Li Yuanhao's troops are mainly from the party, but it does not mean that he will not accept other sources of troops, in fact, the northern grassland has always been respected by strength, and various tribes have been staging a drama of big fish eating small fish, as long as Li Yuanhao has money, food and weapons, he can annex other tribes on the grassland at any time to enhance his strength, and the tribes on the grassland have long been accustomed to this kind of rule, and they will quickly obey when conquered by the strong.

Now Li Yuanhao has defeated the Liao army, and has also captured a large number of materials, grain and grass, which has greatly increased his prestige and strength, if Li Zhang is Li Yuanhao, he will definitely expand in the next year, and the dominance of the Liao State on the grassland is actually very weak, and the large and small tribes only nominally respect the Liao State as the suzerain, in fact, they still put the interests of the tribe first.

"Li Duwei, we have also thought of your worries, if Li Yuanhao is not removed, it will be difficult for the north to stabilize, so the war of attrition against Li Yuanhao will continue next year, and I am sure that the Liao State has suffered such a big loss, and it will definitely not let Li Yuanhao go easily, but now that the weather is cold, it is inconvenient for the Liao State to use troops, and when it comes to next year, the Liao State must have a big move!" At this time, Lu Yijian also spoke, just before Li Zhang came, they also took these into account.

"Lu Xiang, if we do a plan to drive the tiger and devour the wolf, do you think it is feasible?" At this time, Li Zhang suddenly proposed again that the relationship between Li Yuanhao and the Liao State had completely broken down, and the Great Song Dynasty could take advantage of this and let them kill each other, so as to reap the benefits.

"Li Yuanhao can't be called a tiger, just a cruel and cunning hungry wolf, it's just that it's not easy to drive this hungry wolf, cousin, do you have any good ideas?" Zhao Zhen also smiled calmly at this time, since defeating the party, his prestige as an emperor has also increased greatly, and the most important thing is that he has strong self-confidence, and his control of government affairs is also more handy.

"There is a way, and that is to negotiate peace with Li Yuanhao!" Li Zhang said with a glint in his eyes at this time.

Hearing Li Zhang's words, not only Zhao Zhen showed a surprised expression, but Lu Yijian and the others next to him also looked at him in shock, because they all knew that Li Zhang was the toughest person in the party, and even everyone could see that if the party was not destroyed, Li Zhang would not be at ease for a day, but now Li Zhang actually said the words of peace talks with the party, which made them dare not believe their ears.

Zhao Zhen was surprised but stood up and walked in front of Li Zhang, then looked him up and down, and finally even wanted to reach out and pinch Li Zhang's face, which made Li Zhang cry and laugh and dodge: "Your Majesty, what are you doing?" ”

"I'm suspicious cousin, you went to the hat demon to check the hat demon this time, it wouldn't be possessed by the hat demon, otherwise how could you say such a thing?" Zhao Zhen's eyes widened at this time, and he said half-seriously and half-jokingly, with Li Zhang, whom he knew, he really shouldn't say such a thing as talking about peace with the party.

It is rare for Zhao Zhen to take the initiative to joke after the death of Empress Zhang, Li Zhang also laughed and said: "I did encounter some interesting things when I went to Luoyang this time, and I also found a strange place, and I will talk to Your Majesty in detail later, but the peace talks with the party are just a chop, the purpose is to let the party free up his hands and concentrate on dealing with Liao, after all, compared to Liao, the strength of the party is too weak." ”

"I understand, Li Duwei's move is a clever move, negotiate peace with the party, and let them concentrate on dealing with Liao, but with Li Yuanhao's strength, no matter how much he can toss, I'm afraid he will not be Liao's opponent in the end!" At this time, Wang Zeng suddenly nodded in praise.

Lu Yijian and the others also understood what Li Zhang meant at this time, but at this time, Zhao Zhen still asked with some suspicion: "But we almost wiped out the party, and even more Li Yuanhao, who was beaten, fled north, it can be said that his current situation is caused by us, will he really be willing to negotiate peace with us?" ”

"He will definitely agree, with his current situation, if he is attacked on both sides, it is estimated that he will not be able to hold out for even a year, and then there will be no place for him in heaven and earth, but if he can negotiate peace with us, he can concentrate his forces against Liao, with my understanding of Li Yuanhao, in order to survive, even if it is a great hatred, he can put it aside!" Li Zhang said with great certainty at this time.

Hearing Li Zhang say this, Zhao Zhen also felt that it made sense, and it didn't cost anything to negotiate peace, it was nothing more than to send someone to contact Li Yuanhao, if the other party was willing to do the best, if he didn't want to, then he would fight with Liao and defeat both countries, and eliminate Li Yuanhao first.

Thinking of the above, Zhao Zhen also immediately made a decision, and ordered Zhao Zhen and others in the northwest to contact Li Yuanhao, although it was called peace, but Zhao Zhen did not give any concessions, but also proposed to let Li Yuanhao hand over the Black Mountain Military Division, and he could only operate in the territory of Liao in the future.

After Li Yuanhao's matter was discussed, Zhao Zhen immediately asked Li Zhang about the case of the Luoyang Hat Demon, Li Zhang also told him in detail about his experience in Luoyang, Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng and others were most of the witnesses of the Hat Demon back then, and they also listened to Li Zhang's story curiously at this time, and when they learned that someone was pretending to be a Hat Demon, they all showed annoyed looks.

In fact, when the hat demon was first troubled, the court also arrested a group of lawbreakers who pretended to be in the name of the hat demon and made profits for themselves, including several famous monks and Taoist priests, but the hat demon at that time was true or false, and no one could tell what was going on, but this time it was a completely man-made incident, especially Manichaeism was pretending to hurt people's lives under the pretense of the hat demon, which was simply bold.

However, Li Zhang deliberately concealed the strange cave, firstly, he had no way to explain, and secondly, there were too many people in the hall, and he could discuss it with Zhao Zhen in private, anyway, Zhao Zhen knew more things and understood himself better.

"Sure enough, it's bold, fortunately, all the criminals have been arrested and brought to justice, and they must be severely punished!" Wang Zeng was the first to be annoyed at this time, what he hated most in his life was Liu Chengfeng and his son, who disregarded human life.

"Manichaeism was banned at the beginning, and it was not lifted until after the founding of the Great Song Dynasty that I was founded, but they were not grateful, but they made this method for the sake of preaching, and I ask Your Majesty to issue an edict to prohibit this religion from preaching!" Lu Yijian also stepped forward at this time and saluted Zhao Zhen.

Lu Yijian's ancestral home is Shandong, born in Shouzhou, Huainan Road, that is, Fengtai, Anhui in later generations, in the eyes of later generations, he should belong to the northerners, but in the era of the Great Song Dynasty, even Shangqiu belongs to the south, not to mention Anhui, in fact, the entire Huainan is regarded as the south by the Song people.

After Manichaeism was banned, the name change to Mingjiao was extremely rapid in the south, and even in some places it has formed an extremely powerful force, and even the government does not dare to manage it, and these Lu Yijian, who is a southerner, naturally also knows that he just took this opportunity to ban the spread of Manichaeism, after all, if any religion is not controlled by the imperial court, it will definitely cause great chaos in the future.

Zhao Zhen was also angry at this time, and immediately agreed when he heard Lu Yijian's words, and Lu Yijian also took the opportunity to mention that Mingjiao and Manichaeism in the south were in the same vein, so Mingjiao was also banned from preaching, Li Zhang's heart was also moved when he heard this, I don't know if Mingjiao can prevent the Fangla uprising in the future after banning missionaries?

However, Li Zhang soon thought that the reason why Fang La rebelled in history was nothing more than that the imperial court oppressed the south too heavily, especially Song Huizong liked flowers, stones, bamboos and woods, and set up the "Suzhou and Hangzhou Yingfeng Bureau" in the south of the Yangtze River, and sent his minions to loot folk flowers, stones, bamboos and rare treasures, that is, the famous "Huashi Gang", which caused the people to be unable to survive, which allowed Fang La to take this opportunity to revolt.

is the so-called official forced rebellion, if even the people's food and clothing cannot be guaranteed, then don't blame the people for rebelling, so as long as the court can ensure that the people are fed and clothed, no matter how much Mingjiao agitates, it is useless, and what he wants to do now is to let the Great Song Dynasty embark on a strong road that does not rely on the exploitation of the people.

With the expression of Wang Zeng, Lu Yijian and others, the fate of Liu Chengfeng, the felons involved in the case, was also decided, and in the end, he would definitely die, and people like Xuan Yue, who also made profits by impersonating the hat demon, were exiled in the end, which is second only to the death penalty, and it is estimated that he will not want to return to the Central Plains in this life.

After the discussion of the hat demon case, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others also said goodbye and left, while Li Zhang stayed alone, Zhao Zhen knew that he must have something else to say, so after Lu Yijian and the others left, he immediately asked Li Zhang curiously: "Cousin, did you encounter anything interesting when you went to Luoyang?" ”

Li Zhang also laughed at the moment, first told a few interesting stories about Luoyang, and finally talked about the strange stone cave on the side of Longmen, but Zhao Zhen also listened to it with relish, and finally asked curiously: "With your knowledge, cousin, can't you see the origin of that stone cave?" ”

"The cave is empty, there is no clue at all, and it is not certain whether it is related to the hat demon, the only thing that can be sure is that the stone cave is by no means naturally formed." Li Zhang also spread his hands helplessly at this time, he was biased towards the speculation that the hat demon was an alien and built this stone cave, but unfortunately there was no evidence.

"I really want to go to Luoyang to see this stone cave in person!" Zhao Zhen suddenly showed an envious expression at this time, and then said a little frustratedly, it was difficult for him to even get out of the palace, let alone go to Luoyang.

"Your Majesty, don't be anxious, maybe there will be a chance in the future." Li Zhang could only open his mouth at this time and comforted that the emperor's tour was not a trivial matter, and it was even a waste of money and labor, such as Emperor Yang of Sui's southern tour, so the ministers were unwilling to let the emperor leave the palace.

"By the way, I still have one more thing I want to discuss with Your Majesty, and that is about the marriage of Tanuki." Li Zhang was also afraid that Zhao Zhen would mention going to Luoyang again, so he hurriedly changed the topic at the moment, of course, Tanuki'er's marriage was also the main reason for him to enter the palace.