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Knowing that Fang La's righteous army had been completely wiped out, Tong Guan, who was under huge psychological pressure, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

——From the beginning of the first month to receive the task of suppressing bandits, more than nine months have passed until now, and Tong Guan has finally achieved a result that can be explained to Zhao Ji.

In Tong Guan's mind, since Fang La has been exterminated, it is impossible for Li Cun not to be exterminated when the Song army on the western front advances eastward and attacks the Song army on the northern front.

In that way, even if he Tong Guan has made great contributions to the Zhao and Song Dynasty, it is definitely not enough to be crowned king, but it is not too much to give him a duke, after all, it is he Tong Guan who has kept half of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Just when Tong Guan fantasized that Zhao Ji would seal him as a father, someone suddenly came to report, saying that Ma Xuanzan was back and asked to see Xuanxiang, and said that looking at Ma Xuanzan's appearance, he seemed to be very anxious.

Hearing that Ma Kuo was back, Tong Guan's brows couldn't help frowning.

Originally, when Zhao and Song could not cross the river at all, Ma Kuo was able to recruit Niu Meng, who was stationed in Jiangning Mansion, and helped the Song army create an opportunity to cross the river, which must have made a great contribution.

Even, even if the conditions for Ma Kuan to Niu Meng were too high, it was not a big problem.

But the problem is that Niu Meng's ability is too poor, not to mention bringing Tong Guan's most anticipated Tiger Ben Water Army over, even the army and grain and grass have not been brought much.

It can be said that in addition to letting more than 100,000 elite Song troops cross the river and dedicate a chicken-like Jinling City, Niu Meng has not played any role, and it has failed to live up to Tong Guan's expectations of Niu Meng, and Niu Meng is really not worth the high price that Ma Kuan gave him.

To be honest, even if Fang La or Li Cun accepted the court's recruitment, it would be impossible to get such generous conditions as Niu Meng.

But then again, although Ma Kuo is a little frizzy, he is still a person who wants to do things.

And doing things can be wrong, and only those who don't do things will never make mistakes.

So you have to give people who want to do things a chance to make mistakes.

Thinking of this, Tong Guan said, "Call him in." ”

As soon as the herald went down, Ma Kuo rushed in in stride.

Seeing this, Tong Guan secretly shook his head: "It's too frizzy, no wonder I like to rush things." ”

Without waiting for Tong Guan to open his mouth to educate Ma Kuo, Ma Kuo took the lead and said: "Xuanxiang, it's not a good thing!" ”

Hearing this, Tong Guan's brows furrowed even tighter, and he asked casually: "What's wrong, making you anxious like this?" ”

Ma Kuo said bluntly: "Liu Yanqing's department called Li Cunquan annihilated!" ”

“？”

Tong Guan felt as if he had heard a joke that could not have happened.

"Could it be that I misheard?"

Tong Guan couldn't believe his own ears, so he confirmed again: "What are you talking about?" ”

This is already on fire, how can Ma Kuo be in the mood to ask Tong Guan little by little?

Ma Kuo hurriedly reported to Tong Guan what happened after Liu Yanqing crossed the river, and how Liu Yanqing's troops were annihilated by Li Cunquan.

Tong Guan was shocked: "A group of ant thieves, how can they be so powerful that they can completely annihilate more than 100,000 elite troops of my Great Song Dynasty?!" ”

Ma Kuo said: "Since I crossed the river, I reported this incident to Xuan Xiang, and advised Xuan Xiang to quickly recruit 100,000 sailors to train sailors in Jingzhou, and recruit 200,000 new troops in addition to prepare for a long-term war with Li Cun. Yuwen once said that Li Cunqi is a genius, wise and strategic, open-minded, knows people well, and is happy to use, is a capable minister who governs the world, and a traitor in troubled times, if he can't surrender with the power of the country, he will be killed with the power of the whole country, otherwise he will be a big trouble for my Great Song henchmen, but Xuanxiang and others think that Yuwen is to be controlled is to cast Li Cun, so the alarmist is alarmist. Now they are all being controlled by Yuwen, and Xuan is quite careful to prevent Li Cun from leading an army across the river, and even directly sending troops to Beijing. ”

Hearing Ma Kuo's judgment that Li Cun might lead the army directly across the river, or even directly lead the army to attack Bianliang City in Tokyo, Tong Guan's cold sweat suddenly gushed out.

No one knows Zhao Song's reality better than Tong Guan.

In addition to those soldiers and horses on the Western Front, does Zhao Song still have an army?

Yes.

And no less.

The first is the Northwest Sixth Road, namely Xihe Road, Qinfeng Road, Jingyuan Road, Huanqing Road, Yanyan Road, plus Yongxing Military Road in the interior of Guanzhong.

Due to the need to fight the Western Xia war with all the soldiers for many years, the Northwest Sixth Route can be said to be all the soldiers, how many or as many as they want, and in some places even women and children can participate in the war.

This is also one of the reasons why Tong Guan dared to draw a large number of Western troops to fight.

- As long as the Western Xia dares to invade the Northwest Sixth Road, the people of the Northwest Sixth Road will help the Western Army to defend the Northwest.

The people in the northwest are so powerful, why don't you transfer 500,000, no, transfer 1 million, and the matter on the southeast side will be solved?

Where would it be so easy?

First of all, the people of the Sixth Road in the Northwest have a strong sense of locality, so it is extremely difficult for them to fight at home, and go out to fight.

Secondly, how much does it cost to form a million, no, even if it's just an army of 500,000, you know?

According to Cai Xiang's calculations, who was the third envoy at the time, in the early years of Song Yingzong, there were more than 1.18 million forbidden troops and box soldiers in the Zhao and Song dynasties, and 48 million yuan per year were needed to raise soldiers, or about 40 yuan per person per year on average.

Based on this calculation, the formation of an army of 500,000 will cost an extra 20 million yuan a year.

The point is, it's going to take time.

Now, if they are in a hurry, the northwest can draw up to another 150,000 to 200,000 troops that can go to war.

But in that case, Zhao Song's defensive strength in the northwest would be almost equal to zero.

Some people may want to say that it is not enough to completely hand over the defense to the people, and the six roads in the northwest are not all soldiers.

It is true that all the people are soldiers, but no matter how they say it, they are just people, they can only play auxiliary, and they have to be led by a real army to resist the invasion of Western Xia, otherwise they will be scattered.

Therefore, if we consider the border defense of the Northwest Sixth Road, I am afraid that the Northwest Sixth Road will not be able to transfer a single soldier in a short period of time.

Then apart from the Western Army, Zhao Song has no other army?

Yes.

Of course.

The Zhao and Song dynasties, with a population of hundreds of millions, how could they have such an army?

In addition to the Western Army, Zhao and Song also had two major military regions, the Hebei Forbidden Army and the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army.

It is said that the Hebei Forbidden Army also has at least hundreds of thousands of troops.

But as soon as it came, the Hebei Forbidden Army had just transferred 100,000 troops to the northwest region.

Second, the Hebei Forbidden Army is now the most serious place for the Zhao and Song dynasties to eat empty salaries.

Third, the Hebei forbidden army also had to defend the Liao State.

Fourth, the Hebei Forbidden Army has not fought for hundreds of years, and its current real combat effectiveness may not be as good as that of the Jiangnan Forbidden Army.

In a word, the Hebei Forbidden Army can't be counted on.

Let's talk about the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army.

Thanks to the efforts of Captain Gao Qiu, the soldiers of the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army have mastered a good skill.

Military skills?

Of course not.

It's about building skills such as repairing palaces and rockeries.

You heard it right.

Gao Qiu turned the central army, which was supposed to be the most elite of the Zhao and Song dynasties, into hundreds of thousands of craftsmen, which were specially used to help Zhao Ji build a large number of buildings.

The soldiers of the current Gyeonggi Forbidden Army will definitely not be able to fight a war, but they are the first in the country to expand the imperial palace and build the Gendak Banzai Mountain or something.

Of course, Gao Qiu was not so stupid that he could fight the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army was not left, and they were all sent to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion.

By the way, there is also the Jiangnan Forbidden Army, but the Jiangnan Forbidden Army was either wiped out by Li Cun and Fang La, or by other rebel armies, even if there is still a little bit in the Liangguang area, and Li is in the middle of the block, they can't get through, but Jingzhou is still a little, but those have long been transferred to the Song Army on the Western Front by the Seed Master.

After understanding this, if you look at it again, it seems that the huge Zhao and Song Dynasty only has these 40,000 or 50,000 victorious troops left in the north of Tong Guan.

But Li Cun can even annihilate the elite of more than 100,000 Western Army and the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army, can Tong Guan's 40,000 or 50,000 Shengjie army stop Li Cun's Tiger Army?

If even Tong Guan's Shengjie Army can't stop Li Cun's Tiger Army, then isn't Tokyo Bianliang City equivalent to sending Li Cun?!

Also, the overall strength of the Song Army on the Western Front was stronger than that of the Song Army on the Northern Front, but don't forget, the Song Army on the Western Front had just wiped out nearly a million Fang La Yi Army, and now how much combat power does it have left? Will it be worse than the Song army on the northern front that was annihilated by Li Cunquan?

A thought quickly flashed through Tong Guan's mind: "You can't fight anymore, you must not fight again, if you continue to fight, the Great Song Dynasty will die!" ”

……

The next day, Xin Qizong, the border guard of Yangzi Town, suddenly sent a report that the governor of the Huben army had sent an envoy Chen Hoopou and a deputy envoy Tian Maung to visit.

This Tian Xiang was originally detained by Tong Guan because Zhao Song wanted to protect Yuwen Huangzhong.

But later, as the situation progressed, Tian Maung became irrelevant, so Tong Guan released Tian Maung.

Tong Guan has never detained Tian Maung, and Tian Maung, who has already been on the thief ship, doesn't want to stay on Zhao Song's side anymore, not to mention, Tong Guan detained Tian Maung without asking, obviously he doesn't trust Tian Maung.

In this way, Tian Maung of course found an opportunity to secretly cross the river to vote for Li Cun.

No.

It can't be said that I went to vote for Li Cun.

It should be said that Tian Maung, who completed the task of posting news, took the initiative to return to his sister-in-law's subordinates to become a senior official.

Li Cun didn't disappoint Tian Maung, after Tian Maung went back, Li Cun asked Tian Maung to go to the Honglu Temple under Licao to be the Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple, and put it on Zhao Song's side, properly from the fourth grade or above, isn't this much better than giving Tong Guan and them as an errand on Zhao Song's side?

Especially now, Li Cun has just completely annihilated the Song army on the northern front, and it is obvious that the momentum is complete, and then Tian Maung, who is from the fourth grade, is likely to become a real fourth-rank official.

In addition, Tian Maung's sister Tian Jing was pregnant with Li Cun's child not long ago.

Tian Maung, and even the entire Tian family, have completely settled down.

Tong Guan did not pursue Tian Maung, a traitor, let alone think that Tian Maung was one of the accomplices who destroyed their Zhao Song ship, but as if he didn't know Tian Maung, he arranged for Ma Kuo and Xuanfu driver Yi Zhu Yantong to serve as the embassy escort to be responsible for receiving Chen Hoop Bucket and Tian Maung.

After Chen Hoop and Tian Maung came to Yangzhou Xuanfu Division, they first handed over a letter from Li Cun to Tong Guan.

Li Zheng said in this letter:

"Li Cun, the governor of the Tiger Army, sent a letter to His Excellency Tong Guan in the Great Song Dynasty: The Zhao family was cowardly, and paid the Khitan and the party money for the year, so that the national prestige was lost, the society was degenerate, and the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes were as much as the carp crossing the river, and the great rejuvenation of the flower and stone gang made the people of my southeast difficult to live. This has come to this, and the battle must be made. If this is the case, then the danger will not only worsen, but also fear that the living souls will be in vain, and he will use people to repay the ......."

- The meaning of Li Cun's letter is very simple, that is, to tell Tong Guan, I am going to cross the river to beat you, you are ready to prepare, let's not hurt the civilians, as for the reason why I beat you, the Zhao family is cowardly and extravagant, so that the people of my southeast can not live, and I want to hang the people and kill the crime.

Tong Guan was shocked after reading it, and hurriedly said: "The matter between you and me must be discussed, why is it so far?" ”

Tong Guan's words are actually a bit shameless.

Now Zhao Song came to beat Li Cun, and he didn't discuss it with Li Cun before the fight.

But on the bright side, Tong Guan is willing to use the word "two families", which means that Tong Guan is already aware of the seriousness of the matter.

Chen Hoop Bucket smiled and did not speak.

It was Tian Maung, who said very toughly: "Your family fought my family, was defeated, and was completely annihilated by most of the governors of my family's northern line. ”

Who is Tong Guan, how can you not see who is the one who can say it between Chen Hoop Bucket and Tian Maung?

Tong Guan, who has not been polite to anyone other than Zhao Ji for a long time, hugged his fist at Chen Hoop for the first time, and said: "Ambassador Chen gave Tong a quasi-word, there is still room for negotiation in this matter, if there is, Tong will try his best to promote the strike of the two families of you and me, if not, Tong will return to Beijing and go to Que, recruit millions of troops with the strength of the whole country, and fight again with your family." ”

Chen Hoop knew that Tong Guan was bluffing.

However, then again, when Zhao Song was about to die, Tong Guan said this, and he was really not scaring people.

Chen Hoop, who knew Li Cun's bottom line, said: "If your family is sincere, this matter will also be discussed. ”

Tong Guan heard that there was a door and said: "The hall companion is about to go to the two to discuss, and if there is something to do, it is enough to respond." ”

This is actually a routine operation, if there is something to be discussed, report to their own boss, if the boss on both sides thinks it is okay, they will come forward to go through the motions, which has been the case throughout the ages.

Chen Hoop Bucket and Tian Maung left the Xuanfu Division and were invited to the post house.

Soon, Ma Kuo and Zhu Yantong came.

As soon as they met, Zhu Yantong, who was not enough in the city, hurriedly asked: "Most of your family supervises and raises troops, what do you mean?" ”

Tian Maung continued to sing blackface: "The soldiers have risen, there is no need to discuss, and in the near future, the governor of my family will personally raise a million troops to cross the river, and you and I can see each other." ”

Zhu Yantong hated Tian Maung, a dead fat man, why didn't he see that Tian Maung's naïve appearance still has such an annoying side?

Besides, you brag about your appearance and don't make drafts, where did most of your governor go to steal the million-strong army?

But the situation is different, Zhu Yantong also knows that the Tiger Ben Army has just wiped out more than 100,000 elite Song Army in Liu Yanqing's department, and now the Tiger Ben Army, a group of ant thieves, has trembled.

Zhu Yantong suppressed the resentment against Tian Maung in his heart, and said with a pleasant face: "You and I are originally the same root, if we fight, we will make the foreign family the fisherman, if we can discuss, why should you and I do the things that are happy for the relatives and enemies, but this is the truth?" ”

Hearing Zhu Yantong say this, Chen Hoop Bucket relented: "It's only because of Zhao's immorality that this is the case." ”

Ma Kuo said: "The murder weapon of the soldier is also disgusted by heaven." Your family has swallowed up the territory of my court, and you should be content. My dynasty is a big country, the world is vast, the military and the people are unlimited, if the court is enlightened, a slight change, it will not be your family's enemy, if you don't stop the war at this time, when will you fight in the future? ”

Tian Maung said: "Most of my family is a fairy-like person, and he has already calculated that your family has no soldiers and horses except for the meager army that just narrowly defeated Fang La's million-strong army on the Western Front, but he doesn't want to cook beans to burn it, so he calls foreign ......."

"Ahem!"

Chen Hoop Bucket coughed lightly, and then said, "It's like this, what am I waiting to do here?" The terms of the peace have already been opened to your family, but they will be cut off from the eight lands south of the river, with the river as the boundary, and then marry your family Emperor Maode and the governor of my family as concubines, and access the Zhao Song Dynasty Temple Sheji, but it can serve the country. ”

Ma Kuo threatened: "It seems that most of your family governors listen to the rebellious words, but they despise this dynasty, but I am afraid that they will bring disaster to themselves!" ”

Chen Hoop Bucket smiled slightly: "The conditions have been opened, you two should go and report to Tong Xuanfu." ”

Ma Kuo and Zhu Yantong saw that they couldn't talk anymore, so they left the post house and returned to the Xuanfu Division and made a detailed report to Tong Guan.

Tong Guan was stunned, he really didn't expect that Li Cun's appetite would be so big, he actually wanted the territory of Liangzhejiang Road, Fujian Road, Jiangnan East Road, Jiangnan West Road, Guangnan East Road, Guangnan West Road, Jinghu South Road, Jinghu North Road, and Zhao Fujin, who was married and had two children?!

Tong Guan hurriedly ordered Ma Kuo and Zhu Yantong to make confessions and prepare for the performance overnight.

Then, Tong Guan held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures with his staff officers.

Everyone discussed and discussed, and everyone reached a consensus, that is, this war could not be fought again, and Tong Guan must return to Beijing to discuss the ......

……

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