The Villain's Counterattack

What is coming will eventually come, but the ambitions of the heroes for military and national affairs will not change just because Qiao Feng joins the Liao Kingdom's Royal Guards and Murong Trading Company dominates the Liao Kingdom. In fact, because Murong Trading Company has prospered the business, some heroes are even more tempted.

The Liao army was powerful, suppressing the Song dynasty in the south, curbing Goryeo in the east, and deterring the Jurchens in the north. The Western Xia treated the Liao with great respect, fearing they would become Liao's prey. It's no exaggeration to say that the Liao was the most powerful nation in the East. However, despite its military prowess, the Liao economy was already in decline, and internal corruption was becoming increasingly serious. Without reform, it was bound to decline within a few decades.

However, the Liao emperor Yelu Hongji was also a magnanimous man. He was generous and brave. Although he was over forty years old, he still liked hunting, and he hunted by himself. He often went out hunting and was not in the capital of Liao.

Last year, he was hunting in Changbai Mountain and was almost surrounded by the Dragon Elephant Army of the Murong family. Although he escaped in the end, he lost a lot of face. After that, he asked the King of the North Court to put pressure on him, and there were many frictions between the two sides, but they were all easily resolved by Murong Bo.

This time, Yelu Hongji went hunting in the north again, but he no longer engaged in small-scale warfare. The King of the Northern Court led his troops to follow him. However, he had learned from his last lesson and no longer used a small number of elite soldiers to protect him. Instead, he dispatched an army of 100,000, all of whom were elite soldiers, and marched straight to Changbai Mountain.

Yelu Hongji was also a smart man. He vaguely knew that there were forces hidden near Changbai Mountain that he did not understand. They often appeared in the form of horse bandits and plundered everywhere. Even the Liao cavalry could not catch up with them. Even if they caught up with them, they could not defeat them and could only passively defend.

This time he insisted on leading an army of 100,000 to hunt in the north, with the idea of ​​sweeping away everything with absolutely powerful military force. Even if the enemy was individually strong and the small forces were flexible and changeable, they would be no match for the army. This was the emperor's method.

Qiao Feng possesses formidable martial prowess and possesses a Khitan Xiao clan background. Although he hasn't returned to the Xiao clan to acknowledge his ancestral roots, he has, with the help of the Murong Trading Company, become a member of a remote branch of the Xiao clan, a true Khitan confederate. This has enabled him to join the Imperial Guard and rise to the mid- to lower-ranking military commander through force. He commands his men with force, enforcing his orders with impeccable grace. Having previously held a high position as the leader of the Beggars' Sect, he's no stranger to commanding battles, gradually gaining recognition from his superiors and earning the opportunity to accompany the army on this expedition.

Qiao Feng changed his name to Xiao Feng, or rather restored his real name Xiao Feng. He was doing well in the Liao army and was highly respected for his amazing drinking capacity. The team of 500 to 700 people under him had been trained by him and their combat effectiveness was obviously stronger than that of other teams. However, he was quite low-key and did not fight or compete, so he did not attract much attention and suspicion.

But the strong are the strong, and gold shines wherever it is. His team's martial arts performance was a great success, earning them the opportunity to accompany the emperor and protect him. Xiao Feng saw Yelu Hongji from afar and was quite impressed by him. This middle-aged man was once his great enemy, but now that his status has changed, many of his ideas have not changed for a while, and he still puts the Han people first.

However, as time passed and he stayed in Liao for longer, the Khitan blood in his bones gradually revived, unconsciously influencing his thoughts. If another three to five years passed, the shadow of the Han people would gradually fade, and the Khitan temperament would prevail.

This time, the emperor was accompanied by hundreds of civil and military officials on his northern expedition. There were many high-ranking officials, including the King of the Northern Court, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, Yu Yue, the Privy Councilor of the Southern Court, the General of the Pi Chamber, the Junior General, the Commander of the Cavalry, the Commander of the Infantry, etc. Even Qiao Feng could not recognize them all at once. He only knew that if their entire army was destroyed, the entire Liao Kingdom would probably be destroyed.

Am I a Khitan?

After more than a year in Liao, Xiao Feng learned about his life experience, accepted it, used it, and gradually enjoyed it.

I'm both Khitan and Han, or rather, a mixed-race person with half Khitan and half Han blood. According to Master Murong, it's not that I'm not tolerated by the Han people, but rather that I was exploited by the Beggars' Sect leadership thirty years ago and forced to remain a Han leader. And can someone like me, who is half Han, really be tolerated by the Liao Dynasty's high-ranking officials?

The theory of bloodline is very prevalent in many places, and the higher the level, the more so. However, it is different for the Murong family. Since getting to know the Murong family in depth and gradually becoming one of the top leaders, Xiao Feng naturally and inevitably discovered many secrets that he did not know before.

The Murong family is not a pure Han family. They are descendants of the Xianbei people and the royal family of the former Xianbei Dynasty, the Great Yan Kingdom. They have never given up on the cause of restoring their nation and have even established a country overseas, but outsiders do not know about it.

The imperial family of the Great Yan Empire descended from the Xianbei Murong clan. However, since the fall of the Great Yan Empire, the Murong family has established themselves in Suzhou's Taihu Lake. After generations of intermarriage with the Han people, how much of their Xianbei bloodline remains? Murong Bo isn't even considered pure Xianbei, let alone Murong Fu?

Xiao Feng has been in the Beggars' Sect for many years and has never been discovered to be a Khitan, but when he returns to the Liao Kingdom, he will not be mistaken for a Han Chinese. This mixed-race person has characteristics of both sides. Murong Fu has lived in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time and has a handsome appearance. There is almost no Xianbei feature on his body. He has never discriminated against mixed-race people, but only promoted people based on their talents. Such a country and such a leader are his true destination.

Recalling Murong Fu's earlier remarks, the prosperous Tang Dynasty was also a Xianbei dynasty. At its founding, the Li Tang royal family's bloodline was primarily Xianbei. Later, they accepted Han women into their harems, gradually shifting their bloodline closer to Han, with the majority of the court comprised of people of the Han ethnic group. However, the upper echelons were extremely open-minded and didn't discriminate based on bloodline. Talented individuals of all ethnicities were tolerated and employed, which led to the Tang Dynasty's prosperity.

Xiao Feng asked in return the reason for the decline of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and Murong Fu's answer surprised him. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was at its peak when it integrated hundreds of ethnic groups into one, but its decline was actually due to division. The Jiedushi system gave conspirators a great opportunity. Once the ethnic groups were autonomous, estrangements would inevitably arise. The more divisions there were, the greater the estrangements would become, until the branches became stronger than the trunk, and then division was inevitable.

The prosperous Tang Dynasty did not perish due to external invasion, but internal strife. The prosperous Tang Dynasty began after Wu Zhou. The emperor began to tear down the family business and personally cultivated many ungrateful people, allowing them to drag the prosperous Tang Dynasty into the abyss. After that, he did not repent and continued to promote the Jiedushi system, causing the prosperous dynasty to fall apart and eventually perished at the hands of the Jiedushi.

Only through unification can we become strong, and only through unification can we unite. The lessons of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the current situation of the weak Song Dynasty both illustrate this truth. Therefore, although he had some hesitations in his heart about Murong Fu's desire to take advantage of the impending civil unrest in the Liao Dynasty to incorporate the Liao Kingdom into the Great Yan Kingdom in one fell swoop, he generally agreed with it.

What he hesitated about was nothing more than the casualties of the Khitan people in Liao. What he cared about was not the small number of high-ranking officials, but the huge number of low-level soldiers and civilians.

The reason why Xiao Feng was willing to help his leader Murong Fu and even devote himself to him wholeheartedly was not only because of his broad-mindedness and extraordinary insight, but more because of his ability to strategize and see the big picture from the small details. The hidden dangers of civil unrest in Liao have always been there, but he was able to accurately predict the time within a few years and even accurately grasp the opportunity to accomplish things in one fell swoop.

However, man proposes, God disposes. The general trend can be controlled, but the details are prone to changes. This is when people like me need to take action.

The seventy-two island masters under the Lingjiu Palace set off a wave in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, tying up a lot of energy of the Song Dynasty court. Murong Fu did not hesitate to use Murong Shangxing as bait to make the Song Dynasty unable to take care of other things, eliminating the possible variables from the Song Dynasty, and by the way, also involving the energy of Shaolin and the Beggars' Sect.

The thirty-six cave masters led their men to sneak into the Liao Kingdom early, secretly lurking in important cities such as Shangjing in the Liao Kingdom, and cooperated with Murong Trading Company to do a lot of work. Each of these people had a unique skill, which was of great use if used well. Murong Fu offered a reward that the top five people with the most achievements would have their life and death talismans removed, and the top twenty would have half of their life and death talismans removed, which immediately motivated them.

Murong Fu didn't take the initiative to step forward, but how could these experienced veterans not see who this young man was? They also knew that he was highly regarded by the Child-Fairy of Tianshan and was the future Palace Master of the Vulture Palace, their future leader. If the Child-Fairy had always been Palace Master, their future would have been bleak. But now that they had Murong Fu as their successor, who held the power over their lives and was willing to provide them with a good life, how could they not be grateful and work hard?

Haven’t you seen that the seventy-two island masters, under the command of Master Murong, roamed the East China Sea and the South China Sea and made a fortune, and six of them even removed the life and death talismans around their bodies because of their merits? This is the best example.

Young Master Murong does not base his decisions on martial arts, knowledge, or ability, but rather uses talents according to local conditions. As long as the achievements are made, he will give rewards, such as removing the life and death talismans around his body. If there are still merits, he can be exempted from tribute and even be given a martial arts secret book that suits him.

This time, their work in plotting against the Liao Kingdom was not too dangerous. There were special people to take charge of dangerous work. They could lurk in the dark and cooperate with others in secret to push the general trend forward, and they could get many benefits. Why not do it?

"There are traitors causing chaos in Shangjing. Your Majesty orders us to move camp!" The king's order was as loud as a mountain. The 100,000-strong army prepared to set off in a strict and orderly manner without any panic or confusion. The vanguard scouts rushed out first, followed by the left and right vanguards, the front army, the left army, and the right army, and they marched south back to the capital.