. Murong Qiu, Fang Zhengnan, Cheng Yu and Cheng Dexuan rushed back to the capital.

In the Qingxin Building of Nanya, Cheng Yu and Cheng Dexuan sat at the bottom, listening to Zhao Guangyi tell them everything that happened in Beijing recently, Cheng Yu couldn't help but worry: "Chitose, Zhao Pu banned the theft and sale of Qinlong Damu, and the officials did not punish him, but demoted Zhao Wei, the general of the left prison guard who impartially enforced the law, to a small dental school in Ruzhou in the name of falsely accusing the minister. Wu Yue's secretary sent gold to Zhao Pu, but the official family still didn't ask him about his crime, but asked him about it, which shows that the official's love for Zhao Pu is undiminished, and Zhao Pu's holy family is still long. ”

Zhao Guangyi said with a smile: "That's not necessarily, the dislike for a person is accumulated little by little, if only these two things can bring down the ruling dynasty, it would be strange." These things are just side dishes to accompany the meal, which bury some suspicions in the hearts of the official family, and make the official family gradually dislike Zhao Pu. The most feared thing by the official family is that the courtiers control the empty lord, violating the authority of the Son of Heaven, and the official family treats people kindly, which is his only rebellion. These days, this king is secretly deployed in Kaifeng to find Zhao Pu's handle, and next, it is necessary to start from this aspect and strike at him continuously. The embankment of thousands of miles collapsed in the anthill, and the small anthill was dug down, and the long embankment of Zhao Pu was also washed away. ”

He smiled coldly, bowed his head slightly forward, and said, "Zhongyuan, you came back just in time, you are steady, you can speak well, this important matter of this king is for you to arrange." Zhong Yuan, come over with your ears ......"

On the pier of the Bianhe River, Zhao Pu and Yang Hao looked at the Tang State ship that was sailing from afar, and coincidentally dusted off their official robes, and the Lile team on the side was also ready.

This time, the envoy of the Tang State sent Li Congshan, the seventh son of Yuanzong and the younger brother of Li Yu, King Zheng and Xu Xuan, the secretary of the ministry, and such a grand diplomatic mission can be described as unprecedented. Needless to say, Li Congshan is the brother of the current Emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty and the prince of the Tang Kingdom, and his identity is naturally precious. And Xu Xuan is a famous talent in the south of the Yangtze River, who can write poetry at the age of seven, can write at the age of ten, and became a minister of the Tang State at the age of sixteen. and his younger brother Xu Kai both have literary names, known as "Jiangdong Erxu", and after entering the office, he is as famous as Prime Minister Han Zaixi, known as Jiangdong Han Xu.

In order to send someone to receive the envoy of the Tang State, there was also a careful discussion at the court meeting. The Tang State sent a prince and a secretary to the ministry, and according to etiquette, the Song State should also have someone of the corresponding level to receive it. But the king of the Tang State is not enough, this Xu Shangshu's writing and eloquence are famous all over the world, this person is knowledgeable, outstanding in literature, and has the praise of 'Su Qin's rebirth and Zhang Yi's reincarnation', and these officials in the Great Song Dynasty are a little stunned to deal with this diplomatic envoy.

Now there are only two princes in the Great Song Dynasty, one is the king of Wei and the other is the king of Jin. King Wei is still young, in terms of knowledge and qualifications, he is far from Xu Xuan's opponent, he went to Jiangnan this time, just created a reputation, Zhao Kuangyin cherishes his son's feathers, does not want him to be ugly in front of Xu Xuan, is to defend it with intention. As for the King of Jin, he is still holding the position of Kaifeng Mansion Yin, and it is not suitable to be an ambassador to receive him. Moreover, when he thought of dealing with Xu Xuan, Zhao Guangyi was really stunned by his mouth, and Zhao Guangyi was reluctant to come forward.

In this way, the officials sent by the imperial court to greet the mission had to choose a high-ranking and powerful person from among the officials of the court and China, so that he could be equal to the other party's specifications. The name of the person, the shadow of the tree, Xu Xuan's reputation for being quick and fast-mouthed like a knife has long spread all over the world, and these important ministers of the Great Song Dynasty are afraid that they can't say that Xu Xuan, and when the time comes, they will lose face to the court and damage their reputation, so they are prevaricating in every possible way, and no one is willing to take on this responsibility.

picked and chosen, and in the end, when the court was responsible, Zhao Pu had to go out in person. Zhao Pu is actually reluctant, although he has never seen Xu Xuan, but he has heard of the other party's reputation, he Zhao Pu has only learned half of the "Analects" now, let him go to fight with the Jiangnan genius Xu Dashi, how can he have that confidence?

However, he accepted bribes from Wu Yueguo and was hit by Zhao Kuangyin, and now it is the time to atone for his crimes, how can he be embarrassed to refuse? I had to agree to come down. Fortunately, the official family also said, according to the specifications, there must be such a first auxiliary minister who can be compared with the prince, as for the welcome, my prime minister is busy with official business, and the details of the whole process are in charge of Honglu Temple, Zhao Pu is relieved.

As for the Honglu Temple, the great Honglu Zhangtai Liu, who was often sick, was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed as soon as he heard about the lineup of the Southern Tang Dynasty envoys. And Youqing Gao Xiang, who wants to compete with Yang Hao in everything, also shows his high style and brightness this time, and has no desire to compete for favor.

Yang Hao didn't know who Xu Xuan was, the ignorant were fearless, as soon as Zhao Kuangyin said it, he happily agreed. When he went home and said that he had picked up the messenger, Wu Wa'er hurriedly said: "Official, I heard that this Xu Xuan has an iron mouth, like a gun and an arrow, extremely sharp, and hundreds of officials in the DPRK and China are prevaricating to each other, and they are all afraid of his mouth."

The official is full of wisdom and scheming, of course, not inferior to others, but this scholar Xu is very knowledgeable, but he is not only a good eloquent. Jiangnan Li Yu built a building, searched all the world's unique books, only Xu University scholar read a series of thousands of books, and knew countless rare allusions and scriptures in ancient and modern times, if he believed it, the officials were ignorant, and the answer was rude, and he lost his face, but this time it was extraordinary, but it was on behalf of the Song court, so many erudite Confucians in the court, how could he not see a leader? I want officials to come to the top of the cylinder. ”

Yang Hao was furious when he heard this, and immediately entered the palace to thank the envoy, admitting that his knowledge was shallow, and it was difficult to deal with the first genius in Jiangnan.

Zhao Kuangyin laughed and said to him: "When Yang Qing was in Guangyuan, he laughed and scolded angrily, and scolded Lu Renjia, a genius in Jiangnan, to vomit blood, can't he deal with this Xu Xuan now?" ”

Yang Hao smiled bitterly: "The official, when he scolded Lu Daming, the minister used some rogue means, anyway, the minister is a cloth cloth, and he is not afraid of lowering his identity?" But now...... Now the minister is Honglu Shaoqing, representing the court of our Song Kingdom, how can he use means that damage the national body? ”

Zhao Kuangyin smiled slyly and said: "If you talk about the art of expediency and change, few officials in the court can match yours." The national body and national character are naturally to be preserved, but to deal with a wise and eloquent person like Xu Xuan, even if he chooses a learned person from our dynasty, it is really difficult to find his opponent, even so, it is better to let you let go of your hands and feet to accept, Yang Qing is not good at reading, my Song court is well known, if there is anything wrong, it is not a shame. ”

When Yang Hao heard this, you were too damaged, and you really couldn't pick out a capable person who could deal with Xu Xuan, and felt that everyone knew that I Yang Hao was a big stick mallet who didn't read, so he came up with the following idea of the following donkey, and took my dead pig to water it, so I had to pinch my nose and agree.

In this way, Zhao Pu and Yang Hao, two officials, reluctantly took office and took on the role of welcoming ambassadors. Of course, Zhao Pu is a part-time errand, and Yang Hao is a full accompaniment, which is more bitter.

The envoy ship of the Tang Kingdom slowly sailed and was about to enter the wharf, Li Congshan, the king of Zheng, and Xu Xuan, the secretary of the ministry, walked up to the bow deck neatly dressed and looked at the wharf from afar, only to see that the wharf had been under martial law by the soldiers, and there was a red color shed in the middle, and there were two Song ministers standing under the shed, Li Congshan and Xu Xuan were busy dressing up and preparing to meet each other ashore.

Naturally, they are on an extremely important diplomatic mission this time. The Song State attacked the Han State in southern Fujian, the war was going smoothly, they were in the south of the Yangtze River, and they knew more about the war situation in southern Fujian than Kaifeng, and the news of the Song army's victory in Jinling City was reported every day, and Li Yu began to sit still.

The situation is really as Lin Renzhao expected, the Han State, which has lost people's hearts early, is not the opponent of the Song State at all, and there is no strong Khitan support next to the Southern Han State, this time I am afraid it will be difficult to preserve, once the Southern Han State is destroyed, then the Tang State will be surrounded by the Song State on three sides, if the Song State finds an excuse to crusade against the Tang State...... As soon as he thought of this, Li Yu couldn't sleep well, he thought about it in every way, and finally decided: strike first!

Li Yu's preemptive strike was different from Lin Renzhao's original urging him to take advantage of the Song Dynasty's troops to send troops to southern Fujian, the rear was empty, and he sent troops to attack Kaifeng, Li Yu's preemptive strike was to preemptively surrender the soft and overcome the rigid with softness. So, he sent his brother and scholar Xu Xuan, sent them to meet the emperor of the Song State, paid tribute, cut the name of the country, and changed the title of the emperor of the Tang State to the king of Jiangnan.

As long as this title of Song State is approved, then Tang State will be demoted by one level and become a subject country of Song State. In Li Yu's opinion, my Tang State has become a vassal state of your Song State, and I, the king of Jiangnan, have become the courtiers of your Song Emperor, and you are always embarrassed to send troops to attack me, a respectful and docile courtier who has never rebelled, right? Li Yu made a wishful thinking, carefully designed, prepared a large number of belongings, selected a group of Jiangnan women, and sent people.

Li Congshan is only a young man in his early twenties, a talent, elegant and generous, Xu Xuan Jiangnan celebrity, and even more elegant and first-class literary style. He is a celebrity, but he is a genuine celebrity, he has been cultivated in officialdom for a long time, he speaks exquisitely, and his answers are impervious to wind and rain, which is far from being comparable to Lu Renjia's arrogant and unscrupulous people.

The two talked and laughed, and entered the city hand in hand, and saw that the streets of Bianliang were wide, the market was prosperous, the grain ships and ants were gathered under the river, and there were no soldiers on the streets, and the fang market was prosperous, and thousands of goods gathered, and there was a peaceful atmosphere. Li Congshan and Xu Xuan saw it in their eyes, and couldn't help but be secretly surprised by the rapid development of the Zhao and Song dynasties, thinking back to the past, when the Southern Tang Dynasty was at its peak, it covered 35 states, spanning Jiangxi, Anhui, Suzhou, Fujian, Jing and Lake, with a population of 5 million, and strong soldiers and horses.

Zhao Pu and Yang Hao sent the two envoys to the protocol and held a banquet to entertain them. Inquire about the other party's intentions, and learn that Tang Guo is actually a self-cutting minister, and ask the ministers to return to obedience, the two can't help but be overjoyed, and immediately pass the news into the palace after the banquet, and then Zhao Pu returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and immediately convened his staff, analyzed Tang Guo's intentions, and discussed the answer.

In the early morning of the next day, Li Congshan, the king of Zheng of the Tang Dynasty, held the national letter and Xu Xuan went to the palace to meet the king, and all the officials above the four grades of the Manchu Dynasty attended the witness. Li Congshan and Xu Xuan also saw the emperor of the Song State for the first time, and they saw Zhao Kuangyin, who was standing on the dragon throne, with big ears, graceful bearing, blazing eyes, not angry and self-assured, and his conversation was even more refreshing, and there was no evil spirit in the heroic force. Thinking about the Kaifeng weather seen on the streets yesterday and yesterday, I know that the Song Dynasty has achieved the level of the weather, and the day of hope is fixed, and I can't help but be more in awe.

The envoys of the Tang State came here to ask for the reduction of the national name, the reduction of the national status, and the request to be a subject of the Song State, and then respect the Great Song Dynasty, rest the soldiers and care for the people, and provide 100,000 taels of silver to the Great Song Dynasty every year. The emperor changed his name to the king, went to the yellow robe and changed the purple shirt, the dragon ornaments in various parts of the palace should also be removed one by one, and the children who were originally named "kings" were reduced to "gong", and all the yamen equivalent to the Great Song Dynasty should also be renamed one by one, such as Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, Shangshu Province, Yushitai, etc., all of which were renamed "Left and Right Inner History Mansion", "Sihui Mansion", "Sixian Mansion" and so on, and all official names were also changed one by one to avoid suspicion.

Under all kinds of conditions, Zhao Kuangyin and Longyan were happy, and the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty were full of spring breeze. Of course, at this time, it was only to express the meaning of the Tang State, and the Song court also had to come up with reciprocal conditions, and it was impossible to sign the national credentials immediately and establish each other's status as monarchs and ministers.

But some of the gifts offered were presented in court. Thirty Jiangnan girls brought them to the main hall, all of them with cloudy hair, misty sideburns, bright eyes and bright teeth, all of them were beauties of twenty-eight years old, and the fragrant wind was gusting, and the eyes of the people and soldiers of the Manchu Dynasty were straightened. Zhao Kuangyin smiled faintly, waved his hand and brought people into the harem, and didn't mention it with a smile.

Xu Xuan also made people hold ten boxes of gold, ten boxes of jade, ten boxes of gems, ten cages of pearls, all kinds of treasures, thousands of ruiqi, Zhao Kuangyin also laughed at himself. Immediately, Li Congshan offered another jade belt, inlaid with gold and jade, which was extremely gorgeous.

The little chamberlain presented it to him, Zhao Kuangyin stroked it, and said suspiciously: "This thing is no different from the treasure presented by Fang Cai, why is it presented alone?" ”

Li Congshan bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, please try to press the jewel in the buckle and try it." ”

Zhao Kuangyin was suspicious, took the jade belt and pressed the pale gold bead worth a thousand gold in the buckle, only to hear a sonorous sound, the jade belt was straight, a sharp blade popped out half a foot, and the cold breath was coming, Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but light up his eyes, and blurted out: "Good sword!" ”

Li Congshan had a self-satisfied face, and said: "This sword is to ask Longquan famous craftsmen to pick hardware elites to build, its soft like cotton, its toughness is better than steel, extremely sharp, when nothing can be hidden in the jade belt, in case of change, pull out is a sharp weapon for self-defense, is to the minister to dedicate it." ”

Zhao Kuangyin laughed when he heard this: "I am the Son of Heaven, when I need to fight hand-to-hand with a sword, is the overall situation worth asking?" ”

Li Congshan was suffocated, and hurriedly confessed guilty, Zhao Kuangyin smiled and didn't respond, drew his sword out of the sheath, and the three-foot dragon spring was like a flood of autumn water, and the cold light was clear. Zhao Kuangyin shook his wrist, the sword wind was sassy, and he only heard a Qingyue dragon groan, and the sword blade was broken from the middle.

The civil and military officers of the Manchu Dynasty who knew the sword couldn't help but be shocked, marveling at Zhao Kuangyin's magic of the sword, the sword was a soft sword, it was not easy to break, he could break it with a shake, it was clearly an ingenious technique, so that the sword blade was swung to the left and right, and the opposite two forces acted on the sword blade at the same time, so as to have this effect. Immediately, someone shouted: "Your Majesty is brave! ”

Li Congshan's face was as pale as earth, but Zhao Kuangyin smiled, comforted them, and asked them to stay in the protocol house, and then discuss in detail the matter of Tang Guo's self-cutting of the country name and belonging to the Great Song Dynasty.

As soon as the court meeting ended, "Yang Quanacing" accompanied Li Congshan and Xu Xuan back to the protocol to listen to the detailed conditions to be put forward by the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zhao Pu stayed, and the privy envoy Li Chongju followed Zhao Kuangyin to the Wende Palace.

As soon as he entered the Wende Palace, Zhao Kuangyin's face disappeared, and he said solemnly: "Two Aiqing, look, which one is Li Yu making trouble?" ”

Li Chongju said disdainfully: "Official, this is clearly because Li Yu was cowardly when he saw the prestige of my Song State's soldiers, so he asked himself to be demoted to the king, in order to calm the soldiers." At the beginning, when his father Li Jing was the emperor, he was afraid of the bravery of Emperor Shizong of the Zhou Dynasty, and didn't he also send an envoy to surrender his national dignity once? Now Li Yu is just following his father's example and repeating his old tricks. ”

Zhao Kuangyin groaned: "Maybe, or maybe...... It's just a delaying tactic. I just received a tip-off that not long after I sent troops to southern Fujian, the 100,000 troops of the Tang Guozhen Navy suddenly prepared to go, and there seemed to be a change, but soon, the state of emergency was suddenly lifted, and for some reason, now that I think about it, I am afraid that Li Yu once wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of my troops to send southern Fujian and Kaifeng to attack my heart, and then for some reason, he has dispelled this idea. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Kuangyin said with palpitations: "Fortunately, he dispelled his mind again. Otherwise, at that time, the outnumbered army was outside, and the crisis of the shortage of grain and grass in Kaifeng had not yet been discovered, once the 100,000 elite soldiers of the Tang State rushed to Kaifeng, Gyeonggi was shaken, the whole country panicked, and the morale of the army in southern Fujian was lost. ”

Zhao Pu smiled and said: "It's a great opportunity, Tang Guo gave up by himself, this is their own destruction, and God bless my Great Song." Officials, they have never taken advantage of such a good opportunity, and now that my Song State is invincible, how dare Li Yu plunder its edge? According to the minister's opinion, the Tang State sent an envoy to the court, it should not be a delaying tactic, I am afraid that as Li Shumi said, this is just to follow his father's example, with the intention of demoting himself to a vassal and benefiting the national fortune of the whole Jiangnan. ”

Zhao Kuangyin sneered: "Today is different from the past, now the Central Plains is almost in my hands, next to the couch, how can I allow him to sleep soundly?" ”

Zhao Pu smiled and said: "Your Majesty has not forgotten the agreement with the ministers before, you want to gnaw this last hard bone with the least loss and the fastest speed, and you might as well take it as a hypocrisy, and wait for our dynasty to prepare properly and then carry out a crusade." ”

Zhao Kuangyin frowned slightly and said: "What I am worried about is that the crusade against the Han State is the perverse behavior of the Han State, the Manchu Dynasty is full of eunuchs, and the name of exploiting the people is unbearable, it is a crusade against the heavens of my life, if Li Yu is allowed to be demoted to a minister, there will be no disrespect in the Tang State after that, wouldn't I be a teacher?" ”

Zhao Pu and Murong Qiu got drunk and stopped discussing with his staff last night, and at this time he was confident and said: "Official, Li Yu is lifting a stone to shoot himself in the foot, does he think that if he pays tribute to the official family, the official family will be unknown?" Hey, the minister has a plan, what conditions do they have, you might as well agree to them. Then he gave the official title of Zheng Wang Li Congshan to the house, and left it in the Beijing Division, he accepted that he was my Song Chen, and he dared not accept the official position of the official family?

When our dynasty was ready to stop, he summoned Li Yujin of the Tang State to see him, and he should have faced the king with his ministers, but with Li Congshan's experience, he would never dare to come, even if he dared to come, the ministers of the Tang State did not dare to let him come. ”

Zhao Kuangyin laughed: "Then Pingzhen is still the son of me, okay, it's up to you." ”

The three of them discussed again, and Zhao Pu and Li Chongju said goodbye and left. Zhao Kuangyin dealt with the official documents, and was about to return to the apse to rest, when a fast foot of Honglu Temple was brought to the hall, Zhao Kuangyin hurriedly asked: "Li Congshan and Xu Xuan went back, did they say anything and put forward any conditions?" ”

He bowed quickly and said: "Back to the official's house, Li Congshan didn't say much, but Xu Xuan was talking endlessly, although the Tang State intended to be a minister, Xu Xuan still didn't want to bend his prestige, and his words were soft and hard, soft and hard, intending to force our dynasty to sign a treaty that would never invade the Tang State." ”

Zhao Kuangyin's eyes flashed, and he hurriedly asked, "Then how does Yang Shaoqing respond?" ”

When the man heard this, the corners of his mouth hooked, and he showed a strange look that seemed to be smiling but not smiling......