Chapter 1869
The Late Northern Song Dynasty
Liu Tong escorted Zhang Chi and the others onto the large ship that Li Jun and his men had brought. Afterwards, he led Li Jun and his group to raid the Jin army's camp and rescued some of the officials' families, princesses, and concubines who had been captured by the Jin soldiers.
As for Emperors Huizong and Qinzong and those officials, they should just go to the north with the Jurchens for labor reform.
Oh, Ms. Wei was not among the women rescued.
Wanyan Gou's mother was an extraordinary woman. Even after being captured by the Jurchens, she managed to live a good life by pleasing them and later returned to the south to become the Empress Dowager.
To prevent others from finding out about her groveling and subservience to the Jurchens, she falsely accused the escaped Princess Roufu of being an imposter, causing Zhao Gou to kill the poor girl.
Liu Tong felt that it was better to leave such a woman to the Jin people.
At this point, Liu Dong's true identity had been revealed.
With the testimony of General Hwa, General Jong Seo-do, Jang Chi, and many other senior officials, Liu Dong's identity as King Cheoljong's biological son was confirmed.
His actions in Qingzhou were evident to all, making him a definite wise and capable ruler.
Therefore, with the support of General Hua, Zhong Shidao, Zhang Chi, Zong Ze, and others, Liu Dong ascended the throne.
After ascending the throne, Liu Tong personally led an expedition, and Song Jiang, Lu Zhishen, and others came out of the mountains and joined Liu Tong's army.
It was only then that Song Jiang learned that Liu Dong was the late emperor's son, the most legitimate prince, and he was so excited that he almost fainted.
That's a great opportunity to curry favor with someone powerful!
As expected, he had good judgment and immediately latched onto the initial big shot.
He couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Wu Song and Hua Rong, since they had followed Liu Tong from the very beginning.
Especially at that time, wasn't his only strength in intelligence gathering?
Wasn't he the first one to follow Liu Dong?
He was actually granted a marquisate!
A meteoric rise to power—that's all there is to it.
Liu Tong now commands a large number of soldiers and generals, and each of his generals is capable.
These soldiers were partly low-ranking members of Liangshan and partly Qingzhou soldiers trained by Liu Zong. They were all brave and skilled in battle, far superior to other soldiers of the Song Dynasty.
With them leading the way, the other soldiers no longer trembled at the sight of the Jin soldiers. They joined the Qingzhou soldiers in a fierce battle, driving the Jin soldiers into a panic.
These soldiers then realized that the Jin soldiers were not so scary after all, and that they were fully capable of killing them.
Morale is high!
Not only were the Jin soldiers driven back, but Wanyan Zongwang was also killed by a minor general.
The young general's surname was Yue, and his given name was Fei. He was personally promoted by Liu Dong.
After sending the group of women back to Qingzhou, Li Jun set sail and waited for land in Jinzhou before directly attacking the heart of the Jin Kingdom.
Unfortunately, the Jin army retreated quickly, and Li Jun was unable to directly attack the Jin capital.
However, this also caused heavy losses to the Jin Dynasty.
The Jin dynasty was forced to express its intention to make peace with the Song dynasty.
Liu Dong: Great! Let's pay tribute every year!
Why did the Jin Dynasty pay tribute to the Liao Dynasty when the Song Dynasty did so, but the situation reversed when the Jin Dynasty came to power?
Liu Tong: Might makes right! Understand?
Jin people: We understand! We understand!
They were truly terrified of the Song Dynasty, never imagining that such a ferocious dragon had been nurtured within the seemingly weak Song court.
I heard his biological father is also a proponent of war?!
After dealing with the affairs of the Jin Kingdom, Liu Dong began to clean up the internal affairs.
Those ignorant court officials had long since died at the hands of the Jin soldiers.
Who told them to be "unlucky" and fall into the hands of the Jin soldiers?
So they all went to the underworld to accompany Emperors Huizong and Qinzong.
As a result, Emperors Huizong and Qinzong also perished.
Liu Tong wouldn't let them return to act arrogantly, so he ordered Shi Qian to take action, causing the two to die at the hands of the Jin people.
Liu Dong began sweeping reforms.
Many of Wang Anshi's reform policies were good, but they were not adapted to local conditions, and the corruption of officials contributed to their poor results. Liu Tong reviewed these policies, compiled a set of measures suitable for the current Song Dynasty, and handed them over to the ministers for implementation.
The ministers all greatly admired Liu Tong, who not only saved the Song Dynasty when it was on the verge of collapse, but also recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, which the Song emperor and his ministers had longed for.
No one would disobey Liu Dong's orders.
Those who wanted to oppose Liu Tong were all sent back to their hometowns to farm by Liu Tong.
The officialdom of the Song Dynasty was bursting with unprecedented vitality from top to bottom.
Cement was promoted throughout the country, and wide, smooth roads were built, connecting all the prefectures and counties of the Song Dynasty.
This doubled the speed at which pedestrians could travel.
Cement was used to build dams, making the dams on both sides of the rivers much harder to collapse.
However, Liu Dong did not simply build dikes to stop the floods. He addressed the problem at its source.
The Western Xia had been recovered by the Song Dynasty. Liu Tong ordered people to plant trees along the banks of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers to prevent the emergence of the Loess Plateau.
Every year, specialists dredge the silt from the riverbed to make it wider and more unobstructed.
Since then, floods have rarely occurred.
After the cement road was built, Liu Zong encouraged Wu Song to set up a courier service.
The employees at the courier station were all veterans who were injured and could no longer go to the battlefield.
People with broken legs sit on the ground sorting letters and goods, while people with broken arms but intact legs are responsible for running errands and delivering goods...
Everyone can earn money to support themselves and not be treated as a useless person, impoverished, or even die.
As a member of the courier company, Wu Song was naturally disabled, just like the other employees.
During the attack on Fang La, Wu Song escaped death and did not lose an arm.
But he still lost an arm when he attacked the Jin Dynasty later.
Although he was granted a marquisate, Wu Song was not happy. He was a cripple now, so what could he do in the future?
He even considered becoming a monk.
Cheng Wan'er stood in front of Wu Song with her son and daughter, not saying a word, but looking at him with teary eyes.
Wu Song compromised and gave up the idea of becoming a monk.
Liu Tong approached Wu Song and entrusted him with the establishment and operation of the courier bureau.
Wu Song shouted "Long live the Emperor!" and threw himself into his work with boundless enthusiasm. In just two months, he established the courier service and started operating it.
Every employee at the courier station was as excited and motivated as Wu Song.
Some of them were on the verge of not surviving, but Liu Dong and Wu Song gave them hope.
Lu Zhishen did indeed become a monk.
Although he ate meat, drank alcohol, killed and set fires, Lu Zhishen actually had a high level of Buddhist understanding and saw things very clearly.
He became a bandit simply because he couldn't stand the darkness of the Song Dynasty court and couldn't bear to see the emperor being incompetent and corrupt officials in power.
His wish was for peace throughout the land, to reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, and for no more foreign tribes to humiliate the Song Dynasty.
Now, all those wishes have been fulfilled.
Lu Zhishen felt refreshed and enlightened, and he resigned the title given to him by Liu Dong and went to the Daxiangguo Temple to formally become a monk.
Afterwards, he became a highly respected monk.
As for Song Jiang, he continued to fight on the front lines.
Although the Liao and Western Xia dynasties were destroyed, and the Jin dynasty was terrified, there were still other countries surrounding them! (End of Chapter)