After bidding farewell to the 1,000 soldiers of Zhang Qi's department and getting on the train, Du Zhongxiao took his subordinate generals back to the city. After entering the city gate, he said: "Tonight, the back office of the Shuaifu will set up wine, and I wish General Zhang and his party a smooth journey." The commander of the battalion in the army sent the above to the banquet, and the rest of the armies made their own arrangements. ”

The generals thanked each other. Li Fugui said to Yang Wenguang beside him: "General, this time General Zhang led troops into Beijing, I don't know what the result of the exercise is?" ”

Yang Wenguang said: "According to my estimate, we may not have an advantage in testing troops and generals. But the two armies fought against each other, and it was impossible to say that they lost. ”

Li Fugui shook his head: "It should be like this." However, after the First World War of Hue Crossing, most of the generals and veterans of the Ha Qu Road were transferred, and now they are all newcomers, so it is difficult to say. Although General Zhang is a fierce general, he has never done it after all. ”

Yang Wenguang said with a smile: "After judgment, no matter what soldiers a brave general brings, he is still a brave general." You have to trust General Zhang. ”

Li Fugui disagreed, and suddenly said: "If the general is so sure, then how about we bet on a host?" If General Zhang wins the battle, I will set up a drink in the official restaurant to catch him up, and the general will come together. ”

Yang Wenguang smiled: "Why don't you dare! If Zhang will try all three times, I will put wine there and make amends for him! ”

On the second day, as soon as Du Zhongxiao arrived at the official hall, Chen Xiliang came over and said: "Jieshuai, Hebin County has come to report, and the Khitan envoy asks to see him." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Riverside County? Is that someone sent by Yelu Chongyuan? I haven't heard from you for a few months, so why are you sending an envoy at this time? ”

Chen Xiliang said: "According to the lower officials, the imperial court sent an envoy to the Khitan a few days ago to congratulate Zhengdan and his birthday. The envoy of the Khitan mother counted Yelu Chongyuan on the side, and the envoy of the Khitan lord went to Yelu Hongji in Youzhou. Although the two are not offended, the title of the Khitan lord is still recognized by the imperial court. Chongyuan is the emperor, and he must be unwilling. Hequ Road is just on the side of Xijing Road, and Chongyuan must have sent envoys to test it. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "That's what it means." In leap July, the weather was cool, the grass and trees were withered and yellow, and it was time for the Khitans to fight. Chongyuan and Hongji have each prepared for nearly a year, and they have not done a game in winter, how to determine the Khitan Zhengshuo! ”

While talking, Du Zhongxiao sat down after arriving at his case. After thinking about it, he said to Chen Xiliang: "Shuai Si is also in charge of Tibetan affairs, you ordered Hebin County to bring Khitan envoys to Shengzhou." At the same time, the Privy Council and the Hedong Road Shuai Si explained the matter. ”

Chen Xiliang agreed, left quickly, returned to his judge's hall, and instructed the public officials to write official documents.

Du Zhongxiao's official hall is small, with only a few cases in it, dealing with urgent matters. The state affairs belong to Chen Xiliang's signing hall, and the military affairs belong to Li Fugui's strategic judges' office, and the two of them go to Du Zhongxiao's official hall every day to report and obey orders.

In this era, the yamen office was somewhat similar to the large office of later generations. For example, Chen Xiliang's signature hall is divided into many cases, one case is actually a small office area, marked by a large case, where the public in charge of similar affairs works and someone is in charge. Li Fugui's Office of the Economic and Judges' Office is similar, and the same department is divided into several cases, each with its own responsibility.

Officials who have their own official offices are generally important figures in the yamen. In addition to the governor's hall of Zhizhou, there is a general judgment hall, and there is a signing hall for signing judgments, that is, the judge's hall. Other officials do not have their own official halls, and they work in these halls. The signing hall is also known as the embassy, and the record and military court is also known as the state court, which is collectively called the embassy and the state court. As can be seen from the name, the embassy corresponds to the Jiedu envoy, which is mainly military, and the state court corresponds to the Zhizhou, which is mainly civil. In this era, most of the envoys were fictitious, and the actual magistrate's office was also in charge of civil affairs, and its status was above that of the state court. The officials and the secretary of the department are in charge of the seal, and they use the seal when it comes to military affairs.

As for the managers who did not have a high status in the army, there was a separate management court because they were in charge of prisons. In later terms, the manager joined the army somewhat similar to the director of the public security bureau, and they were in charge of all prison lawsuits and were in charge of interrogation. Arrested suspect about the prison of the Governor's House. At the end of the trial, the judicial staff will be sent to the Judge's Office on appropriate charges for the appropriate crimes. The judge's office adjudicates the case and sends it to the judgment hall and the chief's office. The general judgment and the governor agreed, and after the two supervisors signed together, it was considered final.

Compared with the judicial system of later generations, the manager joined the army in the public security bureau, and the manager only held suspects. The judicial participation in the army is the procuratorate, and the Guanzhou Yuan after the preliminary verdict. The judge's office is also the court, and the final verdict is made, and the prison is the embassy.

In the Song Dynasty system, the final trial was in the state, and the road-level criminal division was only a review of prison lawsuits, not a higher-level judicial system. If the Criminal Division finds a suspicious case, it will not try it itself, but remand for a new trial, or send it to another state for review.

In this era, the most important thing in civil affairs was prison litigation, so half of the duties of the shogunate officials were related to prisons.

Du Zhongxiao casually handled a few official documents, sat behind the case, and remembered the Khitan envoy that Chen Xiliang reported just now. It has been more than half a year since he became the master of Hequ Road, and the Khitan has not been in contact, and at this time, Yelu Chongyuan sent envoys, which is somewhat interesting.

A few days ago, the imperial court sent envoys to the Khitan. There are a total of four groups, namely the Khitan Mother Birthday Envoy, the Khitan Birthday Envoy, the Khitan Mother He Zhengdan Envoy, and the Khitan He Zhengdan Envoy. This is a common practice in previous years, but this year is a little special. In the past, these four groups of envoys actually set off together and went to the same place, where the Khitan mother and the Khitan lord were together. But this year is different, Xiao Yunjin, the mother of the Khitan country, is in Zhongjing, Yelu Hongji is in Youzhou, and Yelu Chongyuan is in Datong Mansion. The envoys of the Khitan mother went to Zhongjing, and the envoys of the Khitan went to Youzhou.

Through the envoys, the Song Dynasty, which had always been ambiguous, expressed its attitude and recognized Yelu Hongji in Youzhou as Zhengshuo. Although Yelu Chongyuan received the support of Xiao Yunjin, there was a group of envoys to celebrate, but the name of righteousness was lost.

The two emperors stand side by side, the most important one is strength, and the other is righteousness. The Song Dynasty arranged it like this, so it was natural that there were two sides of the plan, but the Khitan was going to see Yelu Hongji, which stimulated Yelu Chongyuan.

The weight of the Song Dynasty to the Khitan now is not comparable to that of previous years. Yelu Zong really died under Tanglong Town, and the offensive and defensive momentum of the two sides has been changed, and it has been recognized by the Song Dynasty, which is what Yelu Chongyuan and Yelu Hongji both dreamed of.

What to do? If you lose your righteous reputation, you can only look at your strength.

Autumn is high and horses are fat, which is the season for the Khitan people to fight. At this time, sending envoys to Hequ Road, there is no need to think about it, Yelu Chongyuan wants to solve the problem by force. If he wants to send troops to Youzhou, Yelu Chongyuan first guarantees that Du Zhongxiao will not take advantage of the situation to attack Datong Mansion.

Thinking of this, Du Zhongxiao smiled. Now the situation of Hequ Road, Yelu Chongyuan will not be unaware. The army is being reorganized, and there are not many troops that can actually be used in battle, and in fact, there is not enough energy to attack Datong. But the series of battles in front of him really scared him, even if he knew Du Zhongxiao's difficulties, he didn't dare to take it lightly. Without Du Zhongxiao's acquiescence, I was afraid that he would not dare to dispatch the main force of Datong Mansion.

Last year, tens of thousands of people dared to attack Tanglong Town, thinking that it was just a convenient move. After a year, Yelu Chongyuan changed, knowing that Du Zhongxiao was the weakest in the army, he had to ask before sending troops. Without Du Zhongxiao's permission, he really didn't dare to let go and fight Yelu Hongji.