Yinzhou City, the temporary residence of Xiangyou Military Division (Dangcha Town, Hengshan District, Yulin City).

A Khitan soldier came to report: "Dutong, there is a team of Han troops outside Yinchuan City (the old Song Yongle City), saying that they want to negotiate with Dutong in person, and they also sent a secret letter of fire paint. ”

Xiao Heda took the letter, drew his knife and opened the fire paint seal, and only one sentence was written on the letterhead: The messenger of Yelu Dashi has arrived in Lanzhou.

Xiao Heda gently put down the letter and said to his soldiers, "Let them come." ”

Yang Yizhong was appointed by Liu Yanqing as the lord of Mizhi Village, which was the closest to the Xixia Walled City, so he was naturally sent to contact him.

After Yinchuan City, along the Wuding River for another forty miles, is the Yinzhou City of Xiao Heda's garrison.

Yang Yizhong took more than 100 sergeants and swaggered out, and was ordered to hand over his weapons outside Yinzhou City.

"Are you afraid of this person?" Yang Yizhong refused to obey, but ridiculed the other party for being timid.

It's not because Yang Yizhong is bold, but Ma Kuo has written to explain that Yang Yizhong knows that Xiao Heda will not kill him.

Sure enough, after the guards of the city reported, Xiao Heda quickly allowed him to lead his troops into the city.

After meeting, Xiao Heda asked directly: "Yelu Dashi's envoy is in Lanzhou?" ”

Yang Yizhong said: "I passed by Lanzhou a while ago and beat Li Renli. He was anxious to take advantage of the Uighurs to restore his life, and by this time he was probably gone, but he left a letter in his own hand. ”

"What about faith?" Xiao Heda asked.

Yang Yizhong smiled and handed over the letter.

The letter was written in Khitan script by Xiao Huli, mainly explaining the reasons why Yelu Dashi turned his back on Emperor Tianzuo, as well as the details of how he led 200 horsemen to flee to Mobei to stand on his own.

It involved a large number of Mobei tribes, as well as the situation of the Northwest Road Recruitment Division of Liaoguo, Xiao Heda was able to determine that this letter was not forged.

Xiao Lira also said that if the Western Xia was willing to attack the Jin State, Xiao Heda would continue to command the troops in the Western Xia. If Western Xia is still eye-catching with Jin Guomei, Xiao Heda can temporarily lead his troops to surrender to Ming, and wait for Yelu Dashi to return to Daliao.

Xiao Heda's face seemed to be very calm, and he asked, "Just send the letter directly, why do you want to bring the troops here?" ”

Yang Yizhong said: "Such an important letter, I am afraid that there will be an accident when it is handed over to the Western Xia soldiers." ”

"Is this a discord?" Xiao Heda directly picked out the matter, "My wife and children are still in Xiazhou, although it is also my station, but the general of the city guard department is a party member." If I rebel in Yinzhou, my wife and children will be taken prisoner, and I am afraid that this matter will be difficult to obey. ”

Yang Yizhong said: "From Yinzhou to Xiazhou, it is only two hundred miles. The soldiers who defended the city there have always been under the control of the generals. Why didn't the general lead his troops back, seize the city of Xiazhou, and dedicate Yinzhou and Xiazhou to the son of tomorrow. ”

Xiao Heda sneered: "Xiazhou is the land of Longxing in Great Xia, and the party tribes are all over it, if I lead the troops to kill it, the party soldiers under my command will not obey their orders." Before I can attack the city, my generals will mutiny. ”

Yang Yizhong said: "The general was ordered by the lord of Liao to escort the princess of Liao to Western Xia to get married. Now not only the princess of Liao is dead, but even the prince of Western Xia, who was born to the princess, has also died. The mother and son died in vain, and the general, as a protector of his relatives, was already ashamed of his mother country, and Yu was already in danger. Does the general still have to die for Western Xia? ”

"You go back first, and then let me think twice about this matter." Xiao Heda said.

"Farewell!" Yang Yizhong turned and left.

Xiao Heda is indeed the general of the Liao State, with more than 1,000 soldiers.

He was in an extremely awkward situation, the princess mother and son were dead, and they died quite strangely. The more than 1,000 soldiers he brought from Liao had already married and had children in Western Xia.

Moreover, many of the soldiers were over forty years old, even fifty years old.

When they fought for the Western Xia, some of them had already died in battle, and most of those who did not die were discharged from the army, and their sons were allowed to take over from the army. Only those who have been promoted to generals have remained in the army to do things.

The descendants of these Liao soldiers are all from the Western Xia, are they really willing to rebel with them?

After the fall of the Liao State, many Khitans fled to Western Xia to join Xiao Heda. These Khitan soldiers who have taken refuge in recent years have become more loyal to Xiao Heda, and have already had conflicts of interest with the descendants of the pro-army due to their promotions.

In addition, Xiazhou is the core territory of the party members, and rebellion here will inevitably lead to a crazy counterattack.

However, the Ming army swaggered to send people to deliver the letter, and the local supervisor was Li Qianshun's person, and under the deliberate dissemination of the Ming army, it is estimated that the Western Xia monarchs and ministers will soon get the news.

This is to roast Xiao Heda on the fire!

And Xiao Heda let Yang Yizhong come and go freely, which already showed his attitude. He even deliberately showed his attitude and deliberately showed it to the monarchs and ministers of Western Xia - he suspected the cause of death of the princess's mother and son, and was extremely dissatisfied with Xixia's backing and investment!

After thinking about it, Xiao Heda wrote a letter to the lord Li Qianshun, claiming that he wanted to be stationed in Yinzhou and must not return this place to the Han people. He wanted to defend the exit of Hengshan for the Western Xia, and asked the lord of the country to send someone to escort his wife and children to the front line, and their whole family had to guard the border for the Western Xia at the cost of their lives.

This 800-mile urgent letter was sent to Li Qianshun.

After Li Qianshun read Xiao Heda's letter, the whole person seemed weak, and sent eunuchs to summon Li Renzhong and Li Chage to meet him.

After reading the content of the letter, Li Renzhong analyzed: "Xiao Heda was forced to protect himself, he didn't dare to betray Daxia, and he was afraid that His Majesty would suspect him of disloyalty, and even took the opportunity to express his dissatisfaction. This man is no longer useful, but he must not be persecuted, otherwise he will surely lead the army to defect. If he defects, a big gap will leak in Hengshan, and it is very likely that the Ming army will send troops to attack Xiazhou. ”

Brother Richard also took the letter and read it, and said with resentment: "I said earlier that this person cannot be reused, and His Majesty has to make him the commander of the Xiangyou Army." Xiangyou Military Division is the main force in the direction of Hengshan, so he can only stabilize Xiao Heda first, and he will send him over if he asks for his wife and children. But the family members of his sergeants must not be let go, and they can't leave Xiazhou even a step! ”

"Xiao Heda is just a near-term worry, how to deal with the Jin State has to be long-term," Li Renzhong said, "Yelu Dashi has unified the Mobei tribes, and now it has an alliance with the Ming State, can the Jin State really block the attack from both sides?" If the Jin Kingdom is destroyed in the future, and Yelu Dashi recovers the lost territory of the Liao State, and we have betrayed the alliance with Yelu Dashi, will he unite with the Ming Kingdom to attack my Great Xia? ”

Brother Richard shook his head: "Once the Jin Kingdom falls, there will be a dispute between the Ming and Liao countries. Yelu Dashi and Prince Na Zhu are both eloquent and strategic, and they are likely to compete with each other for the land of clouds. When the time comes, maybe my Great Xia can be left and right. ”

Li Renzhong asked: "Is it possible that Prince Zhu will give up the Land of Hidden Clouds in exchange for Yelu Dashi to sit back and watch the Ming Kingdom attack Great Xia?" ”

Brother Richard thought for a moment and said, "Very likely. ”

Li Renzhong also said: "Those who passed through Lanzhou also had the Uighur envoys of Gaochang. Ming Guo designed Xiao Heda, will there be a conspiracy with the Gaochang Uighurs? ”

Richard was silent.

Today's Qocho Uighurs, whose former ruling core was in Ganzhou, fought against the Western Xia for more than 30 years and were expelled to Turpan by Western Xia force.

Although the Gaochang Uighurs later recognized the Liao State as their father and the Song State as their uncle, they treated the Western Xia as their father and brother, and they had a very harmonious relationship with each other. But both sides know that once they seize the opportunity, they will inevitably kill each other.

Today, Western Xia has fallen into a siege net.

To the south were the yellow-headed Uighurs attached to the Ming Dynasty, to the west were the feuding Uighurs of Gaochang, to the east were the undying Ming China, and to the north were the Jin state, whose diplomatic relations had deteriorated (the Jin state tore up the territorial agreement). And further north, there are Yelu Dashi, who hates them to the bone, and Xiao Heda, who is next to Xiazhou and defects at some point.

If you make a slight mistake, you will die and the country will be destroyed.

"How can this be?" Li Qianshun was worried.

Li Renzhong said: "The Qingbai Salt in Yanzhou, since we sent troops to regain the lost territory last year, the Ming State Government has been investigating it very strictly. Those caught smuggling green and white salt will be immediately executed, or exiled to Hehuang, and the Han people no longer dare to smuggle. The salt could not be sold, the tax losses were very large, and the people in the border areas also complained. If this continues, in a year and a half at most, the border tribes will take refuge in the Ming Kingdom. ”

The Ming Dynasty banned the smuggling of green and white salt, and the reason why it was able to achieve results was because the Western Xia invaded Chinese land.

Because the main force of smuggling was the soldiers of the border army, and the Western Xia conquered the city, killed people and plundered, and caused heavy losses to the generals of the border army. Those who were killed were killed, those who lost their officials lost their officials, and all of them lost their territory, and even lost their troops, how could they engage in smuggling with Western Xia?

The Western Xia conquered a lot of territory, robbed a lot of people and goods, and the salt business was no longer possible!

"In addition to green and white salt, there are also silk, tea and other goods, which are also forbidden to be sold to the two states of Gansu, and the Silk Road commercial tax has been sharply reduced," Li Renzhong said. The peace talks were delayed, so they could only bargain the yellow-headed Uighurs, and the Han goods were all transferred to the territory of the yellow-headed Uighurs. ”

Brother Richard said: "Let's talk about peace first, how Ming Guo wants to talk, no matter how harsh he is, he will agree to them." I think there will be a battle between the Jin Kingdom and the Ming Kingdom next year, and it will be a big war. Let's take a year of recuperation and recuperate, and then send troops at the right time next year. If the Jin State is defeated, he will declare himself a vassal to the Ming State and take the opportunity to seize the land of the Eight Pavilions. If the Ming State was defeated, he declared himself a vassal to the Jin State and took the opportunity to seize Hengshan and Hehuang. ”

Li Renzhong thought about it and nodded: "That's all." The situation of the Great Xia country is declining, and it must move from time to time, and it cannot be hand with Jin and Ming. ”

Brother Richard said sharply: "No matter which country wins, as soon as they fight, they will immediately send troops to clean up Xiao Heda!" ”

Li Qianshun said: "If he does it, he will definitely take refuge in the Ming Kingdom." ”

Richard said: "As long as you quickly mobilize a large army to suppress it, before the two countries of Jin and Ming divide the victory or defeat, you will not be afraid of which country he will take refuge in at that time!" ”

Ma Kuan's discord between the Western Xia monarchs and ministers led to Xiao Heda's possible rebellion at any time, and his greatest achievement was this. can avoid the time of the war, the Western Xia suddenly sent troops to help the fund, they must deal with Xiao Heda first, and then dare to make a move on Da Ming with a hot brain.

(End of chapter)