Li Kui, a loyal minister who was concerned about the Great Song Dynasty, was light-hearted after giving the map to An Tao. He thought of the list of missions he had seen before, and there seemed to be the name of his teacher Zhou Yuan. But after receiving the mission in Pingxi Mansion, he found out that Zhou Yuan was not in the mission at all. Puzzled, he asked: "Bachelor, Xiaguan saw that Xiaguan's mentor was also among them from the letter of state I handed over to Xixia, but why didn't he see him?" ”

"Zhou Yuan didn't come, mainly because he was rejected by Lao Fan." An Tao secretly covered his chest and said absentmindedly. His mind was completely on the deployment map of the Western Xia troops. Touching the thick place, the picture was still there, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Brother Qianfu thinks that Zhou Yuan is the deputy envoy of the mission in the capacity of the prefect of Yan'an Mansion, which is not logical. You also know his character, what to say, he won't hide it. ”

Li Kui couldn't help but sigh for his teacher, and watched the credit fly away. It is estimated that Zhou Yuan's mood can be imagined.

Of course, he wouldn't simply think that An Tao wouldn't hide anything. Some things hurt people when they are said, and good words become uncomfortable. For example, the main reason why Fan Chunren refuted the court this time was that he did not agree to let Zhou Yuan become a means to restrain Li Kui. As a minister, especially as a prime minister, you can't do that.

Just because the matter is important, he doubts the private morality of officials, this is a bad government, as long as he breaks the relationship, he is not afraid of Zhang Dun insisting on going his own way.

Everyone understands people, and it is better to let go and trust.

Li Kui knew it in his heart, he raised his palm and patted it lightly twice, four teams of dancers came from under the corridor, and An Tao's eyes were almost straight, he originally Li Kui couldn't open his mind, but he didn't expect it to be a disguise. When he arrived in Western Xia, his original form was revealed.

"Bachelor, this is an exotic style, with the legacy of the Tang Dynasty, which is very different from the Central Plains but also has a unique flavor."

Glancing at Li Kui's evil smile, An Tao scolded angrily in his heart: "Won't you give the troop deployment map to the show before?" Now all the old man's thoughts are on national affairs, but you want to use your children's personal feelings to corrupt the old man? Hateful, annoying. ”

"Daddy!" Following An Tao was his son An Rui, who was about the same age as Li Kui, staring at the woman in tulle with his eyes, eager to swallow two in one bite.

An Tao turned his head and said angrily: "You are still young, this is not for you." ”

The Western Xia identified with the Tang Dynasty, but scoffed at the orthodox status of the Great Song Dynasty.

The Western Xia also retained a lot of the etiquette of the upper class in the Tang Dynasty, and of course, the dance of the Tang Dynasty was the favorite of the powerful. The Han people in Western Xia did not quite identify themselves as Song people. Naturally, I don't have much sense of belonging to Da Song. Although the style of the Tang Dynasty that Western Xia can get hold of now is just a fur, it is also more desirable than the dance of the Great Song Dynasty. The dancing girl in Li Kui's mansion makes people feel extraordinary at a glance. These were collected by Li Bingqian from the palace and the Liang family's mansion, and they were specially used as a means to entrap Li Kui.

Which one is not graceful and charming?

An Tao was a little disappointed, and he also noticed that the dancers were not interested in him, but a pair of almond eyes and beautiful eyes were looking at Li Kui. This made him feel a sad mood in his heart, am I already old?

It doesn't have much to do with age. Of course, it's not impossible to say that there is a relationship. After all, serving a bad old man in his sixties and seventies makes the dancers feel more excited than a strong man with strong blood. In addition, the status is also completely different, An Tao is just Li Kui's guest, and Li Kui is a black handsome man who even the king has to give face. The attractiveness of both is judged.

As for An Tao's followers, they are even less in their eyes.

A wine banquet without a show is boring and boring.

Especially when An Tao still has something on his mind, he can only end hastily in the end.

An Tao, who went back to the independent hospital to rest, also warned his son: "You are still young, you are tarsal poison, listen to your father, your father and I will not harm you." ”

"That's what Daddy said." What can Anrui say? Since he was called by his father as a housekeeper, his good life at home is over.

A map of the deployment of Western Xia troops made An Tao almost crazy.

He had a plan in his arms, and everyone looked like they were going to murder him. But if he is allowed to keep it for others, he will not even worry about his own son. What's more, he is the second-in-command of the Privy Council, and if he gets this map, even if the negotiations in Western Xia fail, there is no need to worry, because he has obtained the most important information from this mission.

"Third child, go move a horse and sit at the door, you are not allowed to sleep tonight!"

An Tao's youngest son, An Rui, blinked innocent little eyes and looked at his father cautiously, he didn't know what had gone wrong again, causing his father's dissatisfaction.

Seeing his impatient appearance, he swallowed the words in his throat.

After the old man closed the door, he was even more aggrieved.

He pulled out a leather robe from his luggage, and found a Mazha to sit at the door. muttered in his mouth: "Can you still be reasonable, don't even say where the fault is, just punish people, it's too domineering!" ”

An Rui has every reason to complain, even if his father doesn't let him go out, he still treats him as a servant and an entourage, he is obviously the son of a bachelor's family, but he was trained to be a slave, can this not be complained? Of course, An Tao is not afraid that An Rui will be a teacher, his own son, although he is not very old, is also an adult, and being an adult is also a way out.

But An Tao has a requirement for An Rui, and wants to be a teacher, unless he is a junior officer. If you want to rely on the identity of a shadow official to go out and be embarrassed, there is no door.

This is difficult for An Rui, if he can be admitted to the Jinshi, will he still have to stare at his father's grace? But An Tao also has his own ideas, although he is quite disappointed in his son's poor education, this is not the fundamental reason why he prevents his son from becoming a professional. He is a dignified second-class member, and he can bring a junior in the clan to come out every year, and his son wants to be a leader, and he doesn't need to prepare means at all.

Although Enyin Guan has a low starting point, if he wants to learn, he can also participate in the imperial examination. If you are outstanding in your studies, it is not impossible to participate in the system.

The only reason is that Zhang Dian has proposed several times to rectify redundant officials, and the means of rectification is that they are not jinshi and must not be officials.

If someone else proposed this, An Tao didn't care at all, but when Zhang Dian proposed it, An Tao had to pay attention to it. Because he is sure that what others can't do, Zhang Duan can definitely do.

This is embarrassing, An Tao is a person who wants face, if his son is dismissed by the imperial court in two years after he comes out, where will his old face go?

This is also the reason why An Tao killed and did not let An Rui come out.

As for treating his son as a housekeeper, it is quite popular in the court, Zhang Dian is like this, Su Zhe is like this, they do it, why can't An Tao do it?

Besides, a son is better than a steward. At least the possibility of the son betraying his father is almost non-existent, but it is difficult to say what is in charge.

There was no word for the night, and the next day, at An Tao's insistence, they set off from Pingxi Province and went to the ferry to prepare to cross the river.

The Yellow River is like a docile maiden on the plain, showing all her tenderness softly and brightly.

But after getting on the boat, An Tao became nervous.

The water was very fast, and looking at the calm water as if there were no waves, there was a dark tide surging under the surface, and the boat was also small, like a dead leaf falling into the water, which made him nervous. If his car could be like the Great Song Dynasty, where ships of several thousand stones could be seen everywhere, he naturally didn't have to worry. However, the ships of Western Xia were so rudimentary, as if they were specially prepared for the transportation of livestock, and they did not even have a cabin.

really let him guess, the boats of Western Xia are just to cross the river, there are almost no big boats, and the boats with hundreds of stones are already considered big. In addition, these ferries are also used to transport war horses, cattle and sheep.

Of course, Xixia doesn't need a big boat, no matter how easy the boat is, can it be more convenient than walking directly over the river?

The Yellow River is in the territory of Western Xia, and there is a freezing period of three or four months every year.

There was no need for large ships in the Western Xia.

What made An Tao feel better was that he saw the party boy who had bumped into him before, who seemed to be Li Kui's slave in Western Xia. Compared to him, although Guhar has a lot of courage, he has only one thing, he is afraid of water.

Although he had the duty to protect An Tao on the boat, his face was pale and he was suspected of playing dead.

"Guhar!"

An Tao tried to shout.

Guhar turned his head to look at An Tao and wanted to vomit, but he retched on the side of the boat for a while, and nothing came out. After tossing for a long time, he responded: "The official from Song Guolai, you called me?" ”

An Tao looked around, and it seemed that on the boat, there was no one more suitable for the title of Song State official than him. Because the boat was small, Li Kui was not on the same boat as An Tao.

"Let me ask you, why did Li Kui get such a high courtesy in the army in Western Xia?"

"My family is so handsome, isn't this how it should be?"

Answering the question, An Tao pressed down the impatience in his heart, and patiently continued to ask: "You should always do something, right?" Otherwise, the generals in the army would not obey him! ”

From Pingxi Mansion out of the city to the ferry, thousands of cavalry escorted the whole process, and the general of Pingxi Mansion personally opened the way.

An Tao couldn't think of why Li Kui could make the generals in the army so respectful.

An Tao glanced at his son, he was a dignified man, he couldn't ask what Li Kui did in Western Xia, right? This does not match his identity, An Rui, who was frozen all night, sniffed and asked: "Dashuai is naturally powerful, but we are envoys from the Song Kingdom, and we don't know much about Li Dashuai's great achievements, I don't know if my brother can tell us about it?" ”

"That's it?" Guhar didn't believe it, and looked for him, if he wanted to know the great cause of the black handsome, any Xixia person could say something.

In the west of Pingxi Mansion, there are still 30,000 unlucky people who were killed by the army commanded by the black marshal?

It's just that Guhar is a sincere person, and his expression is a bit unique: "Following my handsome people, there are no mother-in-law and mother-in-law, and there are many more than one; Those who have no home have a home, and they are all houses in the city; Those who were petty officials became generals. Therefore, my marshal has kindness to everyone in the army, do you think my marshal should be respected? ”

"Yes, yes!" An Rui was helpless and followed Guhar's words.

But it's really hard to say how much he understood. Fortunately, it is really simple to get a phrase from Guhar's mouth: "There should always be a very dangerous time, right?" ”

"Dangerous, it's impossible, no one is my family's opponent."

Guhar, who blindly worships Li Kui, really can't think of anyone in Western Xia who can stump Li Kui.

"I mean the stronger of the opponents." Anrui was very patient and continued to hook up with Guhar and talk out.

Guhar touched his chin and pondered: "There are also a few who have put a little effort into it, for example, when we first attacked Xiliang Mansion, we were only a few hundred people who took the lead in attacking the city, and after grabbing the city gate, the city began to resist. If it weren't for the commander's quick decision and killing the main general, maybe a lot of people would have died that time. ”

Xiliang Mansion is too far away for An Rui, and it is not very important, he is more concerned about Xingqing Mansion: "Isn't Wangcheng in trouble?" ”

"That's really not much, Wang Cheng can easily take it. However, when the Liang clan led troops to besiege our army, there was really a little crisis. The marshal took the initiative to attack at that time, and after leading 20,000 horses to cross the river, he attacked the rear army of the Liang clan. Just on the edge of Pingxi Mansion, the 60,000 left-behind army was defeated by our 20,000 army, and 30,000 were killed. In one fell swoop, the victory was established, and now the guards of Pingxi Mansion are still the defeated generals of my family's handsome, this guy is timid, and when he saw the tiger power of my family's handsome, he surrendered. Otherwise, he would have died a long time ago. ”

Before you know it, Guhar says a lot.

An Tao was more and more shocked the more he listened, this Li Kui relied on 5,000 soldiers with average combat strength, all the way from Heishui City to Xingqing Mansion, and also swept the entire Western Xia.

Among them, there is no general who can be compared with Li Kui.

This sounded like nonsense, but An Tao had to choose to believe it.

After all, this guy Guhar is a sincere person, and there is no reason to lie to him.

Xingqing House.

Western Xia Palace.

After quelling the rebellion in Western Xia, Li Bingqian successfully ascended the throne, but after ascending the throne, he did not divide the ministers, which made many people begin to complain in private.

But Mi Baoguang and other henchmen knew the reason why Li Bingqian was embarrassed.

This reason is the one who has the greatest credit - Li Kui.

If Li Kui left Western Xia, everyone would be happy, and Li Bingqian would not have to worry that the official position given to Li Kui would be too small, and the monarch and ministers would be centrifuged. There is no need to worry about other generals holding their own military merits and expressing dissatisfaction with his reward.

The people who participated in the secret talks this time were all important ministers that Li Bingqian relied on, such as Hua Tingzhen, the commander of the Heishui Army, Ye Lijian, the abbot of Huguo Temple, a disciple of the national teacher, and the general of the Xingqing Mansion, who came to negotiate on behalf of the tribe...... Although they also did not have official titles, each of them controlled the core yamen of Western Xia.

Li Bingqian's eyebrows were full of worry, and he asked: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Song envoy has already visited Xiping Mansion, and he will soon arrive in my royal city." Now that my Great Xia Kingdom is weak, it may be impossible to refuse all the requests of the Song envoys. But what can be done in negotiations, what can be compromised, and what cannot be compromised, you need to discuss it and come up with a charter. ”

"Can't you use the results of the previous negotiations between the Liang clan and the Song people?"

The Liang family that Mi Baoguang said is the old queen mother. Instead of the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang, who was strangled to death by Li Bingqian before. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the Western Xia signed a treaty with the Great Song Dynasty to demarcate the border.

But at this time and at that time, the treaty of that year was not cherished by Xixia and had been torn up, and if you want to return to the original treaty, I am afraid there is no hope.

Wuzang Rongbai smiled bitterly: "I have no opinion, I'm afraid that the Song people won't agree!" ”

Everyone turned to Ling Litong, who controlled the Privy Council, and asked, "General Lingli, if the negotiations in my Great Xia break down, can I resist the Song army?" ”

Hitomi had a kind of irritability to be targeted, but he had to say a fact that made everyone desperate: "Everyone, once the war starts, you have to think about facing Li Kui, the invincible black marshal." ”

Thinking of Li Kui's record, even Li Bingqian sighed angrily, he couldn't beat it!