Chapter 7: Official Journey (Five)

"Really?" Liu Zhiyuan's body suddenly stretched forward, with a look of expectation on his face. All the resentment and loss in his heart were instantly swept away.

"More than 70%, the last general has sent a detailed task to verify. In the latest three days, you will get a accurate letter!" General Guo Wei smiled and nodded vigorously.

"Hu——" Liu Zhiyuan let out a long sigh, sat back on Hu's bed, and suddenly felt dozens of pounds of lighter from head to toe.

If he put the people he fears the most in the world together and shoots a team, Zhao Yanshou will definitely be in the top five. It is not because this person is instinctive and brave, but because this person is surprisingly shameless.

This man was originally named Liu, and he was considered a descendant of an official. When he was young, he began to read Confucian classics and was known as a child prodigy. Every time his elders asked for questions, he would go through the strokes of the writing. However, the good times did not last long. Before Liu Yanshou could grow up, his biological father was killed by Liu Shouwen, the governor of Yichang. He and his mother fell into the hands of Zhao Dejun, the general of Liu's army.

Seeing that Liu Yanshou was smart, handsome, and understanding, Zhao Dejun accepted him as his adopted son. From then on, he led him to serve in various princes, constantly changing his ranks, and his official positions were promoted quickly like flying kites. By the Qingtai period of the Later Tang Dynasty, the father had been named King of Beiping, and the sons were also the governor of Xuzhou.

However, the father and son were greedy and quietly started to collude with the Khitans to become independent. Unexpectedly, after only half of the talks, Shi Jingtang was taken first by the more decisive Shi Jingtang, who was cedeed with the conditions of ceding the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which led to the Khitans' invasion.

Li Congke, the last emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, was caught off guard and quickly ordered Zhao Dejun, Zhao Yanshou and his son to send troops to resist. However, the Zhao family "learned lessons" and turned directly to the Khitans. He also sent messengers to express his intention to fully inherit all the conditions that Shi Jingtang had promised to the Khitan, and also had a few young and middle-aged populations, hoping to replace Shi Jingtang and be the first person to lead the way.

Yelu Deguang was overjoyed when he saw the letter. While sending someone to join the Zhao father and son, he joined forces with Shi Jingtang to move forward quickly towards the Central Plains. Without him, he destroyed the Later Tang Dynasty, and then turned around and gave the Zhao father and son who were having the "Spring and Autumn Dream".

The soldiers under his command were not ashamed of the behavior of the Zhao family and his son, so they turned around. Therefore, when they first fought with the Khitans, the Zhao family lost all their troops. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Zhao family and his son had to take the initiative to tie their arms and escort them by their confidants, and go to Yelu Deguang to surrender.

Yelu Deguang also looked down on the father and son from the bottom of his heart. Without saying a word, he demoted the two to slaves and took them out of the frontier to horses. A few months later, Zhao Dejun died of regret and poverty. Zhao Yanshou was familiar with the terrain and people's conditions of Youyan, and became a lackey under the Khitans because he was familiar with the terrain and people's conditions.

Logically speaking, the revenge of killing his father was irreconcilable. Even if Zhao Yanshou was unable to avenge his adoptive father, he should try his best to escape back to the Central Plains. However, this son immediately cheered up and offered suggestions for the Khitan rule. He also took action himself to wipe out dozens of fortresses in the local area that refused to surrender to the Khitans, killing the people of Yanyun. Therefore, Yelu Deguang was very happy and simply promoted him to become the governor of Youzhou.

In the eighth year of Tianfu, the son Emperor Shi Jingtang died in depression, and his adopted son Shi Chonggui ascended the throne. The new emperor relied on the Central Plains for several years and his vitality gradually recovered and refused to continue to submit to the Khitan. Zhao Yanshou was furious when he heard the news and immediately led the troops from Youzhou south, vowing to seek justice for his master.

Although he screamed fiercely, his skills were too poor. He was soon defeated by Fu Yanqing and fled back to Youzhou with his head in his arms. However, the fierce battle between the Khitan and the Later Jin began. After four consecutive years, the Khitans continued to increase their troops, fought repeatedly, and vowed to destroy the Later Jin country. At the beginning of each round of attack, Zhao Yanshou was the pioneer and never "retired" to other leaders.

With the concerted efforts of him, Du Chongwei, Zhang Yanze and others, the Khitans finally invaded Bianliang, the Later Jin Dynasty was destroyed, and the creatures in the Central Plains were in trouble. Only the blood of millions of creatures could not exchange the glory and wealth of Zhao, Du and others for the dream. Seeing that the prosperity of the Central Plains was far beyond the outside world, Yelu Deguang, the king of the Khitan, simply announced that he would be the emperor of the whole world. The promise that after the matter was completed, the promise of supporting Zhao Yanshou as a child emperor was swallowed back into his stomach.

Zhao Yanshou made great efforts but failed to get the benefits he deserved, and he felt a little wronged. But a good dog is a good dog and he will never hold a grudge against his master. After the Khitans were squeezed out of the Central Plains by Liu Zhiyuan, Zhao Yanshou quickly forgot all his unhappiness and fought again on the front line of preventing the Han troops from heading north to restore their territory.

Yelu Ruan, the new emperor of the Liao Kingdom, also learned enough lessons from the reality that the Khitans were forced to withdraw from the Central Plains last time. He no longer blindly thought about conquering forcefully, but also started to work hard from the hearts of the people. In order to show that he was not only the Khitan emperor, but some of the measures of comfort pioneered by Yelu Deguang in the past were exponentially strengthened. As the example of the Han people who were most loyal to the Great Liao, Zhao Yanshou was awarded a series of high-ranking officials such as the Prime Minister, the Privy Council envoy of the Southern Court, and the King of Yan, in an attempt to encourage others to follow You.

Some time ago, the Han army was unable to distinguish between Du Chongwei. The main reason was that Zhao Yanshou led the troops from Youzhou to assist Du Chongwei and continued to transport food, grass and supplies to Du Chongwei's old nest Yedu. Although Guo Wei later led the troops to fight Zhao Yanshou again, according to past experience, as long as this person was not dead, he would sooner or later roar and bite the door.

Now, Zhao Yanshou, the loyal Khitan dog, was actually put into a soup pot by his master. After the news spread, how many people in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were afraid of being terrified? Who would have been the great scholars of the northern land who had always advocated that the Liao Kingdom was the destiny of heaven, and that the Khitans and Han people were treated equally in the territory of the Great Liao Dynasty, who would have the best face to continue to speak nonsense?

"The last general dares to ask His Majesty to order the army to reopen the road leading to the north of Yedu. Give the people in the city a few days to come out to chop wood and find food!" After waiting quietly for a while, it was estimated that Liu Zhiyuan had almost digested the good news. Guo Wei, deputy envoy of the Privy Councilor of the Han Dynasty, whispered.

Liu Zhiyuan deserves to be the emperor of the horse. His eyes suddenly shone brightly, "You are, are you trying to use the Yedu, who is mixed with the people, to deliberately spread the news that Zhao Yanshou was removed from the mill and killed a donkey into the city, and to disrupt the hearts of Du Chongwei and others?"

"That's right!" Guo Wei nodded and responded loudly. "Du Chongwei has been in Yedu for many years. The city has very complete defense facilities, and his minions are quite loyal. The Khitans and Youzhou soldiers in the city have always believed that the Liao chief would send more troops to compete for Yedu!"

"Yeah—!" Liu Zhiyuan pondered in a low voice, looking very hesitant.

In addition to Du Chongwei's minions, there are also some Khitan soldiers who were ordered to come from the southern part of the Liao Kingdom to help, as well as the "Yan Army" who fled into the city to take refuge after being defeated by Guo Wei some time ago. These people have family and relatives in Youzhou, especially several Yan army generals, who were originally Zhao Yanshou's confidants, and they have long suffered losses and prospered together with the Zhao family.

As Guo Wei analyzed, although the defenders in Yedu City have been completely destroyed, they still have not lost the confidence to stick to the end. The Khitans twice attacked the Central Plains and successively destroyed the "glorious" achievements of the Later Han and Later Jin, which made the defenders firmly believe that as long as the Liao brigade of troops arrived, the Han Kingdom would repeat the mistakes of the Later Tang and Later Jin. If they gave up resisting and surrendering to the Han Dynasty, not only would their families stay in Yanyun and outside the Great Wall be implicated, but the next time the Khitans invaded the south, they would be doomed.

Therefore, uploading the news that Zhao Yanshou was killed by the whole family into the city at this critical moment is definitely a killing move. Not only will the "Yan Army" soldiers in the city fall into chaos immediately. The hard-core confidants under Du Chongwei will also suddenly realize that the future of following the main general to surrender to the Liao Kingdom may not be very wonderful.

However, the result of Du Chongwei's voluntary surrender is not something Liu Zhiyuan likes to see. As the saying goes, if he kills a tiger, he will suffer. Du Chongwei was Shi Jingtang's sister-in-law and a former pillar of the Later Jin State. There are many old friends and old friends in the army and the court. If he actively sends an envoy out of the city to surrender, in order to reduce unnecessary casualties on his side, he must pardon his death penalty and grant him a very high official position. If he secretly accumulates vitality in the future and wins off a group of disciples and old friends to cause chaos, the Han Dynasty will suffer another heavy blow!

After repeated weighing the pros and cons, Liu Zhiyuan raised his head again and discussed with Guo Wei, "Are you sure that the news of Zhao Yanshou being executed is true? What if, what if the news was deliberately released by the Khitans and confused us, I ordered the siege to stop the attack at this moment, wouldn't it give the defenders a chance to breathe? And even if the news is true, if Du Chongwei decisively abandoned the city and left when our army released the northern passage, wouldn't I let the tiger go back to the mountain?!"

"Du Chongwei dared not abandon the city." Guo Wei thought for a while and decided to start with the second assumption. "The most important reason for Zhao Yanshou's killing was that more than half of the troops under this man had been lost before, which was no longer irreplaceable to the Khitans. If Du Chongwei lost Yedu, he would completely lose his capital to establish himself on the Khitans, and his future fate might not be as good as Zhao Yanshou!"

"That's natural. When did the barbarians talk about morality? They only value strength!" Although they are from the Shatuo clan, it does not prevent Liu Zhiyuan from regarding himself as a pure Central Plains man and sneering the beastly behavior of the Khitans.

"As for the authenticity of the news, I said more than 70% of the news was because the Seizuo who sent him to the north had not yet returned to the military camp. However, the news sent by the Seizuo through various channels and the rumors spread among the vendors have repeatedly confirmed that Zhao Yanshou's family was destroyed." After a brief pause, Guo Wei added confidently.
Chapter completed!