The prince is more stable

Chapter 556 Deputy Envoy Xu Jiang
General Xu was the deputy envoy requested by Zhao Xiaoqian.

I really asked for it.

A sensible woman will take the initiative to ride on a man and use this method to wake him up.

A sensible man would take the initiative to ask the emperor to arrange spies for him to keep an eye on him day and night.

Such a sensible man deserves to be rich all his life.

General Xu was arriving a little late, and the military situation was urgent, so Zhao Xiaoqian led his troops on the road. Considering that General Xu was a scholar and could not withstand a long-distance forced march, he asked General Xu to walk slowly.

Unexpectedly, General Xu had a strong sense of responsibility. He gritted his teeth and traveled day and night, and he did not fall behind much. He arrived at the camp almost at the same time as Zhao Xiaoqian.

Zhao Xiaoqian immediately went out of the camp and saw General Xu standing outside the gate with a pale face, waiting in a very polite manner.

Zhao Xiaoqian laughed heartily and greeted him with open arms: "Fafafafafa! Thank you for your hard work on the journey, Mr. Chongyuan!"

General Xu's face darkened: "Zhao Zian, stop making that weird laugh."

Zhao Xiaoqian said innocently, "Isn't Mr. Chongyuan from Hujian? I'm helping you find your long-lost hometown accent... Isn't it familiar?"

"That's totally unfriendly! People from Linbei Hujian don't smile like that!" General Xu said with a grim expression.

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed, wondering how could this top scholar be so ungrateful?

Do you know how hard I tried to please the court's spies?

Zhao Xiaoqian stepped aside and asked General Xu to enter the camp.

General Xu looked tired, but he still cheered up. As soon as he stepped into the gate, he frowned and looked around.

"Why is the camp so quiet? Where are the soldiers?" asked General Xu.

Zhao Xiaoqian hurriedly said, "I sent all of them out of the camp an hour ago. The 60,000 soldiers were divided into three groups to deal with the Liao army. Now there are only 2,000 garrison soldiers left in the main camp."

Seeing General Xu remain silent, Zhao Xiaoqian explained, "The military situation is urgent, and there is really no time to report to Mr. Chongyuan. Mr. Chongyuan is the top scholar, so you should know that speed is the essence of war..."

General Xu smiled. "Zi'an, there's no need to be so cautious. You and I both know that I'm just here for show. The emperor trusts you, and so do I. Normal troop movements don't require reporting to me."

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and said, "I still have to report it. I have a clear conscience, but there are always some mean-spirited people in the court, and I can't let them have anything to say about me. Having Mr. Chong Yuan here can save me a lot of trouble."

General Xu sighed with emotion: "It is rare for a young person to live as sensible and insightful as you. I have never seen a young person like you in my entire life."

"Fa fa fa fa..." Zhao Xiaoqian just uttered the familiar local accent when he saw General Xu staring at him unkindly. Zhao Xiaoqian had no choice but to change his words: "Hahahaha... Mr. Chong Yuan, you are too kind. I am not sensible enough. If I were, I would catch you a few Lingnan people to eat."

General Xu was invited into the office. He looked at the furnishings in the main hall curiously, and his expression gradually showed satisfaction.

"Is this the former Feihu Military Headquarters of the Liao Kingdom?" General Xu asked.

"Yes, it's a bit simple. The northern barbarians are uneducated and don't understand the mysterious feng shui layout of our Central Plains. The hall is empty and there is nothing in it." Zhao Xiaoqian curled his lips.

General Xu laughed heartily and waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no, Zi'an, you are wrong. The Song Dynasty has already earned enough face by occupying this place. Even if there is nothing left, it is still a supreme honor."

Looking at the empty main hall, General Xu was inexplicably excited, with a look of pride on his face, like a wolf patrolling his territory.

Sometimes she stroked the pillars, sometimes she knocked on the wall, and when she felt like it, she ran to sit behind the desk, staring straight ahead with deep eyes, sometimes she looked arrogant, like a general looking down on the world, and sometimes she looked vulgar, like an adulterer in front of her husband.

The feeling is understandable. After all, when you snatch something from someone else's house and make it your own, it's like snatching someone else's wife and committing the same crime yourself. There's a twisted sense of pleasure in that.

Zhao Xiaoqian saw that General Xu was like an excited bumpkin, touching here, looking there, and running around in the main hall. Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help but show a look of concern for the mentally retarded.

This guy is the number one scholar of the dynasty. Who would believe it if I told others?
After excitedly inspecting the former Liao Dynasty Feihu Bingmasi office for a while, for some reason, it touched General Xu's heart. He toured it inside and out before he calmed down.

After the turn, General Xu ran up to Zhao Xiaoqian and praised him, "Zi'an, you're amazing! The soldiers of the Dragon Guard Battalion are so impressive! Haha!"

Zhao Xiaoqian said helplessly, "These are just basic exercises. Mr. Chongyuan, please... Could you please be more steady? You really don't look like a top scholar right now."

General Xu smiled nonchalantly and said, "What's the point of being the top scholar? It's just a useless title when it comes to expanding territory!"

General Xu sighed with emotion, his eyes filled with praise: "When I was in Bianjing, I only heard that Zhao Zi'an led the Dragon Guard Battalion to expand the territory of the Song Dynasty by 400 miles and defeated the Flying Fox Army of the Liao Kingdom..."

"I've heard rumors and even seen the victory report myself, but I didn't think much of it then. Until today, when I saw with my own eyes that the Liao Kingdom's Feihu Military Division has already entered the territory of our Great Song Dynasty. From Zhending Prefecture to here, a distance of 400 miles, it took three full days to walk..."

"Now I understand what a remarkable thing you, Zi'an, and the soldiers of the Dragon Guard Battalion have done!"

As he spoke, General Xu suddenly knelt down on his knees, stroking the ground with his hands. His movements were as gentle as if he was stroking his lover's face, and his eyes were full of affection.

"Look at this land, this piece, this stretch, this four hundred miles that stretches as far as the eye can see. It originally belonged to the Liao Kingdom, and now it belongs to our Song Dynasty!" Grabbing a handful of soil, General Xu looked at it carefully, his eyes full of excitement. For some reason, his eyes were filled with tears, and he sighed to the sky.

"The previous emperors of the Great Song Dynasty, our ancestors! After a century of decline, the nation is now clearing up. If our ancestors are still in heaven, they will know that we have lived up to their aspirations and have not brought shame upon them. Woo woo woo..."

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at the crying General Xu quietly.

This is probably the case with the patriotism of most of the literati in the Song Dynasty.

Instead of the ugly pretentiousness, Zhao Xiaoqian only saw a pure and innocent heart, burning with passion.

General Xu knelt on the ground and cried for a long time. After venting his emotions, he slowly stood up, wiped his tears, and said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry to make you laugh, Zi'an, I really can't help myself..."

Zhao Xiaoqian shook his head: "Don't laugh, Mr. Chong Yuan's sincerity is admirable."

General Xu walked out of the main hall and pointed to the north, saying, "That direction outside the government office, could it be the Juma River?"

"Exactly. The current boundary between the Song and Liao states is the Juma River. The northern bank of the Juma River is the Liao border."

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled, revealing a confident look: "But this is only temporary. Perhaps it won't be long before the borders of Song and Liao will have to be changed again."

General Xu grabbed Zhao Xiaoqian and said, "Come on, accompany me to the river. I want to imitate Master Su and do a 'Looking Northwest, Shooting the Wolf in the Sky', haha!"

Zhao Xiaoqian said awkwardly, "Well...Mr. Chongyuan, it's almost time for dinner, let's eat first..."

Before he could finish his words, General Xu tugged at him fiercely, "What are you eating? You won't die from skipping a meal. Let's go!"

Zhao Xiaoqian had to accompany General Xu everywhere as he staggered along.

Looking north from the Juma River, one can see the small market outside Bingmasi, the farmers living outside, and the gradually taking shape of the city.

General Xu watched with great interest for a long time, until it was already dark, and then he returned to the office with a feeling of unfulfilled desire.

As night fell, only Zhao Xiaoqian and Xu Jiang were left in the office.

The dinner was rich. After all, Prince Zhao would never treat himself badly no matter how bad the environment was.

The two of them roasted half a lamb, and Zhao Xiaoqian personally cooked two side dishes. They each drank a glass of rice wine. They ate until their mouths were wet with oil. General Xu praised Zhao Xiaoqian highly. He originally thought that he came to this remote and barren frontier to suffer, but the first meal he had just arrived was so sumptuous.

It seems that he deserves the position of deputy envoy and has a promising future.

There is another hidden benefit of being a deputy envoy, which is that you can share the military merits.

The soldiers fought on the front line, and no matter how great the victory was, Zhao Xiaoqian and General Xu, one the chief envoy and the other the deputy envoy, had made great contributions. If they stayed here for a year or two, General Xu would even have the courage to hope for a title.

…………

At the same time, outside the city of Datong, located in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, 30,000 Liao troops have been gathering.

These 30,000 Liao troops were recruited from all over the Liao Kingdom. Their composition was a bit complicated. There were Khitan soldiers, Han soldiers, guards directly recruited from Shangjing, tribal troops recruited from various tribes, Bohai Army, and so on.

The Liao Dynasty was not only the Liao Dynasty of the Khitan people. In fact, it was also a multi-ethnic country with people of all ethnic groups in the country, but the Khitans were the main group.

After Zhao Xiaoqian was dismissed, Yelu Hongji thought he had seized the opportunity and hastily raised an army. In order to gather enough troops, he could only temporarily gather them from various places.

The commander-in-chief of the western army responsible for attacking the Taiyuan Prefecture of the Song Dynasty this time was an acquaintance, Xiao Wuna, a chess piece deployed by Zhao Xiaoqian.

As the night deepened, Xiao Wuna sat in the general's tent, staring at the map with a cold expression, and his eyes flashed with a hint of grayness from time to time.

To be honest, Xiao Wuna felt that his chances of winning this time's attack on Taiyuan Prefecture were slim.

Although Zhao Xiaoqian's dismissal from office was an opportunity for the Liao Kingdom, it did not mean that there was no crisis.

Xiao Wuna had a clearer view of the problem. He knew very well that even if the Song army did not have Zhao Xiaoqian, the firearms in their hands would still be the natural enemy of the Liao army.

Even if Yelu Hongji's strategy was to force the Dragon Guard Camp to split up its forces, even if only 5,000 men were sent to fight against Xiao Wuna's 30,000 troops, the outcome would be difficult to predict.

Xiao Wuna had never seen the power of the Song army's firearms with his own eyes, but his son Xiao Guangjing had seen it with his own eyes. It can be said that the Song army's firearms made their first appearance in the world just to intimidate his son Xiao Guangjing.

Xiao Guangjing described the Song army's firearms in great detail. If Xiao Guangjing was not exaggerating, then even if the Song army had only 5,000 firearms soldiers, Xiao Wuna's 30,000 troops would probably have to pay a huge price to defeat them.

In a nutshell, the outcome of this battle is not good.

(End of this chapter)