manynovel Chapter 1105: Zhao'an General Peng Sun (Part 2)
Chapter 1105: Zhao'an General Peng Sun (Part 2)
Chapter 1105: Zhao'an General Peng Sun (Second Update)
All the generals could hear that Shen Kuo's move was a stupid one and many of them opposed it.
Liu Changzuo said: "Why not wait for the army of Huanqing Road to gather and send troops to support Mingsha City."
Shen Kuo shook his head and said, "Envoy Yu said that Xixia troops have appeared in Qingzhou and Huanzhou. If we send troops to rescue them, once Qingzhou and Huanzhou are lost, the gate will be wide open."
After Liu Changzuo finished speaking, the generals were still reluctant.
Only the judge of transportation, Fan Chuncui, agreed.
Fan Chuncui was the fourth son of Fan Zhongyan. He had been in Shaanxi for a long time and saw the decline of the people and the suffering of the common people. When he heard Shen Kuo's words of peace talks, he said, "I think it is feasible to give up the land and return the troops. In recent years, our dynasty has been fighting with the Xia for land. As long as I am willing to give up the land, the border gap will never be eliminated."
"I think that Jialu and Wubao in Hedong, Mizhi, Xihe and Futu in Fuyan, and Anjiang in Huanqing are all deep in the Xia territory, and they are of little benefit to the Han territory. And the newly acquired Lan, Hui, and Tiandu Mountain areas are even more vulnerable to the Western Xia army, so they must be abandoned."
Fan Chuncui and his elder brother Fan Chunren were both opposed to using military force against Western Xia and repeatedly asked the emperor to stop the war.
He believed that the emperor was determined to conquer Western Xia because he was bewitched by treacherous ministers such as Zhong Yan and Lu Huiqing, which was why he repeatedly resorted to military aggression. Otherwise, he would not have been so determined to conquer Xia despite the dissuasion of veteran ministers such as Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang.
Seeing the defeat in Fuyan Road, he became more determined to negotiate peace with Western Xia and end the war, so that the people of Shaanxi would be at peace and the two countries would stop fighting.
Fan Chuncui said, "This time, the battle of Fuyan Road was a disastrous defeat, and Generals Zhong Yan and Zhang Shouyue died for their country. I think Your Majesty will change his mind and listen to the advice of Minister Sima Gong, Duke Fu, Duke Wen and other ministers to negotiate peace with Xixia and stop the war. Otherwise, how is it different from Emperor Yang of Sui's three expeditions to Goguryeo?"
"And Mingsha City is an isolated city that is difficult to defend. We are outnumbered and have no food supply. We can only hold out for a few days at most. If our army rashly stays here, we will be powerless to resist if the Western bandits attack. The only option now is to negotiate peace!"
After Fan Chuncui finished speaking, no one uttered a word in the tent.
Border officials did not have the power to negotiate peace in private. Fan purely guessed that the emperor would ask for peace with Western Xia because of the defeat in Fuyan Road, so they sent envoys to negotiate peace with Western Xia in advance, so that at least Zhang Zhi and the Xihe Road soldiers who were guarding the rear could be rescued.
The price offered by Fan Chuncui was very realistic. The large piece of land he mentioned could be abandoned, such as Lanzhou and Tiandu Mountain, which were newly conquered this time.
This also includes the Pingxia City that Shen Kuo rushed to build this time.
All the generals were silent at that moment, and recommended the veteran general Peng Sun to be sent as an envoy to Western Xia.
Peng Sun was from Fujian and his identity was very special. He was a general who was recruited to the country.
That's right, Peng Sun was originally a bandit from Fujian. After being recruited by the imperial court, he became a member of the Song army. Because of this identity, he was always a disgrace to the literati.
Peng Sun was treated similarly to Song Jiang later on, being sent by the court wherever there was trouble, and being used as cannon fodder. However, Peng Sun was very lucky, turning danger into safety throughout his life, and making many extraordinary achievements.
Peng Sun was famous during the reigns of Emperor Renzong and Emperor Yingzong, but he became truly prominent in the fifth year of Xining when he followed Zhang Dun to pacify Meishan and also conquered Jiaozhi with Guo Kui. In these two battles, he made outstanding military achievements and was received by the emperor.
In the tenth year of Xining, he rode alone into the tiger's den in Nanjian Prefecture and persuaded Liao En, a local tyrant who had rebelled against the imperial court, to surrender.
In the first year of Yuanfeng, miner Zhan Yu rebelled and captured Yuezhou. It was Peng Sun who went to persuade him to surrender, and then designed to kill all of Zhan Yu and put down the rebellion.
During the Pingxia Campaign, Peng Sun, who enjoyed the government's trust, was sent to Jingyuan Road to lead the troops and be responsible for supervising the transportation of food and fodder.
As peace was being negotiated with Western Xia, it was natural for the veteran general Peng Sun to become the peace envoy.
Peng Sun took a lot of gold, silver and jewelry with him, and rode alone to Mingsha City to negotiate peace without any entourage. Halfway through his journey, Peng Sun was discovered by a Xixia ambush. He was told that he was an envoy from the Song Dynasty, so he was taken to meet Li Qing.
As a Han Chinese who surrendered to Xia, Li Qing was very polite to Peng Sun and said, "General Peng, you have come all the way here. From your accent, you don't seem to be from Shaanxi."
Peng Sun nodded with a simple and honest look on his face and said, "Yes, I came from Fujian Road."
"Guest general?"
Peng Sun said: "That's right. I want to see the ruler of your country!"
Li Qing laughed and said, "Don't worry. You are from Fujian Province, so you know how to take part in politics in your dynasty."
Peng Sun nodded and said, "Yes, yes, his Yuan Sui Peng Jingyi is my nephew, and I used to visit his house often."
"He is a man who can often come and go in Zhang's house. He is not an ordinary person. When I came to your court, I was entertained by Mr. Zhang. I am still grateful. To be honest, I have met many people, but no one can be compared with Mr. Zhang. It's a pity that such a good minister cannot be used by your lord. Isn't it a pity?"
Peng Sun said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang was ill, so he did not attend the court. This is known to everyone in the court and the public. The emperor thinks highly of Mr. Zhang."
Li Qing talked to Peng Sun for a few words, but didn't get any useful information. Then he said, "You are too low-ranking to negotiate. Please ask your Minister Shen Kuo to come in person."
"If Shen Kuo cannot go, Zhong Shidao can also do it."
Peng Sun said, "Emperor Shen is in charge of military affairs, and General Zhong is in charge of the army. They must not come. Besides, it takes several days to go back and forth from here to our army's base. If Mingsha City is captured first, all the credit will go to others, and you will have no credit at all."
Li Qing sneered: "Do you think you can provoke me with such words?"
Peng Sun laughed and said, "How dare I? Why should I leave it to the sword when it can be done with words? We Han people value courtesy and reciprocity the most."
After saying this, Peng Sun used his body to shield Li Qing and took out several strings of pearls from his arms and stuffed them into Li Qing's hand.
Seeing that the people outside the tent didn't notice, Li Qing put all the pearls into his sleeves and said, "In Xixia, I am the only Han Chinese who is easy to talk to. Tell Shen Kuo that as long as he returns Lanzhou and Huizhou and Mizhi Village, we will withdraw the siege from Mingsha City and send your Song army back to the country alive."
Peng Sun patted his chest and said, "That's easy to do. I'll just ask for a letter as proof."
Li Qing said proudly: "As for the peace talks, it is you Han people who are asking our ruler for help, so you should write the letter!"
Peng Sun said, "I understand. There is one more thing. Please return the bodies of Zhang Shouyue and other generals who died in this battle for the country."
Li Qing smiled contemptuously and said, "Of course."
Peng Sun set out for return overnight. Escorted by Xixia soldiers, he looked back at Mingsha City while riding on his horse.
Mingsha City, surrounded by the Western Xia, was like a lone boat in the ocean that could be knocked down by a wave.
The lonely lights on the top of the city walls represent the last stand of the Han soldiers against this distant territory.
Peng Sun recalled the time when he went to Zhang Mansion to pay a visit to Zhang Yue before he led his troops to Xihe Road.
Zhang Yue gave him a message: "Wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever the rivers flow, all of this is Han territory!"
Later, Peng Sun learned that this sentence came from the Dinghu Stele of Emperor Xuan of Han.
Zhang Yue used these words to encourage Peng Sun to expand the country's territory.
In fact, Peng Sun was not familiar with Zhang Yue, and was also a distant relative of Peng Jingyi, a relationship he had only forcibly established. But Peng Sun always kept this sentence in mind.
"Brothers, I, Peng Sun, must take you home!"
Thinking of this, Peng Sun whipped his horse and galloped back to the camp along the original route of Huluchuanjing at night to report to Shen Kuo.
……
Huanzhou.
The governor Yu Chong was sitting in the government office talking to the messenger sent by Shen Kuo.
"My husband, I beg Mr. Yu Jinglie to look upon our friendship over the years and send troops to rescue the troops in Jingyuan Road! Please save Mingsha City!"
Yu Chong sighed, "I am also powerless. Since the disastrous defeat at Fuyan Road, the morale of the troops along Huanqing Road has been extremely depressed."
"These days, the surrounding states have been taking in the defeated soldiers from the front line, and they all say that the defeat was horrible."
"Zhang Shouyue was originally the governor of Huanzhou. He was drafted to serve in the army of Fuyan Road but died in battle. Go out and listen. The soldiers in the city are all crying. How do you want me to send troops to rescue them?"
Shen Kuo's envoy pleaded with him again and again, with tears in his eyes, but Yu Chong turned a deaf ear to him and refused to send any soldiers to rescue him. He claimed that a cavalry unit of the Dangxiang people had appeared in the direction of Huanqing Road.
Even when the emperor ordered Yu Chong to send troops to support the troops in Jingyuan Road, Yu Chong ignored it and simply stationed his troops in Huanzhou.
This place was not far from Weizhou, the headquarters of the Jingsai Army of Western Xia, and the Huluchuan camp where Shen Kuo was stationed, but Yu Chong remained inactive.
Seeing that envoy Shen Kuo had fainted from crying while begging for help, Yu Chong ordered his men to carry him away to rest, while he himself went back to the back room to rest.
The maid served Yu Chong hot tea.
After all this trouble, Yu Chong also looked very tired.
The staff member at the side asked: "Why don't you send troops to rescue them? Although Zhang Jinglue killed Wang Zhongzheng, Wang Zhongzheng is dead after all. The Marshal should find another way out in the court."
Yu Chong sighed. He recalled that his career started when he and Wang Zhongzheng fought in the battle of Maozhou.
At that time, Yu Chong was the transport envoy of Chengdu Road. He and Wang Zhongzheng conquered the Maozhou barbarians and won a great victory. Afterwards, Yu Chong gave all the credit to Wang Zhongzheng.
Because of this, Yu Chong was appreciated by Wang Zhongzheng. Now that Wang Zhongzheng was killed by Zhang Zhi, he was naturally angry.
But that's just one reason.
Yu Chong strongly advocated the use of troops against Xixia and was appreciated by the emperor, and he also said a few bad things about Zhang Yue. Now that Fuyan Road was defeated, he was at a loss, fearing that he would be punished by the emperor.
Yu Chong was appointed as the governor of Huanqing Road on Wang Gui's recommendation. After the defeat in Fuyan Road, he made many overtures to Wang Gui, but Wang Gui seemed to have given up on him and did not respond to Yu Chong's letters.
In this situation, Yu Chong held the idea of not seeking to achieve anything meritorious, but only to avoid making mistakes.
Yu Chong said to his staff, "There are three kinds of things in the world. The first kind has merits but faults, so we should weigh them carefully. The second kind has merits but no faults, so we should do our best. The third kind has faults but no merits, so we should not do it."
"Sending troops to rescue Mingsha City is Jingyuan Road's business. Why should I interfere? Even if I rescued it, I would not get any credit."
"Besides, Mingsha City is a place of death. If Zhang Zhi wants to defend it to the death, he will only bring about his own destruction. Losing Mingsha City is a small matter, but Huanzhou and Qingzhou are the gateways of the country. What will happen if something goes wrong?"
"What's more, Mingsha City is under the personal command of Li Bingchang, the ruler of Xixia, who has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. Even if we send troops from Huanqing Road, we may not be able to rescue it. If we are ambushed by Xixia halfway through the border, the consequences will be disastrous."
"Li Yuanhao surrounded and attacked the reinforcements many times. This is the old trick of the Western bandits. We must be on guard!"
ps: In history, Renduoyading was the main general of Western Xia who captured Yongle City and massacred tens of thousands of Song soldiers.
Later, it was Peng Sun who killed Xixia's first famous general, Renduoyading, by taking the general's head from an army of 100,000.
But for a person like Peng Sun, not to mention outsiders, even few readers of this book have heard of him.
(End of this chapter)