"Liang Yikui is already crazy, you can't use common sense to guess the madman, I heard that Liang Yikui once proudly showed off last year and said: I set up at three o'clock a year, every time I attack the Great Song Dynasty, I have a lot of harvest, how can a famous person have this feat?" Zhao Xing replied with a smile: "The famous family is the royal family of Western Xia, it is said that as soon as Liang Yiqi said this, the famous family was furious and asked Liang Yiqi and said: Do I need this merit?" ”

As soon as Zhao Xing finished saying this, Ma Cong also felt incredible, and he said repeatedly: "Crazy, crazy!" Liang Yikui is the minister of Western Xia, how can he say this? ”

Zhao Xing continued: "When I was in Wywayburg, I received some information that let me know why Liang Yiqi is so crazy this year. It is said that Empress Dowager Liang originally planned to personally lead the troops into battle this year, so as to snatch more things from my Great Song Dynasty and fight back against Liang Yikui with a battle exploit, but she still did not regain military power. So, Liang Yikui led the Western Xia to fight with all his strength, but he didn't expect him to get nothing this year, but let the Tatars take advantage of the loophole, do you think he can be willing......"

Zhao Xing looked at the captives around him and said with satisfaction: "He will definitely come next year, and it will be even crazier than this year." ”

When Ma Cong heard this, he finally found a little compensation in regret, he looked at the prisoners around Zhao Xing with envy, and also looked at the large boxes and small boxes of property on Zhao Xing's carriage, and said: "I have been fighting with Western Xia for so many years, and I didn't get this breath until this year. Recruit the adults to launch a shallow attack and sweep the two villages of Luochuankou. After Lord Zhang's successful construction of the base, this shallow attack and deepening the base is completed, and next year's shallow attack will attract adults, don't fight with me. Our family will also go to Western Xia to shop around and grab some loot and come back. ”

Zhao Xing smiled but did not answer.

But there are many problems that Zhao Xing really can't avoid. When he saw the crowd that greeted him at the gates, he knew he would have to face it eventually.

The first thing that greeted him at the gate of the city was Wan Qiyong, and he said some words of praise to Zhao Xing. While using the body to disguise. Frequently glared at Zhao Xing. There are two acquaintances around him, one is Zhao Xing, who has been in contact with Sun Cong, a secret agent of the local staff in Mizhou, and the other is Liang Zimei, an official of the Qian Gang.

Liang Zimei and Zhao Xing knew because this guy was Cai Jing's son-in-law, and this guy was originally a leftover man in the Song Dynasty, and his father Liang Shi and Jingyou were born as Jinshi in the second year (1035). When he was in Zhihe Prefecture, he recovered 600 miles of land stolen by the Xia people west of the Quye River. Because of his father's merits, Liang Zimei made up for Di Gonglang with grace (in the Water Margin era, this official title was changed to Jiang Shilang). Five years ago. Cai Jing was in the position of Yin Di in Kaifeng Prefecture, and Di Gonglang Liang Zimei married Cai Jingdi's daughter.

Cai Jing was squeezed out in Beijing, and he was employed in the local area, and he settled down in Yangzhou, and with the help of Zhao Xing, that guy embezzled tens of thousands of acres of land at one time, and this time the corruption was not scolded by the people at all. Instead, there was a chorus of praise. That time, it was Cai Jing's son-in-law Liang Zimei who came to Yangzhou to receive the land.

One acre of paddy fields in Yangzhou can be sold for ten times. Tens of thousands of acres of land are equivalent to hundreds of thousands of pieces of property. After receiving the news that Cai Jing and Zhao Xing would be transferred one after another, Liang Zimei was worried that these good fields would be unstable, so she sold a batch at a low price, and it was still Zhao Xing who helped him count the money. So these two people have long colluded, but the corruption is not worth publicizing, so outsiders don't know that these two people are acquaintances.

Liang Zimei went to Hangzhou in secret, and afterwards he obtained land income by selling fertile land, and he worked up and down the capital to obtain the petty official of the money gang, but he was not the only one of the money gang officials present today, and there was also a foreign minister Qin Dan.

In addition to the above people, there was also a new Shaanxi transfer envoy and degree branch member Langjing Liangcai. He arched his hand and introduced himself: "Lord Zhao, you are fighting on the front line, but the imperial court knows nothing about the situation on the front line. Listening to Fan Yu and Xie Lin, the reason why Huanqing Road has the spare strength to launch a shallow attack this year is because you have implemented a ...... The Grass and Trees are all soldiers. They asked that next year, Huanqing Road will also be handed over to you to co-ordinate and carry out this plan in an all-round way.

The imperial court knew nothing about this plan, so it had to transfer Mu Yan, the former transfer envoy of Shaanxi Province, back to Beijing and move him to Zuo Shilangzhong, to inquire about the details of this plan. It's a pity that Master Mu is vague, and the old man was ordered to come to Huanqing Road to find out. I was preparing to go to the front line to have a look these days, but I didn't expect Lord Zhao to turn around, just right, the official will visit tomorrow, Lord Zhao is free? ”

In terms of position, this Shaanxi Road transfer envoy happened to be Zhao Xing's superior supervisor, and he said politely, even if Zhao Xing didn't have time tomorrow, he would have to make time for him, so Zhao Xing agreed: "Lord Jing, how dare you work hard to drive, and you should come to visit tomorrow." ”

Sun Cong was not polite, he interjected first: "Master Jing has also talked a lot with officials from other places in the past few days, and he almost knows what he should know." There are some things that the official has to ask Lord Zhao for advice, but Lord Tomorrow will let the official go. ”

Jing Liangcai nodded again and again: "Of course, it is not a problem for the official to hand it over a day or two late, Lord Sun first!" ”

Zhao Xing gave up his hand to Sun Cong, and Wan Qiyong behind him used Zhao Xing to block the sight of others, and the hidden leader of the Chong family waved his hand, signaling him to quickly and quietly send these trophies back to the city.

But in front of everyone's eyes, how can it be considered "quietly". Originally, everyone pretended to turn a blind eye to this long trophies procession, and said some officialdom greetings, but now that this team moves, they can't hide it, and Qin Dan, another official of the Qian Gang and a member of the Ministry of Gold, squinted his eyes and looked at the deep ruts, as well as the high cage boxes piled up on the carriage, and said meaningfully: "It seems that Lord Zhao has gained a lot this time, Huanqing Road is very rich, and he didn't even use the money for sealing the stakes of the imperial court, which is a small victory over the Xixia people." ”

"Accident, accident," Zhao Xing said humbly.

Qin Dan escorted the "sealing money". The word comes from the Song Taizu, the founding monarch originally established the state reserve system, all at the end of the year, all sealed in case of urgent need, called "sealed pile library". He once said: "If you have five million hairs, you should redeem the swallow thistle from the Khitan." But later, this became an emergency storage mechanism in the Song Dynasty, and piles were sealed everywhere, and even piles were made on a monthly basis. It is called the monthly pile money, which is very different from the original meaning.

In addition to being used as disaster relief funds. Another major use is military spending. The war funds allocated by the imperial court to Huanqing Road that year came from the money for sealing the pile. Much of this money was paid for with war materials, including 100,000 gunpowder arrows, 3 million arrows, 200,000 bows, 300,000 spears, broadswords, clothing, and armor. Wait a minute.

The government of the Northern Song Dynasty originally adopted the method of official overall military planning. All of them were requisitioned or hired to ensure logistical supplies, and none of them could be assisted by a private commercial organization, resulting in extreme inefficiency. This time, in the case of a big victory on Huanqing Road, the money was released quickly by the imperial court, and it arrived in Huanqing two months earlier than originally planned, but it did not expect to become an afterthought of the war.

Zhao Xing just said "accident". It's also a big truth. According to the rules of the Great Song Dynasty, when the generals go to war, the imperial court must issue a formation map, and the front-line generals must arrange their troops according to this formation map. This was a means by which the Song court strengthened its control over the generals. And those formation charts issued by the central court have been tested by more than 100 years of actual combat: their effect is not as good as no formation map.

Zhao Xing met the enemy on the front line, he was a civil official, and he didn't think of asking the imperial court to ask for the formation map, if he sent someone to Bianliang to report the military situation according to the procedure, and asked the imperial court to issue the formation map, maybe when the imperial court sent the formation map to Huaiweibao. He didn't need it anymore. It is more likely that he was shackled and enslaved by the Tanguts.

Zhao Xing has always been a person who does not delay counterattacks, and he did not greet the imperial court at all after a series of actions after encountering the enemy. It was also because of this loss of control of the imperial court that he "unexpectedly" won the victory. This is an inevitable "accident".

But since then, there have been frequent successes on the front, each of which is vague. The imperial court only knew that Zhao Xing had broken through the two walled cities at Luochuankou and swept forty miles around the walled city, but what the spoils of war were and what the results were, they were not stated in the good news.

This result is too unbelievable, if it weren't for Zhang then leading the army to Luochuankou and successfully building a Dingbian city at Luochuankou, the officials would not believe that this is the truth. But Zhang did succeed in building a city at Luochuankou without being harassed, which shows that Shrimp Worm Village and Helan Yuan do not exist. Feeling that the scene was out of control, the imperial court urgently removed the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy, and sent Sun Cong, a secret agent, to the front line to understand the situation.

When they first met just now, Wan Qiyong gave Zhao Xing a look to remind Zhao Xing to be cautious in his words, although he didn't have the opportunity to explain the cause and effect, but who is Zhao Xing, Sun Cong and Jing Liangcai resigned one after another, plus Qin Dan's words, he already understood the reason for the appearance of this group of people, but Zhao Xing was thick-skinned and never cared what others thought of him.

These officials were both hinting and explicit, and they almost shouted at him, but his face was not red and his heart was not beating, he pulled up the sleeves of several officials like a nobody, and said happily: "Several adults, this officer has been on the front line for half a year, and he has fleas on his body every day when he mixes with that group of soldiers. Now the official is in a hurry to go back to take a bath. Ladies and gentlemen, wait for tomorrow when the Japanese officials hold a banquet on the Mingyue Tower to celebrate our great victory......"

When Zhao Xing said these words with a grin, the carriages behind him were full of chariots, many of which were too full, and they needed to be pushed away by the family members shouting trumpets. Sun Cong had seen Zhao Xingdi's shamelessness, and he was not surprised, Jing Liangcai was a cultural person, and he had never seen a person like Zhao Xing who could do it, he stared at the group of people who were pushing the cart behind Zhao Xing with his eyes, and the words rolled on his lips, almost shouting.

Several Huanqing Road officers were also embarrassed, they covered their faces with Fan Yang hats, dodged and ran quickly in front of several officials, Qin Dan, who couldn't bear it, couldn't bear it, pointed at Zhao Xing's back with a trembling hand, and asked as calmly as possible: "Lord Zhao, what is on the car?" ”

Zhao Xing didn't blink his eyes and replied, "My prey." ”

At this time, a group of bundled slaves walked behind Zhao Xing with expressionless faces, Qin Dan's eyes widened, his voice raised an octave, and he pointed to the group of captives and continued to ask, "What is that?" ”

Zhao Xing didn't even look back, and still replied in a monotonous voice: "My prey!" ”

Jing Liangcai was already on the verge of breaking out, and Sun Cong immediately took over the topic when he saw that the situation was not good: "Lord Zhao, you broke the two villages of Western Xia in a row, what were the results?" The war report doesn't explain, are these the people you rescued in this battle - I see that they are all Song people, and since they have been captured, why not report them to the imperial court? ”

Zhao Xing's eyes widened, and he asked in surprise: "Isn't this the result of the battle to break through the shrimp and the Helan Plain?" ”

Jing Liangcai was angry. He laughed angrily and said, "I really don't know how Master Su taught you." How many enemies were killed, how many were captured, and how many border people were rescued in each battle. How many enemy generals were captured - why don't you mention all of this. Break through two stockades. What kind of battle report is this? ”

The look of surprise on Zhao Xing's face became even stronger, and he asked rhetorically: "Occupy the city, isn't this still a merit?" As for how many enemies are killed and how many are captured, what is it? In the past ten years, what could be better than seizing the two cities of Western Xia. The castle was built under the tip of the nose of the Tangut people, and it was a greater achievement. How many prisoners, how many trophies, these are all trivialities, why are you entangled in these? The soldiers fought a hundred battles and fought bloodily. After a great victory, I will take some of the loot that I deserve, should I still spoil their interest and count their spoils? ”

Qin Dan stomped his foot, pointed behind Zhao Xing and roared: "What are those, they are also your trophies?" ”

"Of course!" Zhao Xing replied categorically: "The military division of Western Xia Jianing is attacking with all his might, and I and a few family members are trapped in Huaiwei Fort, and there are only about a hundred or so forts around me. and several generals around Luo Xin, the fourth general of Huanqing Road. I also participated in the battle, I killed the Western Xia generals. Captured Zhang Wu, the commander of the Western Xia, according to the tradition of the Xia people: of course, his family property and his house slaves belong to me - this is the tradition of the Western Xia! I'm a very traditional person. ”

Qin Dan was furious: "Strong words! ”

Jing Liangcai had calmed down at this time, he stopped Qin Dan, and said calmly: "What Lord Zhao just said is also reasonable, seizing the city and occupying the land, a great achievement that has not been tasted in the past ten years, as for how to judge those subsections, there is a public discussion in the court, and we will only play it according to the facts." ”

Sun Cong had been hiding to the side just now to watch the excitement.

Time has passed, and this is not what it used to be. When he met Zhao Xing in Mizhou, Zhao Xing was an eight-rank official at that time, and he was a seventh-rank official. Now Zhao Xing is from the fifth grade, and he is still the seventh grade. Among these officials present, in terms of grade, the lowest except for Liang Zimei is him. And Qin Dan's Jin Department member Wailang belongs to the fifth grade, and the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy belongs to the third grade, all of which are big guys. Usually others respect his profession, but these people quarreled, and he, a petty official, only had a share on the side, so he didn't dare to open it

Later, seeing that Jing Liangcai calmed down, Sun Cong thought that he still owed Zhao Xing a favor, so he hurriedly came forward to play a round: "Ladies and gentlemen, what are you fighting for, it only took one year for Huanqing Road to recover, and even the imperial court's sealing money was not used, and it has begun to turn into a counteroffensive, occupy an area and seize the city, and make a great contribution that has not been tasted for more than ten years. ”

Sun Cong is referring here to another official title of those two officials—the financial position of the imperial court. As soon as he said this, the two officials were immediately dumbfounded.

Sun Cong's interruption, Zhao Xing's family had already run away, Wan Qian Yong even glanced at Zhao Xing, Zhao Xing hugged his fist, his heels were raised, and he was about to say goodbye and immediately pull out his legs, but the two senior accountants stopped him, Jing Liangcai and Qin Dan made eye contact for a moment, or Jing Liangcai spoke, he looked embarrassed and snorted and said: "Lord Zhao, I have something to do, I want to ask Lord Zhao to talk about it at Master Fan...... Well, the imperial court's sealing money has been reduced by half this year, because Master Fan has deducted the Western Xia New Year's gift, and besides, hasn't the imperial court allocated one million yuan to Huanqing Road this year, so the imperial court wants to reduce the sealing money by half.

Well, anyway, didn't we win too? You see, this year, your second 500,000 yuan has not been used, and the sealing money has not been handed over, isn't this already a victory? The imperial court is also lacking in financial resources, so that the whole country prohibits the construction of large projects, and this decree has been promulgated for two years, and there is no end in sight...... The court is short of money. But Master Fan refused to understand and resolutely refused to sign for the money, so Lord Qin came to ask the old man.

Lord Zhao, you see that the New Year is approaching, and it will be difficult to walk as soon as the snow falls, and Lord Qin's family has old and young, and they are still stranded in Gyeongju, so it is really reasonable to explain, Lord Zhao, do you want to explain it to Lord Fan...... Personally, I think that there is an extra Zhao Liren on Huanqing Road, which is more useful than the imperial court allocating 3 million yuan. ”

Jing Liangcai's sycophants were loud, but Zhao Xing refused to go on the road. Because no matter how good Qin Dan and Jing Liangcai's personal friendship is, this matter should not be interceded by Jing Liangcai, unless...... Unless it is ordered by the imperial court.

The pile sealing money is the war cost set by Song Taizu, that is, the special appropriation for the war, the amount of this cost is extremely huge, the annual pile sealing money on Shaanxi Road is about 10 million, and the reduction by half is 5 million, this huge amount is trembling when you think about it, Zhao Xing is confident that the face of Master Fan is not 5 million, let him intercede, it is estimated that Fan Chun will be scolded bloody. Because it was obvious that the imperial court wanted to breathe a sigh of relief from the huge financial pressure, it instructed Jing Liangcai to intercede. As long as Fan Chun agreed, the imperial court could follow this precedent and reduce the funds for the Huanqing Road War by half every year in the future.

Wan Qiyong waved his hand at Zhao Xing behind his back, and also signaled that Zhao Xing couldn't agree, Zhao Xing's eyes rolled and yawned: "Two adults, I have just come back from the front line, there are some things that need to be understood before I can speak, two adults, you can let me bathe and change clothes first." Let's talk again, how? ”