A group of carriages and horses drove slowly across the ice of the Tang River.
Hao Jing opened the car curtain and took a look outside, saying, "Has the battlefield been cleared?"
The general responsible for guarding him was named Huang Ma, and his conversation did not sound like a rough man. He responded: "Most of the Tang troops are southerners and cannot tolerate the severe cold. Most of them are hiding in Quyang, Xingtang and other cities. They were stationed the night before.
On the bank of the Tang River were troops borrowed by Zhang Hongdao from Zhending Shijia. There were not many of them. As soon as they heard that the leader was dead, they quickly surrendered."
"So, the result is not great?"
"Two thousand people were captured, and the results are not small." Huang Ma said: "I heard from Commander Zhang that it was mainly a blow to the morale of the Tang army. Coupled with the weather, they were not accustomed to the acclimatization, and their intention to capture Baozhou quickly was to die.
Can."
Hao Jing nodded, knowing what he was thinking.
The carriages and horses continued to move forward. There were few people in the wilderness ahead, but watchtowers built by the Tang army could be seen at regular intervals.
Huang Ma then sent someone to step forward and shout a few words.
"The Yuan Dynasty sent envoys to ask for an audience with His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty!"
Soon a group of cavalry came out of the snow and wind.
The leader, General Tang Military Academy, opened the curtain and took a look inside, and said loudly: "Mr. Hao, right?! You dare to come and ask to see my Majesty, aren't you afraid of death?!"
Hao Jing stroked his beard and smiled: "If you were afraid of death, I wouldn't have come."
"Are you ashamed to be a lobbyist for Mongols?!"
"It's a matter of eating the king's food, being loyal to the king, and fulfilling the duties of a minister. Why is there such a thing as shame?"
"Hahaha, you think Kublai Khan is a king, and others think you are a dog!"
Hao Jing wanted to respond again, but the Tang Military Academy officer suddenly lowered the curtain of the car.
"Set off!"
The team then continued southward towards Zhending Mansion.
…
Zhending Fucheng is still the same, even busier than before.
When entering the city gate, the team waited for a while. He Jing deliberately got off the carriage and observed the city wall, and found that there was not even a new knife mark on the wall.
"I heard that the Tang army had a firearm that sounded like thunder and could destroy everything it struck. Wasn't it used to attack the city?"
"You know it's not necessary, right? We are all Han Chinese, so if you can persuade them to surrender, do so. If you encounter someone who is stubborn, then kill them!"
"The general can also use idioms, but I don't know his surname."
"Haha, a lackey doesn't deserve to know. I won't tell you until you vote for my emperor!"
At this time, he was able to enter the city. Hao Jing shook his head and smiled. When he entered the city, he found that there were still people walking around in Zhending Mansion. If it weren't for the large number of soldiers and horses coming and going, it would have been like a peaceful scene.
He originally thought that he would be left hanging for a few days and embarrassed before he could see Li Xia.
Unexpectedly, after arriving at the post house, Li Xia agreed to see him after only waiting for half a day.
The meeting place is at Longxing Temple Palace.
Longxing Temple was built during the Kaihuang period of the Sui Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin stayed here when he conquered Hedong. It was expanded again and it is large in scale and majestic. There are more than ten large and small palaces.
It was evening at that time, and the sound of bells was heard in the distance.
Someone in front of the palace shouted: "Zhao Yuan envoy Hao Jing comes to see you."
Hao Jing suddenly thought of Jia Sidao and was inexplicably worried that Li Xia would also detain him.
With this slightly uneasy feeling, he walked into the palace, bowed and saluted, then looked up and saw Li Xia.
He had really known Li Xia for a long time, and they had a lot of interactions with each other, but when he saw him for the first time, he was still a little stunned.
Such an extraordinary emperor of the Han family was indeed what he had been looking forward to. When he suddenly saw him, he felt as if his dream had come true... except he was still too young.
"No need to be polite, I always like your poems."
Hao Jing subconsciously asked: "But I don't know which of the poems by the foreign ministers His Majesty the Emperor of Tang likes?"
"Of course it's the one I wrote on the wall when I killed someone."
"My talent is sparse and my knowledge is shallow, which makes His Majesty the Emperor laugh."
"Then you are not joking. I have read a lot of your poems." Li Xia said, "Shi Lang became emperor and was defeated by Ke, so he cut off the sixteen states of Yanyun. Shizong happened to have Guan Nan die, and checked Chen Qiao to become the emperor. Han'er
The Central Plains will no longer be seen. The origin of the disaster was here. Calling me my father has never been seen in ancient times, and the flowers of all ages have left their stench."
After reciting a poem, he raised his finger and pointed at Hao Jing, and said: "You are a history student, and judging from your poems, you are not an ignorant person. Why did you become a lackey of the Hulu?"
Hao Jing directly felt the majesty coming towards him.
He finally dared not bully Li Xia when he was young.
"Foreign Minister..."
"That's all, there's no need to tell my excuses to taint my ears."
Hao Jing hesitated again.
He was a great scholar of the time, and he came prepared today.
The only thing he didn't expect was that Li Xia would preempt every sentence and carry him with him every sentence, making it impossible for him to find the rhythm of his own speaking.
"Your Majesty, Emperor Tang, it has already entered winter."
With a rather blunt sentence, Hao Jing finally started to talk about the issue he wanted to talk about.
Li Xia seemed to chuckle slightly, sat down on the chair, took a letter and read it without saying anything, letting Hao Jing act as the lobbyist.
"I wonder if His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is aware that the place where the Tang Army and the Yuan Army are confronting today is the border between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty?"
"I'm busy. If you have something to say, just say it all at once."
Only then did Hao Jing realize that he and Li Xia were the only two people in the entire palace.
There was no stove, air leaked everywhere, and it was very cold.
"The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty established this foundation in ten years, which is great. However, the founding of the country was short, and the national strength was ultimately insufficient. With such a large number of troops and people, I wonder how long the money and food expenses can sustain it?"
Li Xia didn't answer, and didn't even raise his head to look at Hao Jing.
Hao Jing waited for a while and continued: "The foreign minister has made a rough calculation. With the strength of the whole country of the Tang Dynasty, it was barely possible to finish the battle of Helan Mountain. It would be unwise to rush northward afterwards. I am afraid that the national treasury will have bottomed out at this time."
Alright?"
Still no response.
"The Great Yuan Dynasty had already sent heavy troops to Baozhou. The Tang Emperor did not give up and thought that with Zhang Hongdao, Baozhou City could be conquered years ago. But now that Zhang Hongdao died, the Tang army was defeated in the Battle of Tanghe, and their morale was low. In addition, it snowed continuously.
, the food and grass are running out, and as far as the Tang Emperor is concerned, it’s time to put it away as soon as it’s ready.”
Li Xia finally glanced at Hao Jing and asked, "Are you done?"
"His Majesty the Tang Emperor should have received the news from the south, right?" Hao Jing said, "Foreign ministers may wish to say bluntly that the Song Dynasty has agreed to send more than 200,000 troops to attack Sichuan and Shu. Sichuan and Shu are the foundation of His Majesty the Tang Emperor and must be guarded against.
"
Seeing that he hadn't finished speaking, Li Xia's eyes fell back on the fold.
"His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty seems not to have realized the seriousness of the situation. The foreign minister said something from the bottom of his heart. In his heart, the foreign minister really hopes to see the day when the Emperor of Tang Dynasty can dominate the world."
"Yeah?"
"But as the saying goes, haste makes waste. With the current strength of Emperor Tang, there is no chance of success in one fell swoop. Why not wait for the future?"
"No waiting."
Hao Jing stroked his long beard, sighed, and said: "There are two more things that should not be mentioned. Foreign ministers can tell Emperor Tang privately. For one thing, my lord has contacted Haidu, and Haidu has agreed to communicate with the emperor.
Yuan formed an alliance, and this person only pursues his own interests. Seeing that Uluru was weak, he immediately wanted to annex the Ili River Basin."
As he spoke, Hao Jing stared at Li Xia, hoping to see Li Xia's eyes and see whether he was pretending to be calm.
But can't see it.
Hao Jing continued: "Secondly, our lord has ordered Tubo to send troops to attack the hinterland of Tang. This group of envoys entered Tibet before King Yan escorted Pasiba. Just imagine, if envoys had not entered Tibet earlier, how could our lord dare?
Let King Yan go there in person?"
Li Xia still didn't respond.
Hao Jing added: "Foreign officials know that for the Northern Expedition, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty personally went to the Western Regions, conquered the Song Kingdom in the south, attacked Hetao in the north, and sent envoys to Tibet. The purpose was to first appease the four corners of the country and then recover the Central Plains. It is a pity that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty did not
Do it well, or no matter how well Tang Huang does, once he has the tendency to dominate the world, all parties will still be ready to take action. In the final analysis, the strength is still insufficient."
Li Xia finally asked: "If I have ten years to live and I continue my northern expedition, will you surrender to me?"
"When the time comes, the foreign ministers will surely surrender."
"Why not now?"
"The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is not enough to conquer the world, but the people of the Central Plains cannot be left unattended."
"Have you finished giving the reasons?"
"Foreign minister, I speak from the bottom of my heart. Your Majesty, please discern clearly."
"I believe you," Li Xia said, "but I tell you, you are mistaken."
"The foreign minister is ashamed. Perhaps the Emperor of Tang was too conceited."
"Then let me add a few points for you." Li Xia said: "Let's talk about it one by one. Kublai Khan sent real gold to Tubo at the beginning of last year. Before that, in October of the year before last, when I was still in the Song Dynasty, he sent
We went to see Paklan King Chana Dorje and the leader of Dosima Kantar Mengka and asked them to send troops to attack my hinterland."
"Chanadoji is Kuoduan's son-in-law, and Kantuomengjia was completely conquered by Kublai Khan during his southern expedition to Dali. Tubo has a long way to go, and Kublai Khan's envoy met Chanadoji in July last year, and then rushed to see Kandorje.
Tuomengjia. In October last year, they began to gather their troops, but at this time, Chanadoji died. Not long after, the Battle of Helan Mountain came, and Kublai Khan was defeated."
Hao Jing was stunned.
"Tell me something more that you don't know." Li Xia said: "After Chanadoji died, his wife, Kuoduan's daughter Mekaton, contacted Zangbu, the leader of Tubo, to oppose Pasiba whom I sent.
In March of this year, they gathered a total of 30,000 soldiers and horses, and wanted to take advantage of the battle between me and Kublai Khan to send troops... Yes, half a year has passed since the battle of Helan Mountain, and they only planned to send troops.
Let’s burn, kill, loot and plunder.”
Hao Jing shook his head and said, "I don't believe it."
"What don't you believe? You don't believe the information I got? It's very simple. It's enough to send a capable minister there. Or you don't believe I can defeat these Tubo bandits."
Hao Jingdao: "Even so, the Tang army must have spent a lot of troops, food and grass. Then the Northern Expedition will be more difficult to continue?"
"Don't worry, let's talk about it one by one." Li Xia said: "As long as the Tubo bandits can't come out, I won't worry no matter how much trouble Haidu makes in the Western Regions. It won't affect my defense in Gansu. As for the Song Dynasty..."
Hao Jingdao: "If I were to let the foreign ministers guess, Zhang Hongdao had already heard about the fall of Kuimen, so he lost his sense of proportion and was too eager to achieve success."
"No." Li Xia said: "I told him that the worst outcome is that the Song Army takes Sichuan and Shu, and they can get it back sooner or later. After all, the Song Army is not a bandit like the Mongols."
"But it was a big blow to the morale of the Tang army."
"Do you know why I said the worst outcome?" Li Xia said: "This is determination. Even if the Song army goes up the Yangtze River and overcomes many dangerous passes, Kuizhou, Wanzhou, Zhongzhou, Fuzhou, one year, two years, three years, I
We must also defeat Yanjing first."
"Why?"
"Because Meng Yuan is a foreign race, and because I simply don't believe in your idea that those who practice Chinese ways are the masters of China."
Hao Jing's momentum faltered, and after a pause, he said, "That's because you haven't experienced the chaos in the Central Plains!"
"Under my command, many civil servants and generals have experienced the chaos in the Central Plains. They are united and vow to restore China!"
"However, the situation is stronger than the people..."
"I'll tell you what the situation is!" Li Xia shouted, "Apart from the worst possible outcome, I'm surprised that Jia Sidao dared to march westward. I'm really surprised, because I know the Song Dynasty court better than you do."
He stood up, walked to the palace, and raised his hand, as if he didn't know how to describe the decadence of the Song Dynasty.
"Jia Sidao actually dared to leave Lin'an. Even I can't count how many people behind him want to take his position and take his life. In a court with constant party disputes and internal strife, he actually dared to leave.
The Imperial Court’s Western Expedition?”
Hao Jing opened his mouth, a little confused.
Li Xia's tone also contained a rare hint of uncertainty.
"Going upstream along the Yangtze River, there are many dangerous passes. It is impossible to capture it without heavy troops, but if you bring heavy troops... I can't imagine when Jia Sidao's army will fall apart, and you actually put your hopes on him and take advantage of him.
Is he here to threaten me?"
As if because he was too uncertain, Li Xia did not dare to say something to death, so he had to say: "In the worst case scenario, Song Ting takes Sichuan and Shu, so what? I will snatch it from them once, and then again."
is it hard?"
Hao Jing still shook his head, expressing disbelief.
He couldn't tell whether Li Xia really thought that way or was just pretending to be tough.
"But your military morale was messed up. Zhang Hongdao was anxious, so he died."
"Huh?" Li Xia asked, "Who told you that Zhang Hongdao is dead?"
Hao Jingru opened his mouth as he was shocked by the electric shock, and was so surprised that he couldn't speak.
Li Xia had already approached him and said: "I will go on the northern expedition and I will not return Yanjing until I break it. These words are definitely not just words..."