diskusbooks Chapter 85 The Xihe Road Problem
Chapter 85 The Xihe Road Problem
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty
At this moment, Bao Zheng, who was serving as an official in a remote area, heard about his "widespread fame" and felt as if a breath was blocked in his chest.
While it's good to be remembered for a thousand years, no one has told me how this reputation ended up like this!?
I have absolutely not offended His Majesty as Miss Lin claims!
Those civil officials were really good at arguing!
……
"In the first month of the second year of the Yuan You era, the factions of Liu Zhi, Su Shi, and Cheng Yi were locked in a fierce power struggle, which eventually affected Wen Yanbo, the court's mascot who was over ninety years old."
"Although Wen Yanbo is merely a figurehead—after all, he's ninety years old—he does have his own ideas about the Yuanyou Dynasty's national policies."
"He felt that the abolition of the new law was happening too quickly, and he knew he didn't have much real power, but his prestige during Emperor Renzong's reign still put some pressure on the officials present."
"Especially the civil officials, led by Liu Zhi, treated Wen Yanbo differently than before. When the Song-Xia peace treaty was reached, this gave those censors an opportunity to impeach Wen Yanbo."
A spoiled young master from the Song Dynasty: This guy is practically the ancestor of all these officials!
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: After all, he's over ninety!
"During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, the Song Dynasty launched wars against the Western Xia and the Tibetan Empire for many years, which allowed the Song Dynasty to expand its territory considerably."
"This can be summarized in two main aspects. The first is the conquest of the two thousand li of land belonging to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, namely the Xihe Road established during the Xining era. The second is the territory of the Western Xia established during the five-pronged attack on the Xia, namely Lanzhou and Dingxi cities along the Xihe Road, as well as several mountain strongholds in the Hengshan area and the Shaanxi region."
"Wen Yanbo's position on this matter was the same as that of Sima Guang, Liu Zhi, and Su Zhe, among other ministers; they all advocated returning all the conquered Western Xia territory to Western Xia."
A peasant from the Ming Dynasty: ? ? ? What? Why do we have to return it!?
A soldier from the Tang Dynasty: I felt instantly energized!
A young internet user from the Song Dynasty: My low blood pressure will be cured instantly! It will even increase my height!
……
"There are two reasons for this. First, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong, there were indeed many wars that lasted a long time. The five-pronged attack on the Western Xia involved a million people, not to mention other wars with hundreds of thousands of troops involved. In particular, the areas near Shaanxi and Hedong, close to the Western Xia front, mobilized a large number of laborers, causing widespread suffering among the people."
"As for places like Xihe Road, they have little economic value. Keeping them around would not only deplete the nation's strength but also easily trigger new wars."
"The second point is that with a new emperor on the throne, the court needs to stabilize domestic affairs and doesn't have much time to fight with Western Xia. It's better to return these useless territories and maintain relations between the two countries."
"These two reasons really make me laugh in anger. Do you really think that if you return the land, the Western Xia will stop attacking you?!"
"Perhaps they still think you're easy to bully, but even putting that aside, those soldiers who died in these wars also had families. Have any of the officials present, regardless of whether they are from the old or new parties, considered these people?"
Liu Zhuzhu (Big Han): We spent so much of the nation's resources and manpower to conquer this place, and you just send it back to them?!
Emperor Qin Shi Huang: I never imagined that such thoughts would still exist more than a thousand years later? Am I just outdated?!
A scion of a prominent family in the Tang Dynasty: Perhaps the Western Xia should thank these censors!
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: What the hell did you come up with?!
……
"Only at this point can we tell from their statements whether they have crossed the border."
"Take Fan Chun, for example. He led troops in Shaanxi for a long time and not only knew the situation of the people but also understood the border situation. Although he agreed with the Song Dynasty's peace negotiations with Western Xia, he did not agree to unconditionally give the land to Western Xia."
Among the ministers of the Yuan You era, only Lü Dafang firmly opposed the return of the land. However, due to his lack of power and influence, he could not win the argument against the group of censors. Until July of the first year of the Yuan You era, the Vice Chancellor Lü Gongzhe ultimately rejected the bizarre suggestion to return Xihe Road.
"The Song Dynasty proposed returning the four mountain strongholds to the Western Xia in peace talks, but the negotiations between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia were likely unsuccessful and continued until the fourth year of the Yuan You era."
"It was only when the Western Xia attacked a Song dynasty prefecture that they realized the truth and restarted the Song-Xia war."
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: So you've finally woken up, huh!
A romantic scholar from the Tang Dynasty: In the end, we still have to fight. What was the point of all that trouble before?!
A Ming Dynasty soldier: Did you lose your mind earlier?!
……
"So what does this have to do with impeaching Wen Yanbo?"
"This brings us to a civil official—Zhang Shunmin. Although he opposed Emperor Shenzong's expansionist policies back then, he did indeed go to the border and genuinely followed the army, participating in the Song-Xia War."
"Therefore, he felt it was wrong to simply abandon the territory that the army had worked so hard to conquer, and he couldn't stand Wen Yanbo's actions in returning the land, so he impeached him."
"However, the high-ranking officials believed that there was no evidence against Zhang Shunmin and that he should be dismissed."
"As soon as the punishment was announced, the censors were in an uproar. Liu Zhi and others who had previously supported abandoning the border submitted memorials, feeling that the punishment was too harsh."
"Just then, as the censors were making their impassioned assault, they discovered that two members of the censorate hadn't followed. They were furious—were they traitors?!"
These two were Lü Tao and Shangguan Jun. In fact, Lü Tao had already fallen out with them when they impeached Su Shi, and now he didn't want to get involved in their mess.
Optimistic Su Dongpo: Good brother!
A Ming Dynasty soldier: Actually, I don't think Zhang Shunmin did anything particularly wrong!