Logically speaking, Brother Xiao Chang should be considered lucky to be able to sit face to face as an envoy in front of an opponent he could not look up to on the battlefield.

If he is unlucky, he may become a prisoner.

Fortunately, there were not many cavalry under Li Kui's command at that time, and they were unable to pursue the tens of thousands of fleeing Pishi troops.

But even so, Brother Xiao Chang still has lingering fears. Facing this murderous god, even though he knows that there is no danger at the negotiating table, his heart is always frightened and he feels like he is going to collapse.

However, it didn't take long for Brother Xiao Chang to regret it.

The reason for regret was not anything else, but that he thought he was a bad mouther and went to ask Li Kui about the arrangements for that battle.

This guy Li Kui is much meaner than Brother Xiao Chang. The key is that this guy is annoying:

"The Liao Army's combat effectiveness is not strong. By the way, your Tielin Army's combat effectiveness is not bad. But the number is a little less. If there were 20,000, it would be hard to say who would win and who would lose on the battlefield at that time."

But the problem is that despite all the efforts of the Liao State, they could only build an army of 10,000 Tielin troops.

This is the only heavy cavalry unit controlled by the Liao royal family.

"Speaking of which, your tactic of asking the cavalry to dismount and push the cart almost scared me. If your skills were not good and your legs and feet were too weak, you might have been able to turn defeat into victory. You need to practice this, maybe next time on the battlefield

If you encounter it, you can directly use it step by step. The right way is to have many skills and not to overwhelm yourself. No matter how many techniques you use, it will not be cumbersome."

——Brother Xiao Chang doesn’t believe it. He firmly doesn’t believe it. He firmly believes that Li Kui is digging a hole for him.

"By the way, Ambassador Xiao, I'm very curious. Why did you suddenly collapse when Qingheyuan was evenly matched? If another 20,000 people die, our Song Army's formation will not be able to stand."

Brother Xiao Chang was so angry that he didn't want to speak. Li Kui said that he couldn't stand it any longer, and Brother Xiao Chang couldn't stand it anymore. More than half of the troops participating in the attack were killed or injured. If it had been on other battlefields, it would have collapsed long ago. Mainly because

Firearms kill too quickly, and the soldiers pay a huge price in casualties before they can react. This kind of psychological collapse is simply irreversible. If it were a war that Brother Xiao Chang was familiar with, the army that would not retreat with 30% casualties would already be an elite force.

The elite among them.

Even the troops who were not on the battlefield were frightened.

There were only 70,000 troops in total, and nearly 30,000 to 40,000 were already dead. If another 20,000 died, the whole army would be wiped out.

There are also nonsense words like cavalrymen dismounting their horses and pushing carts. How smart is he? Does he seem to be deceived?

The main reason was that Brother Xiao Chang was completely frightened by the Song Army's method of dealing with the Tielin Army. He continued to use cavalry to fill in. Do you want to continue charging even though you knew you were going to die?

Facing such a Li Kui, Brother Xiao Chang was helpless.

His little eyes kept signaling to Zhang Dun, as if to say: "You don't care about it?"

Unfortunately, Zhang Dun didn't see it at all. The old man's head was drooped, as if he was asleep.

Li Kui was very optimistic about Brother Xiao Chang and encouraged him: "You can try to be more persistent next time. I am optimistic about you."

Brother Xiao Chang tilted his head awkwardly, not wanting to speak. Suddenly his heart moved, and Li Kui said - next time?

Is there really a next time?

Brother Xiao Chang was a little gloating at the beginning, not knowing that the unlucky guy would meet Li Kui. He had almost lost confidence in himself as a man when he and Li Kui were beaten with a stick!

But he got smart again and found that it was very possible that he could command this battle against the Song army. For no other reason than that Brother Xiao Chang had the best performance among all the Liao army generals who fought against Li Kui.

general. The Song army suffered at least 6,000 casualties in his hands. But the other Liao generals only had a few hundred men, or even less, and they were simply too shameless to show off.

Thinking that he would have to face Li Kui himself next time, Brother Xiao Chang turned pale and lamented:

"It's over."

The first time he fought Li Kui, half of the elites of the Liao Kingdom pounced on him, but they couldn't win. Could it be that if he was given another chance, he could defeat Li Kui?

When the time comes, no matter how stubborn you are, you will still have to kneel down.

He held on to the confidence on his face, but felt cold and sweaty in his heart.

"Li Kui, since the Song army is so strong, why did they retreat? You also returned to Kaifeng from the front line. Is it for other reasons? You must know that An Dun is a greedy and fearful person, and Wang Jin is an incompetent general. As soon as you leave Yan

Not long after the state was established, one of them escaped secretly, and the other even ran away without a fight. It was a disgrace to the Song Dynasty."

What Brother Xiao Chang wanted to hear most was that Li Kui was being squeezed out by the Song court, and was worried that he would be suppressed deliberately because of his big tail. The Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty had been neighbors for more than a hundred years, and they were very worried about the Song Dynasty, which was fundamentally afraid of rebellion by its warriors.

Understand. A general like Li Kui who was capable of destroying a country at every turn would definitely be feared by the Song Dynasty.

There is a saying that when the bird is exhausted, the rabbit is hidden and the dog is cooked. The Song Dynasty could not wait for the bird to be exhausted before it would attack the heroes.

But he still misjudged the situation.

Li Kui curled his lips and said: "I am a direct bachelor of Tianzhang Pavilion. I don't want to lead troops to fight, and I don't want to fight with you Liao people. It's just that there is no suitable person at the moment, so I reluctantly went to Hedong Road temporarily. But it doesn't matter, I will do this from now on.

There may not be many opportunities left. My main job is to supervise the manufacture of weapons. For example, the artillery and muskets you see on the battlefield are all my inventions. Are they easy to use?"

Brother Xiao Chang rolled his eyes and said, "So it's you, such a wicked thing!" But then he thought of Li Kui's identity as a civil servant, and his heart suddenly went cold.

In the Song Dynasty, when civil servants fought against military generals, there was no need to fan the flames. The civil servants went on their own.

But when civil servants fight against civil servants, they won't listen to outsiders' help. Li Kui is favored now, and he will have to be favored in the future.

The Liao people had never seen such things as muskets and artillery before, not even the Song people.

It turned out to be invented by Li Kui.

Li Kui said excitedly: "This time we went north to fight, we used your Liao army to test the performance of the weapons. Generally speaking, we are quite satisfied. We are ready to increase production capacity and build another batch, with an additional 40,000 troops."

Li Kui's 20,000 firearms troops dared to go toe-to-toe with the 70,000 to 80,000 elite Liao troops. If this guy had 40,000 troops, how could he bully Daliao?

Brother Xiao Chang warned: "Doesn't this mean that the Song Dynasty can pull out an army of 60,000 firearms in one go?"

"You have to train. It will take half a year before you can go to the battlefield. When the time comes, I will pull it out and let you see it. By the way, when the time comes, the cities of Zhuozhou and Yanzhou should be built firmly. Don't break them with just a poke. It will lose the meaning of my military training.

.”

Li Kui opened his mouth and reminded Brother Xiao Chang that he was deeply afraid that the Liao army would not be able to resist the attack, which would prevent the Song army from achieving actual combat effectiveness.

Brother Xiao Chang is about to cry. Li Kui is so bad. Let me tell you, this is not a good day. It will be a bloody disaster when I will chop you with a knife. I also have to tell you not to die too soon.

, died too quickly, he didn’t have enough fun. He wouldn’t be such a bully.

Could it be that the dignified Daliao has already fallen into this fate?

The more Brother Xiao Chang thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He stared at Li Kui as if he were an enemy meeting, and he was so jealous that he could bleed.

But Li Kui was still reluctant to give up: "Small, don't look at me with such a look of grievance, anger and dare not say anything. Go and find out, do I agree with this?"

"Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, when did the Song Dynasty ever win a war or win a war?"

"Leave the Sixteenth Province of Youyun to my guard. When the time comes, I will defeat them and be crowned king."

…

At first, Li Kui was sarcastic at most, but as he spoke, he became more emotional and scolded Brother Xiao Chang rudely, as if he was lecturing a grandson, saying, "Don't say that I, the Song Dynasty, have already paid for the rental."

The prefectures and counties that were conquered are the ones that were not conquered. If I, the Song Dynasty, want them, I will naturally go and get them myself. You don’t need to pretend to be kind."

"Zhang Xiang, you think we've almost finished talking, can you leave?"

Zhang Dun then opened his eyes and pretended not to know anything. After looking around blankly, he said, "Is it time for dinner?"

Li Kui sighed in his heart, this old man dragged him to make a fool of himself and offended others. He didn't expect that it was already this time and he was still pretending to be confused.

Then Zhang Dun smiled and said: "Okay, you go back first. I and Ambassador Xiao will continue to discuss major diplomatic matters between the two countries."

With Li Kui's threat, Brother Xiao Chang was unusually honest. From time to time, he asked a few questions about the secrets of the Song Dynasty's formation of a firearms army. Zhang Dun also laughed and fooled him.

It's not that he doesn't want to, it's that he doesn't have the money. If he had the money, Zhang Dun wouldn't be afraid to tell Brother Xiao Chang that the Song Dynasty would conquer the Sixteen States of Yanyun sooner or later.

Yizhou, the first overseas fiefdom of the Song Dynasty, really scared many people when Cai Jing wanted to participate in the bidding.

An auction involving Cai Jing will definitely not go well.

Yizhou was sold to Zhang Dun for a bargain price, and Cai Jing privately negotiated with several interested families without adding more money. At the same time, he used coercion and inducement to exclude other wealthy businessmen who were interested in competing.

In the end, Cai Jing also won the bid.

The imperial court could earn up to five million yuan from this transaction.

This is far lower than the previous expectation of 20 million yuan, especially since the original royal family of Liuqiu Kingdom also needs to be resettled. After all, this is a proactive surrender, not a conquered territory.

After going back and forth, the Metropolitan Government did not gain much benefit from this business, and it was barely enough to block the hole of the Western Army.

Zhang Dun was very dissatisfied with the Western Army's war, from smooth to stalemate. But what could he do if he was dissatisfied?

Zhang Kai didn't listen to him.

Zhang Kai is now in a stalemate with Xixia, not because he wants to support himself with troops, but because he wants to wear down the strength of the party members point by point until the final blow.

He is such a person. If he really does not have enough strength, his approach will be very radical. Because there is no retreat, he takes a step back, and behind him is the city of Song Dynasty and the people of Song Dynasty.

But when Zhang Kai has a lot of chips in his hand, he will play steadily and slowly to kill the opponent bit by bit.

It cannot be said that this method is not good. On the contrary, this strategy is right and correct. Because the destruction of the country must be done in this way, knocking down the capital of Xixia at once. If the Song army retreats, Xixia will immediately rebel. This

Because they have not experienced the most severe pressure, Dangxiang people will never give in.

But when Zhang Kai did this, Zhang Dun was in a hurry.

Zhang Dun not only holds Xixia in his heart, he also holds Tubo, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and Dali Kingdom in his heart...etc. How can such a person who has countless big things to do in his mind just watch him?

His clan brother is 'lazy' in the northwest? And he is not young anymore. If he spends a few years here in Xixia, the Song Dynasty's treasury will be exhausted. And the most terrible problem is that he was over seventy at that time.

.If it takes several more years to defeat Tubo, he will not be able to satisfy his dream at all.
To be continued...