Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

You know, Liu Kai, as a young talent of the Western Army, later became a famous Southern Song anti-gold general along with Yue Fei and Han Shizhong in history.

The book "Song History" stated that "Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Liu Kai, and Yue Fei are all famous generals, and they are called Zhang, Han, Liu, and Yue in the world." Then Liu Kai is still in front of Yue Fei!

Ximenqing regretted that he missed the opportunity to meet future famous players.But thinking that Liu Kai had already made friends with Ma Kuo, and he had a good friendship with Ma Kuo, and that he would have a chance to see Liu Kai again in the future, Ximen Qing felt relieved.

Even if you are a time traveler, you can't just go wherever you want, and you can collect a bunch of good ministers and famous generals!Furthermore, famous generals are also played.Ximen Qing is very confident in the people he cultivated with his own hands. As long as he takes them to hone them on the battlefield with blood and fire, why can't they produce a few famous generals?

As for the fact that Ma Kuo mentioned that his father Ma Zheng went to Jin Guomiao and there was no news, Ximen Qing was not worried at all.Although he didn't remember that clearly, he knew that Song and Jin had contacts several times, and finally reached an alliance at sea.Therefore, as an envoy, Ma Zheng will definitely not have any accidents.

Although Ximen Qing could not tell Ma Kuo that he could predict the future, he still comforted him and told him that he had heard that the capital of the Kingdom of Jin was far from the sea, and the roads were dangerous and it would take a long time to travel, so Ma Kuo It is normal for his father to be away for several months, so Ma Kuo need not worry too much.Maybe, when Ma Kuo returned to Dengzhou, his father had already returned.

Ma Kuosu knew that Ximen Qing was well-informed and had many capable people from all corners of the country under his command, so he firmly believed in Ximen Qing's words.Ma Kuo's worries gradually subsided, he temporarily put aside his worries, and became more active at the wine table. He exchanged glasses with Ximen Qing and others, and talked about many things after the separation.

During the conversation with Ma Kuo, Ximenqing was also careful not to ask him about the imperial court sending his father north to contact Jin Guo, and Tong Guan's command of the Western Army to prepare for the new attack on Xia Guoxin.

These two matters are now Song Ting's military and state secrets, and it is not easy to inquire about Ximen Qing's current status.Furthermore, Ma Kuo has not yet become Tong Guan's staff, so he probably knows very little about it!

Ximenqing was interested in Liu Kai, so he asked about Ma Kuo's relationship with him.

Ma Kuo told Ximen Qing that he had met Liu Qi after taking part in the martial arts examination and winning it with his archery skills.Then Liu Qi is also a man of superb archery skills. After watching the martial arts, he took the initiative to find Ma Kuo.

Ma Kuo and Liu Qi are both descendants of the generals, and their ages are almost the same. They are both vigorous and passionate young people, and they are determined to fight for a future on the battlefield.So after the two got acquainted, they talked very happily and shared the same interests, so they became brothers with different surnames.

When talking about Liu Kai's archery skills, Ma Kuo said that he followed Liu Kai to Xining Prefecture and heard rumors in the army that Liu Kai once shot an arrow in the military camp and shot through a water tank in the military camp.When the sergeant pulled out the arrow and water flowed out of the arrow hole, Liu Kai shot a second arrow, which hit the arrow hole again and blocked the water tank again.

It is said that the people in the entire barracks were overwhelmed by Liu Kai's sharp shot, thinking that the major general will be famous all over the world in the future.

After hearing this, Ximen Qing thought to himself that Liu Qi really has real skills, his archery skills are comparable to Yue Fei's, no wonder he will be listed as a famous general in the future.By the way, where is the famous general Han Shizhong now?

Now Han Shizhong is 28 years old. He comes from a poor background and has no military background. Although he has served in the army for ten years and made military achievements, he is still serving as a rankless Jinyi deputy lieutenant under the command of Xihe Commander Liu Yanqing. It's the role of a small captain.

Even if Ximen Qing wanted to go find this veteran to spoil Han Wu, since he didn't know Han Shizhong's whereabouts, it would be very difficult for him to find out Han Shizhong who is now unknown among the hundreds of thousands of Western troops.

You know, Song Xia is in a big battle, the troops are frequently mobilized, and they move thousands of miles from time to time, but where do people ask for an unknown team leader?

At that time, "Jiuwenlong" Shi Jin made a special trip to the northwest to find his master Wang Jin, but he couldn't find him after a long time. It can be seen that under the transportation and communication conditions of the Song Dynasty, finding someone is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Ximen Qing walked away for a while, then he thought about it, and thought to himself, why am I so crazy!What about Han Shizhong and Liu Kai, the future famous generals of the Western Army, why should I go to the wilderness in the northwest to find them.I might as well run Shandong and Hebei well, and just wait for them here.

You know, Han Shizhong will come to Hebei with the Western Army in a few years, and participate in the battle against Liao and Yan under the command of Tong Guan.At that time, it should be easier to go to the army to inquire about finding that Han Shizhong!

When the Song Army led by Liu Yanqing was defeated by the Liao Army under the city of Yanjing, could he take the opportunity to save Han Shizhong once?

It seems that the strength of brother Jiang in Cangzhou needs to be further expanded, and the intelligence penetration of Yanjing in the Liao Kingdom needs to be strengthened!

A smile appeared on the corner of Ximen Qing's mouth.

Chapter 4: In Germany or in Danger

Although Ma Kuo relieved some of his worries because of Ximen Qing's words, after all, it was his father's first time to cross the sea to the Jin Kingdom in Liaodong, so he couldn't stay here for a long time at Ximen Qing, and he had to rush back to Dengzhou to accompany him as soon as possible. Mother waits for father Ma Zheng to return.

Ma Kuo told Ximen Qing that he only stayed in Ximenbao for one night, and he would leave for home tomorrow.

After hearing this, Ximen Qing told Ma Kuo that he also wanted to go to Dengzhou with him to see the local customs and customs of the seaside, and at the same time inspect the commercial routes to see if there was any business to do.Therefore, after arriving in Dengzhou, Ma Kuo's help is still needed.

When Ma Kuo came to Yanggu County last time, he invited Ximen Qing, saying that both his father and teacher Zong Ze wanted to meet Ximen Qing, who broke the Liangshan bandits, and now that he heard that Ximen Qing was going to go with him, he was delighted to accept it. .

After making an agreement with Ma Kuo, Ximen Qing asked all his brothers to accompany Ma Kuo to have a drink, then escaped by himself, and immediately summoned people to prepare for the trip to Dengzhou.

Ximen Qing invited Ximen Zhong, the manager, from Yanggu County, and asked him to choose a few confidantes who could write and count, and together with Ximen Zhong, he went to Dengzhou to open up new business.

In the past two years, Ximen Qing's various businesses have grown bigger and bigger. Ximen Qing travels here and there on weekdays, handing over the business to Ximen Zhong, Ximen Fu and other old managers to help.This time Ximenqing is preparing to expand his business at sea, so he plans to bring Ximen Zhongya with him.

When Ximen Zhong, the supervisor, heard that Ximenqing said that he would lay down a foundation in Dengzhou, establish maritime trade relations with Korea and Japan, and maybe even do business with the Jin Kingdom in the north in the future, he understood that the high-ranking officials had entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. .He didn't dare to be negligent, and when he found out that the departure date was tomorrow, he immediately got up and said goodbye, and wanted to go back and select capable people.

Ximen Qing stopped Ximen Zhong, and said to him: "Uncle Zhong, take Ping'er with you! He has been studying with me for two years, and I am very optimistic about him. In the future, you will teach him more about his business in Dengzhou." Teach him."

The Ping'er that Ximen Qing said was the grandson of the old supervisor Ximen Zhong, and according to his seniority, he should be Ximen Qing's nephew.When Ximen Qing selected dozens of well-qualified teenagers to teach civil and martial arts, there was Ximen Ping, the grandson of Ximen Zhong.

Ximen Zhong listened to what Ximen Qing said, and it was obvious that he wanted to vigorously cultivate his grandson. He was afraid that Dengzhou's affairs would be entrusted to him in the future. He was overjoyed and agreed with tears of joy.Now, regarding the matter of Dengzhou, the old supervisor Ximen Zhong paid a little more attention to it. Thinking about going this time, he will go all out even if he fights this old bone.

Ximenqing was very satisfied with Ximenzhong's condition, and sent him out all the way, and arranged for someone to escort the old supervisor back to Yanggu County.Ximenqing wants to promote and reuse the young Ximenping this time, not for anything else but for his family's absolute loyalty to him.

Ximenqing has many ideas of his own about Dengzhou, and he plans to build it into a base of his own.From a long-term perspective, with the power of the sea, Ximenqing can go north to Jinguo and Korea from Dengzhou, go east to Japan, and go south to Quanzhou and Guangzhou in southern China, or those who have not yet The developed Ryukyu was later Taiwan.

In other words, if he mastered Dengzhou, Ximenqing would have more room for maneuver.There is a term for playing Go called "golden horn and silver edge grass belly", which means that occupying the corner is better than occupying the edge, and occupying the edge is better than occupying the middle belly.The same is true for world hegemony.When the strength is not strong enough, it is much better to occupy a corner land with no worries and develop in Xutu than to be in the land of the Four Wars surrounded by enemies.

For today's Great Song Dynasty, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Shandong can be regarded as good corners, and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian can be regarded as good corners, all of which have opportunities for separatist regimes and insignificant development.Originally, Shaanxi, Hedong, and Hebei could also be regarded as corner lands, but unfortunately now facing Xixia and Liao, they could not become a stable rear for the Central Plains' hegemony.

And now Bianliang in Tokyo is a typical grass belly, which can be attacked from all directions.Without a strong military force as a support, it would be impossible for Tokyo Bianliang to hold on.

Kaifeng Mansion in Bianliang, Tokyo, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty is geographically located at the southern end of the North China Great Plain, surrounded by a flat river, with open terrain and no danger to defend. From a military point of view, it violated the taboo of military strategists and is not suitable as the capital of a dynasty. of.

The main advantage of Kaifeng Mansion is that it is located in the "most important meeting place in the world", and the Bianshui River connects the Jianghuai and other places. The danger of mountains and rivers.

Zhao Kuangyin has been a soldier all his life and has a strategic vision. When the Northern Song Dynasty was founded, he saw the shortcomings of Kaifeng in military affairs.When he saw the majestic Xiluo Mountains, Rivers and Guanhe on his west tour, he became more determined to move the capital, and even wanted to move to Luoyang and then Chang'an.

However, the ministers were satisfied with Kaifeng, Tokyo, which extended in all directions, facilitated water transportation, heavily stationed troops, and abundant treasury.At the same time, most of the generals who followed Zhao Song were former ministers of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Many of them had settled in Kaifeng for many years and had built a lot of property. It was more in their interest to set the capital in Kaifeng, but moving the capital would obviously damage their interests, so they gathered together be opposed to.

Facing the opposition from his officials, Zhao Kuangyin was full of displeasure, and lived in Luoyang in a fit of anger for more than two months, which seemed to cause the fait accompli of moving the capital.

The emperor refused to get up and drive back to the east, which shocked the officials and no one dared to play for a while.At this time, Li Huaizhong, the commander of both the left and right sides of the iron cavalry, stood up.He advised: "Tokyo has the advantage of water transportation along the Bianhe River. Every year, millions of rice from the Jianghuai River and Huaihe River supply hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the capital. If Your Majesty stays in Luoyang, where will the grain and rice come from? Besides, the treasury is heavily armed. They are all in Bianliang, the foundation is deep and stable for a long time, how can the foundation be easily shaken?"

"Then move directly to Chang'an." Zhao Kuangyin was determined to move the capital and remained unmoved.He explained to the officials: "I don't want to move westward for anything else, but just want to take advantage of the dangers of mountains and rivers to get rid of redundant soldiers, and follow the stories of Zhou and Han to secure the world." Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin did have a strategic vision and realized that redundant soldiers It will bring a great burden to the governance of the country.Sure enough, in the late Northern Song Dynasty's economy, in addition to Song Huizong's chaos, redundant soldiers and officials became the main reason for the economic downturn, and among them, the burden of redundant soldiers was the heaviest.

Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother, Zhao Guangyi, king of Jin, kowtowed to the ground after hearing this, and said earnestly: "Your Majesty, those who make peace with the world are not in danger of virtue!" His brother is too far away.

Zhao Guangyi marched north to Khitan, was beaten and injured, and fled embarrassingly in a donkey cart.In order to save the face of the failure of the Northern Expedition, the idea of ​​attacking Xiazhou was forced to rebel against the Dangxiang clan, and a Xixia was forced out, so that the Northwest of the Song Dynasty would never be peaceful.With his level of strategy, it is easy to brag about "those who secure the world will not be in danger if they are in virtue."

Chapter 4 Zero Nine Goal Dengzhou

Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi insisted on making Kaifeng the capital, so that the Northern Song Dynasty had to raise hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops around the capital to suppress the Quartet.

However, the hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops at the beginning of the founding of the country still had a certain combat effectiveness and could defend the safety of the capital.After a few generations, the fighting power of the forbidden army in the capital has dropped sharply. How can the safety of the capital be guaranteed?

The shame of Jingkang later, the fact that the capital was so easily captured by the Jin army was not unrelated to Kaifeng, the capital of the capital, which was indefensible.

Although the imperial army in the capital is useless, the imperial court still needs to transfer a lot of food from the south of the Yangtze River every year to support these hundreds of thousands of useless imperial troops, wasting a lot of money and food.This is the scourge of the redundant soldiers who made the Northern Song Dynasty poor and weak.

Facing the opposition from Zhao Guangyi and his ministers, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin fell silent for a long time.After thinking about it, he finally had to make a compromise and gave up the move of moving the capital.It is said that Zhao Kuangyin sighed for this: "In less than a hundred years, the power of the people in the world will be exhausted!"

It can be seen from this that whether it is fighting the world or defending the world, under the traffic conditions of this era, the terrain, landforms, mountains and rivers are still very important to the safety of the regime.

In Ximenqing's mind, if he wanted to separate himself from one side at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the first choice would of course be the Land of Abundance in Sichuan, which should be called the Sichuan-Shanxi Road now.There is a great plain surrounded by mountains, which is simply a natural land of separation.In fact, when the Jin army was at its strongest, it failed to break through the natural danger and enter Sichuan.

It is a pity that Sichuan is too far away from Shandong, and it is difficult for Ximenqing to move his foundation to Sichuan within a few years to form a climate.Therefore, that treasure land can only be reserved as an option to retreat and escape when forced to do so.

The Jingdong East and West Road where Ximenqing is now is across the Yellow River to the land of Hebei. In fact, it is not too far away from the current Liao Kingdom and the future Jin Kingdom. It is inevitable that it will be affected by the Song-Jin War, which is not very good Corner separatist land.