"Dalang," said Ma Zhicheng Wu Haogu, and hesitated. After thinking about it, he said, "It's better to do this. Tomorrow, you will go to Xiangshan with someone to meet someone's teacher, Mr. Murong, and you will talk to him too."

Xiangshan Murong?

Why does it sound like martial arts style?

"This Mr. Murong is..."

"Official, he is a great scholar in Yan!" Ximen Qing was now with Wu Haogu. When Ma Zhi mentioned Mr. Murong, he interrupted, "And the Yuhe Murong family, whom Mr. Murong belongs to, is the same as my Yanggu Ximen family. They are both from Youzhou Yamen, and they never forget to restore Yanyun."

Ma Zhi nodded and said, "My elder sister's Ximen family is known as the South Ximen, while the Yuhe Murong family is known as the North Murong, and is the pen tip of Youzhou Yajiang."

Wu Haoguxin said: Why is it Nanximen and Beimurong? Where did you place Xiao Feng and Xiao Hero?

"Then is the Murong family in Yuhe where Mr. Murong is also a wealthy family in Yan?" Wu Haogu asked.

Ximen Qing once gave Wu Haogu a booklet about the Yanyun clan, which did not contain the Yuhe Murong family, so Wu Haogu had this question.

"Murong Yuhe and the Ximen clan members who stayed in Yan land are both retainers of the Zhao clan," Ximen Qing whispered, "so they are not considered wealthy clans."

Zhao family? Which Zhao family?

Could it be Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou’s family?

When Wu Haogu thought about it, he remembered that Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou were also from Youzhou Town Generals. After the destruction of the Liu family, Zhao Dejun became the governor of Youzhou. After surrendering to the Khitan, Zhao Dejun became the governor of Youzhou. Later, Zhao Yanshou inherited this position. Later, Youzhou was changed to Nanjing Road, and Zhao Yanshou was the first remaining subordinate in Nanjing. The Ximen family claimed to be from Youzhou, so they were not Zhao Yanshou's subordinates, right?

The Ximen family had a long time of trouble, and it turned out to be a retainer of the traitor Zhao family! What was the idea of ​​the traitor Zhao family putting them in the territory of the Song Dynasty?

Should we not forget to restore Yanyun, or should we not forget to go south and seize the Han people's territory?

Wu Haogu thought this in his heart, of course he couldn't say it out, because Sister Ximen must be a good person. He asked Ma Zhi again, "Why do people in the Zhao family forget to recover?"

He knew that compared with the Ma family in Yiwulu Mountain, the Zhao family in Zhenzhou was the real wealthy family - they were the foundation of the governor of Youzhou. If the Zhao family was really willing to surrender to the Song Dynasty anyway (their family was also good at surrendering anyway), then the Battle of Yanyun would be easy to fight in the future.

Ma Zhi shook his head and said with a smile: "You have to ask your teacher, Mr. Murong, about the Zhao family."

Ma Zhi refused to say it, but Wu Haogu knew it. If the Zhao family had no ambition, then Nanximen would have been defeated long ago. But if Wu Haogu would say that a great Liao family like the Zhao family in Zhenzhou would jump out to be the first to be the leader, Wu Haogu would not believe it.

If you look at the performance of their ancestors during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, you can imagine what kind of people are the gray grandsons.

However, in the original history, the Zhao family in Zhenzhou did not seem to have any tricks. I don’t know if it was because the descendants of the Zhao family were useless, or if the Khitans had been wary of their habitual surrender and seized power early?

...

Spring breeze, warm.

Wu Haogu, Ma Zhi, Ximen Qing, Zhang Zeduan, Lin Chonglin and others chose a beautiful day to leave Yanjing, the beggar city, and rode a horse to the nearby Xiangshan Mountain.

Outside Yanjing City, there is no such thing as the city inside, there is no tall city wall that makes people breathless, nor is there a group of ragged beggars. Even the sky seems much brighter and deeper than the city inside.

On the green fields, small cities are dotted with scattered spots. From time to time, large groups of carriages and horses drive out from these small cities and flow on the green earth.

Wu Haogu and his group were also furious in fresh clothes and furious horses. Ma Zhi changed his style of being alone in the Southern Dynasties and brought dozens of guards, servants and maids, and a large cart with all kinds of food, drink and fun. First, there was a brave man holding a large banner embroidered with the word "horse" and setting the way in front.

There is a very good show of a local emperor traveling.

However, such pomp seemed very common around Yanjing. After walking north after leaving the Qingjin Gate of Yanjing and walking less than twenty miles, Wu Haogu saw four similar teams.

"Dalang, they all went to hunt." Ma Zhi smiled and told Wu Haogu, "Yan Yun has nothing to do here. Apart from women, they are hunting, polo and slings."

Ximen Qing was also wearing Khitan-style outfit, with bows and arrows hanging on the horse's back and walking beside Wu Haogu. When she heard Ma Zhi's words, she whispered to Wu Haogu: "If you can't ride and shoot on Yan Yun, you won't even be a playboy."

Yan Yun's wealthy family was similar to the family members of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and was not popular with otaku. If the wealthy family members could not even play horse riding, archery and polo, they would not even be called a playboy, and they would only be useless.

"How useless are these small towns?"

The Ma family's chariot and horse brigade passed by a small city near the official road. The exterior walls of the city were rammed earth. Deep and wide trenches were dug outside the city, and patrol soldiers were faintly vaguely on the city wall.

As a "spy", Wu Haogu naturally had to inquire when he saw such a fortress.

"This is the fortress of the powerful Yan land," Ximen Qingda Ma Zhi replied, "In the Daliao area, all the rich clans and surnames will build forts and live in it. The fortress is usually surrounded by their land, and there are clan soldiers gathered in the fortress and food and grass."

This is clearly the style of the powerful Eastern Han Dynasty!

"The Liao Dynasty's court doesn't care?"

"Guan?" Ma Zhi smiled, "Isn't the one with the surname Yelu and Xiao? Who can be ranked as the nobles of the priest? Who has no private city or military state?"

"Private city?"

"It's just an enlarged fortress." Ma Zhi said, "There are not many Zhongjing Road on Nanjing Road, but there are more Xijing Road and Tokyo Road on Shangjing Road. Every family of wealthy families set up private cities. When they grow bigger, they go to ask for the title of Junzhou, which is considered a territory of their own generations."

Junzhou below the head turned out to be the private territory of the powerful Liao Kingdom!

"Didn't the Liao Kingdom build palace tents and analyze tribes? Why are there so many military states, private cities and fortresses appearing?"

Ma Zhi shook his head, "It was really not easy to explain the situation clearly while building palace tents and analyzing tribes... It is only a waste of sand in the Great Liao Kingdom today."

In fact, it is not difficult to explain clearly that the construction of palace tents and tribes are used to deal with the old tribes, while the military prefectures, private cities and castles are newly emerging nobles and powerful people, of course, including many people in the Khitan royal family.

So the Liao Kingdom was just centralizing while slowly falling apart...

This situation is a bit like the Han Dynasty. The so-called "Han is destroyed by force" can also be put on Liao. If Wanyan Jurchen is regarded as a component of the Liao Kingdom, Liao will be destroyed by force.

Once Wanyan Jurchen replaces Yelu Khitan and becomes the new master of the empire, he integrates various powerful forces from the Liao Kingdom with the momentum of "its rise and prosperity", the combat power generated is not something that the Northern Song Dynasty can resist.

The Song Dynasty looks really dangerous!

...

From Yanjing City (Fangshan District, Beijing) to Xiangshan, it was about forty miles. Wu Haogu and others rode their horses for more than an hour and almost arrived at the foot of Xiangshan.

Xiangshan Wu Haohao is very familiar... Of course, it was Xiangshan more than 900 years later. He often went to sketch when studying in Beijing. He has been to Biyun Temple, Jingyi Garden, Shuangqing Villa, Yuhua Villa, and the famous Xiangshan Red Leaf, etc. How many times have he been to.

However, now, there are no such famous scenery. What can be seen is the lush and continuous mountain landscape, as well as a large temple under construction at the foot of the southern foot of Xiangshan Mountain.

This temple called the Great Temple did not exist in later generations, and it seemed to be destroyed by war.

Wu Haogu asked Ma Zhi, "Second brother, that's Huayan Temple, right?"

"Yes." Ma Zhi smiled, "It was built by the uncle of a certain family who tried his best. When he was a county magistrate in Songshan, he dared to ask for the Songshan people who transported charcoal. He was captured by Xiao Tuhun and did not surrender. Now that the official has become an official, he is determined to please the emperor and the King of Yan. In order to build this temple, he has used many Yuhe County people."

"Oh," Wu Haogu asked, "The Ma Police Patrol was also captured by the Khitans and was sent to prison? How was that released?"

"It is said that Xiao Tuhun felt that his uncle from a certain family was deeply moved and let him go and recommended my uncle to the court."

Wu Haogu said: "Then Xiao Tuhun is a good official."

Xiao Tuhun, a dignified Zhongjing left behind, was the largest official in the Liao Kingdom! He was overthrown by a sesame county magistrate - the Ma Renwang's county magistrate was mostly bought from Xiao Tuhun's hands - he was not furious and recommended it to his superiors. It was so surprising that the Liao Dynasty had such a good official.

"Where is it?" Ma Zhi lowered his voice, "This matter was actually arranged by Mr. Murong, whom I want to meet today. He also gave Xiao Tuhun's wife six thousand taels of silver!"

Ma Zhi hummed, "Otherwise, my uncle's official will be done by just contradicting the government and not completing the choke transport to Zezhou on time. Where can I say that he loves the people and recommends it to the top... I think beautifully!"

It’s easy to be a good official! Wu Haogu thought: It seems that you must be rich and find a way to give money to you, oh, and you also need a capable master.

Only in this way can one get one for sure and achieve success!

"Mr. Murong is still a little capable." Wu Haogu nodded, "Second brother, why don't you hire Mr. Murong as the leader."

Wu Haogu did not want to invite Mr. Murong back to the Song Dynasty to help him, because the Song Dynasty officialdom was something he didn't know. Wu Haogu had to find an old officialdom fox in the Song Dynasty...
Chapter completed!