Pang Ji brought Sima Guang to the northwest, not because he had any special hobbies, but because he sincerely wanted to cultivate him and rely on him to make a wonderful start---so as soon as he arrived in Bingzhou, Pang Ji let him stand alone and go to Linzhou to take command.
military affairs.
In the eyes of people of this era, as long as they have read through the Confucian classics, they can master everything and be omnipotent. Sima Guang was able to speak "Zuo Zhuan" at the age of seven, and now he is in his thirties.
He has more scriptures than anyone else, so he also believes that he can govern the country with literature and bring peace to the country with force, but he has never had the opportunity to use it.
The vast land in the northwest is where a good man can make great contributions. Sima Guang was finally able to show off his talents, so he was naturally gearing up and vowed to do a big job in Linzhou, make great contributions like all the other ministers, and win the title of prime minister as soon as possible!
As soon as he arrived in Linzhou, he couldn't wait to inspect the front line. At that time, the Song and Xia countries were bounded by the Quye River. The east of the river belonged to the Song Dynasty and the west of the river belonged to the Xixia. But after arriving at the front line, Sima Guang discovered that as far as Baicaoping in Hexi, several
There is no sign of the invaders for ten miles, that is to say, all the Xixia soldiers have disappeared.
At this time, Guangguang's big head full of knowledge immediately emerged with the corresponding information - Quye Hexi was once a cultivated land of the Song Dynasty, rich in grain and beans. Later, the Song army was incompetent, and this area was taken away by Xixia.
It is the pastureland of the Dangxiang people, with fertile fields and fertile fields, and flocks of cattle and sheep. It is a treasure land.
That day, Guangguang stared at Qu Yehexi for a long time, and made a quick calculation in his mind... If he could regain this territory, he would have accomplished a great feat for the Song Dynasty. As a Confucian, he had achieved unparalleled military exploits.
Is there anything happier than this in the world?
After returning, Sima Guang wrote to Pang Ji and suggested that while the enemy was gone, he should set up two castles in the area west of the Quye River to occupy the land. Then he would recruit people to cultivate the villages to alleviate the problem of high food supply in the east of the river and dependence on Bianjing's supply.
Dilemma. This suggestion is very tempting, but it is inconsistent with Pang Ji's generous strategy of focusing on stability, so the old husband is very hesitant.
Linzhou, unable to wait for a reply from their superiors, decided to launch a bold test to give their superiors more confidence in their decision-making... Sima Guang then met with Wu Kan, who knew Linzhou, Huang Daoyuan, the eunuch who supervised the army, and Guo En, who was in charge of the military affairs.
In summary, we decided to send troops to secretly cross the river in the name of border patrol and head to the west of Quye River to reconnoiter the enemy's situation. If there were no problems, we would prepare to establish a forward position and wait for the follow-up army to follow.
As a result, Huang Daoyuan and Guo En underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly. They were surrounded by the Xixia army at Duandaowu on the west bank and were wiped out. Huang Daoyuan was captured alive, but Guo En refused to surrender and committed suicide. In this battle, the Song army had 1,400 troops.
They did not escape back to the territory. Half of them were killed and half were captured. Among those who surrendered, there was a small officer named Li Qing. He later became a very important figure between the Song and Xia countries. Of course, this is a story later.
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Such a huge defeat was the first time since the armistice between the Song and Xia countries. The defenders of Linzhou had no military orders. They acted recklessly, lost their troops and humiliated the country, and the government and the public were furious. Naturally, they had to get to the bottom of it. Yushi Zhang Boyu was ordered to investigate. As soon as he arrived
After merging the state, Pang was immediately relieved of his military power and asked to hand over all military files.
Pang Ji knew that he was definitely doomed, and he was naturally very resentful. But he knew that although Sima Guang was not good at fighting, his talent lay elsewhere, and he would definitely become successful in the future. Why bother dragging him into it? It would be better to leave some time for his descendants.
What about good luck?
So he burned all Sima Guang's letters and reports, and took all the responsibilities himself.
A censor like Zhang Boyu couldn't compete with an old military leader like Pang Ji. In the end, he had to be convicted of two crimes: improper command and concealment of files. Then he suggested to the court that Pang Ji was old and should retreat to the second line. As a result
Pang Ji was demoted to Qingzhou, and there was no improvement from then on. He died of illness soon after.
Wu Kan, the prefect of Linzhou, was also sent to Jiangzhou.
Only Sima Guang was fine. He was also transferred back to the capital as Dr. Taichang. But Guangguang was ungrateful and felt a strong sense of shame. He wrote letters one after another, sternly requesting the imperial court to "exclusively punish ministers for their crimes and punish them according to the canon." But no one believed it.
His words were thought to be a show, and some even said that he was 'taking the opportunity to gain fame' and 'pretending to gain a good reputation'.
The biggest difference between Sima Guang and Wang Anshi was that "a gentleman has a sense of moderation". Seeing that no one paid attention to him when he went to court to plead guilty three times, he stopped talking and prepared to shamelessly return to the capital to work... He naturally felt guilty towards Pang Ji.
I wrote him several letters to express my apology, but Pang Ji never replied a word to him until his death.
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The Battle of Duandaowu not only left thousands of withered bones on the banks of the Quye River, but also left a famous minister who had served as a general and prime minister in danger at the end of his life, ruining the military dream of a star of hope, and also caused the tension between the two countries to grow.
The border trade came to an abrupt end. This was the Song Dynasty's consistent punishment method for Xixia... because the two countries' dependence on trade was seriously unequal. The Song Dynasty was rich in treasures and lacked everything except horses. Cutting off mutual trade was nothing more than a rough meal.
If you want salt, you can ride a donkey instead. But the Xixia people have no tea, cloth, and iron pots, and they can't even eat.
And this time, the enforcement was particularly ruthless. Not only were all the forewarning markets closed, but private markets were also prohibited. All Xixia people who drove horses and cattle to the border areas to exchange for grain and other items were beheaded by Song soldiers after being caught.
Showing to the public. Under such severe punishment, except for desperate smuggling, the two countries have lost even a dime of trade.
A big border trader like Hou Yi could not get involved in smuggling. Even if the imperial court issued an "extreme city order", he would have to stop all trade with Xixia immediately, otherwise he would definitely be treated as a typical example of committing crimes against the odds.
So he has been so worried these days that his hair has turned a lot of white. Through hearing and seeing, he has long admired Chen Ke's business acumen. He came to the cocktail party today just to meet him and see if this god can point out the problem.
There is a clear way out.
The two briefly analyzed the situation, and Chen Ke said: "I don't think the business in the northwest will be possible in the next few years."
"Isn't that true?" Hou Yi sighed: "Besides, I really don't want to do business with the enemy. No one else can bear to be called a traitor when we go to war."
"Then change careers."
"I've been doing buying and selling all my life." Hou Yi smiled bitterly and said, "I really can't do anything else."
"Then let's find another trade route." Chen Ke said: "If the northwest is not good, what about the northeast?"
"It's not easy to do business in the Liao Kingdom. Last year, the imperial court banned the border troops from doing business. All of a sudden, it became difficult to do business." Hou Yi shook his head and said: "Xiao Tianyi and these bastards have now come directly to our Song Dynasty.
They have war horses in their hands, and even all the princes have to face each other. How can we fight them inside and outside?" He said with a smile and said: "Besides, the Liao Kingdom is no longer an enemy country? How can we not protect everything?
If this happens, I will have no choice but to jump into the Jinshui River."
Gu Xixi smiled and asked, "Why do you want to jump into the Jinshui River?" The Jinshui River is a river leading to the palace.
"Disgusting, disgusting gentlemen who don't care about our life or death." Hou Yi said with a strange smile, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
After finishing laughing, Chen Ke said: "Have you ever considered going to sea? The nearest ones are to Japan and Korea, and the far ones are to Nanyang. One trip will support you for a year."
"Sea?" In this era, the people of the inland Song Dynasty still had a deep fear of the sea, always feeling that the vast ocean would swallow everything. Therefore, few merchants in Bianjing were engaged in maritime trade. At most, they were just a
Being a middleman, Hou Yi was not exempt from vulgarities. He licked his lips and said sheepishly: "Those with four legs are still safe on land. If I go into the water, I'm afraid of drowning." The whole room burst into laughter again.
"I'm talking about Lao Hou," Li Jian couldn't stand it anymore and said with a smile: "You are so afraid of wolves in front of you and tigers in the back, why don't you do anything. Anyway, your whole life will be spent in debauchery."
"Nonsense." Hou Yi smiled bitterly and said, "In a few years, I will have to return to the West." Then he looked at Chen Ke and said, "Sir, is there nothing else I can do?"
"Is this..." Chen Ke said leisurely: "I do have another trade route. Compared with maritime trade, it is much less difficult and risky, and the potential is far from being developed."
"Where?" Hou Yi opened his eyes wide and asked.
"In the southwest." Chen Ke didn't hide it from him and said with a smile: "The high officials know."
"Is it the Tea Horse Road to Tubo?" Li Jian thought about it and asked.
"No, there are too many people running that one, and the profit is too thin." Chen Ke said with a smile.
"Then..." Li Jian thought for a while and said, "Could it be the body poison?"
"Smart." Chen Ke nodded and smiled.
"Body poison path?" Hou Yida said: "How come you haven't heard of it?"
"The reasons why I haven't heard of it are that one is that you haven't studied enough, and the other is that you are too far away from Sichuan." Chen Ke said with a smile: "This is a trade route that can lead to Burma and India. During the Han and Tang Dynasties,
Its importance is no less than that of the Silk Road in the north. However, in this dynasty, because of the reason that "the Tang Dynasty fell in Huangchao and Nanzhao, and the disaster was based in Nanzhao", it adopted a hostile attitude towards Dali, banned tribute, and cut off
After entering this trade route, over time, it was no longer known to the people of the Central Plains."
"Young master, what you mean is..." Hou Yi muttered: "Want to restore this trade route?"
"In fact, it has been restored a long time ago. Many of our businessmen in Shu secretly ran this route, but you Central Plains people don't know it." Li Jian said with a smile: "To put it bluntly, it is smuggling. But Dali is very worried that the court will do this because of this."
Attacking them, so the ban is very strict, so it has never been a success."
"If anyone can make Dali open its trade routes, I can guarantee that within a few years, you will be as rich as any other country." Li Jian patted Hou Yi on the shoulder and said with a pig-like look on his face: "Think about it, that's a big deal.
To a country filled with ivory, gold, and precious stones!"
"Hmm..." Hou Yi nodded repeatedly, but he thought to himself, why does it sound so unreliable?
"Let's see. After the imperial examination, I will take leave to go back to my hometown to marry a wife. It's better for Lao Hou to go with me." Chen Ke said with a smile: "Firstly, I will give my younger brother some face, and secondly, I can also investigate this road on the spot. If you feel that
If that doesn’t work, why don’t we just relax and unwind?”
Yi finally came to his senses and laughed and said: "Young Master is getting married, of course we are going to join in the fun!"
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The first update, there are three more updates, dear. Please give me a monthly ticket... To be continued