Hot Gongji is not the kind of person who does not seek benefits and helps others, even if he counts his friendship with Ye Qing at the beginning, it is not enough for Xia Guo to send troops to help him.

Even the Qiyan tribe led by Temujin on the grassland today has occupied a large number of grasslands of the Kereh tribe, making the Qiyan tribe bordering the borders of the Xia Kingdom, thus threatening the trade profits of the Xia merchants.

But in the eyes of the Xia people, today's Temujin is still not to be feared, but it is just a relatively powerful tribe in the grassland, and compared with their powerful Xia Kingdom, it is still as powerless as a mayfly shaking a tree.

Therefore, even if the Qiyan tribe robbed the caravans of the Xia Kingdom and the Song people many times, in the eyes of the Xia State courtiers such as Hot Gongji, it was just an accidental incident, and it could not be called serious.

And Ye Qing's kind of being thousands of miles away, but he made a fuss about the rise of the tribes on the grassland, showing his attention and nervousness to Temujin, which made Hot Gongji wonder at the same time, he couldn't help but think, when Ye Qing crossed the grassland and came to the Xia Kingdom, there were only a hundred followers around him, could it be said that ......? Ye Qing, who was crossing the steppe at that time, was frightened by the Tatars, so he was so afraid of Temujin? Or did it mean that thousands of his subordinates were defeated by Temujin when they crossed the grassland, allowing Ye Qing to escape from the grassland in a hurry with more than a hundred or so people like a lost dog?

No matter which possibility it is, but since Ye Qing wants to ask Xia Guo to send troops to contain Temujin with his original friendship, Hot Gongji will not refuse, in addition to wanting to see if Temujin is really as strong as Ye Qing said, he naturally wants to take advantage of this incident to get the desired benefits from Ye Qing.

In recent years, the merchants between Xia and Song have come and gone more frequently, especially after Yu Yunwen took office as the pacification envoy of Lizhou Road, the trade between Song and Xia has become more frequent, and what naturally makes Xia people blush is the soap, new candles and other things.

Therefore, in exchange for agreeing that Ye Qing would send troops to contain him, Hot Gongji naturally would not let it go, and sent his craftsmen to the Great Song Dynasty to learn soap and other methods.

Obviously, only learning soap, candles and other production methods cannot satisfy the ambition of hot and spicy Gongji, so if you can steal it, the most valuable Poli production method of the Song people today, then it is too perfect for Xia Guo.

After all, if this kind of crystal clear and brilliant new thing is mastered by their Xia Kingdom, and then think about the favor of Poli by Liao State and other countries in the west, this is completely more profitable than just extracting taxes from the merchants of the Great Song Dynasty.

"You agree?" Xin Qiji looked at Ye Qing with a helpless wry smile on the corner of his mouth, frowned and asked a little puzzled: "Are the Tatars on the grassland really that powerful?" Why do you attach so much importance to that Temujin? ”

Ye Qing sighed again, he naturally had no way to tell Xin Qiji, that Temujin would sooner or later bring Xia, Jin, Song, and Liao to the pot, and even the kingdoms further west would be crushed and conquered by Temujin's iron horse.

"It's not clear whether it's powerful or not, but if all the tribes in the grassland are unified by one person, it won't do us any good for the Northern Expedition." Ye Qing said.

Xin Qiji took a breath, in his opinion, if all the tribes of the grassland were unified by one person, it would be good for them to the Great Song Dynasty, after all, in this way, the Jin Kingdom would have to be wary of a unified grassland tribe.

"You're not really going to make a splash, are you?" Xin Qiji looked at Ye Qing strangely and asked.

"I would have already invested in the gold, and I would have waited until now." Ye Qing rolled his eyes helplessly, and then continued: "It seems that the unification of the grassland is more beneficial to us, but it ....... ”

Ye Qing had a hint of irony on his face, and continued: "But let's just say something unpleasant, with the virtue of the imperial court, do you think that if there is a unified big tribe on the grassland, the imperial court will be ashamed of the Northern Expedition and the Second Saint Xue, then what will it do?" ”

"Needless to say? If it were me, I would naturally secretly unite with the Tatars and attack the Jin people from the north and south, so as to recover my Great Song Mountains and Rivers! Xin Qijian blurted out.

"Do you think that with the virtues of our court and the "traditional virtues" that like to restrain military generals, in the end will the Tatars occupy our lost northland, or will we regain half of the country? Ye Qing asked quietly.

Xin Qiji looked at Ye Qing quietly, and the matter of Yue Fei's twelve gold medals being recalled came to their minds at the same time.

Faced with this question, Xin Qiji didn't know how to answer for a while, but judging from the current situation, if the tribes on the grassland were unified, it would definitely be beneficial to the Song court.

"Unless it's ......." Xin Qiji looked at Ye Qing, and after a deep groan, he said: "Unless after the Northern Expedition begins, when we go north to achieve victory, there is a person who dares to disobey the will of the imperial court and disobey the orders of the imperial court, and can withstand the pressure and continue to bury his head in the north." ”

Ye Qing ignored Xin Qiji's high hopes for himself, and followed the encouragement of the ministers who did not listen to the will of the imperial court, and said slowly: "The grassland tribes are unified, even if the imperial court and the Tatars form an alliance to attack Jin, but they border Dajin, there is Yanmen Pass to attack, and Wuzhou can go all the way to Yanjing, and what about us?" The Huai River and the Yellow River are dragging our footsteps in front of us, and once the time comes, whoever takes Yanjing first will be able to occupy the strategic initiative and monopolize the sixteen states of Yanyun. At that time, even if we can capture half of the country and recover the lost territory, but without the barrier of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, we will be under the noses of the Tatars' iron horsemen. Do you think that the Tatars will be friendly with you for generations? ”

Xin Qiji looked at the map spread out on the table, the Tatars are as close as a stone's throw away from Yanjing, and they are as far away as the ends of the world from Yanjing, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and other places, if they really want to join forces with the Tatars to attack gold, once the Tatars occupy the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, then even if the imperial court takes back half of the country, it is indeed as Ye Qing said: like chicken ribs, you need to watch out for the Tatars going south at all times.

Xin Qiji frowned and looked at Ye Qing in frustration, sighed helplessly, and changed the topic: "Li Mu and Lin Zhong are in charge of the two armies of Huaiyang and Gaoyou, do you think they will always bow down to you?" ”

"Of course not, and I've never thought of it that way." Ye Qing slowly rolled up the map and put it away: "Li Mu and Lin Zhong still have to leave Huainan East Road after all, Yu Yunwen cultivated it single-handedly, if the imperial court decides on the Northern Expedition, the two of them will ...... I didn't plan to stay, so naturally I wanted them to defect to Yu Yunwen on Lizhou Road. ”

"In this way, the generals who can conquer and fight on Huainan East Road, but only Xu Fan is left, as for Hu Jie of the Tianchang Army and Zhou Duanchao of the Lianshui Army, even if I don't say it, you should know that they are wine bags and rice bags." Xin Qiji reminded Ye Qingdao.

Ye Qing, who sat back in the chair, motioned for Xin Qiji to sit down as well, rubbed his temples and said: "Now my Great Song Dynasty has never lacked generals who can fight well, what is lacking is the left minister who can give the main generals of all walks of life as the backbone of the court and withstand the pressure of the imperial court!" I have always thought that since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, it is the trend of the lack of the north and the south, not to mention, without Li Mu and Lin Zhong, is it true that I, Ye Qing, the pacification envoy, are in Huainan East Road? ”

Xin Qijian was silent, Ye Qing's words meant that he had some high hopes for himself, but he was only the general judge of Huainan East Road now, not a general who could lead the army to fight.

As if he had seen through Xin Qiji's thoughts, Ye Qing, who had recovered his leisurely complacency, said again after discussing the seriousness of the Tatars with Xin Qiji just now: "Even if you Xin Qiji is unwilling to lead the army in wartime because of the constraints of the imperial court or the lack of will of the imperial court, but you really think that the people called Po Li San'er, Lao Liu Tou, and Zhao Qi'er are vegetarians?" It's true that they are old, but the purpose of commanding troops to fight is not to kill the enemy, is it? Besides, even if it is a few people who are old now, they can still eat several large bowls of rice at each meal, and it is not a problem to lead the army to fight or go into battle to kill the enemy, on the contrary, it is still very reliable, and it will definitely be a sharp blade. ”

Xin Qiji nodded in agreement, and after thinking for a while, he said: "If there is really such a day, your Ye Qing's subordinates are short of people, and Xin is willing to be a pawn." ”

"Come on, it's too wasteful to let you be a pawn, is Tianchangjun interested? Why don't you try to get in touch and get familiar with it now? Ye Qing immediately prepared to bury people, and said with a sneer.

Xin Qiji was stunned for a moment, looking at the treacherous smile on Ye Qing's face, and finally reacted, this thing pretended to be pitiful and sympathetic in front of him, just to wait for his words.

"You...... Your uncle! Xin Qiji thought about it for a long time, but he still felt that Ye Qing often scolded people, and scolding it at this moment was more accurate to express his dissatisfaction.

Looking at Ye Qing's villain's triumphant appearance, after scolding, Xin Qiji, who laughed, thought for a while and said, "Since there is nothing to do in the afternoon, how about I introduce a scholar to you?" ”

Seeing who Ye Qing was going to ask, and the look on his expression that he was obviously about to refuse, Xin Qiji didn't give Ye Qing a chance to speak: "As you just said, my Great Song Dynasty is now lacking in appearance, and lack of appearance is like a lack of literati to rule the world, you might as well go and visit, the person I Xin can look at is by no means a mediocre person." ”

"Now I don't want to be recommended as an official, at least I don't want to do this on Huainan East Road, if he has a meritorious reputation, then let him be an official and be reused by the court, it's no fun to go through the back door." Ye Qing finally moved his noble sentiments out of the bottom of the box.

And the noble sentiment, in exchange for Xin Qiji, gave him a clean middle finger, and then said seriously: "This person has a meritorious reputation, but because he is not used to seeing the darkness and strife above the officialdom, he later resigned and lived in seclusion in Yangzhou, which is not an exaggeration." ”

"Is Wen Neng to put pen to peace in the world or Wu Neng to go to Ma Dingkun?" In Ye Qing's heart, he was somewhat curious about the people who could be admired by Xin Qiji.

"Although it's not, its articles are still good, and it's better than you and me." Xin Qiji is obviously extremely admired.

"How is it compared to Chen Cishan and Yang Huaizhi?" Ye Qing, who walked out of the mansion with Xin Qiji, asked.

"It's incomparable." Xin Qiji continued to elevate the talents of the people he was about to meet.

Ye Qing looked at Xin Qiji suspiciously, this thing has always admired literati is true, such as the worship of Zhu Xi, if it wasn't for Zhu Xi's complete chilling of his heart, I'm afraid he wouldn't have changed his mind.

Seeing that he admired a literati so much at this moment, Ye Qing couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in his heart, and he was deeply afraid that the person who Xin Qiji admired was the same as that Zhu Xi, and it was true that he was talented, but it was also true that he was selfish.

In order to show respect for his people, Xin Qiji actually asked Ye Qing to abandon the carriage, and instead walked through the streets and alleys to visit his people.

In the past half a year, Ye Qing has traveled all over Yangzhou City, so following Xin Qijian all the way, whether it is a slightly more prosperous place, or a depressed and poor place, Ye Qing can know his specific location in Yangzhou and other information.

From this point of view, Ye Qing can be regarded as a qualified prefect.

According to Xin Qiji's meaning, this person is definitely worthy of a great talent, and with this person's talent, it is enough to be able to serve as the governor of a state, and now with the Tianchang Army and the Lianshui Army, if it is prepared, then it can be regarded as a talent that can be used.

Tianchang County is naturally the place where the Tianchang Army is stationed, and Ye Qing originally intended to let Chen Cishan go to Tianchang County, but now he is thinking about the person whom Xin Qiji admires, and he has just been in the government office, and wants Xin Qiji to know the meaning of the Tianchang Army, and now he has to press the idea in his heart, first look at the person admired by Xin Qiji, and then make a decision.

"A destitute literati?" Ye Qing looked at the broken portal in front of him, looked sideways at Xin Qijian and asked.

"How many literati are not poor? As the so-called sages have been poor since ancient times, not to mention that my generation is lonely and straight? Xin Qiji dropped his bookbag, took it for granted, and knocked on the door that looked like a fence.

Ye Qing was speechless, looked back at the road, and then looked at the dilapidated scene in front of him, he had no interest in his heart.

The low loess broken walls, the three declining loess houses, the small mud courtyard with potholes in the bottom of the house, the thatch that can be seen on the roof can already be seen for some years, a few dilapidated yellowed windows, and even some of the window paper has been broken, shivering with the breeze, but no one wants to paste it on.

The low door was already unrecognizable, and the center of the threshold was recessed a lot on weekdays, so it seemed that even if the door was closed tightly, if the weather was more windy, I was afraid that it would pour hard from the threshold.

"Senior Brother Ke is in the house?" Xin Qiji stood in the courtyard where no one was around, and said aloud to the door in the middle.

As Xin Qiji's voice landed, the broken door opened, and a woman in her thirties walked out, with a cold expression on her face, and even a hint of being a living person.

"Excuse me...... Who are you looking for? After the woman saluted Xin Qiji and Ye Qing, her tone was also with a hint of coldness.

"I gave up my illness in Xia Xin, and specially brought my friends to visit Senior Brother Ke." After Xin Qiqi returned the salute, he said politely.

This gesture was extremely surprised in Ye Qing's eyes, even if it was the first time for this product to go to his house, he had never been so polite, it seemed that the people in the thatched hut had much more weight than he had in Xin Qiji's heart.

And what surprised Ye Qing even more was that when the woman heard the footsteps behind her and turned around, she saw Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong actually walking out of the hut, followed by a middle-aged man about forty years old, with a thin face and a beard.

Xin Qiji and Ye Qing were both stunned, and when Xin Qiji saw Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong, there was even some pity and annoyance on his expression, obviously blaming himself for being a step late, and he didn't expect that Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong were the first to find Liu Keshi.

Bai Bingzhong and Ye Heng obviously didn't expect that Ye Qing and Xin Qiji would appear here, but when they moved their eyes to Xin Qiji, they also roughly guessed in their hearts that Ye Qing's appearance here was obviously brought by Xin Qiji, not Ye Qing.

Several people stood at the door and greeted each other again, and even when Ye Qing was talking to Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong, his eyes would often be on Liu Keshi's body, looking at the middle-aged man in front of him who looked like he had not changed his clothes for many days, his cuffs were stained with ink or oil, and his fingernails were filled with black dirt.

Liu Keshi was obviously taken aback after learning from the greetings of several people that Ye Qing was now the pacification envoy and prefect of Huainan East Road, and he didn't expect that the current pacification envoy and prefect of Huainan East Road would be so young!

I don't know if it's the arrogance of the literati, or the disobedience and jealousy from the bottom of my heart, in short, a wave of dissatisfaction and disdain slowly began to spread from Liu Keshi's heart.

In his opinion, the reason why Ye Qing is where he is today is just like other officials who sharpened their heads and climbed up when he was still an official, that is, he relied on his whiskers and flattery, or relied on his family background to become the pacification envoy of Huainan East Road.

Looking at the scholarly arrogance that Liu Keshi involuntarily revealed, Ye Qing was also very arrogant, even with some arrogance.

When standing in the dirt courtyard and greeting Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong, Ye Qing often looked up at the sky with his hands behind his back, and after taking Ye Heng and the others into the thatched house again, Ye Qing showed his disdain for Liu Keshi.

Looking at Liu Keshi's wife, he put the pottery cups one by one in front of several people, the tea brewed with inferior tea leaves rippled with stains on the rim of the cups, and Ye Qing was not even interested in holding them up to make a look.

And the others, whether Ye Heng or Bai Bingzhong, including Xin Qiji, who had been looking at him, all picked up the teacup with unwashed stains on the side as usual, and after taking a sip, they repeatedly said bitter tea and other words.

Ye Qing's rude behavior made Xin Qiji next to him want to kick Ye Qing out, but after looking at the other people, Xin Qiji had no choice but to laugh and say to Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong: "Lord Ye and Lord Bai came here today, they don't want to rob people with students, right?" ”

"Good birds choose trees to perch, Keshi's house, but the old man and the two came to visit first, Lord Xin, you are a step late, there is always a first come and then come in everything, right?" Ye Heng smiled and glanced at Liu Keshidao.

"But with my understanding of Senior Brother Ke, Senior Brother Ke is a person with great ambitions, whether it is the Transshipment Department or the Criminal Division, it can't give Senior Brother Ke a place to show his talents, right?" Xin Qiji didn't want to give up wooing Liu Keshi, in his opinion, Liu Keshi's going to the transfer department or the criminal department was overkill.

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