Chapter 452

Northern Song.

The envoy Huang Shang sent to the land of Baiyue, Baiyue City, had already returned to the Northern Song.

Huang Shang originally thought that forming an alliance with Baiyue City this time was a sure thing, but the news the envoy brought back was that the Queen of Baiyue of Baiyue City had rejected the alliance letter Huang Shang had brought.

One must know that for the sake of the Northern Song, and to facilitate this alliance with the faction of Baiyue City, Huang Shang had promised very tempting benefits to Baiyue in the alliance letter.

Huang Shang had even learned from the Southern Song's method of providing annual tribute to the Great Yuan and Great Jin to facilitate this alliance with Baiyue City; of course, Huang Shang would not directly give annual tribute to the faction of Baiyue City, but rather promised to give Baiyue City some necessary supplies every year, such as food and clothing.

One must know that the land of Baiyue had always been impoverished, and after the land of Baiyue was trampled by the iron hooves of the Great Qin back then, the environment of Baiyue was even less suitable for people to live in; the things Huang Shang promised to Baiyue City should have been exactly what Baiyue City needed most!

But now, the Queen of Baiyue of Baiyue City, Yan Lingji, had actually rejected his alliance letter.

This news left Huang Shang, who had always been very composed, feeling somewhat depressed and puzzled.

"How did the Queen of Baiyue reply to the letter at that time?"

Huang Shang looked at the messenger kneeling before him and said.

After hearing Huang Shang's words, cold sweat the size of soybeans flowed down the messenger's head, and he then tried his best to recall the words spoken by the Queen of Baiyue in Baiyue City.

"Re... report, my lord."

"According to this lowly one's impression, when the Queen of Baiyue saw our letter at that time, she seemed to show a look of disdain."

"According to this lowly one's guess, it was as if she looked down upon the conditions we promised to Baiyue City."

"And this is what the Queen of Baiyue said after reading the letter."

"Go back and tell your lord that this Queen is not lacking these little things of your Northern Song, and my Baiyue City is even less lacking in these things!"

"Our Baiyue City can only be a neutral faction; there is absolutely no possibility of cooperating with your Northern Song!"

"Tell your Song Huizong to give up this idea as soon as possible!"

"After the Queen of Baiyue finished speaking, she waved her sleeves and drove this lowly one out."

The messenger knelt before Huang Shang and said stutteringly.

After Huang Shang finished listening to his words, his brows furrowed even more severely.

He could not understand why the land of Baiyue, which had always been lacking in supplies, would suddenly look down upon the supplies he had promised to give them.

Since the negotiations failed, he stopped thinking about these problems; now, Huang Shang needed to tell Song Huizong about these matters with Baiyue City immediately.

They must quickly come up with another way to solve the difficulties facing the Northern Song, otherwise, the Northern Song might really be destroyed by the three factions of Fang La, Liang Shan, and the Southern Song.

In fact, when the Queen of Baiyue saw the things Huang Shang promised to give Baiyue every year, it was indeed because she looked down on them that she did not agree to the alliance proposed by Huang Shang.

It was not because the land of Baiyue had already formed an alliance with the Great Qin that she gave up on Huang Shang's goodwill, but truly and genuinely because she looked down on the things the Northern Song gave them.

Indeed, the land of Baiyue was indeed impoverished before and lacked daily supplies, but now, the land of Baiyue City had long been cultivated into a blessed land of Feng Shui by the great array set up by Ying Ziyu.

Moreover, every year, people sent by Ying Ziyu would bring massive amounts of supplies to Baiyue City.

With Ying Ziyu's secret help, Yan Lingji now truly looked down upon the things written in Huang Shang's letter that the Northern Song wanted to give to Baiyue City.

……

Liang Shan.

Under the leadership of Zhan Zhao, the forces of Liang Shan had completely occupied the entire Qingzhou of the Northern Song.

In the next step, Liang Shan had already turned its spearhead toward Qizhou.

While the general Zong Ze, sent by the Northern Song imperial court, was still on the march leading the imperial guards given to him by the court, news arrived that the entire Qingzhou had fallen.

Originally, Zong Ze thought that with so many imperial guards brought by the court, plus the protection of the troops and city walls of Qingzhou itself, even if they could not repel Liang Shan's troops, they would certainly be able to block Liang Shan's continued advance.

Just as Zong Ze was on the road forward with the imperial guards, the official Zhang Shuyi, who had been left behind to guard Qingzhou, ran from afar and gradually reached Zong Ze.

Then, with a thud, he knelt before Zong Ze, and with somewhat hollow eyes, said to Zong Ze:

"General Zong Ze, General Zong Ze, it's not good!"

"Qingzhou, Qingzhou has been completely captured by the thieves of Liang Shan!"

"Now the entire Qingzhou, including all the territories below it, has been occupied by the people of Liang Shan!"

After hearing Zhang Shuyi's words, Zong Ze's forward pace also stiffened slightly.

Zong Ze did not expect that Liang Shan's offensive would be so swift.

Because according to calculations based on previous news, Zong Ze thought that his marching speed would definitely be fast enough to arrive before Liang Shan captured Qingzhou!

Now, hearing the intelligence about Qingzhou brought back by Zhang Shuyi, all of Zong Ze's plans regarding what had happened before were disrupted.

After a slight pause, Zong Ze spoke with some surprise:

"Has the situation actually reached such a terrible state?"

"What exactly went wrong? Qingzhou shouldn't have been captured by the people of Liang Shan so quickly!"

After Zong Ze sighed slightly, he continued:

"It seems that this mission to fight Liang Shan will be much more difficult than previously thought."

"Now that Qingzhou has been captured by the people of Liang Shan, inform the entire army that we are now heading toward Qizhou!"

"According to my guess, the thieves of Liang Shan will definitely attack Qizhou after they settle the affairs of Qingzhou."

"We just need to prepare in advance in Qizhou and wait for Liang Shan's army!"

Subsequently, Zong Ze led the imperial guards given to him by the court and headed toward Qizhou.

Although Zong Ze said on the surface how incompetent Liang Shan was, in Zong Ze's heart, Liang Shan had already become his number one enemy.

He did not understand why a group of people from a grassroots background could cause such great damage to the imperial court.

As the army advanced, Zong Ze looked up and glanced lightly at the Famous Sword Ranking in the sky, feeling very emotional in his heart.

"Everything mentioned on the Famous Sword Ranking is a peerless divine weapon of the Nine Provinces."

"This Divine Dragon Sword, according to the Famous Sword Ranking, was forged by Long Teng General; I wonder what kind of demeanor this general named Long Teng had back then."

"Is the Tong Clan also some hidden faction? But since a clansman can appear on the Famous Sword Ranking, this hidden faction named the Tong Clan must also be very powerful, right?"

"This person named Tong Bo, who possesses the divine sword from the Famous Sword Ranking and also has the rewards of the Heavenly Dao, must be a very remarkable person in the Nine Provinces from now on."

Looking at the Famous Sword Ranking in the sky, Zong Ze was filled with envy; if he could also obtain rewards from the Famous Sword Ranking or other Heavenly Rankings, his strength would definitely increase greatly.

At that time, on the battlefield, Zong Ze would not let his brothers have their lives harvested by others bunch by bunch, like rice.

Although Zong Ze envied the Heavenly Dao rewards given by the Heavenly Ranking, Zong Ze still had some doubts about the Heavenly Ranking in his heart.

Zong Ze discovered that ever since the Heavenly Ranking appeared, the entire Nine Provinces had become chaotic, and this chaos was not the kind of small-scale disturbance; whether it was the Jianghu of the Nine Provinces or between the various imperial factions of the Nine Provinces, chaos of varying sizes had appeared.

It was as if the appearance of the Heavenly Ranking was stimulating the people of the Nine Provinces, wanting to reshuffle the original factions of the Nine Provinces.

Behind all of this, Zong Ze felt as if there was a pair of black hands he could not see, pushing the development of all of this.

……

Northern Song.

Song Huizong, contrary to his usual behavior, broke the painting brushes he carefully cherished every day and tore up the paintings he had drawn with effort.

The reason Song Huizong was so contrary to his usual behavior was that Huang Shang had told Song Huizong all the news about Baiyue City refusing to form an alliance with their Northern Song.

Now Huang Shang told Song Huizong that he had no good way either, and could only rely on Song Huizong himself to find a way to solve the problems of the Northern Song, otherwise, the Northern Song might face the danger of being destroyed.

And Song Huizong would become the monarch of a destroyed nation!

The four words "monarch of a destroyed nation" deeply stimulated Song Huizong.

He was afraid now; even if he usually did not like government affairs, he knew in his heart that as long as Huang Shang was there, the Northern Song would not perish, and as long as the Northern Song did not perish in his hands, then even if he played for a lifetime, he would be worthy of his ancestors.

But now Huang Shang told Song Huizong that he had no way to solve the difficulties currently facing the Northern Song.

Song Huizong was completely afraid.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

"Why are you unwilling to form an alliance with Zhen, why are you unwilling to form an alliance with Zhen!"

"Zhen will absolutely not be the monarch of a destroyed nation!!!"