Chapter 1018 Mission accomplished, return to Beijing, crowned king
Gu Qianfan walked out of the palace, feeling the cool breeze behind him, and his eyes became hesitant.
"Guan family, are you trying to disturb Duke Liang?"
He has lived in the officialdom for thirty years and has seen a lot of intrigues in the officialdom.
Ever since Zhou Chen went to the border to take charge of the army, the civil servants in the court had criticized him. Even after Zhou Chen destroyed Xixia and defeated the Liao army, the number of people criticizing him was not less, but more so.
In short, the meaning expressed is that warriors control the army and bring chaos to the country.
Therefore, these civil servants have been trying to transfer Zhou Chen back to the capital from the frontier and send people to the frontier to take charge of the army, and the candidates are basically civilian officials.
It's just that the Liao army's military front was too strong, and the official Zhao Zhen didn't dare to mess around. After all, looking at the decades of the Song Dynasty, Zhou Chen is the only one who can defeat the Liao army head-on and achieve a great victory, so even if he
No matter how afraid I am, I don't dare to act rashly.
Gu Qianfan felt a chill run through his body. He and Zhou Chen had known each other for more than twenty years, and he knew clearly that what Zhou Chen wanted to do most was to regain the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, and he had no objection at all.
However, the official's behavior undoubtedly made him suspicious of Zhou Chen.
Zhou Chen led the soldiers in a bloody battle on the front line, and the rear kept trying to promote peace talks, and now they wanted to secretly investigate Zhou Chen.
It was said that he was asking him to clear Zhou Chen's innocence, but in fact he was asked to investigate Zhou Chen. Once a problem was discovered, then...
"Brother Zhou, I finally understand what you said. The biggest problem in regaining lost territory is not the war, but the court. Not everyone wants to regain the Sixteenth State of Yanyun."
He felt sad in his heart, but as a minister, Gu Qianfan still couldn't go against the official's will.
He returned home, arranged for his wife and children, and then led his men to set off for northern Xinjiang.
Zhou Chen knew that Zhao Zhen must be dissatisfied with him, but he didn't know that Zhao Zhen had actually sent someone to investigate him. Now his main focus is on the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and the Liao Kingdom.
Seeing that he was not far away from completing the side mission, he must go all out.
Since there was no room for maneuver with the Liao Kingdom, Zhou Chen simply took the initiative this time and led an army to directly launch an offensive against the territory of the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun.
The Liao Kingdom obviously did not expect Zhou Chen to be so quick. They launched an offensive without giving them time to react. They were killed by the Song army in a short time, losing their armor and armor, and losing ground one after another.
Everyone in the Liao court scolded everyone including the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. They all felt that Song Fang's coming to them for peace talks was simply a pretense. The purpose was to make them relax their vigilance and then allow Zhou Chen to lead his army to invade.
Catch them off guard.
Judging from the current situation, the Song people obviously succeeded, but this also aroused the anger of the Liao people. Emperor Yelu Zongsheng of the Liao State was even more furious, and gathered the power of the whole country and gathered an army of 350,000.
The imperial chariot marches in person.
Zhou Chen took advantage of the Liao people's unpreparedness and captured the land of five states in one go. Although the sixteen states of Yanyun had been occupied by the Liao people for many years, there were still many Han people living in this land, so when Zhou Chen led his army to attack
, after seizing the territory, it didn’t take much effort to regain the lost ground and change its banner.
After receiving the emperor's order, Gu Qianfan rushed to northern Xinjiang as quickly as possible, but when he arrived at the border, he realized that Zhou Chen was not at the border long ago, but had led his army to attack the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun.
What is even more astonishing is that in such a short period of time, Zhou Chen had already regained the territory of the five states and forced the Liao people to flee.
Gu Qianfan didn't know how to describe his feelings after hearing the news. As one of the people who know Zhou Chen best today, he is well aware of Zhou Chen's ambitions. Seeing Zhou Chen's attitude, he must be here.
In a Song-Liao war, the sixteen states of Yanyun were recovered.
But while Zhou Chen was pleasantly surprised at his numerous victories, he was also filled with endless worries.
Because Zhou Chen's attack on the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, strictly speaking, did not get the will of the capital and the officials. If the officials really wanted to attack Zhou Chen, they could definitely punish Zhou Chen for this crime.
Gu Qianfan was worried, but he still wrote the results of Zhou Chen's victory in a secret letter and sent it back to the capital as quickly as possible from the Imperial City Department.
Now he can only hope that the officials will pardon Zhou Chen's sins after learning about Zhou Chen's earth-shattering feat in regaining the land of Yanyun.
In this way, he still felt that he was not at ease enough, so he briefly investigated the situation at the border, and finally asked his men to stay and continue the investigation, while he hurried back to Beijing with the intelligence.
But he didn't know that in addition to him, the officials also sent other people to investigate.
…………
After Zhou Chen regained the land of the five states with lightning speed, he could no longer continue because Emperor Yelu Zongsheng of Liao Dynasty had already led a personal expedition and led an army of 350,000 to the land of Yanyun, and organized
Blocking Zhou Chen's path forward.
The 350,000 Liao army was more numerous than the more than 200,000 Song army in northern Xinjiang commanded by Zhou Chen, but the two sides did not start fighting immediately.
When they learned that the Liao Kingdom had mobilized the whole country to recruit 350,000 troops and marched to the frontier, Zhao Zhen and all the civil and military officials who were far away in Bianjing were frightened to death.
At this time, the officials were extraordinarily united and asked Zhao Zhen to mobilize troops to the frontier, commanded by Zhou Chen, to attack the Liao army.
The monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty had no choice. Even though they were afraid of and dissatisfied with Zhou Chen, a general, at this time, only Zhou Chen could resist the crazy Liao Kingdom.
Compared with the possibility of destroying the country, nothing else is important.
Zhao Zhen not only transferred the Xiang army and rural soldiers from the northern border, but even the vassal soldiers were transferred over, and were all handed over to Zhou Chen's command.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zhou Chen has now reached a height that no general in the Song Dynasty has reached, and holds hundreds of thousands of Song troops. This is simply unimaginable in the Song Dynasty.
This situation occurred because he pushed the Liao Kingdom too hard, causing the Liao Emperor to recruit troops to attack the Song Dynasty at all costs. In order to protect the country, Zhao Zhen had to appoint Zhou Chen.
A year later, the news that Zhou Chen defeated the Liao army and recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun spread throughout the world, causing a sensation in the entire Song Dynasty. Now even the literati in the world highly respected Zhou Chen.
Bianjing City!
"Guan Jia, this is the letter of credence presented by the envoy of the Liao Kingdom."
The chamberlain carefully placed the credentials of the Liao Kingdom in front of the official Zhao Zhen, and then stepped aside.
Zhao Zhen was in a good mood. The sixteen ceded states of Yanyun were recovered during his reign. Based on this alone, he could rival Emperor Taizu.
In recent times, he has been praised by countless ministers, and he has long been elated, calling himself a sage.
He opened the credential of the Liao Kingdom and after seeing the content above, he was happy at first, then frowned, and finally laughed again, his face changing back and forth.
This is the letter of credence of the Liao State requesting peace talks, and it accuses Zhou Chen of destroying the diplomatic relations between the two countries and being the culprit of the war between the two countries. He asks the Song State to recall Zhou Chen immediately and impose punishments, etc. Otherwise, the Liao State will collapse.
The whole country will fight to the end in a bloody battle with the Song Dynasty.
It was clear that he was here to seek peace, but the words were still filled with condescension and even threats.
The defeated side is still so crazy. Under normal circumstances, the victorious side will never give face, but the Song Guan family is special.
Although Zhou Chen defeated the Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty had always lived under the oppression of the Liao Kingdom and instinctively feared the Liao Kingdom. That is to say, Zhou Chen won a great victory and regained the sixteen states of Yanyun and annihilated nearly twenty of the Liao Kingdom.
Only with tens of thousands of troops did the Song Dynasty regain their confidence.
But as the emperor, Zhao Zhen had more considerations. He didn't like war, but liked civil servants. The Song Dynasty had already recovered the sixteen states of Yanyun. This was already the greatest feat and victory of the dynasty, and there was no need to continue fighting.
During the two years of war with the Liao Kingdom, the national treasury spent a lot of money. Even he, the emperor, had to cut back on clothing and diet. If the war continues like this, who knows how long the treasury can last?
Besides, Yanyun's Sixteen Prefectures have been taken back, so there is no need to seize the territory of Liao Kingdom. He doesn't like those barren lands at all.
Therefore, Zhao Zhen was more inclined to armistice and peace talks, but he was not satisfied with the attitude and credentials of the Liao envoy. They had won the war, and it was he who should raise the conditions.
So he immediately summoned all officials to discuss matters.
…………
At first, Zhou Chen just wanted to regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, but after more than a year of fighting, he and the Liao people had already forged a bloody feud and would never stop fighting.
So after defeating the Liao Kingdom, the thought of simply destroying the Liao Kingdom came into his mind. Taking advantage of the victory, he might actually have a chance.
When the Liao Kingdom discovered that Zhou Chen had led his army to invade, the whole country was horrified. For more than a year, Zhou Chen killed all the Liao Emperor's personal convoys and threw away their armor. Most of the country's troops were lost at the border and were gone.
The confidence to fight again.
It is precisely because of this that the Liao Emperor sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to request peace talks.
Zhou Chen led his army to capture the city in Liao and was invincible. But at this moment, an imperial edict came from the capital, telling him not to fight anymore and to return to the capital immediately.
"I urgently called back to Beijing. It seems that Zhao Zhen saw that the Liao Kingdom had no strength to fight anymore, so he became interested. I just don't know what he will do to me."
Of course Zhou Chen knew the principle of great achievements that shocked the master, but he had to do that in order to complete the task before.
Now that the matter has come to this, he will not regret it, but he has long been prepared to face it, but he just doesn't know how this Emperor Renzong will deal with him.
However, a sharp light flashed in Zhou Chen's eyes. No matter how Zhao Zhen wanted to deal with him, he would not surrender. He had not done anything in Tokyo for nearly twenty years.
At worst, he would turn the world upside down. Anyway, Xixia has been destroyed by him, and the Liao Kingdom has also been crippled by him. He has plenty of time.
Zhao Zhen not only sent the imperial edict, but also sent three thousand forbidden troops to 'escort' Zhou Chen back to the capital.
There are also smart people among the generals under his command. Seeing this situation, many of them tried to persuade Zhou Chen, but Zhou Chen made up his mind and returned to Beijing with the Forbidden Army.
However, on the eve of returning to Beijing, he secretly summoned a few of his most trusted subordinates and gave them orders.
To be continued...