The Beacon of Kyushu

A few days later, Linhuang Prefecture.

Today, the sky in Linhuang was full of dark clouds, but not a drop of rain fell. A ray of weak sunlight shone through the thick clouds, illuminating the palace. Yelu Xian sat in the imperial study, looking at the topographic map on the table, sighing and hesitating. He has always been in poor health, and recently he has been planning to rule the Central Plains again, so he has been working harder than before. No one knows whether his weak body can withstand such hardship.

Yelu Xian's eyes kept wandering around Daizhou, and he kept repeating "Yanmen Pass... Yanmen Pass...", but he seemed to have never made up his mind. After all, this battle was extremely important to the national strength and morale of the Liao Dynasty. If the Liao Dynasty could really conquer the natural barrier of Yanmen Pass, it could destroy the Song Dynasty within a few years and completely become the world's greatest overlord. But if this battle failed, the morale of the Liao Dynasty would inevitably suffer a heavy blow, and the battle would be criticized by the world.

At this moment, a young eunuch ran into the room in a panic and fell to his knees in front of Yelu Xian. Seeing this, Yelu Xian was startled and coughed a few times, asking: "Ahem... ahem... what's wrong? Why are you so panicked? Is there something wrong in the palace, or is the Song Kingdom sending troops to attack our Liao again?"

The young eunuch shook his head and said, "Report...Report to Your Majesty, the talented... talented prince...he..."

Yelu Xian said seriously, "Tell me quickly, what happened to Juncai?"

The young eunuch gritted his teeth and said, "His Highness Juncai was killed by Yuwen Yanyi!"

"A talented person... a talented person!" Yelu Xian shouted a few times, and then he felt a black screen in front of his eyes, a sweet taste in his throat, and a mouthful of blood almost spurted out. The young eunuch was so frightened that he kept kowtowed, and cold sweat dripped down his head, fearing that Yelu Xian would drag him out and chop him to pieces in anger.

Yelu Xian paused for a while before saying, "When Yuwen Yanyi was a general in Song, he killed countless brave men of the Liao. Now he dared to kill my nephew. He really disrespected the Liao! But why did he sneak into our country for no reason and kill my nephew? Do you know?"

The young eunuch said tremblingly: "No... I don't know, but Lord Xiao Tallin seems to know the whole story. Your Majesty can summon him for questioning."

Yelu Xian nodded and said, "Okay, go find Xiao Talin for me!"

The young eunuch responded, backed out of the imperial study, and ran to find Xiao Tallin. Not long after, he led Xiao Tallin back to the imperial study. When Yelu Xian saw Xiao Tallin coming, his tone softened a little and asked, "Tuoning, do you know why Yuwen Yanyi killed my nephew? If you know, tell me quickly."

Xiao Talina knelt on the ground with guilt, and said sadly: "Your Majesty, I and General Yelusha received an order from Lord Yelushu, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, to go to the Song Kingdom to assassinate Yuwen Yanyi. Yuwen Yanyi is a great enemy of the Liao Dynasty in public, and a traitor who intends to kill his teacher and destroy his ancestors in private. Naturally, I and General Yelusha must obey the order to kill this man. When we went, we thought that Yuwen Yanyi had been out of office for a long time, and there must be no masters around to help him, so it would be easy to kill him. Unexpectedly, on the night we took action, Murong Yunyao suddenly helped this thief, causing our plan to fail. We had to withdraw to Kyoto temporarily, and when the opportunity is ripe in the future, it will not be too late to take action again. Unexpectedly, Murong Yunyao relied on his courage to He was so fierce that he chased us all the way from Laojun Mountain to Xiayun Ridge. Fortunately, I was quick-witted and set a trap to capture Murong Yunyao. Later, I intended to use Murong Yunyao as bait to lure Yuwen Yanyi to Wuliu Mountain to rescue people, so that I could kill this thief. Unfortunately, I was careless and my plan was discovered by the thief. Not only did I fail to lure this thief up the mountain immediately, but I forced this thief to kill His Highness Juncai and disguised himself as His Highness Juncai to go up the mountain to commit the crime. If it weren’t for the help of my mentor, not only would His Highness Juncai be killed, but even Sister Ye Lawyer would have almost died. All in all, this matter is my fault. I hope Your Majesty will execute me to pay for His Highness Juncai’s life!”

After listening to Xiao Talina, Yelu Xian still had some doubts about the details, but he understood most of it. He stared at Xiao Talina for a long time, with anger, blame, understanding, sympathy and other emotions emerging in his eyes. Finally, he walked to Xiao Talina and helped him up, "Tuoning, this matter cannot be blamed on you. It is because Yuwen Yanyi is too cunning that today's incident happened. My health has always been poor. I only wish that I could have a day to rule the Central Plains a hundred years before I died. Now that the talented man is gone, although I, as your uncle, am heartbroken, I have to admit that this is the best time to destroy the Song Dynasty and establish the Liao Dynasty. Now, if I kill you, wouldn't it be the loss of a great general, which will be disadvantageous to the conquest of the Song Dynasty. Although I am not talented, I will definitely not do such a stupid thing that will make my relatives sad and my enemies happy."

Xiao Talina bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not killing us! In my opinion, it is better to write a letter and ask Zhao Guangyi to hand over Yuwen Yanyi and Murong Yunyao. I heard that Murong Yunyao once saved Zhao Guangyi's life, and Yuwen Yanyi was once a general under his command. If he is willing to hand over the two, both the court and the martial arts world will certainly despise Zhao Guangyi's behavior, and there is no need for my Liao army to send troops, and the Song Dynasty will be in chaos. If he is unwilling to hand over the two, we will attack the Song Dynasty in the name of revenge for His Highness Juncai, which can be considered a legitimate reason for the expedition. What do you think, Your Majesty?" Yelu Xian nodded and said, "General Xiao is right. I will write a letter to the country and ask Zhao Guangyi to hand over the people. At the same time, you go and inform General Yelu Xiu'ge that if Zhao Guangyi dares to refuse to hand over the murderer who killed my nephew, I will send troops to attack the Song Dynasty from Yanmen Pass and let thousands of Song people pay for my nephew's life!"

A few days later, the letter from the Liao Kingdom was delivered to Tokyo.

At this moment, Zhao Guangyi was discussing matters with his ministers in the Chuigong Hall. Wang Jie'en walked into the hall holding a letter from the Kingdom. "Your Majesty, the King of Liao, Yelu Xianxiu, has sent a letter asking you to hand over Yuwen Yanyi and Murong Yunyao within five days, otherwise the Liao Kingdom will send a large army to attack the Song Dynasty!" As he spoke, he respectfully presented the letter to Zhao Guangyi for his review.

Zhao Guangyi opened the letter and glanced through it. His face immediately became anxious and annoyed. He slammed the dragon desk and said, "Damn it! How abominable!"

Seeing this, Xue Juzheng, Shen Lun, Lu Duosun, Wang Quan and many other civil officials, as well as Cao Bin, Gao Huaide, Tian Qinzuo and many other military generals were all deeply surprised. Lu Duosun and Wang Quan looked at each other, as if they were confirming something, and soon shook their heads at the same time. Everyone focused their attention on the letter, and no one noticed the subtle movements of the two.

Xue Juzheng, as the head of the literary class, was the first to speak: "Sir, I wonder what the Liao Lord's intention is in doing this?"

Zhao Guangyi handed the letter to Wang Jie'en and said, "Jie'en, take this letter to show it to the ministers."

"Yes!" Wang Jie'en took the letter with both hands and handed it to each minister in turn. At first, everyone had a puzzled look on their faces, but after reading the letter one by one, they all showed indignation on their faces. After everyone finished reading, Lu Duosun spoke first: "Your Majesty, no one knows how much of the things in this letter are true and how much are false. If we rashly hand over the people to the Liao Kingdom, not only will the people not be convinced, but the Liao Kingdom will also laugh at our Song Dynasty for having no one! I think that the only way now is to fight a bloody battle with the Liao army to stop them from trying to destroy the Song Dynasty, otherwise it will cause endless harm!"

Then, Wang Quan said, "I second your opinion! If we don't teach the Liao army a lesson now and allow them to make these impolite demands, they may do something even more outrageous in the future!"

Cao Bin also said: "Your Majesty! I think this is just a figment of the Liao Lord's imagination, and he wants to use this as an excuse to go to war with our Song Dynasty! If the Liao people really send troops, there are only two ways to go, one is Mancheng and the other is Yanmen. Now Generals Pan Mei and Yang Ye are stationed in Yanmen. I believe that no matter how strong the Liao army is, it is impossible to break through Yanmen and reach Tokyo. As for Mancheng, General Li Jilong is stationed here, and it is difficult for the Liao army to capture an inch of land. If your Majesty is still worried, I am willing to lead a large army to support it. Even if I die on horseback, I will definitely protect the border!"

Zhao Guangyi nodded, and scanned the people present, and asked word by word: "Everyone, if anyone has any objections, please speak up. If there are no objections, I will immediately issue an order to send three generals, Li Jilong, Pan Mei, and Yang Ye, to resist the Liao army in two groups. Cao Qing's family will stay in Tokyo and be ready to respond at any time!"

All the ministers in the hall heard this and echoed, "We have no objection! If we live in disgrace, the Song Dynasty will surely fall. Only by fighting hard can we strengthen our country's prestige!"

Since Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, it has been rare for the whole court to be so united in purpose when a major event is imminent. He looked at the ministers in the palace, and then gazed at the distant sky. He seemed to see through the scorching sun and the magnificent scene of the generals of the Song Dynasty fighting bloody battles and winning glory for the country thousands of miles away. He felt a throbbing in his heart that did not belong to his age. (End of this chapter)