Pan Mei, the prototype of Pan Renmei, is a brave and honest official. In his early years, he conquered the world with Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty. He once captured Guangzhou, destroyed the southern Han by fire, and led troops to pacify and seize the northern Han. After capturing the Northern Han Dynasty, Yang Ye surrendered to Zhao Kuangyin, but in order to show his loyalty, Yang Ye agreed to lead the Liao army to Chenjiagu, a place where a trap was set. Pan Mei is in charge of commanding troops to fight, and Wang Shu is in charge of supervising troops and mobilizing troops.
At that time, Wang Shu, as a prison army, insisted on sending Yang Ye out to fight, but Pan Mei knew it was particularly dangerous and blocked it many times. However, due to Wang Shu's status as a military supervisor, it still failed to stop the success. After Yang Ye went out with his troops, Wang Shu thought he could win, so he quickly withdrew his troops and reported back to the DPRK to take credit. Finally, Yang Ye was jailed, and Pan Mei had no troops to rescue him, so he had to watch Yang Ye die. Pan Mei, who has the right to command and fight, has been blamed for his downfall because the troops around him were transferred back to North Korea by Wang Shu.
In fact, the military system of the Song Dynasty still has great limitations. Every time the Song Dynasty sent troops, it had to follow the prison army. This prison army only has the right to mobilize troops, attack when it says attack and retreat when it says retreat. The operational command of this army is in the hands of another person. If you find something bad on the battlefield and want to withdraw it, you can only continue to direct the operation without the consent of the prison army.
Under this system, many battles in the Song Dynasty were cheated by the prison army, and the candidates of the prison army were mostly eunuchs or civil servants with little power and no actual military experience. The only command for generals like Pan Mei is the command, and they are often restricted by the prison army, and even the prison army can be executed.