The prince is more stable

Chapter 377 Emergency Military Information

After using dishonorable means to make Xiao Wuna and Xiao Guangjing, father and son, turn to the Song Dynasty and become pawns planted by the Song Dynasty in the Liao court, Zhao Xiaoqian has always had a one-way relationship with this father and son.

The positions of these two people are too important. Once exposed, their entire family will be killed. Unless it is an emergency, Zhao Xiaoqian and the Xiao father and son will not take the initiative to contact each other.

Today, the Xiao family father and son sent a secret envoy to see me, obviously an emergency has occurred.

Zhao Xiaoqian ordered Chen Shou to find a secluded place and ordered his personal guards to seal off the surroundings. Zhao Xiaoqian met the secret envoy in the side courtyard on the west side of the government office.

The secret envoy was dressed like a Song Dynasty person. He was wrapped in a fox fur coat and a gauze hat in the cold weather. He was a man in his thirties with typical Han features. He was ordinary and inconspicuous. He would not attract anyone's attention when walking on the streets of the Song Dynasty city.

After meeting Zhao Xiaoqian, the secret envoy did not say a word, but took out a letter from his bosom. The handwriting on the letter was crooked, and the content was actually some quotations from Confucius' "The Analects".

Even if this letter fell into the hands of the Liao government, apart from being influenced by the thoughts of the sages of the Central Plains and baptizing their souls, they would not be able to find any clues at all.

Zhao Xiaoqian, however, maintained his normal expression. He calmly asked Chen Shou to bring him a specially made book. He then translated the quotations from the sages in the book word for word. Each word represented a specific meaning. After the translation, the letter had become an important piece of intelligence.

That’s right, encrypted messaging was invented by Zhao Xiaoqian.

Only the code books held by Zhao Xiaoqian and the Xiao family father and son can accurately know the information hidden in these messy texts.

The content of the intelligence was very urgent. The Liao Kingdom was now reorganizing its troops and secretly dispatching soldiers to gather the garrisons of Datong Prefecture and Zhejin Prefecture of the Liao Kingdom, as well as the imperial guards of Shangjing, totaling more than 50,000 people.

By now, 50,000 Liao troops have been assembled. The next month will be the process of preparing food, fodder and military equipment. A month later, the army will march straight to Zhending Prefecture of the Song Dynasty, ready to provoke a war between the two countries.

The commander of the Liao army this time was Yelu Chun, the nephew of Liao ruler Yelu Hongji and the uncle of Crown Prince Yelu Yanxi.

The deputy commander was none other than the crown prince Yelu Yanxi. The uncle and nephew, one the chief and the other the deputy, intended to cross the Song-Liao border. They would first use a small group of Liao troops to raid the border and plunder the Song villages within the border.

If the Song army resists, the Liao Kingdom will immediately expand and escalate the war. The 50,000 Liao troops will march straight in, aiming for the city of Zhending, and will definitely conquer it.

The Liao Kingdom had never considered the possibility that the Song army would not resist. The Liao court had studied Zhao Xiaoqian for a long time, and the monarch and his ministers had a unified understanding that Zhao Xiaoqian was one of the few hardliners in the Song Dynasty, and that he would rather die than yield. If the Liao army attacked the border, Zhao Xiaoqian would not be able to fail to resist.

As for the reasons for starting the war, the so-called constraints of the Treaty of Chanyuan, etc.... it would be too naive to still intend to present facts and reason with the Liao Kingdom at this time.

People have already sharpened their knives and are ready to chop you down, and you are still foolishly trying to tell them to abide by the previous treaty and not to use knives or guns?

There is no need for a reason for war between major powers. The law of the jungle is the truth of this world. If you are weak, I will beat you. Being weak is the reason to be beaten.

After reading the intelligence, Zhao Xiaoqian's expression became serious.

The information that Xiao's father and son sent at great risk was truly extremely important.

He gave Zhao Xiaoqian a month to prepare for war so that he would not be caught off guard by the Liao army when the time came.

One month is enough time for Zhao Xiaoqian to do a lot of things.

After politely thanking the secret envoy, Zhao Xiaoqian ordered Chen Shou to send someone to escort the secret envoy out of Zhending City.

Sitting in the side room, Zhao Xiaoqian thought quietly.

Always remain calm when facing major events. As the military and political leader, you need to calmly think about how to respond in such an urgent moment. Any impulsive decision will kill thousands of soldiers and comrades.

After much deliberation, Zhao Xiaoqian decided to first order Zhong Jianzhong's Longwei Battalion and the Zhending Border Army to prepare for battle, stockpiling food, weapons, ammunition, horses, armor, and other essential supplies. This would take time, and a month would be sufficient. Secondly, he needed to quickly eliminate these pests within the army, as otherwise there might be chaos. Leading the army into battle required undivided attention, and he feared a fire in his backyard.

So Zhao Xiaoqian immediately ordered his men to prepare carriages and horses to leave the city and come to the Longwei Camp base in the eastern suburbs of Zhending. He entered the general's tent and beat drums to gather his troops.

After telling Zhong Jianzhong the news that the Liao Kingdom was about to launch a large-scale invasion, the generals of the Longwei Camp were not surprised but happy.

When they happily followed Zhao Xiaoqian to take up their posts, the more than 30,000 soldiers of the Dragon Guard Camp knew very well that they would be facing the Liao army. They were happy to hear about the war and their morale was high.

The reason for the high morale was that the soldiers felt at ease following the Duke of Zhao. Everyone had the opportunity to achieve great things, and as long as they had the ability, they could also get a lot of money.

The Duke of Zhao would not steal the military merits of his subordinates, nor would he confiscate the looted goods. The military discipline of the Dragon Guard Camp on the battlefield was in a mess, and they were impeached by court officials many times for this matter, but the soldiers gained real benefits.

Which soldier would not feel at ease following such a coach to fight?
Unexpectedly, just a few days after arriving in Zhending Prefecture, they immediately had the opportunity to fight. The generals of the Longwei Camp were overjoyed.

Zhong Jianzhong followed Zhao Xiaoqian in the war against Western Xia. After the victory, the court rewarded him with a title. For his contribution as the first to capture the capital of Western Xia, he was awarded a baronship. Now the opportunity has come again, and the generals have the opportunity to be awarded titles.

In the commander's tent, Zhao Xiaoqian ordered the Longwei Camp to prepare for war, and in the name of the governor of the western route of Hebei, he allocated food and fodder and conscripted laborers from Taiyuan Prefecture, Xingzhou, Xiangzhou and other places.

At the Dragon Guard Battalion headquarters, daily drills were conducted to prepare for war.

After all the generals left their tents, Zhao Xiaoqian sat alone in the commander's tent and wrote a memorial, stating that the Liao army of more than 50,000 soldiers and horses were about to invade the border, and how Zhao Xiaoqian deployed the troops and horses to prepare for war, listing every detail.

This is the necessary attitude for subordinates to report their work to their leaders. The leaders may not necessarily provide any help, but the subordinates must take the initiative to let the leaders know about this.

There is an emperor above your head, so no one can think of being a domineering president. When encountering problems, he will do things silently without informing his leader. If the leader makes trouble one day, the domineering president will be fired first.

In addition, Zhao Xiaoqian also truthfully reported the current situation of the officialdom in Zhending Prefecture in his memorial, laying the groundwork for future action.

Zhao Xiaoqian could easily defeat people like Liu Qianliang and Zhang Lan with just a wave of his hand.

But before destroying him, we must have a legitimate reason and evidence at hand before taking action, otherwise it will cause trouble for Zhao Xiaoqian.

Don't forget that he has backers in Bian Jing. If you touch these people, it is equivalent to cutting off the financial resources of that backer. So if you don't do it, then don't do it. But if you do it, you must cut the roots and kill the backer as well.

Yesterday, I ordered Zhao Xin of the Imperial City Office to secretly send people to go deep into government offices and among the people to collect evidence against Liu Qianliang and others.

This kind of person who has absolute power in the local area is far inferior to Zhao Ji in terms of his ability. Once he acts recklessly, he will not cover it up at all.

They have accumulated too much resentment and hatred among the people, and collecting evidence is only a matter of time. Zhao Xiaoqian believes that it won't be long before Zhao Xin will give him a satisfactory answer.

Yesterday, Liu Qianliang gave him a pair of beauties, and he enjoyed them. Even if Liu Qianliang was beaten to death, he would never have thought that Zhao Xiaoqian would turn around and stab him with a knife.

That’s right, it’s so disloyal and unruly.

It is also time to let them know how dirty the hearts of the big shots from Bian Jing are. This can be regarded as the last lesson in their lives.

Not only did Zhao Xiaoqian want to take action, he also set his sights on the property of these officials.

The evils they have committed over the years and the ill-gotten gains they have amassed must be astronomical figures. After we eliminate them, we must find a way to intercept this ill-gotten wealth, take it from the people, and return it to the people.

(End of this chapter)