Chapter 254: Safe and sound
"We are already in our forties, but Your Highness is still young and strong, and has strong opinions. Do you think we can shake His Highness's mind?" Wang Anshi pointed out the root of the problem.
Both he and Sima Guang had submitted letters to the government over the years. His letters were about political reform, while Sima Guang's were about the administration of officials.
The government did not adopt the proposal, and they were not in a hurry, but were waiting for an opportunity.
And this opportunity belongs to Zhao Xing. The emperor is already old and does not want to start a war. It is normal for him to seek stability.
But Zhao Xing was still young, and if they wanted to realize their ambitions, they would have to wait until Zhao Xing ascended the throne in the future.
But Zhao Xing was very opinionated, and neither he nor Sima Guang could shake his mind.
Since they couldn't convince Zhao Xing to follow their ideas, they could only seek change.
This change is not a change of method, but a change of oneself.
Only in this way can they be used by Zhao Xing, and if Zhao Xing makes mistakes in the future, they will have the opportunity to advise him.
If they continue to insist on their own opinions, it will only annoy Zhao Xing and he will leave them idle, and they won't even have a chance to speak in the future.
Sima Guang also understood what Wang Anshi meant. He was silent for a long time and then said, "I offended Your Highness and was sentenced to stay at home for half a year. I will think about it carefully during this time and give you an answer when the time comes."
This can be considered a compromise, and Sima Guang was not so resistant to it.
However, he still wanted to observe Zhao Xing more before making a decision.
"Yes." Wang Anshi was very happy to see Sima Guang did not directly refuse, and smiled and said, "There is no rush."
…………
Wang Anshi went to see Sima Guang, and Zhao Xing also received the news.
Although I didn't know what the two talked about, I didn't care.
After all, neither of them holds high official positions now, so meeting privately won’t have any impact.
At the end of September, the weather had already turned cool.
Gu Tingye consulted the Duke of England on some issues concerning the northwestern border. After the appointment document came down, he, Yuan Wenshao, Sheng Changwu and their families went to the northwest to take up their posts.
That day, Zhao Xing was walking with Shulan in the garden when Sanshui hurried over.
"Your Highness!" Sanshui bowed and said, "Commander Yin is here."
Zhao Xing looked at Shu Lan and said apologetically, "I have something to do. I will come to accompany you after I finish my work."
Shulan was already more than seven months pregnant. She put one hand on her waist and held her belly. She smiled and said, "Your Highness, official business is urgent. I am also a little tired. I am going to go back and sleep for a while."
"Well, then go back and get some sleep."
Zhao Xing ordered the accompanying palace maid to send Shulan back, and then hurried to the study.
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!" Yin Hanzhang bowed.
"But is there any news from the north?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Your Highness, there has been no news from the people I sent to the north, but Sheng Changsong sent back a letter through the secret guards."
Except for the area around Bian Jing, the secret guards in more distant places were all established based on trading companies.
In recent years, Sheng Wei has opened shops in various places, and the persons in charge or managers of the shops in various places are almost all members of the Secret Guards.
They secretly recruited many ruffians and gangsters to collect information.
Sheng Changsong also delivered the message through the secret guards.
Yin Hanzhang took out a letter from his sleeve, Sanshui stepped forward to take it and handed it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing took a look and saw that the sealing wax and the secret mark were intact, so he opened the letter and began to read it.
After a long time, after reading the contents of the letter, Zhao Xing frowned and began to think.
Sheng Changsong said in the letter that through transactions during this period, 5,000 stallions have been traded, and all of these horses meet the requirements.
Li Ge suddenly found him and said that he could increase the trading volume and complete the transaction of the remaining horses in two batches within half a month. You have to know that the previous 5,000 horses took a month to trade, with only a few hundred horses each time, and they would keep changing locations.
After all, twelve thousand stallions is a very large target, and if the news leaks out, Yelu Chongyuan will be in big trouble.
Now Li Ge suddenly proposed to complete the transaction within half a month, which was very abnormal.
Sheng Changsong didn't dare to agree, but asked Li Ge the reason.
Li Ge did not hide it and told Sheng Changsong that the horse bandits who harassed the Song Dynasty while it was repairing the city were all sent by Yelu Chongyuan.
The Liao Emperor received intelligence that the Song Dynasty had a magical substance called cement, so he prepared to send people to attack to see if he could get the secret recipe for making cement.
Yelu Chongyuan volunteered to take on this task.
The purpose of Yelu Chongyuan taking on this task was to enable both parties to complete the transaction more quickly.
Now there is a small group of cavalry sent by Yelu Chongyuan on the border between the two countries, which can cover up their transactions, so the transactions do not need to be as cautious as before.
Sheng Changsong couldn't make up his mind, so he wrote a letter and sent it back through the secret guards to ask Zhao Xing for instructions.
Zhao Xing felt that what Li Ge said was half true and half false and not completely credible.
The Liao Emperor and Yelu Chongyuan seemed to be in harmony on the surface, but in fact they both wanted to kill each other.
It was very unusual that Yelu Chongyuan took the initiative to volunteer. Could the Emperor of Liao so easily obey Yelu Chongyuan's wishes?
Moreover, although Yelu Chongyuan was in charge of this matter, which could speed up the transaction, it also increased the risk of exposure.
There must be other reasons, but Li Ge didn't say it, or he didn't know either.
So what was Yelu Chongyuan’s purpose?
Zhao Xing thought about it for a long time but had no clue, so he simply gave up thinking about it.
As for Yelu Chongyuan's request to speed up the transaction, Zhao Xing thought about it and agreed.
Even if Yelu Chongyuan was exposed, it had nothing to do with him. The most important thing was to get the horse first.
At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, the army's combat effectiveness was not weak, otherwise it would not have been able to unify the country. It once recovered part of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the Liao army marched south and returned in defeat.
Unfortunately, Zhenzong was only interested in peace. Even though he had won the battle, he signed the Treaty of Shanyuan with the Liao Kingdom and paid tribute to the Liao Kingdom every year.
In order to sound better, they announced to the outside world that the currency was increased. Later, when the Song-Xia War broke out, the Liao Kingdom took the opportunity to deploy troops on the border and not only forced the Song Dynasty to increase the annual tribute, but also demanded that the increase be changed to payment, completely revealing the fig leaf.
Although the Song Dynasty's imperial guards are now somewhat dilapidated and their combat effectiveness is not as good as before, they are still capable of fighting.
However, the shortcoming of the Song Dynasty army was that it had too few cavalry.
In recent years, Zhao Xing has obtained some stallions from the Liao Kingdom through trade, and added some that the court has bred itself, so he now has two horse farms in the north.
However, the number of war horses bred each year is still limited.
With 12,000 stallions this time, the Song Dynasty would be able to form a cavalry of sufficient size if given a dozen years.
Although there is still a big gap compared with the Liao Kingdom, there will be no embarrassing situation where there is no cavalry to deal with the Liao Kingdom cavalry.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing picked up his pen and wrote a letter back to Sheng Changsong.
After the ink dried, he folded it and handed it to Sanshui.
Sanshui put the letter into an envelope, sealed it with wax, and handed it to Yin Hanzhang.
"Send the letter to Sheng Changsong as soon as possible." Zhao Xing said.
"Yes!"
Yin Hanzhang responded, bowed and retreated.
(End of this chapter)