Chapter 265 Han Zhang’s Analysis
“Good news?”
The official was stunned when he heard this and asked: “Is another one of your concubines pregnant?”
"No."
Zhao Xing was speechless for a while when he heard this, and said: "Father, my son has bought 12,000 stallions from the Liao Kingdom this time, and they are all adult horses!"
"What did you say?" The official stood up suddenly when he heard this and said, "Didn't the northern racecourse report that there were only more than two thousand horses?"
"That's just a part, the rest are raised. It's in the horse farm built by your minister," Zhao Xing said with a smile.
"Really?" The official was still a little unbelievable when he heard this, and his voice was trembling.
Twelve thousand stallions don’t mean half male and half female, but male horses.
Almost all war horses used in the army are male horses, because male horses have better physical strength and are stronger.
However, stallions have strong tempers and are difficult to control when in heat, so they are often castrated.
There is a shortage of horses in the Song Dynasty. There are still some single mares. What is lacking is the breeding of excellent male horses.
Twelve thousand war horses, if used well, can breed tens of thousands of foals a year.
After breeding, the Song Dynasty will be self-sufficient in more than ten years.
"How dare I lie to my father!" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
The official took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, sat down, and said, "Tell me how you did it."
Zhao Xing didn't hide anything after hearing this, and told what happened. Again.
"You mean, Yelu Zhongyuan wanted the secret recipe of perfume to murder the Liao Emperor?" The official was shocked when he heard this.
"This is just Er Chen's guess. Father, do you still remember the last time King Yan tried to poison Er Chen? Er Chen found some clues and there is the shadow of Yelu Chongyuan behind this matter." Zhao Xing said.
"If you say so, it is really possible. If that's the case, why would Yelu Zhongyuan take over the mission of harassing our border with the Song Dynasty?" the official frowned.
"Er Chen didn't understand it at first. Later he proposed to speed up the transaction, and Er Chen realized that he was probably trying to cover up the transaction." Zhao Xing said.
After hearing this, the official pondered for a while and said, "Eunuch Liu, let someone find the Grand Prime Minister."
"Yes!" Eunuch Liu responded and retreated.
"Father, what is this?" Zhao Xing looked at his father in confusion.
"Things may not be as simple as you think." The official looked at his son and said, "If Yelu Zhongyuan wants your secret perfume recipe to murder the Liao Emperor, he should be more careful.
Didn't Yelu Chongyuan know that as soon as he left for Beijing, the Liao Emperor would send people to closely monitor him?
His taking this job seems to be able to provide cover for the transaction, but it will also increase the risk of exposure. "
Zhao Xing pondered when he heard the words. He had also thought about this at first.
But he couldn't figure out Yelu Zhongyuan's motive. It can only be attributed to Yelu Zhongyuan's eagerness to get You will choose to take risks if you have a secret recipe.
But if you think about it carefully, there are still big loopholes.
If you are not careful in this kind of thing, you will lose everything. Does Yelu Zhongyuan's current situation need to be so urgent?
"Father, have you guessed Yelu Zhongyuan's purpose?" Zhao Xing asked.
"I never thought that one person could be short-changed, so I asked the Grand Prime Minister to help analyze it."
The official looked at Zhao Xing and said, "Fu'er, You have to remember that when things happen, don’t just figure it out on your own. The wise work hard, the fool works hard, and the capable work hard. You are the prince, and you are just dealing with some troubles now, and I will take care of you in the future. At home, things are busy, so you have to learn to use people."
"Thank you for your teaching, I understand!" Zhao Xing bowed.
Zhao Xing actually knew that he should form a think tank.
But he lacks trust in the veterans in the court. People like Sheng Changbai and Qi Heng lack experience, so it is difficult for them to take on big posts for the time being.
"By the way." Zhao Xing said: "The person who was sent by Erchen to supervise the repair of the border city has returned. Erchen asked him about the cost of building the city and connecting the border cities. He roughly said I made an estimate, and it may cost tens of millions of taels of silver."
"Is he calculating the cost of hiring people? I asked someone to calculate it, and if there is cement, it only takes one. About ten million taels is enough," the official said.
To build the Great Wall, there is almost no cost for stone materials, fired cement, and mining of sand and gravel.
It is nothing more than providing some utensils and food and drink for the people.
In the absence of cement, glutinous rice juice needs to be used as a binder, which is very expensive.
"It only costs ten million taels for several times, which is an astronomical amount. Can the treasury afford it?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Didn't you save a lot of money? As far as I know, the money you have saved over the years is almost ten million taels, right?" The official looked at Zhao Xing with a half-smile.
"Uh..." Zhao Xing was speechless. This is still a trick for me.
"In the future, the world will be yours. I really don't know what you want to do with so much money." Seeing Zhao Xing's sad face, the official shook his head and said, "There is still some money left in the sealing warehouse. If you contribute more, I will That's enough."
"Father, how much money did Emperor Taizu have in the pile storage?" Zhao Xing asked curiously.
"How do I know?" The official shook his head and said: "After I took charge, there were only more than ten million taels left in the sealing pile warehouse. I have used a lot of them over the years, and now there are more than seven hundred Ten thousand taels. These are all the hard work of Emperor Taizu. If possible, I don’t want to use them. "
In fact, Emperor Taizong didn’t use much of the money for sealing the pile. Although Emperor Taizong failed in the Northern Expedition, the Song Dynasty was still able to support itself by not having many serious shortcomings at that time and paying a lot of taxes every year.
Most of the money for sealing the pile warehouse was used by the late emperor.
But the son never complained about his father's faults, so he couldn't tell Zhao Xing about this.
"Use it as long as you use it. Emperor Taizu established the pile sealing warehouse also to regain the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun. As long as it is used in a practical way, Emperor Taizu will be very pleased to know about it." Zhao Xingman does not care about Tao.
"That's what you said, but it's not easy to recover the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun."
The official shook his head and said: "Let's not talk about this anymore. If what you said before is Really, we can take advantage of the civil strife in Liao to build the Great Wall in the north, and the pressure on the northern defense will be reduced a lot."
Zhao Xing listened to his father's initial words and thought that his father would say that this was an opportunity to try to regain the Sixteenth State of Yanyun.
Who knew that my father had no such idea at all.
Although even if Liao is in civil strife, this is not the time to send troops to regain the sixteen states of Yanyun.
But timing is timing, and whether or not you have this idea are two different things.
No wonder the Jin Kingdom destroyed the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty failed to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun despite such a good opportunity.
Perhaps since Emperor Taizong, subsequent emperors have lost the idea of recapturing the Sixteen States of Yanyun.
"Your Majesty, the Grand Prime Minister has arrived."
At this moment, a eunuch walked in to report.
"Let him come in." The official said after hearing this.
The eunuch who reported the news bowed and left. After a while, Han Zhang walked in.
"I pay my respects to Your Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince!" Han Zhang bowed and saluted.
"No courtesy." The official waved his hand and asked someone to give Han Zhang a seat. Then he explained the purpose of calling him, looked at Zhao Xing and said, "Please tell the Prime Minister about the matter in detail. Say it again."
"Yes!" Zhao Xing responded and told what happened.
After listening, Han Zhang pondered for a while, asked a few more questions, and fell into deep thought.
Neither the Guan family nor Zhao Xing bothered.
After about a cup of tea, Han Zhang came back to his senses and said: "Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I guess that when Yelu Chongyuan took this job and left Beijing, he just wanted the Emperor of Liao to focus on him."
"As long as Yelu Zhongyuan was in Shangjing, the Liao Emperor would not only send people to supervise his every move, but also be on guard. But once he left Shangjing, although the Liao Emperor's eyes were still on him, he would not pay much attention to those around him. The defense will be much more relaxed."
"This is why Yelu Chongyuan has stayed in Xijing and will not leave. I guess that Yelu Chongyuan will only leave Xijing after successfully poisoning the Liao Emperor. "
Zhao Xing was startled when he heard this. Thinking about it carefully, this possibility is really high.
First of all, Yelu Chongyuan had arranged for someone to assassinate the Liao Emperor before.
When others go to Beijing, Emperor Liao will not only monitor him, but also guard against some of his methods.
It is difficult to poison someone, even if his method of poisoning is somewhat novel.
But if Yelu Chongyuan was not in Beijing, the Liao Emperor would be much more relaxed.
"But if he leaves Shangjing, even if the poisoning is successful, it will be difficult for him to control the situation in Shangjing immediately." Zhao Xing asked the question in his heart.
“What His Highness said is true, but even if Yelu Zhongyuan stays in Shangjing, he will not be able to control it and will put himself in danger.
Shangjing was under the control of Emperor Liao. He had stayed in Shangjing because he was confident that Emperor Liao would not dare to touch him.
After all, the Liao Emperor killed Yelu Chongyuan. Yelu Chongyuan’s son and those who supported Yelu Chongyuan were worried about the Liao Emperor’s liquidation. In order to protect themselves, they would raise troops even if they knew the chance was slim. By then, the Liao Emperor would The country will inevitably be in civil strife.
But if the Liao Emperor dies and the Liao Emperor's son is young, the ministers who support the Liao Emperor's son to ascend the throne will not be able to let him go. Because even if you let him go, he will raise an army.
Yelü Chongyuan knew this, so he did not dare to return to Beijing.
As long as the death of Emperor Liao will stir people's hearts, he will be the strongest and have the greatest chance of seizing the throne. "Han Zhang explained.
"I admire every word of what the Grand Prime Minister said!" Zhao Xing exclaimed in admiration.
Although what Han Zhang said is just a guess, it is reasonable.
Some things that were difficult to explain at first can now be explained.
The reason why Yelu Chongyuan took the mission of harassing the border of the Song Dynasty was because it was the best excuse for him to leave Shangjing.
He delayed returning to Shangjing on the grounds that he wanted to avenge his men. It was not that he really wanted to avenge his men, but that he was unwilling to go back.
Looking at it this way, the Song Dynasty sent troops to encircle and suppress those cavalry, which actually helped him a lot.
It’s just that the Liao Emperor was a bit stupid. Yelu Chongyuan made excuses not to return to Beijing. Couldn’t he see it?
In fact, it was not that Emperor Liao was stupid, but that he ignored a key point.
(End of this chapter)