No matter how reluctant they were, Xia Jie, the chief minister of the Song Dynasty, and Chen Gui, the envoy of the Privy Council, had to start thinking about war.

If Li Xu was still a hungry wolf back then, then Xiao Ding is definitely a tiger now.

The core professional army under Li Xu's command only numbered 10,000 to 20,000 people. The rest were recruited temporarily and had limited combat effectiveness. But Xiao Ding was completely different.

It is said that he controls 100,000 soldiers, but he really has nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses.

Because Xiao Ding has been fighting for the past two years.

First, he defeated Li Xu, and his strength reached a higher level. Then he drove Li Xu to Qingtang, then destroyed Qingtang, and collected Yu Zanghuama, and his strength increased again. Then he drove Li Xu to the Western Regions.

In more than a year, he destroyed more than a dozen city-states in the Western Regions, and the Uighurs and Xi people also became his subordinates.

Li Xu was exhausted while being chased. He ran out of oil and died. His son Li Hao disappeared. His last trace of use value was squeezed out by Xiao Ding.

Looking back, Xiao Ding began to have constant conflicts with the Liao people on the Xijing Road, beating Yelu Huan and complaining endlessly.

The news just came that the Beizhu Bu people, a large tribe under the rule of the Liao Kingdom, were exterminated by Xiao Ding. Xiao Ding's troops have crossed Heiji, and they have successively built Xihoujiang City, and now they are building another Xihoujiang City.

.

If Xiao Yu had not died, what a wonderful situation this would have been!

Xia Jie now only regrets that he did not do anything to stop Cui Ang's bad idea.

It was Cui Ang who suggested to the officials to imprison Xiao Yu under the pretext of King Jing's rebellion, and then forced Xiao Ding to return to Bianliang, and exchanged Xiao Ding's return for Xiao's innocence and King Jing's safety.

Unpredictable people can take advantage of opportunities.

Xiao Yu's death is unclear.

There is still no trace of the murderer. No matter the Imperial City Department or the local government offices, they can't find the prison head who was imprisoned. This man seems to have disappeared from the world.

In fact, Xia Jie knew very well that this person was probably dead.

Even if I sent this person to do such a big thing, I would never allow him to survive.

When a person dies, it becomes unclear.

It must be said that the enemy did it very neatly.

The same problem happened again to Mrs. Xiao and Mrs. Han.

This time things are even worse.

Because Mrs. Han died in front of the Chief Manager of the Inner Palace and the Commander of the Imperial City Division, Quan Gong. After a chaotic fight, it was impossible to verify who shot the arrow. Everyone was confused.

Even Quan Gong was arrested, but just like the death of Xiao Yu, there was still no evidence.

All we can do is prepare for war.

It's hard to say how loyal Xiao Ding is, but it is an indisputable fact that his parents are dead. He can't afford revenge, which even Xia Jie finds unjustifiable.

What's more important is that there are really not many Song people under Xiao Ding's command. Instead, they are mostly Dangxiang people, Tubo people, Uighurs, Xi people and other miscellaneous Yi people, and the army is also dominated by these people.

Do these people have any loyalty to the Song Dynasty?

Don't even think about it.

Elites like these Yi people only dreamed of competing with the Song Dynasty. When such a good opportunity came, how could they let it go?

Even if Xiao Ding still hesitates, they will definitely push him hard behind him.

Get ready for war!

Fortunately, after Xiao Yu died, Zhang Chao was sent out, although there was still a glimmer of hope at that time.

Now it seems that this was a wise move.

The second good news came from the southwest.

Li Fang's memorial stated that Xiao Cheng, the second eldest son of the Xiao family, fled in fear of crime and actually disappeared, and is currently being vigorously hunted.

Xia Jie and Chen Gui didn't believe a word of what Li Fang said.

However, the two of them received everything Li Fang passed over.

Everything will be fine in the southwest.

This made both Xia Jie and Chen Gui breathe a sigh of relief.

Initially, the news sent back by the Great Eunuch and the situation discovered by the Imperial City Division made everyone worried.

It had only been a little over a year since Erlang of the Xiao family went to the southwest, but his power had developed to such an extent that he could dominate Qianzhou and Jisuzhou under his jurisdiction.

If war breaks out in the northwest, the massive amounts of money and grain that will be needed will inevitably be transported from the south. If chaos also breaks out in the southwest, and money and grain cannot be transported to the northern front in time, wouldn't that be a disaster?

What they fear most is that the Liao people take the opportunity to collude with Xiao Ding and attack at the same time on the Hebei Road. Then the Song Dynasty will be in danger.

Naturally, Xiao Cheng will not disappear, and his people are still in Qianzhou, but he has reached an agreement with Li Fang.

Take a look at the candidates for the governor of Guizhou Province and the Tiannan Army submitted by Li Fang, as well as the Tianwu Army and the Tianwei Army that Xiao Cheng made. They all have a serious organization and the commanders of these two armies.

I know there's something fishy here.

But as long as there is no chaos in the Southwest, these are tolerable.

"Xiao Erlang is a scholar after all." Xia Jie sighed: "He should have clearly seen that if the world is really in chaos, the only ones who will benefit are the Liao people."

"Now we can only kill Xiao Dalang first, and then let's talk about Xiao Erlang's problem." Chen Gui said helplessly: "It's just Zhiyan. Do you think Zhang Chao has a chance of winning against Xiao Ding?"

Xia Jie said expressionlessly: "If you want to have a chance of winning, you have to win over the Liao people."

"With the greed of the Liao people, I'm afraid this price will be unbearable for us."

"We don't want the Great Northwest anymore. As long as they can capture Xiao Ding, it's theirs. We only want a line across the mountain!" Xia Jie took a deep breath: "In addition, more coins are acceptable.

"

"What if the other party puts forward more territorial claims on Hebei Road?" Chen Gui asked. "For example, Xiongzhou, Bazhou!"

"This is impossible!" Xia Jie shook his head: "Let's talk slowly. Yelujun is not without enemies in the country. He wants to get enough benefits so that he can ascend to the throne of God without any obstacles, so he must be

I hope that the negotiation can be successful, rather than collapse. The succession of the Liao Kingdom's throne has always been bloody. As long as we get through the current difficulties, in the next few years, we will be able to calm down for a few more years. With our

With your recovery ability, you will naturally be able to recover quickly.”

Xia Jie said it as if it was easy, but Chen Gui let out a long sigh. How could it be so easy?

First, there was the disastrous defeat on the Hebei Road. Tens of thousands of elite frontier troops were wiped out in one fell swoop. More importantly, those experienced frontier generals were also massacred because of some people's selfish interests.

The soldiers are gone, but the generals are still there. It may only take a few years to train an elite army, but now, there are no experienced generals anymore, so it will be difficult.

As the saying goes, good fortune never comes in pairs and misfortune never comes alone. But at this moment, another huge mistake occurred on Xiao Ding's end.

With such a big deal falling into Yelujun's hands, why wouldn't he make full use of it?

The other party will definitely maximize their interests.

He looked at Xia Jie and found that there was actually no relaxed look in his eyes.

If Zhang Chao could withstand Xiao Ding on the Shaanxi road, it would be much easier for the court to negotiate with the Liao people.

However, can the soldiers and horses on the Shaanxi road really withstand the battle-hardened Western Army?

Seemingly seeing through the conventional thinking, Xia Jie said: "Jing Sheng, don't forget, there is Li Du on the Shaanxi Road. He also has tens of thousands of Dingnan troops under his command who are good at conquering and fighting, and he also owns Siwuguan."

"I'm afraid Cui Ang won't be able to come back!" Chen Gui said, "Maybe he will be killed by Xiao Ding to sacrifice the flag."

"Do you want him to come back?" Xia Jie said with a smile: "Many things happened because of this person. What was originally a good game turned into the devastation it is now. Cui Ang, a sinner, died in Xiao Ding's hands.

The imperial court will also give him a pension and give him a posthumous name in the future, which will really give him an advantage."

Chen Gui remained silent, walked a few steps outside, and looked back at Xia Jie: "Zhi Yan, when you used this incident to achieve your goal of returning to Bianliang, you didn't expect that this day would happen, right?

"

Xia Jie closed his mouth and looked at the other person with bright eyes.

"I'm not the only one who saw this, Zhi Yan, if you are still as helpless as you were more than ten years ago and think everything is under your control, then you are not far away from being defeated in Maicheng again.

"Chen Gui said coldly.

"If I had known what would happen today, I would rather stay in Hebei for the rest of my life and never come back!" Xia Jie sighed: "I never thought that King Jing would rebel, and I never thought that Xiao Yu and his wife would die. Jingsheng, I didn't think about it as you did.

So bad."

After a moment of silence, Chen Gui nodded and strode outside.

"I think so!" His voice came from afar.

"What?" Luo Song's voice came from outside.

"Fengchen is here?" Xia Jie has a headache. The last thing he wants to see right now is Luo Song, but as a political advisor and the second-in-command of the Dongfu, how can he avoid Luo Song?

He knew why Luo Song came to him at this time.

Sure enough, before Luo Song could sit still, he had already spoken: "Zhi Yan, what's going on? I don't even have this little face anymore? Xiao Yu and his wife are dead, I don't want to say anything anymore, because

Nothing is of any use. But Mrs. Xiao Sanni is the daughter-in-law of my Luo family who has made a decision, so if you release her and give her to me to control, don't you feel relieved?"

"Fengchen!" Xia Jie was a little annoyed: "If Xiao Ding raises the flag to rebel, it will be treason and will be punished by the clan. You still have to protect Mrs. Xiao Sanniang at this time. With this kind of loyalty, I, Xia, am

I admire you, but as someone who is involved in political affairs, you cannot be confused about this matter."
To be continued...