The cold wind is cold, the world is a solemn color, this year's winter came later than in previous years, but it is very cold, in just a few days, the Weishui and Luoshui on both sides of Gyeongju have been covered with thick ice, and the ice can even walk on the carriage, which brings some convenience to the traffic in the Gyeongju area, but in recent days, the air is cloudy, it seems that it may snow at any time, and after the heavy snow closes the road, the traffic in the entire Gyeongju area will be temporarily paralyzed, and Gyeongju City will also lose contact with the outside world, However, in this kind of weather, there is no need to worry that the Western Xia people will attack the Great Song Dynasty, it can be said that there are gains and losses.

Zhao Ji successfully blocked the Western Xia army in Sanchuan Village, but did not leave immediately, but has been stationed in Sanchuan Village until winter comes, after making sure that the Western Xia people will not go and return, then the army will be evacuated from Sanchuan Village in batches, most of which returned to their respective camps, and the remaining army of nearly 20,000 people was arranged by Zhao Ji in Gyeongju City, just in case the Western Xia people braved the cold to attack the Great Song Dynasty again, and then he was also convenient to mobilize troops to meet the battle.

Gyeongju is the seat of Huanqing Road, there are administrative institutions at all levels in the city, among which the official position in charge of Huanqing Road is called the observation and pacification envoy, generally filled by civilian officials, in charge of the military and political power of the road, the power can be compared with the festival of the late Tang Dynasty, so it is also called the image of the marshal, the current Huanqing Road marshal is named Cai Ting, is also a famous poet in history, in addition Cai Ting is also very proficient in military affairs, stationed in Gyeongju for many years, has repeatedly repelled the attacks of the Western Xia people, it can be said that the hard work is high.

Cai Ting's Marshal's Mansion is located in Gyeongju City, but since Zhao Ji came to Huanqing Road, Cai Ting's Marshal's Mansion was given to Zhao Ji, after all, Zhao Ji was the prince of the Great Song Dynasty, and in order to let Zhao Ji justifiably mobilize the armies of the Northwest Road, Zhao Shu placed Zhao Ji with the position of Northwest Observer. can control the Northwest Zhulu, it can be said that it happens to be Cai Ting's top boss, of course, Zhao Ji's position is not a permanent position, and Zhao Ji will be automatically dismissed when he returns to the capital.

As the weather got colder, Zhao Ji also reduced the number of times he went out, and spent most of his time in the Shuaichen's mansion. Today happened to be the tenth day, most of the officials in Gyeongju City were resting, Zhao Ji held a banquet in the Shuaichen Mansion, and invited Cai Ting and Yang Wenguang, the two of them are one scholar and one martial arts, and they hold the administrative and military power of Huanqing Road, and Zhao Ji invited them to come over and have something to tell them.

"Your Highness, are you really not going back to the capital?" Yang Wenguang, who had white hair in the warm pavilion, asked Zhao Ji, and his face showed surprise. The banquet hasn't started yet. The wine and food were not served, but Zhao Ji suddenly announced that he would not return to Beijing, but when he stayed in Gyeongju City, Yang Wenguang and Cai Ting were both very surprised, and even a little unbelievable, after all, Zhao Ji is the prince of the Great Song Dynasty, if he never returns to the capital, God knows what will happen?

"Not bad. This matter was personally requested by me to my father, both of whom were important confidants of my Great Song Dynasty. I must also know that the war of exterminating Xia is being prepared in China, and when I came, my father had already said that as long as the Western Xia people can be stopped, then the war of exterminating Xia can be launched next autumn at the latest, and then the northwest roads will be the main force to destroy Xia. I'm here to mobilize all kinds of troops! Zhao Ji explained the reason why he stayed, Yang Wenguang and Cai Ting were both direct participants in the battle to destroy Xia, so it was impossible to hide it from them from the beginning.

"Your Highness, if you stay in Gyeongju City, will you attract the attention of the Western Xia people. If they guess something from this matter, I'm afraid it will have a serious impact on the battle to destroy the summer? At this time, Cai Ting suddenly spoke, I saw that this Huanqing handsome minister was about fifty years old this year, tall and thin, and his appearance was clumsy, and he knew at a glance that he was a well-educated person, but now Cai Ting's face was a little more weathered, and his ears and hands were also frostbite, which was left by him when he went out of the city to inspect a few days ago, so it can be seen that the cold in the northwest winter.

"This father has already thought of it for me, in three days, most of the people around me will return to Beijing under the escort of the army, and a stand-in will be arranged in my carriage, and I will stay quietly at that time, and Cai Shuaichen will also move back to live at that time, as long as I don't show up in public anymore, others will not know that I am still staying in Gyeongju City!" Zhao Ji explained again.

"I see, since His Majesty has already arranged it for His Highness, we must do our best to assist His Highness in hiding his identity!" Cai Ting heard this, so he had to immediately speak, Zhao Ji wanted to live in the Shuaichen Mansion with him, and the matter of hiding Zhao Ji's identity naturally fell on his head.

"Your Highness, will you really launch the Battle of Summer Destruction next year?" At this time, Yang Wenguang finally found an opportunity, and asked very excitedly, as an old veteran, he may retire from the army at any time, so he is also particularly concerned about the battle of destroying the summer, if he can participate in this battle before leaving the army, he will die without regrets.

"There is no need to doubt this, I know better than anyone about the preparation for the battle of destroying the summer, this time the Western Xia people failed to attack my Great Song Dynasty, and it did not have much impact on the plan to destroy the summer, in my opinion, the launch of the battle to destroy the summer next autumn is already postponed, in fact, after the summer harvest next year, the battle of the summer can be officially launched, so the whole plan will only be advanced, and it will definitely not be postponed, after all, we have been preparing for too long!" Zhao Ji was also resolute at this time.

In order to make the battle of exterminating Xia more smooth, he didn't even use firearms to block the Tangut people this time, which made the Great Song army pay greater casualties, but as long as he can fight the Tangut people by surprise next year, then this qiē is worth it.

"That's great, if this battle can destroy the Western Xia, I will write to the imperial court, asking to be transferred back to the capital, and then I can go back to my hometown to have a look!" Cai Ting couldn't help but be excited when he heard Zhao Ji's words, he was originally from Songcheng, that is, the Shangqiu area of Henan Province in later generations, very close to the capital, but since he was twenty years old when he became a jinshi, he has been serving in the northwest area, and it has been thirty-two years now, and the number of times he has returned to his hometown in these thirty-two years is only a handful.

"Haha, if the handsome minister returns to the capital, the old man should also go home to recuperate, and then he will have the opportunity to go to the handsome minister to drink again!" Yang Wenguang also laughed at this time and said, although the Great Song Dynasty is noble and cheap, but Cai Ting is familiar with military affairs and has no discrimination against military generals, plus Yang Wenguang is his important assistant, so the personal relationship between the two is not bad.

When Cai Ting heard Yang Wenguang's words, he immediately laughed a few words, but their words touched Zhao Wei a lot, especially when he saw Yang Wenguang's snow-white beard, Cai Ting's beard and hair were also half white, which made Zhao Wei also sigh in his heart, from the rebellion of Western Xia to the present, in order to defend the northwest frontier, the Great Song Dynasty has let Cai Ting and these old ministers stay in the bitter cold northwest for most of their lives, if they can't destroy the Western Xia this time, I don't know how much manpower and material resources it will cost the Great Song Dynasty in the future? Thinking of this, Zhao Ji couldn't help but be more determined in his heart, this battle to destroy the summer must be successful!

"It's snowing!" At this moment, I suddenly heard someone shouting outside, and as a result, Zhao Ji, Cai Ting, and Yang Wenguang also stood up and walked to the window, opened the window and looked out, and found that the dark clouds in the sky were even more gloomy, and there were scattered snowflakes floating in the air.

"It's snowing here in Gyeongju, I wonder if it's snowing there in the capital as well?" Zhao Ji saw the snowflakes outside, and couldn't help but say with some emotion at the moment, although he took the initiative to ask to stay in Gyeongju, it didn't mean that he didn't want to go back to the capital, after all, he took off the prince's coat, he was also an ordinary person, and he would be homesick when he was alone.

Cai Ting and Yang Wenguang are also human spirits, so they naturally saw Zhao Ji's homesickness, but they didn't know how to persuade them, so they had to look at each other and no one made a sound, fortunately, Zhao Ji was not an ordinary person, and quickly recovered from his emotion, and sat down with the two of them with a smile at the moment and said: "This king sighed for a while, but it made the two of them laugh!" ”

As soon as Zhao Ji's words fell, before Cai Ting and the two spoke, they heard someone knock lightly on the door outside and said, "Your Highness, the wine and food for the banquet have been prepared, do you want to send them in now?" ”

"Haha, that's a coincidence, as soon as the snow outside has just started, the food and drinks are ready, just enough for us to enjoy the snow while drinking, which is also a great pleasure!" Zhao Ji was also very happy when he heard this, and then immediately ordered the people outside to serve wine and food, and after a while, one dish after another was delivered.

"Hey, this ...... This is strange, where did Your Highness find so many fruits? As soon as the dishes were delivered, Cai Ting immediately asked in surprise, and Yang Wenguang next to him also showed a surprised expression, because they found that many of the dishes in front of them were made of fruits, which is naturally nothing in summer and autumn, but in this cold season, it is really unreasonable for so many fruits to appear.

"Hahaha~, this king knew that you would ask that!" Seeing the surprised appearance of Cai Ting and the others, Zhao Ji couldn't help laughing, and then pointed to the fruit dishes in front of him and explained, "The origin of these fruits is not simple, they are my third brother after special treatment a few months ago, put them in jars, so that they will not be corrupted, called canned, and then sent someone to give it to me, but I was in Sanchuan Village at that time, and there were many road cards along the way, even the things sent by the third brother could not be delivered to me, until I returned to Gyeongju, I received these canned food, and not only fruits, There is also a lot of meat that can be canned and preserved. (To be continued......)