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The sixth day of the first month of the third year of Xuanhe.

This year, the weather in Tokyo's Bianliang City has been particularly cold.

Zhao Ji looked out through the window of the vertical arch hall, and there were scattered small snowflakes in the sky.

Not long ago, Hou Meng, the governor of Bozhou, gave Zhao Ji a recital.

Through analysis, Hou Meng believes that Song Jiang, a native of Jeju, gathered a crowd to attack Heshuo and Jingdong Road, and then fought between Qingzhou, Qizhou and Puzhou, and captured more than ten prefecture counties.

Zhao Ji felt that what Hou Meng said was very reasonable, so he appointed Hou Meng as the governor of Dongping Mansion and was responsible for recruiting Song Jiang and his gang.

Originally, Zhao Ji had been expecting Hou Meng to recruit Song Jiang and his gang to get rid of this scourge for the imperial court.

But suddenly, it came that Hou Meng was ill on the way to Dongping Mansion, and he died not long after.

There was no way, Zhao Ji could only appoint Zeng Xiaoyun, the governor of Shezhou, to lead the army to conquer Song Jiang and his gang.

——In the eyes of Zhao Ji, who believes in ghosts and gods, Hou Meng's sudden death shows that the ancestors of the Zhao family did not let him recruit Song Jiang, a gang of thieves.

Since you can't recruit peace, you can only exterminate it.

After dinner yesterday, there was another bad news, knowing that Deng Xunwu, an old minister of the Privy Council, had died of illness.

Deng Xunwu was very worried about Zhao Ji's plan for the Northern Expedition to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun, and he found Cai Jing and said: "The century-old alliance between Song and Liao cannot be broken, and the public is the prime minister, so think twice before acting." ”

It may be that Deng Xunwu's words played a role, and later Cai Jing also began to resolutely oppose the destruction of Liao by Lianjin, and even lost the position of prime minister for this.

Deng Xunwu also found Tong Guan and said to Tong Guan: "Our army has been defeated by the Liao army for a long time. ”

Tong Guan didn't listen, and persuaded Deng Xunwu: "The official family is determined to recover Yanjing, you are the ruler, how can you not share the worries of the official family, and block the ambition of the official family?" ”

Deng Xunwu said coldly: "You conquered Hehuang and Tubo, conquered the Western Xia party, and shocked the northwest, which could have gone down in history, but you wanted to do this dangerous thing, for fear of causing disaster to yourself." ”

After speaking, Deng Xunwu flicked his sleeves and left.

Tong Guan soon told Zhao Ji that Deng Xunwu did not approve of Lianjin's destruction of Liao and the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Zhao Ji, who was bent on recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun, immediately excluded Deng Xunwu from the inner circle of power.

No, Deng Xunwu died in this eventful autumn.

This made Zhao Ji's heart even more uneasy!

The nineteenth day of the first month.

Liang Shicheng held Tan Zhen's report and said to Zhao Ji cautiously: "Official, Li Cun has broken the four prefectures of Su, Hu, Run, and Jiangning, and only Xiuzhou City is holding on to it in northern Zhejiang. ”

When Zhao Ji heard this, he stood up with a shocked face: "What did you say?" ”

After finishing speaking, Zhao Ji snatched Tan Zhen's report in Liang Shicheng's hand and read it twice at a glance.

Although Tan Zhi shifted all the responsibility to the local armies in Liangzhejiang, Lianghuai and other places, especially to Zhang Maung, Tian Sheng and other generals of the Guangde Army and Gaoyou Army, Zhao Ji still threw Tan Zhi's report out and said angrily: "Tan Zhen, I don't believe you anymore!" ”

No wonder Zhao Ji is so angry, plus the land of the four states that Li Cunxin fell, nearly ten states and more than 100 counties in the two Zhejiang regions have almost all fallen, which has never been seen since the founding of the Zhao and Song dynasties!

At this time, Wang Hao walked in from outside the door.

However, Wang Huang was clever and did not immediately excuse Tan Ji, but waited for Zhao Ji's anger to subside a little, and then said softly: "Official, this defeat is probably not due to Tan's system." ”

When Zhao Ji heard this, he couldn't help but look at Wang Hao coldly: "Why do you say this?" ”

Wang Hao stubbornly and cautiously worded: "Since Tan Zhizhi went south, but for more than 20 days, Li Cun's thief fought all the way from Hangzhou to the front line of the river, but there was a soldier who resisted, and the situation was categorically not ruined. ”

Zhao Ji was right when he thought about it, Li Cun's gang of ant thieves attacked the city too fast, unless Li Cun and his gang went to open the city and surrender, or abandon the city and flee, otherwise Li Cun would not be able to hit the Yangtze River so quickly.

Zhao Ji slowly calmed down: "There is indeed something strange. ”

Wang Hao heard this, so he dared to continue to help Tan Zhi exonerate: "Tan Zhi said in the newspaper, he saw that the ant thieves were powerful, and he would cross the river in a few days, and go straight to the Beijing Division, in order to prevent the official's family from being disturbed by the ant thieves, and the Beijing Division was ruined, and furthermore, the situation in the southeast was rotten, if it was not extinguished with the power of thunder, it would hurt the foundation of the country, and the other side had to hurriedly lead the people to fight to the death with the thieves, but the southern soldiers had not heard of the war for two hundred years, and it was no longer useful, and there were Zhang Maung and Tian Sheng's generations who collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, so that he suffered this defeat, and he was incompetent. ”

Zhao Ji thought to himself: "Tan Zhi has finally led his troops to resist, is it better than those who open the city and surrender without firing a single arrow or abandon the city and flee?" ”

At this time, Liang Shicheng said cautiously: "Tan Zhizhi should have the heart to worry about the officials. ”

Hearing Liang Shicheng say the same, Zhao Ji glanced at the most eye-catching place in the hall, which Tan Zhi had offered before.

This Xuangui is about one foot and two inches long. There are twelve mountains carved on both sides, just like the mountains in ancient times, sharp up and down. There is a thunder inch text on the top, there is no ornament below, black on the outside and red on the inside, and there is a small hole in the middle that your fingers can go deep into.

Zhao Ji once found someone to identify that this is the king of Zhou, and it is a treasure that can control the Quartet.

Now Zhao Ji still remembers the scene when Tan Zhi presented this treasure in the Daqing Palace: "With this treasure town luck, who can shake my Zhao family?!" ”

Looking at the face of this treasure, Zhao Ji thought about it and said, "That's it, just let Tan Zhi continue to stay in Liangzhejiang and make meritorious contributions." ”

Seeing that Zhao Ji forgave Tan Zhen, Liang Shicheng and Wang Huang glanced at each other without a trace, and then looked away from each other very tacitly.

Zhao Ji then looked at Wang Huang: "The situation in the southeast has been eroded to this point, Aiqing thinks, what should be the solution?" ”

Wang Hao said: "I was about to show the official family, the southern soldiers were overwhelmed, and the elite of the Western Army, the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army, and the Ding and Li gun players rushed to suppress it, so as to prevent the spread of the ant thieves." ”

The situation in the southeast is already so tense, how can Zhao Ji still have the mind to think about what to do with Lianjin to destroy Liao and recover the sixteen states of Yanyun?

You know, the southeast is the economic lifeline of the Zhao and Song dynasties, if it is really occupied by Li Cun and Fang La, then the rivers and mountains of the Great Song Dynasty are unstable, what else to talk about recovering the homeland of the Han and Tang dynasties and consolidating the frontier?

Therefore, Zhao Ji hurriedly convened important ministers to discuss and decided to temporarily suspend the Northern Expedition and prepare for the Southern Expedition.

After a short discussion, Zhao Ji appointed Tong Guan as the envoy of Jiang, Huai, Jing, and Zhejiang, Tan Zhi was still the envoy of the two Zhejiang provinces, and Liu Yanqing was the commander of the capital, leading the western army that had been assembled in Beijing's Daimyo Mansion to immediately go south to quell the rebellion.

At the same time, at Tong Guan's request, Zhao Ji ordered Gao Yu to mobilize 200,000 Gyeonggi forbidden troops and go south with the Western Army.

Early the next morning, Zhao Ji came to the city gate in a light car and personally saw off Tong Guan.

On the occasion of separation, Zhao Ji held Tong Guan's hand tightly and said: "Tong Aiqing, I will pay you all the affairs of the southeast, if there is an emergency, you can give orders in my name." ”

Zhao Ji is tantamount to handing over his imperial power to Tong Guan.

It is not difficult to see that Zhao Ji is really scared this time.

Tong Guan didn't say a single superfluous word, but bowed to Zhao Ji on the ground and responded, "No!" Then he got on his horse and headed straight south......

Looking at Tong Guan's tall back, Zhao Ji was worried.

Zhao Ji couldn't figure it out, why did the Great Song Dynasty, which had been prosperous before, suddenly become turbulent? What went wrong?

At this time, Ma Zheng and his entourage, who had been sent by Zhao Ji to the Jin State to discuss the destruction of Liao, came back.

Before returning, the state of Jin Kulubo Jilie (i.e., the state minister) Wanyan Sakai said to Ma Zheng: "The matter of the attack on the Khitan has been indicated in the book of returning to China. Ying, Ping, and Luan prefectures do not belong to the old land of Yanyun, so there is no need to discuss it. Regarding Xijing, your dynasty can collect it on a convenient basis. After you leave, I will immediately send back the envoy with the letter of state to your court. ”

Wanyan Sagai also deliberately patted Ma Kuo, the son of Ma Zheng, on the shoulder, and praised him warmly: "You are a good shot, and your reputation is far away, I will make a name for you, and you can call it Ma Li in the future." ”

——Ma Zheng and his entourage sent to the Jin State this time, at first, in fact, it was not so smooth, some Jin people felt that the Song people were weak and unworthy of the alliance with their Jin people, it was Ma Kuo who used archery skills to impress the Jin people, and the Jin people felt that there were warriors among the Song people, and their attitudes began to change.

And "Yeli Mali" is a Jurchen language, which means a person who is good at shooting.

It can be said that, judging from the results, Ma Zheng's mission this time was extremely successful.

However, after Ma Zheng and the others returned to Bianliang City in Tokyo this time, Zhao Ji was no longer in the mood to meet them, nor did he have the intention to listen to their report on the envoy to Jinguo, and it could even be said that Zhao Ji was no longer in the mood for the Northern Expedition to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun.

Now, Zhao Ji is most worried about the situation in the southeast, and what he is most worried about is whether Li Cun and Fang La will cross the Yangtze River, hit Bianliang City in Tokyo, and lift his dragon chair?

Zhao Ji hoped that Tong Guan, whom he had high hopes, could suppress the rebellion in the southeast for him.

As for the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it should be regarded as a dream that he Zhao Ji has had for many years......

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