At the beginning of the seventh year of Qingli, Xia Sheng, the governor of Hebei Road, entered Beijing and served as Privy Councilor, and the Privy Council returned to the old system of the two chief officials. Almost at the same time, Wang Kai was deployed from Linfu Road and promoted to the commander of the Lu and the military and horse affairs of Goulin Mansion. Zhang Ji was promoted to Linfu Road and was still the inspector of the border. The next thing that came was to let Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai enter Beijing to report the matter, and Zhang Ji was in charge of the volcanic military affairs.

In the camp, Du Zhongxiao took the official document and said to Wang Kai: "The chief minister, the court asked us to take the mail to the palace, so we should not delay for a moment. But we also asked us to bring muskets and cannons, and wait for the officer to inquire. The muskets are okay, but the cannons are heavy, where can we take on the road to go fast?"

Wang Kai said: "I see that the cannons are not very heavy. They just bring a few camels and transport them there. Since the court is so determined, we should act cautiously and would rather carry them more than neglect them."

Du Zhongxiao smiled bitterly: "There are thousands of miles apart and countless inns are handing over shops, but I am afraid there is no camel to replace it."

Wang Kai said: "It's just a few more heads. Our army has its own carrots, so we don't have to worry about it."

The detailed situation of the battle in Tanglong Town was that Wang Kai and Zhang Ke reported to the Privy Council, which boasted about muskets and cannons, which were called powerful weapons to defend the city, and the ones were powdered. And it was said that if these weapons were used on a large scale, they would no longer have to be afraid of the Khitan and Dangxiang cavalry. It also shows that these weapons were made by Du Zhongxiao, using flame nitride to fire projectiles, exquisitely made, and had the ability of unpredictable gods and ghosts. It was not until now that the court was calm, but no one believed it, and they all thought it was an exaggeration to the border general. It was not until Xia La entered the Privy Council that he believed Du Zhongxiao, the old subordinate, that he was brought to Beijing to demonstrate. This is the benefit of people in the court, otherwise there would be no reward if he had made merit.

Both Wang Kai and Zhang Ke have been promoted, and Du Zhongxiao is not under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. He will only know if he will reward merits after he wants to enter Beijing. At this time, Zhao Wen was Jia Changchao. Xia Feng returned to Beijing. He suspected that Xia Feng was interested in the Secretariat. Du Zhongxiao had once been his verdict, so he delayed it.

Du Zhongxiao was not in a hurry to bring muskets and cannons to the capital to demonstrate. It is undoubtedly true that this thing is useful. For the army of wise men, he could build a small firearm army without the full support of the court. When the time comes, he made a big splash and made a great contribution, which is much better than entering the capital now. However, Wang Kai and Zhang Ke attached great importance to this and wrote letters to the court many times.

After tidying up with Wang Kai and explaining Zhang Ji about the matter, Du Zhongxiao was still a little worried. He repeatedly reminded Tanglong Town to deploy heavy troops, but the food and grass should be transported from the volcanic army and not collected from the local area. The city is temporarily not allowed to live in, and wait until it is up to the right place.

It is a common practice for military generals in this area to be the commander of the state army. Although Zhang Ke felt that Du Zhongxiao was too cautious, he still agreed one by one. In the past few months, the two sides have cooperated happily and made great contributions. There is no need to worry about these trivial matters.

It was mid-February when we set off from the Volcano Army, passed Bingzhou and passed Luzhou, and headed south to Xijing Henan Prefecture. We took the news to the palace, and we went to the post office every day, and the date was determined. There was only a very little maneuvering time, so Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai did not delay for a day.

After coming out of the inn and looking at the Luoyang city gate not far away, Du Zhongxiao sighed: "It's a pity that we can't enter and visit this thousand-year-old capital. When we come back, the road is not so urgent. We should walk slowly and no longer be exhausted in running like this."

Wang Kai smiled and said, "What's this? The two armies started a war, and the soldiers were walking much faster than this. We had an inn along the way, and we were ready for food and drink, which was much better than that time. When we returned to the court, we would just follow the Zhijun to return!"

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head. It was not much to say, but it was like this every day, and he couldn't stand it. Of course, Wang Kai was right. When fighting, the march was much harder than himself. But now there was no war?

After leaving Henan Prefecture and boarding the two capitals' post roads, the road was much easier. Three days later, when I arrived outside Xinzheng Gate, Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai submitted a letter to see each other and rested in the inn outside the city. When officials from other places entered the capital, they had to get the order to enter the city, and the length of time might be determined. Anyway, Du Zhongxiao and the others arrived outside the city within the time limit, and there was no violation of the limit, and the other arrangements had nothing to do with the two.

It was already spring, and the smoke and willows outside Bianliang City were covered with green and the eagles were flying high. Compared with the volcanic army, there were completely two different scenes.

Du Zhongxiao stood outside the inn gate, looking at the scenery around him, and the pedestrians on the road were filled with emotion. Before he knew it, he had been away from here for nearly two years. He had been busy these two years and could not feel the passing of time. Unfortunately, he entered Beijing too hastily and did not have time to write to his family, otherwise he would have let his parents and wives meet here. I don’t know how many days he can stay in the capital, and whether his family can come or not.

At this moment, a horse stopped on the road, an official got off and said to Du Zhongxiao: "When you wake up, you have arrived!"

Du Zhongxiao turned his head and saw that it was Han Jiang and hurriedly came forward. After the first magistrate of Chenzhou, Han Jiang entered the Pavilion and later served as the Tongzhi Taichang Liyuan. At this time, he was the Zhijixianyuan, the censor in the palace and the official position of Kaifeng Prefecture. He was in charge of the position of the library and the official rank was higher than Du Zhongxiao, not to mention that the official position of the Kaifeng Prefecture was countless times stronger than Du Zhongxiao's army. In the same year, Han Jiang was still the highest official position.

He quickly walked forward and after the salute, Du Zhongxiao said, "I have only been in the inn for less than an hour. I didn't expect Zihua to come here."

Han Jiang said: "I have calculated the time limit for you to arrive in the capital and sent someone to look around here. As soon as you arrive in the capital, I will get the news."

After a few greetings, Du Zhongxiao gave Han Jiang to his residence in the inn and sat down with the guests.

Asked about the hard work along the way, Han Jiang said: "You occupied Tanglong Town a few years ago and defeated the Khitan plundered people, which was very popular in the capital. Unfortunately, the Volcanic Army was far away and had no information. There was no exact information. I don't know what you are."

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's shameful to say that this battle was only a few shots, and he never fought with the Khitans. The Khitans went deep into the Song Dynasty and had no food and grass to replenish them. In the end, they died of cold and starvation, but it was the heavenly harvest. Later, the Fan tribes captured their village, robbed them, and surrendered to the Dangxiang people."

Han Jiang smiled and said, "Brother, you said it easily, but you don't know how afraid of people in the capital. Everyone says that you defeated the Khitan and occupied a lot of territory. They are afraid that the Khitan will not be angry and will set up a large army to fight with our dynasty!"

Du Zhongxiao also laughed: "These words are just to scare the ignorant people. Which official would believe it? At this time, the Khitans and Dangxiang were in conflict with each other every year. How could they start a war for a small town that did not belong to them? Besides, the Khitans went deep into the Song Dynasty. We were careful everywhere and never attacked them. What could the Khitans say? They could not hold on to their own food and grass, so who would blame them!"

Han Jiang shook his head: "If you say it, you don't believe it. This is not a rumor among the people in the city, and many officials also believe it. In the past few months, officials have repeatedly submitted seals, asking to gather heavy troops on Hebei Road to repair cities and prevent the Khitan from going south. Until you talked with the envoys of the Khitan, the two countries have established documents, and some officials said it was the Khitan's delaying strategy! It was the strong proposal of Xia Taiwei to dispel the court's doubts."

Du Zhongxiao said helplessly: "Marching and fighting is not a joke. If the Khitans want to go south, they have to prepare for a long time. Everything has its clues. Since the battle in Tanglong Town, there has been no movement in the Khitan soldiers, so how could the war start?

Han Jiang sighed: "You have been an official in the border area and have a sense of their own. But how many officials in the court have been an official in the border area? How many have fought in battles? What you take for granted is not the case in others' eyes."
Chapter completed!