Chapter 277 The yellow robe is added to the body
Su Yuanjing took out the imperial edict and read it out. Dai Zong's expression was uglier than if he had eaten shit.

He thought this was a deliberate arrangement by Yang Chang, so he once again vaguely reminded Song Qing to leave.

Song Jiang did not want to win over Yang Chang. After all, these old Liangshan brothers had many conflicts, and it would be embarrassing for everyone if they were forced to get together. However, Zhao Gou listened to the advice of Prime Minister Huang Qianshan and went to Weisheng in the name of announcing an imperial edict to find out the truth.

As soon as Dai Zong and Song Qing entered Fengyue Pass, they were escorted all the way to Weisheng by people sent by Sun Li. When they arrived at the post station, they were accompanied by Wu Song and Yang Jian. Apart from seeing smiling farmers planting wheat along the way and the polite greetings at the post station last night, they did not get any valuable intelligence at all.

Song Qing understood and politely declined, but Yang Chang took advantage of his politeness and, under the pretext of being a good host, invited both parties to a banquet at the Taiwei Mansion and called the powerful Liangshan brothers to join them.

Yang Chang opened his mouth, like a military order.

Song Qing and Dai Zong had no way of refusing, so they had to stay and drink.

Before the banquet began, familiar faces such as Jiang Jing, Le He, Du Xing, Hou Jian, Cai Fu, Cai Qing, An Daoquan, and Huangfu Duan all appeared in the Taiwei Mansion.

Song Qing was in charge of banquets at Liangshan, and was busy behind the scenes every time Liangshan held a banquet, so he did not have as many feelings as Dai Zong.

As Dai Zong was Song Jiang's confidant, why didn't he always sit in the front row of the banquet, sharing the table with Hua Rong, Li Kui and others?
At this time, a group of evil spirits sitting at the back kept raising their glasses to urge him to drink, which made him feel very uncomfortable. In order to practice the art of walking, this guy had been a vegetarian for many years and did not drink a drop of alcohol.

At the previous gathering at Liangshan, no one dared to persuade Dai Zong to eat meat and drink wine because he was Song Jiang's confidant. But now that they were in Yang Chang's territory, Le He and others, after receiving Yang Jian's instructions, seemed to have forgotten this taboo and kept persuading him under the cover of enthusiasm.

"Just a drink!"

"This wine is vegetarian wine."

"No? How can a man say no?"

"If you don't eat meat or drink wine, what's the point of living?"

"You look down on me?"

Dai Zong's ears were buzzing like flies. Although his magical skills were unique, he was slightly better than Song Qing in wielding swords and guns. How could he dare to get angry in front of Yang Chang? He could only explain like Xianglin Sao.

"I really can't drink, not even a drop."

"You can't eat meat, or the spell won't work."

"We are all brothers, how can I look down on you?"

Song Qing found that something was wrong, so he took the initiative to block the wine and meat for him to rescue him. However, he couldn't withstand the large number of opponents and got drunk before the banquet was over.

The weather was gloomy that afternoon.

The guests attending the banquet said goodbye one after another.

Dai Zong ignored everyone's attempts to "keep him" and insisted on leaving that afternoon.

Song Qing was drunk and unconscious. It was inconvenient for Dai Zong to travel with Shenxing, and he also knew that Yang Chang intended to monitor him, so he drove with Lehe, who was going to see his sister.

The carriage went away and the bells gradually faded away.

Yang Jian came to Yang Chang and whispered, "At the banquet at the inn yesterday, this guy kept asking me all sorts of questions, including asking about Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu. How could I tell him? I guess the imperial edict was fake, and the real purpose was to get information."

"hehe."

Yang Chang smiled and asked back: "So you are looking for someone to embarrass him today? Don't forget that Song Qing drank the wine in the end. He took good care of you in Liangshan."

"Everyone is now serving their own masters. I have to be responsible for my brother first. Have I done something wrong?"

"No, you did a great job putting public interests first and private interests second."

Seeing Yang Jian's suspicious face, Yang Chang patted his shoulder and murmured, "I can't hate Song Qing either. I just hope Song Jiang will lick his Zhao Gou well and never mess with us, otherwise, hmph."

"It's a pity that I'm not good at martial arts, so I can't help my brother fight the enemy."

"I have no shortage of generals to lead the troops, but I lack the political talent to govern the local areas. When you have nothing to do, ask Tang Ke for advice. He has been a prime minister."

"Yes"

The moment Yang Jian nodded, Yang Chang saw Wu Song and Lu Junyi talking and laughing, while Tang Ke and Su Yuanjing were holding hands and chatting.

Just now at the banquet, Tang Ke wanted to know about the recent situation of his friend in the capital, but because Wen Huanzhang was between them, he didn't have the chance to ask many of the things he wanted to say, so he was reluctant to leave.

After Wen Huanzhang's probing last night, Su Yuanjing had a very good impression of Yang Chang, but his family was in Tokyo at the moment, so it was impossible for them to come over immediately.

Wen Huanzhang was worried about the political affairs of Zezhou, and also planned to set off with Su Yuanjing that day.

But when Yang Chang saw the scene around him, he suddenly remembered that he still had something to do, so he asked Wen Huanzhang to stay one more night, so that Su Yuanjing could stay one more night as well.

Early the next morning, Wen Huanzhang and Su Yuanjing set off.

When the convoy left the south gate of Weisheng City, they saw Yang Chang and Wu Song there, with soldiers holding wine beside them. It seemed that they were personally seeing them off.

After some polite exchanges, Yang Chang spoke frankly, "Your Majesty has appointed me as the ambassador of Hedong and Hebei. Should all officials in these two places obey my orders?"

"Having said that."

Su Yuanjing pondered for a moment, then replied: "But most of the prefectures and counties in the two places are now occupied by the Jin people. Your Majesty is the Taiwei's control over the two routes, and you mainly agree that Liaoshan and Zezhou are under your control. Of course, if you want to recover the lost territories in Hedong and Hebei, they should also be under your jurisdiction."

"Can Jiezhou be controlled?"

"what?"

Seeing that Yang Chang was still looking forward to Shu, Su Yuanjing shook his head and asked in a frown, "Jiezhou belongs to Yongxing Army Road, I'm afraid it won't work. What do you want to do?"

In previous dynasties, Jiezhou belonged to Hedong County, but in the Song Dynasty it was incorporated into Yongxingjun Road in the northwest.

"To be honest, I was able to defeat the Jin people repeatedly thanks to the artillery, and the saltpeter used as the raw material for the artillery was mainly mined in Jiezhou, but Jiezhou strictly controlled saltpeter."

"So that's it."

Su Yuanjing suddenly realized that Li Gang also used cannons as weapons when defending the city. He thought it would be easy if you didn't think about the Jiezhou salt. That was an important source of tax revenue for the court and there was no room for negotiation.

"General, since you are going to deal with the Jin people, I believe that Your Majesty will relax the supply of saltpeter. If you have no other instructions, I will set off now."

"Wait a moment, Taiwei." Yang Chang called Su Yuanjing, took out a letter from his bosom and said, "Taiwei, if you can see the emperor when you return to the capital, please bring the princess's letter to His Majesty."

"No problem, I'll take my leave."

"Taiwei, take care. If you are not satisfied in the capital, you can come to Weisheng to realize your ambitions. There is an empty seat here for you."

"Thank you." Su Yuanjing bowed and said goodbye, then followed Wen Huanzhang into the carriage and disappeared at the end of the long street.

At this time, Yang Chang almost replicated Tian Hu's original territory except for Fenzhou and Taiyuan, and stationed sufficient garrisons at various passes and important roads. As long as there were no major problems, it would be no problem to protect himself in a corner. At least it was safer than the booming Bianliang.

Through chatting with Tang Ke, Su Yuanjing also planned to send his family to Weisheng first to avoid a fight between the Zhao brothers or the fear of the Jin people going south again.

The letter that Yang Chang handed over was written by him to Zhao Huan through Zhao Fujin, asking about Zhao Fujin's remarriage.

As the saying goes, when the father is away, the elder brother becomes like a father. Zhao Ji was abducted by the Jin people at this time and could not make the decision. Zhao Huan, as the emperor and the elder brother, had the decision-making power. Regardless of whether he agreed to the marriage or not, Yang Chang thought that he should be made aware of this idea.

Of course, the letter only said that Zhao Fujin was rescued by a righteous man, and did not reveal the fact that the couple went to Zhending to rescue people. Also, because Zhao Fujin introduced Wu Song's situation in detail, Yang Chang believed that Zhao Huan, as the emperor, would help.

According to the rules, Zhao Fujin had to mourn for her husband's wife, and it would usually take about a year before she could remarry, so she had plenty of time to prepare.

(Although Neo-Confucianism originated in the Song Dynasty, it was not accepted by people at that time. It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that it was promoted. The chastity slogan of "starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a big matter" was contrary to the pragmatic concept of the Song people. The "History of the Song Dynasty" records that "Taoism flourished in the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty did not study it and even strictly prohibited it." Not only was it not used, it was also prohibited.)
(The Song people encouraged and advocated women to remarry. Remarriage was very common not only in the royal family and famous families, but also in all walks of life. For example, Zhao Kuangyin's sister, Princess Yan, first married Miford, who died early and then married Gao Huaide. Fan Zhongyan lost his father when he was two years old, and his mother remarried Zhu, so he also changed his surname to Zhu. After passing the imperial examination, he returned to his surname to Fan. When his son Fan Chunyou died of illness, he decided to marry his daughter-in-law to his student Wang Tao.)
At the end of October, Su Yuanjing returned to Beijing to report to Emperor Qinzong on what he had seen and heard in Shanxi.

When Qinzong learned that Zhao Gou had also sent people to confer the title, he was worried that when Song Qing returned to Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture, Zhao Gou would increase his own reward, so he immediately promoted Yang Chang from Weisheng Marquis to Weisheng Duke.

As for the release of saltpeter supply in Jiezhou and Zhao Fujin's marriage, he agreed to everything and approved the change of the one-year mourning period to half a year. He would also issue an edict to grant the marriage at that time.

(In the fifth year of Yuanyou (1090), Su Shi believed that women were "weak and unable to stand on their own feet" and should be "taken care of as appropriate". He proposed to change the mourning period for poor women from the old three years to three months. The court adopted the proposal and lowered it to three months to one year, with the specific length depending on the woman's situation.)

Su Yuanjing rested in the capital for half a month, then set out for Weisheng again, carrying with him the new imperial edict, the documents for the receipt of saltpeter, Zhao Huan's reply and other items.

In late November, Su Yuanjing returned to Weisheng.

Zhao Huan's worries did not come true, and Zhao Gou's envoys did not come again. At least during the time Su Yuanjing stayed in Weisheng, Zhao Gou did not send anyone to reward him.

Yang Chang was as pragmatic as the people of Song Dynasty. In fact, he had no interest in the Duke of Weisheng, but he regarded the documents for the receipt of saltpeter as a treasure. He immediately ordered Zhu Tong to send someone to Jiezhou to make contact, and ordered Ling Zhen to go to Linfen in person to open a cannon workshop.

With Zhao Huan's reply, Yang Chang was not in a hurry to tell Wu Song the truth. He asked him to inspect the states on his behalf and asked the garrisons in various places to train their troops and deploy defenses well. He did not need to return to Weisheng to report on his work at the end of the year, but would go to Weisheng to reunite in February next year, when he would announce an important event.

All states were recruiting soldiers and storing grain. Wu Song mistakenly thought that Yang Chang's so-called big thing was to switch from strategic defense to offense.

He remembered that Yang Chang once said that when he became strong enough, he would first take Hedong as his base, and then go north or south depending on the situation.

Wu Song had been stationed in Weisheng for many years. He wanted to take advantage of the fact that Yang Chang was at home with his wife and children to visit the territory he had conquered. So he accompanied Su Yuanjing, who had returned to Beijing for the second time, and went straight south all the way to Zezhou.

Su Yuanjing strictly observed the etiquette of a minister and did not peek at the letters between Zhao Huan and his sister, so he did not know that Wu Song was going to become a royal consort.

As the second most important person in Weisheng, Su Yuanjing has decided to send his family here for resettlement. On the way, he kept chatting with Wu Song, hoping that his family could be given shelter after arriving.

When they arrived in Jincheng to rest and replenish supplies, Wen Huanzhang treated them to a banquet as usual and personally escorted them out of Tianjing Pass.

Wu Song had his own patrol mission, and he brought a dozen followers with him this time, but he did not do so to keep a low profile.

At that time, after Nianhan was defeated, Zezhou was in a state of disrepair.

In order to help Lin Chong gain control quickly, Yang Chang sent Shi Qian and the Night Owl Army to help. Wu Song was the commander-in-chief of the Night Owl Army, and he also planned to bring him back to Wei Sheng for use.

When the troops were sent to capture Zezhou, except for Yan Qing's troops who withdrew to Luzhou, the rest stayed after the war, including Gao Shiyou's 10,000 Song soldiers, who are now under the command of Lin Chong. Therefore, the current military strength of Zezhou is the strongest among the several states under Yang Changzhi.

Shi Qian met Wu Song in Jincheng and took him to Gaoping to meet Lin Chong the next day. The 10,000 Song soldiers were undergoing special training.

Wu Song had never seen Gao Shiyou and the 10,000 soldiers under his command, but Shi Qian had a deep understanding of this when he instigated the rebellion. Frankly speaking, these people's fighting effectiveness was very weak, but one should look at them with new eyes after three days of absence.

After only not seeing each other for over a month, the cowardly soldiers who were originally afraid of fighting suddenly became murderous. This was all due to Lin Chong's training.

At that time, Lin Chong was supervising training in the training ground. He unexpectedly saw Wu Song and Shi Qian appear outside the ground, so he strode towards them with doubts.

"Brother Wu, why are you here?"

"I am inspecting various states on behalf of the Grand Commandant and will give him some instructions."

"Oh?"

Seeing Shi Qian following him, Lin Chong immediately understood that Wu Song was going to take the Night Owl Army with him. He pointed to the military tent next to him and said, "Brother Wu, you have had a hard journey. Come on, come inside and have a few bowls of hot wine to warm yourself up."

"Very good."

Wu Song and Lin Chong sat opposite each other, while Shi Qian tactfully heated and filtered the wine beside them, listening to the two big men exchanging military affairs and intelligence.

When he heard that he would not return to Weisheng to report at the end of the year, but would reunite in February of the following year to announce something important, Shi Qian, who was filtering wine, suddenly became interested and quickly stopped what he was doing and asked curiously, "Brother, what's the big deal?"

“I don’t know the details.”

Wu Song shook his head slightly at first, but seeing Shi Qian's expectant eyes, he couldn't help but add: "This year, the states have recruited a total of 50,000 new soldiers. If the existing garrisons in the states are included, the total force will exceed 100,000 and there will be surplus. I guess Sanlang should plan to take the initiative to attack, and then the reunion will be to deploy combat missions."

"That's really good news. The Night Owl Army can show up again, hehe."

Shi Qian saw that Lin Chong was frowning and silent, so he quickly stopped smiling and said deliberately: "General Lin has just defeated Nianhan, and he should follow the general to the battle. I hope he can take care of me when the time comes."

"uncertain."

"The chief steward wants to stay in Zezhou? What if he continues to expand southward?"

"Absolutely impossible."

Wu Song spoke before Lin Chong did, and received a look of approval from him. He then patted him on the shoulder and consoled him: "If Sanlang really wants to start a war, the garrisons of each state will certainly be adjusted. Brother, don't worry too much."

"No." Lin Chong frowned and said seriously, "Whether to go to war or stay behind, I will follow the arrangements of the general. However, Brother Wu's analysis may not be true."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Wu Song was stunned when he heard this and couldn't help scratching his face.

"Since the Grand Commandant Liu Weisheng arrived, he has set a grand plan for hegemony. Now the Song Dynasty is divided internally, and the Jin army has withdrawn to the north. We are fully prepared. Do you think there is a possibility that Brother Yang thinks the time has come?"

"You mean, Sanlang wants to weigh now?"

"It is very feasible. Brother Wu is touring various places on his behalf this time in the hope that someone can understand his intention. We have to help him."

"Yes, yes, that's what it means."

Shi Qian became excited again, and then looked at Lin Chong and asked, "How can we help?"

"I have little education, but I know that Zhao Kuangyin wore the yellow robe."

(End of this chapter)