The official position of transshipment envoy was only a temporary official position at the beginning of the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It was usually held concurrently by officials sent by the imperial court. It was usually established when purchasing military supplies and transporting food and materials, and was removed after the matter was completed. However, in the country of Great Zhou,
One of the biggest features is decentralization. In order to ensure that there will be no dominance from the imperial court to local governments, wherever power can be decentralized, it must be decentralized to check each other.
The system of separation of military, political, and financial powers from the imperial court to the three divisions was also followed at the local level. Under the guiding ideology of restraining decentralization, in order to limit the military, political, and financial powers of local and state governments, this official position was gradually transferred from
The part-time position became permanent. In the Jinxiu period, in addition to the original function of transporting and purchasing materials and taxation, the Luzhuanshi also added permanent offices such as the Department of Punishments and Prisons and the Department of Appeasement, and gave them the power to supervise local officials and review local officials.
Local prisons, recommending talents and even maintaining local security. Therefore, from then on, the position of the transfer envoy no longer simply means the literal transfer envoy, but has been given many new powers. In fact, it has become
Local officials along the way have the power to supervise finance, taxation, administration, and even mobilize troops to maintain public order.
The rulers of the Great Zhou Dynasty took their own methods of establishing the Great Zhou Dynasty as a warning. Of course, they had to guard against corruption, autocratic power, someone taking power, and all possible subversion of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, in addition to preventing military generals from taking over military power, they also
It is to use the method of decentralization to ensure the balance of power and mutual restraint. This idea is naturally understandable, but it may also be one of the reasons for the long-term disadvantages of redundant officials and waste. The imperial court and local institutions are bloated and have too many personnel. One power
There are many yamen, and there are so many officials involved. So many officials lead to overstaffing, huge institutions, and huge expenses. The officials are paid generously. On the surface, it seems to stabilize the scholar-bureaucrat class and allow them to gain power.
However, it inadvertently took another path towards the abyss. Finally, the financial collapse during the Qingfeng period was not unrelated to redundant officials and redundant expenses.
Shen Fang and Liu Sheng spent a very prosperous life on Huainan East Road and Jiangnan Road. That was where they made their fortune, and many local officials were their old subordinates. Therefore, they transferred on Huainan East Road and Jiangnan Road.
The envoys responded to every call and actually became a prince-like figure. In addition, Lu Zhongtian wanted to cultivate them to form a force to support him locally, so he used Guo Xu's hand to issue orders to relax the scope of many transfer envoys' powers, especially
In terms of military power, in order to have a strong army to support his ambitions when necessary, Lu Zhongtian asked Guo Xu to make a decree.
"The capital transfer envoy can mobilize the troops of the state capital when necessary, and the local military generals must obey his orders and respect them without violating them."
This is one of the wills. You can ignore the others. If you only look at this one, you will know what Lu Zhongtian is thinking. The wonderful thing is the four words "when necessary". What is "when necessary"?
No one knows. Some people can do this, and some people can't do this, because when necessary, these four words actually mean '
It’s just four words: "Lü Xiangxu".
For Shen Fang and Liu Sheng, the power given to them by this decree was self-evident, and they also understood Lu Zhongtian's intentions. In less than a year, Shen Fang and Liu Sheng controlled money, silver, and military pay.
By means of coercion, intimidation, attack, criticism and removal, he firmly held the command of the two armies in his own hands.
As of last winter, when the Jurchens marched southward in large numbers, Shen had three branches of the Jiangning Army, the Guangde Army, and the Suzhou Army in his hands on Jiangnan Road, with as many as 12,000 troops. Liu Sheng consolidated them on the Huainan East Road In addition to Yang Zijun, Lin Haijun and Gaoyou Army Chuzhou Second Army, the number exceeded 10,000. When the Jurchen army went south, everyone in the court originally believed that hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the northeastern border towns were enough to resist the powerful enemy, but how could they Unexpectedly, in just a few months, the Jurchens marched southward and reached the capital.
Of course, Lu Zhongtian urgently ordered soldiers, horses and supplies from all over the country to come to reinforce the capital. Shen Fang and Liu Sheng were the first people to receive the order. But by this time, Shen Fang and Liu Sheng had already seen that something was wrong. The momentum of the Jurchens It was too fierce, and it seemed that they could no longer withstand it. Even if the two of them led all their troops to reinforce at this time, it would actually be of little use. The 200,000 forbidden troops in the capital were still there, and the Xiang troops in these places were just backing them up. They were nothing more than cannon fodder. In addition, when they thought about the faces of Chen Bin, Zhu Zhirong and his gang, and how they had been excluded by them, the two of them felt filled with resentment.
The two held a secret discussion after the New Year, and tacitly chose to delay the time. They postponed the time of sending troops and reinforcements time and time again on the grounds that it took time to assemble military supplies. Originally, Huainan East Road was 10 miles away from the capital. The distance is not too far, and troops can approach the capital in seven or eight days. If they prepare actively, they will be able to arrive before the Jurchens besiege the capital. But in fact, the two of them are no longer willing to be cannon fodder. They forcefully dragged the Jurchens to the capital. The real soldiers came to the city, and even the Northwest Army rushed to the capital. They didn't make any move. Lu Zhongtian, who was too busy to take care of himself, had nothing to do about it for the time being. Fortunately, the two of them still sent a lot of food and supplies to the capital. Lu Zhongtian didn't want to do that at this time. Reprimand them so that they can no longer even support us with supplies or food.
The situation changed so quickly that it was dizzying. Shen Fang and Liu Sheng watched helplessly as the situation deteriorated rapidly in a few months. The addition of the Luoyan Army made the situation chaotic. Lu Zhongtian's ambition was exposed, and there was infamy outside the capital. When the Jurchen soldiers and horses came from Shili Changgang was defeated. When the Luoyan Army arrived outside Bianliang City, Shen Fang and Liu Sheng knew that they must decisively draw a clear line with Lu Zhongtian. The two jointly signed a petition declaring their allegiance to the new emperor, and published an article exposing Lu Zhongtian's ambitions. In the article, the two men exposed Lu Zhongtian's various crimes of being authoritarian, domineering, corrupt and rampant, and described their departure from the capital as being persecuted by Lu's thieves and forced to leave the capital. This became the most favorable evidence for their break with Lu Zhongtian. .In short, this article was scolded by Lu Zhongtian and described the two people as loyal ministers who stood firm in the southeast, were loyal to the court, and did not associate with Lu's thieves. For a while,
It has won praise from all over the world.
However, Shen Fang and Liu Sheng knew in their hearts that there was nothing they could hide in front of Lin Jue. The man surnamed Lin knew that they followed Wu Chunlai in Hangzhou and begged for mercy. Lin Jue was in the capital for Both of them were also officials in the capital during the official period, and they both knew each other well. So soon, Lin Jue would focus on the two of them. No matter how much he performed, it would be useless and he would never be able to hide it. When the new law was implemented, the two of them knew each other well. He is a fierce opponent, and the deaths of Fang Dunru and Yan Zhengsheng are also related to him. Lin Jue will never let them go. At the moment, he is busy straightening out the chaotic situation. Once everything recovers, Normally, he would take action against both of them. This is certain.
Shen Fang and Liu Sheng were worried and thought hard, trying to find a solution. But they couldn't find a way to break the situation, because in their view, Emperor Guo Kun and Lin Jue were people in the same boat. They had experienced hardships together. Only then did we get to this situation today. Lin Jue could be said to be the most important person beside Guo Kun. I am afraid that apart from Lin Jue, Guo Kun would not be able to tolerate them either.
However, the surprise came quickly. Just more than ten days after Bianliang was destroyed, a mysterious figure came to Yangzhou with a secret letter and met Liu Sheng. Then, Liu Sheng was surprised to find that he was actually the current Queen Mother. Liu Sheng was stunned by what was said in the secret letter. The Empress Dowager said very straightforwardly in the secret letter that she wanted Liu Sheng and Shen Fang to lead the army while Lin Jue was leading the expedition. Beijing. The letter said that the Guo family was in trouble. Someone with great achievements wanted to control the court. At this moment, loyal ministers were needed to go to Jingnan. After controlling the situation in the capital, Lin Jue was forced to hand over military power to ensure that the Zhou Dynasty would not be destroyed. Will be controlled by powerful ministers.
The arrival of this letter made Liu Sheng overjoyed. The person who delivered the letter was Huang Jiang, the deputy commander of the Palace Front Division. Huang Jiang said that as long as he controlled some of the generals who were left behind in the capital, he could control the entire city. Lin Jue went on an expedition, and his family members, wives, and children were all in the city. To control these people, Lin Jue had to submit. Unless Lin Jue ignored the lives of his family, old and young. Moreover, after the Luoyan Army went out, the money and food were in the hands of the imperial court. Controlling the capital, Then the Luoyan Army would not even be able to supply food and grass supplies, so there would be no need to worry about it. He would inevitably submit.
Liu Sheng did not dare to agree immediately out of caution. After bidding farewell to Huangjiang, he immediately went to Shen Fang to discuss it. Unexpectedly, Shen Fang was overjoyed after hearing the news and agreed immediately. Shen Fang said that this was a breakthrough for the two of them. The best time. I was worried about not knowing what to do. I didn't expect that the emperor and the queen mother had long been dissatisfied with Lin Jue. They had reached such an irreconcilable point internally. Isn't this the best opportunity? Lin Jue is going to lead the northern expedition. The emptiness of Bianliang is their best opportunity.
So Huangjiang returned to the capital, and the secret message was sent to the capital and delivered to the hands of Queen Mother Akui. Queen Mother Akui was naturally overjoyed, and the secret edict told them to be prepared and lead the army to Beijing at any time. Lin A few days after Jue Swearer left for the expedition, Shen Fang and Liu Sheng secretly headed north with 30,000 troops and began their adventure.
