As for the argument that the new army is degrading and Wang Xu's self-aggrandizement, they dismiss it. Not to mention anything else, just go to a few large camps in Kaifeng City to look at the training attitude and frequency of the new army, and you will find that they are exactly the same as when they first came, neither more than once nor less once.

Military discipline is still strict, soldiers are never allowed to wander around the city without special circumstances, and the corpses hanging on the wooden poles at the entrance of the camp are disobedient and disobedient. If this is also considered a serious degradation and self-aggrandizement, then the former forbidden army will not become a rabble.

Are they right? Hong Tao can only say his admiration to those who have the last thought. It is true that he and the New Army are not really degraded and inflated, all of this is a hoax, pretended.

This Northern Expedition is said to be called the Imperial Expedition, but in fact, the main purpose is peace talks. Since it is a peace talk, we cannot pursue the speed of the soldiers and hide the eyes and ears of the people in the same way as fighting a war.

Hong Tao plans to make full use of his reputation for real swords and guns, and see if he can make Jin Guo hesitate a little, and don't rashly send troops to attack the Youzhou defense line, so that there is a basis for peace talks.

In order to achieve this goal, he had to keep his face tight every day to accept the visits of local officials, and also found a large number of abandoned banners of the forbidden army, which were slightly changed to become new army, and swaggered through the market all day long.

The purpose is to attract attention, and to spread the news of the arrival of the Great Evil Star and General Chang Sheng in Xijin Mansion to the Jin Imperial Court through the mouth of the border people and the Jin State.

In fact, Hong Tao and the more than 10,000 new troops he led were just a cover, or a hand in the plan. The other hand should have arrived in the hinterland of the Jin Kingdom at this time.

The real demands for peace talks do not have to be conveyed by oneself, but are delivered by that hand. He only needs to stand still in Xijin Mansion, express enough patience, and then wait for the reaction of the Jin State.

Who is the other hand? He is Xiao Wuna. Over the years, the trade of Jeju Island in exchanging whale meat for Jurchen timber has continued, and although the high-level has not been in contact, at least there is no shortage of people to spread the word.

After the Jurchens destroyed the Liao State, they received many Khitan captives to continue to hold positions. Xiao Wuna, a Khitan nobleman, had the most contact with them, and it was only fitting for him to pass on the goodwill of peace.

In addition, Hong Tao also arranged a more mysterious task for Xiao Wuna, bringing the news of Princess Yerutri's future back to the Jin Kingdom on a small scale. Regardless of whether or not the Khitan nobles have the slightest idea because of this, anyway, this thorn will be planted, and maybe it will be used in the future.

And Xiao Wuna himself is not too concerned about helping Hong Tao transmit the signal of peace talks, he attaches more importance to passing on the news of the royal family. The Jurchens have killed all the Khitan royal family, and Princess Terry is currently the only descendant of Yelu who still has royal blood, not to mention a son.

Of course, Xiao Wuna and Princess Terry did not hide this matter from Hong Tao, and they also got permission to set off north. Hong Tao promised that if Xiao Wuna really contacted enough Khitan nobles, they did have ideas, and the Great Song could provide corresponding material help. For example, weapons, funds, and the like, but there are no people, at most Jeju Island is allowed to send Khitan people to secretly sneak back to their homeland to become liaison or instructors.

In addition, Hong Tao also made it clear to Princess Terry that even if the Khitans succeeded in recovering the country with the help of the Great Song Dynasty and Jeju Island, they could only occupy the land of Tokyo Province and become a vassal state of the Great Song Dynasty.

This decision is exactly the same as the consideration of the territory of Tibet, Hong Tao really does not have the energy to lead troops to conquer the eastern Liaodong region. In that kind of climate and geographical environment, it is difficult to rely on muskets and cannons alone for long-term stability, and the distance is so far that it cannot be effectively controlled.

The easiest way is to infiltrate through economic means, so that it cannot get rid of it and is powerless to resist. Anyway, Princess Terry is also her own woman, and the Khitan Emperor who may be in the future is not only her son, but also her own son, and leaving a piece of land for her son is not in vain.

As for whether it will become a problem in the future, that is a question for future generations. If they have the ability, it will not only not be a trouble, but also a help. If they don't have the ability, they deserve to be robbed by others.

"Uncle, why is Xijin Mansion higher than Kaifeng City?" Hong Tao's Northern Expedition was much larger than the previous expeditions, and in addition to pretending, there was indeed a demand.

The Prince of Song alone brought six of them, none of them had undergone military training except for Zhao Kui and Zhao Li, and they were not good at long-distance riding, so they sat in the car most of the time, and were taken care of by Ping Qihai and the guards.

The man who spoke was a young man in his teens, very handsome, the eleventh son of Emperor Shenzong, but he didn't look like Emperor Shenzong at all, but he was similar to Zhang Qi and Zhang Dun's brothers, all of whom belonged to the series called handsome by the ancients.

In fact, Hong Tao thinks that he is quite handsome, otherwise he would not be favored by the emperor's sister. However, the things that have been done over the years are too scary, so that when everyone mentions Wang Xu, they first think of dramas such as slaughtering the city, drying dried meat, and destroying the country, and ignore the appearance and everything.

"Brother Eleven, this is an important border town, less than a hundred miles to the north is the Jin country, how can you resist a strong enemy if the city wall is not built. Don't keep pestering your uncle, come here! ”

In the past, the three princes followed Hong Tao and were headed by Zhao Maid, but now that Zhao Maid is the emperor, Zhao Kui has become the boss and has fulfilled the duties of the eldest brother and captain.

He helped Ping Qihai Zhang Luo a lot along the way, if it weren't for him and Zhao Li, these princes would really not be easy to serve. A few small ones cry at every turn, and some wet the bed in the middle of the night.

"Starling, I heard from the sixth brother that the mountains in the north of this city are handsome, can we go and have a look?" The eleventh son who was said was named Zhao Ji, and every time he thought of this name, Hong Tao wanted to pull out the short gun on his waist and open his head.

Song Huizong, without him, the Northern Song Dynasty might not have perished so quickly. He and his son were also captured by the Jin, which really disgraced the face of the Han emperor. You say that you can't govern the country well, don't you still commit suicide, it's really a complete waste of dim sum.

However, when it comes into contact, Zhao Ji is not only not disgusting, but also quite likable. The first is that he is studious and asks everything; secondly, he has a relatively high emotional intelligence, speaks attractively, and there is nothing too weird in his personality; In the end, it was the harmless appearance of humans and animals, which made people not think of giving a shot.

Hong Tao only had an opinion on Zhao Ji because of the things in his memory, and in fact, he warned himself all the time not to wronged this child. He really wasn't born a waste, but because he entered the wrong line and wasn't voluntary, he ended up with a black pot on the system.

He is not an emperor material, but a scholar embryo. Poetry and songs are all kinds of all-rounders, and even taught themselves to knit sweaters and pants, catch who knits for whom in the harem, constantly changing patterns, and don't send them out if they don't look good.

There is his work in the Tainanami car, a sweater with a whale pattern on the chest, which is said to be a gift for his uncle. Hong Tao himself can knit sweaters, and he will also have a lot of stitches in later generations. But after thinking about it for a long time, I didn't figure out how this pattern was weaved, thinking that it was Zhao Ji's own creation.

If these crafts are only small skills, Zhao Ji is also familiar with the Sutra of Calculation and the Book of Money, and there are many questions along the way. Based on these questions alone, Hong Tao can conclude that his understanding is only shallower than that of the children of the children's group, surpassing most Song people, and even businessmen like Wang Hao are inferior to him in some details.

And he didn't have a teacher to solve his doubts, he just took the books of a few brothers and read them by himself, and he could often get the guidance of Zhao Maid, Zhao Kui, and Zhao Li. It is not easy to learn this by yourself, not only by rote, but also by in-depth understanding and some assumptions, and this thing is called talent.

"You can go, and the climate is just right at this time, neither hot nor cold. But if you want to enter the mountain, you can't sit in a car, you have to change horses, you have to walk in some places, and there are jackals, tigers and leopards...... "Hong Tao already has a general idea of Zhao Ji's future, but the final decision is still in his own hands, and he can choose one of the two roads."

Otherwise, he will worship Su Shi as his teacher, and in the future, he will enter a national institution specializing in literature, calligraphy and painting, and become a romantic scholar for the rest of his life. Otherwise, I will go to Yangtze River University to study economics, and ten years later, the Great Song Dynasty will be able to become a Zhao Da banker.