It's July and it's midsummer. The weather in the capital is getting hotter and frightening. Every morning when the sun appears, it scorches everything in the city, making all the people in the capital miserable.
The heat is not the most alarming thing. What makes the people in the capital feel a little panic is that the water levels of several major rivers in the city, such as the Bian River, Jinshui River, Cai River, and Wuzhang River, are falling day by day. The scorching weather is hot every day.
A large amount of river water evaporated into the sky. As the water level of the river dropped, the tall ships and three-masted ships that originally flowed on the river disappeared. What was left were some small and medium-sized ships slowly sailing on the scalding river water.
Well, from time to time there will be news of strandings.
As the river water dropped, the water levels in the wells in the capital also dropped rapidly. Wells in the slums in the north of the city have dried up. Every day, a large number of people push carts and carry buckets to the inner city to fetch water. For this matter, the city's public security officials have been fighting and noisy.
Incidents occurred one after another, and more than a dozen lives were lost.
This is not only the case in the capital, from the end of April to the beginning of July, for nearly three months, not even a drop of rain fell in the entire Gyeonggi region of the northern Zhou Dynasty. The rivers dried up, large areas of fish and shrimp died, and large areas of land outside the capital were as dry and cracked as tortoise shells.
, the wind blows smoke and dust everywhere, like a desert land. The place where the capital Bianliang is located was originally the most fertile land on the plains in central Henan. Because there are several major water systems gathering together, the large area of Pingchou is also a huge granary. Every year alone
The self-produced rice in Gyeonggi Road can also guarantee part of the supply of the capital. But now, due to drought, large areas of rice seedlings are dying when they are about to enter the maturity stage. The rice with hanging ears seems to be still intact, but as long as you stretch out your hand, it will
You know, those are shriveled rice, only the rice husks are left, and there are no rice grains inside. When you raise your hand, these rice husks will fly into the air in the hot wind.
In view of this situation, the imperial court responded immediately. In addition to immediately organizing manpower to find ways to divert the Yellow River for irrigation and replanting autumn grains, they also ordered water transportation to be advanced this year and urgently transferred grains from the south to Beijing. This was done as a precaution
The coming famine. If the situation does not improve, then famine is certain this winter, so we need to prepare in advance.
Fortunately, despite the severe drought in the north, the weather in the south is still normal. As long as the crop harvests in the Su, Hu, and Hangzhou areas are guaranteed, the entire Zhou Empire can still survive this. Droughts and floods like this are actually not the first thing.
It happened once, but this time it seemed particularly serious.
There were some rumors in the capital, saying that there were traitors in the court, so God sent down punishments, causing a severe drought in the north. The Imperial City Division troops were dispatched, and hundreds of people who spread the rumors were arrested in a short period of time.
He got up and was imprisoned, which effectively curbed the rumors.
However, at this time when people were panicking and natural disasters were coming, the court still received the greatest good news. That was a great victory at the Yanyun border.
Ever since the new emperor Yelu Zongyuan of the Liao Kingdom made unreasonable demands to the Great Zhou Dynasty, asking for an increase in annual coins and tribute, and threatening to tear up the Yanyun Alliance established a hundred years ago, the situation in the border towns has become extremely tense. The Emperor Guo Chong of the Great Zhou Dynasty
Yan was willing to be coerced by the barbarians and decided to categorically reject Yelu Zongyuan's rude request. But once he refused, it meant that there would be disputes.
Privy Councilor Yang Jun said that he was not afraid of a war, but he had to have enough money, food, weapons and armor, and make various preparations for settlement and compensation for the aftermath. To put it bluntly, the court had to prepare money so that the war could be fought. However, the Zhou Dynasty
The treasury was empty, and Yang Jun said that he would prepare three times a million taels of silver for him, and there might be even more in the future, which put Guo Chong into a difficult decision.
At this time, Vice Prime Minister Yan Zhengsheng and Yushi Zhongcheng Fang Dunru launched an impeachment against Yu Sansi Yamen. At the same time that the chief official of Sansi Yamen fell, the court confiscated the property and illegal income of the offending officials and the situation suddenly came to a close.
The income of five million taels of silver was enough to solve an urgent need.
Guo Chong ordered to allocate three million taels to Yang Jun and asked him to supervise the war at the Yanyun border. As expected, Yang Jun was not a fool, and he quickly started taking action after taking the three million taels of silver. In early July, Yelu Zong
The Yuan Dynasty ordered the soldiers and horses of the Liao Kingdom to attack Youzhou Prefecture, hoping to teach Zhou a lesson and teach him how to dare to refuse his request. Yang Jun personally went to Youzhou to supervise the war, and together with Youzhou magistrate Tian Rang, Youzhou garrison general Li Zhengdong came to Youzhou
They faced the Liao people at the Gaoliang River north of the state. The Liao soldiers and horses probably never expected that the Zhou soldiers and horses would dare to come out to fight instead of hiding in the city. In this case, they were unexpectedly beaten by the Zhou soldiers and horses.
More than 5,000 of the 15,000 troops and horses were lost, and the rest fled.
The news of the great victory in Youzhou excited the whole government and the public, the emperor was overjoyed, and the courtiers even sang praises. This battle really boosted morale and prestige, making Guo Chong feel proud. When Yang Jun returned to Beijing in triumph, Guo Chong
He personally led the crowd to welcome him, and received great praise. He also rewarded those who had made meritorious service in this battle.
However, after the great victory, a serious problem posed before the kings and ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Although this battle was successful, it also broke the precedent of not starting a war between the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom for hundreds of years. Although the Great Zhou soldiers and horses fought back in self-defense,
But Yelu Zongyuan obviously would not give up.
I am not afraid to fight again. But where will the money come from? Yang Jun relied on rewarding soldiers and generals and spending a lot of money to build armor, weapons and fortifications in order to win this battle. In fact, this victory is also considered a great victory.
It was not a complete victory, but more than two thousand soldiers and horses of the Zhou Dynasty were killed or injured, but no one mentioned it.
To sum up, one word: money! Without money, the fundamental problem cannot be solved. Only with enough money and food can we challenge the Liao people. Otherwise, the trouble will not be solved, but may become more difficult.
Under this situation, Guo Chong summoned several important officials in the court and asked them about their plans. Finally, Prime Minister Lu Zhongtian made a suggestion.
Lu Zhongtian's suggestion was that since the victory in Youzhou was achieved, he should take advantage of this opportunity to show a high profile and send envoys to negotiate with the Liao Kingdom. The Zhou Dynasty had won this battle, so it would not be a shame to send someone to negotiate. The Liao people had already done this this time.
After the defeat, if Zhou showed the magnanimity of a great nation and continued to be willing to make peace with the Liao people and made some concessions on the annual coins, maybe the Liao people would give in.
This suggestion is deeply in line with Guo Chong's wishes. This not only protects the face of the Zhou Dynasty, but also avoids subsequent crises if an agreement can be reached again. If a war really breaks out, the money and food will be too much to bear, and I am afraid that after the great victory in Youzhou
It was a series of defeats.
Of course, after the great victory in Youzhou, there was a lot of shouting and killing in the imperial court. If he did this at this time, it might arouse the opposition of the courtiers. So Guo Chong had to be cautious and summoned other important ministers. Yang Jun's
His attitude remains the same, he can fight, but the money and food must be guaranteed. If he does not have money and food as a backing, he cannot guarantee that he can win the war. With the money and food in place, it is his responsibility to win or not. If he loses, he can do whatever he wants. Guo Chong
He scratched his head at what he said. But he also understood Yang Jun's character. Strictly speaking, Yang Jun was born as a warrior, and his honor was bestowed by the late emperor. It would be useless if you asked him for policy advice. If you ask him to fight,
He was unambiguous. Because of this, Guo Chong felt more at ease with Yang Jun than anyone else.
Guo Chong summoned Yan Zhengsu and Fang Dunru again to ask for their opinions. What he didn't expect was that Yan Zhengsu and Fang Dunru actually put forward the same opinions as Lu Zhongtian, demanding that the relationship be settled immediately and the relationship between the two countries should be stabilized immediately.
Yan Zhengshen told Guo Chong that there is no benefit in fighting now, and the victory in Youzhou will not help the overall situation. If it is for the sake of temporary anger, it will ruin the overall situation. What needs to be done now is to stabilize the situation immediately and buy time for Da Zhou.
When the Zhou army has enough food and supplies, there will be no need to make false promises with the Liao people. Then the money and food will be sufficient, and the emperor can do whatever he wants without being restricted by many factors.
Fang Dunru expressed the same idea. He used the word "keep a low profile and bide your time" to vividly tell Guo Chong that it is not a shame to negotiate with the Liao people now or even make concessions. It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge in ten years. In fact, in Youzhou
We shouldn’t fight any wars, because they are all very risky. Fortunately, we won. If we lose, and we go to negotiate, then the other party’s nose will be raised to the sky, and the weight will be too heavy to bear.
The main ministers in the court expressed this idea, and Guo Chong felt relieved. So he issued an edict, saying: "In my old age, Zhou has good relations with the previous emperors of the Liao Kingdom, and the brotherhood cannot be separated. I also have the virtue of a good life, and I cannot bear it."
The Zhou and Liao wars were at war, and all life was in ruins...' In this way, he informed the ministers that he was willing to continue to maintain friendship with the Liao people. He also wrote a personal letter and sent the minister of Honglu Temple as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom to discuss reconciliation. He also ordered the soldiers and horses of the Gaoliang River north of Youzhou.
He withdrew his troops twenty miles to show his sincerity. He also sent back more than a thousand captured Liao soldiers with the envoy.
Shortly after the envoy arrived in the Liao Kingdom, he quickly returned the good news. Emperor Yelu Zongyuan of the Liao Kingdom actually agreed to continue the good relations between the two parties and maintain the Youyun Alliance. Moreover, he only asked the Zhou Dynasty to compensate the thousands of soldiers who died.
In addition to the pension of silver, the annual number of three hundred thousand years of coins stipulated in the previous covenant remained unchanged.
This news made Guo Chong extremely happy. He didn't expect that things would go so smoothly. He was ready to make concessions. If the other party proposed to add a little more money, he would agree. But he didn't expect that everything would remain unchanged.
Guo Chong immediately instructed the Minister of Honglu Temple to agree to the other party's request and establish that the Yanyun Alliance was still valid. A dispute between the two countries was resolved dramatically.
Naturally, the ministers attributed all this to the Holy Spirit's wisdom and martial arts, saying that Guo Chong ordered a battle and the great victory in Youzhou shocked the country of Xiaoxiao, letting them know the power of our country in the Central Plains, so they obeyed and did not dare to make any mistakes. But not long after, someone
Insider news came that the Jurchen tribe in the northeast of the Liao Kingdom had launched a rebellion, and Yelu Zongyuan mobilized troops to quell the Jurchen rebellion. The confirmation of this news just explained why Yelu Zongyuan was so happy to agree to continue to maintain the alliance.
Because he couldn't use his hands, he didn't want to make enemies with Dazhou, so he would be attacked from both ends and be attacked from both sides, so he chose to compromise.
