The carriage swayed along, and Zhao Xingde leaned on the side of the carriage and looked at the opposite side attentively.

It is said that Siddhartha Buddha was a prince of the kingdom of pure rice before he became a monk, and lived in the shadow of clothes and temples all day long. In the middle of the night, Prince Siddhartha woke up and saw beautiful women sleeping around, with their hair scattered, fat powder peeled off, and their breasts exposed. Some talk in their dreams, some drool, some snore, some fart, some grind their teeth, and have an ugly posture. Siddhartha couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and thus he had an epiphany that color is emptiness, and resolutely became a monk.

"It seems that I will not be able to become a Buddha." Zhao Xingde smiled slightly. Li Ruoxue's slightly haggard sleeping appearance was even more pitiful, her eyes were slightly closed, her eyelashes trembled slightly, she occasionally smiled lightly in her dreams, the shallow pear vortex on her cheeks, and the sound of even and thin breathing, all made Zhao Xingde only feel peace and joy in his heart.

When the carriage was about to meet at the caravan, Zhao Xingde softly instructed the coachman to stop slowly, lifted the curtain and went down to say hello to Li Rui. The caravan consisted of twenty or thirty wagons, but was escorted by a dozen or so guards on horseback, and it seemed that the merchants, if not the merchants, were very wealthy, but they were carrying precious jewels. Listening to Li Rui, the caravan was originally going to take a boat, but the waterway was a little rough in the past two days, and it was in a hurry, so it set off by land instead, and then changed to a fast boat halfway.

Zhang Lan, the leader of the guards, looked at the customs clearance document with an expressionless face, and the seals and paper were all in the style of the Ministry of Rites, which were used by the Great Song Dynasty scholars to study. The Xia court has always encouraged scholars to come and go, so the caravans were also willing to take these scholars with them, and some even agreed with the scholars who traveled to study to give a small amount of gold and jade to the other party to carry with them, so as to avoid paying customs duties.

"Under Zhao De, Zhang Zhuangshi, fortunately, fortunately." Zhao Xingde looked at Zhang Lan, although he was wearing coarse cloth civilian clothes, his body was faintly full of murderous aura, this kind of mysterious and mysterious induction reminded Zhao Xingde of those dead soldiers in Jinwei Mansion. He was puzzled in his heart, so he was extra polite to Zhang Lan.

"Since you follow the caravan, you must order and prohibit it, and you can't make your own decisions at will." Zhang Lan handed the document back to Zhao De and said in a deep voice, which could be regarded as an endorsement of his action with the caravan. At this time, it has become a common practice for businessmen to invite acquaintances along the way. Caravans often departed from Bianjing with only a few dozen people, but when they arrived in Dunhuang, there were more than 200 people. Later, the people who join the gang will also give a reward to the bodyguards of the guards according to the distance of the journey, and these have rules to follow.

Looking at Zhao De's back, Zhang Lan pondered slightly for a moment, turned around and came to a carriage of the caravan leader, and said in a low voice: "Old shopkeeper, then Li Rui has invited a Confucian named Zhao De to join the gang, and his subordinates have already checked his customs clearance documents, and there is no problem." ”

"Well, the scholar is in the gang," Kang Huaide was over fifty years old, his hair was gray, and he looked at the thick account book in front of him without raising his head, "It's not a rooster and a dog thief." He felt that Zhang Lan seemed to have an unfinished meaning, and asked, "Do you see anything special?" ”

Zhang Lan hesitated: "It's true that this person is a scholar, but there is a faint smell of the army in his gestures." ”

"Oh?" Kang Huaide raised his head, stroked his beard under his chin and said: "The Great Song Dynasty Wenwu Shu Path, which is both a Confucian scholar and a military smell, is somewhat interesting. Don't stay quiet, pay attention to his actions, and report me if there is something special. He looked down and flipped through the account book in front of him.

Kang Huaideming's identity on the face was the shopkeeper of the Bianjing branch of Fuhai Xing, Fuhaixing's business spread all over the state capitals, and he returned to Dunhuang every three years to personally state the domestic situation of the Great Song Dynasty to the emperor and the two governments. Song and Liao were at odds with each other, and the southeast was in turmoil, so Kang Huaide had to gather his central spirit to consider the messages and suggestions sent back by the branches in various places, choose appropriate countermeasures, and answer the questions of His Majesty and the two governments. This Zhao De, at worst, is just a small work sent by the Imperial City Division.

After the caravan arrived, Zhang Lan gave an order, and the convoy started slowly. The carriage jolted slightly. Zhao Xingde tossed for a day, and at this time tiredness came to his head, and he and Li Ruoxue leaned against each other, and fell asleep.

In the afternoon, Xiao He, the envoy of the Xia Kingdom, visited the Chao Buzhi Mansion again, and insisted on letting the servant retreat after arriving in the study, and then the first sentence was: "No blame, quickly inform your disciple Zhao Xingde to avoid trouble, Kaifeng Mansion will lock up and take 2,000 children to prison on the day of the Autumn Festival, and he will be questioned for rebellion!" ”

He set up a banquet in Panlou at noon to entertain Kaifeng Mansion Yin, thanking him for his care of the merchants of the Xia Kingdom in recent years, and during the banquet mentioned the party dispute between the two sides of the imperial court, the East Palace and the recent boiling revelations, Kaifeng Mansion Yin Lin Beat revealed the news to him, and asked him not to stand on the wrong team, and bet the chips to the prince and Zhao Zhifu. After getting the news, Xiao Ji hurried over.

Chao Buzhi only stretched out his hand to let him sit down and drink tea.

Xiao He hurriedly said: "It's too late, so let's do it, I'll arrange everything on my behalf and let him go to the Dunhuang Bachelor's Mansion." ”

Chao Buzhi looked at him strangely, a look of vigilance flashed in his eyes, and he said slowly: "I have already arranged this matter, and here I thank Brother Xiao for his kindness on behalf of my disciple." ”

Xiao He was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "Is there really an arrangement?" Is it going to the Academy? His tone was a little hurried, and after seeing the wariness in Chao Buzhi's eyes, he explained with a smile: "Don't blame brother, I'm so concerned about this matter, it's not entirely the old feelings." To tell you the truth, when His Majesty and the Prime Minister saw Zhao Xingde's 'Ten Strategies for Expanding the Sea', they had a heart of love for talents, and specially made a decree for me to facilitate this son to visit Dunhuang or Chang'an. I know that the Song people are the most important jinshi, and I wanted to wait for him to start this matter after the scientific examination, but I didn't expect it to ...... so soon" He paused and smiled slightly, "This revelation of the post, the world is shaken, and the younger generations almost moved to Tongguan, making Cai Jing deflated, such a talent, wherever he will stand out." ”

Chao Bu's heart sank, I wanted Zhao Xingde to go to Xia to avoid trouble for the time being, the party struggle of this dynasty, there has never been a long-term victory and undefeated minister, and when Cai Jing's party loses power, the framed today can be rehabilitated by nineteen, and then he can return. But listening to Xiao He's meaning, he actually planned to leave him in Xia Kingdom. Thinking of this, he secretly regretted giving Zhao Xingde the letter of recommendation.

Xiao Ji saw his expression, secretly pondered in his heart, and knew Chao Buzhi's concerns, and smiled a little embarrassedly: "Brother Wujiao, to this day, how can you still be so stubborn, the Xia Kingdom and the Song Kingdom are all Chinese inheritances, and the flowers bloom two branches, no matter who dominates the world in the future, they are all prosperous times in China." Do you bear to be so virtuous and so talented, just because you are a traitor, you will bury your life like you? ”

Chao Buzhi smiled faintly and said in a deep voice: "The two countries have been facing each other for a hundred years, and their morals, etiquette, and customs are all different. If you rule the world in the future, how will you rule the world? Or at the beginning, Qin and the Six Kingdoms were general, treating the people of the Six Kingdoms of the Kwantung as dogs and sheep, and even burning books and pit Confucianism, taking officials as teachers, and plundering their children's jade silks, I can't agree with that. ”

He said this quite harshly, and Xiao He smiled awkwardly: "How can you compare our country with Tyrannical Qin." Now the Song court is mediocre, and there are talents that cannot be used. As long as we rule the world, we will naturally rule the world with the talents of the world, and there will be no discrimination. The so-called looting is even more illusory. ”

Chao Buzhi said coldly: "You can go and talk to the people of the Protectorate Mansion first." ”

Twenty years ago, the Xia State besieged Luoyang, the royal family and the two governments strictly ordered not to plunder the people, except for Liu Yi forcibly took the white peony, there was no crime in the autumn, not only there were some complaints in the army, even the captains in the Protectorate Mansion also had fierce disputes, one faction thought that the implementation of this kind of money-making policy was simply incredible, the imperial treasury consumed food and wages, and the soldiers fought and shed blood, so they should be rewarded, and this reward naturally came from the Song Kingdom, and the other faction believed that it could not be as unscrupulous as conquering the Diyi tribe. Because the Imperial Family, the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the Bachelor's Mansion did not support the looting of the Kanto region, the latter faction barely gained the upper hand, and after that, the captains of the Protectorate Mansion were not interested in fighting in the territory of the Song Kingdom, which could not make oil and water.

This incident was quite a stimulus to Chao Bu, who traveled in the Xia Kingdom at that time, believing that although the Xia State was strong and had a deep cultural heritage with the Great Song Dynasty, the interests of the two people could never be confused. Therefore, after studying in the bachelor's mansion for several years, he left the Xia Kingdom and returned to the Song Dynasty.