Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 520 When will the Liao be conquered?
Emperor Zhezong took off Zhao Mu's helmet and crown with his own hands, and Queen Meng took off the battle robe on Zhao Mu's armor.

After the emperor and empress each took a step back, a group of palace maids came forward to help Zhao Mu take off his armor.

After the armor was removed, Zhao Mu was given a dragon robe and a purple gold crown. After changing his clothes, Zhao Mu followed Zhezong and his wife and got on a royal chariot.

Afterwards, the imperial sedan chair of Zhezong and his wife was in front, and the royal sedan chair of Zhao Mu was behind, followed by Zhao Mu's ceremonial guards, with the imperial guards leading the way. The people on the street all knelt to welcome them.

Finally, the carriage went straight into the Meridian Gate and slowly stopped in front of the Jiying Hall.

After welcoming Zhao Mu into the palace, Queen Meng returned to the harem, and Zhezong also changed out of his formal dress and prepared to host a welcoming banquet for Zhao Mu.

Zhao Mu, along with Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum, were waiting in the side hall to rest.

After a short rest, civil and military officials, princes and nobles entered one after another.

At this time, the eunuch also asked Zhao Mu to take his seat as soon as possible.

Of course, Zhao Mu was still the chief guest at the welcoming banquet, and those sitting around him were the meritorious generals who participated in the expedition against Xixia.

Now everyone has received the rewards they deserve, and a few of them have even been granted titles. But they are basically below the rank of earl, the kind that can be dispensable. Although the value of the title in the Song Dynasty is very low, it is a good start for those who have been working in the army for many years.

Now the expressions of the civil and military officials are all different.

The countermeasures of Zhao Mu and Zhezong were very effective. After returning to the court, those generals under Zhao Mu who had evil intentions were rewarded and handed over their military power. They also honestly prepared to spend the rest of their lives in peace.

The relatives of Emperor Taizong were afraid that Zhao Mu would lead his troops back to usurp the throne. Now that Zhao Mu had not rebelled and the rumors had been dispelled, they were still a little wary of Zhao Mu, but they still accepted him as the leader of the noble group.

The civil officials sitting opposite Zhao Mu were now divided into two factions by Zhao Mu's countermeasure.

One group was protected by Zhao Mu. The useless children in their families had their own livelihoods thanks to this military achievement. It was Zhao Mu's credit that they could return safely. Naturally, they were grateful to Zhao Mu.

The other faction was the parents of the damned ghosts who were beheaded by Zhao Mu. Although they still hated Zhao Mu, without the support of other forces, they could not make much waves in the court.

However, there is a group among the nobles who hate Zhao Mu very much.

They are the relatives of Taizu.

According to the previous "rumors", Zhao Mu's rebellion was a great opportunity for Taizu's line to regain the throne. However, this good opportunity was missed by Zhao Mu. This made all the Taizu clan members privately curse Zhao Mu for being useless and being "Zhezong's good dog".

In short, after this turmoil, a lot of things seemed to have changed in the court, but it also seemed that nothing had changed.

At the end of the day, the results are always good.

During the time when Zhao Mu returned to the capital, the surrounding situation also underwent some changes.

The biggest change occurred in Tubo.

The Tibetan tribes were defeated by the joint attack of Dali and Western Xia.

The Tibetan king fled the capital city of Riguang with Prince Zongzan and others. He fled west with the Tibetan royal family. Gao Shengtai and his son have now entered the Tibetan royal palace and made the surrounding chieftains submit.

The Western Xia Kingdom had already occupied the Tuyuhun's homeland and built a new Western Xia Kingdom there.

The Western Xia Kingdom and Gao Shengtai and his son used the Nujiang River and other rivers as boundaries, and together with the Song Dynasty's western Sichuan army, completely divided the prosperous eastern part of Tibet.

Both sides have sent envoys to the capital to request the Emperor of Song to confer the title.

As Zhezong and Zhao Mu had made it clear in advance, they readily appointed them as vassal states of the Song Dynasty. However, their national status was lower than that of the Dali Kingdom, the first vassal state of the Song Dynasty. Although they could also set their own reign titles, they could only be called kings and not monarchs internally.

The official title given to them by the Song Dynasty was also "king of the state", but the title given to the Dali Kingdom was "king of Dali".

As for the Liao Kingdom, they were now in a state of panic. Not only did they not provide any help this time, they even lost 30,000 cavalry and several generals.

Now that Xixia had surrendered, Tubo could not protect itself, and Dali had completely turned against them, the Liao's previous plan of four kingdoms protecting each other and dividing the Song Dynasty had completely failed.

Moreover, the counter-espionage plot to cause the two Zhaos to turn against each other was easily resolved by this unity of king and minister. And because Zhao Mu fought too quickly and Xixia surrendered too quickly, the Liao army had not yet fully mobilized and completed preparations for a full-scale invasion, and the war with Xixia was already over.

Now all the ministers of Liao Kingdom are sitting on pins and needles, they are really scared.

They were afraid that the Song Dynasty would be the next to deal with them.

However, there were some optimists in the Liao court. They saw that the Song army did not harm the Western Xia this time, and they could find another place for the Western Xia to survive. They felt that even if the Song and Liao went to war in the future, they could do the same as the Western Xia.

Although the Liao Kingdom was in great fear, Song and Liao had just reached a new Chanyuan Alliance, and neither side had any intention of falling out. The Liao Kingdom could only take things one step at a time.

Soon, the welcoming banquet prepared by Zhezong for Zhao Mu ended, and the ministers, royal relatives and nobles returned home or to the government office as needed.

Plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum also returned to Prince Qi's palace first.

Zhao Mu was called by Zhezong to the hot spring bath in the harem, firstly to relieve Zhao Mu's fatigue, and secondly, Zhezong still had some things to discuss with Zhao Mu in private.

In the Yuquan Tower in the palace, the emperor and his minister were each soaking in a hot spring, surrounded by several beautiful palace maids wearing only thin gauze serving them closely.

Zhezong looked up at the ceiling studded with pearls and said, "Uncle, we have conquered the Western Xia Kingdom. The Western Xia King and Gao Shengtai have also been crowned. When will we attack the Liao Kingdom?"

Zhao Mu also looked at the ceiling and said, "Your Majesty, I think there is no rush to attack the Liao Kingdom. We were able to take down the Western Xia Kingdom this time thanks to our careful planning. We just broke the Liao Kingdom's lackeys. The Liao Kingdom has risen for a hundred years since the end of the former Tang Dynasty. Although it is a dead bone in a tomb, it is still alive. Therefore, we need to take our time to attack the Liao Kingdom."

"Besides, the territory of Liao Kingdom spans from east to west, more than ten thousand miles, far larger than that of our Song Dynasty. If we don't plan well, we can just capture their palaces, and they can use the desert grasslands to deal with us. Therefore, we need to make full preparations to win the battle in one go. Our Song Dynasty army has just experienced a war and is in urgent need of rest. The land of Xixia Kingdom has just been taken and is in urgent need of consolidation."

"As for attacking the Liao Kingdom, in my opinion, if there are no major changes, then we will need at least one or two years of preparation time."

Zhezong took off the kerchief from his face and said, "One or two years? This seems a long time."

Zhao Mu stretched and said, "After Emperor Taizong conquered the world and pacified the four seas, he marched north to destroy the Northern Han without resting. After destroying the Northern Han, he took advantage of the victory to seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. At that time, the army of our Song Dynasty was exhausted and had become a spent force. But the Liao people were well rested. That's why we suffered a great defeat at Gaoliang River. Your Majesty, even Emperor Wu of Han's conquest of the Xiongnu took time. Our Song Dynasty is now progressing very fast. We must not rush for quick success."

(End of this chapter)