Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 489 Disarmament
"The situation is stronger than people. Your Majesty asked me to accompany you. You treated me like this, but didn't I agree? I will have the right to say whether to give it or not after the country is restored, right?" said Empress Dowager Xiao.

Zhao Xing pinched her hard and said coldly, "So, what you promised me before was also a lie?"

"It hurts~"

Empress Dowager Xiao tightly grasped Zhao Xing's hand, her smile gone, and she said in a cold voice: "Your Majesty doesn't believe it anyway, so why bother saying all this? If I say that what I promised is true, will Your Majesty believe it? Now there is no need to pretend. As you Han people say, it is better to speak frankly."

Zhao Xing withdrew his hand upon hearing this and said with a smile, "Wouldn't it be better if you were so happy earlier?"

Empress Dowager Xiao did not care about the sarcasm in Zhao Xing's tone, and said calmly: "Your Majesty wants to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Even if it does not work to weaken the power of Liao, it will also be good for the Song Dynasty. I want to restore the country, which is not in conflict. I can cooperate with Your Majesty, but Your Majesty should not try to control me, otherwise I will never obey you even if I die."

Zhao Xing smiled slightly when he heard this, put his arm around Empress Dowager Xiao's waist, and gently moved his hand on her belly.

"You and I have made love so many times. Do you think it is possible that you are pregnant? If you are really pregnant, what will you do when you return to Liao?"

"If I can restore my country, I will naturally give birth to the child. I am not that cruel. If I cannot, I will not be able to survive and will not be able to care about so many things." Empress Dowager Xiao said lightly.

Whether in the villa or in the palace, the servants were arranged by Zhao Xing, and she had no way to take medicine in advance to prevent it. It was indeed possible that she was pregnant, and she had considered this issue a long time ago.

She even hoped to get pregnant.

Even if she could really restore the country, the Liao Kingdom would inevitably be severely damaged. If she became pregnant, she would also be qualified to negotiate with Zhao Xing.

If she cannot restore her country, she will have a way out.

She could see that Zhao Xing was indeed obsessed with her, but this obsession was entirely due to her identity and could not be considered love.

Otherwise, Zhao Xu would not have often asked her to wear the clothes of the Empress Dowager of Liao to serve him.

Moreover, Zhao Xing is very rational. Even if she really stays in the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xing will slowly lose interest in her.

This is also the reason why she insisted on restoring her country.

But she has children and there is no hope of restoring the country, so staying in the Song Dynasty is also an option.

"Then what benefits can I get?" Zhao Xing asked back.

"I can contact someone to open the city gates, so that the Song Dynasty will not have to attack the city by force. However, those surrendered Liao soldiers must be handed over to me. Before I have the strength to compete with the Liao Kingdom, all the captured cities will belong to the Song Dynasty." Empress Dowager Xiao said.

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Zhao Xing nodded and said, "However, many people in the court are unwilling to send troops. Moreover, the Liao envoys have not given up and are unwilling to leave the Song Dynasty. I need your help to add fuel to the fire."

"Your Majesty, what does I need you to do?" said Empress Dowager Xiao.

Zhao Xing leaned close to Empress Dowager Xiao and whispered something in her ear. Empress Dowager Xiao looked at him in surprise.

"Your Majesty, do you think that everyone in the world is a fool?"

"It doesn't matter. As long as the Liao envoys feel their lives are in danger, they will naturally leave the Song Dynasty. Even if they guess that it has something to do with me, what can I do?" Zhao Xing said nonchalantly.

"Since Your Majesty is not afraid, why should I be afraid? I agree to this matter." Empress Dowager Xiao said.

She didn't want to agree, but she had no choice.

"I'll have someone escort you out of the palace." Zhao Xing smiled and said, "But before you leave, you have to serve me well once."

…………

Late at night, several night markets in Bianjing were brightly lit and bustling.

Suddenly, shouts and screams were heard from the direction of the Honglu Temple.

The people who were visiting the night market were confused by the sudden noise.

For many years, there has not been such a big disturbance in Bianjing.

When I came to my senses, the night market was in chaos.

Although I don’t know what exactly happened, going home is the best option to avoid it.

There were shouts and cries of killing in the city, and such a huge chaos could naturally not be hidden from the powerful officials in Bianliang.

When the officials who were close to the Honglu Temple heard the shouting and killing, their first reaction was that someone was plotting treason.

But they soon realized something was wrong. Judging from the noise, it didn't seem like treason at all.

The officials who were far away could not hear the shouting and killing at all, they only knew that there was chaos in the city.

He immediately sent someone out to find out the news.

…………

Zhang Feng led the imperial guards to surround the Honglu Temple and said in a cold voice: "Anyone who causes unrest will be killed without mercy!"

"Yes!"

The commander behind responded and led his troops into the Honglu Temple.

Zhang Feng stood at the gate of the Honglu Temple and waited until the noise inside gradually subsided before he walked in.

Along the way, they didn't see any corpses. It was not until they arrived outside the courtyard where the Liao envoys lived that they saw many corpses lying on the ground.

The blood that flowed dyed the ground red.

At this time, the gate of the courtyard where the Liao envoys lived had been destroyed, and many strong men with arrows stuck in their bodies were lying at the door.

Zhang Feng walked into the yard with an expressionless face, stepping on the blood donation.

There were also many corpses in the courtyard. Liu Bingcheng and several Liao envoys were cursing the two commanders who came in first and clamoring to see the Emperor of Song.

"Meet the Commander-in-Chief!"

When the two commanders saw Zhang Feng coming in, they ignored Liu Bingcheng and others and hurried over to salute.

"How is it? Is the Liao envoy okay?" Zhang Feng asked.

"Commander in Chief of Huidu, the Liao envoys are all fine, they just got a little frightened!"

"That's good. Let's get someone to clean up quickly. There are so many corpses. What if they scare the Liao envoy?"

"Yes!"

Liu Bingcheng led his men over and heard the conversation between the two men. He shouted angrily, "This is the capital of the Song Dynasty. The Honglu Temple is not far from the imperial palace, but there are so many assassins. How ironic!
None of the guards from the Honglu Temple showed up, and your people killed most of my guards. Now you are still pretending to be so, why don't you let someone kill me too?
Isn't Emperor Song afraid of being laughed at by the world for doing this?"

Liu Bingcheng was almost furious. From the moment the assassin appeared, he knew that this must be related to the Song Dynasty.

This is the Honglu Temple, not far from the imperial palace.

Not only did the assassin appear, but the garrison of the Honglu Temple seemed to have disappeared. When more than half of his guards were killed or injured, the imperial guards of the Song Dynasty finally arrived.

Not only did he attack the assassins, he even spared no mercy for his own men.

In addition to a few officials, there were also five hundred cavalrymen on this mission to the Song Dynasty.

Now, apart from a few officials, there are only a few dozen soldiers accompanying them.

"what happened?"

Zhang Feng's face turned cold and he looked at a commander.

"Return to the capital commander!"

The commander said with a wronged look on his face: "After I led my men to kill the assassins, I wanted to go into the courtyard to see how the envoy was doing. As a result, those people mistook me and others for assassins and attacked them directly, injuring several soldiers. The soldiers thought they were assassins too and attacked them directly. I found out something was wrong and hurried to stop them, but it was too late." "Did you hear that? It was your people who attacked first. My people mistook them for assassins. It was a misunderstanding."

After Zhang Feng finished speaking, he said coldly: "I can understand that the envoy was frightened and spoke nonsense, but if the envoy dares to slander Your Majesty again, don't blame me for being rude."

"you…"

Liu Bingcheng pointed at Zhang Feng and almost vomited blood in anger.

The imperial guards rushed into the yard without even saying hello, and it was then that his men took action.

There were more than 200 people, but only dozens were killed, but Zhang Feng casually said it was a misunderstanding.

They also said that he slandered Zhao Xing.

With so many assassins appearing, the guards of the Honglu Temple disappeared.

He simply didn't believe that this matter was not ordered by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

But seeing the murderous intent in Zhang Feng's eyes, Liu Bingcheng still held back.

By now he had realized that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was unwilling to hand over the person and could not withstand the pressure from the court officials, so he wanted to use this method to force him to leave the Song Dynasty.

Although judging from the current situation, the Emperor of Song Dynasty still has some concerns, he dare not gamble.

An envoy of a country encountered a large number of assassins in the capital of the Song Dynasty, living in the Honglu Temple, which was used to entertain foreign guests. Even if the envoy was not harmed, it was a huge stain.

The reason why Zhao Xing did not kill him was not because he was concerned about the face of the Song Dynasty, but because he did not want to break off relations with the Liao Kingdom.

If he had been killed for insulting Zhao Xing in public, that would have been another matter.

Zhang Feng said calmly, "The guards of the Honglu Temple are afraid of death, and we will investigate the identities of these assassins and give you an explanation. His Majesty is worried about your safety and is still waiting for my report. I will leave first. After these imperial guards clean up the bodies, they will stay to protect your safety."

After saying that, he left without paying any attention to how ugly Liu Bingcheng's expression was.

"The Song people are going too far. Do they think we are fools? I don't believe the Song Dynasty really dares to do anything to us?" the Khitan official said angrily.

Liu Bingcheng glanced at him and said, "Let's go in and talk first."

"What are you going to do in there? This matter was obviously ordered by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. Is Minister Liu afraid?"

"If you weren't afraid, why didn't you say anything just now?"

The Khitan official's face flushed as if he had been humiliated, and he shouted angrily, "You are the chief envoy, and I am only the deputy envoy. I didn't say anything because I wanted to save your face, but I didn't expect you to be so afraid of death that you said nothing."

"Since you know I'm the mastermind, then shut up!"

Liu Bingcheng glanced at him coldly and said, "If you want to make trouble, just go ahead. Let's go!"

Yelu Yixin did not trust the Han people, so he arranged for a Khitan official to accompany him in order to monitor him.

Relying on his Khitan identity, this man did not take him, the chief messenger, seriously at all along the way.

Liu Bingcheng was afraid that this person would say something untoward after returning to Liao, so he did not dare to offend him and could only praise him along the way.

At this moment, he felt a little regretful. If he had known earlier, he would have had someone kill this person during the chaos. This would not only have made the matter worse, but also have eliminated an eyesore.

"You..." The Khitan official's face turned pale.

He just said that to show his presence so that he could slander Liu Bingcheng when he returned to Liao.

Liu Bingcheng is the mastermind. If he doesn't do this, how can his role be demonstrated?
Who knew that Liu Bingcheng would not give him any face at all.

…………

When officials of all ranks in Bianliang learned that an envoy from the Liao Kingdom who lived in the Honglu Temple had been assassinated, they all guessed that the incident was related to the official Zhao Xing.

This is Bian Jing, and there are strict checks on entry and exit. Even if the Western Xia wanted to assassinate the Liao envoys and sow discord between the Song and Liao, they would not dare to send a large number of assassins to storm the Honglu Temple and kill people.

Empress Dowager Xiao and others also had this motive, but if Zhao Xing did not acquiesce, would they have the courage to do so?
Although everyone knew about it, in order to maintain the reputation of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xing sent people to summon them into the palace after daybreak. He was furious in public and ordered the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to investigate the matter thoroughly, but all the officials remained silent.

The results of the investigation soon came out. The assassin was not from the Song Dynasty, but from the Liao Dynasty.

Several seriously injured survivors confessed that they arrived in the Song Dynasty in advance after learning that the Liao Kingdom had sent envoys to demand Empress Dowager Xiao and others, preparing to disrupt this plan.

After these survivors confessed, they died from their serious injuries.

As for whether others believed it or not, Zhao Xing didn’t care, he believed it anyway.

After the matter came to a conclusion, Liu Bingcheng met with Zhao Xing and said goodbye.

Zhao Xing pretended to persuade him to stay before he agreed, and considerately sent more soldiers for protection.

…………

"Your Majesty, when the Liao envoys return, the Liao side should take action soon. The Great Wall in the north has not been built yet, and the military force is insufficient. We need to send more troops to the north." Zeng Gongliang said.

He was also speechless about Zhao Xing's actions this time.

Doing so would completely infuriate the Liao Kingdom.

No one from the Song Dynasty mentioned this matter for the sake of the face of the Song Dynasty and the official Zhao Xing.

Yelu Yixin might not accept this statement. After all, the excuse from the Song Dynasty was too poor. If he accepted it, it would be a joke.

Originally, the Song Dynasty refused to hand over the prisoners. Even if Yelu Yixin sent troops, it would be more of a threat and the possibility of a direct attack on the city was small.

But now it is not certain. Yelu Yixin might attack the city directly, so we must send reinforcements as soon as possible.

"I'll leave this matter to Minister Zeng. This time is different from the past. In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army, the Privy Council, the Ministry of War and the three yamen will work together to lay off the old and weak in the army as soon as possible and streamline the troops." Zhao Xing said.

"Your Majesty, how should we place the old and the young?" Zeng Gongliang asked.

"I will arrange for someone to take care of the resettlement issue. Tell the soldiers that after the crop is cut, I will arrange land for them to farm based on the number of people in their families."

There are not only many old and young people in the imperial army of the Song Dynasty, but also some people who are not paid for their work.

The former is because it cannot be placed after cropping and can only be kept for stability.

The latter is considered a tradition. It has been common for soldiers to draw empty salaries since ancient times.

It was difficult to resettle the old and the young in the past, but now, after an inventory of land, the court has land in its hands that can be used to resettle these people.

The issue of drawing a salary without working involves too many people, and Zhao Xing cannot delve into it too deeply. This is also a chance to give those people a chance to stop.

It would be best if these people knew what was best for them. If not, don't blame him for being rude.

"Your Majesty, if this happens, I'm afraid many soldiers in the army will not want to serve in the army." Zeng Gongliang said worriedly.

Disarmament will certainly not cause any trouble as it can accommodate the reduced number of soldiers.

In fact, court officials and the emperor knew that there were many old and young people in the army, which had affected the combat effectiveness of the army.

But after the cuts, these people had no source of income, and every soldier had a family behind him.

Now the imperial court has land and can provide resettlement, and can lay off the old and young in the army.

But there are many young and strong people in the army who are unwilling to serve in the army.

When these young and strong people see that those who are laid off will be given land to be laid off, they may also want to be laid off.

(End of this chapter)