The envoys of the Liao State left, but the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty and the ministers on the vertical arch hall were as uncomfortable as if they had eaten a fly.

They were threatened.

If you want to be angry, of course, you are angry in front of the Liao people, but it is uncomfortable to feel aggrieved if you don't dare.

Isn't it great to have cavalry?

There were also in the Great Song Dynasty back then, and there were quite a few.

If it weren't for the fact that the trade of Xitang and Tubo was broken, Xiliang would still be robbed by Western Xia, and the Great Song Dynasty would not be short of war horses. is not afraid of a war with Liao, but now, the stock of war horses in the Great Song Dynasty is not much. Once the Liao State crosses the border, the cities of the Great Song Dynasty may be fine, but the villages outside the cities should be unlucky.

The pressure of going to war, especially against an enemy who restrains oneself, is always unimaginable.

Zhao Xu looked at Zhang Xuan with a pale face, and said with difficulty: "Zhang Xiang, what do you think?" ”

Zhang Dan's stinky temper had already been thought of, but he also thought of the asymmetry in the strength of the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State. Unlike Western Xia, if the Liao State went south, it would be easy to hit the hinterland of the Central Plains. The economic destruction of the Great Song Dynasty was an unprecedented disaster. If he, the prime minister, insisted on going to war, in the end, the losses of the Great Song Dynasty would be so huge that everyone could not bear it. The Great Song Dynasty was not afraid of fighting with the Western Xia, and Guanzhong had long since ceased to be prosperous during the previous dynasties, but the places where the Liao people attacked were the richest areas in the Great Song Dynasty, and such losses could easily make the Great Song Dynasty completely collapse. In the end, he may be the kind of unlucky guy who made a mistake in history and was sacrificed to the flag.

His face was red and white for a while, and finally he sighed: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks it is not appropriate to make too many enemies." ”

Hearing Zhang Dan's recital, Zhao Xu breathed a sigh of relief. He was angry, but at the same time reason told him that not only would it not be beneficial to start a war with the Liao State, but it would also put the Great Song in great trouble.

Even his father didn't dare to think so.

"What about Aiqing?"

The emperor can't listen to Zhang Dan's words, the emperor needs a bowl of water, this is the case in the harem, and it should be the same in the court. Of course, with Zhao Xu's small body, if he wants a bowl of water in the harem, he has no hope in this life. Of the hundred concubines he married when he was ten years old, it is almost ten years old now, and many of them are virgins. It's not that he doesn't want to, but his body doesn't allow it! But in the court, showing his generosity, he still has this bit of energy.

Cai Bian felt that Zhang Dian had not finished speaking, as if he had something to say, but he had too many concerns. Who made him Zhang's henchman? The eldest didn't finish speaking, and the younger brother added.

He cleared his throat and said his opinion rarely: "The minister thinks that the Liao State threatens my Great Song with cavalry, although there is no sign of war, but my Great Song cannot be guarded. Our dynasty's energy was focused on Western Xia, and I had no time to take care of the threat of Liao. But the forbidden army on the two roads of Hebei cannot do nothing. ”

"What is Aiqing's plan?"

"Dig a ditch!" Cai Bian believed: "The cavalry needs an open plain, and our Great Song Dynasty does not have a very good defense. But digging ditches can hinder cavalry movements, and at the same time build water conservancy, killing two birds with one stone. Let the Liao State see that we are on guard and dare not act rashly. After the decisive victory of the Great Song Dynasty against the Western Xia, I can prepare for the Liao matter. ”

"Will the taxes not be able to support it?" Li Qingchen was worried that Cai Bian's doing this would reduce the expenditure of the household department on the northwest, which would cast a shadow on the already dominant war in the northwest.

Zhang Dian said angrily: "It won't shorten the money of your Privy Council." ”

In the face of the threat of force from the Liao State, the emperor and his ministers could not discuss a secret solution. Especially when facing 100,000 or even more cavalry going south, it is even more difficult. The Great Song Dynasty was not afraid of the invasion of the Western Xia, mainly because the Western Xia went south to the Great Song Guanzhong Plain, separated by hundreds of miles of mountainous land. No matter how many people there are in the Western Xia, it is difficult to break through the defense area of Huanqing Road and Yanyan Road. Even if the Western Xia invaded the Guanzhong Plain, it would still be difficult to enter the Central Plains. Hangu can't get through, everything is utopian. But the Liao State was different, once the Baoding Mansion was broken, the Daimyo Mansion, one of the four capitals, was exposed to the iron cavalry of the Liao State.

The Daimyo's Mansion was broken, then the Yellow River defense line was also unstable, and Bianliang was also exposed to the attack of the Liao Iron Cavalry.

If the capital is threatened, then the Great Song Dynasty will also be in the dark of nowhere.

At that time, Zhenzong was almost beaten to the capital by the Liao army, so he had to order a decisive battle with the Liao State in Lanzhou. The decisive battle on the plains can be imagined for the difficulty of the entire infantry of the Song army. Coupled with a restless Western Xia, Zhao Xu felt that when he was in power, he was determined to be the dream of an emperor for the ages, and there were signs of premature death.

Will it be effective to threaten the Great Song Dynasty with war?

A lot of times there will be.

The Western Xia showed signs of self-reliance during the Zhenzong period, and the Great Song Dynasty had long since commanded the Western Xia. But Zhenzong was killed and resurrected by the ministers, which dynasty and which generation had ministers who deceived the emperor to go to the front line to fight the courtiers?

There were no other dynasties, but they appeared in the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhenzong didn't want to follow in the footsteps of the Battle of the Abyss again and be coaxed by the ministers again. Besides, Western Xia is not Hedong or Hebei, and its importance to the Great Song Dynasty cannot be said at all. If you don't listen to the orders of the imperial court, don't listen to it, Zhenzong thinks it's nothing. The most important thing is that he is a dignified emperor, who was deceived by the minister and went to the front line, and in the end he did not win the battle. It hurts self-esteem.

In case the Great Song Dynasty did not win against the Western Xia, he, the emperor, should have been edicted.

Bowing his head and admitting his mistake is a shame that cannot be washed away in this life for any emperor.

It was not until the Renzong period that Li Yuanhao's rebellion began, and the court of the Great Song Dynasty suddenly discovered that Western Xia had become a confidant of the Great Song Dynasty. But after several big defeats, even Renzong lost confidence. In particular, the lack of taxes made the emperor and his ministers very nervous.

When Renzong suddenly discovered that the imperial court's annual expenditure exceeded the maximum of taxes, it reached two million guan. At that time, there were at least 50 million yuan of money accumulated in the treasury of Renzong's mansion. But the royal brother's family can't eat grain, right?

In fact, two million guan was not worth mentioning at all for the financial income of sixty or seventy million in the Great Song Dynasty at that time. In an ordinary year, it is only a few hundred thousand.

At this moment, it was like a catastrophe that made his old man unable to sit still. It is also the inducement of the Qingli New Deal. What redundant officials, redundant soldiers, redundant expenses, and other accumulated disadvantages are all fake. If it were another dynasty, a tax hike would have solved the problem. And as far as the gap is concerned, there is not much missing. Adjusting the salt and iron tax can be completely solved. But in the Great Song Dynasty, neither the emperor nor the officials thought about this problem. This is the necessary condition for the implementation of the law.

Renzong didn't think about adding endowment.

The Divine Sect didn't think about adding it either.

After Zhao Xu came to power, he didn't think about adding endowments. Don't look at the taxes of the Great Song Dynasty to create new highs year after year, mainly because the population is larger, with 30 million more people, it is strange that the taxes are not much.

As for the large gap between the rich and the poor in the Great Song Dynasty, the gap between the people in the city and the people who worked in agriculture made the bottom of society extremely unstable. But this is also nonsense, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Great Song Dynasty is large, but the reason for the big is not a problem of geography, but a problem of occupation. The income of farmers who cultivated the land was small, mainly because the Great Song Dynasty controlled grain prices too strictly.

The Great Song Dynasty's suppression of grain prices has reached the peak of the feudal dynasty, and it can even be said that it is terrifying. Since the founding of the country, the recorded price of grain has been maintained at between 200 and 300 wen per stone. The price of salt has dropped from more than 150 wen during the Tang Dynasty to 45 wen a catty for the best sea salt. At such a price, for farmers with a yield of only more than two stones per mu, especially those tenants who have no land and rent crops, there is no money left after a year's hard work. But if you want to say, you can't eat it, and you can't say it. There were many rebellions in the Great Song Dynasty, and the purpose of many rebel leaders was very impure, they were waiting for the court to recruit peace and become officials.

The huge gap between the rich and the poor between the urban population and the rural population is the dilemma of the Great Song Dynasty.

Urban populations, in particular, can easily earn twice as much as a farmer, but have much lower taxes than farmers. This led to the extremely developed handicraft industry in the Great Song Dynasty, and a large number of skilled peasants abandoned their land and entered the city life. This is probably the biggest dilemma of the Great Song Dynasty. Especially the urban population, you can be a slave for the rich, and even a young girl can be a concubine for the rich. Don't think that entering the eunuch's house as a concubine is inferior, the concubine also has to sign a contract, and after two years, when she sees the world, she can still go out of the house and marry.

Moreover, young women who have been concubines for official eunuchs are quite popular in the marriage leave market. Because these women have seen the rules of noble families, it is a shortcut to be able to pass on the family and improve the tutoring of ordinary people.

It is impossible for any feudal dynasty to solve the gap between the agricultural population and the urban population and abolish the agricultural tax.

Can't the emperors and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty see the dilemma?

No, they can all see, not only see, but also think of possible solutions.

The reason why Zhao Xu wanted to fight the Western Xia was to solve the predicament, and after removing the external threat, he continued to implement the reform of the law, so as to alleviate social contradictions.

But war is not so easy either.

Western Xia didn't lie down, and the Liao State jumped out again.

This made Zhao Xu very worried, and the Liao State was much more tricky than the Western Xia. The Great Song Dynasty was repeatedly frustrated even in dealing with Western Xia, not to mention that there was suddenly an additional Liao State.

After discussing for a long time, the monarch and the ministers thought of a countermeasure, which was not a countermeasure, but whether it was the emperor or the court, they all needed to urgently know the current situation of Western Xia. As for Weizhou, Hongzhou, Longzhou and Yinzhou, which were eaten by the Great Song Dynasty, they couldn't spit it out anything.

As a last resort, Zhang Dian finally pinned his hopes on Li Kui, maybe the situation in Western Xia was worse than they imagined?

Zhang Dian immediately suggested: "Official, the Great Song Dynasty must send an envoy into Western Xia as soon as possible. If necessary, go to Yanyan Road and Huanqing Road, and immediately let Fan Chunren and Zhang Qi send a large army to escort them. ”

"A list of missions?" Zhao Xu hesitated.

Zhang Dian insisted: "Didn't you originally draw up one? If Li Kui supported Li Bingqian's rebellion in Western Xia and succeeded, this would be the best time to re-demarcate the territory with Western Xia. If you miss it, there may be variables. ”

As soon as he said this, An Tao, the second-in-command of the Privy Council, could only express his position. He bowed down to Zhao Xu and said: "The official family, the ministers will live up to expectations and include the land of the four states in the Great Song Dynasty." ”

"Okay, it's hard work with Lao Anqing." Zhao Xu was somewhat relieved, and it was rare for the ministers to unite. It seems that the Liao envoys are not useless, and sometimes they can still bring a little benefit to the Great Song Dynasty. He continued: "Then what should the Liao envoys do? ”

The army forced the border, which was not good news for the envoys of the Liao State.

Two days later.

An Tao stared at the Liao envoy vigilantly, these Liao people didn't know how to convince Zhang Dan, and they wanted to go to Western Xia with them. The purpose must be that the comer is not good, and wants to destroy the fruits of the victory of the Great Song Dynasty in Western Xia. But after waiting for a long time, Yelu Baoji, the highest-ranking little prince among the Liao people, has no plans to get in the car and hurry, which makes An Tao feel a little worse about this person.

The little prince Yelu Baoji looked up at the towering city wall of Bianliang and said sadly: "This has been going for many years, it should be a good day and a good time, and it should be a false ......" After speaking, he sighed sadly.

An Tao had a very bad impression of the little prince Yelu Baoji, who threatened the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty and the court a few days ago, and then followed him to the death.

Now, there are pretending to read Liu Yong's "Yulin Bell", another obsessed with Liu Yong's obscene embryo. Fortunately, this person is a Liao person, An Tao said in a comfortable heart.

An Tao is a very decent person, but he was also confused by Yelu Baoji's play. Who came to the capital of the Great Song Dynasty to be an envoy? Or are you here to play?

As soon as he got on the road, An Tao understood that this product was here to play, and before he had a good time, he was ruined by the emperor of Liao.

"How can Cai Lou be compared to Qingfeng Lou? What Lord An said, Xiao Wang didn't dare to agree. Cai Lou's singer, how dare she compare with Qingfeng Lou? It's a big difference, the lyrics are even more old-fashioned, and the appearance is much worse......"

The head of what the little prince Ye Lu Baoji said is the Tao, and he is obviously such a veteran. The restaurant in Da Song also has guest rooms, which is very revealing. Moreover, in the restaurant of Da Song, as long as the guests pay the money, any service can be added until the guests are satisfied. An Tao's face was full of black lines, and he even thought that the Khitan nobleman in front of him, who exuded the smell of beef and mutton all over his body, didn't know how many dusty women of the Great Song Dynasty had been disgusted.

But being followed by the Liao State Mission, An Tao couldn't have an attack, so he had to be disdainful, but he said quietly on his face: "The little prince is so Yaxing." ”

Yelu Baoji sighed: "Xiao Wang has gold and silver, but he has no talent, which is quite a pity." Xiao Wang has been obsessed with pretty branches for a long time, but unfortunately the beauty doesn't have good lyrics and songs, and she can't even see her face. I don't know...... Is Xiao Wang lucky! ”

With this obscene appearance, An Tao almost turned his back on it. He was also born in Jinshi, and he was also young, although his talent is not as good as Li Qingchen and Su Zhe, he is also quite talented. Poetry and songs are not a problem, but the problem is that he is a dignified and important minister of the Song Dynasty, can he sell his talents and write poems for Yelu Baoji, a nasty prostitute?

If his juniors dared to say that, he would have twitched his mouth a long time ago.

Don't look at who you are, the barbarian of the Liao Kingdom, and you deserve to let him Lord An bend his waist?

Seeing that An Tao's face was not good, Yelu Baoji shut up and secretly said that it was a pity. It seemed that in order to have nothing to say, he said to himself: "Xiao Wang has also asked friends for help, but it is a pity that the poems written by the students who are too learned make the top girl in the teaching workshop quite disdainful, and Xiao Wang is also helpless." ”

"Actually, Xiao Wang just wants to learn how to write poems from An Daren, so I thought that if An Daren had an old manuscript before, he could let Xiao Wang copy and learn it."

The corners of An Tao's mouth opened slightly, quite disdainful. Your old man has already used this trick when he was young, can I be fooled and suffer this loss?

Who hasn't been young and has ever admired a young and beautiful woman?

But to help the aliens, don't even think about it. Old man An is also a person with integrity.

When you are older, your waist is no longer good, and your body bones are useless, you can understand how ridiculous the indulgence of youth is. An Tao was harassed by the little prince, and rushed all the way to the territory of Huanzhou Prefecture, and after customs clearance, Zhang Qi escorted An Tao to Weizhou. Out of Weizhou, it is the territory of Western Xia.

"Houqing, I won't send this line to my brother, take care!"

"Thanks to Brother Qianfu's fight for the country, I have the opportunity to enter Xingqing Mansion in peace." An Tao said with emotion.

If this was said on another occasion, Zhang Ji would have suffered. But in this battle, even he won a little blush. The retreat of the Western Xia army was not driven out by him, and he withdrew inexplicably. He didn't fight Weizhou, but Renduo took refuge and offered himself. And just after learning about Li Kui's situation in Western Xia, even Zhang Qi blushed, and said to An Tao with a red face: "This foolish brother doesn't dare to be greedy, Houqing will know when he goes to Xingqing Mansion." ”

Asking, Zhang Qi kept silent.

This surprised An Tao, and with doubts in his heart, he urged the guards to hurry as soon as possible.

Two days later, he entered the territory of Pingxi Mansion, seeing that the city gate was in front of him, and suddenly the cavalry of the brigade came out of the city gate, so frightened that An Tao almost rolled off the car: "You won't follow in the footsteps of Su Wu, right?" In a hurry, An Tao shouted: "The two armies are fighting, and they will not be injured." ”

But in the sight, I found that one of the generals at the head, after approaching the convoy, jumped off the horse, spoke awkward Chinese, knelt down towards An Tao's car, and shouted: "Villain Guhar, on the order of my family's marshal, welcome Master An!" ”

An Tao was dumbfounded, he was embarrassed to be tricked by the Tanguts. At the same time, I don't understand, this thing can't be pretended to be a spy from the Imperial City Division, right?

Aren't you afraid that after being exposed, you will be killed by the party members?

Fortunately, An Tao was a high-ranking official of the Great Song Dynasty after all, although he was frightened, he quickly stabilized his mind, his momentum soared, he looked down at Guhar who was kneeling on the ground, and asked, "Why didn't Li Kui come to greet the old man?" ”

The flattery on Guhar's face suddenly dissipated, he stood up angrily, and said angrily to An Tao: "Let my family handsome personally greet you, and you are also worthy?" ”

An Tao was almost angry and almost planted an upside-down onion and died on the edge of the wheel.