"How dare you kidnap the imperial envoy?" Unexpectedly, it was actually a Xijing person, Deng Su was shocked and angry, and said loudly: "Your Highness, don't be a thief." He was still waiting to be persuaded again, and someone behind him twisted his arms, and a Yanling knife was on his throat, the blood on the blade was not dry, and the cold air penetrated into the bone marrow, Deng Sudun felt a knot in his chest and couldn't speak.

Zhao Qi's face was pale, and his lips trembled. He looked at Deng Su, then at Wang Huaimin, and said cowardly: "Deng Shilang is willing to go to Xijing with Gu?" His voice was very small, Deng Su listened, his eyes suddenly widened, and he was about to open his mouth to refuse, when suddenly there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, and he fainted suddenly. It turned out that Wang Huaimin signaled with his eyes and asked Deng Su's subordinates to knock him unconscious to avoid trouble. The Khitan cavalry was wandering around Bianliang, and Shicai failed to kill all the enemies, so he had to leave quickly.

Zhao Qi and Deng Su both changed into the clothes of the Liao army, and the Western army carried the corpses of the dead and wounded on their horses, and only put them down in the distant woods, and then urged the horses to gallop and rush towards the Tiger Prison Pass at full speed. After more than half an hour, more than 1,000 Liao cavalry arrived at the place where Shicai was attacked, and there was no trace except for the corpses of the Khitans. When Yelu Dashi learned the news of the robbery of the envoy, he was furious and immediately ordered the whole army to pull out the camp from Chenqiaoyi, and the right army led 50,000 cavalry troops from the Northern Courtyard to take the lead, plundering on all sides of Bianliang, not letting go of any of the Song army scout cavalry, and at the same time sending envoys to ask the emperor of the Song State for their guilt.

It wasn't until the envoy of the Liao State asked him face to face that Zhao Ke knew that the envoy had been attacked, and the whereabouts of King Jing and Deng Su were unknown. For Zhao Ke, the worst-case scenario could not be worse than this. He regretted that his face turned purple, and he didn't say a word for a long time, and immediately forbade him to leak any news, including Yelu Dashi's anger, and he was waving his army to prepare to storm Bianliang's military information. Only the Wuchang military envoy Zhu Bona, the prime minister Zhao Zhifu, the palace captain Tong Guan and the imperial city secretary Shen Yun were only notified to come to discuss.

"Who will kidnap King Jing, is it ......" Zhao Zhifu said in a hesitant manner.

All the ministers looked at each other. The first emperor had the idea of abolishing the elder and establishing the young, and the courtiers knew it well. Because of this, the ministers relied on by the former emperor, such as Cai Jing, Wang Fu, Li Bangyan, and military generals such as Cao Di and Liu Yanqing, were not friendly with the crown prince Zhao Ke, and there was a deep feud in order to support the three princes. It was only because of the sudden death of the emperor that Zhao Ke was able to succeed to the throne in a hurry. Since Zhao Ke succeeded to the throne, in order to stabilize the situation, many important ministers of the former dynasty have not been wiped out, Cai Jing and other ministers have only been idle, protégés and former officials are still all over the world, and military generals such as Cao Di and Liu Yanqing have not cut off their military power. These are all the heart diseases of the imperial court. If the years of peace have passed, just like Zhao Ke has done in the past two years, slowly selecting young officials to replace the old ministers' henchmen, these hidden dangers have gradually been eliminated, but the Liao army happened to be unlucky, but soon after the official family succeeded to the throne, it invaded the south on a large scale, and Zhao Ke's defects in the middle of the court were undoubtedly revealed. The reinforcements of the Xijing camp and the southeast camp were delayed for some reason, and the only army in Hebei that obeyed the order was ambushed by the Liao army. Now Bianliang is in danger, if the emperor's brother Zhao Qi really lends the opportunity to escape, whether it is to take refuge in Cai Jing or Cao Di, Zhao Ke has no doubt that he must be proudly waiting for Bianliang to fall, and then come out to clean up the situation with the support of a group of old ministers.

Thinking that he was staying in Bianliang, where he was extremely dangerous, and Zhao Qi was staying in an unknown place, waiting for him to fall into the hands of the Beiyu, Zhao Ke's mood became extremely bad. Seeing that his face was ugly, the ministers didn't dare to speak rashly, and after being quiet for a long time, Tong Guan said cautiously: "The so-called son of a daughter can't sit down. Your Majesty is a body of gold, and you can no longer dwell in a dangerous city. Now outside Bianliang City, it is only the vanguard of the Liao army, and soon after the river was frozen, the imperial account of the Liao Emperor was still in Chenqiaoyi. Your Majesty should make a quick decision, if you hesitate, you are only afraid, you are only afraid, you are only afraid of ......" He did not finish his words, and glanced at Zhao Zhifu as if he was nothing.

Zhao Zhifu's heart moved, when he saw Tong Guan talking, His Majesty's face softened a lot, and he said in his heart, this person has served the Son of Heaven for two dynasties, and often accompanies His Majesty. I'm afraid that Your Majesty already has the intention of avoiding the edge of the Liao army in the south, and it's not good to speak by yourself, and Captain Tong is a eunuch, so he wants me to come out like this.

Zhao Zhifu has been up and down for decades, old and old, knowing that catering to the will is the first key to protecting himself, he weighed it three times, coughed, and said slowly: "Jingzhou chokes the world, there are Wuyang, Pingjing, Jiuli three passes and obstacles, Xiangyang with mountains and rivers, the southeast business for several years, and the benefits of Cao Yun, the southeast grain and wealth transportation is convenient. His Majesty should patrol Xiangyang, preside over the overall situation, temporarily avoid the edge of the northern captives, wait for the world to gather the king's division, and the king's division will recover Bianliang just around the corner, and then return to Beijing. ”

George Bernard Zhu and Shen Yun's faces changed. Bernard Zhu commanded 30,000 imperial shifts, and Shen Yun was in charge of the Imperial City Division. The official family only notified Prime Minister Zhao Zhifu to come to discuss, but did not notify the privy envoy Shao Wu, which was already an attitude in itself. They are neither scholars nor scholars, nor do they speak outright, and have remained silent.

When the official family was silent, Tong Guan said carefully: "In Bianliang City, there are more than 500 people from the clan, or should you drive to Xiangyang?" Zhao Ke had a cold light in his eyes, nodded and said: "Before sunset, invite all the Jinzhi clans to the palace to accompany you, this matter will be handled by the Imperial City Division quickly, but you must not leak the news." Shen Yun's heart sank, he didn't dare to delay, and hurriedly went out to arrange the arrangement.

Zhao Ke hesitated for another moment, and finally said in a deep voice: "I have made up my mind, patrol Xiangyang." He said to Zhu Bernard, "The Khitan cavalry is swift and can reach Bianliang in the evening." There is no need to delay the day, so we will set out tonight. But you can't leak the news yet, please Zhu Jiedu select the elite of the class and escort it. I left a holy decree to entrust the defense of Bianliang City to Shao Shumi. After arriving in Xiangyang, he issued an order to let the soldiers and horses of the world be the king, and then expel the northern captives and recover Hebei. After the official family made the decision to patrol Xiangyang, the originally worried expression was also relaxed.

Zhu Bernard was ordered to arrange with a solemn face, and how many families were on duty in Bianliang City, and brought out 30,000 troops in a hurry, but he was afraid that he would mutiny if he was less than halfway through, and it was another Ma Weipo. And there are too many people to go fast, so George Bernard Zhu can only choose those who belong to his own henchmen, the most loyal to the royal family, a total of more than 5,000 people. Including the inner hall straight left and right two classes, the east and west Chengzhi class, the royal horse straight, the old and new tea and wine two classes, the dragon flag straight, the south class, the north class. This escort went south, except for Jun Rongzhi, who was in charge of the royal musical instruments, the others were horse soldiers, and the war horses they rode were also tall Hexi horses.

The guards on duty are known as the elite, and when they were selected into the imperial front, they only got one or two strong soldiers for every thousand forbidden troops, but the establishment was extremely chaotic, and each generation of Song emperors had to add or delete them slightly, but they didn't make it neat. If it weren't for the fact that George Bernard Zhu had been working in the imperial shift all his life, he would have to shake his head just to remember so many class straight numbers.

This day happened to be Shangyuan, and the Imperial City Division, in accordance with the genealogical order of Zongzheng Temple, invited the Jinzhi clan one by one into the White Jade Palace under house arrest in the name of His Majesty's banquet in the palace. Although the saint did not explain, Shen Yun still included Empress Zhu's concubines in the harem into the list of clans hunting in the south together, and ignored those former imperial concubines in the cold palace and those who fell out of favor in the palace. The old eunuch did not have the mind of pity and cherishing the jade, but he knew the kindness, he remembered the benefits of the former emperor and Zhang Guifei, and quietly left a favored henchman slave, and after His Majesty hunted in the south and the palace ban was relaxed, he took the sixteenth princess Zhao Huan, the favorite of the emperor, out of the cold palace, first hid, and then left Bianliang when the situation stabilized a little.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, if it was in previous years, the capital was already full of flowers, full of joy, and the streets talked about the fashionable lantern plays. And on this day in the fourth year of Jingkang, there was no joy at all.

It was dark and dreary, and the gloom and haze shrouded the sky above the city wall, and the faces of the people in Bianliang City were mostly gloomy. The Liao army's iron barrel cannons have been transported one after another, and it is rumored that the Liao army's heavy iron barrel cannons are extremely powerful, and the shells fired are the size of a grinding plate basin and a large cannonball, and the large cannonballs are larger than the round table for eating. If it hits the battlement of the city wall, the earth and rocks will crack. The sound of "boom-" and "boom-" outside the city replaced the sound of firecrackers in previous years. Every time I heard a cannon shot, the gloom on the faces of the people of Bianliang deepened.

The north city of the outer chamber is in the south of the Chenqiao Gate of the outer city, and the north of the Longmen of the inner city is the place where the Xinli Baoyi Army is stationed. The barracks are across the Xinfengqiumen Street from Kaibao Temple. The Liao army's iron barrel cannon is not accurate, the cannonballs sometimes fall in the camp of the Baoyi army, and some are smashed in the temple, whether it is a soldier or a monk, they do not dare to stay in the houses on all sides in the daytime, but build a shed to resist the cold wind, see the cannonballs flying, and have the opportunity to dodge.

Many officers in the Baoyi Army are scholars in Taixue, usually in addition to opening the bow to strengthen the body, even the sword is rarely touched, can only be in accordance with the military book to drill the queue of the soldiers under their command, although the donkey's head is not the horse's mouth, the soldiers under the bottom are all idle men in the market, in front of the Confucian officers who are full of poetry and books, they can't say what is wrong. The Confucian officers practiced their soldiers and horses during the day, and still gathered together to preach at night, and everyone beat the drums together, and fell to this step of the field, and they were like-minded, but they did not have much resentment, but they became more and more resentful of the enemy.

"I heard that the head of the 'Governing Soldiers' Zhai is Mr. Zhao Yuanzhi," the first commander Ma Yuan said regretfully, "It's a pity that he is not in Bianliang, otherwise we wouldn't be like headless flies." Liu Wengu shook his head and said: "Ice and charcoal can't be in the same furnace, the traitor is one day, and Mr. Zhao will never hide from the world." Everyone sighed for a while, thinking that Zhao Xingde would be the general of the Shentong Army, otherwise how could he be elected as the head of the military administration.