Chapter 508 Self-deprecation
The best way is to give up the results of this battle. The Liao Kingdom suffered a great loss and needed to recuperate. It would not counterattack the Song Dynasty in a short period of time.
But Zhao Xing was very unwilling to accept this. After so much manpower and material resources, he naturally did not want to return the territory he had captured.
I can only expect the British Duke to succeed in this plan.
As long as the British Duke succeeds in planning and can greatly weaken the strength of the Liao Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom will be unable to regain the lost territory.
If this fails, Zhao Xing can only take all the people away as much as possible.
Plundering the population can not only weaken the Liao Kingdom's economy, but also reduce the Liao Kingdom's troops.
It is more troublesome to place it. It cannot create taxes for the Song Dynasty in a short period of time, and the court has to pay it over.
This method is a difficult solution.
The best way is to save the territory you have captured.
All this depends on whether the Duke of England's plan can be successful.
Zhao Xing did not place his hope entirely on the Duke of England, and summoned a group of ministers to discuss how to resettle the people if they were moved.
As the saying goes, if you are prepared, the British Duke cannot make plans, and discussing in advance can also reduce the time.
If it is done, nothing will be lost.
But the British Duke did not disappoint him. Late at night that night, Zhao Xing had just fallen asleep when the British Duke's good news came.
In the good news, the British Duke roughly talked about the process. He used gunpowder to disturb the cavalry sent by the Liao Kingdom.
At that time, the sky was already slightly bright, and the British Duke sent cavalry to chase after the Liao army while it was fleeing in chaos.
The results of the pursuit were not great, but it gave the Liao soldiers no time to control the war horses, extending the time when the war horses panic.
The British Duke did not have time to count the results of this battle in detail, but just a rough estimate of the more than 100,000 Liao cavalry that launched the raid should have lost most of this time.
There were not many soldiers in Liao Kingdom who fell off the war horse and trampled on it, causing only tens of thousands of casualties.
The reason why most of the casualties refer to war horses.
The war horses were extremely frightened and ran around in a panic, many of them injured their horse's hooves.
Some war horses were even out of their courage and ran until they died of exhaustion.
If the cavalry loses its horse, it is equivalent to half of it being abandoned.
After all, they are training for a long time, and they must use all their abilities immediately.
Without the war horses, the combat power is greatly reduced, and even the steps are not as good as the footsteps.
Taking these people as footwork is actually no different from letting them die.
The Liao Kingdom was reluctant to let go. Even if the Liao Kingdom had many horses, the losses this time made the Liao Kingdom very painful.
Next, even if the war horses are transferred, plus soldiers and war horses, it will take time to train and run in.
Although cavalry has riding skills, cavalry is not the same as usual riding horses.
Soldiers need training to form an army, and the same is true for war horses.
No matter how strong the horse is and how capable it can run, it cannot be considered a war horse without training.
In other words, although the British Duke's plan caused little casualties, it temporarily abolished 100,000 cavalrymen of the Liao Kingdom.
This time Yelu Yixin was seriously injured in his vitality and should be unable to launch a counterattack in a short period of time. Both sides are afraid that they will fall into a period of peace.
The British Duke's Good News finally mentioned that he originally wanted to launch a sneak attack while the troops in Xijing were empty.
But the guards of Xijing City were very cautious and did not succeed.
It's a pity in the words.
If the city of Xijing could be recaptured, even if the Liao army was not seriously injured, and the defense line was built with Xijing and Youzhou City, the Song Dynasty would have certain confidence in defending the territory it had captured.
If Xijing is not taken down, and when the Liao Kingdom recovers its vitality, war will still occur in the north in the future.
Zhao Xing didn't care about this. He only needed some time to quell the Central Plains rebellion. After the Central Plains returned to normal, even if the Liao Kingdom did not counterattack, he would accumulate strength and launch the Northern Expedition again.
However, Zhao Xing now has a headache to face.
The British Duke made great contributions in this Northern Expedition. The war had not ended before, and Zhao Xu could still drag the reward.
The next step is to take the defensive stance and will not take the initiative to attack in a short period of time.
As long as the Liao Kingdom is determined not to launch a counterattack for the time being, the war will come to an end.
Rewarding merits and practices is imperative.
The Duke of England is already a Duke of the State, and Zhao Xing's father-in-law, and he is almost rewarded.
Zhao Xing didn't know what to reward for a moment. After dawn the next day, he let Zhang Qingzhi and others circulate the good news, asking them to let go of the matter of moving the people and formulate a reward.
This time, Zhao Xing led the army in person, and Zhang Qingzhi and some Hanlin officials accompanied him.
The officials of the Hanlin Academy are equivalent to the emperor's secretary. It is their duty to draw an edict for Zhao Xing and handle some trivial matters of government affairs.
When Zhao Xing asked them to draft rewards, Zhang Qingzhi didn't think much about it, but other officials couldn't help but think about the profound meaning.
It is said that the rewards from generals in the army should not be formulated by them.
Zeng Gongliang is the Privy Councilor. This is his duty and is now on the front line.
And the reward should be formulated after the British Duke, the commander of the British, requested the merits, and formulated according to the size of the merits.
But now that the Duke of England has not yet asked for the merits, the officials asked them to formulate rewards, which is thought-provoking.
For the officials of the Hanlin Academy, they assist the officials in handling government affairs, and in some matters, they also have to provide advice for the officials.
Therefore, it is necessary for them to figure out the minds of the officials.
These people are all human beings, and it was soon speculated that Zhao Xing didn't know how to reward the British Duke.
A Hanlin official's eyes flashed slightly and he bent and said, "Your Majesty, I have the right to report!"
"Authentication!"
Zhao Xing recognized the report. Ren is the second best student in the same subject as Sheng Changbai, named Hu Xin.
After this person was named to the Hanlin Academy, he was admitted to the Hanlin Academy. He is now an editor in the Hanlin Academy, responsible for drafting edicts and handling some confidential pills.
Hu Xin said: "I have heard before that whenever the Duke of England captured the city, some wealthy families in the city would give generous gifts. The Duke of England would refuse everyone and accept them all."
Although the rich families in those cities followed the escaped Liao army, the only ones who escaped were the top rich families in the city.
The more ordinary ones did not escape.
"Be serious?" Zhao Xing frowned slightly, "Why didn't you report before?"
"Reply to Your Majesty, I only heard of it at the beginning, worried that it was the counter-espionage plan of Liao Kingdom. I deliberately released the news and slandered the British Duke and dared not speak nonsense. I also sent someone to investigate and confirmed that this matter was true yesterday." Hu Xin Said.
Zhao Xing looked at Hu Xin deeply. It was not so coincidental. Hu Xin mistakenly thought that he asked them to formulate a reward, which was a headache for the reward to the Duke of England.
At this time, Zhao Xing could have made a contribution to the impeachment of the British Duke.
But Zhao Xing had no such intention at all. He was indeed a little worried about the reward of the British Duke.
But he did not want to use some methods to not reward the Duke of England.
The reason why these people were asked to formulate rewards was because he really didn't know how to reward them.
With the contribution of the Duke of England, if only some money is rewarded, it will definitely be less.
But the title will be promoted to the king again. Since Liu Bang made a White Horse Alliance in the early Han Dynasty, he would not be granted a king unless he was a surname Liu. Although there were no explicit regulations in the subsequent dynasties, foreign surnames could not be granted a king, it has become a secret rule.
Generally speaking, if a foreign surname is granted a title, unless it is posthumously enfeoffed after death, it means that it is extremely powerful and has to be granted.
The person who was conferred a title of king also became a thorn in the emperor's eyes.
To be honest, Zhao Xing is not actually resistant to the title of king. The titles of the Song Dynasty were only titles and salaries, and there were no fiefs and soldiers.
Even if you are crowned as king, it will sound good and it will not have much practical significance.
But being a king itself is a taboo. Even if the emperor doesn't care, the Supreme Emperor and the civil and military officials of the court will not agree.
If Zhao Xing forcibly became king, all the civil and military officials of the court would target the British Duke.
He asked these people to formulate rewards, but hoped that these people could come up with rewards that were consistent with the contributions of the British Duke and did not violate taboos.
Hu Xinhui had a wrong intention and actually impeached the Duke of England, which shows that this person's intentions were not right.
But Zhao Xing really didn't hear about this. Since Hu Xin dared to say it, it must be true.
The British Duke didn't even get empty salary in the army. Will he make a big profit when his official army commanded the army?
Zhao Xing's first thought was that the British Duke was defaming himself.
Self-deprecation is the most popular method of self-protection used by ancient military generals.
The famous generals in ancient times almost all of them were self-deprecating.
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When Wang Jian led his troops to destroy Chu, he wrote letters to Ying Zheng many times to ask for money from the house.
This is self-deprecation.
There is also a famous general of the Warring States Period, Wu Qi, who also defamed himself.
The so-called self-deprecation is to damage one's reputation.
A military general with a good reputation and noble morality, and with great contributions, is very popular and will naturally be afraid of the king.
But even if a general with a bad reputation makes a lot of money, the king will be much less afraid.
The most important thing is that they gave the king a handle by themselves through self-deprecating methods.
In the eyes of the king, you can clean up whenever you want, and you don’t have to worry about affecting your reputation.
In addition, the other party does not love power, so there is no need to bear the infamy and deal with the heroes.
Among the emperors who killed meritorious officials, Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang were representative figures.
But in fact, although the two of them killed military generals, the generals themselves also had flaws.
Li Shimin did not kill the meritorious officials, but few people know that the reason why Li Shimin did not kill was not that he was broad-minded, but that his meritorious officials were smart enough.
Like Changsun Wuji, after Li Shimin ascended the throne, he was rewarded and promoted many times.
History books also record that Empress Changsun personally persuaded Li Shimin not to give too much reward to relatives.
Li Shimin refused to listen, and Empress Changsun went to persuade Changsun Wuji again. Later, Changsun Wuji resigned many times, and with Empress Changsun's persuasion, Changsun Wuji resigned from the position.
At first glance, Li Shimin trusted Changsun Wuji, Empress Changsun knew the general, and Changsun Wuji knew how to advance and retreat.
But in fact, if Li Shimin really wants Changsun Wuji to take on important positions, there is no need to be promoted in succession.
You should know that Li Shimin first appointed him as Minister of Personnel and Duke of Qi, and was promoted to prime minister in the same year.
Li Shimin could have made him serve as the Minister of Personnel for several years or directly granted the title of Prime Minister.
It can be said that Li Shimin did this in itself to make him voluntarily resign.
This can be seen from the consent of Li Shimin, the enthronement of Changsun Wuji.
Li Shimin agreed to Changsun Wuji's resignation as prime minister and renamed him the Kaifu Yitong Sansi.
Note that this place is only appointing the three departments of Kaifu Yitong and there are no specific official positions.
Li Shimin really wanted to use Changsun Wuji, so he could completely retain his original position as the Minister of Personnel.
But Li Shimin did not, and only appointed a Kaifu Yitong Sansi, who had no specific official position.
What does it mean to open the official and recruit staff? It means to allow ministers to open the official and recruit staff.
After Li Shimin's reign, Changsun Wuji served as Sikong and the Prince's Tutor, but never held a real position in the court.
The Tang Dynasty implemented the three provinces and six ministries. The three ministers only had a high nominal status and had no real power at all. The chief officials of the three provinces were the prime minister.
It was not until the year before Li Shimin's death that Changsun Wuji truly served as prime minister.
Li Shimin did this for the purpose of Changsun Wuji to assist Li Zhi after his death.
To put it bluntly, it is Changsun Wuji's years of honesty that made Li Shimin truly trust him.
In addition to Changsun Wuji, there is also Li Jing. As a military general, Li Jing was promoted to the position of Shangshu Pushe, who is the prime minister after destroying DTZ.
A military general was promoted to prime minister and he knew at a glance that there was no reward.
Li Jing was also smart. He almost kept his house from home on the grounds of his old illness and did not contact the civil and military officials of the court.
Later, when Li Shimin was in need, Li Jing's old illness would be temporarily cured for a while. After the war, the old illness would recur again.
Let me ask, who is willing to kill such a sensible minister?
So whether the emperor kills the meritorious officials actually depends on whether the ministers are smart enough and whether they can reassure the emperor.
Zhao Xing did not expect that the British Duke would choose to be self-deprecating.
But he only knew about this matter now.
Do you dare not say it, or do you want to wait for the British Duke to get more before exposing it?
It is possible that both are also available?
Zhao Xing shook his head and said, "I will ask someone to investigate this matter."
…………
After the British Duke led the army back to the city, he arranged defense and led a team of cavalry and Zeng Gongliang to Bazhou City.
Now the Liao Kingdom has suffered a great loss and is unable to launch a counterattack in a short period of time.
He naturally had to meet Zhao Xing, report the situation of the war in person, and ask about his next plan.
Although the plan was successful, the British Duke was not at all happy.
Because he received benefits and wanted to be self-deprecating, he did not achieve the expected results.
Now that he has made great contributions, the Chinese ministers of the court will definitely target him next.
He is so old that he is not worried about himself, what he is worried about is affecting his daughter.
"Old Duke, you don't need to do this."
Teng Gongliang saw that the British Duke was full of worries and guessed his concerns, and said with some advice: "Your Majesty and past dynasties." The officials are different."
"Thank you, Privy Councilor Zeng." The British Duke shook his head and said, "I'm wondering if the Liao Kingdom will counterattack next."
When Zeng Dukeliang heard this, he didn't say much.
This kind of thing is more sensitive and is not suitable for chatting more.
……………
"Your Majesty, Empress Xiao is gone!"
Sanshui hurried into the house with a look of expression, and said hurriedly. "What?" Zhao Xing was shocked when he heard this, and all the books in his hand fell.
He didn't care about the fallen books and said with a ugly face: "Why are people missing? What about the guard?"
"Return to Your Majesty, I found it in the courtyard where Empress Dowager Xiao lives. A secret passage. The servants who were serving in the courtyard were tied up. The guards outside saw that no one came out this morning and did not respond to the call behind the door, so they sent people in to check it out. "
(This chapter ends)