Son of Song Dynasty

Chapter 144 One Servant Two Masters

"Official Liu, you should understand the current situation, what good strategy do you have?" Empress Song asked Liu Lexian for advice.

Liu Lexian couldn't help showing embarrassment, he had two masters on top of him, besides Empress Song herself, he had to obey Zhao Dezhao's greetings, this was equivalent to having one servant and two masters, his position was rather embarrassing, and it was inconvenient to say some things .

After hesitating for a long time, he felt that it was better to retreat in order to advance: "The old slave is just a humble eunuch. How can he understand these important military affairs? How can he come up with any good strategies?"

Empress Song looked unhappy, flicked her sleeves and said, "I'm asking you, if you have anything to say, just say it!"

"The old slave feels that the king of Jin is approaching menacingly, and the illness of the sage is unpredictable, and the empress should send someone to recall His Royal Highness the Prince of Tianshui County as soon as possible." Liu Lexian looked up at Queen Song cautiously, seeing that she did not show obvious displeasure. Boldly continued: "When the king of Tianshui County returns with his troops, he will preside over the outer court, and the queen empress will rule the inner court, and they will echo each other internally and externally with the king of Tianshui County. Only in this way can we have a fight with King Jin."

Liu Lexian very cunningly avoided a key issue, that is, there is a huge obstacle in the alliance and cooperation between Empress Song and Zhao Dezhao, that is, who is the main one between the two?
This is by no means just a question of status, but a matter of fundamental interests.Empress Song intends to help Zhao Defang take the position, and Zhao Dezhao obviously wants to take the position herself. The two parties have the same interests in fighting against Zhao Guangyi. The other party makes a wedding dress.

Liu Lexian knew very well that with Empress Song's inexperienced political skills and extremely limited political resources, she would definitely not be able to withstand Zhao Guangyi's pressure, and it was almost impossible for her to achieve her long-term goal of pushing Zhao Defang to the top. Give up Zhao Defang, who has little hope, and cooperate with Zhao Dezhao to help him get to the top.

This is an account that is easy to calculate. No matter whether it is Zhao Defang or Zhao Dezhao, she will get the title and honor of the empress dowager. At most, Zhao Defang treats her more intimately and respectfully. How big is the difference? Woolen cloth?Conversely, if the infighting between the two parties caused Zhao Guangyi to reap the benefits of being a fisherman and rise to the throne, then the status of Queen Song would become a so-called "sister-in-law" who is not embarrassed or embarrassed, and it would be impossible to keep the noble treatment. .

Therefore, Liu Lexian felt that the most sensible thing for Empress Song would be to give up Zhao Defang and help Zhao Dezhao instead.

But it was inconvenient for him to say such an extremely sensitive and suspicious suggestion, otherwise he would cause trouble. This matter could only be left to Empress Song to figure it out slowly.

After a long silence, Empress Song sighed softly, and said reluctantly: "The arrow is on the string, and we have to send it. King Jin's power is overwhelming, and I have no other way to go. Let me arrange a messenger to send an urgent message." To King Tianshui!"

She paused, and then said: "The capital is thousands of miles away from Lingnan, so I don't know if it will be too late."

Liu Lexian hurriedly responded: "If it's in time, it must be in time!"

At the same time, what he thought was completely different: "With the methods and knowledge of the king of Tianshui County, long before he leads the troops out of Beijing, he will reserve enough manpower to arrange eyeliner. If there is any disturbance in the Tokyo court, It is absolutely impossible to hide it from him, there must be a messenger riding a fast horse to Lingnan day and night at this moment, why do we need to wait for the empress to send someone to tell me?"

But Liu Lexian is also very clear in his heart that even if Zhao Dezhao can get news from the capital as soon as possible without relying on Empress Song, it is still necessary for Empress Song to send a letter, because this is the attitude that an "ally" should express, otherwise the two sides will cooperate. There will be nothing left at all—if Empress Song and Zhao Dezhao turn against each other, he, the embarrassing thing of "one servant and two masters", will be the first to have a headache.

After receiving the permission of Empress Song, Liu Lexian immediately wrote two notes, one of which was to call for the messenger's riding horse, and the other was for the messenger to send letters to Lingnan, and then appointed a confidant servant Send out of the palace.Thanks to Zhao Dezhao's generous gift at the beginning, he has quite a few wealthy farms in the suburbs of Tokyo, and each farm has appointed a trusted aide to act as a steward. You only need to pass these two notes, and the steward there will arrange everything. appropriate.

After Mimi instructed that confidant servant, he sent him out of Funing Palace in person. Liu Lexian wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned inside and reported to Empress Song: "Madam, the old slave has already made arrangements. Then there will be messengers on fast horses, traveling day and night to Lingnan."

Empress Song hummed, staring at Liu Lexian and asked: "Then you can do the math for me, if the king of Tianshui County is convinced to return immediately, how long will it take him to return to Beijing?"

Liu Lexian made some calculations in his mind: "I think it will be one month at the earliest and two months at the earliest. His Royal Highness will definitely be able to return to the capital."

Riding a fast horse day and night is completely different from leading an army. The former is of course much faster, but limited by horsepower and road conditions, it also has its limit speed, usually no more than two hundred miles a day , Tokyo City is more than [-] miles away from Lingnan, and it will take a month at the fastest to go back and forth.

Empress Song walked back and forth for a few steps, then sat down slumped, she looked a little anxious, she shook her head and said: "The king of Jin is threatening every day, I can't spend this much time!"

Liu Lexian remained silent, this was an obvious matter, if it was only a few days of delay, he could use the excuse of "the Holy Majesty has taken medicine to sleep and needs to rest in bed" as an excuse, but if you want to delay it for a month or even two months?If the Holy Majesty has not shown up for such a long time, Jin Wang and others can still sit and wait obediently, that would be a strange thing, they are not idiots!

Once the King of Jin and others see the truth, they may cause a lot of trouble. Don't look at the Funing Palace who have been replaced by their own people, but if you really think that these hundreds of servants and imperial guards can be relied on, It would be too naive to deter King Jin and others with this!And there is an even more ominous conjecture, which Liu Lexian dare not say out loud, that is, if the Holy Majesty really does not wake up and regain his sanity for a month or two, then the hope of being able to survive this test is very slim!
The two were relatively silent, both helpless. After a long time, Empress Song stood up and said with a long sigh: "Come on, it's over, now it can only be delayed day by day."

When she walked to the entrance of the palace, she couldn't help but turn her head and look at the southern sky, thinking in her heart: "I don't know whether Zhao Dezhao's troops are going smoothly. If he has suffered a big defeat or is stuck in a quagmire, then there is really no hope." there is none left."

(End of this chapter)