Zhang Yue heard Wen Yanbo mention it and asked with a slightly surprised look: "Is this happening?"
Everyone knew that Zhang Yue had just arrived in the capital and knew nothing about it.
Seeing Zhang Yue's confused look, Wen Yanbo said: "It doesn't matter, Zhang Jinglue can just talk about it casually."
Wen Yanbo nodded with his hand and placed an official document beside the desk, and the official beside him immediately gave it to Zhang Yue.
Zhang Yue flipped through the official documents but saw a side report, that is, starting from February of this year (the fifth year of Xining), the Khitan sent cavalry across the Juma River many times. In August, the Khitan suddenly gathered 200,000 troops.
The Song Dynasty sent people to inquire about the Khitan's intentions, but the other party said that they had taken in two Song Dynasty deserters and reported that the Song Dynasty was going to send two to three hundred thousand troops to attack Yanjing, so they prepared in advance to gather troops and horses to defend the border.
The Song Dynasty was shocked and immediately sent someone to explain that there was no such intention at all. But the Khitan people expressed disbelief.
The other letter was a secret report and it was anonymous. It was copied at first glance. As for which yamen it was from, it was not mentioned.
Zhang Yue heard that such secret reports usually came from the Imperial City Division, but he was not qualified to read them in the past.
It is very likely that the Song Dynasty knew that the Khitan was facing a formidable enemy after redrawing its boundaries, so it activated its spies in the Khitan.
The secret report contained another theory: Yelu Hongji, the leader of the Khitan, wanted to seize the land of Wei, Ying, and Shuo prefectures while the Song Dynasty was at war with Xixia and had no time to spare.
When Zhang Yue saw this, he remembered that there seemed to be this incident in history. It was said that Wang Anshi advocated a compromise with the Khitan and finally abandoned 700 miles of land, but some people said that he only abandoned a few dozen miles.
Zhang Yue said: "My official remembers that in the first month of the fourth year of Xining, when the Shaanxi Xuanfu Division sent out a large army to attack Luowu City, the Khitan sent 300,000 internal troops to patrol the border, forcing our army to retreat in embarrassment."
"Since February of this year, the Khitan has repeatedly sent exploration horses to cross the Juma River. This court patrolled the horses in Zengxiong County and Rong County to reject them. It can be seen that the Khitan is really ambitious and should continue to explore its intentions.
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Wen Yanbo said: "The intention of the Khitan is not clear for the time being, so let's say that after the Khitan gathers together, they will send troops across the river to loot the two households? Or what about the next step to attack Xiongzhou?"
Zhang Yue listened to Wen Yanbo's words, which seemed to lead him to a certain direction, and he immediately knew the opportunity and said nothing.
Wang Anshi said: "Nowadays, there are only a hundred or so horses coming and going, and the land invades each other for twenty or thirty miles, and the trouble is so great. At this time when all the barbarians are weak, if a hero is born in the four barbarians, I don't know how to treat him?"
Wen Yanbo asked: "Is the Khitan Lord Yelu Hongji not a hero?"
Wang Anshi said: "Mediocre people are just big people who hold on to their foundation."
Zhang Yue looked at Wen Yanbo and Wang Anshi who were bickering and arguing with each other in the distance. He was also amused. The officials on the side also took notes one after another. Zhang Yue thought that it was originally a question for him to consult, but it became an occasion for the two prime ministers to quarrel, which saved himself.
A lot of energy.
Wang Anshi's plan is very clear. He now wants to conquer Qingtang and conquer Xixia, so he does not want to fight with Khitan to avoid fighting on two fronts.
Everyone knows not to hit someone with two fists.
And Wen Yanbo immediately accused Wang Anshi, saying why are you so cowardly towards the Khitan? You are so weak, this is not your usual style.
Zhang Yue didn't say anything. If he went to the capital, he might be detained in the capital and stripped of his military power.
Wang Anshi can arrange his confidants to carry out the strategy of Qingtang.
Therefore, he was unwilling to fight for his own consideration, but Zhang Yue was unwilling to let his efforts and early investment in developing Qingtang go to waste.
If Wang Anshi wants his people to conquer Qingtang, let him do it, but the national policy of controlling Xia cannot be abandoned halfway.
Wang Anshi and Wen Yanbo chatted for a while, and Zhang Yue said: "According to what I saw, the Khitan did not have the intention to attack the Song Dynasty when they gathered troops, but their intention was to seize the land..."
Every word Zhang Yue said was recorded by officials.
As for Yelu Hongji, everyone who has watched The Eight Tribes of Heaven and Dragon will know this person. At this time, he had put down the rebellion of the emperor's younger brother Yelu Chongyuan, but this does not mean that his power and position are stable.
Zhang Yue said: "Although the Khitan studied sinicization and established a bicameral system, various ethnic groups in the Khitan are mixed, such as Khitan, Han, Xi, Bohai, Uighur, and Jurchen. Originally, they were suppressed by force..."
In history, many people thought that Yelu Hongji was a mediocre person, but in fact he was not.
Yelu Hongji only did two things in his life, one was to suppress civil strife, and the other was to unite a unified ideology.
"...The stability of his king's foundation depends entirely on the control of force, rather than the use of moral governance. Although Yelu Hongji admired Confucianism, he wanted to learn from this dynasty to rule the world with etiquette, but he could not learn the essence, so in the end he still failed to learn it. I heard
There was a Xi man who lived in Khitan for three generations, and Yelu Hongji actually gave him an official title. However, it is the most common thing for him to live in this dynasty for three generations..."
At this point, all the officials laughed, and a sense of superiority in the first-class cultural system emerged spontaneously.
The biggest problem of Khitan is that the various ethnic groups in the country are mixed, and the cultural customs and daily habits of each ethnic group are different, so this has caused the country to be in disarray. However, forced suppression cannot completely eliminate conflicts, and the country is like a powder keg that explodes at any time.
In the past, when the Khitan nation was strong, it could be suppressed by force, but now the conflicts are becoming more and more intense.
Second-rate monarchs only know how to fight and kill those who disobey, but Yelu Hongji realized that he could not do this. He learned the superiority of governing the country with Confucianism from his neighbor, the Song Dynasty, and wanted to use Confucianism as a unified ideology.
to resolve domestic conflicts.
For example, giving officials to Xi people who have lived together for three generations is an example. What is the tradition of the grassland people? Once children reach adulthood, they go out and live separately from their parents.
As an emperor, he set an example. He seemed to be fond of Confucianism, and planned to change martial arts to civil governance, learn from the imperial examinations of the Song Dynasty, and at the same time compete with the Song Dynasty ideologically.
Confucianism is one tool of ideology, Buddhism is another.
In order to promote Buddhism, Yelu Hongji even made "three hundred and sixty thousand monks a year old" and "blessed three thousand people a day." This move shocked the Song Dynasty.
It can be seen that the grassland peoples who took over the Central Plains all turned towards the Sinicization of Confucianism without exception. Therefore, it was not that they abandoned the martial arts and worshiped Confucianism, but that their military force declined and they had to worship Confucianism.
Therefore, at this step, they basically lost the enterprising courage of their ancestors, and instead wanted to live a first-class and stable life.
It is like a person who travels all over the world when he is young, and after he has accumulated a certain amount of savings, he wants to live a stable life in middle age, so there is a saying that the end of the universe is a system.
So why the Liao Kingdom asked for the land of the Song Dynasty at this time is also an easy question to explain.
Because Xixia was a vassal of the Liao Kingdom, the knowledgeable people in the Liao Kingdom would never sit back and watch the Song Dynasty seize the summer and make it. Zhang Yue's victory in the northwest deepened their sense of crisis, so they proposed to Yelu Hongji to attack the Song Dynasty.
But Yelu Hongji knew his own affairs.
Nowadays, the Liao Kingdom still relies solely on force to suppress the differences among its ministries. Once there is a failure in force, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire country.
Attacking the Song Dynasty can win temporarily, but the difficulty is how to win continuously... Once the Song people's determination to resist the Liao Dynasty is aroused like the Battle of Chanyuan, then the gains outweigh the losses. Even if the Song Dynasty cuts off the annual tribute, it is not Yelu Hongji who can do it.
The loss is worth it.
Therefore, it was Yelu Hongji's wisest plan for the Khitan to use force to intimidate and then collect actual profits.
Now the Khitans are gathering in Yanjing to calm down the main war faction in the country. It is absolutely impossible for Yelu Hongji to send a large number of troops at this time.
Zhang Yue was talking eloquently in the palace, and the officials were writing quickly. After hearing Zhang Yue's analysis, everyone felt as if they could clear the clouds and see the sun.
When the Khitan army gathered 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers and horses to press on the border, Zhang Yue dared to say categorically in the palace that the Khitan was only using force to intimidate and seek benefits, and would never send troops.
But Wu Chong was slightly sweating. Zhang Yue dared to say this. If the Khitans really sent troops to attack the Song Dynasty, Zhang Yue relied on the guarantee given by the palace, but no one could save him.
This is the responsibility of saying something as a word.
For example, on this occasion, Zhang Zhi said that the Khitan would never attack the Song Dynasty, and everyone just heard it, but Zhang Yue was different. So the ministers could say whatever they wanted, but Zhang Yue could not.
But even with this risk, Zhang Yue still spoke straightforwardly.
Wang Anshi couldn't help but nod as he listened to Zhang Yue's words. His judgment was that Yelu Hongji was the master of mediocrity, but he didn't specify how mediocre he was. It would be better for Zhang Yue to analyze the current Khitan situation from the three aspects of military, politics, and system like Zhang Yue did.
Internal and external troubles.
Cai Ting also nodded frequently. Zhang Yue said that the situation of the Khitan was like looking at the pattern from the palm of his hand, completely clearing the gloom in the hearts of the governors that the Khitan army was gathering.
Once word came out that the Khitan army was gathering, what kind of turmoil would it cause to the entire Song Dynasty? The prime ministers suppressed the matter and did not talk about it.
From the top to the ordinary soldiers, they tried their best to avoid fighting with the Khitan to avoid the dilemma of being attacked from both sides. Even if they knew that the Khitan might be a lion, they would fully agree to all the Khitan's demands.
For example, increase the annual coin to three million, etc.
Cai Ting sincerely admired Zhang Yue's outspokenness. At this time, he would not have dared to make a guarantee.
"This son dares to do anything and is not under the command of Duke Kou Zhongmin."
When Kou Zhun forced Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty to go on a personal expedition, this was a first-class political adventure, and at the same time it was also a dare to do something.
When a high-ranking official dares to guarantee his own political future for something, what else can anyone say? The general idea is that if something goes wrong in the future, I will take the blame.
Wen Yanbo didn't understand why Zhang Yue took the initiative to resist the thunder. Did he still naively think that Wang Anshi would let him go back to the northwest to take charge of the army?
He had already arranged for Wang Shao, Cai Yanqing and others to take their place.
Wen Yanbo said: "Then according to the chapter, how should this dynasty respond? What if the Khitans continue to invade the territory?"
Zhang Yue said: "Since the Khitan is demanding land, let's talk. We can talk to him about anything. We can talk to him about anything, but we can't promise him anything or hold him back."
"Besides, since Your Majesty came to the throne, this dynasty has never treated the Khitan in any way. I have treated him with the utmost benevolence and justice, but the other party has made strong excuses. Such morality does not belong to the other party."
"How can morality be of any use?" Cai Ting questioned.
Zhang Yue said: "If the Lord of Liao really has a great strategy, morality will be useless. If he does not have a great strategy, morality will be useful. It has been twenty years since the Lord of Liao came to the throne. How can we know his temperament? This person can talk about truth, and he is not as strong as Li Yuanhao.
This is how we respond to Khitan with gentleness and tranquility."
People in the Liao Kingdom now seem to have a lot of money, and they will not easily choose to risk their lives with you. Only people who have nothing are barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes.