I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 134 Strategic Deployment During the Interwar Period
After Zhao Zicheng eliminated Li Ziqian and made Wang Kai a puppet, within just one or two months, all the remaining prefectures and counties of Goryeo surrendered to the Song Dynasty and came under Zhao Zicheng's actual control.

The civil officials governing various parts of Goryeo also underwent some minor personnel adjustments. Those who chose to cooperate were basically retained, with only a small number of people being placed to fill the vacancies left by the opposing faction.

And all of this was done at the end of the fourth year of the Xuanhe era.

If you don't have a good grasp of this timeline, you can look back at the current situation on the Hebei battlefield—at the end of the fourth year of Xuanhe, the Jin army turned around in September and October to deal with the last Liao capital, Yanjing. After two months of hard fighting, they finally captured Yanjing.

Therefore, at this critical juncture, when the Jin Dynasty has finally destroyed the Liao Dynasty but has not yet negotiated and handed over the territories to the Song Dynasty, the situation is very delicate.

Zhao Zicheng would never let the Jin people know immediately that Goryeo had effectively fallen.

Once this critical juncture is overcome, even if the Jin state finds out, it will be impossible for them to take any action within the next year.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Wanyan Aguda will be finished next year. Once he dies, the Jin state will first need to consolidate its power internally, and will not oppose the Song Dynasty for the entire fifth year of Xuanhe. It will also be impossible for the Jin state to rush into military action against Goryeo. As long as Goryeo appears to be relatively stable at that time, and there is no once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take advantage of it, the Jin state will not take any risks.

It's quite a coincidence that historically, every time the Jurchens entered the Central Plains, there was a change of supreme power. For example, Wanyan Aguda died a year before the Jin Dynasty attacked the Song Dynasty. Later, Huang Taiji also died a year before Wu Sangui borrowed troops from the Qing Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

To avoid the Jin Dynasty immediately recognizing their weakness, the northern border states of Goryeo are still deploying their defenses along the Daedong River under the banner of Goryeo.

The Goryeo capital, Kaesong, still retains its original layout, with even the palace gates that were burned down being slightly repaired. This was to ensure that if any Jin envoys came to negotiate or visit in the future, it wouldn't give away the secret.

As for the land south of the Han River, there's no need to act it out; it will be governed entirely according to the model of the Song Dynasty in the Central Plains, with all officials, from civil to military, being Han Chinese.

The only thing to be aware of is that the Goryeo government will announce a tightening of border trade markets early next year, preventing Jin merchants from venturing too far into the country. Business will be conducted only at the border, ensuring that no Jin official can reach the land south of the Han River. Under these communication conditions, it's possible that information will be cut off for two or three years.

As for the land north of the Daedong River, extending all the way to the Chongchon River and even the Yalu River, there are six former prefectures of the Goryeo Kingdom. Those areas are beyond our control. The Jin Dynasty seized those lands during its war with Goryeo, and they are still in Jin's hands.

Until the Song-Jin war breaks out in the future, Zhao Zicheng will not get into trouble and can only let the Jin people occupy these six prefectures for at least three years.

……

After handling the official appointments and personnel matters in the Goryeo region, the next step was to formally reward the generals who had led the campaign to conquer Goryeo.

Zhao Zicheng had no authority to promote Huyan Zhuo's official position, so he simply sent him back to Dengzhou and Laizhou to continue serving as the military commander of Laizhou, and gave him an additional force of nearly 10,000 men.

He was given command of an army originally led by a single commander-in-chief, now commanding three commander-in-chief. The total troop strength increased from 3,000 cavalry to 3,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry (each commander-in-chief commanded 3,000 to 4,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry).

The additional 10,000 men were recruited from wounded soldiers sent back to the rear by Song Jiang, surrendered troops from the Goryeo region, and future recruits of Hebei refugees, who were then trained and crammed into Huyan Zhuo's army.

Zhao Zicheng also gave Huyan Zhuo five times the usual salary and monetary rewards to compensate for his regret that he could not be promoted to a higher official rank and title for the time being.

Huyan Zhuo was very satisfied with this arrangement and repeatedly expressed his loyalty and understanding to Zhao Zicheng.

The others, such as Xu Ning and Yue Fei, were also promoted and rewarded according to their merits. However, their rapid rise in real power and official rank was temporarily halted.

Among the generals, Yue Fei's achievements were particularly outstanding. After all, he had repeatedly distinguished himself by being the first to scale enemy lines and slay enemy generals, so it would be unreasonable not to promote him. In addition, Yue Fei's previous position was very low, so Zhao Zicheng could find another excuse to help him.

For example, the credit for Zhao Zicheng's suppression and pacification of Song Jiang's remaining forces could be attributed to Yue Fei when reported to the court. By grafting the credit onto Yue Fei, Zhao Zicheng could then use his authority to promote Yue Fei to the rank of battalion commander. The actual size of the troops Yue Fei commanded could then be further increased, for example, allowing him to command two or three battalions simultaneously.

In the next year or two, placing Yue Fei in Goryeo to fight a counterinsurgency war and eliminate the Goryeo rebels will also allow him to gradually accumulate experience and military prestige.

Because there will be no wars to fight in the Central Plains for more than a year. Even if there are bandits to fight in the Hebei region near the Taihang Mountains, it's not something Zhao Zicheng can interfere with. Only by sending him to Goryeo can Yue Fei receive the fastest training and growth.

The feeling was similar to the situation after the Treaty of Versailles and before World War II, when the German army had nowhere to train and ultimately had to rely on the Spanish Civil War. So much so that during World War II, both the Soviet Union and Germany referred to Spain as the "Spanish Military Academy."

Today's Goryeo is like a Spanish military academy on the eve of World War II. Before the full-scale war between Song and Jin, it serves as a training ground for promising generals of the Song army to hone their skills and prepare for battle.

Zhao Zicheng's plan was to allow Yue Fei to gradually grow into a military officer at the level of Commander-in-Chief through his two years of training in Goryeo, so that when the Song and Jin dynasties went to war, he would be able to lead an army of at least 5,000 to 10,000 men.

Don't complain about the slow pace, after all, Yue Fei was quite old; he would only be twenty years old after the New Year.

Becoming the top commander of a battalion at the age of twenty and the top commander of an army (ten battalions in an army) at the age of twenty-two is already an incredibly rapid achievement. Trying to force him to grow any faster would definitely cause problems.

Of course, Zhao Zicheng didn't have time to personally oversee all of these operations. In fact, including the subsequent surrender efforts in Goryeo's prefectures, Zhao Zicheng didn't personally participate in the entire process. He only provided a general overview, delegating the specific tasks to his subordinates or remotely controlling them from across the sea.

The reason is simple: as the top leader of the Dengzhou-Laizhou region, Zhao Zicheng could not possibly leave Dengzhou-Laizhou for two or three months at sea.

He must return within two months at most each time; otherwise, even if Chen Guoting, the military commissioner of Laizhou who is monitoring him, is willing to cover for him, the news will leak through other channels and it will be impossible to keep it a secret.

The imperial court would frequently send people to discuss official business and political affairs, and Zhang Shuye, the Pacification Commissioner of Jingdong East Circuit, would also have matters to attend to. Even if Zhang Shuye could be partially drawn into the mess, there were other officials in Jingdong East Circuit, such as the Transport Commissioner and the Inspector General.

Take the issue of taxes, grain, and military supplies in Dengzhou and Laizhou as an example. Tong Guan's side suffered a defeat but dared not retreat, hoping that the Song Dynasty would buy back Yanjing after the Jin Dynasty captured it. Under these circumstances, Tong Guan's remnant troops had to continuously bleed the rear for supplies.

Therefore, in winter, the transport commissioner of Jingdong East Road would definitely have to meet with Zhao Zicheng in person to discuss and inspect the work, and ask Dengzhou and Laizhou to contribute the money and grain that should have been allocated.

Zhao Zicheng ultimately did not dare to stay in Goryeo until the end of the year. He rushed back to Dengzhou and Laizhou in early December to handle other government affairs and make more public appearances to avoid arousing suspicion.

When Zhao Zicheng left Goryeo, Yue Fei was left to oversee the garrison and military affairs on Goryeo's side.

Yue Fei's directly commanded troops were far fewer than Song Jiang's, so most of the actual tasks of suppressing bandits and quelling rebellions had to be done by Song Jiang's men. However, Yue Fei's status was more direct, allowing him to monitor Song Jiang and Wu Jialiang. This temporary cooperation, while causing some estrangement and unease, was unlikely to cause any major problems in the short term.

Zhao Zi said that he would take several short business trips every year to visit Goryeo to ensure that there would be no trouble.

Each trip can only last for a little over a month, and including the round-trip sea journey, the total time cannot exceed two months, otherwise the imperial court will take notice.

……

Zhao Zicheng returned to the Central Plains in the twelfth lunar month of the fourth year of Xuanhe. Upon arriving in the Central Plains, he first contacted the Transport Commissioner of Jingdong East Road to discuss the allocation of money and grain, and provided a large amount of supplies to Tong Guan at the front.

When dealing with these tasks, Zhao Zicheng inevitably had to haggle over the price. Tong Guan needed a lot of things, and they were very temporary. When the allocation plan was first made, the differences in the industrial endowments of various prefectures and circuits were not taken into account. Basically, it was a flood of money and grain.

Once the overall task was assigned to the circuit level, the pacification commissioner and the transport commissioner could coordinate internally, trying to get each prefecture to provide what they were good at. This could be seen as a rudimentary application of Adam Smith's division of labor theory. Zhao Zicheng also argued his case forcefully, emphasizing to the transport commissioner that Dengzhou and Laizhou were mountainous and lacked food. Therefore, no matter how long Grand Commandant Tong would be stationed in Hebei until the Jin people handed over Yanjing, they should not expect Dengzhou and Laizhou to produce even a single grain of food. The neighboring prefectures located in the plains should be responsible for the food supply.

However, in compensation, Dengzhou and Laizhou are willing to provide sea transport capacity to help other states undertake water transport tasks. In addition, considering that it is already the dead of winter, Dengzhou and Laizhou are willing to donate a batch of cotton-padded coats to the soldiers in front of Hebei Army so that they can get through the cold winter and not freeze to death.

This is the first year that cotton cultivation has been widely promoted in the Dengzhou-Laiyang region, and also the first year that large-scale cotton-padded coats have been produced using new spinning and weaving tools. Therefore, cotton-padded coats are still a novelty, and the market price of cotton fabric is not much lower than that of silk.

Before Zhao Zicheng improved cotton weaving and cotton planting techniques, the price ratio of silk to cotton cloth in the Song Dynasty was at most one to two points. However, after Zhao Zicheng improved the technology, in the long run, this price ratio could drop to at least one to six, meaning that one bolt of ordinary silk could buy at least six bolts of cotton cloth of the same area.

Zhao Zicheng is currently selling cotton cloth at a price of one to three. For people in the market, the price of cotton cloth has already dropped by several times, but for Zhao Zicheng, he still has at least double the profit, so it can be considered a win-win situation.

Tong Guan, on the other hand, hadn't originally planned to station his troops in Hebei until this winter. He intended to finish the campaign and call it a day during the summer.

Therefore, Tong Guan's war preparations were arguably inferior to those of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa. Operation Barbarossa also failed to consider that the war against the Soviet Union would last until winter, and German troops were not prepared with winter coats; they went to attack Moscow wearing summer clothes.

However, Tong Guan could not withdraw. He had to maintain a military presence in the Xiongzhou and Baozhou areas (Note: This Baozhou in the Song Dynasty is Baoding, which is not the same place as the Baozhou on the border of Goryeo and Liao. The other Baozhou was the later Dandong/Yizhou). Otherwise, if the Jin Dynasty saw that the Song army's forward military presence was too weak, they might not return Yanjing.

Nearly 100,000 remnants of the army were spending the winter in the cold Hebei region of Xiongzhou, without having prepared winter clothing in advance. The small batch of cotton-padded coats provided by Zhao Zicheng was a great help.

When Tong Guan received the cotton-padded coats, he was overjoyed and immediately distributed them to his elite troops. Because the coats were so scarce, provided only by the two prefectures of Dengzhou and Laizhou, and even then calculated based on their allotted tribute, they were insufficient to equip even a few thousand men.

Zhao Zicheng provided Tong Guan with several thousand sets of cotton-padded coats, which was equivalent to all the taxes and grain that Dengzhou and Laizhou were supposed to pay. And these clothes were only enough for some of Tong Guan's connected Imperial Guards in Tokyo; not a single one ended up in the hands of the Western Army soldiers.

The tens of thousands of defeated Western Army soldiers stranded in Xiongzhou were filled with resentment. Seeing that the situation was not good, Tong Guan put pressure on the Transport Commissioner of Jingdong East Road again, ordering him to request another batch of cotton-padded coats from Dengzhou and Laizhou.

Zhao Zicheng wouldn't openly disobey orders, but he would simply say that production capacity was insufficient. Dengzhou and Laizhou were poor, with only so much manpower and resources. They had already given up everything they could to offer as tribute, and they couldn't even import raw materials, so they simply couldn't make more cotton-padded coats.

In any case, the transport commissioner of the Eastern Route of Jingdong couldn't possibly find out the total cotton production of the Dengzhou-Laizhou region this year, nor did he know how much cotton cloth and cotton-padded coats Zhao Zicheng sold to Goryeo. Zhao Zicheng said he had to buy his raw materials from elsewhere, and the higher-ups could only believe him.

Therefore, if they wanted more cotton-padded coats, they could only rely on the government troops to buy them with their own money; it was absolutely impossible to collect them from Zhao Zicheng for free.

Moreover, Zhao Zicheng was very generous. When he refused, he was firm yet gentle. He clearly stated that if Tong Guan could provide him with cotton, the officials and people of Dengzhou and Laizhou would be willing to pay part of the processing fee and process the cotton-padded jackets for him without charge. But if there was no cotton raw material, then there was no point in discussing it.

This gesture is already very sincere. Even if the case goes all the way to the emperor, it won't make a difference. The emperor will be 100% certain that Zhao Zicheng is in the right.

Having no other option, Tong Guan had to come up with another solution.

The end result was that Tong Guan had to raise money to "purchase cotton raw materials" and pay it to the Dengzhou and Laizhou government so that the government could purchase raw materials and organize production.

On the other hand, Tong Guan also used many channels to petition the court to help Zhao Zicheng gain credit, attempting to exchange more material benefits for him by speaking well of him and helping him get promoted.

For example, in mid-December, Tong Guan swallowed his pride and had the Hebei Circuit Transport Commissioner and the Jingdong East Circuit Transport Commissioner, who were under his control, submit memorials praising Zhao Zicheng, the prefect of Laizhou, for his great contribution to the army. He stated that "because Zhao Zicheng raised cotton cloth and invented cotton-padded jackets, the winter conditions for the army stationed in Hebei have been greatly improved, and the soldiers have been prevented from freezing to death."

Tong Guan certainly couldn't submit such a memorial himself, but he could still get the transport commissioners to do it, and secretly ask people to help him get things done smoothly.

After handing it over, Tong Guan couldn't leave empty-handed, so he also had the Transport Commissioner of Jingdong East Road contact Zhao Zicheng to let him know how much Grand Commandant Tong valued him, implying that Zhao Zicheng should repay the kindness.

At the same time, someone close to Tong Guan gave him advice, suggesting that he take a two-pronged approach: use some of the generals in the Western Army who had previously fought alongside Zhao Zicheng against Fang La to write letters to Zhao Zicheng in a relatively private capacity, pleading poverty.

Please ask Zhao Zicheng, "For the sake of our shared service to the court, lend your brother a hand and give him some cotton-padded coats to get through the winter."

Tong Guan was a seasoned veteran, and after listening to these suggestions, he could naturally analyze their advantages and disadvantages. He quickly realized that if this tactic were used, the advantage would indeed be that he could get an extra batch of cotton-padded coats for free, but the disadvantage would be that it would easily give Zhao Zicheng the opportunity to show favor to the army and further curry favor with those Western Army generals.

From the court's perspective, such a thing must be prevented. A member of the Zhao family already wields real power in two prefectures; how could he possibly associate with military generals? If Emperor Huizong of Tang found out, it would certainly not be a good thing.

On the other hand, from Tong Guan's own perspective, this little thing is insignificant. Even if it makes Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, and others more grateful to and trust Zhao Zicheng, so what? It won't cause any trouble in the short term.

As for the potential harm to Zhao Ji's long-term interests—sorry, Tong Guan himself couldn't even get past the immediate hurdle, so how could he possibly care about Zhao Ji's personal long-term interests?

Therefore, after weighing the options, Tong Guan quickly adopted the suggestion. Through some subtle means, he hinted to Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangshi, and Han Shizhong to write to Zhao Zicheng, requesting some cotton-padded coats for the winter.

In late December, Zhao Zicheng soon received goodwill from Tong Guan through two different channels.

First, there were requests from Liu Yanqing and his son, as well as Han Shizhong. This was relatively easy to handle; Zhao Zicheng would simply consider it a favor to his old comrades and spend a little of his own money. After all, Zhao Zicheng hadn't completely spent the large sum of wealth he had seized during the campaign against Fang La; sacrificing some profits to cultivate relationships with these military generals was acceptable.

Moreover, the opportunity was rare, it was for the greater good of the front lines, and no one would criticize him for associating with military commanders. In peacetime, there wouldn't even be a chance to do something like this.

So Zhao Zicheng soon gave Liu Yanqing several thousand sets of cotton-padded coats almost free of charge. After a period of transfer, Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangshi, and Han Shizhong received the goods and were extremely grateful.

They had been suffering from the cold in Hebei, but this year they were finally able to wear this newly invented, highly efficient cold-weather clothing. The cotton-padded coats were distributed to every officer and soldier in Liu Yanqing's Western Army. Everyone was quite curious about this novel item they were seeing for the first time, and they couldn't help but ask each other about its origin.

Most of these Western Army soldiers had participated in the Battle of Fang La last year and had fought alongside Zhao Zicheng long ago.

So when they heard that this item was given to them by Lord Zhao of Denglai out of his own pocket, the soldiers of the Western Army were all deeply moved.

"Have you heard? Originally, only a few thousand cotton-padded coats were allocated to Dengzhou and Laizhou. The local area is quite poor, and that's all they could afford. After they were sent to Xiongzhou, they were all taken by those Imperial Guards from Tokyo! Our Western Army didn't even get a single piece of tattered cotton cloth!"

"It was Lord Zhao who remembered the old days. Commander Liu wrote him a letter, asking him to give the brothers some warm clothes to keep them warm, so that no one would freeze to death, considering that they had fought together against Fang La. When Lord Zhao heard this, he took out his own money to make up for the cost of buying cotton and rushed to buy cotton from Goryeo to make a batch of cotton-padded coats, which were sent to the front lines to supply us for the winter! He also told Grand Commandant Tong that these cotton-padded coats must be distributed to the comrades who fought together against Fang La."

"What? Among all the civil officials in the land, there is such a generous and righteous hero! He even paid out of his own pocket to buy cotton from Goryeo to make cotton-padded coats for us?"

"I told you long ago, Lord Zhao's righteousness... is no less than that of 'Liu Bei leading the people across the river' in the folk tales. We are really lucky; we fought alongside Lord Zhao once last year when we were fighting Fang La."

I never imagined that even after being transferred to Dengzhou and Laizhou, he would still remember the soldiers he fought alongside… If only I could continue fighting under a good official like Lord Zhao who cares so much for his soldiers. Alas, those garrison troops in Dengzhou and Laizhou are truly fortunate to have such a just and virtuous superior.

The Western Army soldiers, represented by Liu Yanqing's troops, who received cotton-padded coats, were all moved to tears and spoke highly of Lord Zhao's benevolence.

(End of this chapter)