Chapter 448 Almost There

"Zi Yan, you are finally back. I miss you so much."

Zhao Ji took Wang Yan's arm affectionately: "I already know about Xixia, well done, well done. When you went out, I was still worried and regretful. I didn't expect that you would achieve such results when you led the army for the first time. , you should take the lead in destroying the Xixia country. I will reward you well when the war is over."

"In the official family, I dare not rely on this heavenly merit. It is the official family who knows people with a keen eye, knows that the minister is worthy of the job, and trusts the minister. The official will lead the elite of the Song Dynasty. The success of destroying Xixia is all due to the official family's ingenuity in Longting. Invincible. The rest are the soldiers on the front line who sacrificed their lives and fought bravely to kill the enemy without fear of life or death. After all, I am still a businessman. If I can fulfill my dream of fighting in this battle, I will die without regrets. The officials still give generous rewards to the frontline soldiers, so I will not be greedy for merit. "

"Reward them all, reward them all." Although he knew it was flattering, he still felt comfortable listening to it. Zhao Ji pointed at Wang Yan with a smile: "This time I accomplished the great feat of destroying the country, how can I treat the meritorious soldiers so lightly?"

Wang Yan smiled, picked up the cup and drank tea.

Then he asked again about what happened in the past year, and how to manage the newly acquired land, and then asked Wang Yan to leave. He never mentioned that he went on a cruise before and was forced to come back. This is the Imperial City.

In fact, it is not that Zhao Ji did not take action. The war against Xixia, which is now ending, has already taken advantage of the opportunity to deal with many corrupt officials. This is a legitimate reason, and it’s no one’s fault if it’s done. Zhao Ji did not dare to move the others. He was afraid that he would die in the unknown palace. He was actually frightened by the rampant bandits in various places before. So he is using his wisdom to tease people in secret.

Now it doesn't matter the old and new parties, the clean and corrupt officials, or how the people at the bottom are living. The key is that he didn't realize it before, but he only knows the truth now, that is, as an emperor, he has always been coerced by his officials. He refused to accept it, he wanted to struggle, he just wanted to have the sense of security that he had in control of everything before.

Now the guards in the palace have changed, and many eunuchs and maids have been killed in the harem, all due to his work in the past year. When some of the Western Army and the Northern Army returned to the North, he felt confident. Maybe he would launch a wave of purges at that time.

Wang Yan could feel Zhao Ji's fear, but these things had nothing to do with him, and Zhao Ji would not say these things in front of him that would expose his inner uneasiness. So he ignored it. After reporting to Zhao Ji, he left Xihua Gate and went home.

He was leading the only established cavalry unit that the Song Dynasty had high hopes for. If he hadn't really excelled in martial arts, proven his ability in strategy, and had his worth pledged, Zhao Ji would not have lost his mind again. He will be put into battle as a person with no battlefield experience. Even if he agreed this time, his wife and children were all taken to live in Bianjing. Nothing else, just to prevent him from violating the king's orders outside. At that time, this will be regarded as a hand of cards. If necessary, it is also a good way to directly cut him to vent his anger.

The news of his return had already been announced by the soldiers, and the whole family was waiting for him. When they saw his return, Yupan, Jinlian, Sanniang and their children came forward to pay their respects.

Wang Yan laughed and rubbed the heads of the children who dared not get close to him: "No need to be polite, everyone comes in, everyone comes in."

"Dad, did you win against Xixia this time?"

Following his tall father, the nine-year-old Wang Qinghe, the eldest son of the Wang family, asked his father about the battle situation on the front line like a little adult.

"Of course we win, otherwise your father and I can come back? The Li clan has all fled to Mongolia, and the remaining people who are stubbornly resisting will only be able to hold on for a few more months. Soon, Xixia will belong to our Song Dynasty. "

"Dad, does the emperor's maternal grandfather have to give you a promotion?"

Walking all the way to the main hall, Wang Yan answered the children's questions. When he arrived, he said: "Okay, let's go and get ready. After that, I have to take a test of more than a year's study. Who is lazy? Don't do it." Blame me for being rude."

After sending away all the troublesome kids, Wang Yan sat on a stool and looked at his three wives: "I haven't sent back a few letters from home for more than a year. Are you okay?"

Zhao Yupan was the first to speak: "The official is so powerful, and he is fighting for the country. The family can use it. Uncle Fu has taken care of it in an orderly manner. What can be wrong. But in the future, the official should not be afraid of danger, which will cause people to worry."

Then Jin Lian wiped her tears with a handkerchief: "Yes, everything is fine, everything is fine, but I miss you so much. I know that I am fighting for my life on the battlefield, and I am worried all day long. Today, I see that I have returned safely. That’s when my heart dropped.”

Sanniang looked on and rolled her eyes. Although we had a good relationship, she didn't hesitate to scold this little coquettish guy who was always showing off: "The official should have agreed to let me go together. After practicing martial arts for many years, how could I be able to do this?" It is somewhat useful for officials to share their worries."

Wang Yan shook his head and stopped talking. Instead, he followed the three girls and chatted about the trivial life of the past year. What they talked about was their simple and warm home.

After talking for a while, Wang Yan agreed to leave for Wangjiazhuang the day after tomorrow. After Wang Yan went out to wash up and was exhausted, he went to the study to meet with the housekeeper from the capital to learn about the situation. These are the disciples of our village who have passed the test and are qualified to participate in the important affairs of the Wang family. They have the authority to obtain most of the key information. Although he didn't know as much as Wang Fusheng, his understanding of the situation was enough.

In more than a year, a lot of things have happened. Where has the Wang family's business expanded to, what new things are there, how much income is there, how many people have been sorted out in various places, these are all important things, and they are his capital.

In addition, the territory of Liaodong has expanded again. Compared with the stability of the Song Dynasty, there is no time when Liaodong does not fight. It is either you fight me or I fight you. Now another year has passed, and Lu Zhishen has no longer concealed it. He indulged the Jin Kingdom to fight the Liao Kingdom and began to fight the Liao Kingdom seriously. With the Yuguan that was taken before, now it is blooming inside and outside Yuguan. The coastal areas have been taken all the way to Jinzhou.

The previous actions can only be said to be small-scale fighting. The main reason is that the place cannot be defended and there are not so many people to govern. It is an enclave. It is useless to take it, and it also sends soldiers' lives in vain. Now, after several years of training, plus some scholars sent by Wang Yan, it can be considered to support the development of territory, so it began to send troops on a large scale.

In fact, in this era, apart from the newly rising Jin Kingdom, the Song Dynasty, the Western Xia Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom are all the worst. The worst is of course the Western Xia Dynasty, which occupies a bad place and has little potential. The Song Dynasty is in the middle. Although it seems to be stronger than the Western Xia Dynasty, it is actually worse. After all, it occupies a good place and has great potential, but it is not good at anything. Even in the original history, the Liao Kingdom was beaten by the Jin Kingdom. The Song Dynasty sent troops to fight and was beaten up. It was really bad.

However, the situation is different now. Liaodong is in the era of the Three Kingdoms. The Liao Kingdom has been suppressed very badly. Now it is difficult to support itself with internal and external troubles. Facing the joint attack from Lu Zhishen and the Jin Kingdom, they have begun to shrink their forces, especially after Lu Zhishen strangled Yuguan, the throat of the north. They almost gave up the entire Nanjing Road, that is, the large piece of land inside the pass that borders the Song Dynasty. Mobilize troops to protect the Xijinfu (Beijing) area, and the remaining defenses against the Song Dynasty retreated across the board, and mobilized troops to bypass the north to support the battlefield in the north.

The place they gave up belongs to the northern part of the North China Plain. As we all know, the plain is a good place for development. This is a fertile land. Whether it is farming or trade, the development here is actually good. After all, it is adjacent to the Song Dynasty. The exchange of means of production is very conducive to regional development.

However, they were attacked by Lu Zhishen and the Jin Kingdom on the battlefield, and they had difficulty resisting. If they were not careful, they would be destroyed. At this time, it is important to shrink the defense line, concentrate forces in key areas, and keep the basic base. Especially after Lu Zhishen occupied Yuguan, their control over Nanjing Road has been greatly reduced. If they don't give up, they will be dragged down. This is the best choice at the moment.

And giving up a large piece of land here has another advantage, which is to let Lu Zhishen go south and border the Song Dynasty. Although the Liao Kingdom did not think highly of the Song Dynasty, which had paid tribute to them for decades, it still had hundreds of thousands of troops and advanced military equipment. Even if it could not defeat Lu Zhishen's army, it could still contain some of the main forces on the border, so that their situation would be much better.

But after they gave up a large area of ​​land in Nanjing Road, the result was not as they expected. The Song Dynasty only tried to push the defense line to Fengnan (Tangshan) and did not continue to advance, nor did it conflict with Lu Zhishen's forces. Instead, Lu Zhishen's troops chased them to the vicinity of Xijin Prefecture and still caught them and beat them.

The Song Dynasty's cowardice exceeded the Liao Kingdom's expectations. They knew that the elite Western Army of the Song Dynasty was all fighting with the Western Xia, but even so, the Northern Army of the Song Dynasty had 200,000 to 300,000 people. In recent years, they have strictly enforced military discipline and strengthened training, and their combat effectiveness has also improved a lot. Even with so many troops, they did not dare to go north to fight Lu Zhishen.

How could he know that after picking up this advantage, the emperor and ministers of the Song Dynasty were all very happy from top to bottom. After all, they did nothing and took over several states without spending a single soldier. When destroying Xixia, they could just throw away the resources without spending any money. There would be no war again. It was good as it is now.

Although the Liao Kingdom plundered the local people severely when withdrawing its troops, it didn't matter. The Song Dynasty might not be able to fight again, but it could still help the people in various places and restore their livelihood. Those unemployed officials who only had official ranks but no positions or assignments were very happy. Now there were many more positions. What a good thing.

The Liao Kingdom didn't care that the original goal was not achieved in Nanjing Road. After all, it was better to concentrate resources in several important areas than to disperse them and be defeated and eaten away one by one.

After all this tossing, Lu Zhishen's territory was almost the entire Liaoning Province later, plus the northern area from Tangshan to Beijing in the interior of the country. The most forward position had reached Linhuangfu (Chifeng), the capital of the Liao Kingdom.

In terms of power and strength, they are already the strongest of the three parties. Even the scarce war horses in the past have been captured in the wars with Liao and Jin, and now they have a complete cavalry. The internal agriculture, commerce, etc. are relatively prosperous, and the infrastructure has never stopped, which is also called strong soldiers and horses. The rest can only develop slowly, balance the Liao and Jin, and slowly erode. In another three to five years, there will be a big war, and they can unify the north.

In addition to these important things, there is another unimportant thing that is not unexpected.

Liangshan is gone.

Song Jiang and other Liangshan people still did not escape their original fate. After fighting Wang Hu, they fought Tian Qing, and after fighting Tian Qing, they fought Fang La, and after fighting Fang La, they went to heaven. Even without Cai Jing, Gao Qiu, and Tong Guan, they still died.

Again, Zhao Ji holds a grudge. The Liangshan people were so arrogant that they went to Bianjing to make a big fuss, which ruined his mood. This was the reason why the Liangshan people deserved to die. So after Liangshan lost more than half of his troops and defeated Fang La, received a reward, handed over military power and became a local official, he was given poisoned imperial wine and killed.

Song Jiang, a good brother, took away Li Kui, a good brother, and Wu Yong and Huarong were buried as they were. Perhaps it was only when he died that Song Jiang realized that he had taken the wrong path.

Li Kui kept shouting about rebellion, but with what purpose? The military power has been handed over, and there are no men under them, so there is no power to rebel. Even if he raises the banner again and invites his former brothers, not many people will follow him. The remaining few people were either monks or officials. No one thought about the past life. As for the big-headed soldiers who surrendered for various reasons, the Song government did not target them. They were either incorporated into other armies or were sent back to their hometowns to live their lives. Who would still follow them?

So they died without incident.

After hearing this information, Wang Yan shook his head and smiled, not caring about the end of Liangshan. After explaining the affairs to the manager and letting him leave, he began to think about it silently.

It has been ten years since he came to this world. From the day he arrived, he began to sit and prepare. Now, with the convenience of the emperor's close ministers, they have continuously penetrated into various places and established power bases over the years. In major cities across the country, there are basically prosperous Zhuangzi similar to Wangjiazhuang. The local civil and military officials are almost done. As for the control of the army, whether it is the Northern Army, the Western Army, or the Forbidden Army in various places, he has more or less people who can influence many.

As for those who belonged to him completely and could obey orders without hesitation, in addition to those under Lu Zhishen, there were also many in various parts of the Song Dynasty. He implemented a rotation system. After recruiting a group of new people and sending them to Liaodong, a group of people who had been fighting there for a long time were brought back for training. The purpose is to always maintain sufficient manpower available in the Song Dynasty.

The main reason is that he took advantage of Zhao Ji. Without Zhao Ji's signature and his own secret preparations, he would definitely not be able to do this in ten years. At best, he can only manage Hebei and Shandong well. Where can he be like now, with flowers blooming everywhere and his people everywhere? He even doesn't know where his people are.

It is estimated that it is almost time to prepare. Although Zhao Ji is now awakened and has spent less money, he starts to want to govern the country, but it is already too late. Not to mention the current situation at the end of the dynasty, which is a time of peace and prosperity. It will be difficult for him to rebel against anyone. Besides, it’s already reached this point. It’s impossible to do anything better. Those below who know the truth are thinking about it.

After deciding to return to Yanggu County to take stock of the family and start work, Wang Yan got up and went out to have dinner.

When a large family eats together, there is no room to sit at a table, so the scene is naturally very lively. There were not many rules in the house, the children were eating, drinking and playing around carelessly, and the three daughters-in-law were smiling and talking.

Wang Yan, the head of the family, did not feel that it was warm, he only felt that it was noisy. The main reason is that the children have reached the age where people hate dogs. Even though they read books about sages, they are of no use and they are very noisy.

After dinner, naturally Wang Yan and his three daughters-in-law came together to express how much they missed...

The next day, he stayed in Bianjing for another day. Firstly, he was packing the things he wanted to take back. Secondly, there was a woman waiting for him. It was always a bad idea not to go.

On the third day, a large convoy left Bianjing. He was lying comfortably in the large carriage, and the little boys who could ride horses chased and played in front of and behind the team on their ponies, and went home happily.

To be honest, if it weren't for his millions of dollars a year, money was more important. With his current level, Zhao Ji would not have let him leave Bianjing. Originally, he was very dangerous as a rich and well-connected person, and the imperial troops on the east and west roads of Beijing were watching him. People from the Imperial City Department are stationed everywhere, and there are also many guarding eunuchs who are on guard.

This time, he led the Northern Army to the north and fought hard to destroy Xixia. He also indirectly directed the direction of the entire war. He proved to be a peerless general who led the charge and a commander who could win a decisive victory thousands of miles away. With the conduct of the Song Dynasty, it would be even more dangerous.

Someone must have told Zhao Ji to check him, control him or kill him. When the battle in Xixia is completely over and rewards are given according to merit, there will definitely be a lot of information about him to Zhao Ji, and then he will become The Song Dynasty was a disaster.

However, he is not worried that Zhao Ji will listen to others and mess with him. After all, the protection fee of millions of dollars a year is not in vain, and when he met Zhao Ji before, he had already shown his intention not to cause trouble. The most important thing is that Zhao Ji now doesn't trust the court or local officials, and maybe even members of his football team, as well as Wang Fu and other cronies.

He is different. He pays tribute honestly every year and has a vision for national affairs. Even now, the Song Dynasty is following his strategy, but it is not implemented in place. In recent years, except for being dragged into the trap by Song Jiang and unable to deal with Gao Qiu, he has always behaved himself and never done anything out of the ordinary. There is no contact with the ministers in the DPRK. Although there are some local operations, it is not a problem to do business. This gave Zhao Ji a feeling of stability.

At this time, he is in danger, but what Zhao Ji needs at this stage is that he can compete with other ministers and be able to do his job.

Just like what he said to Song Jiang, the dead ghost, only if you have value, you have a reason to live. He is not only valuable, but also very big and needed.

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