Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 421 Secret
"Which point?" Nerugu frowned.

"If the eldest prince stays in the Song Dynasty as a hostage, the other princes will not want him to go back." Li Ge said.

"Of course I know this, but the Song Dynasty asked for 200,000 war horses. How can father afford them?" Nerugu said irritably.

He did not tell Li Ge that the Song Dynasty's original request was 100,000 horses, but it was changed to 200,000 horses because of his words.

Otherwise, if Yelu Chongyuan knew, he would want to kill him.

However, even if it was only 100,000 horses, it would be difficult for Yelu Chongyuan to produce them now.

Yelu Chongyuan fled to the grassland after being defeated in the battle, with less than 100,000 cavalrymen left with him.

The tribes on the grassland naturally had horses, but Yelu Chongyuan not only could not provide food and fodder for those tribes, he also had to draw people from those tribes to supplement his troops.

The various tribes on the grassland were already unhappy, and if we asked them for war horses again, it would probably cause chaos immediately.

"Prince, the Song Dynasty is indeed asking for too much, but it's just like doing business, you can bargain." Li Ge said with a smile.

"I'm not good at these things. You have some connections in the Song Dynasty, so I'll leave the bargaining to you," said Nerugu.

He had boasted before that 200,000 horses would not be a problem, so how could he have the nerve to bargain with Zhao Xing at this time?

Li Ge was delighted when he heard this. He actually wanted to meet Zhao Xing too.

After all, Yelu Chongyuan's ship is about to sink, and he can indeed betray Yelu Chongyuan and join Yelu Yixin.

But he was a Han Chinese and his status was not high. Even if Yelu Yixin would accept him at the beginning, his situation would be awkward after he destroyed Yelu Chongyuan.

After all, no one likes a person who betrays his master.

It would be fine if he was useful, but he is a Han Chinese who only knows how to do business. How could Yelu Yixin possibly use him?

After much thought, it is safer to join the Song Dynasty.

Although it was also a betrayal, his understanding of the Liao Kingdom was useful to the Song Dynasty.

But this time, Nerugu came with him, so he couldn't find any chance at all.

If Nerugu finds out, his family will be in danger.

After returning to the villa with Nerugu, Li Ge left the villa again shortly afterwards and took a carriage to find Sheng Changsong, telling him that he had important matters to discuss and needed to see Zhao Xing.

Sheng Changsong reported the matter to his superiors, and after getting permission, he took Li Ge into the palace.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Li Ge bowed.

"Okay, the show is almost over. I'm not interested in continuing it with you." Zhao Xing waved his hand.

"I do not understand what your Majesty means!"

“You know!”

Zhao Xing said calmly: "You are quite clever and know how to please both sides. But you haven't provided any useful information in these years. Do you think I am a fool?"

Li Ge didn't think that Zhao Xing was a fool. In fact, he knew that Zhao Xing would not believe that he was truly loyal to him. It was only because he was useful to Zhao Xing that Zhao Xing was willing to play along with him.

But no one expected that Zhao Xing would directly break the window paper this time.

After a moment of silence, Li Ge said, "Your Majesty, I am truly surrendering to you this time!"

"Is it?"

Zhao Xing said without comment: "Tell me about Yelu Chongyuan's current situation first!"

"Yes!"

Li Ge responded after hearing this and recounted in detail the embarrassing situation of Yelu Chongyuan on the grassland.

After listening to this, Zhao Xing finally understood why Yelu Chongyuan was so eager for the Song Dynasty to send troops.

If the Song Dynasty did not send troops, even if the Liao court did not send troops to deal with him, the tribal leaders on the grassland would probably betray him.

Since ancient times, wars between the Han Dynasty and nomadic peoples have never stopped.

Although there are some ambitions of those in power, in essence, it is still the law of the jungle. The grassland is bitterly cold and supplies are scarce. Although it depends on the weather for food, just like agricultural civilization, the Han Dynasty has a large territory. If some places are affected by disasters, they can mobilize food from other places for disaster relief.

But the grassland is different. Once a natural disaster occurs, it almost always affects the entire grassland. Even if there are places that are not affected, it is difficult to feed the people affected.

Moreover, due to their living environment, nomadic peoples are extremely aggressive.

Without unification, wars among tribes were frequent as they fought for areas with abundant grass and water.

It is not uncommon for them to plunder each other.

But once unified, internal wars will decrease and they will only be able to rob others.

Among the areas around the grassland, the richest dynasty was the Han Dynasty.

This resulted in almost constant wars between the Han Dynasty and nomadic peoples.

After the Liao Kingdom occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the nomadic peoples on the grassland were able to obtain food support and their lives improved.

It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

Yelu Yixin only needs to make secret contacts, or even do nothing. If he delays for a period of time, it is inevitable that those tribes will betray Yelu Chongyuan.

The only way to break this situation is for the Song Dynasty to send troops.

In this way, those tribes would feel that Yelu Chongyuan would have a chance to fight back again and would not betray.

Class contradictions still existed in the Liao Dynasty.

After the founding of the Liao Dynasty, those top nobles had long left the grassland and lived a stable and affluent life in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Those tribes that remained on the grassland were originally just small tribes.

They supported Yelu Chongyuan before because they thought that if Yelu Chongyuan came to power, they would be able to enter the city and become nobles.

If Yelu Chongyuan loses power, they will betray him, but if Yelu Chongyuan has the chance to fight back, they will naturally not betray him.

"I'm very curious. Yelu Chongyuan was defeated in an ambush and fled to the grassland. Your family should not have had time to move away, right?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Your Majesty, when Yelu Chongyuan had been attacking the capital for a long time but failed to take it, I felt that it was dangerous and moved my family to the city closest to the grassland in advance." Li Ge said.

"You are smart, but I don't trust you!" Zhao Xing said indifferently.

"Your Majesty, I can send my family to the Song Dynasty while transporting the war horses." Li Ge gritted his teeth.

"Oh?"

Zhao Xing was surprised when he heard this and said, "So Yelu Chongyuan will really agree to give war horses to the Song Dynasty?"

"Yelü Chongyuan has no choice. If the Song Dynasty does not send troops, he will definitely be destroyed in the spring of next year!" said Li Ge.

"Too!"

Zhao Xing nodded and said, "But what use do you think you are to me?"

"Your Majesty, although I am just a businessman, there are many Han people in the Liao Kingdom. I have dealings with many Han officials and merchants there. I can collect intelligence about the Liao Kingdom for Your Majesty." Li Ge said.

"This alone is not enough!" Zhao Xing shook his head.

Li Ge gritted his teeth and said, "I also know a secret. When Yelu Chongyuan besieged the city, Yelu Yixin proposed to be the regent. Empress Dowager Xiao had no choice but to agree to appoint him as the regent after Yelu Chongyuan was destroyed. When Yelu Chongyuan is destroyed, the Liao Kingdom will definitely be in chaos!"

"Oh?"

Zhao Xing was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect this to happen.

Why does this sound similar to Dorgon?

"How many war horses do you think Yelu Chongyuan can provide?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Between 50,000 and 80,000. If there are more, even if the Song Dynasty sends troops, it will provoke resistance from those tribes." Li Ge said.

(End of this chapter)