There is actually a small teahouse still open at the junction of Shuaifu Hutong and Lianhua Street in Baozhou.
There were no customers in the teahouse. There was only a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion and a sickly look sitting in the private room on the second floor.
He sat by the window and silently watched the busy people on the long street, looking a little bored.
Until someone walked into the teahouse, walked up the steps silently, entered the private room, and said, "I heard that Erlang has been recovering from illness for many days, but today he came out to drink tea."
"Why is Secretary Lin here?" Zhang Hongji turned around and greeted with a smile, and poured tea for Lin Zi with his own hands.
Lin Zi was not polite, sat down, picked up the tea cup and drank in one gulp, then picked up the kettle on the side and poured it into the cup.
They didn't really meet many times, but because the Military Intelligence Department had a lot of activities in Hebei with the help of Zhang Hongji, the relationship between the two was pretty good.
A few days ago, Zhang Hongji asked Lin Zi about a private matter, which was actually asking about Yuan Yan's current situation.
At that time, Lin Zi told Yuan Yan's schedule for going north. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be today's embarrassment.
After hesitating for a while, Lin Zi said: "I just came from the Lotus Pond Palace and saw Yuan Shangshu's car heading towards the academy. She probably won't come here."
Zhang Hongji looked out the window again casually and said, "I want to see my old friend to make Mr. Lin laugh, but that's not all. I'm feeling bored at home. It's good to come out and get some fresh air."
"Yes, it's good to get some air." Lin Zi nodded.
"Secretary Lin is interested and came here to tell me." Zhang Hongji smiled very freely and said, "I would like to propose a cup of tea to Commander Lin instead of wine."
"Really speaking, I should toast you. If Erlang hadn't taken action in the past few years, the Military Intelligence Department would not have been able to gain a foothold in Hebei."
Lin Zi had said that before he leaned forward a little and said, "However, when I come here today, besides this, I have another thing to talk about."
Zhang Hongji felt the solemnity in his tone and was a little surprised, saying, "What's the matter?"
"Not long ago, a group of Mongolian remnants in the city were cleared out, and the matter had come to an end. However, one of them confessed that my younger brother, Eleventh Lang, was involved in this matter."
Zhang Hongji frowned upon hearing this. After hearing the specific situation, he couldn't help but ask: "What will he do?"
"It's hard to say. If it were placed in the Song Dynasty, it would be a serious crime to sneak into the enemy country."
"Can I ask for a favor from His Majesty? After all, the Zhang family is..."
"Your Majesty always treats everyone equally when enforcing the law." Lin Zi quickly raised his hand, and after thinking for a while, he added: "For the sake of our friendship, I would like to remind you that if you let Shishilang surrender, at least the Zhang family will not be implicated."
"What about Shishiro?"
"How should I put it? The evidence for this matter is conclusive, and there is no way to excuse him. The sooner he surrenders, the better he can save his life." Lin Zi pondered, and then said: "I have found out everything by now, and it is already a bit late.
.”
Zhang Hong's basically sallow face became darker and darker, and he smiled bitterly and said: "This is the reason why I can't recover from my illness. This big family has too many things to do."
Lin Zi reminded again: "Erlang should persuade him to surrender as soon as possible." "Well, my father is already old. If he learns about this, he will inevitably get angry and hurt himself. Can you please delay me for another three or four days until my father leaves Baozhou with the army?"
Let Eleven Lang surrender again."
Lin Zi hesitated for a while, then stood up and said, "Then I'll keep this matter under wraps for Erlang for a few more days. Erlang, please hurry up."
"Thank you."
Lin Zi did not dare to stay long and left the teahouse in a hurry.
With his temperament, he would not have revealed the information to Zhang Hongji in advance, but would have taken advantage of him directly.
However, he also understood some of the secrets behind this matter, and believed that this was the aftermath of Kublai Khan using Zhang Hongfan to instigate the Zhang and Dong families into infighting, so he warned him and gave the Zhang family a chance to calm things down.
~~
Three days later, the Tang army, with Zhang Rou and Zhang Hongdao as commanders, led 50,000 troops and horses to advance towards Wu Suicheng.
Brother Yixiang had just returned, but he failed to bring back the artillery and siege equipment that had been transported so hard to Baozhou to attack the city. The morale of the defeated army dropped again.
After only one round of fighting, they retreated to Zhuozhou.
So the Tang army crossed Baigou and continued to approach Zhuozhou.
Not counting the time when Tong Guan bought back Yanjing, this was the first time since the Song-Liao Chanyuan Alliance that the Han Dynasty's troops crossed the Song-Liao border.
In Baozhou City, the troops for the follow-up attack on Yanjing were still gathering.
The dust on the school grounds was flying, but it could not cover the excitement of the soldiers in their achievements.
Every time a team finishes lining up, a loud shout will sound.
"Seventh command fifth team, everyone is here!" "Sixth team!"
「
Listening to these shouts, Zhang Hongqing walked past the school grounds and entered his military tent. When he saw Zhang Hongji inside, he was slightly startled, but he didn't look good.
"Why is my second brother here?"
Zhang Hongji's face became increasingly depressed and he asked, "Are you angry with me?"
"Yes." Zhang Hongqing said bluntly, "If my second brother hadn't stopped me from delaying my expedition a few days, I would have already made great contributions along with my father."
"Then do you know why I stopped you?"
"You are a sick man, I am disabled, and you want to keep me with you."
It has to be said that Zhang Hongqing's Chinese has improved very quickly, and although he still has a Mongolian accent, he is already quite fluent.
Zhang Hongji said: "What did you do? Don't you remember?"
Zhang Hongqing was stunned for a moment, became confused and said, "I don't understand what the second brother is talking about."
At this time, the shouts of the soldiers sounded again in the distance.
The two people in the military tent could also feel their excitement.
Zhang Hongji sighed, stood up, looked outside, and said, "The great cause of unification is right in front of you. Look at them, they are united in their will and their ambitions are high. Why should the Zhang family be affected because you are so stupid?"
Zhang Hongqing's expression changed completely and he said in surprise: "Second brother? You..."
"It's inappropriate for the royal family and the country, but you want to rebel?!" "I didn't do anything."
"Do you think you can hide it?!"
Zhang Hongqing was stunned when Zhang Hongji yelled.
He took two steps back in confusion, not knowing what to do.
"Then what does second brother want?" "You can go and apologize to His Majesty."
"No, I will die." Zhang Hongqing flatly refused, shaking his head, and said: "I tell you, many people are staring at the Zhang family now, trying to make mistakes with the Zhang family so that they can weaken our power after taking advantage of us. This matter will be made a big fuss about."
"You also know, then why did you dare to be so confused at that time?!"
"Then what should I do? Am I like you? You are all close to His Majesty, and you all understand the situation. What about me? What can I know? I am a proton! All my life I have heard that Mongolia is invincible, and I don't or even haven't You knew exactly what kind of person Li Xia was, but you put a knife on his neck and killed him. How could I have any clue? And what did I do? They found me, but I didn’t do anything. I just came back from the grassland. , I’m too confused, are you guilty?”
Zhang Hongji raised his hand and slapped his younger brother, scolding: "What are you talking about?"
Zhang Hongqing wanted to resist, but he couldn't resist with only one hand. He couldn't help but get red-eyed and shouted: "I have paid so much for the Zhang family, but in the end I am a useless person. Why?"
"How much have you paid? Why don't you ask how you can still live in such troubled times?"
"If you have the ability, why don't you try being this proton?!"
Zhang Hongji raised his hand and slapped Zhang Hongqing on the face again
~~
The next day, I went to the palace in Lotus Pond.
Li Xia was still asking about the progress of the troops heading north, but a servant hurried forward and reported in a low voice.
So Li Xia raised his hand, suspended the discussion in the hall, went to another hall, and called Zhang Hongji and Lin Zi to see him. "I am guilty of paying homage to your majesty, and I came here to apologize to your majesty."
As soon as Zhang Hongji entered the hall, he immediately knelt down, put his head on the ground, and remained motionless.
Li Xia sighed slightly and looked at Lin Zi.
Lin Zi also knelt down quickly and said, "I am also guilty."
Zhang Hongji hurriedly said: "The fault lies with one of you, Your Majesty, please punish me severely."
"So, you let Zhang Hongqing go?" "Your Majesty, yes."
"You took advantage of your previous merits and thought you could handle this crime, so you let him go?"
"Chen" Zhang Hong basically wanted to deny it, but after thinking about it, he responded: "Chen did think so."
"Then all those who have made meritorious contributions to the country rely on the ironclad book and ignore the law. What kind of chaos will the world be like?"
"I am ashamed, your Majesty, please punish me severely!"
After Zhang Hongji finished speaking, he waited for a long time, but Li Xia didn't speak.
He raised his eyes and took a sneak peek, only to see that the young emperor didn't know what he was thinking. His expression was very calm, but there was a hint of unhappiness.
Zhang Hongji felt even more ashamed and said again: "Your Majesty's state affairs are very heavy. When the great task of expelling the barbarians is about to be completed, you still have to worry about my mistakes. I am sorry for your Majesty."
"There is no quiet time when it comes to national affairs and family affairs. It is precisely because this is a critical moment, and every little thing must be handled carefully to avoid causing disaster." Li Xia said, "Are you convinced by my treatment of you?" "Submit your anger."
"Do you think that I deliberately suppressed the Zhang family for the sake of the Gao family, or for balance?"
"I would never dare to think this."
"Don't you dare think like this?" Li Xia suddenly slapped the chair and shouted: "When you are hunting, why don't you consider whether others will think like this?!"
Zhang Hongji was startled and kowtowed again, saying: "I didn't think carefully and I made a big mistake."
Li Xia, however, quickly calmed down his anger, waved his hand and said, "Support your relatives and friends and bring it to Dali Temple for discussion."
In fact, if someone wanted to handle the Zhang family case strictly, they could be convicted of collaborating with the enemy, so Li Xia specifically said that Zhang Hongji would be punished for harboring the crime.
"Your Majesty." Lin Zi stepped forward and said, "I did not handle this matter properly." "You are right, the reason why this happened is that Kublai Khan asked Zhang Hongfan to kill people to express his loyalty. But in fact, there is another reason:
I want to reduce the power of the prince."
Since the Liu family, the Dong family, and the Shi family all had their military power reduced when they returned to the Zhang family, of course Li Xia also had to have his power reduced when he came to the Zhang family.
However, on the one hand, Zhang Rou's prestige is too high, on the other hand, the war has been going on, and for various other reasons, the Zhang family seems to be far more powerful than other princes at the moment.
Therefore, some people in the Zhang family already feel uneasy about the loss of power. There are also many courtiers who believe that the Zhang family should continue to be weakened.
For example, Zhang Hongqing was dissatisfied, but Dong Wenyong believed that it was in Li Xia's interests to implement a small plan to deal with the Zhang family.
This is the underlying reason behind this incident.
"Power must be reduced, merit must be rewarded, and internal strife must be eliminated. Hebei Xinfu must finally deal with these remaining troubles."
Li Xia was originally in a hurry to take Yanjing, so he was a little annoyed when encountering such a thing.
However, when I think about it, it turns out that the closer you are to success, the easier it is for small mistakes like this to happen.
Also, Kublai Khan and Jia Sidao have always encountered more and more troubles. One has to consider the loyalty of Han officials, and the other has to bear the responsibility for the three hundred years of corruption in the Song Dynasty.