Chapter 252: Safeguard
"We have reached the age of forty, but His Highness is still young and strong, and very independent. Do you think we can sway His Highness's mind?" Wang Anshi pointed out the root of the problem sharply.
Both he and Sima Guang have written letters to the officials over the years. His letter was about the reform, while Sima Guang's letter was about the administration of officials.
The officials did not adopt it, and they were not in a hurry, but were waiting for the opportunity.
And this opportunity is Zhao Xing. The official family is old and does not want to go to war. It is normal to pursue stability.
But Zhao Xing is still young. If they want to realize their ambitions, they can only have a chance to wait until Zhao Xing ascends the throne in the future.
But Zhao Xing is very assertive, and neither he nor Sima Guang can sway Zhao Xing's ideas.
Since they can't convince Zhao Xing to follow their ideas, they can only ask for change.
This change is not a reform, but a change by oneself.
Only in this way can they be used by Zhao Xing. If Zhao Xing makes a mistake in the future, they will have a chance to persuade him.
If they remain stubborn, it will only bore Zhao Xing and leave them idle, without even a chance to speak in the future.
Sima Guang also understood what Wang Anshi meant. He was silent for a long time and said: "I bumped into His Highness and was punished to spend six months at home. During this time, I will think about it carefully and give you an answer then."
This can be considered a compromise, but Sima Guang is not so resistant.
However, he still wanted to observe Zhao Xing more before making a decision.
"Yes." Wang Anshi was very happy when he saw that Sima Guang did not refuse directly. He smiled and said, "I'm not in a hurry."
.........
Wang Anshi went to see Sima Guang, and Zhao Xing also received the news.
Although I didn’t know what the two talked about, they didn’t care.
After all, the two of them do not have high official positions now, so meeting in private will not have any impact.
At the end of September, the weather has become cooler.
Gu Tingye asked the British Duke for advice on some issues on the northwest border. After the appointment documents were received, he, Yuan Wenshao, Sheng Changwu and their families went to the northwest to take up their posts.
On this day, Zhao Xing was walking in the garden with Shulan when Sanshui came over in a hurry.
"Your Highness!" Sanshui bowed and said: "Commander Yin is here."
Hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at Shulan and said apologetically: "I have something to do, wait until I finish. I'll accompany you again."
Shulan was already more than seven months pregnant at this time. She put one hand on her waist and held out her belly. She smiled when she heard this and said: "His Royal Highness has important business, and I am a little tired. I am ready. Go back and take a nap.”
"Well, then you go back and sleep for a while."
Zhao Xing ordered the accompanying palace maids to send Shulan back, and then hurried to the study.
"I pay my respects to Your Highness!" Yin Hanzhang saluted.
“But there is news from the north?” Zhao Xing asked.
“Back to Your Highness, there has been no news from the people I sent to the north, but Sheng Changsong sent back a letter through the secret guard.”
Except for the areas around Bianjing, the secret guards in places farther away were all established based on trading houses.
In recent years, Shengwei has opened shops in various places, and the people in charge or managers of the shops in various places are almost all secret guards.
They secretly recruited many ruffians to collect information.
Sheng Changsong's message is also a channel for transmitting information through the secret guards.
Yin Hanzhang took out a letter from his sleeve, Sanshui stepped forward to take it, and delivered it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing finally took a look and saw that the paint and secret mark were intact, so he took it apart and looked at it.
After reading the contents of the letter for a long time, Zhao Xing frowned and started thinking.
Sheng Changsong said in the letter that through this period of trading, five thousand stallions have been traded, and these horses all meet the requirements.
Li Ge suddenly came to him and said that he could increase the transaction volume and complete the transaction for the remaining horses in two installments within half a month. You must know that the previous five thousand horses were traded for a month, and they were only a few hundred horses at a time, and they kept changing places.
After all, 12,000 stallions is a huge target. If the news leaks out, Yelu Zhongyuan will be in big trouble.
Now Li Ge suddenly proposed to completely complete the transaction within half a month, which is very abnormal.
Sheng Changsong did not dare to agree, but asked Li Ge the reason.
Li Ge did not hide anything, and told Sheng Changsong that the horse bandits who harassed the Song Dynasty for repairing the city were all sent by Yelu Chongyuan.
The Liao Emperor received intelligence and learned that there was a divine object called cement in the Song Dynasty, so he prepared to send people to raid to see if he could get the secret recipe for making cement.
Yelu Zhongyuan took the initiative to ask Ying to take over the task.
The purpose of Yelu Zhongyuan taking on this task is to enable both parties to complete the transaction faster.
Now there is a small group of cavalry sent by Yelu Zhongyuan on the border between the two countries, which can cover up their transactions, so the transactions do not need to be as cautious as before.
Sheng Changsong couldn't make up his mind, so he wrote a letter and sent it back through the secret guard, asking Zhao Xing for instructions.
Zhao Xing felt that what Li Ge said was half-truth and half-false and not completely credible.
Emperor Liao and Yelu Chongyuan seemed to be in harmony on the surface, but in fact they wanted to kill each other.
Yelu Chongyuan took the initiative to ask for the imperial examination, which was abnormal in itself. How could the Emperor of Liao obey Yelu Chongyuan's wishes so easily?
And Yelu Zhongyuan is responsible for this matter. Although it can speed up the transaction, it also increases the risk of exposure.
There must be other reasons for this. Li Ge didn't say it, or he didn't know it.
So what is Yelv Chongyuan’s purpose?
Zhao Xing thought about it for a long time and had no idea, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
As for Yelu Zhongyuan’s desire to speed up the transaction, Zhao Xing thought about it and agreed.
Even if Yelu Zhongyuan is exposed, it has nothing to do with him. The most important thing is to get the horse first.
At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, the army's combat effectiveness was not weak, otherwise it would not be able to dominate the world. It once recovered part of the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun.
During the Zhenzong period, the Liao army went south and returned with a great defeat.
It is a pity that Zhenzong was bent on seeking peace and even though he won the battle, he signed the Tanyuan Alliance with the Liao State and paid tribute to the Liao State every year.
In order to sound good, it was announced to the outside world that it was an increase in coins. Later, when the War between Song and Xia broke out, the Liao Kingdom took the opportunity to send soldiers to the border.
Although the Forbidden Army of the Song Dynasty is now somewhat desolate and its combat power is not as good as before, it is still worthy of a battle.
However, the shortcoming of the Song Dynasty's army was that there were too few cavalry.
Over the years, Zhao Xing has obtained some stallions from the Liao Kingdom through trade, plus some bred by the imperial court itself, and now there are two horse farms in the north.
However, the number of war horses bred every year is still limited.
With the acquisition of 12,000 stallions this time, the Song Dynasty would be able to form a large-scale cavalry as long as it took more than ten years.
Although there is still a big gap compared with the Liao Kingdom, there will not be an embarrassing situation where there is no cavalry to deal with the Liao Cavalry.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing wrote back a letter to Sheng Changsong.
After the ink dried, he folded it and handed it to Sanshui.
Sanshui put the letter into an envelope, sealed it with wax, and handed the letter to Yin Hanzhang.
"Send the letter to Sheng Changsong as soon as possible." Zhao Xing said.
“Yes!”
Yin Hanzhang responded, bowed and retreated.
(End of this chapter)