Chapter 467: Diplomatic War

Li Mochou sighed deeply, his face turned pale, and he tried his best to control his tone not to tremble: "Your country's 'ambush' is the first general of the Song Kingdom...... Hey, we've figured out the situation, speaking of which, that tiger is really bold, he actually miraculously counterattacked from the east, and the people of my Xia Kingdom still don't know how he sneaked across the border and got into our hinterland. ”

The planter and Zhe Keshi invariably asked rhetorically: "What do you say?" ”

Li Mochou groaned, and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "Three days ago, Taishi Zhao had broken the Xingqing Mansion and hunted in the west. ”

These words were like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the planter and Zhi Keshi both jumped up, they glanced at each other, hugged each other forgetfully, and shouted: "It's a success!" ”

Li Mochou looked sad, he looked at the two men cheering with a broken heart, and when they calmed down, Li Mochou continued to add: "The news that came one after another said that Taishi Zhao forced the Black Mountain Weifu Military Division, broke through the Baimaqiang Town Military Division, and burned the Chaoshun Military Division in the right wing...... Later, Taishi Zhao said in Xingqing Mansion: 'Annihilation? To die, to perish! ’……

In the past few days, the Lingzhou River and the Hulu River are full of corpses, and many people are wearing the costumes of the Western Xia royal family...... According to rough estimates, there were no more than 10,000 corpses drifting down the river. As a result, the entire eastern part of the river was in chaos, and the people were in panic.

Early this morning, I have received the news that the lord of the country is hunting in the west, and the minister is gathering people everywhere to escort the horse hunting, but my people say that the Yellow River has been blocked, and the warships of the Song army come and go to the river, but some people are close to the river bank and immediately open artillery bombardment, regardless of civilians and troops, old and young......"

Li Mochou took a deep breath, spread his hands and said, "Okay, be merciful—I've told you the truth: the back road of the entire Hedong army has been cut off, and the reserves of Yaode City are moving towards the Xiangqing army (Xiping Mansion, Lingzhou), preparing for a decisive battle with Zhao Taishi there...... Well, I'll tell you the truth, I've already received a summons order from the Prime Minister, but I know that they are mantis arm blocking the car. Because it is not a matter of one or two days for the army to cross the river, a gunboat of Zhao Taishi can block the Baili River section, and our reinforcements want to forcibly cross the river, but in the end, they can only be friends with the fish and turtles in the river.

Zhao Taishi - he is a butcher, he will repay his eyes...... Now the rivers of Western Xia have been stained red with blood, and the floating corpses on the river have blocked the river, and I have heard of it...... After Zhang Cong of the Weifu Military Division of Montenegro surrendered, his whereabouts are unknown, and the Zhang family and my Li family are in the same situation, I am worried that the Li family will surrender to the Taishi and suffer this fate, so I will turn to the two.

Presumably, the two of you don't know the situation in the summer realm yet, I will give you a truthful explanation of the situation, and I don't ask for anything else, I just ask you to give me a promise, if you can spare my family's life, the Xiangyou military division is willing to lift the city and surrender, otherwise, we would rather lift the city to pieces. ”

Zhi Keshi had already quietly slipped out of the tent, and the seed master hesitated for a moment, and reluctantly replied: "You told the truth, I will tell you the truth, I-I myself am afraid that the tiger will be angry, so my promise is useless in front of him, if he is angry, I can only retreat - you beg me, it's really useless." ”

Li Mochou took a few breaths of cold air in a row, he wanted to say something, but his lips trembled, and he couldn't say a word, so he had to reluctantly arch his hand, ready to leave, but the planter hurriedly stopped him, and said in a deep voice: "Although I can't promise anything, I promise to intercede as much as possible for you...... I don't dare to promise you anything, but come to think of it, my family has been guarding the border for the Great Song Dynasty for several generations, and the Taishi has to look at a little face...... But how much face this can have, I can't really guarantee. ”

Li Mochou thought for a moment, and said with a reluctant smile: "Since the cultivation of the scriptures has agreed to this, my clan can only count on you......"

After a pause, Li Mochou looked at the breeder carefully, and said: "Xiao Chong Jingluo just said that he was afraid of the tiger, which is not surprising, Xia Guan has experienced a hundred battles in his life, and he also sat on the corpse and gnawed on cold steamed buns, and slept in the corpse at night, calmly and fearlessly, but when he thought of the tiger's angry expression, Xia Guan lost the courage to fight...... In this regard, the lower officials were also puzzled - I called myself the 'warrior of the Li clan', and I didn't even have the courage to ask to see him. ”

At this time, Zhi Keshi was writing documents outside the tent, he sealed the documents, called a messenger, and tried his best to use an attitude similar to Xie An's "Mount Tai collapsed in front and was uneasy and discolored", and lightly ordered the messenger: "Eight hundred miles to expeditious...... No, you go straight to Luochuan and find the 'Swift Beast Hurry' and have them send you to the capital by clipper - remember, deliver the news as fast as possible. ”

The messenger was itching, he scratched his ears and cheeks for a long time, and asked: "Palace Marshal, this front is tight, why do you let me go to the capital to deliver the letter...... There is also a senior official of the Xiangyou Military Division in the tent, what's the good thing, get to the bottom of it? Let me know how to behave along the way. ”

Zhi Keshi couldn't hold it back, he spread a bright smile on his face, and said softly: "The Taishi has broken the Xingqing Mansion, and the lord of the Western Xia Kingdom has hunted in the west." ”

The herald was stunned for a moment, shouted, and ran out desperately, and Zhi Keshi shouted behind him: "The military situation is urgent, and Hugh must be public." ”

The composure before Zhi Keshi affected the herald, and the herald hid to the side and laughed for a while, then straightened his face, turned over and jumped on the war horse, and ran all the way to the Luohe Post Station. When he ran into the post station to change horses, he gulped down the food and couldn't hold back his joy.

The herald used an eight-hundred-mile urgent messenger, and the horses at the post station were to be provided to him first, and several officials waiting at the post station watched impatiently as the hurried messenger (the herald) seized their stagecoach, but did not hurry to leave, but only hid to the side and smirked, laughed, drank a sip of water, and then laughed and swallowed a mouthful of steamed buns. The officials who were waiting on the side couldn't help but scold: "Idiot, you robbed the official's horse, and you are happy to be like this?" ”

"What do you know - our family is passing on the military situation of 800 miles - Taishi has broken Xingqing Mansion, the lord of Western Xia has fled west, Taishi is pursuing, and I Shaanxi has launched a comprehensive counterattack...... A hundred years of hatred...... Western Xia, the land of ten thousand vehicles......"

Speaking of which, the herald found out that he had said everything, and this matter of secrecy, I'm afraid......

When the officials present heard the news, they were also stunned, and one of the officials jumped up and scolded loudly: "Crazy, crazy, do you dare to say anything?" Taishi is in Nanyang Yamen, how did he get to Western Xia! ”

An official who came out of the capital thoughtfully: "Maybe what he said is true, but I don't know - the court minister has been closing the palace since the first day of March, and the music is only allowed to be sent in, but not a single word, and the whole capital is pondering this strange thing, is what he said true?" ”

In the capital, the ministers of the court are still anxiously waiting for news from the Western Xia, Wang Qinruo does not have Huang Tingjian's demeanor of running forward without hurrying, in the past few days, he has asked Huang Tingjian and Zhang Lei several times uneasily: "It will be fine, right?" After more than half a month, there will be no accidents in Shaanxi, right? ”

Huang Tingjian smiled silently, Zhang Lei patted his stomach, and replied calmly: "You don't know what Zhao Liren planned, that's why you have such worries...... Haha, I don't know, but I've seen him plan the war against Jiaozhi in Guangzhou, and how to eat the South Seas. Since then, I have only admired his planning skills. I believe that since he has done it, he must have made sufficient preparations in advance. ”

Huang Tingjian raised the brush, the pen hung in the air, and seeing that the officials on the left and right were far away, he lowered his voice and said lightly: "There are still some signs to look for, such as ......"

Wang Qinruo hurriedly asked, "For example, what?" ”

Huang Tingjian put down his pen heavily, and replied as if no one was around: "In Guangzhou for eight years, I learned a little from Zhao Liren: I must learn to find the truth from the clues. After the incident of attacking Xia broke out, I summoned all the concerts of Shaanxi officials, and found a strange phenomenon - two years ago, the seed master suddenly fell ill for three months, and at the same time, Zhao Liren suddenly disappeared in Hangzhou. Isn't this a coincidence?

What's more coincidental is: Hou Meng of Beiyang Yamen had just taken over the promotion of the official seal, and Shi Cheng, the governor under his command, suddenly issued martial law in the city - these three things are linked, I guess: At that time, Zhao Liren must have been in Dengzhou, and the two of them held a secret meeting in Dengzhou, and the person who arranged this meeting venue was Zhao Liren's disciple: Shi Cheng. ”

Wang Qinruo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and asked again: "Huang Xiangzhi said that they started planning this war two years ago?" ”

Huang Tingjian was flying like a pen, grinding on the drawing paper, and he replied without raising his head: "That's right, the reason why I think they started planning this war two years ago is because a series of strange things happened after that: first of all, wood!" Zhao Liren wanted to build a ship to attack Western Xia, this troop carrier, he could not carry it to Shaanxi, and Shaanxi was barren, and could not find suitable shipbuilding wood, so the shipbuilding wood must be transported from the outside, just right, after that, Shaanxi successively wrote a book, and seized a large number of shipbuilding timber for various reasons - this is the key.

It's been two years, two whole years, and I'm still wondering, according to Zhao Liren's idle character, how can there be two years of quiet time, how can there be two years of training recruits in Hangzhou, and during this period, what is Shaanxi doing? ”

Zhang Lei's casual reply: "I am also training, and I am building ships while training." ”

Huang Tingjian stopped the topic, he looked at his painting with satisfaction, and nodded lightly: "This war needs a large amount of ordnance and materials, I don't know in what name these materials are transported to Shaanxi and stored under our noses, but thinking of Zhao Liren's methods, it is just the use of ordinary businessmen, trade, no one pays attention, no one prohibits." In this way, since he doesn't want us to know, we won't find out.

It was a taboo for the court to deploy such a huge amount of ordnance without permission, however, as his comrade, I could only help him hide it, and I had to exonerate him from responsibility before the court found out, so I had the move to dismiss him from the official position of the Nanyang Yamen...... The two of them are their own people, and I won't hide it, Shaanxi's twists and turns are in my study, if you are interested, you can go and see, from there you will find the context of this matter. ”

Wang Qinruo was stunned for a moment, and seeing that Zhang Lei's indifference was nothing, he also reacted, and immediately replied: "Why do I know so clearly, I just need to know that someone started planning this war two years ago, so we have a great chance of victory - that's enough...... Well, I will never admit this to outsiders, I want to say: the imperial court is temporary, and Zhao Liren will be transferred to Shaanxi ......"

Wang Qinruo didn't finish speaking, he had already caught a series of footsteps in his ears, and he immediately stopped the topic and motioned for everyone to look outside the door.

Outside the door came in a eunuch, he was a little angry, with a slap mark on his face, and cried to Huang Tingjian indignantly: "Huang Xiang, you have to make the decision for me, the Tubo people have already made trouble in the post house, and they want to forcibly break into the palace." ”

Zhang Shangying heard the movement here and slowly paced over. Originally, there was silence in the main hall, everyone was anxiously waiting for further news, Zhang Shangying heard the eunuch's voice, and hurriedly came over and asked, "Is there any news?" ”

Wang Qinruo hurriedly replied: "Why should Zhang Xiang be anxious, in previous years, a war lasted for many years, and now it has only been half a month, what news will there be?" ”

is worthy of being a fellow party, Wang Qinruo didn't belong to him just now, but now he has dismissed Zhang Shangying.

Zhang Shangying shook his head with a smile: "I don't worry about the outcome of this war, it's just that Zhao Liren is the captain of this dynasty, a member of the party, since he is in the war, the court always needs to know the safety of this 'first general of this dynasty'." ”

Huang Tingjian pointed to the slap on the eunuch's face, and replied calmly: "It's the Tubo people who are making trouble, when their envoys to ask for peace rushed to the capital, we happened to announce the closure of the palace, and the Tibetan envoys repeatedly asked to see them outside, but they were always not allowed to enter, so they made a fuss. ”

Zhang Shangying shook his head: "A little Tibetan envoy also dared to come to the Great Song Dynasty to make trouble outside the court, and ordered the celebrant to go out." ”

"The fork will go out" is a way of hospitality in the Song Dynasty, according to the current parlance, that is: kicking out by the neck.

The eunuch dragged his crying voice and replied: "No, Huang Xiang, Zhang Xiang, there are also envoys from Liao and Western Xia waiting outside the Xuande Building, they watched the envoys of Tubo make trouble, and spoke coldly on the side, and the celebrant suspected that the envoys of Tubo were instigated, so they did not dare to call the ......."

Zhang Shangying pondered for a moment, turned his face and asked Huang Tingjian and Wang Qinruo in a consultative tone: "Huang Xiang, Qinruo, we have been closed to the palace for many days, and it is inevitable that there will be discussions outside. ”

Zhang Shangying did not ask Zhang Lei, but asked Wang Qinruo because Wang Qinruo was the intended successor of the middle party and the successor of the ruling pen.

Huang Tingjian was noncommittal to Zhang Shangying's inquiry, Wang Qinruo was named, he thought for a moment, and then asked Huang Tingjian: "It's also in this day or two, why don't you relax the palace ban a little - Xuan to the envoys of the Three Kingdoms?" ”

Huang Tingjian nodded: "The three kingdoms come to the dynasty together, this is a big deal, it can't be delayed, let them come." ”