It is natural to stay in a farmer's house in the middle of the river and give a small amount of money to the children who help them. Zhao Xingde took out a silver coin from his arms and gave it to Meng Bin, but the young man did not take it, but looked at Xingde with some sneer. Zhao Xingde couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, he looked up at Meng Wang's family, worried about what taboo he had committed.

Seeing this, Meng Wangshi also smiled and said, "Take it." All the sergeants thought that the young man had a tender face, and they all looked at him with a smile.

Clinker Meng Bin looked at Zhao Xingde, hesitated for a long time, and held back a sentence: "My lord, I don't want to reward money, can you teach me to observe the sky and position?" ”

Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, looked left and right, Wang Tongdeng cast an apologetic look at him, it turned out that he was wandering around the farm with nothing to do, and happened to see this young man looking at a star map. Meng Bin lives in the countryside all the year round and has no scheming, chatting with Wang Tongdeng, and then revealing his ambitions and plates. In the future, he will travel all over the world to find mineral veins and create a family business that is the first in the county. He has also read a few books on this subject, but his mind is full of doubts, and he has been suffering from the fact that there are no masters around him who are proficient in the positioning of observing the sky. Wang Tongdeng talked about Zhao Xingde's mastery of observing the sky and positioning, which made the young man envious.

Meng Bin looked at Zhao Xingde, his eyes revealing great expectations and pleas. Zhao Xingde's heart moved slightly, remembering the hardships of studying everywhere at the beginning, he nodded, and said in a hazy voice: "Okay." Without waiting for Meng Bin to cheer, he said in a deep voice: "I will be in a hurry tomorrow, I can only teach you a little, if you can be edified, I will guide you to another famous teacher." ”

The sergeants were about to leave tomorrow morning, Meng Bin nodded again and again, and immediately took out a stack of books from the house. Both the printing and the paper are far inferior to the engraving books of the Kanto region, and the handwriting and drawings are barely legible. Zhao Xingde looked down at the questions he marked in the book page by page, and couldn't help but have a big headache. In fact, the questions he asked included geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and many other aspects. However, thinking of the difficulties of this young man's study in this desolate place, he was relieved, cheered up, and explained to him one question after another.

This question and answer lasted for three hours, and the sergeants began to watch with great interest, and after a short time they departed one after another. The oil lamp placed on the dining table in the barn was lit until the third watch, and the lamp oil was almost dry. The young man couldn't stay up all night, Zhao Xingde saw that Meng Bin's eyes were already red, and he was reluctant to give up the hard-won opportunity to study, so he couldn't help but feel pity, wrote down his address in Dunhuang, and wrote Li Rui's address, handed it to Meng Bin, and said in a deep voice: "The way to study, the road is long, and the value is perseverance, not overnight." This Mr. Li is the master of the Tianji Academy of the Academy. If he is destined to come to us one day. ”

Meng Bin took the name post, and couldn't believe that Sergeant Zhao actually instructed him to teach from the gentleman who was born in the Tianji Academy. He raised his head, his eyes full of surprise and gratitude, but Zhao Xingde only smiled slightly. Looking at the back of the young man leaving, Zhao Xingde secretly sighed: "It is a deserted village and a remote place, cultural relics can be educated, and the people can be so diligent and diligent, if the country is not prosperous, there will be no reason." ”

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel excited, it was difficult to sleep, he simply stretched his waist, put on his clothes, paced out of the barn, looking at the eastern sky, it was not yet dawn, but the morning star was already hanging in the sky, and the night breeze was refreshing, which made people feel refreshed.

Youzhou City Nanjing stayed in the house, and the lights were still bright in the middle of the night. The time that the Yelu royal family has bought for Nanjing is running out, and Yelu Yanxi has successively beheaded several commanders who have delayed the dispatch of troops, and the northern courtyard soldiers and horses are imminent.

In just a few months, Youzhou has become a military camp, the Khitan cavalry can be seen everywhere in the city galloping slowly, the camp tents are stretched outside the city, and the generals are busy training a team of Khitan tribal cavalry into the big camp. Yelu Dashi rebelled with the support of the Yelu royal family, and the first major thing was to invest in the military state and distribute the Han people to the tribal leaders in exchange, and received the help of the troops sent by various tribes, and did everything possible to place the loyal young generals in the position of commanders at all levels, so as to ensure that the tribal warriors who could be firmly grasped and concentrated.

The warriors of the Khitan tribe were reorganized in Youzhou, and Yelu Dashi reappointed the commander of ten thousand, the commander of a thousand, and the commander of a hundred. These generals are all the younger generation of the Khitan tribe, who were suppressed by the upper royal relatives and tribal leaders in the past, and have nowhere to display their ambitions. It is not a day's work to reorganize the rabble of tribal soldiers and horses into an elite fighting army that fights against the division of the leather room military palace, and it is necessary to deal with countless miscellaneous matters. These generals all asked for instructions and reported one by one, and the whole army gradually became like an arm. Therefore, there is an endless stream of officers who come and go to Nanjing every day to stay in Nanjing to guard the affairs of the government.

"Fight the faint king right here," Yelu Dashi pointed to the narrowest throat at the western end of the narrow Liaoxi Corridor, where the mountains and the sea are back, the hills are undulating, and the situation is dangerous, which is the only way for the soldiers and horses of the North Courtyard to attack Youzhou. He said to Guo Baoyi: "Block the road with iron barrel cannons to attract faint kings to attack, and the Tiebi camp and the Han army camp must firmly hold the barracks." Guo Baoyi received the order in a deep voice, but he did not retreat, but his face was a little uncertain. Several of his subordinates' distant relatives were also classified as slaves and wanted to intercede for them.

"What, is there anything else to report?" Yelu Dashi raised his head, but suddenly found that Guo Baoyi's appearance was different from usual, it turned out that the Han people's hair bun was gone, but it was replaced by a Khitan hairstyle, with a lock of hair on each sideburn, and all the hair elsewhere was shaved. "Oh," Yelu Dashi smiled slightly, and praised, "This is our Khitan." ”

"The last will be ashamed." Guo Baoyi's face changed slightly. Although he is loyal to Yelu, he is quite determined to make his head look weird.

Yelu Dashi saw what was on his mind, and he didn't care, and said slowly with a smile: "Mencius said, Shun was born in Zhufeng, moved to Negative Xia, died in Mingtiao, Dongyi people, King Wen was born in Qizhou, died in Ying, and Xiyi people also. Confucius said, if Yidi enters China, then China will be, and if China enters Yidi, it will be Yidi. The Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty, the customs and etiquette were originally Hu people, and they were all different from the Central Plains. At the beginning, the six countries of the Kwantung region did not despise Western Qin as barbarians. The Qin Dynasty mixed a universe, there are still rotten Confucian mourning in the dry bones in the tomb, borrowing the past is not the present, so the Qin Emperor is full of pits. After that, the Han Dynasty did not inherit the Qin system. The clothes and hair that rotten Confucianism never forgets are just hair on the skin. China is in Zhengshuo, not necessarily in the Southern Dynasties. After our dynasty settled in the Central Plains, a shaving order was issued, and all those who surrendered to my Great Khitan Kingdom must follow the rules of the Khitan people, and they should not be nostalgic for the clothes and hairstyles of the previous dynasty. That's the way it gets to the bottom of things. ”

Guo Baoyi only said yes, and heard Yelu Dashi sigh: "It seems that General Guo is so loyal to my Daliao, in fact, he is no different from the Khitans." In the future, Dingding will go to Beijing, and the surname will be Yelu or Xiao, which is not impossible. ”

Guo Baoyi was terrified in his heart, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and knelt on the ground and said, "The last general has thanked you," and when he looked up, he said, "The last general wishes to return to the Yelu clan." ”

As a Han general, who has been attached to the Khitan for hundreds of years, Guo Baoyi knows very well about the conflict between the Yelu clan of the Liao State and the descendants of the Xiao clan. This Yelu Dashi incident is also related to the fact that the Liao Emperor is relying more and more on the Xiao family, alienating and guarding against the Yelu royal family.

"Okay." Yelu Dashi smiled slightly, raised his hand to let him get up and speak, "I already know your loyalty. He dispelled Guo Baoyi's doubts, and said in a hazy voice, "Is there anything else?" "Guo Baoyi just said the matter of interceding for the distant relatives of his subordinates, Yelu Dashi bowed his head and pondered for a moment, wrote a note, handed it to Guo Baoyi, and assigned these Han households to Guo's name of Junzhou." The adults are generous and benevolent, and the last general is grateful! Guo Baoyi left gratefully, and Yelu Dashi looked at his back, with a hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth.

As soon as Guo Baoyi left, Xiao Shi took his son Yelu Yilie and daughter Pu Suwan to say good night to his father Dashi.

"Abu sleep well." Nine-year-old Pu Su finished her life, Yelu Dashi touched her head lovingly, and asked Yelu Yilie, "Have you finished your homework today?" "Yes, Abu." Twelve-year-old Jereh said respectfully. The four gentlemen taught Khitan, Chinese, Persian, and Turkic respectively, and began to study before dawn at the beginning of the year, and the time for eating and resting was also very short, which was very hard for the children who had not yet reached adulthood.

The children withdrew, but Xiao remained in the room, and he stopped talking. Yelu Dashi smiled slightly, and said in a hazy voice: "Madam, please have something to say." ”

Xiao Shi hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Distribute the Han people inside and outside the city to the tribe, I heard that most of the Han slaves who were supposed to be distributed to the warriors of the tribe were occupied by the leaders. The tribal leaders who were distributed to the people often drove the slaves like cattle and horses. If this continues, the Khitan warriors and Han people will probably be dissatisfied. ”

Khitan women have a tradition of caring about political affairs, and Yelu Dashi didn't think it was wrong, and smiled: "That's exactly the case." Seeing that Xiao Shi was puzzled, he said slowly, "These old and corrupt leaders are dizzy, and for the sake of slaves and wealth, they hand over the warriors of the tribe to me to command. When they fight in the front, they do their best in the rear, digging their own graves. Just wait for me to fight to the death with the faint king, and with a little guidance, I will clean up these rotten dry bones without much effort. All the warriors who are loyal to me, who shed blood and sweat, will be rewarded sufficiently. At that time, I will let the real pillars serve as the leaders of the Khitan tribes, and they are the hope for the revival of the Khitan. ”

Yelu Dashi sat here and listened to the generals report on military affairs in turn, there was already an hour without moving, he simply stood up and stretched his muscles, standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands, his heart was surging, he could endure the fingers of the old royal family in Shangjing, he could sacrifice the interests of the Han people to buy the leaders of the Khitan tribe, and he could cede Yunzhou, the ancestral land, to the barbarians on the grassland, but this was all to revive the Khitan. If he can achieve great things, whether it is the Khitans, Xi people, Jurchens or Han people, they will only remember that he is a generous and benevolent saint.

He exhaled deeply the turbid breath in his chest, and took another breath of cold night air, only to feel a shake in his body. Looking at the starry sky from afar, he said slowly: "Heaven and earth are not kind, and all things are used as dogs." The soil and rain make the grass grow, and the grass feeds the cattle and sheep, which in turn feed the shepherds and wolves. After the death of the shepherd, the soul returns to the immortal heaven, the flesh and blood turn into soil, the grass is nourished again, and the cycle repeats, and all things are endless, which is the way of heaven. The weak eat the strong, the survival of the fittest, this is the way of heaven. Those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die, this is the way of heaven. Our Khitan people are the descendants of the green ox and white horse, the brave and warlike people, and the cowardly and despicable people, which is also the way of heaven. All I did was to make the Khitan, which was gradually decayed by the atmosphere of the Southern Dynasties, reinvigorate itself and obey the way of heaven. ”