Thinking of this, I breathed a long sigh of relief. Pointing to the map, I said: "Mr. Junshi, come and see. This is Xiangyang, Fancheng. This is the grazing field outside the city. Since the Mongols intend to use the grazing field to form a counterattack against Xiangfan Then let them encircle. Outside the fort, I will set up another large encirclement. Let the Xiangfan garrison in the center defend the city to the death. Then use the army to counter-encircle from the periphery. From now on, both sides will We will invest a large amount of troops here. As long as our country is fully prepared in advance, we can wipe out the effective strength of the Mongolian army in one fell swoop."
Lu Xiufu suddenly felt an impulse in his heart and said: "The decisive battle of Xiangfan."
"Haha. Junshi, of course you can call me that."
"Your Majesty, can Lu Wende defend Xiangyang City?"
I smiled and said, "I don't think there is any problem. Even if I insist on it for five or six years, it will be fine."
Yuan Ji nodded in agreement: "Master Lu, I have been to Xiangyang. Xiangyang City is much stronger than Yangzhou City. Since Marshal Yue Fei regained Xiangyang, it has been continuously reinforced for hundreds of years. A few years ago, Marshal Meng Gong came again. It has undergone a second renovation. It can be said to be the strongest city in our country."
Lu Xiufu said: "Your Majesty, what if the Mongols don't attack from Xiangfan?"
If the Mongols had not chosen Xiangfan as a breakthrough point and we had invested a lot of manpower and material resources, we would have had to give up trying.
Will history change?
"According to your wishes, do the Mongols have any better choice?"
The weather in Lin'an has been very good in the past few days since the foreign minister came back to report on his duties. Although it is still cold, the sky is clear and the sun is shining every day. The sky is not polluted by industry and is blue.
Exit the north gate of the Imperial City and go further north to the location of the Military Academy. This is my second time coming to the Military Academy.
Accompanied by Jia Sidao, Fan Wenhuan, Lu Xiufu and others, I walked into the large conference room of the Military Academy. I got to know the various theater units who participated in the debriefing meeting. Also coming to Lin'an this time were their deputies. and the main generals. The Yangzhou theater was represented by the envoy Li Tingzhi, the chief commander Zhang Jun, and the commander of the Polu army Jiang Cai. The Luzhou theater was headed by the envoy Xia Gui. There were also representatives from the commander Wang Sheng and Miao Zai. Central Sichuan The representatives of the war zone are the system commander Gao Da, the deputy system commander Zhang Jue, and the pacification commander Zan Wanshou. The Xiangfan war zone has the largest number of people. In addition to the system commander Lu Wende, there are also his younger brothers, deputy system commander Lu Wenhuan, and Fancheng garrison commander Niu Fu. .Dutong Fan Tianshun.
"See the Emperor."
"No courtesy. Stay flat. Everyone, please sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
I got straight to the point: "The meeting begins. From east to west. Yangzhou Li Aiqing. You come first."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Tingzhi stood up and said. "Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues. In the past year, under your majesty's wise leadership, the Yangzhou Theater has completed all military deployments. The 20,000 military tax troops have been restructured. At present, all The morale of the officers and soldiers is high. Major military training is being carried out in full swing. Compared with last year, the combat effectiveness of the entire theater has been greatly improved. The expansion project of the outer city has been basically completed, and multiple crossbows have been installed. In addition, regarding the establishment of base areas behind enemy lines, the Yangzhou Theater has already Five small teams were sent to sneak into the Northland. According to the news received so far, one team has already responded and said that the progress is going smoothly."
Last night, I had carefully read the written reports of the four theaters. So when they reported in person, I asked them to only state the main points of the outline to save time. After Li Tingzhi finished speaking, Xia Gui, Lu Wende and Gao Da represented their respective The War Zone outlined a summary of the report.
"Very good. In the first year of Xianchun, I have seen the progress of each war zone. Although nothing major happened in the Yangzhou war zone, its defenses have been perfected. Its tightness can be compared with that of our country.
The most important. The Luzhou War Zone. Everyone saw the Anfeng Battle launched at the end of the year. It was actually a rare critical battle for our country in recent years. This battle not only regained the land on the south bank of the Huaihe River, but more importantly, broke our country. The army only knows how to defend. In order to commend Xia Aiqing for his achievements, in addition to the rewards originally proposed by the Privy Council, I will confer on Xia Aiqing the title of Founding County Duke and grant him a Duke Medal."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xia Gui was overjoyed. He left his seat and knelt down to worship.
According to the division of titles in the Song Dynasty, the first level is the prince, which is the king, the heir king, and the county prince. Most of them are relatives of the Zhao family. The second level is the duke. They are the Duke of the State, the Duke of the County, the Duke of the Founding State, and the Duke of the Founding Kingdom. , Duke of Founding County. The third rank is marquis, followed by earl, viscount and baron.
Although the Duke of Founding County was the lowest-ranking duke with a household of only 2,000 households, he was included in the highest title category for officials of the opposite sex. Therefore, on that day, Yang Liazhenjia received a medal of the Duke of Guo from Jia Sidao. At that time, I also felt that the courtesy was so important that I dared not accept it lightly.
"Xia Aiqing, no courtesy." I continued. "The Sichuan War Zone has always been at the forefront of the anti-Mongolian war. It has experienced the most wars, but it is always in the hands of our government. Especially this year, Gao Aiqing, Zhang Aiqing and Zan Aiqing have worked together. We worked together to stabilize the situation on the front line. Although the battle of Xiaofuzhai at the end of the year was not completely victorious, overall, I am very satisfied."
"Dear sirs, starting from next year, all the war zones in our dynasty will be unified into military regions. Although there is only one word difference, the meanings they represent are very different. The significance of changing to military regions lies in the separation of military and political affairs. Starting from the New Year on January 1st, the highest officials in each military region are called institutional envoys, while the highest local officials are called pacification envoys. Due to the special characteristics of frontier areas, the military and political power in some areas will be unified for the time being. I will announce below Several personnel appointments. Li Tingzhi, Xia Gui."
"I'm here."
"I appoint you two as the establishment envoys of the Yangzhou Military Region and the Luzhou Military Region. You will also serve as the pacification envoys of Huainan East Road and Huainan West Road. After there are suitable candidates for the pacification envoys of the two routes, I will re-appoint you so that you can focus on military affairs. ."
"Yes. I obey your order."
"Gaoda, Zhang Jue, Zan Wanshou."
"I'm here."
"I appoint Gao Aiqing as the institutional envoy of the Chengdu Military Region. Zhang Aiqing is the deputy institutional envoy of the Chengdu Military Region. Because the area under the jurisdiction of the Chengdu Military Region is vast, it is divided into three military divisions: Chengdu, Chongqing, and Luzhou. They are composed of Gao Aiqing, Zhang Aiqing, and Zan Aiqing respectively. Concurrently. Zan Aiqing. I appoint you as the pacification envoy for the various provinces in Sichuan. After the provincial reform, the various provinces in central Sichuan will be merged into Sichuan Province."
"Yes. I obey your order."
The more Lu Wenhuan listened in his seat, the more he felt that something was wrong. His Majesty the Emperor did not mention a word about the Xiangfan War Zone. This seemed to be completely different from what his brother Lu Wende said after returning to Xiangyang from Lin'an. The Emperor's actions were clearly discriminating against the Xiangyang War Zone.
The Lu brothers followed the old general Zhao Kui in their early years. Relatively speaking, Lu Wenhuan was more resourceful. He liked the literary style. He was cautious but extremely conceited. In addition, he opposed Neo-Confucianism, so he was not liked by Lizong of the Song Dynasty. The death of Lu Wende in history In 1269, it was Lu Wenhuan who commanded the later defense of Xiangyang. Those were also the most difficult four years until he surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty in 1273.
Lu Wenhuan's evaluation in history is very low. Like Hong Chengchou in the late Ming Dynasty, he was notorious as a traitor and traitor.
The loyal ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty, represented by Wen Tianxiang, denounced Lu Wenhuan's traitorous behavior. They believed that he had lost his national integrity and was acting as a traitor. However, many people believed that Lu Wenhuan was forced to surrender because he was isolated and helpless. He had done his best to defend the country and resist the Mongolian invasion.
His surrender was a helpless move. If it continued, Xiangyang would still be in danger. By then, Xiangyang would probably end up like Fancheng, being massacred.
The dialectics of later generations is right. Everything must be divided into two parts. Whether Lu Wenhuan is good or bad, in fact, the root cause lies in the inaction of the Southern Song Dynasty emperor and the corruption of the court.
"Dear sirs, Lu Xiufu of the Military Academy will tell you in detail about the military region and your main tasks for next year." At this point, I looked at the Lu brothers and said seriously, "Lu Wende, Lu Wenhuan, you two
Please follow me to the small conference room."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The two men saw that I looked unhappy and replied hurriedly.
Yuan Ji and Xiao Qi accompanied me into the small conference room next to me. When Xiao Qi saw the Lu brothers entering, he closed the door and stood guard at the door. After I sat down, I said, "Lu Wende, do you understand your guilt?"
"Ah, Your Majesty, what crime do you have?" Lu Wende didn't know the reason for my anger. He knelt down with Lu Wenhuan and asked.
I hummed, looked at the two of them coldly, and said, "Lu Wende, I'm here to ask you what's going on at the forecourt outside Xiangyang City."
"This. This..." Lu Wende broke out in a cold sweat. He was shocked when he found out that the Dongchuang incident happened. His mind was suddenly empty.
Lu Wenhuan on the side said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I have not considered this matter properly. I am willing to accept your Majesty's punishment."
I pretended to be angry: "What's the difference between this and treason? Lu Wende, you were also a famous general at that time. Don't you know the intentions of the Mongols? The surrounding area of Xiangyang was surrounded by the Qingchang. The Mongols took the opportunity to build castles in the Qingchang to form an encirclement.
This battle has not yet been fought. You will have no chance of winning if you wait."
Lu Wende said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, I was temporarily deceived and did such a treasonous and unethical thing. I am aware of my guilt. I wanted to tell your Majesty about this last time, but I was afraid of your Majesty's punishment, so I never dared to speak. I went back.
Later, I planned to renegotiate with the Mongols. Unexpectedly, the Mongols did not give me a chance at all. They only relied on the agreement. Your Majesty, this is the content of the second phase of the agreement between the two parties. But I will definitely not implement it this time.
I will report my duties at the end of the next year. I have discussed this with my brother. Even if Your Majesty wants to punish me and others with death, I will report the matter to Your Majesty."
I transferred the agreement from Yuan Jiaohan without opening it. I said directly: "Tell me. What is the content of this second issue?"
"Your Majesty, the agreement signed by the minister and Mongolia at that time was divided into three phases. The first phase was to build a gravy field at the foot of Lumen Mountain southeast of Xiangyang City. The second phase is also related to the gravy field. The content is in the northeast of Xiangyang City.
Baihe City establishes a new market. The third phase is..."
"There's still a third issue." I sneered and interrupted Lu Wende.