Hearing the ruler sigh like that, Zhao Pu thought it over, then spoke carefully, choosing his words.
"Di Hancheng managed to rise to Grand Councillor of the Bureau of Military Affairs despite having a tattooed face. Anyone who pulls that off can't be ordinary."
"Or perhaps Nong Zhigao really was that capable, which is why…"
Later generations would describe Di Qing as a commoner with a tattooed face. Zhao Pu turned it over in his head and immediately got it. That was just another way of saying facial tattooing.
Marking soldiers by tattooing characters on their faces was nothing new. Zhu Wen had done it first, and plenty of people copied him afterward. The Song was no exception.
Zhao Pu had come up through the ruler's own staff, once serving as a military commissioner's secretary. Now he had a hand in Bureau of Military Affairs matters, so he knew Song military practices inside and out.
First they checked physical ability. Then agility and endurance. Then eyesight. Only after that came the tattoo, followed by money, clothes, shoes, and registration. That was how refugees who had hit rock bottom were pulled into the Imperial Guard.
Even so, tattooed soldiers were never the Guard's backbone. Even inside the Imperial Guard, they were at the very bottom of the ladder.
Zhao Pu had seen firsthand how these men were looked down on and ordered around by their comrades. Because of that, he couldn't help feeling a bit of respect.
"Besides, at the time the Song faced the Dangxiang to the west and the Khitan to the north. Most elite troops and capable generals were tied up in the northwest, so the southern front fell apart."
"But in the end, the Song did win against Western Xia. That tells us the Imperial Guard wasn't completely hopeless."
Western Xia came up more than once in later accounts, as did the name Li Yuanhao. Judging by his surname and position, his origins were easy enough to guess. As for the Dingnan Army's arrangements, the two of them had discussed those privately more times than they could count.
No matter how often they talked it through, the conclusion never changed. Appeasement was the only real option.
The reasons were simple. First, the four prefectures of Xia and Yin under the Dingnan Army were barren and poor. The Dangxiang treated the land as sacred ancestral ground and refused to leave. Song subjects, meanwhile, took one look at the poverty and wanted nothing to do with it.
Second, whether it was the previous military commissioner Li Yiyin or the current Li Guangrui, both were openly submissive to the Song.
With the Great Song busy knocking down Southern Tang and eyeing Northern Han and the Khitan next, poking the Dangxiang right now would be asking for trouble.
Zhao Pu's reasoning was just about enough for Zhao Kuangyin to accept it.
Then another thought crept up on him.
That later Chanyuan Covenant.
Had the Song really won?
…
Over in Han Chang'an, the people watching the Light Screen had gotten used to a lot of strange future terminology. Most of the time they could figure it out. Sometimes, though, they still got stuck.
"This 'Great Song Dream' thing," Zhang Fei said, scratching his head. "Is that supposed to be praise?"
"I remember the 'Great Tang Dream' being about Emperor Xuanzong's bargain-bin son, An Lushan."
Pang Tong burst out laughing. "Why not ask the Tang emperor himself? Praise or insult, Tang people would know best."
Liu Bei tried to break it down calmly.
"Both rose from humble beginnings to positions of power."
"Di Hancheng speaks for himself. As for the Tang, if An Lushan hadn't been crooked, if the court had known how to judge people, if Xuanzong hadn't been foolish, and if his ministers hadn't been blind, things would never have spiraled like that."
Fa Zheng looked up with a grin.
"My lord, that should be written down and thrown into the Light Screen. Let the Tang emperor have a look."
The hall immediately erupted in laughter.
Ma Chao thought for a moment, then suddenly lit up.
"Then with my lord's achievements, wouldn't this count as a 'Great Han Dream'?"
Liu Bei thought about it too, his expression turning… complicated.
Zhang Fei quietly shifted his seat away from Ma Mengqi, deciding some distance was healthier.
The Light Screen rolled on.
[Lightscreen]
[The Song's habit of favoring civil officials over military men has already been discussed. Overall, the status of Song generals steadily declined until the balance between civil and military completely collapsed.
Under Emperor Taizu of Song, the most famous move was the wine-cup release of military authority. But the records show that Taizu was simply stricter with commanders. When it came time to fight, he still knew how to delegate power.
Northern frontier commanders like Guo Jin, Li Hanchao, and Yao Neibin all had real authority, limited though it was.
When subduing Southern Tang, Taizu handed everything to Cao Bin and gave him full discretion. Any subordinate who disobeyed could be executed on the spot.
Then Emperor Taizong took the throne. During the Yongxi Northern Expedition, Cao Bin led a hundred thousand troops but wasn't even granted the post of Grand Councillor of the Bureau of Military Affairs, let alone execution authority.
The result was predictable. Subordinate generals, jealous of other armies' achievements, ganged up and forced Cao Bin to advance. The campaign ended in disaster. Later, Taizong casually dumped the blame on Cao Bin alone, a master class in political cleanup.
Some scholars argue that the defeats at the Gaoliang River and during the Yongxi expedition shattered Taizong's confidence in foreign wars. Combined with the exhaustion of Taizu's accumulated resources, the Song under Taizong turned inward. Cozying up to civil officials and jointly suppressing generals became a convenient way to secure power.
This was when ruling the military through civil authority really took shape. Distrusting generals became a basic skill for civil officials, and commanders' prestige was ground into the dirt.
Guo Jin died after repeated humiliation by the supervising eunuch Tian Qinzuo.
Yang Ye met an even worse fate. Pressured by the supervising official Wang Shen, his sound strategies were ignored. When he was trapped, Wang Shen not only refused to help but fled outright. Yang Ye, praised as loyal, fearless, and sharing hardship with his men, died gloriously on the battlefield.
Wang Fuzhi later summed up the survival rules for Song generals under Taizong: be kind, clean, gracious, and yielding. Ease the emperor's suspicions. Avoid the ministers' jealousy.
In plain terms: keep your head down.
Under Emperor Zhenzong, it got worse. The Chanyuan Covenant became "eternally renowned," and negotiated peace turned into Northern Song's political correctness.
"After peace, military preparedness was abandoned," was how angry Song people put it.
After the covenant, frontier generals who worked hard were scolded for stirring trouble. Anyone warning about the Khitan was mocked as outdated and clueless.
Military status collapsed again, nearly turning generals into public nuisances. Under Zhenzong, battlefield command was stripped away entirely, and civil control of the military became reality.
Once, Wang Su, son of the chancellor Wang Dan, accompanied his father to the Bureau of Military Affairs and happened to witness an argument between the general Ma Zhijie and the civil official Wang Qinruo.
Wang Qinruo openly berated Ma Zhijie until the general broke down crying.
Later, when Zhenzong died and succession was discussed, Wang Deyong, then Grand Councillor of the Bureau of Military Affairs, was left standing off to the side. Frustrated, he muttered, "What place is there for a Buddha statue like me?"
A civil official nearby snapped back, "What would an old barracks officer know?"
Not everyone swallowed this twisted atmosphere. A Luoyang scholar named Yin Zhu once sneered:
Even if a man commands hundreds of thousands, recovers You and Ji, drives enemies into the wastelands, returns in triumph, and presents captives at the ancestral temple, his glory still can't match topping the examinations.
Later, under Emperor Renzong, Yin Zhu passed the jinshi exam just as Fan Zhongyan was demoted for criticizing Chancellor Lü Yijian. Yin Zhu stepped forward and declared that as teacher and friend, he should share Fan's guilt. He was exiled to Yingzhou.
When war with Liao resumed, Yin Zhu was recalled and recommended a low-ranking officer named Di Qing.
Later, when Di Qing was caught up in the public funds case, Yin Zhu defended him forcefully, saving his life. For that, Yin Zhu was demoted again, this time to Junzhou, where he eventually died of illness.]
Another comment followed:
[Server Chat Log]
[Nyrix: Yang Ye's death was a real waste. He was famous even in Northern Han and was granted the imperial Liu surname. After surrendering to the Song, he should have been their greatest asset. Instead, after the Gaoliang River scared Taizong stiff, Yang Ye died in disgrace.
NightRuin: Taizong had a royal flush and still insisted on playing a single three, just because he could.
PixelSlayer: Politically, Taizong played it flawlessly. He propped one group up and crushed another. When he couldn't beat enemies outside, he found someone inside to hit.
GhostArc: Seen that way, Northern Song's later sorry state makes sense. Weak soldiers ruin a man, weak generals ruin an army. When commanders have to crawl before civil officials, who's going to fight to the death?
DarkPing: Might as well have scholars write denunciations and scold the enemy into surrender.
LunaPlay: The scholar-officials chose peace. It worked great. They used annual tribute. It worked great.
LazyVoxel: Li Shimin once said: when generals are weak, discipline collapses. When commanders lack authority, chaos follows.]
Back in Chang'an, Zhang Fei widened his eyes, then glanced down at the note in his hand. It read, "This even comes with bird soldiers." He flushed slightly.
He didn't mind blunt language being seen by later generations. What irked him was seeing later people casually praising what the Tang emperor had said.
He crumpled the note, shook his head, and said as if nothing had happened:
"At the end of the day, isn't this just armchair warfare? Read a few books and suddenly everyone thinks they're Sunzi."
No one disagreed. Whether in Hanzhong, Yong and Liang, or last year's campaign in Liangzhou, Zhang Fei's record spoke for itself.
Pang Tong tapped the table.
"They talk about the Song's civil governance and love of military texts. I thought they'd have some real insight."
"Sunzi opens by saying war is a matter of life and death for the state. If they can't even get that right, what can they do?"
Ma Chao nodded. "This isn't ruling generals with civil authority. It's enslaving them."
Zhuge Liang sighed softly.
"First, favoring civil officials over military men. Then replacing war with peace."
"No wonder the Song grew rich as a state while its army grew weak."
"That's because the money went to buying friendship from enemies," Zhang Fei muttered sourly.
Zhuge Liang smiled helplessly. "Yide doesn't even serve the Song. Why get this worked up?"
"I'm angry for warriors who fought and died," Zhang Fei replied seriously.
"A soldier wagers his life on the battlefield. Victory or death is decided in a breath."
He trailed off. Zhuge Liang understood.
Soldiers entrust their lives to comrades and commanders. They fight for one goal: victory, to protect their homes.
And yet the Song called enemies brothers and handed over the people's wealth.
If that's the case, why bother having soldiers at all?
"At least the Song had men of insight," Lu Su said, sounding relieved. "Yin Zhu was a true gentleman."
Zhang Fei nodded, rewrote his note, and tossed it into the Light Screen.
Zhang Fei: Zhao Da, don't ever go blind again.
In the palace at Bianliang, Zhao Kuangyin ground his teeth.
He knew Zhang Fei meant well, but it was still irritating to read.
And for some reason, he felt zero desire to thank him.
After some hesitation, Zhao Kuangyin wrote:
Zhao Kuangyin: I will take the words of the General Tiance to heart and keep them as a warning.
Calling Tang Taizong "Your Majesty" was out of the question. Everyone here was an emperor.
Setting that aside, Zhao Kuangyin turned back to the Light Screen and smiled.
"So that Yang Ye must be Liu Wudi."
Zhao Pu nodded after checking his memory. "Liu Wudi, also known as Liu Jiye."
Zhao Kuangyin said firmly, "Northern Han relies on only two things. Strong walls and fierce generals."
"Remove those, and it falls without a fight."
Zhao Pu sighed. "Liu Jiyuan is useless, yet he has Taiyuan's walls and Liu Jiye, the so-called Invincible."
Calling Liu Jiyuan useless was generous.
Before his reign, Northern Han had four pillars: Liu Jiye, Zheng Jin, Taiyuan, and the Tuyuhun troops.
After taking the throne, Liu Jiyuan killed Zheng Jin, then later conspired to murder Wei Chou, shattering the Tuyuhun army.
No wonder preparations against Northern Han were already underway.
"No matter," Zhao Kuangyin said confidently. "Northern Han is no match for me."
He remembered the talk of cannon.
Gunpowder was manageable. Bell founders might even cast the cannon. He had already ordered skilled craftsmen found.
And if that failed, he could always ask Zhuge Wuhou how to take a city.
Facing Taiyuan, Zhao Da felt his ancestors had plenty of options.
Guo Jin was fierce. Yang Ye earned his Invincible title at Yanmen Pass.
Take Northern Han, persuade Yang Ye to surrender, and reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures.
"Peace-by-compromise ends here."