01
There is a Waqiao Pass in Hebei (not far from Baiyangdian), although it no longer exists, but in the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was very lively, and the increasingly powerful Khitan continued to invade the south, and the area around Waqiao Pass often fought.
Later, the historical sinner Shi Jingyao borrowed troops from the Khitans, and after the destruction of Tang Jian, he ceded the northern barrier Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures to the Khitan according to the "loan contract", and Waqiao Pass was returned to the Khitans.
In the Later Zhou Dynasty, the brilliant Zhou Shizong Chai Rong used troops against the Khitan and in 959 recaptured Ying, Mo'erzhou, and Waqiaoguan in yanyun sixteen prefectures.
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to prevent the Khitans from invading the south, the imperial court stationed heavy troops at Waqiao Pass.
Afraid of what was coming, the Khitans still made trouble, and their excuse for sending troops to invade the Song dynasty was actually to "recover Waqiao Pass."
According to the Political History of The Song and Liao Dynasties, the Khitans went south in 1004 (the first year of The Reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song), led not only by Emperor Yelü Longxu of liao, but also by Empress Xiao, the actual ruler of the Liao state.
The Liao army attacked fiercely, the momentum was like a broken bamboo, the Song army was defeated and retreated, the famous Liao general Xiao Tao Rin broke several cities in a row, captured the Song general Wang Prophet and then attacked Dingzhou, and the Song Dynasty Yunzhou observation made Wang Jizhong also take prisoner.
Song Zhenzong was frightened to death, and his first reaction was to move the capital, to put it bluntly, he fled south, and there were many ministers who advocated moving the capital, some advocating moving the capital to Nanjing, and some advocating moving the capital to Chengdu.
Prime Minister Kou Zhun could not hear the word move the capital the most, he said to Song Zhenzong, you can do anything, that is, you can't move the capital, not only can't move the capital, your old man still has to drive the royal conquest, otherwise our Great Song will really be finished, this time the Khitan people are not good, it is clear that they want to destroy our rhythm.
Song Zhenzong had no choice but to drive the imperial conquest.
At the critical moment, the Song army that was holding on to The prefecture fired an arrow, and the morale of the Song army was greatly boosted, while the Liao army was just the opposite, and the morale was greatly reduced.
The person who shot that arrow was Zhang Zhen, the head of the Weihu army of the Song Army, and that arrow was fierce and accurate, directly hitting Xiao Tao's forehead, and he didn't even hum a sound, and fell off his horse and died.
As the king of Lanling County and the envoy of the Nanjing Unified Army, Xiao Taorin was a pillar-like figure in the Liao State, and the famous Song Dynasty general Yang Ye died of hunger strike for three days after being captured by him.
Such a figure overturned the ship in the gutter and was killed by an arrow from a young general of the Song Dynasty.
Empress Xiao cried bitterly and quit the dynasty for five days.
Shortly after Xiao Tao Rin was shot to death, Song Zhenzong arrived in Liaozhou.
Song Zhenzong's personal presence at the forefront greatly boosted the morale of the Song army, and the military and civilians from all over the country continued to march towards Liaozhou, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians were quickly concentrated near Liaozhou.
The morale of the Song army was so high, and the reinforcements arrived one after another, which gave Song Zhenzong a reassuring pill, and he let Kou Zhun stay in the northern city, take full authority over all the affairs of the prime minister, return to the southern city by himself, and sleep boldly with confidence.
At this time, Empress Xiao of the Liao State had a bit of a drum in her heart, although the progress of the army has been smooth, but because the battle line is too long, resulting in the army supply difficulties, if you can not fight a quick decision, into a protracted war, the consequences are unimaginable, deep into the hinterland of the Song Dynasty, the army, it is likely to eventually be wrapped dumplings, the hometown can not go back!
At the critical moment, the Song Dynasty general Wang Jizhong also played a role, taking the opportunity to persuade Empress Xiao to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty.
02
Empress Xiao's meaning was exactly in line with Song Zhenzong's wishes, he originally did not want to fight, he was forced by Kou Zhun and other generals of the main war faction, and now that the other side took the initiative to send people to seek peace, why not go down the slope of the donkey?
Although the situation seemed to be favorable to the Song Army, if they continued to fight, no one knew what would happen to the gods!
Therefore, Emperor Zhenzong of Song ignored Kou Zhun's bitter advice and the general Yang Yanzhao's letter that "annihilate the enemy and then take advantage of the victory to go north to recover Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures", and insisted on making peace with the Khitans.
Like Emperor Zhenzong of Song, many ministers in the DPRK were also afraid of the enemy like tigers, and in order to force Kou Zhun to change his ways, they even joined forces to slander Kou Zhun's support for self-respect, and Kou Zhun had to agree to negotiate peace.
Who to send an envoy to the Liao state is very nerve-wracking.
The most suitable candidate, of course, was Kou Zhun, who was both loyal and patriotic, and would certainly not easily let the Khitans take advantage of the negotiations.
However, Kou Zhun was the backbone of great Song, and Song Zhenzong did not allow him to make any mistakes.
Although the Khitans took the initiative to propose it, who can guarantee that they will not play catty, if they make the villain move against Kou, the consequences will be unimaginable!
Kou Zhun can't go, so it's always okay to send other ministers, it can be, the problem is that those who are afraid of death, don't say let them send envoys to the Khitans, that is, let them hear the three words of the Khitan people, their whole body trembles!
In the end, Song Zhenzong chose an unknown person named Cao Yong.
According to the History of the Song Dynasty, Cao Yu was a native of present-day Ningjin, Hebei.
His father's name was Cao Zhen (曹谏), and he was a small military attaché with liupin, but he was only a fictitious position and had no real power.
In contrast, Cao Yu was not as good as his father, and Cao Zhi had taken the Ming Jing.
After his father's death, Cao used Yiyin to make up for the small role of running errands, similar to the small role of running errands, and was later selected as a runner (in the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shaanxi Road was placed along the border of Yanyan Road through a slight pacification envoy, ruling Yanzhou, with jurisdiction corresponding to the north of present-day Yijun, Huanglong, Yichuan and other counties in Shaanxi, Wubao County and the south of Dali River and Baiyu Mountain), still a runner, responsible for reporting the situation to the emperor.
The only bright spot that Cao uses is that he is "less happy to talk and argue, generous and ambitious".
When Song Zhenzong was struggling to choose a messenger, Cao Yu just happened to report to the imperial court, and if the Privy Council met a savior - comrade Xiao Cao was not able to speak eloquently, and our Privy Council recommended him as a negotiator!
03
Comrade Xiao Cao was indeed too "humble", and Song Zhenzong thought that the Privy Council was joking.
Song Zhenzong said solemnly, such an important matter, how can you just take someone to count!
Unexpectedly, the next day, the Privy Councillor Wang Jiying recommended Cao to use: Believe me boss, although Comrade Xiao Cao is lowly and lowly, I understand him, and I will certainly not disappoint you, let people with higher positions go, and may not be able to handle things well.
It seems that the Privy Council really can't find a more suitable person.
Emperor Zhenzong of Song then appointed Cao Yu as the deputy envoy of Gemen Andi, and sent him to the Liao army to negotiate with the Khitans.
Song Zhenzong was not very reassured, and before the delegation set out, he repeatedly explained to Cao Yong:
The Khitans came to do things this time, but they wanted to achieve two purposes--one was for the land; the other was for the property.
Our bottom line is: property can be given, but the land is resolutely not given!
Cao Yu said: Please rest assured that the emperor will never let their attempt succeed, otherwise I will never come back alive!
After saying this, he set off and rushed to the Liao army.
Cao took advantage of the urgency, and Empress Xiao seemed to be even more anxious, and as soon as the first meal of the reception was eaten, she could not wait to propose: If you Great Song cede Guannan to us, we will immediately withdraw our troops.
Cao Yu said: I'm sorry, your request is really excessive, forgive me for not agreeing!
The first round of negotiations broke down.
Cao used to go back to his life.
The Liao state sent an official named Han Qi to accompany him to the Song Dynasty, and Cao took advantage of the situation and accepted the spirit of the new instructions before being ordered to come to the Liao state again.
Empress Xiao still said that she wanted the Song Dynasty to exchange land for peace.
In order to achieve this goal, Empress Xiao went so far as to say that the land of Guannan was originally from the Liao Kingdom, and that Hou Jin had given it to her in order to be grateful to her, but it had later fallen into the hands of Hou Zhou, and now it should be returned to its original owner.
As soon as Empress Xiao mentioned this past, Cao Yu was angry.
But anger cannot be generated, fire cannot be sent, and "Laipi" can still be played.
Cao Yu smiled and said: Later Jin gave you the land to Daliao, and Later Zhou took it back, these things may have really happened, but I'm sorry, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, so I'm sorry, this matter is not to be discussed!
Empress Xiao was choked up and straightened her eyes, and was trying to say something, Cao Yu continued: Don't talk about cutting the land, even if you want to get some property to replenish the military, you still don't know if our boss will agree to it, the matter of cutting the land is still an interview, I Cao Mou did not dare to report to the emperor at all!
04
Cao used this to make Empress Xiao even more unsure of what to do.
Empress Xiao had a nurturing and couldn't bear not to have a seizure, but her subordinates, Gao Zhengshi, the political minister, were provoked by Cao's words, and rushed to Cao's use and said: The surname Cao, to tell you the truth, we came this time, the purpose is for the land, if you only get some gold and silver to go back, how to account to the people?
After saying that, he pulled out his waist knife and wanted to cut Cao Yu, but Cao Yu was not afraid, and pointed at his neck, and came and slashed here!
Empress Xiao gave him a look, and Gao Zhengshi had no choice but to put away the waist knife sadly.
Cao took advantage of the laughter and slammed his smile on his face and said, how to explain to the Chinese people, that is your own business, but I advise you, first do not consider how to explain to the People, or first think about such a problem:
If you have to talk about land, you can give it to you for the time being, but from now on, we will be enemies between us, and the land that has been lost will be taken back by our Great Song Dynasty no matter what, and the two countries will no longer have peace, what good will it do to the country? What are the benefits for the Chinese people? Aren't you going to give an account to your countrymen? Giving them a peaceful life is the best explanation!
Empress Xiao and Gao Zheng looked at each other at first, not knowing what to say.
After a half silence, Empress Xiao said, "Let's stop here today and continue tomorrow."
That night, it is estimated that she and the relevant personnel spent a sleepless night, discussing and discussing, and unanimously agreed that it was impossible to bring the Song emissaries to their knees and ask for land, and it seemed that there was no way out.
The next day, Empress Xiao's attitude changed drastically, she no longer insisted on letting the Song Dynasty cede the land, the negotiations went smoothly, and it was not long before Cao Yu returned to China with an acceptable peace treaty.
Although he was a nameless man, Cao took advantage of his mission and successfully completed the task.
After the "Alliance of Liaoyuan", not only did the Song and Liao not have a major war break out for more than a hundred years, but there were still courtesies between the two countries, like relatives (envoys were attentive), famine occurred in the border areas of the Liao State, and the Song Dynasty would send people to help.
05
The disadvantage of the envoy is that the KPI given by the boss and the boss's boss is not the same.
Like what:
Zhenzong gave: Million Ke.
Kou Zhun: More than 300,000, chop you!
original:
The emperor was tired of the soldiers, and wanted to be restrained endlessly. Those who are allowed to be fortunate enough to take matters into their own hands are allowed to be a last resort. Emperor Cao used the Rujun Zhongzhong Coin to say, "All under one million can be allowed." The quasi-summoner used zhi qi and said: "Although there is an edict, Ru has promised not to exceed 300,000, more than 300,000, and I will cut Ru Yi." "Using the Zhi Army, the fruit was returned with an agreement of 300,000."
——See History of the Song Dynasty, Vol. 281, Biography of Kou Zhun
Classmate Cao, cheng also mouth, defeat also mouth.
After the alliance of Yuanyuan, Cao's classmates were promoted all the way, and finally the official Privy Councillor and Tong zhongshu menxia Pingzhangshi.
Cao uses his innate courage, but rarely passes, and is committed to cutting fluke villains.
The colleagues around them all resented each other, and even had a grudge with the empress.
On the way to being degraded for the last time, because of his disobedience to the eunuch's coercion, Cao, who had always been fierce, chose to hang himself.
But he was able to do his duty faithfully, never yielded, died without guilt, and everyone in the world said that he had been wronged.