The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 482 What an amazing mouth!

Seeing that Li Gang remained silent for a long time, Yue Wenxuan realized that he knew the crux of the problem, but he just didn't want to admit it. Well, that's quite normal. The more loyal a minister is, the more likely he is to have problems like Li Gang's.

I know who's wrong! But the person who's wrong is the one I'm sworn to serve to the death for, so it's my fault. My mistake was thinking he was wrong.

Having such thoughts means I am unfaithful!
Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "Prime Minister Li, a very serious problem is now before you. You need to rethink it and find out its true answer."

Li Gang: "What's the problem?"

Yue Wenxuan: "Are you loyal to the emperor or to the Song dynasty?"

Upon hearing this question, Li Gang felt as if his mind had exploded with a "boom."

It was fried to a pulp!
Yue Wenxuan didn't give him any more time to think and continued to press, "Prime Minister Li, what is your purpose in studying the classics?"

Without hesitation, Li Gang replied, "Of course, it is to establish a moral compass for Heaven and Earth, to secure a destiny for the people, to continue the lost learning of past sages, and to usher in an era of peace for all generations."

Yue Wenxuan clapped his hands: "What a great ambition! But why didn't I hear the word 'emperor' in those four powerful sentences? It turns out that Prime Minister Li's ambition is not just for the emperor to live a good life, but for all the people of the world to live a good life!"

"Boom!" Li Gang's mind exploded once again.

He's a little cracked!
He suddenly realized that loyalty to the emperor seemed to conflict with his long-held aspirations.

Because he was loyal to the Song dynasty, not to the emperor.

His purpose in studying was for the benefit of all people, not just for an emperor.

Yue Wenxuan: "Prime Minister Li, practice what you preach! Practice what you preach!"

The phrase "unity of knowledge and action" struck Li Gang like a hammer blow, leaving him seeing stars.

After a long pause, Li Gang finally spoke slowly with trembling lips: "Your Excellency has a very sharp tongue, but it's a waste to use it on a former prime minister who has been demoted to Qiongzhou. I am now penniless and have nothing to my name. Even if you speak eloquently and make me lose miserably, it will be of no use. Your Excellency should go to Qin Hui. He is now extremely powerful. If you can persuade him, he can definitely help you."

"Useless? How could it be useless?" Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "I have great respect for Prime Minister Li's abilities. As far as I know, Prime Minister Li was in charge of Yue Fei's logistics, right? From his counterattack on the six prefectures of Jingzhou to his great defeat of Jin Wuzhu in Nanyang, Prime Minister Li was in charge of all the deployment and arrangement of the Yue Family Army's weapons and provisions. Prime Minister Li's ability to handle government affairs is unparalleled in the world."

Li Gang: "I am no longer the prime minister; I am just a good-for-nothing who is preparing to retire in Qiongzhou."

Yue Wenxuan revealed his true intentions: "The Southern Song should stop fighting the Jin, but the Northern Song still needs to fight the Jin. The Southern Song no longer needs Prime Minister Li's political abilities, but the Northern Song does."

Li Gang: "!!!"

After all that, it turns out this guy came to persuade us to surrender.

Li Gang's expression turned to anger: "Don't even think about it! How could I, Li Gang, be a traitor who would defect to the enemy?"

Yue Wenxuan smiled: "Treason? Prime Minister Li seems to have forgotten that the Northern Song Dynasty is still the Song Dynasty. It was a piece of territory that the Seventeenth Prince saved from the Jin invaders in the Central Plains region on the north bank of the Yangtze River. How could that be treason? As for defecting to the enemy... that's laughable. When have the Northern Song and Southern Song ever been enemies? The only two who were truly enemies were Zhao Gou and Zhao Shi."

Li Gang: "..."

Don't say it, don't say it!

Upon careful consideration, Li Gang realized that this was indeed the case. The Northern and Southern Song dynasties were not enemies, and never had been.

The Northern and Southern Song dynasties made peace immediately after their border was established in Chuzhou, and there was virtually no fighting between them. Moreover, there was frequent trade between the two dynasties, and there are still large quantities of grain and cotton cloth produced in the Northern Song dynasty available for sale in Lin'an.

The people of the two Song dynasties never regarded the people of the other side as foreign enemies!

Given this, the phrase "traitor to the country and defection to the enemy" is obviously out of the question.

Yue Wenxuan continued, "If Prime Minister Li goes to Qiongzhou, he will have nothing to do with the words 'resisting the Jin' anymore. In the days to come, he will most likely be picking coconuts and collecting seashells on the beach. Maybe he can occasionally go diving and swim with sea turtles and roast a couple of crabs to eat... His ambition to resist the Jin will never be mentioned again. In fact, given the background of the peace negotiations between the Southern Song and the Jin, if a Jin delegation comes to Qiongzhou for tourism, Prime Minister Li will have to humbly entertain them."

"Pfft!" The last sentence was like a knife, almost killing Li Gang.

Yue Wenxuan said, “But it would be different if we went to our Northern Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty would not negotiate peace with the Jin invaders. They would continue to advance northward, gradually taking back the territory we had lost, and eventually establishing their capital in Yanjing! If Prime Minister Li goes to our side, your political abilities will be put to good use. You can watch as the grain and weapons you personally prepared are continuously sent to the front lines, making the Jin invaders cry for their parents and kneel down to call the Song Dynasty their father. Only in this way can you live up to Prime Minister Li’s ambition.”

Li Gang trembled all over...

He discovered that the other person's verbal skills were incredibly impressive! They were truly amazing!

Each and every word struck him like a hammer blow to the heart.

Especially that phrase, "Establish the capital in Yanjing!"
What kind of ambition is this? This is a declaration to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.

Throughout the entire Song Dynasty, not a single upright ruler or minister did not wish to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. This had been a thorn in the side of the Song Dynasty since its founding.

Li Gang couldn't help but ask excitedly, "The Seventeenth Prince actually has such lofty ambitions?"

Yue Wenxuan smiled: "We will not only take Yanjing, but also sweep across the grasslands."

Li Gang: "!!!"

This guy is insane, he's definitely insane, but it feels so good!

The Song Dynasty should be this domineering to truly deserve the title of the Song Dynasty.

This is the true majesty of a celestial empire, not cowering on the south bank of the Yangtze River, relying on the natural barrier of the Yangtze to carve out a territory, trembling with fear and living in constant anxiety over a small plot of land.

Li Gang suddenly realized that the Seventeenth Prince might be the true wise ruler, and the Ninth Prince was far inferior to him.

Wait, something's wrong!

Wasn't the Seventeenth Prince just a puppet? The man before us is the true mastermind behind the Northern Song Dynasty.

If I were to surrender to the Northern Song Dynasty, I wouldn't be surrendering to the Seventeenth Prince, but to this person.

Thinking of this, Li Gang's expression suddenly turned sharp again: "Although you have spoken so eloquently that you almost fooled me, there is one point that you cannot overlook! The Northern Song Dynasty is not in the hands of the Seventeenth Prince, but in your hands."

Yue Wenxuan: "Huh? Is that so? Then, Prime Minister Li, as a loyal subject of the Song Dynasty, you should go to the Northern Song Dynasty and protect the Seventeenth Prince with your life, protect the bloodline of the late emperor, and prevent him from being killed by me. That is true loyalty to the Song Dynasty. If you go to Qiongzhou to play with sea turtles, can that be considered loyalty to the Song Dynasty?"

Li Gang gasped, thinking: What a vicious sophistry! But this argument is so reasonable that it's impossible to object to it!
(End of this chapter)