If Zhang Yongde was removed from the official position of Dianqiansi, the biggest beneficiary would be Li Chongjin, but Chai Rong was deeply jealous of this cousin who once competed with him for the throne, and it was absolutely impossible for him to take charge of Dianqiansi.

On the contrary, Zhao Kuangyin was more likely to be favored by Chai Rong because of his low reputation and good reputation. Xu Xian discovered during the exchange with Zhao Kuangyi that someone had already realized this, so the mastermind behind this was undoubtedly Zhao Pu. He never expected that Chen

The prelude to the Battle of the Bridge actually started in Henghai.

Xu Xian picked up the wood chips on the ground and asked, "Has anyone else seen this wood chip?"

Hu Dapeng replied: "Many of the soldiers patrolling with my subordinates have seen it, but they are illiterate and don't know what is written on it."

Xu Xian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Remember to keep your mouth shut. You are a sensible person. Once this wooden sign gets out, you and I will be in trouble."

"Don't worry, sir, I will definitely keep this matter in mind and never let a third person know about it."

"Okay! You can take these wood chips and burn them..."

"Xu Xian, what are you doing so delayingly? Your Majesty is already anxious!"

Old Mu Tou suddenly rushed to the back hall. Xu Xian was so frightened that he quickly stuffed the piece of wood in his hand into the back collar, scratched it casually and said: "My clothes have been put here for more than a year and are getting moldy. They are itchy to wear."

Very.”

"When can't you scratch? Move faster. His Majesty is still waiting for you!" Old Mu Tou hooked Xu Xian's arm with a hook and pulled it out. Xu Xian easily pulled out the wood piece and handed it to Hu Dapeng from behind, signaling him to destroy it immediately.

Lose.

Xu Xian followed Chai Rong and had just left the Jiedushi Mansion when he saw Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu coming towards him. He stepped forward to greet Chai Rong, and Chai Rong asked, "Where is Li Chongjin?"

"Li Taiwei has returned to the camp. I plan to go back with His Majesty."

Chai Rong nodded and said: "I won't stay too long. I will go back this afternoon. Come on, come and have dinner with me."

The crowd gathered around Chai Rong and entered the market. Xu Xian deliberately lagged behind and approached Zhao Pu. Before he could speak, Zhao Pu had already spoken, "I have long heard that Henghai is a small and narrow land with few people and no businesses. It is one of the poorest vassal towns."

.I never thought that Ling Gongcai would be very effective after just one or two years in office. Ling Gongcai is indeed a pillar of my great Zhou Dynasty."

This man is indeed unusual. He speaks kind words to everyone he meets, and looks like a gentle and elegant gentleman. He is embarrassed to say harsh words to him. Xu Xian laughed and said: "I am just doing my duty as a minister. When

Sir, I must not praise you. Sir, did you sleep comfortably at the hotel last night?"

"Okay! Very good! When the servants at Guanyi heard that Zhao Linggong was Xu Linggong's brother-in-law, they served him very attentively. They even found him a spacious bed. It was better than sleeping in a tent and smelling those stinky feet.

I don’t know how many times more.”

"Really? Mr. Zhao didn't get up at night to go to the military office, or send his subordinates to the military office!"

Zhao Pu said with a smile: "Your Majesty is joking. Your Majesty is in the military office at the moment. What are you doing here?"

"You can put something on the outer wall, such as a wooden sign or something, and write a few words on the wooden sign..." Xu Xian's voice disappeared, but his mouth was imitating the mouth shape of "Check and be the emperor",

His eyes were fixed on Zhao Pu, hoping to find panic or fear on Zhao Pu's face.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Pu only had a look of confusion on his face, "What the Duke is saying, I didn't hear clearly."

"It's okay if you didn't hear me clearly. Anyway, don't cause trouble on my territory!"

I don’t know if Zhao Pu really understood. He smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Yes! I will never dare to act recklessly on your father's territory!"

Seeing Xu Xian striding forward, Zhao Pu frowned and whispered to himself: "Did he just say 'check to be the emperor'?"

Chai Rong had a good appetite, so he ate a large bowl of soup cakes with crispy winter vegetables. However, the soup cakes contained shrimps instead of mutton, which gave it a unique flavor.

After dinner, everyone left the city through the east gate at Chai Rong's request and went to the port of Cangzhou. He stood on the beach and looked at the endless sea with excitement on his face, "This is the first time I have seen the sea. It is really magnificent."

Profound!”

"The wind is still calm now, but if there is a strong wind, it will be exciting and exciting. Your Majesty is like the sea in my heart..."

Old Mu Tou interrupted Xu Xian's flattery, "That's nonsense. What analogy are you making? Your Majesty is the sun in the sky, how can he be the sea!"

Chai Rong waved his hands and said: "I think Xu Xian's analogy is correct. A good monarch should have a mind that embraces all rivers; he must also have the unpredictable power of Heaven, and he must have the ability to lead the world. If he is just a sun that comes up again and again,

It’s really a bit monotonous!”

He stepped onto the long trestle with his hands behind his back and walked all the way to the end of the bridge, letting the sea breeze rustle his clothes. "I seem to understand how Emperor Wu of Wei felt when he was watching the sea. It's a pity that I don't have the talent to do it."

Publish good poems, Zhixian has great literary talent and can produce good poems."

Xu Xian cupped his hands and replied: "I can't remember it at the moment!"

Chai Rong turned to look at Zhao Kuangyin again, "Do you have any good sentences in Yuen Long?"

Xu Xian smiled when he heard this. Although Zhao Kuangyin was a martial artist, he could still write poems with some knowledge of calligraphy. As for the level, you can refer to the following poem.

"The light is about to come out, but the mountains are like fire. In a moment, they go to the sky, chasing away the remaining stars and chasing away the moon." This poem is Zhao Kuangyin's masterpiece, and its name is also very straightforward, "Poetry of the Day".

Zhao Kuangyin was only at the level of limericks. If he could come up with any good lines, Chai Rong was really the wrong person to ask.

Seeing Xu Xian laughing, Zhao Kuangyin pretended to be angry and said: "Zhixian is making a joke about someone's vulgarity. Unfortunately, I really have good sentences."

Chai Rong said with a smile: "Since Yuen Long has good sentences, he should sing them out to dispel Xu Zhixian's arrogance."

"Listen carefully!" Zhao Kuangyin pointed at Xu Xian with his finger, stroking his beard and said loudly: "It's not until you leave the bottom of the sea that thousands of mountains are dark, and then all the countries in the sky are bright."

Just when Xu Xian was waiting for Zhao Kuangyin to continue reading, he suddenly stopped, "Is it finished? This is not a poem either."

"Your Majesty asked me if I had any good lines, but he didn't say if I had any good poems. This sentence is enough."

Chai Rong nodded and smiled: "It's good to have this sentence in Yuen Long. Zhixian is just too demanding. It's just that this sentence is not from Yonghai but from Yongri."

Xu Xian took a closer look and found out that this sentence was indeed about the sun. This guy also yearned for the sun.

Chai Rong looked around and said, "How many trestles are there in total, and how many people and boats can dock there."

Qin E stepped forward and reported: "Your Majesty, I have built fifty trestles in total, which can accommodate hundreds of large ships at the same time. However, there are not many ships coming and going in Cangzhou, and most of the time they are empty."

Chai Rong asked again: "Well, if we set out from here to Liao, where will we stop?"

Sure enough, Xu Xian knew that a militant like Chai Rong would not come to Cangzhou to hang out, so he immediately reported: "It's Pingzhou!"

"Bring me a map!" Chai Rong said, and Old Mutou immediately handed over the map, traced it with his fingers for a long time, and said to himself: "Pingzhou is too far away from Youzhou. It's not easy to avoid being discovered along the way.

.”

Zhao Kuangyin came over and asked, "Does Your Majesty want to send a surprise force north to attack the Liao army with a flank?"

Chai Rong nodded and said: "Yes, even if the civil strife in Liao continues and Yelv Shulu is mediocre and cruel, it is impossible for me to sit back and watch me regain Youzhou. I will definitely send a large army to fight, and Yelu Shulu may also lead the expedition himself."

The land of Yanyun is a barrier to the Central Plains, but if we encounter militants like Chai Rong, the land of Yanyun will become a barrier to the Liao Kingdom. As long as Youzhou is captured, Shangjing will be exposed to the military front of the Zhou Dynasty.

The Khitans would not just watch Chai Rong take Youzhou back.

"I have rarely suffered defeats since I came to the throne, but I never dare to underestimate the Khitans. With the strength of the Tang Dynasty, they have been defeated by the Khitans many times. Even though I attack today with an overwhelming army, I am not completely sure.

Even if we win by luck, it may be a tragic victory. Dazhou's strength will be greatly reduced, and others may take advantage of it. I bet that Li Jing has already sharpened his sword at this moment. He will raise troops only when the news of my defeat at Youzhou City comes.

Cross the river to retake Huainan, and even attack Kaifeng..."

After listening to what Chai Rong said, Xu Xian couldn't help but sigh, it is not that easy to be a wise king and a holy master. The pressure is so great that ordinary people would be overwhelmed by just this thought. How can they have the courage to raise troops and go north to provoke the powerful enemy.

Zhao Kuangyin said: "If there is a strange army behind the enemy to cooperate with the army, it will not be too miserable if we lose, and we will get twice the result with half the effort if we win."

"Yuan Long knows my heart well. Maybe I have been pampered for a long time and no longer have the courage to ride alone and charge into battle during the Battle of Gaoping. I never thought about the sea route, but after Xu Xian reminded me, I kept thinking about it."

Zhao Kuangyin advised: "It's not that your Majesty has no courage, but that he has become more mature after being in office for a long time, and naturally has more worries. I...I am willing to lead this strange army to the north to cooperate with your Majesty."

"This plan is extremely risky. Let's see how many reinforcements the Khitans will send before I make a decision!" Chai Rong pointed to the black smoke rising in the distance, "That's the salt field over there. Take me there to have a look.

.”

"Here!" Xu Xian responded and took Chai Rong to the salt field again.

Chai Rong carefully visited the process flow of the salt farm and said, "It turns out that all the impurities have been filtered out before boiling the salt. No wonder the salt that comes out is as white as snow. The well salt in Sichuan is nothing more than that. Even private salt is probably not edible by ordinary people."

rise."

Qin E reported: "The cost was indeed high at first, but Xu Linggong asked his ministers to build a salt field and fill it with sea water. The sun and sea breeze removes the water and good salt precipitates. Although it is not as fine as filtering brine, it is better than boiling it directly with sea water.

It’s much better and the people can afford it.”

"Haha... As long as the salt tax is added to the cheap salt, the common people will not be able to afford it. Speaking of which, the court is the biggest villain, but it has to do it!"

Chai Rong lamented, "Let's go, follow me back to the camp!"

Even Li Chongjin arrived from Huainan, and the military envoys and defense envoys from other towns also arrived one after another in the following days. Once Chai Rong was promoted to general, the team would almost be sent outside the tent. With Xu Xian's official position,

I could only stand outside the tent, and I was still standing at the door of the tent, which was extremely embarrassing.

Fortunately, today the army is about to break camp and head north. Xu Xian, the remaining Chinese army, does not have to stand outside the tent to eat the wind. The fleet moved forward for another day, but finally could not move because of the siltation of the river. The officers and soldiers on the ship had food and supplies.

After all the supplies were disembarked, the emperor Chai Rong also had to disembark.

In the cabin, Old Mu Tou had a worried look on his face, "Can your Majesty ride on the horse?"

Chai Rong closed the map in his hand and said: "You really treat me as a useless person. Li Tingfang must pack everything on the ship without missing anything."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, my servant has sorted and packed everything on the ship. Even a piece of paper will not be missing."

Chai Rong was about to get up and get off the boat when he saw Pan Mei coming in hastily, "Your Majesty, the Youzhou spies are reporting urgently that the Liao army is gathering on the side of Yanshan Mountain."

Chai Rong's pupils shrank when he heard this and asked: "How many troops are there and who is leading the army!"

"There are about 150,000 enemy troops, mostly cavalry, and the leader is Yelu Shulu, the emperor of Liao."

"Haha... Yelu Shulu finally woke up."
To be continued...