Time passed quickly. In a blink of an eye, the winter of the eighth year of Tiansheng had arrived and the weather was getting colder and colder. At first, Li Zhang thought that Liu E had just locked herself in Zongzheng Temple for the time being, but she never dreamed that this level would last for half a year. Fortunately, Qingzhi was with him, and the two were newlyweds, and they were in a deep relationship. Even if they were tired of being together every day, they would not feel bored. Instead, they deepened the relationship between the couple.

During the past six months, the outside world was also very calm. At first, Li Zhang was mentioned from time to time, but as time went by, Li Zhang was gradually forgotten. After all, there were too many things in the capital that could divert everyone's attention. However, during this year, Zhao Zhen and Lu Wu came to visit him from time to time, mainly because others could not get in at all.

It was through Zhao Zhen and Lu Wu that Li Zhang also learned some external situations. The Song Dynasty was very calm. At most, there was a famine in a certain place. Now the Song Dynasty has sufficient food, and a small famine is not a problem at all. On the contrary, the warehouses where grains were stored were too much, so the food collected could not be stored at all. For this reason, the court also relaxed the ban on the private brewing of wine among the people.

The martial arts side is also working normally. Cao Wei asked Liu E to plead for Li Zhang many times, but unfortunately it didn't work. However, Li Zhang remembered this favor, and there were also money and textile industry, which were also developing rapidly. After all, these Li Zhang had laid a solid foundation long ago, and even if he was not there, he was still moving forward.

However, although the Song Dynasty was calm, it was uneasy outside the country, especially the Liao Kingdom and the northwest that Li Zhang was concerned about. In the northwest, Li Yuanhao finally launched an attack on his younger brother Li Chengyu. As a result, Li Chengyu is now retreating step by step. Seeing that even his lair is about to be lost, it seems that Li Yuanhao will unify the party and encirclement this year.

If Li Yuanhao unified Dangxiang, the next step would definitely turn his target to the Song Dynasty. First, Dangxiang was originally a group of robbers, and they needed to plunder the Song Dynasty to strengthen their own strength. Second, when Li Mingde died at the hands of the Song Dynasty, Dangxiang was almost destroyed. With Li Yuanhao's character, he would definitely want to take revenge, so as long as he unified Dangxiang, he would definitely attack the Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty did not let Li Yuanhao go unwillingly. Several generals from the northwest joined forces with Cao Wei from the martial arts to write a letter to the court, hoping to take advantage of Li Yuanhao's opportunity to attack Li Chengyu and send troops to conquer Li Yuanhao's old nest Xingzhou. Even if he could not conquer Xingzhou City, it would make Li Yuanhao difficult to take care of the head and tail, thus giving Li Chengyu a chance. As long as Li Chengyu was not dead, Dangxiang would not be able to unify.

However, Cao Wei and other military generals had limited influence in the court, and coupled with the suppression of military generals by the civil officials of the Song Dynasty, the memorials they sent were likely to be sank to the sea. But this time it was thanks to the newly appointed prime minister Lu Yijian. Although Lu Yijian had many shortcomings, this person was still very sensible. In the end, he disagreed with the opposition and persuaded Liu E and agreed to send troops to restrain Li Yuanhao. Now Cao Ma's musket army and another team of cavalry have sent troops, which is probably causing Li Yuanhao a lot of trouble.

Compared with the northwest, the most unlucky one was the Liao Kingdom. The Bohai people, Da Yanlin, launched a rebellion in August last year. The rebellion was not large in scale, but the Liao Kingdom was not suppressed effectively, which led to more and more people participating in the rebellion. In the end, even the son-in-law Xiao Xiaoxian and the Nanyang Princess were imprisoned, and the Nanyang Princess was even killed while running away.

Da Yanlin's uprising was like wildfire, and it became increasingly fierce in the eastern part of the Liao Kingdom, and even shook the rule of the Liao Kingdom. Although the Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu was a powerful lord, he was already old and had been suffering in recent years, and his dominance over the country has also declined greatly. In addition, there were many contradictions in the Liao Kingdom, which provided great convenience for Da Yanlin's rebellion.

In just one year, Da Yanlin's troops reached tens of thousands, known as the Relic Army. Moreover, Da Yanlin captured the Liao Kingdom's Tokyo City. Liao Kingdom had five capitals, which are the five most prosperous cities in the country. With the fall of Tokyo City, the Relic Army became even more powerful, and the Liao Dynasty was even more indiscriminate. It is said that Da Yanlin would also send troops to attack the Liao Kingdom's military city, Chenzhou, which is later Chenyang, which is full of ambitiousness.

Of course, because the distance is too far, the above news is from a few months ago. Da Song is not very clear about how Da Yanlin's rebellion has reached.

In addition, Li Zhang had no impression of the rebellion of Da Yanlin in his original history, but he knew that the other party would definitely fail. After all, the Liao Kingdom would have nearly a hundred years of national destiny, and was finally destroyed by the Jurchens, so Da Yanlin, a native of Bohai, would definitely fail in the end.

However, even if it fails, Da Yanlin has great significance to the Song Dynasty. If Li Zhang was Liu E, he would definitely send someone to contact Da Yanlin to give them some support, and then wait for an opportunity to find an opportunity to seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. After all, it is the northern gate of the Central Plains. If you lose it, it is equivalent to exposing the heartland of the Central Plains directly under the iron hooves of the Liao Kingdom. Therefore, the Song Dynasty has no danger to defend, and in the end it can only retain a huge standing army to prevent the Liao Kingdom from moving south.

The Song Dynasty's permanent troops reached millions. No matter how rich the Song Dynasty was, the millions of troops also put heavy pressure on the Song Dynasty. This is one of the three redundant "redundant soldiers", but redundant soldiers have no choice. After all, the loss of Yan Yun has resulted in no danger in the Hebei area, and they can only use huge troops to garrison. This is also the reason why Zhao Kuangyin wanted to recover Yan Yun so much at the time.

Unfortunately, Liu E is in power now. Although Liu E performed very well in internal affairs, she lacked an international perspective. Moreover, as a woman, she was not very interested in military affairs, not as warlike as Empress Xiao of the Liao Kingdom at the time. In fact, Liu E’s idea was very simple, that is, to protect the Song Dynasty that Zhao Heng gave her, and the external expansion was not within her consideration.

It was also under such a situation that in the face of such a good opportunity for Da Yanlin's rebellion, the Song Dynasty did not move at all, which made Li Zhang secretly complain that if he could take this opportunity to recover Yan Yun, the Great Wall defense line could be connected into a front line. At that time, the Liao Kingdom would not want to go south easily, and the Song Dynasty would no longer have to maintain such a huge force.
Chapter completed!