It was dark and midwinter in the small courtyard, with only a faint light shining in the window of a small bungalow.

This is a remote corner of Prince Jing's Mansion. It used to be the residence of some ordinary servants. After King Jing was relegated and went home to think about his past, a large number of the original guards of Prince Jing's Mansion were forcibly dismissed, and some of the houses here became idle.

.Perhaps due to lack of care, some of the bamboos that were originally placed against the wall in this yard are also yellow and withered. There is no trace of greenery, and they are actually dead long ago. Walking closer, you can even see the wall.

They are also mottled and damaged. In less than two years, these houses have become like this.

King Jing Zhao Zhe stood in the darkness with his hands behind his back.

His disheveled black hair was blown up by the biting cold wind, and the falling snowflakes fell on his head and body, covering his whole body with a layer of white color.

Zhao Zhe seemed unaware, standing like a sculpture in the wind and snow.

The door of the small courtyard is open. A few steps outside the house, there is a narrow alley. At the end of the alley, there are two roads, one on the left and one on the right. One leads to the front yard of the palace, and the other leads to the rear of the palace.

Side door. And now, there are people waiting at this side door.

A man wearing a turban and a bamboo hat gently knocked on the side door above the courtyard wall. The side door opened silently, and the visitor walked in without saying a word, and walked along the lane towards the small house.

, a moment later, he stepped into the threshold of the small courtyard, raised his eyes and glanced at Zhao Zhe in the wind and snow, clasped his hands into fists, bowed silently, and then stepped aside.

Hong Yuan, standing under the eaves, nodded towards the other party.

One after another, people walked in from the outside, saluted Zhao Zhe one after another, and stood aside.

When Tao Dayong walked in, the courtyard door was locked.

No one said anything, and everyone's eyes fell on Zhao Zhe in the center of the courtyard.

A crow flew over from nowhere, folded its wings and landed on the eaves of the roof of the hut, croaking in the yard.

A burly man in the courtyard frowned, bent down, grabbed a ball of snow in his hand, squeezed it tightly, then raised his arm, and with a whoosh, the snow ball flew out.

The crow on the roof seemed to be aware of the danger and spread its wings to fly away, but the snowball came too quickly. As soon as it took off, the crow had already hit it heavily.

With a loud cry, the crow fell from the sky like a stone and landed on the roof, making no sound again.

The crow of the crow seemed to wake up Zhao Zhe. He took a deep breath, then spit it out heavily. He turned his head and looked at the two rows of people standing on both sides. These people, like him, were now covered in blood clots.

Full of snow.

"Are you all here?" Zhao Zhe grinned and seemed to smile.

"Your Highness, everyone who came today is absolutely trustworthy." Hong Yuan took a step forward and whispered.

Zhao Zhe nodded, raised his arms, and the snow fell from his body, and walked towards the house.

Behind him, a group of people followed one after another.

When everyone entered the house, the door was slammed shut, and dozens of warriors walked out from the back of the house, guarding every three steps, and guarding them every five steps, and tightly surrounded the small house.

This year's Zhengdan envoy from the Liao Kingdom to the Song Dynasty is very different from previous years. He is the Prince of Qishui County and the Governor of Nanjing Road Yelujun. He is the most powerful person in line among the successors of the Liao Kingdom and is most likely to sit on the Liao Dynasty.

The extravagant figure who holds the throne of the emperor of the country.

Over the years, this was the most prominent Liao figure who served as envoy to the Song Dynasty.

How to receive is naturally an issue that needs to be treated with caution. For the Song Dynasty court, this is a major etiquette event that cannot be underestimated, especially when both sides have been arguing about who is the orthodox Chinese.

If you are disrespectful in such a matter, it will make the whole world laugh.

Reciprocal reception is a natural thing.

If the Song Dynasty now has the Crown Prince of the East Palace, then it is natural to not worry too much and just let the prince serve as the ambassador. But the current problem of the Song Dynasty lies here.

All the court ministers kept their mouths shut, not wanting to freely express their opinions on this issue. Because everyone knew that this was a political stance.

If you stand right, you will naturally be prosperous and wealthy for decades or even more. If you stand wrong, you will be better off begging for old age and returning to the fields but enjoying family happiness, almost going to Lingnan to eat lychees, and worst of all, you will have to go

Salmon Island is enjoying the sea breeze.

Of course, there are also people who are not afraid of trouble and jump out first.

The first person to pop up was Cui Ang and Cui Huaiyuan, the imperial censor. He strongly recommended Zhao Jing, King of Chu, as the imperial envoy. The reason was that Zhao Jing was the eldest son, had always been wise and virtuous, and could embody the concept of governing the country with filial piety in the Song Dynasty.

Cui Ang's recommendation immediately made some people unable to bear it. Xiao Yu, the envoy of the third division, was angry and recommended Zhao Zhe, king of Jing, as the ambassador. The reason was that Yelujun was not only the king of the county, but also the governor of Nanjing Road in the Liao Dynasty. He had worked with

King Jing had been fighting each other for many years, but when King Jing was appointed as the pacifier of Hebei Road, Yelujun did not get any benefits. On the contrary, as soon as King Jing left office, Hebei Road suffered a huge defeat for decades. At this moment, let

King Jing's reception can effectively combat the opponent's arrogance and increase Song's prestige and morale.

It has to be said that Xiao Yu's excerpt really caused ripples in the court, especially among the middle and low-level officials. Even though they knew that the emperor did not like this second son, they all felt that considering the overall situation, King Jing would do it.

It would be best to have this ambassador as your companion. Otherwise, wouldn’t Yelujun, the victor, have his tail raised to the sky after arriving in Bianliang?

Before the two governments had spoken, the Cui and Xiao factions were already quarreling in the court hall. If Xia Jie hadn't been prepared, Xiao Yu would have rolled up his sleeves several times and was ready to take action.

Of course, Cui Ang was also on guard against this move. With Xiao Yu's current confidence, if he really wanted to beat Cui Ang, the emperor would probably not do anything to him. Who asked him to have a good son!

During the quarrel between the two factions, Chen Gui, the head of the Western Palace, proposed a compromise plan, using Tang Wang Zhao Zheng as the envoy, and selecting a highly respected veteran minister as his assistant, such as Luo Song, the counselor and governor of the Eastern Palace.

Zhao Zheng, the king of Tang Dynasty, is only eight years old now.

It seems that this is indeed a good plan.

Just when everyone thought that whether the chief minister or the officials would choose Privy Councilor Chen Gui's plan, a shocking scene happened.

The first assistant, Xia Jie, supported Cui Ang's proposal and appointed King Zhao Jing of Chu as his accompanying envoy.

This was a fatal blow to the supporters of King Jing headed by Xiao Yu.

When Xia Jie expressed his attitude, Luo Song, who originally supported Xiao Yu, fell silent, and Chen Gui fell silent. Li Guang, another well-known Privy Council member, also expressed his support for Xia Jie.

The direction of the wind in the court was instantly reversed.

The official issued an imperial edict, appointing Chu King Zhao Jing as the envoy, and also appointed Chu King Zhao Jing as the preparatory ambassador for the Zhengda Festival next year.

This is almost announcing that King Zhao Jing of Chu is the crown prince of the East Palace.

There was no fire in the room, and when everyone took a breath, obvious clouds of white mist flashed between the mouth and nose.

The body is very cold, but there is a fire burning in everyone's heart.

King Jing Zhao Zhe, who had been hesitating and unable to make a final decision, finally made his final decision.

And this is exactly why they gathered here today.

If you don't take action, there will be no chance.

While Xia Jie decided to support Chu King Zhao Jing as ambassador, he also suggested that the emperor recall Zhang Chao, the chief marching officer on Hebei Road, and let Zhang Chao return to Beijing and resume his duties as the commander of the upper four armies. It was obvious who he was.

.

Once Zhang Chao returns to Beijing, Jing Wang Zhao Zhe will have no chance at all.

It is true that the Upper Fourth Army is no match for the frontier army, but in any case, the Upper Fourth Army has more than 200,000 forbidden troops in and around Bianliang. As soon as Zhang Chao returned to Beijing, these people were nothing but scattered sand and the secret rules of the Privy Council.

It is impossible to bring them together, but once Zhang Chao comes back, his prestige in the army will be enough to knead this loose sand together.

The ants kill the elephant.

No matter how powerful the frontier army is, there are only more than 5,000 people. Even if they are covered with iron, how many nails can they drive?

"With traitorous ministers in power, the country will be ruined!" King Zhao Zhe of Jing glanced at everyone's faces one by one, "If they are allowed to continue like this, our Song Dynasty will be destroyed forever. I have made up my mind to launch military remonstrance to rectify the situation.

The country is in ruins, it is time to turn the tide and save the country! You must understand that you want to follow me, but are you prepared to die, destroy your family, and be ruined? Whoever has regrets now, please walk out of this place.

Go to a room and stay away from Bianliang. I, Zhao Zhe, will never blame you at all."

There was a crash, and everyone in the room knelt down on one knee and said loudly: "We are willing to follow His Highness King Jing, turn the tide from collapse, and seek the fate of the country. Even if we die, we will have no regrets."

"Okay!" Zhao Zhe ripped off his outer robe with a cry. Only then did everyone realize that Zhao Zhe was actually wearing a suit of armor under his outer robe.

Tao Dayong, Lin Min and others suddenly burst into tears.

When Zhao Zhe was the pacifier of Hebei Road, he was dressed like this when he summoned them, the frontier generals, for the first time. And in this room, almost all of them were his old troops in Hebei.

"Gentlemen, when we were in Hebei, the situation was so dangerous, but we overcame it and built an iron-like defense line. Now, it's time for us to go upstream again. This time, we will fight for the Song Dynasty.

Build an iron line of defense."

"Please give the order, Your Highness!" Everyone said solemnly.

Zhao Zhe took a deep breath and said: "Zhang Chao and his party have arrived at Gyeonggi Road. He will stay there for a few days. Ma Xing transferred Zheng Xiong, the magistrate of Huazhou, to Hebei Road. Zhang Chao is still there."

Where to stay with Zheng Xionghuan for a few days and make some military explanations with Zheng Xiong. Once completed, we can rush back to Bianliang within ten days. As soon as he comes back, we will have no chance. Therefore, we must do it right away.

Take action."

Everyone nodded silently, and the problem must be solved before Zhang Chao comes back.

This has never happened since the founding of the Song Dynasty.

Taizu, who came to power after the Chenqiao rebellion, was very guarded against such a thing. He relied on civility to control military affairs, but the civilized nobles and the military inferiors. It was at that time that the seeds were planted. Over the years, without that military commander, there would still be such a thing.

I would have done something like this in Bianliang.

But even Taizu would not have thought that it was his own descendants who wanted to do such a thing today.

There is no turning back when the bow is drawn!

Zhao Zhe himself also understood that the only people he could rely on now were the people in front of him. In Bianliang, even if they liked him, supported him, and hoped that he would be promoted, the civil servants, including Xiao Yu, would not be able to support him in the future.

Use force to launch a mutiny.
To be continued...