The legitimacy of the Song Dynasty was morally derived from Chan Rang, but in fact it was a usurpation of the throne and an improper gain of the country, which led to the Song Dynasty's lack of martial virtue, and the Song Dynasty only formally unified China. Compared with the Qin, Han, Ming and Qing dynasties, there is too much difference in force, when any dynasty has just begun, there is no one who does not obtain the highest power by virtue of an invincible army, and this army, including the supreme leader, from top to bottom, will be bright. The founding of the Song Dynasty originated from the usurpation of military generals, so the precautions against military generals were deeply rooted in the bone marrow, which also shows that the Song Dynasty could not be unified fundamentally. Compromise and peace became the foundation of the Song Dynasty.
In late March of the second year of the Great Song Dynasty Renzong Qingli, this year happened to be the 20th year of Emperor Renzong's reign, and Liu Liufu, the Xuanhui of the Great Liaoning Southern Yuan, came to Bianjing to present the letter of state in accordance with the edict of Yeluzong of Liaoxingzong, which seemed to be to congratulate Emperor Renzong on his accession to the throne for 20 years.
The content of Liu Liufu's credentials was mainly composed of three parts: first, he lodged a strong protest to the Great Song Dynasty and reprimanded the Great Song Dynasty for why it invaded the Western Xia, a vassal state of the Great Liao. Second, as friendly neighbors between Song and Liao, why did the Great Song Dynasty increase its military strength and military equipment in the border areas, and increase the tension between the two countries, and third, the Great Liao officially asked the Great Song Dynasty for the land of Guannan, which was the territory of the Great Liao occupied by Zhou Shizong of the previous dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty, as the successor, had the obligation to return it. Guannan is also Waqiao Pass, Yijin Pass, and Sikou Pass. Obviously, the first two points are just excuses, and the third point is the real purpose of the Liao envoy's trip. Liu Liufu thought that his questioning would cause Song Renzong to be surprised, but Song Renzong and even the Manchu Dynasty were calm and not surprised at all.
Such a letter of state is obviously the rhythm of the Great Liao to start a war against the Great Song Dynasty, you must know that at this time, it has been thirty-eight years since the Liao and Song Dynasty established the alliance of the Yuanyuan. Since the conclusion of the peace alliance, although the two countries have secretly competed countless times, they are quite passable on the whole, but why are they suddenly turning their faces now? In fact, the reversal of Daliao stems from the economic crisis within Daliao.
At that time, although the Liao State directly obtained 300,000 taels of silver through the alliance of the Yuanyuan, but this was limited to the Liao royal family and nobles, and the ordinary people did not get benefits, and moreover, the Great Song Dynasty could earn back the 300,000 taels of silver "year coins" through the trade between the two countries, and the Song Dynasty was in a position of trade surplus for a long time, which the Liao State did not expect anyway, with the loss of a large number of horses, the Liao State felt the crisis, as the only Liao State could "export foreign exchange" Even so, a large number of horses were "smuggled" to Liao, which not only strengthened the enemy country, but also caused a large loss of domestic tax revenue, in this case, the Liao State ordered a ban on the export of horses, but the effect was not obvious.
Therefore, before the Liao envoy Liu Liufu went to the Great Song Dynasty, the Liao State had a fierce debate on this, and at that time, the Liao Dynasty was divided into two factions. The main battle faction believes that now that the Song lord is unconscious, the country has no good generals, and he is at war with Western Xia, if he takes the opportunity to attack, he will definitely win. And the Lord and the faction feel that although the Great Song Dynasty is tired now, we ourselves are not good, most of the heroes who are good at fighting have died, and it is difficult to say whether they will win or lose the war against the Song Dynasty, and the consequences of defeat are unimaginable, and besides, the two countries are on good terms, so it is not appropriate to break the covenant. We can threaten to use force, but we can't actually fight. In this case, Liaoxing Zong Yelu Zong Zhen actively prepared for war on the one hand, and sent envoys to test on the other hand, that is, the threat of force, if the blackmail was successful, it would be the best.
But what the Liao State didn't expect was that such a confidential military meeting was actually leaked, and in the end of the Song Dynasty, the use of spies was an important part of the imperial border strategy. From the emperor, to the courtiers, to the border guards, they all attached great importance to the matter of espionage. This time, it is obvious that there is "Yu Zecheng" of the Song Dynasty in the Great Liao, and Liang Jishi, the Jinshi of Yizhou in the Liao Kingdom, is actually the "Yu Zecheng" of the Song Dynasty. Liang Jishi's downline, Wang Guo of Zhibaozhou and Du Weixu of Zhixiong Prefecture even bought a copy of Liu Liufu's national book, and the Liao envoy secretly dedicated it to the imperial court. The Song court was well aware of the movements of the Khitans, so they were well prepared to deal with the crisis.
After Liu Liufu entered the country, he was received at the border by Fu Bi, the same judge of Taichang Temple. Liu Liufu is the main peace faction, and he faintly feels that this trip is not going well.
deliberately said: "In the shelter of Tu Jiuhe, today's success is in vain." ”
Fu Bi replied: "The work of the Nine Men has been great, how can it be abandoned like a basket?"
Before handing over the credentials, Liu Liufu also leaked the contents of the credentials to Fu Bi in advance. However, what Liu Liufu didn't know was that the Song Dynasty had already begun to prepare for war.
Therefore, when Liu Liufu presented his credentials, the negotiations between the two countries were very difficult, and they did not give an inch, but Song Renzong did not want to fight, in this case, the prime minister Lu Yijian was not on good terms with Fu Bi, and took the opportunity to recommend Fu Bi to Renzong as an envoy to Liao. Ouyang Xiu went to the table of Emperor Renzong, saying that this was framing Fubi, and Fubi, who was not confused, stepped forward to accept the recommendation and generously went to the country. Renzong was deeply moved, and the bottom line he gave to Fubi was that he was not allowed to cede land, but he could marry or increase the annual coin.
Because of knowing the hole cards of the Liao State, coupled with the national strength of the Song Dynasty at that time, so Fu Bi's waist pole is very hard, in the face of the request to cut the land, Fu Bi did not give an inch, and replied: "If the Northern Dynasty wants to cut the land, this must be determined to defeat the alliance, if this is the name, the Southern Dynasty will never obey, and there is a Heng Ge to treat each other." The Liao State then chose to marry. Fu Bi said: "I will marry the eldest princess, and I will not give more than 100,000 yuan." As a result, the Liao Dynasty gave up the marriage again.
In July of that year, Fu Bi returned to China, and Song Renzong was very satisfied with the results of the negotiations. In August, Fu Bi sent an envoy again, holding two letters of state and three affidavit. The Song Dynasty issued three conditions: if the marriage was proposed, there would be no gold silk, and if the Western Xia could be made to pay to the Song Dynasty, the annual currency would be increased by 200,000 yuan, otherwise 100,000 yuan. Liao Xingzong felt that the money was too little and did not agree, so Fu Bi simply made it clear: You will get the New Year's coin, you will be alone, if there is a war, can you still sit in a stable position?
The Song Dynasty's increase in the year's coins is a manifestation of incompetence, and increasing the year's coins may be the safest way. Using money to trap the barbarians, so that they don't want to use weapons of war, but the Song Dynasty's practice of stealing peace is too much. But the problem is that the speed at which the Liao State was corrupted by money may not be able to catch up with the speed of the financial collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty. The expenditure of the annual currency had to be passed on to the people, leading to civil unrest and making the Song Dynasty even more powerless against foreigners.
Spies can change the course of events, but they can't influence the situation. The intelligence system is pervasive, but it cannot be transformed into strength, and Fu Bi's diplomatic skills still cannot make up for the gap in strength between the two sides. But with the passage of time, the espionage work of the Song Dynasty was also much worse than before, and in the Renzong Dynasty, the intelligence work of the Song Dynasty was even more slack. As the head of the highest intelligence agency of the Great Song Dynasty, Bao Zheng once complained: "I can't go deep today, but I just go to the four fields and the secluded and Zhuo fields, and spread the common words or hypocrisy of the people, and it is a matter." ”
In the fifth year of Qingli, Bao Zheng served as the "He Khitan Zhengdan Envoy" to Liao. Liao officials questioned Bao Zheng, you Great Song sent too many spies to Liao, and it is easy to hurt the feelings of the two countries. After Bao Zheng returned to the court, he secretly wrote to the emperor, asking for strengthening the training of espionage work, and to do a better job, and Bao Zheng proposed that all ministers who sent envoys to the Northern Dynasty should be accompanied by the spies of the two imperial city divisions to prevent the envoys from collaborating with the enemy.
In contrast, the Liao Dynasty used spies much earlier than the Song Dynasty. In December of the first year of Jingde, the battle of Lanyuan had come to an end, and the Liao troops retreated north. Song Chaoyun, Qi and other states appeased Ding Wei to catch the spy leader of Da Liao, and was surprised to discover a huge spy network. Ding Wei played the imperial court: "Bow and ask his people, and he said that there are many disciples." Now each has its own shape and teeth, please go down to the roads to catch it. "More than 100 people can be tortured from the mouth of the spy leader, which shows the tightness of the spy organization of the Liao Dynasty.
Liao spies, often using the identity of a merchant as a cover, or pretending to be a traveling monk. The place where they operated was mainly in Zhulu, Hebei, spying on the military situation, setting fire to warehouses, and plotting rebellion against generals, doing almost everything. At that time, the folk printing industry in the Song Dynasty was very prosperous, and literati and politicians discussed military affairs and printed everything. Khitan spies either bought them with a lot of money or copied them down. Therefore, the Song court strictly ordered several times not to sell scholarly collections to the outside world.
When Fu Bi was in charge of picketing in Beijing, the Liao State spies pretended to be monks and spying on intelligence, and were later found by Fu Bi and transferred to Kaifeng Mansion, but some people were protected by officials and still at large. Fu Bi reported to Prime Minister Lu Yijian for this, asking him to hand over the officials immediately and bring them to justice, and said that the case would not stop until the case was investigated, and impeached the prime minister for dereliction of duty, so Lu Yijian held a grudge against Fu Bi, which is why he let Fu Bi go to Liao.
It is no exaggeration to say that the second battlefield between the Liao and Song dynasties was a place where spies haunted, but unfortunately, the actions of the Song Dynasty failed to live up to the hopes of the lurkers of the Great Song Dynasty.
I am the clear water and the watchman of history. Looking forward to your attention and comments.