Chapter 89 Yongxi’s Northern Expedition
Qing Dynasty, the 28th year of Kangxi's reign.

After the Battle of Yalu River, Kangxi, who was now in intensive negotiations with Tsarist Russia, looked at the sentence in the middle and couldn't help but admire it: "This statement hits the nail on the head and truly summarizes all similar events in history. Just like Tsarist Russia, if my Qing Dynasty had not won, how could this group of jackals sit down for negotiations?"

As for the Song people's advocacy of "winning over distant lands with virtue", he did not comment. Although the Qing Dynasty has always advocated Confucianism, vigorously promoted Confucian theories, and praised morality and benevolence, those are necessary for governance. Otherwise, why did he strongly encourage the Manchus to persist in training in archery and horse riding? Why did he continue to strengthen the historical propaganda of the Manchus' "ancestors conquered the country"? Why did he still fight foreign wars?
Otherwise, if everyone sits down, quietly cultivates morality, and improves their own cultivation level, then they can educate foreign enemies and quell internal unrest?

In fact, Kangxi himself always recognized the role of Confucianism in ruling the world. As for the Manchu army and other aspects, he always adhered to his own ideas.

After he made such comments, the Crown Prince beside him, several princes, ministers and princes nodded in acceptance.

At the same time, there was another group of people who reacted strongly.

That was Confucianism during the Qin and Han dynasties.

In the Qin Dynasty, Shusun Tong saw that the scholars of the Song Dynasty came up with this kind of thinking, and he quickly refuted it: "Your Majesty, you also know what kind of thinking our Confucianism is, it is absolutely not like this! And the officials in the court, although most of you are not my Confucian school, and there are disagreements between us on weekdays, but our Confucianism will never blindly advocate moralism in national defense and military affairs, nor will it advocate the use of virtue to win over distant countries!"

Faced with the fact that the ideals he held in his heart were smeared, he was deeply moved, tears welled up in his eyes, and he almost burst into tears.

Ying Zheng said to comfort him: "I know, Doctor Shusun, don't worry."

After receiving the affirmation, Shusun Tong felt relieved and in high spirits. He started to criticize the literati of the Song Dynasty to pieces, as if they were all unforgivable people with pus oozing from head to toe.

The officials in the court felt sympathy when they saw Shusun Tong shouting at the top of his lungs.

As Shusun Tong said, although they were from different schools and often had conflicts and frictions, they did understand each other's ideas and theories. There are many branches of Confucianism, and there is really no school of thought like the literati of the Song Dynasty. Who can tolerate being deceived by the Song people who came many years later?
Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Dong Zhongshu, who was also recalled to the capital within ten days, was furious when he saw the ideas of the Song people: "When did my Confucianism produce such ideas? These are nothing but the behavior of cowards and villains!" He was old and a little out of breath. "They also suppressed the military generals. It is clear that these villains are just seeking their own interests under the banner of Confucianism! How dare these people call themselves Confucian students?"

After saying this, he was still not satisfied, so he took the opportunity to criticize the Guliang School: "I think that even if such ideas appear in the future, it must be the Guliang School that started it. The Gongyang School has always adhered to the idea that 'nine generations of hatred can still be avenged', but those Guliangs like to love each other and oppose war. Maybe this is their influence!"

There were also Guliang scholars in the hall. Although they numbered less than five fingers, they were equally capable in the face of Gongyang: "How can Mr. Dong make such a rash judgment? We Guliangs pursue benevolence and friendship, and do not want to resort to violence like you Gongyangs, but we do not support the nonsense of not improving military strength!"

[Let’s talk about the Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi’s attack on the Liao Dynasty.

The previous battle at Gaoliang River, in which the emperor personally led the army, did not completely dispel Zhao Guangyi's ambition to recover Yanyun. Although it was temporarily shelved for various reasons, his ambition would grow again as soon as there was an opportunity.

This is not a bad thing, at least he has never given up the determination and courage to recover the old territory. However, he did not review and reflect on the previous failures, and did not realize his underestimation of the enemy and tactical mistakes, which was fatal to the next battle.

Soon, the external opportunity in Zhao Guangyi's eyes arrived.

In the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelü Xian, passed away, and his son, Emperor Shengzong of Liao, Yelü Longxu, ascended the throne at the age of twelve. His mother, Empress Dowager Chengtian Xiao Chuo, acted as regent in accordance with the will.

Seeing the situation in the Liao Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi immediately believed the report of He Lingtu and others: "The Khitan leader is young, his mother is in power, and she is favored by the emperor." He felt that the opportunity for the civil strife in the Liao Dynasty that he had been waiting for had come. After he dealt with domestic affairs - the death of Zhao Defang and Zhao Tingmei, and accumulated the strategic materials needed for the war, he could send troops to attack.

So in the third year of Yongxi, that is, four years later, Zhao Guangyi officially launched the Northern Expedition, which can also be called the Yongxi Northern Expedition.

At this time, Emperor Shengzong of Liao, Yelü Longxu, was sixteen years old, and the power of government was still in the hands of his mother, Empress Dowager Chengtian, Xiao Chuo.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin looked at Zhao Guangyi with a strange look: "Why do you think that the Liao Kingdom was easy to bully? Just because the emperor was young and the queen mother was in power? Was this the first time that the queen mother was in power in the Liao Kingdom?"

Even if you think the combination of the empress dowager and the young ruler is very weak because of the Chenqiao mutiny, you have to look at which empress dowager and young ruler it is, right? The empress dowagers who were able to assist in the administration of the Liao Dynasty, such as the previous Empress Dowager Yingtian, Shulü Ping (Xiao Ping), were not easy to deal with!

How does his good brother's intelligence system work?
Han Dynasty, the third year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che also mocked Zhao Guangyi: "According to Tianmu, the young emperor is named Shengzong and the empress dowager is honored as Chengtian Empress Dowager. I think both of them must be promising monarchs. Song Taizong's efforts are probably in vain."

Although he said this, in his heart he thought of the phrase "regent in accordance with the will." It would be different if there was a will.

If the edict is true, it must mean that Emperor Jingzong of Liao recognized the ability of the empress dowager - her temple name is Jingzong, which is a good temple name, indicating that she was not an incompetent monarch; if the edict is false, then the empress dowager was able to forge a will and get the court to approve it, which also shows that she was not incompetent.

After all, if he encountered this situation, if the biological mother could not get his approval, he would definitely take her away directly.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Liu Che's lips again. He didn't need to think about this kind of problem. The prince was growing up healthily, and he had no health problems. He would be able to smoothly hand over a prosperous empire to the prince in the future!
Liao Dynasty, the fifth year of Baoning.

At this time, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelü Xian, was in power and he made Xiao Chuo his empress. The two already had a son, Yelü Longxu.

Listening to Tianmu's story, Yelu Xian was extremely happy - his temple name was very good, his son was even called Shengzong, and his loving and talented queen was also honored as Empress Dowager Chengtian. This was a sign of the prosperity of the Liao Dynasty!
On the other hand, he was also quite worried - Wenshu Nu (Yelu Longxu's Khitan name) was only twelve years old when he ascended the throne, so he himself would have been thirty-five years old when he died! Although he had always been in poor health, he did not expect that he would die so early...

Xiao Chuo sat beside him and comforted him: "Your Majesty should pay attention to health preservation and reduce the number of trips outside in the future. You will definitely not die early like Tianmu did."

Yelu Xian held Xiao Chuo's hand and said with emotion: "In the future, Yanyan, your burden may become heavier."

Several ministers were standing by, worried about His Majesty's premature death, but also glad that the Liao Dynasty still had the Queen and future Queen Mother to support the government.

[In fact, Zhao Guangyi should not have believed the words of the Liao Dynasty's weakness so casually. Of course, it is also possible that he just felt that it was time to attack the Liao Kingdom, which had nothing to do with the internal situation of the Liao Kingdom.

But Empress Dowager Chengtian of the Liao Dynasty was not an unknown person. When Emperor Jingzong of Liao was in power, Xiao Chuo, who was still the empress, had already presided over government affairs and made decisions on various government affairs of the Liao Dynasty. The Song Dynasty should not have been unaware of such news, because the Liao Dynasty itself did not taboo the royal family's participation in government affairs, and there was no habit of covering it up. From the beginning of Empress Dowager Chengtian's reign to the personal rule of Emperor Shengzong of Liao until his death, it was the golden age of the Liao Dynasty.

At this time, the Queen Mother appointed Yelu Xiu'ge as the governor of Yanjing, allowing him to act at his discretion and take charge of military affairs in the south. During this period, he "encouraged agriculture and sericulture, improved military preparations, and brought the border to order."

Therefore, Zhao Guangyi's choice of timing for foreign wars was absolutely wrong.

By the way, as a side note, Empress Dowager Chengtian was a person who had made outstanding contributions to the Liao Dynasty, so the literati of the Song Dynasty naturally resented her. They had no way to actually do anything about the Liao Dynasty, so they wrote a lot of short essays about her.

The ability of the literati in the Song Dynasty to write short essays was still very high. From several dynasties before to the Song Dynasty, they wrote many short essays for many people. 】

Liao Dynasty, the fifth year of Tonghe.

"Little essay?" Empress Dowager Chengtian Xiao Chuo sneered, "It seems that I didn't hit the Song Dynasty too hard, so these pedantic scholars don't know how to restrain themselves and don't know what to do and what not to do." Last year, the Empress Dowager led the army to defeat Zhao Guangyi's northern expedition army and recovered all the territory. (Emperor Jingzong of Liao specially allowed Xiao Chuo to call him "Zhen Ji Yu")
Yelu Xizhen, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, said with a smile: "The internal political problems of the Song Dynasty are frequent, and it is difficult to guarantee the combat effectiveness of the army. It is difficult to change in a short time. How can we compete with the Liao Dynasty? We can only show off our verbal skills. The saints are far-sighted, and the Liao Dynasty has a clear political system. We will surely let the Song Dynasty know the hierarchy and orthodoxy."

Han Derang also said: "We should help the Song State and maintain their 'laws of their ancestors'."

Han Dynasty, the first year of Yuanshuo.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, inexplicably felt that this "small essay" was directed at him: "Could it be that I also have a share of the small essay written by the Song people?"

Several ministers looked around, not knowing what to say, because they also felt that according to His Majesty's style, it was a foregone conclusion that there would be one or more small essays, and even they, the ministers, might have a share.

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

Hearing that the literati in the Song Dynasty loved to write short essays, Li Shimin could already guess his own result - he would definitely have a place. The Xuanwu Gate incident alone was probably enough for those people to write several short essays... I just don't know if other monarchs of the Tang Dynasty would have the same experience?

Wu Zhou, the second year of Wansui Tongtian.

Wu Zetian, who was watching with Shangguan Wan'er and others, laughed with disdain: "This Song Dynasty scholar has no ability to expand territory and defeat the enemy. He also benefits from the Song Dynasty's system of suppressing military men and is unwilling to reuse military generals. Naturally, he can't do anything about the Liao Dynasty... This little essay is probably not only written for Empress Dowager Chengtian, but also for me."

What an incompetent person, he just likes to disgust others.

Shangguan Wan'er also laughed and said, "It's probably not just your Majesty who has written about it. Their own political enemies may have also written about it. His Majesty Taizong and his people also wrote about it, as did the Qin and Han dynasties before him." She shook her head and said, "From this, it can be seen that the officialdom atmosphere in the Song Dynasty was probably not very good."

[Zhao Guangyi placed high hopes on this Northern Expedition and also carefully considered the battle plan.

As for the failure of the previous battle of Gaoliang River, he believed that it was because he was alone in the deep, so he set up three armies for the Northern Expedition: the eastern army was led by Cao Bin as the commander-in-chief and Mi Xin as the deputy commander. They led the main forces of the Song army and marched out of Xiongzhou. They used the tactics of slow march and made a loud noise to march towards Liao Nanjing in order to contain the main forces of the Liao army;
Tian Chongjin was the commander of the central route, and he went out of Feihukou;

The western route was led by Pan Mei as the commander-in-chief and Yang Ye as the deputy commander. They went out of Yanmen Pass, captured various states outside the pass, and then joined up with the central army.

Then he led his troops eastward and attacked Nanjing from the north together with the Eastern Army.

In simple terms, it was to make a feint to the east and attack in the west, letting Cao Bin lead the army as a target, attracting the Liao army in the areas east of Taihang Mountain, south of Yanshan Mountain and Jundu Mountain; while Tian Chongjin and Pan Mei took the opportunity to seize the northern end of Taihang Mountain and the area north of Jundu Mountain. Finally, the central, western and eastern routes launched a pincer attack on Youzhou. 】

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

Someone had brought the map a long time ago. Although some place names in the Song Dynasty are different from those now, they can still be compared.

Li Shimin frowned slightly: "Although we have learned from the lesson of the last time when we were alone and deep in the enemy's territory, the distance between the three armies is a bit too far. If there is an emergency, it will be difficult to coordinate effectively in time."

Li Xiaogong looked at the marching routes of the Eastern Army and the Central and Western Armies and said, "Compared to the Central and Western Armies, the Eastern Army's route is too short. If they want to reach a peace, they may have to wait for a long time, which may lead to unexpected events. In addition, the situation of their food supply is also a problem."

These are all problems. The Eastern Army can obviously only advance slowly or even wait in place. Once time is prolonged, the Liao Army will inevitably react, either by harassing or cutting off the food supply. There may also be opposition and voices of vying for credit within the Song Army... This all depends on the level of the commander-in-chief.

"Besides, I feel that although this plan seems to be comprehensive, it is completely the unilateral wishful thinking of the Song Dynasty. It seems that they are not very clear about the specific situation of the Liao Dynasty. I don't know whether they have conducted a serious intelligence investigation on the Liao Dynasty."

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin was quite satisfied with Zhao Guangyi's selection this time: "Cao Bin is honest, prudent, and far-sighted. He is the one I trust the most. Pan Mei is knowledgeable about military affairs and good at fighting, and is also a good candidate."

[In March, three routes of the Song army had already left the border and headed towards the Liao Dynasty.

The battle went smoothly at the beginning. The central army captured Lingqiu and Weizhou. The western army captured Huan, Shuo, Yun, Ying and other states. The eastern army captured Qigouguan, Zhuozhou and other places.

But the Liao army had already reacted by this time. It was Yelu Xiu'ge who was guarding Youzhou. He did not engage in a head-on confrontation with the Song army, but instead continuously sent light cavalry to go around the rear of the Song army and cut off their food supply.

When the news reached the Liao Dynasty, Xiao Chuo quickly made arrangements. On March 7, Xiao Chuo personally led Han Derang and Yelu Longxu to announce the expedition, and fought together with Yelu Xiu'ge. On March 19, Xiao Chuo ordered Yelu Xiu'ge to resist Cao Bin's army in the east, and ordered Yelu Xizhen to resist Pan Mei and Yang Ye's army in the west. On April 1, Xiao Chuo and Yelu Longxu were stationed in the northern suburbs of Youzhou.

At this time, Yelu Xiu'ge's method of cutting off food supply was effective. After Cao Bin had captured Zhuozhou for more than ten days, he found that the food and grass were about to be exhausted, so he withdrew from Zhuozhou and retreated to Xiongzhou to replenish food and grass.

Zhao Guangyi was originally suspicious of Cao Bin's fast marching speed. According to his thinking, he had told Cao Bin to "be cautious and slow down" before he left, so he would not fight so fast. Now when he heard that Cao Bin had to retreat to Xiongzhou due to food and grass, he was immediately shocked: "How can you retreat to replenish food and grass when there is an enemy in front of you?"

So he ordered Cao Bin to stop retreating and led his troops to Baigou River to join Mi Xin's army, to recuperate and wait for Pan Mei and his men to attack Youzhou together.

(End of this chapter)