In fact, before Qing Yu spoke, Zhao Defang already knew who the blind man in blue cloth was, and also understood that the blind man in blue cloth had already understood his identity as a royal prince, because the word "crane" of a thousand paper cranes not only means auspicious longevity, nor does it only represent the yearning for freedom, but also shows its status of "under one bird, above ten thousand birds", and Zhao Defang's character was originally as unrestrained as "idle clouds and wild cranes".

Zhao Defang stared at the thousand paper cranes in his hands, and under the blowing of the night breeze, the wings of the thousand paper cranes danced with the wind, as if they were ready to fly high at any time. Zhao Defang's originally slightly frowning brows gradually loosened, and there was a sparkling light in his eyes, and a bright smile instantly rose, which made people feel nostalgic.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, there are very few people who can really be regarded as famous generals. The reason is that at the beginning of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin released the military power with a glass of wine, divided the power of the commander of the forbidden army, and then carried out the "change of military law", so that the soldiers did not know the generals, and the generals did not know the soldiers. In the event of a war, the generals can only act in accordance with the imperial court plan and instructions. Under such a rigid military management system, the difficulty of achieving a famous general is really beyond imagination.

However, it was under this circumstance that Di Qing continued to rise because of his accumulated military achievements, and finally grew from an ordinary soldier to the supreme military commander of the Northern Song Dynasty, ranking as prime minister.

Di Qing was born in a poor family, enlisted in the army since he was a child, has a tattoo on his face, is good at riding and shooting, when fighting against the enemy, he wears a cloak, wears a copper mask, charges into battle, and has made outstanding military achievements, known as "General Mianni". After 25 battles in his life, with his military exploits, Di Qing was relocated to Yanzhou as a commander. Unfortunately, the famous player died of depression and died young. This made Zhao Defang more determined to give up the long-tired struggle for imperial power, escape from the temptation of Vanity Fair's desires, and go away.

However, although Zhao Defang, who was far away in the border area, put down his fame and fortune and lived a life like idle clouds and wild cranes, he did not forget his identity as the king of Qi in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the mission of guarding the prosperous era and unifying the rivers and mountains on his shoulders. From beginning to end, what he cared about was not the fame and wealth of the imperial power, but the prosperity of the imperial power.

In Zhao Defang's eyes, imperial power is not a private right, and it is not equivalent to indulging in lust and recklessness, but to shoulder the burden of governing the country and the country, and realize the sage and virtuousness, and the peace of the country and the people. However, the Northern Song Dynasty did not give him much opportunity. The blind man in blue cloth is indeed a bad spy, but he is not a subordinate of Di Qing, the "General Mian Ni". Zhao Defang only knew this from the beginning, but he followed Qing Yu's words and pushed the name of the player who played the chess game to General Di Qing, who was no longer alive, in order to make the wolves, insects, tigers and leopards hiding in the dark peeping at the Great Song Dynasty suspicious and infighting.

Because the death envoys carefully selected by General Di Qing at the beginning were not only killed, but the entire army was wiped out, and the total number of death envoys was not the rumored twelve, but only seven. When Di Qing was dying, the last person he saw was Zhao Defang, who informed the Eight Sages that there were rebellious ministers and thieves among the high-ranking officials in the court and the military department, and accurately grasped the distribution and mobilization of troops in the Northern Song Dynasty, which led to the surprise attack of the enemy in the Battle of Zhuozhou and was caught off guard, and the battle was lost one after another, and the death envoys were uprooted one by one.

In order to confuse the enemy's mind, Di Qing deliberately revealed to the public that the number of dead envoys under his command was twelve, in addition to the seven who were removed, there were also chess pieces scattered in the border fortress or other important cities, so that the Liao State was afraid and vigilant, and did not dare to act rashly.

Here, Zhao Defang expected that the whereabouts of our people must also be within the scope of the enemy's surveillance, maybe there were eyes and ears in the Guiyun Pavilion Restaurant who were paying attention to their every move. Therefore, he looked at him left and right, and lured him through words, so that the latent undercurrent would divert his attention to the blind man in blue cloth, so as to achieve the purpose of luring the snake out of the hole.

What needs to be determined is that the blind man in blue cloth is not blind, but Liu Zongze, a member of the general under the general Di Qing, and the official to the envoys. This person was brave and good at fighting, and resolutely opposed the Song court's passive defensive strategy of "only ordering oneself to defend oneself and waiting for the enemy, and not daring to attack from afar to win", and always advocated an active offensive. It is rumored that in the defeat of Youzhou in 986 AD, Liu Zongze was unfortunately stabbed to death by the rebels in the Gaoliang River in the process of evacuating the lord, and the iron hooves were broken, and the bones did not exist.

In practice, after Liu Zongze was wounded by an arrow in the battle, he fell off his horse, and with his excellent physical strength, after trying his best to kill several Liao generals and soldiers who were catching up, he dragged his body covered in bruises and hid in the thorny bushes of the steep lake embankment. Due to the overgrown trees, the thorns covered the eyes, dense, and could not see anything, avoiding the search of the Liao soldiers, after all, no one wants to walk through the thorny place and experience the painful sound of the skin being cut.

After the end of Youzhou, the military power balance between the Song and Liao sides was completely changed. The Song Dynasty began to shift from offensive to defensive, which completely exposed the Song Dynasty's "poverty and weakness".

At the same time as changing the situation of the war, Liu Zongze was rescued by Zhao Defang, the king of the eight sages, who rushed to support, because he realized that someone in the military headquarters had betrayed the information of the march and led to defeat, Liu Zongze did not return to the battalion headquarters but lurked, choosing to go incognito and find out. Of course, the whole court and the temple thought that Liu Zongze died tragically in the chaos of the war and gave him a pension.

That's eighteen years. Liu Zongze cut off contact with his family, wandered around the market or sideways, and became Zhao Defang's eyes and ears. Zhao Defang is in the rivers and lakes, caring about the dynasty and strategizing. He vowed to peel off the various undercurrents lurking in the Northern Song Dynasty like peeling an onion, so that the truth could come out layer by layer.

This time, after many rounds of investigation, Liu Zongze confirmed that the Western Xia and the Khitan had established an alliance and formed a siege of the Song Dynasty, which made Zhao Defang clear in his heart. On the one hand, it is a trick to convey information, and on the other hand, it hides people's eyes and ears and makes a noise.

A game, arranging troops, deploying troops, and dispatching troops has officially begun.