Troubled Times: Start with 800 Dead Soldiers

Bianjing is still peaceful here, but under the so-called peaceful background, there are undercurrents surging inland.

After Zhao Kuangyin proclaimed himself emperor, he established the Song Dynasty (Northern Song Dynasty) with Kaifeng as its capital.

After Su Xia of Salmon Island established the Hua Xia Kingdom, he has been working steadily for many years, unlike Zhao Ji who wanted to pacify Su Xia a few years ago.

Now, his wings and army were completely lost, leaving only the remaining soldiers defending Bianjing.

Recently, during the previous dynasty, even the past favorites such as Gao Qiu, Li Bangyan and others were talking about persuading Emperor Zhao Ji to move the capital.

For Zhao Ji, even though he himself is ignorant and ignorant, as the emperor, as a city with more than one million people and more than 6400 shops in Bianjing, even if it corresponds to some medium-sized cities today, it may not be the best. At a disadvantage.

He really didn't want to leave Bianjing City, but rumors kept coming, saying that Su Xia's army would launch an attack recently. Since the Zhong family army had defected to Su Xia, he was very confused.

But he still made up his mind to leave Bianjing.

But he didn't know that Su Xia's troops were divided into several groups and launched attacks overnight from the east, south, north and other places.

All this kept him awake at night, and even though two concubines with fair arms and fair arms were serving him at the same time lying beside his pillow, it still made him a little worried.

Also worried is Zhou Bin, the former magistrate of Dengzhou Prefecture. This Zhou Bin is Su Xia's old superior. After Su Xia's rebellion, he was left idle and abandoned. He usually stays at home. Of course, in private, he is a superior who once rebelled against thieves. , and often received banquets from some ministers of the DPRK and China.

After all, let's not forget that he once visited China on behalf of Song Dynasty and signed a treaty.

At this moment, he was so worried that he couldn't fall asleep. He was drinking a small drink. The four-sided table was very spacious. There were steamed goose and duck steaks, lotus duck skewers, scallion noodles, fried quails, fried clams, and fried crabs. There were seven dishes stacked on the table. Qibaba actually serves more than 20 kinds of dishes.

The person sitting in front of him was none other than Ma Baoguo, who was stationed in Bianjing City.

When Ma Baoguo first appeared in Chapter 3, he was a big liar who performed for the Jianghu. Later, he was subdued by Su Xia and became a spy lobbyist under his direct control.

At this moment, disguised as a Taoist priest, he was wandering around the officialdom of the Northern Song Dynasty and had become Zhou Bin's desk lesson.

The wrinkles on Ma Baoguo's old face widened. He looked at the delicacies on the table and said, "It's so late at night. There's so much food to eat. Mr. Zhou has troubled himself."

Zhou Bin had a sad look on his face: "Ma Gaoren, people in Bianjing's official circles say that you tell people when you meet them. The most legendary thing is that you predicted the Zhong Family Army's surrender to Su Xia. This has become a legend in Bianjing's official circles."

When the two of them talked, Ma Baoguo pursed his lips and smiled slightly. He just picked up the chopsticks and put them down again. He picked up the wine glass, waved to the person in front of him, and said with a smile: "Actually, Mr. Zhou, in a few years I met you before when you were the prefect of Dengzhou."

"Have you ever met me?"

Seeing that Zhou Bin didn't believe it, Ma Baoguo smiled slightly and said, "I'll just say one thing. Did Young Master Ling get a lump in his throat from eating jujubes many years ago, or was it Su Xia who saved your son from death (see Chapter 5 of this book for details)? In a sense, Su Xia was still your savior, so you had more trust in him from then on and did a lot of work for his subsequent rebellion.

The two people talked about this. Zhou Bin suddenly became nervous and waved his hands quickly to get rid of the responsibility: "I didn't know that Su Xia was going to rebel. Besides, he was just a small village under my command on Salmon Island at that time. Who would have thought that he could do what he is today. "

"But no matter what, you are jointly and severally responsible. As your subordinate, he conspired to rebel against the imperial court. Now he has surrounded the entire Song Dynasty, occupying nearly half of the prefectures and counties in the country, and has hundreds of thousands of troops. , the powerful troops may rush to Bianjing City at any time. If the official family knows that you indulged him in the past, do you think you will have a good fate? Although the current emperor's official family does not have the ability to fight against Su Xia, they can fight against you and the government. Dozens of servants, I don’t think it will be a waste of destructive power. It only needs to mobilize one commander (several hundred people) of the Forbidden Army, and the other party was stunned for a moment as soon as they talked about this, and then retorted: "You What do you mean by this? "

Seeing that the other party was getting nervous, Ma Baoguo began to ignore him. Although he was eating and drinking, hairy crabs and fried clams were not common. He had a great time eating here.

Zhou Bin on the side became even more nervous. Song Huizong Zhao Ji had originally tried to deal with him, but it was only because he was well-connected and someone in the court jointly protected him that he escaped the disaster.

Because of this, Zhou Bin became highly nervous.

Ma Baoguo glanced at him, put down the rice bowl in his hand, and lifted up his sleeves to signal the other party to stop talking.

Zhou Bin naturally understood what it meant, and quickly told the guests, "You should retreat first!"

Seeing that the person had already walked away, Ma Baoguo said again: "Master Zhou, I have a feeling that Su Xia's army will come to the capital in a few days."

Ma Baoguo observed Zhou Bin's expression carefully and said slowly: "At that time. I say Mr. Zhou. Will you follow the current emperor, or Mr. Su from Huaxia Kingdom?"

Zhou Bin's expression became even more nervous: "Don't make fun of me. As a member of the Song Dynasty..."

At this point, he might not even believe what he said.

Zhou Bin seemed even more anxious: "What exactly do you want to say?"

Ma Baoguo whispered mysteriously: "You have only one way out now, which is to contact the ministers in the capital and ask them to persuade Zhao Ji to leave as soon as possible. If you quickly offer the city to Su Xia, you can still keep it in the future. Save your life for glory and wealth, otherwise the army will arrive in an instant and you will die without a burial place."

Zhou Bin's face suddenly changed; "Confused. How dare you threaten me! Although I am idle at home, but..."

After Zhou Bin finished speaking, he slammed the table again: "Come here!"

I saw a sturdy warrior in black robes standing out from behind the screen and appearing behind Ma Baoguo. Ma Baoguo snorted coldly and asked again:

"What do you want to do? Kill me and silence me? Don't forget me. Considering who I am, if I die here, the other people I contacted will be walking in the city. You have long condoned Su Xia and conspired to cause chaos. Su Xia is responsible for being an informant. Zhao Ji is originally dissatisfied with you because you indulged Su Xia. If you lose now, you will definitely die without a burial place when the army comes."

Seeing Ma Baoguo being so proud, the black-robed warrior felt quite dissatisfied. He rushed forward and tried to capture Ma Baoguo.

In fact, he didn't take the old man Ma Baoguo seriously at all. Yes, who would regard an old man in his 50s as a martial arts master?

But Ma Baoguo suddenly regained his energy, straightened up immediately, and then rushed toward the warrior with a horizontal punch. He made a feint while the warrior didn't pay attention, and before he had time to prepare, he quickly dodged and punched twice. The two punches hit him on the left side of the abdomen and the other on his lower left chest.

Ma Baoguo muttered: "Five lightning whips!"