Now that he had successfully concluded an alliance with the Jin people, Tong Guan no longer stayed at sea. With an order, several ships quickly turned around and headed towards the west coast.
After doing this for two days, they finally docked again. Arrangements had already been made here to not only control the surrounding people to prevent the news from leaking, but also stationed an army. It was the imperial army that came from Tokyo, and it was also the team that escorted Tong Guanbei into the Liao Kingdom. . Obviously, Tong Guan had arranged everything before going to sea, and no outsiders noticed anything unusual when he came and went. At least he could ensure that this key information would not be leaked in a short period of time.
After returning to the envoy team, Tong Guan sent a team of trusted soldiers and horses to secretly send the agreement between the two countries to Bianjing. It wasn't until he finished all this that he ordered his people to display his own banner, and swaggeringly led more than 2,000 forbidden troops and the elite Qingzhou Army all the way to the west and then north toward the border area between Liao and Song Dynasties.
And Sun Tu and the others also saw a completely different scene from the places they had visited before. After crossing the Yellow River and crossing into Hebei, they saw that the lives of the people were poorer than anywhere before. Many of the people's houses were dilapidated and low, and some were even made of mud and vegetation. Even if it rains, their shelter will be washed away. But despite this, there are still a large number of people living on the streets, without even a place to cover their heads, and I don't know how they survive the winter.
Not only do they only have a roof to cover their heads, but food and housing are also a big problem. Looking along the way, most of the people were so hungry that they were skinny and skinny. Even if they saw such a large group of officers and soldiers approaching, they would just stay by the official road and watch blankly. They were dressed in rags, and most of them were barefoot. I'm afraid they couldn't even afford a pair of straw sandals.
Seeing this scene, Sun Tu couldn't believe his eyes. How could this be in the Song Dynasty? Because according to his impression, the Song Dynasty is very prosperous today. Even in remote places like Qingzhou and small counties like Yuncheng County, the people at least don't have to worry about food and clothing. Along the way here, he had seen more than a dozen corpses lying on the roadside. They had obviously died violently and were quickly dragged away and buried by the local officials.
"How could this be so? With the wealth of the Song Dynasty, why can't we come up with some money and food to help the people here? Aren't those people in the court afraid that the people here will rebel after forcing people to a dead end?" Sun Tudang It was so confusing. Finally, at a reception banquet later, I asked a local official this question.
That person could see that Sun Tu was Tong Guan's most trusted confidant, and he did not dare to be too perfunctory about it. He could only sigh and whisper: "General Sun, you don't know something. This is also a forced act. Who put this land in Hebei at the junction of the two countries? Although the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom have not gone to war for a hundred years, small-scale frictions have never stopped. Every month, the Liao Kingdom army will attack from somewhere We burned, killed, and looted people in the Song Dynasty. This move was also called "grazing the grass valley".
"In fact, in the early years, the government would compensate the people after disasters and let them live and work in peace and contentment as soon as possible. But often as soon as we rebuilt their homes, the Liao people would invade again. In this way, most of the money and food spent by the government would be lost. into the hands of the Liao Kingdom
. Over time, we no longer dare to waste money and food. Moreover, wherever the people are living well, they will rob them. After all, giving them money and food is actually harming them. "
After hearing this, Sun Tu frowned even more deeply. At first, he didn't have a clear concept of military disasters. It was only then that he realized how difficult it was for the people in such situations. It was really possible that they might not even be able to save their lives at any time.
But while understanding, he still said: "Even if there are such reasons, the local government cannot watch the people die of hunger and cold."
"Actually, we have tried our best. Many years ago, the imperial court intended to clear out the area to the north of Hebei and divert water to irrigate silt to resist the Liao cavalry. However, the local people are unable to leave their homeland. Why? They refused to move out, and we even had several conflicts with the government before. We were really helpless, so we had no choice but to let them go, hoping that they would take the initiative to leave this place if they couldn't survive anymore."
Sun Tu really had nothing to say at this time. Chinese people have always settled down and relocated, and would not leave their hometowns unless absolutely necessary. It's just that he didn't expect that the people here would be so stubborn. They were almost in a desperate situation and still refused to move away from this place. Perhaps, only when the war between Song and Liao officially started, and these people had the last chance to retreat, would they give up and leave.
When the man turned and left, Lu Da and Wu Song, who were listening on the sidelines, sighed repeatedly.
The two of them have experienced a lot before, and they are not soft-hearted people, but after seeing what happened to the people here, they still felt miserable. At this time, he took the opportunity to say: "Sanlang, originally we thought it was unwise for Tong Guan to join forces with the Jin people to attack the Liao Kingdom, but now it seems that it makes sense. If we can take back the Sixteenth Prefecture of Youyun , the people here will not have to suffer from the military disasters year after year, and can live and work here in peace and contentment."
"Yes, if the Song Dynasty can really regain a large area of land in the north and have its own land for raising horses, whether it is the Khitan people or other foreigners, they will definitely be more wary of us, and there will be no possibility of things like today Soldiers and horses can enter and plunder at any time." Sun Tu also nodded with deep understanding.
Thinking about it this way, the strategy decided by Zhao Ji and Tong Guan was not wrong. Their only fault was that they overestimated their own strength and underestimated the fierceness and ability of the Liao people, especially the Jurchens.
And as soon as he thought that in the near future such terrible scenes would move from the area north of the Yellow River to the more densely populated Yangtze River area, Sun Tu realized that the consequences would be serious. It is a pity that with his current status, he is not enough to guide changes in the national policy of the Song Dynasty. In the end, he can only watch the entire Northern Song Dynasty step by step into the abyss of death.
Because of such heavy emotions, he was not very interested in traveling to Sun Tu. He even had no intention of paying much attention to the mountains and rivers in the north. Fortunately, after finally building a few fortified cities, they were able to see some of the common people's lives that they should have had.
Although the people in these cities are not as wealthy as those in the south, they still live and work in peace and contentment. They don't have to worry about sneak attacks and killings by Liao cavalry at all times. They can live in houses and have two meals a day without going hungry.
At this time, Tong Guan also kept a low profile. He no longer frequently had banquets with local officials, but instead spent a lot of time
Occasionally, I met the frontier generals along the road. At this time, Sun Tu finally saw how much prestige Tong Guan had in the border army. Although he was just a eunuch and was called one of the six thieves by civil servants and later generations, he was deeply loved by the soldiers of the border army. Every time he arrived at a battalion, he would win rounds of cheers. They would also specially send people to escort Tong Guan all the way north. These soldiers would not leave until they entered the next military town.
Sun Tu and others saw this, and their views on Tong Guan also changed somewhat. Originally, they all thought that Tong Guan's current status was achieved only because he had been with the emperor all year round and was favored by the emperor. But looking at the sincere performance of the soldiers on the border, they knew that he did have his own set of skills, and he probably didn't. Don't speak and do things for the soldiers.
After passing through several border towns one after another, this team of envoys finally arrived at the real border between Song and Liao at the end of April, the last pass in the north of the Song Dynasty, Yanmen Pass.
This is a tall pass between two mountains. The pass wall alone is more than ten feet high, and the stone wall on the north is five or six feet thick. It cannot be said to be an ordinary siege weapon of this era. The ordinary artillery of later generations may not be able to blast through this strong barrier in a short period of time.
Moreover, there are tens of thousands of elite border troops stationed in this pass. Although these soldiers seem to be far less powerful than the Forbidden Army and the Qingzhou Army, Sun Tu can feel a different murderous aura from these soldiers. That is a real experience. The terrifying temperament can only be forged after being tempered by life and death, and rising from the dead many times.
It can be said that it was precisely because of this army stationed at Yanmen Pass that the Liao State did not dare to invade the Central Plains on a large scale. The only thing they could do was to send small groups of troops to harass the rear, but they were unable to cause much damage to the Song Dynasty.
Sun Tu, who was aware of this, was naturally in awe of the defenders here. When he stayed here, their attitude was also very different. This also won him the favor of many soldiers here and made them remember this. Attack the Jingdong Road Soldiers and Horses Supervisor coming from the south.
After arriving at Yanmen Pass, Tong Guan was not in a hurry to move forward. Instead, he sent someone to contact the Liao people in the north, conveyed his status as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom, and waited for the response there.
Then, they temporarily stayed in the Yanmen Pass area, and Sun Tu also took the opportunity to walk around outside the pass, paying homage to the heroes of the Song Dynasty who died fighting here, and the man who did not actually exist, but served for both countries. There is no doubt that the great hero who is willing to commit suicide in peace is Xiao Feng, the King of the Southern Court of the Liao Kingdom and the former leader of the Beggar Gang of the Song Kingdom.
Although there cannot be any stone forest here, and there are no words left on the stone wall that Xiao Yuanshan carved with his bare hands before jumping off the cliff, standing outside Yanmen Pass and feeling the turmoil here inevitably made Sun Tu think of the heroes in this story. .
After staying here for several days, it was not until the Dragon Boat Festival that the Liao Kingdom finally got a reply and allowed the envoys of the Song Dynasty to enter the country. However, they also made a request that the number of Song people entering this time should not exceed one thousand!
Although some people were dissatisfied with this, Tong Guan didn't take it to heart and quickly agreed.
So on the seventh day of May, the envoy team went north again and truly entered the territory of Liao Kingdom. As one of the guards, the Qingzhou Army left most of the troops at Yanmen Pass, with only two hundred people accompanying them.