noffsinger Chapter 167 Changes in the situation
Chapter 167 Changes in the situation
In the seventh year of Jiayou in the Song Dynasty, the eighth year of Qingning in the Liao Dynasty, and the beginning of May in the sixth year of Xiadu in the Western Xia Dynasty, the news that Han Ming raised five armies to attack Xia and besieged the Western Xia capital Xingqing Prefecture spread throughout China.
From Liaodong in the north to Qiongzhou in the south and Yumen Pass in the west, the people of the Song, Liao and Xia dynasties all knew clearly that a powerful man had emerged in the Song Dynasty.
For a moment, the situation became increasingly serious, with the wind and clouds surging, and the storm was about to come.
Immediately after the meeting, the Song Dynasty sent special personnel to the north to Hebei East, West and Hedong to remind the three routes to guard the passes and prevent the Liao cavalry from invading the Song Dynasty from the south.
As early as after the Tuotuokou ambush, the Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji, who had moved to Nanjing Road (Liao), was also closely watching the next move in the Song-Xia War.
Originally, he wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the two tigers, but unfortunately he found that the Western Xia could not even defeat part of the Western Army of the Song Dynasty. This made Yelu Hongji somewhat worried that the Song Dynasty would take over the Western Xia in this battle and annex the other party.
Therefore, the garrison in Nanjing Road repeatedly provoked the Song army in front of them, attempting to start another large-scale invasion of the Song Dynasty.
However, in response to the Liao people's tactics, the Song Dynasty's northern border generals all learned to be thieves. As long as you don't attack the city, no matter how you provoke trouble, they will hide in the pass and refuse to leave.
This made Yelu Hongji a little depressed. It wasn't that he couldn't fight, but it just felt like it wasn't worth it to fight like this.
After all, Yelu Hongji was the emperor of the Liao Dynasty and a relatively outstanding politician. He understood that military means must ultimately bring political victory and benefits in order to be beneficial.
If the Song court cannot be easily forced to surrender, the consequences of the war between Liao and Song may be more harmful than beneficial.
After all, in the eyes of today's world, the Song Dynasty can be said to have become stronger.
What Yelu Hongji saw was even more profound, that is, the root of the rise of the Song Dynasty should be in the hands of Han Ming, who was in his early twenties.
For this reason, this wise and capable emperor even considered that the condition for peace talks after invading Song should be to hand over Han Ming.
This will completely block the rise of the Song court.
It was not until the news came that Han Ming's troops were besieging the capital of Western Xia that Yelu Hongji finally made up his mind to put pressure on the Song court.
In mid-May, the Liao Kingdom launched an invasion, heading straight for the eastern Hebei Road where the four prefectures of Dianzhi, Bao, Xiong and Qing were located.
As the news spread, the armies throughout the northern border of the Song Dynasty entered a state of standby, ready to launch a large-scale war with the Liao army at any time.
At the same time, Yelu Hongji ordered the Heqing Army and Tiande Army on the border between Liao and Xia to comprehensively reduce their forces in an attempt to ease the pressure on the northeastern border of Western Xia.
He also sent Xiao Yi, the Southwest Road Recruiting Envoy of Xijing Road, to have a secret meeting with Li Moling, the commander of the Heishan Wei Fu Army of Western Xia.
In early June, after the Song army had laid siege to the city for nearly half a month, the strongest "Black Mountain Army" on the Western Xia border, led by Li Moling, marched south to support the king.
For a time, the situation among the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Xia changed suddenly, and the initiative of the war began to be taken by the Liao Kingdom.
For the rulers and ministers of the Song Dynasty, Yelu Hongji's actions were also expected.
In addition to strictly guarding the northern border, they also accelerated the pressure on peace talks with Western Xia, hoping to get out of the quagmire of Western Xia as soon as possible.
To this end, Emperor Renzong not only ordered the delegation to move westward as quickly as possible, but also gave Han Ming full authority over the peace talks.
On June 6, the Song Dynasty peace negotiation delegation arrived outside Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Western Xia, after a long journey.
Han Ming led a group of generals to greet them in person, but saw several familiar faces in the delegation.
"I didn't expect the government to send you here?"
Han Ming greeted him with a chuckle.
The leader was Sima Junshi, the Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple, followed by several relevant leaders of the Taichang Liyuan, including Sheng Hong and his son Sheng Changbai.
"Han Jinglie, after not seeing you for several years, you are still as charming as ever!"
Sima Junshi is currently serving as the adjutant of the Honglu Temple, one of the Nine Temples, in charge of matters such as external reception and negotiations.
In order to better enable the delegation to cooperate with Han Ming this time, Emperor Renzong specially sent these so-called "Han Party" members so that Han Ming could show his talents without any constraints.
"No, no, I'm really sad. Thank you for coming."
Han Ming waved his hand, indicating that he was very busy and it would be better not to talk nonsense.
"Time is short and the task is heavy. Han is being polite to you. Let's talk business first and then have a banquet. Please!"
As he said this, he led the way into the tent, and the generals and members of the delegation quickly followed.
After entering the tent, they sat down according to their order of importance, and Han Ming took the initiative to speak again.
"Since the government has sent you here, I have a clear idea of what's going on. Let's cut to the chase and get straight to the point."
When they saw Han Ming coming, he didn't even let them drink water. Sima Junshi and other members of the delegation looked at each other and realized that the situation was very serious.
"While you were passing through the border westward, the Black Mountain Army, Xixia's most elite force defending against the Liao Kingdom, had already marched south to support the emperor."
"Lord Wu Xun, the Hedong Road envoy, has also received intelligence, saying that the Liao Kingdom is mobilizing a large number of border troops, intending to invade the Song Dynasty from the south."
"It's clear that Liao and Xia have reached an agreement to force the Song Dynasty to withdraw its troops."
Han Ming's few simple words made everyone understand the situation of the Three Kingdoms. Sheng Hong sat at the bottom, pinching his sleeve nervously.
"So, just like our army's attack on Xia, this peace negotiation must also cut the Gordian knot!"
"The Black Mountain Army needs to link up with the Right Wing Chaoshun Army and the White Horse Qiangzhen Army. Therefore, I estimate they will reach Dingzhou, a major town in the north of Xingqing Prefecture, by the end of June."
"So your task is very urgent and important. You must complete the negotiations before the beginning of July!"
As soon as Han Ming finished speaking, everyone's expression tightened. The negotiations had to be concluded in just about a month. This task was indeed difficult to accomplish.
"May I ask the governor, what are the conditions for peace talks and withdrawal?"
Sima Junshi immediately got into the mood and started talking about the content of the peace talks.
"All the land within the Great Wall from Yinzhou to Lanzhou belongs to the Song Dynasty!!!"
As soon as Han Ming finished speaking, there was silence in the tent at first, and then an uproar, with everyone whispering to each other in complete disbelief.
"Isn't this... isn't this too much?"
"If that's the case, then Xingzhou is also at the junction of the Inner and Outer Great Walls. Does that mean we have to take Xingqing Prefecture as well?"
"Western Xia's fertile lands are basically located in the Longyou and Hengshan areas. This would directly cut off Western Xia's roots. Will they agree to this?!"
"Shouldn't the governor be more cautious? I don't think the other party will agree to this kind of content."
"..."
The tent was in chaos for a moment, and no one could suppress their inner impulse.
Only Sima Junshi and Sheng Changbai from the diplomatic mission, and Duke Yingguo and Yang Wenguang from the army frowned, constantly pondering Han Ming's intentions.
"In my opinion, you have been suppressed for too long. Can this little piece of land scare you?!"
Han Ming's cold voice made everyone quiet down all of a sudden, and they looked at each other in confusion.
"So-called negotiation is no different from buying and selling things at the market. It's all about asking for a high price and then bargaining."
"If we don't open it a little wider, how can they accept our real asking price?!"
Sima Junshi stroked his beard and explained Han Ming's intention with a smile.
Everyone was shocked and shut their mouths, knowing that they were just daydreaming. They could only listen quietly to the conversation between Sima Junshi and Han Ming.
"I wonder what the bottom line of the governor is?" Sima Junshi asked immediately.
"The land of Yinzhou, Xiazhou, Youzhou, and Yanzhou!"
Han Ming calmly reported his true purpose.
"That's not difficult..."
Sheng Changbai stroked his chin and talked to himself.
"Zhecheng is right. If it's the land of these four states, we can barely take it."
Sima Junshi also calmed down, knowing that he should also get a share of the credit for this territorial expansion.
"I guess the other party in Yanzhou won't make promises easily."
Zhang Wenbi had been sitting calmly on the side. When he heard the conversation between the two ended, he couldn't help but express his own opinion.
"Then we can just give up Yanzhou and use Weizhou as collateral. It will be the same sooner or later anyway..."
Han Ming said this without even thinking.
This made everyone feel uneasy and they couldn't help but smile bitterly.
What do you mean by 'sooner or later'? If Weizhou were taken, the entire Song Dynasty's border would be pushed directly to the city of Yanzhou.
This Yanzhou City has become a border town, which is still a target for the Song Dynasty to take over at will.
Even after the negotiations were over, Han Ming dared to plunder Yanzhou City on a small scale, letting the Xixia people experience what it meant to "have nothing to do for fun"!
“Isn’t this a bit bad…”
After all, Sima Junshi was born into a scholar family and still cared about his reputation.
"Brother Junshi, don't play this game with foreigners. These northwestern states have been the land of the Central Plains dynasty since ancient times."
"This governor simply cannot move his hands. Otherwise, you would not be here as a diplomatic mission, but as pacification envoys."
Han Ming raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and without hiding it from others, he directly showed his "Bu Yao Bi Lian"!
"Since ancient times?"
When Sima Junshi heard this, he was stunned, then he pondered for a long time. In an instant, a golden light burst out from his mind, and then it was as if something was broken.
I suddenly felt that Han Ming's words made a lot of sense, and I quickly adjusted my thoughts and cheered up.
"The general's words make sense. Since this has been our territory since ancient times, we will not give it up an inch."
"I will explain the details of the negotiations to the Western Xia tribes and make clear the bottom line of the Great Song Dynasty!!!"
Hmm? (⊙_⊙)?
No one present expected the envoy to change so quickly. He was a little embarrassed in the last second, but he immediately let it go in the next second.
"In that case, I, Han, wish you all success and success in expanding the territory of the Song Dynasty!!!"
Han Ming stood up with a smile and saluted.
Sima Junshi led the delegation and returned the greetings in a high-spirited manner.
After hosting a banquet, he ignored Han Ming's attempts to keep him and rushed to the city of Xingqing Prefecture with everyone, yelling at them to open the gate.
“Open the door—!”
"We are the envoys from the Great Song Dynasty, and we are here to bring warmth to your emperor!"
Upon hearing this, the Western Xia army was speechless and shed tears.
Han Ming was very satisfied with Sima Junshi's performance.
"Don't worry, I will also send troops north to try to delay the Xixia elite from moving south. All you have to do is one thing: let Xixia experience the humiliation that the Song Dynasty once suffered!"
Han Ming's murderous smile made everyone shudder.
Only Sima Junshi felt that something was liberated deep in his soul. He and Han Ming smiled at each other, which was very creepy!