Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 87

That day, Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong escaped from the den of thieves who intended to poison him, and hurried on their way in the dark. At dawn, they realized that they had lost their way among the mountains and wandered in the deep mountains and old forests for ten days. Going around, I also encountered the footprints of beasts, so I had to make a detour.The fruit and millet stolen from the old farmer's house had already been eaten up. Because he was not used to raw food, he almost collapsed in the first two days. Later, he couldn't eat enough, and there was nothing to eat, so he barely used mountain spring water and wild fruits. For food, I went all the way through the mountains and ridges, and finally came to the edge of the old forest in the mountains. From a distance, I saw farmland and cooking smoke in a mountain basin.

"Master Tong, there is a village ahead!" Xin Xingzong pointed to the houses of different heights in the basin, almost crying.

"Let's go and have a look." Tong Guan limped and walked towards the village with Xin Xingzong, leaning on a walking stick made of a thick branch.This time, he made up his mind not to reveal his identity, even if someone scolded the child thief in front of him, he would stamp his feet and curse twice, and spit again, as long as he stuttered become.

The farmers working in the fields straightened up and looked at them silently.

"Hey..." Xin Xingzong waved his hands happily, and greeted the villagers with a forced smile.But after a while, his face became stiff, and his legs were trembling constantly.

Accompanied by the sound of dede horseshoes, several riders galloped out from the village, all with shaven hair and beards, and leather robes with left lapels.

"Khitan people!" Xin Xingzong thought desperately, wandering around in the mountains for more than ten days, he accidentally broke into the border of Liao Kingdom.

Five Khitans rode on horseback, condescending, and slowly walked around Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong, watching the two uninvited guests vigilantly.They were talking in Khitan language.These Khitan people can understand and speak Chinese, but they only want to speak Khitan.After a while, each bow and arrow aimed at the two of them.At this time, the serfs around did not dare to watch, and obediently bent down to work.

The horses kept snorting heavily around, and being pointed at by five bows and arrows, Tong Guan was almost heartbroken, and shouted loudly: "Don't kill me, I am Tong Guan who is deployed in the northern camp of the Great Song Dynasty!"

Hearing Tong Guan's shout, the Khitan leader was overjoyed and shouted loudly. The others were already ready to shoot and kill the two minions of the Southern Dynasty, but they couldn't hold back their momentum at this moment, so they could only deflect the arrow. Hearing a few snaps, four or five long arrows brushed Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong's clothes and shot into the ground under their feet.Tong Guan almost died of shock, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses. He only felt two wars, his back was drenched in cold sweat, his crotch was also soaked, and there was a tick-tick sound.

At the beginning, Tong Guan moved the Hebei camp from Daming Mansion to Hejian aggressively, which really caused a commotion among the Khitan people in the border military state for a while.These Khitan people thought that even if they pretended to be someone, they escorted the two of them to Gaoyang Pass.

Yelu Dashi looked coldly at the two people who were tied up, he couldn't believe that Song Guotong commander, who once commanded an army of [-] troops, was tied up in such a dejected manner.

Several rude Khitan officers were staring at him, as if they wanted to swallow people up.Tong Guan didn't feel frustrated, and his original idea of ​​supporting the court disappeared immediately, and he only said to the seemingly gentle Liao official among them: "This official is indeed Tong Guan who was deployed in the Hebei camp of the Great Song Dynasty. I strayed into your country, and I hope that your lord will see the agreement between the two countries to return the fugitives, and send this official gift back to the court, and I will definitely thank you very much!"

"Oh?" Yelu Dashi's eyes flickered, "You are indeed Tong Guan. I heard that you are very talented."

Tong Guan blushed a little, he didn't expect that his reputation of being capable would spread to the Liao Kingdom.At this time, a volume of documents was thrown in front of him.

"This document insulting my Daliao monarchs and ministers was written by you under your instruction. It is full of emotion, and it is indeed worthy of the walking father-in-law in Chang Yu's study." Yelu Dashi said lightly, "At that time, I went to Marshal Xiao to catch this villain. You must either divide the corpse by five horses, or light a sky lantern. Mr. Tong, what do you think?"

"This, my lord," Tong Guan's face turned pale, "This is not about the lower officials. It is clearly the Confucian scholar Zhao Xingde, no, it is Wang Yan who framed this official. Before the military letter is sent out, The officer didn't even look at it."

"Oh?" Yelu Dashi was playful, "At that time, I saw Tong Guan's big seal. Since you haven't read the military book, it means that you are not Tong Guan, but a fake." He never Tong Guan's unique voice and sparse beard, he has already seen the clues, but if his identity is confirmed, he must hand over Tong Guan to Xiao Da to deal with it, maybe he will kill him with a knife.And keeping Tong Guan is a bargaining chip and pawn in his hand.

"I'm pretending to be?" Tong Guan couldn't help feeling a little confused. He didn't know why the minister of the Liao Kingdom said that. Said: "My lord, it is clear that the next official is indeed a child who pretends to be a child for his own life."

I didn't expect that the majestic Song Dynasty would deploy all the camps in Hebei, and they would be soft so quickly, even denying their own identity. Yelu Dashi couldn't help laughing secretly, and said in a deep voice: "At present, if the Liao and Song Dynasties are at war, if the unknown juniors will kill you Cut it off. But, "he paused, staring at Tong Guan, and said slowly, "If it is useful to me, I can keep it, anyway, it's just a waste of food. Tell me, what can you have? Use it?"

"I," Tong Guan's eyes rolled slightly. He knew that it would be difficult to get out of this sentence, and he was thinking about it. Suddenly, he heard an angry senior official from the Liao Kingdom say: "Since it is useless, I will drag it down and chop it up." "Three or four Khitan officers around shouted in unison, stepped forward and dragged Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong out of the tent.

Tong Guan immediately yelled: "It's useful, it's useful." He knew that as soon as he got out of the camp, he would be on Huangquan Road, so he struggled desperately while shouting.

Yelu Dashi's face softened slightly, he raised his hand to let several Khitan officers pause, and shouted in a deep voice: "Listen, tell me, what's the use of you?"

Tong Guan's face was pale, and he didn't care about other things at this time, he said repeatedly: "The lower official is familiar with the situation of the armies and warehouses in various places in Hebei, and the character and temperament of all the generals and officers of the army, the lower official is very clear. .”

Yelu Dashi frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice, "I'll just send scouts and special officers to find out." After he finished speaking, he waved his hands to ask his subordinates to drag him out.

Tong Guan hurriedly said again: "Not only in Hebei, but also the domestic situation in the Song Dynasty, the movements of the ministers in the DPRK and China, the deployment of troops, and the amount of taxes in various places, all of which are clear to me."

Yelu Dashi smiled slightly and said: "I have been to Bianjing as an envoy, and I know a thing or two about these situations. Is that what you are only useful for?"

Step by step, at this point, Tong Guan couldn't turn his head back, and said with one heart: "I have a lot of friendship in the Song Dynasty, many officials are only my leader, and many others also have reasons in my hands. If my lord If you can use it, I am willing to serve you.”

"Hahahahaha," Yelu Dashi laughed loudly, and waved his subordinates to untie Tong Guan, and gave him a scimitar.

Seeing that Tong Guan was holding a steel knife that was unknown, Yelu Dashi said leisurely: "Master Tong doesn't understand what you people from the Southern Dynasties call a certificate of honor?" He looked at Xin Xingzong, and Xin Xingzong was terrified, Looking at Tong Guan pitifully, he begged: "Master Tong, for the sake of protecting you from life to death..."

Yelu Dashi seemed to be self-centered and said: "Only the dead can keep secrets."

Tong Guan shrank his heart when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "Xingzong, I know you still have a family in Bianjing, today I have no choice but to do so, and you are not dead, your family, the imperial court will pay for it .”

Holding the shining scimitar, he slowly walked up to the heavily bound Xin Xingzong. Xin Xingzong twisted and twisted on the ground to avoid it, while screaming, "Master Tong, please forgive me." After rubbing it on his neck, there was a splash of blood, splashing all over Tong's body.Seeing that Xin Xingzong had lost his breath, he turned around and smiled at Yelu Dashi, "Fortunately, I did not disgrace my life."

Yelu Dashi saw that he was extremely cowardly at the beginning, but he was so decisive in killing others, he couldn't help being a little bit surprised, secretly thought that it was luck that this person was able to flourish in the Song Dynasty, so he couldn't be underestimated, don't raise a snake and get bitten by a snake instead .After pondering for a moment, he waved his hands and asked the soldiers to find a room to guard, strictly prohibiting others from approaching, and let Tong Guan go down to rest.

Brother Yelu Tie, who was in the middle of the tent, asked suspiciously: "My lord, although this Tong Guan had a high position and authority in the Southern Dynasty, he was known as a 'treacherous' minister. Why did he keep his life? It would be better to kill him with a single blow."

Yelu Dashi smiled slightly and said: "The 'treacherous' ministers of the Southern Dynasty may be the capable ministers of my Khitan."

Brother Yelu Tie said angrily, "Poisonous snakes will bite people wherever they are."

"That was in the Southern Dynasty, and he was still a human being." Yelu Dashi shook his head, and said in a deep voice, "Daliao is the country of our Khitan people, he is a slave, a running dog, you can stretch out your hand and squeeze him to death. A poisonous snake in a cage will only bite our enemies."

After speaking, he turned to look at the huge topographic map of mountains and rivers. In the south of the Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty had a vast territory, and there were endless slaves and wealth everywhere.Bianjing is like a pearl overflowing with precious light, placed in the center of the Song Dynasty.Thinking of the bustling crowds he saw when he was an envoy to Bianjing, Yelu Dashi, who said he admired Chinese culture, felt a little fascinated.