The First Yamen of the Great Song Dynasty

"Okay, everyone, stop standing outside, let's talk inside the embassy." After Gao Ming finished speaking, he walked into the embassy first.

Yelu Dashi followed behind and asked: "Master Gao Zheng, the Jurchens didn't make things difficult for you, did they? Why are they willing to let you back?" He also went to see Huarong, hoping to see the answer from his eyes, but Huarong didn't To see him.

Gao Ming did not answer Yelu Dashi's question, but asked Ma Zheng, "Where is Shi Jin? I have to go and see him." He apologized to Yelu Dashi, "Let's talk about it later, okay? I have to see him first." My subordinates."

Yelu Dashi couldn't stop Gao Ming from visiting the injured members of the mission, "I'll go with you too."

At this time, Gao Mingxiang suddenly remembered something, and said to Shi Qian: "Take off the things on my horse and send them to Shi Jin."

Shi Qian rolled up the tiger and mink skins on the horse's back and took them down, followed by Gao Ming to see Shi Jin.

Yelu came to Shi Jin's room together with the others. During Gao Ming's departure from Liao Kingdom, he also sent someone to visit Shi Jin. After all, it is quite troublesome for Song people to die in Liao Kingdom.

When Shi Jin saw Gao Ming and Hua Rong, he wanted to get out of bed excitedly. Because of the pain, his lips were pale and bloodless. "Master Gao, General Hua, you are back? Those damned Jurchens!"

Gao Ming asked with concern: "Is your wound okay?"

Shi Jin looked at An Daoquan at the side, "Thanks to Dr. An's medical skills, I'm fine."

An Daoquan said modestly: "My medical skills are one aspect, and your good foundation is also a very important aspect. If you change someone, even if it's me, I'm afraid I won't be able to save you."

Yelu Dashi said bitterly: "The Jurchens are brutal and vicious, you can see it."

Gao Ming said: "As for your shooting, the man named Wan Yan Zongqiang was scolded by his father. I have a piece of mink that I bought from the Jurchen here. Take it."

He took the mink fur from Shi Qian, and handed it to Shi Jin, "This thing is made into a cloak, and you can wear it to keep you warm in winter. When the snow falls on it, it won't stick at all. If you touch it, the fur is smooth."

Shi Jin originally gave him the mink fur as a gift to protect him from his injuries.

Shi Jin didn't want Jurchen's things, which were expensive and incompatible with his usual clothes.

"Hey, it's just a thought of you protecting me from getting hurt. If you don't accept it, it will be too difficult for me." Gao Ming frowned deliberately, "If you don't take it, I will feel very sorry."

Hua Rong also persuaded: "You just take it, we brought it back from thousands of miles, a heart."

Hua Rong also thanked Shi Jin for protecting Gao Ming from injury.

Only then did Shi Jin reluctantly accept it, "Then I'll take it?"

Gao Ming laughed and said, "It's good to be a hat instead of a cloak."

Yelu Dashi stared at the fineness of this mink fur, and believed more and more in his judgment that it was definitely a gift from Wanyan's family.

Gao Ming and Shi Jin said a few more words, and left without disturbing his rest.

Coming out of Shi Jin's room, Gao Ming noticed that Yelu Dashi next to him had been staring at him, as if he had been seeking eye contact, so he just ignored him.

Yelu Dashi saw that Gao Ming didn't want to talk to him, so he looked at Hua Rong, "What happened after you chased Gao Ming? You didn't come back so late, I'm really afraid that you will encounter accidents with Jurchen."

"I caught up with Wanyan Zongqiang's team. After all, I can't deal with so many Jurchens alone. Anyway, Wanyan Zongqiang agreed to let me follow to Liaoyang Mansion, and then..." Hua Rong said to Gao Ming: "The rest of you Come on."

Gao Ming hesitated to speak, but said: "The rest, in fact, there is nothing to say, just saw Wanyan Aguda, and then he..."

The surrounding members of the Song Dynasty Mission were shocked when Gao Ming saw Wanyan Aguda, and listened to him.

Gao Ming stopped talking, and walked down the stairs slowly, going to the end of the trick, so that everyone went downstairs anxiously, and followed him to the hall to sit.

Gao Ming, Hua Rong and Yelu Dashi sat at the same table, and the others found their own places to sit, and some simply stood, listening to Gao Ming talk about his experience in Jurchen.

"They kidnapped us and wanted to ask where a man named Ma Zhi went. It is said that the man was from the Liao Kingdom, but he was very friendly with the Jurchens. As a result, the Jurchens asked him to go to Bianliang, our country. Who knew this man? I went to Tokyo to look for me during the Lantern Festival, but the person disappeared. So the people of Jin Kingdom were very angry, thinking that it was my fault, they tied me up for questioning, threatened me in every possible way, and asked me to explain Ma Zhi's whereabouts. I haven’t seen this person before, and when the Jurchens looked at me, they probably really didn’t know, so they put me back.”

As soon as these words came out, even Shi Qian and Duan Jingzhu's hearts jumped. It turned out that this was the reason why the Jurchens robbed the Yamen.

People from the Song Dynasty mission had never heard of Ma Zhi, "Who is he?"

Gao Ming said to Yelu Dashi: "It is said that they are Han people from the Liao Kingdom. You should send someone to investigate. After a long time, I was furious because a Liao nationality disappeared in the Song Dynasty. I am really unlucky."

It was originally Yelu Dashi who questioned Gao Ming, but now Gao Ming found a reason for Ma Zhi and kicked the responsibility back to the Liao Kingdom.

"Ma Zhi?" Yelu Dashi also thought the name was familiar, "I remember it, I will look it up later."

Gao Ming said bitterly: "Then you should check it out. The Jurchens are very annoyed because of this person's disappearance, and they press me with all kinds of questions. I am really unlucky. I can say whatever I want, and the Jurchens believe that I have nothing to do with Ma Zhi's disappearance, so I don't know what to do." Let me and Huarong come back."

"Then the tiger and mink skins are the Jurchen's apology for blindly robbing you?"

Gao Ming was stunned, and then laughed dryly: "Brother Yelu is really forgetful. As I said just now, I traded wine, hand cream and Jurchen for it."

Yelu Dashi lowered his eyes, raised his head for a moment and said with a faint smile: "Anyway, it's good that Envoy Gaozheng comes back, I'll go to the palace to report, how about you go to the palace to face the saint tomorrow?"

Gao Ming immediately agreed, "It has been delayed for so many days, the sooner the better."

Yelu Dashi got up and went out, and Gao Ming saw them off. After the two arrived at the door, Yelu Dashi hinted that Gao Ming would take a step to speak, and the two arrived at the shelter.

Yelu Dashi reminded Gao Ming, "Tomorrow His Majesty will definitely propose to increase the old coin, have you thought about how to answer it?"

Gao Ming straightened his waist, and said confidently: "Of course, according to the instructions of our Emperor Song, we propose to His Majesty the Emperor of Liao to reduce or exempt the old coins."

Yelu Dashi clearly remembered that when Gao Ming talked to him about the two countries' old coins by the bonfire, he was worried, and he was definitely not as humble and confident as he is now.

There is only one explanation for his change: Song may have the Jurchens as their backer, and the Suibi incident broke with Liao, and he just switched to the camp.

Yelu Dashi exchanged a few more words with Gao Ming, and then went out. As soon as he got on the horse, reined in the reins and turned the horse's head, his face became gloomy.

First, I ordered my men to investigate a Han man named Ma Zhi. This person was inextricably linked to the Jurchens, so it would definitely not be difficult to investigate.

Then he rode his horse into the palace, met Emperor Yelu Yanxi, told him the news of Song Guozheng's return, and persuaded him: "Your Majesty, Song Guozheng envoy Gao Ming and deputy envoy Hua Rong have reached an agreement with the Jurchen. What kind of tricks, I think that the matter of increasing the old coins is still a long-term plan, and it is not appropriate to raise it now, so as not to act too hastily and push the Song Kingdom to the Jurchens..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Xiao Fengxian, the favorite minister next to the emperor, "The Song and Liao countries in the Southern Dynasty were repaired for a hundred years, how could they turn their heads to Jurchen's arms because of such a trivial matter? Look, the Liao Kingdom is spending money, so how could it not make such an effort? As for the affair with the Jurchens, Gao Ming explained that it was because he asked about Ma Zhi's whereabouts, that's all."

It is said that when a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers. In the Song Dynasty, there were Cai Jing, Yang Jian, Zhu Yu, Tong Guan and so on.

The Liao Kingdom has Xiao Fengxian, whose destructive power is equal to the combination of the six thieves of the Song Dynasty.

He has two younger sisters, one is the queen and the other is the concubine Yuan, and the concubine Yuan gave birth to her son Yelvding.

Xiao Fengxian is a veritable uncle of the country, and he is very trusted by Yelu Yanxi.

If not, Yelu Yanxi said: "The Liao Kingdom spends too much money. Since the Song Kingdom is a brother country, it should support more. Tomorrow I will speak in person and ask the Song Kingdom's envoys to agree."

Yelu Dashi was in despair for a while, such an emperor, such a powerful minister.

Where should the Liao Kingdom go in the future?

-

Ever since Gao Ming left Youzhou, he either slept in the ground or on the kang, he really suffered a lot.

And now at last in the embassy of the State of Song in Shangjing of the State of Liao ... slept again ... on the kang!

It was cold in Beijing, even if the embassy of Song State didn't want to be frozen to death in winter, they all set up kangs one after another.

Gao Ming sighed, it seems that if he wants to live a comfortable life, he can only go back to Tokyo.

Alas, people's potential is really unlimited, who would have thought that a pampered Gao Yanei would be able to withstand so many difficult conditions.

Therefore, those imperial guards who were already strong in Song Dynasty had to carry out devil training.

At this time, Hua Rong hugged him and said worriedly: "I will meet the Lord Liao tomorrow. If according to Yelu Dashi's statement, he wants to increase the old coin, and we want to reduce the old coin, such a contradiction, how do you solve it?"

Yes, now Emperor Liao wants to increase the old coins, and Gao Ming's task is to reduce or exempt the old coins.

To put it bluntly, he must do well the most basic tasks that Zhao Ji entrusted to him, and the other benefits that can be brought back from the Liao Kingdom are just icing on the cake.

Gao Ming leaned against Hua Rong, and seemed to be asking him, and seemed to be talking to himself, "You said, the proposal of reducing or exempting the year coins in the Song Dynasty was made by Wang Fu, a treacherous minister, to persuade the officials, so the Liao Kingdom reduced the year coins. Could it be that the idea of ​​coins was also proposed by a treacherous minister of the Liao Kingdom?"

"It's very possible. The emperor will basically not propose any national policy on his own initiative. Even if he has an idea, he will hint to the ministers below and ask the ministers to speak on his behalf."

Gao Ming nodded in agreement, "If that's the case, I have an idea..."

"what idea?"

Gao Ming had no reservations about Hua Rong, and told him what he thought of.

Hua Rong smiled lightly: "It's worth a try."

-

The next morning, Gao Ming and Hua Rong got up early, started to prepare, put on clean and tidy clothes, took the envoy's staff and credentials, sat in the hall with other members of the envoy, including Wang Fu, and waited. The court of the Liao Kingdom came.

"I heard that the Khitan Emperor has a very bad temper, everyone must be cautious in words and deeds."

"Don't communicate in Chinese either. Most people in the court of the Liao Kingdom can speak Chinese, and their level is pretty good."

"Well, the most important thing is to return to Tokyo safely."

"But, don't we have to talk about reducing or exempting the old coins?"

"It's all right, there's Gao Zhengshi..."

These muttered words reached Gao Ming's ears, and he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth and hum in his heart.

He cleared his throat in a low voice, and pretended to be hoarse: "...the kang was too hot last night, my throat hurts to death."

When Gao Ming said this, the hair of the others stood on end in fright, and they were counting on Gao Ming. His voice was too hoarse and he couldn’t speak, so that’s okay, so someone shouted: “Water, tea!”

Another person shouted: "Doctor Zhang, Doctor An, show Master Gao a look at his throat!"

Gao Ming covered his neck and shook his head, and said in a low voice, "No, it's too late, let's just leave it at that. It doesn't matter, even if my throat bleeds, I will complete this mission."

Everyone looked at Gao Ming anxiously, and said to themselves, Mr. Gao, you must persevere.

Hua Rong whispered next to Gao Ming's ear, "Are you really all right?"

"It's okay, just tease them." Gao Ming said to Hua Rong in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

Wang Fu looked at the two of them from the side, and thought to himself, if you two lived in the same room, maybe you wouldn't need to get angry.

At the same time, I was sweating a lot. I will see the emperor of Liao soon. How can I say the reduction or exemption of the old coins?

He leaned over and asked Gao Ming, "Master Gao must have already figured out how to convey the official's meaning to Emperor Liao?"

Unexpectedly, Gao Ming shook his head, "I haven't made up my mind yet, so let's respond immediately."

Wang Fu covered his face, he was afraid it was going to be over.

Gao Ming looked at Wang Fu with a sneer, it's too early to cover his face, there will be times when you cry.

-

According to the previous reception specifications, the Liao State sent people to the gate of the Song State embassy to pick them up into the palace.

The architectural style of the palaces of the Liao Kingdom is full of majesty and majesty, but at the same time, it can be seen that it has not been repaired for a long time, and it is a bit old, just like their country.

Gao Ming and the others waited for a while before being invited into the main hall.

It can be seen that the furnishings in this hall are completely in the style of the Song and Tang Dynasties. Except for the Liao Lord and the princes and ministers who are dressed like Khitans, there is hardly any nomadic style outside the Great Wall, which shows that the Sinicization is strong.

However, it is not surprising that almost 200 years have passed since the national strength of the Liao Kingdom was stabilized. Not to mention that it was similar to the situation in the late Qing Dynasty, it was not much different.

Moreover, in the past ten years or so, the Liao Kingdom has begun to regard itself as the orthodox Central Plains that inherited the mantle of the Tang Dynasty. The imperial examinations have been held.

Gao Ming raised his head, and saw a middle-aged man with a strong physique, probably Yelu Yanxi, Lord of the Liao Dynasty, sitting on the throne, and a row of Khitan nobles standing below him, including Yelu Dashi.

Gao Ming held the staff of the envoy, presented the letter of credence with both hands, and led the members of the envoy to salute the Lord of Liao.

Yelu Yanxi carefully read the letter of credence, and found that there was nothing wrong with the wording, so Gao Ming and the others calmed down, and his tone was full of blame, "I was waiting for you in the palace, but when you came back after going to Nabo, you still returned?" Not yet. I have already thought about it, if you don’t come today, you might as well go back and ask Song Guo to send another team of envoys.”

Gao Ming bowed his hands to do the Han ceremony, and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, the reason for the delay is because the Jurchen robbed me and the deputy envoy Hua Rong, and frightened the deputy envoy Wang Fu to paralysis until yesterday. After all the hard work, I have returned to Shangjing, and I will come to meet His Majesty today."

Yelu Yanxi seemed to be waiting for this sentence, "Since this is the case, I intend to ask Song Guoxie Liao to wipe out the group of Jurchens. Considering that Song State cannot enter Liao to fight, we can only make New Year's coins as offerings."

Sure enough, this is what Yelu Dashi said that the Liao Emperor intended to increase the old coins, but he did not expect that Yelu Yanxi would increase the old coins under the pretext of the Jurchens robbing the envoys of the Song Dynasty.

Gao Ming pretended to be astonished, "Your Majesty, why did you say that? It's true that we were kidnapped by the Jurchen, but it happened on the land of the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom should protect the safety of the Song envoy. No matter what, it is Song Guo's turn to pay for increased security.

Furthermore, Song Guo has already emptied his family for the 30 year old coins, and this year's year coins are also very difficult to get together. If there are more year coins, we really can't afford it.

In the end, a small Jurchen, under the Daliao's millions of cavalry, is just around the corner. Daliao can wipe it out without any effort, so why waste the financial resources of the country of brothers? "

Gao Ming made a series of remarks, which can be summed up as follows: your fault, we have no money, and Daliao can do it.

Yelu Yanxi was choked silent, at this time a Khitan nobleman stood up and said with a smile to Gao Ming: "Since it is a brother country, there are robbers in the brother's family, it is a pity that the sword is not fast at the moment, so I will give a sum of money to buy a whetstone for the brother , is it okay?"

Gao Ming judged this man to be Xiao Fengxian, the great scourge of the Liao Kingdom.

The most outstanding contribution made by this person in destroying the Liao Kingdom is that when A Guda refused to dance for Yelu Yanxi, the people around him said that he would kill this disobedient person, but Xiao Feng first came out to persuade the emperor to calm down, so he let A Guda go. The next thing is the rise of the Kingdom of Jin.

Yelu Yanxi thought Xiao Fengxian's analogy was good and kept nodding.

But the members of the Song State Mission looked at Gao Ming nervously, and they heard Gao Ming say: "If you have money, you can help me naturally, but do you have the heart to ask your brother to sell everything and buy a whetstone for yourself?

In recent years in the Song Dynasty, internal bandits have continued. Wang Qing, Tian Hu, Fang La and other rebels who occupy the state capitals have emerged one after another. Fang La occupies 26 state capitals, which is half of the number of state capitals occupied by Jurchen in the Liao Kingdom today. This is only Fang La's family.In order to put down his rebellion, I don't know how much money was spent.In such a tight situation, this year we still got together the old coins for the brother countries.

Your Majesty, if we ask for more, we really can't handle it. Do you really want to kill them all and drive the brother country to a dead end? "

In a word, the brother's family has no food left.

To sell miserably is to sell miserably.

Xiao Fengxian didn't believe Gao Ming's idea, "As far as I know, at the border Song State can earn 80 taels a year at most by selling me goods from Daliao, and the yearly currency is only 30 taels. Now it's too much for you. Sending New Year's Coins is already the best of benevolence."

When it comes to the border trade between the two countries, the Song State is indeed the beneficiary. Gao Ming said with a bitter face: "It's a pity that the money was earned by profiteers. This is how the country is rich and the people are poor. In fact, our emperor is worried about the future of the next year." If the supply of old coins can't be reduced, I'm afraid it won't make up."

Yelu Yanxi was about to increase the old currency, but when he heard that Song Guo wanted to reduce or exempt the old currency, which happened to be the opposite of his idea. He had no money, and he hadn't received any income. Some people go to Tokyo to finalize the amount of relief?"

The implicit meaning is that if you can't do it, you will come to the city of Tokyo.

The meaning of threat was very strong, and some people in the Song Dynasty mission closed their eyes, knowing that it would become like this, pulling teeth out of their mouths, even if they were sick.

Those who didn't close their eyes in despair stared at Wang Fu, after all, he was the one who came up with this bad idea.

The atmosphere was tense, and Yelu Dashi sighed in his heart. Wouldn't it push the state of song to the state of jin?

Why did the fate of Daliao be so ill-fated, treacherous ministers emerged in large numbers, and faint kings continued...

Gao Ming might have reached some kind of deal with Jin Guo, so he has no hesitation.

Just when Yelu Dashi was in despair, Gao Ming yelled, "I understand!", the voice was so loud that everyone around him jumped.

He patted his forehead suddenly, and then said loudly: "Your Majesty, if the Liao army goes south, the Jurchens must seize the opportunity to attack and call the Liao country to fight on two fronts, pushing the Liao country to the most dangerous brink. Sui coin, if it is His Majesty’s idea, please think again. If a certain minister’s suggestion, this person is really despicable, intending to stir up conflicts between the Song and Liao countries, and let the Jurchen take advantage of it.”

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, all the Khitan people looked at Xiao Fengxian.

Xiao Fengxian was very passive for a while, and immediately said: "Your Majesty, don't listen to the nonsense of this Southern Dynasty man."

When Gao Ming saw Xiao Fengxian's performance, he had a solid foundation in his heart, that's great, sure enough, Emperor Liao's idea of ​​increasing the year coins was also instigated by others, so there is room for him to develop.

"I'm not talking nonsense, because it was a very coincidental coincidence that some people in the Song Dynasty also advised the emperor to reduce or exempt the old coins, one increased, the other reduced, and the needle pointed at the wheat awns. How could there be such a coincidence? Could it be that? The layout of the Jurchen?" At this point, Gao Ming suddenly turned around and said to Wang Fu: "You said, did you take advantage of the Jurchen by asking the government to reduce or exempt the Liao's old currency? The intention is to provoke a war between the two countries. , make the Jurchen benefit?"

In other words, it is a big conspiracy of hostile forces!

Wang Fu turned pale with shock, "Gao Ming, don't frame good people!"

Gao Ming had already made up his mind that this Wang Fu had to be dealt with, not only because he was a traitor, but also because he would originally support the policy of uniting the Jin and destroying the Liao Dynasty, which caused a catastrophe.

He must be deprived of the right to speak on national policy.

"I framed a good person? That Korean female espionage collected on the road has been in your tent for so many days, why didn't you go to someone else? Did you know each other before?" Gao Ming pointed to Wang Fu and said: "She pretends to be a Han female without any reason. Flaw, can’t I enter Bianliang to see you? Ah, I see, Jurchen not only sent Ma Zhi last year, but also sent a female agent Han Zhuer, but Ma Zhi didn’t see me, but Han Zhuer did I saw you!"

Everyone immediately imagined a conspiracy drama. The Jurchen viciously appointed a conspiracy to stir up disputes between the Song and Liao countries, and successfully instigated Wang Fu in the Song State with a beauty trick, asking him to contribute slander.

As for Xiao Fengxian from the Liao Kingdom, it may be a coincidence, or he may have been secretly bewitched by someone else, who knows for sure.

In the court, they have to use their brains to play conspiracy theories for everything, not to mention the conspiracy concerning the future of the two countries is right in front of them?

Officials from both the Liao and Song Dynasties made associations.

However, as a country governed by the nobles of the Yelu family and the Xiao family, the battles surrounding the crown prince in the Liao Kingdom have intensified. It's all against each other.

What Gao Ming had to do was to ignite a fuse on the powder keg of the Liao Dynasty's political situation, and Xiao Fengxian's political opponents would do the rest.

This trick is absolutely unplayable in the Kingdom of Jin, because the Jurchens are still very simple and of one mind.

However, according to the level of Liao's 200-year struggle, it should have developed to the point where "I will oppose whatever the political opponents agree with".

Xiao Feng first proposed to increase the old coin, and now he is suspected of being used by the Jurchen, his opponents will naturally not let this opportunity go, and they will definitely stand up against the increase of the old coin.

This is called adapting measures to local conditions and tailoring them.

Wang Fu said angrily, "You're spewing blood!"

"Then how do you explain why someone from the two countries at the same time raised the issue of the increase and decrease of the old coin, with the intention of provoking war?" Gao Ming paused, and said to Xiao Fengxian: "I'm sorry, I didn't say that you also secretly negotiated money with the Kingdom of Jin The meaning of the song."

Xiao Fengxian exploded in anger, didn't you already say that? !Clearly pointing at Sang and scolding Huai.

He hurriedly said to Emperor Liao: "Your Majesty, you have learned a lot!"

People in the court of the Liao Kingdom who had long been dissatisfied with Xiao Fengxian's proposal to increase the annual coins all stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there is indeed something strange about this matter, and it is better to discuss it in the long term."

The envoy of the Song State was right. Increasing the yearly currency would only make the Song State dissatisfied.

Some people who did not deal with Xiao Fengxian and supported the faction of the emperor's eldest son, Yelu Aoluwo, have already started to make trouble, helping him to prove the crime, pretending to be kind and saying: "Master Xiao, think about it carefully, who made this suggestion to you, This person is very likely to be the secret agent of the Jurchen, please kill this person immediately and stop the loss in time!"

Yelu Dashi also said: "Your Majesty, please think twice."

Yelu Yanxi didn't believe that his brother-in-law would be a Jurchen secret agent, but he was not sure about the Song Dynasty. If it was really a Jurchen trick, wouldn't it be stupid for him to dig into it.

"Forget it! The year-old coin has been put on hold beforehand. You go back to the embassy for the time being. When you are free another day, I will summon you again and leave the court!" Yelu Yanxi said, got up and went into the back hall, Xiao Fengxian, Yelu Dashi and a few cronies I hurriedly followed up.

Wang Fu resolutely said angrily to Gao Ming: "You have wronged me so much in front of Emperor Liao, when you return to Tokyo..."

"When you get back to Tokyo, you'd better explain to the officials what Goryeo did so carefully, and because of your bad idea, you almost asked the Liao Kingdom to send troops." Gao Ming snorted at him, ignored him at all, and strode forward Stepped out of the palace gate.