At the end of November in the eighth year of Xining, the Liao envoy team set out from Nanjing.
The chief envoys of the envoy were from Yelupo, Linya, in the north, and Xiao Xi, who had been on an envoy to the Song Dynasty before.
After the Chongyuan Rebellion, Lord Yelu Hongji of the Liao Dynasty lost trust in both the royal family and descendants. He only maintained trust in a few royal families such as Yelu Polu, and promoted Yelu Yixin, who was from a poor family, to suppress the wealthy families, and at the same time passed the imperial examination. And the selection of talents from the Han people in the north caused constant strife within the court, with old and new nobles competing with each other.
At the same time, in order to complete the suppression of the Five Kingdoms in the east, the suppression of Zubu in the west, and ensure the smooth flow of the Eagle Road, too much national power was consumed.
In order to unite the top and bottom, and with the purpose of diverting domestic conflicts, Yelu Po proposed to the Lord of Liao Yelu Hongji a plan to directly divide territory with the Song Dynasty.
Yelu Po's disciples told Yelu Hongji that from the southern border of Yingzhou to Tianchi, it is all my land for farming and pasture. During Qingning, the border generals were not careful and were invaded by the Song Dynasty. The beacon fort was moved inward, which seemed inappropriate.
Yelu Hongji was convinced after hearing this, and asked him to be responsible for re-establishing the boundary with Song Dynasty as Lin Ya from the north. Of course, Yelu Po's proposition was unanimously supported by the Liao Kingdom, whether it was the Han people in the north, the Khitan clan, or upstarts like Yelu Yixin, and it was also appreciated by Yelu Hongji.
The Liao Kingdom, which had repeatedly experienced the benefits of intimidating the Song Dynasty with force, regarded this as a way to repair internal divisions and improve cohesion.
It was with this expectation that Yelupo sent the envoy. However, some knowledgeable people in the Liao Kingdom said that the southerners were very aggressive and had great intentions. If they failed to force them to force the war and restarted the war, the Liao Dynasty would lose fifty percent of the Song Dynasty every year. Thousands of tributes.
However, this statement fell on deaf ears among the majority of the Khitan people who regarded the Southerners as weak.
This time Yelupo personally took action to negotiate with the Song Dynasty. He was accompanied by more than 500 Khitan troops.
He originally expected to receive a grand reception from the Song Dynasty team, but as soon as he arrived at the Song and Liao border, he learned about the Song Dynasty's reconstruction of Xiongzhou Guancheng and the border fortresses.
Moreover, Yelupo personally watched the Song Dynasty civilians digging ponds on the border in full swing to block the Liao cavalry from going south.
Seeing this scene, the corner of Yelvpo's mouth also raised. How could the Liao cavalry be intercepted by Tangchi?
Yelupo proudly said to his deputy Xiao Xi: "Our Khitan cavalry is a city, a knife, and a sword. The Song army built so many defensive forests, ponds, gates, watchtowers, and infantry on the border. , but in the field battle, how can we withstand our cavalry for one round, and then we can only let our Khitan cavalry go deep."
Xiao Xi said: "Lin Ya, don't underestimate the Song people's strategy. I think the Song people deliberately built Yingzhou. They really established two strong cities and stationed heavy troops in Daming Mansion. This was a strategy to lure our cavalry to go deep. As long as Yingzhou is We are sure that we can’t defeat the island. As long as our army crosses the Yellow River to the south, it will be attacked by the heavy troops of Daming Prefecture."
Yelv Po said: "As long as the Song people have no cavalry, they will not be able to defeat the Khitan cavalry in the field. If the Daming Prefecture dares to send troops to leave the strong city, our cavalry will annihilate them in the field."
Liao people are also very pragmatic.
Yelu Hongji, the leader of the Liao Dynasty, used war games or actual combat deductions with his ministers in Nabo many times to simulate the cavalry versus infantry tactics to practice the decisive battle in the Liao and Song Dynasties. No matter how it is deduced, the consensus among the Khitan monarchs and ministers is that without the cooperation of the cavalry, it is impossible for the Song army to defeat the Khitan cavalry in a field battle.
As long as the Song army's field troops leave the strong city, the Khitan cavalry can surround them halfway and annihilate them in the wild.
Therefore, Yelupo was very confident in going south this time and wanted to take a big bite out of the Song Dynasty.
Seeing the scene of countless civil service and large-scale construction projects, Yelupo was not angry but happy. When the time came, he could use this to criticize the Song Dynasty for violating the covenant and blackmail him severely.
When they arrived in Xiongzhou, the county officials of the Song Dynasty greeted each other on the roadside, while the state officials went out of the suburbs to greet them. Everywhere they went, the officials of the Song Dynasty would raise their glasses to persuade the Liao envoys to drink.
However, Yelvpo seemed very displeased. He immediately stopped drinking and said to the Song Dynasty official who was responsible for welcoming him: "What is the purpose of rebuilding Xiongzhou Guancheng? Doesn't this violate the agreement between me, the Emperor of Liao, and your Song Dynasty official family?" "
An official from the Song Dynasty said: "We follow the orders of Prime Minister Zhang Xuan!"
"Could it be that the words of Prime Minister Zhang Xuan are greater than those of your Song Dynasty officials?"
An official from the Song Dynasty said: "Xuan Xiang has the emperor's order, so he can act expediently."
Yelupo was very dissatisfied when he heard this and immediately refused the official's advice to drink.
As Yelupo traveled south, he saw people from the Song Dynasty being trained or being drafted along the way.
Yelupo's inquiry into the Song Dynasty companions revealed that this situation was not directed at the Liao Kingdom.
It is the content of the Baojia Law implemented in the Song Dynasty. Starting from the eighth year of Xining, the Song Dynasty implemented farm leisure drills for the people of Hebei. Every November to the first month of the next year, the volunteers must go to prefectures and counties to participate in teaching exercises in batches. Each period of teaching and training moon.
Yelupo looked thoughtful when he saw the Song Dynasty's large-scale deployment of soldiers and civilians for drills, and his arrogance was slightly reduced.
Yelupo had doubts in his heart that this kind of civilian service training would not be of practical help to the decisive battle between Song and Liao. But the reason why the Song people trained like this was that they really planned to abandon the peace treaty and start a war with the Liao Kingdom in Hebei?
After arriving in Dingzhou, the local civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty held a grand banquet to entertain Yelupo.
Just the candles and oil lamps spent on the banquet are a huge sum.
Yelupo took a sip of the wine and found it tasteless. He threw the jug on the ground in anger and cursed: "Is this bad wine mixed with water enough for me?"
The wine pot was spinning on the ground several times. The Song generals and officials at the table were all shocked and angry at Yelupo's performance.
Yelvpo used such testing methods to see the attitude of the Song people. In the past, Song Dynasty officials had behaved submissively, for fear of angering the Liao envoys.
But I saw a tall Song general under the banquet lifting up the remaining wine in the jug on the ground and drinking it happily, and then replaced Yelupo's with a new jug of wine.
Yelu Po was surprised to see that the Song Dynasty people in his tent seemed not to be alarmed at all, or in other words, their panic was suppressed at once.
Yelupo sat down again, looked at the new pot of wine on the table and said to himself, there is something weird about this! The Song Dynasty people seemed to really want to fight! But don’t they know their chances of winning?
A few days later, Yelupo arrived at Zhending Mansion, which was also the location of this negotiation.
But seeing Zhending Mansion, an important town in Hebei Province, the elite soldiers and horses of the Song Army were gathered here. Thousands of Song troops were returning from the school grounds for review, and they were passing by the Liao State envoy.
The three armies shouted: "General, the world will be determined with three arrows!"
As soon as this sound fell, countless people raised their arms and shouted.
"The strong man entered Han Pass with a long song!"
This powerful sound stimulated the Khitan horses of the Liao Dynasty to neigh uncomfortably. Yelupo tried his best to control the strong horses under his crotch, thinking that the morale of the Song army looked very high, or was he doing it deliberately to show me?
Yelupo looked at the towering Zhending City in front of him, and his previous momentum had been reduced by two.
