Sure enough, the mission arrived soon, and the person who came was Su Shi, the chief censor.

When I met Su Shi, Ouyang Bian was happy.

"Zizhan, where can we meet in life? We have seen you again in less than a month."

Su Shi was even happier because he not only met Ouyang Bian, but also met him as [Ziyou], whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

After a happy and deep brotherly love scene, I was finally able to speak well.

"Zizhan, why would the court send you an envoy?"

Ouyang Bian said strangely.

When Su Shi heard this, his nose was almost pissed: "Look at what you said, Su Zizhan is talented and handsome. Isn't it normal for me to go abroad as an envoy?"

Well... that's right.

In the Middle Ages, the envoys sent to other countries did have such considerations. It is best to have both talent and appearance, so that the barbarians can see outstanding figures and gorgeous articles in the Celestial Empire, especially the Song Dynasty, which attaches great importance to this aspect, because they cannot defeat others, so they naturally need to make up for it from the cultural perspective.

I sent Ouyang Xiu to serve as an envoy before, but now I sent Su Shi and Ouyang Bian to serve as an envoy. I guess I have considered this way.

Ouyang Bian smiled. He had no other meaning in saying that, just to tease Su Shi. Su Che smiled beside him, and he had long been used to it.

Su Shi whispered: "But there are really some inside stories this time. I heard from my friend that your assignment this time is not the court, but the request from the Xixia side. As for whom it was asked, it is unknown."

Ouyang Bian was shocked.

If so, things may not be that simple.

Combined with the domestic situation in Xixia, I am afraid this trip to Xixia will not be so easy.

Ouyang Bian smiled bitterly and said, "Can I not go?"

Su Shi smiled and said, "Yes, you can't afford to stay in bed, retire and return home, and I just want to disobey you and kill me. These tricks are OK."

Ouyang Bian glanced at Su Shi in a sideways: "Zhan, you are so naughty."

Su Shi smiled and said, "I don't know why, but I always feel that you owe me a lot."

Ouyang Bian felt nervous: Could it be that he actually responded to the poems I copied from him?

Su Che smiled and said, "Brother, wake up. We will start with Jiayounian and eat Ji Mo's, drink Ji Mo's, and live in Ji Mo's, which is because we owe him a lot."

Su Shi shook his head: "No, no, these are nothing, I always feel that he owes me a lot."

Ouyang Bian laughed dryly: "Yes, yes, the care Zizhan gave me is indeed something that Ji Mo would never be able to repay in his life."

Su Shi: "..."

All right.

...

As a regular envoy, it is impossible to say that there is no etiquette training at all. There are naturally such people in the envoy. They gave Ouyang Bian emergency training for two days before they set off.

The mission took Qingling Road, and it was full of cement roads, which was very easy to walk on. On the contrary, the road from Lingzhou to Xingqing, the capital of Xixia is not easy to walk on. After all, it is still a yellow dick road.

It was quite new to Ouyang Bian's first overseas trip after coming to the Song Dynasty, but except for the differences in human feelings, there was not much difference in customs.

After all, Qingzhou and Xingqing are too close.

Su Shi was also quite excited. He wrote a lot of poems along the way, and he kept pestering Ouyang Bian to write lyrics. Ouyang Bian tried to refuse, but it was hard to make fun of it anymore.

Su Shi didn't care. Ouyang Bian's poems were of course excellent, but he rarely took the initiative to write poems, but he was quite diligent in writing books. Su Shi asked Ouyang Bian the reason. Ouyang Bian only told him that poetry could send emotions. However, talking about the world is useless to talk about the world. He was willing to write more articles to educate. Although it could not bring peace to the ages, it would still be beneficial in the end.

After hearing this, Su Shi was quite admired and stopped forcing him.

After a long yellow dirt road, the mission finally entered Xingqing, and Su Shi and Ouyang Bian looked at each other.

Xingqing in front of him looked grand, but his prosperity was not at the same level as Lingzhou.

Well, it is indeed incomparable. Lingzhou is the intersection of Song and Xia businesses after all, and there are Western merchants who go there to trade. Xingqing is just a capital city, with a higher degree of militarization and politicization, but the business is not good.

The two people sent to welcome the mission were led by Xixia, one was Yu Zang Huama and the other was a Han Chinese. Ouyang Bian had long heard of his name, and this person was named Jing Xun.

As the top scorer in the second year of Jiayou's Jinshi list and as a beneficiary of Jiayou's undefeated palace examination in the second year of Jiayou, Ouyang Bian naturally knew all the traitors recruited by Xixia.

The reason why Jiayou was not dismissed in the second year was largely because he failed to join Xixia.

The uneven distribution of imperial examination quotas and regional distribution of the Song Dynasty, as well as the Western Xia policy of luring scholars in the Song Dynasty, were the root causes of the phenomenon of scholars abandoning Song and returning to Xia.

The number of soldiers admitted to the northwest border prefectures is even more uneven, which has caused the number of scholars who failed to pass the exam in the northwest region. The special geographical location makes it easy for scholars to cross the border and run around, causing the phenomenon of scholars wandering and abandoning Song and returning to Xia.

There are more and less battles between Song and Xia, and there are many victories and losses.

Compared with the Song Dynasty, Xixia won because of its strong folk customs and strong individual soldiers' quality, but comprehensive strength and strategic layout must be considered when marching and fighting.

Therefore, the Xixia attached great importance to the attraction of scholars from the Song Dynasty. The Xixia spared no expense to acquire the failed scholars of the Song Dynasty. On the one hand, it was to obtain direct and effective information, and more importantly, it was to enrich its team of strategists.

During the period of Li Jiqian, Zheng Mei, a military academy of Lingzhou garrison, surrendered to Xixia and was granted the position of commander, assisting Jiqian in seizing Lingwu, an important city in the Song Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Jingyou, Zhang Yuan, a loser in Huazhou, and Wu Hao, defected to Xixia.

Although Zhang and Wu were talented, they failed to attend the imperial examination several times. They were full of enthusiasm and had nowhere to repay them, so they had to find another way out. So, "Zhang and Wu went directly to Western Xia. The Xia people rely on the plan to fight against the imperial court. They have been fighting for more than ten years. The West was extremely tired and the two of them worked for them."

This is also true of this Shaanxi native Jing Xun. When Li Liangzuo was about to join the Western Xia, Li Liangzuo appointed him as the Privy Councilor and was deeply trusted, which led to the Western Xia Chief Hao complaining: "The chief heroes often complained that Jing Xun was a traitor and used it, thinking that he was a Privy Councilor, and abandoned the foreign rites and used the Han system."

Among them, the many disputes between Li Liangzuo and the Song Dynasty during his reign were Jing Xun's figure flashing.

Ouyang Bian looked at Jing Xun, but he was handsome. Although he could not compare with himself, he had the legacy of a person from the prosperous Tang Dynasty. However, his eyebrows were drooping and seemed to be a little depressed. Ouyang Bian was worried. When he heard that he introduced himself as a bachelor's student, Ouyang Bian raised his eyebrows.

Yes, the Empress Dowager Liang's brothers were Han people. In order to win support, they abolished the Han rites and restored the French rites. The Han people lost their power in the court. It seems that Jing Xun had lost the qualification to argue with military power.

In the militarized country of Xixia, without military power, it means being marginalized.
Chapter completed!