end song

Chapter 1214
On November [-]th, it snowed heavily.

A group of chariots and horses slowly drove across the ice of the Tang River.

Hao Jing lifted the curtain of the car and looked out, and said, "Has the battlefield been cleared?"

The general in charge of guarding him was named Huang Yu, and he didn't speak like a rough man. He responded, "Most of Tang's troops are from the south, and they are not resistant to severe cold. Most of them hid in Quyang, Xingtang and other cities. They were stationed the night before. On the bank of the Tang River were Zhang Hongdao's seconded troops from the Zhending historian, not many of them, and they surrendered as soon as they heard that the commander was dead."

"In this way, the result of the battle is not great?"

"2000 people were captured, and the results are not small." Huang Yu said: "I heard from Commander Zhang that it was mainly a blow to the morale of the Tang army. Coupled with the weather, they are not acclimatized, and they can die quickly to save the state." .”

Hao Jing nodded, knowing it well.

The chariots and horses continued to move forward, and there were few people in the wilderness ahead, but the watchtowers built by Tang Jun could be seen at intervals.

Huang Yu then sent someone to shout a few words.

"Da Yuan sent envoys to see His Majesty the Emperor of Tang!"

Soon a group of cavalry came out from the snowstorm.

The leader of the Tang Military Academy opened the curtain and took a look inside, and said loudly: "Mr. Hao, right?! Dare to come to see my Majesty, are you not afraid of death?!"

Hao Jing stroked his beard and smiled and said: "If you are afraid of death, the old man will not come."

"Are you ashamed to be a lobbyist for Menglu?!"

"Eat the emperor, the matter of loyalty to the emperor, and the festival of dedication, how can you be ashamed to say it?"

"Hahaha, you treat Kublai Khan as a king, and people treat you as a dog!"

Hao Jing wanted to answer again, but the general of Tang Military Academy had put down the curtain of the car with a slam.

"set off!"

The team then continued southward to Zhending Mansion.

……

The city of Zhending is still the same, even more busy than before.

When entering the city gate, the team waited for a while, He Jing deliberately got out of the carriage to observe the city wall, and found that there was not even a new knife scratch on the city wall.

"The old man heard that the Tang army had a firearm, which sounded like thunder and destroyed everything it hit. Wasn't it used to attack the city?"

"You don't need to know, do you? We are all Han Chinese, so if you can persuade them to surrender, persuade them to surrender. If you really encounter stubborn people, kill them again!"

"The general can use idioms, but I don't know Gao's name."

"Haha, lackeys don't deserve to know, it won't be too late to tell you after you vote for my emperor!"

Already able to enter the city at this time, Hao Jing shook his head and smiled, entered the city, and found that there were still people walking around in the city of Zhending Mansion, if not for the many soldiers and horses coming and going, it seemed to be in peacetime.

He thought that he would be left hanging out for a few days, and he would be embarrassed before he could see Li Xia.

Unexpectedly, after arriving at the post house, after only waiting for half a day, Li Xia agreed to see him.

The meeting place is in the Longxing Temple Palace.

Longxing Temple was built during the Kaihuang period of the Sui Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin stayed here when he conquered Hedong, and then expanded it.

It was evening at that time, and a bell sounded from afar.

Someone shouted in front of the hall: "Hao Jing, the envoy of Zhao Yuan, has an audience."

Hao Jing suddenly thought of Jia Sidao, inexplicably worried that Li Xia would also detain him.

With this slightly uneasy mood, he stepped into the hall, bowed to salute, looked up and saw Li Xia.

He has really been famous for Li Xia for a long time, and they have a lot of intersections with each other, but when he saw him for the first time at this time, he was still stunned.

Such an extraordinary emperor of the Han family was indeed what he had been looking forward to, and when he suddenly saw it, he felt like a dream had come true... except that he was still too young.

"You don't need to be too polite, I have always liked your poems."

Hao Jing subconsciously asked: "But I wonder which poem His Majesty the Tang Emperor likes for his foreign ministers?"

"Of course it's the one I wrote on the wall when I killed someone."

"The minister's lack of talent and learning made His Majesty Tang laugh."

"Then I'm not kidding, I've read a lot of your poems." Li Xia said, "Shi Lang was the emperor and he was defeated from Ke, so he cut off the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun. Sejong happened to die in Guannan, and checked Chen Qiao as the emperor. Han Er I don’t see the Central Plains again, and Jiyuan was here in that day. There is no such thing as a minister and father in ancient times, and there is a stink from the ancient Huahua.”

After reading a poem, he raised his finger to Hao Jing, and said: "You are a history student, and you are not an unreasonable person in your poems and essays. Why do you give Hulu a running dog?"

Hao Jing immediately felt the majesty coming to his face.

He finally didn't dare to bully Li Xia when he was young.

"Foreign minister..."

"Forget it, there's no need to dirty my ears with your excuses."

Hao Jing is stagnant again.

He is a great Confucianist in the world, and he came prepared today.

The only thing I didn't expect was that Li Xia's every sentence was pre-emptive, and every sentence took him along, making it impossible for him to find the rhythm of his speech.

"His Majesty Tang Emperor, it's already winter."

With a rather blunt sentence, Hao Jing finally started to say what he wanted to say.

Li Xia seemed to chuckle slightly, sat down on the chair, took a booklet and looked at it without speaking, and let Hao Jing be the lobbyist.

"I don't know if His Majesty the Tang Emperor is aware that the place where the Tang army and the Yuan army are facing each other today is the border between Song and Liao?"

"I'm busy, if you have something to say, finish it at once."

Only then did Hao Jing realize that he and Li Xia were the only ones in the entire palace.

There was no stove, and there was draft everywhere, so it was very cold.

"The emperor of the Tang Dynasty created this foundation in ten years, which is great. However, the establishment of the country was short, after all, the national strength was insufficient. With such a mobilization of teachers and people, I don't know how long the money and food can last?"

Li Xia didn't answer, and didn't even look up at Hao Jing.

Hao Jing waited for a while, then continued: "The foreign ministers have roughly calculated that with the strength of the whole country of Tang, it is too late to finish the battle of Helan Mountain. It is really unwise to go north rashly. I am afraid that the treasury has already bottomed out at this time. right?"

Still no response.

"Dayuan has already sent heavy troops to Baozhou. The Emperor Tang did not give up. He thought that with Zhang Hongdao, he could break through Baozhou City years ago. But now that Zhang Hongdao died, the Tang army was defeated in the battle of Tanghe. Morale was low, and the heavy snow continued. , The grain and grass are exhausted, and as far as Tang Huang is concerned, it is time to harvest as soon as it is ready."

Li Xia finally took a look at Hao Jing and asked, "Are you finished?"

"His Majesty the Emperor of Tang should have received the news from the south, right?" Hao Jing said, "Foreign ministers may as well say bluntly that the Song court has agreed to send more than [-] troops to attack Sichuan and Shu. Sichuan and Shu are the foundation of His Majesty the Tang, so we must guard against them. "

Seeing that he hadn't finished speaking, Li Xia's eyes fell back on the notebook.

"His Majesty the Emperor Tang seems to have not realized the seriousness of the situation. The foreign minister said something from the bottom of his heart. In his heart, the foreign minister really hopes to see the Emperor Tang rule the world."

"is it?"

"But the so-called haste makes waste. With Tang Huang's current strength, there is no chance to achieve success in one fell swoop. Why not wait for the future?"

"Don't wait."

Hao Jing stroked his long beard, sighed, and said, "There are two more things that shouldn't be said. Foreign ministers can tell Emperor Tang privately. One, my lord has contacted Haidu, and Haidu has agreed to communicate with him. Yuan formed an alliance, this person only pursued his own interests, and seeing that Ulu was suddenly weak, he immediately had the heart to annex the Ili River Basin."

As he said that, Hao Jing stared at Li Xia, hoping to see Li Xia's eyes and see if he was pretending to be calm.

But can't see it.

Hao Jing continued: "Secondly, my lord has ordered Tubo to send troops to attack the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty. This team of envoys entered Tibet before King Yan escorted Basiba. Just imagine, if there were no envoys who entered Tibet earlier, how would my lord dare Let King Yan go in person?"

Li Xia still didn't respond.

Hao Jing said again: "Foreign ministers know that for the Northern Expedition, Emperor Tang personally went to the Western Regions, conquered the Song Kingdom in the south, attacked Hetao in the north, and sent envoys to Tubo. The purpose was to appease the four corners first, and then regain the Central Plains. Unfortunately, the Emperor Tang did not Do it well, or no matter how well Tang Huang does it, once he has the potential to dominate the world, all parties will still be ready to move. In the final analysis, it is because of the lack of strength."

Li Xia finally asked back: "If there are ten years to live, and I go to the north again, will you surrender me?"

"At that time, the foreign ministers will return."

"Why not now?"

"The emperor of the Tang Dynasty is still not enough to win the world, but the people of the Central Plains cannot be left alone."

"Have you finished all the reasons?"

"Your Majesty asks you to discern clearly the words of the ministers."

"I believe you." Li Xia said, "But let me tell you, you are mistaken."

"Foreign ministers are ashamed, perhaps the Emperor Tang is too conceited."

"Then I will add a few points for you." Li Xia said: "Let's talk one by one, Kublai Khan sent real gold to Tubo early last year, and before that, in October of the previous year, when I was still in the Song Dynasty, he sent The people went to see the king of Bailan, Chana Dorje, and the leader of Dosma, Kantomaengjia, and asked them to send troops to attack our hinterland."

"Cana Dorje is Kuo Duan's son-in-law, and Kanta Mengjia was completely subdued by Kublai Khan during his southern expedition to Dali. Tubo is far away. Kublai Khan's envoys met Chana Dorje in July last year, and then rushed to see Kan Tuo Mengjia. In October last year, they began to gather their forces, but at this time, Chandorji died. Not long after, it was the battle of Helan Mountain, and Kublai Khan was defeated."

Hao Jing was taken aback.

"Let's talk about something you don't know." Li Xia said: "After Chana Dorji died, his wife, the daughter of Kuo Duan, Mekaton, contacted the leader of Tubo, Gong Ge Zang Bu, who opposed the Basi Ba sent by me, and Allied with Kantomaengjia. In March of this year, they assembled a total of [-] soldiers and horses, and they wanted to take advantage of the battle between Kublai Khan and Kublai... Yes, it was half a year after the battle of Helan Mountain, and they planned to send troops. Burn, kill, and loot well."

Hao Jing shook his head and said, "I don't believe it."

"What don't you believe? You don't believe the information I got? It's very simple, just send a capable minister there. Or do you not believe that I can defeat these Tubo bandits."

Hao Jing said: "Even so, the Tang army must have spent a lot of troops, food and grass. I'm afraid it will be more difficult to continue the Northern Expedition?"

"Don't worry, let's talk about it one by one." Li Xia said, "As long as the Tubo bandits don't come out, I won't worry no matter how violent Haidu is in the Western Regions. It won't affect my defense in Gansu. As for Song Ting..."

Hao Jingdao: "If you let the foreign ministers guess, Zhang Hongdao has already heard about the fall of Kuimen, so he lost his sense of control and was too eager to get it done."

"No." Li Xia said: "I told him that the worst outcome is that the Song army occupies Sichuan and Shu, and they will be able to get it back sooner or later. After all, the Song army is not a bandit like a Mongolian captive."

"But it is a big blow to the morale of the Tang army."

"Do you know why I said the worst result?" Li Xia said: "This is determination. Even if the Song army goes up against the Yangtze River and overcomes many dangers, Kuizhou, Wanzhou, Zhongzhou, and Fuzhou, one year, two years, three years, I will We must also take down Yanjing first."

"Why?"

"Because Meng Yuan is a foreign race, because I don't believe that your way of practicing China is the master of China."

Hao Jing's momentum stagnated, he paused for a while, and said: "That's because you have never experienced the chaos in the Central Plains!"

"Many of my subordinates are civil servants and military generals who have experienced the chaos in the Central Plains. They are united and vow to restore China!"

"However, the situation is stronger than people..."

"I'll tell you what the situation is!" Li Xia shouted, "Aside from the worst outcome, I'm surprised that Jia Sidao dared to go west. I'm really surprised because I know the Song court better than you."

He got up, walked into the hall, and raised his hand, as if he didn't know how to describe the corruption of Song Ting.

"Jia Sidao dared to leave Lin'an. Even I can't figure out how many people behind him wanted to take his position and take his life. He dared to leave the court with constant party struggles and internal strife. The imperial court went west?"

Hao Jing opened his mouth, a little confused.

Li Xia's tone was also rarely uncertain.

"Going upstream along the Yangtze River, there are many dangers one after another. Without heavy troops, it is impossible to conquer, but if you bring heavy troops... I can't imagine when Jia Sidao's army will fall apart, and you, actually pin your hopes on him, take He came to threaten me?"

It seemed that Li Xia didn't dare to say something because he was too uncertain, so he had to say again: "In the worst case, Song Ting took Sichuan and Shu, so what? I snatched it from them once, and I snatched it again is it hard?"

Hao Jing still shook his head, expressing his disbelief.

He couldn't tell whether Li Xia really thought so, or was pretending to be tough.

"But your military morale is in disarray. Zhang Hongdao was in a hurry, so he died."

"Huh?" Li Xia asked back: "Who told you that Zhang Hongdao is dead?"

Hao Jingru opened his mouth in shock, too surprised to speak.

Li Xia had already approached him, and said, "I vowed not to repay the Northern Expedition until Yanjing was broken. These words are definitely not just words..."

(End of this chapter)