Lu Ping said: "I swear to the God of Fire and the God of Heaven that I will escort Brother Tanglin and Gongzi Cao smoothly on the land of Li Deming, the king of Great Xia, and protect the integrity of the two of them. If you break this oath, you will teach me to be punished by the god of fire and freeze to death at the bottom of the snowy mountains. ”

Speaking of vows, Shu E thought of the "God of Fire and the God of Heaven" in Lu Ping's mouth, and thought of her solemn and anxious expression that day and said to herself, I have sincerely apologized in my heart, if you don't believe it, I will swear to the God of Fire and the God of Heaven.

Lu Ping's voice was crisp and reverent, and her expression was also solemn, as if she had stood at the bottom of the snow-capped mountain, shouting to the gods against the heavy snow all over the mountain.

Shu E only felt a burst of surprise and a burst of fear in her heart.

It's not because she thought that Lu Ping would swear to the "God of Fire and the God of Heaven", which is almost a matter of course in Shu E's heart. Shu E was shocked that Lu Ping actually called Li Deming, the leader of the party, the king of Great Xia, and what Shu E was afraid of was that the strange punishment that Lu Ping said was to freeze to death under the snowy mountain.

The Dangxiang clan originally lived in Sichuan, and moved to Shaanxi during the Tang Dynasty. Because of his meritorious work in quelling the chaos, he was named the envoy of the Xiazhou Festival by the Tang Emperor, and successively submitted to the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Great Song Dynasty. After the Xiazhou regime was annexed by the Great Song Dynasty, Li Jiqian, the leader of the Dangxiang clan at that time, was unwilling to surrender and re-established the country, and obtained the canonization of the Liao Emperor.

In the first year of Chunhua (990), the Khitan named him the king of Xia.

In July of the second year of Chunhua (991), Li Jiqian was attached to the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty awarded him the Yinzhou Observation Envoy and gave him the name Zhao Baoji. Xuan attached himself to the Khitan, and joined the Khitan army, and attacked the northwestern border of the Song Dynasty many times.

In March of the second year of the Daoist Dynasty (996), Song Luoyuan sent Bai Shourong to escort the baggage to Lingzhou [Note], and Li Jiqian set up the Fupu Luohe River [Note], feigned weakness to lure the enemy, defeated the Song army, and obtained 400,000 stone of grain. In December of the third year of the Dao (997), the above table was returned to the Song Dynasty, and the Xiazhou Assassin History and the Military Festival were awarded.

In the fifth year of Xianping (1002), Lingzhou was broken, renamed Xiping Mansion, and set as the capital. At the beginning of the sixth year of Xianping (1003), the Song Dynasty sent envoys to negotiate peace, and cut five states such as silver and Xia (now northwest of Hengshan, Shaanxi).

Before leaving, Shu'e almost stayed awake all night, looking at the historical facts written by her grandfather over and over again, as well as a map sketched by her grandfather marked with Song, Liao, and Party items. Grandfather said, Shu'e, these may not help you, but you should know where you are going. Yes, on that sketch, the two words written by my grandfather are party items.

But at this time, Lu Ping said that it was the king of Great Xia.

Shu E is a citizen of the Great Song Dynasty, so naturally he will not agree with this Great Xia king who cut off Xia, Sui, Yin, You, Jing and other states from the Great Song Dynasty. But the Liao State did give them such a title, and it was not just for Li Jiqian.

The so-called King of Great Xia, as well as Li Jiqian's son, is the current leader of the party, Li Deming.

In the second year of Jingde (1005), the Liao State canonized him as the king of Xiping.

In the third year of Jingde (1006), Song awarded him as the envoy of the Dingyan Army, the king of Xiping, and gave 10,000 taels of silver, 10,000 horses of silk, 20,000 pieces of money, and 20,000 catties of tea, and allowed the establishment of a field in the security army.

In the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1008), Liao sent an envoy to canonize Li Deming as the king of Daxia.

In the fourth year of Tianxi (1020), the capital was moved from Xiping Mansion to Huaiyuan Town [Note] and renamed Xingzhou.

In the sixth year of Tiansheng (1028), he sent his son Li Yuanhao to lead his troops to eliminate the Uighurs in Ganzhou. Two years later, they plundered Guazhou and Shazhou. The Western Xia force reached Yumen Pass, and possessed the entire Hexi Corridor. He built palaces, pavilions, and bridges, established the etiquette system, posthumously honored Li Jiqian as the emperor, and appointed Li Yuanhao as the crown prince.

Emperor, crown prince, king of Bactria

My grandfather said that although the party members called me a minister to the Great Song Dynasty, they really had the heart of a minister but not a minister. Shu'e, the journey is dangerous, you have to be more careful.

But before she reached the realm of the party members, Shu'e had already begun to feel scared. Around Lu Ping, her identity, and oath all made Shu E feel inexplicably afraid.

Those who recognize Li Deming's identity as the king of Daxia are either party members or Khitans of the Liao State. Lu Ping, Lu Ping, if it weren't for your words, I would never be sure of your identity. Shu E sighed secretly in her heart.

And that oath, what the punishment of the god of fire, and what kind of freezing to death on the snowy mountain. Shu E seemed to see a little red on the snow, eye-catching and bright, cruel and ruthless, which made her feel sad for no reason.

When Tanglin heard Lu Ping's oath, his expression was also momentarily moved, but he immediately said calmly: "Okay." His reaction calmly surprised Shu E, as if he hadn't heard the words "Li Deming, King of Great Xia" at all.

Shu E's heart was also chaotic, but the most obvious feeling in her heart was that she still had the upper hand in sympathy and pity for Lu Ping. Shu E took Lu Ping's hand and said, "Miss Lu, why do you bother...... Why ......"

Lu Ping's hand shrank slightly, but she didn't break free, she looked at Shu E with a pair of bright eyes, and there were tears in her eyes.

The last fort was also passed smoothly as before. Dozens of guards on the checkpoint were also like the guards seen earlier, lined up neatly, solemnly welcoming the three people through. Tanglin walked in the front, and took a small leather bag from the head of the guard, and he didn't know what was in the tunnel.

Tanglin nodded to the guard, and galloped forward with Shu E and Lu Ping.

Where there are camps and fortresses in Linzhou, there are always a number of bazaars not far from each other. But after this last one, for a long distance, there are very few populated villages.

The horse that ran at the front gradually turned into Lu Ping's red flame. Shu'e and Tanglin's horses fell a little behind. Shu E asked, "Brother Dongling, have you left the territory of the Great Song Dynasty?" ”

Tanglin looked ahead for a long time before he said, "It's not out." ”

Shu E's eyebrows that were obliquely slanted into the temples frowned slightly, and said: "The party members frequently cause trouble at the border, and the harm is here!" On the other side of Shaanxi Road, isn't it more serious? ”

Tanglin nodded and said, "I heard that there are often small groups of party troops on the border, invading the residents of the Great Song Dynasty on the border and robbing grain and livestock. It's just that they move quickly and have a small number of people, and the officers and men guarding the border are often not easy to spot. Sometimes when the officers and soldiers guarding the border received news from the people, they were often gone. It is that the inhabitants of the border move to the south or east as long as they have the means to go. Most of the people I saw on the road were people who were trading on the border, and their families probably didn't live here. ”

Note: Lingzhou: southwest of present-day Lingwu, Ningxia. Luohe: Kushui River in the southeast of Wuzhong today. Huaiyuan Town: Originally belonged to Lingzhou, now Yinchuan City, Ningxia.

[Note] Guazhou: now Anxidong, Gansu. Shazhou: now east of Dunhuang, Gansu. Guazhou and Shazhou were taken by Li Deming from the Tibetans and Uighurs.