Chapter 246 Liao Kingdom Raises an Army
Through the narration of Duke Yingguo, Zhao Xing gained a deeper understanding of the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia.
The Duke of Ying was very familiar with the famous generals of the Liao and Western Xia.
Including their personalities and military habits, the advantages and disadvantages of the Liao and Western Xia armies can all be mentioned.
Even the heavy cavalry of the Liao Kingdom, which caused the Song Dynasty a lot of headaches, was something the Duke of Ying had thought of some ways to deal with.
However, his method sounds feasible, but it has not been tested. Whether it will work or not can only be known after trying it on the battlefield in the future.
Zhao Xing was fascinated by what he heard. He knew some history and was somewhat confident that he could defeat Western Xia. If that didn't work, he could take Hehuang, defend it strictly and bring Western Xia down.
But he really didn't know what to do with the Liao Kingdom. After all, in history, it was not the Song Dynasty that destroyed the Liao Kingdom.
He also had only a vague understanding of military affairs. He only knew the importance of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and was determined to take them back.
But he didn't have any good idea how to take it away.
Just as Zhao Xing was about to ask Duke Ying whether he had any strategy to deal with the Liao Kingdom, a man dressed as a steward hurried over.
The imperial guards standing at the door stopped him.
"Your Highness, this man is the manager of the outer palace of my residence. He must have some urgent matter at this time. I will go over to ask him." said the Duke of England.
"Don't bother, father-in-law." Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "Let him in!"
Upon hearing this, the imperial guards at the door made way.
The steward walked into the front hall, saluted to Zhao Xing first, then to Duke Yingguo, and said anxiously, "My lord, someone from the palace just came to say that His Majesty has summoned you to the palace to discuss matters. Please come in immediately!"
The Duke of England's face changed when he heard this, and he said, "I understand. You can leave now!"
"Yes!" The steward bowed and walked out.
"Your Highness, I..."
"My father urgently summoned Duke Yingguo to the palace. Something big must have happened. Duke Yingguo just needs to go. Don't worry about me." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
Generally speaking, when the emperor summoned his subjects, he would not ask them to come to the palace immediately.
After all, the emperor usually does not summon only one person, the distances are different and the arrival times are also different.
If we really want to discuss something, we can't do it without everyone present.
Basically, they give a time limit, and you just need to enter the palace before that time.
When someone is summoned and asked to enter the palace immediately, it usually means that something big has happened and the person cannot wait.
"Yes!"
The Duke of Yingguo did not have time to say more. He instructed Zhang Feng to entertain Zhao Xing and left in a hurry without even saying goodbye to his wife.
Zhao Xing looked thoughtful. The Duke of Yingguo was a military general. Although he also served as the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, the Privy Council was actually in charge of the military.
Generally speaking, my father would not summon the Duke of England to discuss matters that were not related to military affairs.
The fact that they are in such a hurry to summon the Duke of Ying to the palace must be that something happened in the army, or even possibly at the border.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing whispered a few instructions to Sanshui, who nodded and hurried away.
Only Zhao Xing and Zhang Feng were left in the hall. However, Zhao Xing was thinking about something, and Zhang Feng didn't know what to say, so he was very quiet.
About an incense stick later, Sanshui came back, leaned close to Zhao Xing's ear and whispered something.
After hearing this, Zhao Xing's face changed slightly.
No wonder my father was so anxious to summon the Duke of England into the palace.
It turned out that dozens of gangs of horse bandits appeared near the border a few days ago. The number of these bandits ranged from more than a hundred to dozens.
The civilians who were repairing the city were harassed. Although the losses were not great, they were very scared and had to stop repairing the city.
At first, the generals on the border did not take it seriously. After all, the Liao Kingdom would send a small group of cavalrymen disguised as horse bandits to plunder every year.
The northern border troops had gotten used to it and didn't take it seriously. They sent out scouts and continued to repair the city.
However, spies from the Liao Kingdom soon brought news that the Liao Kingdom showed signs of sending more troops to the border. Even the Liao Kingdom's military commander, Yelu Chongyuan, went to the border.
So he immediately sent someone to deliver the news back to Bian Jing at an accelerated speed of 800 miles.
When the emperor learned the news, he immediately summoned military generals and civil officials to discuss countermeasures.
After learning the whole story, Zhao Xing was in no mood to stay in the Yingguo Palace any longer. He asked someone to say hello to Zhang Guifen, and then he left the Yingguo Palace first.
He did not go to the palace, but returned to the East Palace. His father did not summon him, and the palace meeting would not be over for a while, so there was no point in going.
When Zhao Xing came out of the Duke of Ying's mansion, he hurriedly sent someone to find Yin Hanzhang.
Not long after he returned to the Eastern Palace, Yin Hanzhang arrived.
"minister…"
"That's enough." Zhao Xing waved his hand to interrupt Yin Hanzhang's salute and asked, "Has there been any intelligence from Xixia recently?"
Since the establishment of the Secret Guard, Zhao Xing asked Yin Hanzhang to send spies to Liao and Western Xia.
There are Han people in both countries, so it is not difficult to send some spies over there.
Some people were also bribed by offering them money.
However, most of the bribed officials were of low rank and could provide very limited intelligence. "Your Highness, there is quite a bit of intelligence sent over from the Liao Kingdom, but nothing worth noting," Yin Hanzhang said.
"Yelü Chongyuan went to the border. Isn't that not worthy of attention?" Zhao Xing's face darkened.
He had already told Yin Hanzhang to pay more attention to Yelu Chongyuan's movements.
It is very difficult to monitor Yelu Chongyuan's every move, but it is impossible to hide the fact that a person like Yelu Chongyuan left Shangjing and went to the border.
"Your Highness, there is information that Yelu Chongyuan left Shangjing and headed for the border. However, the information said that Yelu Chongyuan was going to find those Liao nobles who had come to him for refuge. This kind of thing has happened in previous years, so I didn't take it seriously." Yin Hanzhang said nervously.
You really can't blame him for this. The Liao Kingdom sends back some intelligence every few days.
However, most of this information is not very important and cannot be reported to Zhao Xing.
Generally, when intelligence was transmitted back, he would review it first. If he thought it was valuable, he would report it to Zhao Xing. Some unimportant information would be recorded for future reference.
Several of the Liao nobles who had defected to Yelu Chongyuan were living near the border, and Yelu Chongyuan had visited them several times over the years.
Therefore, after seeing the information, he did not think there was anything unusual and did not report it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing's expression eased a little. He also knew that this could not be entirely blamed on Yin Hanzhang. Most of the intelligence obtained from the Liao Kingdom was unclear.
It was possible to find out that Yelu Chongyuan had left Shangjing, but it was difficult to find out the purpose of his leaving Shangjing. He could only analyze it himself based on the intelligence.
Zhao Xing frowned and asked, "Why didn't you send us any intelligence about the civilians who were repairing the city on the northern border being harassed by a small group of Liao cavalry disguised as bandits?"
"Your Highness, I have not received any information in this regard." Yin Hanzhang said.
Zhao Xing was stunned when he heard this, but he quickly reacted.
The imperial court transmitted messages via post stations, which were an urgent journey of 800 miles, with horses changed at the post stations along the way, and people never stopped.
However, the secret guards could not use the horses at the post station, and the message would be much slower to be delivered, so the message had not yet been delivered.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing waved his hand somewhat uninterestedly and said, "Send someone to the north to find Sheng Changsong and ask him to ask Li Ge."
"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang responded quickly.
"The development of the secret guards in Liao and Xixia must be accelerated. I don't want you to be clueless next time I ask you questions." Zhao Xing said calmly.
He also knew the difficulty of collecting intelligence in Liao and Western Xia.
Although there are many Han people in both countries, it is not difficult to send people to infiltrate.
But the information he wanted to know was only known by some people at the top.
Bribing some low-level officials is of little use, and high-level officials are difficult to contact, and even if they are contacted, they are difficult to bribe.
Many spies sent to Liao and Xixia in recent years were reported when they tried to bribe officials.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. There is an official of a high rank in the Liao Kingdom. After many contacts, he has become somewhat shaken. As long as we can bribe this person, we can basically know the movements of the Liao Kingdom in advance." Yin Hanzhang said.
"Yeah." Zhao Xing nodded with satisfaction and said, "You also have to be careful and don't be fooled by the other party."
After giving a few instructions, Zhao Xing sent Yin Hanzhang away and began to ponder.
The transaction with Li Ge has not been completed yet. If more than 10,000 war horses are delivered at one time, it will be impossible to conceal it.
Could it be that Yelu Chongyuan couldn't wait any longer and rushed to the border?
Or is it that Yelu Chongyuan is just going to look for those nobles who have surrendered to him to maintain relationships, as he did before?
But it doesn't make sense. The Liao emperor must have sent people to monitor Yelu Chongyuan's every move at all times. If he ran to the border, wouldn't that draw the Liao emperor's attention to the border?
As long as Yelu Chongyuan is not stupid, he will not run to the border at this time.
There are so many adult war horses, some of which have not been castrated and can be used as stallions. If they are discovered, Yelu Chongyuan will be in big trouble given his status.
Could Yelu Chongyuan be so stupid?
Although Zhao Xing couldn't figure out Yelu Chongyuan's purpose for a while.
But there was one thing Zhao Xing understood: it was impossible for the Liao Kingdom to launch an attack on the Song Dynasty.
Even if the Liao emperor had it, Yelu Chongyuan would not.
After all, for Yelu Chongyuan now, seizing the throne is the most important thing. Attacking the Song Dynasty will not benefit him at all and will only weaken his strength.
"Your Highness, the meeting in the palace has ended." Sanshui's voice interrupted Zhao Xing's thoughts.
Zhao Xing came to his senses and went to the palace.
When I saw my father, he looked very worried.
Hearing Zhao Xing's question, the emperor did not hide anything and told Zhao Xing everything.
Zhao Xing actually already knew most of the matter, and after listening to his father's narration, he understood it even more clearly.
For some unknown reason, Yelu Chongyuan went to the border.
Not long after he arrived at the border, many small groups of horse bandits appeared near the border cities on the Song Dynasty side.
They are called horse bandits, but their identities are known to everyone.
However, the Liao Kingdom refused to recognize it, and the Song Dynasty did not have the ability to encircle and suppress it.
The northern border has been plundered for so many years, and some countermeasures have been taken.
However, the northern border cities were currently being repaired, and the Liao Kingdom sent a small group of cavalry to harass them, which greatly affected the progress of the city repairs.
"Father, what do the ministers in the court say?" Zhao Xing asked.
(End of this chapter)