Out of Yanmen Pass, it is the idle field area.

Xiantian, this term has appeared many times in Chinese history, the large can reach tens of thousands of square kilometers, and the small ones are only a few hundred square kilometers. This is caused by the non-standard division of territories in ancient times, and the boundary lines between the two countries are ambiguous, and it is not clear which country belongs to a small number of regional territories. So it became a three-regardless zone, and most of the people living in it were fierce people. For example, the original area from Tianshengzhai on Jingyuan Road to Xiaoguan is strictly an idle field. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the vast area north of Huizhou, west of Helan Mountain in Tiandu Mountain and Yinshan Mountain was this kind of idle field. The Khitan and the Song Dynasty are easy to divide at the junction of Hebei, and the terrain is flat, but the north of Daizhou is mountainous, and the territory has been arguing, so there was a later Khitan to ask about the boundary again. It cannot be said that it must be from the Song Dynasty, but it cannot be said that it must be from the Khitan, because there is a very narrow mountain field of idle fields. It is the question of the ownership of this slender idle field.

Zheng Lang suddenly led his men to the west.

Only more than 100 miles away from Daizhou City is Chenjia Valley.

Right at the foot of the ancient Great Wall.

This trip not only has to see some of the conditions in the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, but there are also many mysteries that remain uncovered, such as the death of Yang Ye, such as why the Han people frantically rebelled against Song Taizong to recover Youzhou.

Coming to Chenjia Valley, a small river valley area, to the north is some mountain ranges, with some trees, Yang Ye said to Pan Mei before leaving, this time I sent troops to die, I am a general, I should have died a long time ago, the Lord asked me to lead the troops, I will die today to repay the Lord. I have been your subordinate for seven years, and I don't ask for anything. I only ask you to bury the archers in Chenjiagu, and when I am defeated, if I do not answer. It will be annihilated.

Said very sadly, Pan Mei agreed.

The ambush place that Yang Ye refers to is about the mountains on both sides of this road. Let Pan Mei ambush the archers on both sides of the mountain road.

Zheng Lang looked at Chenjia Valley silently, the river valley was not big, and the Great Wall in the distance was so destroyed that it was almost impossible to see clearly. There are a few small villages nearby, and it is only early February, and there is still some snow on the ridge that has not yet melted. There were a few herdsmen driving dozens of cattle and sheep to graze on the mountain, the cattle and sheep were struggling to gnaw on the goose yellow shallow grass, and a few herdsmen wore shabby jackets and looked at this group curiously. There are also several ancient wells on the edge of the village. Except for some children who came out curiously and looked at their group, the village was very quiet, and the traces of the ancient battlefield could no longer be seen.

Zheng Lang said: "Go." ”

To the north, there is a road from Chenjiagu to Langya Village, which is not as smooth as the official road of the Song Dynasty, but it is not small. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Yang Ye to let Pan Mei send ambush soldiers to hide in Chenjiagu to respond. Zheng Lang is to take a look. How far is Chenjiagu from Langya Village, how long does it take to ride a horse, and can you send scouts.

Pan Mei was not responsible for what happened back then, but it is impossible to say that she is not responsible at all.

At first, Yang Ye was very sensible, and the army of the Middle East Road was defeated. Only the army on the western route could not support it, so it should obey the edict of Song Taizong and send the people of Yunshuo Huanying Sizhou to immigrate to Taiyuan as soon as possible when the main Khitan army did not arrive. It just so happened that the Later Han Dynasty had been fighting for many years, and there was a lack of people in the entire Hedong Road. More than ninety percent of the sixteen prefectures of Youyun are Han people, and there is no rejection reaction, of course, it will not cause Li Shibin's subordinates to turn against the water. Move the people to Shijie Valley first, send thousands of archers to lie at the mouth of the valley, and the cavalry will support in the middle, and the migration task can be successfully completed.

The prison army Wang Yu didn't listen, so he had to send Yang Ye to fight. Pan Mei held a neutral opinion in the middle and did not make a sound, Yang Ye was repeatedly provoked by Wang Yu, so he had to fight with sadness. But he met the strongest Khitan general, who was also a wise general, Yelu slanted, deliberately sent an army to deceive and lure Yang Ye to Langya Village, thirty miles south of Shuozhou City. The time Yang Ye set off in the early morning, and there was a fierce battle with Yelu in Langya Village at noon. In Wolftooth Village, Yelu laid a net, but Yang Ye actually killed it. Fighting and retreating, they arrived at Chenjiagu in the evening. …,

Pan Mei sent an ambush, and seeing that Yang Ye had not returned for a long time, Wang Yu asked Pan Mei to withdraw the ambush soldiers. Yang Ye came to Chenjiagu and saw that there was no reinforcement, so he touched his chest and cried bitterly. Then he led more than 100 of his men to fight a bloody battle with tens of thousands of Khitans, but none of them surrendered and the whole army was annihilated. After Yang Ye killed nearly 100 Khitan soldiers at this time, he was forcibly captured and died after three days of hunger strike. So the history books say that he died in battle, not captured. This is the official statement, and it has been adopted by future generations. Yang Ye is brave and loyal, but he makes mistakes in his decision-making.

When such a major mistake really occurred, you must know that it was precisely because of the existence of Yang Ye that Song Taizu's conquest of the Later Han Dynasty failed. It shows that Yang Ye's military talent is no less than Zhao Kuangyin. How could such a mistake occur? Zheng Lang pursued this matter.

Ride to Wolf's Tooth Village, and then quickly turn back.

I looked at the hourglass, and it was only an hour back and forth. It's really not far, only forty miles away, at most fifty miles. If the scout is on a fast horse, it will be faster.

Zheng Lang looked at the hourglass, and his heart was extremely sad and angry.

This is not the case.

In order to cover up the ugliness, this magnificent history has been covered up by some people.

The reason why Yang Ye is like this is that he used himself as bait to lure Yelu into Chenjia Valley, and the ambush soldiers rose in all directions, and he fought fiercely with the Khitans for a long time, and the Khitan soldiers became tired, so they would inevitably turn defeat into victory. But when I came to Chenjiagu, I actually ...... So Yang Ye stroked his chest and cried, people who are not even afraid of death, why should they cry!

Even if you withdraw your troops, you have to send scouts to take a look, it's really not far away. Yang Ye is not outside the scout's reconnaissance range, more than forty miles, and there are avenues leading to it, what is it for scouts? Why didn't the two Pan and Wang send scouts to take a look when they retreated, it really didn't take long.

Khitan officials had already heard the news and arrived.

Zheng Lang is worshipping Yang Ye.

The Khitan people also value heroes, and Yang Ye's deeds were passed from the Khitan to the Song Dynasty. One by one they were silent.

After the worship, Zheng Lang wrote a letter and asked the guards to send it back to Yanmen Pass and asked Zhang Kang to bring it to Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen was silent for a long time after seeing it.

It won't really overturn the case, it's very troublesome, and after most of the day, he said: "Give the Yang family a thousand silks and a million dollars." Check it out for me again, what descendants does the Yang family have. ”

There are many descendants of the Yang family, but as written in the Yang family, only one son Yang Yanyu died in the battle, and the other sons are alive and well. There is also a general named Wang Gui. Later, there was also a famous Wang Gui, who was a general under Yue Fei, and it was this person who betrayed him. framed Yue Fei for the crime, so that Qin Hui found an excuse to put Yue Fei in prison. The two kings are worlds apart.

Chen Zhizhong said: "Your Majesty. The minister was afraid that Zheng Lang's trip would anger the Khitan. ”

has not yet sent an envoy, so it is a little bad to worship Yang Ye first.

Zhao Zhen shook his head and said, "Chen Qing, you don't understand, Zheng Lang is signaling to the imperial court, and Yang Ye is a role model." Even if he died, he would not surrender to the Khitans. ”

There was silence in the hall.

But Zhao Zhen's words can almost be believed.

Since he went to Taipingzhou Lake to deal with disputes, Zheng Lang has been bold, and when he went to the northwest, he was on the front line and fired at me. Zhao Zhen sighed after speaking. There are too few good ministers like this, if there are ten or eight in the Great Song Dynasty. Why worry that the Song Dynasty was not strong.

Looking at other officials in the territory, often dozens of thieves come and are so frightened that they open the door and surrender. It can't be compared, and a comparison will be scary. muttered: "Taizong is kind to Yang Ye, and Yang Ye repays him with death." It's too tragic......"

He didn't want something similar to Yang Ye to happen to Zheng Lang.

Then looking at the north, at this moment, he was a little stupid.

……

Zhao Zhen also guessed correctly, but Zheng Lang had another intention, Zhao Zhen didn't guess it, Zheng Lang was also afraid, Shi Jie was dead, and Xia Zhu could still slander him and flee to Khitan. If you go to the Khitan by yourself and want to get out, it will take a long time, God knows what these demons in the imperial court say? The three of them said that when the time comes, black and white will be reversed, will they become the second Li Ling? …,

The letter was sent away, and then he spoke to the Khitan officials in Shuozhou.

The governor of Shuozhou asked cautiously: "Zheng Xianggong, why did you make me go from Yanmen Pass?" ”

No, it's not in accordance with the rules, the imperial court sent a reception envoy, but the reception envoy went to Youzhou.

Zheng Lang replied: "I have great respect for Yang Ye, and this mission to the Northern Dynasty is a rare opportunity, so I specially detoured to Daizhou and came to see the place where Yang Ye died in battle." ”

The Khitan officials were silent.

Zheng Lang slowly returned to Shuozhou again, and the two countries had been peaceful for many years, and what hatred and hatred gradually resolved. Moreover, most of them are Han people. With the spread of various gossip, the Khitan forced the Song Dynasty to hand over Zheng Lang, and it was possible that Zheng Lang would be reused, so Zheng Lang's deeds were widely spread in the Khitan.

Spread even more evil.

can be compared with Zhuge Liang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The people in the city were empty, and they squeezed out to watch.

Actually, what's there to see? An ordinary person. Either what's different, a white robe. This is also a special case in the history of the two countries. It was the period of Ding worry, Zheng Lang resigned from all official positions and strictly observed the Confucian funeral.

There is another benefit, the official system of the Song Dynasty, there are no exceptions, but Zheng Lang only rises and falls. Not so good. By virtue of Ding Wei, resigning from the official position is equivalent to demotion. If there is a buffer, then there will be fewer gossips.

When the envoy was dispatched, the imperial court wanted to pay homage to the officials again, and Zheng Lang only received a bachelor's position in Longtu Pavilion, and nothing else was awarded. One is the Ding worry period, and the other is that if he is awarded an official, even if he participates in political affairs, as an envoy to the Khitan, the official position is too high, and it will insult the face of the court. Resolutely not.

So he came to envoy the Khitan in white.

The crowd was full of discussions, and some people said: "Good bearing, it would be better if you looked a little more delicate." ”

Zheng Lang shook his head in his heart. This look was given by my father, what should I do? Not as handsome as Di Qing, but not ugly either.

But how many big scenes he has passed, his bearing is calm, his face is smiling, the garden is like a spring breeze, and the indifferent eyes with a smile still attract some ignorant girls to scream.

Stay in Shuozhou for two days.

Talk more about the scriptures and righteousness with some Confucians.

The sinicization of Khitan is very serious, especially Confucian books, and there are many people who learn them. But there is a strange convention between the two countries, and when it comes to friendship, since the Covenant of the Yuanyuan, the friendship between the two countries has far exceeded that of other countries. Until the fall of the Khitan, there were almost no large-scale battles between the two countries. But the psychology of guarding against the other party is very serious. As a result, there are very few academic exchanges between the two sides. The Song Dynasty simply looked down on the Khitan Confucians and disdained them. The academic Khitan of the Song Dynasty strictly controlled and prevented the Han people from rebelling against the sixteen states of Youyun. But the gap was too big, and I had to loosen the precepts from time to time, and put some books, poems, and words into the Khitan, which was also strictly censored.

As a result, Khitan Confucianism was very backward. Later, there was a limerick poem, which was written by lice. All the young people attached to me, and they wanted to be a teacher, but they all equaled me. I think when I was in school, the teacher was incompetent, and he was Mr. Alias. The gloomy text in the Analects will be taught to Chengdu to be peaceful. Don't get to this point, it can be seen that private school teachers harm students a lot.

Communication is not very difficult, almost everyone is speaking Chinese. The only difference is that the local accent is slightly different. But when talking about Confucianism, I often hear some ridiculous words. Some so-called gentlemen, Zheng Lang pondered. It may not be as in-depth as the first and second year students of the Chinese Department in later generations who have a deep understanding of Confucianism.

After staying for two days, these Confucian scholars held pens one by one and made records, and some gray-haired old men also listened attentively, for fear of missing a word. The people are the champions of the Song Dynasty, and the champions of the Khitan are not worthless. And it is the smallest big three yuan, and there are many Confucian scriptures. Although he is small, he is more educated than himself. Zheng Lang's approachable demeanor. It also moved them. So much so that when Zheng Lang left, many Confucian scholars fell on the side of the road and wept bitterly, and said again and again: "When will I see the champion of the princess." ”…,

Pass through the northwest corner of Yingzhou and go to Xijing.

The most densely populated area of the Khitan is the Youzhou area of Nanjing, followed by the Datong area of Xijing. There are more than 100,000 Ding in the Khitan household department, and the two capitals account for more than 800,000 Ding. As a result, some historians speculate that the Khitan population was less than five million. There are more than nine million rational speculations.

Zheng Lang asked secretly.

This is also important how many people there are. How many troops will be generated, how much productivity will be generated, and how much wealth will be created.

None of these statements are a bit inaccurate.

More than ninety percent of the two capitals are farming to make a living, and even if they see a few herdsmen in Chenjiagu, they are only grazing in the nearby mountains. It is still mainly farming, and grazing is only a small subsidy. Most people settled down, and the population was easy to count, and to the north, although the population gradually became scarce, it could not be dozens of times the area of the Liangjing area, accounting for only 20% of the population. Ratherd, it is mainly nomadic, wandering, living with water and grass, and cannot be counted. These hundreds of thousands of dings are the number of settled dings. The number of unsettled people in Wujing alone is at least four or five hundred thousand. If it includes the Divination, the Enemy Martyr Wugu and the Birth of Jurchens, the actual number of Ding is at least three million or more, and it may approach four million. The actual population of the Wujing area alone is six or seven million. Other areas are sparsely populated, but combined, they will exceed 10 million. If other factors are taken into account, a part of the remaining troops, some people are engaged in nomadic production, and some tribes may not be convinced, unwilling to obey the dispatch, or vain and resigned, and only a small number of men and horses, the maximum number of military horses that the Khitan can mobilize at one time will not exceed 400,000. Four hundred thousand is the limit number.

But there is a very important question.

Yin Bu and other tribes are all Khitan fetters in the area, and it is difficult to say that they rebel and revert from time to time. The real scope of Khitan control was very small, only in the Wujing region. Even in Wujing, Xijing still has Bai Dadan, and there are still some Bohai people in Tokyo who still do not obey the control. In other words, the population of the sixteen states of Youyun may be more than sixty percent of the actual population of the Khitan. If the Song Dynasty recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, wouldn't it have cost the Khitan his life?

The actual scope of control of the Song Dynasty was also pitiful, for example, Hebei and Hedong, which only controlled the southern part of Hebei and Shanxi, and the north was all under the control of the Khitan. Lingnan doesn't care about it, there are a lot of problems on Jinghu Road, not to mention Kuizhou Road. In the Song Dynasty, the population of households was 12 million and hundreds of thousands, and there were many that could not be counted, some hidden households, as well as the Jinghu and Kuizhou areas in Lingnan, the actual population was close to 100 million, and only eighty percent of them were really controlled.

If you want to develop, you must not only expand your territory, but also have a key and controlling power that restricts the region!

If the little Khitan emperor knew that Zheng Lang was talking to some officials, he would have analyzed this information from their voices, and he could immediately cut Zheng Lang down.

Zheng Lang is also very careful, he will not deliberately ask, occasionally lead the topic up, there is not much useful news, there are a few enough. Coming to Xijing, as the second most populous city in the Khitan, Xijing Mansion at this time was not smaller than the Datong in later generations. Of course, the population is not as large, but the area may be a little larger.

Because of the discussions with the Song Dynasty, commerce was very developed, and it was also one of the wealthiest state capitals in the Khitan. Zheng Lang was welcomed by the people and secretly paid attention. For the Khitan, it's remarkable. In fact, the prosperity of Datong is far from catching up with the first-class cities of the Song Dynasty, and is only similar to second-rate cities such as Runzhou, Chuzhou, Xuzhou, Zhending, and Qingzhou.

Stayed for a few more days.

The Khitan companion arrived and sent big shots, Liu Liufu and Xiao Hui. Since Liu Liufu's meritorious service in negotiations, he has been promoted very quickly, and he has squeezed into the ranks of first-class Khitan bigwigs, not to mention Xiao Hui.

Xiao Hui said: "Zheng Xianggong, why did you come to Jingxi? ”

The Khitan monarchs and ministers wondered together.

said that he was spying on intelligence, but where Zheng Lang passed, he walked along the avenue and did not see any terrain, and then he explained Confucianism and communicated with Confucians. Very normal performance. …,

Zheng Lang replied: "I went to worship Yang Ye, don't think too much about Wei Guogong." ”

Xiao Hui didn't believe it, but he was saying in his heart, whatever you want, anyway, you have come to the Khitan, no matter how great your ability is, you can't jump out of the palm of the Buddha's hand. said: "My lord heard that Zheng Xianggong came from the Southern Dynasty, deliberately drove south from the Changchun River, and the edict took you to Nanjing. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Zheng Lang said indifferently.

But he was laughing in his heart, saying that he would give Han Derang the official treatment back then, it was absolutely impossible. So what to do? I had to be a little more preferential in terms of etiquette. Anyway, although the Khitan attached great importance to etiquette, it was far from being like the Song Dynasty.

In the future, there will be a lot of soft and hard ones.

The soldiers are coming, and the water is coming to the earth, so there is no hurry.

The group set off from Xijing to Youzhou.

Zheng Lang was very casual all the way, Xiao Hui and Liu Liufu made him very suspicious, didn't this young man know what he was going to face? But he didn't dare to underestimate him, although this person was young, he was extremely intelligent. So along the way, I talked to Zheng Lang without a word.

Zheng Lang heard an important piece of information, the four major families in Youzhou.

Han Liu Ma Zhao!

The Han family is the Han Derang family, that is, the Han Zhigu family, but some people say that there are two Han families and one Han Yanhui. Liu Jing family, Liu Liufu is from the Liu family. There is also the Ma Renwang family, some people say that the Ma Zhiwen family, the Zhao Siwen family, and some people refer to the Zhao Dejun family. These families control almost more than ninety percent of Youzhou's resources.

Zheng Lang thought of some of the living conditions of the people in Youzhou that he had heard about, and suddenly he vaguely understood why the Han people in Youzhou resisted Zhao Kuangyi's recovery in the end.

What I guessed before was only part of it, but now this reason is the core!

If this is understood, it will be the most fatal for the Khitans. (To be continued) RQ