Chapter 94: Jiaozhi
Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuangyin finally started talking to Zhao Guangyi again: "What are you thinking? Did your brain go blank after defeating the Liao Dynasty? Before imposing an economic blockade, didn't you think about who would be most affected?" What happened to Li Jiqian was secondary. The key was how Zhao Guangyi responded.

As a result, it can be seen that Zhao Guangyi's response has not been any good. In the end, he either became an assistant to Li Jiqian, or was of no use to Li Jiqian's foundation and only caused temporary damage.

Thinking of this, Zhao Kuangyin's expression became a little subtle. Was it that everyone in the court was not sober-minded, or were there supporters of Li Jiqian in the court?

Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi hurriedly ordered his attendants: "Write it down, write it down quickly, don't do this again."

After giving the order, he felt a little worried again - when was Xixia founded? It looked like Li Jiqian would keep fighting. Would I surrender in the end? I couldn't surrender to a rebel force!

Fortunately, the sky curtain dispelled his fears.

[Afterwards, Li Jiqian kept jumping back and forth between pretending to submit and attacking the Song Dynasty. He was always unwilling to truly submit to the Song Dynasty, nor was he willing to accept the position of Jiedushi granted by the Song Dynasty.

In the second year of Zhidao, Li Jiqian intercepted 40 shi of grain and grass from the Song Dynasty. Zhao Guangyi finally couldn't bear it anymore and ordered Li Jilian, Ding Han, Fan Tingzhao, Wang Chao, and Zhang Shouen to advance on five fronts. However, the old problem of the Song Dynasty recurred - the generals of the five armies were divided, some acted on their own and avoided fighting, and some did fight a few battles, but had to retreat because of the lack of cooperation from other routes.

Then, in the third year of Zhidao, Zhao Guangyi passed away. Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng succeeded to the throne and accepted Li Jiqian's peace terms, appointed him as the governor of Dingnan Army, and assigned the five states of Dingnan to Li Jiqian.

Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi breathed a sigh of relief. That was great. He did not succumb to Li Jiqian and did not acknowledge him. Li Jiqian had always been rebellious during his reign!
After he felt relieved, he finally had the mind to care about other things.

In the third year of Zhidao, he died? Now it is the fourth year of Chunhua. When did he change the reign title to Zhidao? It can't be the next reign title, right? Although the two arrows he was shot with in Gaoliang River have caused his wounds to recur every year, and he has also felt that his energy has declined in the past two years, can time pass so quickly?
Also, who is Crown Prince Zhao Heng? He has no son with this name now. Anyway, after this son succeeded to the throne, he actually agreed to Li Jiqian's conditions and gave away the five states of Dingnan! (In the first year of Zhidao, Zhao Yuankan changed his name to Zhao Heng and was made Crown Prince)
Oh, by the way, wasn’t it said before that it was Emperor Zhenzong of Song who started to implement the ancestral laws? Then why didn’t he look at his father’s attitude towards the Dingnan Five Prefectures and Li Jiqian?
As for the old problem of the Song Dynasty, since it is an old problem, he certainly knows it. Isn't it that he has been trying to eliminate this problem by controlling the military with culture? However, it seems that the effect is limited.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin was not surprised by Li Jiqian's repeated jumps, as he had already seen Li Jiqian's character from the previous sections.

What surprised him was another point: "The five armies deployed by Zhao Guangyi himself did not listen to him? Wasn't he trying to control the generals from the middle and do remote micro-management? It didn't work this time?" It couldn't be that he just didn't do it this time?

"Besides, isn't he trying to control the military with civil officials?" It would be fine if he didn't send civil officials, but if he did, wouldn't the civil officials be obedient?
"Brother, I sent troops in the second year of Zhidao, and died in the third year." Zhao Guangyi regained some energy and said in a low voice.

It seemed that he did not have great achievements in military affairs, and he died in the third year, which means that his health was not very good in the second year. Maybe he could not control those generals?

Zhao Kuangyin frowned. In this situation, it didn't matter whether it was Zhao Guangyi or not. The key was the emperor's ability to control his generals. The emperor would always grow old, so how could this emperor ensure that he would control power when he was old? How could he ensure that his subordinates would not pretend to obey him and have some excessive thoughts?
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi were not the only ones who thought of this. All the emperors pondered this crucial question. After all, who would be willing to lose power and be unable to command people when they are old?

[The founding of Western Xia was actually in the hands of Li Yuanhao, the grandson of Li Jiqian, and the foundation laid by Li Jiqian throughout his life was also an important reason why Western Xia was eventually able to establish its country.

After talking about Western Xia, let’s take a look at another place that dealt a heavy blow to Zhao Guangyi, Jiaozhi.

When we talked about Ming Chengzu Zhu Di before, we mentioned this place, which provided a lot of talents for the Ming Dynasty.

Jiaozhi had been a part of the Central Plains since the Qin Dynasty. Until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, when no dynasty had ruled over Jiaozhi, Jiaozhi gained independence.

During the reign of Zhao Kuangyin, he never had time to take care of Jiaozhi. After Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, he naturally wanted to recover this ancient territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

The Ding Dynasty ruled Jiaozhi at this time.

In the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo, civil strife broke out in the Ding Dynasty. Ding Lian and his father Ding Buling were killed. Ding Xuan, the only son who was only six years old, succeeded to the throne. The ten generals, Le Heng, took control of the real power.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Zhu Su murmured, "It's civil strife again. Why does Emperor Taizong of Song always encounter this kind of situation..." Although the Liao Dynasty was not in civil strife, it was indeed a young ruler who ascended the throne, and there was also civil strife in the Dingnan Five Prefectures.

"But shouldn't the question be that every time he encountered a civil unrest, which should have been a good opportunity, he never won?" Zhu Chong complained.

"That's true. Why didn't he win?" Zhu Su was speechless.

"Hehe, but speaking of the Ding Dynasty, don't you think this situation is familiar?" Zhu Di kept it a secret and gloated. Since the last time he talked about the emperor who recaptured Annan, he went back and looked through the previous records about Annan, and now it's a good time to tell it.

"Look familiar? How familiar? Was there a civil unrest?" The other brothers were not very clear about the history of Annan. After all, it was a small border country, so they didn't care much about it.

"A young ruler ascends the throne? Powerful ministers become powerful? ...Orphans and widows?" Zhu listed them one by one until the last one. He saw Zhu Di nod with a smile.

"That's right, orphans and widows, Chenqiao mutiny, hahahahahaha!"

"Wow!"

Upon hearing the news, Hou Renbao, who was the Doctor of Taichang and the Governor of Yongzhou, requested to take the opportunity to recapture Jiaozhi and restore the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties.

Zhao Guangyi was immediately overjoyed, thinking this was a great opportunity, so he mobilized 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers from Jinghu, under the command of Hou Renbao, and prepared to send troops to Jiaozhi.

Upon hearing the news that the Song Dynasty was going to attack, the Ding Dynasty responded quickly. Queen Mother Yang Yun'e ordered Li Huan to lead the army to defend and appointed Fan Juliang (also known as "Fan Jubei") from Nan Cejiang as the general.

Before leaving, Fan Juliang thought, "The emperor is young and weak now. Even if we try our best to resist foreign aggression, who will know if we can achieve any success? It is better to first enthrone ten emperors and then go to war." The soldiers "all shouted long live" to show their agreement. When the Queen Mother Yang Yun'e heard about this, she sent someone to send the dragon robe to Li Huan and let him ascend the throne. 】Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin felt like he was choked, and he couldn't breathe.

What is this? A replica of the Chenqiao Mutiny? Although there were many cases of self-reliance in history, this Jiaozhi incident has all the elements? Moreover, it happened not long after the founding of the Song Dynasty and during the reign of Zhao Guangyi?

Zhao Kuangyin inexplicably felt a sense of mockery.

Zhao Dezhao and the others all shut up at this time, as quiet as chickens, and did not want to express any opinions on the matter at all.

The emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty also had the same reaction. In fact, they knew about this matter before, but they didn't pay much attention to it at that time. Now they were specially pulled out...

There is indeed a little bit...

The Han Dynasty's rulers and ministers did not care about the change of regime in Jiaozhi. They were extremely excited about one thing: "restoring the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties."

Everyone's mouth curled up and they were in a happy mood. After all, in the past, the Zhou Dynasty was used as a benchmark. Now, their Han Dynasty can also be mentioned as an honor and a benchmark to be followed in future generations!
The same was true of the Tang Dynasty's emperors and ministers.

This news naturally reached Zhao Guangyi, who was overjoyed. What better excuse could there be for sending troops than this powerful official's self-determination? Before, he just wanted to take advantage of the situation, but now he had a legitimate excuse. What was he waiting for?
At the end of the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo, Hou Renbao, the water and land transport envoy of Jiaozhou Road, led Sun Quanxing and others to deploy land troops and entered Jiaozhi from Yongzhou; Liu Cheng and others deployed water troops and set out from Guangzhou Road to attack Jiaozhi by water.

As soon as the Song army arrived in Jiaozhi, they won a great victory, defeating more than 10,000 enemies and beheading more than 2,000 people. In the spring of the sixth year of Taipingxingguo, they defeated the enemy again at the mouth of the Bach Dang River, beheaded more than 1,000 people, seized more than 200 warships, and armors numbering tens of thousands.

Everything was going smoothly up to this point, but then the turning point came.

At this time, Hou Renbao led the vanguard army in front, preparing to combine land and sea forces. But after Hou Renbao led the vanguard army away, Sun Quanxing stayed in Huabu for seventy days, waiting for Liu Cheng, and Hou Renbao urged him repeatedly, but he did not move forward.

When Liu Cheng finally arrived, the two of them joined forces by land and sea and came to Duolo Village by water. They did not see any enemy here, so they retreated back to Huabu without permission.

At this time, Li Heng sent soldiers to pretend to surrender to Hou Renbao, and took the opportunity to attack Hou Renbao, who was killed in the battle. Li Heng then took advantage of the situation to attack the leaderless Song army, and the Song army was defeated.

Afterwards, the Song army retreated back to the capital. Zhao Guangyi was certainly not satisfied with this, not to mention that this time there were problems with coordination and even delays in the battle.

So he decided to punish those responsible. Liu Cheng died of illness before he issued the order, while Wang Zhen, the gatekeeper of the cabinet who was in charge of the water route, and Jia Xi, the deputy envoy of the military arsenal, were executed on the spot in Yongzhou. Sun Quanxing, who was in charge of the land route, was taken to the capital and imprisoned, and then executed. The rest were demoted to deputy envoys of militia training.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin was not confused about the defeat. After all, it was a blow to Zhao Guangyi. What else could it be but a failure?
However, the problems of the Song Dynasty army were indeed quite serious.

How many times has this happened? This time, he didn't know if he was delaying on purpose, but before, he was vying for credit... He remembered that when he was fighting against Hou Shu, almost all the generals were feasting and doing whatever they wanted in the local area. Only Cao Bin and Liu Guangyi restrained their subordinates and didn't cause any trouble.

How can we improve the discipline of the Song army? We can't always give the commander a special sword and the privilege of killing on the battlefield.

Ming Dynasty, Yongle period.

Zhu Di could empathize with the consequences of the Song army's lack of coordination and unauthorized actions. Wasn't this exactly what happened when Qiu Fu was filming the Northern Expedition?

Unfortunately, in this situation, on the one hand, we need to strengthen the training and cultivation of generals, and on the other hand, we still have to rely on the court's supervision mechanism to prevent some generals with unclear minds from acting recklessly.

"Fortunately, hundreds of years have passed since the Song Dynasty, and the trend of military commanders not following the strategic guidelines formulated before the war and acting arbitrarily has disappeared." Zhu Di was somewhat fortunate that although Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty had tried his best to curb this bad trend in the early years of the Song Dynasty, it was difficult to achieve results in a short time. Later emperors overcorrected and dragged the Song Dynasty's trend down another path of no return.

"Yes, and the regulatory agencies of our Ming Dynasty are more complete than before, so we can try our best to nip bad tendencies in the bud." Zhu Gaochi agreed very much. This kind of situation will always happen. After all, some generals look good at ordinary times, but you never know when they will suddenly have a brain injury. But as long as they can be stopped in time and do not form a trend, it will not be too difficult to deal with.

If it becomes a trend, it is hard to say. For example, during the Tang Dynasty, there were many generals who took the initiative to provoke wars just to earn military merits. In the end, a bad trend was formed, and it would be much more difficult to eliminate it.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Seeing Wang Quanxing, Liu Cheng and others from the Song army slowly joining forces along the way, and then turning back to Huabu without seeing the enemy in Duolo Village, Liu Che felt a toothache.

He thought of the Han Dynasty's attack on the Huns, and he felt a subtle sympathy for Zhao Guangyi. He was so unlucky!

Although the misfortunes of the Han Dynasty were not caused by the generals' disobedience and self-willed behavior, the results were indeed somewhat similar - they got lost, could not find the enemy, and the encirclement was leaked...

Although the Han Dynasty did not encounter any problems and instead defeated the Huns due to the glorious achievements of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, this does not mean that these flaws did not exist.

Thinking of this, Liu Che felt more and more the importance of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. However, if it weren't for these two generals, wouldn't he, Liu Che, always suffer defeat? That would be too tragic.

Song Dynasty, Dazhong Xiangfu

"Your Majesty, you see, this is the result of a military general being arrogant and disobeying orders. Poor Hou Renbao, the transport envoy, was loyal and devoted to the king, but he suffered such a result." Seeing another example of defeat due to difficulty in achieving cooperation, the censor stepped forward and advised Zhao Heng with a solemn expression and a sad voice.

After he finished speaking, several others spoke in agreement. Although many other civil servants did not say anything, judging from their expressions, most of them agreed.

Zhao Heng was shaken by the obvious ridicule of the policy of controlling the military with culture, but after the officials' strong persuasion, his wavering mind became firm again.

(End of this chapter)