Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 421 78 The Second Sage Travels in Yu-2

"How dare you hijack the imperial envoy?" Unexpectedly, it turned out to be someone from Xijing, Deng Su was startled and angry, and said loudly: "Your Highness, you must not follow the thief." He was still waiting to persuade him, but someone behind him twisted his arms , a Yanling knife rested on the throat, the blood on the blade was still wet, and the cold air penetrated into the bone marrow, Deng Su felt a tightness in his chest and was speechless.

Zhao Qi's face was pale and his lips trembled.He looked at Deng Su, then at Wang Huaimin, and said cowardly: "Would Deng Shilang go to Xijing with me?" After a sharp pain, he passed out immediately.It turned out that it was Wang Huaimin who signaled with his eyes to ask the subordinates behind Deng Su to knock him unconscious to avoid trouble.There are Khitan cavalry wandering around Bianliang, but Shicai failed to kill all the enemies, so they had to leave quickly.

Both Zhao Qi and Deng Su changed into the clothes of the Liao Army, and all the Western Army loaded the corpses of the dead and wounded robes on the horses and put them down in the woods far away.More than half an hour later, more than a thousand cavalrymen of the Liao Army rushed to the place where they were attacked just now, and there was no trace of them except for a corpse of a Khitan man.Yelu Dashi was furious when he heard the news that the envoy had been robbed, and immediately sent an order for the whole army to march out of the Chenqiaoyi camp. The army scouted the cavalry, and at the same time sent envoys to question the emperor of Song Dynasty.

Zhao Ke didn't know that the envoy had been attacked until the envoy from the Liao Kingdom questioned him face to face, and the whereabouts of both King Jing and Deng Su were unknown.For Zhao Ke, the worst-case scenario is this.His face was blue with regret, and he didn't say a word for a long time, and immediately forbid to leak any news, including the fact that Yelu Dashi was furious, and was coming to attack Bianliang.Only Zhu Bona, the military governor of Wuchang, Zhao Zhifu, the prime minister, Tong Guan, the Taiwei in front of the palace, and Shen Yun, the imperial city secretary, were notified to come to discuss.

"Who will kidnap King Jing, could it be..." Zhao Zhifu hesitated.

All the ministers looked at each other in blank dismay.The first emperor had the idea of ​​abolishing the elders and erecting the younger, which is well known to all courtiers.Because of this, the bureaucrats that the former emperor relied heavily on, civil servants such as Cai Jing, Wang Fu, Li Bangyan, military generals such as Cao Di, Liu Yanqing, etc., did not have good relations with the prince Zhao Ke, and there was a deep hatred for the matter of supporting the third prince. .It was only because of the sudden death of the first emperor that Zhao Ke was able to succeed to the throne hastily.Since Zhao Ke succeeded to the throne, in order to stabilize the situation, he did not kill all the important ministers of the former court. Cai Jing and other civil servants were left idle, and his disciples and old officials were still all over the world. Military generals such as Cao Di and Liu Yanqing did not cut off their military power.These faintly are the heart disease of the imperial court.If the time of peace is long, just like what Zhao Ke has done in the past two years, gradually select young officials to replace the old ministers, and these hidden dangers will gradually disappear. Then he invaded southward on a large scale, and Zhao Ke's shortcomings of not having a deep foundation in the court were exposed at once.The reinforcements of the Xijing camp and the southeast camp were delayed by excuses, and the only army in the Hebei camp that obeyed orders was ambushed by the Liao army.Now that Bianliang is in danger, if Zhao Qi, the emperor's younger brother, really took advantage of the opportunity to escape, no matter whether he took refuge in Cai Jing or Cao Di, Zhao Ke had no doubt that he must be proudly waiting for Bianliang to fall, and then under the help of all the veterans Come out to clean up the situation under the support.

Remembering that he was staying in Bianliang, which was extremely dangerous, and Zhao Qi was staying in some unknown place, waiting for himself to fall into the hands of Beilu with peace of mind, Zhao Ke's mood became extremely bad.Seeing his ugly face, all the officials did not dare to speak rashly. After a long silence, Tong Guan said cautiously: "The so-called son of a thousand gold can't sit down. Your Majesty is a man of gold, and he can no longer live in a dangerous city. Now Outside Bianliang City, it is only the vanguard of the Liao army. Not long after the river was frozen, the imperial account of the Liao Kingdom emperor is still in Chenqiaoyi. Your Majesty should make a quick decision. If you hesitate, I'm afraid, I'm afraid..." He said Before he finished, he glanced at Zhao Zhifu vaguely.

Zhao Zhifu's heart skipped a beat. When he saw Tong Guan speaking, His Majesty's face softened a lot, and he thought, this man has served the emperor for two dynasties, and he is often by his majesty's side. Can't compare with him either.I'm afraid that His Majesty already has the intention of avoiding the edge of the Liao army in the south, and it's not easy to speak up. Taiwei Tong is an eunuch, and he wants me to show up.

Zhao Zhifu's official career has been ups and downs for decades, and as he grows old, he knows that catering to his wishes is the first key to protecting himself. He weighed it three times, coughed, and said slowly: "Jingzhou strangles the world, and there is Wuyang. The Three Passes of , Pingjing and Jiuli are dangerous and difficult. Xiangyang is surrounded by mountains and rivers. It has been operating in the southeast for several years. It also has the advantage of water transportation, and the transportation of food, salaries and wealth in the southeast is convenient. Your majesty should patrol Xiangyang and take charge of the overall situation. The masters gathered here, Master Wang regained Bianliang and returned to Jingque just around the corner."

The complexions of Zhu Bona and Shen Yun changed.Zhu Bona was in charge of the [-] imperial guards on duty, and Shen Yun was in charge of the Imperial City Department. Although he had great power, he only obeyed the emperor's orders and never interfered in political affairs.The officials only notified the prime minister Zhao Zhifu to come to discuss, but did not notify the privy envoy Shao Wu, which is already an attitude in itself.They are neither scholarly talents, nor will they speak out, and have kept silent.

When the officials pondered and said nothing, Tong Guan carefully said: "In Bianliang City, there are more than [-] people from the clan's close branches, or should they drive to Xiangyang?" Zhao Ke's eyes showed a cold light, nodded and said: " Before sunset, please invite all the family members near Zhizhi to accompany you in the palace, this matter will be dealt with by the Imperial City Secretary as soon as possible, but the news must not be leaked." Shen Yun's heart trembled, not daring to delay, and hurried out to make arrangements.

Zhao Ke hesitated for another moment, and finally said in a deep voice: "I have decided to patrol Xiangyang." He said to Zhu Bernard, "The Khitan cavalry is fast, and they can reach Bianliang sooner or later. It is not appropriate to delay the day, so we set off tonight But don’t leak the news, please Zhu Jiedu select the elite of the class and escort them there. I have left an imperial decree to entrust the defense of Bianliang City to the Privy Councilors. After arriving in Xiangyang, I will issue a decree to let the soldiers and horses of the world work hard for the king. Expel the northern captives and conquer Hebei." After the officials made the decision to patrol Xiangyang, their worried expressions relaxed a little.

Zhu Bona was ordered to go down to make arrangements with a dignified expression. In the imperial duty, how many family members were in Bianliang City, and he hurriedly brought out the [-] troops. Wei slope.Moreover, there are too many people to walk fast, so Zhubna can only choose those who are his confidantes, the most loyal to the royal family, a total of more than [-] people.Including the left and right classes of the inner hall, the East and West Chengzhi class, the Yuma Zhi class, the old and new tea and wine classes, the Longqi Zhi class, the southern class, and the northern class.This escort to the south, except for Jun Rongzhi who is in charge of the royal musical instruments, the others are all horse troops. When they were elected to the imperial court, they rode a tall Hexi good horse.

The guards on duty are known as the elite, and there are only one or two strong soldiers for every thousand forbidden troops, but the organization is extremely chaotic, and every generation of Song emperor has to add or delete some of them, but they don't make it neat.If Zhubna had not been working in the imperial squad all his life, not to mention knowing the general situation of each squad, but to memorize so many squad numbers, he would have to shake his head.

This day happened to be Shangyuan. According to the genealogy order of Zongzheng Temple, the Secretary of Huangcheng invited the nearby clans into Baiyu Palace one by one under house arrest in the name of His Majesty holding a banquet in the palace.Although the Holy Majesty did not explain, Shen Yun still included Empress Zhu's concubines in the harem in the list of clans that were hunted in the south. As for those former emperors and concubines in the cold palace and those who fell out of favor, they ignored them.The old eunuch didn't have the mind to pity the fragrance and cherish the jade, but he knew how to repay the kindness. He thought of the benefits of the late emperor and Zhang Guifei, and quietly kept a confidant servant who had received favors. The sixth princess, Zhao Huan, was taken out of the cold palace and hid first. After the situation stabilized, she left Bianliang for the camera.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, if it were in previous years, the capital city would already be full of flowers, everywhere was full of joy, and what the streets and alleys were talking about was the fashionable lantern show.But on this day in the fourth year of Jingkang, there was no joy at all.

The sky was dark, and the sky above the city wall was shrouded in gloom, and the faces of the people in Bianliang City were mostly worried.The iron barrel cannons of the Liao army have arrived one after another. There are rumors that the heavy iron barrel cannons of the Liao army are extremely powerful. The small shells fired are the size of a millstone washbasin, and the large shells are bigger than a round table for eating. If it hits the battle shed, it immediately collapses.If it hits the crenel of the city wall, the earth and rocks will crack.The sound of "boom--" and "boom--" outside the city replaced the sound of firecrackers in previous years.Every time one more cannon was heard, the worry on the faces of the people in Bianliang deepened.

The northern city of the outer chamber is south of Chenqiaomen in the outer city and north of Jinglongmen in the inner city, where the Xinli Baoyi Army was stationed.The military camp faces Kaibao Temple across Xinfengqiumen Street.The Liao army's iron barrel guns were not accurate enough. Sometimes the shells landed in the camps of the Baoyi army, and some fell into the temples. No matter whether they were soldiers or monks, they dared not stay in the surrounding houses in broad daylight, but built sheds. Resist the cold wind, see the shells flying, and have a chance to escape.

Many officers in the Baoyi Army are scholars from Taixue. In addition to shooting bows and strengthening their bodies, they rarely even touch swords. They share the same hatred and act out the formation of soldiers under their command according to the military book, although the donkey head is wrong. Mazui, the soldiers below are all idlers in the market, and they can't say anything wrong in front of the officer Xiangru who is full of poems and books.The Xiangru officers practiced soldiers and horses during the day, and still gathered together to preach at night. They beat the Dengwen drum together and fell into this field.

"I heard that Mr. Zhao Yuanzhi is the person in charge of the 'Zhi Bing' Zhai," said Ma Yuan, the first commander, regretfully, "It's a pity he's not in Bianliang, otherwise we wouldn't be like headless chickens." Liu Wengu shook his head and said: "Ice and charcoal can't be in the same furnace, Mr. Zhao is determined not to hide from the world when there are 'traitors'." Everyone sighed for a while, thinking that Zhao Xingde had a deep knowledge of military art, otherwise how could he be elected as a soldier. applause.