I studied in modern times

Chapter 880 Zhao Xu's Peace Proposal

July 21, the second year of Yuanyou.

Li Zhong and other envoys from Jiaozhi presented tribute to the Kingdom of Jiaozhi to celebrate the Kuncheng Festival.

The Empress Dowager was pleased with this, so Zhao Xu issued an edict to confer the title of Prince of Jiaozhi and Jiedushi of Jinghai Army Gan De as Prince of Annan.

Although it was only a change in title from Prince of Jiaozhi to Prince of Annan, it also announced that the Song Dynasty's control over the country of Jiaozhi had been further strengthened.

Maybe in another two years, Jiaozhi Kingdom will be changed to Annan Kingdom.

At the same time, Zhao Xu also issued an edict to reward Li Taide, the younger brother of King Gan De of Jiaozhi, and the Marquis of Chongxian.

Li Taide was conferred the titles of Inspecting Taiwei, Kaifeng Yitong Sansi, Shang Zhuguo, and Prime Minister of Jiaozhi.

This is equivalent to giving Li Taide a righteous cause.

An open and aboveboard authorization to sideline Li Gande and allow him to do as he pleases.

This means that the Jiaozhou region, which had been separatist and rebellious since the end of the Tang Dynasty, has returned to the control of the central dynasty.

However, this control lacks strength and can only be considered soft control.

But Zhao Xu didn't think about swallowing up all the remaining Jiaozhi land!
Even the northern part of Jiaozhou, which he had already taken over, was handed over to the chieftains for management.

Of course, he did not forget about immigration.

From last year to now, in addition to desperately deceiving heroes to go south and north.

Zhao Xu also remotely controlled the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice to send almost all exiled prisoners to Xihe or Jiaozhou.

To the extent that, in order to please the superiors, the Ministry of Justice sentenced all the prisoners who did not need to be exiled so far away and those criminals who should have been sentenced to re-assignment to exile to Jiaozhou/Xihe.

As a result, within less than a year, the number of exiled criminals in the prefectures and counties of the Song Dynasty increased dramatically.

Almost every time the local government reported something, the imperial court would approve it.

High speed and amazing effect!
As for Jiaozhou and Xihe, naturally, they were filled with talented people and great friends.

At every moment, there were prisoners being escorted to Xihe or Jiaozhou.

Over the past year, at least 10,000 people were exiled.

But Zhao Xu still thought it was too little.

Therefore, Song Yongchen will continue to serve as the ambassador for dredging Hebei Road this winter.

However, his primary task will change from dredging and road construction to doing everything possible to make the heroes owe him an unpayable debt of gratitude.

……

After dealing with the matter of Jiaozhi, Zhao Xu received a note from Xing Shu requesting an audience with the emperor. Zhao Xu knew that the Liao envoy should have achieved some results, so he ordered Xing Shu to meet the emperor in the east hall of Funing Palace.

When Xing Shu went to the east hall of Funing Palace to pay a visit to Zhao Xu, Zhao Xu was shocked by his appearance.

His face was pale and haggard, his eyes were bloodshot, his eye sockets were sunken, and he looked listless, as if he would die at any moment.

"Bachelor..." Zhao Xu couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"Have you asked the imperial physician to see it?"

Xing Shu bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern!"

"I have already asked Doctor Qian to see me. Doctor Qian said that I was overworked and had damaged my roots. I need to recuperate and rest..."

As he spoke, his old face turned red.

no way!
These days, he has been spending every day in brothels, hanging out with beautiful women.

Therefore, even if the Liuwei Dihuang Pills prescribed by Qian Yi were taken as meals, it would not be enough to stop the symptoms!

Zhao Xu listened and understood instantly, and said with emotion: "Thank you for your hard work, Bachelor!"

Xing Shu bowed and said, "I am happy to serve your majesty!"

Zhao Xu quickly ordered someone to help him sit down, and then asked, "How is the new Liao envoy?"

Xing Shu pursed his lips, and his mind flashed back to the image of Xiao Dechong, the governor of Liao Chongyi Army, who was in the Sang family's tile house last night, hugging two beauties and acting dissolutely.

The Liao man was timid and pretentious in front of him at first.

However, after being taken to Wazi by Yelu Ju and Yelu Yongchang several times, he never pretended again.

His learning speed is even beyond imagination!
In just a few days, he had completely mastered the art of consumption in the brothels of the Song Dynasty.

If Xing Shu didn't know, he would have never been to Bian Jing before.

I'm afraid people would think that he was an old patron of the brothels in Bianjing.

As for the deputy envoy Zhang Lin?

He is a moral gentleman!
However, the people in Bianjing City have special ways to attack the weak spots of moral gentlemen.

With the help of Yelu Yongchang, a brothel owner of Sangjiawazi brought out the trump card cultivated by his family - a talented woman who understood poetry and classics.

After two days of intensive training, the people in Wazi finally produced a talented girl who was specifically suited to Zhang Lin's preferences.

How could Zhang Lin, who was born in a remote military state (Shenyang) of the Liao Dynasty, have ever met such a talented woman?

He was taken down directly!

Now, I look forward to the sunset every day so that I can meet my beloved!
Thinking of this, Xing Shu said: "Your Majesty, wine and sex are the matchmakers, money and money are the way, let alone the Liao people... even I can hardly resist..."

In order to drag these two Liao people into the water, Xing Shu spent a lot of money.

Not only did they spend a lot of money, but they also made the girls in the tile houses flatter and please them.

He also promised generous kickbacks.

The willpower of the two Liao envoys had already been worn away by the gentleness of the brothels, and how could they resist being tempted by a huge sum of money?
Zhao Xu nodded slightly.

Silver bullets and human bombs are the simplest, most direct and effective methods of subversion.

Except for a few people with particularly strong willpower, there are very few people throughout history who can withstand it.

So Zhao Xu asked, "What is the Liao Lord thinking by sending these two people here this time?"

The letter from the Liao ruler only said that he came to congratulate the Empress Dowager of the Song Dynasty on her Kuncheng Festival.

But if that were all, he could have ordered Yelu Ju and Yelu Yongchang in Bian Jing to do it. There was no need to send two more ministers over.

Xing Shu said: "Your Majesty, it is because the Liao people attacked Goryeo, and the expenditure is irregular, and the country is short of funds and it is difficult to maintain..."

"Therefore, the Liao Lord has prepared gold and silver worth 600,000 taels of silver, and asked our dynasty to print another 3 million strings of Jiaozi for him as military rewards..."

The corner of Zhao Xu's mouth twitched. The speed at which the Liao people spent money was really beyond his imagination.

It was only July, and the Liao ruler had already spent all of this year's Song-Liao Jiaozi trade quota and the additional one million Jiaozi.

And this is only the part of the transactions in Bian Jing.

This does not include large-scale purchases in the border markets between the two countries!
It should be noted that in the past, the Song Dynasty relied on border markets to earn back the annual tribute paid to the Liao people.

In some years, you can even make a lot of money.

Now, although the Liao people no longer have the annual tribute, the volume of official trade in the border markets has been cut in half again and again, causing a severe breakdown.

However, the volume of private transactions between the two countries will not be affected.

It is even possible that the trade volume increased due to the closer relationship between the two countries. However, most of the trade in this market is barter, so it is difficult to calculate the exact scale of the transaction.

But no matter how conservative you are, you can still make two to three million strings of cash a year.

"The Liao lord is in Goryeo, how is the progress now?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Your Majesty, according to what the Liao envoy said, the Liao ruler has now stationed his troops in Goryeo and surrounded the Goryeo capital. They can capture the capital at any time..."

"The reason why the Liao people were not in a hurry to capture the capital of Goryeo was because of the advice of their Grand Tutor and the General Manager of the Goryeo Camp, Yelu Dilie..."

"It is said that Dilie once advised the Liao ruler: Kaesong is to the south, the road is difficult to travel, and it is difficult to deploy the army. Moreover, our army has been on a long expedition and it is difficult to get supplies... It is better to use Kaesong as bait to lure the Goryeo army to rescue. Under Kaesong, we can eat away the Goryeo army and make the Wang army lose heart and dare not fight us again..."

"In this way, after opening the city, the counties in southern Goryeo can be conquered by issuing an order!"

After listening to this, Zhao Xu let out a sigh of relief.

Because Yelu Dilie's strategy was almost identical to the strategy to destroy Western Xia that he had discussed with Zhang Dun, Zhang Yu and other prime ministers and generals in his previous life.

After the Battle of Pingxia City, Zhao Xu and his ministers decided to continue building fortifications and depleting Western Xia.

This measure was taken after fully learning and refining the lessons of the Song-Xia War since the Xining and Yuanfeng periods.

No more dreaming, you can quickly travel to Xixia.

Instead, he made up his mind to build fortifications to force the main force of Western Xia to come out from its lair and consume the Song army.

Under such circumstances, the Song Dynasty relied on its strong cities and fortresses to fight against the Western Xia.

Even the Xixia people can win every battle.

But as long as they cannot penetrate into the heartland of the Song Dynasty and rely on plundering people and wealth to make up for their losses, they will eventually bleed to death.

What's more, the Xixia people at that time could not even think of attacking the fortified cities of the Song Dynasty.

Even in field battles, they were suppressed by the Song army.

Therefore, Western Xia will surely perish!

The same is true of the strategy designed by Yelu Dilie for the Liao people.

Keep Kaesong City and don't rush to capture it, even leaving a gap from time to time so that Kaesong can receive supplies and reinforcements from other areas in southern Goryeo.

This is equivalent to cutting Goryeo's blood vessels and causing it to bleed slowly.

Unless the Koreans can defeat the main force of the Liao army in a field battle and lift the siege of Kaesong.

Otherwise, the only result that awaits them is death from blood loss.

"It seems that the Liao people have fully learned the lessons of the previous three expeditions to Goryeo, where they won first and then lost!" Zhao Xu sighed in his heart.

Before this war, the Liao people had sent troops to invade Goryeo three times.

During the second campaign against Goryeo, they captured Kaesong and burned down the Goryeo ancestral temples and palaces.

However, due to the long expedition, the troops were exhausted, the war dragged on for a long time, the winter in Goryeo was too cold, and there was a fire in the backyard. All parties were constrained and they had to withdraw.

As for the third time...

It was a disastrous mess, with heavy casualties and great damage to the army's prestige.

Therefore, this time, the Liao people chose to besiege Kaijing without fighting and continue to consume the city. From a strategic point of view, it was correct.

However, the correct premise is that they can have enough supplies to reward the troops and appease and buy off the Bohai and Jurchen tribes.

Taking into account that the Liao ruler had previously given the Helan Dian area to the so-called Haidong Jurchens.

They should have solved the Jurchen problem.

Together with Yelu Hongji, this time the local nobles of Goryeo were effectively appeased.

Zhao Xu couldn't help but frown.

"Could it be possible that Yelu Hongji could really destroy Goryeo?"

If that's the case...

Zhao Xu was shocked and felt a headache.

So he looked at Xing Shu seriously and said, "Master, go back and ask the Liao envoy. If Goryeo asks for peace... and asks to use the land currently occupied by the Liao people as the border, will the Liao ruler agree?"

At this point, Zhao Xu couldn't help laughing.

Because he put himself in Yelu Hongji's shoes and thought about it. If he were Yelu Hongji, he would have already gained the advantage on the battlefield.

Now, suddenly an inexplicable person comes to negotiate with him - is it okay to surrender and lose half?

Then he would definitely slap it - where did this idiot come from? How dare you bark in front of me?

Just like in his previous life, the Liao people suddenly came to mediate the Song-Xia War, hoping that the Song Dynasty would make peace with Western Xia based on the current national border.

He could only sneer at that time - do you want me to give up the fat meat right in front of me?

Who are you! ?

Please look in the mirror!

So he directly rejected the Liao ruler's proposal.

But...

Zhao Xu pursed his lips and whispered to himself: "How can you be shameless when doing diplomacy?"

"What's more, the Liao people now have something to ask of me!"

This is a great opportunity to create void cards!
Send someone to present the Song Dynasty's peace proposal to the Liao ruler.

No matter what the Liao people’s choice was?
As for the Song Dynasty, it was considered that it had made a move on the Goryeo chessboard.

It’s always better to have chess to play than to have no chess to play!
So, he restrained his smile and said to Xing Shu: "Master, just follow my instructions and test the Liao envoy first..."

"It would be best if we could find Yelu Ju and the others to discuss and see if there is any way to convince the Liao Lord to agree to my peace proposal!"

At this point, Zhao Xu showed great compassion: "As the saying goes, weapons are dangerous tools, and sages only use them when they have no other choice!"

"Liao is my brother country, but Goryeo is also a vassal of the Song Dynasty!"

"Hasn't the Goryeo envoy submitted a petition stating that he wants to accept our dynasty as the legitimate dynasty and use the reign title and calendar of the Song Dynasty?"

"Master, you can go and urge the Goryeo envoy... ask him to submit a petition as soon as possible... I will also send someone to deliver a copy of the calendar compiled by the Hanlin Astronomical Institute to the King of Goryeo..."

"Then Goryeo can become my vassal!"

Although, this is a diplomatic rhetoric of no use at all.

The Song Dynasty does not have a fleet now to cross the sea to support Goryeo.

However, when playing cards, if you don’t bluff your opponent, how do you know if your opponent is also afraid that you have a pair of A’s?

It's okay if your bluff fails.

Anyway, they are just finding excuses to delay the delivery of the new batch of Jiaozi.

"Yes!" Xing Shu was a little confused by Zhao Xu, but he still bowed and accepted the order.

(End of this chapter)