Chapter 352: Sister Jing's Turn
"Your Majesty, news has come from Luoyang that the emperor has set out to return to the capital." Sanshui reported.
"Have someone pay close attention to father's itinerary and report it in time!" Zhao Xing ordered.
A few days ago, he sent someone to Luoyang to deliver a letter, asking when his father would return.
Judging from the timing, my father should have decided to come back before he received the letter.
"Yes!" Sanshui bowed and walked out.
Zhao Xing drank a sip of tea, and Zhang Qingzhi led the eunuchs to bring over the divided bundles.
"Is there anything urgent?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Your Majesty, the Duke of Ying reported that the temperature in the north has dropped recently and it should snow soon. The war in Liao has also stopped."
As Zhang Qingzhi spoke, he took out the Duke of England's note and handed it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing took it and unfolded it to read. Yelu Chongyuan had fortified his city walls and cleared the fields, and stormed the capital for several months. He reached the city walls several times, but was beaten back each time.
The city of Shangjing was tall and large, and Yelu Yixin had been well prepared and stockpiled a large amount of food in the city.
In addition, since Yelu Yixin sent out the cavalry, Yelu Chongyuan did not dare to attack the city with all his strength.
This led to the situation where even after attacking the city several times, they were beaten back.
The two sides fought for several months and suffered heavy losses.
Zhao Xing also knew this news, but what surprised him was the Duke of Ying's analysis of the war situation.
Duke Ying analyzed that Yelu Chongyuan would most likely be defeated next year.
There is a detailed analysis of this inference in the book.
The situation in the Liao Kingdom seemed to have always been in the hands of Yelu Chongyuan, but Yelu Chongyuan had a fatal flaw, which was that he was unpopular.
Although Yelu Yixin seemed to be at a disadvantage, most of his troops were concentrated on the border and Shangjing City.
If Yelu Chongyuan had sent part of his troops to tie down the troops in the capital from the beginning, and sent troops to attack cities and seize territories everywhere, and fought a protracted war with Yelu Yixin, there might still be a chance.
But Yelu Chongyuan's goal has always been Shangjing City.
It cannot be said that his choice was wrong. As long as he could capture Shangjing City, he would naturally win.
Unfortunately, it has not been broken through yet.
Yelu Chongyuan was unpopular and had suffered heavy losses in the siege in the past few months. In order to replenish his troops, he even forced young and strong men to serve in the army and conscripted a large number of civilians, causing the people in the cities he occupied to live in misery.
Now the losses are heavy and the people are suffering. It is too late for Yelu Chongyuan to take slow measures.
Those cities that have not been captured will certainly fight back, and Yelu Yixin will not sit idly by.
Yelu Chongyuan had suffered heavy losses and was facing hidden dangers.
It would be better if they did not withdraw their troops. Once they do, hidden dangers will erupt. Yelu Yixin will send people to win over and instigate others. When the weather warms up next year, it will be time for Yelu Yixin to counterattack.
Zhao Xing thought about it carefully and felt that the situation would most likely develop as the Duke of England had inferred.
Of course, this is assuming nothing else happens.
There were some unexpected events, one was in the deep grasslands, and the other was between the Song Dynasty and Western Xia.
There are still many tribes deep in the grassland that are nominally dependent on the Liao Kingdom, but are essentially autonomous.
If Yelu Chongyuan promised great benefits, he could still get some reinforcements.
As for the Song Dynasty and Western Xia, it was much simpler. The border cities between the two countries and the Liao Dynasty were all controlled by Yelu Yixin.
If Yelu Chongyuan sent people to launch a surprise attack on the two countries and induce them to send troops, he could also buy some breathing time.
The former had nothing to do with Zhao Xing. He was eager for the nomadic peoples to participate. The longer the Liao Kingdom fought and the more people died, the happier he would be.
The latter had to be guarded against. He did not care about the sneak attack on Western Xia, and even hoped that the Liao Kingdom would involve Western Xia.
However, the Song Dynasty was building a Great Wall on the border, and if it was destroyed, the losses would be huge.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing prepared to write a letter to the Duke of England, asking him to be careful and vigilant.
"Is there anything else important?" Zhao Xing asked as he folded his bag.
"Mr. Shen wrote to the emperor that the disaster in Jiangzhou has been basically controlled, the flood has receded, and the people who survived have been helped and resettled. The local government can organize the people to rebuild the rest. I would like to ask Your Majesty if you can return to Beijing." Zhang Qingzhi said. "I understand. If there is nothing else, please leave first." Zhao Xing said.
"I'm leaving now!" Zhang Qingzhi bowed and left.
Zhao Xing pondered for a while, then found the note from Prime Minister Shen and gave his instructions.
Let Prime Minister Shen continue to stay in Jiangzhou to supervise the reconstruction work of the local government.
We must ensure that the people affected by the disaster are properly resettled before winter.
At this time, the people's homes had not yet been rebuilt, and these people had no money or food, so they had to rely on government relief to wait until the autumn harvest next year.
This time, because Zhao Xing sent Prime Minister Shen to take charge of the disaster relief, local officials did not delay and did not dare to engage in corruption, and no civil unrest occurred.
But if Prime Minister Shen leaves at this time, that may not be the case.
Therefore, Zhao Xing did not intend to let Prime Minister Shen come back now.
After working until noon, Zhao Xing went to Renming Palace to have dinner with Zhang Guifen and told her that her father, the emperor and her mother, the empress, would soon return to Beijing.
Ask her to send someone to clean the palace where her father lives and see if there is anything that needs to be added.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I know." Zhang Guifen smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid you don't know that Sister Jing has turned over today."
"Oh?" Zhao Xing said happily, "Jing Jie'er has finally turned over. Shu Lan is really something. She didn't even bother to let me know. If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known about it."
Sister Jing was born at the beginning of the year and is now ten months old.
I don’t know if it’s because the nutrition is too good, but the little guy is so chubby.
It’s okay for a child to be a little fat, the problem is that the little guy is very lazy.
Generally speaking, children her age can already crawl.
But she couldn't even turn over. When she was placed there, she just moved her hands and feet but didn't turn over. She also had no desire to crawl and just lay flat on her back.
This made Shulan and Zhao Xing very anxious. Although the little guy had the capital to lie down, he couldn't really do that.
Zhao Xing asked the imperial physician to check the little guy, and there was nothing wrong with his health.
Mrs. He’s suggestion was to use something to attract the little guy’s attention and lure him to turn over.
As a result, when she saw something new, she would reach out to grab it, and cry if she couldn't catch it, but she would never try to crawl after it.
There was nothing Mrs. He could do about it and could only comfort Zhao Xing and tell him that everything would be fine once the child grew up.
I didn't expect that after waiting for so long, I would finally be able to turn things around.
"She didn't tell Your Majesty because she didn't want to disturb Your Majesty during the day. Even if I didn't tell her, she would have sent someone to tell Your Majesty later." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
"No matter how busy I am, my daughter is more important." Zhao Xing said with a smile, "My daughter has finally turned over a new leaf. I will go and see her later."
Zhang Guifen smiled slightly. Seeing Zhao Xing so happy, her somewhat irritable heart relaxed.
People often like to let their imagination run wild. Even though Zhao Xing did not show any preference for boys over girls, after Zhang Guifen became pregnant, she couldn't help but wonder if Zhao Xing would be unhappy if she gave birth to a daughter.
Zhao Xing didn't know what Zhang Guifen was thinking. After dinner, he chatted with Zhang Guifen for a while and then went to Shulan's palace.
Shulan was taking a nap with her child at this time. When she heard the news, she immediately asked someone to help her dress.
Zhao Xing had just put on his clothes when he entered the room.
"Your Majesty!" Shu Lan bowed hurriedly when she saw Zhao Xing coming in.
"Is Sister Jing asleep?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Your Majesty, I just went to bed." Shu Lan said.
Zhao Xing came to the bedside and saw the little girl sleeping soundly. He squatted down, kissed her on the face, and whispered, "I heard that Sister Jing can turn over now?"
Shu Lan smiled and lowered her voice, "Well, she was sleeping this morning, and I fell asleep while watching her. Who knew that after she woke up, she didn't cry or make a fuss, but turned over by herself and climbed on top of me. I was still woken up by her."
“Haha, the little guy couldn’t turn over or crawl before, but now he has learned it all of a sudden.” Zhao Xing smiled and reached out to pinch the little guy’s face.
The little guy felt uncomfortable being pinched and reached out to push Zhao Xing's hand away.
"Your Majesty, don't wake her up." Shu Lan said with a bit of resentment in her tone: "After she learned to crawl, she was restless at all. I tossed and turned all morning and finally coaxed her to sleep."
(End of this chapter)