In the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1011 AD), Lü Mengzheng died. Lu Chongyuan, who was the governor of Chuzhou at the time, got the news and rushed to Luoyang with his wife and children day and night. In the third year of Chunhua, Lu Chongyuan became Lu Mengzheng's son-in-law with the tenth rank of the first class, and had two sons with his wife Lu Yueer. The eldest son, Lu Anguo, was already a human body last year, and the second son Dingguo was good at practicing martial arts and fighting with the Xiang army all day long.

At the beginning of Lu Chongyuan, he was appointed as a living room by Taizong, which shocked the ministers. When the champion of the department, Sun He was just sentenced to Shaanzhou, how could this top ten be the close ministers of the Son of Heaven. Li Fang did not countersign the appointment at first, and Taizong summoned him to ask: "Is there anything wrong with my move?" Li Fang knew Taizong's intentions, and replied: "The champion sentenced Shaanzhou, and this son stayed in Beijing to serve as a living room for fear of being criticized, so I hope that the official family will think twice." Taizong smiled and said: "This son is a person from Chen Qiaoyi, and I am happy to see it and stay as a close minister, what does Li Qing think?" Li Fang couldn't understand human words anymore, and he was still shocked into a cold sweat when he heard the words Chen Qiaoyi. Hurriedly knelt down and shouted: "If the minister dies, the minister will immediately return to the political hall to countersign the book." Taizong did not reply, and waved his hand to signal him to retreat.

On May 8, 997, the third year of the Dao, Taizong died, and Zhenzong ascended the throne. On the day of Taizong's burial, Lü Meng was lying on the ground and weeping bitterly for the grace of the first emperor, which coincided with the imperial court's construction of the Fengxi Mausoleum, and the monk's wealth of 3 million was used to supplement the construction funds.

In the autumn of the first year of Jingde (1004 AD), the Liao State invaded southward, and the army surrounded Hebei such as Lanzhou. The news soon reached Bianliang, and the government and the opposition were shaken, and Wang Qinruo, Chen Yaosuo and others strongly advocated moving south. Since the third year of Yongxi (986 AD), Taizong's large-scale northern expedition ended in failure, and there was no large-scale war in Song and Liao for more than ten years. For a while, moving south seemed to have become a tacit understanding between the monarch and the ministers, how could Taizong Zhao Kuangyi raise literature and suppress martial arts, and now the Great Song Dynasty can resist the Liao army's iron cavalry. Zhenzong Zhao Heng also intended to move south and abandon Hebei Road. At this time, Prime Minister Kou Lian strongly opposed the southward move, and when he met Zhenzong, he asked: "Abandon Hebei Road today and try to row the river with the Liao people to rule, this is a move to seek skin with the tiger!" The Liao people invaded south again, what about Jingdong Road? If you lose the Yellow River moat, how can you guard my Great Song River and Mountain? ”

Zhao Heng was shocked, his father's several Northern Expeditions could not shake the Liao. Once the imperial court abandons the Yellow River moat, the day the Liao army crosses the river will be the time when the Great Song Dynasty will fall. Zhao Heng, who was a little shaken, finally gave up the idea of moving south under Kou Ling's strong persuasion. In the same year, Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong personally went to Lanzhou to supervise the war, and Liao Shengzong Yelu Longxu and the Empress Dowager Xiao of Liao also went to Lanzhou in person. The Song army tried their best to hold the town behind the Liao army, and Zhang Huan shot the Liao general Xiao Tzulan under the city of Lanzhou with an eight-bull crossbow, which made the Liao Shengzong angry. Empress Dowager Xiao persuaded Yelu Longxu to focus on the overall situation, the domestic situation could not allow them to drag on any longer, and they must get the land of Guannan from the Great Song Dynasty as soon as possible.

Liao Shengzong sent the rebel general Wang Jizhong to secretly communicate with the Northern Song court. Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng naturally agreed with the peace, and it was difficult for his own forbidden army to resist the menacing Liao. So who will send the envoy to the Liao State? The Liao people's attempt to invade the south with such great fanfare must be not small, if it is just some gold and silver wealth and silk given by the Great Song Dynasty, it must not be ceded to the Liao people. Everyone here must be more curious about the envoys.

Next, I will focus on telling you about the person who I think is second only to Kou Lin in the Abyss Alliance, and this person is Cao Xuan. So how can this person be a candidate to envoy to Liao? Before the peace was discussed, this person was reporting to the imperial court, and the Privy Council recommended it to Zhao Heng once. Zhao Heng didn't take it to heart, this matter is not trivial, and he can't make a rash decision on the candidate. It wasn't until the next day when the privy envoy Wang Jiying recommended this person to Zhao Heng again that Zhao Heng paid attention. first learned about the life and deeds of this old brother Cao, and learned that this person can say that all dead things are living things. Such a eloquent and eloquent person was the best person to send an envoy, so he ordered to send an envoy to Liao to negotiate peace.

Before the envoy, Song Taizong said to him: "As long as the Liao people don't want land, the gold and silver treasures are allowed to open their mouths." Cao Yu knew that his emperor was eager to make peace, so he asked: "Is it okay to pay one million a year?" Zhenzong gritted his teeth and said, "If you really have to do it, a million is fine." Cao Yu also knew Zhao Heng's psychological tolerance, so he put down his cruel words: "The minister will not let the Liao people succeed, if there is a mistake, the minister is willing to repay the country with death!" Zhao Heng heard it with tears in his eyes, if the courtiers were like this, what else could he, the emperor, ask for.

Soon, Cao Yi went to Liao as a representative of the Song Dynasty. After some hospitality, the Empress Dowager Liao Xiao probed her tone and asked: "The Later Jin Dynasty gave Guannan to me before, and the Later Zhou took it back, and this time the Liao army went south for this place." "In fact, the purpose of the Liao State is very clear, we are here to ask for the land of Guannan, so where is the Guannan in the mouth of the Empress Dowager Xiao? Historical records record the three passes of Waqiao, Yijin and Sikou and their south of Ying, Mo Erzhou, the Northern Song Dynasty called the area south of these three passes as "Guannan". It is about the south of the Daqing River basin east of Baiyangdian in Hebei Province to the area of Hejian City. It's almost the land where Gazi fights devils, so it should be more impressive.

How did Cao Yong respond to Empress Dowager Xiao's pressing step by step? He already had a grudge against the Liao people's southern invasion, and said with a slight mockery: "What does the matter of the previous dynasty have to do with my Great Song Dynasty? The gold and silver you are asking for have not yet dared to report to the officials, let alone the land of Guannan! "This is a bad time for the Liao envoys, and they invaded the south of the country this time. If you can't get to the land of Guannan, I'm afraid that the Liao people will drown them if they go back.

Cao Yu was also unhurried in the face of the Liao envoy's questioning, and when he saw that the Liao State was so anxious, he had a certain number in his heart. No matter how the Liao envoy coerces and lures, he will not give up an inch of land. The ancients said, "One blow, then decline, three and exhaustion." Cao took advantage of the opportunity to speak: "In the land of Guannan, your country should not think about it. Don't talk about how a certain place is, even the official family doesn't dare to report it. If your country insists on my Great Song Dynasty to cede the land, then we will have to meet on the battlefield. I am rich in the Great Song Dynasty, rich in grain and grass, and I am not afraid of a war with your country. But it is not easy for me to pity the people to Your Majesty, and I am willing to save the two countries from war with some gold and silver, and the people from the suffering of war. ”

After the Liao people discussed, they agreed to Cao's proposal and were willing to use only gold and silver as a condition for this peace. Under domestic pressure, Liao did not dare to open his mouth, for fear that Cao Yu would not even give money, so he would fight. In the end, after a war of words, Cao ended the war with only 30,000 taels of silver coins per Chinese New Year's Eve.

Cao Yu didn't even spend half of Zhenzong's million-dollar budget in the end, and he knew that he had made a great contribution this time. Knowing that the negotiation was completed, Zhao Heng sent his chamberlain to question, but Cao Yu did not answer but raised three fingers. The chamberlain didn't know what he wanted to return to Zhao Heng with three million a year, and Zhao Heng sighed again and again after hearing it: "It's too much, it's too much." "Wait for Cao to see Zhao Heng behind the bath and change clothes, and tell him that he only needs 300,000 yuan a year. Zhenzong was overjoyed when he heard this, and rewarded Cao for his use. Since then, he has attached great importance to Cao Yu, not only promoted him to the assassin of Zhongzhou, but also rewarded him with a set of houses in Bianliang City.

We will intersperse this person in the story later, and at present, we will pull the timeline back to the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1011 AD). After Lu Mengzheng received the order of the imperial court to make him the Duke of Xu Guo, he drove to the west. Lu Anguo has lived in Lu Mansion since he was a child, and Lu Mengzheng also cares for him. After learning that Lu Mengzheng had passed away, he and Lu Yue'er washed their faces with tears all day long. Lu Dingguo and Lu Chongyuan stood at the bow of the boat, and Lu Mengzheng served as Lu Chongyuan's father-in-law and Bole. Lu Chongyuan didn't know what kind of emotion he had for him, without Lu Mengzheng, he might have become a private school teacher today. But it is precisely because of Lu Mengzheng that he has been an official everywhere for 19 years, and he is still only a four-grade Zhizhou. If the champion who was in the same department as himself hadn't died of illness, he would have been Zaisuke now. Lu Dingguo seemed to see Lu Chongyuan's melancholy, and just silently accompanied him. The wind in the Surabaya River is unhurried, but Lu Chongyuan's heart is mixed.

"Qinghuan, tell the boatman to rest in Xiao County later, this official has an old acquaintance who is now an official in Xiao County." Over the years, Lu Chongyuan has seen many different scenery in Huainan, Jingxi, Hubei and other roads. The old acquaintance in Lu Chongyuan's mouth is a master book under his hand when he was the commander of Daye County. This person relied on a pair of Tang Yin's authentic works left by his ancestors, and got a master errand from Su Zhongjian, who was a member of the Yongxing Army at the time. When I worked with Lu Chongyuan, I was not confused, and my life left an extremely profound impact on Lu Chongyuan, who had just entered the career. The Beijing officials put the grinding and surveying outside, and the local government was already cooperating and bullying them. During this period of time in Daye, although Lu Chongyuan was his superior, the master of the world taught himself a solid lesson. After Daye's term ended, Lu Chongyuan also had a correspondence with this old friend.

At the Surabaya River Wharf in Xiao County, the county ordered He Wenzhao to wait here with Zhao Wen of the county recently. The accompanying officials did not know the reason, but it stands to reason that the people from the DPRK and China would inform the time in advance so that the local officials could prepare the details of the reception. Without the permission of the county order, the Drunken Immortal Building has not opened its doors for several days. After leaving the government today, everyone still went to the dock to wait. The leader was dressed in a turquoise robe and wore a flat-winged black gauze hat on his head. kept confirming to the old man beside him: "Can Lu Zhizhou mention the specific time when this trip arrived in Xiao County?" The old man didn't know how many times he was asked, but he just shook his head and replied: "I don't know, Lu Zhizhou only said in the letter that he would pass through Xiao County in the near future, but he didn't say when" The green-robed official was not annoyed, his hands were tucked into his sleeves, and his expression was indifferent. waited patiently, and turned his head from time to time to talk and laugh with the old man.

"Ahead is Xiao County, I heard that the girl in Qinghuan said that the official is going to spend the night here tonight." Lu Yue'er didn't know when she also came to the bow of the ship, and she and Lu Chongyuan have been married for nearly 20 years. Xu is plain Suri pays attention to maintenance, but it is more mature than when she first met Lu Chongyuan, and the years seem to have left no traces on her. Looking at his appearance, Lu Chongyuan was also distressed, and after learning that his father-in-law had passed away in the past few days. I didn't think about my wife's tea and dinner, I lost a lot of weight, and my temperament was no longer as lively as before.

The remnant sun gradually disappeared, and the quiet lake ushered in a noisy crowd. Lu Chongyuan looked at his wife and said gently: "Yue'er, Xiao County has arrived." Go with your husband to meet an old acquaintance. ”