Chapter 970: Gains and losses without fighting over a city or a place
Damao Mountain.
This is where the Beiyue Temple is located. When the Liao army invaded, this place was under fire. Later Emperor Taizong ordered the Beiyue Temple to be rebuilt.
Later, when Han Qi became a bachelor of Zizheng Palace, he was appointed as the pacifier of Dingzhou Road, the commander-in-chief of troops and horses, and the commander of Dingzhou. He also rebuilt the Beiyue Temple, and now he has left the stele there.
Today, when Zhang Yue went to Beiyue Temple and saw this stone tablet written by Han Qi himself, he couldn't help but miss him.
When Han Qi was appointed as the pacification envoy of Dingzhou, he experienced the failure of Shuichuan and the Qingli New Deal, and he also had great ambitions to organize the army and develop military affairs.
Later, when Wang Anshi carried out his political reform and Han Qi sentenced Daming Mansion, he changed his mind again.
At that time, Emperors Taizong and Renzong visited Damingfu Tianyou many times and wrote dozens of imperial poems, which were later engraved on stone tablets by Jia Changchao. These imperial poems were all about promoting ambition and conquering the north.
After Han Qi saw it, he ordered people to hide these stone tablets. Later, someone who was good at figuring out the holy meaning copied the inscriptions and presented them to the officials. Han Qi sighed, "Don't I know how to do this? I am just afraid of the emperor."
I saw it, he was determined to pacify the four barbarians, so he must not let him see this.
Zhang Yue admired Han Qi, but he didn't quite approve of Han Qi's previous attitudes.
After arriving at Beiyue Temple, Zhang Yue's hundreds of attendants were stationed outside the temple.
Zhang Yue now left all the negotiations to Han Zhen and Li Ping, and became the boss himself. He originally wanted to bring only a few people here incognito, but Lu Gongru refused to send troops to protect him. The emperor's will is unpredictable.
The aggressiveness of the Liao Kingdom gave Zhang Yue a headache, so he stopped sitting in Zhending Mansion and went to Beiyue Temple to find some peace and quiet.
But when he reaches this position, he wants to be pure but cannot.
Miao Zhu was shocked when he heard that Xianggong had arrived and hurried to receive him. However, Zhang Yue ordered them not to reveal his whereabouts, so Miao Zhu sealed the temple and did not allow anyone to visit the mountain.
It was not the peak season for incense at this time, so it didn’t cause too much trouble.
There are several villages at the foot of the mountain, and the local government only told them that the temple would be closed for a few days and not to be disturbed, so it did not alarm too many people.
While the Song and Liao envoys were quarreling with each other, except for a few people in Zhending Mansion, no one knew that Zhang Yue, the envoy of Xuanfu in Hebei and Hedong, was actually living alone at this moment.
Near Beiyue Temple.
Zhang Yue did not live in the temple, but found a cave to live next to the temple.
In the past, I heard that many Taoist monks came here to meditate and gain enlightenment in this cave. There were also eminent monks who meditated facing the wall here for several years.
The cave is surrounded by mountains and trees, and there is a stream at the foot of the mountain with a single-plank bridge on it. This is the only path to the outside world.
Zhang Yue lived alone in a cave. In this paradise, he carefully thought about the plans of the Song and Liao Dynasties.
Of course, it is not completely isolated from the outside world. Someone delivers two meals a day. In addition, any military and political news on Hebei and Hedong Roads, official documents and private letters from the capital to the Xuanfu Division, and even the residence records of the Imperial Academy are copied without interruption.
To the cave.
The disclosure was made in Zhang Yuehui Cave.
Zhang Yue has always been good at delegating power, and the two brothers Cai Jing and Cai Bian in the Xuanfu Division can take charge of their own affairs. Xu Xi, Tong Guan, and Chen Mu also have their own strengths.
Xu Xi was good at military affairs, Chen Mu was good at diplomacy, and Tong Guan was good at intelligence.
In particular, Tong Guan gave Zhang Yue a lot of surprises. Tong Guan was not only an expert in intelligence, but also good at understanding people's opinions. When Tong Guan wrote secret reports to officials, he always showed them to Zhang Yue first. Tong Guan said that his great
The old man didn't know a few Chinese characters, so he asked Zhang Yue to correct them for him.
As long as they are here, Zhang Yue is willing to let go.
Not to mention that there are still father-in-law, Senior Brother Cai and others in Beijing to protect him.
When he is in his position, he should consider the overall situation instead of intervening in specific matters. In Wang Anshi's words, it is important to ignore the details and discuss the general situation.
Because of this, Zhang Yue did not show how busy he was in the Xuanfu Department, working hard for the country, and imitating Zhuge Liang to take care of everything. Instead, he handed things over to trusted people and planned the overall situation himself.
Now Tang Jiu and Zhang Gong led their people to secure the only way in and out of the cave. No one was allowed to disturb it. Even the local officials who wanted to go up the mountain to have a meeting were refused.
Let Zhang Yue feel clean enough to think about problems.
Of course, Zhang Yue was also very satisfied with the cave. Although spring was late in the north and he had to wear thick clothes in the mountain home, the lush scenery seemed to bring him back to his hometown in Jianzhou.
Zhang Yuezai often made tea in the cave and drank it himself.
He doesn't like to eat Tuancha, but likes to eat herbal tea, which is the kind that is brewed directly. From this point of view, he and Lu Huiqing are the few officials in Beijing who like to eat herbal tea.
Zhang Yue drank tea and lay on his back on the couch.
A bookshelf was installed next to the couch. The bookshelf was filled with classics on the Seventeen Histories. In addition, there were two New History of the Five Dynasties and a New Book of the Tang Dynasty compiled by Ouyang Xiu.
This is a classic book that he carries with him wherever he goes, although with his photographic memory, he has already memorized these books by heart.
Whenever he is indecisive, he likes to randomly pick out a book and open it to read, and there will always be some unexpected inspiration.
After reading like this for half a day, Zhang Yue went to the desk to correct official documents. It was almost time for dinner, and Tang Jiu brought Zhang Yue official documents, letters, and meals, and then took away the dishes and chopsticks from the previous meal and the corrected official documents.
Zhang Yue's meal was also very simple, consisting of two vegetarian dishes, one soup, and the most important thing was a large bowl of rice. These are daily vegetarian dishes in Beiyue Temple, not big fish or meat.
Zhang Yue is not picky about what he eats, but the most important thing is that he must eat enough rice. This is all the sequelae of living in a tight diet when copying books with Guo Lin. His appetite is particularly large, even though he has lived in luxury for many years.
, or so.
A light diet also gave Zhang Yue enough time and energy to think about problems.
Now that Song and Liao are confronting each other, the outcome of this game of negotiation does not depend on the words of Zhending Mansion's envoy team, but on the comprehensive contest of national strength and ideology between the two countries.
In other words, a team that has always won will not change its tactics until it loses.
Zhang Yue has always advocated playing games and fighting each other through negotiations or small-scale wars, treating this as the norm, and finally promoting internal reforms through external means.
The truth is said ten thousand times, and it will help if you suffer a loss once. In the words of Fu Bi and Han Qi, the uncles of the family, Zhang Dexiang taught Fu Bi and Han Qi, he never scolded his children when he saw them jumping around, but they learned to be obedient when they hit their heads against the wall.
Wang Anshi's strategy of regulating the country and lashing out the four barbarians was to suppress the Liao and Xixia through reforms, then realize the shortcomings through the game with the Liao and Xixia, and then in turn promote reforms. This is a system of internal and external circulation.
The most important thing is to be strong, dare to compete actively, and constantly look for reasons from yourself through external pressure.
Therefore, Zhang Yue scorned the officials' approach of giving in to the Liao and then fighting against Xixia with all their strength. Suppressing Xixia was not the goal of the Liao. When the country became stronger, these were just convenient things.
You can lose in negotiations with the Liao Kingdom, but you still have to gain something if you lose, which is to make the superiors and subordinates realize the shortcomings and continue to deepen the reform. Emperor Renzong also suffered a heavy loss in the Xixia War before he started the Qingli Reform.
For example, in the current confrontation with the Liao Kingdom, the Hebei soldiers and horses have paid attention to their cavalry equipment and improved the military discipline that has been lax for many years. Shen Kuo's reform of the weapons supervision has also gone smoothly, and the cavalry's nemesis, the divine arm bow, has also been adopted by the Song Dynasty
The military unanimously recognized that without this opportunity, Zhang Yue would not have been able to achieve his goal easily.
It is absolutely not advisable to lie down, but it is also not advisable to go to war with the Liao Kingdom.
Once an all-out war breaks out between Song and Liao, not only will Xixia take advantage of the situation, but the reform will also be interrupted. No one can afford this consequence.
Zhang Yue learned from another time and space history that the Liao Kingdom did not send troops. However, he did not dare to underestimate the Liao Kingdom's determination. Yelu Hongji was unwilling to fight, but it did not mean that he did not dare to fight.
Once the Liao Kingdom found that they could not suppress the Song Dynasty, which had bowed to him in the past, they would send troops because everyone would push down the wall.
Officials have been urging Zhang Yue to immediately negotiate peace with Liao.
But peace is not the goal, struggle is. To be honest, we don’t care about the two or three hundred miles.
…
After thinking about this, Zhang Yue continued to rest.
Life in the mountain residence was very good. It had been a long time since he had thought about things so clearly. Living in a cave far away from the world made him feel like he was waiting for others.
He walked out of the cave early every morning, fetched mountain spring water, boiled it on a small stove, and made tea for himself.
He could sit like this all day with a cup of tea and a book.
He has completely left the affairs of the Xuanfu Division to the people below.
He dared to let go because Song and Liao were not going to go to war at the moment, and the negotiations between the two sides could not reach an outcome for the time being. He also trusted his staff and gave them a chance to practice.
The battle between Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty was not fought on the stage, but behind the stage. The battle was about who could keep calm.
Counting on his fingers, Zhang Yue has been in the cave for three days.
The life here made him feel relaxed and happy, and he thought about things more clearly.
At this time Tang Jiu came up again to deliver meals and official documents.
Zhang Yue saw that there were three circles drawn with a red pen in the letter. This was a very urgent official document and was at the top of the priority list.
Zhang Yue opened the letter and started reading while holding a bowl of rice.
The letter stated that Liang Yi, the Prime Minister of Xixia, mobilized troops and horses to prepare to attack Shaanxi Second Road. At the same time, Xixia also received strong support from the Liao Kingdom.
Seeing this, Zhang Yue immediately understood the reason for the aggressiveness of Liao's negotiations this time.
This incident was unexpected by Zhang Yue. Of course, he was not predicting the situation, but he had done a good job and made calculations in advance for everything that might happen.
As the saying goes, the one with more temples wins!
When the Xihe Road cavalry was reinforcing Hedong, the Liao State provoked Xixia to send troops to Shaanxi. This was not surprising.
This is a crisis, but there is also opportunity in crisis, and in turn this is also an opportunity.
If the Song Dynasty defeated Xixia in Shaanxi without the support of the Xihe Road cavalry, what kind of blow would it have to the confidence of Liao and Xixia?
The victory or defeat of the country's comprehensive game is based on the victory of struggle after struggle.
The confidence brought by victory in a struggle is far greater than the benefits obtained from negotiations.
Those who are good at planning will win with momentum and determination, rather than the gains and losses of a city or a place.
