With a whoosh sound, a feather arrow broke out from the string and was cast very fast, and rushed straight towards a tiger roaring in the snow, imparting to the tiger's butt.

"Ao!" The pain-inducing tiger wailed, turned around and pounced, as if he wanted to pounce on the old man who was shooting himself with a bow and arrow. But the tiger's body was tied firmly to a towering tree with a rope, and it was impossible to move forward at all.

The archer was an old man riding on a horse. His face was gloomy, his beard and eyebrows were white, he wore a Khitan-style snow-skin hat on his head, a white robe on his body, and a string of Buddhist beads hanging around his neck.

Seeing the old man shot the tiger's butt with an arrow. He followed a young man next to him who was wearing a snow-skinned hat and a white robe, recited a Buddhist chant and said in Khitan's words: "Grandpa Emperor is still kind-hearted and cannot bear to shoot the tiger. He only shoots its butt. It's better to release it."

The old man who is called the emperor's grandfather is of course the master of Xiao Feng and Xiao in Jin Yong's works, and the current emperor of the Great Liao Kingdom, Yelu Hongji, known in history as the Emperor of Liao Daozong.

However, unlike the ambitious Yelu Hongji in Jin Daxia's works, the Daozong of Liao in reality never thought of going south to destroy the Song Dynasty. It was useless to think about it, because under his governance, the country's power declined day by day, almost as if Wang Xiaoer had the New Year, it was getting worse every year.

The reason for the decline of the Great Liao Kingdom was of course that Buddhism was flourishing! Buddhism was not the belief of the Khitans. The Khitans originally believed in shamanism. Initially, it was to appease the Han people ruled by the Khitans, and the Bohai people promoted Buddhism. However, unexpectedly, the Khitans, who were originally simpler, were more likely to be bewitched by Buddhism.

When Yelu Hongji ascended the throne, Buddhism was already a Buddhist country in the Great Khitan Kingdom (the two names "Liao" and "Khitan" were repeatedly used in the history of the Liao Kingdom. When the Liao Daozong ascended the throne, the country's name was the Great Khitan Kingdom). In the Khitan country, there were many Buddhist temples, monks and nuns everywhere, and everyone believed in Buddhism and was good.

Yelu Hongqian was a very devout Buddhist disciple. After ascending the throne, he printed Buddhist scriptures widely and built pagodas and temples. He only raised these 400,000 monks and nuns, which made the Great Liao Kingdom, which had a population of only more than 100,000, was a bit overwhelmed!

In addition, Yelu Hongji is also a literary and artistic lover. He is proficient in music, good at calligraphy and painting, and loves poetry and essays. He has always been very friendly to the Song Dynasty. He has been in power for decades and has never really wanted to go to war with the Song Dynasty.

But it would be a big mistake for anyone to be a good old man. The old emperor who could not bear to kill the tiger also had a cruel side. His queen Xiao Guanyin and prince Yelu Jun were both cruelly killed by him... Moreover, Yelu Jun, who was killed by himself, was his only son. After killing his own son, he seemed to have infertility again and could not give birth to a son. He had no way to give birth to a son, so he had to take Yelu Jun's only son, Yelu Yanxi, who was killed, into the palace as the heir to the throne, but he was not officially appointed as the crown prince. I don't know if he had any fantasies about his fertility?

In short, Yelu Yanxi was also worried about his life. He didn't know one day that his kind old man succeeded in planting cloth, and then he killed him...

In order to save his life when his grandfather has a new son, Yelu Yanxi has naturally practiced flattery over the years.

The first trick of the magical skill of flattery is to meet his preferences. Grandpa Yelu Hongji believed in Buddhism, and Yelu Yanxi, a good grandson, ate vegetarian food all day long, and always expressed that he wanted to become a monk in the temple.

Although he was the Minister of the Great Liao Kingdom at the age of six, and at the age of seventeen, he became the Grand Marshal of the World, General of the North and South Privy Councils, and was appointed as the Minister of the Shangshu. However, Yelu Yanxi has not dared to be involved in the regime of the Great Liao Kingdom until now, and has no choice but to be involved in the military power of the Great Liao Kingdom. He has either kowtowed and recited scriptures in the temple or followed the emperor's butt to pretend to be a good grandson.

His flattery skills are actually not very clever, but his attitude is good... Whether flattery is good or not is a matter of level, and whether or not he flatters is an attitude.

Hearing his grandson's compliment, Yelu Hongji put away his horse bow and cursed with a smile: "You kid are becoming more and more good at speaking. I am clearly shooting a miserable person. Why are you kind-hearted? You still have to release animals? If you release this tiger, will the shepherds and cattle and sheep on the grassland suffer?"

"What the emperor taught is that the grandson is abrupt."

Yelu Hongji looked at his grandson with a well-behaved look and smiled, "Come on to kill him, be more neat, don't let him suffer."

"Abide by the order."

Yelu Yanxi immediately hugged his fist, then took out his horse bow, put on a feather arrow, shot it out with a whoosh, hitting the big tiger's neck. The tiger screamed and fell into the snow, donating blood, and dyed a large area of ​​snow red.

"The king is mighty!"

The Khitan warriors guarding around him cheered loudly.

Yelu Hongji also smiled and nodded, "Okay, okay, it has the majesty of my son back then!"

Hearing this praise, Yelu Yanxi's body couldn't help but tremble.

At this moment, several cavalry rushed over and were the waiter of Yelu Hongji. The so-called waiter of Yelu Hongji was the trusted deacon around Yelu Hongji, mainly the children of Khitan nobles, as well as the children of Xi, Han, Bohai nobles and rank officials. They were mainly responsible for the daily life of the emperor's palace tent and performed relevant official duties.

Several riders left the waiter's horse and arrived in front of Yelu Yanxi, then dismounted and saluted. One of them took out a scroll and a memorial and handed it to Yelu Yanxi with both hands.

Yelu Yanxi took the scroll and opened it and found that it was a portrait of a woman, with Chinese characters next to the portrait: Hanlin Academy of Paintings used virtue copy.

"What is the bottom?" Yelu Hongji asked at this time.

"It's a painting."

"Drawing?" Yelu Hongji was stunned.

Yelu Yanxi handed the painting to his grandfather, and then he opened the memorial and read it, "Grandpa Huang, the letter was written by Xiao Haogu. He said that the woman in this painting was Empress Liang of Xia Kingdom..."

"Oh, she is Empress Dowager Xiao Liang, she is quite beautiful... No, didn't Xiao Haogu go to Song State? Did I remember it wrong? He went to Xia State?"

"No, Grandpa Emperor remembers correctly. Xiao Haogu has indeed gone to Song State."

"How could I get the portrait of Empress Dowager Xiaoliang when I went to Song State?"

"The letter says that this painting was stolen by him and Liu Yun from the construction site of Xiping Prince's Mansion in Kaifeng Prefecture..."

"Steal?" Yelu Hongji was stunned, "The construction site of the Xiping Palace? The Xiping King is not, no... Isn't it that the title of Lord Xia was when he was a minister in the Song Dynasty?"

"Yes, Xiao Haogu said in the letter that Empress Dowager Xiaoliang of Xia Kingdom is likely to surrender to Song Kingdom. The Weiming Abang was not captured, but Empress Dowager Xiaoliang's secret envoy, who had been appointed as the deputy envoy of the Dingnan Army."

"So, is this happening?" Yelu Hongjina was gasping for a cold breath. This matter sounded so scary. If Xixia surrendered to the Song Dynasty, the balance between Song and Liao would be completely broken.

"There won't be a fake painting, right?" Yelu Hongji asked.

"Grandpa Emperor, Xiao Haogu and Liu Yun have both been to Xia Kingdom. If you recognize Empress Dowager Xiao Liang, there should be no falsehood." Yelu Yanxi thought for a while and said, "There are ministers who have been to Xia Kingdom in Dongnabo, so you can ask them to see again."

"Yes, yes." Yelu Hongji nodded repeatedly. Just as he was about to order to return to the camp, several more cavalry waited for the husband to arrive.

This time, the memorial was sent by Xiao Haogu and Liu Yun, which was the conditions for the reconciliation of the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty when they met with the officials of the Song Dynasty.

"Grandpa, Lord Song wants Empress Dowager Xiaoliang to go to Kaifeng Mansion!"

After reading the memorial, Yelu Yanxi said loudly to his grandfather: "And he still refuses to return the land that occupied Xia Kingdom."

Yelu Hongji frowned deeply and whispered: "It seems that Empress Dowager Xiaoliang is really going to surrender to Song..."

"Grandpa Emperor, we can't let Xia State fall to the Song Dynasty!" Yelu Yanxi hurriedly said, "Please order the attack on Yanmen Pass!"

In order to shock the Song State, Yelu Hongji's Dongnabo camp moved to the bank of the Sanggan River near Yanmen Pass. In just one day and one night, the army could launch an offensive against Yanmen Pass.

"Reckless!" Yelu Hongji shouted angrily, "How many soldiers and horses are there in Dongnabo Camp? How can we go to Danyanmen Pass?"

Dong Nabo actually means winter palaces. The one guarding the palace is the palace tent army of the Liao Kingdom, also known as the palace division army. The palace tent or palace division system of the Liao Kingdom is also known as the Oluduo system, which is a very special system to strengthen the central power of the Liao Kingdom.

According to the Liao system, the emperor practiced his position, set up palaces and guards, divided into prefectures and counties, analysed tribes, established government offices, registered household registration, and prepared troops.

In other words, as long as an emperor ascends the throne, a palace guard must be set up, a population must be drawn from the prefectures and county tribes, a land must be divided to enrich the palace guard, and an official and an army must be set up.

This palace guard is directly under the power of the emperor himself, and will not disband after the emperor's death and will still be controlled by the next emperor. This does not mean that the next emperor will no longer set up a new palace account for himself.

Through this system, every emperor or queen of Liao (not every queen has a palace guard) or even prince will establish a palace guard directly to the royal family and divide the population land of its tribes and counties. In fact, it is a way to boil frogs in warm water to slowly weaken tribes and counties (mainly weaken tribes) and strengthen the power of the Khitan royal family.

When the throne of the Great Liao Dynasty was passed to Yelu Hongji, the Liao Kingdom successively established eleven palaces and a royal palace. The palaces and households were divided into 187,000, and the palaces and army were divided into 91,000.

In addition to the 91,000 palace divisions, the Emperor of Liao also controlled the left, right Pishou Army, left, and right Pishou Army at the beginning, and the number of people reached 30,000. However, as the number of palace divisions increased, the Pishou Army gradually became the border army of the Liao Kingdom, stationed on the frontier of the Song-Liao border and the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom.
Chapter completed!