The official surnamed Tong is Tong Guan, and now he has the title of a small worship official, and he serves as a palace attendant in the National Letter Office. If he encounters frequent appointments with Song Liao, he can serve as a companion or messenger, and if he does a good job, he will be easily promoted.

However, now the Song and Liao are in the "Cold War", the Great Song Dynasty fought a decisive battle with the Western Thief Army in the northwest Hengshan, and the Liao State mobilized the Jingzhou soldiers of Nanjing Province and Xijing Province while quietly watching the development of the situation.

After all, Yelu Hongji of the Liao Dao Sect did not have the ability to predict the prophet, and he would not know that the army led by the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang would soon suffer an unprecedented defeat. Therefore, Liao Daozong was not busy exerting too much pressure on the Song State...... This superstitious Buddhist emperor of the Liao State was still relatively friendly in dealing with the Great Song Dynasty, and if the three-legged situation could be maintained, he did not want to cause more trouble.

Therefore, Tong Guan is relatively idle these days, and those who are idle can run errands for the Queen Mother.

However, contrary to Tong Guan's expectations, a simple errand job caused him to run into an unexpected feat.

Tong Guan actually met a businessman who knew the domestic affairs of Liao well in the mansion of Pan Xiao'an, who lived temporarily in Wuhaogu, in the mansion of the Daimyo's Mansion.

After some conversations, Tong Guan learned a lot about Liao's domestic affairs that even the Guoxin Office and the Privy Council North Room did not know.

For example, the palace tent army of the Liao State is now going all out to encircle and suppress the king of Zhubu Khan named Mogus! The war lasted for six or seven years, and although the Liao court always claimed victory, and Mogus also "died" seven times, he was able to "resurrect" each time, so that the war dragged on for a long time.

Moreover, Tong Guan also learned that in order to defeat Mogusi, the Khitans had to withdraw their troops from the territory of Shengnuzhi, which they had been strictly guarding about, so the jurisdiction of the Shengnuzhi envoy was now basically out of the control of the Liao State.

At the same time, the chief of the Yanbu who gave birth to a daughter, Yang Cut Taishi (Wan Yan Yingge, he is the envoy of the birth of a daughter, and the Liao people call the Jie Du envoy as the Taishi, so it is called Yingge Taishi, and Yang Cut Taishi is a homonym) and took the opportunity to expand his power, while annexing the neighboring female direct tribes; On the one hand, he sent envoys to make friends with Goryeo and tried to purchase weapons and armor to further expand his force.

Looking at his ambition, if he continues to grow, I am afraid that sooner or later he will be a Mogus again.

"Outside of the horsemen, do you think the Jurchens will grow stronger if they have iron armor?"

The burly body, hard skin and bones, and a little beard under the cheeks of the boy through the green uniform, Ma Jindao sat on the upper seat of the hall, holding a bowl of fragrant cloud tea, listening to Ma Zhi tell the story of Liao's domestic affairs with relish. When you hear something incomprehensible and don't behave like an official, you will immediately be ashamed to ask.

Ma Zhi's style is seventy or eighty percent similar to Tong Guan, and his eyebrows are dancing when he speaks, which is obviously quite speculative with Tong Guan.

Hearing Tong Guan's question, he also knew everything, and replied with a smile: "The big officials don't know, the strength of the Khitans has actually weakened a long time ago, and their hinterland warriors no longer have the courage of the past. Nowadays, the reason why we can maintain a little advantage over divination and female straightness is that iron tools are strictly prohibited.

As far as a certain person knows, the armor in the hands of the Divination Department and the Birth Daughter Zhiwan Yan Department is less than 1,000 pairs, maybe only three or four hundred. Their arrows are all a mixture of iron and bone, and they are only willing to use iron arrows when life and death are at stake.

Because of this, today's Khitan has been able to barely suppress the two. If the Divination and Nuzhi had enough iron weapons, the Khitan would probably be in danger. ”

Tong Guan squinted his eyes and listened carefully to Ma Zhi's words, and waited until Ma Zhi finished speaking, and then was silent for a moment before asking, "Isn't it possible to get iron tools from Zhu Bu and Nuzhi?" ”

"Difficult." Ma Zhi shook his head and said, "The Khitans are very well guarded, and the Goryeo, Western Xia, and Uighurs also restrict the flow of iron tools into Zhubu and Nuzhi. ”

"Why restrict?" Tong Guan asked, "Could it be that he is afraid of the Khitan power?" ”

Ma Zhi smiled: "The big officials don't know, in the Northern Dynasty, everyone knows that they are obstructed and their daughters are straight tigers and wolves." Giving the tiger and wolf iron tools is to help the tiger with wings. ”

Because the Song Dynasty did not have a direct relationship with the obstruction and the birth of a daughter, I don't know how powerful these two tigers who were locked up by the Khitans were!

The Goryeo, Western Xia, and Uighurs all had direct access to divination or had daughters, so they naturally knew that this big tiger would eat people once it was released. Therefore, these countries have seventeen or eighteen more hearts and minds in dealing with divination and giving birth to daughters, for fear of raising tigers.

Therefore, now on the grassland and in the forest, a little bit of iron is as expensive as anything, so it is not strong to block divination and give birth to daughters.

Tong Guan listened to Ma Zhi's words, and he had a feeling of sudden enlightenment in his heart. In addition, he also has doubts about Ma Zhi's identity.

Because Ma Zhi's analysis of the problem of obstruction and female straightness is too thorough, it is not like a businessman can see it clearly. Moreover, although Ma Zhi deliberately spoke with a Hebei accent, Tong Guan, who had been in contact with the Liao people, still heard a little taste of Yandi.

This horse is very likely to be a Han from Liao......

And it's probably a treasure!

Tong Guan won the treasure, and when he was in a good mood, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, and then he saw the door being pushed open, and two panting young men walked in, and they saluted Tong Guan in both directions.

"Mi Youren has seen Tong Daguan."

"Wu Haogu has seen Tong Daguan."

Tong Guan recognized Mi Youren, smiled at him, and returned the courtesy, and then his eyes turned and fell on Wu Haogu: "You are Wu Chongdao, right?" ”

"Down there is Wu Haogu on Panlou Street."

When Wu Haogu spoke, he had already straightened up and began to look at the bearded eunuch in front of him.

Speaking of which, this can be regarded as a typical example of the disabled and strong, regardless of the physical disability, resolutely followed Rong, led the troops to fight in the northwest, Jiangnan, and Yanyun everywhere, expanded the Tuhe River, and wiped out Fangla. If it hadn't been folded in the hands of Yelu Dashi in the end, it would have been a lot of hard work.

As for the defeat of the Liao army, it can only be said that it was too bad luck, and he actually met Yelu Dashi, the founder of Western Liao and the hegemon-level figure of Central Asia. Moreover, at that time, the battle of Liaojin had been fought for more than ten years, and even if Yelu Dashi's army had few people, there must have been many brave veterans who had fought to the death with the Jurchens who had been fighting for many years, and their combat effectiveness would definitely exceed that of the Song army that was managed by many heads and demolished each other......

"Sit down, sit down and talk."

When Wu Haogu was thinking about Tong Guan's tragic end, the long-bearded eunuch had already spoken.

"Thank you."

Wu Haogu was not polite, thanked him, and sat down with Mi Youren.

"Wu Chongdao," Tong Guan's tone was very polite, and he said with a smile, "A few days ago, Han Dafu sent a "True Picture of Quit Arhats" into the palace, you painted it, right?" ”

"Yes."

Wu Haogu handed over a piece of "Bishamen Tian" to Lu Zhishen and gave it to Han Zhongyan just to show respect, but he didn't expect that this Han Dafu would let people send the painting to the palace, and he didn't expect that the Empress Dowager would immediately send someone to the Daimyo Mansion to recruit him.

Tong Guan nodded and said, "In this case, are you willing to go back to Kaifeng Mansion with our family and enter the palace to draw a piece of paper for the Queen Mother and the official family?" ”

"I can paint for the Queen Mother and the officials, but I can't ask for it."

In the Song Dynasty, as a great painter, there was no way to avoid serving the court, and there was no need to avoid it, so Wu Haogu agreed immediately.

"However, there is still half of the painting that has not been completed here in the Daimyo's Mansion," Wu Haogu then asked, "I wonder if I can stay after the painting is completed and then go back to Kaifeng Mansion?" ”

Tong Guan frowned slightly when he heard this, and then glanced at Ma Zhi from the corner of his eye—this is a talent, I have to find a chance to have a good chat—so he nodded and said: "Then give you another three days, three days later, set off with our family to Kaifeng Mansion, and rush on the way, you can't tell the Queen Mother and her old man to wait." ”

"Then thank you to Mr. Tong." Wu Haogu stood up and saluted Tong Guan, but the corner of his eye swept to Ma Zhi, who was also sitting in this room.

Ma Zhi and Tong Guan met twenty years in advance......