In the room, Aya squatted on the ground and was carefully washing Fanning's feet. She took a carriage north for the last two days. Fanning was really tired and was about to go to bed.

At this time, Zhu Pei walked in with the tremella bird's nest soup. She put the bowl on the table and asked, "What are you doing with Xianggong Wang?"

"He came to seek my support, and he suffered repeated setbacks during this period. I hope I can support him."

Zhu Pei snorted dissatisfiedly, "He advised the emperor not to go to Xixia, but he put you on the fire and roasted you. At this time, I wanted to ask you for help. Is this man shameless?"

Fan Ning smiled, "Wang Anshi, I have known him for many years. He is a stubborn guy. He doesn't look back after hitting the Nan wall. He is also stubborn and does not listen to others' advice. But he is not the same as Zhang Yaozuo. He advises the emperor not to go to Xixia, not necessarily to deal with me, but he is indeed afraid that the emperor will get sick, which is his only political support."

"But my husband is not lying to you on purpose, right?"

"If a person has a prejudice against another person, no matter what the other person does, he will think about it badly. This is human nature. The rich husband is not lying to me. He does believe that Wang Anshi has ulterior motives, but his conclusions may not be fair. We should have our own judgment."

"So you plan to support him?"

"I support Wang Anshi's plan, but how do you want to express your opinion? Let's talk about it, and you can't rush to jump out."

"Forget it, I just care about it. The officials will take care of it themselves. Let's take a break early today and talk about anything tomorrow."

Zhu Pei winked Aya, Aya understood, wiped Fanning's feet with a dry cloth, and then stood up with a basin and went out.

Fan Ning snorted softly, but Zhu Pei smiled sweetly, "I have been in the carriage for two days, so don't think about it, and take a break early!"

After saying that, she also closed the door and went out.

Fanning had to lie on the bed, and was so tired that she felt like she had fallen apart. In just a moment, she fell asleep faintly.

The next morning, Fan Ning came to the east building of the Privy Council. The entire east building was assigned to the Intelligence Department and officially listed in the capital, but the name on the sign was the General Staff Department of the Privy Council.

Fan Ning walked up the second floor and happened to meet Guo Kui at the entrance of the stairs. Guo Kui was both surprised and happy, "My husband is back!"

"I just came back yesterday. Where is your official room? Let's go and have a seat."

"Just beside me, please!"

Fan Ning followed Guo Kui into the official room, and a little tea boy came in to serve tea. Fan Ning asked, "What happened to the Liao Kingdom? Yelu Hongji suddenly became tough."

Guo Kui sat down and sighed, "The Jurchen tribe was destroyed, the Kelie tribe surrendered, and the Liao Kingdom had no worries?"

Fanning frowned, "How could it be destroyed in less than a year?"

Guo Kui said slowly: "Shi Xian cannot accomplish a big deal. After unifying the Jurchens, he was very arrogant and domineering, and he was seriously unfair in distribution. He followed his own tribe to give heavy rewards. The tribe that followed the Wanyan tribe had nothing, which aroused hatred among some tribes. The Tubo Theory tribe secretly colluded with the Liao army and betrayed the Jurchen tribe. Ten thousand Liao troops surrounded the Jurchens' nest. The Jurchens' entire army was destroyed. All men were executed. Women and children were rewarded to various Khitan tribes. After the Jurchen tribe was destroyed, the Kelie tribe knew that he could not resist, so he took the initiative to put down his weapons and surrender to the Liao Kingdom."

So that's the case, Fan Ning asked again: "Is there any news about Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie?"

“There is news!”

Guo Kui took out a copy of the eagle letter and handed it to Fan Ning, "This is the emergency report from Liaoyang that I just received yesterday. Please read it."

Fan Ning took the urgent report and read it, and immediately understood that the Xiao Guanyin incident broke out.

Xiao Guanyin is the queen of Yelu Hongji. She loves music and often is with a Han music craftsman. Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie joined forces to concoct false evidence and accused Xiao Guanyin of having an affair with the music craftsman. Yelu Hongji believed Yelu Yixin's accusation and executed the queen. In the end, the prince Yelu Jun was also executed.

In history, Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie launched the Xiao Guanyin case. The fundamental reason was to deal with the prince Yelu Jun. Yelu Jun expressed more than once that he wanted to kill Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie who were harming the country and the people. They were afraid of being liquidated, so they took action first and used the Xiao Guanyin case to frame the prince. Because of Yelu Hongji's stupidity, they succeeded. Not only was the queen and the crown prince killed, but all the upright ministers who sympathized with the crown prince were killed.

During the Chongyuan Rebellion and the Xiao Guanyin case, the famous generals of Liao Kingdom were all beaten up in one fell swoop, and only flatterers were left in the court, causing the Liao Kingdom to completely decline. Although Yelu Jun's son Yelu Yanxi ascended the throne and dragged Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie out of the coffin to whip the body, it was no longer possible to save the Liao Kingdom where the building was about to collapse.

Fan Ning put down the report and asked again: "What is the financial situation of Liao Kingdom?"

Guo Kui smiled, "The young and strong Han people were basically driven to mine and smelter iron. The whole Youzhou business and agriculture were in decadence. Yang Gui, who sent us intelligence, paid 300 stagnant of money but was not arrested for mining. The Liao Kingdom used this method to blackmail Han people and blackmailed a lot of money. The wealth accumulated by generations of Han people was deprived of it. The Jurchens were destroyed and a lot of cattle and sheep were obtained. After the Kelie tribe surrendered, the Liao Kingdom slaughtered all the iron tribes, and the financial situation improved for a while. Perhaps this is called killing chickens and getting eggs!"

Fan Ning thought about it and said, "Are all the warships that the Liao Kingdom wants ready?"

"Twenty ships have been delivered, and there are almost eighty ships that have been renovated and then delivered slowly."

"Has it been seen?"

"I heard that some old ship craftsmen discovered clues, but Yelu Yixin's son was personally responsible for receiving the goods. All ship craftsmen who found clues were killed, and no one dared to talk nonsense anymore."

The warships sold to the Liao Kingdom were transformed with warships from the Five Dynasties. The inner layer was filled with rotten wood and a thin layer of ships was covered with thin shells on the outside. This kind of ship would fall apart when it was windy and waves. The ships that the Yuan Dynasty was preparing to attack Japan were like this kind of corrupt ship built by Goryeo merchants, but the entire army was destroyed when it was windy and waves.

Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "Speed ​​up the supply to Liao Kingdom and all delivery will be delivered by next summer."

Fanning had intuition that war might come soon.

.........

After leaving the Privy Council, Fan Ning went to meet the Empress Dowager again. Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Cao was sick and rested in the palace. It was not appropriate to see foreign officials. Fan Ning turned to see the Emperor Zhao Xu.

When Fanning heard that he had arrived, Zhao Xu came to the door of the imperial study to greet him, which made Fanning a little flattered.

Actually, it is not surprising that shortly after Fan Ning went to sea, the Liao Kingdom came to seek the interests of Western Xia, and even a small-scale war broke out. On the surface, the court was very tough, but in fact, the court was still a little nervous from top to bottom. I wonder what the Liao Kingdom would do next?

Everyone knows that the Liao Kingdom’s decline was not because of the toughness of the Song Dynasty, but because of the arrival of winter.

Zhao Xu was also uneasy. Although the Intelligence Department sent the latest information to his desk every day, it was still difficult to resolve Zhao Xu's insecurity. After all, the Song Dynasty had been suppressed by the Liao Kingdom for hundreds of years, and his fear of the Liao Kingdom had penetrated into his bones.

When Zhao Xu learned that the Liao Kingdom had destroyed the Jurchens and recovered the Kelie tribe, his sense of insecurity became even stronger. At this time, Fan Ning's return undoubtedly made Zhao Xu seem to have caught a life-saving wood.

Fan Ning sat down in the imperial study and smiled at Zhao Xu: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. Our tactics of clearing the fields in the northern part of Hebei are still effective. The Liao Kingdom is very clear about this. The next battlefield will not be in Hebei. This time, the Liao army sent troops from Datong Prefecture, which actually exposed some of the Liao Kingdom's intentions. If they attacked the Song Dynasty again, they would probably go to the front line of Taiyuan and break through Hedong. Your Majesty, the armistice agreement has actually been torn down. The Liao Kingdom will send troops at any time."

"Your dear, when will the Liao Kingdom send troops?"

Fanning pondered for a moment and said, "I think it's likely to be next summer."

"Why?"

"Your Majesty must first know why the Liao Kingdom sent troops? The reason is very simple. The Liao Kingdom's wealth has dried up. Although they have now obtained no income by looting the wealth of the Han people in Youzhou and the Tiel people in the grassland, they are killing chickens to get eggs and cannot last long.

Weichen estimated that these wealth could support the Liao Kingdom for about half a year. When taxes were collected in the spring, they would find that they could not receive anything. The Liao Kingdom would be in panic. Without the wealth imported by the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, they were unable to support the huge army at all. Then the only way was to launch a war to the outside world and plunder the Song Dynasty to overcome the difficulties. This would be a consensus among the Liao Kingdom. Considering the time of the army's aggregation, Weichen believed that May and June were the most likely."

“So how should we deal with it?”

"It's very simple. We defend the west and attack the east. We defend the Taiyuan line to the death, launch an offensive on the eastern front, use our naval advantage to launch continuous attacks in the east, and eliminate the population of the Liao Kingdom. Your Majesty, as long as we can last for a year, the national strength of the Liao Kingdom will surely collapse. This is the ultimate goal of the Wei Ministers to promote national strength wars."

Fanning's words made Zhao Xu feel relieved. In fact, several prime ministers also put forward similar ideas, but their words were not as powerful as Fanning's words, which convinced Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu walked a few steps behind his hands: "The next step is to make every effort to improve the defense capabilities of Hedong cities and migrate the people south like Hebei."

"Your Majesty, I have two suggestions!"

"you say!"

"The first suggestion is to move the people of Taiyuan Prefecture south according to His Majesty's wishes, and the people in the county will move to Taiyuan City, strengthen the defense construction of Taiyuan City, and then focus on building the Shiquegu defense line. As long as the Liao army's cavalry cannot break this defense line, southern Shanxi will be fine. The Liao army will inevitably attack Taiyuan with all its strength. We will use Taiyuan City to drag the main force of the Liao army."

Zhao Xu nodded, "What about the second suggestion?"

"Your Majesty, the second suggestion is to first calm the country when fighting foreign countries. I heard that the court is now quarreling about education reforms. I suggest that this quarrel end as soon as possible, and everyone will focus on the war against the Liao Kingdom."

"Did you let me put aside the new education law?"

"Your Majesty, Wang Xianggong's reforms are not all unfavorable to the country. For example, the education law implemented this time, I am actually very supportive. Not all scholars will learn Confucianism. To become stronger, there are people who learn agriculture, medicine, work, astronomy and geography, and algorithms. I will establish various specialized schools to allow talents from all walks of life to emerge. I am sure that many knowledgeable people will support this bill."

Zhao Xu sighed, "Actually, I also support this change bill, but it is really difficult for the ministers to label the slightest scholar!"

"Your Majesty, I just said that I believe that many knowledgeable people will support this bill. I am afraid that many people will oppose it, it is not right for people!"

"You mean, is it because of the king?"

Fanning nodded, "I think it's the reason. If Your Majesty trusts me better than me, I can give it a try and I will propose this reform plan."

"What will I do if I love you?"

"Follow the previous methods of Weichen, starting from the newspaper debate, unify the consensus."
Chapter completed!