I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 126 As long as Tong Guan launches an attack, everything will be alright.

One day in November of the third year of the Xuanhe era, Wang Fu, the Vice Chancellor, walked briskly to Yanfu Palace with a report of victory sent from the front lines to report the good news to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, it's good news! Good news from the Eastern Route of Jingdong..."

Wang Fu's tone was not as excited as it had been at the beginning of the year when Liang Shicheng reported the defeat of Fang La. In fact, the choice of the person reporting this time also revealed that the importance of this victory was far less than that of the victory against Fang La at the beginning of the year.

Therefore, Liang Shicheng was too lazy to personally find an opportunity to announce the good news, and simply had his godson Wang Fu follow the normal government reporting procedure.

When Zhao Ji heard the news of the victory, he wasn't particularly excited. Instead, he was slightly taken aback: "Why is it the Eastern Road of Jingdong? Isn't it the Hebei Road? Tong Guan hasn't launched an attack yet?"

Wang Fu was slightly embarrassed. He knew very well that ever since the autumn harvest ended this year and the court further mobilized laborers to Hebei to raise military supplies, the emperor had been waiting every day for good news that Tong Guan had completed the organization and launched an attack.

However, Tong Guan kept delaying, repeatedly complaining that he couldn't gather such a large army at the front now and had to wait until supplies and provisions arrived before launching an attack. This was because the shortage of supplies and provisions at the Hebei front was very serious, completely inconsistent with the figures shown on the books.

If we insist on launching an attack this winter, the army will likely be doomed and unable to fight, as they won't even have enough to eat.

More than a century of peace between the Song and Liao dynasties had led to the extreme neglect of military supplies and warehouses in Hebei. Tong Guan had not paid attention to this issue before last year, but since this summer, he finally had the time and opportunity to inspect the front lines, and the results he saw were shocking.

Over the past century, Hebei has produced countless accountants!

Many granaries supplying the border troops and the annual granaries of local prefectures, upon inspection, showed less than 20-30% of the grain stored in the books! If a war were to break out directly, the army would surely mutiny before it even starved to death.

In the end, Tong Guan pleaded with the emperor to postpone the attack from this winter to early summer of next year. Warfare was impossible during the busy farming seasons of spring and autumn, as it involved hundreds of thousands of people and would require the mobilization of a large number of laborers from Hebei for logistical support. If the army marched during spring planting, the people would be unable to cultivate the land and would be busy transporting supplies, causing Hebei to collapse within a year. Missing the winter attack meant waiting until summer, or at least until the peak farming season in March.

At present, Tong Guan is still arguing and pleading with the emperor. Zhao Ji, who is in Tokyo, has not yet fully realized the seriousness of the problems at the front. So whenever he hears good news from the front, he always fantasizes and expects Tong Guan to create a miracle for him, thinking that Tong Guan has overcome the difficulties.

When I heard it was good news from Jingdong East Road, I couldn't help but feel a little surprised and disappointed.

Wang Fu understood the Emperor's feelings, so after the Emperor had adjusted a little, he slowly explained: "It was Zhang Shuye, the Pacification Commissioner of Jingdong East Circuit, who reported that the Liangshan bandit Song Jiang has been defeated, and Qingzhou and other places have been recovered by the government army. The Qingzhou generals Qin Ming and Huang Xin, who were forced to join the bandits, have defected."

Zhang Shuye, in command of Zhao Zicheng, the prefect of Laizhou, Huyan Zhuo, the military commander of Laizhou, Huyan Qing, the commander of the Pinghai Army of Dengzhou, and Guan Sheng, the cavalry commander of Jinan Prefecture, worked together to defeat the bandits, annihilating 50,000 enemy soldiers and killing or capturing several bandit generals..."

Undoubtedly, Zhang Shuye's victory report was inflated again. Song Jiang only had twenty to thirty thousand men in total, and at least fifteen thousand escaped to Goryeo (but Zhang Shuye himself didn't know that many had escaped. This is because Zhao Zicheng had already inflated the report once when he reported the battle results to Zhang Shuye, exaggerating the number of enemy killed and minimizing the number of those who broke through the encirclement).
But Zhang Shuye directly stated that 50,000 enemy soldiers were annihilated, exaggerating the number of innocent civilians who were caught up in the conflict by several times.

Zhao Ji was getting sleepy as he listened. He didn't recognize any of the names of the bandits that Wang Fu mentioned, nor the names of the former government army generals who had defected.

So after listening to Wang Fu read for a while, Zhao Ji interrupted with a hint of impatience and took the initiative to ask, "What about that Song Jiang? Was Song Jiang himself beheaded or captured? And what about that Wu Jialiang?"

Wang Fu's expression was slightly embarrassed. After a brief pause, he explained tactfully, "We did not manage to capture the two major bandit leaders, Song Jiang and Wu Jialiang. Zhang Shuye's forces were limited after all. The total number of troops dispatched from Jinan Prefecture and Dengzhou and Laizhou was only six or seven thousand. Facing an enemy nearly ten times larger, we could only gradually weaken them and could never completely surround and annihilate them."

Therefore, some remnants have fled to the islands surrounding Dengzhou and Laizhou to hide, and it will take more time to completely eradicate them.

Upon hearing this explanation, Zhao Ji felt there was room for exaggeration, so he added, "Did Song Jiang really have 50,000 troops? Since Zhang Shuye said that most of the enemy was annihilated, how many were killed and how many were captured?"

Wang Fu was taken aback. He hadn't remembered the exact number, so he looked at it carefully again, did the mental calculations, and then cautiously reported, "In total, we've killed and captured nearly ten thousand people..."

The so-called nearly 10,000 people are probably only a few thousand at most.

Zhao Ji's expression darkened slightly: "The total number is less than 10,000. How dare you say that you have annihilated more than half of the 50,000 bandits?"

Wang Fu answered fluently this time, clearly having grasped the relevant details when reviewing the previous text: "It was because of the coastal battle. When Song Jiang launched his counterattack, he was desperate and used fire attacks and boat sabotage. All of his fire ships were sunk to the bottom of the sea, and the boat sabotage was also defended by Zhao Zicheng and Huyan Qing. Many of the enemy soldiers drowned at sea. It is said that the corpses floated for several miles off the coast of Penglai."

Emperor Huizong of Song (Zhao Ji) was ignorant of military affairs. After being described in this way, he used his artistic imagination to fill in the blanks and immediately believed it.

Fire attacks and underwater sabotage of ships were indeed not effective methods for capturing the enemy. Those who were burned or drowned all fell into the sea and were never found.

After figuring out all these reasons, Zhao Ji stopped worrying about the authenticity of the military achievements and assumed they were real. The rest was just a matter of dealing with the rewards and subsequent deployments.

He quickly realized that neither of these aspects seemed easy to handle.

The first problem is the issue of bestowing rewards.

Undoubtedly, Zhang Shuye had once again rendered great service, but his main achievement was in command and control. The real, substantial military merits belonged to Zhao Zicheng, Huyan Qing, and Guan Sheng. Zhang Shuye might not necessarily be promoted directly, while the other three were certain to be.

But how exactly does one get promoted?

Zhao Zicheng was a member of the imperial clan, and before his promotion to prefect, his status and achievements were beneficial to his rapid rise to power. However, after becoming prefect, his sensitive identity gradually became an obstacle.

The Song Dynasty was relatively lenient in its management of the imperial family. Compared to the later Ming Dynasty, which was much more restrictive, the Song Dynasty allowed members of the imperial family to engage in various professions.

Even among the imperial family members who held official positions, almost none reached the level of a circuit (路).

The reason is simple: the next level up the road leads to the central government. Anyone who controls a road's political resources could potentially seize power or even commit treasonous acts. Since Zhao Zicheng's surname is Zhao, under normal circumstances, the emperor wouldn't allow him to become a road-level official.

Therefore, after much deliberation, Emperor Huizong could only combine practical needs with further assignments to his seemingly reliable distant nephew. In addition to his original position as Prefect of Laizhou, he was also given the authority to administer the affairs of Dengzhou, effectively overseeing all work in both prefectures.

Thus, Zhao Zicheng was at least not a high-ranking official of the Lu level, but he could simultaneously oversee the overall situation in Dengzhou and Laizhou. The power over Dengzhou affairs was an added "power," a temporary assignment, also intended to serve the subsequent cleanup of the remaining pirates along the Shandong Peninsula coast.

Secondly, it also served to continue facilitating maritime communication between the Song and Jin dynasties for the imperial court.
Third, it is necessary to further investigate whether the Goryeo people have violated the Song-Jin alliance, and if so, to help the court to warn Goryeo.

However, Zhao Ji quickly realized that letting his nephew manage most of the affairs on the Shandong Peninsula was still a bit too indulgent.

Whether it was monitoring Goryeo, cracking down on pirates, or contacting the Jin Dynasty, these three tasks had one thing in common: they only required the cooperation of the navy and did not require the army.

Given this, in order to minimize the danger of the royal family holding military power, Zhao Ji naturally thought of reducing Zhao Zicheng's military power as much as possible, while giving him greater authority over naval construction.

This decision-making process cannot be blamed on Zhao Ji's carelessness; rather, it reflects the fact that emperors and rulers of this era were clearly purely land-centric thinkers. Who would value the ocean and navy? As long as Zhao Zicheng lacked a well-organized and powerful army, the court would naturally assume he posed no threat. Among the meritorious officials who won the campaign against Song Jiang, Guan Sheng was from Jinan Prefecture and would remain there after the war. His temporary cooperation with Zhao Zicheng during the war was solely due to Zhang Shuye's orders; after the war, he would not be allowed to be controlled by Zhao Zicheng again.

Qin Ming and Huang Xin were both officers from Qingzhou. They had a change of heart on the battlefield and returned to the court to fight the bandits. They could be retained in their original positions, and further rewards of gold and silk could be given to win them over, so that they would side with the court and not think too much about Zhao Zicheng's kindness.

Ultimately, Zhao Ji, believing himself to be a master of political checks and balances, made the following arrangement:

Guan Sheng was promoted from Commander of the Cavalry to Deputy Military Supervisor of Jinan Prefecture, which is a deputy position in charge of the entire prefecture's garrison, a promotion of half a rank.

At the same time, he was granted the military rank of "Wuyi Lang," which ranks forty-first among the fifty-three ranks of military officers, and is a seventh-grade official. (For reference, historically, when Han Shizhong defeated Fang La, his merits were stolen by others, so his official rank was only Chengjie Lang, a ninth-grade official, ranking fifty-first among the fifty-three ranks, ten grades lower than the rank Guan Sheng was now granted.)
Qin Ming remained the military commander of Qingzhou, and Huang Xin became the deputy military commander. They were also given extra gold and silk as rewards, and Qin Ming was appointed as the 47th rank Zhongxun Lang (from the eighth rank), and Huang Xin was appointed as the 50th rank Baoyi Lang (from the ninth rank).

These two men were, after all, former bandits who had returned from the battlefield. Setting their ranks too high would be disrespectful to the court, so they could only be given tangible rewards, not empty titles. Their official ranks should certainly be lower than those of Guan Sheng, who defeated them.

The remaining officials, such as Huyan Zhuo and Xu Ning, did not receive any adjustments to their ranks and treatment this time because their military achievements were not particularly significant. However, their actual military power could be slightly adjusted by Zhao Zicheng upon subsequent petitions, with the possibility of expanding their authority to command troops as appropriate.

Finally, there was Yue Fei, who recaptured Linzi. Because he didn't report the achievement of "capturing Qin Ming alive," his contribution was relatively insignificant in Zhang Shuye's battle report. Ultimately, Yue Fei's promotion didn't require Emperor Huizong's personal approval; it was handled directly by the Ministry of War and approved by the Secretariat, going through the formalities directly.

Yue Fei's actual command authority was elevated to the deputy battalion level, and he was given the military rank "Chengxin Lang," which was the second to last of the fifty-three ranks, also a ninth-rank official.

However, don't underestimate this official rank. In the original history, Yue Fei was only a Chengxin Lang before Zhao Gou became emperor in the second year of Jingkang. Now, he has become a Chengxin Lang at least six years earlier.

As a military officer, his initial career path was still quite promising, especially considering that Yue Fei's future situation was characterized by a focus on real power rather than official rank, resulting in a low-level position and benefits.

In addition, because Yue Fei's rank was too low and he was not noticed by the emperor, he could still be transferred to Zhao Zicheng's command, as could Huyan Zhuo and Xu Ning.

In contrast, Guan Sheng, Qin Ming, and Huang Xin, under the emperor's vigilance and subtle manipulation, were temporarily excluded from the ranks that Zhao Zicheng could command. For the foreseeable future, they could only be considered Zhao Zicheng's "colleagues" rather than his subordinates. All of this was to weaken Zhao Zicheng's authority in the "army" sector.

However, this kind of imperial system only applies as long as order exists. If the world descends into chaos, these nominal titles will lose their binding force, and then it will come down to who truly has the power to rally support.

The Jin army had already launched its campaign against Liaodong in the fourth year of the Xuanhe era, and the country wouldn't have many more years of peace. By the seventh year of the Xuanhe era, the Jin army had reached Kaifeng, and the next year would be the first year of the Jingkang era.

Perhaps Zhao Ji also realized that although his distant nephew had made great contributions, he still had to weaken and restrain him in terms of military power in the army, and Zhao Ji himself felt a little embarrassed.

Therefore, Zhao Ji ultimately chose to compensate Zhao Zicheng handsomely in terms of official rank and noble title.

Zhao Zi said that his previous civil official rank was Zhongsan Dafu, which was the fifth rank, but now he has been promoted to Zhongdafu, which is the fifth rank.

His title was also raised from Duke of Xiuzhou to Duke of Xiuzhou, a full rank increase. However, his fief and actual estate did not increase.

Low military power, low official rank, high official position, and especially high noble title – this can be considered the standard characteristics of promotion for ministers of the Zhao family clan.

……

The imperial court's decision regarding the handling of the merits in suppressing Song Jiang, including personnel appointments, promotions, and rewards, was finalized in November of the third year of the Xuanhe era.
In the twelfth month of the same year, a document was sent to Dengzhou and Laizhou, and the matter was immediately implemented.

In the final imperial documents, in addition to the aforementioned personnel arrangements, there were also some decentralizations at the administrative level—these decentralizations were not free; rather, they were obtained by Zhao Zicheng through various means of hinting and begging when he reported his achievements, and he even exaggerated the various difficulties in Dengzhou and Laizhou. The imperial court simply accepted them without hesitation.

For example, Zhao Zicheng was allowed greater autonomy in Dengzhou and Laizhou, enabling him to freely develop maritime trade. The court also authorized him to collect commercial taxes to expand the naval forces in Dengzhou and Laizhou, in order to completely eliminate the remaining pirates such as Song Jiang, and to safeguard the maritime communication routes between Song and Jin, as well as deter the pro-Liao tendencies of Goryeo.

Of course, this was only a temporary authorization, and a formal Maritime Trade Office was not established in Dengzhou. If a Maritime Trade Office had been established, a supervisor would have had to be sent to manage it, which would not have been suitable for the rapid response needs during wartime.

Theoretically, this authorization should be abolished after all the remaining pirates of Song Jiang are wiped out and the Song and Jin dynasties jointly destroy the Liao dynasty, so that Zhao Zicheng will not become too powerful and difficult to control.

At the same time, the normal land tax and poll tax of Dengzhou and Laizhou were to continue to be collected and handed over to the imperial court at the original rate. There were no special exemptions, which also prevented local financial autonomy and the formation of the Tang Dynasty's regional military governorships.

In any case, maritime trade in the north was not as developed as in the south, and the Dengzhou-Laizhou region originally had little maritime trade and tax revenue. The potential of this area was seriously underestimated, which is why the imperial court did not pay attention to it.

At the same time, in order to better monitor Zhao Zicheng and prevent him from going too far in his service to the country, the court also made some adjustments to the personnel arrangements in other friendly prefectures.

For example, after Qingzhou was recovered, the position of prefect of Qingzhou became vacant because Murong Yanda was killed by Song Jiang. After some planning, the court finally decided to transfer Liu Yu, the current inspector of Liangzhe Circuit, to the position of prefect of Qingzhou, requiring him to take office in the first month of the fourth year of Xuanhe.

That's right, it's Liu Yu, who later became a notorious traitor and the puppet emperor of the Qi dynasty.

Historically, Liu Yu's official position before becoming a traitor was Prefect of Jinan, but in this life, he became Prefect of Qingzhou several years earlier. Since Qingzhou and Jinan are adjacent, this butterfly effect wasn't too severe.

Of course, in the original history, Liu Yu was appointed to Shandong because he had offended many people in the small court in Lin'an and was being targeted. In this era, the Jingkang Incident had not yet occurred, so Liu Yu had essentially arrived in Shandong four years earlier, thus changing the court's motivation for appointing him.

In this life, it was mainly because Liu Yu had previously served as the Inspector of Liangzhe Road after the pacification of Fang La, and had investigated many financial issues of officials in Jiangnan who had quelled the rebellion. Among them, he also impeached Zhao Zicheng for issues such as privately occupying unclaimed land after the war in Hangzhou and illegally accumulating more spoils of war.

Emperor Huizong was pleased to see his distant nephew, who had rendered great service, being greedy for money. Therefore, he accepted Liu Yu's materials but did not punish Zhao Zicheng.

But after this incident, Zhao Ji and the officials in the court realized that Liu Yu was not afraid of offending people. He was indeed bold and daring in correcting the malpractices in the officialdom, and he was not on good terms with Zhao Zicheng.

Therefore, since Zhao Zicheng was in charge of all military and political affairs in Dengzhou and Laizhou, it was also a good idea to put Liu Yu, who was at odds with Zhao Zicheng, in the neighboring Qingzhou, placing him between Zhao Zicheng and Guan Sheng, Qin Ming and others, as a thorn in Zhao Zicheng's side to keep an eye on him.

Thus, although the motives for the appointment differed greatly from those in the original history, the result was very similar. In short, Liu Yu, the future great traitor, was still placed in Qingzhou to monitor Zhao Zicheng from the sidelines, prevent Zhao Zicheng from infiltrating and developing his power in Qingzhou and Jinan Prefecture, and ensure that Zhao Zicheng's power was confined to the mountainous and impoverished Shandong Peninsula.

Zhao Zi said that when he received his appointment, he also learned about the personnel information in the surrounding area.

He showed no dissatisfaction whatsoever. When the court wanted to remove Guan Sheng, Qin Ming, and Huang Xin from his power group and insert a spy, Zhao Zicheng had no reaction at all, and continued to eat and play as usual.

He just wanted to do his job well. His uncle, the emperor, didn't want him to worry about things in the west, so he decided not to.

(End of this chapter)