After the group broke away from the thieves, they quickened their pace, and went to a post station to stay that night, and reported that they were attacked by thieves and escorted all the Liao soldiers to be killed, and the guards of the post station were shocked when they heard this, and hurriedly reported the matter to them, although the Liao government was corrupted at that time, but the envoys of the Song side paid more and more attention, after all, when the north fought hard with the Jin army, the Liao State could not afford to wage war with the strong neighbors in the south.

In the afternoon of the next day, Zhang Ying of the Ministry of Rites arrived at the post station with 100 cavalry and 200 infantry to receive and escort the delegation to Youzhou.

A few days later, the mission passed through Zhuozhou and Liangxiang, crossed Lugou, and finally arrived at the end of the trip, Youzhou City.

On the hillside outside the city, Zhou Ping watched with great emotion as the majestic silhouette of the Youzhou City Wall gradually rose from below the horizon.

"That's right, Emperor Taizong was defeated by the Khitan Iron Cavalry, and he lost tens of thousands of soldiers, and even he was shot in the thigh and fled back to Bianjing in a donkey cart!"

Zhou Ping whispered to himself, the big city in front of him gave him a very deep impression, if the impression of Tokyo Kaifeng City was magnificent, closer to the civic city of modern society, and the Youzhou City in front of him seemed to be a huge fortress, backed by the Yanshan Mountain Range, ruling a large area of fertile land north of the big river.

"Deep ditches and dense bases, heavy mountains and waters, what a Youzhou city!"

A low voice of emotion came from behind him, Zhou Ping didn't have to look back to know that it was Wen Cheng who spoke, maybe it was because they had experienced that tribulation together, the distance and estrangement that strangers usually had between him and this fifty-year-old official disappeared, and both of them instinctively felt close to each other.

Zhou Ping turned his head, he saw a stunned expression on the faces of almost every member of the mission, it seemed that every Song person had a very complicated mood about this Youzhou City.

At this time, Zhou Ping finally understood that as a later traveler, it was difficult for him to truly understand the Song people's desire to "restore Yanyun" in just two years of life in this world

of urgency.

This war was not the result of the great joy of a handful of close ministers around Song Huizong as explained by later Song Confucians, and in the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, even though Emperor Daojun was the undisputed supreme ruler of the empire and had enormous power, if "Yanyun was restored"

It has become the consensus of all levels of society, and he cannot drag the entire empire into a difficult war with such a strong enemy as the Liao State on his own.

Only living in this society will you understand that the peace between the Song and Liao countries for more than a hundred years is just a thin veil, and under this veil is the resentment and fear of the Song people for more than a hundred years, and the annual 500,000 silver silk is not much compared to the huge financial income of the Northern Song Dynasty. Not to mention that after the loss of the sixteen states of Yanyun, the heartland of the Song Dynasty was under the iron hooves of the Liao army, and the only thing that could separate Kaifeng from the Liao army was the Yellow River, but after the Yellow River froze in winter, this only geographical barrier no longer existed.

Emperor Daojun's mistake was not to start this war rashly, but to lose the war.

"Hey!"

Thinking of this, Zhou Ping sighed softly, and turned his gaze to the last carriage, the biggest gain of his trip was in that car, a full 35 catties of gold, which was converted into nearly seven thousand, enough for himself and Yun Niang's family to live comfortably for a lifetime.

After returning from this trip to Youzhou, he took Yun Niang and his family to the south, Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, these famous maritime trade cities are calling to themselves, with their knowledge beyond the times, plus these capitals, it will not take ten years, it is not difficult to have millions of capital, there, as long as there is money, Arab horses, Persian dancers, carpets, grape wine, sandalwood, all the luxury goods that ancient society can imagine are at your fingertips, at that time I was not yet forty years old, At least thirty years can live the most luxurious life imaginable in this era.

Even if you want to dominate the world at that time, with your own financial resources, you can build an army that completely surpasses the times, and you have every chance to succeed, even if you fail in the end, you have already enjoyed everything, and there is nothing to regret.

Thinking of this, a seductive voice seemed to sound in Zhou Ping's ears - "It's better to go back, it's better to go back!" ”

"Ah Ping!"

A voice interrupted Zhou Ping's reverie, he turned his head a little dazedly, only to see Xue Liangyu looking at Youzhou City with great interest, and said, "I don't know how the old monk is doing now!" Didn't he go to Liaodong? It should be that direction, right? ”

As he spoke, the boy pointed northeast with his horsewhip.

"Well, that's probably the direction, right?"

Zhou Ping nodded instinctively, and suddenly a picture flashed through his mind: "Master, although you are a monk, you still don't forget the state affairs, so that the villain is admired!" ”

"Although I am a monk, what can I do without the people giving alms? If you can't do your part to protect the safety of the township, you will give birth to this boy in vain! ”

"If you can't do your part to protect the safety of the township, you will give birth to this boy in vain!"

Zhou Ping subconsciously repeated what the Supreme Zen Master said that night, and a layer of sweat couldn't help but ooze from his forehead.

Since he crossed over, if it weren't for Xue Laozhang to contain him, I am afraid that he would have turned into a starving person on the side of the road, but he only thought about the safety and well-being of one person, at most, plus Yun Niang and her family, compared with the best Zen master, it is simply impossible to calculate in the Tao.

"Ah Ping, what's wrong with you, why are you standing there in a daze and not answering?"

Xue Liangyu's question woke Zhou Ping up from the fierce ideological struggle, he wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and said with a forced smile: "It's nothing, I just remembered my room in Anyang, and when I left, there was a piece of the roof that had not been repaired, and if there was heavy snow, I was afraid that it would collapse." ”

"Ah Ping, you think too much!"

Xue Liangyu laughed when he heard this: "Not to mention that Yun Niang will definitely take care of the house for you, if you go back this time, how can you say that you are also from the government, so naturally you want to build a big house, why do you still have to live in that hut?" ”

"That's right!"

Zhou Pingqiang laughed twice, covering up the contradiction in his heart, and at this time the group was already close to Youzhou City.

I saw that there were many towers on the tall city wall, there were military camps and fortresses outside the city gate to protect, the flags were waved in the barracks, and the sound of people and horses neighing was clearly audible.

"Han Xianggong!"

Zhang Ying, who was in charge of the reception of the Liao State Rite Department, bowed to Han Xiaoxuan very courteously: "My Great Liao Emperor is not in Youzhou City now, and I also ask your envoys to rest in the Pure Dirt Temple for a few days!" ”

"Thank you, Envoy Zhang!"

Han Xiao returned the salute with a reserve, he also made some efforts to the situation of Liao before leaving, knowing that Buddhism in Liao is prosperous, this pure dirt temple is one of the famous temples in Yanjing, and has a deep connection with the Liao royal family, there are many monks, and the environment is beautiful.

In the past, it was the first-class Song State mission that would be arranged here, but today, his small master's affairs can only be regarded as a third-rate mission at most, and he can be arranged to live here.

This in itself suggests that the scales of victory are beginning to tilt in favor of each other before negotiations.

After the mission settled down, since it was in Yanjing, the Liao side could not use security reasons as an excuse to prohibit the Song envoys from entering and leaving, and now they could not tear their faces.

Therefore, Han Xiaoxuan immediately ordered Zhou Ping and others to go out to investigate and collect various intelligence on the Liaojin War.

In the evening of the same day, when several people returned to the mission station, they all had a happy look on their faces.

"Xianggong, I heard that the famous cities such as Xingzhongfu of the Liao people have been captured by the Jin people, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been lost, and the Liao army has been frightened. Not only Bohai and mature women really have many defectors to the Jin, but even the daughter of the Liao Tianzi and the four departments of the leather room also have many surrenderers, and after the Liaodong 'resentful army' returned to Yandi, they rebelled and made Yandi unstable. Its nobility was divided into two parties, and they fought day and night. Now it seems that although the Liao State is large, it has already collapsed! ”

Wen Cheng's voice was not loud, but it was deep and powerful, the words were clear, and he had a lot of motivation, and even Han Xiaoxuan's fair face couldn't suppress the excited expression, he couldn't help but stand up, and said in a continuous voice: "I can't think of it, I can't think of it-"

"Xianggong, there is a sentence below that I don't know whether to say or not!"

Wen Cheng said in a deep voice.

"Gong Wen, please speak!"

After experiencing the encounter with the bandits, Han Xiaoxuan obviously had a different attitude towards Zhou Ping and Wen Cheng, and he felt a little like Corporal Lixian.

"Xianggong is here, and he was ordered by the Son of Heaven to exempt Liao from 500,000 silver silk every year and return it to the sixteen states of Yanyun. But now it seems that the 500,000 silver silk is not enough, if the Liao people return to the sixteen states of Yanyun, their Shangjing and Zhongjing are all contributed by the Jin people, and their remnants cannot survive at all. If I am a Liao person, I will simply negotiate peace with the Jin people, cede all the Liao land to the Jin people, and fight with my Great Song Dynasty with all my might. ”

"What Gong Wen said is very true!"

Han Xiaoxuan nodded, Wen Cheng's words just hit his mind.

In fact, the most important reason why the Northern Song Dynasty sent a mission composed entirely of low-level military attaches and without any authorization documents to Liaodong at the beginning was that the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty did not understand and distrust the strength of the Jin State at that time, and were unwilling to leak the news before confirming the situation, which instead attracted the Liao people to attack and provoke fire.

At that time, the Liao State had more than 100 years, the history was longer than that of the Song Kingdom, expanding the territory of thousands of miles, and riding millions of iron horses, it was the largest country in the world, and its military strength was stronger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In less than ten years, the Jin Kingdom was less than ten years old, and there were not as many people as the Liao army, and people did not think that Jin could defeat or even destroy the Liao State.

After all, the purpose of the alliance between the Song people and the Jin was to use the strength of the Jin people to contain the Liao army and assist them in restoring Yanyun, rather than to help the Jin people eliminate the Liao state.

In this case, the alliance between Jin and Song actually has a situation of who is active and who is passive, and from the current situation, the Jin-Liao war has begun, and Song occupies a favorable position; But if the Liaojin truce and a collegial agreement is reached, then the ongoing "maritime alliance"

The situation will be reversed, and the Jin people will take the initiative and the Song people will be passive.