"Ambassador, the Liao people didn't take it very seriously today."

After a day's talks, returning to the tent, Zhang Xian said to Zong Ze.

He was the deputy envoy of the mission and Zong Ze's negotiating assistant.

Zong Ze sat down, raised his head and asked, "Really?" ”

Zhang Xian frowned, recalling this whole day, as well as the negotiation scene in the previous days, "The Liao people seem to be perfunctory these days, otherwise it would be impossible for a big matter to drag on for so long." ”

Zong Ze pondered for a moment, not knowing if it was possible, and turned to the other deputy, "Jia Lizi, how have you felt in the past two days?" ”

Another deputy envoy, Jia Kui, the deputy envoy of the military, is very old, although he is only a military minister, and he is only the deputy envoy of the protocol of the last few orders of the forty-order envoys, but Zong Ze still respects him very much.

"Nope." Jia Kui shook his head, he was in charge of commanding the internal affairs of the mission, as well as the camp guard, and did not participate in the negotiations, "The inside and outside are the same as before, I didn't see anyone spying, and I didn't find anyone in the regiment with the same news as the outside...... But there's one thing......"

"What's the matter?"

Jia Kui pointed to the top of his head, "Just like the ambassador guessed before, this morning, someone in the regiment found that someone on the spaceship was indeed snooping on the camp." ”

Sure enough, Zong Ze shook his head and sneered, "It's really shameless." ”

Jia Kui was a little self-satisfied, a little meritorious, "It's also that kid who is well-behaved, at the beginning, the last general sent someone to monitor, no matter how you look at it, I didn't find it, and then it was the kid who saw the reflection of the clairvoyant mirror and reported it to the last general, and the last general ordered someone to hide in the tent and take the clairvoyant to search the spaceship basket inch by inch, only to find that the Liao people opened a small opening on the basket, which looked like a pattern at first glance, and I didn't pay attention to it before." ”

Zhang Xian furrowed his brows, "The Liao people are watching the camp, obviously uneasy and kind. Ambassador, do you want to question the Liao people at the meeting tomorrow? ”

"I also slapped the table and scolded a few words, but it's a pity that the northern captives are people outside the country, with a human face and a beast's heart, even if they take the evidence and question it in person, they will also use words and quibble, and now there is no evidence, even if they are scolded in person, they will not be restrained." Zong Ze sighed, "There are no private matters in the left and right camps, the Liao people can look at it however they want, and on their territory, they can't help it if they don't want to see it." Just be vigilant and don't talk nonsense. His expression was stern: "The Liao people just want to determine whether the imperial court has confidence or not." It's like a pack of wolves watching, if you are invulnerable, you can only curl your tail away, but once you show the slightest bit of cowardice, you will pounce on it. ”

"That court ......," Zhang Xian wanted to say and stopped.

"Don't scare yourself. If the Liao people want to drag it out, we will drag it down with them, and if we want to be perfunctory, we will be perfunctory. The reality of the imperial court, we know best, there are two princes in charge, and they are not afraid of the Liao people. ”

Zhang Xian was about to say more, but Jia Kui gave him a look and stopped him.

Zong Ze is a righteous envoy, a Chinese secretary, or a confidant of the prime minister, and he has a belly of secrets, so it is natural to know some things that they don't know.

After sending off the two deputies, Zong Ze sat alone in the tent, and the confident confidence on his face gradually receded.

Things are not as easy as he said, if he really didn't care about the Liao people entering the palace, there would be no envoy of them at all - continue to draw a line with the Liao State usurped by Yelu Yixin, and for the princes of the two prefectures who detained the emperor in the palace, there would be less gossip. It's just that they can't, and after assessing the risk of war with the Liao State and the risk of being slandered, Zong Ze was sent.

Thinking of this mission, even Zong Ze, who has always been confident, couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. It's not that the Liao people are difficult, nor is the task difficult, but the shackles that are buckled on the two governments, and the accompanying ones also make it difficult for him to move forward.

Since the meeting with Yelu Huaiqing, negotiations with the Liao people have been going on these days.

On the bright side, for a few days, an agreement was reached only on the matter of ensuring timely communication between the border states in the event of a border conflict. Needless border clashes are not beneficial to either country, and with the experience of dealing with them over the past few decades, there are not too many disputes to resolve the issue.

It's just that when the issue continues to turn down to the matter of extradition of fugitives, the efficiency drops dramatically.

The Great Song Dynasty said that the things of the Liao Kingdom, the fields want, the ponds want, the mountains want, the rivers want, the livestock and plants all want, and only people don't want it. The Liao people wanted to extradite the fugitives back to China, and the Great Song Dynasty could help tie them up and tie a dead knot by the way.

On the Liao side, I don't want those useless Confucian students who want to change the environment to gain fame, as well as criminals who have escaped, but only want to have capable craftsmen.

No matter in terms of proportion or numbers, there are not as many craftsmen who crossed the border to defect to the Liao State as there are scholars, and there are not as many scholars as criminals. For the Liao State, if you want a golden egg, you have to endure ten times the donkey dung egg and a hundred times the stone egg.

However, let the Liao people choose by themselves, even if it is only for a craftsman, they can't seal this opening. As for useless people such as Confucianism and criminals, with the population of Liao, even after annexing Goryeo and Japan, there will never be many people who do chores.

Moreover, among these people, there is occasionally some gold. Especially the Confucian students, who were already literate and literate, turned to qi learning and fortifications, but they also looked like - according to the information that Zong Ze had obtained from the political hall earlier, they were much more honest and obedient than when they were still in China.

As a result, the issue has reached an impasse.

On the contrary, the trade issue between the two countries, which is the real protagonist, has progressed quite smoothly, compared to the border conflict that has been established for a day, but it is also much smoother than the extradition of fugitives.

Regarding the trade between the two countries, Zong Ze adheres to the purpose of the imperial court, and there is only the word balance.

As far as the Liao people are concerned, there is a premise that must be clear: it is impossible for the Liao State to give up the industrial products of the Great Song Dynasty.

From toothbrushing and tooth powder, to carriages, Buddha statues, large quantities such as silk, cotton, porcelain, glass, small sects are exquisite utensils handmade by various famous craftsmen, valuable such as various books and periodicals, useless such as sugar cubes and toys for children, the Liao State is open to accept the Great Song Dynasty.

But there were few goods that the Liao State could sell to the Great Song Dynasty. There is nothing but cattle, sheep and livestock, that is, all kinds of furs. The only thing left is gold and silver.

The imperial court knew very well that such an unbalanced trade structure could not be sustained.

Between the two countries of ten thousand times, the scale of trade is huge to tens of millions, and it cannot be that the Liao State exchanging real money and silver for the industrial products of the Great Song Dynasty, otherwise the people of insight in the Liao State will definitely not sit idly by and watch the outflow of gold and silver.

The old alliance of the Yuan Dynasty actually implied a bit of trade balance, and the annual coins given to the Liao State by the Great Song Dynasty every year were the basis for purchasing the specialties of the Great Song Dynasty, ensuring that the trade between the Song and Liao would not drain the wealth of the Liao State.

After the collapse of the Yuanyuan Alliance, the Liao State was fortunate to have a new land rich in gold and silver, but in the eyes of the insightful people of the Liao State, it could also be regarded as a great misfortune - at least Zong Ze could be sure that the Liao lord Yelu Yixin saw this very clearly.

And the Great Song is on this side. Despite the lack of precious metals, the annual increase in the amount of gold and silver is far from keeping up with the demand for high-value coins, let alone the demand for gold and silver utensils. In the market of the Great Song Dynasty, there are basically no gold and silver coins, and most of them are treasured after people get their hands and keep them for emergency use by their children and grandchildren in the future. But even if a little more gold and silver, more gold and silverware, and more gold and silver coins were collected from the Liao side, these benefits would not be enough to replace the threat posed by the Liao State.

It was precisely because they understood this that the two governments sent a mission to minimize the possibility of war while ascertaining the movements of the Liao people and cooperating with domestic deterrence.

Trade is the most important thing to do with border conflicts and fugitives.

According to the imperial court's plan, to be exact, Han Gang's led plan, it was aimed at a huge surplus in trade with Liao, a difference that could be offset by more livestock, more furs, more wood, and even population, if the Liao were unwilling to continue to use gold and silver to make up for it.

The widows and Goryeo women of the right age were worth dozens of guan or even hundreds of guan in the Great Song Dynasty market, especially after the imperial court promulgated an edict prohibiting the keeping of Han people as slaves, and at the same time, the dependency relationship between master and servant was regarded as mortal in the law, and this foreign slave and maid who was not bound by the new edict became more and more popular - on the one hand, the servant who was killed had to pay for his life, and the servant who was injured was imprisoned, and there was no advantage of subtracting one or two degrees of crime in the past, and on the other hand, the status was regarded as an animal, and the wise master knew who to use.

As for the face of the imperial court, anyway, the imperial court will not openly trade people with the Liao State, but it is just a very simple matter for the border land to expand the scope of trade. In addition to the population, the imperial court could get involved, livestock could be used to make military rations, furs could also be used, and even as a sedu, they could be distributed to officials and the army.

Therefore, Zong Ze was also authorized, and when necessary, it was agreed that the Great Song Dynasty would allocate a certain amount of money from the financial plan every year to carry out and buy in the Liao State. is also a money, not a year's coin that cuts meat and feeds the wolf, but a transaction between you and me, and you don't have to worry about the rebound in the country.

And the most important condition is to connect the railway between Song and Liao, and connect it as one. Let the goods of the Great Song Dynasty be directly transported into the Liao State, and the goods of the Liao State can also be directly transported to Kaifeng.

Of course, this piece of Zong Ze will only be thrown out at a critical time to completely intimidate the Liao people. Zong Ze did not think that the Liao State would agree, and Han Gang, who proposed this motion, also told Zong Ze that the possibility of the Liao State agreeing was very small.

……………………

"There is still no news from Xijing Road."

For several days, Yelu Yixin was dealing with the affairs of the country while waiting for news from the south.

The military situation from the border states bordering the north of the Song Kingdom was more than one day a day, but he never received an urgent report of the military situation from Xijing Province, only a daily report of peace.

Dropping the chapter in his hand, Yelu Yixin was puzzled: "Did the Southern Dynasty really only send these tens of thousands of Beijing camps to fill the façade?" ”

If the Song State was not prepared for war, and the reinforcements sent were only to scare people with a few barks, then it could prove that the people were uneasy until the chaos in the court. Da Liao also has a great chance to tear off a piece of meat from the Southern Dynasty.

"If the Song people really sent troops into Hedong, the news of Xijing Road should also come, it is not yet yet, it seems that it is indeed as the emperor's grandfather expected, it is just an empty shelf, and it is actually empty."

"It's just speculation, and it's still a little inappropriate."

"Then the grandson will meet with the Song people tomorrow and test it again."

"How to tempt?"

"You can do that."

……………………

Negotiations have been going on for a long time.

The issue of fugitives has been put on hold for the time being because the gap between positions is too great, while the issue of trade balance, because it is too smooth, has given people the idea of finishing the battle, starting in the morning and continuing into the afternoon.

With the westward inclination of the sun, the expansion of the scale of the field, the expansion of the type of transactions, and the acceleration of the development of Liao's local specialties, a series of terms have been finalized, and the negotiations on this topic are basically coming to an end.

Yelu Huaiqing, who came in person today, but never interjected much, suddenly became troubled at the end.

"The market has expanded, and there are more things that can be bought and sold, and I am afraid that in the future, the goods from the north and south will be piled up on the border."

"It's a great joy to have a lot of fun, but it's also a little unreassuring. All of them are on the other side's field, and if it rains on any day, many goods will be damaged by the rain. ”

"That's right, if you can spend less time in the warehouse, it's good for both parties."

"Definitely. But it depends on your country's efforts. ”

"No matter how hard you try, the horse team, the camel team, and the team can't compare to the train. The only way to transport people and goods is to rely on railways and trains. So I had some ideas, why not connect the two orbits? The eyeballs turned around in a group of people, and Yelu Huaiqing finally unveiled the hole card, "The railway track of Da Liao, the gauge is the same as that of Da Song, if it can be docked together, then the train of Da Song can directly enter Da Liao, and there is no need to get on and off the train so troublesomely." ”

From the Great Liao Emperor Sun, Zhang Yi and below, all the members of the Great Song Dynasty delegation who attended the meeting did not change their colors. And the representatives of the Liao side could not hide their surprise.

The railways of both countries reach the heart of the country, and if a train full of enemies enters the country along the railway, anyone who hears it will break out in a cold sweat.

But under Yelu Huaiqing's gaze, Zong Ze nodded happily, as if he was in the middle of it, "That's true." The border areas of Song and Liao are originally connected by the two countries, and the roads come and go. One more path is not indispensable. The cost of cross-border freight can be saved by at least half, which is a great benefit for the country and the people. ”