When all the official roads and prefectural cities leading to Yanbei were strictly guarded by troops, and people from the Imperial City Department were responsible for unified management, more than a month had passed before they knew it.
What made Huizong restless was that more than a month had passed and there was still no news about Murong Fu. Even the spies he sent to Yanbei came to report that no trace of Murong Fu had been found.
In other words, Murong Fu did not return to Yanbei at all.
Ever since, Huizong sent people to Taihu, Suzhou to search for Murong Fu's whereabouts. The result was still no news, as if they suddenly disappeared from the world.
And the news about the assassination of King Yan spread like a flying fireball in an instant. Even if Huizong tried his best to cover up the matter, it was too late, as if someone behind the scenes was deliberately pushing all this.
In addition, many inside stories about the assassination were also spread by interested people in the form of rumors, all pointed at Huizong. Rumors were that he could not tolerate capable ministers and wanted to take advantage of the King of Yan's army's Northern Expedition to kill Yan. The king executed him to consolidate his imperial power.
Although Huizong later produced a lot of forged evidence about the spies of the Northern Liao Dynasty, he was quickly overwhelmed by the wave of public opinion and did not stir up any splash.
The Song Dynasty was different from other dynasties. Under the unique cultural background of Confucianism, everyone from the monarch to the common people had a highly unified idea of "valuing literature over martial arts." The benefit was naturally that the people's cultural literacy improved and they had a certain ability to distinguish right from wrong. ability.
The disadvantage is that with the rise of Neo-Confucianism, the control of the upper class over the speech of the lower class people has been reduced. Even under the emperor's feet, some people dare to openly accuse the upper class and criticize the powerful.
Under such a trend, many people have become blindly following the trend. Even those who do not know the truth will believe in rumors. ?.?????.???
When Huizong learned that there were people in the market who dared to incite public opinion and smear himself, he immediately became furious and ordered the Kaifeng government to arrest all those who spread rumors and punish them severely according to the law.
For a time, everyone in Bianjing became in danger. Although there were some literati and righteous people who were not afraid of power and were willing to go to jail to speak out, this momentum was quickly suppressed.
However, Huizong's move seemed to be a cover-up, and it also made more people doubt that it was indeed true.
It's just that he can stop the rumors in Bianjing City, but he can't stop the people in the world from talking.
As the saying goes, a lot of words make gold worth destroying bones. Sometimes rumors are more lethal than swords, guns and halberds.
Because of this matter, Huizong has not been in court for almost half a month. Every day he summons several ministers and asks, "Is there any whereabouts of King Yan?"
If there is no news, he will look very decadent and silent.
Why did he vow to kill Murong Fu?
Isn't it just because you are afraid of the opponent's strength?
In the past, he had the identity of King Yan of the Song Dynasty to suppress the opponent. Now that the assassination failed and Murong Fu escaped, Huizong could not imagine how he would take revenge on the Song Dynasty if Murong Fu had not died.
As for his pretext of blaming the blame on Bei Liao, it was just a matter of deceiving the ignorant people. How could Murong Fu believe it?
It can be said that this time he not only alerted the snake, but may even let the tiger go back to the mountain. How can he feel at ease?
…
At this time, the Yanbei army far away in the north of the Great Wall also learned about the assassination of King Yan. Han Baizhan returned to Yanbei without saying a word and took 70,000 troops and horses.
After Xiao Wuna, the king of the Northern Court of Liao State, tried his best to dissuade him, but to no avail, he was very angry and hurriedly reported the matter to Emperor Tianzuo Yelu Yanxi who was enjoying himself in Beijing.
Yelu Yanxi was furious when he found out. As an ally of Yanbei, he sent people to put pressure on the Song Dynasty. If they didn't give an explanation, they would not hesitate to start another war.
After all, it was not easy to completely defeat the Northern Liao regime. In the end, because the Song Dynasty was behind the scenes, the Yanbei army withdrew its troops. This undoubtedly made all the efforts of the Liao Dynasty this year in vain. How could we not find the Song Dynasty? Song Tao wants an explanation?
Not only that, Xixia also sent envoys to investigate the matter, and asked the Song Dynasty to give an explanation very resolutely.
Only Dali and Tubo did not respond, and the Jurchen tribe who occupied Liaodong and other places could only send people to Yanbei to express their goodwill to Wang Yuyan and others, saying that if they wanted to send troops to the Song Dynasty, they could send troops to help.
Huizong, who was already extremely irritated because he could not find Murong Fu, faced the pressure from Xixia and Daliao. He simply pretended to be ill and hid, leaving Han Zhongyan in charge of receiving the envoys from the two countries.
This also gave Han Zhongyan the opportunity to express himself freely, and he sent all the envoys from the two countries back home within a few days.
After Huizong learned about it, he immediately summoned Han Zhongyan.
"Xiang Han, the envoys from these two countries euphemistically came here for Murong Fu, but I know that they came to ask for benefits, especially the envoys from the Liao Kingdom. I don't know how you sent them away. ?”
Han Zhongyan said, "Back to the official house, Xixia is chasing fame, and Liao is chasing profit. The ministers use Northern Liao spies to assassinate King Yan, and we are also trying our best to find the whereabouts of King Yan as an excuse to prevent Xixia from using rumors as a basis. I, the Song Dynasty, have launched an attack. If they cannot see King Yan, they will have no evidence that we are responsible, so they will naturally have no choice but to leave."
"And the Liao Dynasty's pursuit of profit is just to get benefits from the Song Dynasty. The ministers used the war in the north as an excuse to ask the envoys of the Liao Dynasty to go back and report to Emperor Tianzuo. If they want troops, the Song Dynasty can The friendship between states can send troops to help, but food, grass, money and money are absolutely impossible.”
"The envoy from Daliao saw that the Wei minister had a tough attitude and gave him an excuse to go back and make an envoy, so he could only return in anger!"
After hearing this, Huizong couldn't help but praise Han Zhongyan, but soon he frowned and said, "If Daliao really sends people to come to us for troops again, what should we do?"
Han Zhongyan said, "What if we give them soldiers and horses? It is said that the Yanbei army led the Northern Expedition with 70,000 soldiers and horses. When they left, the number of soldiers and horses was not reduced. It can be seen that the Liao Kingdom had an absolute advantage in the Northern Expedition." , and we send troops to help the Liao Kingdom quell the rebellion, not only do we not have to worry about military supplies, but we can also take the opportunity to form an alliance with the Liao Kingdom when the matter is completed. If the Liao Kingdom has this powerful ally, even if King Yan is not dead, As long as the officials unite with the Liao Kingdom and send troops together to attack from the north and the south, are they still worried that King Yan will have a rebellious intention and raise troops to rebel?"
Huizong knew nothing about marching and fighting. After listening to Han Zhongyan's analysis, his eyes suddenly brightened. Unexpectedly, the original dilemma was cleverly resolved by the other party. It became a constraint for Yanbei and even prevented future troubles for him. A perfect opportunity.
"Okay, okay, Prime Minister Han deserves to be the minister of the Song Dynasty. This plan is very popular with me!"
Although the last plan to assassinate King Yan failed, there was nothing wrong with the plan itself. It was just that Murong Chengze was too presumptuous and the plan did not continue smoothly. Therefore, Huizong did not blame Han Zhongyan.
Now that he had offered some good advice, Huizong really didn't know how to reward him, and his trust in him had simply reached its peak.
