On the last afternoon of the third year of Jianyan, Li Yanxian, the governor of Xingning Army and commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, received the annual rewards from the court in Pinglu City, Shanzhou, as well as the latest issue of "Dibao" delivered by express horses from the army.

By the way, this "Dibao" is a serious Dibao for Li Yanxian, because the "Di" in "Dibao" originally refers to the residences set up in the capital by counties and kingdoms in the Han Dynasty and military governorates in the Tang Dynasty, and the original meaning of Dibao also refers to the process in which the court posts information about relevant major events, and the people in the Dibao copy it and report it to the local counties and kingdoms... isn't it a return to basics to use it on the local commander Li Yanxian?

Without further ado, Li Yanxian, the governor of Xingning Army, who was in Pinglu supervising the southward retreat of some soldiers and civilians in Shanzhou and Hebei, first accepted the reward seriously, and then asked people to entertain the envoys well. After everything was ready, he ignored the general Shao Yun beside him and the endless stream of soldiers and baggage under his feet, and sat directly on the top of Pinglu City, and opened this official report in the sunlight above his head...

There was no way. This newly delivered report was much thicker than the ones he had received in the previous six months, and the paper was also particularly wide and strong. Combined with the "Thank You List" he saw last time in Shanzhou City, Hebei, he thought something big had happened.

However, the more Li Yanxian read from beginning to end, the more confused he became, because there was really nothing major that was beyond his imagination. It was just recorded in exceptional detail and the layout was neat and orderly. But he couldn't help but read it carefully.

For example, there was a whole report about personnel arrangements. In addition to the transfer of officials in the court, there was also a commendation for the combat heroes in the battle of Xiaowusha under Zhang Rong's army.

For example, someone took seven heads in one breath; someone took an unknown head wearing a silk-lined gourd helmet, looking like a general; a certain captain drove a small boat carrying gunpowder bags to the port first, and his merit was the same as that of the first to reach the port... Anyway, Li Yanxian felt a little uncomfortable watching this, because his merits were greater than Zhang Rong's, his Shanzhou soldiers fought more bravely than the Liangshanpo navy, and had always been more brutal, but he didn't even have time to remember their names.

This is a fact.

After the Jingkang Incident, the whole country was in ruins. Even Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun just fled to find "new officials". Only Li Yanxian, who had been suppressed, idled and abandoned by his superiors time and time again, managed to survive and led a group of defeated soldiers to take back Shanzhou, a vital place in the world, from the hands of the Jin army.

Shanzhou, with Shaanxi on the left and Shaanxi on the right, and the river on the north and south, is a strategic location. Not to mention that the Song army's main field forces are actually divided into the Imperial Camp and Guanxi troops, while the Jin army is actually divided into two routes, the east and the west. This makes Shanzhou, which is stuck at the intersection of four major fronts, extremely important.

In fact, if Li Yanxian had not recaptured Shanzhou that day and forced Wanyan Yinshu to end his rampage in western Beijing ahead of time, it would be hard to say whether Zhao Jiu and the small court could gain a foothold in Nanyang.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if Li Yanxian does nothing from now on, as long as he insists on defending Shanzhou, he will definitely be among the top heroes in the world in the future.

So, to some extent, the Jiedushi of Xingning Army was definitely qualified to maintain his arrogant attitude in front of all the other Song troops.

After admiring the promotions and commendations of Zhang Rong's subordinates, Li Yanxian forced himself to collect himself and went back to look at the political documents. He stared at the information that occupied a large portion of the page and shook his head repeatedly. When he turned to the last two pages, he could not help but be stunned.

It turned out that from this time on, the official bulletin was filled with things that had nothing to do with current affairs.

For example, the second to last page has an article on "Qi" by the great scholar Hu Anguo; an explanation of the new palace newspaper regulations written by Hu Bianxiu; a New Year's greeting in the voice of Prime Minister Lu on behalf of the emperor; and a discussion on why the Tokyo City is so impregnable written by Chen Shuxiang...

And the last one is even more absurd.

Half of the paper was filled with some nonsense poetry and prose... that was fine, but the other half was like a storybook, but there was no signature on it.

It was about Zhang Yongzhen, the water god of the Huai River. He was a figure from the ancient times many lives ago, and was born in the Yanhuang tribe. But how did he meet an immortal, and was taught immortal magic? Then, when he started fighting, how could he easily transform into a 20-zhang-tall Dharma image? How did he kill countless demons and monsters, and even gathered all the weapons to destroy demons and monsters to create a 14-zhang-tall sword. Finally, on the day when the sword was completed, this person followed the Yellow Emperor to fight against Chi You of the Nine Li in Zhuolu, and killed five of Chi You's 81 brothers in the battle. His contribution was so great that he was sealed as the Huai River after the battle.

Such an absurd story was actually reported in the court bulletin. Li Yanxian, who was both civil and military, certainly disdained it, but he could not help reading it two or three times in a row. He also gestured to the city wall in his mind how long a 14-zhang broadsword was. Only then did he put away the court bulletin with a sense of unsatisfaction and handed it to his subordinates, asking them to copy several copies and distribute them to his subordinates, civil and military officials.

However, up to this point, the troops, baggage, and civilians continued to pour into the city, so Li Yanxian had no choice but to continue sitting on the top of the city wall and continue talking with Shao Yun, the Pinglu defender who had been standing beside him for a long time.

"Captain, is there anything reported in the newspaper?" Shao Yun couldn't help but ask this question.

"There weren't many major events. The emperor has been inspecting the Imperial College and the Xiangguo Temple Military Square in recent days and comforting the elders in Tokyo." Li Yanxian continued to sit still, just downplaying it and smiling at his trusted generals. "Besides that, he praised the merits of the Liangshanpo bandits again... It was a follow-up to the last time he thanked those nobles for borrowing money."

Shao Yun nodded repeatedly: "You have worked hard, my Lord... But I still think that borrowing money is ridiculous. I asked the assistants around me several times before I believed it."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!