The prince is more stable

Chapter 475 Marriage Gifts
When a diplomatic delegation visits another country, they will of course bring gifts. This is the social etiquette between countries.

The Western Xia delegation was naturally no exception.

The two delegations with different destinations both brought gifts. The one given to Zhao Xiaoqian was cattle, sheep and war horses, while the other delegation brought smaller but more valuable gold, silver, pearls and jade to the Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji.

Zhao Xiaoqian was very interested in the gifts that Xixia gave to the Liao Emperor, and of course, he did not refuse the cattle, sheep and war horses.

Li Jinzhen looked at him warily. Although Zhao Xiaoqian's expression was sincere and his tone was serious, he could still see the greed in Zhao Xiaoqian's eyes.

Li Jinzhen's heart skipped a beat and he realized that things were getting troublesome.

The Song and Liao dynasties were already at war, and the gifts that the Western Xia sent to the Liao emperor were intercepted by Zhao Xiaoqian's subordinates. So theoretically, these gifts should have become the spoils of war of the Song army.

What Zhao Xiaoqian said just now about helping him pass it on to the Liao Emperor was obviously a scam.

If the fraud fails, the Western Xia envoys are now in the Song army camp. Wouldn't they rob openly?

No matter it was a scam or robbery, once the gift was in Zhao Xiaoqian's mouth, could we expect him to spit it out?
"Your Highness, please spare me a chance to live." Li Jinzhen hurriedly stood up and knelt before Zhao Xiaoqian, tears streaming down his face. "I am here on a diplomatic mission to the Liao Kingdom under the orders of the King of Western Xia. Those generous gifts are also intended for the Liao Emperor. If I fail to deliver them, I will be punished with death."

"I, your Highness, have always respected you and have not been disrespectful to you. I only ask that you show some mercy. The generous gift from Xixia to the Liao Kingdom... truly cannot be touched!"

Seeing Li Jinzhen crying sincerely, Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help but blush.

If I think about it carefully, apart from the fact that his singing was a bit long-winded, this guy was indeed respectful enough to me. He knelt down when they met. Although I couldn't understand the lyrics of his singing, I guess they were all flowery flattery.

The Chinese have had this old habit for thousands of years: if you respect me an inch, I will respect you a yard. This is engraved in their genes. Zhao Xiaoqian really couldn't force someone who respected him so much into a dead end.

"Hey, get up, get up. I just mean well and am passing on the gift to you. If you don't want to accept it, forget it. But why are you crying? It's embarrassing." Zhao Xiaoqian said impatiently.

Li Jinzhen was overjoyed when he heard this. After kneeling down again, he stood up and picked up the cup again.

Zhao Xiaoqian's eyelids jumped, and he stared at him warily: "Dashachun! What are you doing!"

However, as he expected, the guy opened his mouth and prepared to sing as soon as he picked up the cup.

"Eh--" Li Jinzhen opened his mouth and just uttered a broken syllable when Zhao Xiaoqian's face suddenly changed color. He took a step forward and quickly stretched out his right thumb and index finger, pinching Li Jinzhen's upper and lower lips and locking them.

Li Jinzhen was shocked and looked terrified. He gestured with his hands and feet, obviously thinking that he had been rude in some way, so he used gestures to ask and apologize.

"Woo woo..." Li Jinzhen gestured in panic.

Zhao Xiaoqian still pinched his lips firmly, saying quietly, "If you want to drink, just drink well, if you want to chat, just chat well. You need to stop singing all the time. We Song people don't buy into that."

After saying that, Zhao Xiaoqian let go of Li Jinzhen's mouth.

Li Jinzhen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and suddenly realized that he shouldn't sing at the banquet. He didn't know whether it was Zhao Xiaoqian's personal likes and dislikes or the rules of the Central Plains Dynasty, but they didn't like to sing at the banquet. The atmosphere was so dull.

Don’t understand, but respect.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. It was an outsider who offended me. I won't dare to do it again next time." Li Jinzhen bowed and apologized.

Li Jinzhen then asked cautiously, puzzled, "I wonder what a Song Dynasty banquet was like? Was it just for conversation?"

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled proudly: "When people in the Song Dynasty feasted, the most common phrase they said was, 'You're raising fish!'"

"It's very profound!" Li Jinzhen praised without hesitation.

Anyway, enough praise, the envoy's greatest strength is his eloquence and his outrageously high emotional intelligence.

Li Jinzhen finally gave up the bad habit of singing, and the atmosphere of the banquet became inexplicably much more lively. The Song army generals present were probably not used to Li Jinzhen's style, and secretly praised Zhao Xiaoqian's decisive move to control Li Jinzhen's words.

For a moment, the Song generals and the Xixia envoys were toasting each other and laughing loudly inside the tent. The Xixia envoys, presumably also working part-time as cultural and tourism promotional personnel, kept introducing the generals to the customs and people of various parts of Xixia. Meanwhile, the Song generals boasted to the officials about how, in such and such a battle, they single-handedly decapitated countless enemies, and in another such and such battle, they were stabbed three times and six times, their back riddled with arrows like a hedgehog, yet they still decapitated countless enemies...

Finally, with the general slamming the table and shouting "You are raising fish", the atmosphere of the banquet suddenly reached its climax.

On the other side of the general's tent, Zhao Xiaoqian and Li Jinzhen were chatting in low voices, talking about serious matters.

"The King of Western Xia wishes to seek marriage with the Liao Kingdom?" Zhao Xiaoqian's expression turned strange. "I remember Li Qianshun was only sixteen years old, right?"

Li Jinzhen secretly complained that Zhao Xiaoqian shouldn't call the Xixia king by his name, but he didn't dare to show it and had to pretend not to hear it.

"Sixteen is not young anymore. The monarch already took two concubines into the palace two years ago. If the monarch takes charge of the government, the world will be at peace. The subjects all hope that the monarch will give birth to a prince soon and appoint a crown prince soon."

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed. He didn’t remember in this life, but what was he doing when he was fourteen in his previous life?
When I was just entering junior high school, I was busy collecting Water Margin character cards from instant noodles. After school, I sneaked into the arcade to watch others play King of Fighters, and secretly tied the long hair of the girl in the seat in front of me to the chair...

In those years, I not only missed the heavy rain, but also missed early love...

"Your monarch is taking a concubine at the age of fourteen. Is he well developed?" Zhao Xiaoqian asked with concern.

Li Jinzhen really wanted to blurt out "It's none of your business", but in front of Zhao Xiaoqian, the great devil who once swept across Western Xia, he didn't have the courage.

Li Jinzhen could only force a smile: "My king is gifted, he has been strong since he was a child, he eats three bowls of food a day, and he has a strong desire for sex..."

Zhao Xiaoqian was silent for a moment, then said slowly, "Do you really think I've never met your monarch?"

Li Jinzhen was shocked, and then he remembered that many mysterious events happened during the peace talks between Song and Xia.

This includes the inexplicable death of Empress Dowager Xiaoliang and the inexplicable reign of Li Qianshun.

Li Jinzhen didn't dare to ask what happened that year, but he was sure that Zhao Xiaoqian must have met Li Qianshun.

You've exaggerated a lot.

Of course Zhao Xiaoqian had seen Li Qianshun before. Back then, in front of Empress Dowager Xiao Liang's coffin, Li Qianshun cried so fakely that he almost laughed out loud. His poor acting skills left a deep impression on him to this day.

As for his figure, haha, he is as thin as a chicken, and looks malnourished and deficient in both yin and yang. How can he be said to be "strong"?
How could he have the confidence to ask for the Liao princess's hand in marriage? What if he couldn't satisfy the princess? What if the relationship between husband and wife was not harmonious?
As a warm-hearted prince of the Song Dynasty, I was secretly worried about Li Qianshun...

"On the one hand, you are sending gifts to the Song Dynasty, and on the other hand, you are proposing marriage to the Liao Kingdom. What is your king planning?" Zhao Xiaoqian looked at Li Jinzhen with a smile.

Li Jinzhen lowered his head to avoid his gaze and whispered, "I am only an envoy. I have delivered the gifts and the message, and that is all that is required. I dare not ask about anything else."

"But I assure you that Xixia holds absolutely no hostility towards the Song Dynasty and is willing to pay tribute. Your Highness, please do not misunderstand me."

Zhao Xiaoqian's smile became even brighter.

Are you playing diplomatic rhetoric?

Historical books say that Li Qianshun of Western Xia had the aura of a wise ruler when he was young, and it seems that he was indeed quite capable.

Now that the Song Dynasty is busy dealing with the Liao Kingdom, it has no energy to attack the Western Xia. Li Qianshun seized the opportunity of the dispute between the two countries. While trying to make friends with both sides, it is not ruled out that he also wanted to give both sides a warning.

Remind the Song and Liao countries that Western Xia is also on the scale, and whichever side it leans to, the weight on that side will be heavier.

It was a very calculated plan, but Zhao Xiaoqian saw through it.

Touching his chin, Zhao Xiaoqian began to consider whether to ruin the marriage between Xia and Liao.

A sixteen-year-old boy is still growing, and women are like a knife scraping his bones...

(End of this chapter)