The next time I heard someone mention Princess Fukang, it was in the Privy Council.

At the end of the spring of this year, the Khitan army pressed the border, and the lord sent Xiao Ying, the envoy of the Southern Court of Xuanhui, and Liu Liufu, a scholar of Hanlin, to the court to write a letter to the Great Song Dynasty for the "Guannan Land" Ying and Mo Erzhou.

Ying and Mo Erzhou are part of the sixteen states of Yanyun, which were ceded to the Khitan by the "Emperor Shijing" of the year, recovered during the Zhou Shizong period, and taken over by the dynasty. For many years, the Khitan has been trying to make the Great Song Dynasty "return" the two states, and the Emperor Zhenzong of the Lanyuan Alliance promised to give up the year's coins, and the Khitan gave up the land, but now the old things are brought up again, and the tone of his envoys is bound to win.

The ministers discussed that they were not allowed to cede the land, and decided to make peace with the Khitan through peace, and allowed the daughter of the Song dynasty and the eldest son of the Khitan Emperor, King Yelu Hongji, to resolve the matter of claiming the land.

The selected daughter of the clan was the daughter of Wang Yunning, who was a member of Xin'an.

The official family sent the Zhizhi Hu Fubi as the accompanying envoy, and Jia Changchao accompanied the embassy, and welcomed the Khitan envoys to the embassy to mediate.

The Khitan envoys also had the intention of making peace, but as soon as they heard that the general had entered the clan to marry the princess to the king of Liang, Xiao Ying immediately showed displeasure: "Didn't the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty have a biological daughter?" I heard that Princess Na Fukang was very beautiful, and my subjects admired her very much. ”

Fu Bi explained that the emperor's daughter was still young, and the marriage must be more than ten years later. Liu Liufu said with a smile: "King Liang is only ten years old, which is the same age as Princess Fukang, so waiting for ten years is nothing." Since they are aminerable, it is natural to show their closeness only when the children of the two emperors get married. King Liang is the eldest son of our emperor, and the emperor of your country is only allowed to be a daughter of the clan, is it because he dislikes the small people of the country and is weak, and he is not worthy? ”

Fu Bi and Jia Changchao made this matter clear to the court, but they immediately refused, and refused to marry Princess Fukang no matter what. Then he ordered Fu Bi to send an envoy to Khitan, talk to his lord, and promise to increase the coins, but he must push off the princess and his relatives. Fu Bi also agreed, saying, "The lord is worried about the humiliation. Except for the removal of the year's currency, he will never allow anything to be done. ”

Before leaving, he was appointed as a member of the Ministry of Rites and a privy councilor, but he did not accept it. After the dispersal of the court, Fu Bi went to the Privy Council to discuss the details of the envoy and the content of the peace talks. After the discussion, everyone left the palace, and he remained in the courtyard, pondering and thinking about how to deal with it.

Suddenly, after the province served, brought a batch of pen and ink treasures to play with, all of which were treasures of the imperial treasury, saying that the official family specially rewarded Fu Bi.

When I was on duty in the hospital, Fu Bi thanked me and ordered me to take the imperial gift, and then sat down sullenly, frowning and pondering.

I have a general understanding of what happened, and from the few words I heard and some of the documents I transcribed while serving the Privy Councillors, I know what Fu Bi was worried about. At this time, looking at the treasures in his hand, his mind moved, so he selected the ink given by the emperor and put it in the most eye-catching place, and then put it on the side of Fu Bi.

In recent years, the palace has rewarded the ink of the ministers, which is Li Mo of Shezhou. Shezhou Li is an ink-making family, its ink is as hard as jade, the pattern is like a rhino, the skin is rich and greasy, and the luster is like lacquer, so it is famous all over the world and is listed as a tribute. Li Mo, who rewarded the ministers, was placed in a red sandalwood box, which was beautifully carved and had the coat of arms of the imperial treasury. But now it is not Li Mo who is given to Fu Bi, but Di Mo, the king of Xiluo who is placed in a leopard skin bag.

The items were put aside, and there was a slight movement, Fu Bi looked at it sideways, and he also felt that there was a difference, so he picked up a piece of Wang Dimo and looked at it carefully.

"Isn't Li Mo a tribute now?" He asked me.

I know the reason for this, so I came one by one: "Li Mo is still a tribute, but because this year's red sandalwood is out of stock, there is no box, Li asked Yi to use the cinnamon box, the official family is not allowed, saying that Li Mo, who rewards the ministers, is all prosperous with red sandalwood, if it is easy to use the cinnamon box, I am afraid that the ministers have doubts about the attenuation of grace, so they simply do not take it." Xiluo Wang Dimo only uses far smoke deer glue, there is dragon musk, it is also a rare good ink, and it is full of a thousand golden leopards, which is quite wild, and the official family ordered this year's royal reward for Wang Dimo. ”

Fu Bi said: "The world loves Li Mo a lot, if you give it up because of the box, isn't it the same as buying a pearl?" ”

I replied: "Huaiji is brave, may I ask the bachelor, is Shezhou Li Mo your favorite ink?" ”

Fu Bi smiled: "That's not it! I only love Chai Xun Dong Yaomo. ”

"That's right," I continued, "although Li Mo is good, he is not irreplaceable, and there are also people who prefer Xiluo Wang Dimo, Chai Xun Dong Yaomo, Xuanzhou Sheng Shimo, or Dongshan Chen's Mo. Playthings preference, because of the person and easy, but there is a royal reward and royal gift, the world will like to ask Li Mo, the red sandalwood box, more people are particularly valued, a little bright, people will know that it is the royal gift, if Li Mo is not given a red sandalwood box, there are bound to be unwarranted suspicions, it is better to change the name of another family. ”

"Yes, yes, although colleagues in the DPRK and China like to ask Li Mo, there are many people who don't use it, but it's the box of red sandalwood, no one doesn't like it." Fu Bi nodded again and again, very agreeing, "Someone once joked, why don't you ask the official family to give us only a red sandalwood box, and a few silver coins, let us buy our favorite famous ink and put it in......"

He smiled and was in a better mood, but I smiled lightly and stopped talking.

Suddenly, his smile faded, as if he suddenly thought of something, and said, "Yes, yes, why didn't you think of it before?" ”

He got up and waved solemnly at me: "Thank you for the reminder." ”

After that, he sent an envoy to the Khitan and said to the lord of his country that the princess and princess may not have the same temperament, and it is easy to provoke when getting married, and it is difficult for the husband and wife to be in love, and the life of the person is short or different. Moreover, according to the story of marrying the eldest princess in the Southern Dynasty, the gift is only 100,000 yuan, and even if the emperor marries his biological daughter, it will not exceed this amount, which is far less than the annual profit.

The Khitan lord also intended to get more gold silk, and when he heard that the princess could not give away 100,000 yuan, he agreed to accept the proposal of the Southern Dynasty to increase the silver by 100,000 taels and the silk by 100,000 horses. So the two countries sent envoys to each other and swore an oath again, not mentioning the matter of peace and affinity with the land cession.

More than a month after Fu Bi returned from his mission, a woman in her thirties came from the inner palace, claiming to be Princess Fukang's nurse Han Shi, Wen Yan said to me: "The rich bachelor has fulfilled his mission, and the official family is very happy and intends to reward him, but he mentioned to the official family that he was inspired by you." The official told the queen and Miao Zhaorong again, and the queen also praised you, but said: 'This kid is smart, if he stays in the Privy Council for a long time, I am afraid that he will have something to say, so it is better to transfer to the back province.' Miao Zhaorong asked her to let you serve Princess Fukang, saying that it was fate that you helped the princess out of trouble twice. The queen asked me to ask your opinion first, and if you wished, you could transfer ...... Good boy, would you like to? ”

I said yes without much hesitation.

Soon after, I was officially transferred to the Inner Servant Province, promoted to the first rank, became a senior class of the Inner Servant, entered the Miao Zhaorong position, and served Princess Fukang.

My residence was also moved from the former province to the Inner Palace. On the day of the move, Zhang Chengzhao came to see me off, held my hand and said goodbye, and told me again: "Gou Fugui, don't forget each other." ”