Chapter 292 The Special Envoy is Coming
In the Prince of Runan's mansion, Zhao Yunrang began to hum opera tunes happily, took a handful of tea leaves and put them into the pot, and then placed them on the charcoal stove next to him.
There was snow outside and the wind was howling.
After a while, the eldest son Zhao Zongyi pushed the door open from outside.
After paying respectful respect, Zhao Zongyi said, "Sir, the granary in Datong Prefecture has been commissioned and built, and the one in Chengdu Prefecture is also completed. Now there is a problem in Hangzhou. The governor of Su County is very strict, so it is difficult for us to handle the matter."
" The governor a good relationship with Sen'er, so let's avoid Hangzhou for now." Zhao Yunrang thought for a moment and said, "Go to Guangzhou or Quanzhou, Zong Yi, and take your wife, children, and concubines with you to have a good look around."
"Okay, sir." Zhao Zongyi sat down. He carefully took the tea handed to him by his father, thought for a while, and asked again: "Brother Shu is in Hangzhou. If I go to Hangzhou, is it convenient for me to see him? I haven't seen him for nearly two years. I miss him so much."
"Big brother wants to see little brother, who dares to stop you." Zhao Yunrang chuckled and said, "Besides, he is now called Zongshi, not Zhao Shu."
Zhao Zongyi was stunned for a moment, then he understood something and chuckled, "Indeed, it's Brother Shi, not Brother Shu."
The father and son chatted casually for a while, and then Zhao Zongyi left.
Soon after, the old butler came in. He was covered in snowflakes. Zhao Yunrang handed him a cup of tea, and the old butler took it casually and said, "Sir, our people in Xi'an City have collected some of the weapons. But because the son-in-law is in Dingzhou and seems to be planning to move to Xingqing Prefecture, the two cities are not far apart, so the quantity we secretly transported is very small, for fear of affecting the overall situation he has set up."
The old butler has been with Zhao Yunrang for at least forty-five years. The two have been together almost since the days of open-crotch pants. Their relationship can be said to be even better than that of real brothers.
The princes in the palace did not dare to act casually in front of Zhao Yunrang, but the old butler could.
Zhao Yunrang nodded and smiled, "It's okay. Now that Sen'er has made a world-shaking sound, the whole world is attracted to him. We can do things faster."
"My son-in-law is indeed amazing." The old housekeeper looked at Zhao Yunrang with admiration. "And my husband actually estimated that my son-in-law's future would be unimaginable. He went against all odds and even lowered Lian'er's status to send her to my son-in-law. He really has a long-term vision."
Hahaha.
Zhao Yunrang smiled happily.
As the most powerful "investor" in the Northern Song Dynasty, Lu Sen was the investment he was most proud of.
He originally just wanted to invest in family affection, but the benefits it brought were so great that even he felt a little scared.
However, he knew better that the relationship between him and Lu Sen, and between him and his daughter Bilian, was only about investing in family affection, even if there was no benefit in it.
As he was thinking about his future plans, a guard knocked on the door.
After getting permission, the guard pushed the door open and reported: "Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Pang, Bao Longtu, Ouyang Canzhi, and Minister Yan all want to see you at the same time."
"This person is here with ill intentions. It looks like we're going to be in trouble this time." Zhao Yunrang shook his head and said to the old butler standing next to him, "Please ask the four of them to come to the study."
The old butler nodded and went out.
Not long after, four important officials of the imperial court appeared in the study at the same time. They brushed off the snowflakes on their bodies and sat down casually.
Especially Master Pang, he took the teapot on the charcoal stove, poured himself a cup of hot tea, then held the edge of the tea with both hands, feeling the heat from the tea, warming his cold hands for a while, and said: "Prince of Runan, we won't beat around the bush, this time we want you to go to Dingzhou to appease Master Lu."
Zhao Yunrang was stunned for a moment, then sneered, "Why?"
"Just because your last name is Zhao." Master Pang snorted, "Just because you are his father-in-law."
"Master Pang, your granddaughter is not the same as his wife." The Prince of Runan snorted, "Send your son out."
"It's strange that my brat can have a conversation with Sen'er." Master Pang shook his head helplessly, and then said seriously: "We will use courtesy first and then force. Now we are asking for help. If you don't leave in a few days, you will be asked by the official documents of the Secretariat."
The face of the Prince of Runan County turned dark. "Awesome... The important officials under the Secretariat are so powerful. You guys caused this, but you want me to clean up after you. Do you still have the dignity?"
"It doesn't matter whether you have face or not." Yan Zhu put his hands in his sleeves. He was very afraid of cold, and he felt cold even though there was a heater in the study. "As long as we can solve the problem well, there will be no problem."
The Prince of Runan looked at Bao Zheng, but Bao Zheng closed his eyes and didn't look at him.
"It seems like you guys are planning to make me run into trouble." Zhao Yunrang sneered, "Okay, I'll leave in two days. But Sen'er is very opinionated, I'm afraid it will be difficult to influence him."
"It's better than doing nothing." Bao Zheng said with a smile: "Let's be honest about Master Lu. It's true that we were wrong, but he really didn't care about the overall situation."
"The overall situation?" The Prince of Runan sneered, "In Sen'er's eyes, the inheritance and recovery of our Han territory is the overall situation. As for what we ordinary people think and how we view him, he doesn't care."
"We know this." Master Pang sighed, "So now we have to show some support, otherwise the Khitans will definitely find a way to contact him, or even Xixia..."
Everyone understood something, and the Prince of Runan also frowned slightly. He was indeed a little worried in his heart that Lu Sen would be disappointed with the Song Dynasty and then defect to the Khitan.
After all, Khitan...is just a smaller version of the Song Dynasty.
"I will leave in two days." The Prince of Runan looked at them coldly: "Have you prepared your apology? You can't let me go to Dingzhou to see Sen'er empty-handed."
"Princess Fukang..." Yan Zhu spoke cautiously.
The Prince of Runan interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "Don't talk about such empty things. Sen'er wants something real."
The four of them were silent for a while, and finally Bao Zheng said, "We really don't know what Master Lu wants, so... that's why we asked you to negotiate."
The Prince of Runan felt a toothache: "You are making things difficult for me. Forget it! I will go and ask Sen'er what he thinks."
Just as the Northern Song court began to appease and win over Lu Sen, the Khitan and Western Xia were also trying to send people to contact Lu Sen.
Let’s not talk about the Western Xia Imperial Palace for now, but the Khitan side has already had a complete plan.
Still at the immortal place in the Xiao Mansion, Yelu Hongji sat opposite Xiao Rongrong and said, "Currently, Master Lu has a rift with the Song Dynasty court. Queen, do you have a way to invite Master Lu over?"
Xiao Rongrong smiled bitterly and said, "How can I, a concubine, invite a true immortal?"
"No, you can." Yelu Hongji smiled and said, "It seems that it is not difficult for you to send a letter by flying geese."
Xiao Rongrong's body suddenly stiffened. She understood what Yelu Hongji was saying.
But then she relaxed again and said, "I did communicate with Master Lu, but... is this the reason why the people who came to the palace suddenly said some crazy things some time ago?"
When Xiao Rongrong thought about what happened some time ago, her blood rushed to her head and she felt extremely furious.
At that time, two eunuchs suddenly came out of the palace and said some crazy things in front of her. She thought that some concubines in the palace were jealous of her, so they sent people to entertain her.
However!
Now it seems that it was actually done by Yelu Hongji.
"Your Majesty, you and I are husband and wife." Xiao Rongrong looked at the man opposite her with resentment: "Even if I am no longer qualified to be your queen, you should not let me do something immoral."
"It's just that each of us takes what we need." Yelu Hongji turned his head and looked outside the system home. "Now the defeat of Xixia and even the civil strife in Khitan are all related to Master Lu. If he can come to Khitan and be appointed as the national teacher, all the troubles will no longer be troubles. I can continue the entire Khitan country and will not be ashamed to face my ancestors after my death, and Queen, you can also get what you want. Isn't this great?"
Xiao Rongrong was so angry that her whole body was shaking: "Your Majesty, I have never had an affair with Master Lu."
"I believe in you, Queen." Yelu Hongji smiled a little coldly, with an expression of disbelief. "And it will also make people outside believe that even if Master Lu comes, you will still be the Queen. Just tell Master Lu that, he will understand."
After saying this, Yelu Hongji left without waiting for Xiao Rongrong to object.
Xiao Rongrong sat there quietly for a long time, and after that, she suddenly covered her face and cried in pain.
Lu Sen was unaware of the actions of the Western Xia and Khitan. He was now standing at Shunhua Ferry with Di Qing and Mu Guiying, looking at the Western Xia army on the other side of the river, which was facing a formidable enemy, with a thin layer of ice on the river in the middle.
Di Qing smiled and said, "The Xixia Di people no longer have the courage to fight. As long as we find a way to cross the river, we can defeat them in one fell swoop."
Mu Guiying also nodded, agreeing with Di Qing's statement.
But Lu Sen shook his head and said, "Across the way is the Black Mountain Fuwei Army. They still have to contain the Khitan. If we destroy them, we will have to fight directly with the Khitan's 'Xiao' clan. Not good. Now is not the time."
"So Master Lu means that we should manage Helan Mountain and Wuhai first?"
Lu Sen nodded and said, "Yes, it is deep winter now. The soldiers have been fighting for several months and are tired. Let's rest for a while and talk about it after spring comes."
The cold winter is Beidi's home ground. If we fight against them now, it's not that we can't win, but the casualties will be much higher.
At the same time, if the Black Mountain Wei Fu Army is destroyed, the Khitans will feel much more "comfortable" and will have more tactical space.
Now both tactical and strategic initiative are in their hands, so they just need to hold on to it and there is no need to play them out.
It’s not that we don’t want to fight the Xixia people, but it’s not the right time yet.
Although Di Qing looked quite regretful, he also understood that he could not continue fighting.
Afterwards, the Song army gave up the plan to go north and returned to defend the Helan Mountains, which made the Heishan Wei Fu Army in the north of Western Xia breathe a sigh of relief.
Lu Sen retreated back to Dingzhou City and urged Lu Huiqing to use work-for-relief and organize the poor people in Dingzhou to build roads in the cold winter.
This sounds inhumane, asking people to build roads in the middle of winter with snow falling everywhere. However, almost all farmers are grateful to Lu Huiqing and Lu Sen.
Many times, the cold is not scary, what is scary is having no food to eat when it is cold.
Without food in the stomach, there will be no heat, and a gust of wind can make a person's face blue and lips white.
Moreover, during this road construction, we can eat a big bowl of coarse grains for each of the three meals a day. Although the taste is not very good, it can fill our stomachs.
In addition, the government even distributed clothes, although they were thick linen clothes and linen shoes. If you didn't have any underwear when wearing them, it would scratch your body and make it itchy and painful, but it was much better than having no clothes at all.
There was food to eat, clothes to wear, and the daily workload was not too hard. This gave the people of Dingzhou, whether they were Han men or surrendered people from Western Xia, hope of surviving the cold winter.
Many of them had already given up.
Because in the Western Xia Kingdom, many poor people would die every cold winter.
They have long been accustomed to starving to death or freezing to death.
However, the relief measures taken by the Song government made them feel... especially the Xixia people felt that living with such a government did not seem so bad.
If there had been sporadic "rebellions" or resistances in Dingzhou before, these incidents had decreased at a very fast rate with the implementation of the large-scale project of work-for-relief and road construction.
"As long as people have enough to eat, there will be no unrest in the world." Lu Huiqing sat opposite Lu Sen and said with emotion: "Although I understood this truth before, I have a more intuitive feeling now."
Lu Sen drank a sip of Fenjiu, which was bought locally. To be honest, the taste was ordinary. "By the way, Doctor Lu, when do you want to return to the capital? Now that you have accumulated enough experience, as long as you return to the capital, you can be promoted at least three levels."
"Wait a moment."
"You're really not going back? You've become much darker and thinner. If you continue to stay here, your appearance will definitely change drastically in two or three months. I'm afraid even your parents won't recognize you."
Lu Huiqing looked up at Lu Sen: "Is it really that miserable?"
“It looks miserable.”
"Isn't that better?" Lu Huiqing drank the wine happily and said with a smile: "Wait two or three months, when the road is repaired, I will return to Beijing. By then, the court will see that I am no longer in human form, and they will definitely think that I am living a very hard life in Xixia. This is my political achievement."
Lu Sen rolled his eyes helplessly. This Lu Huiqing was too obsessed with power.
Seeing Lu Sen's expression, Lu Huiqing smiled, then asked seriously, "Master Lu, have you thought about how to reply? I think the special envoy from the capital will be here soon."
"Who cares if he's a special envoy? I still say the same thing. If you provoke me again, you'll go to Khitan."
When Lu Huiqing heard this, his face turned pale again: "Master Lu, you can't say this in front of me. My heart is beating fast when you hear it."
As a smart man, he knew very well what kind of harm would be caused to the Northern Song Dynasty if Lu Zhen really went to Khitan.
And based on the time he spent with Lu Sen and his understanding of the latter, he knew that Lu Sen was very likely to do so.
"I hope the dukes in the court will be smarter and stop forcing Master Lu."
