At the same time when the Song and Xia countries were fighting for the Hetao, Yelu Hongji, the emperor of Liao, was in Liaoyang Mansion, Tokyo, and met with Fujiwara Yuzhang, the special envoy of the Japanese emperor who came to envoy Liao.

Yelu Hongji had sent an envoy to Heiankyo last year, and he knew that the Fujiwara family was the real ruler of Japan, and this Fujiwara Yusho was the second heir of the Fujiwara family, and his status in the family was very high, and Yelu Hongji also received him with great courtesy.

Interestingly, no one in Liao spoke Japanese, and no one in Japan spoke Khitan, so they found a common language, which was Chinese.

The Liao envoy who went to Heiankyo last year was also fortunate to be able to speak Chinese, so he was able to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to communicate.

In the newly completed Tokyo Imperial Palace, Fujiwara Yusho held a ceremony and solemnly presented his credentials and letter to Yelu Hongji.

Yelu Hongji immediately set up a banquet to invite the Japanese envoy and his entourage.

Yelu Hongji's Chinese is very good, and the Chinese he speaks directly, and Fujiwara Yuzhang speaks Japanese, which is translated by a Japanese official who is proficient in Chinese next to him.

"It seems that Mr. Fujiwara can also speak Chinese?" Yelu Hongji asked with a smile.

Fujiwara Yuzhang bowed slightly, and said seriously: "The children of Japanese nobles have asked to learn Chinese and learn the culture of the Central Plains since they were young, and it has always been a tradition since the Sui and Tang dynasties, and of course I can also speak Chinese." ”

The translator next to him translated his words into Chinese, and Yelu Hongji smiled and nodded, "In that case, why don't we all talk in Chinese?" ”

Fujiwara Yuaki explained: "I didn't learn Chinese very well, and as a state envoy, I was afraid of using the wrong words and causing unnecessary misunderstandings, so I tried to be as cautious as possible and did not use foreign languages. ”

Yelu Hongji laughed, "That's right, this is a qualified messenger, and you can't cause unnecessary misunderstandings. ”

Next to him, Yelu Yixin smiled and asked: "Our Son of Heaven is very concerned about Japan's shipbuilding industry, I don't know what the level of Japanese shipbuilding is?" ”

Fujiwara Yuzhang shook his head, "It's okay for Japan to build small boats in the near sea, but it's not okay to build big ships across the sea, and the boats we take are still purchased from the Song Dynasty." ”

Yelu Hongji's eyes lit up, and he held the wine cup in his hand and asked, "Can you buy ships from the Song Dynasty at will?" ”

"We can only buy ships below 5,000 stones, and the price is very expensive, three times the purchase price of their Song Dynasty people, there is no way, the goods sold by the Song Dynasty to Japan are much more expensive than their homeland."

Yelu Hongji quickly gave Yelu Yixin a look, and Yelu Yixin understood, he knew how to do business with Japan.

..........

The Japanese envoy was arranged in your hotel, and Fujiwara Yuzhang retreated, and then complained to the translation official: "I said that I can't pretend to be an envoy, Fan Xianggong has to let me go, and today I leaked a sentence in Chinese, and I was almost exposed." ”

Of course, this Fujiwara Yuzhang is not the real Fujiwara Yuzhang, his real identity is Yu Xiaonian, the envoy of the North Overseas Economic Strategy, who was ordered to pretend to be a Japanese envoy.

Of course, the national letters and ceremonial clothes he carried were all genuine, and this was a secret deal reached between Fanning and Fujiwara Kyotsu, the Song Dynasty supported the Fujiwara family to deal with the Genji family, and Fujiwara Kyotsu cooperated with the Song Dynasty to carry out strategic deception against the Liao State.

The translator is Cheng Qing, the deputy envoy of the North Overseas Economic Strategy, and several of the entourage are all officials of the Economic Strategy Mansion.

Cheng Qing smiled slightly: "Didn't Yu Yuanjun explain it well?" Japanese aristocrats have to learn Chinese and kanji, and it is normal for them to be able to speak Chinese fluently. ”

Yu Xiaonian took a sip of wine and said: "Today I can see that Yelu Hongji wants to buy the Song army warship through us, and it was guessed by Xiao Fan Xianggong, I really don't understand, how can Xiao Fan Xianggong be so shrewd?" ”

"The problem is Yelu Yixin, it is the topic he brought up, Guo Kui said, they have bought an important minister in the Liao State, I suspect it is this Yelu Yixin."

"This makes sense, it is estimated that Xiao Fan Xianggong wanted to kill the Liao State with inferior ships, and then the naval battle broke out, and tens of thousands of Liao troops sank to the bottom of the sea with the ships, that scene was really spectacular."

At this time, there was a report from outside, "Yelu Xiangguo is here!" ”

Yu Xiaonian immediately switched to Japanese and said with a smile: "Zuoemon, Liaoguo mutton tastes good, we have to bring a little more when we go back." ”

Yelu Yixin walked in quickly and said with a smile, "Mr. Fujiwara seems to be in a good mood. ”

Cheng Qing said in Chinese: "The young master of my family thinks that the Liaoguo mutton is very good, and it is very fragrant when it is roasted, and he is ready to take some back." ”

"That's easy, when you go, you can take as much as you can."

Yu Xiaonian said in very broken Chinese: "Thank you very much!" ”

Yelu Yixin laughed, "No thanks!" ”

He put away his smile and said slowly: "My son of heaven wants to exchange pig iron for 3,000 stone and 5,000 stone ships of the Song Dynasty, and you will buy them on your behalf, is this plan feasible?" ”

Yu Xiaonian pretended to groan: "But you can, but the big ship is very expensive, how much do you want?" ”

"It's not a problem that it's expensive, we will increase the price by two percent on the basis of your purchase price, as your profit, we want fifty ships of three thousand stones and twenty ships of five thousand stones, can we do it?"

Yu Xiaonian said: "The Great Song Dynasty will not sell us so many ships at one time, it will take at least two or three years to buy slowly, but I will first state that this is not a trade of Japan, but a business between our Fujiwara family and the Liao State, and Japan and the Great Song Dynasty have an agreement that they cannot sell strategic materials to the Liao State, and this matter should not be known to the Japanese court." ”

Yelu Yixin agreed, "This is no problem, are there any other difficulties?" ”

Yu Xiaonian pondered for a while and said: "There is also the Fujian family of the Liao State pig iron that also plans to buy it through Guo Huaixin, and it is best that the two sides do not have direct contact, so as not to affect the relationship between Japan and the Great Song Dynasty and affect the purchase of ships." ”

Yelu Yixin is not surprised at all, the Japanese envoy was invited by Guo Huaixin, and it is believed that some kind of deal has been reached between them, Yelu Yixin even suspects that Japan bought the big ships of the Song Dynasty through Guo Huaixin.

Of course, Yelu Yixin will not object, if the pig iron is sold directly to Japan, who will give him kickbacks? He himself had to do this business through Guo Huaixin.

It's a bit funny to think about it, Liao and Japan traded strategic materials, but they were made by a Song Dynasty businessman, but there was no way, one made a profit, the other made a game, no matter how ridiculous it was, it had to be accepted seriously.

The two discussed the details for a few more moments, and then got up to take their leave.

.........

Coming out of your hotel, Yelu Yixin hurried back to the palace, today is not the time to talk about business, at least until tomorrow and tomorrow before the official talks, but Yelu Hongji is in a hurry to rush back to Beijing, he needs to first set the general direction of trade with Japan.

In the living hall, Yelu Hongji listened to Yelu Yixin's report, and smiled, "Sure enough, the Chinese is not very good, it's a bit plausible, he actually said thank you very much, he actually wanted to say thank you very much!" ”

"It should be! The Japanese envoys had agreed to His Majesty's request to buy ships from the Great Song Dynasty on our behalf, but they proposed that the trade in pig iron and ships should be done privately. ”

Yelu Hongji frowned, and said with some puzzlement: "Why take the route of private trade, instead of normal trade between the two countries?" ”

"Your Majesty, the key is that the goods of trade are more sensitive, if it is a normal trade of goods, it doesn't matter, but what we want to buy is the ships of the Great Song Dynasty, once discovered by the Great Song Dynasty, it will inevitably cut off trade with Japan, and Japan can't afford it, and it is also to make the Liao Kingdom get ships smoothly, so a little flexibility, Weichen feels that it is acceptable, anyway, the essence of the warship coming to Liao will not change."

"Alright! I only care about whether the ship can be delivered smoothly, and you can discuss with the other party what to do, and you don't need to report to me. ”

Yelu Yixin said again: "Weichen has estimated that in order to exchange for the ships required by His Majesty, and at the same time ensure the Liao military war, it is necessary to increase the mining and smelting of pig iron, and another 100,000 Han people must be invested. ”

"Quasi-play! You are solely responsible for the arrangement. ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Yelu Hongji picked up a letter on the table and handed it to Yelu Yixin, "This is a letter written by the Empress Dowager Liang of Western Xia, asking for the Song army to join forces with us to attack Hetao and Yulin, what do you think?" ”

After reading the letter, Yelu Yixin sneered and said: "If the Western Xia can't even keep a Hetao, we don't need such a covenant, looking at the tone of the letter, there is neither the respect and pleading of the subordinates, nor any compensation to the Liao State, so he directly asks us to send troops, and the Western Xia obviously thinks that it is our responsibility for the Song army to enter the Hetao, so we are asked to bear the consequences together." ”

Yelu Hongji read the letter again, it was really what Yelu Yixin said, he was really a little dissatisfied, and said coldly: "The Liao State and the Song Dynasty exchanged land, there is no need to inform the Western Xia, they themselves were negligent in their defense, lost the Hetao, and finally came to accuse us, who does she think she is, I am something she can control?" ”

Yelu Yixin said in a low voice: "Weichen heard that this woman has a great desire for power and is reckless, so it is better to use Western Xia to weaken the national strength of the Great Song Dynasty, and wait until we have quelled the Jurchen and grassland rebellions and stabilized the domestic political situation, and then it is not too late to slowly clean up the Great Song Dynasty." ”

Everyone has a delusion when they are in adversity, they all feel that adversity is temporary, and if they get through it, the situation will slowly get better, in fact, only a few people will get through it, and the situation of the vast majority of people will only get worse.

Yelu Hongji is no exception, now Da Liao has encountered all kinds of difficulties, he does not reflect on his own problems, but blindly put the blame on the Chongyuan rebellion, because Yelu Chongyuan rebellion shook the national system, which led to the division of Liao and affected the Liao army and economy.

He nodded, "Aiqing is right, when I put down the rebellion in the north and stabilize the situation, I will go back and clean up the Song Dynasty and make up for the coins owed to me." ”