Baozhou, located on the east bank of the Yalu River, is very important in order to control the throat of the communication between Goryeo and the lower reaches of the Yalu River, but this important land did not belong to Goryeo 20 years ago, that is to say, the border between China and North Korea at that time was not demarcated by the Yalu River......

It is said that after the founding of the Goryeo, the northward expansion of the border had a conflict with the Khitan who occupied this area at that time, and it built the Great Wall between the south of Hamhung and the north of Yongxing on the peninsula, reached the capital Lianpu, and built the three passes of Dingzhou, Xuandeok, and Yuanxing. This time, Goryeo's northward "land expansion" lasted less than two years, and finally lost the battle, and the eastern section of the border between China and North Korea returned to its original boundary.

After the war, although Liao did not recover the land of Liuzhou east of the Yalu River, it took the land of Baozhou and Dingzhou, built a bridge on the Yalu River, and built the city of Baozhou and Dingzhou with a bridge, and later built a distant city at the mouth of the Jiajiang River on the southeast bank of the Yalu River, and controlled the important land of Goryeo together with Baozhou. In this way, the bridge city built between the rivers changed the situation that the Yalu River was controlled by Goryeo, and became the frontier position of the Liao Dynasty's attack on Goryeo, and also became the trouble of Goryeo's henchmen.

In order to strengthen the defense of Bao and Dingzhou, Liao once moved the Han and Xi people from the counties of western Liaoning to live here, and set up a post booth on the east bank of the Yalu River. For this reason, Goryeo repeatedly negotiated with the Liao Dynasty, asking the Liao to remove the castle built east of the Yalu River, but the Liao Dynasty ignored it. At the end of the Liao Dynasty, Bao and Ding became the frontier positions of the eastern frontier of the Liao Dynasty, guarding the eastern gate of the Liao Dynasty, and the northeast of Goryeo was bounded by the Great Wall and the Three Passes.

In the later years of the Liao Dynasty, peaceful and friendly relations had been established between the Liao, Song and Li, but the rise of Jin undermined this balance of power. Goryeo had a long history of dealing with the Jurchens, and in fact the Jurchen tribes in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula paid tribute to Goryeo for a long time. In order to unite Goryeo to attack Liao, Kim took the initiative to send an envoy to Goryeo shortly after the founding of the country. In the following year after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Jin army attacked the two cities of Liao, Yuanzhou and Baozhou.

These two cities are in danger of choking the Yalu River, and Goryeo has always dreamed of it, seeing that the Jin army could not be attacked for a long time. Goryeo sent people to recruit Yeluning, the defender of the Liao army, but Yeluning refused. In order to obtain the two cities of Yuan and Bao, Goryeo sent an envoy to Jin, declaring to Aguta that Yuan and Baoer were the old places of Goryeo, hoping that the Jin army would be able to return the two cities after defeating the Liao army.

Later, after the Jin army captured Ercheng, it was really handed over to Goryeo, so Goryeo had Yuan and Bao Erzhou without much effort, and at the same time, Jin and Goryeo also agreed to form a brotherly alliance. As Kim's territory expanded. The relationship between Kim and Goryeo also began to change, Aguta no longer regarded Goryeo in his eyes, and before the ink of the brotherly alliance dried, Goryeo was gradually regarded as a vassal state by Kim, and the two countries continued to be filthy for this.

After Goryeo conquered part of the area of Holadian. Hu Sai and Hu Lu led the Jurchen army to regain lost territory. Due to the counterattack of the Jurchen army, the Goryeo army was defeated one after another. Forcing Goryeo to negotiate peace. "Agree to return those who have fled, retreat the army of the nine cities, and return to the place where they invaded." Jin and the Northern Song Dynasty jointly destroyed Liao, and Goryeo immediately sent an envoy to Jin to congratulate him, and he was a minister. Kim also sent an envoy to pay a return visit and told Goryeo that in the future, Kim should invoke the practice of Goryeo. The relationship between the two countries has changed from a brotherly relationship to a relationship between monarchs and ministers.

The subordinate who used to whisper to himself has now turned over, not only becoming his own master, but also on his neck, which makes Goryeo very uncomfortable, not only remembering the days of living with the Liao Song Dynasty. But the two eldest brothers of the Liao and Song dynasties in the past. One was destroyed by the Jurchens, and the other was beaten so disregardive that he could only swallow his anger. Now that 'Brother Song' not only got back on his feet, but also turned back and beat the Jurchens, a wicked slave, to the ground looking for teeth, Goryeo immediately rejoined Song.

Of course, the Jin State could not turn a blind eye to Goryeo, who still wanted to return to be the master, and this war was triggered, and the slogan played by Jin was 'punish the white-eyed wolf and take back the two states of Bao and Yuan', and Goryeo really 'returned' the two states under the sudden attack......

Now that Goryeo has once again 'given up' the two states and thrown this hot potato to the Great Song Dynasty, Zhao Ta, who has always loved to take advantage of the 'small advantage', of course wants to laugh at it. But at this time, if the Great Song Dynasty wants to revive the majesty of the past, he must pay attention to his positive image, so he quietly took it over and his face was not very good-looking, as if he had the intention of taking advantage of the danger of others, and he had to think of a perfect strategy to save his face.

"Your Majesty, Goryeo has always been a snake and a rat, and they are doing this to use this as bait to make the Song and Jin countries compete and profit from it!" Zhao Ta gathered all the rulers to discuss the matter, and as soon as the topic was spread, Li Gang pointed out Goryeo's intentions to the point.

"Taishi has said it, Goryeo has been very respectful to me in the past few years, and now I have sent troops to help him fight against Jin, so I shouldn't do such an unkind thing!" Sima Pu, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, said.

"Your Majesty's ministers think that the words of the Taishi are true!" Yang Shi, a scholar of the Senior Minister's Palace, said, "Goryeo took advantage of the turmoil in the Central Plains and actively expanded northward at the beginning of the founding of the country, and had contacts with the Later Jin Dynasty and our Great Song Dynasty, but when Yongxi made a northern expedition to the Khitan in the third year, Taizong asked Goryeo to send troops to help, and when he learned that it was unfavorable for our dynasty to send troops, he did not dare to send troops to help, and he was worried about offending our dynasty, so he had to verbally agree to send troops, but in fact, he delayed the dispatch of troops under various excuses, resulting in the end of the war, and the troops of Goryeo still did not come. It can be seen that he is a man of no faith! ”

"In the tenth year of the Khitan unification, Liao attacked Goryeo in order to recover the land of the original Goguryeo and the Jurchen land captured by Goryeo, and Goryeo also asked our court for assistance, and our court did not send troops to help, and this matter should no longer be investigated whether it is right or wrong." Guozi Priest Juan Guo coughed dryly and said, which means that this matter should not be said again, and our Da Song is also not interesting enough, so I missed the appointment.

"This is not a matter of comparison!" Yang Shi did not save face for his 'successor', and immediately interrupted, "After this battle, Goryeo declared itself a vassal to the Khitan, and Liao not only no longer received the land of the original Goguryeo and the land of the Jurchens captured by Goryeo, but also gave Goryeo hundreds of miles east of the Yalu River to Goryeo. However, he did not serve Liao completely loyally, but still moved between the two countries, both to Liao and to our Great Song Dynasty, and profited from it. Loyal ministers don't care about the two masters, which shows that their hearts are sinister! ”

"After the Jin people rose up against the Liao, Goryeo moved between the Liao, the Jin, and the Great Song Dynasty, and they saw that the Liao Dynasty was in decline, and they did not fulfill their responsibilities as courtiers to save the Liao Dynasty, but instead took the initiative to cancel the Fengliao Zhengshuo that had been used for more than a hundred years, and threw themselves into the rising Jin State. Goryeo took the initiative to contact the Jin State because it was afraid that the Jin people would attack Baozhou, and intended to get the Baozhou region that they had wanted for a long time but had not obtained through the hands of the Jin people, and did not sincerely want to make friends with the Jin people. However, while Goryeo was in contact with the Jin people, it was unwilling to break off relations with the Liao people, and continued to communicate with the Liao people after repeatedly rejecting the Liao's requests for joint resistance to the Jin, and even intended to form a Liao to protect itself. ”

"It's the same for my Great Song Dynasty, Goryeo has always had a good relationship with our dynasty, and has always belonged to the Song Dynasty, but when the Great Song Dynasty encountered danger, especially in the face of the destruction of the Jin people, Goryeo refused to help, but broke off the relationship with my courtiers, which shows that his heart has no thoughts of monarchs and ministers!" Yang Shizheng presided over the revision of history, and he was very familiar with this period of history, gushing out, counting his actions, worried that the emperor who did not like to read would make a wrong judgment without knowing the way, and it can also be seen that he did not have much good impression of Goryeo!

Zhao Ta listened quietly, and it was clear from their statements that the relationship between Goryeo and Liao was nothing more than a false name of being a vassal, in exchange for a large area of land, and obtaining major practical benefits. However, after Goryeo became a vassal to Liao and obtained "hundreds of miles of land east of the Yalu River", Goryeo began to realize that between the Song and Liao regimes, the Liao Dynasty seemed to be the stronger side, so Goryeo did not hesitate to declare itself a vassal to Liao and fell to the stronger side. After that, he also constantly adjusted his policies toward the Liao and Song dynasties according to the rise and fall of the power of the Song and Liao dynasties, intending to seek development from the balance between the Liao and Song regimes and gain benefits from them.

"After Goryeo became a minister, he came to the court every year, paid tribute every year, and leased the island and port for my use, so he should be able to show his sincerity!" Zhao Ta said that he felt the courtiers' disgust with Goryeo, but thought that it was almost hot, and smiled and 'justified' it.

"Your Majesty's words are wrong!" Chen Gongfu, the right minister, said, "The lords of Goryeo in the past dynasties regarded 'small things and big things' as their best choice to protect themselves among the countries, and when they interacted with Liao and Jin, although they also attached importance to their reputation, they also attached more importance to their vital interests, and it was also their trick to call our court a vassal. ”

"I'm a little puzzled by what Aiqing said, what does 'big things mean'?" Originally, the emperor made it possible to accept Goryeo's claim as a minister, but Chen Gongbo's words pointed to the inappropriateness of this matter back then, and the ministers thought that the emperor was embarrassed, but the emperor didn't seem to understand, blinked his eyes and asked in a daze, which made everyone laugh, but also felt that the emperor was 'frank', and did not know how to pretend to understand, but asked bluntly.

"Your Majesty, 'Big with Small Things' is from Mencius? Liang Hui Wang Chapter Sentences", which contains: But the benevolent person can use big things and small things, so Tang Shi Ge, Wen Wang Shi Kunyi; But the wise man can do big things with small things, so the king is a big thing, and the sentence is Wu. Those who do great things are also optimistic; Those who are big in small things are also afraid of the sky. Those who are optimistic protect the world, and those who fear the sky protect their country. Chen Gongfu also felt that his outspokenness was too much, and hurriedly bowed down and explained.

"I look at the Han to the Xiongnu, the Tang to the Turks, or to call them ministers, or to marry princesses, anyone who can be close to him, all of them. My Great Song Dynasty has also been allied with the Khitan as a country of brothers, and the year after year, can it also be called a small thing and a big one, regarded as benevolence? Zhao asked with a smile.

"This ......" Chen Gongbo was asked by the emperor, he was already suspected of using the past to satirize the present, and to say that it was to slander the emperor, which was to dismiss the official and lose the title.

The ministers did not dare to squeak for a while, these events can be said to be regarded as a shame by the scholars of the past dynasties, but they are also facts, especially when Zhao Huan was besieged in Bianjing, the matter of ceding land to Jin Shangbiao and claiming to be a minister is still vivid...... (To be continued......)