choke element

Chapter 761

Xuan Zeng pondered for a while, but no one dared to disturb him.Until an accompanying staff member came up the mountain path out of breath: "Master, there is new news."

"speak."

"I heard that Wanyan Heda failed to attack Li Ting's troops at night, and was defeated and killed."

There was a wind blowing in the mountains, Xuan Zeng lowered his head, and wrenched his fingers: "Five days."

He said: "Wanyan Heda was the first to be ordered by Tu Shanyi to protect King Sui's important minister who went south to Kaifeng, and he was also a hero who defeated the Red Coat Army Yang An'er's troops in World War I. He served as the Marshal of the capital in the Kaifeng court and appeased the Hebei West Road. The envoy, who was regarded as a barrier to the north of the Kaifeng court, bumped into Li Ting's troops and lasted only five days!"

He randomly found a rock and sat down, and asked, "Where is Li Ting's troops now?"

"The torrential rain that night when the two armies were fighting caused floods that destroyed many roads in Ci and Ming prefectures. Therefore, I heard that Li Ting's troops were not marching fast. But..."

"But what?"

"Zhao Jue's troops marched directly along the Yuhe River. The daimyo Xuanfu envoy Bilan Alu led the army out of the city, and the governor Ao Tunxige who was stationed at Li Gudu in Huazhou surrendered. This army came first. To, perhaps soon to the city of Kaifeng."

Ligudu is a famous big ferry in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

After the Jingkang Incident, Jin soldiers escorted the two emperors of Huiqin and more than [-] princes and nobles to the north, and it is said that the Yellow River was crossed from then on.

Later, when the Song and Jin Dynasties exchanged appointments, the roads of the southern envoys to the north also passed through this place. Among them, Fan Chengda, Lou Yao and others left records in books handed down from generation to generation. Li to Xuncheng, and another forty or fifty miles north of Xuncheng is Li Gudu.

It is also said that this ferry is located in a relatively narrow section of the Yellow River, and 180 boats are connected to form a pontoon bridge, half of which are stranded on the sand moraine, and on the beach silt caused by the breach in those years, there are mostly firewood paving the road and so on.

Therefore, Li Gudu was quite famous in the Song Dynasty, but anyone who knows the story between the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty knows this place.

Hearing that Li Gudu changed hands, all the attendants on the left and right turned pale, and someone said: "That is the throat key to the north of Kaifeng! That is to say, both the east and north sides of Kaifeng city have fallen into the hands of Guo Ning? So fast? This is only ten God's work!"

Another person said: "Naturally, it must be quick. Guo Ning has waited for a long time for this opportunity. If he doesn't do it, it will be fatal. If he does, it will be fatal. I think he is also afraid that if he is late, he will change."

"Where can there be variables? This is already a thunderous momentum! Who can resist?"

Someone hesitated and said: "Our Great Song court may..."

Just as he was guessing, a horse galloped down the mountain, bringing up billows of smoke and dust.Xuan Zeng got up quickly, rolled up the sleeves of his robe, and stood in front of the hillside to have a look.

The horses circled a few times on the mountain road, and then they arrived at the slope where everyone was.The knight dressed as a naval officer, got off his horse after a long distance, and asked, "Is Mr. Xuan of the Great Song Dynasty here?"

"I am Xuan Zang."

"There was a fast boat to Haizhou just now, and I brought a letter to Xuan Xianggong's home, and a box of pastries that came with the letter. We know that Xuan Xianggong is traveling today, so we didn't dare to delay, so we brought it right away."

Xuan Zong walked forward quickly, went to take the letter box, and asked casually, "Oh? I just arrived in Haizhou the day before yesterday, and a letter from the south was delivered?"

The knight laughed and said, "When the army was coming and going, many ports on the sea were under control, and the ships were all questioned. Perhaps the letter was originally sent to the central capital, but we intercepted it halfway."

"That's a coincidence, really good luck."

Xuan Zen laughed, opened the sealed letter box in front of the knight, and directly opened the letter to read.

After two glances, he thanked the knight who delivered the letter, and accompanied him for half a circle on the mountain path before turning back.

The staff took half a step forward and asked in a low voice: "Master, why did you get the letter? What did you say in the letter?"

Xuan Zong let out a heavy breath: "It really came from the prime minister's mansion. The paper, handwriting and drawing are all correct. As for the content... Well, you can see."

The staff took the letter, looked at it twice, and said in a voiceless voice: "Shi Xianggong has decided to join hands with Zhou Guogong?"

The staff member was in Lin'an every day, and he was very aware of the significance of the Jin Kingdom's Kaifeng court to the Song Dynasty.

It does not depend on how strong the Kaifeng court is, how many troops it has, or whether its relationship with the Song Dynasty is hostile or friendly.The Kaifeng court is just a banner, which is used to confuse the central plains and the north.As long as this flag is still there, Guo Ning can only focus on this deadly enemy, and has no time to turn to other places.

They also understand that since Guo Ning's violent attack, it means that the original policy of Song Dynasty failed to affect the situation in the north at all, and failed completely.So, sooner or later, Shi Xianggong will make a new decision, and maybe send a new envoy to go north.

But the content of this letter is a bit beyond everyone's expectations.

It turned out that Jia Sidao was actually Zhou Guogong's subordinate Li Yun pretending to be, and he relied on his eloquence to persuade Shi Xianggong to urge the court to abandon the Kaifeng regime and turn to repairing with Zhongdu wholeheartedly.

This... doesn't this seem too frivolous?It's a matter of state affairs, how can you do things like this?A Jin Kingdom spy actually became an official of the imperial court, shouldn't he be arrested and tortured immediately, and forced to interrogate his accomplices?How can you treat him like a guest and listen to his nonsense?
"This... this..." The follower folded up the letter, and then opened it again.

He raised his eyes to look at Xuan Zang again, but couldn't speak. He just felt that Song Dynasty was going to repeat the same mistakes that he made when he united with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, digging holes for himself.

"That's the only way to go." Xuan Zang replied with a long sigh.

"What does the master mean?"

"That Jia Sidao has been active in the Song Dynasty for several months. Since he has exposed his true identity as Li Yun, the commander of the Marshal's Mansion of the Kingdom of Jin, Shi Xianggong has no way to disagree with his opinion."

"This... I don't understand, this little thief..."

"During the Qiandao period, Liu Yungu, a son of the Han Dynasty, went south from Yandi to return to Zheng, and achieved Youtong Zhilang and Taipingzhou Tongju. Later, this person exposed his identity as a spy in the Kingdom of Jin, which caused huge waves in the court. At that time, Dongzhu The person who conspired was Shi Xianggong's predecessor, the king of Yue Shi Zhongdinggong. It is precisely because of this that Shi Zhongdinggong has always advocated the use of less righteous people, let alone granting authority..."

"However, Master Shi used a spy, and even used him to participate in the Huainan military administration and establish a new army!"

"Exactly."

Xuan Zong sighed heavily: "Do you think, since Jia Sidao is from the Kingdom of Jin, can his father, Jia She, be trusted? If Jia She is not trustworthy, can Huaidong Zhizhi be trusted? Huaidong Zhizhi is a subordinate Can Shi Xiangye trust Cui Yuzhi and others to be in charge, and later transferred to Jia She's loyal army? Can he take the lead in drafting the charter for the trip to Shanghai?"

"Jia She only has one person, no matter what..."

"Jia She is very good at business management. He has a wide network of contacts in Huainan. He is a figure who affects the whole of Huainan. Who can guarantee that so many military, civilian, officials, and businessmen in Huainan will not be wooed by him? Even if you can guarantee that the court and Shi Xianggong Will those who don’t deal with it believe it?”

"This……"

"Let's look at Jia Sidao himself again. He spends money like water in Lin'an, and spends thousands of dollars at every turn; in Ningbo, he directly handles maritime trade matters, and distributes dividends and rebates to Shi Xiang's cronies every now and then, and he spends thousands of dollars at every turn. He went out; he went to several new money prisons in Huainan to assist Shi Kuanzhi in preparing another new army, and he still went out at a cost of several thousand. Who can guarantee that no one in Lin'an will be wooed by him? Guarantee that no one in the sea merchants will be wooed by him? Who can guarantee that Shi Kuanzhi, the eldest son of the Tiantai historian, did not collude with him in private? Who can guarantee that I, Xuan Zang, have not become Li Yun's lackey?"

If Xuan Zang is involved, what will happen to his subordinates?
Hearing this, the staff turned pale.

Xuan Zong continued: "If any one of these doubts is brought up at random, it will arouse countless mad dogs in the court who are dissatisfied with Shi Xiang, and arouse a bloody storm against Shi Xiang's family! Let’s go back to the original topic. My lord can see through treacherous schemes, but Shi Xiang went against the practice of his ancestors, using reformed people to form military forces, and using people from the sea to earn money... What is this? The son said, three years without changing the way of the father, it can be called filial piety Well, did Shi Xiang do it?"

The staff's lips trembled, but he couldn't speak.

From the standpoint of a political opponent, Shi Xiang's move is undoubtedly unfilial, but once he is accused of unfilial piety, who can guarantee that the bloody storm in the court will only reach Shi Xiang's sect, not Shi Xiang himself?
"so……"

Xuan Zeng also felt bored, he beat his chest, and said in a deep voice: "So Shi Xiang can only have a tacit understanding with Zhou Guogong from the beginning, Shi Xiang can only know Li Yun's identity from the beginning, Shi Xiang can only From the very beginning, he and Zhou Guogong Guo Ning jointly organized the war against the Kaifeng court."

This decision may or may not be successful, but in any case, it is ten times and a hundred times stronger than Shi Xiang being deceived by Guo Ning.

Whether this decision is beneficial or harmful to Da Song, for Shi Xiang, it is the only way to avoid the immediate predicament.

The entourage was dumbfounded: "Then... what should we do?"

Xuan Zeng opened the box containing the pastries, twisted a piece, and threw the box to the staff: "What can we do? Let's go, I have to show my love to Yelu Chucai!"

There are fifteen or six kinds of pastries in the pastry box, all of which are well-known good things in Lin'an.Among them, there is only one piece of Xuanzang's favorite snowflake crisp.Just now Xuan Zeng took this piece of snowflake crisp in his hand without hesitation.

Several attendants listened to his instructions and rushed to lead the horses. No one saw Xuan Zeng slowly kneading the snowflake cakes into crumbs.And in the debris, there is also a roll of extremely thin and long notes.

(End of this chapter)