In the huge hall, Zhao Kuangyin and the Zhongshu, the Privy Council, the Three Divisions, and the Three Kings are discussing state affairs in the palace.

Zhao Kuangyin looked at Zhao Pu, "Secretary Zhao [Zhao Kuangyin likes to call him secretary], how many soldiers and horses can Sanya adjust now?" ”

In the Song Dynasty, now the Song army is divided into forbidden army, box soldiers, township soldiers, vassal soldiers, soldiers, archers, garrison soldiers and other military branches, when Zhao Pu put forward the strategy of "seizing its power slightly, controlling its money valley, and collecting its elite soldiers", the military power was divided into three and restrained each other. The soldier is out of the privy, and not to be in charge of the multitude; The soldiers are subordinate to the Sanya [the front of the palace command division, the guard horse military division and the guard infantry military division], and they are not allowed to be autocratic.

Zhao Pu heard Zhao Kuangyin say this, so he said one by one: "Now the Privy Council has collected the courage of the world's chamber army, and it has been collected in the forbidden army, and the soldiers are subordinate to the three ya." My Great Song Dynasty has been in the past few years to stabilize the country, training soldiers for the purpose, since the destruction of Shu after the war, thanks to His Majesty Shengming, Wang Quanbin they are divided and guarded, the frontier has my Great Song soldiers guarded, the people of Shu and other tribal chiefs are all regarded as my Great Song Dynasty as orthodox, Shu is also peaceful. My Privy Council can adjust 80,000 elites, 30,000 forbidden troops, 40,000 box troops can be called from all over the country, and the rest is 10,000, including 8,000 cavalry. ”

Xue Juzheng arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, I heard that the Ten Days and Eleven Lessons, the Ordnance Supervisor has also made excellent armaments, I wonder if Your Majesty will use these weapons to deal with the Southern Expedition next?" ”

"That's natural, I have personally let people try these new weapons, such as this fierce fire tank, rocket, thistle terrestris fire, poison smoke, thunderbolt fire, iron-billed fire harrier and other weapons are indeed more powerful than the previous armaments, just this rocket, the shooting distance in the past was about a hundred steps, now it can reach three or four hundred steps, can make up for the lack of my Great Song archers, can be equipped with other cars, bed crossbows and other things to launch together, when our Song army will fight, it can also be deployed from a distance to control the battlefield, and the enemy army will be bombarded into a sieve."

Lu Yuqing said: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, if my Great Song Dynasty uses this weapon in the army's battle, it can make the enemy army frightened and drive ten miles away." ”

Zhao Kuangyin nodded with great joy, and other officials such as Zhongshu, Privy Council, and Sansi also felt glorious on their faces.

A few days later, on the first day of the fifth month, the imperial court had sent an envoy from the King of Wei to the (southern) Han, and the official ships went all the way south, personally serving the emperor's edict, condemning Liu Gang, and the officials along the way entertained all the way, and the carriages and horses traveled all the way to the south.

On May 12, the envoy of the King of Wei had arrived at Jiangling Mansion, and since the return of Nanping to Shun, Jiangling Mansion has become prosperous again under the governance of the Song army...... Immediately, Zhao Dezhao met with Sun Guangxian, the assassin of Huangzhou [Huanggang, Hubei], Sun Guangxian was not tall, very thin, and his small eyes were still bright, and he kept looking at him when he saw His Royal Highness King Wei.

Zhao Dezhao also knew that this person loved to collect all kinds of graphic books, so he chatted with him about the history of Ziyi, astronomy and geography, etc., and after greeting for a while, Sun Guangxian said that he had a lot of books in his home, and led Zhao Dezhao, the king of Wei, to the library building.

On the library building, thousands of classics are listed among them, which are placed in an orderly manner, Zhao Dezhao had a whim, so he said to Sun Guangxian to open the library, collect the world's books in it, so that everyone in the world can enter it, and at the same time let Sun Guangxian collect the works of the exiled people. After hearing this, Sun Guangxian felt incredible, if it was according to King Wei's idea, everyone in the world would be able to see the books of their predecessors.

Early in the morning of the 14th, the mist shrouded, the Wei Wang delegation left Jiangling Mansion, got on a boat and prepared to cross the river, in front of the mission is a Yangtze River moat, the water flow is broken, the turbulence must be, Zhao Dezhao suddenly remembered Fan Ruoshui who was far away in Jiangning Mansion and a pontoon bridge he erected on the Yangtze River in the future, it is precisely because of his decisive return to the Song Dynasty in the north, and the plan "Hengjiang Diagram", for the future destruction of the (South) Tang Dynasty established an indelible contribution, Fan Ruoshui is now in the other courtyard, I don't know what he thinks in his heart.

The entire river was full of boats, and it turned out that the Jinghu Navy was practicing day and night, teaching water warfare. Along the banks of the Yangtze River, there are large and small Mongxuan warships, more than 1,000 search warships are distributed along the river, and the water flow on the river is turbulent, and the building boats, wheel boats, large and small ships, assault boats, trench boats, and loach boats are controlled...... The morning mist gradually dissipated, and the entire river surface was revealed by large and small warships, which was magnificent.

Zhao Dezhao looked at the Great Song Dynasty's water army, his heart was surging, this was much better than the Shenwei water army in the capital.

The mission crossed the river, all the way to the south, and arrived in Langzhou six days later, on May 20, at this moment stationed in Langzhou were Pan Mei, Yin Chongke and other generals, and the mission also conveyed the emperor's will, ordering the Langzhou army to be on standby, prepare grain and military supplies, and train soldiers to wait for the opportunity to move.

Pan Mei and Yin Chongke knew the plan in the emperor's heart, and they also felt that the Song army's southern expedition seemed to be ahead of schedule, and Zhao Dezhao also comforted them that the next time they went on the expedition, the Song army would definitely destroy the (southern) Han in one fell swoop.

After leaving Langzhou, the Song army went out of Chenzhou, along the way to the canyons, mountains and forests, and saw less and less people, and now to cross the five mountains, they naturally brought some mules to carry the goods, and walked in the direction of Zhaozhou.

Zhaozhou, can be said to be an important town in the north of the (Southern) Han Dynasty, in Zhao Dezhao's impression, this is the place where the (Southern) Han Dynasty built ships, and since it is the supervising shipbuilding, it also stationed most of the military strength of the (Southern) Han, but since the death of Wu Huaien, although Zhaozhou is well defended, but the (Southern) Han court lacks military pay and military strength, so it seems to be solid here, but it has been riddled with holes and crumbling.

Entering the (Southern) Han Dynasty, Zhao Dezhao saw the skinny and hungry people fleeing from famine, dilapidated houses everywhere, uncultivated fields, the urgent desire to survive in the eyes of those hungry people, the hungry eyes, when the hungry people saw the honor guard of the Song envoy, they all flocked to the Song envoy's side, Zhao Dezhao saw the hungry people rushing up, so he gave all the food to these hungry people.

When Zhao Dezhao and his entourage entered the city, local officials and a cadre of government servants and soldiers could be seen everywhere going to the people's homes to urge food and wages, and forcibly conscripting soldiers to enlist in the army.

All the way south, stopping at various post stations in the (southern) Han Dynasty, the Song delegation has not seen this situation for many years, I am afraid that this was the case when the Khitans broke through Kaifeng City.

Every time I go to various post stations, there are already secret sentinels in Changchun Hall to contact and deliver news.

Zhao Dezhao also discovered this problem from the first or second transmission of the book and the flying letter in Changchun Hall in the past few days, the carriage of the (Southern) Han Dynasty has become more and more decayed, and it is like a crumbling house in the wind, just waiting for the Song army to fight down and knock it down.

In early June, the Song envoys stepped up their horsepower and urged them forward, and at dusk, the carriages and horses had arrived at a post station ten miles away from the capital - Qingming Station.

The carriages and horses stopped at the gate of the post station, and only a few old post officials received the envoys of the Song Kingdom, and the bodies of those post officials were all patched, and their faces were yellow and thin, and it seemed that the oil and water were not rich.

The rest of the officials in the envoy also scoffed at this.

Dismounted? Maybe it was Liu Gang's deliberate teasing, or maybe the (Southern) Han Dynasty was so corrupt that he didn't even bother to repair the post station, and all the money and food were spent on enjoyment.

Zhao Dezhao didn't care very much, he walked directly into the post station, and the people who followed him also entered.

Perhaps because of the name or the weather, it was raining heavily and the wind was strong that night, and the whole area was in turmoil.

Although Qingming Post is a post station, but it looks very dilapidated, there is wind leaking everywhere, such as it is raining heavily today, it seems that it can't stop for a while and a half, a short time of pouring rain, the ground in the post station has been full of water, a hole in the broken eaves, and the rain is happily jumping down from the hole.

What was even more odious was the smell of mold in the room, even the quilt on the bed had a musty smell, and several officials accompanying him also complained indignantly.

The rain came and went quickly, and it was said to be fast, and it was no longer raining.

Early the next morning, the weather had cleared and the sun had come out. Most of the envoys of the Song State did not sleep all night, and they had already scolded Liu Gang's ancestors for the eighteenth generation in their hearts, but what Zhao Dezhao didn't know was that yesterday's Liu Gang's behavior also aroused the anger in the hearts of the Song people, and also planted the seeds for the future destruction of the (Southern) Han Dynasty.

At noon, the city of Xingwangfu has appeared in front of everyone, Xingwangfu City is three zhang high, although it is not as good as Kaifeng City, but it looks like a strong city.

"Lululu-" Zhao Dezhao suddenly heard a familiar voice, it turned out to be the voice of an elephant, he immediately turned his head, and three elephants had slowly walked not far outside the city, covered with heavy armor, this armor should be lined with thick cowhide, like fish scales, the elephant's belly and chest are guarded by a whole steel plate, and even the elephant's legs are wrapped tightly, like an iron man.

On the back of the elephant is a three-story tower with several commanding archers and a rider on it.

Several other envoys of the Song State who had never seen elephant soldiers were all staring at the elephant in battle armor, and at this time, a group of soldiers suddenly came out of the city gate, and then a scarlet round-necked official robes and Honglu Temple officials came behind them, they were tidying up and going out of the city to greet them in person.

"Welcome the angels, and welcome the dissent." The words came out of the official's mouth with a sissy flavor.

Most of the officials in the Southern Han Kingdom are basically castrated, and several officials of the Song State are very glad that they can be officials in the Song Kingdom.

Seeing this situation, at this time, an official of the envoy of the Song State scolded: "Why didn't you see the officials of the Han State last night to greet you, my Great Song Dynasty is the Central Plains Etiquette State, and the most important thing is the foundation of etiquette, but I didn't expect that the king of your country was so careless in etiquette, what is the difference between it and that barbarian small country?" ”

Some of the officials of the Han State had already blushed, but Zhao Dezhao stood aside, but did not interfere, but said: "Is this how the Han State treats my Central Plains big country, I'm afraid it's a dereliction of duty for you courtiers, this king has a long insight this time, and I will see your king later, so I can talk about it." ”

The officials of the Han State did not speak when they saw this, because as the head of etiquette, His Royal Highness the King of Wei in front of him said well, and they were just following Liu Gang's will, so they were very embarrassed at the moment, if it reached the mouth of the Song Emperor, I am afraid that they would directly come to Xingjun to invade the south.

When the officials of the Han Kingdom heard the words of the King of Wei, they looked at each other and did not say a word for a long time.

"Angel please—"

……