In the fourth year of Xuanwu, Zhao Chen went to Sichuan and Shu to quell the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect.

At that time, on the Shu Road, Zhao Chen and Zhang Ziqiu met, and more than three years have passed in a blink of an eye, and now they are about to enter the eighth year of Xuanwu.

Zhao Chen was still a teenager that day, with more or less childishness, but now he is a complete adult! After experiencing the Battle of Guanshan, the Battle of Western Xia, the Battle of Jiangnan, and the Battle of the Central Plains, he has already surpassed his age in terms of courage, mind, and insight, and has reached the peak of this era.

Zhang Ziqiu is still the same as he was at the beginning, but because he is dressed like a beggar, he looks unusually down.

"I didn't expect you to be Emperor Xuanwu!" Zhang Ziqiu muttered, his gaze narrowed to Pharmacist Guo, and his eyes showed deep sadness.

"Brother Zhang, your master is going to assassinate me, if I let him go, he will come again next time! He is extremely skilled in martial arts, determined, and his thoughts will not change, so it is impossible for me to release him, I can only kill him! Zhao Chen said.

"I understand." Zhang Ziqiu said in a low voice.

"Brother Zhang, if I let you go, will you avenge your master?" Looking at Zhang Ziqiu's sad appearance, Zhao Chen thought about it and said.

"If I say avenge my master, will you kill me now?" Zhang Ziqiu looked at Zhao Chen and said coldly.

"You and I are such bad friends, I won't kill you, but I won't let you go! From now on, you're afraid you'll spend the rest of your life in prison. Zhao Chen said lightly.

"Sure enough, he is worthy of being the emperor of the Zhongxing Great Song Dynasty, and he is ruthless! But don't worry, I won't kill you! The world has been in war for 20 years, the people have suffered, and now is the time for the people to rest and recuperate, even if it is for the people of the world, I can't kill you. Zhang Ziqiu said.

"Brother Zhang is kind-hearted and admires! Since Brother Zhang promised not to assassinate me again, then you can leave here at any time. Zhao Chen said.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll go back on my word?" Zhang Ziqiu said.

"I believe in Brother Zhang's character." Zhao Chen said with a smile.

This Zhang Ziqiu is a pure scholar, although he is a person in the rivers and lakes on the surface, but he is a bookish and bookish person, this kind of person is the most pedantic, and they will not break their promises.

"I'm going to take my master's body away." Zhang Ziqiu said.

"Good!" Zhao Chen nodded.

At that moment, Zhang Ziqiu broke free from the hands of the guards, and he came to Guo Yaoshi, and slowly knelt down, his eyes full of tears.

After a while, he wiped away his tears, took the body of Guo Yaoshi in his arms, and walked forward, and the guards in front of him gave way.

"Brother Zhang, no matter what, you and I are friends, and I appreciate Brother Zhang's knowledge and morality very much! In the future, if you need help, you can go to the palace in Yanjing to find me, and if I can do it, I will never refuse. Seeing that Zhang Ziqiu was about to leave from the encirclement of the guards, Zhao Chen thought for a while and said.

"Thank you!" Zhang Ziqiu nodded and said.

"The Great Song Dynasty under my rule is different from the previous dynasties, I have just told the Lingshi, you can allow your Demon Sect to spread your ideas freely, you are the Demon Sect's descendant of the Destroying Dao, you can also spread your thoughts in the Great Song Dynasty, I will not restrict it." Zhao Chen said.

"I see, thank you! What the master can't do, maybe I can do! However, I will not confront the imperial court head-on, but as you wish, spread my demon sect thoughts in the Great Song Dynasty. Zhang Ziqiu said.

Hearing this, Zhao Chen smiled slightly.

"By the way, I want to tell you one more thing, Xiaoyaozi originally discussed with my master to assassinate you together, but now I haven't seen Xiaoyaozi, he doesn't know where to hide, you have to watch out for him." Zhang Ziqiu took a few more steps and said suddenly.

"Okay, I got it!" Zhao Chen nodded.

"I want to leave Zhongjing City with my master and keep filial piety for my master for three years! Qin Yuzhen Qin girl of the Tianshan Sect, Xue Susu Xue girl of the Yin Yang Sect, they are all locked up in the courtyard of Dongcheng by my master, with your ability, you must soon find out that place, you can let them go. Zhang Ziqiu said.

After saying this, Zhang Ziqiu left here without looking back.

"Qin Yuzhen, Xue Susu ......" Zhao Chen was stunned.

He was very impressed with both of these women! Especially Qin Yuzhen, when he saw it on Zhongnan Mountain that day, he was amazed to the extreme, it was also the first woman he really loved, he didn't expect that these two women were also in Zhongjing City now!

"Your Majesty, our soldiers and horses have surrounded this place, if Xiaoyaozi is here, we will definitely be able to find him!" Kang An walked over from a distance and said.

"Good! Also, immediately interrogate these prisoners and find out where Pharmacist Guo's stronghold is. Zhao Chen said.

Most of the dozen or so assassins brought by Guo Yaoshi had been killed, but a few others had been captured alive, and Kang An agreed to come down and began to interrogate the captives.

In the afternoon, Zhao Chen finally investigated where Pharmacist Guo's stronghold was, and he personally led the guards towards the courtyard where Pharmacist Guo had been hiding before.

Once in the compound, the guards rushed in, but they found no one there.

Zhao Chen had already entered the house, there was still a stove here, and it was empty, and there was no figure of Qin Yuzhen and Xue Susu at all.

"Send people all over the city to look for them, and you must find them." Zhao Chen was a little stunned and said.

Yu Yunwen was still following Zhao Chen's side, and Yu Yunwen was a little surprised that Zhao Chen attached so much importance to these two women, but he didn't ask much about the emperor's private affairs.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what the situation is in the capital now?" The two of them sat down in this hut, Yu Yunwen said.

"Han Shizhong led an army of 200,000 to Shangjing, and it was easy to conquer Shangjing!" Zhao Chen said.

There are not many garrisons in Shangjing City at all, only 20,000 or 30,000 new Khitan troops exist, and the combat effectiveness of those new annexes is extremely low, and they are by no means the opponent of the 200,000 elite soldiers led by Han Shizhong!

"The only thing to worry about now is the Jelu Dashi in the northwest! Yue Fei and Li Xianzhong went north to encircle and suppress Yelu Dashi, but I am afraid that it will be another hard battle! I hope that our army will not suffer too many casualties! Zhao Chen said.

"General Yue and General Li are both famous generals in the world, and it should be no problem for the two of them to work together to deal with Yelu Dashi." Yu Yunwen said.

"I hope so! By the way, I have some matters to discuss with you about the reform of the imperial examination! Zhao Chen said.

The two discussed state affairs in this small room, and did not leave from here until late at night, and the next morning they got the news that Han Shizhong had conquered Shangjing!

Han Shizhong went to Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing with the power of destroying Meng, where the defenders surrendered without a fight, and Han Shizhong was already under military control there.

Of course, Han Shizhong also brought bad news, Yelu Yilie, the son of Yelu Dashi, was originally in Shangjing, but now he is missing.

******

In the blink of an eye, on October 27, the northern grasslands were already clear.

It's just that the heavy snow has been falling for several days, and the entire grassland has become a white patch! Even if the sky clears, this snow can't be melted!

The north wind is howling on the grassland, and the weather is still unusually cold!

As the sun set, at this moment, more than 700 miles northwest of Shangjing, a long team of Khitans was walking on the snow.

In all directions, except for snow and snow, there is an empty field! In fact, for several days in a row, they did not see a single town, tribe, or figure! Originally, this was also considered to be the territory of the Liao State, and there were countless Khitan tribes on this land, but when the Liao Kingdom fell, Yelu Dashi went to Central Asia, and the Khitan tribes here followed Yelu Dashi to Central Asia.

The procession stretched for more than ten miles, including young soldiers riding war horses, as well as some old men, women, and children sitting in carriages! It was only a long march, and the carriage gradually became problematic, and many people had to get out of the carriage and walk forward on foot.

There are still cattle and sheep in this long procession, but many of them have frozen to death due to heavy snow in the past few days, and they put those frozen cattle and sheep on the wagon, which can also be used as food on the road.

Whether it is young or old, women and children, all of them look weathered, their faces are red from the cold, the children are still crying, and the adults are silently moving forward, and sometimes they look up at the front with a look of longing in their eyes.

A middle-aged Khitan man walked from the back of the line to the front, followed by a dozen young soldiers.

His clothes were also torn, his face was covered in beard, and there were a lot of gray hairs in his hair.

"We're going home!" After walking for a while, his speed slowed down and he said to the young man beside him.

"Great Khan, we traveled thousands of miles, from autumn to winter, and many people died along the way! Our cattle and sheep are less than half left now, and now I don't know how far we are from Shangjing? A seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man said.

"Now it should be less than a thousand miles away from Shangjing! Within ten days, we will be able to reach Shangjing, which is where the capital of our Da Liao is located, and it is also the most prosperous place in our Da Liao! It's been ten years, and I'm finally back in my hometown! The middle-aged Khitan said excitedly.

"Will we really be able to restore the country?" There is another young man.

"Of course we can get back into the country! Over the years, all the men in our clan have been warriors, just as we did 200 years ago when we first founded the country! Our warriors are unusually brave, not under the Jurchens! I heard that after the Jurchens got the country of our Liao State, they were corrupt and degenerate, and in just over ten years, they were corrupt and unpresentable, and they were not the opponents of the Han people! Such a Jurchen is no longer worthy of our fear! As long as we return to Shangjing, we will be able to restore the country! The middle-aged Khitan man said with some excitement.

"But, Great Khan, there are still Han people in the south! Now those Han people are very powerful, and they have already conquered the sixteen states of Yanyun! The young man said again.

"The Han people are insignificant! When my Liao State was still there, the Han people used to implement the so-called 'Lianjin to destroy Liao', the Jurchens went south, they went north, and on that day, they were the two famous generals of the Song Dynasty who led the troops in the division and the division, but in front of my Khitan army, they were still vulnerable! Now my Khitan army is far superior to that of the past, and they are not our opponents! Now everything is ready, just wait for us to return to Shangjing! The middle-aged Khitan man said with a smile.

The Khitan army kept walking forward, and it was getting dark, but they didn't find a place to rest, so the night was still marching forward.

In the middle of the night, the sound of horses' hooves was suddenly heard in the distance.