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Text Chapter 40: Balance

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.    Dong Zunjie, the military envoy from Tongyuan and the inspector of Lingzhou, had a look of disbelief on his face. He read the military book that Chen De had shot with an arrow, and then handed it to Lin Zhong.  Since escaping back to Lingzhou City, Dong Zunjie has been worried day and night about Chen De's army attacking the city. There are currently less than two thousand combatable soldiers in the city, and the fear of Chen De's Han army has penetrated deep into his bones.  More than a dozen messengers were sent to Bianliang for help, but the news they came back was a stern rebuke from Zhao Guangyi. The imperial imperial army was going all out to prepare to attack Taiyuan. How could they turn their heads west for Lingzhou? The Khitan people were stationed at Yanyun Ten.  Are the tens of thousands of cavalrymen in the six states vegetarian?

    "Sir, it seems that Chen De really wants to make peace." Lin Zhong said in a deep voice after carefully reading Chen De's book.  After Dong Zunjie's army was defeated in Liangzhou, his trusted generals surrendered or died. Lin Zhong happened to follow and protect him all the way. After Dong Zunjie returned to Lingzhou, he gradually relied on him.  "There are few soldiers in Lingzhou, and Chen De's troops are pressing down on the territory. Before the imperial decree is issued, we should make peace with him, so as not to anger him and destroy both the enemy and the enemy." Lin Zhong carefully suggested that making peace with the enemy privately is a serious crime, but the situation is worse than that of others.  Strong, although Chen De did not make any fierce siege moves, but from the city's perspective, the Hexi Army was building siege equipment under the city day and night, with large and small stone bullets piled up like mountains. According to reports from messengers, Chen De also sent cavalry to control the city.  Lingzhou is a vast area hundreds of miles east and south. If he hadn't used the rat weapon, Lingzhou would no longer be the territory of the Song Dynasty.

    "He was just worried about the safety of his family members who stayed in Lanzhou." Dong Zunjie sighed, "Abandoning Lanzhou and taking Hexi, using small measures to win big things, he actually succeeded. If this person is not eliminated, I am afraid that dragons will enter the sea from now on.  It can no longer be controlled. The imperial court will not allow peace talks lightly." He turned to the forest and smiled bitterly, "Tian Qinzuo, who led the troops to surround Lanzhou, is a mean man. In the current situation, Lanzhou cannot be protected. Tian Qinzuo  If Zuo does something outrageous next, I'm afraid tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Lingzhou will be buried with Chen De's family members left in Lanzhou. That's all, I'll fix it for now.0; One letter, please inform the court of Chen De¡¯s peace request letter first.  "Dong Zunjie was born in the military, so he naturally had no knowledge of writing. The official who was originally responsible for writing for him was trapped in Liangzhou and could not escape, so he caught a knife in the forest. In the memorial, he earnestly reported to the court the situation in the northwest, Tubo, Tubo,  The Uighur and Dangxiang ministries have been dealt with by Chen De. If the court insists on breaking with them now, it will be tantamount to handing over the northwest. Shaanxi Wudao will immediately become the front line and will be harassed by Chen De for many years.

    In order to persuade the court, Lin Zhong also deliberately added his own analysis. Now that the court is going to use a large number of troops in Taiyuan to regain Yanyun, there is really no need to plant Chen De, an old enemy in the northwest. Since he has the heart to surrender, he might as well do it for the time being.  Yourou, after pacifying Taiyuan in the east and defeating the Khitans, the imperial army turned to the west. Relying on the favorable terrain of Lingzhou and the great prestige of the Central Plains court among the northwest tribes, it was the first step to annihilate Chen De's Han army.  Things will fall into place.

    After finishing the letter, Lin Zhong read it to Dong Zunkui. Dong Zunkui nodded and said: "I didn't expect that Colonel Lin was a scholar and could speak so clearly. Let's send this military letter like this."  Without changing a word, he took his big seal, carefully used the seal on the memorial, and then put it into an envelope together with Chen De's peace request letter. The outside was sealed with fire paint and then sealed again. Finally,  Send it to the courier.

    Watching the messenger galloping towards the east, with Chen De's cavalry not stopping him, Dong Zunjie sighed: "This Chen De is also a man. If he sincerely submits, it will be a blessing to the court."

    Dong Zunjie used the fastest messenger, constantly changing people and horses along the way. The distance between Lingzhou and Chang'an was 700 miles, and Chang'an and Kaifeng were more than 1,000 miles away. This military letter, together with Chen De's letter, only took three days to convey.  It was then placed on the desk of Song Emperor Zhao Guangyi.

    Compared with a year ago, Zhao Guangyi, who had already announced to the world that he had changed his name to Zhao Jiong, put down Chen De's letter again.  "Su Wen" says, "It hurts when it's dead, but it stops immediately when it's boiled." Zhao光 Yi changed this name for himself, selfishly, it may have eliminated the reasons for countless complicated political affairs that have caused him headaches since he ascended the throne.  However, in the eyes of Zhao Pu, Cao Bin, and Wang Qian who were standing at the bottom of the steps, the 38-year-old Emperor was in his prime and showed extraordinary energy in handling political affairs.

    In the past two years, we have vigorously promoted new scholars and assigned them to various important positions in the emerging empire, gradually replacing the aging bureaucrats.  Although the newly appointed scholars may not have the real ability to manage civil affairs, their loyalty to the emperor who single-handedly rescued them is unquestionable. This can be seen from the mountains of memorials that are constantly being sent to His Majesty the Emperor's desk every day.  come out.

    The selection and training of the Forbidden Army is also accelerating. When Taizu passed away, there were only 193,000 Forbidden Army soldiers in the country. In the past two years, another 100,000 Forbidden Army soldiers have been recruited to intensify training in the capital.  At the same time, many veteran generals, Jiedushi, were deposed. The Imperial Guards from Taizu's era were sent to the capital with heavy rewards, and the old members of His Majesty's vassal residence were constantly inserted into the capital's army. In just two years, the military of the Song Dynasty had already replaced the old and adopted the new.  The instability factors in the army were completely eliminated, and the country of the Song Dynasty was as stable as Mount Tai.

    Compared with the prosperity of the Song Dynasty, which was like a rising sun, the old enemy Taiyuan and the Khitan people in the north were having an increasingly difficult time. Emperor Yelvxian of the Liao Dynasty was in frail health. The nobles below were fighting for power. The elite soldiers and generals of the Khitan people were all gathered here.  Going to Beijing to guard against each other, the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, which the Song Dynasty had always been eyeing, was now empty. According to secret reports, the main force guarding the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun was actually some Han troops.  If this situation continues, the Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty King's Army will inevitably be overwhelming.

    As for the Northern Han Dynasty, the strategy of "burning its strongholds, moving its people, and emptying its land" has achieved results. The Taiyuan court now wants to borrow food from the Liao Kingdom every year.  The Tuhun Army, the main force of the Han army stationed in Lanzhou, even sent troops to Hexi without permission. The conflict between Chen De and the Taiyuan court had become public. Even when the Song army besieged Hexi, Taiyuan also0;One soldier and one soldier rescue each other.

    The longan incense sent as tribute from the south of the Yangtze River gave off a faint fragrance. Zhao Jiong raised his fingers and gently rubbed his hot temples. Others only thought that the emperor was happy, but he himself knew the joys and sorrows. The emperor's intentions, and the civil and military forces of the dynasty were all in the palm of his hand.  , but also carefully calculating various internal and external arrangements has already consumed a lot of effort.  The various preparations for the crusade against Taiyuan and the recovery of Yanyun were even more huge projects. The original arrogant and powerful generals could not be trusted, so they had to train and select generals.  All kinds of grain, grass and baggage must be stockpiled in advance in various border towns bordering Khitan in the Northern Han Dynasty. Veteran generals and soldiers must be arranged to protect these forward bases, and these old Taizu generals must also be prevented from contacting their restless nephews, Zhao Defang and Zhao Dezhao.  .

    Although Dong Zunjie described the situation in the northwest as extremely urgent in his military book, he still could not occupy even a small position on Zhao Jiong's desk.  Zhao Jiong himself even had to work hard to pull his thoughts away from his preparations for his nephew's imperial ambitions and the Northern Expedition, so that he could have enough energy to think about other things.  "My lords, although Chen De of Hexi Province has besieged Lingzhou, he has already expressed weakness to the imperial court and asked to surrender. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with it?" Zhao Jiong said slowly and solemnly, but he couldn't stop thinking about the secret reports that have been coming out recently.  , the central confidant of the Cao Han Mansion met with Zhao Dezhao yesterday. I wonder what they discussed?  It is said that many of Taizu's old generals who were relegated to the northern border towns had the intention to support Dezhao. This Dezhao had a strong military spirit and we needed to be careful to guard against his rebellion.

    Seeing Zhao Jiong's uncertain face and gloomy eyes, all the ministers didn't know what he was thinking. Only Cao Bin, who had a grudge against Chen De, said first: "Your Majesty, this Chen De is an ambitious man. Now he has acquired a land thousands of miles west of Hexi."  , it has not been cleaned up yet, and it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, otherwise there will be worries about the consequences of raising tigers." He paused, and seeing that Zhao Jiong did not express his position, he continued: "Although Chen De revised the letter to ask for surrender, the letter contains  He has already stated that he is willing to follow the example of the Li family and make it difficult for them to do so. It is clear that he wants to separate one side and has a disobedient heart.#24050;It¡¯s obvious.  Your Majesty is trying to clean up the world and bring peace and prosperity to the world. How can you be kind to him and make the heroes from all over the world have different intentions?  "

    Zhao Jiong nodded, still noncommittal, and turned to look at Zhao Pu. Zhao Pu tried to figure out the holy intention and bowed: "What General Cao said is to serve the country wholeheartedly. But," he looked at Wang Qian beside him and continued.  , "Things have priorities. The imperial court has been preparing for the annihilation of Taiyuan and the Northern Expedition to Yanyun for no less than ten years. The elite soldiers are waiting day and night, and they have long been looking forward to it. They have stored baggage, repaired roads, and built border fortresses. The huge preparations have already been done. If it is for this Chen  Virtue, if the imperial court rashly turns to the west and uses troops, the whole court will be at a loss. This is the case.

    Taiyuan, there is a serious problem in the heart. Qingqi left Taiyuan and drank his horse in Bianliang the next day.  Hexi is also plagued by scabies. Chen De's family is trapped in Lanzhou, precarious and unable to save themselves. The threat to Bianliang is minimal.  The way to build a country is to first get rid of the serious troubles in the intimate circle, and then to cure the scabies disease. This is the second step.

    Khitan is a powerful country, with a territory of thousands of miles and hundreds of thousands of people under its control. Although there have been constant civil strife in the past ten years, once it is dealt with, it will become the great enemy of our dynasty.  Yan and Yun are victorious, but the geographical advantage is there but not mine. Although our dynasty has 300,000 imperial troops, we have to guard Heshuo and it is difficult to divide our troops to the west of Heshuo.  When Chen Debai started to rebel, his soldiers were newly attached, and the people were shocked and doubtful. Even if he was given a few years to cultivate himself, he would not be able to compete with the Central Plains.  This is the third one.  "

    Zhao Pu looked at Cao Bin, whose face was gradually gloomy, and felt quite proud: "Don't think that wearing a Confucian robe means that you are a scholar. Can you, a soldier, shake the emperor's determination to pursue the Northern Expedition?" He said with an undoubted expression.  He said in his voice: "In the opinion of an old minister, we must first appease Chen De and ensure the Northern Expedition." In his heart, he disapproved of the plot of the Zhao brothers' Northern Expedition. Zhao Pu had a famous saying that was passed down to later generations: "When fighting foreign forces, you must first make peace at home."  "With the decline of the Five Dynasties and the strength of the Khitan, they were still unable to destroy the Central Plains. On the contrary, their own dynasties continued to change. It can be seen that the way to govern a country is to focus on internal security rather than external aggression.  This argument he neverHidden, when brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi were not emperors, the three of them discussed the general trend of the world together. Zhao Pu expounded this point of view countless times, which had a great influence on the Zhao brothers.

    Note 1: In the memorial to Song Taizong in the early Song Dynasty, Zhao Pu stated: "Now that China is safe, all the barbarians have surrendered. My old husband, if you want to fight against foreigners, you must first make peace at home."

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