Chapter 293 Yelu Chongyuan's Purpose
Zhao Xing could more or less guess the purpose of Li Ge's visit, so he was not in a hurry to meet him.
After thinking about it, he explained something to Sheng Changsong and let him leave.
After Sheng Changsong left, Zhao Xing pondered for a while and felt that there should be no problem with his plan, so he stopped thinking about it and continued to review the notes.
…………
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Li Ge saluted.
"No gift."
Zhao Xing waved his hand and said with a half-smile: "Although you have provided me with some information during this period, your information is a bit delayed."
Although Zhao Xing knew that Li Ge was not sincere in his surrender, he still asked Yin Hanzhang to arrange a secret line to contact Li Ge.
Li Ge also passed on some information to him, but the information was either of little use or he already knew it.
"Your Highness, the King of Qin..."
"Huh?" Zhao Xing looked at Li Ge unhappily when he heard that.
Li Ge slapped himself and quickly changed his words: "Yelü Chongyuan doesn't trust the Han people very much. Although I brought back the secret formula of perfume last time and my status has been improved a little, I still can't get in touch with some secrets."
Zhao Xing did not dwell on this question and asked, "What is Yelu Chongyuan's purpose in asking you to come here this time?"
"Yelü Chongyuan heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was regent, so he asked me to bring a gift to congratulate His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I just heard on the way that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was going to ascend the throne soon. When I return this time, I will definitely tell Yelü Chongyuan and ask him to send a generous gift to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince when the time comes."
Li Ge said as he took out a gift list.
Sanshui stepped forward to take it and presented it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing unfolded it, looked at it, threw it aside, and said with a smile: "Yelü Chongyuan gave me such a generous gift. I'm afraid his purpose is not simple. Tell me about it."
He initially estimated that the gifts on the gift list were worth about 50,000 taels.
It doesn't sound like much, but it's not too little either.
You should know that in the Treaty of Shanyuan, the annual tribute that the Song Dynasty paid to the Liao Kingdom was only 10 taels of silver and 20 pieces of silk.
Of course, this value was calculated based on the value of the Song Dynasty.
Some things are valuable in the Song Dynasty, but their actual value in the Liao Kingdom is not high.
But even if it doubled, Zhao Xing wouldn't care much.
"Yelü Chongyuan sent me here because the Song Dynasty suddenly sent reinforcements to Bianliang in the north," said Li Ge.
"The Song Dynasty is increasing its troops only because of the civil unrest in Liao and we are worried that stray soldiers may invade the border. We have no intention of targeting Liao. After all, the two countries have an alliance. You go back and tell Yelu Chongyuan that we Han people are the most trustworthy and will never do anything treacherous and violate the alliance first." Zhao Xing said.
Li Ge: “…”
He didn't even believe this, so how could Yelu Chongyuan believe it?
The Liao Kingdom was in civil strife at that time, so how could it possibly provoke the Song Dynasty?
"Your Highness, Yelu Chongyuan wants the Song Dynasty to withdraw its troops. Yelu Chongyuan promised that as long as the Song Dynasty is willing to withdraw its troops, he will return the Yanmen Pass area to the Song Dynasty once he takes control of the power." Li Ge said.
"How credible do you think Yelu Chongyuan's words are?" Zhao Xing looked at Li Ge with a smile.
"Uh..." Li Ge hesitated for a moment and said, "I also feel that it is not very credible, but Your Highness can propose other conditions. As long as they are not excessive, Yelu Chongyuan will definitely not refuse."
"Then tell me what kind of conditions will give me enough benefits and Yelu Chongyuan will not refuse." Zhao Xing said.
"The Song Dynasty is short of horses. Your Highness asked Yelu Chongyuan for 10,000 or 20,000 war horses. I think he will not object." Li Ge said.
"Forget it. The Song Dynasty already has enough war horses. Raising more would be too expensive and the court can't afford it. The court can barely afford to keep the stallions we traded last year." Zhao Xing said.
"Your Highness, you are joking. The Song Dynasty is so wealthy, how can it not afford to maintain such a small number of war horses?" Li Ge forced a smile.
He felt that Zhao Xing was treating him as a fool, and he also knew that the Song Dynasty had huge expenses.
But no matter how big it is, it should be able to support tens of thousands of horses.
"Do you think I was lying to you? I sent someone to tell you a few days ago that there are many corrupt officials in the court who owe the court money and refuse to pay it back." Zhao Xing said.
Li Ge was skeptical when he heard Zhao Xing say this, but he was not in the mood to care about these things at the moment. The most important thing was to complete Yelu Chongyuan's task.
Li Ge thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, the civil unrest in Liao is also good for the Song Dynasty. Now that the Song Dynasty has increased its troops on the border, Yelu Chongyuan and Yelu Yixin are worried and dare not fight with all their strength. This is not a good thing for the Song Dynasty."
"What you said makes sense." Zhao Xing seemed to be persuaded by him and said, "But this is an order from my father. Please wait for a few days and I will ask my father what he thinks."
"Yes!" Li Ge responded, "But Your Highness has to hurry up. Yelu Chongyuan doesn't give me much time. If I can do a good job, I can also gain Yelu Chongyuan's trust, and I can provide news to Your Highness in a more timely manner in the future."
"Well, I will hold on tight. You've worked hard all the way here, and you've provided me with such useful information. I won't treat you unfairly in the future."
Zhao Xing looked at Sheng Changsong and said, "Please treat Li Ge well on my behalf."
"Yes!" Sheng Changsong replied.
…………
Sheng Changsong and Li Ge left the East Palace and got on the carriage.
"Uncle Li, I have reserved a table at Fanlou. Let's have a drink later." Sheng Changsong said with a smile.
Li Ge had previously worked with Sheng Wei, and the two were like brothers.
Therefore, Sheng Changsong could only suffer the loss and call him Uncle Li.
"Haha, okay." Li Ge laughed and said, "I've tried Fanlou's food and wine a few times, but I miss it so much."
After chatting with Sheng Changsong for a few words, Li Ge pretended to ask casually: "My dear nephew, His Highness just said that someone owed the court money and didn't pay it back. What happened?" Sheng Changsong didn't hide anything and told the whole story. He said: "Later, His Highness got angry and ordered the officials who owed money to pay back the money within a time limit, otherwise he would confiscate their property and punish them."
"The court is so short of money?" Li Ge asked in surprise.
Sheng Changsong said that it was because the Duzhisi did not approve the Ministry of Revenue's application to purchase horse feed that Zhao Xing arranged for people to check the accounts.
Li Ge was skeptical about this, but he believed that it should be true that Zhao Xing ordered officials to repay their debts, and such things could be found out with a simple investigation.
The Song Dynasty had spies in the Liao Kingdom, and the Liao Kingdom also had spies in the Song Dynasty.
"The court has been short of money for a long time, the court..."
Sheng Changsong told Li Ge about some of the court's long-standing malpractices.
These accumulated problems are no secret, and Li Ge knows them too.
Therefore, he did not care and spoke to Sheng Changsong perfunctorily, but he was wondering in his heart why the Song Dynasty would send reinforcements to the north if it was short of money?
All of Yelu Chongyuan's worries were based on the assumption that the Song Dynasty was able to send troops.
If he could be sure that the Song Dynasty would not send troops, he would have made a great contribution.
After arriving at Fanlou, as the wine and food were served, Li Ge kept looking for Sheng Changsong to drink with him.
In less than half an hour, Sheng Changsong's face turned red and his eyes were blurry with drunkenness.
Li Ge was worried that Sheng Changsong was drunk, so he didn't dare to force him to drink more. After testing for a while, he was sure that Sheng Changsong was indeed drunk. He whispered, "My dear nephew, since the court is short of money, why are you sending more troops to the north? Isn't this going to cost more money and food?"
"To increase...to increase troops in the north...is to build...to build the Great Wall in the north." Sheng Changsong spoke with a tongue tied in his throat.
"Build the Great Wall?" Li Ge was stunned when he heard this and asked in confusion, "Build what Great Wall?"
"I... my Song Dynasty... has a... kind of magical object that can... can quickly build... build a city... in..."
"boom!"
As Sheng Changsong was talking, he suddenly fell down.
"My dear nephew, my dear nephew!"
Li Ge pushed Sheng Changsong, and seeing that he just mumbled twice without any response, he sat down with a frown.
Although Sheng Changsong didn't finish speaking, he roughly understood what Sheng Changsong said.
I didn't expect that the Song Dynasty would have this idea.
Considering the fact that the Song Dynasty was short of money, he already believed it to about 70%.
He simply couldn't believe that the Song Dynasty didn't even have money to buy fine food for its war horses because of millions of taels of bad debt.
But if the Song Dynasty wanted to build the Great Wall in the north as a barrier, everything would make sense.
After all, the Song-Liao border is so long, how much would it cost to build the Great Wall?
However, he did not completely believe Sheng Changsong's words and had to investigate it carefully to be sure.
As long as it could be confirmed that the Song Dynasty was sending reinforcements to the north in order to build the Great Wall, Yelu Chongyuan would not have to worry that the Song Dynasty would ally with Yelu Yixin or directly invade the border.
Thinking of this, Li Ge was in a good mood.
…………
"Your Highness!" Sheng Changsong saluted.
"No need to be polite." Zhao Xing waved his hand and asked, "How is the matter going?"
"I have done as Your Highness ordered, but I don't know whether Li Ge will believe it." Sheng Changsong said.
"You don't have to worry about this. Just treat him well these days." Zhao Xing said.
Li Ge would definitely investigate whether he believed it or not. What Sheng Changsong said was nine out of ten true and one out of ten false. It could even be said that it was completely true, but he just concealed some things.
Once Li Ge investigates further, he will definitely believe it.
As long as Yelu Chongyuan can let down his guard and fight with Yelu Yixin, it will be enough.
Zhao Xing had thought about pretending to agree and tricking Yelu Chongyuan into giving him some war horses.
But Yelu Chongyuan was not so easily fooled. He would not give the horses unless the Song Dynasty really withdrew its troops.
Even if he really withdrew his troops, he would use the excuse that the people on the border were all Yelu Yixin's men and temporarily delay the supply of war horses.
As for what Yelu Chongyuan said about returning the area along Yanmen Pass to him, he didn't believe a word of it.
The Jin Kingdom also asked the Song Dynasty to join forces to destroy the Liao Dynasty, saying that the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun would belong to the Song Dynasty.
As a result, the Liao Dynasty was destroyed and Bianjing was captured by the Jin Dynasty.
Zhao Xingcai is not that naive.
Non-my family, its heart must be different.
What our ancestors said still makes sense.
As for whether Yelu Chongyuan would send troops to interfere with the construction of the Great Wall by the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xing was not worried at all.
Not to mention that the cities on the border between Liao and Song were not under the control of Yelu Chongyuan.
Even if Yelu Chongyuan occupied a part of it, he would not provoke the Song Dynasty before the outcome was decided.
……
(End of this chapter)