On both sides of the Yellow River, there is already a verdant green, and in the vast expanse of farmland, the spring wheat that has just been sown has pulled out tender shoots, forming a green straight line. Peasants dressed in coarse cloth and short clothes, strolling in the vast fields, or applying fertilizer, or bending down to weed.

This is really a painting of the working people of the Great Song Dynasty building a beautiful home of feudalism.

This rich and peaceful land belongs to the territory of Cheongju on the North East Road of the Great Song Dynasty. This place is the land of the heart of China, and not far to the north is the land of Youzhou, one of the "ancient Kyushu". It has been the territory of China since ancient times, but it was betrayed to the Khitans by Shi Jingtang during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and it has been separated from the Chinese Han land for more than 160 years. Due to the loss of Youzhou, Qingzhou on the East Hebei Road of the Great Song Dynasty has changed from the heartland to the frontier town of China.

However, with the conclusion of the alliance between the abyss and the abyss, the border that was tense in the past has become a harmonious pastoral. Time has come to the present, and this land near Liaobang is still quiet and peaceful, and there is no smell of war and wolf smoke. What worries the farmers here the most is not the Khitan iron cavalry armed to the teeth in the north, but the quiet flowing river.

In the past few decades, the Yellow River has changed its course three times, and I don't know how many times it has flooded. The great river that originally flowed into the sea in the east flowed north to Cheongju, and injected the boundary river on the Song-Liao border into Cheongju.

Although when the Yellow River was diverted to the north, it flooded large areas of farmland and many villages in Cheongju, causing huge flooding. However, after the river was fixed, the people of Cheongju began to appreciate the benefits of this large river.

The river flows north into Liao, and to the south leads to the Daimyo Mansion in Beijing, and also connects with Kaifeng Mansion, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, through the canal, and is integrated into the canal network extending in all directions in the eastern part of the Central Plains during the Northern Song Dynasty. Let the land of Youzhou, which has long been separated from China, obtain an inland waterway with a large navigable volume.

Qingzhou, on the East Hebei Road, has become the key point of this "golden waterway" into Liao. If you look at the map, the Yellow River and the Jiehe River form a T-shaped three-pronged estuary here.

Two huge ships flying the banner of "Envoy by Order" dropped anchor at this time in the estuary area close to the Jiehe River, waiting quietly for something.

Wu Haogu was standing on the top of one of the ships, with a drawing board in front of him, and the sketch board had been glued to it. I saw Wu Dalang holding a pencil in his hand, and quickly left lines and shadows on the rice paper. In less than half an hour, a "Sketch of the Yellow River Entering the Boundary of Cheongju" was almost completed.

On February 15 of the second year of Yuan Fu, he left Kaifeng Mansion and went north with Jian Xuchen as the main envoy and Li Zhong as the deputy envoy.

However, the previous mission to Liao was different, and this time the mission did not go north on horseback and car, but took two ships driven by water wheels that were transferred from nowhere and went all the way north along the Yellow River.

The speed of the boat was not fast, and at the end of February of the second year of Yuanfu, it arrived in Qingzhou on the Hebei East Road, and anchored at the confluence of the Yellow River and the Jiehe River.

The purpose of stopping the ship was to wait for the arrival of the accompanying envoy sent by the Liao side. The diplomatic mode between the Liao and Song dynasties was different from the diplomatic mode of setting up embassies between countries in later generations, and there were no permanent missions on each other's land, but regular or irregular missions were sent to visit each other.

Because the two sides were once hostile countries, they have also been careful to restrict the freedom of movement of each other's missions. It not only stipulates the routes for the missions to and from the missions, but also builds guest houses along the way to avoid too much contact between the mission personnel and the outside world, and also sends "escort envoys" and "embassy companions" to "accompany each other".

The so-called "escort envoy" is an official who greets the mission at the border and then accompanies them all the way to their own capital, while the embassy escort is an official who accompanies the other party's mission in the capital.

According to the practice of the missions of the two sides, they must be accompanied by an escort before they can enter the territory of the other side.

It stands to reason that there is an escort to watch, and he has to stay in the designated guest house, and a spy like Wu Haogu has no chance to draw spy paintings.

However, now the Great Liao Kingdom and the Great Song Kingdom are not the time for "its prosperity and prosperity", the companions and pavilion companions are just formalities, and the guards of the State Guest House are even more lax, and many times as long as you spend a little money to make a point, the State Guest House can enter and exit at will.

"Righteous way," Wu Haogu put the pencil in his hand on a table, stretching his muscles and bones, while calling the font size of Zhang Zeduan behind him, "The number of this picture is No. 8, and the name is "Sketch of the Yellow River Entering the Boundary of Cheongju". ”

"8" is an Arabic numeral, and Wu Haogu wrote an Arabic numeral "8" in the blank space above the picture, without writing the name of the picture. On a catalogue book held by Zhang Zeduan, there is the Arabic numeral 8 and the corresponding words "Sketch of the Yellow River Entering the Boundary of Qingzhou".

Of course, this Arabic numeral was given to Zhang Zeduan by Wu Haogu, so let's use it as a password.

The drawings and the catalogue are collected separately, the catalogue is collected by Zhang Zeduan, and the drawings are handed over to Ximen Qing for collection.

Wu Haogu turned his head and smiled at Ximen Qing, who was still dressed in men's clothes, and said, "Xiao Yi, you have put away the pictures." ”

"Hmm." Ximen Qing nodded, although she is a man, she is not the same as when she was in Kaifeng Mansion.

When he was in Kaifeng Mansion, Ximen tied his chest, wore faded old clothes, and his edges were not repaired, and he looked a little sloppy.

But after leaving Kaifeng Mansion, Ximen Qing immediately changed into a beautiful new clothes, and did not restrain his full breasts, he picked himself up every day to be refreshing, and deliberately put on light makeup and sprinkled incense powder on his body - this is probably the appearance of women who please themselves, right?

In this way, even a half-grown boy like Zhang Zeduan knows that Ximen Qing is a big girl.

However, he is still a little strange, Ximen Qing is most likely the teacher's concubine, so why don't she and the teacher live in the same cabin?

Wu Haogu looked at Ximen Qing, who was charming and gorgeous, and he was also playing the same idea in his heart: Sister Ximen is following her like this now, she should be "promising" with herself, right? is a concubine......

What an infatuated woman!

Shouldn't you be more proactive as a man? Are you still waiting for the girl's family to recommend a pillow seat?

Or...... Tonight, I'm going to call Ximen Qing to sleep?

It doesn't seem to be appropriate...... Although Ximen Qing's status can only be a concubine, she can't really be treated as a concubine, so let's take the initiative to send her to the door!

"Da Lang, Da Lang, what are you thinking?"

Ximen Qing's voice sounded in Wu Dalang's ears, and then Wu Dalang realized that he was patronizing and thinking about how to get into Ximen Qing's bed, and forgot to take the painting off the drawing board and hand it to Ximen Qing.

"Oh, I'm thinking about you." Wu Haogu replied in a low voice, and then took the painted Shengxuan off the drawing board and handed it to Ximen.

"Want to be a slave?"

When Ximen Qing heard his words, her pretty face suddenly turned red with shame, took the drawing paper and turned around and went to the cabin, because she didn't see the road, she actually collided with a person head-on.

"Xiao Yi, why don't you look at the road in the aisle?"

It was Ma Zhi who was hit by Ximen Qing, and he also went north with Wu Haogu and others, nominally Tong Guan's entourage. However, when the boat docked at the mouth of the Yellow River in Qingzhou, he got off the boat and went to the nearby Song Liaoyu field. I went for three or four days, and I didn't know who I saw? Today I came back in high spirits.

Ma Zhi went to this field called Qingzhou Rongchang, built on the east bank of the Yellow River, after the Yellow River flowed into Liao River in the north, the field on one side of the boundary river, on the other side of the Yellow River. Wharves were built on both sides for ships coming from north to south. Because the geographical location is really superior, it is very prosperous, and now it is the most prosperous field in the Song Liao market.

However, the field itself is a bit dilapidated, the fence is a wooden fence, and the houses are relatively low, and it looks like it was built so-so, which cannot be compared with the field that Wu Haogu saw in Haizhou.

"Second Brother Ma."

Wu Haogu stepped forward and saluted Ma Zhi. Ma Zhi looked at Ximen Qing's back a little strangely, and asked after a while: "Chongdao, you and Sister Ximen ...... you?"

"This ......," Wu Haogu laughed, "this is a private matter." ”

Ma Zhi shook his head and said in a low voice, "Why haven't you succeeded yet?" ”

"Hurry, hurry."

Ma Zhi smiled: "Then there is a chance now." ”

Wu Haogu hurriedly asked, "What chance is there?" ”

"Get off the boat tonight and go to the field, we will enter the Liao realm privately."

"Trekking?"

"Yes!" Ma Zhi said, "It's you, me, Tong Gangfu, Ji Yizhi, Sister Ximen, Zhang Zhengdao, Lin Jiaotou, Lu Jiaotou, and Yue'er and Lian'er entered the Liao Realm privately. ”

"Won't be discovered by the Liao?"

Ma Zhi smiled: "Am I not a Liao person?" He paused, "Let me tell you, this was planned a long time ago, otherwise Sister Simon wouldn't have come to accompany you." Someone will come on the boat tonight, pretending to be you, Ji Yizhi, and Tong Gangfu, and then find a chance to change it back when they arrive in Yanjing. ”

"The Liao State Government won't find out?"

"No," Ma Zhi smiled, "This time it's the accompanying envoy Uncle Ma Yan, the Nanjing police patrol envoy, and it's my uncle." ”

Uncle Ma Yan is Ma Renwang, and the police patrol envoy is the official who manages the police patrol court, and the police patrol court is set up by visiting the "left and right patrols" of the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and the management of things is very complicated, including patrol and anti-theft, border defense against the enemy and quelling chaos, market and trade supervision, and the military and civilian household registration of Nanjing Xijin Prefecture and so on. It's basically a hodgepodge official! I don't know since when, the State Guest House in Nanjing Road has also been under the management of the police patrol hospital, so Ma Renwang is naturally the companion.

There are horses and people want to take cover, and of course there is no problem for Ma Zhi to lead people into the Liao realm privately.

Ma Zhi smiled and said to Wu Haogu: "Chongdao, when the time comes, I will arrange for you and Sister Ximen to pretend to be husband and wife, are you afraid that you will not have a chance to succeed?" ”