After passing Tanzhou, I entered the mountainous area. It was quiet along the way, and there was no pedestrian. There was no people for dozens of miles. It was not until the afternoon of the next day that I saw a small village with three families.

Liu Ji looked at the sky and said to Ma Di: "Let's rest here. We should go to Bei'anzhou tomorrow. When we get there, we will replenish some food and grass and continue moving forward. Before leaving, Taiwei Du said that we should go to Yuzhou as fast as possible."

Ma Di said: "Okay. This is Sixiangling, and after climbing the mountain, it is Xinguanye."

Liu Jidao: "Today's forward should be at the Wo Tathagata Pavilion, not far from Bei'anzhou City. I wonder if the garrison of Bei'anzhou knows that we will come."

Ma Di said: "Of course I know. There is Yima in the new hall, so the people there will naturally go to Huizhou early."

The two of them were talking, got off the horse together and went outside the small village.

Three families in this village make a living by hunting. When there are many people on the road, they also do in-store business. From Yelu Hongji to the south, the business trips here were cut off, and there were almost no people in half a year. They had to walk dozens of miles of mountain road to buy some daily necessities.

When they arrived at the village entrance, the personal soldiers came forward with an old man and said, "Taiwei, when the people in the village saw the army coming, the young and strong hid in the mountains, leaving only a few old men."

Liu Ji said to the old man: "Dare you ask me about my father-in-law's surname? We are the army of the Song Dynasty. We bring our own food and will not steal you."

The old man looked a little panicked and saluted, "Return to the official, the young Liu Wen, the people in the village call me Liu Taigong."

Liu Ji smiled and said, "We have the same surname. You don't have to panic. We will rest here for a night and do it tomorrow morning. If you live in your house, you will calculate the house money for you. Look at your place, a room is counted for twenty cents, okay?"

Liu Wen said: "Officials, there have been no pedestrians here for half a year. What's the use of asking for money? If you give it, it's better to give some salt to a smaller one. Many days have not come out of the mountain, and our salt is very short of here."

Liu Ji said: "Okay, we have salt in the marching, but there is no shortage. By the way, ours is the fine salt of the Song Dynasty, not coarse salt. I heard that the price in the Khitan is not low. When we leave tomorrow, I will give you five kilograms of salt to thank you."

After hearing this, Liu Wen thanked him for his gratitude and went to clean up the house where Liu Ji lived with his personal soldiers.

Seeing Liu Wen leave, Liu Ji sighed: "Last year, the Khitan people seemed to have a great success. In such a small mountain village, when the army came, the young and strong hid out early. It must be because the Khitans were strong before the New Year, and the people were afraid."

Ma Di said: "What the Taiwei said is that 400,000 troops went south, and there were hundreds of thousands of signing troops in Youzhou. How many young and strong people stayed? It's okay near Zhongjing Dading Prefecture, but the other states in the middle road also suffered a lot of losses, and this year it was sad."

Liu Ji nodded and looked at the scenery around him. It was late February, the weather was getting warmer, and new leaves grew on the trees. The scenery in the mountains was pretty good, but it was too remote and life was not convenient.

When they arrived at the big tree in front of the thatched house, they sat down. The personal soldiers made tea, and Liu Ji and Ma Di drank tea together.

While the two were talking, a fast horse rushed from the north. When they arrived nearby, the knight dismounted and crossed his hands in front of Liu Ji and said, "Report to the Grand Marshal, the vanguard Mo Tan has arrived in front of the Tathagata Pavilion. Liu Ren'an, the magistrate of the Northern An Prefecture of Khitan, and Zhao Denglu, the garrison, agreed to sacrifice the city and entered General Mo's camp."

Liu Ji was overjoyed when he heard this: "Okay! Go and rest. Tomorrow morning, follow me to Bei'anzhou!"

The knight crossed his hands and sang Nuo and left. Liu Ji and Ma Di said, "I thought they would offer the city only if you were to come to Bei'anzhou, but they didn't expect that they would do it today. In this way, things will be much simpler."

Ma Di said: "We have already discussed it. As long as the Song army arrives, we will offer the city. We don't have to see me."

Liu Ji nodded. It seemed that these Khitan guards had a clear understanding of the situation and knew that the end of the Khitan had arrived, so they changed their doors early. Now those who took the initiative to offer the city will definitely treat the Song Dynasty well and can protect the family.

Unlike the Han family, which was close to the royal family, the three families of Ma, Liu and Zhao were large clans in Youzhou. Although there were many children of officials, they had always lived in Youzhou. After the war in Youzhou, the Song Dynasty did not target these three families, but only thought they were ordinary people. After getting the news, the three families of officials in Khitan contacted the city to take the initiative to offer the city. It was too far away and was also prepared to return home secretly.

Of course, the officials and generals in the states of Xiancheng, Zhongjing Road were not all children of the three families. However, this place is close to Youzhou, and there are many people in the three families who serve as officials here. After contacting, the Khitan generals who disagreed had been dealt with, so the ones who agreed naturally came together with the three families.

In Youzhou City, Du Zhongxiao and Fu Bi sat in the yard. There was a plate of mutton and a few fruits on the small table in the middle, and the two were drinking leisure wine.

After eating and drinking for a while, Fu Bi said, "But unexpectedly, the Taiwei was about to come out to fight again just after the battle in Youzhou. Thinking about it now, Yelu Hongji really didn't know what crazy he had gone, and he would suddenly lead the troops who were scattering the country. As a result, all the elite troops in the battle were lost, and the situation was today."

Du Zhongxiao said: "In our opinion, it is incredible that the Khitans went south. But in the opinion of the Khitans, I am afraid that looking at the Song Dynasty will still be the same as before. As long as I scare you, I will have to pay money with both hands. Over the years, this dynasty destroyed the Khitans and opened up the Western Regions, which was very easy. If you have a normal mind, you will not come to flirt with tiger beards. But sometimes, some people don't think so, and they can't figure it out even if they think about it."

Yes, a normal person's thinking is that he can't understand how the Khitan suddenly started a war with the Song army like he was trying to death. And he really died if he was trying to death. He was defeated in Youzhou and the entire Khitan Empire began to collapse.

Sometimes the country is like this, just like hysteria, and suddenly becomes irrational. Just like Du Zhongxiao's previous life, India once suddenly started a war with China, and the Chinese people couldn't understand it. They just thought with their toes that this would be a battle against India, so why did they fight? However, India really fought, and it was defeated at one touch, and it was defeated thousands of miles away.

Although the Song Dynasty won consecutive victories over the years and had a strong military power, the Khitan was not afraid of it. There was no way. Since the Five Dynasties, the Khitan had an advantage over the Central Plains. How many years have it been? It has not been against the Song Dynasty. How many games did the Song Dynasty win?

After drinking a sip of wine, Fu Bi said, "Yes, I just can't figure it out. When you go back to the court, I stayed in Youzhou and thought about what happened last year. The more I think about it, the more incredible it becomes. At the beginning, the Khitan thought it could win, which was reasonable. But when I arrived in Youzhou, I attacked Quyang and finally sent tens of thousands of people there. Then, after a battle, we stood firm and cleared the world, the Khitan had no food, or insisted on not withdrawing the troops. What is the reason?"

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "My husband, sometimes things are unreasonable. If everything in this world is difficult to explain, it will be much simpler. What we often deal with in our world is actually unreasonable."

Fu Bi nodded: "What the Taiwei said is that the defeat of the Khitan is unreasonable. However, if they are defeated, it will be much easier for our dynasty to advance north and unify the world. Otherwise, even if our dynasty's military strength becomes stronger, we will not dare to go to war with the Khitan."
Chapter completed!