I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 135 This is how Grand Commandant Tong asks for favors.
Tong Guan, through Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, and others, appealed to Zhao Zicheng's emotions and begged for donations, obtaining several thousand cotton-padded coats for the soldiers of the Western Army.

This matter is relatively easy to handle. Zhao Zicheng is known for his generosity, magnanimity, and willingness to help others, so he is quite receptive to this approach.

However, a few thousand sets are ultimately just a drop in the ocean. Tong Guan needs at least ten times that amount of winter supplies.

Even if Zhao Zicheng exerted all his efforts, it would be impossible to fully satisfy everyone, given the limited population and productivity of Dengzhou and Laizhou. The extent of his assistance would depend on the underlying exchange of benefits.

The only exchange Tong Guan could think of was to report Zhao Zicheng's military achievements to the court, let the emperor know how much Zhao Zicheng had accomplished, and get the court officials to promote Zhao Zicheng.

However, Zhao Zicheng had indeed offended some factions in the court before.

In particular, during the Fang La Rebellion, Zhao Zicheng nominally executed Zhu Mian without prior authorization, which left him with many lingering problems and made some important officials in the court dislike him. Tong Guan was also aware of this matter.

Zhu Mian later became one of the Six Traitors of the Northern Song Dynasty. He had a very good relationship with Cai Jing, and the largest portion of what Zhu Mian plundered in Jiangnan was given to Cai Jing as tribute.

Liang Shicheng and his adopted son Wang Fu were not particularly hostile towards Zhao Zicheng. On one hand, Wang Fu was at odds with Cai Jing, and on the other hand, Zhao Zicheng had previously bypassed Zhu Mian and done some things directly for Liang Shicheng. Out of respect for his adoptive father, Wang Fu was willing to remain neutral.

The last of the six traitors, Li Yan, was also a eunuch. He had little interaction with Zhao Zicheng because he had only reached the pinnacle of power the previous year, replacing the old eunuch Yang Jian, who had died of illness the previous year. However, due to factional struggles within the eunuch group, Li Yan and Cai Jing gradually joined forces, opposing the other faction led by Liang Shicheng and Wang Fu.

Therefore, the current situation in the court is that one of the six traitors has already been killed by Zhao Zicheng, Cai Jing and Li Yan are absolutely suppressing him, Liang Shicheng has a slight liking for him, Wang Fu is neutral because of Liang Shicheng, and Tong Guan thinks Zhao Zicheng is not bad because of their friendship during the campaign against Fang La, plus Zhao Zicheng helped him solve some logistical problems during this northern expedition.

In summary, of the six traitors, one died (Zhu Mian), one remained neutral (Wang Fu), one had a slight favorable impression (Liang Shicheng), one basically supported (Tong Guan), and two resolutely opposed (Cai Jing/Li Yan).

The forces within the court that were trying to trip up Zhao Zicheng were clearly much stronger than those that were supporting him.

The main reason is that Liang Shicheng's "slight goodwill" is hard to translate into tangible benefits. Liang Shicheng only supports him spiritually, but is unwilling to pay the price to stand up for him.

Tong Guan was willing to pay a price, but it was all in exchange for benefits. He would loosen his grip on things if you could do them for him. However, Tong Guan would never offend the other five traitors for Zhao Zicheng's sake.

This situation led to Tong Guan's first attempt to have his subordinates write a letter praising Zhao Zicheng, which had no effect. The high-ranking officials in the court also didn't think that a mere achievement of "excellent command of military supplies" warranted promotion or titles; wasn't this what local officials were supposed to do?

In the political arena of the late Northern Song Dynasty, it was incredibly easy to inflate or deflate the quantifiable performance evaluations of local officials. Furthermore, Tong Guan had no influence over the evaluation system for civil service administration, which was controlled by Cai Jing, with whom he also had conflicts.

On the other hand, Zhao Zicheng always outwardly respected Tong Guan and left no evidence against him. When Tong Guan asked him for cotton-padded coats, he outwardly did his best to provide them. The reason he couldn't provide them was because there was indeed no cotton available locally. The imperial court didn't provide funds, and the local area couldn't even purchase raw materials.

Zhao Zicheng has already been so generous as to offer to "process for free," so Tong Guan can't just let him conjure up cotton out of thin air, can he?
With the twelfth lunar month almost over, the soldiers were getting colder and colder, so Tong Guan had no choice but to think of another solution.

Fortunately, at this opportune moment, Zhao Zicheng extended an olive branch, sending someone to communicate with Tong Guan, subtly expressing that he very much wanted to contribute more to the court, but hoped that the Grand Commandant would give him more "leniency".

Of course, Zhao Zicheng put it very subtly, but the gist was that "there are some wealthy merchants in Dengzhou, Laizhou and other places, as well as in Suzhou and Hangzhou where I used to serve as an official. They have heard that I am carrying out a task assigned by the court and have failed to complete it. In order to help my career, they are willing to donate money."

However, the reason why these righteous people and wealthy households from Dengzhou, Laizhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou wanted to donate was because they were attracted by Zhao Zicheng's personal charm, and also because they knew that he was a good official.

So the subtext is: if these "donations" don't help his career, he might not be able to raise the funds.

Zhao Zicheng's specific wording was so precise that it left no room for any flaws, but it was enough that those around Tong Guan could understand it.

Then, Zhao Zicheng offered Tong Guan a convenient excuse: he understood that Grand Commandant Tong's influence was primarily within the military, lacking impact on the logistical and administrative evaluations of local civil officials. Therefore, he didn't seek to excel in domestic affairs evaluations.

As long as Grand Commandant Tong is willing to help him in assessing his military merits, and to solidify as much as possible his achievements this year in suppressing pirates along the Dengzhou-Laizhou coast, wiping out the remnants of Song Jiang's forces, and even dealing with Goryeo pirates, Zhao Zicheng would be satisfied and grateful.

If there are concerns that Zhao Zicheng might stand out too much, some credit could be shared with his subordinates such as Huyan Zhuo, Xu Ning, and Yue Fei, and their ranks could be promoted as much as possible within the limits permitted by the court.

Zhao Zicheng did this out of necessity, because many of his military achievements in the war against Goryeo could not be made public, so he had no choice but to keep quiet and make a fortune for the time being.

Otherwise, if his uncle, the emperor, knew that he had quietly destroyed a country overseas, wouldn't he be extremely wary of him?

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng could only beg Tong Guan to make a mountain out of a molehill by finding other excuses for military merits and giving him a higher evaluation.

As long as Tong Guan provides all the official benefits he is entitled to, Zhao Zicheng will naturally be willing to do his utmost in providing cotton-padded coats and other necessities. He will also persuade the wealthy households under his jurisdiction to do their utmost to donate funds to support the army and send cotton-padded coats to the soldiers in Hebei as much as possible.

Tong Guan quickly received Zhao Zicheng's reply and implied request. Since Tong Guan did not know the extent of Zhao Zicheng's achievements in Goryeo, he assumed that "Zhao Zicheng has only made a small contribution in eliminating pirates, but hopes I can exaggerate it into a great achievement."

However, regardless of whether Zhao Zicheng fabricated the story or not, Tong Guan was happy to help with this small favor.

Because he himself had more say in this matter, Tong Guan now held considerable influence in matters of military merit, while Cai Jing had little say in such matters. In this regard, Tong Guan didn't need to ask anyone else for favors.

Tong Guan immediately replied to Zhao Zicheng, implying that he could handle these matters, but hoped that Zhao Zicheng would immediately organize fundraising, procurement, production, and supply to the army in Xiongzhou, because if it was delayed any longer, more soldiers might freeze to death.

Zhao Zicheng was also very generous. After receiving Tong Guan's promise, he immediately made arrangements for production and shipped the goods as soon as possible.

Normally, the goods should be delivered upon arrival of the official, but Zhao Zicheng, being generous and prioritizing the welfare of his soldiers, trusted Grand Commandant Tong's reputation and decided to deliver them upon arrival.

Thus, as the wheels of history turned to the first month of the fifth year of the Xuanhe era, the cotton-padded coats that Zhao Zicheng had ordered to be reissued to the Hebei army began to arrive one after another.

Meanwhile, Tong Guan's memorial to Zhao Zicheng, which presented Zhao Zicheng with various elaborate and multifaceted praises, finally reached Bianliang, the capital of Tokyo. Tong Guan also utilized several different channels to ensure that the memorial was made as realistic as possible.

Emperor Zhao Ji finally learned how much his distant nephew had accomplished in the second half of the year.

……

"Zhao Zicheng actually seized Tamna Island from the Goryeo people? Where is Tamna Island? And the Goryeo people didn't even negotiate with our Great Song Dynasty, they just accepted it like that?"

When Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) saw the memorial regarding Zhao Zicheng's "military merit certification," his first reaction was genuine surprise.

Clearly, this "military merit certification" lacks solid, irrefutable evidence, or rather, the chain of evidence is incomplete.

However, the Privy Council and the Ministry of War, which were controlled by Tong Guan, were willing to acknowledge this account, or rather, they were willing to exaggerate certain aspects of the battle results, such as the number of enemies captured and killed, while downplaying other aspects, such as the area and scope of territorial expansion, ultimately presenting the emperor with the image he saw.

Being deep within the palace, Zhao Ji had no way to verify anything and could only believe whatever Tong Guan showed him.

The Privy Council official in charge of reporting the victory also helped to explain from the side: "Your Majesty, although Tamna Island is the largest island in Goryeo, it is not the heartland of Goryeo. It is just an isolated island in the southwestern sea of ​​the country."

The remnants of the Liangshan bandits under Song Jiang, who had been severely defeated and driven out of Dengzhou and Laizhou by the imperial army last year, seized a ship and went to sea, wandering from place to place. Zhao Zicheng ordered his men to repeatedly patrol the coastal areas, sweep away the remaining bandits in places like Shamen Island, and interrogate prisoners, only to learn that Song Jiang's whereabouts were that he had crossed the sea and seized Tamna Island in Goryeo.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng dispatched troops across the sea to pursue and annihilate Song Jiang's remaining forces, seizing Tamna Island from Song Jiang, rather than directly from the Goryeo people. Furthermore, the Goryeo people had previously obstructed the Song Dynasty's alliance with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, thus betraying the Song Dynasty. Zhao Zicheng used this as an opportunity to argue with the Goryeo people on reason. Knowing they were in the wrong, the Goryeo people dared not argue further and accepted the island's right to belong to the Song Dynasty. However, Zhao Zicheng did not dare to act on his own, so he consulted the Privy Council. The Grand Councilor Tong also dared not act on his own, therefore requesting Your Majesty's decision on whether to return the Goryeo land…”

It turns out that, with Zhao Zicheng's design and Tong Guan's tacit approval, the military achievements of suppressing Song Jiang's remnants and occupying Goryeo territory, which were ultimately presented to the emperor, were embellished in this way.

Zhao Zicheng dared not let the emperor know that he had taken advantage of Goryeo's weakness and directly destroyed the country within a few months; that would be too outrageous. Therefore, after much deliberation, he only said that he had occupied Tamna Island.

Anyway, the emperor didn't know how big Tamna Island was, so Zhao Zicheng had the final say in the description, as long as Tong Guan was willing to cooperate with him and admit it.

At the same time, Zhao Zicheng also knew that his emperor uncle did not care about how much land he had expanded into remote areas, but rather about saving face on diplomatic fronts.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng forged a letter of surrender from the Goryeo people, stating that Goryeo was completely convinced of everything. He claimed that Goryeo had failed to manage certain remote territories, which were then occupied by Song Jiang, leading Song Jiang to use this as a pretext to harass the Song Dynasty's coastal areas. Therefore, he concluded that it was a great success for the Song Dynasty's heavenly army to cross the sea and eliminate the pirate den.

The land of the pirate den should rightfully be given to the Song Dynasty. Goryeo should also thank the Song Dynasty for helping to maintain maritime order in the entire East China Sea and Yellow Sea region, allowing Goryeo merchants to resume normal maritime trade. The entire Goryeo Kingdom is grateful for the Song Dynasty's great virtue.

Of course, this letter of state was written by Wang Kai, who was already a puppet ruler. After it was written, Zhao Zicheng reviewed it and used the Goryeo royal seal on Wang Kai's behalf. As for that seal, it was also seized by Zhao Zicheng after he killed Yi Ziqian. There is no doubt that the current Goryeo king is merely a rubber stamp in Zhao Zicheng's hands.

After reviewing the document, Emperor Huizong was indeed quite satisfied. He didn't care about the size of the territory he expanded; as long as there was expansion, that was enough.

On the basis of expanding territory, if we can also make foreign countries submit willingly, and even after being beaten by the Song Dynasty, they will still cover their faces and kowtow to the Song Dynasty in submission, that would be even more inspiring.

For a moment, Zhao Ji felt as if he were floating on air. The temporary setback in the offensive on the Hebei front didn't seem so hard to accept. Up until now, Zhao Ji was still unaware that Tong Guan had suffered two crushing defeats and lost 100,000 soldiers. The news he heard was still that "Tong Guan is still fighting fiercely with the Liao people on the front."

As long as Tong Guan stays in the Baoding-Xiongzhou line and doesn't retreat, he can cover up the truth and make the emperor believe that the fighting is still going on at the front.

"This Zhao Zicheng is truly the most capable minister among the imperial family. Our Zhao family has many outstanding talents. Goryeo, that tiny little country, has finally realized the times and understands that the order of the world depends on our Great Song. These barbarians have finally seen the light! Hahahahahaha..."

The more Zhao Ji thought about it, the happier he became. He no longer cared about his imperial dignity and finally burst into unrestrained laughter.

The officials of the Privy Council, seizing the opportunity, followed Tong Guan's instructions to speak well of Zhao Zicheng: "Zhao Zicheng of Laizhou has other meritorious service in assisting the army, greatly benefiting Tong Guan. Zhao Zicheng gathered skilled craftsmen from Dengzhou and Laizhou, pooling their wisdom to create 'cotton-padded jackets,' and improved weaving techniques to produce more cotton cloth. Despite the barrenness of Dengzhou and Laizhou, he supplied cotton-padded jackets to tens of thousands of soldiers on the front lines..."

The official making the report briefly mentioned the previous logistical difficulties. Because the army was not prepared to fight into winter, there were too few winter coats prepared for the Hebei front. It was unaffordable for the soldiers to wear sheepskin coats, as the Song Dynasty lacked animal husbandry and had not enough sheepskins to make coats. They could only stuff straw and reeds into their tattered clothes to barely keep warm.

With cotton-padded coats, the warmth was far superior to that of straw or reeds. Soldiers who received cotton-padded coats were at least no longer likely to freeze to death.

Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) was completely unaware of the hardships faced by the army and never even considered such a trivial matter. Previously, Zhao Zicheng's achievements in domestic affairs were normally reported through the channels of the Secretariat. As long as Cai Jing's people felt that the matter was insignificant and did not need to be known by the emperor, it could be suppressed and not mentioned.

Now, they switched to reporting military achievements through Tong Guan's channel, sending the reports directly to the emperor, which finally surprised Zhao Ji once again.

It turns out this nephew is quite adept at domestic affairs and construction. Even more remarkable is his previous skill in diplomacy; after seizing Goryeo's land, he managed to persuade them to submit and acknowledge the majesty of the Song Dynasty.

Isn't that so inspiring?
Thinking of all this, Zhao Ji was so happy he was practically scratching his head.

"How should we reward him? After all, he's a member of the imperial family, so we absolutely cannot allow him to gain more military power or control more prefectures. But given his repeated merits, his rank and title should definitely be promoted. As for his official duties..."

"Hey, why not give him some duties involving negotiations with foreign barbarians? Those tasks are prestigious and require officials of higher rank and title to uphold the dignity of our Great Song Dynasty. Such duties wouldn't increase his power..."

After much deliberation, Zhao Ji found his plan to be absolutely perfect.

Throughout history, diplomacy has been a prestigious and respectable profession, but one with limited actual political power. In later European countries, diplomacy was primarily conducted by princes and nobles, but this kind of work prevented them from cultivating local civil service circles or gaining access to military power.

While ancient China lacked the diplomatic traditions of the West, it was relatively common for dignitaries to represent the nation during negotiations. Who would be qualified to represent the country if they were of lower status?
Most importantly, although Tong Guan did not tell Zhao Ji about the complete defeat at the front, Zhao Ji knew more or less that "the war against Liao was not going well, so Tong Guan finally relied on his ally Jin State to help him tie down a portion of the enemy. Some peripheral areas in the lost territory of Yan and Yun have already been captured by the Jin State's army."

Tong Guan dared not completely conceal this fact, because the Jin state did indeed control a portion of the Liao state's Nanjing Circuit. If he did not inform the emperor at all, how could he send envoys to negotiate with the Jin state to reclaim the land? And what excuse could he use to redeem the land from the Jin state?

Therefore, Tong Guan definitely wanted Zhao Ji to know a small part of the truth, but he dared not let Zhao Ji know the core point that "even Yanjing had been captured by the Jin Kingdom." Zhao Ji still thought that only some unimportant outer cities had been captured by the Jin Kingdom, and that they could be bought back with a little money.

When it came time to actually pay, Tong Guan could find another way to embezzle funds and submit false accounts. For example, if the court only approved a small portion of the money, Tong Guan could then smuggle some out of the military funds to make up the balance for the Jin state, thus covering up the matter.

Because Zhao Ji was unaware of the true situation on the front lines, he thought that by negotiating and arguing with reason, he could get more benefits and pay less money. He also thought that Zhao Zicheng had occupied Tamna Island in Goryeo and managed to convince Goryeo. He thought that this guy must have strong eloquence and negotiation skills and be able to subdue foreign barbarians. Wouldn't it be a waste of talent not to let such a person go to negotiate?
Emperor Huizong of Zhao, who thought his plan was brilliant, once he had sorted out his thoughts, summoned his trusted minister Wang Fu and asked Wang Fu to discuss a plan for promotion and reward based on this idea.

Wang Fu remained relatively neutral towards Zhao Zicheng, neither supporting nor opposing him. Since the emperor was pleased and asked him to do it, he did so quickly and even provided several alternative plans for the emperor to choose from.

Emperor Huizong reviewed them all and selected the one he felt was the most reasonable:
Zhao Zicheng's local official duties and assignments in Dengzhou and Laizhou remained unchanged. At the same time, Zhao Zicheng was given an additional temporary assignment as the Coastal Defense Observer, an assignment that did not exist in history. His duties were to control the Pinghai Army in Shandong and the Zhenhai Army in Liangzhe, to coordinate the coastal defense of the entire East China Sea/Yellow Sea, and to suppress pirates.

In this way, Zhao Zicheng not only managed Hu Yanqing, the Pinghai Army who was already under his control, but also brought back his old subordinates Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, and Lu Da from his time in Liangzhe. However, Emperor Zhao Ji was not too worried about this, because Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, and Lu Da could not leave their posts without permission and still had to maintain order along the Liangzhe coast. They could not be transferred across the border by Zhao Zicheng to do private work elsewhere.

This era did not require attention to coastal defense. Even if the entire navy of the Song Dynasty were rightfully given to Zhao Zicheng, it would not cause any trouble. This was merely a gesture by the emperor to show his trust and bestow favor upon the civil officials.

In addition to this symbolic assignment, Zhao Ji also gave Zhao Zicheng an additional task: to assist Tong Guan in subsequent negotiations with the Jin Dynasty. This included paying to redeem the Liao prefectures that had been agreed to belong to the Song Dynasty under the Treaty of the Sea but were later captured by the Jin army.

Of course, this only means that Zhao Ji was mentally prepared to pay for the redemption; it doesn't mean that the final negotiated solution would necessarily involve spending money. If Zhao Zicheng had the ability to reason with the Jin people and persuade them to return the Song territory without paying, that would be even better and more respectable, a truly great achievement.

However, such a thing is too incredible, and it's obvious that it's impossible.

This was definitely a hot potato, a thankless task. If money was given to the Jin Dynasty, it would easily be seen as treason by later generations—the lessons of the past were not far off. When the Song and Liao Dynasties signed the Treaty of Chanyuan, Cao Yong gave the Liao Dynasty 300,000 taels of silver annually, which was criticized by later historians for a long time.

But Zhao Ji didn't care about any of that. He acted on a whim, and if he felt that his nephew was suitable for taking on responsibilities, he would give him even more.

Anyway, if this kind of thing is done well, it's impossible to form cliques or cultivate a private faction within the military, so there's nothing to be afraid of.

Of course, if you assign someone a task, you also have to offer them benefits. Zhao Zicheng's official rank and title can be promoted.

Most importantly, the title of nobility has changed. Zhao Zicheng was already the Duke of the Founding State before, but this time the word "Founding State" was removed, and he became a proper Duke of the Founding State.

(Note: In reality, when Zhao Zicheng's subordinates flattered him, they already referred to him directly as "Duke Xiu." Strictly speaking, even after Zhao Zicheng's promotion this time, he still needs to be promoted one more rank to be rightfully called Duke Xiu. His subordinates' flattery, using a rank two above his own, is invalid. Therefore, in the next few years, even if Zhao Zicheng's title rises further, his subordinates' way of addressing him will not change, unless he is enfeoffed as a king someday.)
Regarding his official rank, Zhao Zicheng had previously been promoted to the fifth-rank Zhongdafu. Since he was being relied upon to participate in diplomatic negotiations, his rank naturally needed to be higher, so he was directly promoted to the fourth-rank Tongyi Dafu.

Zhao Zicheng's latest full-time titles are Prefect of Dengzhou and Laizhou, Coastal Defense Inspector, Grand Master of Ceremonies, and Duke of Xiuzhou.

The envoy sent by Zhao Ji quickly arrived in Laizhou with the imperial edict and delivered it to Zhao Zicheng.

(End of this chapter)