Just when Hong Tao and Cixi were standing on the deck and laughing loudly, thousands of miles away, in Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, a sleeping city, there was also a place that was not very quiet. At the gate of Donghua Gate in the north of the palace, there is a courtyard that is brightly lit, not only the people inside are all night owls, but there are also many food stall owners outside the gate who do not sleep in the middle of the night to set up stalls. At this time, it has just passed the ugly hour, that is, at three o'clock in the middle of the night, come out at this hour to set up a stall to sell snacks, will anyone eat?

"Second Sister Lian, send a bowl of osmanthus floating dumplings in!" No, there are really people to eat, two people walked down from the royal road, and the one in front was obviously a servant, carrying a small gas lamp in his hand, walking on the road like a small fireball. There was also a tall old man in the halo, and the purple court clothes on his body showed that his status was not low.

"Zheng Xianggong is also here, what day is today, it's not a big court, why is it so hard?" The floating dumplings are similar to the rice balls of later generations, except that they are not so white, and the filling is not as diverse as that of later generations. The second sister Lian who set up the stall is a middle-aged woman with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and Zhang Fei is Zhang Fei with a beard. Don't look at her rough looks, one mouth is indeed a warbler's voice, and she feels very confused.

"Hugh is verbose, how can you wait for the major affairs of the court to be asked." Zheng Qingzhi was in a good mood, but after listening to the words of the woman who set up the stall, he immediately became a little unhappy. Even a woman in the market knows the general movements of the court officials, no wonder she is extremely passive every time she negotiates with Wen Nan and Kong Pei, people know everything, but they don't know anything.

This courtyard is called the Waiting Leakage Courtyard, and if Hong Tao hears this name, he will immediately have to scold. Which unlucky thing did this Nima give such an unlucky name. To be leaked! Waiting for the leak is it? A good house is not good to live in, why do you look forward to leaking every day?

That is, a guy like Hong Tao who has no knowledge of history will say this kind of thing. Just find a Lin'an person to come out. They all know what it means to be left out of the hospital. This is a place for courtiers to wait for the court, temporarily rest, and take shelter from the wind and rain. A drain is not a roof leak, but a drip, which is what a timer means.

In ancient times, emperors and ministers were chickens, and a morning meeting had to be held at five o'clock in the morning. The emperor made do, he got out of bed and went out of the courtyard to the court, and the ministers were even more miserable, getting up at two or three o'clock in the middle of the night, and then ran to the gate of the palace and waited for the door to open. As a courtier. You can't let the emperor arrive first, you should be late. Later, when the emperor saw that it was not suitable to let so many old ministers stand outside and wait, he simply built a row of houses at the door for the ministers of the previous court to rest, which was the courtyard to be missed.

The Song Dynasty court was more relaxed in its restraints on the people, not saying that the government and the palace were not allowed to set up stalls within 50 meters, and these ministers got up in the middle of the night to go to court, and their stomachs must be empty. Here are all provincial and ministerial officials. There is no poor person, and the business is naturally very easy to do.

It's been a long time. These peddlers know better than the ministers which day is the big court meeting and which day is the small court meeting, and as long as they are not the officials who come to the court meeting for the first time, they all know each other, and even the officials' entourage are acquaintances. From this point of view, the relationship between the government and the people in the Song Dynasty was indeed relatively relaxed, and in the subsequent Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, including the Republic of China and beyond, which government would allow the common people to run to the gate of the palace to set up stalls, and if they got close, they were immediately arrested.

More than a dozen high-ranking officials of the Southern Song Dynasty wearing court clothes had already come to the courtyard, Zheng Qingzhi greeted them in a circle, and began to concentrate on eating the bowl of floating dumplings. As he ate, he listened to the chatter of his colleagues, and the more he listened, the slower the pace of eating, and finally he simply put down his fork and spoon, reached out and picked up the part they were talking about from the table next to him, and read it carefully under the bright gas lamp.

This thing is the final result of the package negotiations between the imperial court and the maritime merchants and the Jinhe Empire, he has just finished reviewing the new army from Jiankang City, and as soon as he returns, he caught up with the emperor to hold a temporary court meeting, and it seems that today's topic is this thing.

Zheng Qingzhi has a very big opinion on this matter, because the official family completely abandoned him, the left prime minister, and appointed Wen Hao to be fully responsible. The reason is that he is busy with the Northern Expedition, which is the top priority, and he must not be distracted in the slightest. That's what he said, but Zheng Qingzhi knew very well in his heart that the official family was playing balance. The credit for his achievements in the past few years is a bit too great, and if he doesn't press it or find a force to break his wrist with him, it will be a bit of a big tail.

Zheng Qingzhi didn't have a good impression of Wen Hao. Because this seemingly quiet and harmless person is actually a thing that doesn't recognize his six relatives and has milk. On the Guangzhou side, he relied on newspapers and bosom friends to endlessly stir up the government and politics, and also instigated the maritime merchants to strike the market against the imperial court. But secretly he had eyebrows with some ministers and officials in the court, and at the critical moment, he actually became an important minister of the court. In this matter, if it weren't for the official family who gave him the rights of the Northern Expedition and exchanged interests, the high-ranking official of the Governor would not have granted him an Enke Jinshi under any circumstances.

"Ridiculous! Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, this is the place where Han maritime merchants and monks must pass through, and the Tan people also use this as a docking place to catch the sea, why not the territorial waters of the Great Song Dynasty? ! But when Zheng Qingzhi saw the negotiation results brought by Wen Hao, he immediately couldn't help but get angry. He had never heard the term territorial waters, but he could understand the meaning after a little thought.

"Zheng Xiang, don't just entangle in one city and one place, the division of territorial waters is just imaginary, but it is really here. As long as the Holy Lord approves this thing, the Golden River Empire, which has always been mysterious, will no longer be a paradise, and the imperial court can send someone to their port at any time to find out the truth. After Zheng Xiang's Northern Expedition was won, he only needed to build enough sea ships to take their city in one fell swoop. Zheng Xiang still doesn't know, the population of the Jinhe Empire is only a hundred thousand, if it loses the protection of the sea, how many **** soldiers and horses can it resist? Compared with this, what is the loss of a few acres of territorial waters in the Great Song Dynasty? The sea cannot be used for farming, nor can it be used to build houses for people! Why not? ”

Wen Hao was not in a hurry about Zheng Qingzhi's questioning, and in front of several courtiers next to him, he slowly explained the mystery. He felt that the negotiation with Wen Nan was very smooth this time, and he couldn't say that he played his cousin between applause, anyway, he achieved what he wanted to achieve, but he kept the Jinhe Empire and the Great Song Dynasty in the dark. He loved it, the feeling that he was the smartest, the wisest in the world.

"Jinheguo has promised to open the port!?" Zheng Qingzhi was very surprised, he originally thought that Jin Heguo would not let others easily find out its own truth if he was killed, but he didn't expect this Wen Hao to let Jin Heguo reveal his bottom.

"Yes...... Not only the ports should be opened, but the price of weapons for the new army must also be reduced by another percent! There is another thing that Zheng Xiang must be happy to hear that Xiaguan has reached a verbal agreement with Jin Heguo. As long as the negotiations were successfully concluded and the imperial court began the Northern Expedition, Jin Heguo was to help the imperial court build a gunpowder/powder factory in Zhenzhou, and teach the Great Song craftsmen to make the ammunition needed to make muskets. Seeing Zheng Qingzhi's surprised look, Wen Hao's heart was like eating honey, and in order to make this feeling stronger, he threw out another negotiation result.

"This ...... Such a good thing ......" Zheng Qingzhi was really confused by Wen Hao's words, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

"But, can the Great Song Sea Trade be affected by these territorial waters?" He hadn't been involved in the negotiations, and he didn't know what the key points were, but instinctively felt that something wasn't quite right. Emperor Hong of the Jinhe Empire was a chicken thief, but he had personally experienced it, how could he give up such a big benefit so easily? The result is so wonderful for Da Song!

"Hahaha...... Zheng Xiang, it seems that you really don't know much about maritime affairs. Through this negotiation, the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty no longer had to rely on the warships of the Jinhe Kingdom to escort them, and the route to Malacca was also one of the gains of this negotiation. And I also paid special attention to it, insisting that the channel in the Strait of Malacca be designated as the open sea, that is, a public area where everyone on both sides can travel. In this way, the sea trade of the Great Song Dynasty no longer has to look at other people's faces. ”

When it came to the specific issue of the division of territorial waters, Wen Hao's expression was even more proud, although he tried his best to control himself not to get too carried away, but sometimes, he couldn't help but be happy in his heart.

The source of this joy is not because of how many benefits it has won for the Great Song Dynasty, nor how it has dealt a blow to the arrogance of Jinhe Kingdom, these problems are all trivial in Wen Hao's view. What makes him most happy from the bottom of his heart is that he can make Zheng Qingzhi speechless in front of these important ministers of the court, and this opportunity is more than once, and when he arrives in the court in a while, his audience will be more. As long as no one can point out that there were major mistakes in the negotiations he presided over, then this confrontation with Zheng Qingyi's faction would be regarded as a complete victory.

At that time, he will no longer be an unknown person who relies on Emperor Enke to hold the position of governor and political affairs, but a meritorious minister of the imperial court, and he can justifiably gain a foothold in the court. If the official family can take advantage of the trend again, their own power will be formed immediately. This possibility is very high, Wen Hao also knows in his heart that he is just a product of the situation, but he has his own plans, this is only the first step, and it is not yet known who will use whom in the end!

Wen Hao is not blindly happy, nor is he bragging, he has come to negotiate with the Jinhe Empire represented by his cousin Wen Nan on behalf of the Great Song Dynasty this time, and he has indeed achieved very good results. Of course, the Great Song Dynasty court did not make any concessions at all, but those concessions were necessary costs in Wen Hao's view. It may be that he has had more contact with maritime merchants, and he also believes that there is nothing free in the world, and if you want it, you must pay. In the end, whether you lose or make money depends on whether you need what you exchange.

(To be continued.) )