At the beginning of the reign of today, the Southern Dynasty was still at the end of the reign of Emperor Liu Yu of the Song and Ming Dynasty "Pig King", when he had been engaged with Liu Song for many years, and the last envoy of this dynasty to Liu Song was Zheng Xi who also served as a member of the staff outside the horse, and the time was in the second year of Taihe.

Then, in April of the following year, the envoy Yin Lingdan sent by the Southern Dynasty arrived in Pingcheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and in the same month, Xiao Daocheng usurped the power of Liu Song.

Yin Lingtan because of the demise of Liu Song, can not return to Jiangnan and stranded in the Northern Wei Dynasty, many times asked the court to crusade against Xiao Daocheng, and finally after many court discussions, it is believed that the court has been at peace with the Southern Dynasty for many years, and Xiao Daocheng's usurpation did not cause a big shock in the Southern Dynasty, the court has no chance to take advantage of, so he rejected Yin Lingdan's proposal, Yin Lingtan after Zeng asked to serve as the Danyang King Liu Chang (the son of Emperor Wen of Liu Song, because of Liu Ziye's suspicion and fled to the Northern Wei Dynasty. Because Yin Lingdan was not sincere to the imperial court, and was worried that he would connect with the northern fugitives to establish a party to honor Liu Chang, the imperial court also rejected his request. However, he was not repatriated, but left to wait and see what happened in the Southern Dynasties.

After two years, the imperial court did not have any more dealings with the Southern Dynasties, and it was not until the fifth year of Taihe and the Southern Dynasties that the Southern Qi sent envoys to the Northern Wei for the first time.

In the fifth year of Taihe, there was also a major event that shook the two countries. The envoy of the Southern Qi was assassinated at a banquet after the emperor's military parade.

At that time, the envoy of the Southern Dynasty was mainly Che Seng Lang, who joined the army of the Later Army, because the imperial court did not admit that the Southern Qi Dynasty had inherited the problem of Liu Song's unification, so at the banquet after the parade, the status of the Liu Song envoy Yin Lingdan was still ranked in front of the Southern Qi envoy Che Seng Lang, and Che Seng Lang, as the envoy, of course did not agree, and Yin Lingdan argued with Yin Lingtan on the issue of the demise of Liu Song and Xiao Daocheng's usurpation, and the two sides quarreled endlessly. Liu Chang, the king of Danyang, was not angry with Xiao Daocheng for usurping Liu Song Sheji, so he secretly bribed Yin Lingdan's subordinate Xie Fengjun to assassinate Che Seng Lang on the spot. Now the matter is big, Liu Chang's move can be said to be completely out of a moment of anger and reckless. Because Liu Song has perished, it is impossible for the imperial court to raise troops for Liu Song to go on the Southern Expedition, Liu Chang instructed Xie Fengjun to assassinate Che Seng Lang The matter made the imperial court under great pressure for a while, not only to consider that the Southern Qi may violate the border because of the problem of Che Seng Lang being killed, but also to make the imperial court have to face the problem of legitimacy between Liu Song and Southern Qi to undertake the legitimacy, and finally under consideration, the imperial court gave up Yin Lingdan and others, so he buried the envoy of the Southern Qi, killed Xie Fengjun, and sent Yin Lingdan to escort Che Seng Lang's coffin back to Southern Qi. Although the imperial court only expelled the envoy of Liu Song and Yin Lingdan, and did not send an envoy to Southern Qi, this move also made Southern Qi see that there was room for negotiation with the Northern Dynasty.

The imperial court expelled the envoys of Liu Song, so there was no need to consider the necessity of Liu Song's legitimacy morally, so after the news of Xiao Daocheng's death reached Pingcheng in July of the seventh year of Taihe, Li Biao, a permanent attendant of the false cavalry, was sent as an envoy to Southern Qi, and politically recognized the legitimacy of Southern Qi.

Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty crossed to the south, the northern secession regimes competed with the Southern Dynasties for legitimacy. After Liu Song usurped the throne and the Northern Wei Dynasty rose to the north, each slandered the other as a barbarian, Liu Song regarded himself as Chinese orthodoxy, inherited from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and was Chinese orthodoxy, while the Northern Wei Dynasty thought that it lived in China and ridiculed the Southern Dynasty as an island. In order to justify their names, each country sent envoys to show each other their culture and prosperity, and the selected envoys were required to have considerable cultural qualities and manners, to be able to speak eloquently and have quick wit, in order to be able to lose the majesty of the state. And after the envoy returned to the country, he stated in detail the process of the envoy, the information obtained by the envoy, and exchanged words with the other party and wrote a detailed document and submitted it to the emperor for perusal. These documents were to be collected by the Emperor for future use.

Today, Zhang Yi came to Baitai to obtain the archives and some ritual materials of Li Biao's envoy to the Southern Dynasties.

As for why Lu Yuan, the second-ranked official in the secretary province, would personally inquire about this matter here, it was because Lu Yuan was also from Cao Cao, who had also served as the host and guest commander in the past, and Zhang Yi, including Zhang Yi's predecessor Li Anshi, had a close relationship with Lu Yuan.

For Li Biao, Tuoba Shen also has some understanding, he is from Dunqiu, has been a doctor of Chinese calligraphy, in the Southern Dynasty was named the son of Wei Guo, after returning was added as a secretary, has been done for seven years now, he is mainly responsible for compiling national history books in the secretary province. Because he knew that he had the experience of going to the Southern Dynasty several times, Tuoba Shen would sometimes ask him about the humanities and customs of the Southern Dynasty when he met him in Baitai, so he was also familiar with each other.

"I have always been good with Li Micheng, and I have asked Li Micheng many times before about his experience of envoying to the Southern Dynasty, and the Micheng Gong has convinced Nanshi many times, why don't you go and ask Li Gong?"

Zhang Yi listened to Tuoba Shen suggesting that they go to consult Li Biao, and smiled helplessly: "Li Gong's position is hard, how can we bother us, besides, the host and guest Cao are ordered by the country, how dare they pass the buck to others because of some trivial things." ”

Tuoba cautiously guessed Zhang Yi, Zhang Yi's words may not be the truth, they are all for the country, there is nothing to nag about, Li Biao will not deliberately prevaricate them, it is estimated that it is because Li Biao has sent many envoys to the Southern Dynasty, afraid that he will have old friends with the Southern Dynasty and rob them of the credit of their host and guest Cao.

"I have asked in detail about the details of Gong Li's envoy, maybe it will be of some help to the host and guest Cao, if you have time, I can talk to you in detail."

Zhang Yi saw that the second prince spoke politely and politely, and maybe he could inquire about the old things that would help him, he was also moved, and thanked: "Your Highness is so sympathetic, and the officials are very grateful, and I ask Your Highness to give advice." ”

Tuoba Shen smiled: "For the sake of the state." ”

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By the time we got off the white platform and boarded the ship, it was already noon.

Tuoba Shen told Zhang Yi and others everything he knew, and also said some of his own conjectures, and then took Lu Guang out of Yingzhou Island with a book brochure. As for whether it will help the host and guest Cao, how much help he can do is not something he can manage.

After going ashore, Tuoba Shen did not go back to Qingxiao Courtyard, but went to Guanjin Pavilion, Guanjin Pavilion is not attached to the building of Qingxiao Courtyard, but not far from Qingxiao Courtyard, it is Tuoba Shen's biological mother in giving birth to Tuoba Shen after entering the palace when he was a concubine, Tuoba Shen has been living here with his mother until he was five or six years old, here are his countless memories of being with his mother in his childhood, so he often comes here to incense his mother, and also placed a bed in the former mother's room, and has to stay overnight every few days, only there he will feel the most peaceful.

After entering the Guanjin Pavilion, he instructed Lu Guang to send the borrowed books into the left room, and instructed him not to stay here after putting the books away, but to go back to Qingxiao Courtyard directly.

Tuoba Shen walked into his mother's bed, and there was a full-length portrait of his mother that he had painted, in a way that was not available in the world, which Tuoba Shen had spent a month alone after his mother's burial.

Tuoba looked at his mother in the picture scroll blankly, he didn't shed tears, tears had already flowed a few months before his mother's death, now he will only hide his mother deep in the deepest part of his heart, never mention it in front of others, for him, his mother is his relatives alone, even if it is the emperor, he has to lean far back, so he never mentions his mother in front of the emperor.

Touching his mother's portrait, gently wiping the dust that did not exist, wiping the confession in front of the portrait, lighting incense and kowtowing to his mother three times, and looking at the furnishings that had not changed since his mother's death for a while, Tuoba Shen walked to the nearby dining room, carefully examining the handwritten manuscripts and some paintings left by his mother before her death, some of which he wrote with his mother, and he originally planned to bring these manuscripts to Qingxiao Temple, but later decided to put them in his mother's place.

Back at his mother's bed, he planned to wait until the incense was extinguished, which would take about an hour.

Sitting on my mother's bed, leaning against the edge of the bed, I opened my mother's handwritten book and read it carefully. He couldn't remember how many times he had read them, and he could recite them with his eyes closed, but it seemed like he would never get tired of reading them. Every time I look at my mother's handwriting, it seems to be back to the happy time when my mother taught me to write and paint.