The Prime Minister's Mansion is lively, and the Imperial Palace is certainly not lonely either.
Dali likes to imitate the Song Dynasty in everything. The Song Dynasty has Funing Hall, and Dali also has Funing Hall.
What is Funing Hall used for? It is the place where the emperor eats and rests, and it is also the sleeping palace.
In the magnificent Funing Hall of the Dali Palace, Duan Xingzhi drank tea and read the "Da Song Zhonghua Newspaper".
When he saw the publication that the Hu people had lost more than 50% of their money in Xi County, he couldn't help but snap at the case.
"This barbarian is not that powerful," Duan Xingzhi said while reading the newspaper.
While he was in high spirits, he couldn't help but ask the eunuch beside him: "Idiot, what do you think of this matter?"
"I don't know, old slave." The eunuch next to him lowered his head, feeling ashamed of his own incompetence.
It seemed that he was blind when asking, and Duan Xingzhi couldn't help but feel depressed.
As expected, I was really alone, and no one was there to share my worries.
Although this palace belongs to me, it is actually like a cage.
And the person who imprisoned him was none other than someone from the Gao family.
There may also be members of the Gao family in the imperial army, so be careful what you say.
The eunuch may be one of our own, but after all, his knowledge is limited.
By the way, why did I forget someone?
He waved his hand to the eunuch and motioned for him to come over: "Go and call Zi Xin (Duan Shi's biological brother)."
"Your Majesty, is this still here?" The eunuch was about to leave when he suddenly felt something was wrong. This was the palace.
Duan Xingzhi thought for a moment and said, "Qinzheng Hall, no, it's Funing Hall."
There are forbidden troops in the Qinzheng Hall, so it is inevitable that there will be people from the Gao family, so it is safer here.
After a stick of incense, a handsome young man wearing a python robe came in.
This person is none other than his younger brother Duan Shi, King of Qin.
Duan Shi is very young, seventeen years younger than him. He is only eighteen this year and has just reached adulthood.
"Brother, tell me, why do you want to see Brother Fool?" Duan Shi came to Funing Hall, saw that there was no queen or concubine, and then he raised his hand and asked cautiously.
Duan Xingzhi saw his eyes and knew what he was thinking. His brother was really an honest man.
He couldn't help but smile and said: "Don't worry, there are no women here. Of course I have something to do as a brother, and it is a very important matter."
After Duan Xingzhi finished speaking, he handed the "Da Song Zhonghua News" to Duan Shi, and he concentrated on dealing with Zui Chunfeng.
Duan Shi took the newspaper and read the important news carefully, not missing a word.
Although Duan Xingzhi was sipping tea, his peripheral vision was still focused on his brother's expression, and he saw his expression becoming more and more solemn.
He took a sip of tea, looked at Duan Shi and asked, "Brother Xian, after reading the newspaper, what do you think?"
"Brother Imperial, it seems that a disaster in Dali will soon be imminent." Duan Shi's expression changed drastically when he saw it, and his face turned into a look of sincerity and fear.
Duan Xingzhi's eyes were also panicked, and he nodded at the same time: "The barbarians have no way to deal with Da Song, so they take out their anger on Dali. I know this. What is the key benefit to the Duan family?"
"The good thing is that barbarians have a tendency to massacre cities, and the royal families of Xixia and Jin Kingdoms were almost completely slaughtered." Duan Shi couldn't help but smile sadly when he thought of this, "Although the Duan family in Dali does not have much real power, they have been rooted in Dali for hundreds of years. Will the barbarians let it go?"
"Although the Duan family is the royal family now, in fact, it has no real power. Dear brother, what should we do in the face of the invasion of barbarians?" Duan Xingzhi had a look of pain on his face, nodded in sympathy, and couldn't help but ask.
Duan Shi also took a sip of tea and fell into deep thought. After a long time, he said: "What are you afraid of? There are others who are more panicked than us. Now the Gao family is more anxious than us. There are tall people who can hold up the sky when it falls."
Having said this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. State affairs should have been taken care of by the emperor, but now the emperor is not in a hurry and the eunuchs are in charge.
I thought wrongly, it should be that the emperor is not in a hurry and the prime minister is.
If there is one emperor who is the most useless in the world, it must be the Duan family in Dali.
"That's right, dear brother. In crisis, in crisis, there is opportunity." Duan Xingzhi did not agree with his brother's words, but shook his head, looked at his brother, and said thoughtfully.
Duan Shi couldn't help being stunned and didn't understand for a moment: "Brother Emperor, it's obvious that we are facing a disaster, what chance do we have?"
"How about inviting a young saint to come to Dali in the name of the Dali royal family?" Duan Xingzhi reminded him instead of answering his question.
Duan Shi shook his head with a wry smile on his face: "Brother Emperor, Brother Yu, I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm. Your order is not to leave the palace."
Duan Xingzhi was not discouraged, but looked at Duan Shi with a smile: "Brother Foolish cannot leave the palace due to the decree, but Brother Xian can."
When he said this, he did not continue, but looked at Duan Shi thoughtfully.
Of course Duan Shi knew what his brother was thinking, and he was constantly weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
There is no such thing as a pie in the sky, and there are always risks in doing things.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward.
Is this matter in front of me more profitable or risky?
Duan Shi suddenly stood up from his seat and walked around the table.
"Brother Emperor, do you want to come up with a plan to drive away tigers and wolves?" He walked around for a few times and suddenly stopped, staring at Duan Xingzhi.
Duan Xingzhi nodded with a wry smile on his face: "Brother Xian, besides this method, what other methods does the Duan family have now?"
"This is an opportunity, but the Duan family can consider it, and the Gao family may not have considered it." Duan Shi thought for a while and finally said.
Duan Xingzhi also stood up from his chair and asked: "If you were a little saint, would you rather choose to cooperate with a royal family with a name but no power, or with a powerful minister with a name but no power?"
Duan Shi did not speak, but suddenly sat down on a chair, drinking tea and falling into deep thought.
"Brother, this is the only opportunity God has given to the Duan family. There is only one chance, and loss will never come again." Duan Xingzhi drank tea while looking at Duan Shi, who was thinking.
Duan Shi drank all the drunken spring breeze in the teacup in one gulp, stood up and bowed respectfully to Duan Xingzhi: "As ordered."
Duan Xingzhi breathed a sigh of relief, found a very thin piece of rice paper, wrote a few lines, then sealed it with a seal and solemnly handed it to Duan Shi.
Duan Shi pulled out the dagger, carefully wrapped Duan Xingzhi's edict on the dagger, and then carefully put it into the scabbard.
"Please." Seeing Duan Shi completing this matter so meticulously, Duan Xingzhi bowed to Duan Shi.
Duan Shi returned the courtesy without being arrogant or humble, and then walked away.
After Duan Shi left, Duan Xingzhi felt that there was nothing to do for a while, so he opened "Three Kingdoms" again.
If the Hu people are the Wei State among the Three Kingdoms, and the Song Dynasty is the Wu State, then Dali is the weakest Shu State.
It would be a good idea to make friends with the Song Dynasty and jointly deal with the barbarians, but now the Song Dynasty court does not have this awareness.
It seems that the court of the Song Dynasty was not very discerning, and they did not expect that the little saint Zhao Ping would see this.
Thinking of this, Duan Xingzhi couldn't help but shake his head, then folded the newspaper and placed it on the bookshelf, then spread out the rice paper and wrote with a pen.
He unknowingly decided on two big characters, one was Liu and the other was Cao. Then he put it on the pen holder and said to himself: "Which one is my Liu Bei again? Could it be the little sage Zhao?" Is it flat?"
Thinking of this, he took Zhao Ping's "War Theory" again, rubbed his forehead, tore up the two big characters he wrote, and threw them into the trash can.
"Dad, are you writing again?" A voice as crisp as an oriole came from behind him.
He knew who this person was, but he just focused on the words and didn't look back.
Although he ignored this person, this person disturbed him.
This was a little princess about ten years old with pink makeup. Seeing Duan Xingzhi ignore her, she simply shook Duan Xingzhi's arm with her slender white hands.
Duan Xingzhi was shaken by Huai and could no longer write in his heart. He had to put the ink pen on the pen holder and look at the cute little princess with a smile.
Seeing that Duan Xingzhi had thrown the calligraphy into the trash can, she stepped forward and slowly polished Duan Xingzhi's ink. She looked at Duan Xingzhi pitifully and said, "Dad, can you also write for Yan Yu?"
Duan Xingzhi glanced at Dali, the most beautiful princess, and said with a kind smile: "Okay, okay!"
Then, he wrote two words with his pen: "Yan Yu".
The little princess looked at the font, then looked up at Duan Xingzhi and said, "Okay, daddy is writing the name of the slave family again, thank you daddy."
After saying that, the little princess blew the words dry, carefully put them away, and asked the palace maid to put them away.
Duan Xingzhi looked at the little princess kindly and suddenly had an idea.
Compared with the Song Dynasty, the situation in Dali Kingdom was much more complicated.
In fact, in the south of the Song Dynasty, there were not only small countries such as Dali and Annan, but also small countries or local governments such as Ziqi State, Luo Shigui State, Luodian State, and Tianshi State.
Luo's Ghost Kingdom is located in Bijie and is the predecessor of Shuixi Tusi.
Luodian Kingdom is located in the Zhenfeng area in southwestern Guizhou. It is the only way for the Song Dynasty to buy horses from Guangxi to Yunnan.
The Tian family was equivalent to the later Tujia chieftains. They were located around the present Qianjiang and Shizhu areas, and were the smallest among the four small countries.
Luo's Ghost Kingdom, Luodian Kingdom, and Tian's Kingdom were canonized by the Song Dynasty.
Ziqi State is the largest among the four small countries, and its area is larger than the other three small countries combined. However, it has not been officially canonized by the Song Dynasty.
Although Dali is a country, it is similar to a tribal alliance. It can also be said to be an emirate, similar to Mongolia before unification.
The main sphere of influence of the Gao family is in Yaozhou, Shanchan, and its actual control is approximately equivalent to the current Kunming City in Yunnan Province and Yimen, Yiliang, Lufeng, Songming, Yao'an and other places.
The Duan family's sphere of influence is even smaller, mainly near Dali City.
The rest of Dali is the sphere of influence of tribes or nobles, and they only accept the rule of Dali in name.
There are two main forces in Dali, one is the Baiman and the other is the Wuman.
If the Duan family and the Gao family are outstanding representatives of the Baiman, then Zi Qiguo is an outstanding representative of the Wuman.
After the Gao family gained real power in Dali, they planned to learn from the Song Dynasty and truly unify Dali, and later sent troops to Wuman.
From the perspective of Dali State, this is a good thing that benefits the country and the people.
However, for the Wuman tribe, this was a bad thing that destroyed their tribal power.
In the third year of Yuanfu of the Song Dynasty (1100), in order to resist the Gao family of Dali Kingdom from occupying the land of the thirty-seven tribes in eastern Yunnan, Shizong, Maitreya, Jishu and other tribes, under the leadership of their leader Ziqi, united with the three Yi tribes in eastern Yunnan. Seventeen tribes established the country of Ziqi.
These people came from Qi State and are the ancestors of the Yi people in later generations.
This small country actually has a large territory. Part of it is in the southeast of Yunnan and part of it is in the southwest of Guizhou. Its sphere of influence reaches Anning in the west;
It reaches Hongshui River in Guangxi in the east, Qujing City in the north and all the way to Beipanjiang, and Honghe Prefecture and Wenshan Prefecture in the south all the way to Maguan, Mapaopo and other places. The capital Biluolong is also called Milu City (now Luxi, Yunnan Province). County Jinma Town).
After the founding of the country, Ziqi State only established itself as a country, but did not recognize it.
Dali considered it a part of himself and would certainly not acknowledge it.
What should we do? Standing as a country on our own is not the answer. We have to be recognized by others.
Which one is better to admit is, of course, the Song Dynasty.
So an envoy was sent from the State of Qi to the Song Dynasty to request the Song Dynasty for canonization.
No matter how many tricks the envoys from Qi State used, the Song Dynasty still failed to enthrone him.
The reason for the Song Dynasty is very simple. Dali has already been canonized. The so-called Ziqi State is just a subordinate of it, so how can it be canonized.
Dali and the Song Dynasty have always been friendly. Doesn’t the Song Dynasty slap itself in the face by doing this?
At this time, the king frowned and looked very worried.
Just now, a palace maid brought him face wash and accidentally dropped it on the ground. The towel and hot water fell on the marble palace floor. The palace maid was beaten ten times with a cane, and the other palace maids and eunuchs did not dare to show their anger.
Yeng Ju is in his early thirties, tall and burly, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, bronze skin, a straight nose and a square mouth. His turban is rolled up and he wears a conical pointed hat, which gives people the impression that his face is very slender.
He kept reading "Da Song Zhonghua Bao", "War Theory" and the report on the Jiading War at the desk, and said to the Minister of War, Ying Hao: "Immediately notify the thirty-seven ghost masters to come to the capital to discuss."
Since the Qi Kingdom, he has worshiped ghosts and called himself the Lord of Ghosts.
A large tribe has a big ghost leader, and a small tribe has a small ghost leader. The ghost leader is also the leader of the tribe.
The centralized political system of the Qi State was different from that of the Song Dynasty. It implemented a tribal council system, similar to the city-state systems of ancient Greece and Byzantium;
The thirty-seventh division is the political foundation of Qi State. The king is very hard-working and is only equivalent to the president of the tribal alliance parliament;
All major matters are decided by tribal leaders convening tribal members to vote by a show of hands. The king only plays a convening role and exercises the power of the country on behalf of the will of each tribe;
In addition, the king does not have any other privileges other than distributing according to the contribution of each ministry according to their work:
If the court of Dali State still has more or less real power, then the king of Ziqi State is even worse. He is just a symbol of national unity.
Ziqi country is actually a poor country with poor food production. It should be said that it should be very poor. In fact, on the contrary, it is very rich.
Loulan and Gaochang are also desert places, but they are extremely wealthy.
Why is this happening? It's because of the Silk Road.
Since the Silk Road in the Western Regions was blocked by Xixia, the Song Dynasty re-opened a Silk Road.
This Silk Road passes through Qi State, Dali State, Bagan, Tianzhu, and finally reaches Dashi.
Different from small countries in the Western Regions such as Loulan and Gaochang, Ziqi State not only exported immortal soap, immortal furnace, immortal charcoal, tea, salt, silk, porcelain, Chinese books, etc. from the Song Dynasty to Dali, Lijiang, and Bogan (Myanmar) Tianzhu even sold Dali's war horses to the Song Dynasty.
As the saying goes, long-term illness makes a doctor, and long-term horses make a good horseman.
Since the long-term horse trade in the Qi Kingdom, a set of horsemanship, horse breeding and long-distance horse protection techniques have been summed up, forming a systematic war horse culture.
Different from small countries such as Loulan and Gaochang, which are small and weak, Ziqi State not only has a larger territory, but also has a much stronger military.
The military system of Ziqi State is somewhat similar to that of the Hu people, a militia system that "serves the people in peacetime and the army in wartime";
Since the Qi State used a brave army, "Those who are wounded by swords and arrows in front will be allowed to rest, but those who are wounded by swords and arrows on the back will be slashed in the back with swords when retreating";
Due to the implementation of the system of integrating soldiers and civilians, Zi Qi was a small country but had a large number of soldiers, including 100,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry.
Another characteristic of Ziqi Kingdom is that he has a great influence on Dali and is very close to Buddha.
This can be seen from the surnames, which always contain the word "A", and there are many names starting with the word "A" in the names of Buddhas such as Amitabha, Apollo, Ashiba, and Ajita;
Not only are their names related to Buddha, but their territories are also related to Buddha. Each ghost owner has built large and small temples in his own tribe.
Under the summons of the king, ten days later thirty-seven ghost masters came to their palace in Milu City.
The location of the palace has obviously been carefully considered. It is in a very advantageous location surrounded by mountains and is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The palace was built on the top of the mountain and was shaped like a mountain with multiple houses stacked on top of each other.
It is somewhat similar to the Dushan Shuisi Tower in Guizhou in later generations, but it is much smaller in scale.
The king had a great headache when he got these ghost masters, because most of them were tough, bad-tempered, and cunning. They liked to pursue profits like sharks chasing blood, and they would draw their swords and hurt people without thinking:
Most of them have dark skin and like to brush their teeth after meals, so their teeth are relatively white, which is very suitable for the image of black toothpaste advertisements in later generations.
Their clothing is also very distinctive, and their hair is styled into a cone-shaped bun.
Because the ghost owners are different in size, rich and poor, educated in different ways, and dressed in different clothes, they appear particularly weird.
Elegant silk coats, scribes' hats, and cloaks; vulgar hats and short jackets; the rich wear felts, earrings, and gold rings on their arms, giving them the image of a nouveau riche.
In the Chui Gong Hall, hundreds of ghost masters and guards, large and small, gathered here like a group of ghosts and snake gods.
Although it is a small country, it still has the Prime Minister, Sinong Temple, etc. The Prime Minister, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Husbandry, and the Ministry of Commerce are all Han people, and the Ministry of War and Sinong Temple are all from the Qi Kingdom.
Although they have the image of a group of nouveau riche, in fact, they still have a very low self-esteem deep down in their hearts, and they deeply admire the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, in the officialdom, the literati of the Song Dynasty were very popular.
Now the Prime Minister Deng Peng, the Minister of Rites, Fang Meng, and the Minister of Husband, Haiyuan, are the failed candidates in the Song Dynasty;
Since Qi State was founded on commerce, there was a Ministry of Commerce.
Since it is a minister of the Ministry of Shang, it has the characteristics of the Ministry of Shang. Its minister Chengping was originally the son of a silk merchant of the Song Dynasty.
Chengping once took the civil service examination three times and only succeeded once, so he simply followed his father's business and came to Ziqi Kingdom.
After coming to Ziqi Kingdom, he was appreciated by King Yonggu. During the conversation with him, he was worshiped as the Minister of Shang because of his extraordinary knowledge.
King Yongju is wearing a red python robe and sitting on a dragon chair. The ministers and ghost masters below also have their own chairs. There is a table in front of the chair of each minister and ghost master. On it are drunk spring breeze green tea and several copies of "The Great Song Dynasty". China News.
The tea cup is steaming now. Although it is late autumn, the tea leaves are still green.
Facing these tea leaves that were the same as Tuancha before, although they were all ghost masters, they behaved completely differently.
Those big ghost masters wearing silk were able to keep their composure, but those little ghost masters in bamboo hats and short jackets almost made people burst into laughter.
They couldn't help imitating those ministers drinking tea from teacups. As a result, some of them were burned by the scalding tea and made a "hissing" sound in their mouths. They had to put down the teacups and carefully observe how the ministers drank tea.
Yingju pretended not to know, and waited until the ghost masters learned to drink tea, then said in a deep voice: "Dear ghost masters, the Hu people attacked Jiading and Tongchuan in the Song Dynasty this time, and suffered an unprecedented defeat. The one hundred thousand army almost completely annihilated."
Of course the ghost owners were happy to hear that the Hu people had failed.
After all, if the Song Dynasty wins, they can sell war horses again.
Among all the merchants of the Song Dynasty, they especially liked to do business with the little saint.
Not only did the Little Saint purchase a large number of war horses from others through others, but the various strange monsters he made were very useful, and now demand exceeds supply. As long as the goods are available, you can make money.
Unknowingly, the little saint Zhao Ping became a celebrity in their minds, and he only lived in the official family of the Song Dynasty and Yujie of Sichuan.
Usually the king's meetings are like a vegetable market, and everyone is noisy.
But it was very quiet today, and you could almost hear a pin drop, because now King Xingu was talking about things related to the little saint.
These ghost masters drank the drunken spring breeze made by the little sage from teacups made by the little sage, while listening to the king's narration.
"The little sage of the Song Dynasty once mentioned in the "War Theory" policy review of "The Song Dynasty China News" that the Hu people must attack Dali if they encounter failure in Sichuan, because Dali is not as powerful as the Song Dynasty."
"After Dali was captured, it was our turn to conquer the Qi Kingdom."
"In front of you are the recent "Da Song Zhonghua News", and one of them contains Zhao Ping's "War Theory."
"It is worth mentioning that the Song Dynasty defeated the Hu people with a small number and a large number this time, using a type of firearm called Hongtian Lei."
These ghost masters, big and small, opened the newspaper one after another. If they could read, they could read it by themselves. If they could not read, they could read it to themselves through their sons or Han staff.
"Da Song Zhonghua News" is naturally the authority, and Zhao Ping is the authority among authorities.
After a stick of incense, the faces of the ghost masters, big and small, changed drastically after reading the newspaper.
They knew that in the fourth year of Chunyou (AD 1244), one hundred thousand troops of the Hu people came out of Lingguan to conquer Dali. General Gao He of Dali State died on the battlefield. The Song Dynasty even sent envoys to pay tribute.
The war between the Hu people and Dali was still fresh in Zi Qi's memory, but what was more frightening was yet to come.
Later, from Qi State, I learned through the Song Dynasty Zhonghua Newspaper that the reason why the Hu people retreated was because the Hu people's Han Guiyou died.
Now that Meng Gehan is in good health, the Hu people seem determined to attack Dali.
The ghost masters, who had always been unruly and ill-tempered, took out their swords or scimitars one after another, regardless of whether it was a royal palace or not, they raised them up and waved them around.
While waving, they shouted to Yongju: "What are you afraid of? Fight! Fight! Fight! We also have more than 100,000 soldiers and horses from Qi State, and Dali was defeated by us. Are you afraid of me, a barbarian? Besides, The Hu people are good at horse fighting, and the plains are their world. Now there are hillsides everywhere in Qi State, and they are the world of their ghost masters."
After some big ghost masters shouted, they drank tea and calmed down and thought about it. The Song Dynasty's unprecedented victory this time was mainly due to the small saint's powerful firearms.
After Ying Ju glanced at all the ghost masters, big and small, he looked at their expressions.
These ghost masters looked at each other and towards the most gorgeously dressed ghost master, hoping that he would take the lead in making up his mind.
"May I ask the king, these firearms are so easy to use, how much is the price?" This ghost master, who was more or less drunk in silk and dressed as a scholar, cupped his hands and imitated the Song Dynasty people and asked Yin Gu.
Yeng Ju thought for a while, raised his index finger, and said in a deep voice: "The price of the little saint's firearm is one horse."
The big ghost master looked shocked at first, but finally thought about it, didn't say anything, and continued drinking tea.
But the little ghost master's mouth screamed louder than a woman's, and it seemed to be a more miserable howl than the scalding tea just now.
The little saint suddenly lost his scent. These thunderous thunders were not weapons that were used to blast the barbarians. Instead, they turned around and cut their flesh alive.
