Perhaps it was a few spring rains, but the water level of the Sanggan River, known as the Little Yellow River, finally rose for thousands of miles in the land of Heshuo in northern China, rolling and churning through the land of Yanyun.

Under the pretext that the water was shallow, the two ships belonging to the Great Song Dynasty Mission, which had been going back and forth on the Jiehe River for nearly twenty days, finally began to go north. Driven by the water wheel, slowly, it drove towards the city of Xijin Prefecture.

A civil official wearing a vermilion official uniform and a hat was leading a large group of officials in green robes to observe the terrain on the top platform of one of the building ships.

Beside him, there was also a short and fat civil official, who was splashing ink on the painting case, as if he wanted to include all the scenery on both sides of the Sangan River on the drawing paper.

On both sides of the Sanggan River are green wheat fields, and the growth of wheat looks good. A little farther away, there are a few small forts, I don't know which one belongs to?

On the embankment, there is a team of guarded cavalry, all dressed as guards of the Han army of Liao, riding horses, carrying bows and arrows, and holding horse guns, about 1,000 people. They are the team led by the successor of the Great Liao.

Ma Renwang set off from Xijin Mansion half a month ago, and took 1,000 cavalry from the south and north to meet the mission led by Shang Shujian Xuchen of the Great Song Dynasty Rite Department.

And this time the task was not smooth, Jian Xuchen for some reason, he kept delaying time, under the pretext that the Sanggan River was shallow, and he could not let the boat pass through and was unwilling to enter Liao immediately.

This is actually a ridiculous excuse, because the building boat will sail to Xijin Mansion City at most. There is no place to be seen in the Great Liao Emperor's Son, Yelu Hongji, and the planned place of the pilgrimage is the Duck River (Mingtong River) in Chunbodi, which can be found in Changchun Prefecture. So it was impossible to travel all the way, and most of the road was still on horseback.

Now, even if it is difficult to travel on the boat, the horse that can be ridden for a while will be there.

However, Ma Renwang did not urge Jian Xuchen, but dragged it for nearly twenty days by him before slowly heading north.

"Shangshu, it's already been drawn."

On the boat, the green-robed official who was a little obese put down his brush at this time, and handed a landscape painting with part-time work to the senior in the vermilion official uniform.

This obese green-robed official is none other than Wu Haogu's old acquaintance Chen Youwen. And the official in the vermilion robe was the envoy of the Great Song Dynasty at this time.

"Okay, well drawn, with Fan Kuan's seven or eight points of charm." Jian Xuchen pretended to look at the painting, and then handed it to his deputy envoy Li Zhong.

"Senior Officer Li," Jian Xuchen turned his gaze to the cavalry led by Ma Renwang again, "You are often in the Western Army, and you know the soldiers...... How are the cavalry of those Khitans better than the cavalry of the Western thieves? ”

"Shangshu, those are not Khitan cavalry, they are the cavalry of the Han soldiers guarding the pro-army in Nanjing Road."

"All Han Chinese?" Jian Xuchen asked.

"It's all Han Chinese." Li Zhong replied.

"How's the combat power?"

Li Zhong thought for a while, "It should be inferior to the party's iron harrier, and it is not as good as the elite of our Western Army." ”

"Not as good as the Western Army?" Jian Xuchen asked with interest, "If the Western Army is used, can you go straight to Xijin Mansion along the Sanggan River?" ”

"This ......"

It's a difficult question to answer.

Li Zhong is Li Xian's adopted son and a real soldier. I also know what Song Jun's problem is...... The combat effectiveness of the troops is one thing, and the command from above is also very important. Now the Western Army can give full play to its combat effectiveness, to a large extent, because the two civilian brothers, Zhang Dian and Zhang Qi, are really knowledgeable soldiers.

Among the civil officials of the Great Song Dynasty, there are many who think they know the soldiers, but there are few who really understand. It is rare for the two brothers Zhang Dian and Zhang Qi to really understand, and it is really good to be in a position where they can exert their strength.

If there were no Zhang brothers, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang would not have moved to Kaifeng Mansion now.

But Zhang Dian and Zhang Qi are old, how many years can they run? They're going to die...... Who can take their shift?

Is this Jian Xuchen Jian Shangshu next to him?

Li Zhong thought of this and pondered and said, "If we meet in the northwest, the cavalry of the Western Army will naturally be able to defeat them. But the war started in Yanyun...... It's hard to say, it's really hard to say. ”

Jian Xuchen thought for a while, "Why is it so hard to say?" ”

Li Zhong said: "The east and west roads of Hebei have been peaceful for decades, and the forbidden army, the people, and the officials have not known how to fight. This situation is similar to Shaanxi and Hedong when the Western thieves first started to make trouble.

In addition, the suffering of Sanyi returning to the river also made Hebei East Road lose its vitality......"

"But Yan Yun hasn't been good all these years." Jian Xuchen said, "It is said that it is already difficult for the people to make a living, and the country will not be a country." ”

Li Zhong smiled and said, "That's too...... As soon as the soldiers arrived, they fell into the wind. However, the preparation for the hard battle still needs to be done. ”

"That's right." Jian Xuchen nodded, and did not continue to discuss future military affairs with Li Zhong...... This war probably won't happen in ten years, right? It's too early to discuss.

……

"Da Lang, Da Lang, I just received the news that the Song envoy will be here soon, how many days will it take for your mural?"

Ma Zhi walked into a newly built Buddhist hall that still exuded the fragrance of wood, and whispered to Wu Haogu and Zhang Zeduan, who were painting oil paint on the murals, that the Great Song Dynasty mission was about to arrive in Xijin Mansion.

"It will take at least seven or eight days...... Wu Haogu replied as he applied paint to the wall with a special paintbrush, "This mural has fourteen figures, and it is still in the style of oil painting, so it is not easy to paint!" ”

If it weren't for the oil painting, Zhang Zeduan could have stayed to complete the painting. If Mi Youren is here, he can also write on his behalf. But now, Wu Haogu can only finish painting this "Last Supper" alone.

"If I really can't, I won't go to Duck River." Wu Haogu said, "It will take twenty or thirty days to complete the whole map of Yanjing City. ”

The complete map of Yanjing is another important mission of Wu Haogu's trip, and it is also a project that can make great contributions—he plans to copy all the 26 squares of Yanjing (Miyagi is not carefully drawn) to the drawing paper. Of course, I drew pencil sketches, only a hundred of them from different angles, and then numbered them one by one. After returning to Kaifeng Mansion, Huang Shilang's team will be able to make a model of Yanjing City based on the drawings.

With this model, it should be much easier for the Song army to capture Yanjing City in the future...... If you study it a little more, you can even copy a Yanjing city in a one-to-one ratio, and let the troops undertaking the siege task conduct "on-the-spot exercises".

Although Wu Haogu was not in favor of using force to recover Yanyun, he still had to be prepared for the worst!

In case the Yanyun wealthy family is unwilling to belong to the Great Song Dynasty, and the "Liaodong Road" cannot hold back the Jurchens' progress, then it is also necessary to take the land of Yanyun before the Jurchens.

And to quickly take the land of Yanyun, in Wu Haogu's opinion, the only way to take Yanjing City is to use the momentum of thunder to take Yanjing City.

As long as they show strong combat effectiveness in the Battle of Yanjing, then the Yanyun Han clan will truly belong to them.

With the attachment of the Yanyun Han clan, it is not so easy for the Jurchens to go south again.

In contrast, the photo pictures of Yelu Hongji and Yelu Yanxi are not so important, and Chen Youwen is also in the mission, so he can complete this task.

Ma Zhi also knew the importance of Yanjing's full map, nodded and said, "Over there, there's no problem, right?" ”

Wu Haogu smiled: "Just go and say it...... Second brother, is there a way for me to enter the embassy? ”

Ma Zhi said: "Of course there is no problem, I will accompany you with Brother Zhong when the time comes." ”

"Okay, that's a deal."

……

In the Longyan Iron Mine in the northeast of Xijin Prefecture, in a large mansion where Bohai craftsmen lived, it was full of people. Many of them had mud on their bare feet, as if they had just come out of the mud. These people basically look like coolies, and there are a few people in robes, who seem to have a bit of status. Several Bohai women, holding the wine jar, carefully added wine to the wine bowl in everyone's hand. On the other side of the kitchen, the smell of meat wafted from the room.

In one room, there are more than a dozen more gorgeously dressed men, dressed in Han family costumes, but with big braids on the back of their heads, which are typical Bohai costumes.

They sat around a square table, and in the seat facing the door was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a dark, rough face, evidently weathered. His system is short and stocky, his eyes are bright, and he has a beard, which is like the fierce Zhang Fei in later TV.

He seems to be the head of these Bohai people, and he is muttering Bohai dialect.

"The King of Swords said that the era of our Bohai people's oppression is about to pass, and the prosperous country of Haidong will surely reappear in the world! The national fortune of the Khitan people has come to an end, and in its place it will be our prosperous country in Haidong! ”

"Haidong Shengguo!"

"Haidong Shengguo!"

The Bohai people present cheered, and everyone had tears in their eyes. These people are not ordinary Bohai slaves, but the children of Bohai You, who are either engaged in business in Xijin Mansion or as a petty official who manages a government-run workshop.

Compared with the children of the Han people who can serve as the rulers and envoys of the state army, these children with the right surname of Bohai have no future at all. Their status is not even as good as that of the retainer-level Han Haoqiang. Although it is difficult for the latter to be modest, they can still serve as many fat shortages, and they can only serve as the lowest-ranking officials for the rest of their lives.

Therefore, these children with right surnames, until today, do not forget their prosperous country in Haidong.

However, if you want to restore the Bohai Kingdom, it seems that the strength of the Bohai people themselves is not enough, and even if you unite with the Jurchens, it is difficult to have the strength to overthrow the Khitan.

Moreover, what the right surname of Bohai and the royal family of the Great Clan want most is their Haidong Shengguo, not a country ruled by the Jurchens - although their status in this country is definitely ten million times better than in Daliao, they still make a decision.

In this case, it was necessary for the Bohai people to obtain the support of the Great Song Dynasty. And to get the support of the Great Song Dynasty, the Bohai people must show strength and determination!