When going out that night, Liu Mengyan did not take a sedan, but wore plain clothes and walked through the bustling Zhongwazi Street and walked into a porcelain shop.
"Is there any Ding kiln porcelain?"
"Do you want white porcelain or red porcelain?"
"White porcelain."
"What do you think of this, sir?"
Liu Mengyan didn't even look at it, and said calmly: "The color glaze is crystal clear, but unfortunately, there are some... flaws."
"The villain doesn't see the flaws."
"You can't even see such a big flaw?"
Liu Mengyan knocked on the complete porcelain four times.
The shopkeeper was helpless and said with a smile, "If you can afford the price, I have a flawless piece of porcelain in my backyard. Would you like to take a look at it?"
Liu Mengyan inadvertently turned around and glanced at the bustling street outside the door.
"please……"
Bypassing the back hall, passing through a secret passage, and entering an adjacent house.
After twists and turns, Liu Mengyan finally walked into a dark room.
In the darkroom, there was an old man and a man. There was a box on the table with books, maps, and letters in it.
"A servant of the Zhang family." The old man announced himself to the court, "The number one scholar can just call me 'Lu Shu Lao'."
Liu Mengyan cupped his hands, and because he didn't want to stay any longer, he asked directly: "What do you want me to do?"
The book recorder was not in a hurry and asked, "Is there any new news?"
"Yes," Liu Mengyan said: "Five days from now, the Zhao family will reward Li Xia with a generous reward of five hundred thousand yuan for the Lin'an mansion. Today we have made a decree and ordered people to make preparations."
"The imperial court in five days? So, Li Xia will arrive in Lin'an in the near future... He moved so quickly that he caught us off guard."
Mr. Lu Shu murmured, closed his eyes, and recalled Zhang Hongdao's instructions when setting off.
…
Zhang Hongdao expected Li Xia to agree to join him.
The marriage between Zhang and Li will overwhelm the historians in one fell swoop and become the most powerful prince in the North; together with Lord Zuo Ming, they will defeat the barbarian Ali Buge and together they will be the founding fathers of this Central Plains dynasty.
Although I considered that Li Xia might not agree, it was just a precaution.
The conditions given by King Monan were not unkind, and his generosity was not unreasonable;
Yao Shu's advice has explained the legitimacy of King Monan and the popularity of the people in the north;
The Zhang family also agreed to marry their daughter, and her family looked forward to it deeply, and her father and brother also expressed their acceptance...
Regardless of personal feelings or public interest, Li Xia should not refuse this proposal.
The general trend is overwhelming!
They also gave Li Xia time to think about it and just give him a reply before King Monan declared himself Khan.
Unexpectedly, Li Xia didn't think about it at all, and turned back and submitted the surrender letter to the Zhao family's frustrated and cowardly master?
Show loyalty? Show loyalty to Zhao?
When the news from Lin'an was sent to Bozhou, Zhang Hongdao couldn't believe it.
"I have no intention of killing this time, but Li Xia wants to follow in the footsteps of Yue Fei and Yu Jie, let's help him." Zhang Hongdao explained, "But Li Xia was cunning and took the initiative and wanted to turn against the guest. You need to take care of it as soon as possible.
good……"
The scholar then went all the way south.
As a result, he had just arrived in Lin'an, and Li Xia was almost there too?
It should be noted that when a letter goes out or a person comes back, it takes two trips. Hanzhong is more than two thousand miles farther than Haozhou.
It can be seen that the Zhao family was eager to order Li Xia to return to the court, and Li Xia was also eager to return the court.
He definitely didn't rush back to die.
…
"It's better to be a guest than a guest."
Sitting in the darkroom at this time, the recording scholar murmured to himself and asked: "How does the No. 1 Scholar and such a talented person view Li Xia?"
Liu Mengyan frowned and glanced outside the door.
"Don't worry, it's safe here. Please sit down. I need to get to know Mr. Zhao."
"All right."
Liu Mengyan had no choice but to sit down and casually said: "If Li Xia were one step too late to express his loyalty to the Zhao family, and the recruitment matter was spread to the Zhao family through other people's mouths, the Zhao family would kill him. But he had some cleverness, so he immediately
Submitting a letter, using the power of the king, temporarily intimidated the Zhao family."
Because Liu Mengyan was from the Song Dynasty and did not need to care about Mobei and Monan, he called him "King" to show his respect.
He raised his hands to the sky and said: "Because the king is magnanimous and magnanimous, he can tolerate the Zhang family. Therefore, Li Xia is betting that the Zhao family does not dare to lose to the king in terms of magnanimity."
The recording scholar sneered: "Does Mr. Zhao have such magnanimity?"
"none."
Liu Mengyan shook his head and said: "Before the First Battle in Ezhou, the king's troops crossed the Huaihe River. The soldiers and people in Huaixi were eating pots of pulp to welcome the king's troops. This shows the people's aspirations. In the more than 20 years of war between Mongolia and Song Dynasty, this is the first time that this has happened.
Mrs. Zhao is extremely frightened."
"It can be seen that the Zhao family is not really magnanimous, is it forced by the situation?"
"Therefore, the Zhao family will not allow Li Xia to control Sichuan and Shu. Although he has not yet dismissed Li Xia, he has given him a Lin'an mansion, which can give a glimpse of his heart."
"What a generous reward."
Liu Mengyan said: "A Shu commander has lost his military power. As far as the king and the Zhang family are concerned, Li Xia is no different from death."
The recording scholar asked: "What does Zhuangyuan Gong mean?"
"If you ask me, there is no need to use any more tricks." Liu Mengyan said, "Just treat Li Xia as dead."
Liu Mengyan still has some feelings that she hasn't said yet.
That is, although the official Zhao Yun is not a magnanimous hero, he is by no means a violent and murderous person.
Despite Li Xia's authority and kindness, he can be called "benevolent".
Why should we exterminate those who have no power?
The reason why he thinks so is not because Liu Mengyan has a good heart.
He had two feet to stand on and gained the benefits of both sides. Even if the Song Dynasty died, he would still be able to secure his future as a high-ranking official.
But there are dangers.
The less you do, the less danger you have.
The recording scholar was different. He knocked on the desk and said, "No, Li Xia must die."
"Simple." Liu Mengyan said: "Please ask the king to pass a letter of credence, such as Han Yuzhou's 'letter to the chief to discuss peace' old affairs. Not only Li Xia can die, but also Wang Jian."
"Don't compare your Majesty with the narrow-minded Lord of the Kingdom of Jin." The scholar Lu said, "Let us use the Zhao family to kill Li Xia."
Liu Mengyan had known that he could not be persuaded, not to mention that the old man was here under orders, and his words did not count.
I had no choice but to ask: "What do you need me to do?"
The recording scholar smiled and pointed at the man beside him. The man then stood up and spoke.
"The villain Zhang Shijun, a member of the Zhang family in the north, violated military law and was not tolerated by Zhang Rou. He stole the book and returned it to the Song Dynasty, intending to join the villain brother Zhang Shijie..."
Liu Mengyan cupped his hands and said to the scholar Lu: "Zhang Shijie followed Jia Sidao to aid Ezhou, moved to Jiujiang, made great achievements, and has been transferred to the post of governor of Anton. Shall I arrange for him to go to Anton?"
"That was the original plan. But Li Xia is almost arriving in Lin'an, isn't he?"
"He arranges his, and we arrange ours."
"The Number One Scholar underestimated Li Xia. The evidence has been sent to Anton. We have to find a way to make Zhang Shijie believe it. We will wait until Anton's news is sent back to Lin'an... What if it's too late?"
Liu Mengyan said: "But we must go this way, otherwise it will look like the Zhang family deliberately framed Li Xia."
"The evidence is sufficient. As for how he got there, it only makes sense. Let's just say... Zhang Shijun didn't know Zhang Shijie's transfer, so he ran to Lin'an first."
Liu Mengyan was extremely reluctant and said first: "No, I can't come forward...it's too dangerous."
"Yeah?"
"So... how about I arrange for this righteous man to meet Rao Huchen, the chief political officer?"
The scholar did not know Rao Huchen.
He just felt that the officials in the Privy Council of the Song Dynasty changed too quickly, like running water.
"Can this person come forward?"
"The origin of the supervisory censor..."
~~
Two nights later.
"Bachelor of Duanming Palace, he is aware of Privy Council affairs and participates in political affairs, and he is a minister of Rao Hu."
Rao Huchen looked at Zhang Shijun who was kneeling in front of him, reported his official name, and said calmly: "Maybe I heard the information you stole?"
Zhang Shijun looked confused and said frankly, "I just want to see my brother Zhang Shijie."
"I said that Zhang Shijie has been transferred to Zhiwan'an Prefecture and is not in Lin'an."
"Where is Wan'an Prefecture?"
Rao Huchen shook his head helplessly and said: "If your information is really important, I will send someone to send you there. How about it?"
Zhang Shijun said: "Anzhi, do you want to take away the credit from my brother?"
Rao Huchen said with a straight face: "I take state affairs as my top priority, so how can I be greedy for your little credit? If the news is important, Zhang Shijie will have his own share of the credit."
"Well."
Only then did Zhang Shijun open the box he was holding in his arms.
Suddenly, a lot of things were shaken out, which made Rao Huchen dazzled.
…
All night long, with the candle burning and lamp oil replenished, Rao Huchen sat in the study, carefully reading all kinds of information, both useful and useless.
"My son pays homage to his father, and pays homage to Jun'an. Everything in the family is in order..."
The previous series are just small things, some weddings and funerals of the Zhang family.
But soon, Rao Huchen came closer.
"Li Xia's intention to marry is very strong. His wife Gao is the direct daughter of the Gao family in Dali. My son privately believes that my sister and the Gao family serve the same husband together, which will not dishonor the family. He also said that if the marriage is successful, my father can use it to conquer the west.
On this occasion, the troops left Qinchuan, bordering Hanzhong, and the three surnames jointly carried out great events..."
The letter fell from Rao Huchen's hand and fell on the case.
He came back to his senses, put the read letter aside, glanced at it, put away the pile of unread letters, and first read the appointment letter inside.
After just one glance, his eyes were filled with horror.
At this time, looking back at the map that he couldn't understand at first, Rao Huchen suddenly understood what those arrows represented.
The candle burned out.
Rao Huchen raised his head and realized that the sky was already bright.
And he has not yet fully read the information in this box...
~~
At this time, three large ships had sailed into the Qiantang River from the estuary.
On the Yuhang tide-watching platform, there was a huge crowd, pointing at the big flag on the river and shouting.
"Jiedu of the Zhenxi Army...Which general returned to the court?"
"It's Commander-in-Chief Li Jie who retreated from the enemy in Diaoyu City, killed the Mongolian lord in formation, and recaptured Hanzhong, and returned to the court!"
"The soldiers of Diaoyu City have returned to the court!"
"Daddy, hold me high, I want to see the general, the general!"
"Okay, let's see the general..."
The spring tide of the Qiantang River is at its strongest in August every year. When it comes close, it looks like the jade city snow ridge, coming from the sky. It is said to be "loud like thunder, shocking and surging, swallowing up the fertile sun, and it is extremely majestic."
It is now early September and there is no big tide.
Three river boats sailed up the river with majestic momentum.
The waves in the river kept beating against the bow of the ship, and the wind blew the flag, making a loud sound.
The officers and soldiers on the ship were all wearing bright armor and straightened their backs due to the cheers.
This situation, this scene, is exactly like——
Thousands of miles of waves rolled in, and snowflakes flew towards the Diaoyutai. The crowds of people praised the large lineup, and the iron horses calmly killed the enemy and returned.