The prince is more stable

Chapter 577 Liaoxia Wants Alliance
Victory was within Zhao Xu's expectations.

He didn't know when it started, but whenever Zhao Xiaoqian led the troops to battle, Zhao Xu would subconsciously be certain of victory. He didn't even know where this inexplicable confidence came from.

But Zhao Xiaoqian never let him down and he always won every battle. In the past one or two years, the good news received in Bianliang almost made Zhao Xu numb.

However, no matter how numb he was, today's good news still made Zhao Xu ecstatic.

After all, the results of the battle were too great. More than 70,000 Liao soldiers were killed in the battle, which had never happened before since the founding of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, Zhao Xiaoqian won the victory by defeating a large number of enemies with a completely unequal strength of troops on both sides, which made Zhao Xu feel sincerely proud.

"Zi'an has done so well, I don't know how to reward him." Zhao Xu rubbed his hands together, pacing excitedly in the hall. Suddenly, he paused and said, "Let's make him a prince. A county title is not enough to honor his achievements. The uncle of the King of Chu can also grant him the title of Prince Taifu..."

Zheng Chunhe next to him smiled. He was a eunuch. The Song Dynasty still had very strict restrictions on eunuchs, and they were not allowed to interfere in state affairs.

As Zhao Xu spoke, he opened the victory report jointly sent by Zhao Xiaoqian and General Xu, unfolded it and read it several times. Zhao Xu closed the memorial and looked deep in thought.

"Zi'an said in his memorial that all the soldiers of the three armies risked their lives in this battle, and he made no contribution. He asked me to reward the soldiers generously, but he refused any reward..."

Zheng Chunhe lost no time in saying, "His Royal Highness has made remarkable military achievements, but what is rare is that he does not covet the credit. His character is noble and upright, which is truly admirable."

Zhao Xu nodded and closed his eyes in thought.

Zhao Xiaoqian specifically stated in his memorial that he did not want any reward, and Zhao Xu vaguely understood his thoughts.

In just two or three years, Zhao Xiaoqian's title was promoted all the way to Prince. Although his merits were obvious to all, he inevitably aroused criticism from the ministers.

After all, the nobility was promoted too quickly, and the emperor's intention to favor his relatives was too obvious. Jealous people were already secretly saying that Zhao Xu was being unfair.

Although Zhao Xiaoqian has made great contributions this time, if he is promoted to prince again, who knows how big a turmoil will be caused in the court.

Moreover, Zhao Xu was now preoccupied with the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. If Zhao Xiaoqian was rewarded for this great victory, the title of prince would be the highest title. After he recovered Yanyun, what else would Zhao Xu reward him with?
It would be better to follow Zhao Xiaoqian's advice and keep the reward until after the recovery of Yanyun. With such a great contribution, I believe no one in the court or the public would dare to question it.

"Never mind. No rewards this time. Zheng Chunhe, pass on my decree. I will reward the Chu Palace with two thousand taels of gold and ten thousand pieces of silk. I will also increase the fiefs of Chu Shu and Zi'an by a thousand households each. I will also exempt the land and businesses under the palace from taxes for five years..."

Zhao Xu smiled, unable to help but glance at the prince, Zhao Mao, who was in the arms of his wet nurse. He said, "Send someone to tell Zi'an that when my prince comes of age, he will be sent to the army for training. Zi'an will also be Mao'er's teacher, raising a virtuous and upright Crown Prince of the Song Dynasty."

Zheng Chunhe was slightly startled. These words contained a lot of information. The emperor had clearly reserved Zhao Xiaoqian's position as the guardian of the emperor's will in advance. In other words, Zhao Xiaoqian's status in the future would be second only to the emperor.

Zhao Xu ignored Zheng Chunhe's surprised expression and sneered, "After this battle, the Liao Kingdom will probably never again cause any trouble. If Yelu Hongji isn't stupid, he'll have no choice but to retreat and defend. Zi'an will then have the confidence to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun."

"Send an order to the Privy Council, instructing Zeng Bu'antao to quickly select 50,000 soldiers from the three armies. They must be elite soldiers, not just filler personnel. Once selected, they must be sent to Zi'an's command as soon as possible. The Council of State must also provide a steady supply of food and fodder for Zi'an's command. If there are any problems with the food and fodder, I will hold you accountable."

Zheng Chunhe wrote down Zhao Xu's orders one by one and turned to leave the hall.

An eunuch entered the palace and reported, "Your Majesty, the Empress requests an audience."

Zhao Xu's expression suddenly turned cold, and he asked unhappily, "Why is she here in Funing Palace?"

"The Queen said that the little prince is young and noisy, and he might interfere with the government affairs. The Queen Mother misses the little prince very much, and the Queen wants to bring him to the Queen Mother."

Zhao Xu grew increasingly displeased and said coldly, "The prince isn't her own, so why is she being so attentive? Zheng Chunhe, go and take the prince to the Queen Mother. You don't have to ask the Queen to do it for you."

Zheng Chunhe looked embarrassed, but still bowed in response.

He turned around and sighed secretly. The relationship between this royal couple had reached a freezing point. He didn't dare to guess what the queen was thinking, but the emperor had obviously regarded the queen as an enemy.

After the death of the Empress Dowager, the Emperor had apparently considered deposing her, but fearing the impact on the court and the criticism from the world, he had to suppress the idea.

Although the queen has not been deposed, the couple is already estranged from each other, like strangers, and even the prince does not want the queen to get involved.

Zhao Xu waved his hand at the eunuch with a cold expression and said, "I am busy with state affairs and have no time to see her. Let the queen return to the palace."

…………

Juma River Camp.

After the great victory, the soldiers of the three armies returned to their respective units and returned to the camp.

Zhao Xiaoqian ordered the entire army to rest for five days to bury the bodies of the soldiers who died in the battle, treat the wounded, and carry out other post-war work.

The casualties in this battle were not great, but there were many wounded, most of whom were injured by the bows, arrows, spears, and chain hammers of the Liao army during the charge.

In those days, the armor of ordinary soldiers was issued by the imperial court. It was impossible for everyone to wear iron armor. Only generals were qualified to wear iron armor. Ordinary soldiers mostly wore leather armor.

Leather armor only protected important parts such as the chest, back and torso, and it was still easy to be injured by the enemy on the battlefield, as was the case with the wounded soldiers of the Song army.

After the war, statistics showed that there were more than 5,000 casualties, both lightly and seriously. Fortunately, most of them were lightly injured and recovered after rest.

It took several days to deal with the aftermath, and everything finally returned to normal.

After a few days of rest, the soldiers' spirits and energy returned to normal. The camp was once again filled with fighting, cursing and laughter, and the familiar military atmosphere returned.

Not only did the soldiers regain their spirits, but the commander-in-chief Zhao Xiaoqian also regained his lazy nature. He wandered around the camp idly every day, picking at the food that not even a dog would eat with a look of disgust.

For some reason, the generals in the army felt extremely at ease when listening to Zhao Xiaoqian's daily cursing.

Perhaps it was because of his PUA, but when Zhao Xiaoqian was amiable or angry, the generals were all apprehensive. However, when he was picky, cursing, and slacking off like a puddle of mud, the generals felt genuinely relieved, believing this was the normal behavior of a military commander. In the backyard of the former Feihu Military Commission, Zhao Xiaoqian sat cross-legged in the courtyard, staring at the food in front of him with displeasure, taking deep breaths from time to time to suppress his extreme dissatisfaction.

Standing in front of him was an imperial guard, who was under the command of Chen Shou. Zhao Xiaoqian cooked his own meals, and his daily meals were prepared by this imperial guard in front of him.

On the round stone table, there was a dish of braised carp, a dish of stir-fried fern, and a bowl of braised noodles with the characteristics of the Central Plains.

Objectively speaking, the dishes are already very good. The cook also learned his skills from the chef of the Prince of Chu's Palace and basically inherited 60% to 70% of the chef's skills.

But this six or seven points of skill is obviously not enough to satisfy Zhao Xiaoqian.

Zhao Xiaoqian is famous for his picky mouth. The so-called "picky mouth" refers not only to being picky about food, but also to having a sharp tongue. If he is irritated, a word that comes out of his mouth can instantly make a healthy person have a heart attack.

The dishes in front of him obviously made Zhao Xiaoqian very dissatisfied. He stared at the dishes without moving his chopsticks.

The cook stood in front of him nervously, looking helpless and frightened.

After a long pause, Zhao Xiaoqian said quietly, "Do you know that the Royal Army won a great victory recently under my command?"

The cook nodded in fear: "I know."

"I won such a great victory. I don't ask you to sing and dance in my praises, but at least you should worship me as a god and offer sacrifices to the three animals. So, you use this kind of trash to deal with the victorious commander?"

"If the Liao Kingdom next door saw this, they'd think I couldn't afford it! Tell me, what are you thinking? How dare you treat me so perfunctorily? You don't want to do this anymore, right?"

The cook's face changed, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead: "Prince, I really, really... tried my best."

"You tried your damnedest! Look at what you cooked. The braised carp wasn't marinated beforehand, so the meat wasn't flavorful at all. Fail! The stir-fried fern was too oily and overcooked, so it wilted. Fail! Even worse is the braised noodles. Bro, the noodles aren't cooked through!"

The cook was horrified and took a careful look at the stone table. His face became even more tense. He did not dare to argue and quickly bowed to apologize.

Zhao Xiaoqian said leisurely, "I won't make it difficult for you. Come, stick your little butt up and let me kick it, and then this matter will be over. Go back and make me a few more dishes."

The cook turned around obediently and shyly stuck out his butt to a man...

When Zhen Qing, who was working on official business at the Imperial City Division, stepped into the yard, the first thing he saw was this scene.

Zhen Qingju's legs shrank as he cried out in a lost voice, "Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, please do not be confused! The lineage of the King of Chu is small, and Your Highness bears the heavy responsibility of expanding it. Although the habit of homosexuality may be elegant, but, but... the dry way is not the kingly way. Your Highness, please reconsider!"

Zhao Xiaoqian was startled, but soon understood what he meant and gritted his teeth, "You fucking..."

He kicked the cook away and told him to get lost. Zhao Xiaoqian pointed behind Zhen Qing and said, "Look! Your father is hanging on the flagpole, waving in the wind!"

Zhen Qing was stunned and turned around subconsciously. Zhao Xiaoqian took a running start and then kicked Zhen Qing in the air, sending him flying.

So cool!

After a while, Zhen Qing rubbed his butt and sat in front of Zhao Xiaoqian with a bitter look on his face.

Zhao Xiaoqian was in a good mood. After beating someone up, for some reason he suddenly became in a very good mood.

"You bastard, remember this, I am straight!" Zhao Xiaoqian cursed.

Zhen Qing smiled and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I misunderstood. I deserve to die."

Then Zhao Xiaoqian suddenly realized: "Hey? Aren't you in Shangjing, Liao Kingdom? Why did you suddenly come back?"

Zhen Qing hurriedly said, "Your Highness, I have urgent information that I must report to Your Highness in person."

"explain."

"A few days ago, His Highness led his army to a crushing victory over the Liao army, shocking the capital and shocking the emperor and his ministers. Yelu Otera's entire family was executed by order of Yelu Hongji. Yelu Chun was stripped of his title of Prince of Beiping, dismissed from his post as the governor of Nanjing, and ordered to be confined for reflection. Of the three defeated generals, only Xiao Wuna was promoted to Deputy Envoy of the Liao Kingdom's Northern Court Privy Council..."

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled slightly, not surprised at all.

Strictly speaking, Xiao Wuna's promotion was personally given to him by Zhao Xiaoqian.

"Yelü Hongji was ruthless. It was clearly the Liao emperor's fault, and Yelu Otera was captured out of necessity. Yet, he was so cruel that he killed Yelu's entire family without a second thought. Tsk!"

Zhen Qing sighed, "Who says it's not true? There were many criticisms of the Liao Emperor's decisions in the imperial court, but they didn't dare to speak out. Because of the defeat, the Liao Emperor was in a rage, and the officials didn't dare to speak out."

"Is this the urgent information you mentioned?"

"Well, there's more to it than that. The main reason is that after the news of the defeat reached Shangjing, the Liao Emperor was furious and decided to win over the Western Xia to fight against the Song Dynasty. So he approved the marriage proposal from Li Qianshun, the ruler of the Western Xia."

"Yelü Hongji selected a princess from among his royal family, named her 'Princess Cheng'an', and sent her to Xixia to marry Li Qianshun."

Zhao Xiaoqian narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice growing colder. "Liao and Xia allied to fight against the Song Dynasty? Oh, you mistake the Song Dynasty for the Cao of Wei?"

"Li Qianshun, do you have the guts to form an alliance with the Liao Kingdom?"

(End of this chapter)