The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Snow-white tablecloths, bright candlelight, serious expressions, and a tense atmosphere. . .

Almost all the factors that should be in diplomatic negotiations are almost absent, but when the clerks and subordinates of both sides have finished sorting out, holding a pen and looking at the white paper, waiting eagerly for the two sides to exchange words, there is a dead silence around the ears.

Su Jin played with the wrench on his finger, just looked at the other party and smiled, Su Jin didn't speak, let alone Fu Bi.

Xiao Temo and Liu Liufu originally thought that the Song Dynasty would have some plausible rebuttals to the four demands put forward by their country. There would be a fierce verbal battle at the beginning of the negotiation, and Xiao Temo and Liu Liufu were even ready to fight. He made preparations and thought about the wording, but in the end, everything was calm.

……

……

"My lords, let's start." Xiao Temo was the first to speak because he couldn't exhaust the other party.

"Hasn't this already started?" Su Jin smiled.

Xiao Temo rolled his eyes, chose to ignore Su Jin, and turned his head to Fu Bi. At the negotiating table, he had to talk to the other party's chief envoy to appear equal in status. That tired Deputy Su and his own status were not equal.Furthermore, this rich envoy seems to be a kind person. To put it bluntly, he is easy to bully at the negotiating table.

"Master Fu, regarding the four matters that my Majesty the Liao Emperor wrote to His Majesty the Emperor of your country, this envoy formally made a request to your country on behalf of His Majesty the Daliao Emperor. The necessary conditions for friendly relations, this envoy requires that your country must unconditionally agree to these four requirements, so as to remove the obstacles that hinder the friendship between the Liao and Song Dynasties from generation to generation."

Before Fu Bi could answer, Su Jin burst out laughing, which immediately attracted everyone's attention; Xiao Temo said in displeasure: "Deputy envoy Su, you should be dignified and solemn on such an occasion, and laugh out loud, which does not match your status on the occasion."

Su Jin suppressed a smile and said: "I'm really sorry, I feel very funny for no reason when I see your serious look."

Xiao Temo frowned and said: "The more you talk, the more outrageous it is. What's so ridiculous about the way the envoy speaks? Besides, the important national affairs that the envoy is talking about are not here to make you laugh."

Su Jin smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it; your seriousness looks very serious, and you look a lot more dignified, but it's too much for you to make such an impolite request just and stern. Ridiculous."

Xiao Temo said angrily: "This is a reasonable request, and naturally it is just and strict; Deputy Envoy Su, I am not trying to refute your face. Look at Deputy Envoy Liu next to me. When the Chief Envoy speaks, the Deputy Envoy should Listen carefully, instead of interrupting; the envoy of the rich has not yet spoken to express his position, but you are acting like a bud, which is not appropriate."

Su Jin scratched his head and said, "It turns out that this kind of occasion is to talk about ranking and seniority? Alright, let's talk about it, my lords, just keep silent."

At the end of the day, Xiao Te saw that Su Jinfu was softening, and he was proud of it. He taught the opponent to be soft as soon as the confrontation happened. It seems that today is a good omen.

"Regarding what this envoy said just now, may I ask the rich envoy's statement?"

Fu Bi looked at Su Jin, saw that Su Jin was tilting his head, staring at the tent door and winking, followed his gaze, and saw Su Jin's personal maid, Xiao Sui'er, standing at the door holding the hem of her clothes; Well, it's not that Xiao Sui'er once pulled herself off the horse and fell into a pile of horse dung, but because on such an occasion today, Su Jin specially brought a maid to join in the fun, obviously not wanting to talk about it.

"Hmm... I thought that the four demands made by your country were really hard for me to accept." Fu Bi settled down and put his mind back on the negotiating table.

"Our two countries, Song and Liao, established the Chanzhou alliance as early as the previous dynasty. The two sides have lived in peace for decades, and they are brothers. Your country brazenly disregarded the agreement made by the two countries and re-introduced the agreement with Chanzhou. The far-reaching four-point request is taking advantage of the fire, and I, Da Song, will never agree."

"Taking advantage of the fire?" Xiao Temo said angrily, "The four demands made by our country are justified and well-founded. The Chanzhou alliance was agreed upon by the former emperors of the two countries. At that time, it was the intention of the former emperor of the Daliao Dynasty to agree to conclude this agreement." However, it did not say that the signing of this covenant erased all the past grievances between the two countries; now that decades have passed, there are loud voices in my court, all demanding to resolve the unresolved disputes between the two countries in the past. wrong?"

Fu Bi frowned and said: "The sages once said that people don't know what to do if they don't have faith. As a big country in the north, if you go back and forth like this, how can you convince the people of the world. Not to mention whether these four requirements you raised are reasonable or not, if so If a covenant can be reached in this negotiation, who can guarantee that you will not change your mind in a year or two? If there is no letter, there will be no agreement. This is the view that the people of Song Dynasty generally agree with."

At the end of Xiao Te's eyebrows, he said: "The envoy of the rich is saying that I, Daliao, don't keep my word? If I, Daliao, didn't keep my word, I would have sent troops south to attack Bianliang 40 years ago. Now I, Daliao, are showing my goodwill. It was said by you that you did not keep your promise, so what else is there to talk about?"

Fu Bi said with a livid face, "Master Xiao, please pay attention to your words. What are you talking about? You are an envoy on behalf of the Liao Kingdom, so you must speak properly and in line with your identity."

Xiao Temo laughed and said: "This envoy has already saved face for you, and my Majesty Daliao has also saved face for you Song Dynasty. Otherwise, this envoy would not need to come here to talk to you at all."

Fu Bi's face turned red, and he shouted angrily, "You...don't bully people too much."

Xiao Temo puffed up his chest, with an air of arrogance, and said coldly: "You just say whether you agree to these four conditions, if you don't agree, today's negotiation will be over, and we will go to business separately, and save money." How can you hurt your peace; to be honest, Xiao has a good impression of you two adults; even if one day you and my two countries meet in battle, this envoy will definitely find a way to spare the lives of the two of you."

Fu Bi's arm trembled angrily, pointed at Xiao Temo and said bitterly: "You bully others too much, you humiliate me too much, you are not sincere, I can see it."

Xiao Temo became more and more proud, folded his arms and said, "So what? We Daliao people have never been as coy and secretive as you Song people. We can smash a hole in the ground with our spittle, rich lord If you can't make the decision, please ask the emperor of your country to send someone who can make the decision."

Fu Bi's eyes were about to burst into flames, and he didn't know how to refute. This is why a scholar can't explain why he met a soldier; if a person like Xiao Temo wasn't tired and hard to deal with, how could the Emperor of Liao send him to come out? make?The incident this time was originally provoked by Liao Guosheng, so it naturally needs some strong words to justify it; only a blind and confident person like Xiao Temo who is sent to the Song Kingdom can be justified in front of the Song Kingdom's monarchs and ministers for no reason. , What he needs to use is his lack of thoughtfulness.

Xiao Temo smiled smugly, Liu Liufu also laughed, the two Liao envoys were overjoyed, and they didn't pay attention to Su Jin, Fu Bi and a group of Song officials.

"Crack!" A slap was slapped on the table, and everyone in the tent trembled in shock. The laughter of Xiao Temo and Liu Liufu stopped abruptly, and Su Jin stood up slowly. Come on, keep patting the table.

Xiao Temo recovered and said angrily: "Master Su, what are you doing? Are you threatening me?"

Su Jin spat and said: "The place where the two countries discuss major affairs should be dignified and solemn, but the two of them kept laughing and laughing. They didn't take our Song Dynasty seriously, or didn't take this meeting seriously. What's the matter with the business?"

Xiao Temo laughed and said: "Deputy envoy Su is quite vengeful, just now this envoy just said this to you, and you immediately returned it to this envoy, it seems that you are someone who must take revenge."

Su Jin shouted: "You're right, my young master is a person who must repay every grievance and pay every penny. Whoever makes young master unhappy for a day, young master will make him unhappy for the rest of his life."

Liu Liufu said: "Deputy Envoy Su speaks loudly. Anyone can say this, but it's just talking."

Su Jin smiled, stretched out his hand to grab the pen and paper of the recording officer beside him, wrote two words on the eyebrow of the paper: IOU, and then pushed it along the case, the piece of paper floated in front of Xiao Temo and stopped .

"Master Xiao, we can't reach an agreement on state affairs today, why not use this opportunity to give up the private matter, the 1 taels of silver owed to me, I'm sorry you don't have the money to pay back, why don't you make an IOU."

Xiao Temo was stunned and said: "Vice Envoy Su, this is a time when the two countries are discussing important national affairs. Private matters are private matters. How can we not distinguish between public and private? You are too outrageous."

Su Jin glared and said, "What important national affairs are you talking about? What kind of kindness are you talking about with evil wolves? The young master is in charge, let's not talk about it, you just go back and report, and say that the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty didn't urinate in your Liao country at all; you want to fight Let's accompany you. But before that, write me an IOU first, if you don't pay back the money you owe, don't even think about leaving, and there is no reason to go all over the world because you owe money."

Xiao Temo said angrily: "Deputy Envoy Su, do you really mean what you say? This envoy can remind you that this time, our Daliao Kingdom is not just casually saying that troops are stationed on the border..."

Su Jin waved his hand and shouted: "Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense here, who wants to hear you showing off here, quickly write the paperwork, and then get out."

Xiao Te's lungs were about to explode, and when he was about to attack, Liu Liufu hurriedly whispered in his ear: "My lord, this is in someone else's territory, didn't you hear what he said? There are thousands of people stationed around the school grounds. What about Song Jun?"

Xiao Temo cursed secretly: So this little thief has already made arrangements, it's better for a good man not to suffer the immediate loss, and to bear it for the time being.Without saying a word, I grabbed the pen and paper and wrote down the 1 taels of silver owed to Su Jin, the Song Dynasty. I made this as evidence, and signed my name below. After finishing writing, I threw the pen away, and turned to greet Liao. A group of people involved in the negotiation said: "Let's go, pack up your bags immediately when you go back to the posthouse, and leave overnight to return home."

Fu Bi stared at Su Jin in a daze. Although Su Jin's sudden outburst was relieved, the matter would get out of hand.But seeing Su Jin smiling and winking at him, looking confident, she felt a little more at ease at the moment.

At the end of Xiao Te's journey to the door of the large tent, he was about to step out of the tent, when Su Jin's voice came from behind him: "Master Xiao, do you want to leave now?"

Xiao Temo turned his head and shouted: "What do you do? Is it possible that I have to detain this envoy?"

Su Jin got up from his seat, raised the paper in his hand and said with a sneer, "I can't detain you, but I suddenly remembered something, so you need to help me settle this matter before I can go back to China."

Xiao Temo said angrily: "You and I have nothing to say, we are leaving."

Su Jin laughed and said: "It's no wonder you went out without my order. Don't worry, I just suddenly couldn't trust the character of you Liao people. You said that I took your 1 taels of IOU, and the two countries will fight each other in the future. The war is in chaos, from whom should I collect the debt? If you accidentally die on the battlefield, wouldn’t the money be a bad debt? So after much deliberation, I still want Chief Envoy Xiao to pay off the debt Let's go."

Xiao Temo almost vomited blood in anger, this person was purely looking for faults for nothing, knowing that he was penniless, he would just chase after his ass to ask for debts, and he had lost his proper demeanor.

However, there is nothing wrong with paying off debts. The question is, where do I get the money to pay off debts?

When other people went to the Song Dynasty, they would welcome them in a splendid manner and treat them as honored guests, but when they arrived, they made such a mess by themselves.