I don't know who said: "War is nothing but a continuation of politics." "Just as the war was approaching, both countries began to play some political games and changes.

In the blink of an eye, it was November of the second year of Yongxi, and first of all, a major event occurred in Liao, which completely changed the political situation in Liao.

Liao Shengzong appointed Han Derang to annex the political decree of the Liao State. This basically means that Han Derang fully assisted Liao Shengzong in controlling the country's political affairs and people's livelihood.

At this time, Han Derang basically had the power to the Liao Dynasty, because Han Derang was a Han Chinese, so the Khitan government and the opposition always had some objections, although it was not big, but it also showed Han Derang's embarrassment at this time.

At the same time, a rumor began to arise in the Khitan country: Han Derang was the guest of the Empress Dowager Xiao Xuan. This rumor is true.

The approximate content is: "It turns out that Xiao Xuan and Han Derang were childhood sweethearts when they were young, and they should have married Han Derang." However, Xiao Xuan was later selected as a concubine by Liao Jingzong, and the marriage between the two ended. But it happened that Liao Jingzong died young, and Xiao Xuan, who was only thirty years old, was widowed. So in the appreciation of Han Derang, I want to use Han Derang to escort their mother and son, and the desire to relive the mandarin dream, under this dual purpose trend. Xiao Sui has secretly remarried Han Derang. Since then, Han Derang has been in and out of Xiao Xuan's tent without hesitation, going out to hunt and deal with government affairs, the two eat on the same case, sit side by side, lie in the same tent, and live a married life. And the Holy Father also treated Han Derang as a father. ”

Although I don't know if this rumor is true or not, with Han Derang's current status, it is already very convincing.

The spreader of this rumor was naturally a meticulous work sent by the Song army, and it was normal to strike at the enemy in all directions before the war.

There was the dissatisfaction of the ministers of the DPRK inside, and the attack of the message outside made Han Derang very uncomfortable. Just when Han Derang was being attacked from left to right, the appearance of a man changed all that.

The Zhuozhou Thorn Shi Yelu Hugu of the Liao State was recruited back to Shangjing. This Yelu Hugu had offended Han Derang's father before and had a grudge against Han Derang.

This person relied on his identity as a Yelu clan to return to Shangjing and pointed fingers at Han Derang, which made Han Derang very unhappy. And during this day of the court meeting, this person attacked Han Derang's policy, and finally Han Derang couldn't bear it anymore and finally broke out.

The cause of the incident was that Han De asked the Liao Shengzong to strengthen the forces of the Yanyun prefectures in Xijing and Nanjing to prevent Zhao and Song from attacking.

At this time, Yelu Hugu spoke: "This Nanjing Yanyun is the territory of your Han Privy Envoy, you, the Privy Envoy of the Southern Yuan, are in charge of Yanyun's affairs, do you want to increase troops in your territory?" What else did Zhao Song come to attack. ”

"I am loyal to the Holy One, how can I support the army and respect myself. You Yelu Tiger Gu Shao spewed blood. ”

"Faithful? People's hearts are separated from their stomachs, so who can tell. What's more, you are still a Han Chinese, in case you really want Zhao Song to send troops to attack. If you have a large army, once you defect to me, can Daliao still have soldiers to fight? ”

At this point, it's already a sentence of heart-wrenching. Han De has served the Khitan for three generations and has always been loyal, but because he is a Han, he is always hostile and excluded by the Khitan ministers. This has always been a pain in Han Derang's heart.

At this moment, Yeluhu's ancient words of punishment were exhausted, so that Han Derang was already angry. So Han Derang directly snatched the bone in the hands of the guards in the hall, and smashed it into Yelu Hugu.

Yelu Hugu didn't expect Han Derang to kill people directly, so he didn't take any precautions at all. was stoned to death by Han Derang on the spot.

Seeing that Han Derang killed Yelu Hugu in the court meeting, the ministers of the hall were silent at this time.

And Han Derang saw that it was only a bad thing for him to kill Yelu Hugu with one blow, but he did not panic. Instead, after throwing down the bones, he immediately knelt down in front of Liao Shengzong and said: "The three generations of the minister's ancestors and grandchildren have been serving the Great Liao without the slightest misconduct, and the minister's loyalty is even more evident. The second side of the battle against Yelu Hugu was really because he couldn't bear his attack, but when the Son of Heaven saw blood in the court, it was really a great evil. Pray for punishment from God. ”

Although Liao Shengzong was still very young at this time, he had been participating in politics with Empress Dowager Xiao for many years, and the way of nature was at stake. Han Derang is an unborn talent, and if he is questioned at this time, he will definitely be cheapened by Zhao Song, who is already eyeing Da Liao in the south. Moreover, Han Derang has also been troubled by all parties recently, so why not take this opportunity to give up his authority for Han Derang to deter the government and the opposition.

"Han Qing, please get up, how can the supreme merits of your ancestors and grandchildren in Daliao be offset by a few words from others. Han Qing couldn't bear to slander the ancestors of the Tiger Gu, who was really a person of great filial piety. And how can I not know your faithfulness? This person provoked the relationship between the monarch and the minister, and you really deserved to be shot to death. Han Qing and the wrong only. They dragged the body of Yelu Hugu down and ordered his family to collect it and bury it. Now that he has been ambushed, he will not pursue other faults. ”

After this incident, Han Derang's prestige was completely established. What a power it is to directly kill political opponents above the court without punishment. As a result, with the establishment of Han Derang's prestige, the politics of the Liao State finally settled down.

After the internal stability of the Liao State here, it was to prepare for war in an all-round way to prevent the Song Dynasty from attacking.

……

On this side, the Liao Dynasty had just stabilized politically, but something happened to the Song Dynasty over there.

It's still the second year of Yongxi, but it's December.

On the first day of December, an eclipse occurred. Originally, it was just a simple astronomical phenomenon, but in this day and age, eclipses are not a good thing.

Confucianism has given political significance to many natural phenomena since Dong Zhongshu proposed the induction of heaven and man. At this time, the appearance of the tengu food is said to be a warning to the king. Is there something wrong with the king's behavior, or is it that the villain around the king is bewitching and causing trouble to the world.

Zhao Guangyi, who was preparing for the war, suddenly encountered this dog food, and couldn't help but have a headache. At this time, Tengu Shi said, and there will definitely be ministers who will jump out to say something at the next day's court meeting.

Sure enough, at the court meeting the next day, Song Qi, who was one of the Zaifu, jumped out and said: "The tengu food is an ominous sign, and the warning from the heavens is all because His Majesty intends to restart the war." Soldier, unknown. May Your Majesty dispel the thoughts of the Northern Expedition, issue an edict to sin yourself, appease the people, and sacrifice to God. ”

Zhao Guangyi's nose was crooked when he heard it, but he couldn't find a rebuttal. Besides, because of the existence of Taizu's legacy, that guy can't do anything.

Just when Zhao Guangyi was at a loss, Prime Minister Li Fang stood up and said: "The minister thinks that the appearance of the heavenly dog at this time is not only not God's warning to the Son of Heaven of the Great Song Dynasty, but a sign that God has given the Son of Heaven to crusade against injustice. The powerful ministers of the Liao Dynasty were in power, and even forcibly married the widow of the former emperor, which was really a great rebellion, and the Liao State actually let it go, which was really disloyal and unjust. At this time, the Tengu Food said that it was to give me the right of the Great Song Dynasty to conquer this disloyal and unrighteous country, and I could not let go of the God-given opportunity. ”

Hearing Prime Minister Li Fang say this, Zhao Guangyi was immediately happy, so he climbed the pole: "Li Aiqing is reasonable, this dog food is a signal from God to me, so that I can get rid of the injustice of the king." Therefore, you Aiqing don't need to say more, I have my own decision on this Northern Expedition. ”

But although this crisis has been resolved, Song Qi really responded to Zhao Guangyi's diaphragm. Later, there was a secret protection of Guangnan to make Wang Tingfan plot, and this Wang Tingfan was related to Song Qi. So Zhao Guangyi found a reason to dismiss Song Qi Zaifu's position, which can be regarded as a bad breath.

At this point, the obstacles of the Northern Expedition within the Song Dynasty were temporarily removed.

……

After the internal political obstacles of the two countries were removed, the road to war was basically cleared. But that's not all, it's better to find some helpers in a fight. So at this moment, both countries have their eyes on the northeastern peninsula.

In order to add chaos to the Liao State and alleviate the resistance of the Northern Expedition, Zhao Guangyi sent an envoy to Bohai and Goryeo to meet them, and when the Song army was raised, they attacked together and attacked the Liao from the rear.

But the envoys of the Song Dynasty returned in vain. The reason is that the Liao State also sent envoys to these two countries.

Although the Liao State did not meet these two countries to help in the war, it asked these two countries to stay and stay alone if the Song Dynasty sent troops to attack the Great Liao.

Naturally, the Liao side didn't expect these two countries to help much, as long as they didn't add to the chaos.

Due to the defeat and retreat of the Liao State during the period of Liao Taizong, the Goryeo Kingdom ceded land and paid compensation, and the tribute continued every year. I didn't dare to form any resistance to the Liao State, and this time the Liao State didn't want Goryeo to send troops, as long as I stayed at home honestly. After weighing it repeatedly, Goryeo felt that it was better to follow the orders of the Liao State. So he rejected the Song Dynasty's proposal.

And the situation in the Bohai State is different. The Bohai State was destroyed as early as the time of the Liao Taizu Yelu Abaoji, and then the eldest son of Abaoji Yelu Bei established the Dongdan Kingdom here, and since then the Bohai Sea has become a vassal of the Liao Dynasty.

Although the local people of the Bohai Kingdom rebelled many times later, they were all suppressed by the Liao Dynasty. After that, in order to alleviate the national contradictions, the Liao Dynasty let the royal family marry a large number of daughters of Bohai nobles. Therefore, although there is a national enmity and family hatred with the Khitan, it is also unrealistic for Bohai to unite with you Zhao Song.

So Bohai also rejected the Song Dynasty.

Even when the comrades-in-arms did not pull in, the form that was unfavorable to the Song Dynasty developed again. Over there, the Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao State weighed the system, and then ordered Yelu Hugo to recruit soldiers and prepare for war in Tuntian.

At this time, the Song Dynasty did not know about this, because in order to deceive the Song Dynasty, Empress Dowager Xiao sent a fine work to the territory of the Song Dynasty to take a walk, and the rumors falsely claimed that the Liao State was still politically turbulent at this time, and the interior was already empty.

The generals stationed at the border were very excited when they got the news, thinking that this attack on Liao would definitely succeed in recovering Yanyun.

Only one person in the Song army was still awake at this time, that person was Zhao Weiji, who knew the history and knew the outcome of this war very well, although he didn't know if he would change the outcome of this war because of his appearance, but he still didn't dare to take it lightly.

While he was still carefully preparing for war, he had no idea that he would be in big trouble in the war that was about to begin.

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