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At the beginning of November of the sixth year of Xuanhe, Tong Guan sent someone to ask Ma Kuo, the envoy of Baozhou, to come to Taiyuan - the reason why Tong Guan brought Ma Kuo was because Tong Guan was going to let Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong, the observer of Pizhou, go to the clouds to meet Yan Zonghan and discuss the matter of returning to Yundi.

Tong Guan admired Ma Kuo very much and thought that Ma Kuo was the most suitable person to negotiate with Jin Ren.

After Ma Kuo received Tong Guan's order, he set off as soon as possible.

In just one day, Ma Kuo came to Taiyuan.

Tong Guan heard that Ma Kuo had been to Yanjing not long ago, so he asked Ma Kuo about the situation in Yanjing.

Ma Kuo then made a very detailed report to Tong Guan on the issue of Yanjing, and focused on the "benefits and disadvantages of Chang Shengjun's granting of fields".

Tong Guan said: "The old man has always been worried that the Chang Sheng Army will become a disaster for the Great Song Dynasty in the future, and he is ready to cut the Chang Sheng Army, I don't know what you want?" ”

Ma Kuo replied: "Xia Guan also knows that the Chang Shengjun will be a disaster in the future, but now the Jurchen does not dare to raise troops to peep at Yan because of the concern of the Chang Shengjun, if it is cut, I am afraid it will eliminate the last trace of worry of the Jurchens, in that way, the Jurchens will be fearless of my Great Song Dynasty, Yan Di is afraid of danger, and the Chang Shengjun may also mutiny or defect to the Jurchens." ”

Tong Guan was actually very clear about this, and he asked, "What good way do you have to do that?" ”

Ma Kuo replied without much thought: "Now there are more than 30,000 soldiers who can fight in the victorious army, if the Taishi can select 100,000 elite horses and infantry in Shaanxi, Hedong, and Hebei, divide them into three divisions, and then select good generals to command, one is stationed in Yanshan, and Guo Yaoshi is in charge of the battalion; One is stationed in Guangsheng Army or Zhongshan Mansion; One is stationed in Xiongju or Hajian Province. The dogs and teeth are close to each other, so that the victorious army has something to trust and retreat, so that even if the Jin people have bad intentions, how can they dare to come easily? ”

Tong Guan shook his head and said, "Although your idea is good, but now that the country is in a difficult situation, you can't raise so many elite horses." ”

Ma Kuo also knew that since the defeat of the Seed Master Dao and Liu Yanqing, the Great Song Dynasty did not have many available soldiers, and it was necessary to prevent the invasion of the old enemy Western Xia, so that Tong Guan would now raise 100,000 elites, which was indeed difficult for Tong Guan, so he sighed with emotion: "The country's frustration is all since Yanqing's escape, and Fu raised the Seed Master Dao again at that time, and mentioned many Western soldiers to do things, but it was not so misleading as a major national event!" ”

Tong Guan was silent.

Tong Guan was very reluctant to mention the two defeats again.

First of all, no matter how you shirk it, nominally, those two defeats were led by him.

Second, he does have some responsibilities.

Let's talk about Liu Yanqing's escape first.

At that time, Liu Yanqing had asked Tong Guan for instructions before withdrawing the army, and Tong Guan's answer was ambiguous, so Liu Yanqing decided according to the facts.

After Liu Yanqing was arrested and imprisoned, when he was interrogated, he took out a codex signed by Tong Guan and Cai You, allowing him to make his own decisions, to defend himself, and the interrogation ended with Liu Yanqing finally acquitted.

Later, the court discussed Liu Yanqing's funeral and humiliation of the country, and they all thought that it was impossible to do the law, so they demoted Liu Yanqing to the deputy envoy of Yunzhou.

As for the defeat of the Seed Master Dao, Tong Guan is very clear about his psychology, if it weren't for the long-standing contradiction between him and the Seed Master Dao, and the two of them sincerely cooperated, maybe there would be no things behind.

Tong Guan is really optimistic about Ma Kuo, otherwise, just because Ma Kuo mentioned Master Dao and Liu Yanqing in front of Tong Guan, and criticized one and praised the other, Ma Kuo's career would probably be over.

A few days later, Tong Guan issued an order to Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong to "go to the clouds and return to the clouds with the Jurchens".

Before leaving, Tong Guan specially summoned Li Zongzhen, Xin Qizong, Xin Yongzong, Sun Wu, Yao Youzhong, Du Changlan and more than a dozen other staff and generals of the Xuanfu Division to hold a banquet to see off Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong.

These dozen or so people lined up around Tong Guan, drinking wine from a golden cup, and drinking one by one.

Tong Guan took the initiative to say: "The marshal ministers in front of the mountain are not good materials, and now they have ills, if you can go back to the mountain, it is not a trivial matter to choose the marshal ministers, you all talk about it, who is suitable to be the marshal behind the mountain?." ”

Li Zongzhen and others then counted the six roads in Shaanxi, as well as the Wuchen of the Hedong and Hebei roads.

Tong Guan shook his head and said: "This generation of peaceful land can be used as a border commander, the west of the mountain is bordered by Western Xia, the north is connected to Tatar, and the south is supported by Yandi, so it is necessary to have both civil and military skills, wisdom and courage to be honest, and people who know the feelings of all countries can be of great use." ”

Speaking of this, Tong Guan looked at Ma Kuo and said, "The old man thinks that it is necessary to announce things to my horse." ”

No one expected that Tong Guan would want to recommend Ma Kuo as the handsome minister of Yundi, including Ma Kuo himself.

To be honest, seeing that Tong Guan intended to let him lead the troops to guard the clouds, Ma Kuo felt very excited in his heart and was very grateful to Tong Guan.

Tong Guan glanced at Ma Kuo and asked, "If you are in charge of the clouds, should you use military horses?" ”

Ma Kuo thought for a while and said, "Thirty thousand should be used." ”

Tong Guan said: "The country is struggling now, can there be less?" ”

Ma Kuo said: "It can't be less than 20,000, 10,000 in Yunzhong Futun, and 10,000 in each pass." ”

Tong Guan said with a smile: "20,000 is much easier, and every year it should be 3 million to raise the army, and if there are any talents you recommend, the old man will follow them one by one." ”

Ma Kuo said: "Expand will live up to the expectations of the Taishi!" ”

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At the end of November, Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong came to the clouds.

Unfortunately, Wanyan Zonghan was not in the clouds - he went back to Beijing.

Wanyan Xiyin, who acted as the marshal, sent Gao Qingyi to argue with Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong.

Gao Qingyi said: "The marshal is not here, we dare not talk about the ownership of the cloud land, and besides, the Gui Dynasty has accepted the former Liao officials and the rich people of Yandi, and the oath contains that no one can accept defections, and the Gui Dynasty has broken the contract first, so in my opinion, even if the Dashuai comes back, he will not return the land behind your mountain." ”

Ma Kuo argued: "The former Liao officials and the rich people of Yandi fled to Yanjing, which is Zhang Jue's crime, and this dynasty has beheaded Zhang Jue's head and sent it. The rest of the households, in the valley of Duoyin, those who saw it were repatriated one after another, and those who did not see it had sent people to capture them, not to accept and defect. The Gui Dynasty once said that Tan Zhi had a lot of uncomfortable behaviors, and our dynasty has already belittled Tan Zhi, and then commissioned the Tong Taishi, sincerely befriended your country, and hoped that your country would return to me as soon as possible, so that the two worlds would be stable. ”

Gao Qingyi said: "If you want the land behind the mountain, you will first send back the old officials of the Liao State and the rich households of Yandi, and then discuss the return of Yundi, otherwise you will open this mouth." ”

Ma Kuo, Xin Xingzong, and Gao Qingyi stayed until early December, and there was still no progress.

Ma Kuo discussed with Xin Xingzong and decided to go back to Taiyuan first.

After the two returned to Taiyuan, Tong Guan asked, "What did you see after you two entered the country?" ”

Ma Kuo said: "The Jurchens are now training the Han'er Township soldiers, and increased the number of guards of Flying Fox and Lingqiu, talking to them, they pointed out Zhang Jue several times, and asked for the former Liao State officials and Yandi rich households, the lower officials felt very bad, afraid that they would be ready to occupy the cloud land for a long time and not return it, and even invade the land east of my river, I hope that the Taishi will prepare as soon as possible to strengthen national defense." ”

After hearing this, Tong Guan did not express his position.

Tong Guan has always believed in his heart that it is unlikely that the Jin State will send troops to attack the Great Song Dynasty at this time, because the Jin State has just been founded, the country is not very stable, and there is a lack of economic support.

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