Northern Song Dynasty: Starting from the son of Song Renzong

Chapter 109 Good News

It's almost the end of the year.

It felt like the entire city of Tokyo was slowly becoming restless without anyone noticing.

At the end of this year, there was also good news from the front line.

It is said...

It seems that Western Xia and Liao are about to fight.

You may ask how the Song Dynasty knew about this. Well, the Song Dynasty and Western Xia have been negotiating peace, but they have been dragged down by Zhao Xin and have not yet reached an agreement.

Now, the Liao Kingdom has sent envoys, and their meaning is that they hope the Song Dynasty will not negotiate peace with Western Xia.

As for the reason...

According to reports from spies on the front line, Li Yuanhao seemed to have fallen out with Yelu Zongzhen, the ruler of the Liao Dynasty.

As for why they broke up.

This is probably about as long as a piece of cloth.

Anyway...

There must be a variety of factors involved.

What has recently caused the relationship between the two countries to deteriorate completely is that Li Yuanhao helped Yelu Zongzhen to suppress a rebellion that was said to be an uprising of the Daier tribe of the Jiashan tribe.

The situation in the Liao Kingdom seemed similar to that in the Song Dynasty.

I really have to say that they are two brothers in distress, with an excellent game matching mechanism.

Let these two talented people get together.

Anyway...

Li Yuanhao went to help quell the rebellion, but Yelu Zongzhen didn't give Li Yuanhao any benefits at all.

Li Yuanhao was so angry that he simply instigated the various Dangxiang tribes in Shannan and the Daier tribe to rebel against Liao and join Xia. Then, he instigated the surrendered Daier tribe to constantly harass the border of the Liao Dynasty.

Then Yelu Zongzhen took a look and thought, this is unacceptable!

Aren't you clearly slapping me, Yelu Zongzhen, in the face?
Yelu Zong was really young and hot-tempered, how could he bear such humiliation?

Even the Song Dynasty has to speak to me politely. How dare you, a small country like Xixia, challenge the Liao Dynasty?

In addition, Li Yuanhao once proposed to marry Yelu Zongzhen's sister, but after marrying her, he still hugged other beauties and ignored the eldest princess of their Liao Kingdom.

Until he died of depression.

This is also a slap in the face of Yelu Zongzhen.

This naturally involves settling both new and old grudges together!

Yelu Zongzhen had already planned to personally lead an expedition against Li Yuanhao.

Then, what now lies before Zhao Xin is how to respond to the Liao Kingdom.

……

Zhao Xin said to everyone, "If we reply directly to Liao, we will refuse to negotiate with Xixia. If Xixia finds out, they might resent us. After that, Xixia might negotiate with Liao again and come to fight us again."

"Although, I'm not really scared."

Zhang Dexiang, Yan Shu, Fu Bi and others were speechless for a while.

Especially Zhang Dexiang and his teacher Yan Shu, Your Highness Prince Yu, you are not afraid, but we are!

Do you know how much the military expenditure has been in recent years?
If we fight with Western Xia again, our Song Dynasty will be in danger.

Zhao Xin did not express his opinion first, but just asked them to discuss it. "What do you think? Let's see how to answer it appropriately. Let the two countries not be able to find fault with us."

Perhaps Zhang Dexiang and Yan Shu didn't know what Zhao Xin and his father were thinking.

and so……

They would definitely prefer to negotiate directly with Western Xia.

and……

They felt that the current diplomatic goal of the Song Dynasty was to make friends with both the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia. It would be best not to help either side and let the two barbarians fight each other.

But if both countries recall the past of such a situation where they just sat on the mountain and watched tigers fight, wouldn't they feel disgusted?

At that time, the two of them will decide that they don’t want to fight anymore and say, “Let’s attack the Song Dynasty together.”

That's also possible.

therefore……

Next, they have to find a better excuse so that the two countries won’t find any evidence to attack them together in the future.

Zhao Xin discovered...

There is really no one in our Great Song Dynasty that can't even solve such a small problem.

Then you can only think about it yourself. First of all, you must agree to it from the Liao Kingdom. There is no reason not to agree, but you also have to show your difficulties or sincerity.

and……

Zhao Xin had no intention of making peace with Western Xia.

He also wanted Xixia to help him train the army in the northwest.

Send all those rubbish generals out to die, and the ones left behind will be the elite troops of the Northwest of the Song Dynasty.

At last……

Seeing that no one answered, I was just about to express my own opinion.

then……

Wu Yu, the head of the Ministry of Rites, who had been silent before, finally spoke up: "Your Majesty! I thought that our relationship with Khitan has always been good. If we give up Khitan in order to accept Xixia, it would be like giving up a big country for a small country. Moreover, this big country has been living in peace with us for so many years since the Treaty of Chanyuan."

"Therefore, I think we must not accept Xixia. The relationship between Liao and Xixia is tense now. I think this is our opportunity. If we can watch them fight and then find an opportunity to make merit, it would be even better."

"If we accept Li Yuanhao, the Liao Kingdom will definitely resent us in the future. Maybe they will send troops from Youzhou to attack us again."

Wu Yu came up and first explained that Xixia would absolutely not accept it.

Then he continued: "As for how to respond so as not to offend both sides, I think we should tell Xixia that we will not negotiate peace with them unless they apologize to Liao. At the same time, we should also tell Liao that we have asked Xixia to apologize to Liao. If Xixia does not apologize to Liao, we will not rule out the possibility of conquering Xixia together with Liao."

Zhao Xin listened, thought about it, and looked at his father. After getting the same affirmative look from his father, he said, "This idea seems good. At least, it gives the other party a choice. We in the Song Dynasty love peace very much, but if you are shameless, then we will fight you."

"Dad, just do as he says."

Zhao Zhen said to Wu Yu: "Then you will be in charge of this matter."

Wu Yu had just been transferred back to the court from outside, and he didn't know much about the affairs of the court. He looked at Zhao Xin and said naturally, "Yes!"

Zhao Xin asked again: "What's your name?"

Wu Yu then said, "Wu Yu."

Zhao Xin said, "Very good! I'll remember you! I'll ask you for help if I have any problems in the future!"

Wu Yu: “…”

While Wu Yu was speechless.

Zhao Xin was also thinking that someone like this who is eloquent, knows how to make rounds, and understands the ways of the world will be useful sooner or later!

Then, shake hands with the other person.

Of course Wu Yu didn't understand what this meant.

It was not until Yan Shu helped explain it that I finally understood what was going on.

Anyway...

Shaking hands means we are good friends.

of course!

You can also choose not to be a good friend of His Royal Highness Prince Yu.

Then maybe he would be exiled directly to Lingnan.

(End of this chapter)