"Worried about the party?" Wu Jue was a little puzzled, and asked with a frown.

Of course, Oishi did not specify the party. only said that although he was determined to recover and wanted to return to Yanyun to save his father, he was afraid that the road was far away and it would be difficult to provide food and grass. The last time he sent 70,000 iron horsemen to the east to return to the country, it was because the distance was too far, and most of the cattle and horses died of illness halfway through, and he had no choice but to return with his troops. Ma Kuo replied.

Xu Wei heard some meaning, and muttered: "It is said that Dashi has always maintained close contact with the party members, and if he goes east to conquer the country, he must have the support of Western Xia." Otherwise, the battle line would be too long, and the Jin army would run out of food before seeing itself. Speaking of which, he is really worried about the party. ”

He explained to him that our side was also actively fighting for Western Xia, in order to seek a tripartite alliance against Jin. But it can be seen that Dashi is not very optimistic about this, he thinks that the party members are Jurchen vassals and are unlikely to rebel. ”

Xu Wei remembered one thing, the last time Xiao Duolu didn't come to Shaanxi, he mentioned Dashi's Eastern Crusade, saying that his father personally commanded 70,000 iron horsemen and set off from "Hu Sihan's ears". This is strange, the battle line is too long, and the supply is difficult, which is the biggest headache for every soldier. With Oishi's prowess, it was impossible for him not to know this. Why do you have to set off in the capital thousands of miles away?

Ma Kuo quickly gave an explanation: "The deployment of the troops and the land of money and food are all in the Western Regions. Its east is separated from the vast desert by Jin, and the Jin people attacked several times, but they all ended up with the same fate, and they returned with all food. Therefore, without the support of Western Xia, it would be quite difficult for the Liao army to reach the Golden Realm smoothly, let alone fight? ”

"And what was his final attitude?" Wu Jue was a little impatient.

"Dashi has a clear attitude towards anti-gold, and he is unwilling to unite with us regardless of his previous suspicions. However, concrete actions must be considered in the long run. He said that the Khitan would also actively seek the cooperation of the party members, and suggested that no matter Song Liao, if there is any action against Jin in the future, he will note the other party. If the time is ripe, it is not ruled out that they will work together to attack the gold. Ma Kuo said.

As soon as these words came out, most of the officials in the hall couldn't help but be disappointed. Speaking of which, it is better to draw bread to satisfy hunger. Is the time ripe? When is maturity? Even if it were then, and the two countries were eight thousand miles apart, would I have the time to inform you? It's really hard to coordinate.

"When he left, Dashi gave gold and silver, and selected sixteen sweaty and bloody horses to give away. It's just that all the way back, many of the horses have died of illness, and now there are only seven left. ”

The officials couldn't help but feel sorry for a while, in their opinion, Ma Kuo's biggest gain from this mission was probably those bloody horses. It's a pity that only seven of the sixteen horses died.

Xu Wei did not look disappointed, and praised: "You have traveled more than 10,000 miles to and fro, contacted the Khitan, and worked hard!" Ben Shuai must play the court and ask for credit for you! The accompanying officials and soldiers, in the merit book, also write a stroke! ”

Ma Kuo got up and thanked him, and after speaking, the officials returned to their respective posts. Xu Wei was also going to his office to take care of the matter, but found that Ma Kuo was sitting and did not move, guessing that he might have something to say, so he also stayed. After a while, all the officials dispersed, and Ma Kuo didn't wait for Xu Wei to ask, and took the initiative to say: "Xianggong, I came back this time, passed through Xia Kingdom, and found an abnormal situation!" ”

Xu Wei's eyes flashed: "Oh? ”

"Previously, the humble post had been sent several times, and the Xia lord had personally received him. But this time, there was no official of the Xia State to greet and see him off along the way, that is, he offered to see Wang Shu, an important minister of the Xia State, but the other party also politely refused. Therefore, the lowly speculation, the attitude of the party members has changed! Ma Kuo said in a deep voice.

Xu Wei was speechless for a while, his fingers tapped lightly on the desk, and his eyes gradually darkened. Thinking of the recent actions of the Jurchens on the border of northern Shaanxi, he has reason to believe that the Jurchens are doing something again. What does Jin Guo want to do? Do you want to retake Shaanxi?

After thinking about it, he didn't know the essentials, Zijin Hu nodded and said, "I know, you have worked hard all the way, let's go and rest first." ”

Ma Kuo's guess was right, and the attitude of the party members did change. Zhang Tonggu sent an envoy to Western Xia, promised the Xia lord Li Renxiao to cede land, and asked the party to contain Shaanxi. But Li Renxiao thought that the Jurchens were making empty promises, which was not enough to be believed, so he was lukewarm to Zhang Tonggu.

Seeing this, Zhang knew that the Xia Lord did not see the rabbit and did not scatter the eagle, so he further proposed. The Dajin Kingdom could give the three places bordering the Hedong and Western Xia, Fengzhou, Fuzhou, and Linzhou to the west of the Yellow River. What the Western Xia wanted to do was to cut off contact with Shaanxi and send troops to contain the Western Army when necessary in the future.

This time, the party members were quite moved. Because it was the first time that the Jurchens wanted to cede the land and the city so "sincerely". The three states of Feng in Linfu, which used to belong to the "Linfu Road" of the Great Song Dynasty, have "Linfu Road Soldiers and Horses". These three states have special significance for Western Xia. These states are bordered by the Yellow River in the east, the grassland desert in the west, and the states west of the Yellow River in the south. Moreover, it is a place where the party members live, and it is also a place where the Fuzhou family, the Linzhou Yang family, and the Fengzhou Wang family are all loyal to the Song court for generations and actively resist the local heroes of Liaoxia. The party wants to raze this place in their dreams! To vent the hatred in my heart!

can be heart-moving, Li Renxiao has to take care of reality. At present, the Western Xia and Shaanxi have reopened their fields on the border, and the trade exchanges are frequent, and they are on the rise year after year. The Jurchens did not understand what commerce and trade was, so they categorically demanded that Xia sever ties with Shaanxi. If this is done, it will still have a certain impact on Western Xia.

And an important point, Li Renxiao had to consider Xu Wei's reaction. The current Western Army, with the great defeat of the Jurchen might, is in high morale, and it can be said that it is in the most powerful period. Xu Wei, as the leader of this army, held great power, and it was said that he could make decisions about Shaanxi himself, without even asking the imperial court. If at this time, Western Xia and Dajin returned to the country, accepted the land granted by Sanzhou, and severed diplomatic relations with Shaanxi, which was bound to anger Xu Wei, and it is unknown what his reaction would be.

Moreover, from the standpoint of Western Xia. It knows that its territory is the smallest and its strength is relatively weak, so what it hopes most is to wander between Song, Jin, and Liao, and meet the source left and right. Unwilling to be on the same page with either side. Even, what the party members are most willing to see is to maintain a balance of strength on all sides.

It had many years of territorial disputes with the Great Song Dynasty and had many large-scale wars, and certainly did not want to see the Southern Dynasty strong. But on the other hand, it also doesn't want to see the Jurchens sweep away Zhao and Song and dominate the world. Because in that case, it's next! This is something that anyone with an IQ can think of!

Look at the present, the Jurchens co-opted it and promised to cut the land; The Han people also came to show their goodwill, opened border trade, and sent envoys to give gifts from time to time, which was very courteous; Even Yelu Dashi, who was far away in the Western Regions, maintained contact with Western Xia, and the two sides kept coming and going.

Never before in history have the party felt so good, as if the whole world was asking for it! Now, the Jurchens demand that it only be nice to themselves, which is tantamount to asking it to self-determine the other two, which is not what Li Renxiao is willing to do.

After intensive discussions with the ministers of the DPRK and China, Ri In-hyo met with Jang Tonggu again. He told him that Western Xia was a vassal of Dajin, and this was a foregone conclusion, and we would definitely abide by the courtiers and never help the Song. But he also asked His Majesty the Dajin Emperor to take into account our actual situation, and we need to maintain economic exchanges with Shaanxi, and of course it will not involve political and military affairs.

Zhang Tonggu pondered Li Renxiao's words and came to a conclusion. The party wants the land of Sanzhou, and they are unwilling to break with Shaanxi, so they want to be a bitch and set up a memorial arch!

Zhang Tonggu's temper is already well-known in Jiangnan. He spoke ill of Li Renxiao on the spot, what's the matter? Why do you party members want to ride the wall? Want to be exquisite? You have to figure it out, Dajin Kingdom is your sect master, and you have to do whatever I tell you to do! Opportunistic, you be careful of chickens and eggs!

Li Renxiao couldn't hold his face, but in the end, he was still afraid of the Jurchens, and he endured it without having a seizure. Zhang Tonggu brushed his sleeves away, and the next day he set off to return to China, went to Yanshan Mansion, and reported the matter to Wanyan Zonggan and Wanyan Zongbi as it was.

The two brothers hated the Western Xia riding the wall, but they had to face up to the reality. After weighing it again and again, Jin Guo decided to put up with this breath of bird's anger. Before the Song and Jin peace talks, the Jin State asked Song to be a minister, and Xu returned Jianghuai and Henan, but Zhao Chen did not do it, and finally only returned Huaixi Road. This time the Jurchens are playing this trick again, since the party members are unwilling to completely sever ties with Shaanxi, then Lin, Fu, and Feng don't think about it, and only reward Fengzhou outside the Great Wall. In fact, the party members should say that they still have a little bit of gratitude for the land given to the Western Xia, and the partial life entered the summer together with the edict of the land grant, or Wanyan Zonggan's sternly worded letter, warning the party members to put themselves in the right position and not to stand on the wrong side. As a result, Lee In-hyo was very unimpressed.

Soon, Wanyan Zonggan was seriously ill, and he played the Golden Emperor Wanyan and asked for his younger brother Wanyan Zongbi to act as prime minister. In the face of two powerful uncles, what can Wan Yan Kang say? had to let Zong Bi take charge of the left minister with the marshal of the capital. Zong Gan's illness became more and more serious, and Wan Yan went to visit several times, but before the winter moon arrived, Zong Gan died. As soon as he died, Wanyan Zongbi entered the Taibao, led the three provinces, and served as the marshal of the capital, and the military and political power of the Jin State was concentrated in the hands of this person.

Zong Bi respects his eldest brother, but there are also differences in political opinions. For example, not long ago, he proposed to gather the Jurchen Bohai elite, and then draw troops from the western front to launch a campaign aimed at capturing Xianghan, but Zonggan did not agree. Now that Zong Gan is dead, he has monopolized power, and he has begun to think about this matter again.

In order to learn the lessons of the past, Zong Bi was very cautious this time. He summoned civil and military officials, considered the deduction as a whole, and counted all possibilities. In the end, it was concluded that if you wanted to capture Xianghan, you could not let Xu Weishen join in. Xu Hu'er now not only has his back to Bashu, occupies the entire Shaanxi, and even steals Henan Mansion, as long as he gets out of the Tiger Prison, he will step into the Central Plains. The last time he failed to attack Xianghan, it was because he was once approaching Tokyo.

It is not easy to trap this tiger in the pass. After several discussions, the civil and military ministers of the Jin State still believed that they had to rely on the party members. As long as Xixia is willing to contribute, Xu Wei is too busy to take care of himself, how can he manage the Central Plains? But the problem is, the party members do not hide their own ** riding the wall, how can it send troops?

Zong Bi's mastermind and the emperor's teacher, Han Fang proposed at this time. The party is a small country, its survival method is opportunistic, as long as it is given enough sweetness, it will do it. He suggested that all the three prefectures of Linfu and Feng should be given to Western Xia, and even the area west of the Yellow River could be counted as the Jinning army. Moreover, he gave Lord Xia a generous promise, as long as he was willing to send troops to contain Xu Wei, afterwards, he could also reward both the Volcano Army and the Baode Army near the three prefectures of Linfu Feng.

is so profitable, I don't believe that Li Renxiao is not moved!

Zong Bi hesitated, this area was an obstacle to the Western Xia's attack on Hedong, and if it was fully involved, it would be a potential threat to the Dajin Kingdom. But when I think about it, what can a small country with a big palm do? Then he will be horizontal, bite his teeth, and shine on it!

Even if Xu Wei's problem is temporarily solved, what remains is how to defeat He Guan in Jinghu and Zheyan in Jiangxi. It can be seen from the previous examples that once the Jin army attacked Xiangyang, the Zhejia family would rush to the aid from Jiangxi and resist together with He Guan.

He Guan's army is okay to say, but the troops of the Zhe family are really good at fighting, whether it is attacking and defending the city, or competing for power in the field, they are all good hands. And it is said that the Zhejia family is the team of the clan, and the commanders in the army are all children of the Zhe family, so the cohesion is very strong, and the people of the Central Plains call them "Zhejia Army". If you go hard, it's hard to say that you are sure of winning.

Just when Wushu racked his brains and thought hard about strategies, Xu Wei had already gained insight into the movements of the Jurchens and the party members. The Western Army regained the whole of Shaanxi and stopped at Suide. did not attack the Linfu Feng Sanzhou and Jinning First Army, which were administratively under Hedong, but geographically belonged to Shaanxi. It is to consider the relationship with Western Xia. The strength of the Western Army at that time in Yanyan Road was very easy to take this area west of the Yellow River. But now, the Jurchens are rewarding the land of Western Xia and the meaning of wooing is very obvious.

Although Xu Shao reminded Zijin Hu to read more books several times when Xu Shao was alive, Xu Wei only listened a little. Because he only reads two kinds of books, one is a war book and the other is a history book. Military books can teach him how to fight, and history books can teach him how to behave in the world.

For this reason, although Xu Wei's study is full of classics, most of them are furnishings. There are very few people who can enter Xu Wei's study, and Zhang Qing is one of them.

At this time, Xu Wei was sitting behind the bookcase, and there were several books scattered on the table, one of which was opened, and there were notes and annotations he made on it. But his attention is not on books at all. Zhang Qing sat on the side in front of his desk, crossed his legs, holding a teacup, which was very different from the restrained and respectful appearance in front of people.

"Jin gave Fengzhou to the party, and there is no other reason than to win over. The Jurchens were probably also aware of the dissatisfaction of the party and the contact with us. Xu Wei's face was solemn.

Zhang Qing put down the teaglass, sat upright, and sighed: "I always feel that the party members are unreliable, Taiwei might as well think about it, Western Xia is a vassal of Jin, but because the Jurchens broke their promise and did not cede the land, they can raise a large army and enter Yan'an." This is true for the suzerain, let alone us? Zhang Qingdao.

Xu Wei shook his head: "That's not important, contacting the Western Xia Khitan is more to create momentum and put pressure on the Jin people." Originally, I didn't expect it to be able to fight back and attack gold together. What I'm worried about now is that the Jurchens suddenly made such a move, just to appease the party, or did it have other deep meanings? ”

Zhang Qing pondered these words for a long time and took a breath: "Could it be that the Jurchens want to tear up the peace talks again and invade the south again?" ”

"It's hard to say, now the country is not peaceful, you calculate, in the past few years, the founding fathers have been knocked down and killed one after another, how powerful is the party struggle? Since the seventh year of Xuanhe, Song Jin has been fighting for more than ten years, and during this period, there has never been more than three years of peace. Of course, we have suffered heavy losses, but the Jurchens are not having a good time either. Previously, three successive major battles had ended in the defeat of the Jin army, and it stands to reason that the Jurchens should have to stop for a while. However, it cannot be ruled out that in order to divert domestic contradictions, the possibility of using troops abroad will be used. Xu Wei analyzed.

When Zhang Qing heard this, he asked tentatively, "Is it possible to attack Shaanxi?" ”

Xu Wei categorically vetoed: "No, they can't bargain in the hands of the Western Army." It has been proved that the Jin people's strategy of attacking Sichuan and Shaanxi and then advancing eastward along the Yangtze River will not work. A few years ago, they stormed Xianghan, which is actually very revealing. Now the state of Jin has abandoned this big roundabout strategy. ”

"That's easy to do, he can fight if he wants, anyway, there is also He Taibao, the king of Zhejun, to deal with them. We're preoccupied with rebuilding. Zhang Qing said with a smile.

Xu Wei glanced at him and said with a smile: "You recall, in the past times when the Jin army attacked on a large scale, was there any time when our Western Army could stay out of the matter?" Even if the Jin Army does not target the Western Army, we will come to the rescue every four times. ”

"Yes, over the years, not only has Shaanxi been unrecognizable, but Sichuan has also suffered." Zhang Qing sighed sincerely, and suddenly added, "If Jin Jun comes again this time, we won't move." The imperial court is far away in the south of the Yangtze River, and Mianzhou can no longer control the Taiwei now. ”

Xu Wei got up and paced out, and said as he walked: "That's what I said, but if the fight is fierce, and someone thinks about the Western Army fighting the fire, what can I do?" ”

Zhang Qing was silent for a while, now Xu Wei is already one of the highest governors in Sichuan and Shaanxi, and he is at the same level as Wang Shu, who cannot command him, and the military power is actually in the control department, only Jiang Nan can command the Purple Gold Tiger. But Xu Taiwei has always been cautious in dealing with the affairs of the imperial court, because we have not yet reached the point where we can fly high and ignore Jiangnan.

A flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he laughed with a black face: "Didn't Taiwei say that the Jurchens gave Fengzhou to Western Xia to win over and appease?" Coupled with the fatigue of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and the constant border conflicts, I think we have enough reasons to support our troops and recuperate. ”

Xu Wei didn't say anything, but sighed: "It's not a good thing to fight too much. "Now the advantage of the Jin army is gradually disappearing, continue to fight, and fight until the day when the strength of the two sides is evenly balanced, if the imperial court wants to be aggressive, it is better to say, otherwise, there is too much evidence in history.

Zhang Qing understood what he meant, nodded and said: "It has always been a bird, and a good bow is hidden." ”