In the room, Aya was squatting on the ground, carefully washing Fanning's feet, and the last two days were in a carriage north, Fanning was really a little tired and ready to go to bed.

At this time, Zhu Pei walked in with white fungus bird's nest soup, she put the bowl on the table, and asked, "What is the prince Wang doing here?" ”

"He came to me for support, and during this time he was frustrated again and again, hoping that I could support him."

Zhu Pei snorted dissatisfiedly, "At the beginning, he persuaded the Son of Heaven not to go to Western Xia, but he put you on the fire to roast, and at this time he wanted to ask you for help, does this person still want to be cheeky?" ”

Fan Ning smiled, "Wang Anshi, I have known him for many years, he is a stubborn temper, he hits the south wall and does not look back, and he is more rigid and self-serving, and does not listen to the persuasion of others, but when it comes to character, he and Zhang Yaozuo are not the same thing at all, persuading the Son of Heaven not to go to Western Xia, not necessarily to deal with me, but he is really afraid that the Son of Heaven will be sick, which is his only political support." ”

"But the rich minister won't be deliberately lying to you, right?"

"A person has a prejudice against another person, then no matter what the other party does, he will think badly, this is human nature, Fu Xianggong is not lying to me, he does think that Wang Anshi has ill intentions, but his conclusion may not be fair, we should have our own judgment."

"So you're going to support him?"

"I support Wang Anshi's plan, but how to express your position, let's see, you can't jump out in a hurry."

"Forget it, I'm just concerned, the officials will grasp it themselves, rest early today, and talk about it tomorrow if there is anything."

Juppé gave Aya a look, and Aya understood, wiped Fanning's feet with a dry cloth, and got up with the basin and went out.

Fanning snorted lightly, but Zhu Pei smiled, "After two days in the carriage, don't think nonsense, rest early!" ”

After saying that, she also closed the door and went out.

Fanning had to lie on the bed, so tired that he fell asleep after a moment.

Early the next morning, Fanning came to the East Building of the Privy Council, and the entire East Building was assigned to the Intelligence Department, which was officially listed in the capital, but the name on the sign was the Privy Council Staff Department.

Fan Ning walked up to the second floor and happened to meet Guo Kui at the staircase, Guo Kui was surprised and delighted, "Xianggong is back!" ”

"I just came back yesterday, where is your official room? Let's go sit and sit. ”

"It's right next to it, please do it!"

Fan Ning followed Guo Kui into the official room, a little tea boy came in and served tea, Fan Ning asked, "What happened to the Liao State?" Jeluhonki suddenly hardened. ”

Guo Kui sat down and sighed: "The Jurchen Ministry has been destroyed, the Keree Department has surrendered, and the Liao State has no worries?" ”

Fanning frowned, "How could it be, it was wiped out in less than a year?" ”

Guo Kui said slowly: "Shi Xian can't make a big deal, he is very arrogant and domineering after unifying the Jurchens, and the distribution is seriously unfair, following his tribe to give heavy rewards, and the tribes that follow the Wanyan Department have nothing, arousing the hatred of some tribes, the Tugu Department secretly colluded with the Liao army and betrayed the Jurchen Ministry, 100,000 Liao troops surrounded the Jurchen lair, the Jurchen army was annihilated, all the men were executed, and the women and children were rewarded to the Khitan tribes, and after the Jurchen tribes were destroyed, the Kereh Ministry knew that they could not resist, so they took the initiative to lay down their arms and surrender to the Liao State. ”

It turned out that this was the case, and Fan Ning asked again: "Is there any news from Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie?" ”

"There's news!"

Guo Kui took out a copy of the eagle letter and handed it to Fan Ning, "This is the Liaoyang urgent report I just received yesterday, please take a look." ”

Fan Ning took the emergency report and read it, and immediately understood that the Xiao Guanyin incident broke out.

Xiao Guanyin is the queen of Yelu Hongji, loves music, and is often with a Han musician, Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie teamed up to concoct false evidence, accusing Xiao Guanyin of having an affair with a musician, Yelu Hongji believed Yelu Yixin's accusation, executed the queen, and finally the prince Yelu Jun was also executed.

Historically, Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie launched the Xiao Guanyin case, the fundamental reason is to deal with the prince Yelu Jun, Yelu Jun has more than once stated that he wants to kill Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie, who are calamity to the country and the people, the two of them are afraid of being liquidated, so they will strike first and use the Xiao Guanyin case to frame the prince, because of Yelu Hongji's mediocrity, they succeeded, not only the queen and the prince were killed, but all the upright ministers who sympathized with the prince were all poisoned.

A Chongyuan rebellion, a Xiao Guanyin case, the famous generals of the Liao State were wiped out, and the Manchu Dynasty was only left with sycophants, so that the Liao State was completely decayed, although Yelu Jun's son Yelu Yanxi took the throne to avenge his father and dragged Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie out of the coffin and whipped the corpse, but it was impossible to recover the Liao State that the building was about to fall.

Fanning put down the report and asked again: "What is the financial situation of Liao?" ”

Guo Kui smiled, "The Han people are basically driven to mine and smelt iron, the entire Youzhou business and agriculture are decadent, Yang Gui, who sent us information, paid three hundred yuan to not be arrested for mining, the Liao State used this method to extort the Han people, and extorted a lot of money, the wealth accumulated by the Han people for several generations was deprived, and the Jurchen tribe was exterminated, and a lot of cattle and sheep property were obtained. ”

Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "Are all the warships that Liao wants ready?" ”

"Twenty have already been delivered, and another 80 are almost already refurbished, and then slowly delivered."

"Is it seen?"

"I heard that some old shipwrights found clues, but Yelu Yixin's son was personally responsible for receiving the goods, and all the shipwrights who found clues were killed, and no one dared to talk nonsense anymore."

The warships sold to the Liao State were all remodeled with the warships of the Five Dynasties, the inner layer was rotten wood, and the outer layer was covered with a thin layer of ship skin, this kind of ship would fall apart when it encountered strong winds and waves, and the ships that the Yuan Dynasty was preparing to attack Japan were this kind of rotten ships built by Goryeo merchants, and the whole army was wiped out in the face of wind and waves.

Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "Speed up the supply to Liaoguo, and deliver all of them before next summer." ”

Fanning had a gut feeling that war might come soon.

.........

After leaving the Privy Council, Fanning went to meet the Empress Dowager again, but the Empress Dowager Cao felt sick and recuperated in the palace, and it was not suitable to see foreign officials, so Fanning turned to see the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji.

Hearing that Fan Ning was coming, Zhao Ji personally came to the door of the imperial study to greet him, which made Fan Ning a little flattered.

In fact, it is not surprising that not long after Fan Ning went to sea, the Liao State came to claim the interests of the Western Xia, and even a small-scale war broke out, on the surface the imperial court was very tough, but in fact, the imperial court was still a little apprehensive from top to bottom, and I don't know what the Liao State will do next?

Everyone knows very well that the Liao State did not die down because of the toughness of the Great Song Dynasty, but because winter is coming.

Zhao Ji was also uneasy, although the Intelligence Department would send the latest information to his desk every day, it was still difficult to understand the insecurity in Zhao Ji's heart, after all, the Song Dynasty had been suppressed by the Liao State for hundreds of years, and the fear of the Liao State had been deeply rooted in his bones.

When Zhao Ji learned that the Liao State had destroyed the Jurchens and recovered the Kereh Ministry, the insecurity in his heart was even stronger.

Fan Ning entered the imperial study and sat down, and said with a smile to Zhao Ji: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, our fortified wall and clear field tactics in northern Hebei are still effective, this Liao State knows very well in his heart, the next battlefield will not be in Hebei, this time the Liao army sent troops from Datong Mansion, in fact, it has already exposed a certain intention of the Liao State, if they attack the Great Song Dynasty again, it is likely to take the Taiyuan line and break through Hedong, Your Majesty, the armistice agreement has actually been torn up, and the Liao State will send troops at any time." ”

"When does Aiqing think the Liao State will send troops?"

Fanning groaned and said, "Weichen thinks it's likely to be next summer. ”

"Why?"

"Your Majesty first wants to know why the Liao State sent troops? The reason is very simple, the financial resources of the Liao State have dried up, and although they have now obtained no income by robbing the wealth of the Han people in Youzhou and the Tiele people in the grassland, this is killing chickens and eggs, and it will not last long.

Weichen estimates that these wealth can support the Liao State for about half a year, and when the tax is collected in the spring, they will find that they can't collect anything, and the Liao State will fall into panic, and there is no wealth imported from the Song Dynasty and Western Xia, they are simply unable to support a huge army, so the only way is to wage war with the outside world and survive the difficulties by looting the Great Song Dynasty, which will be the unanimous consensus of the Liao State, considering the time of the army assembly, so Wechen believes that May and June are the most likely. ”

"So how do we deal with it?"

"It's very simple, defend the west and attack the east, we will defend the Taiyuan line, launch an offensive on the eastern front, take advantage of our naval superiority, and constantly launch attacks in the east to eliminate the population of Liao, Your Majesty, as long as we can hold out for a year, the national strength of Liaoguo will collapse, this is the ultimate goal of Weichen's implementation of the national strength war."

Fan Ning's words made Zhao Ji breathe a long sigh of relief, in fact, several Xiangguo also put forward similar concepts, but their words were not as persuasive as Fan Ning, which convinced Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji took a few steps and said: "Then the next step is not to make every effort to improve the defense capabilities of the cities in Hedong and move the people south like Hebei." ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen has two suggestions!"

"You say!"

"The first suggestion is to move the people of Taiyuan Mansion to the south according to His Majesty's wishes, and the people in the county town will be transferred to Taiyuan City, strengthen the defense construction of Taiyuan City, and then focus on building the defense line of the Mouse Bird Valley, as long as the Liao cavalry cannot break through this defensive line, Jinnan will be fine, and the Liao army will inevitably attack Taiyuan with all its might, and we will use Taiyuan City to drag the main force of the Liao army."

Zhao Ji nodded, "What about the second suggestion?" ”

"Your Majesty, the second suggestion is that the outside must first be at home, the minister heard that the court is now quarreling very much about the education law, and the minister suggested ending this quarrel as soon as possible, and everyone should put their energy on the war against the Liao State."

"Is Aiqing asking me to shelve the new education law?"

"Your Majesty, Wang Xianggong's changes are not all unfavorable to the country, like the education law implemented this time, in fact, Weichen is very much in favor, not all scholars go to Confucianism, the Great Song Dynasty needs someone to learn agriculture, some to study medicine, some to learn engineering, some to learn astronomy and geography, some to learn algorithms, to establish a variety of specialized schools, so that all walks of life talents come out, Wechen believes that many people of insight will support this bill."

Zhao Ji sighed, "Actually, I also support this reform bill, but it's really not easy for ministers to put on the hat of lightheartedness!" ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen also said just now, I believe that many people of insight will support this bill, I'm afraid that many people oppose it, it's not right for people!"

"You mean, it's because of the prince?"

Fan Ning nodded, "Weichen thinks this is the reason, if His Majesty can trust Weichen, Weichen can give it a try, and Weichen will propose this change plan." ”

"Then what is Aiqing going to do?"

"Just follow Wechen's previous method, start with the newspaper debate and unify the consensus."

Zhao Ji pondered for a moment and said: "After the end of the education reform bill, all changes to the law will be suspended, and the whole country will make every effort to deal with Liao. ”