When the Song Dynasty's five-way expedition failed, the Liang clan led a group of women's army to launch a crazy pursuit of the Song army.

That's when she was wounded.

Then Liang was sick, Pingxia City was defeated, and Liang's condition worsened, but the secrecy measures were done well, and the Song Dynasty did not find out.

Then the wind and snow set the sky, and when he heard this fiasco, Liang was angry and died soon after.

However, at this time, the Song army was attacking Xiao Pass again, and the Western Xia were worried that there would be an accident when the news came out, so they concealed Liang's death. This is also the reason why the Song army attacked Xiaoguan for three days in a row and did not see any Western Xia reinforcements arrive.

This made the Xia army of Xiaoguan depressed, and the Western Xia soldiers who belonged to the Xiaoguan area opened the gate and surrendered, while the soldiers who did not belong to the surrounding area hurriedly fled when other soldiers opened and closed the door to surrender.

In fact, at that time, the Western Xia country was really nervous, because not only did Liang die, but Liang Yiburi was also seriously ill.

Don't ask if it's cold, when it's so cold, it will hit the sky at night.

If the Song Dynasty had marched in at this time, the Liang family would have died and the country would be in danger.

However, Zhang Qi had already stopped.

First of all, it is necessary to pacify the surrounding tribes, have a fortress to defend, and have the support of the people, which can be called acquisition or occupation.

But it will not be like some scholars, with brain money to buy An, now this problem Wang Ju has also repeatedly said, the national issue is also like educating children, love is necessary, but can not be pampered, the stick may not beat the son who has become a talent, and the habitual son may not be filial. It's okay for everyone. Looking at the rebellions in many barbarian areas of the Song Dynasty, it was not as the brick family later said, that the Song Dynasty was forced to revolt because of abuse. The Song Dynasty had the courage to abuse the barbarians. Opposite. Mostly pampered. In the end, I don't know why. For example, Nong Zhigao, you are an independent king, and the hatred of Jiaozhi is related to the Song Dynasty! But no, it usually did not bring any contribution to the Song Dynasty, on the contrary, it took in a large number of fugitives, and the Jiaozhi people defeated them, and they did not dare to embarrass the Jiaozhi people. Instead, he took the Song Dynasty to vent his anger.

What Zhang Kai did was very simple, that is, he publicized the tax policy of the Song Dynasty, and did not take out money to buy it deliberately, but compared with the heavy taxes of the Western Xia, the tax of the Song Dynasty has undoubtedly made the surrounding Qiang people feel that they are living in paradise.

Then Zhang Kai arranged for people to explore the road.

It turned out that there were only two roads on the front line of Jingyuan Road and Huanqing Road, one was the road from Yuanzhou to Pengyuan County, Wang Ju bought Qinzhou Tubo horses in Huachi, and took this road. In fact, this road no longer belongs to the front, but to the rear.

There is also a road, that is, from Tiansheng Village to Qianxing Village and then to Huluquan Village and Slender Waist City. However, when this village was built at that time, it was mainly to appease the Qiang Department of Yuanzhou such as the Pearl and the Tibetan Empire, and the two forts were built together. Cut off these Tibetan tribes and the Xixia people, unable to make eye contact with the Xixia eyebrows, naturally honest, just like the current Western envoy Cheng Yu Tibetan hemp.

No one asked if this guy was one of Li Liangzuo's ministers before his death, as long as you didn't secretly contact Xixia, he would still give you a lofty status.

However, this road was surrounded by enemy territory, and the road was rugged, so it caused the two cities to be abandoned for a time.

Wang Ju picked it up during the Battle of Gyeongju and played an important role.

Later, the status of the two cities declined again, and in military terms, this place was easy to attack and difficult to defend, mainly because of the rugged roads and the fact that it was surrounded by enemies.

Now that the front line has been pushed to Xiaoguan, the military status of the two forts has further declined, but it is conducive to commercial and trade exchanges. Under the influence of Wang Ju, Zhang Kai also attached great importance to building roads, not building forts, these forts really gave up, if the people were willing, let them become a spontaneous grass city, in fact, even Qianxing Village and Tiansheng Village did not have much military role. The main thing to build is to build the road and further widen it.

Now the exploration is the third new road, Dayan Mountain, Pingyuan Village, Dingbian Village, Sandiangou, until Pingxia City. did not dare to move forward, the front Qinggang Gorge was still under the control of Western Xia, but if this road was communicated, the front line of Huanqing Road and Jingyuan Road would undoubtedly be more closely linked, and it would also be conducive to business and trade. When it is critical, the troops of the two routes can also use this channel to communicate with each other and assist each other.

But it's cold now, and if you want to build the road, you have to wait until the beginning of spring next year.

For the time being, it is just exploration to lay the foundation for next year's road construction.

In fact, it is not these two roads, in the past two years, the Song Dynasty has allocated a total of 31 million guan of money and silk for infrastructure construction, and a state army can almost share 100,000 guan!

Therefore, the country is building roads and water conservancy on a large scale.

However, this sign shows that the Song Dynasty accepted it when it saw good.

So the Western Xia sent an envoy to Yanzhou to report the funeral.

A look of joy flashed in everyone's eyes.

Wang Ju said: "Princess, let me say two words, first of all, Li Liangzuo and Li Bingchang father and son use Han rites, and the Liang family uses Fan rites, if those who use Han rites can take it down, it will be conducive to assimilation, but if they don't take it, it doesn't mean that Li Liangzuo and his son have a good impression of our dynasty, they use Han rites, but they only use the Chinese system to govern the country, and it has nothing to do with whether they have a good impression of our dynasty." ”

"Secondly, although the Liang family died, she made her niece the queen of Western Xia, plus Liang Yibury and other sons of the Liang family controlled the government, Li Bingchang is still a puppet, as long as the Liang family controls the national government, the hostility towards our dynasty is only deeper, not the deepest."

As Wang Ju said, Li Bingchang saw that his hateful mother had finally died, and another hateful person, his uncle Liang Yibury, had also begun to become seriously ill and was about to die.

However, Li Bingchang has not yet been in power, and he found that his situation was worse than before, the inner palace was controlled by his wife, and although Liang Yibu was seriously ill outside, he had successfully handed over the power to his son Liang Yikui.

In fact, when the Western Xia was mourned, Li Bingchang was depressed and also began to fall ill in bed.

Wang Ju said: "In fact, the territory of Western Xia has not expanded in the hands of Li Yuanhao, but why is it called a hero, it is not only a military merit, but also a country-building merit." With the establishment of the national name, there is orthodoxy, so the political situation in Western Xia has been chaotic in recent years, but it has never been divided. Whether it is the Liang family's detention of Li Bingchang, or the possibility that Liang Yibu may turn Li Bingchang into a puppet again, it will have little impact on Vaxia. If your own hard power is not enough, how can you want to take advantage of it? ”

That is, the Liang family is dead, and Song Xia cannot be expected to be friendly.

But I want to cut the summer. Regardless of whether Liang is dead or not. None of them will have much of an impact. It's even better to manage Helan Stone well, which is more beneficial than the political turmoil in Western Xia.

Wang Ju still has a word to say, that is, this Xiao Liang clan is even more arrogant than the big Liang clan!

However, Wang Ju still underestimated the impending chaos of the political situation in Western Xia...... And the timing of his descent was so timely!

Fan Chunren said: "It's just that if it reaches the ears of the envoy of the Liao State, it will be impossible to avoid explanation. ”

Not to mention the hardness, because he wants to cut the summer, even Wang Ju can't be hard.

The Liao State is too powerful.

The Liao envoy also came, and Yeluxiang and Jia Shixun came to congratulate Zhengdan.

First, they exchanged polite words. Ye Luxiang immediately asked politely: "Your Majesty, last year, why did your country start the dispute over Pingxia City for no reason?" ”

Wang Ju said on the side: "Your Excellency, if you have any questions, come and ask me, because all kinds of military arrangements are orders given by a certain Zhongshu. ”

In the face of Wang Ju, Yeluxiang also had a headache, Pingxia City was defeated, and the Liang family asked the Liao State for help. The monarchs and ministers of the Liao State also discussed, and the specific process is not very clear. But the Liao Kingdom also learned about it, and scolded the Liang family for being unconscious, and after this killing god came back, he continued to provoke the Song Dynasty, wouldn't he be looking for death.

Then everyone analyzed Wang Ju's strength, and someone said that this son is equivalent to the combination of Han Derang and Yelu Huge.

This evaluation is high enough, even if Wang Ju has big fingers, he is at most similar to Han Derang in internal governance, and he will not surpass Yelu Hugo militarily.

There is also the fact that Wang Ju is always dissatisfied with Zhao Ji's checks and balances, but he also ignores that if Zhao Ji wants to forge ahead, it is impossible to give him too much space to display his talents.

But this evaluation is not too high, because of his big fingers, Wang Ju is indeed more powerful than ordinary people.

Hearing this evaluation, everyone gasped.

Therefore, Yeluxiang's face was embarrassed for a moment, and then he said: "See Taibao, why?" ”

"Observer Yelu, let me make an analogy, do you need a reason for your country's crusade against the Obstruction or the Ughu Enemy?"

"There is some difference between the Xia Kingdom and your country, and the Divination Kingdom relative to our Dynasty."

"Okay, I plan that Western Xia is to my country, what Goryeo is to your country, so it's about the same."

Ye Luxiang nodded, I can't say that Western Xia is relative to the Song Dynasty, which is equal to Liao relative to the Song Dynasty, and Western Xia doesn't have that ability.

"If you give hundreds of thousands of dollars to Goryeo for silk tea every year, but Goryeo still repeatedly invades your country, what will your country do?"

The answer was good, and many ministers drank dark colors in their hearts.

There are also many middle and low-level officials who have a banquet in the palace, but outside the corridor, although they can't hear what is being said inside, but there are eunuchs constantly walking around, putting wine and food, so they also bring out the questions inside, after hearing this answer, there was an immediate buzz outside, and many people couldn't help but whisper, okay.

The history books say that the Song Dynasty was very weak, and it was not so weak, but sometimes it was really weak, not to mention how rampant it was for the Liao envoys to come to the capital, and even the Western Xia envoys came to the Song Dynasty, which was also very rampant.

When Song Yingzong ascended the throne, Wu Zong, the envoy of Western Xia, made a big fuss, and in the year of Song Zhezong's accession to the throne in history, the summer envoy Chun asked Luo Yu to come to the capital and resisted the sound of the clouds: "Yuanfeng is in the west, the teacher is unknown, and Shenzong also knows his mistakes!" ”

Anti-Shengyun is a nice way to say, but in fact, he yelled angrily at Xiao Zhezong, Yuanfeng Xiqiu, your Great Song Master is unknown, and even your dead father knows that he is wrong, so he has to return the encroached land to us in Western Xia (Mizhi Village and Lanzhou and other places).

At that time, Xiao Zhezong was only eleven years old, that is, this spring, but it was not simple.

No matter how small he was, but the emperor was not easy to refute, so he immediately changed color and got up and left the hall.

It's a pity that the emperor was humiliated, Sima Guang and other old parties didn't have anyone to come forward to resolve it for Zhao Xu, on the contrary, Sima Guang came, if it wasn't for Fan Chunren and Lu Gongzhu to block it, he would almost even hand over Xihe Road to the Xixia people.

So throw away Zizhi Tongjian, and then peel off Sima Guang's hypocritical coat, this person is really ugly.

But it also shows the weakness of the upper echelons of the Song Dynasty, and the envoys of the two countries came to the capital of the Song Dynasty, which was really arrogant.

Yeluxiang was speechless for a while, and after a while, he asked: "But Xixia Baoshuyun, you are going to Shaanxi this year and want to pacify Xixia." ”

"The news of Western Xia is quite well-informed, I will go to Shaanxi next year, and I really want to destroy Western Xia."

"You ......"

"Jerod observed. Let's listen to so-and-so. The Alliance of the Abyss. Has your country won or lost? ”

"Won."

"Really? You go back and open this historical record, fortunately, Wang Chao led an army of more than 100,000 troops in Dingzhou at that time, and he was still arranging a formation for some reason, otherwise the hundreds of thousands of iron cavalry in your country might not have returned. But in that case, whether or not we can destroy your country, or not? Therefore, it is the right thing for His Majesty Zhenzong to negotiate peace with your country. It is precisely because of this alliance that there has been more than 80 years of peace. But the other way around. Our dynasty has penetrated deep into your Liao country. Both attacks were equally disastrous failures. Then to the Western Xia, I went to the summer twice, but the old man was useless. But your country also attacked Western Xia once. The result? Even the first emperor of your country almost lost in the meander. ”

"That's the carelessness of the first emperor."

"Yelu observer, if you say so, it is cunning, if I am not careless in Chao Taizong, after the destruction of Taiyuan, I will immediately reward the soldiers of the three armies with money and silk, then the morale of the three armies will be boosted, how can the defeat of the Gaoliang River come from? If General Cao Bin had protected the grain and grass from the beginning. Where did the fiasco of Qigou Pass come from? If General Gao Zunyu is not greedy for merit, let Liu Changzuo continue to storm Lingzhou City. His three armies marched steadily, camped on a high place, and slowly approached, what would happen to Western Xia? In fact, the truth behind these carelessness is that it goes deep into the enemy territory, and the time, place and people are not in me, so it is impossible for us to have the other party perfect in terms of layout. Therefore, there are many defeats and few victories, and it is a battle to conquer the country. I say that, do you understand? ”

"Western Xia listened to rumors"

"It's not a rumor, after the battle of Hequ, did your country swallow its anger, no, successively sent troops to encircle and suppress the Western Xia for several years, and almost broke through the Xingqing Mansion, since then, the Western Xia began to be respectful to your Khitan. This is also the reason why I am going to Shaanxi, because I have to beat them so that the border can be truly peaceful. If you do this, will your Khitan still stop you? ”

If so, Liaoguo blocked a fart.

It's better for you to fight to the death.

Yeluxiang was suspicious, Wang Ju continued: "Hugh wants to underestimate this time, place and people, just like after the fiasco of Qigou Pass, our elite soldiers sacrificed countless soldiers, and your country still launched several attacks on our dynasty, only the first battle of Junziguan has gained a little, and how about the rest of the battles, even your country's invincible brave general Yelu Xiuge was beaten twice by our dynasty in the Tang River and the Xu River. Or just like now, our dynasty cherishes this peace very much, but if your country finds an inexplicable reason to turn over and tear this peace up, our dynasty will not be afraid. Why, because my dynasty does not want to invade your country, but your country wants to invade our dynasty, and the army has come to my territory, and with me, I will ensure that your army will not return. At that time, the two countries were in constant turmoil, the people were in pain, and there was such a huge year, and you Liao don't expect to have it. ”

This sentence has several meanings.

I went to Shaanxi just to seek justice, and this is what you Liao has done.

If you are not satisfied with this because of this, then go to war.

But from beginning to end, I never had the idea of recovering Yanyun.

Therefore, if you start a war, it will only be your Liao State that invades our dynasty, and at that time, the right place and people are in me, and with my talents, I will definitely be able to defeat your Liao State. And not to mention the victory or defeat, at least this 500,000-year-old is gone, don't really think it's 500,000, it's silk or silver, and when it is transported to the border, it is Xinguan, and it is worth nearly one million. If the Liao State loses such a large amount of income every year, what will happen!

This is very important, and in the same way, I am not sure that I will destroy the Western Xia.

The small half is a fool, and the majority is half-true, including not wanting to recover the Yanyun region, which is also true. Unless Zhao Ju can live for ten years and continue to trust Wang Ju, then Wang Ju is sure to recover the Yanyun region, but before that, Wang Ju must also do one more thing, first detonate the birth of Juzhen.

But in the face of Wang Ju's prestige, Yeluxiang also had to believe it.

Wang Ju said: "But there is one thing that is very incomprehensible, before your country and our dynasty made peace, although they attacked and defended each other, they never tortured and killed prisoners of war, so after the peace alliance, the two countries exchanged prisoners of war. Including the catastrophe and famine in Youzhou, our dynasty also let the victims of your country come to our court to eat. But after the disaster, they sent the people back one by one, and did not persuade any people to stay. The same is true for the Western Xia, almost all the prisoners of war captured were returned, that is, a certain prisoner of war was allowed to mine and build roads, and many scholars and doctors criticized me as a butcher. But in Yongle City, 300,000 people, they are soldiers, what is the result, all of them were tortured and killed! Why didn't you Khitan uphold justice? ”

"The summer was unsuccessful, and the city of Yongle was defeated in a series of fiascos. Why didn't you Khitan send an envoy to dissuade the Western Xia from stopping the invasion? Peace and friendship between the three countries? However, the Western Xia suffered a slight setback. Then you sent messengers and asked what you mean? ”

How did Jeruxiang answer?

Although the Western Xia also submitted to the Liao State, but nominally this land was still the Song Dynasty, even at the time of the Yuanyuan Alliance, Li Jiqian's scope of life was only in the area of Nanhetao and Donghengshan in Xiazhou, Yinzhou, and the rest of the area, including the Beihetao under the Xiyin Mountain, were all submitted to Wang Jiacheng and Fengzhou Wang Jiacheng. It is equivalent to convincing the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, logically speaking, whether the Western Xia is a vassal or not to the Liao State, they are all vassals of the Song Dynasty!

Wang Ju sighed again: "I didn't expect your country to have such an attitude, originally I discussed with Your Majesty and was ready to send a big gift to your country to express the friendship between the two countries." ”

"A big gift?" Yeluxiang was at a loss.

"Please use it," Wang Ju pointed to the dining table.

There are a few strange foods on the table, don't ask how these grains are served at the emperor's banquet, even now they are still seeds, and they are very expensive. Some of them started to sell in the market, but the price was unimaginably high.

And the government also cooperated to raise prices. Why, the higher the species, the more people will be, otherwise relying on the government to promote, it will not cost manpower and material resources, and the effect will be limited.

Yeluxiang picked up a piece of diced potatoes with chopsticks and put it in his mouth, and after eating, he asked, "What is it, and why haven't I eaten it?" ”

"This is called potatoes, with a yield of nearly 1,000 catties per mu, this is called sweet potatoes, with a yield of 1,500 catties per mu, and this is called corn, with a yield of more than 300 catties per mu, and they are like sorghum, which are more drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant. If cultivated properly, it can be planted, including in the depths of Liaodong. ”

"Ah," Yeluxiang screamed at first, he was not stupid, if this kind of crop was popularized in the Liao Kingdom, how much impact would it bring, he immediately fell to the ground and said to Zhao Xu: "Your Majesty, please hand it over to our country for transplantation, if Your Majesty allows it, after the minister returns, he will persuade the emperor to give a large number of horses to your country." ”

There is nothing that Liao can handle, only war horses.

Zhao Ji secretly made a gesture at Wang Ju, did a good job, and then said to Yeluxiang with a smile: "Yelu envoy, you get up." In fact, whether there are horses or not, I am ready to hand them over to you Khitan. The main thing is that they were brought back by maritime merchants from the far other side, and they are tens of thousands of miles away from our dynasty, and the seeds are very precious, so they are planted, and they are not suitable for the climate of the Central Plains. There is also an adaptation period. At the same time, I also plan to spread it to the northeast of Hebei River next year, and once you get used to it, you can send dozens of farmers over next spring to see how the people of our dynasty are planting, and then you can bring them back to your country after autumn. Remember, for so many years of peace and friendship between Song and Liao, it was mutual respect and no war. ”

"Yes, yes." Yeluxiang nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

The Song Dynasty was short of food, and the Liao State was even more short of food!

However, many ministers who did not know the truth were angry, and after three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, two messengers went down, but these ministers did not leave. As soon as the envoy in front left, a minister behind him asked Wang Ju: "Taibao, how can such a crop be handed over to Liao?" ”

"The Liao army and our Korean army, who dares to be fierce?" Wang Ju asked.

Everyone's faces were embarrassed, even now, the combat effectiveness of the Song army was still inferior to that of the Liao army.

"Why is the Liao army more fierce, the reason is simple, they are cavalry, although some areas in the south of the Liao State have also started farming, but mainly the Han and Bohai people, if even the Khitans, Xi people, and Jurchens in the central part of the country have begun to plant, one by one from the horse, will it be so terrible?"

Everyone suddenly realized.

"This is a yang conspiracy, otherwise, the group of people in Liaodong will be terrible in the future...... But as long as these crops are popular, the biggest enemy in the future is only the nomadic people in the western desert of Liao. Also, why did the Liao State send an envoy to ask, if it wasn't to pull the bias, once the Xia attack was successful, would our dynasty have the idea of fighting Yanyun? ”

Don't talk about others, I'm afraid that even Zhao Ji will have to think about it again.

"But it is very difficult to recover Yanyun, at least don't think about it in the past ten years, with the concern and goodwill of these crops, when I officially send troops to Western Xia, the Liao State will have ties and disputes. Delay it, and your precious time will be won back. ”

The group dispersed.

However, Zhao Ji motioned for Wang Ju to stay.

The eunuchs and palace maids were cleaning up the wine table, Wang Ju glanced at it and whispered, "Your Majesty, do you want to be a benevolent monarch?" ”

"Why, do you say that?"

"Your Majesty, the inner treasury is now more abundant, if the palace maids are willing, the palace maids who are over thirty years old can listen to their departure from the palace, and the court will take out some money to repatriate, so that these palace maids will not be locked in the deep palace and have a resentful atmosphere, of course, some intimate and loyal palace maids are willing to stay spontaneously and serve the concubines, so don't ask."

Although the Song Dynasty got married relatively early, but now there are some people who spontaneously "marry late and have children later", but it has nothing to do with population expansion, the Central Plains has been peaceful for a long time, and they are also heavy on marriage, so some little girls are waiting for the golden beetle son-in-law, some young men are raising dowries, and some families prepare dowries for their daughters, because the economy forces many people to get married later and later......

Released at the age of thirty, he still has time to get married, and he is a palace maid, at least better than the concubines of those big families.

"This ......" Zhao Ji thought for a while, and finally said, "Okay." ”

Don't look at it simply, it's also troublesome to do, if a large number of palace maids are repatriated, then many young palace maids will be recruited every year, but these little girls are young and new to the palace, and they don't know how to do things, so between a move, there must be a bit of chaos in the inner palace.

But this problem can be solved, and it is indeed humane.

It's not a big deal, Zhao Ji asked in a low voice: "Once the summer is cut, will the Liao State send troops?" ”

"The possibility of sending troops is not small, and the minister is afraid that from this year onwards, the Liao State will send an envoy to the Western Xia to observe, if that happens, the Liao State will be able to receive the news of the Western Xia in time. But it doesn't matter, the minister still has a backhand. ”

"...... backhand?"

"Your Majesty, I heard that Your Majesty asked the eunuch to buy two Haidongqing from the market, and I like it very much."

"This," Zhao Ji was silent.

"The minister is not a minister like Wei Zheng, and he does not reject this, in addition to handling government affairs, His Majesty occasionally goes out for a walk, or teases the eagle, which is also beneficial to His Majesty's body. Just don't ignore government affairs because of playthings. ”

"I know," Zhao said angrily and amusefully.

"But it is the ...... of the minister's backhand" (To be continued.) )