"And what do you mean?" Yelu Dashi asked.

"Arming the army for war is naturally a matter for the king of the four armies, but since there are envoys from the Southern Dynasties coming, it is also appropriate for us to send envoys to pay a return visit.

"Li Menxia is reasonable!" Yelu Chun, who had not expressed his position, finally spoke, and Xiao Gan and Yelu Dashi had to agree silently when they saw this. At this moment, another Hanchen under the head said loudly: "According to Weichen's view, it is not enough to send people to the Southern Dynasty to sue for peace, but also to send people to the Jin people to sue for peace!" ”

Everyone's eyes suddenly focused on the person who spoke, but it was Situ Zuo who bowed, only to see him say loudly: "In today's situation, the two strong Song and Jin are standing side by side, and the reason why they can form an alliance is good, but the territory is not accepted, and after a long time, there will be a war." If you talk about the strength of the army, Dajin is invincible in the world, and the southerners are insufficient, so it is better to negotiate peace with Jin than to negotiate peace with Song. ”

When Li Chuwen heard this, he couldn't help but feel angry in his heart. It turns out that this Zuo Qigong has always been attached to Li Chuwen, so that he can be an official to this position, and he has always been looking forward to Li Chuwen when he speaks on weekdays, and Li Chuwen himself is not opposed to negotiating peace with the Jin people, in fact, he also secretly has contact with the Jin people, but it is another thing to take it out behind his back in the imperial meeting, which is obviously to break away from his own self-reliance.

"What Situ said is very true!"

"What Zuo Gong said is right!"

Unlike Li Chuwen, as soon as Zuo Qigong's words came out, the palace people responded one after another, not only the Hanchen agreed, but even many Khitan and Xi nobles also agreed, and no one cared about Zuo Qigong's statement of "big gold". Obviously, in the face of the strong combat effectiveness of the Jurchens, even the Khitan and Xi people were frightened.

Yelu Dashi and Xiao Gan glanced at each other, and they both saw helplessness in each other's eyes, Xiao Gan coughed lowly, and said: "Since this is the case, then according to what Zuo Gong said, tomorrow we will send a peace envoy to the Jin people, let the Southern Dynasty mission return, and at the same time send an envoy to discuss matters!" ”

As the elder brother of Empress Xiao Gan, he is the privy secretary of the North Court, and all the armies are in charge. At this time, speaking is basically the final word. So after a while, they discussed who to send to undertake the task of the envoys to the peace talks - in fact, the envoys who went to the Jin side were basically equivalent to surrendering, and it depended on whether the people were happy or not. The people in the palace know this, but they haven't pierced it. Li Chuwen has something in mind at this time, and he will wait until everything is done. He followed behind Left Qigong. to no man's land. He took two steps forward and asked in a deep voice, "Zuo Situ, what do you mean by being in the palace today?" ”

Zuo Qigong's face seemed to be smiling: "Like you under the Li Sect, it's just a plan or two for us Yandi Han people!" ”

"Planning one or two?" Li Chuwen sneered: "I think it's to show merit on the side of the Jin people." For the sake of your own wealth, right? ”

Zuo Qigong smiled: "Each other, don't Li Menmen say that you have no contact with the Jin people?" ”

Li Chuwen was hit by the nail that was neither soft nor hard by Zuo Qigong, and he was speechless for a while, and only after half a ring did he sneer: "Do you think that the Jin people will accept the peace proposal?" They have an alliance with the Southern Dynasties, and they will never negotiate peace with our Liao State! ”

"That's better than doing nothing, just hugging the thigh of the envoy of the Southern Dynasty!" Zuo Qigong sneered at each other, and when he said this, he sighed and said: "My Yandi Han people are weak and weak, and under the pressure of the Jurchens, the Southern Dynasties, and the Khitans, I can only choose the strong one and follow it." At present, the Jin people are the strongest, as long as they vote for the Jin people, as long as they suffer from the sword soldiers once, if they vote for the Song people, the Song and Jin sides will confront each other, and the military disasters will be incomprehensible for decades or even hundreds of years, and that kind of suffering is the most difficult! You and I eat in our mouths, and the clothes on our bodies are all from the people of Yandi, how can we not think about them? ”

Hearing this, Li Chuwen couldn't help but suffocate, but the strong qi in his chest still made him sneer: "You said a thousand things and ten thousand, or for the glory and wealth of your own family." The Jin people are tyrannical and violent, unincivilized, and known to the world. When you hand over Yandi to them, you are pushing millions of Yandi Han people into the fire pit. ”

"What Li Menxia said is very true, it is true that the Jin people are strong and violent, and they are not educated. But it is precisely because of this that they need our Yandi Han people to govern civil affairs, if the Southern Dynasty gets the Yandi, they will help many people, where is our Yandi people's share? Besides, although the Jin people are fierce, they are also simple, they are princes and ministers, and their clothing consumption is not much stronger than ordinary people, and their collection is naturally not too excessive. ”

Li Chuwen was speechless by Zuo Qigong's refuting words, and he flicked his sleeves in shame and anger and turned away, leaving Zuo Qigong standing there alone and saying goodbye to his back.

In the Pure Dirt Temple, Zhou Ping had just finished receiving the envoy from the Liao side and got the news that he was about to return soon. For a while, the attaché of the mission was busy, packing his luggage, and preparing for the return. Only Zhou Ping sat alone in the house, reviewing the gains and losses of these days in Yanjing. While thinking about it, Xue Liangyu came in from outside and asked, "Lord, what should I do with that child?" ”

"You're talking about Li Sheng, right?" Zhou Ping thought for a moment and said: "You put on the clothes of a servant for him, just say that it is a slave we bought in Yanjing, but you must not be harsh, understand?" "For the sake of secrecy, no one in the Li Sheng's true identity mission except Zhou Ping and Li Cheng knows it.

"I understand it below!" Xue Liangyu answered, turned around and went out.

"Looks like the salt and armor are gone!" Zhou Ping sighed and thought to himself: "But it's nothing, even if Li Chuwen sends it, I can't escort it to Yingzhou, let's find an opportunity for Li Cheng to run and bring Luo She'er back, the Jin Ren Bingfeng has already arrived over there, in case there is a mistake, it's not good!" ”

"Deputy Envoy Zhou!" Zhao Zong walked in and said with a smile: "There is an official from outside, saying that it is a gift from the Liao State, there are twenty or thirty cars, you and I will go out to greet it!" ”

"Gifts?" Zhou Ping stood up a little dazedly, and Zhao Zong on the opposite side smiled and said: "Deputy Zhou envoy you envoy to Liao Guoshao, the two countries are engaged, and it is common for each other to give gifts, but in the past, our courtesy was heavy, and the courtesy of the Northern Dynasty was light, but now it is reversed!" ”

"Thank you Zhao Xianggong for your advice!" When Zhou Ping heard this, his heart couldn't help but move, and he asked casually: "Then what are the generals?" ”

"Not necessarily!" It seemed that Zhao Zong was in a good mood when he was about to return to China, and he explained with a smile: "It is generally a specialty of various places, and my dynasty is generally porcelain, medicine, silk or something; In the Northern Dynasties, it was generally fur, ginseng, jade, or something. ”

The two went out of the courtyard gate, only to see more than 20 carriages parked in the square on the left, which were piled up, but the official who gave the gift was an acquaintance, it was Li Chuwen's son Li Zheng, the young eunuch of the Shaofu, I saw him bow to Zhao Zong and Zhou Ping, and said: "The lower official is entrusted by the two Majesties to deliver the gift to the Son of Heaven of the Southern Dynasty, and ask the two noble envoys to check it!" With that, he took out a gift slip from his bosom and presented it with both hands.

"Li Shaofu has worked hard!" It seems that Zhao Zong has also seen Li Zheng, he took the gift list with a spring breeze on his face, and put it in his arms without looking at it, and said with a smile: "Do you want to go in and drink a cup of tea?" ”

"Thank you!" Li Zheng arched his hand and excused himself: "The lower official still has official business, come back to visit another day!" Speaking of this, Li Zheng stepped forward and blocked Zhao Zong's sight with his body, but his right hand stuffed a small paper ball into Zhou Ping's hand without missing a trace.

The paper ball started, Zhou Ping already knew it in his heart, he found a secluded place after saying goodbye to Li Zheng, opened the paper ball and took a look, only to see a few big words written on the paper, "Everything you want is in the car, the ninth brother, please take care of it!" After reading it, Zhou Ping saw that there was no one left and right, stuffed the paper ball into his mouth and swallowed it, walked to the square where the carriage stopped, drove away the two scribes who were about to count the gifts, and said: "This is something for the official family, let me count it myself!" ”

The two scribes didn't dare to argue, and hurriedly presented the gift list, Zhou Ping looked at the gift list, and the cars were carefully counted, and sure enough, the carriages were loaded with armor soldiers made of fine iron in addition to salt, and the last three carriages were all filled with feather arrows and crossbows. Zhou Ping counted the quantity slightly, and it was almost the same as what he asked for. He couldn't help but be secretly happy in his heart, jumped out of the car and called a few of his subordinates, and said: "This is a gift from the two countries, and you guys will guard it in shifts, and you must not miss half a point." ”

In the early morning of the third day, the Song delegation left the south gate of Yanjing and embarked on the return journey home. In comparison, in addition to more than 20 carriages loaded with gifts, there was also one more Liao envoy in the mission. Perhaps in order to prevent the Song envoys from colluding with the rebellious Changsheng army, the return route of the mission was changed, not through Zhuozhou, but through Yizhou.

Perhaps because of the greater disparity in strength between the two sides, the reception received by the mission along the way became more and more grand, and many Han officials also used various hints to express their admiration for the Southern Dynasty to Zhao Zong, which made him very proud. As the deputy envoy, Zhou Ping's mood was completely different, his eyes widened, looking for any opportunity that could be used to transport the armor soldiers and salt in the carriage to Yingzhou, otherwise if he transported these salt and weapons back to the Song Realm, wouldn't it be a big joke?

"Ambassador Zhou! The lower officials did it first as a respect! A sweet, somewhat greasy voice woke Zhou Ping up from his thoughts, and he hurriedly raised his head, only to see a round-looking Liao official just facing the empty wine glass to himself, with a flattering smile on his face. He hurriedly drank the wine in the cup and said with a smile: "I just thought about something, please forgive me for the rudeness!" ”

"It's okay!" The official of the Liao State hurriedly smiled and said: "The ambassador is worried about the king's affairs, and he can't do his best at the banquet, so he is really a model for us." Speaking of this, he paused for a moment and said with a smile: "It's also strange to say, a certain family is very familiar with the ambassador, could it be that where have you seen it?" (To be continued......)