The hour is approaching, and the sun is shining on the city of Cheongju on the bank of the Yellow River flowing north.

This small state city is one of the few cities in Hebei East Road that has benefited from the "Three Easy Returns". Because the Yellow River, which flows north, flows right over the plain east of Cheongju Prefecture, and flows into the Liao-Song Jiehe River dozens of miles away.

In addition to the diversion of the Yellow River, which washed away a large amount of farmland in Cheongju, it also brought unexpected business opportunities. Countless merchant ships would sail along the Yellow River from the hinterland of the Central Plains to the city of Kaifeng, all converging on the section of the river from the city of Qingzhou to the mouth of the Yellow River. The merchants who came with the ship would sell their goods at Cheongju at the junction of the Yellow River and the Jiehe River, or simply at Cheongju Castle, and at the same time buy goods from the Liao merchants, and then go down the river to sell the goods to the Daimyo and Kaifeng Provinces.

In addition, the Hutuo River, which flows from Zhendingfu and Dingzhou on the Hebei West Road, will also flow into the Yellow River in Cheongju. This waterway will also bring a large amount of goods to Cheongju - Dingzhou at this time is a famous porcelain town, producing excellent quality Dingzhou!

However, the concentration of people and goods was not all good for Cheongju City, because the city near the Liao-Song border was too small to accommodate the merchants and goods that gathered from all sides.

It is impossible to expand the city of Qingzhou, according to the "Alliance of the Yuan", the border of the Liao and Song Dynasty is not allowed to build additional cities without authorization. Moreover, Cheongju Castle is stuck on the bank of the Yellow River flowing north, and it is a fortress city that can control the waterway of the Yellow River. How could the Liao state agree to the Song Dynasty's additional construction of Qingzhou City?

Although the Liao had no intention of "following" the Yellow River (in fact, it was going against the current) to the Central Plains, they knew how much the Great Song court was afraid of this.

This is the trump card used by the Great Liao State to oppress the Great Song Dynasty diplomatically, how can the Song Dynasty use a fortified city to block the passage of the Liao army to the south?

At the same time that the Liao State did not allow the Song Dynasty to expand the city of Qingzhou, the officials on the side of the Great Song Dynasty also had a headache about the ship population that gathered in Qingzhou. The influx of so many people in and out of the tiny city of Cheongju will cause great pressure on law and order and population management. In particular, many merchant shipowners also carried escort teams, carrying bows, arrows and swords, and their numbers far exceeded those of the Hebei Forbidden Army stationed in Qingzhou.

If these profiteers and high-rollers really make trouble, it is difficult to say whether the forbidden army in Cheongju City can be suppressed......

In addition, the Hebei Forbidden Army is actually the same as the Kaifeng Fu Forbidden Army, and it has become an army that knows everything, that is, it can't fight.

Therefore, the prosperity of Cheongju commerce also made the garrisons of Cheongju City and the six military villages on both sides of the Yellow River in Cheongju do business, and the combat effectiveness naturally plummeted.

It is precisely because the security problems faced by Cheongju are so difficult that the pacification envoys and the transit envoys of the Hebei East Road are now supporting the establishment of a new commercial market on both sides of the Jiehe River in the north of Cangzhou.

Although there is an "uncontrollable" risk in Jiehe Commercial Market, it is at least not on the banks of the Yellow River. Moreover, after the merchants who gathered in Cheongju moved to Jiehe Merchant City, the forbidden officers and soldiers in Cheongju may turn their attention back to military activities from commercial activities......

……

The north wind in the autumn season has already had a bit of a biting winter, but it is extremely comfortable for Xiao Baoxian, who is accustomed to the colder climate of Nanjing Road in Daliao, who is accustomed to the colder climate on the northern grassland.

He and Ma Renwang, who had just been promoted to the transfer envoy of the Great Liao Nanjing Road, were the main and deputy envoys of the Qingzhou meeting this time. The two were accompanied by Li Zhong, the Song envoy who had previously stayed in Xijin Mansion (Li Zhong is now the accompanying envoy), and came south on the official ship of the Liao State.

After arriving in Cheongju City, he stayed at the State Guest House in Cheongju City and waited for the Song envoys Zhang Shangying, Zhang Shuye and others to come north.

The pavilion is in the most prosperous area of Qingzhou City, looking at the bustling crowd on the street, born a little white and clean, and wearing a Confucian dress of a Han scholar, Xiao Baoxian, who is wearing a soft hat on his head, just sighed softly.

"Left-behind ......" stood beside Xiao Baoxian, and like him, he was observing the bustling and crowded horsemen in Qingzhou City, and asked, "Why are you sighing?" ”

Xiao Baoxian said: "Seeing that the enemy country is rich and strong, and the people's livelihood is happy, shouldn't we sigh? ”

"If you are rich, you will be rich, but if you are strong, you may not be rich."

Xiao Baoxian shook his head, "The Great Song Dynasty is powerful, but it is only because the Song Lord despises the warriors and does not cultivate combat preparations, so he is inferior to my Great Liao in the way of winning with troops."

But once they wake up, with the Great Song Dynasty ten times my population and a hundred times my wealth, the Great Liao will have no way to resist. ”

"Stay behind, do you think Da Song has woken up?" Centaur asked a little worriedly.

"Wake up!" Xiao Bao gritted his teeth first, "Murong forgets that old horseman, isn't he helping the Song people educate generals now?" ”

Murong Wangwu's defection to the Liao State was already known, and he also made representations, but the Great Song Dynasty ignored it, and let Murong Wangwu become the secretary of the Privy Council, and recently began to select miscellaneous military ministers under the age of 25 in the Western Army who have experience in leading troops to go to the Privy Council Military Science Department for training.

This made the high-level of the Great Liao Kingdom very worried!

The current Liao people, including important Han ministers like Ma Renwang, could not imagine what threat a merchant market would pose—the various ideas put forward by Wu Haogu in order to promote the establishment of the Jiehe merchant market would only cause laughter if the big men of the Liao State listened to it.

Because the Liao State has not yet developed into a civil society, industry and commerce are just the last existence dependent on the powerful clan, how can it be turned upside down?

Moreover, the study of the three battles between the Liao and Song dynasties around the sixteen states of Yanyun by the Liao and Song dynasties was far more thorough than that of the Great Song Dynasty. Therefore, they came to the conclusion that unless the Song army could complete the two tasks of conquering Yanjing Jiancheng and destroying the northern army of Liao, they would not be able to take the land of Yanyun.

And if the Song army has such combat effectiveness, then what the Liao State will lose is not Yanyun, but everything!

It is based on this analysis that the high-level leaders of the Liao State are quite ignorant of the security of the Jiehe Commercial City, as long as this commercial market can immediately provide 100,200,000 yuan of money to support the Mobei War, the Liao monarchs and ministers feel very good-they are now in a tight hand, and they have reached the point of begging the temple to donate money.

But Murong forgot about the military academy department, but let them see the crisis.

Because the Privy Council Military Science Department of the Song State is obviously training grassroots officers for the new army!

After the officer training is completed, it will definitely be the training!

With the current financial resources and population of the Great Song Dynasty, as long as there are good officers, there is no problem in training 200,000 soldiers whose combat strength is comparable to that of the forbidden army in the early Song Dynasty.

If you have these 200,000 elite soldiers...... The Liao Kingdom is about to die!

"Don't worry about staying behind," Ma Renwang explained with a smile, "I think Lord Song's establishment of the Military Academy Division is just a whim, and he won't really train troops at all." ”

"Won't?"

"No," said the centaur with a smile, "the matter of training is a matter of triggering the whole body!" Now it's just a matter of training a few hundred miscellaneous military attachés, and before it's time to give them officers, it's even farther away from recruiting troops and making weapons...... If it really comes to that point, I'm afraid that without my big Liao's action, they Song people will have to pinch it themselves, and then as long as they use a little trick, they can spoil the Song people's training plan. ”

"Subtotal?" Xiao Bao asked first, "Tell me about it." ”

"It's very easy," Ma Ren said, "You can send someone to pretend to be a Taoist and walk around Kaifeng Mansion to spread rumors, and say that the Military Academy Division has dragon energy." ”

"Useful?"

"Of course it's useful," Centaur Wang smiled, "Isn't today's Military Academy Division the former palace division?" ”

"yes." Xiao Bao nodded first.

Ma Renwang said: "There will never be a shortage of opponents within the Song Kingdom, as long as there is a reason, they will definitely attack it en masse, so I don't have to worry about it at all." ”

……

The Yellow River, the wheat waves on both sides of the river, the river flows slowly north.

Several official boats were slowly moving on the river, and they could be faintly heard, and the melodious sound of silk and bamboo came from the official boats.

Zhang Shangying's face was a little dignified, and he no longer had the chic along the way.

The city of Qingzhou was about to arrive, and then a negotiation was about to begin with the envoys of the Liao state, although Li Zhong had already sent a letter to Zhang Shangying, informing him that the Liao state had generally agreed to open a merchant market.

However, the support of the Liao people was not unconditional, and they hoped to get a huge sum of money from the Great Song Dynasty at one time to support the war that Mobei Yue fought for a long time.

And this money, it is impossible for the Great Song Dynasty to come out. Because the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty did not want the war between the Liao State and the Divination people to end as soon as possible.

If it was the divination that was asking for money now, the official Zhao Xu would not hesitate to take it out......

"Da Lang, what do you think of this? Can you raise some money for the Liao? ”

Uncle Zhang, who spoke, thought about it and thought about it, as if there was only this way.

Since the imperial court can't pay for it, let the businessmen pay for it!

Zhang Shangying also looked at Wu Haogu.

Wu Haogu frowned, and his brain began to turn.

The Liao's demands are reasonable. Because the Great Song Dynasty has all kinds of calculations for the commercial market, and Wu Haogu himself has a small abacus, so the Liao people have to be fooled? They must have a plan, and that plan is to ask for money.

But...... Can the money come out?

One hundred and twenty thousand is a lot of money for the Khitans, and it is nothing to the Great Song Dynasty.

But the problem is that this money is used to assist the Liao army in the war, which is contrary to the goal of the establishment of Jiehe Shang City. If Wu Haogu takes it out, oh, it should be clearly taken out of this money, then it will be a matter of giving people a handle.

If someone in the DPRK and China uses this issue to attack the market, it is difficult to say whether the market can be continued. Even if the business market can be done, he will have to be charged with betraying the country.

Thinking of this, Wu Haogu shook his head slightly and said, "The Liao people are just blackmailing...... We can't give out this money. ”

"If you don't pay this money," Zhang Shangying looked at Wu Haogu, "Can things succeed?" ”

Wu Haogu thought for a moment, and suddenly laughed: "Yes!" We will definitely succeed! ”