Chapter 473 Poisonous schemes and seeds of resentment
Zhao Yanshou, Zhao Yanzhao, Han Kuangye, Han Kuangtu, and Liu Yanzuo are currently the highest-ranking Han people in the Khitan and Liao Dynasties.
Brothers Zhao Yanshou and Zhao Yanzhao are the sons and nephews of Zhao Dejun, the former Lulong Jiedushi envoy.
The Yutian Han family is even more different. They are no different from the Khitan people.
Liu Yanzuo is a representative of local Han warriors.
After Yelu Deguang was defeated by the Later Jin Dynasty one after another, especially after the disastrous defeat in Yangcheng, these few people were like ants on a hot pot, because their interests were consistent with Yelu Deguang's.
If the Khitans are completely defeated, the worst they can do is get out of Youdu Mansion and return to the grasslands and western Liaoning.
But they are doomed. Not to mention that their status above the Han people below the Khitans will definitely be lost. Even if their property is not worth mentioning, they will be plundered, and they may not even be able to save their lives.
No! It shouldn’t be said that they are inferior to the Khitans and above the Han people, because the power of these few people cannot be compared to that of ordinary Khitans.
They should not be regarded as Khitans or Han people, but as the ruling class of Khitan.
This Yelu Deguangjing was considered a capable king. After two disastrous defeats, he finally began to see clearly the true strength of his Liao Kingdom.
That is, although the Jin State did not have the ability to counterattack the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it was still very difficult for the Khitans to defeat them in a dignified way thousands of miles south with their 40,000 to 50,000 powerful tooth soldiers.
Unless Yelu Deguang can endure this shame, manage the land of Yanyun well for eight to ten years, sit back and watch the Jin people live in poverty, and then go south.
But obviously, Yelu Deguang did not have this patience, and he wanted to take revenge immediately.
"All your ministers are talented men. Now the Southern Dynasty is bullying people too much. If it weren't for me, Shi Chonggui would have been buried in Jinyang City along with the ancestors of the Jin Dynasty. Such ungrateful people are extremely hateful.
I have called you here to ask the king and his ministers, the Khitan and the Han, to work together to punish the Southern Dynasty."
At this time, Yelu Deguang's name for the Later Jin Dynasty finally changed.
He no longer called the Jin Kingdom Han, but called it Southern Dynasties. This was the name given by the northern regime to the southern regime during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Of course the Han people from the Liao Kingdom present here understand the meaning of this, especially the brothers Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye, who all have a sense of surprise that they have finally waited for this day.
Han Kuangtu was the first to come out of the queue and knelt on one knee and said with tears of gratitude!
"I and the Zhangwu Army have been waiting for His Majesty's call for a long time. As soon as His Majesty gives the order, I will immediately go to the Southern Dynasty and capture the Lord of Jin alive to present to Your Majesty."
Han Kuangtu can say this, because his younger brother Han Kuangsi has recently been serving Yelu Deguang's mother in Liaoyang Prefecture, Tokyo, and the Empress Dowager Shuluping has broken her wrist.
The Han family also came to the Khitan court as Shuluping's dowry ministers.
Among the 10,000 tribal troops sent by Shuluping to Yelu Deguang this time, there were 3,000 Zhangwu troops trained by the Han family, led by Han Kuangtu.
They have not suffered heavy losses from the Jin army yet, so naturally they are eager to try.
"It is commendable that you are loyal to your Majesty. The Zhangwu Army is our most powerful force in the Liao Dynasty. If we fight against each other, we will definitely frighten the Southern Dynasty soldiers."
Although Han Kuangtu showed his loyalty, his stance was not what Yelu Deguang needed.
What Yelu Deguang needs is these Han people who are tied to his fate to give him advice.
However, Yelu Deguang also knew that a family like the Han family, which was kidnapped to the grassland twenty years ago, had gradually become grassland-oriented in their thinking, and they did not want to know the reality of the Southern Dynasty.
It is certainly unrealistic to expect them to come up with ideas. We still have to rely on Zhao Yanshou, Liu Yanzuo and others.
"The King of Yan has always been brave and quick-thinking. With the current situation, is there any good strategy? If you can come up with a plan to defeat the Jin Dynasty, you will definitely be able to fulfill the King of Yan's wishes one day."
For Zhao Yanshou, no matter what he said to him at this moment, Yelu Deguang's words, "You will get what you want in the future" can move him.
Because what Zhao Yanshou thought about day and night was how to sit on the throne of the Southern Emperor with the support of Yelu Deguang.
At that moment, Zhao Yanshou was excited when he heard Yelu Deguang's first personal promise. He knelt down on his knees, took out a silk book from his arms, raised it above his head, and said loudly to Yelu Deguang.
"Your Majesty, I, King Yan, extend your life and have something important to report to your father."
Yelu Deguang motioned to the chamberlain on the side to take the silk book that Zhao Yanshou raised, and pretended to be very surprised and helped Zhao Yanshou up.
"The King of Yan and I have the righteousness of monarch and minister, and we share the same kindness as father and son. We don't need to pay homage in a big way, and there is nothing we should not say to someone."
Zhao Yanshou stood up with the help of Yelu Deguang, with tears on his face and he looked very excited.
"Father, someone from the Southern Dynasty came to Youdu Mansion three days ago and wrote a letter to the servant's house. It was written by the tribesmen who stayed in the Southern Dynasty. It was the order of the Lord of Jin to summon his ministers to return to the south.
But as a minister of Liao, how can I be willing to do something that betrays my master?"
This letter was indeed a surrender letter sent by the Jin court, and it was signed in the name of Zhao Xingshi. Zhao Xingshi was the original name of Zhao Yanshou's father, Zhao Dejun.
And Zhao Yanshou didn't lie. He was indeed not planning to return to the south of the Jin Dynasty, because at Zhao Yanshou's position, it no longer made any sense to return to the south.
Because after he returned south, he would only get the position of a military governor. He already had this position in Khitan, so why take the risk of returning south?
Moreover, after returning to the south, it would be terrible if he was forced to face the Khitan people in Dingzhen or other states.
The Khitans did not have the ability to go south and destroy the Jin Dynasty, but they still had the ability to destroy Ding, Zhen and other states with their cavalry coming and going like the wind.
He kept suppressing the matter and did not report it, but he had not yet figured out how to get more benefits from Yelv Deguang.
But now Yelu Deguang directly agreed to the promise he wanted most, and if he kept it hidden, it would be meaningless.
"I also believe that King Yan will not betray me." Yelu Deguang nodded repeatedly, pretending to trust Zhao Yanshou very much.
But in fact, he had known for a long time that someone from the Southern Dynasties had written to Zhao Yanshou, and he had already become suspicious.
That's why he made the promise that Zhao Yanshou always wanted, because Yelu Deguang never thought about making Zhao Yanshou the emperor of the Central Plains. This time he wanted to be the emperor of the Central Plains himself.
"I thank your father for your trust, but I want to write back to the Lord of Jin, saying, 'I have been trapped for a long time, and I would rather forget the country of my parents. If the army rebels, I will return immediately.'"
"What a courageous thief! Do you want to betray your master?" When Han Kuangtu heard what Zhao Yanshou said, he immediately became furious and wanted to jump out to capture Zhao Yanshou, but Yelv Deguang quickly waved his hand to tell Han Kuangtu to step back.
The Emperor of Liao's eyes suddenly gleamed, and he looked at Zhao Yanshou intently.
"What does King Yan mean, is he falsely saying that he wants to return to the south and lead the Jin army to go north?"
"Your Majesty's Holy Ming Zhuzhao, that's what I think." Zhao Yanshou said to Yelu Deguang quite excitedly.
"When I look at the Southern Dynasties, I see that the leader of the Jin Dynasty was not a wise leader, and the commander-in-chief of the Jin army, Du Chongwei, was not a general who was good at using troops.
They were able to show off their evil twice just because the soldiers of the Jin army were good at fighting, An Shenqi, Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, and Huangfu met all the generals for their bravery.
But the Jin army was not without its weaknesses. They had too few cavalry. In the first two southern expeditions, I took the initiative to attack and marched more than a thousand miles south. I was unable to bring into play the characteristics of my Daliao cavalry, so I suffered a major defeat.
Now the Jin State despises us. If we can use the excuse of welcoming the ministers to return to the south, we can induce them to send troops northward to between Yi, Mo and Ying.
I will use my fine cavalry to detour south, cut off its food route, and cut off its return route. I will not fight with it. When the Jin army runs out of food, I will lead the army to cover up and kill them, and they will be defeated."
poison!
Too vicious!
Yelu Deguang suddenly stood up and walked around the room excitedly.
Because Zhao Yanshou's strategy can be said to be tailor-made for the Jin army.
Only someone like him who came from Daibei Wuxun could grasp the Jin army's weaknesses so accurately.
In fact, Yelu Deguang was able to do this in the last battle of Bai Tuanwei Village in Yangcheng.
However, he did not recognize his own strength and was eager to defeat the Jin army. In the end, he suffered a big loss.
If at the time of Yangcheng, Yelu Deguang surrounded the Jin army with deep trenches and high fortresses and refused to fight, the hungry and thirsty Jin army would collapse in three to five days at most.
Zhao Yanshou's plan was actually to repeat the battle of Bai Tuanwei Village in Yangcheng.
But this time, the Khitan troops would never attack until the Jin army collapsed.
They could first sweep the perimeter, then encircle it with deep ditches and high fortifications, which would wear down the Jin army's logistics, wait for the Jin army to collapse, and then easily capture it.
"Your Majesty, I also have family members in the Southern Dynasty, and I would like to write a letter to inform you that I hope to return to the South.
There is the Hutuo River in Yingzhou. If the Jin army crosses the river here, as long as I ride around behind and demolish the bridges on the river, the Jin army can be trapped on the north bank of the river."
Seeing that Zhao Yanshou was about to be rewarded as the Emperor of the Southern Dynasty, Liu Yanzuo, a shameless man, also hurriedly came forward to offer his advice.
He was the governor of Yingzhou (Hejian), so he could lead the Jin army to the north bank of Hutuo River in Yingzhou.
Yelu Deguang laughed loudly when he heard the words, and the gloom in his heart disappeared, "My two dear friends, act quickly according to the plan. If you can destroy the Jin army, you will be the emperor of the Central Plains, and I will give it up."
.
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Just when Zhao Yanshou proposed a poisonous plan to lure the Jin army northward, the entire Henan and Hebei areas of the Jin Kingdom were falling into a great famine.
Especially in Hebei, the two wars took place in Hebei within two years. From Dingzhou in the north to Xiangzhou and Weizhou in the south, almost everything was ravaged.
During the pause between the two wars, floods, droughts, locust disasters, and man-made disasters caused by the later Jin Dynasty continued to wreak havoc on Hebei.
In March and April, when the spring famine is the worst, there are no roosters crowing for thousands of miles in Hebei, and the ground is covered with bones for thousands of miles.
Often after leaving the city, there is not even a village to be seen for dozens of miles, and at least 300,000 people have been displaced.
Outside every sizable town, there were a large number of hungry people lying on the ground waiting to die.
At this time, the Jin court could not mobilize food for disaster relief.
There were still some in Shi Chonggui's private granary, but he was unwilling and did not dare to move them.
Firstly, he wanted to have a good time with Feng, and secondly, Shi Chonggui knew very well that in this era, the victims could not cause any major troubles, as long as the military personnel did not cause chaos.
The food in his private treasury is used to appease the morale of the army in emergencies.
However, the Hebei famine was so serious that no action could be taken, so Shi Chonggui sent Wang Qinzuo, the eunuch of the palace, to Zhenzhou, where the most hungry people were, to provide relief.
Shi Chonggui originally wanted to show off, but he didn't expect that Wang Qinzuo was not only a manager, but also someone who was not afraid of power.
Du Chongwei had previously collected more than 100,000 shi of grain in Zhenzhou but had not yet transported it away.
After Wang Qinzuo arrived in Zhenzhou, he actually had Du Chongwei's granary opened to help the victims.
Du Chongwei's housekeeper went to stop him, but Wang Qinzuo asked someone to bring out 10,000 pieces of silk cloth, claiming that the imperial court had bought Du Chongwei's food for disaster relief.
But this price is the price of a good harvest!
In such a calamity year, food is basically marketable but priceless. This moment made Du Chongwei almost crazy.
I, Marquis Du Wen, can do whatever you want to him, but if you touch his money, it will be worse than taking his life.
In addition, when he competed for the left-behind official position in Yedu, he lost to Zhang Congen, which made Du Chongwei even more angry.
He immediately found Shi Chonggui and complained angrily, "I'm not a rebel, so I don't have the status of Ande? I retired from the Khitan army and made great contributions, but I still can't save 100,000 stones of corn?"
In Du Chongwei's view, he was a meritorious official, so how could he still have his house confiscated?
What's even more frightening is that Shi Chonggui actually thought that Du Chongwei was right, so he decided to avoid seeing him and act like a coward.
In this way, Du Chongwei felt more justified and made noise in Tokyo every day.
At this time, Li Shouzhen also came back full of complaints.
It turned out that Li Shouzhen had made great contributions during the battle at Bai Tuanwei Village in Yangcheng, and Shi Chonggui agreed to make him the governor of Hezhong.
The reason why he is the Hezhong Jiedushi is not only the wealth here, but also because Hou Yi, the original Hezhong Jiedushi, has been sick and it seems that he will be able to vacate his position soon.
But when Li Shouzhen returned from victory, Hou Yi's illness miraculously healed.
This gentleman was born in 885. He was also an old man in the martial arts of Daibei, and he was also one of the thirteen loyalists of Xingjiaomen who followed Li Cunxu in Xingjiaomen.
With such seniority, as long as he doesn't move, there's nothing anyone can do.
So the position of Jiedushi that Li Shouzhen had promised was gone.
Although Shi Chonggui gave him a lot of rewards and comforts, how could he compare to the position of Jiedushi of a big town like Hezhong?
Therefore, Li Shouzhen resented Shi Chonggui, Hou Yi and others very much.
Now, the two grievances came together. The more they talked, the angrier they became. They wished they could enter the palace right now and give Shi Chonggui two big tricks.