Fenghou

"Chen Qing?"

Xiao Heda stared wide-eyed, of course he knew Chen Qing, how could Chen Qing find him?

"Who sent the letter?"

"Father-in-law is a Qiang caravan from Zhangye. My son-in-law has asked repeatedly. They just went to Qinzhou to buy a batch of goods, and then came to Xiazhou to do business. By the way, they brought this letter for Chen Qing."

Xiao Heda looked at the letter, it was written in Chinese, he knew it, the Xihe Road Jiedu envoy of the Great Song Dynasty, Chen Qing and Xiao Heda, the chief commander of the Daliao Dynasty, were in charge.

The title of "Chief of the Daliao" deeply hurt him. Where does the Daliao Kingdom still exist?

After a while, he opened the letter and read it again, his eyes widened and his expression became extremely astonished.

Xi Muna had never seen such a surprised expression on his father-in-law, so he asked cautiously, "Father-in-law, what did Chen Qing say in the letter?"

Xiao Heda waved his hand, "Go and find Yelu Jinfeng, and we'll talk about it together."

Xi Muna knew that something big must happen, so he hurried out.

Not long after, Xi Muna and his eldest son-in-law Yelu came in a hurry. At this time, Xiao Heda had recovered from the extreme shock, but he was still a little distraught, pacing back and forth in the lobby with his hands behind his back.

Seeing the two son-in-laws walking into the lobby, he waved them to sit down.

Xiao Heda sighed, "I never dreamed that Yelu Dashi would rebuild Daliao in the Western Regions."

The two sons-in-law looked at each other, and Xi Mu asked anxiously, "Did Chen Qing say that in the letter?"

"Exactly!"

"How could Chen Qing know?"

Xiao Heda shook his head, "I don't know the details, maybe he heard from a businessman from the Western Regions, but I know that Yelu Dashi led the army to the west, but I didn't expect him to rebuild Daliao, I only regret that I didn't able to take part in it.”

Rebuilding Daliao is a great cause that every Khitan person dreams of, and Xiao Heda is no exception. At this moment, his heart is full of enthusiasm, and he can't wait to lead his army to the Western Regions immediately.

Yelu Jinfeng was very steady, he asked slowly: "Chen Qing must have other intentions in writing to his father-in-law!"

Xiao Heda smiled bitterly and said: "He invited me to join the great cause and destroy Xixia together!"

"Bullshit!"

Yelu Jinfeng said coldly: "He wants us to rebel and relieve him of the pressure. I don't think he can hold on with the overwhelming army in Lanzhou!"

Xiao Heda knew that the eldest son-in-law was more thorough in seeing things, and the eldest son-in-law's thinking should be right. He and Chen Qing had never met each other. He came to him at this time, obviously wanting to use him.

"What does Jin Feng think I should do?"

Yelu Jinfeng thought for a while and said: "I think my father-in-law should make it clear to the emperor to clear up the misunderstanding. I am worried that Chen Qing will deliberately drive a wedge between us and the Xixia people, and maybe he will write a letter to the emperor saying that we intend to rebel. , father-in-law simply handed over this letter to the emperor to show his innocence!"

"Absolutely not!"

Xi Muna objected: "If there is no matter of Yelu Dashi's founding of the country, you can talk to Li Qianshun, but since Yelu Dashi has rebuilt Daliao, Li Qianshun will definitely regard us as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, and will definitely do everything possible to eradicate us. This letter tells Li Qianshun that it is tantamount to handing over the handle to him, regardless of whether we have colluded with Chen Qing or not, but he will definitely accuse us of secretly colluding with Chen Qing, and he will have an excuse to send troops to destroy us."

Yelu Jinfeng retorted: "If Chen Qing tells the emperor that he has colluded with us, isn't it the same thing? The emperor can also find an excuse to destroy us."

"So this is a conspiracy!"

Xi Muna said decisively: "It has nothing to do with whether we have colluded with Chen Qing or not. The root cause is that Li Qianshun wants to destroy us. Once he knows that Yelu Dashi is rebuilding Daliao in the Western Regions, he will only speed up the pace of destroying us."

Xiao Heda was completely convinced by the second son-in-law. The second son-in-law was right. The root cause was that Li Qianshun wanted to destroy himself. He must not tell Li Qianshun about this, and Li Qianshun used it as an excuse to destroy himself.

Xiao Heda walked around a few times with his hands behind his back. He made up his mind and said to his two sons-in-law: "I have decided to send people to the Western Regions in the spring of next year to contact Yelu Dashi. I will definitely not be absent when the Liao Dynasty is restored!"

Yelu Jinfeng was a little unwilling and said: "But the Western Regions are so vast, how do you know where Yelu Dashi is going to restore the country?"

Xiao Heda pointed to the channel: "Chen Qing drew a map in the letter, I probably know where the new Liao Kingdom is."

He turned back and said to Xi Muna: "I want to write a reply letter to Chen Qing, reject his suggestion, and thank him for telling me about the restoration of the Daliao Dynasty. You arrange two capable men to ride camels to Qinzhou I deliver the letter."

Chapter 455 New Year

Half a month after the birth of Chen Qing's son, the new year finally arrived. Every family was busy worshiping ancestors, pasting peach charms, setting off firecrackers, preparing Tusu wine, and housewives were too busy to cook bacon and make vegetarian cakes.

Chen Qing's mansion is the first new year after having a new life, so it is also very busy. Lu Xiu is still in confinement and has to stay in the room, but she is not absent, planning strategies in the room, directing Yu Lian and Yu Ying ran errands to get her family ready for the New Year.

Lu Xiu also specially rewarded each of the servants with three pennies to thank them for their efforts in the past few months.

Like other families, Chen Qing's mansion was decorated with lanterns and festoons, full of joy.

Today is New Year's Eve, Lu Xiu has something to worry about, everyone else's family is worshiping the ancestors, but my husband has no idea of ​​worshiping the ancestors at all, I asked my husband last night, and he even proposed to put a sign of heaven and earth.

Lu Xiu couldn't laugh or cry, but she was deeply worried. She is Xiangguo's granddaughter, how could she not know what it means to sacrifice to heaven and earth?

At noon, Chen Qing returned home as usual. His son was asleep most of the time, only waking up for a while at noon every day, so that Chen Qing would go home at noon every day.

Today, as usual, he changed his clothes and walked lightly to his wife's room.

In the room, the little guy was lying beside his mother, sucking milk sweetly. When Lu Xiu saw her husband come in, she smiled and said, "The little guy is having lunch!"

"Daddy hasn't had lunch either!"

Chen Qing leaned forward with a smile, and Lu Xiu poked him on the forehead, "I don't even speak properly in front of my son. If I don't have dinner, I will go to Mrs. Wen, and she will arrange it for you."

Just as Lu Xiu was about to call Yu Lian, Chen Qing quickly pressed her mouth, "Wait a while, I'll see my son."

Chen Qing rested his chin and quietly looked at his son's little face. The little guy no longer had the same old appearance as when he was born, and had completely turned into a pink and jade-chiseled baby. Although he was concentrating on sucking milk, Wu Liuliu's eyes secretly glanced at the father beside him from time to time.

"Husband, let's prepare the spirit card for the sacrifice!"

Lu Xiu softly said to her husband: "Every family sacrifices. After all, this is a respect for the ancestors. Husband thinks it is inconvenient to have too many spiritual cards. At least you should arrange the tablets for your parents."

Chen Qing smiled wryly and said: "Before I didn't want to, it was because I didn't worship my ancestors since I was a child, and neither did my parents. Of course, there must be a reason for this, but I don't know that's all, but if I only arrange the spiritual seats of my parents, That's fine."

Seeing that her husband had compromised, Lu Xiu was overjoyed and said quickly, "It's New Year's Eve now, my husband hastened to write the spirit tablet, and I'll ask Mrs. Wen to arrange the tribute."

After Lu Xiu finished speaking, she pulled the thin rope next to her a few times, the bell rang outside, and Yu Lian walked into the inner room quickly, and Lu Xiu ordered: "Go and invite Mrs. Wen here!"

Mrs. Wen is the housekeeper, and Yu Lian flew away.

Seeing that his wife attached great importance to sacrifices, Chen Qing felt helpless, so he stood up and said, "Okay! I'm going to write the spirit tablet now."

He gently kissed his son's delicate little face, and then walked out quickly.

……

Only an hour later, the sacrificial halls in Chen Qing's mansion were all arranged, and they were arranged in a small courtyard at the far end of the back house. The altar of the deceased was wrapped in red silk, and there were only two spiritual tablets. One was Chen Qing's father, Chen Dayun, and the other was Chen Qing's mother, Zhou Hui.

Chen Qing took three sticks of incense, bowed to the spirit seat, and inserted the incense into the incense burner.

At this time, Yu Lian also picked up the three incense sticks and bowed, blushing and explained: "Madam asked me to offer three incense sticks for her!"

Not to be outdone, Yu Ying also picked up three sticks of incense and said brazenly, "I will also offer three sticks of incense to grandfather and grandmother on behalf of the young master!"

"Okay, don't make excuses, you can burn incense if you want! Just remember not to let the incense candle go out."

Chen Qing shook his head, turned around and left.

Chen Qing had to inspect the barracks in the afternoon, so he took his soldiers out and rode slowly towards the barracks.

At this time, most of the shops were closed, and every household was busy with the New Year’s Eve feast. There were bursts of firecrackers in the city from time to time. There were only children playing on the street, and the air was filled with a faint smell of gunpowder.

Running out of the city gate, the outside of the city was completely covered with ice and snow, and there was endless white snow in the distance. Chen Qing raised his head and took a deep breath of the cold breath, the new year is finally coming.

……

After the New Year, time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, in late January, there was already a hint of warmth in the air, and the Weihe River also showed signs of thawing. Chengji County was indeed much warmer than Ganquan Fort, and Ganquan Fort was still The world of ice and snow does not have the slightest breath of spring, but Chengji County already has a sense of spring, the most obvious is that the willow branches have turned green.

At noon, Yang Qi came to Xuechuan Restaurant again, his heart was like a mirror, and this was probably the last time he would do such a thing.

"Hey! Master Yang hasn't been here for a long time, please go upstairs!"

Ever since he told Dou Qing about Xiao Heda's top-secret information, Yang Qi didn't come here many times. He explained to Dou Qing that it's been relatively flat recently, and there is no Grade A information.

But today, he brought an extremely important piece of information. As soon as he sat down, Dou Qing hurried over.

"I heard that the Jiedu Mansion held an important meeting this morning, and several governors rushed to the Jiedu Mansion. What's the matter?"

"It's what you care about most!"

Yang Qi handed the two documents to Dou Qing, "This is the original signed and stamped by the Jiedu envoy, and copying is not allowed. I smuggled it out while everyone is out for dinner at noon, and you copy a copy quickly."

Dou Qing was overjoyed, he didn't have time to take a closer look, so he quickly asked two of his men to come in and copy. He stood by and looked at it, secretly surprised. All the troops in the state were withdrawn to Longxi County, and Jiang Yanxian led [-] troops to stay in Chengji County.

Today is January 25th, that is to say, Cao Baozong has only ten days left to prepare.

Not long after, the two subordinates finished copying the document, and Dou Qing checked it carefully again to confirm that it was correct. Then he took out ten taels of silver and handed it to Yang Qi together with the two documents, and said with a smile: "I have waited for these two pieces of information. It's been a long time, thank you!"

Yang Qi nodded, "The shopkeeper will send it out as soon as possible, there are only ten days left."

"I know, I will send someone to send it away today!"

Yang Qi left in a hurry, and Dou Qing hurriedly copied another copy, stamped his seal on it, and handed it to one of his subordinates.

"You rush to Lanzhou immediately and give this information to General Cao. It is very important!"

The content of the two resolutions was too much for Eagle Letter to write, so he could only send someone to send the original to Lanzhou.

The subordinates put away the letters, got on their horses and left.

Dou Qing wrote another Yingxin short message, "On the fifth day of February, Chen Qing officially sent troops to Longxi County. '

At the same time, he sent people to send Xinying to the north bank of the Weihe River outside the city.

……

In the internal affairs camp, Yang Qi handed over ten taels of silver to Wang Hao, and Wang Hao said with a smile: "The general praised you for your performance in the past few months, and these ten taels of silver will be used as an extra reward, and I will give it to you later Arrange a one-acre official courtyard, and promote you to be in charge!"

Yang Qi had a sore nose, and quickly got up to salute, "Thank you General for taking care of me and protecting my family these past few months!"

Wang Hao smiled slightly and said: "The mission is officially over. We will close the net today and catch all the Xixia spies, but for the sake of safety, you and your whole family will go to Qingshui County to live in seclusion for a month. After the Xixia war is over, you will come back to take office, Qingshui A courtyard has been arranged in the county, and someone will send your family there, so that you won't be afraid of the Xixia people's revenge on you."

Yang Qi was moved in his heart, and saluted again: "The general is considerate, and I am grateful for my humble position!"

"Go back to Jiedu Mansion first! Someone will contact you later."

Yang Qi saluted and left happily.

Wang Hao ordered: "Order all the internal guards to assemble!"

Chapter 456 Receiving the Net

There is a small village on the north bank of the Weihe River, called Xiaowen Village. In the east of this village, there is a rather large house, covering an area of ​​about four acres, but the owner lives in Chengji County, and the house is rented to a For the brothers who specialize in fishing in the Weihe River, they make a living by fishing.

The house has been rented out for several years. Although there are eagles flying up and down from the yard from time to time, the brothers seem to be honest and honest, and the villagers don't care about some of their weird behaviors.

In the afternoon, a letter eagle lifted off from the yard, circled a few times in the air, and then slowly flew to the northwest.

As soon as Xinying was sent away, dozens of soldiers surrounded the house from all directions. The soldiers turned into the backyard, took control of several eagle cages first, and then rushed into the house, pressing the two so-called brothers to the ground. , back tied up.

To deal with Xixia spies, we must first cut off their external contacts to prevent them from sending people to inform Lanzhou, causing false information to fail.

In fact, the Internal Affairs Battalion has been monitoring the Xixia spies for half a year. They have a thorough understanding of how many people they have and how they are distributed, so the Xinying camp was the first to be cut off.

The two spies who delivered the eagle letter were arrested, and the city of Chengji County also started to act. Jiang Xiaowu from Yi'an Teahouse was the first to be arrested, and he was directly arrested in the elegant room of the teahouse. The shopkeeper of the old North Gate leather goods shop and three assistants were there, and the three caves of the cunning rabbit were the second cave of Xixia spies.

At this moment, [-] soldiers from the Inner Guard Battalion surrounded Xuechuan Restaurant.

Fifty soldiers broke open the gate and rushed in.

Dou Qing was arranging a few tables for the evening banquet in the kitchen, when suddenly someone came stumbling over with his hands down, "Boss shopkeeper, something is wrong, Song Jun has come in!"

Dou Qing was taken aback, he suddenly remembered something, his face turned pale, he turned around and ran to the shopkeeper's room in the backyard, where there were all kinds of information he collected, not only from Yang Qi, but also the information they usually collected All kinds of population and people's livelihood information, as well as his secret notebook, which contains some records of him being a spy in Jingzhao, which is equivalent to exposing Jingzhao's intelligence point, Yanzhou's intelligence point, and other secrets .

There is no time to destroy other things, this notebook must be destroyed.

As soon as he ran into the yard, an arrow swished and hit his calf. Dou Qing screamed and fell to the ground.

Just as he struggled to get up, his neck suddenly felt a stabbing pain, and a sharp saber pressed against his neck, "Move again, and your head will be cut off."

Dou Qing sighed in her heart, fell to the ground, and no longer resisted.

Song soldiers tied him behind his back, stuffed his mouth with rags, and put a black mask on his head.

Song Jun's actions were extremely swift and violent. None of the [-] Xixia spies, including the shopkeeper, escaped. Except for five who were killed on the spot, the rest were all captured alive.

Soldiers of the Internal Guard began to search the restaurant thoroughly.

At this time, Wang Hao walked into the restaurant, and a soldier took off Dou Qing's hood. Wang Hao smiled ironically in his eyes: "Yang Qi stole the information at noon and was caught on the spot. He confessed to you, otherwise I didn't know that the well-known Xuechuan restaurant was actually opened by Xixia scouts."

Dou Qing cursed inwardly, it was indeed Yang Qi's fault, his face suddenly changed, Song Jun's dispatch information had already been sent to Lanzhou, if Song Jun changed his plan, wouldn't the information he sent become false information?

Seeing his face changing, Wang Hao couldn't help laughing, "You're serious, do you know how Jiang Xiaowu got into the teahouse? I called him in by name, otherwise how would you find Yang Xiaowu?" strange?"

Dou Qing's face turned pale immediately, and he suddenly understood that it was a trap from the beginning, and he was completely caught in it.