Hexi, Liangzhou. Since Zhang Zhao's expedition, the atmosphere in Hexi has been relatively tense.

The left-behind right minister Song Shantong, the old Guiyi Army general Luo Tongda, Zhang Zhao's confidants Liu Na, Cao Yanming and others followed Zhang Zhao's orders.

Let the Queen Mother of Fengtian of Liang Kingdom and Queen Cao Yanxi hold Zhang Zhao's only legitimate son, Zhang Xianming, who is only two years old this year, to come to the court and handle domestic affairs.

However, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the foundation of the Daliang Kingdom, which covers an area of ​​several thousand miles and governs five to six million people, is still very weak.

If Zhang Zhao disappears, the country will immediately fall apart.

Therefore, before Zhang Zhao set out, his aunt, Queen Mother Fengtian, with Zhang Zhao's consent, asked Lao Zhang Zhong to transfer two hundred personal guards from Ningyuan.

These personal guards were all rescued by Zhang Zhao from Saktu and the Persians in the past. They were all members of the nine surnames of Zhaowu and other Uighurs and Oghuz who did not want to convert to Tianfang religion.

Their family and tribe now live on hundreds of thousands of acres of private land far away from Zhang Zhaoning, so their loyalty is unquestionable.

Just when Zhang Zhao just entered Guandong, the Queen Mother of Fengtian sent these two hundred bodyguard knights to the Central Plains.

Their only mission was to protect Zhang Zhao to the death and escape back to Hexi when the army was defeated.

It has to be said that the Queen Mother Fengtian's thinking is still clear. Even if the Liang Kingdom does not have these 40,000 troops, it can still barely support it.

This is because Zhang Zhao has achieved great success in establishing the military system in the Tuntian Prefecture in Hexi and using his identity as Buddhist Dharma King to promote religious worship among Tubo, Tuyuhun, Dadan and various Qiang party members.

Without these 40,000 troops, the Liang Kingdom is indeed severely weakened, but as long as Zhang Zhao is still there, it can recruit warriors from all ethnic groups. Liang, Lan, Qin, Wei, Gansu, Guasha and other states can unite archers and Yi Cong Xiaoqi, and at least they can pull out

Thirty to fifty thousand people.

With these 300,000 to 50,000 people, it is enough to protect the Liang Kingdom. After another ten years of rest and recuperation, it can become strong again.

But without Zhang Zhao, it would be over, and the entire Liang Kingdom would collapse immediately.

Song Shantong feels that he has been under a lot of pressure recently. As the right prime minister of the Liang Kingdom, the Great Liang Heavenly King Zhang Zhao, no! Now he should be called the uncle of His Majesty King Yong of Kaitian Cefu.

He is very trusted by Zhang Zhao, otherwise Zhang Zhao would not have entrusted him with the important task of staying in the capital.

However, Song Shantong has always had a regret, that is, although there are many children of the Song family entering officialdom, most of them are middle and low-level civil servants, not many in high positions, and there are not many of his own in the army.

How can this be done?

According to Song Shantong's idea, to ensure the power of the Song family in the future, it would be a huge disadvantage if there were not many military commanders in the family.

After all, according to the point of view at this time, civil servants were just vassals, and those with real power were military men.

What he, the right minister, did was because he felt a little aggrieved because he had no say in the military affairs.

However, Song Shantong felt that he was very loyal and dedicated, and he was still the prime minister of the dynasty. However, Queen Fengtian of Yongshou Palace did not buy his fault, and even beat him secretly.

The promotion of several children of the Song family was blocked by the Queen Mother of Fengtian. Her eldest son, Song Yuanshen, who was serving as the training envoy of the Longyou Taoist Regiment in Lanzhou, was transferred back to serve as the Minister of War.

This is obviously to guard against the Song family, fearing that they will master the unity archers and Yicong Xiaoqi of Longyou Road.

Song Shantong, who was very dissatisfied, went to see Zhang Zhao's biological mother, Queen Mother Song of Fengsheng King.

As a result, my sister was still the same as before. When she opened her mouth, she talked about Buddhism, but when she kept her mouth shut, she said that the Song family would only be blessed if they suffered losses. Only by not seeking power could they avoid getting into trouble, which made Song Shantong quite depressed.

"Sir, Aweng's carriage has arrived. Come out to greet us quickly!"

Song Shantong had just returned home after handling a lot of official duties, but before he could even sit down, his youngest son Song Yuanchun ran in and shouted.

"Didn't you say that when your Aweng's carriage passes through Xiedan, someone will notify us to greet him? Why are you already outside the mansion now?"

The Aweng mentioned by Song Yuanchun is Song Shantong's father and Zhang Zhao's maternal ancestor Song Tongyi.

The old man is used to the conditions and conditions of Dunhuang, so he has been staying in Shazhou. Recently, he said that he would go to Liangzhou to visit his daughter and great-grandchildren.

Song Yuanchun looked helpless, "Haier's servant sent by Xiedan was directly captured by Aweng's guards, and there was no chance to report the news."

Song Shantong's heart was pounding, and an unpleasant feeling suddenly arose.

A grandson like Song Yuanchun may only see the kind and kind side of Aweng, but Song Shantong knows that his eighty-year-old father is definitely a difficult character.

This is because Song Tongyi agreed to marry his daughter to Zhang Chengfeng as compensation, and he quickly defected to the Cao family after the rise of the Cao family was unstoppable.

Then, in the treacherous situation of Bo Yun, he could tacitly cooperate with the Queen Mother of Fengtian to protect his grandson Zhang Zhao.

Finally, after Zhang Zhaodong returns, he can quickly resolve the resentment in Zhang Zhao's heart and reconcile with him.

And took advantage of the situation to push the Song family into the largest family in the Lao Guiyi Army, which is inferior to the Cao family on the surface, but is actually far more trusted than the Cao family. You can see Song Tongyi's skills and vision.

Such a terrifying father directly tied up the servants he sent to greet him, and then suddenly appeared outside the mansion, obviously coming to investigate.

For a moment, Song Shantong immediately recalled the fear of being dominated by his father, and big beads of sweat fell down.

"You traitor! Kneel down!"

Sure enough, just as Song Shantong expected, his eighty-year-old father Song Tongyi, who could still eat half a catty of meat and drink two cents of wine, directly held a wattle stick and yelled at him, asking him to kneel down outside the mansion.

Song Shantong was dripping with cold sweat, and he was even more embarrassed and didn't know what to do.

He is now the Right Prime Minister of the country, and he was appointed as a stay-at-home officer when Zhang Zhao left. He is already over sixty years old, and it would be too embarrassing to be punished by kneeling in front of a large audience.

And based on his understanding of his father Song Tongyi, just kneeling down would definitely not be enough, and he might even be beaten.

But if you don't kneel down, your reputation as unfilial will soon spread.

In this era, being unfilial is anyone's worst enemy. As long as you are exposed to this word, you will immediately admit that everyone calls you a rat crossing the street.

Not to mention being an official, there are problems in being a human being.

"Sir, please save some face!" So Song Shantong, whose face turned red, could only start to plead.

"I don't know why the adult is dissatisfied, but I can give the child a chance to explain first."

Song Tongyi squinted his eyes, and the eldest son in his eyes, who had gray hair and beard, was no different from when he was a teenager.

He waved the vitex in his hand, causing more cold sweat on Song Shantong's forehead. After exerting enough pressure, he slowly spoke.

"You just know how to save face, that's why you are doing things like this. Now that destiny has come out, the mountains and rivers have already mutated. As the right prime minister, you still stay behind, but you are still doing the same old tricks.

They fight for power and profit, and install their children, but their eyes can only see the three-thirds of an acre of land under their feet today.

If you save your face today, our Song family will be overthrown tomorrow!"

Song Shantong's face suddenly turned red when his father savaged him mercilessly.

"Everything the child does is for the country. The poetry and etiquette of our Song family have been passed down to our family for hundreds of years, and we have many talented children. Is it any wonder that a few of them are in important positions?

The emperor also has the blood of my Song family, so my uncle’s family is keeping a close watch on my nephew’s family property, what’s wrong with that?”

Song Tongyi sighed, "A certain person is so wise in his life, why are his sons all such stupid men?

I thought you could make an exception, but in the end I thought about being someone like Liang Ji and He Jin.

No more words, just kneel down!"

Before Song Shantong could speak, his youngest son Song Yuanchun, who had always been pampered, stepped forward and said, "Aweng has wronged my father. It is clearly the Queen Mother of Fengtian who deliberately targeted the Song family!"

Song Tongyi was so angry (frightened) by these words that he turned pale. He suddenly stepped forward and hit Song Yuanchun with a thorn stick. His skin and flesh were torn open, and Song Yuanchun screamed in agony.

"How do you know, Shuzi? How dare you say such treacherous words?"

After roaring, Song Tongyi went to fight Song Shantong.

At this moment, Song Shantong's eldest son, former defense envoy of Longyou Road and current right minister of the Ministry of War, Song Yuanshen, rode over from a distance on horseback.

While the others were still far away, they reined in their horses and jumped off, then swooped over and knelt in front of Song Tongyi, kowtowed and began to beg.

"Please show mercy to Aweng. My grandson is willing to sacrifice his life for me."

As he spoke, he quickly took off his clothes and stood between his father and grandfather.

Seeing the arrival of his eldest grandson, Song Tongyi's gloomy face suddenly became a little brighter.

"I heard from Queen Mother Fengsheng that you want to resign from the position of training envoy of the Longyou Taoist Regiment?"

Before Song Yuanshen could say anything, Song Shantong became angry. The embarrassment of losing face in front of his father was immediately transferred to the eldest son.

"Son! It turns out that you took the initiative to resign. How dare the Queen Mother usurp the power of the Song family so blatantly?

Do you know how much energy I spent on getting you to the position of training envoy of the Longyou Taoist Regiment?"

When Song Tongyi heard that the eldest son was still so stupid, he was furious, pulled out the thorn stick and rushed forward, while Song Yuanshen quickly hugged Song Tongyi's thigh.

"Don't be angry, Aweng, and don't hurt your body. My aunt said that as soon as Aweng arrives, I will let you raise him. In Liangzhou, you still have to be in charge."

In shock, Song Shantong pointed at his eldest son kneeling on the ground, his mouth trembling and speechless.

He vaguely guessed that his father, Song Tongyi, was specially invited from Dunhuang by his eldest son, Song Yuanshen, and his sister, the Queen Mother, to suppress him.

Song Tongyi patted Song Yuanshen on the shoulder, and suddenly he no longer wanted to hit anyone. He looked at Song Shantong and said.

"After six years as prime minister, my vision is not as good as your son's. The King of Heaven entrusted you with the country to keep the country stable, but you regarded this trust as connivance.

The reason why I, the Song family, are deeply trusted is because my family has been civil servants for generations and has never participated in military affairs.

But you arranged for Yuan Shen to be the training envoy of the Longyou Taoist Regiment, and also trained the children of the Song family to join the army, all because of someone's neglect of discipline! You really treat the emperor as your nephew."

The more Song Tongyi talked about it, the more heartbroken he became. The Song family had no foundation in the military. This was just to make things look better on the surface. Without five or eight years of hard work, it would have no effect at all.

Of course, more importantly, it is very taboo for the Song family to do this.

His grandson, King Zhang, was not a soft-hearted person. He always returned to the Yijun family and used the Song family in high regard, not only because the Song family was his maternal ancestor's family, but also because the Song family never interfered with military power.

Song Tongyi believed that once the Song family really intervened in the military affairs, when Zhang Zhao came back, no matter whether they won or lost, they would be in immediate trouble.
To be continued...