The sound of horses' hooves sounded, and dozens of horsemen galloped on the official road in the north of Kaifeng Prefecture. The knights on the horse, all wearing left robes, wearing hats on their heads, caps and ears are also turned up, and the hats and helmets are slightly pointed Khitan snow hats. This kind of dress, although it is not common in Kaifeng Mansion, is not uncommon. The pedestrians on the road were not very frightened when they saw these knights in bearded clothes and hats, but just dodged on the side of the road, allowing these horse-riding Hu people to pass quickly.

These dozens of knights were all Khitan warriors, and they were surrounded by a middle-aged man with a big beard. He was tall and slightly emaciated. It seems that he should be a polite Confucian scholar, but he is wearing a Khitan brocade robe, riding on a horse and galloping, and his body naturally undulates with the gallop of the war horse, as if he is a heroic man of the Northern Dynasty who grew up on horseback.

This person's surname is Xiao, his name is ancient, the official worships the observation envoy of Gaozhou in the Great Liao State, and the Northern Privy Council has accepted the decree, and he is the envoy of Song He Zhengdan this time.

The official system of the Liao State is as complex as that of the Song Dynasty, and it is also divided into official officials, professional officials, meritorious officials, and sometimes there are any trial officials, as well as false officials and remote officials, which are very complicated. And this Xiao Haogu's "Gaozhou Observation Envoy" is a local official, a high-ranking military attaché, just used to mark the official rank, in fact, Gaozhou does not need him to observe - sometimes a certain state in a certain state and a certain envoy granted is not in the territory of Liao, but in the Song Dynasty, and it is impossible to observe......

Xiao Haogu's official is the Northern Privy Council, which looks similar to Cai Jing's Privy Council, but is actually bigger than Cai Jing's official. Because the Liao State is heavy on military force and light on literature, the status of the Privy Council is above that of Zhongshu Province, and the Privy Council is also greater than the Prime Minister. In fact, the Privy Councils of the North and South are the yamen of the Prime Minister's government!

At present, the person in charge of the two privy councils in the north and south is Yelu Yanxi, the heir to the throne of the Liao State. By the way, Yelu Yanxi is the grandson of Yelu Hongji, the current emperor of Liao, but he is not the grandson of the emperor, but the generalissimo of the Liao, the general secretary of the northern and southern courts, and the secretary of Shangshuling.

Of the two Privy Councils in the north and south, the North Privy Council is honored. Therefore, Xiao Haogu, the Privy Council of the Northern Liao Kingdom, is a sufficiently weighty envoy of He Zhengdan.

And the deputy envoy of He Zhengdan is a Han cultural official, a middle doctor, and Liu Yun in the north.

Although this Liu Yun is a civil official, and he is also a Jinshi, he is dark and strong, and he has a beard, and his vigor on horseback is no less than that of any Khitan warrior.

In fact, his martial arts skills as a civil official from a jinshi are not much different from that of Xiao Haogu. This time, it was not Xiao Haogu who participated in the archery competition in Kaifeng Yujin Garden, but this Liu Linya.

The reason why this is the case is not because he was born in the Yanjing Liu family (one of the four major families of Yanyun), and he has received training from Yunwen Yunwu since he was a child, but because Xiao Haogu, a wealthy martial artist, is really a bit watery...... This is actually very normal, after all, the founding of the Great Liao Dynasty was decades earlier than the Great Song Dynasty!

The nobles of the Xiao family have enjoyed more than 200 years of blessings, if it weren't for the four seasons bowl system, so that these Khitan nobles follow the emperor around the four bowls all year round, they probably wouldn't even be able to ride horses.

Luckily, everyone can still ride horses! Liu Yun, who was galloping on horseback, thought to himself: Otherwise, it would be impossible to gallop all the way from the Sanggan River in Datong Mansion in Xijing, where the winter bowl is located in such a short time (the traditional winter bowl is in Guangpingdian in the north) to Kaifeng Mansion in the Great Song Dynasty, so as to catch up with He Zhengdan's name......

It's a shame to say that this time! In order to coerce the Song state to give up the land occupied in the Battle of Hengshan and return it to Western Xia, the Great Liao Emperor changed the winter bowl land and ran to camp on the banks of the Sanggan River, not far from the Song Dynasty, and at one time went to a place a few miles north of Yanmen Pass to exert pressure.

However, the attitude of the Song State was unexpectedly tough, not only refused to return the land occupied by the Western Xia, but also continued to launch a "shallow attack" west of Hengshan (the tactics proposed by Zhang Qi were small-scale, continuous, and in-depth attacks), although they could not destroy the Western Xia for a while, but they continued to bleed the Western Xia. Since the Hengshan line was completely controlled by the Song State, it was impossible for the Western Xia to make up for their losses by breaking into the Song Realm and plundering, so they could only keep losing blood and would be killed sooner or later......

What the Emperor of Liao didn't expect was that the Song State not only ignored the threat of the Liao State, but also violated the practice of many years and did not send He Zhengdan envoys!

This frightened Jeluhonki and his ministers...... Well, there is nothing terrible about the Song Dynasty not sending people to He Zhengdan, but not He Zhengdan is likely to be the beginning of Song Liao's severance of friendship!

And the severance of friendship between Song and Liao meant that the annual coin of 500,000 yuan a year (300,000 yuan at the beginning after the alliance of the Yuanyuan, and later used the Song-Xia war to force the Song Dynasty to increase 200,000) to be lost. Now the North Blockade has not been fought yet, and it will definitely continue to be fought endlessly, and the festival of giving birth to a straight daughter makes Brother Wanyan Ying (the Song Dynasty called him Brother Wanyan Yang) ready to move again, and I don't know when I will open a battlefield again...... If there is no more 500,000 coins for this year, what will happen to Daliao's military expenses?

Moreover, once the Song State stopped paying the New Year's coin, the Liao State had to recruit troops, right? If that's it, the Han people in Daliao will definitely have ideas......

Okay, the blockade in the west has not been completed, and the daughter in the east is going to fight again, and Song Liao in the south has raised swords again...... The war on the third front is still not allowed to live?

When the time comes, the war will start on the third front, as long as there is a first-line defeat, the Great Liao Kingdom will be in danger of destruction!

Now a northern blockade is in a hurry, and two more strong enemies will be able to win. And the result of not winning the war is that the Liao State is mired in three mortal wars at the same time.

Therefore, Yelu Hongji also didn't care about the dignity of the kingdom (Song Liao has been fighting for the title of the kingdom of heaven), and in the name of He Zhengdan, he sent Xiao Haogu and Liu Yun to the Kaifeng Mansion of the Song State day and night, no matter what, it can't break down the relationship between Liao and Song at this time!

Liu Yun, who had dealt with the Song Dynasty for half his life, rode his horse to Xiao Haogu's side at this time, and said loudly in Khitan language: "Xiao Observation, this is already the boundary of Kaifeng Mansion, and at most one day, you will be able to live in Dutingyi." ”

"It's a good rush!" Xiao Haogu tugged on the reins lightly and slowed down his horse's speed a little, "Liu Linya, you often travel back and forth to the Song Kingdom, what strategy do you think you should use this time?" ”

"It's coercive and intimidating!" Liu Yundao, "The official family of the Song State and the Queen Mother are all raised in the deep palace and do not practice martial arts, so they are timid and cowardly, and it is not wrong to intimidate them first." ”

The children of the Liu family in Yanjing, where Liu Yun belonged, had been engaged in "diplomacy" for generations, and Liu Liufu, who successfully forced the Song State to add 200,000 yuan of coins, was Liu Yun's uncle. And the trick of the Liu family's diplomacy with Song is coercion and intimidation.

"Can you be scared this time?" Xiao Haogu frowned and asked, "Although the Southern Dynasty is now in charge of the traitorous ministers, this is a bit bold for the monarchs and ministers. ”

Because Zhao Xu reinstated the new law to "harm the people", his evaluation in the "international" is not high, and he is generally regarded as a faint monarch. Needless to say, Zhang Dun, who was in power, was an "internationally recognized" traitor.

Liu Yun smiled bitterly and said, "This pair of faint kings and traitors are a bit like they don't see the coffin and don't cry...... But it's always good to scare, so if you can't help but think of something else. ”

……

"Further to the right, a little further to the right, yes, yes, that's it, we must let the Liao people see it as soon as they enter the house."

At the same time, Wu Haogu was directing several post guards to place the oil painting "The Horizontal Sword of the Great Song Dynasty Official's Family" in the Duting Station. The oil painting is placed on a special wooden shelf, facing the gate of the Duting Station, as long as the Liao envoys enter the door, they can immediately see the oil painting.

Ji Yi stood beside Wu Haogu with his arms crossed, his current official is the Privy Council Editorial Officer, and he belongs to the Privy Council Editorial Department (it was wrong to write it as the North Room before, because Ji Yi's general Shilang was too small and could only be authorized to edit it), and he also got the task of editing the "Northern Dynasty Chronicle" - in fact, it was to compile and edit the sights and stories of the visit to Liao and the maps and spy paintings of Wu Hao's ancient paintings.

It was precisely because of this dispatch that he was able to participate in the reception of the Liao State He Zhengdan envoy, serving as the embassy companion, and was actually the interpreter of the embassy envoy.

The so-called embassy envoy is an official who is responsible for accompanying the envoys of Liao, Goryeo and other countries in Kaifeng Prefecture, and is usually served by important ministers. Opposite to the embassy envoy, there is also an accompanying envoy, that is, the official who is responsible for the contact after the envoys of Liao, Goryeo and other countries enter the country.

This time, the envoys of the Liao State came suddenly, and the imperial court did not have time to send important ministers to serve as escorts, but only selected a military attache on Hedong Road to accompany them. However, the embassy envoy sent an important minister, and it was the Privy Council that promised Cai Jing. Because Ji Yi figured out the hole cards of Duanwang Zhao Ji for Cai Jing last time, and became friends with Cai Jing's son Cai You, he has now become Cai Jing's confidant.

And this time, the strategy of receiving the Liao envoy has already been set, that is, to be tough and not rude. Placing the "Great Song Dynasty Official Family Horizontal Knife Map" in Dutingyi is undoubtedly a means to show toughness.

This is tantamount to telling the Liao envoy that the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty is ready to conquer in person!

If you Liao people have the courage, let the horses come!

"Hang up," Wu Haogu looked back at Ji Yi, "Brother Yizhi, what do you think?" ”

"Not bad, not bad." Ji Yi smiled and nodded, and then bowed his hand to an internal official surnamed Li who was in charge of Dutingyi next to him (Dutingyi is under the management of the Guoxin Office, and the officials in charge are all internal servants), "Daguan Li, take care of the people in the museum, if the Liao envoy asks about this painting, it will be said that it was made by the painter of the Hanlin Painting Academy when the official family was in Qionglin Yuan to review the classes in front of the palace." ”

"Our family knows, and the boss has already taken care of it." The old eunuch surnamed Li smiled and said, "Please return the general to Master Cai, and tomorrow's custody can make Liao tremble." ”