Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 635: Eat people with a short mouth and use soft hands

Faced with Zhao Mu's shamelessness, the Liao envoy was powerless to refute.

The Liao envoy then asked, "Your Majesty, do you really want to disregard the people and go to war with the Liao?"

Zhao Mu smiled and shook his head and said, "Your Excellency the Envoy is wrong. When did I become an enemy of Liao? When I was the King of Qi, I led my troops to attack Xia. Your Liao Kingdom sent elite troops to help Xixia resist me. Did I have any hostility towards Liao at that time?"

"And then when I wanted to pacify the Uighur tribes, you, the Liao Kingdom, interfered and sent your princess to marry the Uighurs. Later, when I went east to quell the rebellion, you even launched a surprise attack on my capital, Lingzhou, without declaring war. It's obvious that you, the Liao Kingdom, have always wanted to be my enemy!"

After hearing what Zhao Mu said, the Liao envoy was speechless for a moment.

After all, what Zhao Mu said was right. It was indeed not right for the Liao army to send troops to attack Lingzhou while Zhao Mu was on the eastern expedition. And it was also an undeclared war. No matter from which point of view, they were in the wrong.

Seeing that he was silent, Zhao Mu said, "So, this is not me declaring war on Liao, but the war you provoked before has not ended. It's just that my people in Zhongsongqi are exhausted and have no strength to fight against you, Liao. But it's not a gentleman to not take revenge. I have no choice but to borrow troops and roads from the emperor. Well, stop talking nonsense. I will set off soon. You go back and tell the Liao lord to let him sit there and wait for death!"

After hearing this, the envoy stopped pestering. He did not salute the emperor and his ministers of the Song Dynasty, but left the palace of the Song Dynasty directly.

There was no room for maneuver now, and he no longer had to pretend to be a grandson. But the envoy was now worried about the future of his homeland. He wondered if the Liao Kingdom could survive this time.

After seeing off the Liao envoys, Zhezong immediately dismissed the court.

Zhao Mu took the small box he had obtained from Empress Dowager Xiang yesterday and followed Zhezong back to the imperial study.

When Zhezong saw Zhao Mu coming, he asked, "Is there anything else, uncle?"

Zhao Mu held the box and said, "Today I would like to ask for two favors from Your Majesty, and then give Your Majesty a gift."

Upon hearing this, Zhezong said, "Oh? A gift? In the past, I gave it to my uncle. Today, my uncle gave me a gift, so it must be a rare thing. Uncle, please bring it over quickly."

Having said that, Zhao Mu placed the small box on Zhezong's dragon desk.

Zhezong couldn't wait to open it and take a look.

When Zhezong opened the box, he saw letters and an account book inside. He did not open it, but looked at Zhao Mu and asked, "Uncle, what is this?"

Zhao Mu replied, "This was given to me by the Empress Dowager yesterday. It contains letters from the Empress Dowager to the officials when she was alive. And the account book is the record of corruption of officials in the court by the late emperor."

Hearing this, Zhezong quickly opened the letter and then looked through the account book.

After reading it, Zhezong said happily, "Haha, I didn't expect that the person who betrayed these bastards in the end was the Queen Mother they were so loyal to." Zhezong looked up at Zhao Mu and asked, "What does the emperor want me to do? Are you going to punish these officials one by one according to these things?"

Zhao Mu looked at Zhezong and smiled, "Haha, Your Majesty has always been wise and intelligent, why do you have to tease me?" Zhezong looked at Zhao Mu's tacit expression and also laughed.

Zhezong also felt emotional. In the past, his uncle always liked to pretend to be ignorant when he knew everything. But now the two of them understood each other tacitly, which showed that Zhao Mu no longer had the "fear" of him as before, and only the "affection" between the monarch and the minister.

But Zhezong likes Zhao Mu's current appearance.

Zhezong said: "Haha, the one who knows me well is my uncle. With these things, there is no doubt that there is a knife hanging over the heads of those old guys, ready to fall at any time. Before, I didn't catch them with evidence, and it was very difficult to deal with them legitimately. But with these evidences, I can raid their homes at any time. In this way, these old guys will not dare to go against me anymore."

Zhao Mu smiled and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

At this time, Zhezong put away the precious box.

Zhezong looked at Zhao Mu and asked, "By the way, uncle, you said before that you wanted to ask for two favors. What are these favors? Do you want me to forgive a few of them?"

Zhao Mu shook his head and said, "I have no interest in the affairs of the court. Besides, this court is your majesty's court, and the world is your majesty's world. Your majesty's reward or punishment is not for me to make any irresponsible remarks."

Zhezong asked doubtfully, "What favor does the uncle want to ask of me?"

Zhao Mu said, "I would like to ask Your Majesty to lift the confinement of Queen Mother Xiang and Princess Wei."

Hearing this, Zhezong laughed and said, "Oh? What's wrong with the emperor's uncle? The Queen Mother has always wanted to kill the emperor's uncle. Moreover, the emperor's uncle had previously exterminated the entire family of Prince Consort Wang. I, the emperor's sister, hate the emperor's uncle to the core. The emperor's uncle actually pleaded for them. This is not like the emperor's uncle's style."

Zhao Mu laughed and said, "Haha, I am also a humble minister who is grateful for the help I have received. Yesterday, I had a banquet with Your Majesty in the Imperial Garden. After the banquet, I wanted to leave the Imperial Garden and return to the East Palace, but was stopped by the maidservant beside the Queen Mother Xiang and taken to the Queen Mother's palace. The Queen Mother begged me to say a few good words for her in front of Your Majesty. Therefore, I specially presented this box and twelve beautiful maids in her palace. Since I accepted her gift, I naturally have to keep my promise. I will ask Your Majesty for two favors."

Upon hearing this, Zhezong said, "Alas! Why is your uncle doing this? If your uncle likes any of the ladies in the palace, he can just ask. Even if they are my concubines, as long as they have not given birth to children, you can take them if you like. If your uncle wants those twelve palace maids, it's just a matter of my saying so. Why should you do a favor to the old queen mother?"

Zhao Mu carefully observed Zhezong's expression.

Zhao Mu's ability to read people's expressions had now reached perfection. He could tell from Zhezong's eyes that he had already felt compassion and wanted to release Queen Mother Xiang and Princess Wei.

But right now, he still felt a little embarrassed in front of her.

What he wanted now was Zhao Mu's "few nice words" to convince him completely.

Zhao Mu naturally catered to the army's morale, and then Zhao Mu said: "Your Majesty, I plead for the Queen Mother, not entirely because I accepted her gift. I sympathize with her more. Although the Queen Mother is not your biological mother, she is also the mother of our Song Dynasty. Our Song Dynasty governs the world with filial piety, and advocates filial piety and righteousness first. Now that the Queen Mother has admitted her mistakes, I feel that it is enough to punish her with a small punishment and a big warning."

"Besides, an old lady who is nearly fifty years old and devoted to worshipping Buddha will not cause any trouble in the future. Therefore, I would like to ask Your Majesty to show mercy and not embarrass her any more. After that, let the Empress Dowager rest in peace in the palace and spend her remaining years."

(End of this chapter)