After learning the news of Yang Keshi's defeat of Langoudian, Tong Guan was shocked and angry!

Yang Keshi disobeyed the military order and entered the enemy's territory without permission, ruined the major affairs of Tong Guan and Zhao Ji, and made the peaceful recovery of Yanjing become a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water, and should be beheaded according to military law.

But Tong Guan really can't be ruthless.

Yang Keshi is Tong Guan's confidant and favorite general, he has been following Tong Guan to fight against Western Xia in the northwest and Tubo, and also followed Tong Guan to quell the Fangla rebellion.

Yang Keshi fought bravely and made outstanding achievements, he was a veritable enemy of 10,000 people, and he was also one of Tong Guan's favorite generals.

Therefore, Tong Guan didn't want to deal with Yang Keshi from the bottom of his heart.

But if you don't deal with Yang Keshi, where is the military might? How can you convince the people?

Tong Guan hesitated!

Liu Tao was resourceful, so Tong Guan asked Liu Tao: "Yang Keshi violated the military order and entered the enemy's territory without permission, in your opinion, how to deal with it?" ”

Liu Tao knew the relationship between Yang Keshi and Tong Guan, so he defended Yang Keshi and said: "General Yang actually did not violate the military order, he led the army into the Liao border to meet the people of Yandi, but he accidentally fell into the ambush of the Liao army. ”

When Tong Guan heard this, he immediately smiled.

There are at least three benefits to handing over Yang Keshi to the Seed Master Dao for disposal:

1. Yang Keshi is not only his favorite general, but also the beloved general of the Seed Master Dao, and after handing it over to the Seed Master Dao, it is likely to save Yang Keshi's life.

Second, this can slightly ease the increasingly acute contradictions between the Xuanfu Department and the General Command.

3. Doing so can shift the responsibility for the appropriateness of the disposal to the planter.

However, Tong Guan was still a little worried, and said: "What if a kind of teacher uses military law to deal with Yang Keshi......"

Liu Tao smiled and said: "Taishi can rest assured, General Yang is an upright person, strong character, brave in battle, and the way of the master is also very important to him, and it is impossible to deal with General Yang according to military law." Besides, if the seed master really wants to deal with General Yang by military law, don't you still have to ask the Xuanfu Division? ”

Hearing Liu Tao's words, Tong Yi was relieved, and immediately ordered: "Order Yang Keshi to go to the headquarters to wait for disposal, and the front army of the Western Route Army will be changed to Wang Yuan to be responsible." ”

After Yang Keshi saw the Dao of the Seed Master, he was ashamed, and he said: "The last general is incompetent, loses the army, and ruins the reputation of the army, so I am ashamed and ask for punishment." ”

Liu Tao guessed correctly, the seed master Dao also loves Yang Keshi, and furthermore, the seed master also guessed Tong Guan's attitude towards Yang Keshi, and then said to Yang Keshi: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and you must take it as a warning in the future." ”

The seed master arranged for Yang Keshi to stay in the East Route Army to continue to serve as the front army and atone for his crimes.

Yang Keshi was very grateful to Tong Guan and the Seed Master, and then put away his previous arrogance and acted honestly.

The Seed Master Dao then called a meeting of the generals and reiterated Tong Guan's instructions:

"The people of Yandi are all the people of the official family, they are all brothers of our Han family, if they can come and return to Shun, we will come forward to accept them, if they don't come, our army must be prepared for the internal changes in the Liao country, and we must not cross the border to kill a person......"

……

On that day, Ma Kuo and others crossed the Baigou Boundary River and came to Xincheng County, a border city in Liao.

Here, Ma Kuo saw that there were indeed many people who were willing to submit to the Great Song Dynasty, and also heard that the Liao army was weak and only a few thousand people, and one of the sergeants named Liu Zongji even secretly found Ma Kuo, and then vowed to dedicate Zhuozhou to the Great Song Dynasty.

Ma Kuo thought about it again and again, wrote a letter to Tong Guan, and took out one of the new shoes that Tong Guan gave him and handed it to Liu Zongji as a token.

Soon, the Han official envoy sent by Ye Luchun came to Zhuozhou to greet Ma Kuo and his party.

Under the guidance of the Han official envoy, Ma Kuo and his entourage went straight to Yanjing.

Outside Yanjing City, Ma Kuo was warmly welcomed by Xiao Ao, the envoy of the Quartet, and Zhang Jue (not Zhang Jue of Pingzhou).

Xiao Ao and Zhang Jue acted as museum companions and accompanied Ma Kuo and his party to live in the Pure Dirt Temple.

Judging from the reception along the way, Yeluchun actually attached great importance to the visit of the envoy of the Great Song Dynasty.

The next day, Yao Meng, the commander of the palace, and Xiao Kui, the privy counselor, came to the Pure Dirt Temple to invite Ma Kuo to a banquet.

During the banquet, Xiao Kui said: "The officials of the two governments want to borrow the letter of state brought by the ambassador. ”

The letter of state was brought to the Northern Liao monarchs and ministers, and Ma Kuo had nothing to do, so he handed over the letter to Xiao Kui after dinner.

In the evening, Xiao Kui returned to the Pure Dirt Temple and said to Ma Kuo: "Ma Xuanzan, there are a lot of rebellious words in the national book you brought, and most of them are accusatory words. ”

Ma Kuo said: "The whereabouts of the Liao lord are unknown, the nine kings did not send troops to find, but usurped the throne, and cut the Liao lord to the king of Huaiyin, this is an extraordinary move, Song and Liao are two countries, righteous brothers, so come to Xingshi to ask for guilt, why not?" ”

I don't want to, but Xiao Kui snorted coldly and said: "Who said that the whereabouts of King Huaiyin are unknown, he was clearly caught by your Great Song Dynasty, and now he is still shouting to catch a thief, is it really easy for us to bully Da Liao?" ”

Ma Kuo thought that Xiao Kui was talking nonsense, and retorted on the spot: "Nonsense, how could the Lord of Liao be arrested by my Great Song Dynasty!" ”

Xiao Kui said: "Someone is talking nonsense, but that person is not me, let me ask you, Cai still do you know, whose army is the Jin Wu Army?" ”

Ma Kuo's heart suddenly "chuckled", and he thought to himself: "Lord Liao shouldn't be caught by the champion Hou, right?" ”

Ma Kuo immediately said quietly: "Cai is still my envoy to the east of the Great Song River, and the Jinwu army is my Great Song army, what do you ask them to do?" ”

Xiao Kui said coldly: "What are you doing?" Cai still led the Jinwu army to first forcibly occupy our three prefectures of Liaoying, Shuo, and Wei, and then captured the king of Huaiyin, and what was even more hateful was ......"

Speaking of this, Xiao Kui clenched his fist hatefully, and then twisted his head to the side!

Obviously, Xiao Kui is resting on the words that follow!

Ma Kuo was horrified in his heart, he really didn't expect that Cai still had already captured the Liao Lord, he thought to himself: "Champion Hou has captured the Liao Lord, why don't you escort the Liao Lord into Beijing, even if you inform me, it won't make me so passive, or, they are lying, they made up this matter?" But this kind of thing, what's the point of making it up, after I go back, let Xuan Xiang send someone to Yundi to confirm it, and then I will know if it's true or not......"

Although his heart has turned over the river and the sea, Ma Kuo interrupted Xiao Kui and said: "A bunch of nonsense, although the champion Hou temporarily took over the three states of Ying, Shuo, and Wei, but that was because of the invitation of the Han people in the three states, they said that the Jin army was pressing, the civil strife in the three states continued, and it was impossible to survive, so the champion Hou had to do it as a last resort. ”

Xiao Kui laughed angrily and said: "You Song people are really shameless, forcibly occupying it, saying that it is a last resort, and the arrest of the King of Huaiyin has been ironcladly proven, you still dare to open your eyes and quibble, shameless, you Song people are so shameless!" ”

It is impossible to send troops to forcibly occupy the three states of Ying, Shuo, and Wei.

Moreover, Ma Kuo was also anxious to know whether Cai still really captured Yelu Yanxi.

Therefore, Ma Kuo said: "You keep saying that the evidence is ironclad, and where is the ironclad evidence, show it to me." ”

Xiao Kui was too lazy to talk to Ma Kuo, he waved his hand at Zhang Jue, signaling Zhang Jue to talk to Ma Kuo.

Zhang Jue pulled Ma Kuo aside and said, "Around March, Cai still personally led the Jinwu army to Mandarin Duck Luo......

With Zhang Jue's narration, Ma Kuo was shocked, and he thought: "What is Champion Hou going to do?" Why was the Liao lord arrested in March, and I still don't know about the court? Moreover, not only did the champion Hou not know the imperial court, but why didn't the people who went on the expedition with the champion Hou also inform the imperial court? Also, how could the champion Hou dare to forcibly occupy the daughter of the Liao royal family, is it because of selfish desires, or does he want to...... Self-reliance? ”

After Zhang Jue finished speaking, he called more than a dozen people.

These people, some of them were Yelu Yanxi's personal guards (they fled back to Yanjing one after another after the battle of Yuanyang Luo), and some were captured by Cai still with Yelu Yanxi (after they left the cloud land with Yelu Yanxi, they entered Jiashan, and soon, Yelu Yanxi reverted to his old state, and he kept hunting and playing every day, not mentioning the restoration of the country at all, they were very disappointed in Yelu Yanxi, and fled to Yanjing again).

These people told Ma Kuo about what they had experienced, and Ma Kuo connected everything together.

Not to mention Ma Kuo's shock, Xiao Kui said: "The country cannot be left without an owner for a day, Emperor Tianzuo of this dynasty has lost his way, running around, ignoring the society, and even the subversion of the sect and society, and the subjects have supported and established His Majesty today, what does it have to do with your dynasty, why do you ask for guilt?" Moreover, this matter has existed since ancient times, Emperor Tang Ming went to Shu, and Suzong was located in Lingwu, isn't it the same? The Song Dynasty should remember the righteousness of long-term peace with its neighbors, and use its strength to eliminate great difficulties together, so as to be a great country. But today, you raise troops to the border, seize the people's land, extort and extort, what kind of system have you become? In addition, what happened to the Jinwu army that forcibly occupied our Great Liao Yunland, insulted our Great Liao royal family, and repeatedly attacked our Great Liao army, I hope that your country will give me a reasonable explanation. ”

Ma Kuo suppressed the shock in his heart and said: "I don't know what's going on with Champion Hou, when I go back, I will definitely make up the truth, and then give you a reasonable explanation." As for Emperor Tang Ming, Emperor Xingshu, the crown prince supervised the country, and when the prince ascended the throne, Emperor Tang Ming was registered as the emperor. The chaos was established, so he welcomed the Tang Ming Emperor back to Beijing, which was the way of the monarch and the minister. The nine kings of your dynasty ascended the throne, not a commission, but self-reliance, and he degraded the lord of Liao as the king of Xiangyin, where is this like what the ancients did? The fake teacher asked for help, when he was sincere, Bao Xu cried Qin, and Kong Ming went to Wu, all of them were sincere. If you ask for help like this, can your neighbors not respond? But your dynasty has not sent a messenger to our Great Song Dynasty, although this dynasty has a heart of pity, but there is nothing to do. Today's soldiers are pressing, only on the eve of the day, the blessings and misfortunes survive, and the monarchs and ministers of your dynasty can judge themselves! ”

Cai Ying's behavior, there is some speculation on the side of Northern Liao.

Judging from Cai Ying's forcible occupation of the daughter of the Liao royal family, the Northern Liao monarchs and ministers judged that Cai still must have a heart of disobedience, and then regarded Cai as a Jurchen of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, Yeluchun monarchs and ministers generally believed that Cai Zhen and the Great Song should be treated separately, and even the two should be treated as two forces.

In addition, putting aside Cai Ying's matter for the time being, Ma Kuo's words are also reasonable.

Therefore, Xiao Kui did not chase and fight.

In the next few days, the monarchs and ministers of Northern Liao have been discussing how to deal with Ma Kuolai's envoys?

At the same time, Ma Kuo was also placed under house arrest.

A few days later, Xiao Kui came to invite Ma Kuo.

Ma Kuo asked, "Where to go?" ”

Xiao Kui said: "I'll know when I go to Ma Xuanzan." ”

Ma Kuo listened to the words and didn't ask any more.

Not long after, Ma Kuo followed Xiao Kui to the imperial city located in the southwest corner of Yanjing.

Outside the door of a large hall, Xiao Kui said to Ma Kuo: "Ma Xuanzan is ready to perform a pilgrimage." ”

Ma Kuo asked very seriously: "Why do you want to worship?" ”

Xiao Kui silently did not answer.

Ma Kuo secretly made up his mind: "Never give Yelu Chun a pilgrimage ceremony!" ”

Ma Kuo knew that he might incur death for himself by doing so, but as an envoy, he did not represent an individual, but a country, and if he gave Yelu Chun a great salute, it would be equivalent to the Great Song Dynasty recognizing that his accession to the throne was legal and valid, which was very unfavorable to the Great Song Dynasty.

Ma Kuo walked into the main hall, only to see that the main hall was empty, and in the middle of the main hall was placed a simple incense case, there were candlesticks and incense burners on the incense case, the incense smoke in the furnace was fragrant and fragrant, and there was an old tiger skin mattress under the incense case.

Ma Kuo felt confused, he didn't know what kind of ritual Ye Luchun was going to do?

While Ma Kuan was pondering, he saw two Khitan girls wearing narrow sleeved robes and long leather boots walking in from the side door of the hall holding two scrolls.

Coming to the incense case, the two Khitan girls faced Ma Kuo with solemn expressions, and then slowly unfolded the painting scroll.

Ma Kuo looked at it and was surprised inexplicably, it turned out to be the portraits of Song Zhenzong and Emperor Song Renzong.

Ma Kuo hurriedly stepped forward, then picked up three sticks of incense from the incense table, and knelt on the mattress to worship.

After Ma Kuanli, the two Khitan girls silently rolled up the portraits, and then walked out slowly.

Ma Kuo understood that Yeluchun was telling him that the Liao State respected the two emperors of the Great Song Dynasty.

Soon, an old man with gray hair slowly walked in through the side door, and he said to Ma Kuo with a solemn face: "The contemptible man is the translator of Your Majesty. Your Majesty is not in good health and cannot receive the envoy, please forgive the envoy. There are a few words that Your Majesty has commanded me to speak to the messenger...... His Majesty said that the two dynasties had a good talk, more than a hundred years, and suddenly the Song Dynasty overtook the alliance and approached the border with soldiers. Since ancient times, the oath has been violated, and the country has not been long. ”

Ma Kuo gave a salute first, and then said: "The two dynasties have been reconciled for a hundred years, and all the people are fortunate." However, the Liao lord is still here, why did the nine kings ascend the throne as emperors without authorization? Why did the Liao lord depose him as the king of Xiangyin? I have a brotherhood between the emperor and the lord of Liao, can't I raise troops to inquire? ”

The translator was silent and withdrew in small steps.

After a while, the translator returned to the hall with a few documents, and then said to Ma Kuo: "This is the oath of Emperor Zhenzong and Emperor Renzong of the Gui Dynasty and my Emperor Zhaosheng, and His Majesty ordered me to read it to the envoy. ”

Ma Kuo was stunned, he didn't expect Ye Luchun to make this move.

Song Zhenzong signed this peace pact with the Liao state in the first year of Jingde, and from then on, the Song state began to exchange the New Year's coins for peace on the northern border.

The Song Dynasty has always had two very different voices about this covenant.

One believes that this is the humiliation of the Song people, who have been able to pay tribute every year in exchange for peace.

The other believes that it is a great good to exchange such a small price for peace on the northern border.

Although Ma Kuo, who was born in the military, prefers the former, he does not deny the latter.

After the translator finished reading the affidavit, he saw that Ma Kuo seemed to be immersed in it and quietly retreated.

After a while, Xiao Kui walked in through the side door and said, "After listening to the oath, what does Ma Xuanzan think?" Do you have the patience to break the contract? ”

Ma Kuo was silent for a while, and then said: "The Jurchen Chen soldiers are outside the pass, Yanjing is in danger, and our army is on the border, the purpose is not to start a war with you, but to save the people of Yandi from fire and water. ”

Xiao Kui said: "Ma Xuanzan's good eloquence, Xiao has learned it...... Your Majesty is not in good health and cannot meet you in person, so my court will send the secretary Lang Wang Jieru to go to Xiongzhou with you to meet Tong Xuanfu to discuss the peaceful coexistence of the two families. ”

Ma Kuo's heart moved, and he said in his heart: "It seems that Yeluchun has the intention of being called Fan." ”

Ma Kuo wanted to inquire about Yeluchun's condition again, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back, and he thought: "I have already made Yeluchun move the idea of becoming a vassal, and the task has basically been completed, so it's better not to make any extraneous branches." ”

However, when Ma Kuo returned to the Pure Dirt Temple, he was put under house arrest again.

Ma Kuo felt very strange, he thought, "Didn't Xiao Kui say that he would send a secretary Lang to Xiongzhou with me?" Why don't you see anyone coming? Could it be that something is wrong? ”

Since he has been cut off from the outside world, Ma Kuo can only rely on guesswork to judge the situation.

Ma Kuo guessed that it was possible that the two armies were already fighting, otherwise, with the previous situation, the Liao people should not have put him under house arrest again.

As expected, Ma Kuo expected.

In the evening, Xiao Kui came to the Purification Temple with a large group of people.

Xiao Kui asked Ma Kuo aggressively: "You Song Dynasty disciples boasted about the soldiers, but I didn't expect that the sky was not smooth, and people had no fighting spirit. Yesterday, Yang Keshi led the army to invade Langoudian, and was hit head-on by our army, your army lost its armor and lost its armor, and fled in the dust, if it wasn't for the thought of sending you to talk about reconciliation, our army would have already invaded Xiongzhou. What does it mean that your Song Dynasty sent envoys on one side and marched troops on the other? What are you going to do? ”

As he spoke, Xiao Kui took out a letter and a shoe from his arms, and then said angrily: "Ma Xuanzan, do you know these two things? It doesn't matter if you don't admit it, Liu Zongji has been captured by our army, and he has confessed all the filthy things between you. Ma Xuanzan, I'm afraid you won't be able to go back! ”

Ma Kuo's heart tightened, but his face was still very calm, and he replied slowly: "Ma Mou's visit to Yanjing this time is not different from ordinary envoys, but the envoy of recruitment. Liu Zongji told me that he wanted to sacrifice the city, how could Ma not accept it? Besides, as soon as our army arrived at the border, it received a holy decree that no one should be killed, which has been written in the surrender list. General Yang Keshi was defeated, and he must have been bound by the surrender list. If the Xuanfu Division applies to the imperial court to send a holy decree to defeat and sweep, then, it won't be long before the elite of my Great Song Dynasty will gather at the border, and when they go to the land, I am afraid it will not be a blessing for the people of Yanjing. ”

Xiao Kui was stunned, he didn't expect that at this time, Ma Kuo would dare to threaten them!

Xiao Kui said: "The Song Dynasty sent you to Yanjing to do death, right?" I didn't expect your Song Dynasty to abandon the life of a scholar and a doctor. ”

The so-called dead room, which is one of the five rooms in Sun Tzu's Art of War, refers to the spies who infiltrate the enemy camp, create and spread false information, and induce the enemy to be deceived.

Ma Kuo laughed and said, "Ma Mou is here to exchange his life for Quan Yan's life." If you can comprehend, you will live together; If you can't comprehend, you will die together. ”

Ma Kuo put life and death aside, and then continued: "Ma thinks that the best policy is between soldiers and families, water can carry boats, and boats can also be overturned. Or use it to succeed, or use it to fail. You are strong and I am weak, or you and I are evenly matched, at this time, you may be able to use the space, but at present, the two of us have a huge disparity in strength, so why use the space? What is the strength of your dynasty? Can I have a tenth? Or one percent? If it weren't for the fact that the two countries are adjacent to each other and have been friendly for many years, our dynasty would have divided several troops early and entered the whole formation, I don't know how your dynasty would have resisted it? Under such circumstances, why should I send people to Yanjing to analyze the blessings and misfortunes of the misfortune to you? Isn't this contrary to common sense? So, what you just said is childlike insight! ”

Xiao Kui and the others were speechless when they were refuted by Ma Kuo, their faces were full of embarrassment, and they left indignantly......

……