Since he had successfully signed an alliance with the Jin people, Tong Guan no longer stayed at sea. With a command, several ships quickly turned around and headed towards the west near the sea.

After two days of traveling, they finally landed again. And there was a long arrangement here to not only control all the people around them to prevent the leak of news, but also stationed an army, which was to fight the imperial guards from Tokyo and also to protect Tong Guan from the north to the Liao Kingdom. Obviously, before going to sea, Tong Guan had already arranged everything, and no strangers were noticed by outsiders. At least it could ensure that this key news would not be leaked in a short period of time.

After returning to the envoy team, Tong Guan sent a team of confidants to secretly send the alliance between the two countries to Bianjing. It was not until he did all this that he ordered people to take his own banner and led more than 2,000 imperial guards and elite Qingzhou troops to the west, and then northward towards the border between Liao and Song.

Sun Tu and his friends also saw a completely different scene from the places they had been to along the way. After crossing the Yellow River and entering Hebei, the lives of the people they saw were already more difficult and poor than any of them before. Many people's houses were dilapidated and low, and some were even built with mud and grass, which could destroy their residences. But just this, there were still a large number of people living on the streets, without even a place to cover their heads, and I don't know how they survived the winter.

Not only are there only tiles covering their heads, but even food and accommodation are also a big problem. Along the way, most of the people were hungry and skinny. Even when they saw such a large group of officials coming, they just looked around the road. They were dressed in tatters and mostly barefoot, and they probably couldn't afford a pair of straw sandals.

Sun Tu couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this scene. How could this be in the Song Dynasty? Because in his impression, the Song Dynasty is very rich now. Even in a remote place like Qingzhou and a small county like Yuncheng County, the people at least don't have to worry about food and clothing. And along the way, he had already seen more than ten corpses lying straight on the roadside, obviously all of whom had died suddenly, and were soon dragged to bury by the local government officials.

"How could this be so? With my wealth in the Song Dynasty, can't I still take out some money and food to help the people here? Are those people in the court afraid of forcing people to a dead end and rebelling?" Sun Tu was really confused. Finally, at a reception banquet, he asked a local small official this question.

The man could see that Sun Tu was a capable confidant around Tong Guan, and did not dare to hide it too perfunctorily. He could only sigh and whisper: "General Sun, you don't know anything. This is also a helpless act. Who made the Hebei area at the junction of the two countries? Although our Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom have not had a big fight for a century, the small-scale friction has never stopped. Every month, the Liao army will enter our Song Dynasty from somewhere to burn, kill and loot, and this action is called Dacao Valley.

"In fact, in the early years, after the people were affected by the disaster, the government would also give compensation and allow them to live and work as soon as possible. But often, as soon as we rebuilt our homes for them, the Liao people sent troops to invade. In this way, most of the money and food spent by the government fell into the hands of the Liao Kingdom. Over time, we no longer dared to waste money and food. Moreover, they would rob wherever the people lived. By doing so, giving them money and food was a disaster."

After hearing this, Sun Tu's brows were even more deeply locked. It turned out that his concept of military disaster was not very clear. It was not until this time that he could understand how hard the people were in this situation. It was really possible that they could not even be able to save their lives at any time.

But while understanding, he still said: "Even if there is such a reason, the local government cannot watch the people die of hunger and cold."

"Actually, we have done our best. As early as many years ago, the court intended to strengthen the walls and clear the land, clearing out the northern area of ​​Hebei, diverting water and silting to resist the Liao cavalry. However, the local people were unable to leave their hometowns and refused to move away. They even had several conflicts with the government before. Out of helplessness, we could only let it go, hoping that they would leave here voluntarily."

Sun Tu is really speechless now. The people of the country have always been relocated and are unwilling to leave their hometowns until they have no choice but to leave. But he didn't expect that the people here would be so stubborn that they were almost deadpan and refused to move out of here. Perhaps, only when the two countries of Song and Liao officially started war and these people retreated by the last bit of luck would give up.

When the man turned around and left, Lu Da and Wu Song, who were listening, sighed repeatedly.

The two of them had experienced many experiences before, and they were not soft-hearted, but after seeing the experience of the people here, they still felt miserable. At this time, they took the opportunity to say, "Sanlang, we originally thought that Tong Guan was unwise to join forces with the Jin people to attack the Liao Kingdom, but now it seems that there is some truth. If we can take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, the people here would not have to suffer from the military disaster for many years, and they could live and work here in peace and contentment."

"Yes, if the Song Dynasty really could regain a large area of ​​land in the north and have its own horse-raising place, whether it is the Khitans or other foreigners, they would definitely be more afraid of us. It is impossible for a situation where soldiers and horses can enter the country to loot at any time like now." Sun Tu nodded deeply and said with deep consent.

Thinking about this, the strategy set by Zhao Ji and Tong Guan is actually not wrong. Their only mistake is to overestimate their own strength and underestimate the fierceness of the Liao people, especially the Jurchens.

As soon as Sun Tu thinks that such a terrible scene will move from the area north of the Yellow River to the Yangtze River, which is denser in the population, Sun Tu will feel the consequences more and more serious. Unfortunately, with his current status, it is not enough to guide the change of the national policy of the Song Dynasty, and he can only watch the entire Northern Song Dynasty step by step into the abyss of death.

It was precisely because of such a heavy mood that Sun Tu was not very interested along the way, and he didn't even pay much attention to the mountains and rivers in the north. Fortunately, after that, there were finally several strong cities, which allowed them to see some of the people's lives that they should have again.

Although the people in these cities are not as rich as the south, they are still living and working in peace and contentment. They don’t have to worry about the Liao cavalry attacking and killing at all times, and they can live in a house and will not go hungry if they eat two meals a day.

At this time, Tong Guan became low-key and no longer had frequent banquets with local officials. Instead, he took a lot of time to meet the border generals along the way. At this time, Sun Tu finally saw how prestige Tong Guan had in the border army. Although he was just a eunuch, he was also called one of the six thieves by civil servants and later generations, he was deeply loved by the border soldiers. Every time he arrived at a battalion, he would win cheers. They would also send people to escort Tong Guan all the way north until they entered the next military town, and these soldiers would say goodbye and leave.

Sun Tu and others saw it, and their views on Tong Guan had some changes. They originally thought that Tong Guan could have today's status only because they were favored by accompanying the emperor for many years. But looking at the sincere performance of the soldiers of the border army, we can know that he does have his own set of abilities and must have spoken and done a lot for the soldiers.

After passing through several border town checkpoints one after another, this team of envoys finally arrived at the real Song-Liao border at the end of April, Yanmen Pass, the last important gate in the north of the Song Dynasty.

This is a tall pass between two mountains. The wall alone is more than ten feet high, and the stone wall to the north is five or six feet thick. Not to mention ordinary siege weapons of this era, or ordinary cannons from later generations, they may not be able to open this pass in a short time.

Moreover, there were tens of thousands of elite troops guarding the pass. Although these soldiers seemed far from being stronger than the Imperial Guards and the Qingzhou Army, Sun Tu could feel a different murderous aura from these soldiers. It was a terrifying temperament that had been truly tempered by life and death, and how many times they had climbed up from the pile of dead people.

It can be said that it is precisely because of this army stationed at Yanmen Pass that the Liao Kingdom did not dare to invade the Central Plains in a large scale. The only thing that could be done was to send a small group of troops to harass the rear, but it could not cause too much damage to the Song Dynasty.

Sun Tu, who noticed this, naturally looked awe of the defenders here. When they stayed here, their attitude was also very different, which also won the favor of many soldiers here, and also made them remember this Jingdong Road Military Control Commissioner who came from the south.

After arriving at Yanmen Pass, Tong Guan did not rush to move forward, but sent people to contact the Liao people in the north first, conveying his identity as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom, waiting for the reaction there.

Then, they temporarily retained the area around Yanmen Pass, and Sun Tu also took the opportunity to walk outside the pass, paying attention to the hero of the Song Dynasty who fought here and the hero who did not exist but did not dare to commit suicide for peace between the two countries - yes, that is, the king of the Southern Court of the Liao Kingdom, the former leader of the Beggar Sect of the Song Kingdom, and Xiao Feng and Xiao Hero.

Although there is no stone forest here, and there is no word "Stone Wall" engraved with bare hands before Xiao Yuanshan jumped off the cliff, standing outside Yanmen Pass and feeling the turbulent here, it is inevitable that Sun Tu thinks of the heroes in this story.

We stayed here for several days until the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Liao Kingdom finally responded and allowed the Song envoys to be allowed to be in the human realm. However, they also made a request that the Song people who entered the country must not exceed one thousand!

Although some people were dissatisfied with this, Tong Guan didn't take it seriously and quickly responded.
Chapter completed!