The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 488 Tong Guan Northern Expedition
It can be said that once Mu Xu's military merit system was announced, it caused an uproar. Not only the military responded enthusiastically, but the people were also very enthusiastic.

This can be seen from the overcrowding of several conscription points, which shows the attitude of the people towards this policy.

After all, in this year and month, ordinary people don't have many ways to rise, not to mention the bonus of land, which is really a great temptation for the common people at the bottom.

Apart from ordinary soldiers and civilians, the people who are most concerned about this matter are naturally a group of generals. What they are most concerned about now is what kind of titles they can get, whether their previous achievements are counted or not.

Especially the last question, many soldiers are also very concerned, because according to the standards of promotion, there are many people who can be awarded the title of corporal and sergeant, and there are even many soldiers who can meet the requirements of the sergeant.

Under such circumstances, everyone dared not ask Mu Xu for information, so they turned their attention to the generals Mu Xu was closest to, such as Hua Rong, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, Lin Chong and others, even the newcomer Yue Fei Because of Mu Xu's extra reliance, he was harassed, overtly or covertly.

In the end, everyone was really annoyed, so they approached Chai Jin and Hua Rong, hoping that they could come forward and ask Mu Xu for clarification, so as to give a clear answer to the people below.

The reason why they found two people is actually very simple, that is, their identities are suitable, even if they say something wrong, they will not make Mu Xu angry.

Seeing this, and the fact that Chai Jin and the two have not had a clean life recently, they agreed and made an appointment to visit Mu Xu's mansion together.

When the two arrived at the Jiedu Mission's Mansion in Dedingxiang, they saw Mu Xu in the study after being informed by the guards, but after seeing him sitting upright at the desk, he listened to what Shi Qian and Shi Xiu reported.

Seeing the two people coming in, Mu Xu waved his hands casually, signaling them to sit down, and then continued to ask Shi Xiu, "Since everything is stable in the army, what about the civil servants and the common people? Does anyone have any objections?"

Shi Xiu replied truthfully, "I told the envoy that the common people are happy to see the success of the military merit system, and their enthusiasm for joining the army is high. On the contrary, there are occasional voices of criticism from the civil servants, but since several people from Xu Junshi came forward to suppress them, those people Be honest too."

Mu Xu nodded in satisfaction. In fact, as early as when he was in Hedong, he had considered implementing the military merit system, but after thinking about it again and again, he finally gave up the idea.

It is because he knows in his heart that after more than a hundred years of rule by the Great Song Dynasty, the concept of emphasizing culture and suppressing military affairs in the Song Dynasty has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

But this is not the case in Yunzhou and other places. These places have been controlled by the Liao Kingdom for a long time, and they are located in frontier fortresses.

Just as Mu Xu expected, the restructuring here did not cause much backlash, which made him feel very relieved.

I asked Shi Xiu some more questions, and seeing that the situation was calm under the rule, Mu Xu let the two of them leave, ordered his servants to bring hot tea to Chai Jin and Hua Rong, and then asked, "The two brothers are visiting together, but there is something important. occur?"

After the two looked at each other, Chai Jin said, "Don't dare to lie to the envoy, I am here today because of the entrustment of my brothers, and I will ask the envoy, will the achievements of the past be counted in the envoy?" The merits of this knighthood?"

Regarding this question, Mu Xu naturally thought about it beforehand, so when he heard Chai Jin ask, he replied without thinking,
"The previous credits are naturally counted in it, but what I mean is that this time only the canonization is made. The titles above it will be canonized together after the big event is decided in the future."

Chai Jin and the two didn't think too much, they were satisfied with this answer, and after chatting with Mu Xu again, they proposed to leave.

Mu Xu didn't stay with the guests either, he got up and sent the two of them outside the door, and was about to say something, but saw a maid hurriedly came, in front of Chai Jin and the two of them, she saluted Mu Xu, and replied, " Congratulations, sir, congratulations, Mrs. Li and Mrs. Hua both have good news!"

"Okay, pass on my words, and the servants of the whole family will pay half a year more money." Mu Xu was overjoyed when he heard the news, and he gave the reward casually, and was about to go to the back house. After taking two steps, he suddenly thought of something, and said to Huarong, "Hua Brothers, do you want to come together to visit Xia Baoyan?"

After Huarong heard the news that his sister was pregnant, he was so happy that he was dumbfounded. He didn't hear a word of what Mu Xu said, or Chai Jin who was next to him couldn't see it, so he reminded him a few words in a low voice. Only then did he come to his senses, he hurriedly thanked Chai Jin, and quickly followed Mu Xu.

But when the two came to the back house, Mu Xu thought that the Huarong brothers and sisters might have something to say, so he said, "Brother, you can go ahead and talk to Baoyan first, and I will be there later."

Hua Rong had nothing to do, and immediately followed the maid, while Mu Xu watched her leave, and then walked briskly to the Li Shishi Academy, before entering the door, she heard Zhao Yuannu's voice from afar.

"You're alright, the official loves you already, and now you're pregnant again, if you can give birth to a baby boy, how can the official let others go?"

Hearing the jealousy in Zhao Yuannu's words, Mu Xu immediately crossed the threshold and joked with a smile, "Yuannu should not envy Master, let's work harder and make sure you get pregnant with a big fat boy!"

When the second daughter saw Mu Xu coming, she was about to stand up to greet her. Mu Xu rushed to the front, grabbed Li Shishi, and helped her to sit on the soft couch.

Li Shishi said angrily with a happy expression on his face, "This concubine is just pregnant, how can she be so delicate?"

Mu Xu shook his head and said, "Because I'm just pregnant and the fetus has not yet sat firmly, so I have to be careful at all times to avoid accidents! By the way, what did the doctor say, is there something wrong with your body?"

Before Li Shishi could answer, Zhao Yuannu said in surprise, "Hey! Why are the officials talking about the same as Dr. An?"

Mu Xu laughed immediately when he heard the words, "If you haven't eaten pork, can you still see pigs? This is common sense, okay?"

The second daughter didn't go into the details, Li Shishi still pulled Mu Xu to sit down, gently stroked his abdomen, and replied softly,
"The doctor said that everything is fine for the concubine, and the officials don't need to worry about it, but I can't serve the officials recently, so I can only make sister Yuan Nu and the others work harder!"

A red cloud appeared on Zhao Yuannu's face, and he said in disbelief, "It's so good, what's wrong with me! Forget it, I'd better take a step first, so as not to hinder your intimacy!"

As she spoke, she twisted her waist and walked away with a gust of fragrance.

When only himself and Mu Xu were left in the room, Li Shishi threw himself into Mu Xu's arms like a suckling swallow, and wrapped his arms around his waist tightly. After a long while, he sighed,

"I feel that all this is like a dream. I never thought that I will be a wife and a mother one day."

Mu Xu patted her on the back and comforted her, "Why are you so sentimental, the good days are still to come, don't say that again!"

Li Shishi responded in a low voice, then suddenly raised his head again, looked up at Mu Xu with a pretty face, and said with worry in his tone, "Officer, you said that I am pregnant with a boy or a girl, if I give you a daughter Zensheng is good?"

Mu Xu said disapprovingly, "Both boys and girls are the same. Besides, I like daughters more than sons."

Li Shishi couldn't help but feel relieved, but he still said firmly, "I still want to give birth to a son for the official as my first child, so that my daughter can be born again later."

How could Mu Xu not know the thoughts of the beautiful woman in his arms, so he didn't argue, so he followed her words and said, "Okay, whatever you say is what you want, at worst, we will have a few more children in the future!"

"Humph! It's almost there!"

The two stayed together for a long time, until they were awakened by the voices of Hu Sanniang and Qiongying from outside, Li Shishi hurriedly got out of Mu Xu's arms, and asked, "Have the officials visited Sister Hua?"

"No, as soon as I got the news, I came to see Shishi immediately, and I haven't had time to go to Baoyan's place in the future."

Li Shishi was very pleased with these words, he smiled and pushed Mu Xu to the door, but said in his mouth, "Hurry up and take care of Sister Baoyan, lest she blame me for bullying you!"

"Alright, then you should pay more attention. If you have something to do, just ask the servants to do it. Don't be brave."

While speaking, Mu Xu had already come to the door, and bumped into Hu Sanniang and the two of them. Seeing the two girls in military uniforms, he knew they were going to the women's camp again.

"I don't know if your elder sister Li has a body. Why don't you even change your armor and come here so recklessly? It's too insignificant?"

The second daughter was startled, and also felt that such behavior was inappropriate, and immediately wanted to accuse Li Shishi, but Li Shishi laughed, "You two sisters, don't listen to the officials, how can you be so particular about it!"

After finishing speaking, he urged Mu Xu again, "Aren't you going to see Sister Hua? Hurry up and don't make her wait."

Hearing this, Mu Xu gave Hu Sanniang and Qiongying a hard look first, and then Shi Shiran left.

When he arrived at Hua Baoyan's place, he saw that she was the only one in the room, he couldn't help but look around, wondering, "Where's your brother, didn't you let him come first?"

Hua Baoyan replied with a smile, "Brother was afraid that I would lose weight when I was pregnant for the first time, so I hurried home and went to find my sister-in-law to take care of me for a few days."

"This is still like a big brother, otherwise I have to teach him a lesson!"

……

Not to mention Mu Xu's busy scene of reforming the military system and preparing for a new life, the city of Tokyo has been quite unsettled in recent days.

First, Cai Jing was driven back to his hometown, and bid farewell to the political arena where he had struggled all his life. Later, Zhao Ji brought up the old story again, and once again proposed to change the third prince, Yun Wang, Zhao Kai, as the prince. Great work.

Even people with a discerning eye know that it was Mu Xu's own wish to recruit Mu Xu this time and get back the lost land in Hedong without a single soldier.

But these two people didn't mention this matter, and they still looked like they were looking forward to Zhao Ji. The officials who opposed the easy storage for no reason couldn't say much, so they had to use the excuse that the prince Zhao Huan was not wrong and he was the eldest brother, trying to persuade Zhao Ji to give up this idea .

But Zhao Ji's attitude was extremely firm this time, and he saw that the change of the crown prince of the Song Dynasty was about to become a reality.At this critical moment, Zheng Juzhong, Zhao Huan's confidant, paid a secret visit to Liang Shicheng, and Liang Shicheng came out in person to advise Zhao Ji that the top priority at the moment is to regain Youyun, and it will not be too late to discuss other matters.

After repeated weighing, Zhao Ji finally listened to Liang Shicheng's words, temporarily gave up this idea, and began to focus on the Northern Expedition.

With the full support of Zhao Ji, the Song court showed a rare high efficiency this time. It was only four months after Mu Xu left Beijing, and he had collected the soldiers, horses, materials, and civilians needed for the Northern Expedition.

Therefore, on the third day of the sixth lunar month, Tong Guan came out of the class to play and said, "I would like to report to the officials that the Liao people have frequently violated our borders and killed our people over the years. Send troops to conquer Liao."

Zhao Ji, sitting high in the dragon chair, pretended to be surprised and said, "It's really unreasonable that this happened. Since the Liao people don't abide by the Tanyuan alliance, what should they do? Can you teach me?"

As soon as the words fell, Wang Fu came out and said, "Your Majesty, the Liao people are ambitious and capricious. I propose to cancel the previous covenant and send troops to take back Youyun to comfort the spirit of Taizong Taizong!"

Gao Qiu and others, who had a tacit understanding between the monarch and his ministers, immediately came out of the class and spoke in agreement with the matter. After Zhao Ji said some high-sounding words, he made an order in court.

He ordered Tong Guan to be the Xuanfu envoy of Hedong, Hebei, and Cai You to be the deputy envoy, with [-] soldiers patrolling the border.At the same time, Baojing Army Jiedu Envoy Zhong Shidao was appointed as the capital to control, Wutai Army Xuan Envoy Wang Zhi, Huazhou Observation Envoy Yang Keshi as deputy, and chose an auspicious day to swear to the Northern Expedition.

On June [-]th, it was the auspicious day that Qin Tianjian was optimistic about. Flags were flying outside Tokyo, and [-] soldiers of the Western Army were ready to go.

After Zhao Ji inspected the three armies, Tong Guan stepped forward to receive the decree, beheading the three animals to sacrifice the flag, and then gave the order, and the army marched towards the north with a murderous look.

When he arrived at Daming Mansion, Tong Guan was afraid that Cai You would ruin his affairs, so he took advantage of Cai You's lustful weakness and poured him a lot of ecstasy soup. Full authority is entrusted to Tong Guan.

On the eighth day of the seventh month, when the army arrived at the border of Gaoyang Pass, Tong Guan first sent envoys to Feihukou to inform Mu Xu of sending troops.

The full text of the inscription is as follows: The Youyan side was originally my territory, once it fell for a few hundred or two hundred years, it would be compared with the separation of the Han and the Tibetans, and internal and external chaos.I mourn that this good man has suffered so much. The Secretary obeyed Fengrui's order and led a heavy army, which was close to the border for the second time.

The task of asking the crime is to save the people, not to kill, so you should all work hard to return to the plan as soon as possible.Those who have officials will return to the old times, and those who have land will return to their jobs as before.

If you can lead a hero to make a difference, you will be given an official position, and you will be rewarded with gold and silk; The common people, even though they didn't order the officials, gave them [-] guan and a large house with Jiedu envoys.But if we work hard, we will bear the captives with one heart, return to Han Yongbao, enjoy the joy of prosperity, and the Khitan tribes will be equal to the Han people.

Soldiers who have been commanded are not allowed to kill a husband, or become unconscious or disrespectful, so they should be dealt with differently.In response to Khitan's own efforts, all horizontal restraints have been removed.Although the soldiers entered the border, the price of all the food, grass and carts and cattle feet required by the Yan people did not make the Yan people ready, and they were still exempted from taxes for two years.

(End of this chapter)