Chapter 161: The people who jumped into the pit are so enthusiastic

Zhang Yong was so anxious that he stomped his feet and said, "How can it be done? This is a huge matter. He privately launched a border provocation. This is to provoke a war between the two countries. How can he hide it?"

Deng Yufu nodded frequently beside him, and Zhao Xing curled his lips disdainfully: "What a big deal - I ask you, when Wang Jinggong established the Qingmiao Law, millions of people in the capital were displaced, selling their children, pawning their wives, demolishing houses, and cutting down mulberry trees... Millions of people, millions of people cried along the way, and Jingzhao was under the eyes of the Zhengshi Hall. Do the officials of the Zhengshi Hall know this? Do they know that millions of people are crying?"

Zhang Yong replied angrily: "Why don't you know? The officials of Jingzhao reported three times a day, why don't the officials of the Political Affairs Hall know?"

"So does the official know?"

This problem completely choked Zhang Yong. He hesitated for a long time before he said carefully: "The official... at first did not know that this was the matter of the Political Affairs Hall. Wang Xianggong thought that this was an ulterior motive for the old party officials and attacked the new law. Therefore..."

"Therefore, all officials who come to report on the hardship of the people are said to be slandering the new law, a "vicious attack" on the new law, and a "demonized propaganda" of the reform. Wang Xianggong has always thought that "people's words are not fearful" and is never afraid of dismissing those who dare to speak, demote, torture to death, and even creating literary inquisitions to imprison speech, right?

Back then, Zheng Xia went to the "Immortality Picture" to describe the tragic situation of millions of refugees and asked the court to abolish the new law. The memorial was sent to the cabinet gate, but it was not accepted. He had to pretend to be a secret emergency report and send a horse to the Jintai Department to submit it to the Emperor Shenzong, right?...and what?"

Zhang Yong thought for a long time and couldn't answer. Deng Yufu had never been an official, but looked at Zhang Yong's face and guessed carefully: "However, the official family finally got it, right?"

"How do you know?"

"Some official..."

"Stop! You have already said the keyword - a certain official! Only when an official reports will the above know. When officials do not want to report, no matter how big it is, it will be regarded as a fart. The suffering of millions of people in Jingzhao is considered a "far". In this way, what are the trivial things of hundreds of us? Without an official report, how has this happened? Even if there is an official report, if someone does not want it to appear, even if you report three times a day, has this happened? Those who dare to report, aren't they afraid of long roads for exile?

Well, then, how many people can report this in Mizhou? Well, Wang Zishao counts one, ask, what else?

So, it only takes two people to deal with this matter. Hum, so you think it's big, I think it's very small - just to shut up two people, can't we do it? At worst, plus a few officials in Dengzhou, who else can speak? "

Zhao Xing actually said half of the words. The book often teaches children: the emperor (the highest official) does not know the truth about all ugly things and is blinded by the subordinates - in fact, this is a ignorant of the people and a political means to find scapegoats.

Zhang Yong is the gatekeeper of the palace, and he knows more truth. For example, under his nose, millions of people in Jingzhao Mansion destroyed their families and fled, and the emperor could not know nothing - he just pretended to know nothing. When the official family needs to know the truth - first: when it can't be covered; second: when the incident is needed to be used as a political weapon to attack someone, the relevant personnel can "really know".

Politics has always been like this. Zhang Yong only has an emotional understanding of this, so he panics; while Zhao Xing rationally recognizes this, so he is very calm. He knows calmly: politicians will selectively not hear things they don’t like to hear, even if you shout in his ear, he still pretends not to hear them.

Perhaps, the guarantee given by Zhang Dun is not credible; perhaps, the rumors can eventually reveal the truth, but in a short period of time, he only needs to deal with two people. Buying two people is a small investment, but it can bring him great benefits. In terms of cost-effectiveness, this insurance is worth a try.

Zhao Xing's words just now were equivalent to accusing the emperor in disguise. In other dynasties, it might be regarded as a rebellious person, and the audience would turn their backs on their faces. But in the Song Dynasty, although the two present felt embarrassed, they were still listening carefully. Listening to Zhao Xing's way of making the people in the court "choose to be deaf" about this matter.

"What did we do today? Hundreds of people encountered a storm during the escort, drifted to an unknown place, then landed, and accidentally crashed into Yingzhou... Think about this more," Zhao Xing asked in a tempting manner.

"Above, where is the magistrate..." Zhang Yong said stupidly as if he was hypnotized.

"Master Wang doesn't count. He is a grasshopper on the same line as us. Think about it further."

"Where is the Ministry of War..."

"Think more, be bolder and push it up."

"Prince's Office? Official?"

"You think about Taizu and Taizong."

"Taizu, Taizong knew about this..."

"You..." Zhao Xing seemed helpless to deal with you. He guided him hard: "I ask you, Taizu, what is Taizong's wish for his life?"

Zhang Yong answered this question quickly: "Taizu, Taizong's lifelong wish is to restore Youyan!"

"Okay, you associate what you said just now with what we are today."

Zhang Yong still looked confused and ignorant. Deng Yufu had already understood. He murmured to himself: "Taizu, Taizong's lifelong wish is to restore Youyan - we mistakenly entered Yingzhou today."

The two were still thinking hard about the connection between these two sentences, but Yuan Yeping, who had experience in navigation, had already reacted. He immediately opposed: "This is not possible. Our boat can carry up to twenty or thirty people. If we want to place tens of thousands of teams on the beach, we need at least hundreds of large ships. In addition, we have to transport siege equipment and food supplies... Such an isolated army has been put into the vast mountains, but we dare not go too deep into the inland - it is useless to do something big."

Yuan Yeping's discussion made the two people realize immediately, and Deng Yufu answered quickly: "Even if it is useless to do something big, there will be no trouble from now on!"

Deng Yufu said that if the Liao Kingdom launches harassment wars on the border, the Song Dynasty navy can go to the rear of the Liao Kingdom and carry out anti-harassment in the coastal areas. In this way, although large-scale cross-sea operations are restricted by ship transportation and the time is immature, small-scale harassment can be achieved. In this way, the Liao Kingdom has concerns and dares to come to the Song Dynasty to rob without scrupulously - the Liao people call this kind of robbery elegantly "Taohu Valley".

Although Zhang Yong was stupid, he was still very clear about the operation of the officialdom. When Deng Yufu mentioned it, he immediately understood the secret: "You mean: If we attacked successfully this time, in order not to alert the Liao Kingdom, as long as we do something hidden, the ministers of the Political Affairs Hall will pretend not to know."

"Yes! If our harassment is successful this time, the officials of the Political Affairs Hall will shirk responsibility and prevent the Liao Kingdom from being alert, so they will be on guard on the coast and even evacuate the coastal personnel, which will make the future large-scale war lose their secrets... Then, as long as we do things cleanly, they will help us wipe our butts - this matter is confidential. Who will ask you in the future? You are responsible for your righteousness? Who dares to disclose it privately if any official who knows it?

No one is talking below, will the Political Affairs Hall make trouble? What's more, we are already clean-up - aren't there still more than a hundred Jurchens in the team? There are enough Japanese armor in my cabin (the Japanese call it "Tangren armor"). Allocate all those Japanese armor and Japanese swords, so that each soldier can be entrusted, and they are forbidden to talk to each other in Song language. You said, what would they think when the surviving officials in Yingzhou discovered these "armed civilians" wearing Japanese armor and holding Japanese swords? It's more likely that they would determine whether we were Song or Jin?

We also have a real Japanese man, Yuan Promoter. He has the responsibility of any place where he speaks, such as the war report. His Japanese habits cannot be changed, and his words and sentences are different from ours... Adding some real Japanese Jurchens, the hairstyles of Jurchens in the team cannot be hidden. The above are all over the place. You said, even if we yelled everywhere that we did this afterwards, would you say that the Khitans believe it?"

Zhang Yong was a little moved: "No, they would even think that it was the Jurchens who deliberately pretended to be, or that the real Japanese insulted Yingzhou..."

But Zhang Yong still had a trace of hesitation in his heart and asked hesitantly: "Li Ren, you said that hundreds of us attacked a small city. Once the attack is unsuccessful, the soldiers will be damaged. How can we explain to the higher authorities?"

This question is also Deng Yufu's problem. A small town like Yingzhou is not very rich. Once the soldiers suffer losses and cannot conquer that small town, how can they explain to their superiors? After Zhang Yong asked, Deng Yufu also reached out to show his hand to persuade him: "Sign up the verdict, let me discuss this matter again..."

Zhao Xing flipped his hand, took out two notes, and replied: "This is the message sent back by the Liao Dynasty caravan not long ago. You can see: On the first day of the May Day, the horses were shepherded for a large amount of millions, and the herdsmen were rewarded with the next advancement. Yi Hai, he was stationed in Ge Luo, Wu Yin, and Prime Minister Liang Ying came out to be aware of the affairs of Xingzhong Prefecture. In this month, twenty-six people including Jinshi Zhang Gu were placed."

Deng Yufu finished reading the first note and asked in confusion: "What does it mean? The Liao Guodi Daily News will be logged in sooner or later. I can't see what this has to do with Yingzhou?"

"The emperor rewards herding horses with a profit of up to one million, and rewards herders' officials—" Zhao Xing dragged his tone and repeated this sentence: "The emperor of the Liao Kingdom rewarded herders' officials because his slaves made great contributions to herding horses and their war horses were bred to one million, so he rewarded herders' officials. 'Millions', 'war horses', what is this? Silver! A million war horses are only the private property of the emperor of the Liao Kingdom. So, how many herders under the major nobles of the Liao Kingdom can breed war horses?"

"Innumerable!" Deng Yufu and Zhang Yong answered in unison.

"By the way! Break Yingzhou... and don't even need to break Yingzhou. We just need to go to the vicinity of Yingzhou and win over a few reliable people, tell them that our boat will stop by the sea every month, waiting for the horses to be traded, and let them drive the horses to the sea, and then... everyone can make a fortune. Millions of horses in Liao Kingdom are not worth a lot of money, but my Song horse is valuable, and each horse can be sold for 100 cents..."

"More than one hundred stakes," Zhang Yong interrupted Zhao Xing. He rubbed his hands and said excitedly: "These are war horses. They are different from the stakes used by the stakes. Each can be sold for 300 stakes. The two tall horses you gave me, some people paid 20,000 stakes, but I was not willing to buy them. There are also Muslims, each Muslims are worth 100 stakes, which is not an ordinary Dingkou."

Deng Yufu was a literati. When facing this giant in Liao Kingdom, he always wanted to think more about the difficulties. He asked again: "How is Yingzhou's defense?"

At this time, the fleet had slowly leaned towards the Yingzhou coast. The land in the distance could be seen on the horizon. The land was a little white and seemed to be frosted. Zhao Xing looked at it, shook out the second note, and said, "In the July 20th, Huifei's mother, the wife of Yan Guo, cut off the ancient times to be disgusted with the affairs of King Liang, and was executed. The prince of Zilanling Xiao Chongwu was removed from the list. Wuwu, Lieshaling, Jiazi, granted Xingsheng and Jiqing two palaces of poor people. Yiyou, and went out to revive the poor people in Liaozhou. In August, Wuzi, hunted with snow."

Deng Yufu then recalled that there was no name on the two notes, but the whereabouts of the person mentioned in the notes were actually the emperor of the Liao Kingdom. He was hunting outside and "stop hunting with snow" halfway through.

"What, it's snowing heavily in the Liao Kingdom?" Deng Yufu was a little surprised. How could this news record the whereabouts of the Liao emperor in such a detailed manner?!

After having just experienced, Deng Yufu tried to screen useful information from the details of this news. Deng Yufu, who systematically compiled the rural books, had the ability to organize language and writing. It was Zhao Xing who was attracted by this that he had put this rookie in the officialdom into his post. Although he had not received professional training, he also paid attention to the most critical detail of this action - "Jiazi, granted Xingsheng and accumulated money from the poor in the two palaces. Yiyou, the millet was used to revitalize the poor in Liaozhou."

"There was a great famine in the Liao Kingdom, and Liaozhou was particularly famineful. So much so that the Liao emperor helped the poor for the first time, right?"

"The climate this year is extremely abnormal, and there is also a drought in Hangzhou. The Liao Dynasty has a severe drought, and the local particles have not been harvested. It is snowing in July. The snow fell for several months in advance. Many horses did not have enough wintering feed and were about to starve to death." Zhao Xing added meaningfully: "If the Yingzhou defenders still have the strength to stand up, then I think we don't have to shoot arrows at them, throw food at them - this is more useful than arrows."

Just then, Brother Wen, who went to the cabin, climbed back to the deck. The two brothers were already wearing Tang-style armor and holding the Japanese Tang sword given by Zhao Xing in their hands, looking majestic. They obviously heard Zhao Xing's last words at the hatch and nodded in agreement: "Yes, this heavy snow fell too early this year, and many Meng'an Mouke didn't have time to prepare for grass.

This winter must be difficult. Those war horses cannot be killed, and they still have to keep some as seeds. What should I do? Seeing the water grass covering the heavy snow, many herdsmen were so worried that their hair turned white. It was bitter."

In fact, the disaster in the Liao Kingdom was not just because the snow fell too early. Zhao Xing also analyzed from the information just now: due to decades of peace, the Khitans had caused them to breed cattle, sheep, horses and other people to uncontrollably. These people did not understand the principles of soil and water conservation. Excessive reclaiming brought disasters of water and soil degradation and grassland desertification. The heavy snow disaster this year was the last straw that overwhelmed camels, and the consequences of soil degradation would erupt one after another.

The food was not harvested, and the Khitans insisted on using war horses as the source of their strategy and did not sell them to the outside world. Seeing the strong horses becoming thinner and eventually fell into a pile of bones, they forbidden herders from changing war horses for food. As a result, after the disaster, the herders would inevitably be seriously injured.

However, the power of hunger can conquer people's hearts more than a thousand slogans. Since the government openly prohibits the sale of war horses, let's go privately. Zhao Xing wanted to open up this trade route and use the strong economy of the Song Dynasty to predatory absorb the wealth of the Liao Kingdom - this should have become the national policy of the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty had strong economic advantages but did not match the relevant economic knowledge. As a result, this powerful economy did not turn into war potential, but instead created the luxury of officials who were full of farming ideas.

Breaking this deadlock may slightly change the direction of history.

Since the Jiawen brothers decided to participate in the robbery personally, they had no reservations about Zhao Xing. Jiawen Qingchen pointed to the east and said, "There is Yuguan, there is a Meng'an stationed, crossing Yuguan, and to the east is Jinzhou, where is the Linhai Army of the Liao Kingdom, and the Linhai Army has a naval army of more than a hundred ships.

Once an incident occurs in Yingzhou, I estimate that Yingzhou will ask for help from Yuguan. Yuguan has few soldiers and dare not go out lightly, so we will inevitably ask for help from the Linhai Army. Therefore, we do not have to worry about the army east of the Liao Kingdom in this battle, but we should be wary of Yuguan or the Linhai Army coming from the water."

Zhao Xingcai didn't care about the reactions of Yuguan and Linhai Jun, but he was very polite to the two people in front of him who were destined to take the blame and asked kindly: "In your opinion, once the Yingzhou Incident occurs, how long will it take for Linhai Jun and Yuguan to react?"

"Yuguan can send a road exploration force at most - the mountain road is rugged and the road is blocked with heavy snow. They only have a path to enter and exit. It will take about a day to send the news to the Linhai Army; it will take another day to find out our situation; it will take at least three days for the Linhai Army to send troops from the water.

It is hard to say about the army that walked from the land. The Khitans were fast, and the Linhai Army commanded Sha Hudai very brave. There was also a brave general Gaolushan. If he sent Gaolushan light cavalry to advance, he would arrive in about three days. If he dispatched the infantry brigade to set out, it would take ten days."

"In other words, for the sake of safety, we have three days at most. Three days to empty a city, that is an impossible task." Zhao Xing's embarrassed expression looked very fake at first glance.

As soon as Brother Wen Meng got on the deck, he was touching his new knife lovingly. When he heard Zhao Xing's words, he felt that he had to do something for the other party after receiving this gift. Besides, Zhao Xing was still hesitant, so he needed to burn the fire: "My brother said that there is only one way to go to Yingzhou by land from Yuguan. They are moving forward with light cavalry, so there will not be many people coming. I don't want too many people, and I will take ten people to ambush the roadside, so I will definitely not allow them to enter Yingzhou."

Jia Wen Qingchen glanced at his younger brother with reproach, but then he changed his mind. It seemed that his younger brother, who was reckless in character, could leave the place of right and wrong in Yingzhou and be better for his family. He nodded in agreement: "There are too few ten people, so at least two of them should be taken."

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and threw a heavy bet: "I will give you twenty pairs of armor and five thousand arrows. You will take twenty people to guard the mountain road for three days. After three days, you can withdraw from Yingzhou City regardless of whether there is anyone passing by."

Brother Wen Meng looked at Zhao Xing curiously. In his feeling, Zhao Xing's ship seemed to be like a treasure bag, constantly taking out some good things, first five hundred jars of strong wine, then armor, swords, bows and arrows. He was full of expectations, but after hearing this, Wen Qingchen narrowed his eyes.

"I want twenty more knives. Your knives are so good. Twenty of us need this kind of knives. Given me twenty knives, I will never let anyone enter Yingzhou City."

Zhao Xing laughed: "For you, you bring people to pick up the swords. I will not only give you twenty swords, but also every member of your tribe will be equipped with armor and a knife."

The knife of Zhao Xing was a cheap knife specially sold by Japan to the Song Dynasty. It was not even a single knife. Because of its strong rigidity, it was very sharp to cut people, but it was used for fighting and was easily broken. Once it was broken, the steel-covered knife with iron core in the middle could not be returned to the furnace with the Jurchen technique. Therefore, Zhao Xing was not afraid that the other party would have a powerful tool to kill.

Letting the Jurchens take the blame was Zhao Xing's second purpose of this trip. With his current fleet's carrying capacity, he could not transport the extra war horses at all. He was planning to throw those bags to the Jurchens.

According to history, these Jurchens should be established independently and the country is almost time, but they have not attracted the attention of the Khitans yet. But if the Jurchens pursued the Yingzhou incident and finally found that the Jurchens were the most suspicious, then when the Jurchens were not ready, they would have a large-scale collision with the Khitan. In this way, it would be very likely to disrupt the pace of the Jurchens' founding of the Jurchens.

Zhao Xing is a historical troublemaker who can make normal history as chaotic as a pot of porridge. This sense of accomplishment makes him extremely excited. With this excitement, he directed the big ship to slowly approach the Yingzhou Beach, and then the soldiers began to take small boats to gradually land.

Shortly after they got ashore, each of the Jurchens received the armor and war horses promised by Zhao Xing.

When he saw the treasure sword in his tribe, he couldn't help but be moved by this generous gift.

In the place outside the Great Wall, where the strong prey on the weak, having a good armor and a good weapon will add a lot of strength to themselves. The Jurchens value weapons and armor more than war horses, but these are the least easy to obtain. Some Jurchens' weapons were even passed down from their ancestors hundreds of years ago. So when they saw the finely crafted and gorgeously scabbed swords, Wen Qingchen felt that they should do something to repay Zhao Xing's kindness.

He couldn't help but blurt out: "Sir, we don't have to run long distances. What you worry most is how to get close to Yingzhou City. I have a way. We Jurchens often go to Yingzhou to sell goods. Just find a small village, get a few horses, and then move some goods from your ship and disguise it as a caravan. We can safely enter Yingzhou City. The rest..."

The words "find a small village and get a few horses" were a bit bloody. Yingzhou and Jinzhou are all cities captured by Han people. Among them, Jinzhou is a craftsman camp specially for the Khitan nobles, so it is called Jinzhou. Tiezhou (Tieling) smelted iron for the Khitan nobles, Yinzhou smelted silver mines, and Yingzhou is the Wrangler camp.

These cities are surrounded by Han villages. According to the original history, these people will defect to the Jurchens after the Khitan famine and eventually become the greatest help for the Jurchens to massacre Han compatriots, that is, the primitive old people in the Han military flag.

Zhao Xing did not object to raising the sword against these people. War was cruel. Letting these people go out would make the Khitans know about the invasion of the army in advance, so he nodded slightly and said readily: "If Brother Jiawen can help me open Yingzhou City, then all the war horses I can't pull away in Yingzhou City will be returned to Brother Jiawen."

What kind of vigilance is so bright? Yingzhou City is a horse-wallowing camp, and there are not many war horses inside. This generous gift directly knocked Wen Qingchen, who was used to calmness. He reluctantly said with his last soberness: "There are so many war horses, and we have insufficient feed there..."

"It's okay, I'll exchange it with you for food. Just drive it to a beach and hide it in the mountains. I will send a ship to exchange it with you.

No, grain is easy to break if stored for a long time, and the value is low. I will give you some things that are not easy to break. How about high-value? For example, good porcelain, jewelry, silk, ivory, tortoiseshell, you need spices to eat meat. This thing is of high value. One bucket can be exchanged for half a bucket of gold..."

Wen Qingchen's eyes were full of Venus. He added silly: "There are also treasure swords and armors. Your weapons are very good, I want..."

"You can't afford this thing, and it's not my family's. It's something controlled by the imperial court. I can give you some, that's a great risk. This is a serious crime of beheading. It's hard for me to meet your request...
To be continued...