Out of the Duanwang Mansion, Lin Wancheng led the horse over. Wu Haogu turned over his horse and went to the inner city with Lin Wancheng.

At this time, the sky was about to be dusk, and the golden-red light was sprinkled all over Kaifeng City. The streets are crowded with bustling people, and the sound of shouting and selling can be heard from the shops on both sides of the road, and there is an atmosphere of prosperity and festivity.

Wu Haogu really wanted to see Ji Yi sooner, so that he could inquire about what kind of spy paintings Zhang Dian and Zeng Bu wanted as soon as possible? But he was blocked by the crowd, so he could only walk slowly and patiently.

Ji Yi's mansion is on Rendian Street, not far from the First Sweet Water Lane where Wu Haogu originally lived. After passing Yu Street, go east along Panlou Street, and then turn north at the intersection where the main store of Christie's is located to Rendian Street. Of course, the Ji family's mansion is not along the street, but on a small alley.

The entrance of the alley is next to the big restaurant called Rendian, and as soon as you turn the corner and enter, you can see a big mansion door, magnificent, and the door of the house with flying eaves and arches hangs the sign of "Ji Fu". There was also a column of horse-tied posts at the door, and two servants in short clothes were cleaning the dust, and when they saw Wu Haogu and Lin Wancheng coming, they all sang and saluted.

A middle-aged man with a spring breeze on his face greeted him at the door, smiling and saluting with his fists. Wu Haogu got off the horse, and before he could report to his home, the man said to Wu Haogu in a Wu voice: "Is the official a martial edict?" ”

Wu Haogu smiled and clenched his fists: "It's Wu Haogu, you are ......"

The middle-aged man also smiled: "In Xia Ji Lei, he is Yizhi's cousin." ”

The Ji family is the richest man in Pingjiang, and naturally they are prosperous, with a total of eight rooms, and Ji Yi is only the young master of the long house. He is now thriving in Kaifeng Mansion, not only got married to Duanwang Zhao Ji, but also became a henchman of Zhang Dian and Cai Jing, and there are many things to deal with, and someone needs to help him, and the Ji family also needs to be presided over in Kaifeng Mansion, so he transferred Ji Lei and several other children from Pingjiang to Kaifeng Mansion.

This is the benefit of the big family, there is his own family to help, unlike the martial family, which now has three fathers, sons and brothers.

"It turned out to be a discipline officer, a long time to look up, a long time to look up." Wu Haogu was polite, and asked, "Don't you know that the official Ji is at home?" ”

Ji Yi is also a busy person, there are a lot of things in the north room of the Privy Council, he still has to study and prepare for the imperial examination, and he has to squeeze out time in his busy schedule to make a fuss. It's not easy for this official to do!

Ji Lei smiled: "I'm back, I just came back from Zhang Xianggong's mansion, and I'm studying...... Except for the warriors, come with me first. ”

As he spoke, he made a gesture of solemnity, invited Wu Haogu into the guest hall of Jifu, and asked someone to serve some tea. As soon as the tea came up, Ji Yi came quickly. When he saw Wu Haogu, he sang, and then said with a smile: "Brother Chongdao, you can see that you are here, so I don't have to go to Christie's store tomorrow to find you." ”

Wu Haogu still did not start to rotate at the Hanlin Painting Bureau, and stayed at Christie's during the day at the main store of Christie's, while dealing with business matters, while there he painted portraits of Mo Niangzi, Master Li, and a few other selected Oiran—in fact, he mainly drew line sketches, all of which were prepared for the "Oiran" album. Seven Oiran plus Mo Niangzi and Master Li have a total of nine beauties, each of whom has a "photo album", and there are twenty-four photo pictures on each photo album, a total of 216 pictures. However, in fact, it is impossible to draw so little, at least 500 pencil line sketches have to be drawn, and then the good ones are selected and handed over to Su Dalang, Xie Shangbin, Wei Sihai and others to arrange the engraving and binding distribution.

This work must be completed before Wu Haogu leaves Kaifeng Mansion with the Liao delegation, otherwise Christie's album business will not be carried out as scheduled.

In addition, Wu Haogu is still working hard to make the Liao spy painting. He is not ignorant of Yanyun and the terrain of western and eastern Liaoning, because of his occupation in his previous life, he once drew some maps in the style of oil painting, including maps of China. I have drawn it many times, so I still have a little memory, and now I can take these patterns out of my mind and draw them on paper. When you arrive at Yanyun, compare it with the map provided by Ma Zhi, and then conduct a field investigation, you can almost draw a realistic image of the "Map of the South of Liao".

That's a lot of credit!

In addition, Wu Haogu pondered that he could also "move" Yanjing City to paper, draw a pencil sketch of dozens of papers or hundreds of papers, and then get the floor plan of Yanjing from the Ma family. After returning to Kaifeng Mansion, I will be able to make a scaled-down model of Yanjing City.

With this model, it is theoretically possible to replicate a Yanjing city on a one-to-one basis......

"Brother Yizhi, what are you looking for me?" Hearing Ji Yi's words, Wu Haogu asked with a smile. "But there is a big deal to take care of the younger brother."

"No, how can there be so many big deals? And...... Where are you busy right now? You can't do it even if you have a deal. Ji Yi shook his head with a smile and said, "It's Zhang Xianggong who wants to see you." ”

"Ah......" Wu Haogu was stunned, "Yizhi, you said that Zhang Xianggong wants to see me?" ”

"That's right," Ji Yi said, "you will wait at Christie's tomorrow, and when I am done with my business, I will come and take you to the Prime Minister's Mansion to meet you." ”

"Brother Yizhi, do you know why Xianggong Zhang summoned him?"

Wu Haogu asked with some apprehension.

Zhang Dian is definitely more difficult to serve than Zhao Xu and Zhao Ji! The latter two are still teenagers after all, and they grew up in the deep palace palace, and their experience is inferior to that of Zhang Dian!

Moreover, Zhang Dian is notoriously fierce and difficult in official fights, and he treats his subordinates quite harshly, and he will be punished for the slightest mistake. And Wu Haogu has neglected his own work in the Hanlin Painting Academy these days, and has been busy with private work and hooking up with Duanwang Zhao Ji all day long......

Ji Yi smiled and said, "Zhang Xianggong is naturally to summon you and me for the sake of Liao...... Speaking of which, this matter really has nothing to do with you, isn't that Ma Liangji you brought to the Daimyo Mansion from Haizhou? If it weren't for you, Tong Daguan wouldn't have seen him. If Ma Liangji is really born in the Liao family and has a heart for our dynasty, you will also have a share of credit. Zhang Xianggong has always had clear rewards and punishments, and meritorious service must be rewarded. ”

"This ......" Wu Haogu's face suddenly changed when he heard this, and he lowered his voice and asked, "Could it be that Xianggong Zhang intends to restore Yan Yun?" ”

He didn't remember that Zhang Dian had put forward the suggestion of the Northern Expedition to Yanyun in history—maybe he didn't have the opportunity to do so, maybe there was no record of this plan in the history books.

Ji Yi smiled: "Who doesn't want to do this?" It's just that it couldn't be done in the past, but now...... It's a bit of a possibility. ”

Is it possible?

Wu Hao Gu Xin said: This matter can be messed up in the hands of Zhao Ji and Tong Guan! But...... Zhang Dian is not Zhao Ji and Tong Guan. The former knows everything, so he won't be an emperor, and the latter is actually a bit of a general, but he is not a handsome man like Zhang Ji after all.

Tong Guan could only command the 100,000 Northern Expeditionary Army, and he could only command the generals of the Western Army and the Hebei Army, and he could not command the local civilian officials on the east and west roads of Hebei. Unable to command local civilian officials, it would be difficult for the Northern Expeditionary Army to obtain the full cooperation of the eastern and western regions of Hebei, and the tactics of "advancing the fortress and marching step by step" used by the Song army in the operation against the Western Xia were fundamentally inseparable from the cooperation of the local people.

Historically, Hebei's ability to support the war could not be compared with Shaanxi's. During the Xuanhe Northern Expedition, there were civil uprisings in many places in Hebei...... This shows that the preparations for the Xuanhe Northern Expedition were too bad to support a long and arduous war against Liao.

If the Xuanhe Northern Expedition can be led by Zhang Dan, it will definitely make full preparations, first rectify Hebei, and then "advance the fortress" along the Jiehe-Sanggan River, and grind it steadily and steadily.

In history, Yelu Dashi and Xiao Gan only relied on the Song army of 10,000 people and Tong Guan to fight bloody battles repeatedly. With this amount of troops, field raids can still be fought, but fortress battles will definitely not work. That was a real consumption, and in the Battle of Hengshan, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang could not defeat Pingxia City, which was only guarded by 5,000 people. Can the tens of millions of people of Yelu Dashi still shoot flowers?

If the Song army can build the fortress all the way to the outside of Yanjing - theoretically possible, because the Sanggan River flows from the west of Yanjing City, and this river is also a passage for Liaodong grain to be transported into Yanjing by sea, and the navigation ability in the wet season will not be too bad, enough to support the logistics of the army - the outcome of the Xuanhe Northern Expedition may be rewritten.