesterday I was in the Funing Hall and the chairman had an unconventional time to write poems, and the little chamberlain below had already told you. I guess I met with Cai Jing yesterday, and I came here early this morning. Not to mention the nonsense of being entangled in government affairs, in July of the fifth year of Xuanhe, because of the war in Erjing, the chairman had a lot of opinions about you, so he sent Tan Shu to replace you. Thinking of this, he replied: Thank you Taiwei for your concern, this prince is just a little skin injury and it is not in the way, Taiwei, please take a seat! After saying that, he waved his hand down, motioned for him to take a seat, and Tong Guan immediately sat down on the guest seat, only to see him take out a delicate locket from his left sleeve, get up and lean over and say: Prince, this is a hundred years of Changbai Yeshan San, for the old minister's heart, and I hope the prince will smile! This is testing my bottom line, as long as I accept this gift, it means that I admit him, if I don't accept it, I will treat him as an outsider, I am the legal successor of the Great Song Group, it becomes very important for him to maintain a united front with me, after all, power is really fascinating. In view of the current situation, I dare not offend anyone, and I don't want to offend, although the traitorous ministers are hateful, but it is not simply rejected or exiled and killed, killing the head can certainly relieve hatred, but the next thing to do, so it is still necessary to maintain harmony on the surface, and must find a way to squeeze out all their available resources for the use of the Great Song Group, this is the way to do things, so the rivers and lakes are not only fighting and killing, but also not for a momentary coolness.

Then I looked at Xia Xiang on the left and said, "That's great!" Xia Xiang stepped forward to accept the gift box, and turned around and walked towards the side hall! I continued: Gao Taiwei has been in the palace since he was twenty years old to serve in my Great Song Dynasty, and he has been working hard for nearly 50 years, and he has made outstanding contributions to the stability of the frontier of my Great Song Dynasty, especially the achievements of conquering Western Xia and pacifying Fangla, which are all praised by the Chinese people, and what is even more rare is that he is affectionate and righteous to his subordinates, and the matter of adopting a son has been passed down as a good story in the army! It is that you entered the palace as a eunuch at the age of twenty, and served the Great Song Group for nearly 50 years, during which there were some achievements, leading the Northwest Army to defeat the Western Xia, and leading them to quell the Fangla rebellion in the south, I am sure of these achievements. What's even more rare is that you are righteous, do not let your subordinates carry the black pot, and take care of your subordinates in every way, which shows that you are a very qualified department manager.

After speaking, he looked at Tong Guan, only to see that the corners of his mouth twitched twice, his face was solemn, and his Adam's apple grunted twice, then he saw his eyes blink, his face changed to color, he got up and knelt down, and said in a low voice with his hands on the ground: The old slave is a courtier of the Great Song Dynasty, it is rare for the emperor to be heavy, but he is just a little bit of Weibo, how can he be this glory, the achievements are the emperor's work, wise decision-making, the old slave is only responsible for the implementation, but it is a pity that the body and mind are old, otherwise the old slave will run around for the Great Song Dynasty chariots and horses, and never give up! After saying that, he bowed his head and knelt, this old guy, first put on a high hat for the chairman, attributed the credit to the emperor, and said that he was the executor, that is to say, I do have two brushes, others may not be able to get Xixia and Fang La, this is a fact, Tong Guan entered the palace to worship Li Xian, Li Xian was the supervisor of the army at that time, the Northern Song Dynasty supervisor is not only to supervise the army's operations, but also has the right to directly participate in the command, plus Tong Guan has also read the art of war, after decades of military experience, in the army, especially the Northwest Army, has a certain prestige. Then the conversation changed, which meant that the chairman withdrew me, otherwise, don't look at my age, but I can still run around and command the army to kill the enemy!

This also shows Tong Guan's inner ups and downs, what do his subordinates want? It is the affirmation and support of the leadership, as the so-called "death of a confidant of the soldier", sometimes it is difficult for you to distinguish a person from good and bad with a standard, or loyalty and treachery, as far as Tong Guan is concerned, in terms of military affairs, it may not be useless, under the influence of Song Taizu, the founder of the Great Song Group, the "cup of wine releases military power", the kings of all dynasties did not pay enough attention to the generals, resulting in the late Northern Song Dynasty There were not many outstanding military generals, as the so-called "if you want to govern the army, you must first choose the general", Tong Guan is one of the few military generals, you want your subordinates to work hard for you, Only by fully affirming his achievements and recognizing his achievements, will your subordinates follow you with all their hearts.

Seeing that Tong Guan was gradually entering the state, Xia Xiang just came out of the side hall, so he ordered: Help the Taiwei up, what the prince said is also the truth, the merits of the Taiwei are known to the world, you are welcome, please get up. Xia Xiang went over and helped Tong Guan to sit back on the guest seat, and then brought another cup of hot tea to Tong Guan on the coffee table. Seeing that Tong Guan's mood eased slightly, he continued: Tong Taiwei, the current situation, you know better than me, the destruction of the Liao State is a matter of time, and the Jin people are still eyeing my Great Song Dynasty, looking at the 23rd road of the country, and the Northwest Army commanded by Taiwei before can fight, with the further development of the war situation, I believe that Taiwei will have to return to the battlefield sooner or later to serve the country, as the so-called "outside the bag needs to be safe" As long as our courtiers unite as one, the soldiers use their lives, and the people support, we will be able to defeat any enemy and beat the Jin people back to the white mountains and black waters, Let it go back to primitive times! It means that you have also seen the old man, the Great Liao Kingdom is almost about to burp, and the Jin people will definitely be eyeing my Great Song Dynasty, and they will also raise troops to attack, look at the twenty-three provinces of the country, and the Northwest Army you commanded before can pull out and fight with the Jin people head-on, I see, sooner or later, the chairman will have to reactivate you, as long as we are united, we will definitely be able to defeat the barbarian nomads. Let them go back and forth, and hunt and hunt.

The best way to motivate generals is to go to the battlefield, otherwise generals have no value, and the so-called hardliners are the kind of masters who do not obey. For Tong Guan, victory on the battlefield is the root of his constant satisfaction of his greedy desires. Tong Guan squinted at the ground, his eyes kept turning, and then he raised his head and said: What the prince said is extremely true, the Jin people are as greedy as a wolf, and blindly cutting land and paying compensation can never satisfy them. I directly pointed out the current situation, Tong Guan is too bold, although it is understandable that "the general will not be affected by the king's life outside", but he often lied to the chairman about the military situation, and this matter cannot be left to him. He also admitted that the current war situation was very unfavorable to the Great Song Dynasty, and the former Great Liao State and the internal border army also said the same, but due to the lack of necessary training, the political ecology of the Northern Song Dynasty was to divide the military power, resulting in multi-department commands, and finally they were all pulling each other's skin and kicking the ball, the military discipline was unclear, and the responsibility was not light, which affected the morale and war situation at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Since we have talked about the problem, let's directly point through the point and completely conquer this old thief psychologically, and say: I can't talk about pointing, after all, in terms of military quality, the captain is much higher than me. But the prince heard that every time the prince went to war, he would first transport the grain and grass to the palace, and then set out on the expedition, and ordered the prefecture and county to prepare a lot of grain and grass to support the army, and he also heard that the inner government also raised a youth guard army of 10,000 people. After speaking, he looked directly at Tong Guan.

I saw that the muscles on both sides of Tong Guan's face twitched rapidly, his teeth creaked, his eyes flickered, and his breathing accelerated significantly, until three seconds, he trembled and got up and knelt on the ground and trembled loudly: The prince forgives the sin, and the old slave is guilty! Not to mention the grain and grass of the greedy army, just raising tens of thousands of guards by selfishness has reached the point of extinction. Tong Guan was originally from Kaifeng, the capital, and his family was in Bianjing, if it was a crime, it was estimated that he would not be able to enter the ancestral grave. In addition, he was extremely weak and begged in front of Jinren, and reported to the chairman without telling the truth, and put gold on his face to invite credit, if the chairman knew, it was estimated that it would be enough for Tong Guan to step down.

Silently let him kneel for two minutes, and then said slowly: This prince has only heard and heard, and if the prince has it, he will change it, and if he has not, he will be crowned, and the prince is also thinking about the prince, after all, there is no impermeable wall in the world, does the prince want to end up useless in the first half of his life, and it will be ruined, and it will still affect his family? Tell Tong Guan very clearly, I can turn a blind eye to these things, then it depends on whether you listen to it or not. Although you can deceive the emperor in the deep palace, you can't hide it from me, if you settle accounts with you, your wife and family will be implicated! Tong Guan is a eunuch, but after all, he is a man, and he still has deep expectations for the concept of family, so the historical records record that Tong Guan has five wives and concubines, although he cannot be a husband and wife, but he does have the name of husband and wife and can feel the inner warmth that the family brings to a man.

I saw Tong Guan's body trembling constantly, his palms close to the ground, his buttocks were cocked, and his body was kneeling straight. After a while, he replied tremblingly: The old slave swore an oath to the head and the family, and was willing to serve the prince and horses, and he would not hesitate to break his bones! Hearing this, it is estimated that he surrendered in his heart, and affirmed his merits, that is, everything he did for the Great Song Dynasty, I remember, but on the contrary, you are too bold, you are favored by the chairman, and you are doing dirty things, I also know all this, carrots and sticks are really good, after all, there is God's vision here. I have to do a full set of plays, pretend to get up to help Tong Guan, and said affectionately: People are not saints and sages, who can make mistakes, and change them when they know their mistakes, it's not too late. This expresses that I have reached out to you, that is, I have accepted your meaning for my use, by the way, everyone will make mistakes, and you are the same, but it is difficult to know that mistakes will be corrected, this matter is currently on the line of you and me, and I will tell you if I have something in the future, you have to assist in the smooth enthronement and ensure the longevity of the Song Dynasty!

Tong Guan sat down slowly, and said: All the princes show it! I returned to the main seat and said: Xia Xiang helped me send off the captain, and you can report anything to the lieutenant at any time in the future. Seeing Xia Xiang leaning over to answer, he stepped forward to support Tong Guan, slowly walked out of the main hall, and walked to the outside of the house, looking at their figures gradually moving away, I couldn't help but sigh, the official level crushed people to death, one of the six famous thieves in history, and now he is also trembling and walking back to the house with old steps, it seems that the imperial system of feudal society is really supreme, no wonder there is such a palace bloodbath, hey, the ruthless emperor's family, who called the emperor only one?