The Beacon of Kyushu

Chapter21

A few days later, Linhuang Mansion, the capital of the Liao Kingdom.

Although Linhuangfu is a city, it is divided into two by the Baiyingolo River. Most of the people living on the south side of the river are Han Chinese, and the people living on the north side are Khitan people.At this moment, Yun Zixiao and his servants had passed through the bustling city of Seoul, descended the steps paved with bluestones, and crossed the Baiingolo River on the thick solid ice.Yun Zixiao walked in front with a banner in his hand, letting the breeze on the river blow his black hair, and looked at the imperial city on the other side.

The Khitan people live in tents more, and there are so many tents in the city, like big white clouds descending from the sky, covering the vast land.Among these tents, there are several brick and stone buildings that are particularly eye-catching. They are the residences of the nobles and important officials of the Liao Kingdom.In the middle of the tents of the common people and the stone houses of the nobles, the resplendent imperial palace stands like a moon surrounded by stars.With such a scene and such a scale, although it is not as magnificent and majestic as Bianliang in Tokyo, it does not have the scenery beyond the Great Wall.

After a while, the three of them stepped across the Baiingolo River and followed the steps to the opposite bank.At this time, several middle-aged men in Khitan costumes came up to welcome them, and the leader saluted Yun Zixiao, and said in fluent Chinese: "Excuse me, are you the envoy sent by the Song Dynasty?" ?”

Yun Zixiao nodded slightly, and said calmly: "Exactly, Yun Zixiao, the secretary of Xia Daming Mansion, may I ask your honorable name?"

The leader was startled when he heard the words, and after discussing with a few people around him in a low voice, he replied: "This king is staying in Shangjing, Han Kuangsi, the king of Yan. May I ask when the envoy of the Song Dynasty will arrive?"

Yun Zixiao said indifferently: "The next is the envoy, Mr. Han doesn't have to wait any longer."

Han Kuangsi's complexion became a little unfriendly, and he said contemptuously: "What! With you as a small secretary, you are worthy of discussing peace with the Emperor of Daliao! You are also worthy of asking the king to greet you in person! If you are joking , quickly invite the envoy out, if this is true, then please go back!" He flicked his sleeves, turned around and was about to return to the palace.

The two attendants were at a loss when they heard the words, but Yun Zixiao said with a smile: "Master Han, your father Han Zhigu is well-known, I must have told you the story of Yan Zi's envoy to Chu, right?"

Han Kuangsi turned around when he heard the words, and said contemptuously, "Could it be that your Excellency compares himself to Yan Zi, and compares me to Daliao to the Chu State? It's really self-deprecating!" After he finished speaking, his face became more and more ugly, as if he might get angry at any time shot.

But Yun Zixiao said indifferently: "That's exactly what I mean. Although I may not be able to beat Yanzi, but compared with Chu, Guiguo is really better than Chu!"

Han Kuangsi glared at Yun Zixiao angrily, and said word by word: "Your surname Yun, don't be arrogant! There are only two paths in front of you, either go back to Song Dynasty, or this king kills you. fish!"

Seeing this, Yun Zixiao still calmly said: "King Yan, your father is only a literati. In the past, he dared to fight with my father in the court. I didn't expect you to be so timid and fearful that you even sent an emissary to the palace. You don’t even dare, how can you talk about commanding troops to annex my Great Song Dynasty. I have heard my father mention the Liao Kingdom many times, and he often said that there are many heroes in the Liao Kingdom, no matter what country it is, it is difficult to compete with it, and today it is just like that.”

Han Kuangsi was so angry that his complexion was livid, and he stomped his feet repeatedly.The ground under his feet was trembling, but Yun Zixiao remained calm.After a long while, Han Kuangsi said unhappily: "Forget it, since the Song Dynasty sent you here to negotiate a peace, there must be a reason for sending you here. I will take you to the palace right now. My king wants to see how many catties you have. Two! If you dare to talk nonsense in front of the officials, I, Daliao, will be your burial place!"

Soon, Yun Zixiao and others entered the palace with Han Kuangsi, and the two attendants naturally waited in the court room, only Yun Zixiao walked into the golden palace calmly with his arms in his arms.

At this moment, there are many courtiers standing in the hall, standing in two rows divided into east and west, and almost everyone is a famous important minister, no matter which one is the leader of the Liao Kingdom.Yun Zixiao dismissed these people at all, and looked at Yeluxian, the Lord of Liao who was sitting in the middle of the hall, sitting aloft.

Ye Luxian was nearly [-] years old, he was born with a gentle personality, and he showed his heroic spirit in Gu Panjian.But for some reason, there was a feeling of powerlessness in his expression.This kind of feeling should only be experienced by old people who are more than seventy years old, but it always makes people feel a little awkward when such an expression appears on the face of a young man.

Yun Zixiao saluted Ye Luxian deeply, and said respectfully: "In the Song Dynasty, the envoy Yun Zixiao met the Lord of Daliao."

"Ahem..." Before Ye Luxian could speak, he coughed a few times, and all civil and military officials in the court looked at him with concern.Yeluxian waved his hands to everyone, indicating that he was fine, and then said weakly: "Your envoy is not polite, why are you here in Daliao?"

Yun Zixiao said: "I am here to negotiate peace with the Liao Kingdom on behalf of the Great Song Dynasty."

Ye Luxian thought for a while, and asked: "My Daliao army is strong and strong, and I have long wanted to dominate the world, and your Song Dynasty emphasizes culture over military affairs, which just gave me a great opportunity. I don't know what your envoy thinks, what is the need for my Daliao?" To discuss peace with you? In other words, what is the benefit of our Daliao?"

Yun Zixiao was not in a hurry to answer, but asked instead: "The lord of the country must also be a sensible person, so he certainly doesn't want to win at chess and disregard his family?"

Ye Luxian nodded, and said with some hesitation: "Your envoy means that once my Daliao government goes to war with the Song Dynasty, it will be dispatched with all its strength and the rear will be empty. The Han Dynasty will take the opportunity to attack our Linhuang? However, it is expected that the Han Kingdom is small and weak, and there is not enough self-defense, so how dare you declare war with me, Daliao?"

Yun Zixiao still did not answer directly, and asked again: "Master, what do you think should be used to distinguish the strength of a country?"

Ye Luxian said without hesitation: "Naturally, it depends on the territory, soldiers and financial resources. When it comes to these Han countries, they are nothing compared to our Daliao."

Yun Zixiao shook his head, "No, the Khitan were only a weak tribe back then, living in a corner of the northeast, how could they expect to have the strength they have today?"

Ye Luxian nodded, and asked curiously, "What does your envoy think?"

Yun Zixiao said leisurely: "To judge whether a country is likely to rise, first of all, it depends on whether the king and the people have the courage, courage and determination to make the country rise. Second, it depends on whether there are talents who can help the king achieve the rise. ambition. In the end, it depends on the situation in the world today, whether there is a chance to rise."

Before he finished speaking, everyone present praised him one after another, even Ye Luxian kept nodding, obviously thinking that Yun Zixiao was right.

Seeing this, Yun Zixiao continued: "Although Han is a small country, it has gone through decades of ups and downs. It must be that it only has the heart to become bigger and has no intention of being annexed. Then the most important thing is that they have .Secondly, although Han is a small country, there are good generals such as Yang Ye and Yang Jing in the country, who are enough to assist the lord to make great achievements. Whether they can have the last point depends entirely on what the lord wants."

Ye Luxian pondered for a while, before saying: "If you give up the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun on the border with Han, and you can win the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains in the Central Plains, it's not impossible, right?"

Yun Zixiao smiled and said, "My lord, have you forgotten about Liao Taizong's destruction of Jin?"

Yeluxian's face was a bit ugly when he heard the words, he was not ashamed but also afraid, "Oh, Taizong once destroyed the Later Jin and included a corner of the Central Plains into the Daliao territory, but he was resisted desperately by the Han people. In the hands of Daliao, he returned to die as a guest. I was not born at that time, so I did not witness the scene with my own eyes, but whenever I hear people mention this past, I can’t help being shocked..."

Yun Zixiao asked: "Then Your Majesty still thinks it's okay to give up the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun and win the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains in the Central Plains?"

Ye Luxian shook his head hurriedly, "What the envoy said is reasonable, maybe I was wrong. The current plan is to destroy the Han State first, cut off future troubles, and then send troops to the Song State is the right way."

Yun Zixiao said: "But Han has been a vassal state of Liao for decades, if we send troops to destroy Han for no reason, I'm afraid it will be criticized by the world, right?"

Ye Luxian hesitated again, "Based on the current situation, if our Daliao government does not destroy the Han, but continues to try to encroach on the Song State, it is bound to be invaded by the Han State. At the least, we will lose Yanyun, and at the worst, we will not be able to survive. But if we send troops Destroy the Han, and it is bound to be criticized by others. It is really a dilemma. Could it be that my Daliao can only sit on the mountain and eat nothing..."

Seeing that Ye Luxian was in a dilemma, Yun Zixiao smiled slightly, looked at the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, but also hesitated, so he walked up to Ye Luxian's ear, and whispered something in his ear.Seeing this, everyone pricked up their ears to listen curiously, but no matter how good the ears are, it is difficult to hear a single sentence clearly.

Hearing the words, Ye Luxian woke up as if awakened from a dream, and laughed loudly: "Hahaha, then I will negotiate peace with the Song Kingdom for the time being, as for the rest, it will all be up to the noble envoys to deal with!"

Yun Zixiao nodded, and was about to turn around and leave, when suddenly a majestic general walked out of the martial arts class, he pointed at Yun Zixiao and shouted: "My surname is Yun, how dare you be on top of my Daliao Dynasty Hall?" Openly bewitching His Majesty is exactly the same as Yun Yimo, Prime Minister of Yan Kingdom back then, you won't say that you have nothing to do with him, will you?"

"Oh? Excuse me, who is this?" Although Yun Zixiao asked the general in front of him, he looked at Ye Luxian who was sitting on the dragon chair.Hearing this, Yeluxian hurriedly introduced: "This is brother Yeluxiu, general of our Liao Kingdom, whose name is Xunning."

Yun Zixiao seemed to have suddenly realized, and then smiled and said: "Who am I? It turns out to be General Yelu. I heard that you were defeated by my father in the past, and now you have to rush out of duty. Do you still want to make a fool of yourself in public?"

Brother Yeluxiu's face turned ashen, and his fists were clenched "clucking", "Yun Zixiao, it is only right and proper for fathers to hate sons. Since you are the son of Yun Yimo, then don't blame me, Brother Yeluxiu, for seeking you to avenge the past." !” As he spoke, he punched Yun Zixiao fiercely in the face.

Yun Zixiao didn't panic, stretched out his hand to hold Brother Yeluxiu's fist, the air swayed when the fist and palm met, the two internal forces counteracted, and it was hard to tell the winner for a while.Seeing this, Ye Luxian quickly stood up and shouted: "Xunning, stop!"

Brother Yeluxiu said puzzledly: "Your Majesty, don't be fooled by the thieves! Have you forgotten how his father, Yun Yimo, oppressed me in Daliao? Why didn't the last general kill him today? How can we appease the public's anger!"

Yelu Xianli said: "I am intending to negotiate peace with the State of Song. If you kill the envoy at this time, there will be no peace for my Daliao!"

Brother Yeluxiu reluctantly withdrew his hand when he heard the words, and coldly snorted at Yun Zixiao: "My surname Yun, I've given you a lot of money today, if one day you dare to be an enemy of my Daliao, you will be beaten all over the place! "

Yun Zixiao sneered and said: "Haha, if you want to knock out my teeth, you have to punch hard enough. With your skill, let's rest!" He walked away from the gate of the palace, elegantly and calmly disappearing from everyone's sight.Countless old officials looked at his back as he went away, and they all thought of that old man who was equally elegant and handsome, with a brilliant tongue—Yun Yimo, the prime minister of Yan.

(End of this chapter)