In the night, the Empress Dowager Liang of the Great White Gaoguo, dressed in military uniforms, stood on the tower of Xingqing Mansion with her arms crossed, her tall and plump figure stood straight, her beautiful face was shrouded in gloom, and her two eyes were in the dark, looking as deep as an abyss.

At this time, she was on the tower of Deshengmen in the north of Xingqing Mansion, facing the north, and in the distance as far as the eye could see, there were dots of firelight, as if they were stars in the sky, but they were on the ground.

There is a camp of tens of thousands of Liao soldiers!

These Liao soldiers were originally sent by her three times to beg and beg for invitation, but now they have become a sharp knife pierced in her heart. Just eighteen days ago and twelve days ago, she successively received a handwritten letter from Zhang Qi, the pacification envoy of the Great Song Jingyuan Road from Weizhou, and Yelu Asi, the envoy of the Privy Council of Northern Liao, who supervised the army to aid Xia!

The contents of the two handwritten letters are similar, all pointing to the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang sending an envoy to Kaifeng to ask for surrender, and also presenting her own portrait. Now let her hurry up and go to Kaifeng Mansion to ask Zhao Xu, the official of the Great Song Dynasty, for her guilt......

This is simply nothing!

However, whether it was Zhang Qi's messenger or Yelu Asi's messenger, they all brought a portrait of the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang herself.

The portrait is real! Empress Dowager Xiaoliang looked left and right, and felt that it was right, the person on the picture was herself!

This is a portrait of yourself...... But when was this portrait drawn? Empress Dowager Xiaoliang didn't remember anything at all. And she couldn't understand how this portrait fell into the hands of the Great Song Dynasty officials?

She didn't know what was going on, so she couldn't explain it to Yelu Asi of the Great Liao Kingdom.

If it was in the past, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang was not afraid of tens of thousands of Liao soldiers. The Liao State is now trapped in the Northern Rebellion, and it is a little anxious, how can it really use troops against Western Xia?

But the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang has just lost a war that she can't afford to lose! Lost the entire Hengshan and Tiandu Mountains. Now the eastern border between Western Xia and the Great Song Dynasty has moved from the Hengshan line to the Great Desert Gobi - which means that it is basically impossible for the Western Xia to attack the Song Kingdom to the east and southeast!

The Song state, on the other hand, could outflank the southern part of Western Xia by launching an attack on the Qingtang and Tibetan dynasties. And once the Qingtang and Tubo subjugated the Great Song Dynasty again, the Western Xia would fall into the predicament of being attacked on both sides in the southeast.

Although it will not die all at once, it will be very hard and poor. The Western Xia would not be able to gain commercial benefits through the Hexi Corridor, nor would they be able to profit from plundering the Song Dynasty's Shaanxi Roads.

Moreover, it had to deploy heavy troops on the southeast and southeast roads to guard against the Song army's "shallow attack" and "fortress advance" at all times. This plunged Western Xia into an endless and protracted war.

Therefore, the defeat of Hengshan marked the complete failure of the thirteen-year reign of the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang......

She was defeated by the faint monarch and traitorous ministers of the Great Song Dynasty!

In this case, the Liao State was the only life-saving straw in Western Xia, and now this straw has become a noose, asking the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang to hand over the power to her son and go to Kaifeng Mansion to ask the faint monarch of the Song Dynasty for guilt!

Why don't you go?

Can it still be fought?

What about suicide?

All kinds of thoughts turned over and over in her mind, so that Empress Dowager Xiao Liang, who was standing on the Desheng Tower, finally just let out a long breath, and smashed her pink fist on the battlement of the city wall irritably.

Seeing that her sister was indignant, Liang Yibi, who was the most confidant, walked to the side of the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang silently.

Without looking back, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang knew that it was her most trusted brother who came over. Although he doesn't have the ability of his brother Liang Yiqi, he is loyal and obedient like a dog.

So after Liang Yikui's death (he was eliminated by the Empress Dowager Xiao Liang), the Liang clan that the Empress Dowager Xiao Liang relied on the most was him.

"Third brother, is there a problem with Xingqing Mansion?"

On weekdays, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang would never say such a thing. The Liang clan has been controlling the power of Western Xia for thirty years! Cronies have long been planted inside and outside Xingqing Mansion. The center and right wing of the Gongwei Xingqing Mansion were under the control of Liang Yongneng and Liang Gewei of the Liang family. The garrison army is also buried in the Liang family. But she still felt that she might cause trouble at any time......

Although the Liang clan's henchmen are all over the Xingqing Mansion and beyond, the people of Western Xia are party members after all! Moreover, since the Empress Dowager Liang's aunt, Empress Dowager Liang, has been in power, the Western Xia has implemented the national policy of "Huhua" and vigorously promoted "de-sinicization". Although the supreme power was held by the Han Chinese, the power of the Tangut Dangxiang people was not weakened in any way.

This policy of currying favor with the party members to stabilize the rule made the Liang regime's foundation in Western Xia very weak. Once the rule of the Liang clan is not conducive to the party members, it will immediately cause trouble to the capital. Even if the Liang clan served as the commander and supervisor of the armies inside and outside Xingqing Mansion, it would be useless, because the middle-level and grass-roots officers of these armies were all party members.

Liang Yibi glanced at his sister, and at this time, he already felt that a catastrophe was coming: "Queen Mother, I have 3,000 soldiers of the Liang clan, all of whom have been transferred to Xingqing Mansion City to protect the palace tightly...... If the Queen Mother prepares to go east, these 3,000 people are enough to escort all the way......"

"What do you mean?" Empress Dowager Xiao Liang shouted angrily, "Do you also want to sell the mourning family to Lord Song?" ”

"Sister," Liang Yibi was about to cry, "Zhang Qi of the Great Song Dynasty sent an envoy to deliver a letter today, saying that as long as the second sister is willing to go to Kaifeng, the Lord of Song will treat him as a prince...... All offerings follow the prince's example, and they are glorious and rich, and they will never be less than in Xingqing Mansion. ”

"You ......"

Seeing her younger brother's bear-like appearance, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang also knew that she couldn't count on it. But she has no idea now, it is impossible to fight with the Liao soldiers outside the city, and as soon as the order is issued, the party members in the city will blow up.

Since the Great Liao is not allowed, and the Western Xia can't stay, if you don't vote for the Song Dynasty, will you jump the Yellow River?

She, Empress Dowager Liang, is not afraid of death, but many people in the Liang family are willing to die with her? What's the use of everyone dying?

It's better to flee to the Great Song Dynasty, maybe there will be a day in the future?

Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang sighed: "Have all the families packed up?" ”

Although Western Xia was poor, the Liang family had been in charge of the country for 30 years after all, and they were always able to loot a lot. Even if there aren't many yellow and white things, good horses, swords, and scarlet armor can be sold for a lot of money if they are brought to Kaifeng Mansion, right?

"That's it! It's all ready to go......"

Empress Dowager Xiao Liang nodded, "Okay, I'll leave at dawn...... Send someone to the Liao military camp to inform them, saying that I will return the government to the lord tomorrow, and then set off for Song to apologize for their sins and ask them to retreat fifty miles. ”

"Okay, I'll go." Liang Yibi sighed, and just wanted to turn his head to pass the order, but was stopped by the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang.

"Wait, you go and tell everyone again, you have to be ready to fight to the death." Empress Dowager Xiaoliang said, "As long as we don't enter the Song Realm for a moment, we are all in danger of extinction!" ”

"Got it." Liang Yibi was ordered to go.

Empress Dowager Xiao Liang continued to stand on top of the city tower, but turned her gaze to the east, muttering to herself: "Who handed over the portrait of the mourning family to the Song people?" Who painted this portrait? If the mourning family finds that person, they must cut it with a thousand knives to vent the hatred in their hearts! ”

……

Wu Haogu shook for no reason at this time, and the wine glass in his hand was not held steady, and it fell to the floor with a bang and shattered.

He is now holding a banquet in Pan Lou to celebrate his promotion and fortune! Yes, it is indeed a promotion and a fortune.

Because he just handed over the official body in the right election division of the Ministry of Officials today, although the official notice has not been obtained (at this time, the official notice has been abolished, and the civil and military officials and official notices are all produced by the Ministry of Officials), but Wu Haogu is already a serious military attache of the Song Dynasty from now on!

From now on, he will be a glorious member of the ruling group of the Great Song Empire!

In addition to the promotion, the trial release of the first issue of the "Oiran" album was also a great success. The inaugural issue of the album consists of 36 pages (excluding the cover), which is a line-bound edition, of which 30 pages are the white drawings of Master Li and Mo Niangzi, and the other six pages are "tricks" - that is, the white descriptions of the real pictures plus advertising words. A page of "tricks" charges a thousand yuan!

The price of the 36-page "Oiran" album is 450 wen (50 of which is for the retail side), and Christie's income is almost half a penny, which is definitely not cheap! However, the 2,000 copies that were released through the Kaifeng Mansion were sold out in a short period of time. Many calligraphy and painting studios saw that the "Oiran" album was easy to sell, and they also sold it at a higher price, and the most expensive one was sold for 2 copies!

In addition, the six glamorous tricks that were advertised in the "Oiran" album also became popular overnight, and they became red horned tricks that can be compared with the seven Oiran.

Although the soft release of the Oiran album only generated 7,000 taels of sales for Christie's, it was undoubtedly a very good start.

This shows that Wu Haogu has once again identified the hot spot of the market - eroticism, the eternal hot spot, how can it not make money? If Wu Haogu didn't even know this, and stupidly went to print newspapers commenting on the government, then his brain must have been in water!

Wu Haogu, who has achieved success, has decided to invest in the construction of Christie's own engraving workshop, as well as in the research and development of color printing.

At the same time, 20,000 copies of the inaugural issue of "Oiran" were printed, and the price was increased to 500 articles (actual receipt).

With such a double happiness, Wu Haogu naturally wants to celebrate. So he held a banquet in Pan Lou, mainly inviting friends from the calligraphy and painting shop - now they have another identity and have become the distributors of the "Oiran" album. Through them, Wu Haogu could even buy this album to other cities in the Great Song Dynasty!

In addition, the Pan family brothers and sisters, the Mi family father and son, Ji Yi, Ma Zhi, Tong Guan, Liang Shicheng, Li Zhong, Gao Yu, Cai You, Guo Jing and Liu Wuji also received invitations. By the way, Gao Yu's relative Gao Niangzi was also invited, and Wu Haogu wanted to take this opportunity to finalize the matter of marrying Pan Qiaolian with Pan Xiao'an.

He is now a military attache of the Great Song Dynasty and a friend of Duan Wang Zhao Ji, and he has also joined the Cai Loyal Party, and the backstage is as hard as a steel plate! This time, Liao will definitely be promoted, even if he can't get to the ambassador, it won't be too bad.

Can you be accommodating and let Wu Dalang marry Pan Qiaolian first?