Big Song Xiaohou Ye

Chapter 166 The Liao Kingdom Envoy

Zhao Ji reluctantly came over to take a look. When he saw this, he was stunned. How could someone have such high painting skills? The people in this painting are as real as those reflected in a mirror. It is the most youthful and most beautiful moment of the Empress Dowager. The person who painted the picture is based on the current appearance of the Empress Dowager and calculated the imaginary appearance of the Empress Dowager when she was young.

Zhao Ji shook his head slowly, this time he lost again...

Li Ce looked at the astonished expressions of the ministers, and couldn't help but feel proud. It seems that it is so important to know a craft. Unexpectedly, a small sketch can shake the entire ruling class of the Song Dynasty so much.

Most of the ministers present were from the imperial examinations, and many of them are also very good at Danqing. For example, Zhang Shixun, the sixth minister, is very good at this. The more he looked at it, the more he was amazed: "Xiyuan, you are also a master of calligraphy and Danqing. How can you do it?" Have you ever seen such a realistic painting style?"

"It's the first time I've seen it. It's really a masterpiece. I don't know who made this painting. This person can be called the founder of this painting school. It's useless for me to boast that I have good painting skills, but I don't know that there are mountains outside the mountains. It's pitiful." Chen Yaozuo sighed, but his eyes never moved away from the sketch for a moment.

Li Ce listened to the conversation between the master and Deng Guogong, and couldn't help but want to laugh. If one day the master knew that this painting was painted by himself, I don't know how shocked he would be.

Ding Wei was sullen at the side, he had already passed the shock when he saw the painting for the first time, and now he was trying hard to figure out how to get rid of the flaws in the painting, so as to regain the limelight, but he couldn't think of any way after figuring it out for a long time In the end, he had no choice but to give up. In fact, the key point is that the content of this painting is too special - it is the Queen Mother!Wouldn't slandering that painting mean slandering the Empress Dowager herself...

"Report to the Empress Dowager, the envoys from the Liao Kingdom outside request an audience." At this time, a small yellow door came in to report.

"Emissaries from the Liao Kingdom? What are they doing here?" Liu E was meditating with her eyes closed, and she was a little annoyed when she was suddenly interrupted, so she couldn't help frowning and asked in a cold voice.

"It seems that I want to celebrate your birthday to the Queen Mother, and I also brought gifts." Xiao Huangmen replied cautiously.

"The Liao Kingdom has always been arrogant. This time, the Empress Dowager's birthday, they came from afar. I'm afraid it will not be as simple as celebrating the birthday." Ding Wei said solemnly.He is the prime minister. Although he is a bit domineering on weekdays, his political nerves are still extremely sensitive, especially when dealing with state affairs, he is very measured. He quickly realized that the sudden arrival of the envoy from the Liao Dynasty must be a conspiracy.

"Your Prime Minister is right. If the envoy of the Liao Dynasty makes any request through this, we cannot agree to him." Zhang Shixun also looked away from the painting, stood up and said, he rarely agrees with Ding Wei.

Officials in the Northern Song Dynasty were like this. Although there were quite a lot of differences in their political opinions on weekdays, and they were even incompatible with each other, they were often able to temporarily abandon their prejudices and reach a high degree of consensus when dealing with major issues such as national diplomacy and foreign invasion. character.In comparison, the Southern Song Dynasty was much worse.

"But we are guests from afar. Our Great Song Dynasty is a state of etiquette. Since the Liao envoy has arrived, we can't refuse to see him. This will lose our demeanor of a state." Kong Daofu, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, said.

"We must see each other, but we still don't understand the meaning of the Liao Kingdom. Don't forget that not long ago, they sent troops to attack our Zhending Mansion. If you say they are celebrating the birthday of the Queen Mother, hehe, I don't know. I don't believe it." Chen Yaozuo said.

"I'm afraid I'm going to take this opportunity to make some excessive demands again." Ding Wei said with a wrinkled face.

Everyone was silent for a while. In fact, everyone knew that the Liao Kingdom had come to ask for something, but the key was to give it or not?Of course Da Song didn't want to give it, but if he didn't, what would happen if the Liao Kingdom sent troops in trouble?
Seeing the silence of the officials, Zhao Zhen glanced at the Queen Mother, and saw that she also had a solemn expression, and couldn't help but said: "Master Zhang, the Privy Envoy, if I go to war with the Liao Kingdom, what is the chance of winning?"

With a bang, the ministers looked at Zhao Zhen in surprise, only to see Zhao Zhen staring at the ministers with piercing eyes, and all the ministers turned away guiltily as soon as they met his eyes.

The privy envoy is Zhang Qi, a good old man. If you want to say who in the entire Song Dynasty is the least likely to offend others, and who is the most able to muddle through, then this person must be Zhang Qi!Zhang Qi is already over 60 years old this year, and his experience in politics can be described as stagnant waters in ancient wells, without any surprises. He was able to sit in the position he is today, which is entirely due to hard work and a bit of shit luck.So Zhang Qi cherishes his current position very much, he will not offend anyone, and he will not earn anything.

The privy envoy was originally the only position that could compete with the prime minister, the so-called "two governments in the east and west, opposing civil and military affairs".The East Mansion is the Office of the Prime Minister, Zhongshu Sheng, and the West Mansion is the Privy Council.But this year's Privy Council made Zhang Qi too cowardly, he had no opinions of his own in everything, and he did what Ding Wei said. As a result, the huge Privy Council was like a subsidiary organization of the Ministry of Education.

The two deputy envoys, Cao Wei and Xia Song, had the intention to fight against Zhongshu Sheng, but their ranks were not symmetrical with Prime Minister Ding Wei, and they could not play any substantive role at all.

Zhang Qi came out tremblingly, looking old-fashioned, he was about the same age as Ding Wei and Zhang Shixun, but he looked much older than them.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this dynasty has not taken the initiative to raise troops for nearly 30 years. When a saint governs the country, war should not be taken lightly." Zhang Qi advised, shaking his head.

Zhao Zhen secretly scolded him as an old fox. He asked him what his chances of winning were, but he brought out such a big reason for himself. It was really a useless question to ask.He looked at Ding Wei. Although Ding Wei was domineering, he could only ask him at this time.

Seeing Zhao Zhen looking at him, Ding Wei couldn't help raising his head and said, "It's true that a sage does not easily raise troops when he governs a country, but if foreigners repeatedly provoke us and offend our Song Dynasty, they can't tolerate it any longer. Think about the first year of Zhenzong Jingde, the Queen Mother of Liao and Yelu Longxu, Lord of the Liao Dynasty, personally led an army of 20 to invade our Great Song Dynasty, and Emperor Zhenzong personally led the conquest, and finally defeated the Liao army and fled. If there is a real fight, the Liao people may not necessarily be our opponents."

Ding Wei's meaning is very clear, if the Liao people go too far, then fight!

Zhao Zhen nodded. Although Ding Wei had never been popular, he was quite courageous as a prime minister at this critical moment. He took the lead in the battle.

"Don't be too busy fighting the war. The Liao envoys haven't come in yet. It's not too late to discuss with them after expressing their intentions." Empress Dowager Liu E suddenly said lazily. Zhao Zhen was interrupted by her and had to sit down unwillingly. Back to the dragon chair.

Now that the Empress Dowager had already spoken, the ministers couldn't discuss any more, so they kept silent and waited for the Liao envoy to go to the palace.

Li Ce secretly noticed the Queen Mother's expression, and found that when Zhao Zhen asked the officials privately about the winning rate, her face was obviously a little ugly. In addition, she interrupted Zhao Zhen just now. Could it be that the Queen Mother is dissatisfied with His Majesty?

In this vacancy, the Liao envoy has already led the young eunuch to the hall.

Li Ce stared suddenly, this... isn't this the Liao people in Fan Lou?The leader seems to be called Yelu Xinghe, look at his bruised left eye, who else is there?It's really a narrow road to Yuanjia, now we're in trouble!
Li Ce quietly hid back, thinking: Don't let this fellow recognize him later.

There were three envoys from the Liao Kingdom who went to the hall, headed by Yelu Xinghe in front of them. He was wearing the unique costume of the Liao Kingdom, holding a long box in his hand, walking in front with his head held high and his chest held high. The feeling of own door.

"General Yelu Xinghe of the Liao Kingdom came to congratulate Empress Dowager Liu on behalf of the Emperor Daliao. This is a gift from our Daliao Kingdom." Yelu Xinghe did not kneel down, but stretched out his hand and directly held the gift box in his hand. The meaning of presenting a gift, judging by his haughty attitude, is clearly provocative.

Lei Yungong secretly looked at the prime minister, and seeing Ding Wei nodded, he walked up to Yelu Xinghe with some displeasure, and took the gift box with his hand.

Opening the gift box, it turned out to be a glass bottle, but this glass bottle is different from ordinary glass bottles. As far as this era is concerned, it is already a rare treasure.

"Unexpectedly, there is such a precious glass bottle in the Liao Kingdom. It seems that the emperor of the Liao Kingdom has invested heavily this time. This glass bottle is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver." A minister whispered.

Seeing the admiration of the ministers of the Song Dynasty, Yelu Xinghe held back his complacency and said, "There are a pair of these glazed bottles. Our Emperor Daliao kept one for himself, and this one was given to Queen Mother Liu. I hope that Queen Mother Liu will live a long and peaceful life. For generations to come." The Chinese idioms, the Liao people are naturally not very familiar with it, and it is not easy for a warrior like Yelu Xinghe to be able to say a few four-character idioms.

Zhao Zhen secretly scolded the Liao people for being treacherous, why did they offer such a precious glass bottle?Because there is a tradition in the Song Dynasty, when envoys from foreign countries come, they will usually be rewarded. If the envoy also brings a gift, then the Song Dynasty must have a corresponding gift in return.But once the gift is returned, you can't simply send something away. The standard and value of the gift must be higher than that of the other party, so as to highlight the status of Song Dynasty.

"Okay, I'll accept it. I'll bother General Yelu to bring back the gift I gave to the Emperor of Liao Kingdom." Liu E said lightly.

Yelu Xinghe saw that Liu E didn't seem to be interested in this crystal clear glass bottle, so he was a little dissatisfied and said: "Queen Mother, could it be that you don't like this glass bottle?"

Liu E didn't hide it from him and said, "I have received too many gifts today, but this glass bottle of yours is not a bad treasure."

Yelu Xinghe sneered for a while. He thought that Liu E was deliberately hurting him. Such a precious glass bottle is rare in the world. She didn't even look at it, obviously it was done on purpose!
"Empress Dowager Shengming, I can't give you this glass bottle right now. Our Emperor Daliao also left one of this bottle. He also loves this treasure very much, but he wants to inlay a layer of gold leaf on the inner wall of this glass bottle. In this way, wouldn’t this treasure become even more precious? However, the skill required for this is extremely high. We don’t have such skilled craftsmen in Daliao. I wonder if there is anyone who can complete this skill. Woolen cloth?

Before I came, our Emperor Daliao said that if this matter can be completed, he will present the gift to the Queen Mother, if it is... hehe. " Yelu Xinghe said cunningly, the implication is that if the matter cannot be done, this thing has to be taken back.

"Is there any reason for this? Is there any reason to return the gift you gave someone? If your Liao country is so poor that you can't afford it, then don't give it away, so you won't be afraid of being laughed at if you go back on your word." Cao Wei was straightforward, and couldn't help scolding at first.

Ding Wei, Zhang Shixun and the others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It turned out that it was just a gold leaf, and they thought that the Liao Kingdom was going to make some rude demands for money and land.

(End of this chapter)