Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 303 followed
Fujiwara Gyotsu returned to Heian-kyo early the next morning, and the agreement signed by the two parties was exchanged again after the emperor of the country was asked to affix the seal, and the agreement was officially reached.

On the pier, Fan Ning and Yu Xiaonian sent Fujiwara Jiaotong away by boat. At this time, Yu Xiaonian hesitated and said, "Can't Fan Yushi trust the Japanese too much?"

"Why do you say that?"

"I feel that there are some things that I really can't tell the other party."

Fan Ning glanced at him, and said lightly: "You mean I told Fujiwara Gyotsu about raising horses?"

Yu Xiaonian sighed, "Beizhi knows the Japanese very well. Although they have no choice but to admit that Kunzhou belongs to the Song Dynasty, if there is a chance to take it back, they will not hesitate to tear up the agreement. I am worried that they will use the Liao Kingdom to put pressure on the Song Dynasty. Let Da Song give up Kunzhou."

Fan Ning smiled and said: "It's not a matter of a day or two to raise a horse. It can't even be done in a year or two. It will take at least ten or twenty years to reap the rewards. Japan will know the truth sooner or later. In this kind of thing There is no point in concealing them from the public. As for the Liao Kingdom, the officials have already considered the factors of the Liao Kingdom when they decided to open up overseas horse breeding lands. I don’t think Song Dynasty will give up Kunzhou because of the pressure from the Liao Kingdom.”

Speaking of this, Fan Ning patted him on the shoulder again with a smile, "Don't worry! Although Fujiwara Kotsu puts the interests of the family above the interests of the court, he is indeed very shrewd, knows how to weigh the pros and cons, and knows how to make concessions in the face of reality. It is much more terrifying than the Great Song Dynasty, they will not do stupid things like letting the Liao Kingdom spy on Japan."

Yu Xiaonian scratched his head embarrassingly, "Perhaps it's because of my lowly position that I worry too much."

Fan Ning smiled slightly, "Your worry is not unreasonable, but there are risks in doing anything, and you can't be afraid of doing things because you are afraid of risks. Of course, you can't tell everything just because you want to be honest. You have to learn to weigh it yourself. You need to know which things can be leaked appropriately, and which things must not be leaked, I just told Japan about raising horses, but will I tell them the real strategic goal of Kunzhou?"

Yu Xiaonian was stunned, "Could it be that Kunzhou is not just raising horses?"

"of course not!"

Fan Ning said to him meaningfully: "This is the question I gave you. You think about it for a month, and you really don't expect me to tell you the answer."

Yu Xiaonian received unanimous praise from Fan Ning and Zhao Zongshi because of his meritorious service in Japan. He was able to be promoted to two ranks, from the eighth rank to the seventh rank. He hopes that he can take over as governor of Kunzhou in the future, so he is gradually telling Yu Xiaonian about some things.

The two returned to Tang County on horseback. Fan Ning asked with a smile, "What is the richness of Mutsu Country?"

"Mutsu country is Japan's largest producer of gold, silver and iron ore. If it wasn't for this reason, how could the Japanese court value this land of eastern barbarians?"

"How rich is the gold and silver?" Fanning asked again.

"It accounts for about [-]% of Japan's gold and silver production. It produces [-] ingots of silver and [-] ingots of gold every year. One ingot weighs about ten taels. The mines of Mutsu Kingdom are mainly in the hands of the Abe family."

Yu Xiaonian suddenly came to his senses, and asked with a smile, "Censor thinks the Abe family will take action?"

Fan Ning said indifferently: "Throwing grass will surely scare the snake. How could Abe Laishi not know that the Japanese imperial court sent Fujiwara Kotsu to go to Kunzhou?"

Although some things seem to be coincidences, they actually have some kind of inevitable causal relationship.

Just three days after Fujiwara Gyotsu left Kunzhou, the special envoy of Mutsu Kunuan Perai also arrived in Kunzhou.

The special envoy sent by the Mutsu Kingdom was Yoshito Abe’s eldest son, Abe Sadaren. Thanks to the armor and military training provided by the Song Army, Abe’s army was defeated in Igawa in the south of the Mutsu Kingdom last month. When Yoshihiro's general, Fujiwara Kekiyoshi, led two thousand troops to surrender to Abe Yoshino, Abe's army captured Iga Castle, the capital of Mutsu country again, and Yuan Laiyi led the remnant army to retreat to the southernmost part of Mutsu country.

But at this moment, there was news that the imperial court was preparing to reconcile with the Song army and recognize the land of Ezo as the territory of the Song Dynasty. This made Abe Raiji a little flustered. Abe Laishi was even more worried that the Song army would cooperate with the court to destroy the Abe family.

When Abe Zhenren arrived in Tang County, Fan Ning was attending the opening ceremony of the first village on the north shore of Nanhu Lake. When he got the news, he immediately handed over the ceremony to the magistrate Jiang Han to continue, and he hurried back to the county seat.

Fan Ning dismounted at the gate of the county government office, and Yu Xiaonian rushed out to meet him. He really admired the vision of the young boss, who had a very thorough view of the situation in Japan. As expected, Special Envoy Abe came.

"Who is this?" asked Fanning, coming up the steps.

"It's Abe Yoritoki's eldest son, called Abe Sadato. His father is careless, but he is very shrewd!"

When he reached the door, Fanning stopped and asked, "Did he talk to you about anything?"

"No, he didn't mention anything, he just hoped to meet the envoy as soon as possible."

Fan Ning nodded, and quickly walked into the inner hall, and Abe Sadato, who was sitting in the hall, quickly got up to greet him.

Fan Ning saw that he was in his thirties, and he was very small, less than 1.5 meters tall. This is also a characteristic of the Japanese. Before the Meiji Restoration, Japanese people were generally short in height. It should be a little shorter, and the average height of men in the Song Dynasty was generally more than 1.5 meters. It was not until the alien blood of the Jin and Yuan dynasties mixed with the Han people that the average height of the Han people was reduced.

From the recruited workers, it can be seen that they are generally short, but relatively strong. Of course, young and strong men are specially selected when recruiting workers.

This Abe Sadato looks very short, but there is a shrewdness in his eyes that cannot be concealed. Fan Ning will not be too worried about this kind of person. A truly shrewd person cannot be seen from the surface.

Fan Ning waved his hand and said with a smile, "Master Abe, please sit down!"

Abe Zhenren sat down and asked eagerly: "I heard that the imperial court sent an envoy to Kunzhou, who is it?"

"Fujiwara Jiaotong, does the Young Patriarch know?"

Yu Xiaonian quickly translated for the two, making the conversation between the two more fluent.

"It's him!"

Abe Sadato was taken aback, Fujiwara Komichi is the second person in the Fujiwara family!Sending him as an envoy to the Song Army shows that the Japanese court attaches great importance to the Song Army. Of course, the news of the Abe family is not so sensitive. They don't know that Nagasaki has been occupied by the Song Army. The whole army was destroyed.

After a moment of silence, Abe Zhenren asked again: "Could Fan Yushi tell me why the Japanese court sent Fujiwara Kotsutsu as an envoy to the Song Army?"

Fan Ning smiled and said: "The main thing is that the Japanese court recognized Kunzhou as the Great Song Dynasty. Of course, it also talked about some other things."

"Does that involve Mutsu Kingdom?"

Fan Ning smiled lightly, and asked back: "What does the Young Patriarch think?"

Abe Sadato sighed, "Sure enough, we guessed it right. The imperial court must ask your army to stop supporting Mutsu Kingdom."

"Indeed!"

Fan Ning said solemnly: "Fujiwara Gyotsu strongly urges us to cancel our support for the Abe family and take it as one of the prerequisites for recognizing Kunzhou as the territory of the Great Song Dynasty."

"What about the final decision?" Abe Sadato asked anxiously.

Seeing his nervous expression, Fan Ning laughed, "Young Patriarch, don't worry too much. If one road fails, you can take another road. We did promise to withdraw the military instructor, and we also promised not to support you with all kinds of weapons. , but the Japanese imperial court cannot stop the normal trade, if the Mutsu country has enough gold and silver, we can sell you soldiers and grains through trade, isn’t it the same thing?”

Abe Zhenren was overjoyed. The most important thing for the Abe family is silver and gold. The Abe family controls several famous large silver mines and two gold fields in Japan. Yin went to Dongkaido to buy food. In addition, the military technology of the Mutsu country was relatively backward, and it could not produce advanced swords, bows and armors. Song Jun is willing to continue trading, and of course they are willing to take out gold and silver to buy.

"We have gold and silver in stock. I hope that I can reach a deal that both parties are satisfied with this time."

"The Young Patriarch can discuss the specific transaction with Judge Yu in detail, but I still want to give the Young Patriarch some advice."

"Fan Yushi, please tell me!"

Fan Ning said slowly: "While the Mutsu army is attacking sharply, it should also pay attention to guarding against the danger behind it."

Of course, the danger behind Fan Ning did not refer to Song Jun. Abe Zhenren thought for a while, and suddenly realized, "You mean the Qingyuan family?"

The Abe family of the Mutsu country and the Kiyohara family of the Dewa country are the two powerful families known as the Higashiyama Road. Historically, the Abe family finally perished when the Kiyohara family sent troops from behind and cooperated with Minamoto Yoshitoshi to destroy Abe Sadato’s army.

Fan Ning said indifferently: "If I were Yuan Laiyi, I would definitely persuade Izuyu country to send troops to join the war. Mutsu country is facing a pincer attack from the north and the south, and I am afraid it will be in danger."

Of course, Abe Sadato remembered that Kiyohara Mitsuyori had been accusing the Abe family of cross-border mining of placer gold for the past two years. The Kiyohara family had long been jealous of Abe's silver mines and gold fields.

The more Abe Zhenren thought about it, the more likely it was, he asked uneasily: "Then Fan Yushi has any good suggestions?"

"I suggest that you temporarily reconcile and cease the war with the imperial court. If you are fighting against the outside world, you must first settle down at home. Concentrate your forces to solve the threat of the Dewa country and unify the Higashiyama Road. Only then will you have more capital to fight against the imperial court."

The more Yu Xiaonian heard next to him, the more frightened he became. In order to weaken the power of the two powerful families in the Northeast, Fan Ning did not hesitate to encourage the two families to fight. It seems that Abe Zhenren is really tempted.

At this moment, Fan Ning stood up and said, "Judge Yu, next you will negotiate with Patriarch Abe about the purchase of armor and food. If there is anything you can't decide, you can ask me at any time."

(End of this chapter)