Of course Zhao Guan's family had a public interest in patrolling the Yellow River.

After all, the Central Committee has already been sensitive to the current predicament... The Jin people are still hanging in the balance, but the Henan area has been under strict military control for several months, which has led to an imbalance in the hearts of the people... Therefore, the plan for this patrol has actually been planned for a long time.

It was already on Zhao Guan's desk in October.

But why it was at this time, why she went on tour immediately after being made a royal concubine, there are some reasons that are difficult to conceal.

It should be noted that the two noble concubines were recognized by the Prime Minister, and they were proud of the misbehavior of the Zhao emperors, especially the frivolity of a certain Taishang Taojun emperor, so there is always no shortage of examples. Especially the Zhao Guan family

There is some truth in the serious rhetoric that persuaded Lu Haowen and others - he said that if a queen is established now, where will the emperor's heirs be in the future, and how should the mother be more valuable than the son? There is no way that there will be any problems.

But not to mention future problems, the current problem is that from Concubine Pan Xian's point of view, she suffered a big loss in this matter.

Because there were only two concubines in the palace, and compared to Concubine Pan Xian, who was only slightly different from the empress twice, Mrs. Wu, who rose to prominence very late, had no status in front of Concubine Pan Xian for a long time.

But the world takes its toll on people, and suddenly the other person is on an equal footing with me.

May I ask how Concubine Pan is not upset?

The Zhao Guan family knew that they would be annoyed, but they escaped immediately... patrolling the Yellow River defense line was a matter of public and private concern.

In late November, Zhao Guan's family first left Bianliang and headed north, first to Yangwu (later Yuanyang), then to Jujube, and then to Huazhou... Along the way, they randomly entered Wubao and beacon towers, talked face to face with the imperial soldiers, and asked

demand. Wang Yuan, the commander of the accompanying imperial camp, and Qu Duan, the deputy commander, also formed a three-person working group with the imperial censor Shi Wanqixi, leading a group of low-level bureaucrats from the privy council and the province to inspect military pay and supplies along the way.

matters.

One more thing must be mentioned here. The corruption of the Song Army is really ingrained in the bones. Drinking soldiers’ blood is even more inevitable. Zhao Guan’s family knows it very well and does not expect these things to be avoided... But now that they are out on patrol, they encounter

It's here, but it's impossible to pretend not to know.

As a result, after only walking along the Yellow River front line of Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhao Guan's family beheaded seven or eight officers with more than a dozen heads along the way, and dismissed thirteen or four of them.

At the end of November, when the Royal Banzhi escorted Zhao Guan's family into Huazhou territory, an officer defected unexpectedly - a commander from Hebei who was stationed in Linghe Town was afraid and led several guards to seize the palace.

He took a small boat and headed north, where he threw himself into the golden man.

This incident greatly shocked the central ministers accompanying Zhao Guan's family. Many people suggested on the spot that Zhao Guan's family should return immediately, because the area ahead of Huazhou, from the west of Baima, the capital of Huazhou, to Linghe Town, the 20 to 30 miles along the river defense zone,

They are all under the control of Li Qiong, the commander of the imperial camp and the central army to which this commander belongs.

The Li Qiong tribe is a relatively special unit of the Imperial Army... They are all from Hebei.

Just because Li Qiongzhou was born as a student and had been stationed in Huazhou for a long time, and he was really good at leading troops, so when the imperial camp armies were first divided, this person was specially assigned to the imperial camp central army and was still stationed in Huazhou.

Theoretically, it belongs to Wang De.

Of course, in private, the Zhao Guan family often gave direct instructions to various departments in the imperial camp. With such a close distance, it would not be wrong to say that they were directly subordinate to the Zhao Guan family.

In other words, this is a heterogeneous unit of the Imperial Army, and it is extremely independent.

At the same time, Huazhou was not far from Damingfu in Hebei Province and Puyang City. The other side of the river was the center point of the Jin Army's permanent troops stationed on the Yellow River.

Therefore, if Li Qiong also had other ideas and suddenly colluded with the Jin people and released the Jin army from Daming Prefecture, wouldn't it mean that something big would happen?

The worries of the ministers were not unreasonable, but the Zhao Guan family did not take it seriously.

First, in terms of personal relations, Zhao Jiu did not think that Li Qiong, who served as his mid-level soldier in the Battle of Yanling and maintained daily communication with him, would rebel because of such a thing;

Secondly, discussing the matter as it happened, Zhao Jiu asked himself that he had dealt with corruption in the military fairly and fairly, and the accountability only went to the leadership level. Li Qiong did not need to worry about corruption in the military;

Thirdly, judging from the situation, we know from the commander's escape with only his bodyguard that his efforts to support the troops for half a year were effective. This man could not mobilize the grassroots troops at all.

On the contrary, the Zhao Guan family communicated frequently with these military generals through the system of controlling officials and had a certain understanding of Li Qiong... This person has the arrogance of a scholar and a bit of arrogance, put together.

It means having too much self-esteem.

If you turn back in a hurry at this time, it will irritate him.

But if he can show sincerity, his scholar's mentality will convince him.

"Li Qiong will live up to me." Zhao Guanjia made up his mind in just a moment, and then said this in public, and still ordered to go eastward. At the same time, Wang Yuan, Qu Duan, and Wan Qixi were inspected along the way.

However, once they continued their journey, Zhao Guanjia himself and the accompanying imperial soldiers and horses did not enter Wubao again to condolences the soldiers. Instead, they galloped along the river, leading the central officials to abandon their cars and ride horses to Tiantai Mountain next to Baimajin in Huazhou.

.

That place was the main camp where Li Qiong himself and his troops were stationed.

At the same time, Zhao Guan's family sent a messenger to Tiantai Mountain to inform Li Qiong of his trip in advance.

The reason is simple... With two thousand imperial guards accompanying him, and with soldiers and horses all around the imperial camp, the real theoretical danger is that Li Qiong mobilizes the entire army, hooks up with the Jin people, and releases the gold.

The army is crossing the river. And doing so requires time to connect the upper and lower sides. As long as the Zhao Guan family goes quickly, the other party will never be able to make the trip.

This is called taking from the opposite direction.

Relatively speaking, releasing the courier in advance is a gesture of trust that has nothing to do with the overall situation... This is a conspiracy.

Now that the trip has taken place, some of the ministers accompanying him can't help but feel anxious, but what's interesting is that some of them are just as unconcerned as the Zhao Guan family... Most of these people are people who have been with the emperor from Huaishang and Nanyang for a long time.

Probably like the Zhao Guan family, after seeing many battles on the battlefield, they are completely accustomed to this kind of thing, and are even familiar with it. Moreover, they also know the Zhao Guan family and know that this official likes to use tricks to find someone to take the blame for trivial matters, but there has always been a problem with military affairs.

There are also some people who are young officials who have just been appointed officials this time, and they are vaguely eager to try out like newborn calves who are not afraid of tigers.

For example, Hu Quan, the editor of the Privy Council, volunteered to act as a messenger and went to Tiantai Mountain first... After being surprised by Zhao Guan's family, he took the initiative to tell him not to talk shamelessly or cause trouble for no reason, as long as he informed him that he was about to go.

Of course, Hu Quan, a small messenger, went to deliver the message according to the system, so he would not do anything bad to force the general to rebel. But on November 28, Zhao Guan's family came to Tiantai Mountain and went straight to Li Qiong's military camp. Li Qiong was informed in advance

As expected, Qiong left the camp alone and went straight to the imperial court.

The doubts and fears I had before turned into a puff of smoke and dissipated.

In the final analysis, Li Qiong, who is ostensibly a subordinate of Wang De but actually directly subordinate to the Zhao Guan family, has no reason to rebel at all in the current situation... And when the Zhao Guan family entered the Tiantai Mountain camp, they did not deliberately avoid this topic, but just slightly

He was reprimanded, demoted one rank, and fined one month. He immediately sent another envoy across the river to the other side to demand that the Jin army return the defecting commander.

This time, it was the turn of another new scholar, Yu Yunwen, to come forward.

In this regard, Zhao Guanjia naturally followed the good example, but after the matter was over, he sent an order to summon the garrison of the eastern part of Huazhou area (actually the Henan part of the original Kaide Prefecture, which was assigned to Huazhou after the confrontation across the river in the Song and Jin Dynasties).

Li Bao, the former military commander, Fu Xuan, the former military commander of the imperial camp of the southern garrison, and Fu Qing, the central military commander of the imperial camp of Baima City, Huazhou Prefecture, went to Tiantai Mountain to discuss military affairs.

A whole day later, on the last day of November, Yu Yunwen unexpectedly had not yet returned. The so-called life and death were unknown, but the Zhao Guan family had no time to think too much. They only climbed Tiantai Mountain with the three guards who arrived in a hurry and Li Qiong, and looked at the north bank of the Yellow River.

, ready to listen to the military opinions of the frontline generals.

Let’s say that there are definitely no fewer than dozens of Tiantai Mountains in China. It is named mainly because the top of the mountain is rocky and looks like a tower... In the future, Zhejiang’s Tiantai Mountain will naturally be the most famous, but at this time, this mountain is only a few meters tall.

100 meters, Tiantai Mountain, which may have disappeared due to the diversion of the Yellow River in later generations, is the most famous Tiantai Mountain in the world.

Belongs to the rank of king in Tiantai Mountain.

There is no way. Firstly, this mountain is very close to Tokyo, the capital of the Song Dynasty, and the surrounding economy is developed; secondly, this mountain is located on the side of Baimadu, the main thoroughfare from Damingfu in Hebei Province to Tokyo in Henan Province, and there are a lot of people coming and going; thirdly, this mountain is on the Yellow River.

Unlike later generations, the main road just passes by the side of this mountain. When you climb Tiantai Mountain, you can see both sides of the Yellow River. The fertile land of the Central Plains and Hebei Province, and the open scenery can be called a scenic spot.

Stop talking nonsense and get back to the present.

On this day, the sky was clear and clear, and there was even a slight southerly wind, making it seem a bit warm. Zhao Guan's family led his accompanying ministers and the four Huazhou guards to climb up to the rooftop together, and felt that they could see far away under their eyes, as far as the field of vision could reach.

It was open and flat, which naturally made him feel good... But when he looked at the Yellow River in the distance and turned to the northeast, he remained silent for a long time.

The reason is very simple. As stupid as the Zhao Guan family, after climbing up and looking into the distance, they can't help but think of a strange thing about the Yellow River... That is, the Yellow River course on their respective military maps is too wrong, even though they can't see dozens of miles downstream from Tiantai Mountain.

However, the military map I looked at yesterday clearly marked three bifurcated rivers before and after the important downstream town of Puyang.

"I remember on the map that the Yellow River bifurcates three ways downstream... Why is this so?" Zhao Guanjia looked at it for a long time and thought about it for a long time, and finally turned back to ask confidently.

However, the ones accompanying today are not only Yang Yizhong, the master of all things, but Yang Zongzhi. At this time, after Zhao Jiu died, in addition to Wang Yuan, the commander of the imperial camp, Qu Duan, the deputy commander of the capital, and Wan Qixishang, the imperial censor in the palace, who were inspecting Wubao in the rear,

There are also countless accompanying civil and military personnel, as well as Huazhou generals and assistants... that is, there are no prime ministers and commanders accompanying them.

Therefore, when I heard the inquiry at this time, it was Fan Zongyin from Zhongshushe who took the lead to step forward and answered seriously: "Good instructors know that the river below is not bifurcated, but that the war has been in danger since Jingkang, and the Yellow River embankments have been in disrepair for a long time.

In addition, there was a lot of rain this summer, and the rivers took the opportunity to overflow into old courses everywhere."

"So that's it..." Zhao Jiu still frowned, but he held his belt with one hand and pointed to the lower reaches of the Yellow River with one hand and continued to ask. "Why are there three places?"

Fan Zongyin was stunned and didn't say anything for a while.

It must be known to everyone that Zhao Guanjia knew this, but at this time, he didn't bother to cover up those things, so he directly asked: "You just need to explain the sources of these three crossroads clearly!"

Fan Zongyin was wary, but he didn't dare not say it: "Guan family, this is caused by this dynasty returning to the river several times..."

"What is Huihe?"

"The Yellow River overflowed and was repeatedly blocked... In order to prevent natural disasters in the Yellow River, many strategies were adopted to divert the Yellow River."

"If the route is changed, the route will be changed. Why is it called 'Huihe'?"

"Reporting back to the official family, because the Yellow River has been heading north since this dynasty, and the several changes in its course are all efforts to move the river southward. From the perspective of Henan, where Kaifeng is located, it is 'Hui'..."

"I see, but why does it have to move south?" Zhao Jiu was still confused. "The water flows down on its own. If she goes north, she should be allowed to follow the water flow. Why does she have to move south?"

"Because they are worried that the Yellow River will go straight into the Khitan territory if it continues north." Li Qiong, who had been frowning for a long time behind him, suddenly spoke up. "The imperial court was afraid that the Khitan would cross the river directly within the territory. At that time, the cavalry would go south and use the Yellow River waterway as a food route to go upstream.

Sweeping across the Central Plains, I decided to return to the river in order not to lose the natural danger of the Yellow River..."

Zhao Jiu completely woke up, but immediately burst into laughter... What he realized was that this was indeed a characteristic of the Song Dynasty. In order to seek psychological comfort, he did not hesitate to change the water course of the Yellow River, and it seemed that he had changed it more than once, and he did not know how much wasted for it.

However, the funny thing is that when the Jin army actually moved south, the natural barrier of the Yellow River was not at all useful.

At this thought, Zhao Guanjia laughed and shook his head: "The lower reaches of the Yellow River are more than a thousand miles, and how much food will it cost to return to the river? With this manpower and material resources, it would be enough to take back the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture... but there are three rivers, and it should be two.
To be continued...