Almost in the afternoon when Yelu Zongzhen and Zhang Jian discussed countermeasures, the notice from Song Guo's side was already in place.

Soon, the ministers of the Liao State knew the news.

Because Zhang Jian's news came from a spy from the Liao State on the Song side, the fast horse was sent to Nanjing as soon as possible, so Yelu Zongzhen got first-hand information.

And Fan Zhongyan was sent to Liao through official channels, so the news must be impossible to hide, and it is naturally known to the ministers of Liao.

When the ministers of the Liao State got the news, they were immediately furious, and even the officials who were originally talking about peace closed their mouths. The main battle faction immediately gained the upper hand, and they all appealed to Yelu Zongzhen, demanding that troops and horses be gathered immediately and march south.

Fortunately, Yelu Zongzhen got the news in advance and discussed it with Zhang Jian. Otherwise, in this situation, I am afraid that he will be coerced by the domestic magnates and ministers to send troops.

The problem now is that there will definitely be no good end for sending troops, they have just experienced a big defeat, their morale is low, and the grain and grass are still on the way, so naturally they can't fight a siege war with the Song State.

And in order to achieve the strategic threat of bypassing the cities of the Song Kingdom as mentioned earlier, directly attacking Hebei, Henan and other places in the Song Kingdom, and wantonly plundering the hinterland of the Song Dynasty, it is definitely impossible to rely on the more than 100,000 leather room troops in the hands of Yelu Zongzhen at present, and it is necessary to gather soldiers and horses from all over the country.

Otherwise, the army of more than 100,000 people will go south, the soldiers and horses on the Hebei Road will block the way back, and the main force of the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Song State will be encircled, how long can your cavalry last only by plundering in the field?

War horses will be tired, and people will have to go around looting to survive. Although the Song army was two-legged, its endurance was stronger than that of horses, and the Song army also had about 100,000 cavalry. When you rob or the horses rest, people will take advantage of the siege, and I am afraid that this army of more than 100,000 will soon be wiped out.

Therefore, if you want to complete this grand strategy, first of all, your army's combat power must be stronger than the Song army, and the number of people is greater than that of the Song army, and the destructive power will be greater. Otherwise, there are fewer soldiers and horses, and to do this kind of thing is probably no different from delivering food.

Yelu Zongzhen is just not the top in ability, but it does not mean that a person with the nickname "Xing" is mediocre and incompetent, so he can naturally understand how dangerous the current situation of the Liao State is.

Therefore, in the face of the surging willingness to send troops in the country, as one of the few people who can barely stay sober, Yelu Zongzhen will naturally not agree to their request.

But the Liao Emperor also has many shackles, and it is not something that he can do with all his strength.

Although the Liao State has completed the transformation from tribal civilization to feudal system, the Liao State still carries the shadow of grassland nomads and tribal culture in its bones.

The nobles of the Liao State were not only powerful people, but also the leaders of various tribes, and if Yelu Zong really faced such a situation of public anger and forcibly suppressed them, and did not fight with the Song State, but chose to agree to the conditions of the Song State, it would be a huge blow to his prestige.

Therefore, Yelu Zongzhen had to think of a way to appease the domestic magnates and skillfully complete the deal with the Song State.

The best result was naturally that the Song State agreed to their conditions.

But at present, I am afraid that it is more difficult, and now the prefect of the Political Yuan of the Song Kingdom will not give him any chance at all, and even the previous New Year's coins will be canceled, which will be a very big blow to the prestige of Yelu Zong.

For this reason, Yelu Zongzhen was forced to say that he would give Song Guo a counterattack when he met with his ministers, and when he discussed with Zhang Jian in private, it was another way.

On the one hand, he told his ministers that he would gather soldiers and horses, ask for money, food, soldiers and horses from all subject countries and tribes, and actively prepare for a decisive battle with the Song State.

On the other hand, he discussed with Zhang Jian to see if he could continue to send people to talk to the Song Kingdom, even if he could not increase the currency, but he must maintain the previous thirty thousand yuan of coins every Chinese New Year's Eve, so that he could also make a difference to the country.

Obviously, Yelu Zong is really preparing for both.

Zhao Jun's two-handed preparation was a condition that Liao agreed to him, so the two sides would conclude an alliance peacefully. If he did not agree, he would incite the rebellion of the subordinate tribes in the rear of the Liao State.

Yelu Zongzhen hoped that the Liao and Song dynasties would take a step back, and since the other party was unwilling to increase the coin, then restore the alliance of the Yuanyuan.

At the same time, test the attitudes of the various subject countries and tribes, if their attitudes change and are no longer as respectful as before, I am afraid that Yelu Zong will really have to suffer a loss, pinching his nose and admitting the peace talks with the Song State.

If their attitude does not change, then they will naturally start to move in earnest, and whether they really start to use that grand strategy or strategic deterrence, they must take action.

Of course.

The premise of all this is that those subject countries and tribes do not eat Zhao Jun's set, and they are all iron bones to follow Yelu Zongzhen to the black.

So in this situation, the Song and Liao countries actually achieved peace for a short time.

It's just secretly surging.

Yelu Zongzhen ostensibly appeased the magnates of the Liao State and the main war faction, declaring that he would mobilize for war, and then immediately sent people to various large tribes to ask them to send troops and provide grain and grass.

In fact, he maintained frequent correspondence with Fan Zhongyan, expressing his willingness to back down, hoping that the Song State could restore the conditions of the Lanyuan Alliance.

Fan Zhongyan originally wanted to inform the Liao envoy's request back to Bianliang, but thinking about Zhao Jun's attitude, he finally decided not to be scolded, and he rejected Yelu Zongzhen's meaning, and also expressed Zhao Jun's attitude.

In fact, it is simple for Yelu Zong to really want money and grain to appease the country, open a mutual market, and exchange the horses, minerals and other resources that were previously prohibited from being sold, and the two sides take what they need and benefit each other.

It's just that the Liao State used to regard the Song State as the Southern Dynasty and itself as the orthodoxy of the Northern Dynasty, so it often asked all countries to come to the court, put the status of the Song State under it, and said that the Song State's annual coin was a tribute given by the lower state to the Liao State, which caused Yelu Zongzhen to be unwilling to accept the Song State's demand for equal status between the two sides.

Second, for horses, minerals and other national strategic resources, not only the Liao State itself banned the sale of foreign resources, the Song Dynasty will also prohibit some strategic resources, such as copper coins, books, sulfur, nitrate, copper and iron and other materials are prohibited from exporting, Jingde two years Song Zhenzong also ordered to restrict the sale of brocade silk: "Let Xiongzhou not be allowed to Jinqi, silk and other payment field trade."

It can be seen that both sides have imposed an embargo on strategic materials, so why can the Song State still carry out a strategic blockade against us? Liao must now deregulate this? So the Liao side naturally didn't want to agree.

So the two sides went on like this for a long time.

Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Jian even met and talked several times, but the two sides still could not come up with terms that satisfied each other.

The main reason is that the conditions on the side of the Song State have been fixed and cannot be changed.

The Liao, on the other hand, already thought that they had retreated again and again, for example, they admitted that the Song State had occupied the land on the south bank of Laishui, and had also canceled the increase in currency.

At the beginning, when they promised to restore the Lanyuan Alliance, they even hoped that the Song State would withdraw from the south bank of Laishui, which was still bounded by the Baigou River. Now the Liao State has taken another step back, recognizing that all the south of Fanyang belongs to the Great Song Dynasty, but it must keep the old coin.

In the eyes of Liao, this is already a great diplomatic fiasco, but Song is still not satisfied, that is, it wants to cancel the New Year's currency and restore the relationship between the two sides on an equal footing, so that the Liao side is really helpless.

Therefore, Yelu Sect really couldn't talk about it, so he had to look at the domestic situation before making a decision.

In the midst of this tugging, time passed quickly.

In April of the first year of Kandi, in the Xijin Mansion, as time went by, Yelu Zongzhen's heart sank to the bottom.

In the back garden, Yelu Zongzhen just now impassionedly expressed to the magnates of the main battle faction that he must teach Song Guo a hard lesson, which won the cheers and support of a large number of magnates, and returned to the back garden in the blink of an eye, his face was already iron-blue.

Zhang Jian sat calmly in the garden, in the early summer of April, the weather in the north has begun to heat up, everything is reviving and the sun is rising, and the Yanshan Mountains in the north of Xijin Mansion are already green, with a slight fragrance of flowers.

Yelu Zongzhen shattered another letter and threw it into the brazier in the pavilion, on which wine was still roasted, but at this time he was not in the mood to drink at all.

Because lately, it's always been bad news for him.

"The Eighth Department of the Enemy Martyrs also resigned, they are only willing to send 8,000 people, and the grain and grass are only 50,000 hu."

Yelu Zongzhen sat opposite Zhang Jian, and the expression on his face was quite ugly.

During the period of his father, Liao Shengzong, the large tribes of the rest of the ethnic groups except the Khitan were divided into 34 tribes.

These thirty-four tribes became the cornerstone of the Liao regime, and they contributed horses, soldiers, grain and grass to the Liao State, and the Liao State had a population of less than 9 million at its peak, known as one million soldiers, mainly from these tribes.

Otherwise, the Khitan people, the main ethnic group of Liao, will have only 1.5 million people at most, and they will definitely not be able to come with a million soldiers and horses.

Therefore, if Yelu Zong really wants to call on the soldiers and horses of the whole country, he can naturally only give orders to these tribes.

However, the outcome of the incident embarrassed him very much.

The total population of the eight enemy martyrs is three or four hundred thousand, and when all the clans are soldiers, there must be no problem with an army of seventy or eighty thousand, but in the end, only a few thousand people were sent, which was similar to sending Hanako, which made Yelu Zongzhen's nose almost crooked.

Zhang Jian sighed and said: "These tribes have no heart with my Liao State, it was the first emperor who surrendered to the southern and northern wars in the first year, but since the first emperor, they have also rebelled repeatedly, such as the big rhubarb room, the small yellow room Wei, the black bone, the cha base, the hoe Bode, the West Xi, the East Xi and other departments, have there been fewer rebellions in these years?" ”

"Alas, fortunately, I listened to Father Shang's words, and did not order them to fight, but only let them send people as appropriate, otherwise this order will continue, I am afraid that if the Song State is instigated, the Liao State will already rebel everywhere."

Yelu Zong really sighed.

Thinking back to the time when his father Liao Shengzong subdued the tribes in the north and organized them into thirty-four divisions, he could immediately command 500,000 troops to attack Western Xia with a call, how majestic.

As a result, in less than a few decades, the Liao State has declined to this point.

In addition to the eight tribes of the enemy, the other five major tribes, such as the five kingdoms, the Changbai Mountain tribe, the Yajak tribe, the Limei tribe, and the East China Sea Nuzhi, all sent troops and food for various reasons.

Recently, Yelu Zongzhen's original young man's spirit was visibly dissipating with the naked eye, and the burden seemed to be pressing on him, and he couldn't breathe.

"The Song State is not as good as the Western Xia, the Western Xia Kingdom is small and poor, even if it has the strength to threaten us, there is no possibility of destroying the Great Liao. However, the strength of the Song State is not weaker than that of the Liao State, and it is even faintly strong, if it loses the force and bullet pressure, it will only make our situation more difficult. ”

Zhang Jian said seriously: "Your Majesty, forgive the minister. Now Da Liao's situation is already very serious. The various tribes were attached to the Great Liao because of the strength of the Great Liao, and they would also leave due to the decline of the Great Liao. If I forcibly recruit all the ministries, it will only give the Song State an opportunity to take advantage of, it is better to calm the situation, first resolve the immediate crisis, rectify the country, and be determined to restructure, so as to reproduce the grand occasion of the first emperor's period. ”

"Then, according to Father Shang's opinion, can I really only agree to the conditions proposed by Song Guo?"

Yelu Zongzhen frowned.

This will be a serious blow to his prestige.

Zhang Jian pondered: "The minister thinks that it can only be like this, but when it comes to His Majesty's face, the minister thinks that there may be other ways." ”

"Oh?"

Yelu Zong was really busy asking, "How?" ”

Zhang Jian said: "The Song State demanded equality between the two countries, but they did not really do so, they asked us to relax the restrictions on horses, mineral deposits and other outputs, but they still banned the inflow of iron weapons, which is obviously unreasonable. ”

"Hmm"

Yelu Zongzhen nodded slightly.

Zhang Jian continued: "As for the problem of money and grain, it is also simple, as far as the minister knows, the price of war horses in the Song Kingdom has risen to one or two hundred guan per horse, if it is a good horse, it is possible to run thousands or even tens of thousands. His Majesty sold thousands of war horses to the Song Kingdom, and then told the country that this was the Song Dynasty New Year's coin, and then rewarded everyone. ”

Yelu Zong was really stunned, and then said, "How is this different from covering your ears and stealing the bell?" ”

Zhang Jian smiled bitterly: "Then what can be done?" Now that the Song Kingdom eats soft and not hard, it is necessary to discuss with them and exchange war horses or mineral deposits for this name. In the future, this method will be used every year. Moreover, the opening of war horses and mineral deposits is still beneficial to Liao. ”

"First appease the country, and then trade with the Song State, so that the treasury of the Great Liao is full. As long as the Liao State can temporarily tide over this crisis, the treasury will have money and food, and then the armed forces will be strengthened and our troops and horses will be strengthened. ”

"At that time, many tribes in the country can be subdued, and then the system will be changed again, and the national strength will be increased, and the tribes will not dare to make another attempt, and the situation will be stable."

"When the Liao State becomes strong and prosperous, and the grand occasion of the first emperor is restored, it may not be possible to go south and fight to the death with the Great Song Dynasty again."

"But at least for the time being, we still have to be safe."

In the end, Zhang Jian was already serious.

In fact, he also knew that even if he and Song Guo opened up strategic resources to each other, it would be a loss.

Because the Liao State is an export of resources, and the Song State is an imported resource, and then it becomes an export of finished products, which is somewhat similar to the situation of resource exporters and industrial exporters in later generations.

Although Zhang Jian definitely didn't know about the things of the later generations, as a wise man who could assist the Liao Holy Sect in creating a great cause, he naturally understood these truths.

So how could he hope so?

However, at present, Liao is now facing these dilemmas, and if the export of resources does not alleviate domestic contradictions, I am afraid that Liao will only become more and more decaying.

Even if Yeluzong really endured this evil breath and did not negotiate peace with the Song State, but only stopped sending troops to the south to invade, this could not alleviate the domestic problems, and the various tribes would see the decline of the Liao State, and the rebellious heart would only grow bigger and bigger.

At that time, even if the Liao State did not fight with the Song State, it would fall into endless internal friction, counterinsurgency, and finally perish.

Therefore, Zhang Jian's path is correct.

First, use strategic materials to exchange money and grain from the Song State to tide over the difficulties, and at the same time appease the various tribes, first strengthen their Liao State itself.

After the force on which the Liao State relied for its livelihood was restored, it continued to subdue many tribes and maintain political stability.

When the regime was stabilized, they had the capital to continue to fight with the Song State.

But all the same.

This means that the Liao State will give up its former status as the big brother of East Asia and sit on an equal footing with the Song State.

And it will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars of income every year.

Not only has the international status declined slightly, but also the money of the Song Kingdom was lost in vain, how can this make people willing?

Therefore, after listening to Zhang Jian's words, Yelu Zongzhen just sat there and couldn't respond for a long time.

(End of chapter)