Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 384 Fury

"I hope to see civil unrest in Western Xia. Is this reason enough?"

Zhao Xing said calmly: "No matter how I guarantee, you Liang family will doubt it. But for the Song Dynasty, it is very beneficial for the Liang family to control the power of Xixia. If the Liang family controls the power, Xixia will fall into endless internal strife."

"Your Majesty, are you so confident that my Liang family cannot completely control the situation in Xixia?"

Having said that, there's no point in continuing to hide it.

"This is not important. I believe that after the Liang family comes to power, they will plunge Xixia into civil strife. And the Liang family is confident that they can completely control the situation in Xixia. This makes it possible for us to cooperate, isn't it?" Zhao Xing asked back.

Liang Yimei was startled when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, what you said does make sense."

"So Minister Liang agreed?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.

"I can only promise to try my best, but I can't guarantee that I can do it." Liang Yimai said.

Zhao Xing sneered in his heart when he heard this, what a great way of getting something for nothing.

Who knows whether you have tried your best?

However, the same is true on the Song Dynasty side. Although Zhao Xing is happy to see the Liang family in power in Western Xia, if the Liang family does not contribute, he will not bother to act with the Liang family.

Looking at it this way, it seems like all that time spent talking was a complete waste of time.

But in fact it is not the case.

Making the Liang family think that the Song Dynasty is an ally that can be used can better stimulate the Liang family's ambitions.

Maybe it would allow the Liang family to take action against Li Liangzuo earlier.

"Since Your Majesty is willing to cooperate, why did you let Prime Minister Han go to the Honglu Temple to meet the foreign officials yesterday? Your Majesty should know that this move has caused a lot of trouble to the foreign officials." Liang Yimai said.

"Haha, I'm helping you by doing this."

Zhao Xing smiled and said, "The young emperor of Xixia is not stupid. You gave up so easily in the court. Do you really think that the young emperor of Xixia would not be suspicious?"

"Since I dare to do this, I naturally have ways to deal with it. Your Majesty, what you are doing is a bit superfluous." Liang Yimai said.

Zhao Xing was not annoyed when he heard this, and smiled and said, "Then I wonder what kind of compensation you want?"

"My Liang family has a caravan that wants to purchase some silk, porcelain and colored glaze from the Song Dynasty. Although there is trade, the prices are not low and they are not the best quality either." Liang Yimai said.

"These are all trivial matters. I will arrange for someone to contact your Liang family and provide you with a batch of official kiln porcelain and silk from the palace at a low price. As for colored glaze, I will have as much as you want." Zhao Xing said indifferently.

If you want a horse to run, it is not enough to just feed it grass.

Anyway, there is money to be made for him, it’s just a matter of how much.

"Then thank you Your Majesty!"

Liang Yimei was very happy. Zhao Xing felt that he was getting something for nothing, and so was he.

Now that he could get some benefits from Zhao Xing, he felt that he had gotten the upper hand and was naturally happy.

Just then, a eunuch walked in from the side door, and Sanshui greeted him.

The eunuch leaned close to Sanshui's ear and whispered something, then took out a stick and handed it to Sanshui.

Sanshui took Zhaxi, put it into his sleeve without leaving a trace, and returned behind Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing noticed this and didn't want to waste time talking to Liang Yi anymore. He exchanged a few words and sent him away.

"Your Majesty, this is the gift that Minister Shen sent to you!"

When Sanshui saw Liang Yimai leaving, he hurriedly presented the bundle to him.

Zhao Xing took the bundle and unfolded it to read it. The more he read, the uglier his expression became.

In his letter, Prime Minister Shen described the situation in Jiangzhou and some of his speculations.

Zhao Xing was not surprised that officials in Jiangzhou had connections with the rebels. He was angry that Prime Minister Shen was not decisive enough.

Originally, he thought that Jiangzhou had 20,000 troops led by Prime Minister Shen and Cao Qin, plus local troops, and even if they could not quell the rebellion, they would be able to control the situation.

However, Prime Minister Shen lacked decisiveness, resulting in most of the 20,000 troops led by Cao Qin being dispersed to defend the city.

Each state in the Song Dynasty had several thousand to tens of thousands of troops.

Jiangzhou is an important city in the south of the Yangtze River. It has more than ten thousand soldiers. There are also many soldiers from nearby states. Isn’t it enough to defend the counties within the territory?
If they are dispersed, together with the yamen runners from each county, each county town has nearly a thousand soldiers and horses. How can the rebels break through the county town without siege equipment?

Cao Qin's 20,000 troops can be used as mobile forces to curb the development of the rebels.

As a result, all the county towns held their ground tightly, allowing the rebels to plunder the vast areas outside the city.

Many civilians who had not originally participated in the movement were also held hostage by the rebels.

For a time, the rebels in Jiangzhou were at their peak and had great momentum.

"How hateful!"

Zhao Xing forced himself to suppress his anger, picked up his pen and wrote a draft edict, which he handed to Sanshui.

"Have someone draft this decree and send it to Jiangzhou!"

"Yes!"

Sanshui responded and hurried away.

"Ugh."

Zhao Xing sighed quietly. Now the rebel forces in Jiangzhou and other places have grown to hundreds of thousands of people.

Although they were numerous and powerful, they were just ordinary people. He believed that the Song Dynasty could pacify them.

However, if this is the case, it will probably take a few more years for Jiangzhou and other places to recover.

However, the next day, urgent news came from Jiangzhou again that the rebels gathered more than 100,000 people to attack Jiangzhou City. Fortunately, Song Chaozhong arrived in time. When the rebels saw the arrival of the imperial troops, they immediately retreated to the mountains.

What followed was a memorial from Prime Minister Shen.

In the report, Prime Minister Shen stated his own speculation.

In Jiangzhou and other places, there should be many landlords and gentry who are secretly funding the rebels.

After reading the report, Zhao Xing immediately ordered people to summon important officials in the court to discuss the matter.

After everyone arrived, Zhao Xing asked Sanshui to take Prime Minister Shen's report and circulate it to everyone.

"My dears!"

After Zhao Xing and others read the report, he said, "The situation in Jiangzhou is now seriously corrupt. Even if we put down the rebellion, if we don't find out who funded the rebels, they will definitely rebel again in the future! What solutions do you have for this, my dear ministers?"

"Your Majesty, the rebel army has now grown to hundreds of thousands of people. Although there are many old, weak, women and children among them, and the young and strong are less than half, if we delay in putting a stop to the rebellion, the number of rebels will only increase. I think the most urgent task is not to investigate who is funding the rebels, but to withdraw the troops sent to Hehuang and transfer them to Jiangzhou to put down the rebellion as soon as possible!" Hu Zhongyan said.

"Minister Hu, isn't it clear what I just said? The rebels are just numerous. Jiangzhou now has 70,000 imperial guards. Can't they deal with some unarmed civilians?" Zhao Xing said lightly.

"Of course we can deal with it, but how long can we do this? Your Majesty, the rebels are spreading like locusts across the border. We can't allow them to continue to develop." Hu Zhongyan said.

"Your Majesty, Minister Hu is right. The rebellion must be quelled as soon as possible." Zeng Gongliang agreed.

Zhao Xing frowned slightly when he heard this and said, "Lord Zeng also agrees to transfer the troops sent to reinforce Hehuang to Jiangzhou?"

"No!" Zeng Gongliang shook his head and said, "The rebels are only affecting a few states near Jiangzhou. We can definitely draw troops from nearby states and counties that are not affected!"

Zhao Xing's expression relaxed when he heard this. This was in line with his thoughts.

(End of this chapter)