1249 TWO Chapter 1249-North Song has no generals, South Song has no officials (1/2)

Chapter 1249 – North Song Has No Generals, South Song Has No Officials

The Ashoka Dynasty taking over Tibet was something that Ouyang Shuo had not expected.

Songtsen Gampo rejected the Mongol Empire in the north and defended against Great Xia, but he was unable to escape the fate of his dynasty being swallowed up in the end.

Speaking of which, this was the first time an outside force had interfered in the battle for China, which made Ouyang Shuo feel a loss of face.

Even then, Ouyang Shuo had to treat the matter really carefully. A day ago, Li Jing had already led the Bear legion corps back to the Shu Lands border. Great Xia's first attempt at conquering Tibet had ended in failure.

Li Jing sought punishment, but Ouyang Shuo suppressed it.

With the complicated nature of the Battle of Tibet, being able to lead the Bear legion corps to retreat fully was already a remarkable achievement. As such, why would Ouyang Shuo even punish him?

Before he dealt with Qin, Tang, and Song, Ouyang Shuo was not going to start another battle with Tibet.

As for the Ashoka Dynasty, they would need a period of time to digest up such a huge swathe of land. Furthermore, the Shu Lands were hard to attack and easy to defend. As long as Ashoka was not crazy, he would not even attempt to attack it.

Temporarily setting Tibet aside, Ouyang Shuo shifted his attention to the three countries.

7th month, 3rd day, along with the deadline getting closer, Ouyang Shuo was prepared to use the Great Song Zhao family as a sacrifice. Who would have expected a theatrical change to occur in Great Song on the night before the deadline?

Zhao Guangyi had saved his family.

However, later generations would probably see him as a thief and see Zhao Kuangyin as the proper ruler.

Ouyang Shuo had no plans of bothering about what had happened. What he knew was that after the coup's success, Jingchu Province had become an item in Great Xia's bag.

Great Xia had taken a huge step toward destroying the three countries.

...

7th month, 5th day, Great Xia Cabinet Grand Secretary Jiang Shang acted as the special ambassador of his majesty and led a squad toward Xiangyang City to accept the surrender.

Before this, the armies of both sides had already stopped warring.

The Great Song guards troops on the frontlines had surrendered and were awaiting the instructions of the Privy Court. Rough estimates placed the number of Great Song troops awaiting reorganization at around 380 thousand.

Jiang Shang brought along the imperial decree from the Imperial Court.

The imperial decree gave Zhao Guangyi the title of Song King and Zhao Kuangyin the title of Song Marquis. Such kindness was already the most that the emperor could show. If Zhao Kuangyin was unhappy, he would be truly not knowing his place.

Apart from the Zhao family royal family, the old officials in Great Song received new appointments.

Zhao Pu became the Chuannan Provincial Governor, and Fan Zhongyan would shift over to Jingchu Province.

Zhao Pu was the secretary of Zhao Kuangyin. In the 7th year of Xiande, Zhao Kuangyin and him had started a coup and established the Song Dynasty.

He became the prime minister in the 2nd year of Gande, helping Zhao Kuangyin take over Fanzhen. He made many major changes such as executing garrison law, changing the official system, and setting Border Defense legion troops.

In the 3rd year of Chunhua, Zhao Pu died from illness at the age of 71 and was given the title of Zhan King. He was given the title of 'loyal' and listed as one of the 24 meritorious officials of Zhaoxun Court.

Although he did not read many books, he loved the analects of Confucius. The analects affected him a lot and became a famous part of Confucian rule.

With his talent, there would be no problems with him taking the role of Provincial Governor. However, being given the Chuannan Provincial Governor role right away surprised many.

Although the Imperial Court had quashed the rumors of Chuannan Province being a Zhili Province long ago, the high status of Chuannan Province was undeniable.

Ouyang Shuo's true goal was to move Fan Zhongyan away from Chuannan.

As Jingchu Province had imperial city Xiangyang and was a big province in the central region of China, it would not be too bad on Fan Zhongyan. Ouyang Shuo hoped that this adjustment would be understood as a warning to him.

Apart from Zhao Pu, Murong Yanzhao, Gao Huaide, Wang Shenqi, Han Lingkun, Shu Shouxin, Zhang Lingze, Zhang Guanghan, and Zhao Yanwei were all given positions.

North Song had no generals, South Song had no officials.