The fierce battle lasted less than half an hour, as the noon sun fell on the earth through the clouds, and the remnants of the early winter swept by, and outside the west gate of Yuguan, the ground was already full of messes.

The Song army ambushed 2,000 gunners, and together with hundreds of soldiers in the city, launched a fierce offensive against the surging Liao.

In that case, a large number of Liao soldiers gathered near the gate of the West City, and directly became a live target for the Song army, which can be said to have suffered heavy losses, and there were corpses everywhere.

Those who were shot but did not die, those who were killed on the spot, or the soldiers who were injured when the horses were frightened and fell to the ground, all kinds of wails were heard incessantly.

Di Qing coldly gave the order to clean up the battlefield, sent the enemy who was not yet dead to the western heavens, to meet the Buddhist Rulai of the Liao people, and then ordered to start carrying artillery to the city immediately before the new Liao army arrived.

It's just that what he didn't expect was that after the Liao people fled, they swept over again.

Because there was a Bohai and Jurchen team of more than 10,000 people behind Shulu Si Liji, knowing that Yuguan was in front of the Song army, under the instigation of the fleeing Shulu Si Liji, the leading generals led their men and horses to kill Yuguan non-stop.

The reason why it did not stop was that after Shulu Si Liji and others escaped, they gathered the remnants of the army from afar, and when they observed the situation of the Song people's city, they found that the Song people were unloading the artillery from the ship, and guessed that they must be installing artillery on Yuguan, so they came to attack impatiently.

After all, once the Song people installed the artillery, and then cooperated with the riflemen to defend the west gate, and there were ships on the river to cover it, then the entire Yuguan was like an iron barrel, and it could no longer be captured, so the Liao army was so desperate to prevent the Song army's artillery from entering the city.

But it was already night.

And just when Di Qing cut off the Yuguan passage, a Liao army came to kill one, a team to punish a team, and an army to cut an army.

The war in the northwest is also almost coming to an end.

Li Yuanhao stood on the top of the mountain, overlooking the southeast, a large number of Song troops were rushed to pieces, and the rest of the Song troops left a corpse and fled in embarrassment, and there were countless Western Xia soldiers behind him desperately chasing after them, but they couldn't catch up.

Because firstly, the Song army did not lack war horses, and secondly, when they were chased by firearms, they could shoot backwards on their horses, so that the Tangut people did not dare to chase too close.

This situation made it difficult for the Tanguts to continue to expand their gains through close-quarters cold weapon combat after the Song soldiers were bombed.

'It's a pity. ’

Li Yuanhao licked his dry lips, this is the Qiliping of Western Xia, and it is also the closest road for the Song army to go straight to Xingqing Mansion.

He worked hard to plan and hide the main force so tightly, but the final result was not very ideal, the Song people came more than 10,000 people, but only under the initial artillery attack, there may be less than 1,000 casualties.

Originally, the Song people didn't have so many war horses, they were all forced to sign a treaty during the last peace talks, so that the Song people had so many war horses. ’

But it was also helpless, so many cattle, sheep and horses were sold to make these artillery, and there was a loss and a gain. ’

"Forget it, it is not easy to successfully ambush the Song army, and now taking advantage of the defeat of the Song people, we can also collect their spoils, and even take advantage of the situation to storm all the way and capture their border villages." ’

Li Yuanhao thought to himself.

During the Song Zhenzong period, because his father Li Deming had a good relationship with the Great Song Dynasty, Qingtang and Western Xia maintained the supply of war horses to the Great Song Dynasty at that time, resulting in the price of the Great Song Dynasty war horses at that time was relatively stable, and the general war horses were maintained at about 20 guan, and the better ones were only 50 guan.

But during his reign, from the beginning of Jingyou year, it was forbidden to transport war horses to the Great Song Dynasty. Coupled with the continuous blockade of Liao, it is increasingly difficult for the Great Song Dynasty to obtain war horses, and the price of war horses has soared.

According to the records of Bi Zhongxun, an official in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, from the first year of Bao to the year of Kangding and then to the year of Qingli, the price of war horses rose from more than 60 to more than 100 yuan, and the price of better war horses even once reached 15000 yuan, that is, the price of 195 yuan, which shows how expensive war horses are.

This made the Song Dynasty very short of horses, without mobility, in the battle with the Western Xia repeatedly defeated, almost no power to fight back.

Not anymore.

Because the Song Dynasty forced Li Yuanhao and Yelu Zongzhen to sign a contract, they were no longer allowed to prohibit the transportation of war horses, and in order to exchange for the so-called "New Year's coin", the Liao State used 3,000 high-quality war horses that had not been castrated, almost 166 guan per horse, in exchange for 500,000 guan, so that the Song people could breed war horses.

In such a situation, Qingtang, Xixia, Liaoguo tripartite transport, the price of war horses all the way down sharply, from the first year of Qingli, the initial to more than 100 a war horse, to the second year fell to 80, to now it is only more than 10 horses.

After having war horses, the mobility of the Song people was greatly improved. Although the mobility of field artillery such as heavy artillery and Weiyuan artillery could not be improved, the Song people with muskets were already very strong.

Li Yuanhao was able to set up an ambush, use artillery to defeat the Song army led by Ren Fu who made a surprise attack, and then let the cavalry with cold weapons chase and kill, which was already a miracle.

"Report! Bad thing, my lord. ”

When Li Yuanhao looked at the southeast and watched his soldiers chase and kill the fleeing Song army all the way, he rode over with a panicked face.

was still down the hillside, and was stopped by Li Yuanhao's personal guards.

But Li Yuanhao also heard the voice, turned his head and said with a sinking face: "Let him come over." ”

"Yes."

The guards should go down and let the cavalry go.

The cavalry galloped to the front, he was dirty, his hair was in locks, he turned over and dismounted with difficulty, and said with a sad face: "King, the Song people have broken through Zhuo Luo City and Michuan City, and our army has been defeated!" ”

"What?"

Li Yuanhao almost didn't stabilize his body and fell off the horse, but the guards next to him helped him so as not to fall off the horse.

This news was so shocking that Li Yuanhao's joy of defeating the Song army had just dissipated completely, in exchange for dizziness, and the whole person was now left with a feeling of close collapse.

Because for him, now it's a matter of picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons.

You must know that Li Yuanhao's strategic task this time is mainly to cover the Liao attack, followed by capturing Qingtang, and then defeating the Song army on his own territory on the Western Front.

Originally, he wanted to let Qingtang and Zhuo Luocheng resist the main force of the Song people first, he first led the main force of Western Xia to quickly complete the blow to the Song people's partial division, and then rushed to the west non-stop, gathered the troops of the whole Western Xia, and attacked the Song army head-on.

In this way, he completed two counterattacks on his own territory, even if the Song people had muskets, but he had a geographical advantage, and they had their own Western Xia artillery, so it should be no obstacle to repel the Song people.

At that time, not only did they complete the task of containing the Song army's troops and horses in the northwest, but they could also seek Qingtang and expand their strength in Western Xia.

Who knew that the western battlefield was lost too quickly.

You must know that he only set off half a month ago, and coupled with the time of the Song army's march, this means that the Song army may have broken through the second city in a few days at most, which is completely different from what he imagined to hold on for at least more than a month.

"What is Yeli Wangrong eating, he said that he could hold it for at least two months, why was it broken in just a few days?"

Li Yuanhao came back to his senses and roared hysterically.

The soldier who reported the news said with a sad face: "The Song army took advantage of the fact that the heavy rain could not use firearms and could not go out of the city to check, so they arranged artillery outside the south city gate, and when the heavy rain stopped, they bombarded the south city gate, and General Yeli was caught off guard. If it weren't for that heavy rain."

Heavy rain?

Li Yuanhao was stunned for a moment, the artillery in the rain really couldn't be fired, and it seemed that he couldn't blame Yeli Wangrong.

But he was still very angry, if he didn't know that drawing a knife and killing people at this time would discourage the army, I am afraid that he would want to slaughter the soldier who reported the news in front of him now.

"Mingjin retreats!"

Li Yuanhao yelled.

"King, at this time, we should take advantage of the victory to pursue, how can we collect the troops?"

There was a general next to him who persuaded.

Now that the Song army has been ambushed, it is time to expand the results.

No matter what, at least they have to kill the Song army, loot everywhere to make up for their losses in Western Xia, and if they collect their troops now, they will lose a lot.

However, Li Yuanhao said angrily: "If you don't collect the troops, will you wait for the people to go north to attack Xingqing Mansion?" Idiot! ”

Now that the western front has collapsed, after Zhuo Luo and Nan are lost, it means that the Song army can drive straight into the north and directly attack Li Yuanhao's old nest Xingqing Mansion.

In order to expand the results of the battle, you don't even want a home, which is equivalent to giving up the crystal base for a tower on the road.

No matter how stupid Li Yuanhao is, it is impossible to commit it.

At that moment, Li Yuanhao hurriedly retreated his troops to defend himself, no matter whether he took Zhuo Luo and Nan back, at least he had to ensure that the Song army would not continue to go north to take Xingqing Mansion.

The Western Xia occupied Qingtang in May, and the Song army launched a counterattack in August, and in less than half a month, Qingtang was recovered one after another, and captured Zhuo Luo and the southern region of Western Xia, and the results were very rich.

In October, Li Yuanhao led the main army back to help, but was repelled by Zhang Kang and Jingtai.

It was only at this time that Han Qi in the northwest knew that Li Yuanhao actually hid the main force, but it was useless, although he defeated Ren Fu, the strategic task of the Great Song Dynasty had been completed, and he successfully won a large territory.

In early October, the war on the Liao side had just begun, Fan Zhongyan led the Hebei Road army to surround the Liao State Xijin Mansion, and Di Qing led the division to set off from the sea to cut off the Yuguan passage.

Bianliang has not yet received the battle report, after all, it is too far away, in the era when there is no telegraph, it is already four or five days before you want to get the battle report from Xijin Mansion, and it may take at least half a month to get the battle report from the direction of Yuguan.

Therefore, the Constitutional Yuan did not know the situation on Di Qing's side.

They have been busy with another matter lately – the reshuffle of the Constitutional Council in October.

Since the establishment of the Constitutional Yuan in September of the third year of Jingyou, this department has formulated relevant rules and regulations.

According to the powers conferred by the Supreme Constitution of the Great Song Dynasty, the full name of the Constitutional Yuan is the "Great Song Dynasty National Government Development and Institutional Innovation Institute", referred to as the Constitutional Yuan.

This department oversees the affairs of the whole country, has all the power to appoint and dismiss all officials except those below the level of the Constitutional Yuan, and has the power to supervise, manage, make decisions, and even enforce the law on all departments, and has all powers except the military.

It can be said that the Constitutional Yuan is equivalent to the power of the ancient prime minister, and Zhao Jun, the prefect of the Constitutional Yuan, is the emperor who has the command of the Xiang Army and the Imperial City Division Forbidden Army, in addition to the vast majority of the forbidden army.

It is obviously unfair to say that Zhao Jun is above 10,000 people under one person, because the nominal one is often threatened, intimidated, CPU, and even beaten by him.

So now Zhao Jun is very powerful.

After the morning court ended on October 8, Zhao Jun sat on his desk with a pot of tea, and Yan Shu was chatting with him next to him.

"It's still very lively in the early days today, the official family snatched the love of Song Gong and Cai Gong on the spot, and they can be re-elected again."

"But on the other hand, they naturally have to give up the right to recommend."

"There is a give-and-take."

"How do you feel Uncle Rari, you seem to be very happy."

"What's the matter, but Hanlong, your status is as stable as Mount Tai, back then you told the old man that you wanted to be the executive vice emperor, how about it, now it's your wish."

Yan Shu said with a smile.

In the morning, the reorganization of the Constitutional Yuan was already on the agenda, and Cai Qi and Song Shou pretended to write a letter saying that they were going to resign and be laid off.

After all, there are regulations in the imperial court now, and the state and county level are still the same as before, three years of grinding, that is, when the governor or county order should be transferred to another place after three years, this is also to prevent the governor and the county order from colluding with local forces at the local level, thus degenerating and corrupt.

If you are above the road, you will be a senior officer, and you will change every five years. The chief officials of the five departments, including the various transfer envoys and pacification envoys, as well as the chief officials of more than 50 departments under the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Yuan, are all subject to a five-year period.

The Constitutional Yuan is an exception, which can serve two terms for a total of 10 years.

However, Zhao Zhen announced on the spot that Zhao Jun, the prefect, is not limited by term and can continue to be in office, which caused shocks in the government and the opposition, and many officials complained about it.

Although Zhao Jun was supported by the prime minister of the entire Constitutional Yuan and their affiliated forces, and he himself had many younger brothers, such as Li Di, Xia Zhu, Yang Cha, Yang Xu, Zhao Luan, Chen Xiliang, etc., who had great influence in the government and the opposition.

Dan Ding said that there were still countless people who opposed the power of the government and the opposition back then, not to mention Zhao Jun, who was not from a jinshi background, and was not a dark horse who rose up step by step as a lower-level official.

One step to the sky sounds comfortable, but what you have to bear is the jealousy, redness, and disbelief of countless people.

So in the past ten years, Zhao Jun seems to have been smooth sailing, but many people in the government and the opposition have watched it, and if they are not careful, countless people will be impeached. If it weren't for the resolute attitude of many prime ministers of the Constitutional Yuan and Zhao Zhen, I am afraid that they would have stepped down long ago.

"Uncle Lari, what you said, your old comrade's consciousness is still low, the official family and the people of the people gave me this position, what I want to do is to serve the official family, serve the Great Song Dynasty, and serve the people of the people, how can I say that I am the executive vice emperor?"

Zhao Jun squinted his eyes and took a sip of the old cadre's tea, his cunning eyes were like a little fox.

has been up and down in officialdom for so many years, and after learning for so long with Lu Yijian, an old fox with extremely rich experience in officialdom struggle, he should have gained a lot of wisdom.

"You, you're still playing tricks in front of me, you are all people who know the roots, do you need to play an official like this?"

Yan Shu laughed and teased.

Since Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng were laid off, he has now faintly taken Lu Yijian's place, only under Zhao Jun, and the two of them naturally don't have so many worries when they talk.

After all, Yan Shu's political attitude has always been very clear, that is, to be a political tumbler, impartial, and stand in the absolute middle.

And even if Zhao Jun implements any policy, he fully supports it, so naturally there is no need to look at it as an outsider.

While the two of them were talking, an official on duty from the Constitutional Yuan outside hurriedly came in and said: "Zhiyuan, Tongzhi, the northwest battle situation report, our army has captured Qingtang and Zhuo Luo and Nan, and now Li Yuanhao is leading the army back to defense." ”

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun took the battle report given by the official and opened it and glanced at it, this is Han Qi's letter, explaining the current situation in the northwest to the Constitutional Yuan.

"Han Qi is very anxious, I heard that he even personally arrived at the front line to watch the battle, urging the soldiers to fight bravely to kill the enemy."

Yan Shu leaned over.

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "The reorganization of the Constitutional Yuan is imminent, can he not be in a hurry?" But he doesn't have his share, even if someone recommends him, I won't agree, this person can't fight, he is a good hand in politics, but his qualifications are too poor, and what the Constitutional Yuan needs is a group of old and respectful people. ”

This is also obvious, which means that the Constitutional Yuan needs a group of old men.

It's not that Zhao Jun suppresses young people, but that he needs to consider his own interests.

It is a good thing that the Constitutional Yuan is younger, but the younger it is, the more it means that it has its own political opinions.

Like the group of new parties in the Qingli New Deal, as well as later Wang Anshi, Lu Huiqing and others, they were all in their thirties and forties, and they became prime ministers at a young age, and then made drastic reforms.

If they enter the Constitutional Yuan and have their own political opinions, which are contrary to Zhao Jun's political views, it may obviously cause instability within the Constitutional Yuan.

So it's easier to control a group of old men coming in.

The old man is old and doesn't have so much motivation to carry out reforms, so the Constitutional Yuan will naturally become Zhao Jun's hall.

Although this may seem like a bit of a suppression of dissent, in many cases it is necessary to do so in order to protect one's own political interests, otherwise it may lead to the loss of political power.

And this is already the mildest way, compared with the later Western political elections, Mark Twain's "Running for Governor" can be regarded as a legitimate campaign method.

What's more, Zhao Jun is now engaged in strongman politics, and he will definitely not promote some obstacles to make himself unhappy with the development of the country with a strong hand, so when he is selected as prime minister in the Constitutional Yuan, he will definitely personally check it.

Yan Shu naturally understood what he meant, and smiled: "Since this is the case, you can just grasp it yourself." ”

"Now that our strategic task in the northwest has been completed, and we have seized such a large piece of land in Western Xia, it is time for Western Xia to suffer, and then let Han Qi guard the northwest well."

Zhao Jun thought for a while, and then said: "Starting from this year, let Han Qi severely crack down on smugglers in the northwest, cut off all trade activities with the Western Xia, and severely sanction them, and do not allow any merchants from the Western Regions to trade with them, I will paralyze the economy of the Western Xia in the next few years and let them collapse internally." ”

After planning for so long, it is time to see the dagger today.

Both the Western Xia and the Liao State vigorously developed arms, and the entire economic lifeline of the country was controlled by the Song State. Now that economic sanctions have begun, there is no business, their herdsmen have no source of tea and iron tools, their cattle and sheep cannot be sold, and they can only freeze to death when winter comes.

At that time, the entire grassland will fall into economic collapse, and I am afraid that it will not be long before the Great Song Dynasty does not need to make a move, and the Western Xia and Liao States will fall into civil strife, so that the Great Song can easily defeat and conquer it.

(End of chapter)