The Royal Palace, the East Pavilion Garden!

"What a Zhao Bufan, he really has a way of doing things, this time it can be regarded as making Cai Jing's old puppet uncomfortable!" The old Liang Shicheng stood by the cobblestone path in the garden, holding the secret letter from the border pass in his hand, and he couldn't close his mouth with joy.

The little eunuch behind him laughed dryly, and echoed: "Cai Xiang is probably angry at this moment!"

Liang Shicheng glanced at him, and shook his head smugly: "It's not enough to be angry, the Cangzhou Liutun Forbidden Army is an empty camp, and the annual money and supplies are all divided by Cai Jing and his party, Zhao Bufan is writing these seven words now, obviously planning to go through the establishment of the Cangzhou Forbidden Army and fill this big hole, Cai Jing should be 10,000 happy on this issue, what really makes him angry is Zhao Bufan's attitude, this kid's bones are too hard!"

"Grandpa Liang is right!" the little eunuch bowed in agreement, with a smile on his face. "Then how is Father-in-law Liang going to reply to Zhao Bufan? Although this kid's bones are a little harder, he still seems to have a lot of respect for his father-in-law!"

Liang Shicheng raised his eyebrows and smiled nonchalantly.

"You slippery head is still probing the mouth of the miscellaneous family, but for the sake of your filial piety on weekdays, I will point you at it today. ”

"Listen to Gonggong Liang's teachings!" the little eunuch bowed with a shy face, and only bent his body to his knees.

Liang Shicheng had a smile on the corner of his mouth, looking a little treacherous, but with a little indescribable vicissitudes: "We eunuchs have no real power, all the power is given by the official family, no matter how invincible, after all, we have to rely on the official family, so we are just slaves of the official family, that is to say, only when Your Majesty's country sits firmly, we can enjoy endless glory and wealth!"

The little eunuch listened in a fog, frowned for a long time and didn't understand what he meant, and looked at Liang Shicheng suspiciously.

"Liang ...... Father-in-law, the villain naturally understands this truth, but he really can't understand what the connection is with what happened just now, and he hopes that his father-in-law will teach him!"

Liang Shicheng glanced back at him, sullen for a long time, and suddenly said in a sharp voice: "What Zhao Bufan wants to do involves plotting to seize military power, shouldn't he let His Majesty know?"

"Huh!" The little eunuch raised his head instantly and stared at Liang Shicheng in disbelief: "This ......"

"Why? I can't believe it, how dare I let His Majesty know about such a wide-ranging matter?" Liang Shicheng asked rhetorically.

The little eunuch was silent, looking at Liang Shicheng's familiar face, and suddenly felt that he had never understood this master who had been following him for many years.

Liang Shicheng seemed to see through his thoughts, and patted him lightly on the shoulder: "Do you know why Your Majesty trusts me and why he gives us eunuchs so much grace? This is because we are loyal enough, and only loyalty can keep everything we have! From the day we entered the palace, we have been Your Majesty's slaves, without any real power, everything depends on Your Majesty's gifts, and any change will make us eunuchs like inner servants become victims, so we are the ones who want Your Majesty to be stable the most." Your Majesty understands this, and we must understand it!"

In the end, Liang Shicheng's face was very complicated, and it took a long time before he slowly calmed down, and said again: "Therefore, as long as we know about any major event related to the danger of the country, then Your Majesty must know that the problem of a large number of troops eating empty salaries has been clear to Your Majesty for a long time, at least after it appears on a large scale!"

"What?"

The little eunuch was dumbfounded, and was simply speechless by the news he heard today. "Why? Since Your Majesty knows, why don't you punish the crime?"

"Do you think it's so easy?" Liang Shicheng sneered, "If it was a few cases in the early days, it would be easy to do, but when Your Majesty learned of this situation, it had already appeared on a large scale, and at this time, the punishment of crimes can be said to involve the whole body, and the intertwined power relations will implicate all parties, so who should be used to treat whom? This matter is simply who rises and who dies, and His Majesty is secretly controlling it!"

"Isn't it okay to promote new people?" said the little eunuch curiously.

"Newcomer?" Liang Shicheng smiled disdainfully, "When the newcomer enters His Majesty's eyes, he is already an old man, take this Zhao Bufan as an example, if he is really spotless, how can he survive to this day? This is fundamentally because there is a problem with the foundation of the system, why did Wang Anshi change the law and Fan Zhongyan reform the system back then, didn't he just want to fundamentally solve many problems? As a result? Didn't they all fail? And who can prove that their direction must be right? If they are wrong? How can you tell Your Majesty to tell the difference? Who do you believe?"

With a long sigh, Liang Shicheng's voice revealed emotion and helplessness: "That's it, that's it, those things are what Your Majesty and the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs should think about, we laypeople just need to do our duty and fight for ourselves more!"

"But the villain still doesn't understand, if Your Majesty continues to let it go like this, isn't he afraid that the court will get out of control?" The little eunuch still couldn't hold back the doubts in his heart.

"How can the court get out of control, most of the civil and military are still loyal to Your Majesty and the Zhao family, just greedy for some money and power, if anyone vainly tries to shake the imperial power, it is an enemy of everyone! Your Majesty can open one eye and close one eye to let the civil and military enjoy the glory and wealth, but the premise is to stabilize this country, to keep this majestic country balanced, anyone who exceeds this point will die, and what we eunuchs have to distinguish is what we must say, what we don't have to say, what we can't say!"

After Liang Shicheng said this, he turned around and left.

The little eunuch looked at his distant back, unable to calm down for a long time......

Not long after, Liang Shicheng came to the Yuying Pavilion of Yanfu Palace, and happened to meet Zhao Ji writing in the pavilion, and immediately bowed down and walked up.

Emperor Zhao Ji obviously knew that he had entered the cabinet, but he did not stop writing, but was more engrossed, Liang Shicheng quietly walked to his side to take a look, and was immediately shocked, just because although Zhao Ji was writing, he did not really put pen on paper, just fictional, and more importantly, the stroke was nothing else, it was a big "kill" word!

This was repeated several times, and the more Liang Shicheng looked at it, the more frightened he became, and he deeply felt the killing intent hidden in Zhao Ji's chest.

After a while, Liang Shicheng couldn't bear this pressure, his forehead was covered with beads of sweat, his heart was beating like a hammer, and at the moment when he was about to kneel on the ground, Zhao Ji suddenly stopped his imaginary strokes and calmly put the brush on the inkstone, and the whole atmosphere was also relaxed.

"Shi Cheng, what do you think I will do with Zhao Bufan?"

"Your Majesty is very kind to General Zhao!"

"Yes!" Zhao Ji smiled indifferently and sighed: "I think so myself, since I saw him, I have loved him very much, but why did he lie to me?"

"This ......" Liang Shicheng didn't know how to answer, sweating like rain.

Zhao Ji ignored him and continued: "He told me that this time he entered Cangzhou privately to expel foreign invaders, and I would like to believe this, but why did he ask you and Cai Jing for the establishment of the forbidden army in Cangzhou? What is his intention to control the soldiers and horses in private?"

"Your Majesty, you have already ......" Feeling Zhao Ji's anger, Liang Shicheng's eyes widened in astonishment.

Zhao Ji took a deep breath to make himself appear calmer.

"I and the queen are very fond of Zhao Bufan, so I pay more attention to him, his private entry into Cangzhou made the court rivalry, I don't want him to be wronged, so I personally sent someone to investigate secretly, but I didn't expect to intercept several secret letters he sent to the capital, including to you, you shouldn't have received less from him in the past two years!"

"The old slave should be damned!!The old slave should be damned!!" Liang Shicheng was so frightened that his face was like dirt, and he knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

"Okay!" Zhao Ji waved his hand in annoyance, "I don't bother to bother with you with some money, I just want to know what your opinion is on Zhao Bufan, if you really want to pursue the past, how can you let the secret letter be delivered to you on time?"

"Back to Your Majesty, how dare an old slave make decisions on such a major matter, this time I came to report!" Liang Shicheng said anxiously.

"Of course I know what you think, if you don't come here today, then your head will fall to the ground tomorrow morning, you are not Cai Jing, although he has some things to hide from me, but he can balance the court for me, so I tolerate him. But you are my personal follower, and I treat you with great grace, if you don't tell me, then what's the use of keeping you?" Zhao Ji stared deeply at Liang Shicheng who was kneeling on the ground, and Liang Shicheng trembled with fright.

"The old slave understands! The old slave has followed His Majesty for many years and is deeply favored by the emperor, so he can't tell the difference between the important and the important, and he will never dare to hide such a major matter!"

Zhao Ji was silent for a moment, and soon showed a smile again: "That's it, since you are here, it proves that I did not believe you wrongly, so there is no need to worry about that, now tell me your opinion, what do you think Zhao Bufan wants? Should I kill Zhao Bufan?"

Master Liang breathed a sigh of relief, slowly raised his head, and pondered Zhao Ji's thoughts in his heart.

After a long time, he looked at the white paper on the table and the brush placed on the inkstone, and had a plan in his heart, and said happily: "The old slave thinks that he should not be killed for the time being, Zhao Bufan is a good general, and His Majesty and the queen love him very much, so it is best not to kill." Besides, the reason why he privately asked for the Cangzhou Liutun Forbidden Army is not clear, if it is really to consolidate the border defense, then kill the wrong person, and now everything is not out of control, and it is difficult to say whether Zhao Bufan has different intentions, so the old slave thinks that this matter still needs to be delayed, but this is just the old slave's personal foolish opinion, everything is still decided by His Majesty!"

When Zhao Ji heard this, his brows furrowed even tighter. "It's hard to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, I am also hesitant for this, the situation at the border is not as good as a year, Zhao Bufan is good at fighting, if he is loyal, then the northern frontier he guards can make me feel at ease, but if he is a traitor, then he must be killed in the bud!"

Liang Shicheng knew very well that every word at this moment must be cautious, and he was silent for a moment before he tentatively continued: "Your Majesty, in the final analysis, this matter still originates from the chaotic situation in northern Xinjiang, and the lack of major generals over there is a big hidden danger, if Zhao Bufan is a loyal minister, then he really needs to expand his troops if he wants to defend northern Xinjiang!"

"I understand!"

Zhao Ji put his hands behind his back and slowly turned around to look at the palace pavilion outside the window.

"Although Cai Jing can balance the court for me, he is really inferior to Tong Guan in some aspects, at least Tong Guan can make the Western Xinjiang sit back and relax, but the Northern Xinjiang controlled by Cai Jing secretly makes me more and more worried, I was expecting Zhao Bufan to take on the affairs of the Northern Xinjiang and let me sit back and relax, but I didn't expect that it is difficult to distinguish his heart now. It seems that Cai Jing is really old, and he is too greedy, and he needs someone to replace him to take control of the court for me, what do you think of his son Cai You?"

Liang Shicheng lowered his head and listened quietly, and a gleam flashed in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, the old slave thinks that although Cai You is young and promising, he has won the love of His Majesty in recent years, and he also has the ability to replace Cai Jing to balance the forces of the DPRK and China, but he is also too greedy for power, so he can even break with his father Cai Jing, and has stated to His Majesty several times that his younger brother Cai Juan is guilty and wants to kill his own brother, so the old slave thinks that although he is talented, he cannot hold power, and as the son of the Cai family, he can't even cure his family, how can he govern the country, after all, in addition to checking and balancing the court, he also needs to assist the Holy God to govern the world!"

Zhao Ji thought for a while, "There is some truth in this, so who do you think is more suitable!"

Liang Shicheng had already made up his mind in his heart, but at this moment, he pretended to be worried, and hesitated for a long time before replying: "The old slave thinks that Wang Huang is the right person!"

"How can you see it?"

"This person ......"

As soon as Liang Shicheng spoke, the hurried footsteps of the guards suddenly came from outside the hall, accompanied by high-pitched shouts.

"Your Majesty, there is an eight-hundred-mile rush from the north, General Zhao Bufan recovered the entire territory of Xin'an Prefecture two days ago, annihilated more than 3,000 Liao troops, captured more than 10,000 people, it only took five days before and after, and the main force of the Liao army has not yet had time to take any action!!"

"What?" Zhao Ji was shocked and froze in disbelief, "Zhao Bufan actually did it so quickly?"

Liang Shicheng next to him was even more at a loss, he hadn't heard such a report for many years, which made him a little confused.

After a long time, Zhao Ji reacted, smiled happily, and hurriedly called out to the outside of the hall: "Immediately announce the letter to the envoy!"

With the sound of many hurried footsteps, the messenger from the north was brought into the hall, it was none other than Lin Chong, who was deeply trusted by Zhao Bufan!

When he stepped into the temple, he bowed and worshipped, which was very decent.

Zhao Ji was in a good mood at this moment, and he couldn't care about much, so he waved his hand again and again: "Excuse me, excuse me! Quickly report the situation at the border gates!"

Lin Chong didn't dare to hesitate, and quickly said: "Back to Your Majesty, General Zhao has secretly planned since he made the military order, first asking Li Miao, the governor of Bazhou, to use the construction of water conservancy as a cover to open the river to drain the river, and divert the water and other tributaries to flow into the boundary river, in fact, it is to build a dam to cut off the water, until some time ago, the ice and snow in the north melted, and a large amount of river water silted up, and General Zhao, who had just returned from Cangzhou, suddenly ordered the soldiers to dig up the river embankment, so that many rivers flowed together, which caused the water level of the boundary river to rise sharply in a short period of time. General Zhao personally led the elite soldiers to take a small boat down the river overnight, straight to the outside of the city behind the Sikou Pass, and with the help of the enemy army was trapped by the sudden surge of water, a surprise attack seized the Sikou Pass, cutting off the back road of the main force of the Liao army in Xin'an Prefecture.

Subsequently, General Zhao sent the military capital Yu Marquis Xu Ning to lead the Golden Gun Cavalry Battalion south from Sikou Pass, and raided the main cavalry of the Liao army stationed in the southwest of Xin'an County from behind, and the two armies fought fiercely in the wilderness for half a day. The Golden Gun Cavalry Battalion, which had been trained for a long time for this battle, just restrained the Liao army's iron cavalry and successfully dragged the other side with inferior forces, so as to buy time for our main army to break forward head-on, and finally work together to besiege the Liao army in Yan'er Mountain, and kill the Liao army's eleventh Yao Star general's purple gas star general Yelu Dezhong, the Liao State Twenty-eight Su General Jing Mu Qiantong Lihe, Ghost Golden Sheep Wang Jing and other generals.

In this battle, more than 3,000 Liao soldiers were annihilated, more than 10,000 prisoners were captured, and the whole territory of Xin'an Prefecture was recovered.

After Lin Chong finished speaking, he immediately raised his head and looked at Zhao Ji with hope, and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, if you can recover Yanjing, you can attack and retreat, and you can use it as a bridgehead, which is definitely a great advantage for recovering the sixteen states of Youyun in the future, and most of the main forces of the Liao State are now transferred to the north to fight against Jin, which is a godsend!"