In the sixth year of Song Qingli, in March of the fifteenth year of Liao Chongxi.

The Yinshan Mountains are towering into the clouds, and the heavens seem to have sown countless grass seeds from the sky at the beginning of the year, making the earth full of vitality and spring.

But after the beginning of spring in March, the weather did not get hotter, but remained cold.

The cold wind blowing from Siberia constantly disturbs the steppes in the north, and the spring breeze in the south of the desert is like a sharp knife and a gentle hand compared to the spring breeze in the south of the Yangtze River.

In the howling north wind, the wild weeds fluttered in the wind, as if they were about to be swept away by the cold wind, fluttering towards the sky.

Sometimes, if there is an extremely cold air current, the Mobei grassland may even be able to fall in June.

However, although the wind is strong, the temperature does not drop below 10 degrees, and it is only at night that it makes people feel cold. During the day, the sun was shining warmly, mixed with the violent north wind, and it was impossible to know whether it was cold or hot.

On the grassland of Dongshengzhou, at this moment, a huge team is slowly driving from the east, all the way to the south, passing Yulin County, and heading to the southwest.

This Dongsheng Prefecture is not Dongsheng Shenzhou, but the southwesternmost state of Liao.

It is probably located in the area of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia in later generations, bordering the two countries of the Great Song Dynasty and the Western Xia at this time, with Fengzhou, Fuzhou and Volcano Army on the East Road of the Great Song River in the south, and Henan Mansion in the Western Xia in the west.

Yes.

There was also a Henan Mansion in Western Xia, which was located in the southwest of Ordos in later generations, and was named because it was south of the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

The location of the convoy is on the border of Liaoxia, and the specific location is basically in the area of Ordos City in the later generations.

The most famous place here, in addition to Ordos, which was once rich in coal resources, is the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan.

At this moment, the young Yelu Zongzhen was riding on horseback and looking out at the vast grassland in the distance.

At the age of thirty, he did not know that in the direction of the south, about fifty or sixty kilometers away from here, after 181 years, a great man who was more powerful than him would be buried here.

At the same time, on the southwest bank of the Yellow River in the distance, on the plain that may be more than 20 kilometers away from the Yellow River, a large contingent also appeared here.

In fact, the border between Western Xia and Liao was not bounded by the Yellow River, but by the land occupied by Liao.

However, after the Liao-Song War, the Liao State slightly tightened its forces in the border areas, especially the Heqing army and the Jinsu army, and moved to the south of Ningbian Prefecture to deal mainly with the Great Song Dynasty.

Therefore, this place became a three-way area for a while, and some herdsmen would come here to graze, or the herdsmen of the Liao Kingdom of Western Xia would exchange trade.

However, since this place was still nominally the territory of the Liao State, Yelu Zongzhen still crossed the Yellow River and continued to walk more than ten kilometers to the southwest, almost the urban area of Ordos in later generations, and then arrived at the place agreed by the two parties.

The vast grassland is vast, and there are large areas of low hills in the southwest, and on a small mountain, Yelu Zongzhen stopped and stopped, and the army of the Liao State behind him was a little farther away, separated by a mile or two.

The team on the Xixia side in front of him stopped three or four kilometers away, and then dozens of horsemen came out of the crowd and galloped towards the small hill where he was.

This is a matter agreed upon by both parties.

Since you are going to come to the Alliance, there must be the etiquette of the Alliance.

If Li Yuanhao defeated the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State one after another as in history, then it would definitely not be Li Yuanhao who came to see Yelu Zongzhen, but the two sides met at the same time.

But now that Li Yuanhao has lost three battles and three defeats, he has been beaten and embarrassed, how can he be qualified to claim to be the emperor?

Therefore, he was forced to just ascend the throne, and he was cut off by the king again, and once again declared himself a vassal to the Liao State and the Great Song Dynasty.

The weeds on the mountains swayed gently in the wind, the horses' hooves trampled the dirt, and the air seemed to be filled with the fragrance of grass.

Li Yuanhao slowly came to the bottom of the hillside, first raised his head and looked up at Yelu Zongzhen who was looking down on the mountain, a touch of hatred flashed in his eyes, and then buried deep in his heart, exhaled a few deep breaths, turned over and dismounted and walked to the bottom of the slope and bowed with Liao salute: "I have seen His Majesty the Great Liao Emperor." ”

The Liao language he speaks, the Li family has been between the Liao Kingdom and the Great Song Dynasty since his grandfather, so their family knows Liao and Song languages.

"King Xia, excuse me!"

Yelu Zongzhen raised his hands falsely and also responded with Liao Li.

Li Yuanhao raised his head.

Yelu Zongzhen had already turned over and dismounted at this time, walked over, took his hand affectionately and said with a smile: "King Xia, we have always communicated with each other in Liaoxia, and you are still the captain of my Liaoguo, so you are close to each other. ”

"His Majesty the Emperor of Xie Liao Kingdom carries love."

Li Yuanhao lowered his head slightly, hiding the displeasure in his eyes.

He has always been ambitious, and naturally he not only wants to be the emperor, but wants to establish a third-party powerful empire between the Liao State and the Song State, and even wants to annex the Shaanxi Road of the Song State.

For this reason, when he attacked the Great Song Dynasty, he was already prepared for the same war with the Liao State in the future.

After all, in addition to the friction with the Great Song Dynasty, the Western Xia also had a gap with the Liao State on the border because of the competition for herdsmen, the Jiashan Du'er tribe, the Xingping princess, and the Shannan party departments.

It's just that due to the growing strength of the Song Kingdom, in the end, these frictions that might have triggered the Liaoxia War were finally eliminated because of the threat of the Great Song Dynasty, so that the two sides were forced to unite and became close allies.

But this does not mean that Li Yuanhao is truly allied with Yelu Zongzhen.

It's as if Wu Shu was hostile to Wei together, but this does not mean that the hatred of Wu's sneak attack on Jingzhou and the later Battle of Yiling has dissipated in this way.

If history changes, and the prime minister succeeds in going out of Qishan to recover the Yongliang area, revive the Han dynasty, and return to the old capital, then after the destruction of the Wei State, I am afraid that the next prime minister will perish must be Jiangdong, avenging Guan Yu and the ancestor Liu Bei.

"King Xia, sit down and talk."

Yelu Zongzhen took Li Yuanhao's hand and sat on the hillside together.

At this time, a large carpet has been placed on the slope, like a picnic cloth, on which dried beef and mutton and all kinds of wine and tea are placed.

The two of them sat down cross-legged face to face, Li Yuanhao raised his wine glass and said, "The minister will first toast to Your Majesty." ”

"King Xia is polite."

Yelu Zong really smiled and raised a glass of wine.

After the two sides drank, they looked at each other and smiled, and then Li Yuanhao began to talk about the matter: "Your Majesty also knows about it." ”

"Hmm."

Yelu Zongzhen took a knife and began to cut meat, frowning as he cut: "The Song Kingdom has not changed too much in just ten years. What do you think we should do if this thing that travels thousands of miles a day appears? ”

Li Yuanhao touched his cross-legged knee with his left hand, played with the wine glass with his right hand, and said in a deep voice: "Once the war starts, within a day or two, the army of the Song State will be able to reach the border." ”

"Hmm."

Yelu Zongzhen put a piece of cut beef in front of Li Yuanhao, and then said: "It seems that you also know, and not only the army, but the most terrible thing is the baggage they transported. ”

"Yes, the battle is about baggage, and there is a lot of food and grass in your hands, so you can fight the enemy to the end. The Song Kingdom can gather hundreds of thousands of troops of grain and grass in a short time, and even go directly to our Xia Kingdom and His Majesty's Daliao border, which is very terrifying. ”

Li Yuanhao sighed: "This means that they can fight with us for a long time on the border, but our baggage has to be transported from a long distance, whether it is a stalemate or a fight, it is very unfavorable to us." ”

"God doesn't bless us, but bless the Great Song."

Yelu Zongzhen also sighed, threw the knife in his hand, and wiped his hands with a cloth.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks there is something strange about this matter."

"Oh? How so? ”

"Since the Great Song Dynasty has changed over the years, the minister has been trying to find a way to buy off the inner servants of the Song Palace."

"Is there a result?"

"There has been no result before, those Song people's internal servants, whether they are palace maids or eunuchs, will not leave the palace, until last year I managed to find the palace maid who went home to save my relatives, and spent a lot of money to buy the news."

"What's the news?"

"These things are probably related to Zhao Jun, the prefect of the Great Song Dynasty Political Academy."

Li Yuanhao said firmly.

"Zhao Jun?"

Yelu Zongzhen frowned and said: "I know this person, but it is said that it is the Zhao family clan, except for investigating corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and rectifying the dynasty, there is no other special place. ”

Zhao Jun has actually been very well hidden all these years.

If you put aside Zhao Zhen and the prime ministers of the Constitutional Yuan who know the inside story, and look at him from the perspective of outsiders, you will find that he is actually very low-key.

First of all, in the military, no one knew that granular gunpowder was invented by him.

After all, gunpowder existed in the Song Dynasty, firearms like muskets and cannons, and the Song Dynasty already had the original prototype, not a foreign product.

Marching and fighting is also what Fan Zhongyan is doing, at least in the eyes of Liao and Western Xia, Fan Zhongyan's fame is much greater than that of Zhao Jun.

The second is invention and creation.

Zhao Jun doesn't have the title of a great inventor on his head, and now the first inventor of the Great Song Dynasty is Zhao Zhen.

Many strange things were also spread by Zhao Zhen, and they had almost nothing to do with Zhao Jun.

Finally, there is reform.

The main vanguard is naturally Fan Zhongyan, and then the Constitutional Yuan headed by Zhao Jun and the Great Song Emperor Zhao Zhen are fully supported.

Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, the various reforms and military forces of the Great Song Dynasty are stronger than Fan Zhongyan alone.

Invention and creation, as well as the promotion of science and technology, mathematics, physics and chemistry education, are all done by Zhao Zhen, the emperor.

These things have nothing to do with Zhao Jun at all.

So what is Zhao Jun doing?

With the authority of the Governor's Yuan, he rectified the dynasty, eliminated the tumor, investigated corrupt officials and corrupt officials, swept away gangsters and evil, maintained local law and order, and fully supported Fan Zhongyan's reform.

These things can be done by any virtuous prime minister in ancient times, and there is no problem even for King Lu Yijian to do it.

Therefore, in addition to being younger and a little stranger in his way of ascending to the throne, in terms of popularity and prestige among the people of the Great Song Dynasty, he is actually inferior to Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan, and he is currently ranked third.

Even if he is ranked third, it is because he swept away the tumor of Kaifeng Mansion, inspected the world, and did a lot of things that made the people applaud, and ordinary people regarded him as the master of Qingtian, almost replacing Bao Zheng's position.

If the truth is not revealed in later generations, then the most dazzling people in the future Renzong dynasty must be Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan, the two monarchs and ministers.

Zhao Zhen was the most virtuous monarch, promoting mathematics, physics and chemistry, advocating science and technology, and leading the Great Song Dynasty to the road of becoming a scientific and technological power.

And Fan Zhongyan not only has strong military capabilities, but also can preside over reforms, eliminate drawbacks, complete changes to the Great Song system, and make the Great Song Dynasty look new in all aspects, turning into two countries different from the previous Great Song Dynasty!

Later generations may even wonder why Zhao Jun did the Zhiyuan, not Fan Zhongyan.

So on the whole, Western Xia and Liao have been attracted by Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan over the years, and they both think that the biggest enemies are the two of them.

But at this time, Li Yuanhao said that Zhao Jun was the most terrifying person, which naturally made Yelu Zong really feel strange.

However, Li Yuanhao shook his head and said: "According to the news told me by the palace maid I bought, this person suddenly appeared in the palace ten years ago, and Zhao Zhen and the prime minister at that time talked to him in the back garden every day, isn't it a strange thing." ”

"Yes, maybe this person has the talent of the heavens and the earth, such as Zhuge in the world, which makes them feel surprised? Or maybe he is the Zhao family himself, just like the rumored Zhao Heng's widow. ”

"But Your Majesty, I wonder if you have discovered a thing?"

"What's the matter?"

Jerod asked.

"What happened to the Great Song ten years ago, or even more ago, and the Great Song today?"

"That's a game-changer, of course."

"But that Zhao Jun only appeared in the Great Song Dynasty ten years ago, and he has never heard of this person before."

"What do you mean?"

"What was the difference between Fan Zhongyan and ordinary high-ranking officials of the Great Song Dynasty ten years ago? What was the difference between Zhao Zhen and the original Great Song Emperor ten years ago? ”

Li Yuanhao said categorically: "But since Zhao Jun came, they seem to have changed as if they were a different person. The weapons and equipment of the Great Song Dynasty have a new look, and the national reform is also being carried out in an orderly manner, even Zhao Zhen will do something strange, doesn't Your Majesty think it is unusual? ”

After he said this, Yelu Sect suddenly realized.

Yes.

They were all attracted by the changes of Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan before, but they ignored why they had such changes.

Because they are so far away, they can only see things from the outside, and cannot know the essence.

But Li Yuanhao finally bought off the palace maid and found that Zhao Jun appeared in the palace inexplicably ten years ago, and as soon as he appeared, the Great Song Dynasty began to be different.

If there is no connection between them, then the ghost is here.

"King Xia reminded me to realize that yes, it was after he appeared that the Song Kingdom had such a world-shaking situation, and there must be a big secret in this person!"

Yelu Zongzhen's face sank, no wonder that person was the prefect of the Constitutional Yuan as soon as he came out, and he was able to command hundreds of officials.

I was all confused by Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan before, but I didn't know that he was really powerful!

(End of chapter)