Fu Song

Chapter 277
Hebei Road, Xiongzhou.

This former border city is now only a few ruins.There used to be a formidable frontier army stationed here, the Xin'an Army, which was daunting to the Liao people, and now it has already blown away with the rain and the wind.

With his hands behind his back, Ma Xing looked up at the dilapidated walls, staring at the fallen leaves blown up by the autumn wind and falling on the scorched bricks and broken beams, his face was full of depression.

He has been on Hebei Road for more than half a year, and he has been cleaning up the mess left after the big defeat. Now, he barely has some clues.

But at this time, Bianliang suddenly wanted to transfer Zhang Chao back again, which made Ma Xing a little angry.

Although it was the first time to cooperate with Zhang Chao, the two cooperated very well.

As a military commander, even if he has become a captain, became a lieutenant, a lord, and a dismissal are all above Ma Xing, Zhang Chao still consciously puts his position very low, and cooperates well with Ma Xing. pretty good.

Ma Xing had been worried that the Bianliang Taiwei's domineering deeds to block the Liao people did not happen.

The two of them complemented each other perfectly, and they managed to control the situation steadily at the most critical moment on Hebei Road.The Liao army made troubles many times, but they were all repelled by Zhang Chao, without taking any advantage.With the passage of time, the advantages of the Song people in terms of location, numbers, and financial resources gradually emerged, and gradually gained the upper hand.

And here, the Liao people began to feel war-weary and began to rise.

The Liao army fought for less than half a year, and this big victory made them a lot of money. Seeing that if the stalemate continues, not only will there be no profit to be made, but there is also the possibility of losing money, so they naturally want to return. home.

Ma Xing couldn't figure out why the court wanted to transfer Zhang Chao back at this time.

Moreover, the Forbidden Army who followed Zhang Chao out of Bianliang had to go back with Zhang Chao.

This made Ma Xing very puzzled.

The Liao people have indeed retreated, but the hostility between the two sides has not been resolved, and the original frontier army in Hebei is no longer in shape. Once these forbidden troops leave, is it possible to rely on the local Xiang army to support the scene on Hebei Road?

He originally planned to keep these forbidden troops and use them as the skeleton to build a new Hebei Roadside Army. As a result, the plan went bankrupt before it even started.

"Bachelor, Xiongzhou City must be rebuilt!" Zhang Chaoyang, who was standing next to Ma Xing, said, "Xiongzhou City is the most important part of our fight against the Liao army. If we could gather heavy troops in Xiongzhou guard."

Zhang Chao's words came to an abrupt end here.

As the military leader who came to clean up the mess, he naturally knew that the strategy formulated by Qin Kuan, the commander of the Xin'an Army at the beginning, was to defend Xiong'an City, so he contacted Guangxin, Ansu and other frontier troops to move closer to him.

But Cui Ang's blind command at that time ruined everything.

What is even more irritating is that Qin Kuan asked other frontier generals to gather in Xiong'an City, and later became evidence of his plot.

"The past is over, it's useless to talk about it!" Ma Xing shook his head, there are too many people and facts involved, and it has developed to the point where it is useless to say anything.If people like Qin Kuan were still alive, Ma Xing would definitely try to find such an excellent general, but Cui Ang had killed these frontier generals without hesitation.

"Xiongzhou City, I will definitely rebuild it! Next year, the Taiwei will see the brand new Xiongzhou City stand tall!" Ma Xing said awe-inspiringly.

"I'm going back this time, and I want to go back to Hebei Road. I'm afraid it will be difficult. Unless the imperial court decides to attack Liao on a large scale, I will have the opportunity to lead the army!" Zhang Chao shook his head.

"Taiwei's departure, Ma has lost his arm!" Ma Xing said with emotion: "Taiwei, why don't you fight again, the current situation in Bianliang is better in Hebei than it is quieter."

Zhang Chao laughed: "Bachelor, since you know that Bianliang is complicated, why do you want to add fuel to the flames here? Your memorial made Bianliang turbulent!"

The memorial mentioned by Zhang Chao is the one that Ma Xingshang invited Jing Wang Zhao Zhe to inspect Hebei Road in order to revive the hearts of the army and the people.

In Ma Xing's capacity, it is extremely rare for him to submit such an account, which basically shows his attitude above politics.

Ma Xing turned around and seemed to be walking a few steps forward in a leisurely manner. Zhang Chao also followed up with satisfaction. Seeing this, the other entourages did not follow up knowingly, and stayed behind to talk to the two senior officials. Space for private conversation.

After a while, Ma Xing said: "Mr. Zhang, if I say that I, Ma Xing, was forced to do nothing in this matter, can you believe it?"

"Bachelors are tough, who can force you?" Zhang Chao laughed.Although they have only worked together for less than a year, Zhang Chao still has a deep understanding of Ma Xing's style.

"Yes, and this person was created by me alone." Ma Xing said with a wry smile, "I never imagined that I, Ma, raised a colorful tiger with my own hands. Now it's showing its teeth and claws, but I can't do anything about it!"

"Bachelor, you mean Xiao Changqing?" Zhang Chao was startled.

Ma Xing nodded, bent down, brushed on a large pile of broken bricks, sat down, looked up at Zhang Chao: "Isn't it? It's Xiao Changqing. Zhang Taiwei, do you know Xiao Changqing's strength now?" how?"

"I've heard a little bit!" Zhang Chao nodded.

"What you know is only what's on the surface." Ma Xing shook his head and said, "For example, there are [-] to [-] forbidden troops and nearly [-] foreign troops under his command, but there are more things under the surface. And those who see The scariest thing is the one that doesn’t reach. Zhang Taiwei, we killed Li Xu, but the current Xiao Ding is much stronger than Li Xu.”

"Xiao Changqing should not rebel." Zhang Chao said, "Xiao Yu is still the Minister of Finance of the country!"

Ma Xing chuckled, "So our western marching chief wrote me a letter, directly asking me to support Jing Wang Zhao Zhe, and he said that if someone else took the position, he, the chief, would never be convinced of."

Zhang Chao gasped.

"You may not know that until now, none of Lan Sixin's people have been able to cross Hengshan." Ma Xing continued: "The people Lan Sixin sent to take over the state capitals north of Hengshan were all killed in Hengshan. The wolf is gone. The funniest thing is that Xiao Changqing kindly invited Lan Sixin to Xingqing Mansion for inspection, do you think Lan Sixin dares to go?"

"You haven't mentioned these things, bachelor, and Lan Sixin has never played with the court!" Zhang Chao was puzzled.

"I don't dare to say, I'm afraid that the officials will get angry for a while and insist on recalling Xiao Changqing, then something might happen." Ma Xing said: "And I still have hope, Xiao Changqing is in the northwest, one can go west To expand the territory of the country, the second is that it can pose a great threat to the Xijing Road of the Liao Kingdom. Now that the Hebei Road has been defeated, the frontier army has lost seven or eight, and Xiao Changqing's side is even more important. And Lan Si Xin didn’t say it, it’s because he wanted to hide his shame, and he didn’t want people to say that he was incompetent.”

"But in my opinion, the officials are afraid that King Jing will be the crown prince of the East Palace unintentionally!" Zhang Chao said affirmatively. As the emperor's number one confidant, Zhang Chao felt that he knew the officials very well.

Ma Xing smiled and said: "Not only does the official do not want to establish the king of Jing, he also does not want to establish the king of Chu. Our official is extremely obsessed with power. He hates any act of decentralization. Otherwise, how could Russell Having been the chief assistant for so long? This time when Russell stepped down and Xia Jie entered Beijing, the officials were also forced to do so. Taiwei, let me tell you, it won’t be long before Xia Jie will have trouble with the officials. Because Xia Jie is definitely not willing to be an answering chief assistant like Russell."

"Not really, if that's the case, why would Mr. Xia call me back?" Zhang Chao asked with a smile.

"Although I don't know what's going on here, there's definitely something wrong, Zhang Taiwei, after returning to Beijing, you have to be careful!" Ma Xing said sincerely: "Xia Shoufu, play with your mind, that's awesome."

"Thank you, Bachelor!" Zhang Chao arched his hands. In his opinion, this may be a kind of venting of Ma Xing's dissatisfaction with Xia Jie, because as far as he knows, Ma Xing also had the opportunity to return to Beijing and enter the East Mansion. Yes, but if Ma Xing goes back, Luo Song will be the chief assistant.But anyway, Ma Xing did lose an opportunity.

"Actually, our official doesn't have much prejudice in his heart about who to stand for, or he prefers to value King Jing more." Ma Xing said: "But if we really have to wait until the dust settles, I'm afraid our official will arrive Only at the last moment."

Hearing this, Zhang Chao also suddenly realized: "It is precisely because of this that the bachelor is willing to submit this memorial? Is this to appease Xiao Changqing's heart?"

"Yes." Ma Xing said indifferently: "Anyway, His Majesty won't do anything to me. I'm afraid I won't be able to find someone who is more suitable than me to take care of Hebei Road now. Zhang Taiwei, these things, come back After Beijing, you must not mention to the officials that the officials still trust Xiao Changqing very much, don't let this trust turn into suspicion, then it will be a big trouble for the country."

Zhang Chao nodded.

"Bachelor, you said that Mr. Xia transferred me back to train the Fourth Army. Did you also see this, so you have to rush to train? This time, the tens of thousands of forbidden troops I brought have been trained. Compared with before, they are still It's very different. In the next few years, they will return to Bianliang one after another, and then use them as the backbone to train the imperial guards in the capital, and they won't be as top-heavy as they are now."

"Strong stems and weak branches, the main idea is good." Ma Xing nodded and said: "If the imperial guards in the capital are really strong enough to convince the surroundings, there will indeed be a lot less things."

"Bachelor, although Zheng Xiong's reputation is not obvious, he has real talents and learning, but his luck has been bad. This time he came to Hebei Road to assist the bachelor's military. For him, it is a rare opportunity. Opportunity, this person will be reused by the bachelor, so he must be grateful to the bachelor, the bachelor is good to him, with him and Wang Jun assisting the bachelor, in terms of military affairs, there is nothing to worry about, after all Yelujun is coming, In a short period of time, there will be no major friction between the two countries."

"If it wasn't for your recommendation, I really didn't know that Zheng Xiong had such ability!" Ma Xing said with a smile, "It's because of your recommendation, I can't steal people's beauty."

"I recommend it, and the bachelor doesn't need it, so it's in vain!" Zhang Chao smiled: "Scholar, you don't let Wang Jun take the lead, is it because he was born under Xiao Changqing's command?"

"There is indeed such a consideration. Moreover, Wang Jun has been promoted too fast, which is not a good thing for him. It will be more handy to use it later." Ma Xing said with a smile.

"This person has been in Hebei for many years and has a lot of experience." Zhang Chao said: "There is a bachelor in Hebei. In a few years, Hebei Road will return to its former glory."

"Basic recovery will take at least ten years!" Ma Xing was a little sad, shaking his head again and again, pointing to the stumps of ponds, rice fields, and big trees not far ahead, and said: "The ponds can be dug again, and the fields can be reclaimed. Trees can also be moved, but the border residents who were plundered by the Liao people will never come back. Those tough and good-for-war border residents who were cultivated by King Jing for ten years have now become The slaves of the Liao people. Today, less than [-]% of the people in the frontier are left, and without ten years of strength, it is difficult for the population to return to the old view!"

Both of them were a little bit embarrassed. Anything is difficult to build and easy to destroy.

What King Jing had spent ten years working hard to do well, but in just a few months, it ceased to exist.

"The Liao people are cunning. They are willing to return the occupied territory and ask for less old coins, but they just don't want to release these looted border residents. Presumably it is because of this!" Zhang Chao said: "It's a pity that the officials care more about the territory. , and don’t care about these border residents, if we are tougher and are willing to give more coins and return these border residents, it will be better for the future.”

Ma Xing was silent, just sighing in his heart.

In the eyes of the officials, the lives of these frontier residents are not as important as his face!
Just being a courtier, he really couldn't say that.

There was the sound of horseshoes in the distance, and several horsemen came galloping.

Not far in front of the two, the knight got off his horse, trotted up to the two, cupped his hands and said, "Scholar, Taiwei, the driver of Qishui County King of the Liao Kingdom is less than five miles away!"

The two nodded. The most important thing for the two of them to come to Xiongzhou this time was to welcome Yelujun, King of Qishui County, Zhengdan envoy of the Liao Kingdom.

Ordinary Zhengdan envoys naturally don't need to work hard. The two of them came here to welcome them together, but Yelujun is really extraordinary.

Not to mention the great defeat of Song Dynasty this time, it was thanks to this person. Just because this person was the first heir to the throne in Liao Kingdom, Ma Xing and Zhang Chao had to pay attention to it. Song, this person is like the prince of the East Palace.Of course, it is worth the two of them to meet hundreds of miles away.

"I really can't figure it out, why did the king of Qishui County choose to come to our Song Dynasty at this time? Didn't it mean that their emperor's body is already extremely weak, and he may return to the west at any time?" Zhang Chao said puzzledly: "If When he was in our Great Song Dynasty, their emperor died. He could not quench his thirst near the water. Maybe he could only stay in our Great Song Dynasty for the rest of his life, and he would never go back. Yeluxi, who went to Jingdao I have always regarded him as an enemy."

"If you really want to let Yeluxi take over, I will make three mistakes in a row!" Ma Xing was full of enthusiasm: "It's better to let Zhang Taiwei be right, this Yelujun is much more difficult to deal with than Yeluxi. A text The Khitan emperor, who can be a Jinshi and can command thousands of troops, feels a little scary when you think about it."

(End of this chapter)