The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

Zhao Tong was drinking upstairs in Songtao. He sat by the window, accompanied by the two Bai brothers and Yuan Guo at the table.

The wine wasn't very good, but it was very strong. It was Xixia wine that was called Sai Shang Chun in the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Tong took a sip of wine, ate a bite of salt-roasted mutton, and looked at the scenery downstairs.

It was early summer at the moment, the wind was warm and the sun was shining brightly. Pedestrians on the street were in small groups, chatting or laughing, as if they had long forgotten the wars and the rivers of blood in the city.

He was silent for a moment and said, "How is the scenery in Xingqing Mansion?"

Yuan Guo hurriedly put down the oil-stained mutton chops in his hands, wiped the corners of his mouth and said: "Sir, Xingqing Mansion is ten times and a hundred times more lively than here, comparable to the capital of Liao Kingdom."

"Oh?" Zhao Tong looked at him and said, "Have you been to Shangjing?"

"No, I've never been there..." Yuan Guo said sarcastically, "I've heard about it. There are Liao studies and Sin studies in Xingqing Mansion, and there are Khitan professors in Liao studies. They often talk about going to Beijing."

Zhao Tong said calmly: "Do you want to go to Beijing and visit?"

"Going to Beijing?" Yuan Guo was stunned for a moment: "I have never thought about this. Going to Beijing is too far away. I heard that there is a war right now."

"You didn't want to go to Beijing to have a look. I want to go to Xingqing Mansion to have a look." Zhao Tong put down his wine glass and said slowly.

"Young master... are you going to Xingqing Mansion?" Yuan Guo was shocked when he heard this. What does this evil king mean?He actually said such arrogant words!
He wants to go to Xingqing Mansion?Why is he going to Xingqing Mansion?Xingqing Mansion is the capital of Daxia. If he goes to Xingqing Mansion, then Daxia... Yuan Guo doesn't dare to think about it anymore.

"What? Can't I go to Xingqing Mansion?"

"No, no..." Yuan Guo's eyebrows twitched and he whispered: "Young master should go to Xingqing Mansion, he should go..."

"Hmph!" Zhao Tong sneered: "Xixia has no destiny, and Li Qianshun is stupid and immoral. He should have abdicated long ago and let the four counties of Hexi be merged into the Central Plains. In this way, the people can live and work in peace and contentment, there will be no weapons, and the world will be peaceful."

Yuan Guo blinked and cursed in his heart, this evil king is indeed domineering, so why not let Song State be merged into Daxia?Isn’t it the same truth!

Zhao Tong seemed to have seen through his thoughts and said calmly: "How can Dangxiang barbarians compare with Han customs? If we don't unify as soon as possible, learn Chinese, teach Chinese, and live close to Han, how can we be civilized? Such a pastoral wasteland, waking up in the morning Sleeping on a mountain rock under a tent is no different from a savage who wears hair and drinks blood!"

Kill your heart, kill your heart!Shameless! Shameless!Yuan Guo suddenly became angry. He clearly wanted to annex Xixia and destroy their party's imperial court, but he said it so grandly. This evil king was really arrogant and unethical.

"What the young master said is absolutely true. The villain has always thought like this, but he has never had the chance to realize it. Now that he has met the young master, he is really lucky in his life. The villain will definitely follow the young master, and the army will be prosperous. Step on Helan and achieve great things!"

Zhao Tong laughed and said: "The books are in the same text, the carriages are in the same track, the distance is the same, the quantity is the same, the currency is the same system, the deeds are the same, the land is the same, the Yuan Guo... what do you think!"

"Young Master is a man of great talent and has the ability to impress the past and the present. He will definitely be able to achieve such heroic feats. I am so lucky to be able to follow him in this life. I am so lucky." Yuan Guo said with a flattering face.

"Liu Yingchang is good at Chinese literature!" Zhao Tong looked at him with a smile.

"Little man, I would like to propose a drink to the young master..." Yuan Guo's heart was beating wildly and he hurriedly picked up the wine glass.

After Zhao Tong took a sip of wine, he looked out the window. Just as he was about to say something else, he suddenly saw an old man and an old woman driving their sheep not far away, followed by two soldiers.

There are not many sheep, only about a dozen, but they are very fat. It can be seen that this grassland in Xixia and Hexi is a good place for raising livestock.

His eyes slowly fell from the sheep to the old man and woman. He couldn't help but pause. Seeing that the sheep were being driven into the courtyard of Songtao Tower, he reached out and knocked on the table: "What is the origin of the boss of Songtao Tower?"

Naturally, the two brothers of the Bai family didn't know. They looked at Yuan Guo. Yuan Guo didn't know what Zhao Tong meant. He was stunned and began to think about it. After a while, he said: "The report I told you before was true. The boss of Songtao Tower is indeed a Han. It's just that It seems that he has an uncle who is an official in the Ordnance Supervision of Xingqing Mansion, so he can open such a large restaurant in Zhuoluo."

"Officials in Xingqing Prefecture..." Zhao Tong narrowed his eyes: "Are there many Han people serving as officials in Xingqing Prefecture?"

Yuan Guo said: "It's not that many, they are rare, far less numerous than the Khitan people."

Zhao Tong nodded and suddenly said: "Can Battalion Commander Liu know how to play chess?"

"Playing chess?" Yuan Guo looked confused: "You know a little bit, the young master wants to..."

Zhao Tong said: "The days are boring. When I have time, I will play a few games with Commander Liu."

Yuan Guo was puzzled in his heart, but he smiled and said: "I obey, the young master can play chess with me at any time. I don't have anything else to do."

Zhao Tong nodded and stood up. Bai Ba hurriedly went to pay the bill, and then walked downstairs together...

In the blink of an eye, the sun turned to the west, and at the moment when the sun was setting, in the western sky of Zhuolu City, a huge rouge-colored red ball cast a little afterglow, making the roofs of every house in the city shine brightly.

In the courtyard behind Songtao Tower, there are several bluestone houses. In the innermost room, two people are drinking and eating.

These two people are quite old, and they are the old man and the old woman who brought the sheep.

I saw that at this moment, they no longer had the cautious posture before. Although the old man was sitting, he propped up one leg and stepped on the bench. He grabbed a leg of lamb with both hands and gnawed fiercely. From time to time, he cursed in Xixia language. What.

The old woman no longer had her original submissive look, but instead had a look of adultery on her face, picking at the table, taking a sip of wine and spitting it out, also cursing.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. The old man looked back and said angrily: "Come in!"

The door opened with a creak, then someone stepped in and immediately closed the door again.

"Shopkeeper Niu, why are you back so late? How's your inquiring going?" the old woman said in a sly voice.

"Boy, please be patient and listen to me slowly." The man known as Shopkeeper Niu was a middle-aged man with a nervous look on his face and kept wiping the sweat from his face.

"Speak quickly, speak quickly!" The old man said impatiently: "Zhuo Lacheng has fallen into Song's hands now. I don't want to stay for a while longer. I will go back immediately after finishing my work!"

Shopkeeper Niu said: "Yes, yes, listen to me, I have already asked..."

After a while, the old man dropped the mutton leg bone with no trace of meat in his hand on the ground, frowned and said: "So it's not easy to kidnap someone?"

"It's not easy, it's not easy!" Shopkeeper Niu also pulled up a stool and sat down: "And even if he is tied up, it is difficult to take him away from the city. Zhuo La City is only open for one hour every day, and the interrogation at the city gate is very strict. …”

"Don't talk nonsense to me. If you can just take it out casually, why would you do anything to me!" The old man reached out and grabbed the wine jar on the table, without using a bowl, and took two sips directly into his mouth. : "You figure out how to get out of the city!"

Shopkeeper Niu's face twitched and he said: "What if I can't figure it out?"

"Can't you think of it?" The old woman reached out and slapped the table. The wooden table suddenly cracked and its legs fell apart. The things on the table fell to the floor, and the wine jar also broke into several pieces. " Even if you can’t think of it, you have to think of it!”

Shopkeeper Niu shivered with fright, and the old man said sadly: "I really can't think of anything, so I have no choice but to cut off the head and take it away. This is also the last resort, but you have to know that he is the brother of Concubine Jing. Don't do it then." Speaking of you, I’m afraid that your uncle in the weapons inspection department of Xingqing Mansion will..."

"I, I tried my best to think, tried my best to think..." Shopkeeper Niu was in a state of confusion. Isn't this a bad luck? He was worried that the Song army would rob and massacre the city before, but it didn't happen. He just felt relieved, but something like this happened again. .

Although his uncle was an official in the Ordnance Supervision of Xingqing Prefecture, he was just a businessman, not a spy. Although he relied on his uncle's name to open a restaurant in Zhuoluo City, he never had any relationship with him. There is too much collusion in the military. Today, these two people came to him with a letter from his uncle to ask for help. He wanted to refuse but did not dare. The uncle said firmly in the letter that he must help whether he wants to help or not!

The letter vaguely mentioned that the matter was related to Concubine Jing in the palace. If he didn't do it well, he was afraid that his family and life would be affected. How dare he disobey it? It was just that it was not easy to smuggle a living person out of the city.Although the city gate is now open, there is no time limit and the inspection is strict. At that moment, no one is transported out. If the news is exposed, the family may die without a burial place.

At this time, the old man rushed out and raised his hand: "Don't be so shameless, go back and find a way. If we succeed, I will go to find you."

Shopkeeper Niu went out with a sad face and left. The old man saw him walking away and said to the old woman: "I think this person is stupid and can't be counted on. If he really kidnaps someone but can't get out of the city, then forget about killing him and go back to life with only his head." It's also an explanation." The old woman whispered: "The princess didn't say that her brother is going to die, will she blame you and me?"

The old man said in a gloomy voice: "How can the imperial concubine say such a thing in person? But if she is not lucky enough, she will have to kill her alive. You and I are not ignorant of the imperial concubine's purpose. She always exonerates her family, even though she kills Killing your brother is a bad idea, but it is also a way to get away with it. You and I help the imperial concubine solve her problems, so what does the imperial concubine have to blame?"

The old woman nodded: "This city is dangerous, so it has to be like this..."

After dinner, Zhao Tong took the two brothers of the Bai family to find Yuan Guo.

Yuan Guo currently has no one to guard him. He just stays in a courtyard behind the Tongjun Department and cannot enter or exit at will.

Zhao Tong also lived in Tongjunsi, but he lived in the big house on the east side, and Yuan Guo lived in the small courtyard on the west side.

At this moment, the sky was slightly dark, red lanterns were lit everywhere in the company, and the sound of banging was heard in the distance outside. Zhao Tong looked back at Bai Ba and Bai Zhan. One of them was holding a rosewood Go jar, and the other was A chessboard was brought up.

He was going to play chess with Yuan Guo. He had said during the day that it was not a sudden whim, but that he felt something was wrong after seeing the old couple driving sheep into the backyard of Songtao Tower.

Zhao Tong could tell at a glance that these two people had martial arts skills, and they were not bad at all. It was impossible to say that there was nothing fishy about such people pretending to be herders and delivering sheep to Songtao Tower.

It's just that it's hard to tell whether these two people were spies sent by the Xixia military, or whether they were sent by Concubine Jing to rescue Yuan Guo.

If it was a spy, he would first keep the other party untouched, secretly monitor him, and wait for the opportunity for the other party to send some false information, which might work wonders on the battlefield.

But if you are here for Yuan Guo, you can't be polite. You must catch him, interrogate him, and then kill him directly.

Zhao Tong knew that Concubine Jing was unlikely to agree to the conditions he proposed. After all, not only was there a lot of money, but the two archery skills were the other's secret skills. Her love was probably more important than her life, so how could she give it to others so easily.

If Concubine Jing sees that she can't redeem Yuan Guo, she will most likely send someone to rescue her secretly, or... it's hard to say just kill Yuan Guo directly!
Once Yuan Guo dies, there will be no evidence for many things, and it will be much easier for Concubine Jing to exonerate the Yuan family.

Zhao Tong had already sent people to keep an eye on Songtao Restaurant. If they were spies, there might not be any movement in a short time, but if they were sent by Concubine Jing, they should act quickly, so he used the excuse of playing chess to try to Yuan Guo stayed here for a while to see if anyone would come to investigate late at night.

Arriving in front of the small courtyard gate, the guarding soldiers immediately saluted, then opened the courtyard door and Zhao Tao walked in.

There were lanterns on the trees in the courtyard, and there was light in the main room. You could see a figure walking back and forth in circles on the ground.

Zhao Tong smiled, knowing that Yuan Guo was willing to stay by his side, but he did not dare to go back to Xixia. The emperor of Xixia had always been ruthless, and even if Concubine Jing begged for mercy, she might not be able to spare his life.

"The prince is here, why don't you go out to greet him!" Bai Ba shouted softly.

Yuan Guo, who was in the room, paused and hurried out. He opened the door with a "squeak" and walked out quickly.

Then he ran over to salute with a smile on his face. Zhao Tong didn't waste any time and walked straight into the room: "Liu Battalion Commander, come here and play chess!"

Yuan Guo didn't expect that Zhao Tie would come at night as he said during the day. He hurriedly cleaned up the table and took care of it. Bai Zhan put the chess board on the table and Bai Ba divided the two chess pots between the left and right.

What Zhao Tong brought was Go. Go was called Yi at this time, while Xiangqi was called Qi or Xiangxi.

Yuan Guo didn't dare to sit down, so he stood opposite. Zhao Zhaotong pressed his hand down before he sat down. Zhaotong moved the lights on the table and said, "You go first."

Yuan Guo wondered: "Your Majesty, don't you want to guess?"

Zhao Tong shook his head, held the white chess piece, and watched Yuan Guo play the first piece.

Go has always been said to have a gold-edged silver horn belly. The starting move is probably in the upper right corner, and Yuan Guo is no exception.

The two of them started playing chess back and forth, but Yuan Guo became more and more frightened as he played. Although his chess skills could not be said to be brilliant, he could still sense each other's chess abilities.

At this moment, he looked at the densely packed white and black chess pieces on the chessboard, and his head was as big as a fight. He simply couldn't eat half of the opponent's pieces, but the opponent did not take the initiative to eat him, and often even deliberately moved to the side.

Originally he wanted to think about the other party, but now it was Zhao Tong who was letting him go. Unconsciously, he was sweating.

Playing Go itself is quite a waste of time, and in such a stalemate situation, you have to think about every move. This first game took a full hour to complete.

Then the second set was played, and after the second set was played, the third set was played. In the blink of an eye, it was already midnight.

Just when Zhao Tong felt thirsty and picked up the teacup, he suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly.

Bai Zhan frowned and whispered: "My lord, it seems to smell something..."

Zhao Tong remained silent and winked at him. Bai Zhan immediately shut up. After a few breaths, Yuan Guo suddenly made a "bang" sound and plunged into the chessboard without moving.

Zhao Tong then also lay down, and there was no movement. Bai Ba and Bai Zhan, who were standing beside them, also slowly fell to the ground.

There was no sound in the room for a while, and then I looked at the dim corner of the window lattice and quietly pulled out a bamboo pipe. There was a faint green smoke lingering where the bamboo pipe was originally.

After another ten breaths, the door was gently pushed open, and two people wearing night clothes walked in.

The two people walked without making any noise. After coming to the table to observe, one of them whispered: "Old man, which one are we looking for?"

"I'm afraid this is the right one!" Another person pointed at Yuan Guo.

"It looks similar to me, but who are the other ones? They are not wearing military uniforms, so they can't tell their identities."

"He must be from the Song Dynasty. If he has the leisure to play chess, he probably has a high status and will kill them all!"

"Okay, I'm here to kill someone. You tie that one up, and your mouth must be tightly sealed. Don't make any mistakes."

The two of them were about to take action as they spoke. Suddenly, a slight cough sounded in the room. The two of them were startled and their eyes fell on Zhao Tong.

Zhao Tong slowly raised his head from the desk, coughed again, frowned and said to himself: "What kind of smoke is this? Why is it so choking? You... who are you?"

The two night travelers looked at each other, and one of them asked in surprise: "How come you didn't faint?"

Another said: "Do it now, kill first and then talk!"

As they spoke, they rushed towards Zhao Tan, but as soon as they approached the table, they saw a flash of cold light, and then "plop, plop", they all fell to the ground, and each of them was hit on the left knee. sword.

Bai Ba and Bai Zhan suddenly jumped up from the ground and grabbed them. However, these two people were very skilled in martial arts. Even if they fell to the ground, they immediately jumped up and tried to use their other legs to run out the door. .

I saw Zhao Tao gently sweeping his sleeves on the chessboard, and several chess pieces were shot out quickly. They hit the crooks of the two people's legs like chasing the wind and the moon, and they fell to the ground again.

Bai Ba Bai Zhan swooped forward and suppressed the two of them. Then he took out the tendons from his body and tied them tightly, then gagged his mouth. Then he turned back to look at Zhao Tong: "Your Majesty..."

Zhao Tong said calmly: "Take them all to prison!"

(End of this chapter)