Zhou Ping's tone was not much higher than a whisper, and Li Chuwen's body trembled like a leaf in the wind, and the pillar of sandalwood in his hand also trembled with his body, and he didn't know where to put it. It turned out that this Li Chuwen was born in the Li family of the four major clans of Yanjing, and had an in-law relationship with Zhao Liangsi's Ma family, and he was still a distant cousin. In his early years, his career was not smooth, and he once swore with Zhao Liangsi in this Arctic temple to destroy Liao and return to the Song Dynasty. Later, Zhao Liangsi could not escape, and Li Chuwen took advantage of the relationship with Xiao Fengxian, a favored minister of Emperor Tianzuo, and soared, so he naturally threw the matter of burning incense and swearing with Zhao Liangsi to the clouds. As for the correspondence with Zhao Liangsi not long ago, it was just to prepare a way back for himself, but he didn't want the envoys of the Southern Dynasty to come to the door in front of the public, which made him not surprised.

'Accompany the priest Li Menxing to salute!' Zanli praised in a long and loud voice, 'Li Men kneels...... Knock...... Knock...... Knock...... Xing ......'

By kneeling and kowtowing and getting up for a while, Li Chuwen had initially regained his composure, came up with a countermeasure, and said in a low voice: "This matter is quiet, if the deputy envoy has any orders, you can say it bluntly, and everything can be carried out!" ”

"Let the lord of the country raise Yanjing to attach to this dynasty!"

"This matter is very difficult, now Your Majesty is sick in bed, and all major matters are decided by Queen Xiao Puxian!"

"Can you convince the Empress to join this dynasty?"

'Kneel...... Knock...... Knock...... Knock...... 'Praise the second praise.

At this time, Li Chuwen had completely calmed down, and while saluting, he said in a low voice: "A certain family has also had this heart for a long time, and must do it with all his might." The deputy envoy can wait for the good news! ”

Zhou Ping sneered and said: "The lower officials have also heard that the queen's affairs, the seven or eight points of the master's work, whether this matter is successful or not, it depends on how much effort the door uses!" ”

'Kneel...... Knock...... Knock...... Knock...... Xing ......' Praise the third praise.

"Then if this matter is successful, how will the Great Song Dynasty settle a certain father and son?" At this time, Li Chuwen had regained his usual shrewdness and began to speak carefully for his own interests.

Tong Xuanfu sent a message to a certain family, if the door can do this, this dynasty should not hesitate to reward the country. There is no need to worry about the Tianlu Sect Temple at home! ”

Hear here. The expression on Li Chuwen's face immediately became kind, he smiled slightly, and decided to confide in the other party a little bit of guilt, on the one hand, to express his sincerity. On the one hand, it also tells the other party the difficulty of the job. I am not a white-collar reward.

"That your nobles may know. The queen's most trusted person is not Xia, but her brother is in charge of the army, Xiao Gan, this person is shrewd and capable. He is the king of Xi again, and he will never agree to the affairs of your envoy. However, these days, he went to the mountains and the mountains to live in the state to recruit troops, and he was not in the city. ”

"I see!" Zhou Ping nodded, and suddenly his heart moved, and asked: "When I came, I heard rumors on the road that Yelu Yanxi borrowed 100,000 troops from Xirong and was about to go south, is this true?" ”

"Huh!" Li Chuwen laughed: "Your honor, please rest assured, this should be a Khitan nobleman in Yanjing City who is trying to scare those unscrupulous people." Lest before Xiao Gan recruits back, someone will take advantage of this opportunity to make trouble! ”

"Are you sure?" Zhou Ping's heart immediately tightened, and he asked in a low voice.

"Naturally! The king of Xiangyin led 100,000 horsemen south, and the first person to settle the account was probably not the Gui Dynasty, but the people in this Yanjing City. If it is true, then Xiao Gan still dares to leave his sister in Yanjing City and go to the states in front of the mountain and behind the mountain to recruit troops in person? ”

"Exactly, I was a fan of the authorities, and I was deceived by such a little trick." When Zhou Ping heard this, he suddenly realized. As Li Chuwen said, for Emperor Tianzuo Yelu Yanxi, Yelu Chun and the officials and people in Yanjing City who supported Ye Luchun to the throne are all anti-thieves, if he leads 100,000 iron horsemen south, not to mention Xiao Gan, the old fox in front of him is probably the first to be in a hurry to find a way back, how can he be so calm.

At this time, Li Chuwen had finished his salute, and the praiser was praising the other dignitaries to come up and salute with incense. Zhou Ping seized the last moment and asked, "My Majesty, if there is any news, how can I contact you?"

"There is a Liu Ji leather shop outside the west gate of the Pure Dirt Temple, which was opened by a house slave I put out, and you only said that it was from the Liu family in Zhuo County, so he naturally understood."

The south gate of Yanjing City, it is almost dinner time, the Yanjing township soldiers guarding the door lazily check the pedestrians entering and leaving, although the nobles in the city are already panicking, but after all, hundreds of thousands of men and women in the city want to eat and drink, to burn and cook, all have to be imported from the countryside outside the city, and there are not a few cattle, horses and vehicles in and out. At this time, it was the time for the villagers who had finished selling their products to go out and block the south gate tightly.

"Drive, drive, call!" A coachman stopped the mule cart, jumped out of the car, and smiled at the gatekeeper with a smile: "Master Jun, the little one is bothering you again!" ”

"Who's that guy in the car?" The soldier lazily greeted him, pointing to the man who was climbing out of the car and asked.

"It's a Zen master in a temple!" The coachman smiled and said: "Li Dahu in our village has died, and I will go to the city this time to invite a Zen master in the temple to go back and recite the scriptures!" ”

"I see! It is really a blessing to have a Zen master chanting after death! When the soldier heard this, he hurriedly folded his hands and recited the Buddha. At that time, the upper class of the Liao State believed in Buddhism very much, and the Han people in Yandi also followed suit, because the monks in Yandi were very respectful of both Han and Khitan.

The car went out of the south gate and walked half a mile, the monk jumped out of the car, and the coachman hurriedly untied a mule from the car, put on the saddle, put the reins in the monk's hand, and said with a smile: "Zen master be careful!" ”

The monk took off the hood of his robe, and it was the best of the best, and he saluted the coachman with his hands folded, took out the money from his waist, and said with a smile: "I'm tired, this money is the money for your legs and feet!" ”

"Where to make!" The coachman hurriedly pushed: "In the city, the Zen master has already doubled the money given to the mule, how can I collect another money!" ”

"A pile is a pile!" Zhishan smiled: "If you accept it, it can be regarded as adding clothes to the Hun family!" ”

"It's really bearable, it's born!" The coachman couldn't back down, so he had to accept the money and drive away with a thousand thanks. Zhishan looked back at the towering Yanjing city wall not far away, jumped on the mule, and walked all the way.

For Bianliang, Tokyo, in the spring of the fourth year of Xuanhe, the political situation was like the weather, cold and warm. Since the news of Ye Luchun's succession was confirmed at the end of last year, the main battle faction alliance composed of Tong Guan and Wang Hao has gained the upper hand in the court, and the war machine of the entire Northern Song Dynasty has been activated; And at the end of February of the fourth year of Xuanhe, the wind direction changed again. An astonishing rumor spread from the north that Yelu Yanxi, the former Liao emperor who had been demoted to the king of Xiangyin, had borrowed 100,000 iron horsemen from Zhurong in the northwest and was about to go south to take Xiongzhou directly to punish the Northern Song Dynasty for betraying the covenant.

After hearing this news, the supreme military commander of the Northern Song Dynasty and the main driver of the Lianjin invasion of Liao, the voice of Taishi Tong Guan, who had just contributed to the crusade against the Fangla Rebellion, also lowered. In later generations, this also became one of his crimes, and ironically, the real reason for this situation was that Tong Guan was one of the few people in the Northern Song Dynasty who really understood the current military strength of the Northern Song Dynasty. He knew very well that under the military system of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, the amount of military strength did not depend on how many people and weapons, but how much money the government could come up with to recruit and raise soldiers. At this time, the Hebei Forbidden Army and the Beijing Division Forbidden Army had basically eroded and no longer had the ability to undertake offensive operations. Unless the new army is trained on a large scale, what can really be relied on is the Western Army, and in addition to guarding the Western Xia front, there are only about 100,000 mobile forces that can be used for field battles. At that time, the financial situation of the Northern Song Dynasty could not come up with spare money to reorganize and train the new army, so this small mobile force was the only capital in his hands.

Therefore, Tong Guan's plan did not use a military offensive as the primary means from the beginning, on the contrary, he pinned his hopes for the destruction of the main force of the Liao army on the Jin people, and the military force of the Song side was only a military backing to exert political pressure. According to the internal intelligence of the Liao State provided to him by Zhao Liangsi, he believed that as the war situation became unfavorable, those inherent contradictions within the Liao State would gradually sprout, and the Northern Song Dynasty could completely seize Yanjing at a very small price, or even win without a fight. Doesn't it be said in "The Art of War" that "a soldier who surrenders without a fight is superior"?

But the unexpected situation happened, that Yelu Yanxi ignored the attack of the Jin people, and got another 100,000 iron horsemen to go south out of nowhere. Not to mention whether the Song army can defeat this enemy army, even if the Song army can win, the last hole card in his hand will be played, and at that time, if the Jin people turn their faces and deny it, what will he do to resist the attack of the Jin people? Tong Guan has also dealt with Western Xia in the northwest for more than ten years, and he is not naïve enough to believe that a blank piece of paper can restrain hundreds of thousands of iron horses, and the only thing that can restrain force is always force.

What's worse is that at this juncture, Tong Guan's most trusted strategist Zhao Liangsi is not around, this man who knows everything about Liao, Jinren, and Yandi is discussing with Jinren at this time the demarcation of the border between the two countries after the destruction of Liao. Without Zhao Liangsi, Tong Guan lacks enough information to make accurate judgments on many things, and this feeling of being blindfolded is really bad.

"Xuanxiang, Xuanxiang! The official family went to Cai Jing's mansion! ”

"What!" Tong Guan sat up from the soft couch, waved his hand and shook off the two maidservants who were dressed on the side, and the subordinate who came in to pay homage asked, "When?" Isn't Cai Yuanchang already a minister, why did the official family go to his house again? ”

"I heard that it was about compiling history books!" The subordinate replied with his head bowed, he knew that Tong Guan was in an extremely bad mood at this time, and he didn't want to cause trouble for himself without saying a word. (To be continued......)