The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 544
After this little episode, the relationship between the two parties became much closer, and the conversation became more casual.

After exchanging greetings for a while, the teacher asked straight to the point, "The two of you have come all the way from here, what is your business?"

Ma Kuo carefully took out a scroll from his arms, handed it to the teacher, and said, "General, why don't you read this first."

The teacher opened the scroll in a daze, and after reading the content, he said in shock, "This...is this true?"

Ma Kuo nodded, and replied affirmatively, "I can assure you that this is copied by myself, and it will be disclosed to the world soon."

Master Zhong sighed, "Oh, the king of Yunzhong County wants to pierce the sky!"

Seeing this, Zhong Shiyi on the side couldn't understand what the two were talking about, so he couldn't help asking, "Father, what is written on it that surprised you so much?"

Zhong Zhong didn't want his son to know about it, but after thinking about what Ma Kuo said just now, this matter would soon be spread all over the world, so he simply handed the scroll to his son.

Zhong Shiyi took it and took a closer look, but saw that it was an edict, and the content on it was that the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji reprimanded the current officials for being unfilial, and passed the throne to his third son, King Yun Zhao Kai.

Zhong Shiyi reacted more violently than his father, and yelled in disbelief, "How could the Supreme Emperor do such a foolish thing, isn't this going to cause chaos in the world?"

But Zhong Shizhong had calmed down at this time, he stared at Ma Kuo with sharp eyes, and said, "So, the news from the court recently is true, the Supreme Emperor was indeed coerced by King Yun, and fled to Yanjing City ?”

Speaking of this, he suddenly shook his head and said to himself, "No, I'm afraid King Yun doesn't have the ability to do this. This matter should be written by your lord."

Naturally, Ma Kuo would not admit this openly, and only listened to him ambiguously saying, "My prince only provided some insignificant help. In the final analysis, it was the idea of ​​the emperor and His Royal Highness Prince Yun."

Although the members of Zhongshi are in Guanzhong, they are not blind to the outside world. He has heard a lot about Zhao Huan's deeds after he ascended the throne, let alone agree with them.

"Even if there are mistakes in the official family, after all, he has been established as the prince for many years, and the emperor personally passed the throne in front of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. He is the righteous emperor of the Song Dynasty. How can he be easily deposed? , isn't it against the rules?"

Ma Kuo screamed fiercely, this kind of teacher is worthy of being a famous general in the world, he easily grasped the biggest loophole of this edict, that is whether Zhao Ji still has the right to abolish the establishment.

From the perspective of father and son, Zhao Ji is justified.But if you look at the rules of the monarch and ministers, the emperor is the supreme in the world, and even the Supreme Emperor can no longer easily interfere in the succession of the throne.

Of course, the reason is such a reason.But in the final analysis, it still depends on which of the two has more power. For example, the overlords who have lost their power, such as Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, and Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, naturally depend on the winks of their sons to live.

On the contrary, if the father and son of Qianlong and Jiaqing were replaced, it would be another situation.For example, after Qianlong abdicated, he always controlled the power of the court, but Jiaqing said that he was the emperor, but he was no different from before he succeeded to the throne, and he still lived under the shadow of his own father.

Ma Kuo knew in his heart that it would not only be meaningless, but also at a disadvantage if he argued with the Zhongshizhong about the legitimacy of Zhao Huan's throne.So he found another way,

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask the general, is he a Mingjun today?"

The teacher didn't even think about it, so he said categorically, "Today's officials are cowardly and cowardly, they have no opinions in dealing with things, and they have no filial piety, so they can't be regarded as wise emperors."

Ma Kuo clapped his hands and said, "Ah, the general can say that, so it can be seen that he is a sensible person, so why not change the emperor to the king of Liyun for the sake of the world?"

Teacher Zhong disdainfully said, "Today's officials are not good, but could it be that King Yun is better than him? I can't see it!

Furthermore, Mr. Ma, why bother to lie to me, the emperor and the king of Yun fell into the hands of your prince, can they still be the masters? "

Hearing what Lieutenant General Zhong said clearly, Ma Kuo simply said, "Since ancient times, the world has been home to the virtuous. Now that the Kingdom of Jin is rising, and it is eyeing my Central Plains, who can turn the tide and save me except my prince?" The Han people are in dire straits, the general can't count on the Song court and the current officials, right?"

Hearing the words, Zhong Zhong wanted to refute a few words, but he really couldn't find a good argument. It was really that the former Song Dynasty was too weak when facing the invasion of the Jin Kingdom.

Ma Kuo didn't care about these things, he continued to say unrelentingly, "Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the warriors have been suppressed in every possible way. The general must have been wronged by the literati over the years.

But my prince is not the case, he himself was born as a warrior, and now he is vigorously promoting the military merit system in the territory, isn't he the master of our generation of warriors? "

These words can be said to have touched upon the soreness of the Zhongshi, thinking that their Zhongjia, as the generals of the Great Song Dynasty for many generations, played an important role in the Western Army.

If it was replaced by a dynasty like the Han and Tang Dynasties that valued military merits, not to mention how high and powerful their clans would be, but at least they would have a lot of respect.

But it happened that they served the Great Song Dynasty. In this dynasty where everything is inferior, only the dynasty with high education, the generals are naturally a head shorter than the civil servants.

Take Zhong Shizhong himself as an example. Think of him as the envoy Xuan Cheng of the Ning Army, the highest military officer in the place, let alone the magistrate. If you scold the bandits for joining the army, you have to do it yourself. If you choose to turn a blind eye, you are really aggrieved.

"Father, my son thinks that Master Ma's words are true. The Song court never welcomes us. Instead of continuing to be grandchildren, it is better to find another way out."

After all, Zhong Shiyi was a young man. After hearing Ma Kuo's words, he couldn't help being moved, so he made a suggestion.

"You talk too much, kid! There's no place for you to talk here, and you haven't backed down with the old man!"

The breeder first shouted his son away, and then said to Ma Kuo and the two of them, "Young son Meng Lang, you are laughing at me."

Lu Zhishen clasped his fists and replied, "My husband is too worried, and the Sa family thinks what the young master said is right. I think my prince is eager to seek talents, and he is the next-class hero today. If he works under his tent, he will not know how to win. How much have you passed the Zhao family's children!"

Ma Kuo also said, "What your son and General Lu said is rough and reasonable, I hope the general will think twice about it."

Being persuaded by the three of them in turn, it would be a lie to say that the teacher was not moved, but after all, he has been a loyal minister and general all his life, and he really didn't want to bear the name of rebellion when he was old, so he was in a big embarrassment for a while .

Xu Shi saw the concerns of the Zhongshi teachers, and Ma Kuo immediately said, "Excuse me for what Ma said, even if the general doesn't think about his own children and grandchildren, he should think about the way out for those generals who are attached to the Zhong family. Is it possible that you are really going to sink with the broken ship of Da Song?"

"Master Ma's words are a bit exaggerated. The old man admits that your prince is powerful, but he only occupies Youyun and other places. Among them, Youyan is still a newcomer. Calculated in this way, how many soldiers and horses can he have? And Da Song No matter how unbearable the imperial army is, there are at least four to five million people, as long as the court is not timid to fight, it may not be invincible."

Ma Kuo said confidently, "General Lu has been with the prince for a long time, how about letting him answer this question?"

"It's impossible."

Seeing Ma Kuo nodding his head, Lu Zhishen had a good idea at the moment, so he started talking about Mu Xu Luocao Liangshan, all the way to the big defeat of Jin Ren, except what he couldn't say, and the rest.

When the Zhongshi division heard that there were [-] soldiers and [-] militiamen under Mu Xu's rule, they couldn't believe their ears.

As if to add fuel to the fire, Ma Kuo added, "Excuse me, before the next official came to go on an envoy, my prince ordered another [-] troops to be recruited in the prefectures of Yandi.

In other words, right now we have nearly [-] soldiers, plus the militia whose combat power is not inferior to the Song army.So, does General Zhong still think that Da Song will be my prince's opponent? "

Zhong Shizhong has been in the army all his life, and he knows the combat power of the soldiers and horses of the Song Dynasty clearly. To put it bluntly, without their Western Army, the Song Dynasty would not even be able to find a single army capable of fighting .

This is also the reason why Mu Xu sent Ma Kuo to recruit the Western Army.

After thinking about it for a moment, Zhong Shizhong finally took over the steps given by Ma Kuo.

"Forget it, I need to discuss with the heads of the various families before I can give you a clear answer. But before that, I still have a question I want to ask, please answer it truthfully?"

"It's okay, General!"

"I don't know if your lord has ever said, what will you do with the Zhao family when the great cause is accomplished?"

Ma Kuo relaxed, and replied with a smile, "As for the answer to this question, I can tell the general right now."

Immediately, Ma Kuo explained Mu Xu's future arrangements for the Zhao family, and the ins and outs of why Zhao Ji made such a decree.

After Master Zhong heard this, his face looked much better, and he couldn't help getting up, cupped his hands to the north, and praised, "Master Mu is benevolent and righteous, I admire you!"

After finishing speaking, he ordered his son Zhong Shiyi to prepare a banquet, and he wanted to host a banquet for the two of them.

In this way, Ma Kuo, Lu Zhishen and his party settled down in Zhong's house.

On the other hand, Zhong Shizhong personally wrote a few secret letters on the same day, and sent his confidantes to the generals of the Western Army, such as the Yao family, the Qu family, the Liu family, and so on.

Let's say that each family reacted differently after receiving the letter from Zhongshizhong.

Generally speaking, those who advocate wait and see what happens, and do not help each other are the most, followed by those who agree, and those who oppose it.

But no matter what their attitude is, these people have one thing in common, that is, they are unwilling to fight Mu Xu to the death.

There are two main reasons for this phenomenon.

First, most of these Western Army generals participated in the two Northern Expeditions of the Song Dynasty, so they have a good understanding of the combat power of Mu Xu's army, and they know that their Western Army is not an opponent.

Second, in the past few years in the Song Dynasty, the Western Army had to be mobilized whenever there was a war, which caused heavy losses to the various departments of the Western Army.

It's nothing like this alone, but the problem is that the Song Dynasty patronizes assigning the Western Army to fight everywhere, but there are a lot of arrears for the army's salary, which prevents many main forces of the Western Army from being replenished in time, which makes everyone complain about the court.

The second point is the main reason for the poor performance of the Western Army when fighting against the Kingdom of Jin in history.

Closer to home, Zhong Zhong, as the leader of the Western Army, must set an example when faced with major decisions.

Therefore, in the next more than a month, the planting teacher and the various schools have been writing letters.

In the end, after some discussions, the generals of the Western Army headed by Zhong Jia reached a consensus, promising not to help each other, neither to help Mu Xu attack the Song Dynasty, nor to listen to the Song Dynasty's dispatch to prevent Mu Xu's army from going south.

Although Ma Kuo felt that he was not able to recruit the Western Army smoothly, he was a little unwilling, but he was not unacceptable to this result.

After dispatching messengers to convey the news back first, Ma Kuo and Lu Zhishen declined the invitation from the Zhongshi Zhongzhong, took their leave and set off on their way home.

……

At the same time when Ma Kuo and others were sent to Weizhou, the Song Dynasty mission in Yanjing had already been waiting desperately.

Seeing that more than two months had passed, just when Wu Min was about to lose his last trace of patience, good news finally came, saying that Mu Xu would return to Yanjing the day after tomorrow, that is, the last day of September.

In order to prevent Mu Xu from avoiding seeing him again, Wu Min simply decided to sit back and wait.

On September [-]th, after finding out that Mu Xu would enter the city through the north gate, Wu Min changed into his official uniform, brought only two followers, and came to a teahouse inside the north gate early in the morning to wait.

From the rising of the sun to the falling of the Golden Wuxi, just when Wu Min wondered if his subordinates had misunderstood the news, he finally saw a team of hundreds of cavalry marching through the city gate with the banner of Mu Zishuai .

Seeing this scene, Wu Min made a decisive decision and walked from the teahouse to the main street as quickly as possible, stopping Mu Xu's team.

Mu Xu, who was gossiping with Yan Qing, after hearing Wu Min's self-introduction of his family name, felt this guy's persistence, so he agreed to meet with him tomorrow.

The next day, Yanjing of the former Liao Kingdom stayed in the lobby of the yamen.

Accompanied by Xu Guanzhong, Wen Huanzhang, Bao Kang, Du Ying, Shi Bao, Wang Yin and other important ministers, Mu Xu formally received Wu Min and Gao Qiu and his party.

After calmly accepting the ceremony from Wu Min and others, Mu Xu took Zhao Huan's imperial edict, read the content at a glance, and then said with a blank expression, "It's the so-called reward for no merit, I don't know why the Zhao official family canonized me as Yan king?"

In front of Mu Xu's subordinates, of course Wu Min could not say clearly that Zhao Huan's generosity was all in exchange for the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji.

Fortunately, this guy's reaction was not slow. After hesitating for a while, he came up with a reason, "This is the official's reward for Duke Mu to defeat the Kingdom of Jin."

"Hmph, how quickly this reward came!" Mu Xu sarcastically said that it wasn't enough, and said to the left and right, "Speaking of which, why can't I remember when we defeated the Jinren?"

Bao Kang went out of the class and replied solemnly, "My lord, we drove the Jin people out of the customs at the beginning of April."

"Speaking of which, it's been half a year. It seems that the court's sincerity is insufficient!"

Wu Min hurriedly explained, "So that the prince can know, it's about such an important matter as the canonization of the king, the court will have to discuss it again and again, and it's okay to be slow."

"Really." While speaking, Mu Xu picked up the imperial edict again, looked it over carefully, and pretended to be surprised,
"It's still not right! Since it is for the canonization of meritorious ministers, why is there only this king alone, and you don't see those meritorious soldiers?"

(End of this chapter)