The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 521 Unification of the Two Song Dynasties
One of the eunuchs spoke up directly: "Li Gang, don't think that just because everyone respects you as Prime Minister Li, you are still the Prime Minister of the Great Song Dynasty. You are just an instructor in Huizhou now, yet you dare to come to the main hall and spout nonsense? Guards, throw this little instructor out of here."

The imperial guards on both sides immediately stepped forward...

Li Gang sighed: "Yes, I am just a minor instructor, but I also have another identity now: an envoy of the Northern Song Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, the imperial guards immediately took several steps back.

What's happening now?
Even the Jin envoy dared not offend the Northern Song envoy.

The ministers of the Beitou faction had just felt like the sky was falling because the Seventeenth Prince was a fake, but now, upon hearing Li Gang's words, their hope was instantly rekindled. The group stared at Li Gang wide-eyed: "Prime Minister Li, what exactly is going on?"

Li Gang sighed: "The Seventeenth Prince is a fake. Zhao Bozong is too young to shoulder heavy responsibilities and is easily controlled by powerful ministers. Therefore, after discussing with Young Master Yue of the Northern Song Dynasty, we came up with a plan. At present, this is the only plan that can save the Great Song Dynasty."

He recounted in detail what Yue Wenxuan had told him about the "system of deliberation by regents," including the fact that both the Northern and Southern Song dynasties each appointed ten regents.

The ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty were completely baffled when they heard this plan.

Those who pledged allegiance to the North naturally accepted it quickly.

However, Zhao Bocong's faction found this unacceptable. They supported Zhao Bocong, more or less because they wanted to take advantage of his youth and seize control of the government. Now that Li Gang had put forward this plan, how many seats could they possibly get among the twenty regents? They had absolutely no chance of controlling the government.

This is completely against their interests!
A group of Zhao Bocong's supporters objected in unison: "This plan is simply child's play! This is utterly rebellious; you want to replace the emperor with a powerful minister."

Li Gang: "Is it better to have twenty powerful ministers or one powerful minister?"

He wanted to reason with them, but Zhao Bozong's faction had no interest in reasoning. A eunuch shouted in a shrill voice, "Quickly seize him!"

The sound was shrill and carried far, but none of the imperial guards in the hall moved.

The eunuch was alarmed: "Are you trying to rebel?"

Li Gang's gaze swept over the imperial guards, only to see them let out a strange cry, turn around and run away, disappearing in an instant.

Everyone: "???"

The Imperial Guards could play their part in infighting within the Southern Song Dynasty, but asking them to capture a Northern Song envoy was less appealing than running away. A group of Imperial Guards rushed into the Dali Temple Prison, also known as the Heavenly Prison, and dragged Yang Yizhong out of the prison.

Yang Yizhong refused to come out, clinging to the doorpost and shouting, "Don't let me out! I failed to protect the Emperor, I deserve to die! Kill me!"

The imperial guards shouted urgently, "Commander Yang, something terrible has happened outside..."

"The thing is like this..."

The crowd started chattering, relaying what Li Gang had said.

After hearing this, Yang Yizhong's face was full of indifference: "What does this have to do with my failure to protect the Emperor? Don't tell me, just execute me!"

Everyone: "..."

Okay, this guy's done for too!
The Southern Song Dynasty, what will become of it?

Ten days later, under the threat of the powerful Northern Song Dynasty, the ministers in the court reached a consensus and accepted the conditions offered by the Northern Song Dynasty. The two Song Dynasties were unified, the false emperor Zhao Shi was abolished, Zhao Bocong was made emperor, and a system of regents was established. Ten civil and military officials were selected from both the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties to form a "Council of Deliberations". National affairs were decided by voting in the Council of Deliberations.

If it's a tie of ten votes, then Yue Wenxuan will cast the final, decisive vote.

With the general direction set, things became much simpler. The soldiers along the border no longer needed to painstakingly intercept civilians; the border defenses were relaxed, and instantly the two Song dynasties became one. The people no longer needed to flee north or south. Although the weak Southern Song dynasty held ten votes in the council, several of those votes were held by officials like Li Gang, Lu Zai, Yue Fei, and Han Shizhong. Having witnessed the prosperity and wealth of the Northern Song and understanding its superior system, they wouldn't argue with the Northern Song officials and simply followed their lead in the voting.

The basic idea that "the Southern Song Dynasty's methods of governance must be fully learned from the Northern Song Dynasty" was quickly established.

In an instant, a massive upheaval swept through the officialdom of the Southern Song Dynasty, and a comprehensive overhaul began.

Investigate corrupt officials, investigate corrupt bureaucrats, measure land, establish educational and industrial education officials...

Encourage commerce, remove toll booths, and encourage innovation...

At the very beginning of 1136 AD, the entire country was filled with a positive and progressive atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the Jin Dynasty was also very busy.

It turns out that as early as the beginning of 1135, Emperor Taizong of Jin, Wanyan Sheng, died of illness in Huining Mingde Palace, and Wanyan Dan succeeded him as Emperor Xizong of Jin.

Not long after Emperor Xizong of Jin ascended the throne, the Jin state made peace with both the Southern and Northern Song dynasties, and the wars ceased. This gave him the opportunity to focus on the internal affairs of the Jin state. Over the years, the Jin state had been waging wars in the south and north and had expanded too rapidly, resulting in a state of utter chaos in its internal affairs.

The Jin Kingdom was originally just a minority group that hunted and fished, and was not much different from primitive tribes. Suddenly, it possessed a large territory, and its original primitive tribal management methods were simply not enough to manage it, so it urgently needed to be reformed.

Emperor Xizong of Jin began to reform the political system of the Jin Dynasty, strengthening centralized power. He abolished the Bojilie system, adopted the Han system, and established institutions such as the Three Departments and Six Ministries, gradually bringing the political system of the Jin Dynasty closer to that of the Song Dynasty.

Just as he was desperately reforming domestic affairs, several major events occurred in the Jin Dynasty.

In the summer of 1135, Wanyan Zongfu, the Left Deputy Marshal of the Jin Dynasty, passed away.

In July 1136, Wanyan Zonghan passed away.

With the deaths of these two, all three major backers of the pseudo-Qi state have fallen.

Liu Yu was originally a lackey of Talan, and he only managed to become the emperor of the pseudo-Qi state by bribing Talan. However, Liu Yu was a turncoat, and after taking power, he immediately fawned over Emperor Taizong of Jin, Wanyan Zongfu, and Wanyan Zonghan, betraying his former master Talan.

When these three people were alive, Talan couldn't deal with Liu Yu.

But all three of them died one after another, hehehe, the era of Tartar has arrived.
-
Winter of 1137 AD!
A cold wind howled, and heavy snow fell in the Kaifeng area.

Amidst the wind and snow, a fast boat secretly crossed the Yellow River, heading towards the Great Song Gray Fortress on the south bank of the Yellow River.

The boat was moving very fast, creating a gust of wind that swept up snowflakes.

The small boat, streaking with sparks and lightning, drew ever closer to Graycastle.

But then Yang Zaixing's head popped up on the gray fortress, and he roared, "Who are you, you scoundrel, daring to trespass on the border of my Great Song Dynasty?"

A man suddenly appeared on the ship and shouted urgently, "Don't fire arrows! No, don't fire firearms! I'm a messenger! I have urgent military intelligence to report!"

Yang Zaixing: "Where did this messenger come from? He doesn't look like a disciple of the Great Song Dynasty at all."

The man shouted urgently, "My identity is not something I should say loudly. Please let me into the fortress to talk in detail."

(End of this chapter)