Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 415 Disappointment
Nerugu naturally knew that the Duke of England could not make the decision. The purpose of his coming to see the Duke of England was to go to Beijing to meet Zhao Xing.

However, there are many Liao spies in the territory of the Song Dynasty. Once they learn that they have entered the Song Dynasty, they will definitely assassinate him.

He said this to the Duke of Yingguo because he hoped that the Duke of Yingguo would send troops to protect him. At the same time, he also wanted the Duke of Yingguo to pay attention to the movements of the Liao Kingdom. If Yelu Yixin sent troops to deal with Yelu Chongyuan, the Duke of Yingguo could send troops again to force the Liao Kingdom to withdraw.

"It's getting late today, Your Excellency, please have a good rest. I will arrange for someone to escort you to Bian Jing early tomorrow morning." said the Duke of England.

"Thank you very much, Duke of England!" Nerugu bowed.

The Duke of England had Nerugu taken away to rest.

"Duke Yingguo, you are not really going to write a letter to His Majesty, agreeing to cooperate with Yelu Chongyuan, right?" Chen Yao said anxiously.

"Deputy Envoy Chen, don't you think this is a good opportunity? If we can really take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, then there will be no need to build the Great Wall. Isn't it very cost-effective to use the money and food from building the Great Wall to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?" The Duke of England said lightly.

"But Yelu Chongyuan is a traitor. If the Song Dynasty cooperates with a traitor, how will people in the world view Your Majesty if this gets out?" Chen Yao said.

Upon hearing this, the Duke of England looked at Chen Yao as if he was looking at a fool.

He didn't understand how Chen Yao said this.

It is true that Yelu Chongyuan was a traitor, but the Liao Kingdom was not a vassal state of the Song Dynasty. Did the Song Dynasty still have to consider who was the orthodox one?
What's more, the Liao Kingdom occupied the Han people's territory at that time, so recovering the lost territory was more important than anything else.

The Duke of England was too lazy to talk to a man who had become stupid because of reading so much, and said calmly: "Whether to cooperate or not, whether to send troops or not, that is something that your Majesty and the officials in the court need to consider."

After saying this, he ignored Chen Yao and picked up his pen to write down in detail what Nerugu had said and some of his thoughts. He also ordered people to send the treasures that Nerugu had sent to Bian Jing overnight.

…………

Bianjing
Zhao Xing had received a report from the Duke of Yingzhou two days ago and learned that the Duke of Yingzhou had withdrawn his troops.

On this day, another report was received from the Duke of England, saying that the Liao Kingdom had sent envoys to question why the Song Dynasty had deployed troops on the border, and that the envoys were already on their way.

Zhao Xing didn't care about this at all. In recent years, the Liao Kingdom had often entered the territory of the Song Dynasty to plunder and forage. Wouldn't it be useless for the Song Dynasty to send envoys to question them?

If it were the Liao Kingdom before, there would be no chance that it would send envoys to talk nonsense with the Song Dynasty. Now that it has sent envoys, it means that the Liao Kingdom has been seriously damaged and needs to be reasoned with.

This can be considered a matter of changing fortunes.

However, the next day, Zhao Xing received another report from the Duke of England. After reading it, Zhao Xing was stunned for a long time.

"I'm so stupid!"

Zhao Xing slapped his forehead heavily and cursed himself for being stupid.

He realized he had made a big mistake.

The plan of destroying Western Xia first and then Liao Kingdom is definitely correct.

However, this was a step to forcibly destroy the country without any major changes happening in the Western Xia and Liao dynasties.

However, the civil unrest in Liao was a special case.

Originally, Zhao Xing had never thought of cooperating with either Yelu Chongyuan or Yelu Yixin.

After all, the Song Dynasty’s goal was the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and neither side would give it to him.

Therefore, they hoped that the civil strife in Liao would last as long as possible.

But the situation is different now. What Yelu Chongyuan wanted before was the Liao Kingdom, but what Yelu Chongyuan wants now is to save his life.

Of course, things are not that simple. Yelu Chongyuan may not have really given up. Doing so may also be an attempt to lure the Song Dynasty to send troops.

Once troops are really sent out to fight, it will not be easy to withdraw.

By that time, it is not impossible that Yelu Chongyuan will not put in any effort and just sit back and reap the benefits.

But this is indeed a good opportunity, and Zhao Xing was somewhat tempted.

If we could really destroy the Liao Kingdom and take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it would be much easier to deal with Western Xia in the future.

Oh, right, Xixia!
If the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty fought, Xixia would not sit idly by and watch the Song Dynasty destroy the Liao Dynasty. If the Song Dynasty really gained the upper hand, Xixia would inevitably send troops.

Therefore, although this matter is very tempting, the possibility of success is very small.

Even so, Zhao Xing was still reluctant to give up because the temptation was too great.

After pondering for a long time, Zhao Xing ordered his men to summon several ministers and the Privy Councilor.

After everyone arrived, Zhao Xing asked Sanshui to take the Duke of Yingguo's report and circulate it to everyone.

After everyone finished reading, Zhao Xing looked at Zeng Gongliang and said, "Mr. Zeng is the Privy Councilor. Tell me, do you want to agree to this?"

"His Majesty!"

Zeng Gongliang was deep in thought. Hearing this, he bowed and said, "I feel that I can agree or not."

"Tell me in detail." Zhao Xing frowned.

These writers all have a common problem: they like to keep people in suspense.

When I write essays, I usually like to write long articles. Things that can be explained in a few sentences will have to be written into one or two thousand words.

As if not doing this would not be enough to show off one's literary talent.

When he played it face to face, it was concise, but it sounded half-hearted.

“Your Majesty, Yelu Chongyuan said this only to tempt the Song Dynasty to send troops. There is no possibility of peace talks between Yelu Chongyuan and the Liao royal family. If we don’t send troops, there is no need to worry that he will surrender.

The reason why I said that we can send troops is that the Liao Kingdom is now seriously injured. If we send troops, we can weaken the Liao Kingdom's strength." Zeng Gongliang said.

Zhao Xing nodded slightly when he heard this. What Zeng Gongliang said was exactly what he was thinking.

He also knew that it would be unlikely to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun by taking this opportunity, but he still wanted to try. Even if he failed, it would be good to weaken the strength of the Liao Kingdom.

After all, if the Song Dynasty did not intervene, Yelu Chongyuan would not be able to hold on for long.

If Yelu Chongyuan was destroyed, it would also affect the construction of the Northern Great Wall of the Song Dynasty.

"What do you think?"

Zhao Xing looked at the others and asked.

"His Majesty!"

Sima Guang stepped out and said, "The national treasury is empty now, and it can only cover normal expenses. If we send troops, the national treasury cannot provide money and food!"

"Your Majesty, I think we cannot send troops. If we cannot recapture all of Yanyun Sixteen at once, it will not have much practical significance if we only recapture part of it."

"I second the proposal. If we send troops to attack the Liao Kingdom, it will completely destroy the alliance between the two countries. Once the Liao Kingdom sends troops to destroy the construction of the Great Wall in the north, it will also be a big trouble for the Song Dynasty."

Everyone started talking at once, and most of them were against sending troops.

The more Zhao Xing listened, the uglier his expression became. It was not that he could not tolerate opposition, otherwise he would not have summoned all the ministers over.

But these people not only opposed sending troops, but also did not give any useful reasons.

Sima Guang opposed sending troops and also mentioned that the national treasury was empty.

The reasons these people gave for their opposition sound reasonable, but upon closer inspection, they were almost saying that the Song Dynasty could not defeat the Liao Dynasty, so they were sending troops to weaken the Liao Dynasty's strength while the Liao Dynasty was severely damaged, and then they would take revenge on the Liao Dynasty when the Liao Dynasty recovered in the future.

These people have been corrupted by the long period of peace.

They have not considered the issue from the overall perspective or from the national perspective at all.

"My Lord, what do you think about this matter?" Zhao Xing looked at Han Zhang, who had been silent.

"Your Majesty, I don't think there is a rush to make a decision on this matter. Let's wait for Yelu Chongyuan's envoy to arrive in Bian Jing and see what he says. It won't be too late to make a decision then," said Han Zhang.

(End of this chapter)