One Piece of Song Dynasty

In fact, the few months that Xu Churen and Wu Min were in power were indeed a very important period before the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty. The imperial court should have seized the opportunity, made overall strategic arrangements, actively made preparations to deal with the Jin invasion south again, and made various plans, including the emperor's timely withdrawal from the capital.

However, Xu Churen and Wu Min did not pay enough attention to the urgent border defense and handled it poorly, thus wasting a great opportunity. Wu Min was even more "pleased to regard it as normal", and actually suggested that all scholars should add a spring and autumn course, and said that Wang Anshi's new meanings of the three classics were heresies, etc., etc., which were not the top priorities at the time. As prime ministers, Xu Churen and Wu Min were indeed both incompetent.

At that time, there was a saying in the capital called "Ten No Matters": "I don't care about Taiyuan but I care about Taixue; I don't care about Fangqiu but I care about Spring and Autumn; I don't care about Zengshi but I care about Anshi; I don't care about King Su but I care about King Shu; I don't care about Yanshan but I care about Nieshan." , I don’t care about Tokyo but I care about Cai Jing, I don’t care about the boundaries of Hebei but I care about the people being elected, I don’t care about Hedong but I care about Chen Dong, I don’t care about the second prince but I care about the crown prince.”

The eyes of the people are sharp. "Ten disregards" is a strong sneer at Xu Churen and Wu Min's inability to assess the situation. It can be said to hit the nail on the head and hit the mark.

If Xu Churen and Wu Min lack the political insight to assess the situation when it comes to domestic affairs, then they are simply mentally retarded when it comes to foreign affairs. They actually encouraged and supported Song Qinzong and instigated rebellion against Yelu Yujian through the Jin envoy Xiao Zhonggong. There is no small matter in foreign affairs, and we should be cautious, but they actually regard major diplomatic matters as child's play.

On July , Xiao Zhonggong returned to Yanjing and immediately handed over to Zong Wang the secret letter written by Song Qinzong to Yelu Yujian. Zong Wang was shocked and immediately sent a fast horse to deliver the wax pills to Xijing and handed them over to Zong Han, because Yelu Yujian served as the supervisor of the West Route Army under Zong Han.

After seeing it, Zong Han sent someone to Beijing quickly and presented the secret letter of wax pills to Jin Taizong. Also presented at the same time was another secret letter written by Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty to Yelu Dashi of the Western Liao Dynasty. The content was to jointly raise troops to destroy the Jin Dynasty. This secret letter was also Wu Min's idea. At that time, Zhe Keqiu reported that Xiliao was in the north of Xixia and wanted to join forces with the Song Dynasty to take revenge on the Jin Dynasty. Wu Min thought this was an excellent opportunity, so he persuaded Song Qinzong to write a letter to Xiliao and asked Zhe Keqiu to find a way to forward it to Yelu Dashi. Unfortunately, this secret letter was intercepted by Zong Han's subordinates during transmission.

In early August, after Jin Taizong read these two secret letters from Song Qinzong in Beijing, he became furious and convened a meeting to discuss how to punish the Song Dynasty. After discussion, it was finally decided to send troops south again to attack the Song Dynasty. On August , Emperor Taizong of the Jin Dynasty ordered Zong Han, deputy marshal on the left, and Zong Wang, deputy marshal on the right, to divide their troops into two groups to attack the Song Dynasty.

Jin Taizong's edict was quickly passed to the hands of Fan and Wang. After the first attack on the Song Dynasty, Fan and Wang were transferred back to Jin Taizong in Shangjing to be responsible for the inspection of edicts sent to various parts of the Jin Kingdom. At that time, the edicts sent to the marshals' mansions in the east and west were in the hands of King Fan.

Fan and Wang were shocked when they looked at the edict in their hands, but they quickly memorized the content of the edict silently, and spread the news that night through Shuixianju in Shangjing Mansion.

It was already two days after Liang Xing received the news. After reading the secret letter, Liang Xing slumped down on his chair and said: "It's over, the Song Dynasty is over."

After a while, Liang Xing angrily kicked down the chair next to him and said: "What a bullshit emperor, stupid court, this trick has deceived you, and the country has been defeated by idiots like you."

After a while, when Liang Xing's anger subsided, Niu Sancai cautiously said: "Lang Jun, what should we do now?"

Liang Xing said angrily: "Send the secret message to your lord, and then ask the deputy commander to come in the evening."

Niu San cupped his fists and said, "Yes, Langjun."

At night, when Zhao Yun saw Liang Xing, he frowned and asked, "Brother Liang, I heard Niu San say something big happened. What happened?"

Liang Xing handed the secret letter to Zhao Yun and said: "Our incompetent court has done something stupid again. See for yourself. The Song Dynasty is in danger now."

After reading this, Zhao Yun frowned and said: "What do these court ministers do? How could they be deceived so easily? Have they forgotten that the last time they were beaten was because of the instigation of old ministers of the Liao Kingdom? Why did they commit such a low-level crime this time?" He made a mistake and fell into the trap of the Liao people so easily."

Liang Xing waved his hands and said: "Forget it, it's too late to say anything now. Brother Zhao, you should hurry up and inform your people to prepare. We are about to go out again."

Zhao Yun said: "Peng Xuan has not come back since he was still besieging Taiyuan, but Yang Yun is back."

Liang Xing asked: "By the way, did our people suffer any losses during the last expedition?"

Zhao Yun shook his head and said: "That's not true. They both gathered our people around themselves as personal soldiers, and they didn't even go up during the war."

Liang Xing nodded and said, "That's good."

Zhao Yun said goodbye: "Nothing else, I'll go back first."

A few days later, Liang Hongyu received a secret letter from Liang Xing. After translating the secret letter, Liang Hongyu called Cao Long and said: "Cao Long, please send this secret letter that I copied to the officials, and then go and call Liu Shuai. "

Cao Long cupped his fists and said, "Yes, madam."

After a while, Liu Fa arrived at the city guard's mansion. Liang Hongyu handed the secret letter to Liu Fa and said: "Liu Shuai, this is the latest news from the Kingdom of Jin."

After reading the secret letter, Liu Fa sighed and said, "Madam, if I know, I will reply first."

Liu Fa returned to Chongwu Courtyard and entered the staff room. Ma Kuo saw Liu Fa and asked tentatively: "Liu Shuai, what did Madam want from you just now?"

Liu Fa stared at the sand table and said: "The imperial court did something stupid again. The Jin Kingdom decided to attack the Song Dynasty again. This time the imperial court is really in danger."

Ma Kuo frowned and said, "What did the imperial court do? It's only been half a year since the Jin Kingdom invaded the Song Dynasty for the second time."

Liu Fa said: "The officials and court ministers were stupid. They actually wanted to instigate the former Liao royal family to rebel against the Jin through the envoys sent by the Jin Kingdom. Of course, the envoys were also former Liao ministers. As a result, the envoys got the letter and handed it over to the Jin Dynasty. You can imagine the country’s reaction.”

Hearing this, the students in the entire staff room began to discuss. Chu Zhou said: "Liu Shuai, the situation this time is more dangerous than the last time. From the news we received, it seems that Taiyuan has not yet been rescued. Taiyuan has not been rescued since December last year." It has been more than eight months since the siege. The food and grass in the city are probably long gone. The students are afraid that Taiyuan will not be able to hold on for much longer. Moreover, several attempts by the imperial court to rescue the siege ended in failure. Not only did they lose their generals, but they also lost a lot of money. We have combatable troops in the north, which is a negative factor in defending against the Jin army’s second attack on the Song Dynasty.”

Zheng Zhong continued: "And the reason why the Jin soldiers were finally pushed back last time was mainly because Taiyuan blocked the Jin army on the west route, causing the Jin army on the east route to go deep alone. Once Taiyuan is breached this time, the two Jin armies will have great potential. They may meet at the foot of Tokyo City, but it’s hard to say whether Tokyo City can be saved this time.”