One Piece of Song Dynasty

Wang Fu had a keen sense of politics. He felt that the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to him, so at the beginning of November, he took the initiative to write a memorial requesting to be appointed to the official position. He said in the memorial: "Your Majesty will use his ministers to their fullest extent and will not appoint them to their full potential." Expertise. The ministers who are destined to have poor blessings, take the yin and yang of violence, accumulate worries and worries internally, and suffer from external injuries. They mourn for themselves, hang their shadows and sigh, and get the cruel heaven and man, and they cannot stay away. If the promise is exhausted and the seal and ribbon are returned, and if you retreat, you will live inside. Escaping from the turbulent storms and reaping the rewards in the realm of decaying mulberry trees and elms, no one is to blame but a ghost, so I will never forget this. I will always say that this kindness will be my ultimate benefit."

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty quickly approved Wang Fu's request. He wrote in his imperial pen: "Wang Fu Chen begged to become an official. The number of favors he received, the number of court etiquette, etc. were all implemented in accordance with Cai Jing's regulations, and he still gave Jiedushi a salary." . This year, Wang Fu was forty-five years old.

When Wang Fu took up the post of Shaobao, Dazai, and Assistant Minister, he took a series of measures to reduce taxes and labor and streamline government agencies. The reform measures won people's praise. People thought he was very courageous and praised him as a "virtuous prime minister" at that time. Later, he set up the Yingfeng Bureau and took charge of it himself. In the name of paying tribute to the emperor, he apportioned officials from various places and demanded tribute of rare things from all over the world, which aroused people's resentment. Only one-tenth of these things could reach the emperor's hands, and the rest were divided between him and Liang Shicheng. As his power position was consolidated, he became more and more authoritarian and domineering, ruthless and evil. He mercilessly attacked and persecuted ministers who disagreed with him. "No one dared to speak out in fear at home and abroad." Therefore, after the news of Wang Fu's dismissal from office spread, "everyone in the world was happy."

In the name of the imperial court sending troops to the Northern Expedition to regain Yanjing, Wang Fu established a special agency called Jingfufang to take charge of the free money collected from all over the country. "Those who exempt husbands are called the Battle of Yanshan. The world should pay tribute to husbands. Now we only order money to exempt husbands." A total of more than million pieces were collected. This money was supposed to be stored "for emergencies", but by the spring of the seventh year of Xuanhe, the money had been basically used up, with only six million yuan left. There are only million yuan of accounts that can be checked, and there are more than million yuan of accounts, "the whereabouts of which are unknown". People suspected that this money was "secretly used to entertain private parties" by Wang Fu, because after Yanjing reported the crime, Wang Fu hurriedly petitioned to "take and burn all the documents in the Fufang", so there is no doubt about this huge sum of money. The whereabouts of the money have disappeared.

After overthrowing Wang Fu and his associates, He Li was released again because he offended some powerful officials in the court, and was sent to Huiyou Pavilion to know Taizhou. As a result, He Li's official reputation became more and more prosperous, which left a deep impression on Prince Zhao Huan, which also laid the foundation for his later reuse by Zhao Heng.

In early November of the sixth year of Xuanhe, Tong Guan sent someone to invite Baozhou's anti-corruption envoy Ma Kuo to come to Taiyuan. He planned to ask Ma Kuo and Pizhou's observation envoy Xin Xingzong to go to Yunzhong to meet Zong Han and "discuss the handover of Yunzhong affairs." ". Tong Guan admired Ma Kuo very much. He believed that Ma Kuo was the most suitable person to negotiate with the Jin people.

Not long ago, Ma Kuo came to Taiyuan once and met Tong Guan. As a companion, he accompanied the Jin ambassador Fu Mogu and deputy envoy Li Jian to the Xuanfu Division in Hedong to meet Tong Guan. After the two Jin envoys met Tong Guan, they returned directly from Taiyuan via Yunzhong.

Tong Guan heard that Ma Kuo had been to Yanjing, so he asked him about the situation in Yanjing. Ma Kuo then made a detailed report to Tong Guan on the contents of his conversation with Wang Anzhong, focusing on the issues of "the benefits and disadvantages of the Changsheng Army's granting of land" and "the order of Wang Anzhong's administration of Yan".

After hearing this, Tong Guan was a little surprised and said: "So I am also afraid of the ever-victorious army being troubled in the future and want to weaken it, how about that?"

Ma Kuo replied: "I also know that the ever-victorious army will be in trouble in the future. However, the reason why the Jurchens dare not attack us in a large scale now is because they are worried about the ever-victorious army. If the ever-victorious army is weakened now, then the Jin army will come What should we do? Secondly, weakening the Ever-Victorious Army now will only cause them to mutiny, which is not a good thing for us."

Tong Guan asked: "Then what do you think we should do?"

Ma Kuo said: "Guo Yaoshi's army now only has more than people, most of whom are brave horsemen. If the Grand Master can select elite horsemen and infantry from the Third Road of Hedong and Hebei in Shaanxi Province, divide them into three groups, and choose Those who are wise, courageous, and as courageous as a pharmacist can be divided into three groups: one is stationed in Yanshan, and the pharmacist is in charge of the camp; one is stationed in Guangsheng Army or Zhongshan Prefecture; the other is stationed in Xiongzhou or Hejian Prefecture. Hounds and teeth come together , so that the pharmacists can have confidence in advancing and have taboos in retreating. Even if the Jin people have other intentions, how can they easily dare to move forward?"

Tong Guan smoothed his sparse beard under his chin and said, "It's very good, but it's not easy to gather people. I will think of other ways."

Ma Kuo said with emotion: "The country's defeat all started with Liu Yanqing's escape. If we had used the method of cultivating teachers again and raised many Western soldiers to cause trouble, we would not have delayed the national affairs like this."

Tong Guan was silent after hearing this.

Tong Guan was very reluctant to mention Liu Yanqing's escape because he was responsible for this issue. At that time, Liu Yanqing asked Tong Guan for instructions before withdrawing his troops. Tong Guan's answer was ambiguous, allowing Liu Yanqing to base his decision on the facts. After Liu Yanqing was arrested and imprisoned, when he was interrogating him, he defended himself by producing a note signed by Tong Guan and Cai You, allowing him to make his own decisions. The interrogation came to nothing and Liu Yanqing was not guilty. freed. Later, "the imperial court discussed the death of the master in Yanqing and had to follow the law", so he "was demoted to the head of the government and resettled in Junzhou". Tong Guan was also reluctant to mention the way of cultivating teachers because they had conflicting views. This was something that the upper echelons of the army knew at the time, and it could be said to be an open secret. It was impossible for Ma Kuo not to know about the relationship between these two people and Tong Guan, but he still mentioned these two people in front of Tong Guan, and criticized one and praised the other. Tong Guan could remain silent, which should be said to be very respectful to Ma Kuo. Son.

A few days later, Ma Kuo came to Taiyuan to report, and Tong Guan gave him the task of rushing to Yunzhong to deliver land to the Jin people. Before leaving, Tong Guan specially summoned more than a dozen Xuanfu Department staff and generals, including Li Zongzhen, Xin Qizong, Xin Yongzong, Sun Wo, Yao Youzhong, Du Changlan, etc., and held a banquet to see Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong off. These dozen or so people lined up around Tong Guan, drinking wine from gold cups, one after another.

Tong Guan said: "The commanders appointed in the states in front of the mountain are not good talents. Now all kinds of shortcomings have been revealed. If you get the land behind the mountain in the future, you must be careful when choosing your commanders. You can recommend those you think are suitable." people."

Li Zongzhen and others then counted all the six military officials in Shaanxi Province and Hedong and Hebei Provinces in detail. Tong Guan shook his head and said: "These people are not good. If the back of the mountain is a peaceful land, then these people will be fine. Unfortunately, the back of the mountain is a new land and borders the Jin people. They must be both civil and military, fair and honest, and have kindness to the surrounding countries." Only those who know everything can do it. I feel that horses must be used to announce the mission. Ma Xuanshi, I ask you, if you are asked to guard Yunzhong, how many troops and horses should you use?"