Fenghou

Chapter 455
Xiazhou is located in the east of the Xixia Kingdom, with the vast Hengshan Mountains to the south, the vast Mu Us Desert to the north, and the Suide Army of the Song Dynasty on the other side of the Hengshan Mountains.

Xiazhou City is located on the north bank of Dingshui, with sufficient water sources, and the largest iron mine in Xixia is nearby. The iron smelting center of Xixia is located in Xiazhou.

The commanding army of Xiazhou was Xiao Heda from Khitan. More than [-] years ago, the young Xiao Heda came to Xixia as the chief guard of Princess An, and never returned to the homeland of Liao Kingdom. However, the Khitan cavalry under him changed. Dial a few times.

At its peak, Xiao Heda had [-] troops under his command, but in the past two years, Li Qianshun used various excuses to draw away many of his troops, leaving him with only [-] troops left. At its peak, it was reduced by half, but Li Qianshun was still extremely afraid, and he was still doing everything possible to weaken him.

The land of Xixia was covered with heavy snow, and Xiazhou became a snow-covered world. This morning, a caravan of camels slowly entered Xiazhou City.

This caravan is a caravan of Hu people in the Hexi Corridor. They went to Qinzhou, bought a batch of high-quality leather boots in Jichuan County of Qinzhou, and sold them to Xixia for sale. The leather boots in Jichuan County of Qinzhou used to be The leather boots of Ganquanbao are very famous and popular in Xixia. In Qinzhou, the purchase price is three yuan per pair, but in Xixia, they can be sold at a high price of eight yuan per pair. A trip can cost several thousand. profits.

Of course, the caravans not only sell leather boots, they also sell other specialties of Qinzhou, such as Qinzhou ceramics, and the recently popular Qinzhou coal in Xixia, namely briquettes and briquettes, as well as special coal stoves and tongs.

In just one year, briquettes and briquettes have been popularized in Qinzhou and Gongzhou due to their convenience and practicality, and soon spread to foreign countries. First of all, Xixia is also extremely short of fuel. Some businessmen transported a batch of briquettes I went to Xixia with briquettes, and it turned out to be very popular and became the first choice of families in Xixia city.

This barbarian caravan also had a relatively secret mission. They were entrusted with delivering a letter from Chen Qing to Xiao Heda, the commanding army of Xiazhou.

Xiao Heda is about forty years old. He looks mighty and strong, with sharp arrow skills and excellent martial arts. He has five sons, all of whom are highly skilled in martial arts. They are known as the Five Tigers of Xiazhou. They control his father's [-] troops Xiao Heda's two sons-in-law are also from Khitan, and they are quite talented. The eldest son-in-law Yelu Jinfeng manages Xiazhou's government affairs for him, and the second son-in-law Xi Mu is his military adviser and advises him.

It was with the help of his five sons and two sons-in-law that Xiao Heda firmly controlled Xiazhou, making Li Qianshun want to get rid of him, but he couldn't move him.

Under the strict guard of hundreds of cavalry, Xiao Heda had just returned to the castle from the barracks. At this moment, his second son-in-law Xi Muna came up to him and said, "Father-in-law, there is an important situation!"

Xiao Heda frowned, "What's important?"

Xi Muna glanced around, Xiao Heda nodded, "Let's talk about it after entering the castle!"

Xiao Heda's mansion is a castle, located in the southwest corner of Xiazhou City, covering an area of ​​[-] mu, surrounded by a wide moat. in the castle.

When Xiao Heda came to the lobby, Xi Muna took out a letter and presented it to him, "This is a letter sent by someone from Chen Qing, and it is his own handwriting."

"Chen Qing?"

Xiao Heda stared wide-eyed, of course he knew Chen Qing, how could Chen Qing find him?
"Who sent the letter?"

"Father-in-law is a Qiang caravan from Zhangye. My son-in-law has asked repeatedly. They just went to Qinzhou to buy a batch of goods, and then came to Xiazhou to do business. By the way, they brought this letter for Chen Qing."

Xiao Heda looked at the letter, it was written in Chinese, he knew it, the Xihe Road Jiedu envoy of the Great Song Dynasty, Chen Qing and Xiao Heda, the chief commander of the Daliao Dynasty, were in charge.

The title of "Chief of the Daliao" deeply hurt him. Where does the Daliao Kingdom still exist?

After a while, he opened the letter and read it again, his eyes widened and his expression became extremely astonished.

Xi Muna had never seen such a surprised expression on his father-in-law, so he asked cautiously, "Father-in-law, what did Chen Qing say in the letter?"

Xiao Heda waved his hand, "Go and find Yelu Jinfeng, and we'll talk about it together."

Xi Muna knew that something big must happen, so he hurried out.

Not long after, Xi Muna and his eldest son-in-law Yelu came in a hurry. At this time, Xiao Heda had recovered from the extreme shock, but he was still a little distraught, pacing back and forth in the lobby with his hands behind his back.

Seeing the two son-in-laws walking into the lobby, he waved them to sit down.

Xiao Heda sighed, "I never dreamed that Yelu Dashi would rebuild Daliao in the Western Regions."

The two sons-in-law looked at each other, and Xi Mu asked anxiously, "Did Chen Qing say that in the letter?"

"Exactly!"

"How could Chen Qing know?"

Xiao Heda shook his head, "I don't know the details, maybe he heard from a businessman from the Western Regions, but I know that Yelu Dashi led the army to the west, but I didn't expect him to rebuild Daliao, I only regret that I didn't able to take part in it.”

Rebuilding Daliao is a great cause that every Khitan person dreams of, and Xiao Heda is no exception. At this moment, his heart is full of enthusiasm, and he can't wait to lead his army to the Western Regions immediately.

Yelu Jinfeng was very steady, he asked slowly: "Chen Qing must have other intentions in writing to his father-in-law!"

Xiao Heda smiled bitterly and said: "He invited me to join the great cause and destroy Xixia together!"

"Bullshit!"

Yelu Jinfeng said coldly: "He wants us to rebel and relieve him of the pressure. I don't think he can hold on with the overwhelming army in Lanzhou!"

Xiao Heda knew that the eldest son-in-law was more thorough in seeing things, and the eldest son-in-law's thinking should be right. He and Chen Qing had never met each other. He came to him at this time, obviously wanting to use him.

"What does Jin Feng think I should do?"

Yelu Jinfeng thought for a while and said: "I think my father-in-law should make it clear to the emperor to clear up the misunderstanding. I am worried that Chen Qing will deliberately drive a wedge between us and the Xixia people, and maybe he will write a letter to the emperor saying that we intend to rebel. , father-in-law simply handed over this letter to the emperor to show his innocence!"

"Absolutely not!"

Xi Muna objected: "If there is no matter of Yelu Dashi's founding of the country, you can talk to Li Qianshun, but since Yelu Dashi has rebuilt Daliao, Li Qianshun will definitely regard us as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, and will definitely do everything possible to eradicate us. This letter tells Li Qianshun that it is tantamount to handing over the handle to him, regardless of whether we have colluded with Chen Qing or not, but he will definitely accuse us of secretly colluding with Chen Qing, and he will have an excuse to send troops to destroy us."

Yelu Jinfeng retorted: "If Chen Qing tells the emperor that he has colluded with us, isn't it the same thing? The emperor can also find an excuse to destroy us."

"So this is a conspiracy!"

Xi Muna said decisively: "It has nothing to do with whether we have colluded with Chen Qing or not. The root cause is that Li Qianshun wants to destroy us. Once he knows that Yelu Dashi is rebuilding Daliao in the Western Regions, he will only speed up the pace of destroying us."

Xiao Heda was completely convinced by the second son-in-law. The second son-in-law was right. The root cause was that Li Qianshun wanted to destroy himself. He must not tell Li Qianshun about this, and Li Qianshun used it as an excuse to destroy himself.

Xiao Heda walked around a few times with his hands behind his back. He made up his mind and said to his two sons-in-law: "I have decided to send people to the Western Regions in the spring of next year to contact Yelu Dashi. I will definitely not be absent when the Liao Dynasty is restored!"

Yelu Jinfeng was a little unwilling and said: "But the Western Regions are so vast, how do you know where Yelu Dashi is going to restore the country?"

Xiao Heda pointed to the channel: "Chen Qing drew a map in the letter, I probably know where the new Liao Kingdom is."

He turned back and said to Xi Muna: "I want to write a reply letter to Chen Qing, reject his suggestion, and thank him for telling me about the restoration of the Daliao Dynasty. You arrange two capable men to ride camels to Qinzhou I deliver the letter."

(End of this chapter)