Yang Yan patted the back of his head and said, "I understand, you mean to let me find a reason to return to Lin'an." ”

Zhao Qianru nodded approvingly, and said: "That's it, find a reason to return to Lin'an, and a reason that doesn't match the rumors at all, just like when you didn't know there were rumors." ”

Yang Yan nodded, and was thinking about finding a high-sounding reason, when he suddenly said, "Isn't there just one now?" Dali came to the envoy group, this is a big deal, protect the envoy group back to Lin'an, this reason is okay. ”

Zhao Qianru deliberately pretended to be relieved, and said: "After saying so many words, it was not in vain, I finally taught you to be a little smarter." ”

After the two discussed, Yang Yan immediately invited Xin Qiji and Chen Liang, and did not hide it, and told them all the truth. After hearing this, the two were also taken aback, knowing that this matter was not trivial, and they both agreed to take the opportunity of the Dali delegation to come to the Great Song Dynasty, and wrote to the imperial court in the name of protecting the Dali mission, asking to return to Lin'an. Xin Qiji immediately wrote a note, and Yang Yan stamped his big seal and sent it to Lin'an with an expedited 800 miles.

Then Yang Yan immediately met with Dali's envoys. In fact, the envoys of Dali had been waiting impatiently, because this time the envoys came to the Great Song Dynasty and did not send anyone to inform them in advance, and at this time Guangxi was in the Manichaean rebellion, and there was no local administrative organization along the way, so no one informed them of the court in Lin'an. Fortunately, all the places under the jurisdiction of the Great Song Dynasty were passed along the way, so they were safe and sound.

But after arriving in Jingjiang Mansion, Yang Yan was fighting outside again, and without Yang Yan's consent, Xin Qiji did not dare to make his own decisions, so the Dali mission had to stay in Jingjiang Mansion first, and waited anxiously for Yang Yan to come back every day. Now as soon as they heard that Yang Yan invited them, they immediately came to the yamen of the measurement envoy.

Dali's envoy Gan Hua is the current prime minister of Dali, an old man about fifty years old, with a thin figure and gray hair. And the deputy envoy Liu Renxian is a young man of twenty-four or five years old, with an upper-middle build, but he is very evenly matched, and at first glance he has the temperament of a military general. Because Yang Yan is now the highest official in Guangxi, the two of them were very polite when they saw Yang Yan.

But to be honest, although he knew that Liu Renxian was one of the eight people who participated in the battlefield competition with him that year, Yang Yan really didn't have any impression of him. But on this occasion, I only pretended to remember, and I put it on for a while.

Sure enough, as Yang Yan expected, they did ask Da Song for help this time.

Originally, the people of Dali were mainly Bai nationality, supplemented by other ethnic groups such as "Wuman" (Yi nationality), some (Naxi), "Luman" (Lisu nationality), "Golden Tooth Baiyi" (Dai nationality), "Baiyi" (Dai nationality) and other ethnic groups. With Duan as the emperor, Bu Xie (prime minister) and other ministers as assistants. The officials are mainly composed of the nobles of the Bai nationality, and the local administration is divided into prefectures and counties, which are divided into 37 departments of five cities, eight prefectures, four counties, and three departments. However, although the tribes and tribes of each prefecture and county were subject to the rule of the governors of the prefecture and county, their own chiefs still managed their own internal affairs. However, the emperors of Dali have always governed the country with leniency and benevolence, so the tribes can basically get along with each other.

But within the Bai nationality, with Gao Di is the most powerful, to surpass Duan Di, as early as the first year of Song Shaosheng (1094), Dali State Minister, Gao Shengtai abolished Baoding Emperor, seized power, set himself up as the emperor, called "Great China". After Gao Shengtai's death, his son Gao Taiming was forced by the pressure of other ethnic groups, and he was still in the Duan clan, and Duan Zhengming's younger brother Duan Zhengchun was renamed as the main emperor, which was Emperor Anwen. And with the hereditary prime minister of the Gao family, he controlled the government of Dali.

But since then, Gao Di still remembers, has been looking for an opportunity to seize the throne of Dali, although the power of the Gao Di clan is large, but in the end can not be compared with all the other tribes in Dali, so there has been no chance. Finally, Gao Jianming, the lord of Gao Di of this generation, colluded with the Zhizhi country, invited the people of the Zhizhi country, killed the current monarch of Dali, Zhengkang Emperor Duan Zhengxing, seized the throne, and suppressed all ethnic groups by force.

And a group of ministers and tribal leaders loyal to Duan Di in Dali, who kept Duan Zhixing, the youngest son of Emperor Zhengkang, escaped from the capital and went into exile all the way to Shicheng County, which borders the Taisong Dynasty, and established himself as Emperor Duan Zhixing, and continued to resist Gao Jianming and the army of Zhizhi. But now there are few soldiers, few people in the land, and the opponent who is not the Jiaozhi army, after everyone discussed, they had to send an envoy to the Great Song Dynasty for help.

Dali since Duan Di called the emperor, has been and the Great Song Dynasty to maintain good relations, in the Great Song Dynasty and seven years (1117 years), Dali Emperor Xuanren Emperor Duan and Yu sent envoys into Bianjing to pay tribute, when Huizong was in power, officially canonized Duan and known as "Golden Purple Guanglu Doctor, Inspection School Sikong, Yunnan Jiedu Envoy, Shangzhu State, Dali King", became the official vassal of the Great Song Dynasty. Therefore, at the extreme of this crisis, this envoy group was sent to the Great Song Dynasty to ask for help. However, because Dali now almost exists in name only, the exiled monarchs and ministers really couldn't make up a few decent tributes, so they had to send the eldest daughter of Emperor Zhengkang, Duan Yanzhu, the eldest princess of Xiuyu, to the Great Song Dynasty and relatives.

When Yang Yan heard this, he couldn't help but sigh for Dali's national fortunes. However, it is not up to him to decide whether the Great Song Dynasty will send troops, so Yang Yan is also noncommittal. only said that he would immediately go to the court to see the court's attitude towards the Dali mission. Gan Hua and Liu Ren listened first, and they could only do so. He also thanked Yang Yan. gave gifts to Yang Yan again, but Yang Yan politely declined.

In the evening, Yang Yan and Zhao Qianru arranged a banquet to entertain the Dali envoys. Cao Anmin, the superintendent of the army, as well as officials at all levels of Jingjiang Prefecture, Xin Qiji, Chen Liang, Zhou Xin, and Dong Yuan, all attended. This is still the highest reception received by the Dali envoys after entering the Great Song Dynasty, and they were immediately flattered, and the princess of the Great Song Dynasty came forward here, so this time Duan Yanzhu, the eldest princess of Dali Xiuyu, who came to the family, also attended.

Duan Yanzhu is no more than twenty years old, although she is not as good as Zhao Qianru, she is also an excellent beauty. With beautiful appearance and elegant dress, although she is a princess of the dead country, she does not lose her royal demeanor. It's just that there are not many words, and there seems to be a faint sadness between the eyebrows, and he is worried about the changes in the motherland.

After the banquet, both sides were anxiously waiting for news from Lin'an. While waiting, Yang Yan called Cao Xun and Gao Zhen back to Jingjiang Mansion again, and told them what happened in Lin'an. Next, Yang Yan handed over the military command after he left Guangnan to the two of them, and arranged the next operational arrangement in detail.

Then he ordered Zhou Xin to explore the reality in Dali, because no matter what the fate of Yang Yan returned to Lin'an this time, Dali's rescue is also a big deal, and it is also necessary to understand the situation of Dali.

Ten days later, an edict came from Lin'an, agreeing that Yang Yan would escort the Dali envoys back to Lin'an.

The Dali mission was already looking forward to this day, and as soon as they saw the edict issued, they immediately packed up and prepared to leave. In fact, they don't have anything to pack. On the contrary, Yang Yan and Zhao Qianru have a lot of luggage. After Lin Yinzi and Lin Yanhong were brought back to Jingjiang Mansion by Yang Yan, they both became Zhao Qianru's maids, and after getting along for a few days, Zhao Qianru found that the two sisters were literate and hyphenated, and they could write with a pen. It's a different woman from an ordinary person.

In fact, generally speaking, except for a few rich and noble families who will let women learn literacy, ordinary women have no opportunity to learn culture at all. The real talent is Qinglou**. Because the owner of the Qinglou often has someone to teach them various knowledge such as essays and poems, wind music and sheng flute, and even teach some skills such as sword dance, in order to attract guests and increase their value. Lin Yinzi and Lin Yanhong sisters were sold to the Qinglou since they were children, and they were also taught piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, singing and dancing instruments for several years, and they were proficient in everything.

It just so happened that during this period of time, Zhao Qianru was in charge of the overall situation in Jingjiang Mansion, and she was busy with official business, although the maids around her also knew a few words, but compared with them, they were also far behind, and Zhao Qianru handed over some things to the two of them to do. The two sisters were also grateful to Zhao Qianru, so they also did their best, and helped Zhao Qianru a lot, so this time Zhao Qianru also planned to bring the two of them back to Lin'an.

The next day, Yang Yan took Tie Chenglin, Gu Xueping, Zhao Qianru's Jingyan Army, and Cao Anmin, the prison army, and Dali's envoys to set off on the road together. and escorted by Wu Xi led the peak urging army.

However, when he set off, Yang Yan found that the Dali mission actually carried twelve white elephants, according to Liu Renxian, these twelve white elephants were a tribute to the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. Because elephants are very rare, they also provoked a lot of Song soldiers and passers-by to watch.

Zhao Qianru doesn't think it's rare for elephants, because there are several elephants in Zhao Yan's imperial garden, and she often sees them. However, Yang Yan only knew that there was such an animal as an elephant from calligraphy and painting before, but this time he opened his eyes and saw the real guy. Sure enough, it's a behemoth. Gu Xueping was even more interested, and walked around the elephant, looking east and west, and leaned over to touch the elephant's trunk. But this elephant is probably trained and very tame.

However, the two tigers obviously did not have a good impression of the behemoth in front of them, and they opened their teeth and claws at the elephant, and roared incessantly, until they had a few copies of the majesty of the king of beasts. However, the elephants ignored them, and only frightened the people who watched them into retreating. It was only when Gu Xueping came over to appease them that these two guys became honest.