HCB Chapter 255: If you are not called Qingping, you can’t be happy (24)
Chapter 255: If you are not called Qingping, you can’t be happy (24)
"I don't know whether the Song Dynasty will be destroyed, but if Envoy Wu Fan continues to be so arrogant and rude, your Xia Kingdom may be destroyed."
Lu Changqing sneered, "Our dynasty did not accuse Li Yuanhao of breaking his oath and betraying the previous alliance between the two countries. We wanted to negotiate with him, but he challenged the bottom line of our great country again and again. If you want to continue the war, just say so. We will fight to the end!"
Wu Hao's face turned red with anger. "Are you really not afraid of the Liao army coming south?"
Lu Changqing asked back: "Do you really think that Liao will help you? If I remember correctly, your country has fought many wars with Liao in recent years, right?"
Wu Hao said angrily: "Don't even think about alienating the relationship between our dynasty and the Liao Kingdom!"
"Let's not talk about my intention to sow discord. If the alliance between your country and Liao is truly solid, why would you be afraid of being sowed?"
Wu Hao’s calculations were very good. Zhao Zhen was even more cowardly than his father, and the important officials of the Song court were also more cowardly than the other.
Moreover, he had long heard of Lü Yijian's character, and thought that now that Zhao Zhen was dead, what could a woman like Cao Danshu do? The court was now most likely ruled by Lü's party.
So he suggested asking for less and then using the Liao Kingdom to put pressure on the Song court, and the Song court would definitely surrender.
Moreover, the Liao Kingdom can also benefit from it, and Yelu Zongzhen will definitely cooperate with them.
Wu Hao was right. The peace talks between Song and Xia failed again, and the Liao Kingdom really came to threaten and blackmail them.
Yelu Zongzhen sent an envoy to point out that the Xia Kingdom and the Liao Kingdom were "nephew-uncle relatives" and the Liao Kingdom had the responsibility to protect the Xia Kingdom. Why did the Song Dynasty go to war with the Xia Kingdom without informing the Liao Kingdom first?
Then he brought up the matter of the Song Dynasty building the Great Wall and increasing the number of Liao troops in the Song-Liao border area, which was a pure provocation to the Liao Kingdom.
For these reasons, Yelu Zongzhen demanded that the Song Dynasty cede Jinyang and ten counties south of Waqiaoguan to the Liao Kingdom.
The plot seems to be circling back to history in a twisted way.
Ministers led by Lu Yijian felt that it was all Lu Changqing's fault. Because she offended Wu Hao, the peace talks between Song and Xia failed, and the Liao Kingdom had the opportunity to hold the Song court accountable.
Lu Yijian is a perfect example of what it means to be an old man who refuses to die and is a thief.
Lu Changqing yelled at Lu Yijian in the court: "Are people's brains no longer useful when they are old? When the Xia Kingdom was defeated and asked us for things, no one with a sound mind would agree. But they just opened their mouths and asked for both money and things. Why is that?
Because they did it on purpose! They knew we wouldn't give it to them, so they wanted the Liao Kingdom to put pressure on us and force us to give it to them!
If this succeeds, the Xia Kingdom will benefit, the Liao Kingdom will also benefit, and only our Song Dynasty will suffer!
Does Lord Lu really not understand such a simple truth? Or is Lord Lu a spy sent by the enemy country? Otherwise, I really cannot understand why Lord Lu repeatedly asks our dynasty to sign a humiliating indemnity treaty with the Xia Kingdom as soon as possible. "
Lu Yijian was so angry that he was about to die, but he also wanted to do it for the sake of his country, so he ordered people to quickly negotiate peace with the Xia Kingdom. If it was dragged on like this, the annual cost of maintaining the army would be more than ten times the indemnity, and the people would have to suffer from the war. He was also doing it for the good of the people!
With tears in his eyes, Lu Yijian spoke of his good intentions, and complained to Cao Danshu in a roundabout way, saying that Lu Changqing was disrespectful to his elders, spoke rudely, and slandered the old minister for no reason.
Cao Danshu comforted Lu Yijian and did not blame Lu Changqing. The most important thing now was the issue of the diplomatic mission to the Liao Kingdom.
Lu Changqing recommended herself, but was rejected by all court officials. Some of them thought that because she was a woman, if she was sent, the Liao monarch would think that the Song court looked down on them.
More people felt that she had a bad temper, spoke without restraint, and easily offended people, and they were afraid that she would bring unnecessary trouble to the Song court.
Everyone knew that this was a tough mission. Cao Danshu originally planned to call back Han Qi, who had experience as an envoy. But in the end, Fu Bi stood up and said that he was willing to go on a diplomatic mission to the Liao Kingdom.
When Fu Bi was about to leave, Cao Danshu called him to Funing Palace and told him that she could do something about the relationship between Liao and Xia.
Lu Changqing told him that the Song army had already reached the Helan Valley, and as long as they were given more time, it would not be impossible to capture the capital of the Xia Kingdom.
Li Yuanhao must be very panicked now. If he doesn't want to lose his country, he will definitely bow to the Song court.
They will not return the territories they have recovered from the Xia Kingdom. If the Liao Kingdom wants benefits, they will give them, but ask the Liao Kingdom to ask Li Yuanhao for them.
Fu Bi immediately understood Lu Changqing's plan to divert the trouble away.
Fu Bi was away for nearly three months, and the imperial court was not idle either. The Western Army was almost suppressing the Xia army, and on the Song-Liao border, the Song court assembled 400,000 troops.
Whether we fight or not, we have to show our attitude.
Cao Danshu has been frowning recently, and she is very worried about the attitude of the Liao Kingdom.
"My lady, are you scared?"
Cao Danshu glanced at Lu Changqing and said with a wry smile, "Of course I'm scared. When I was the queen before, I didn't care about anything and just felt comfortable and relaxed. Now that I'm the queen mother, I realize that state affairs are really stressful and exhausting."
Lu Changqing asked: "Madam, do you think this kind of life is hard?"
Cao Danshu replied: "I don't feel bitter, I just feel tired."
"But the common people are more tired, aren't they? The imperial court has to give away so much wealth to the Liao Kingdom for free every year, and they are burdened with heavy labor. Now there is an opportunity to reduce this part of the expenditure, we should seize the opportunity."
"Fuying, you want to go to war with the Liao Kingdom, right?"
Lu Changqing nodded. "If Liao chooses to divide Xia with us, that would be the best. If not, why not take advantage of Xia's inability to resist and destroy it in one fell swoop, and then go back to deal with Liao."
Cao Danshu pursed her lips and asked worriedly, "Can we withstand the pressure of fighting on two fronts?"
"Your Majesty, you should think like this: Does the Liao Kingdom really want to go to war with us?"
Cao Danshu frowned, "What does this mean?"
"Li Yuanhao spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to start the war. Your Majesty should be aware of the current situation in Xia State. The people are complaining and their lives are miserable.
Those nobles also had strong opinions about Li Yuanhao. They believed that Li Yuanhao's warmongering had led to the current situation of internal and external troubles. Several rebellions had occurred in succession within the territory of Xia, which made the situation in Xia even more turbulent.
The grievances between Liao and Xia are not one or two days old, and Yelu Zongzhen is not completely without opinion on the dishonest Li Yuanhao. If we propose to divide Xia with him at this time, do you think he will agree?"
Cao Danshu felt that Yelu Zongzhen would not agree. After all, he still needed to use Xia Kingdom to contain the Song Dynasty so that he could gain benefits from both sides.
Fu Bi brought new demands from the Liao Kingdom, which was that they could not give the land, but they needed to increase the annual tribute by 100,000 silver coins.
The peace faction led by Lu Yijian felt that this condition was acceptable. One hundred thousand taels of silver was not a burden for the imperial court, and the annual trade between the two countries earned more than this amount of money.
The radical faction led by Lu Changqing naturally stood up to oppose. The crushing war against the Xia Kingdom gave Han Qi a surge in confidence. He felt that with the current military force of the court that could defeat Li Yuanhao twice, it would not be a big problem to resist the invasion of the Liao army, so he submitted memorials to declare war on the Liao Kingdom.
Lu Changqing also felt that they could fight, and suggested that Cao Danshu issue an edict to transfer the Western Army, which had more combat experience.
The area where the Song-Liao border met was divided vertically into three administrative districts from the coast to the inland: Hebei East Road, Hebei West Road and Hedong Road.
Cao Danshu issued an order, appointing Lu Changqing as the envoy of the Northern Court of Xuanhui and the envoy of Hebei's management, pacification and recruitment, and the judge of Zhending Prefecture, in charge of the three-way war against the Liao Kingdom.
Zhang Kang and Pang Ji were also appointed as deputy envoys, one of whom was appointed as the magistrate of Taiyuan Prefecture, in charge of Hedong Road, and the other as the magistrate of Daming Prefecture, in charge of Hebei East Road.
Lu Changqing didn't expect to meet old acquaintances in Dingzhou, the two brothers and sisters Li Qiao and Li Huaibao from Jinmingzhai.
Li Qiao was also very happy to see Lu Changqing, and told her some of the things that happened in recent months when she followed her father and brother to the battlefield.
Lu Changqing asked her if she was afraid, after all, on the battlefield, people were being killed, not chickens or ducks.
Li Qiao shook her head and said, "I can't care so much on the battlefield. Besides, my father and brother think I'm too young, so they usually don't let me rush to the front. Most of the time, I just follow behind them and learn from the staff to make plans together."
Speaking of age, Lu Changqing looked at the boy in front of her who was almost as tall as herself, and then she remembered that she was only fourteen years old.
Lu Changqing patted Li Qiao on the shoulder and encouraged her, "Don't worry, take your time. Just like your father said, you are still young and have plenty of time to grow up."
Soon, Lu Changqing gave Li Qiao the opportunity to grow.
The Liao army hadn't attacked yet, but chaos had already broken out here.
There was an uprising in a county town under Luozhou, and Lu Changqing ordered Li Qiaomei and her brother to take people to suppress it.
Although the Song army was not good at external warfare, they were very quick in suppressing internal repression.
The leader of the rebellion was soon captured alive and brought before Lu Changqing. Lu Changqing looked at the woman kneeling on the ground and asked, "What's your name?"
Li Qingping said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Li Qingping."
Lu Chang asked a nonsense question, "Why do you want to rebel?"
Li Qingping said: "I can't survive anymore, I want to find a new way to survive."
Lu Changqing walked over and helped her up, then had someone bring a chair for her to sit down.
Li Qingping was made uneasy by Lu Changqing's actions and did not dare to sit down.
"What does this mean, White Lady?"
Lu Changqing was surprised, "Do you know me?"
"My lady, your name is well-known in Hexi now. After all, it is extremely rare for a woman to supervise a battle since the founding of the dynasty."
Lu Changqing smiled, gestured to the other party to sit down, and then said: "I admire all those who dare to resist injustice, and you are very capable. You can gather thousands of people to join your uprising army in just half a month. The court needs talents like you now."
Li Qingping asked, "Madam, do you want to surrender?"
Lu Changqing nodded, "Now that the war is imminent, it is the time for you and me to come to the fore. Since Madam Li has the ability to lead a team, why don't you lead people to pledge allegiance to the court directly?"
When Li Qingping mentioned the imperial court, he became angry. "It is the imperial court that has forced us to die."
Lu Changqing sighed, "Don't be angry, Madam Li. There are all kinds of birds in the forest. The court selects officials mainly based on their talents and knowledge. Morality is really difficult to control."
"I will not pursue the matter of you killing an official appointed by the imperial court, but I want you to bring your rebel army to submit to the imperial court, otherwise I will immediately order the execution of you and all those who led your team."
Isn't the purpose of rebellion to survive? Now that his life was threatened, Li Qingping thought about it and agreed.
In the end, more than 700 strong women and men who dared to fight on the battlefield were selected from the rebel army and incorporated into the militia.
The Song army's movements on the border were so large that it was impossible for the Liao Kingdom to not notice it, and soon the spies stationed in Liao territory sent back the news.
Yelu Zongzhen will personally lead 300,000 troops and arrive in Nanjing in a few days, which is Youzhou that was sent away by Shi Jingtang.
Everyone is coming to Nanjing. Don’t you want Datong Prefecture next to it?
Lu Changqing immediately thought that the other party wanted to lure them into raising troops to attack Datong Prefecture, so as to catch them in a trap.
Fearing that this might happen, Lu Changqing recommended Zhang Kang and Pang Ji to Cao Danshu.
Not to mention Pang Ji, he was a Jinshi graduate. Although he was a scholar, he was very good at commanding soldiers and was favored by Xia Song.
Zhang Kang, there are not many records about this person in the History of Song Dynasty, but later generations gave him a nickname - the ancestor of Yuan Hao.
Every time Li Yuanhao led his troops to harass the border, as long as he encountered Zhang Kang, he was beaten back every time. This fully demonstrated that this man used his brain when leading his troops.
Lu Changqing was really afraid of old scholars like Fan Yong. It didn't matter if he was stupid, as long as he was obedient. But he was afraid of those who were stupid and unaware of it and liked to be self-righteous.
Lu Changqing had already asked "Xiaoxue Express" to send a letter to Zhang Kang and Pang Ji, asking them to keep their troops in place.
Their task now is not to attack but to defend. As long as they can defend, they will win.
Seeing that Lu Changqing, Zhang Kang and Pang Ji were not fooled, Yelu Zongzhen simply divided his troops into three groups and had the main force attack Dingzhou, intending to capture this richest border city in one fell swoop.
In defending the city this time, the Song court used new weapons that had received good response in the previous war against the Xia Dynasty - the gunpowder cannon, as well as the super-large black gunpowder firecrackers made by Lu Changqing.
Yelu Zongzhen only heard from others that the Song court had developed some novel weapons, and he did not take it too seriously. After all, in his opinion, no matter how many kinds of weapons there were, they were useless, and only cavalry was the most powerful weapon of this era.
Now Yelu Zongzhen found that he was wrong. No matter how powerful the cavalry was, it seemed to be of little use in attacking the city.
Just when the Song and Liao countries were fighting in full swing, Li Yuanhao quietly did something big.
He instigated the Dangxiang people on the border between Xia and Liao to rebel, and brutally betrayed the trust that Yelu Zongzhen had placed in him.
This is very Li Yuanhao.
Li Yuanhao was forced into a corner. He now needed a large number of soldiers and money.
The armies led by Zhe Jimin and Guo Zun had advanced as far as Xuanhua, while Fan Zhongyan, who liked to build forts, had almost reached Xiping Prefecture.
Yelu Zongzhen was furious when he heard the war report. He couldn't deal with the Song Dynasty in a short time, so how could he deal with you, Li Yuanhao?
Yelu Zongzhen expected that the Song army would not dare to march north now, and he was so angry that he mobilized 100,000 troops and vowed to flatten the territory of Xia.
When Li Yuanhao learned that Yelu Zongzhen was leading troops to attack, he adopted a strategy of clearing the fields and fortifying the city. Every time he retreated thirty miles, he would burn down the farmland within a radius of dozens of miles.
Wherever the Liao army went, the soldiers had no food. Li Yuanhao estimated that the Liao army had run out of grass and food, and the men were tired and the horses were hungry, so he deliberately delayed for a few days, and then led his troops to launch a counterattack, defeating the Liao army in Hequ.
Lu Changqing knew that the Liao-Xia alliance would be broken sooner or later, but she did not expect it to be in this way.
But then again, we really have to thank this madman Li Yuanhao. While Yelu Zongzhen was mobilizing troops to deal with Li Yuanhao, causing the defense of Nanjing to be loose, Lu Changqing ordered an attack on the city.