Chapter 345 He Is the Real Amazing One!

The sixth year of the Qingli reign of the Song Dynasty, the third month of the fifteenth year of the Chongxi reign of the Liao Dynasty.

The Yinshan Mountains towered into the clouds, and it seemed as if the heavens had scattered countless grass seeds from the sky at the beginning of the year, making the earth full of vitality and full of spring colors.

But after the spring in March, the weather did not get hotter, but remained cold.

The cold wind blowing from Siberia constantly harassed the northern grasslands. Compared with the spring wind in the south of the Yangtze River, the spring wind in the south of the desert was like a sharp knife and a gentle hand.

In the howling north wind, the wildly growing weeds drifted with the wind, as if they were to be swept away by the cold and fierce wind, and flew into the sky.

Sometimes, if there is an extremely cold air flow, the northern desert grassland may even snow in June.

However, although the wind is strong, the temperature is not as low as ten degrees. Only at night will people feel cold. During the day, the sun shines down warmly, mixed with the fierce north wind, and people don’t know whether it is cold or hot.

On the grassland of Dongsheng Prefecture, a large team was slowly coming from the east, heading south, passing Yulin County, and heading southwest.

This Dongsheng Prefecture is not Dongsheng Shenzhou, but the most southwestern prefecture of Liao.

It is roughly located in the area of ​​Ordos City, Inner Mongolia in the future. At this time, it borders the two countries of Song Dynasty and Xixia. To the south are Fengzhou, Fuzhou, and Huoshan Army of Hedong Road of Song Dynasty, and to the west is Henan Prefecture of Xixia.

Yes.

Xixia also has Henan Prefecture, which is located in the southwest of Ordos in the future, and is named because it is south of the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

The location of the convoy is on the border between Liao and Xia, and the specific location is basically in the area of ​​Ordos City in the future.

In addition to the fact that Ordos was once a place rich in coal resources, the most famous thing here is the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan.

At this moment, the young Yelu Zongzhen is riding on horseback, looking at the vast grassland in the distance.

At the age of 30, he still didn't know that in the further south, about 50 or 60 kilometers away from here across the Yellow River, 181 years later, there would be a great man who was many times more powerful than him buried here.

At the same time, on the southwest bank of the Yellow River in the distance, on the plain about 20 kilometers away from the Yellow River, a huge team also appeared here.

The border between Western Xia and Liao was not actually bounded by the Yellow River, but by the land occupied by Liao. For this reason, Liao also set up two armies, Heqing and Jinsu, here to guard against Western Xia and Song.

But after the Liao-Song War, Liao slightly tightened its troops in the border area, especially the Heqing Army and Jinsu Army, which were transferred to Ningbianzhou in the south to mainly deal with the Song Dynasty.

So this place became a no-man's land for a while, and some herdsmen would come here to graze, or herdsmen from Western Xia and Liao would come to exchange trade.

However, since this place was nominally still the territory of Liao, Yelu Zongzhen still crossed the Yellow River and continued to walk about ten kilometers southwest, which was almost the urban area of ​​Ordos in later generations, and then arrived at the place agreed by both parties.

The vast grasslands, with a large area of ​​low hills in the southwest, rose and fell. On a small mountain range, Yelu Zongzhen stopped, and the Liao army behind him was a little further away, one or two miles away.

The Xixia team in front stopped three or four kilometers away, and then dozens of riders came out of the crowd and galloped towards the small hillside where he was.

This was an agreement between the two parties.

Since they were going to meet, there must be etiquette for the meeting.

If Li Yuanhao defeated the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty in succession as in history, then it would definitely not be Li Yuanhao who came to see Yelu Zongzhen, but the two sides would meet at the same time.

But now Li Yuanhao has lost three battles and three times, and was beaten and fled in disgrace. How could he still have the qualifications to be an emperor?

Therefore, he was forced to be dethroned as a king just after he ascended the throne, and once again became a vassal of both the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. This time, when the leaders of both sides met, it was naturally only Li Yuanhao who went to see Yelu Zongzhen.

The wild grass on the hills swayed gently in the wind, the horses' hooves trampled the soil, and the air seemed to be filled with the fragrance of green grass.

Li Yuanhao slowly came to the foot of the hillside, first raised his head and looked up at Yelu Zongzhen who was overlooking from the mountain, a flash of hatred flashed in his eyes, and then buried it deep in his heart, took a few deep breaths, turned over and got off the horse, walked to the foot of the hill and bowed with Liao etiquette, saying: "Meet His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Liao."

He spoke Liao language. Since his grandfather, the Li family has been playing both sides between the Liao Kingdom and the Great Song Dynasty, so their family can speak Liao and Song languages.

"King Xia, no need to be polite!"

Yelu Zongzhen raised his hands in the air and responded with Liao etiquette.

Li Yuanhao raised his head.

Yelu Zongzhen had already dismounted, walked over, and took his hand affectionately, saying with a smile: "King Xia, we have always exchanged what we have with Liao and Xia, and you are also the son-in-law of my Liao, so we are even closer."

"Thank you, His Majesty the Emperor of Liao, for your kindness."

Li Yuanhao lowered his head slightly to hide the displeasure in his eyes.

He has always been ambitious, and naturally he wants not only to be emperor, but also to establish a third powerful empire between Liao and Song, and even to annex Song's Shaanxi Road.

For this reason, when he attacked the Song Dynasty, he had already prepared for a war with the Liao Dynasty in the future.

After all, in addition to friction with the Song Dynasty, Xixia also had a gap with the Liao Dynasty on the border because of disputes over herdsmen, the Daier tribe of the Jiashan tribe, Princess Xingping, and the various tribes of the Shannan Dangxiang.

However, due to the growing power of the Song Dynasty, these frictions that might have triggered the Liao-Xia War were eventually put to rest due to the threat of the Song Dynasty, forcing the two sides to join forces and become a close alliance.

But this does not mean that Li Yuanhao truly formed an alliance with Yelu Zong.

It is as if Wu and Shu were hostile to Wei together, but this does not mean that the hatred between Wu and Jingzhou, and the subsequent battle of Yiling, has been resolved in this way.

If history changes and the Prime Minister succeeds in leaving Qishan to take back the Yongliang area, revive the Han Dynasty, and return the old capital, then after the elimination of the Wei Kingdom, I am afraid that the next one that the Prime Minister will perish will definitely be Jiangdong to avenge Guan Yu and the former lord Liu Bei. Snow hates it.

"King Xia, let's sit down and talk."

Yelu Zongzhen took Li Yuanhao's hand and sat on the hillside together.

At this time, a large carpet had been placed on the slope, like a picnic cloth, with dried beef and mutton, as well as various fine wines and teas placed on it.

The two of them sat cross-legged facing each other. Li Yuanhao raised his glass and said, "I would like to propose a toast to Your Majesty first."

"The king of Xia is very polite."

Yelu Zongzhen smiled and raised a glass of wine.

After the two parties drank, they looked at each other and smiled, and then Li Yuanhao began to talk about the business: "Your Majesty must also know about that."

"Um."

Yelu Zongzhen took a knife and started to cut the meat. He frowned and said, "The Song Dynasty has changed so much in just ten years. If something that travels thousands of miles a day appears, what do you think we should do?" "

Li Yuanhao touched his cross-legged knees with his left hand, played with the wine glass with his right hand, and said thoughtfully: "Once the war starts, the Song army will reach the border in a day or two."

"Well."

Yelu Zongzhen put a piece of chopped beef in front of Li Yuanhao, and then said: "It seems that you also know, and it's not just the army, the most terrifying thing is the baggage they transported."

"Yes, the only way to fight a war is to carry baggage. Only when you have a lot of food and grass can you fight the enemy to the end. The Song Dynasty can gather the food and grass for hundreds of thousands of troops in a matter of seconds, and can even reach our Xia Kingdom directly, as well as your majesty's army. The Liao border is very scary.”

Li Yuanhao sighed: "This means that they can fight with us at the border for a long time, but our baggage has to be transported from far away. Whether it is a stalemate or a fight, it will be very detrimental to us."

"God does not bless us, but he bless the Song Dynasty."

Yelu Zongzhen also sighed, threw away the knife in his hand, and wiped his hands with a piece of cloth.

"Your Majesty, I think there is something fishy about this matter."

"Oh? What do you say?"

"Since the Song Dynasty has changed over the years, I have been trying to bribe the internal servants of the Song Dynasty palace."

"Is there any result?"

"There have been no results before. Those Song Dynasty servants, whether they were maids or eunuchs, would not leave the palace. It was not until last year that I found a way to find the maids who went home to visit their relatives and spent a lot of money to buy information."

"what news?"

"These things are probably related to Zhao Jun, the current magistrate of the Political Academy of the Song Dynasty."

Li Yuanhao said firmly.

"Zhao Jun?"

Yelu Zongzhen frowned and said: "I know this person, but it is said that he is from the Zhao family clan. Apart from investigating corrupt officials and rectifying the court, there is nothing special about him."

Zhao Jun has actually been hiding very well over the years.

If you put aside Zhao Zhen and the prime ministers in the Constitutional Yuan who know the inside story, and look at him from an outsider's perspective, you will find that he is actually very low-key.

First of all, in the military, no one knows that he invented granular gunpowder.

After all, gunpowder existed in the Song Dynasty, and firearms such as muskets and cannons had their original prototypes in the Song Dynasty, and they were not foreign products.

Fan Zhongyan was also doing the marching and fighting. At least in the eyes of Liao and Xixia, Fan Zhongyan was much more famous than Zhao Jun.

The second is invention and creation.

Zhao Jun does not have the title of great inventor on his head. Now the number one inventor in the Song Dynasty is Zhao Zhen.

Many strange and weird things were spread by Zhao Zhen and had almost nothing to do with Zhao Jun.

The last thing is reform.

The main vanguard is naturally Fan Zhongyan, and then the Political Council headed by Zhao Jun and the Emperor of the Song Dynasty Zhao Zhen provide full support.

Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, all reforms and military affairs in the Song Dynasty were stronger than Fan Zhongyan alone.

Invention and creation, as well as the promotion of science and technology, mathematics, physics and chemistry education were all done by the emperor Zhao Zhen.

These things have nothing to do with Zhao Jun.

So what is Zhao Jun doing?

He used the power of the Zhiyuan to rectify the government, eliminate cancer, investigate corrupt officials, eliminate gangs and evil, maintain local security, and fully supported Fan Zhongyan's reforms.

Any wise prime minister in ancient times could do these things, and even King Lu Yijian had no problem doing it.

Therefore, in addition to being younger and having a strange way of ascending to the throne, his popularity and reputation among the people of the Song Dynasty are actually not as good as those of Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan, currently ranking third.

Even though he is ranked third in popularity, it is because he cleared away the cancer in Kaifeng Mansion, patrolled the country, and did many things that made the people applaud. Most people regard him as the Grand Master of Qingtian, almost replacing Bao Zheng's status.

If the truth is not revealed in later generations, the most dazzling people in Renzong's dynasty in the future will definitely be Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan.

Zhao Zhen was the wisest monarch. He promoted mathematics, physics and chemistry, advocated science and technology, and led the Song Dynasty on the road to becoming a technological power.

Fan Zhongyan not only has strong military capabilities, but also can preside over reforms, eliminate malpractices, and complete changes to the Song Dynasty system, making the Song Dynasty completely new in all aspects and turning it into two different countries from the previous Song Dynasty!

Later generations may even wonder why Zhao Jun was the head of the court instead of Fan Zhongyan.

So in general, Xixia and Liao have been attracted by Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan over the years, and they all thought that the biggest enemies were the two of them.

But at this time, Li Yuanhao said that Zhao Jun was the most terrifying person, which naturally made Yelu Zongzhen feel strange.

However, Li Yuanhao shook his head and said: "According to the news told to me by the palace maid I bribed, this person suddenly appeared in the palace ten years ago. Zhao Zhen and the prime minister at that time talked with him in the back garden every day. Isn't this a strange thing?"

"Yes, maybe this person has a talent for governing the world, like Zhuge Liang, which makes them feel surprised? Or maybe he is a member of the Zhao family, just like the rumored posthumous son of Zhao Heng."

"But your majesty, I wonder if you have discovered something?"

"What is it?"

Yelu Zongzhen asked.

"What has changed between the Song Dynasty ten years ago, or even longer ago, and the Song Dynasty today?"

"Of course, it's earth-shaking."

"But Zhao Jun only appeared in the Song Dynasty ten years ago, and I've never heard of him before."

"What do you mean?"

"What's the difference between Fan Zhongyan and ordinary Song Dynasty officials ten years ago? What's the difference between Zhao Zhen and the original Song Dynasty emperor ten years ago?"

Li Yuanhao said decisively: "But since Zhao Jun came, they seem to have become a different person. The weapons and equipment of the Song Dynasty are brand new, and national reforms are proceeding in an orderly manner. Even Zhao Zhen can do some strange things. Doesn't your majesty think it's strange?"

After he said this, Yelu Zongzhen suddenly realized it.

That's right.

They used to be attracted by the changes of Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan, but ignored why they had such changes.

Because they were too far away, they could only observe things through appearance, and could not know the essence.

However, Li Yuanhao eventually bribed the palace maids and found out that Zhao Jun inexplicably appeared in the palace ten years ago, and as soon as he appeared, the Song Dynasty began to change.

If there is no connection between them, then it would be a ghost.

"King Xia reminded me and I realized that it was after he appeared that the Song Dynasty had such a dramatic change. This person must have a big secret!"

Yelü Zongzhen's face was gloomy. No wonder that person came out as the head of the Political System Institute and could lead all officials.

In the past, I was confused by Zhao Zhen and Fan Zhongyan, but I didn't know that he was the real powerful one!