Chapter 292 Yelu Zhongyuan’s Purpose
As for Li Gelai’s purpose, Zhao Xing could somewhat guess, so he was not in a hurry to see him.
After thinking about it and explaining to Sheng Changsong, he let him leave.
After Sheng Changsong left, Zhao Xing pondered for a while and felt that there should be no problem with his plan, so he stopped thinking about it and continued to review Zazi.
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"Meet His Highness the Crown Prince!" Li Ge saluted.
"No courtesy."
Zhao Xing waved his hand and said with a faint smile: "Although you have provided some information to me during this period, your news is somewhat delayed."< br>
Although Zhao Xing knew that Li Ge did not sincerely surrender, he still asked Yin Hanzhang to arrange a secret line to contact Li Ge.
Li Ge also conveyed some information to him, but the information was either of little use or he already knew it.
"Your Highness, King Qin..."
"Huh?" Zhao Xing looked at Li Ge displeased upon hearing this.
Li Ge gave himself a slap and quickly changed his words: "Yelu Zhongyuan doesn't trust the Han people very much. Although the young man brought back the secret recipe for perfume last time and his status improved a bit, some secrets are still out of reach. "
Zhao Xing did not hesitate on this issue and asked: "What is the purpose of Yelu Zhongyuan asking you to come here this time?"
"Yelu Zhongyuan heard that His Highness the Crown Prince was here. The supervisor of the country specially asked me to send a congratulatory gift to congratulate His Highness the Crown Prince. On the way, I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince was about to ascend the throne. This time, I will definitely tell Yelu Zhongyuan when the time comes. He gave His Royal Highness a generous gift.”
Li Ge said, taking out a gift list.
Sanshui stepped forward to take it and sent it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xingzhan looked at it, threw it aside, and said with a smile: "Yelu Zhongyuan gave such a thick gift to me. The purpose is probably not simple, right? Tell me."
He initially estimated that the value of the gifts on the gift list was around fifty thousand taels.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s not too little either.
You must know about the Tanyuan Alliance. The annual coins given by the Song Dynasty to the Liao Kingdom were only 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk per year.
Of course, he calculated this value based on the value of the Song Dynasty.
Some things were valuable in the Song Dynasty, but their real value in the Liao Kingdom was not high.
But even if it doubles again, Zhao Xing doesn’t care much.
"Yelü Chongyuan sent the younger ones here because the Song Dynasty suddenly sent more troops to Bianjing in the north." Li Ge said.
"I, the Song Dynasty, increased its troops only because of the civil strife in Liao and for fear of stray troops crossing the border. We had no intention of targeting the Liao Kingdom. After all, the two countries have an alliance. Go back and tell Yelu Chongyuan that we Han people are the most trustworthy and will never He will commit treachery and violate the covenant first," Zhao Xing said.
Li Ge: "..."
He doesn't even believe this. Can Yelu Zhongyuan believe it?
The Liao Kingdom was in civil strife at this time, so how could it possibly provoke the Song Dynasty?
"Your Highness, Yelu Chongyuan wants the Song Dynasty to withdraw its troops. Yelu Chongyuan promised that as long as the Song Dynasty is willing to withdraw its troops, and when he takes control of the power, he is willing to return the Yanmen Pass line to the Song Dynasty." Li Ge said.
"How credible do you think Yelu Zhongyuan's words are?" Zhao Xing looked at Li Ge with a half-smile.
"Uh..." Li Ge hesitated and said: "I don't think the credibility is high, but His Highness the Crown Prince can put forward other conditions. As long as they are not excessive, Yelu Zhongyuan will definitely not "Rejected."
"Then tell me what kind of conditions, I can get enough benefits, Yelu Zhongyuan will not refuse," Zhao Xing said.
"Isn't the Song Dynasty short of horses? His Highness asked Yelu Zhongyuan for ten or twenty thousand war horses. I think he would not object." Li Ge said.
"Forget it, the War Horse Da Song is already enough. It would be too expensive to raise more, and the court cannot afford it. The court can hardly afford to raise the stallions traded last year." Zhao Xing said.
"Your Highness is joking, the Song Dynasty is so rich, how can it not be able to afford such a war horse." Li Ge forced a smile.
He felt that Zhao Xing regarded him as a fool, and he also knew that the Song Dynasty spent a lot of money.
But no matter how big it is, it can’t afford tens of thousands of horses.
"You think Gu is lying to you? A few days ago, Gu Mingren found out that there are many moths in the court and the money owed to the court has not been paid back." Zhao Xing said.
Li Ge was skeptical when he saw what Zhao Xing said, but he was not in the mood to care about it at this time. The most important thing was to complete Yelu Zhongyuan's mission.
Li Ge thought for a while and said: "Your Highness, the civil strife in Liao is also good for the Song Dynasty. Now that the Song Dynasty is increasing its troops on the border, Yelu Chongyuan and Yelu Yixin are worried and dare not fight with all their strength. This is not a good thing for the Song Dynasty."
"What you said makes sense." Zhao Xing seemed to be moved by him and said, "But this is an order from the father. You should wait a few days and ask the father what he wants. "
"Yes!" Li Ge responded: "But your highness must hurry up. Yelu Zhongyuan doesn't give me much time. If I can do things well, I can also gain the trust of Yelu Zhongyuan, and I will be able to provide His Highness with information in a more timely manner in the future."
"Well, I will pay close attention to you. You have worked hard all the way here and provided me with such useful information. News, Gu will not treat you badly in the future."
Zhao Xing looked at Sheng Changsong and said, "Dai Gu will treat Li Ge well."
"Yes!" Sheng Changsong responded.
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Sheng Changsong and Li Ge left the East Palace and got on the carriage.
"Uncle Li, I have reserved a seat at Fan Tower. Let's have a drink later." Sheng Changsong said with a smile.
Li Ge was in contact with Sheng Wei before, and the two were brothers.
Therefore, Sheng Changsong could only suffer the loss and call Uncle Li.
"Haha, okay." Li Ge said with a smile: "I have tasted Fan Lou's food and wine a few times, but I can't think of it."
After chatting with Sheng Changsong for a few words, Li Ge Pretending to be casual, he asked: "My dear nephew, His Highness just said that someone owed money to the court and refused to pay it back. What happened?" Sheng Changsong did not hide anything after hearing this, and told what happened, and said: "Later, Your Highness got angry. Officials who owe money must pay it back within a time limit, otherwise their homes will be searched and prosecuted. "
"The court is so short of money?" Li Ge said in surprise.
Sheng Changsong said that Zhao Xing arranged for someone to audit the accounts because the Du Branch did not apply for the purchase of horse feed grain through the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Li Ge was doubtful about this, but it should be true that Zhao Xing ordered officials to pay back the debt. This kind of thing can be found out with a single investigation.
The Song Dynasty had spies in the Liao Kingdom, and the Liao Kingdom also had spies in the Song Dynasty.
"The court is short of money for more than a day or two. The court..."
Sheng Changsong told Li Ge about some of the court's long-standing shortcomings.
These accumulated shortcomings are not a secret, Li Ge also knows it.
So he didn't care and talked to Sheng Changsong perfunctorily, but in his heart he was wondering why the Song Dynasty sent more troops to the north since it was short of money.
All of Yelu Chongyuan's worries were based on the fact that the Song Dynasty could send troops.
If he could be sure that it was impossible for the Song Dynasty to send troops, he would have made a great contribution.
After arriving at Fanlou, when the food and wine were served, Li Ge kept looking for Sheng Changsong to drink.
In less than half an hour, Sheng Changsong's face turned red and his eyes were hazy.
Li Ge was worried that Sheng Changsong was drunk, so he didn't dare to drink any more. After testing for a while, he confirmed that Sheng Changsong was indeed drunk, and whispered: "My dear nephew, since the court is short of money, why do you still go there?" Sending more troops to the north? Wouldn't it cost more money and food? "
"Sending more troops to the north...to the north...is to build...the Great Wall in the north," Sheng Changsong said with his tongue tied. He said stammeringly.
“Build the Great Wall?” Li Ge was stunned when he heard the words, and asked doubtfully: “What kind of Great Wall should be built?”
“I...my Song Dynasty...has a...kind of magical object that can...can be cast quickly ...The city must be built..."
"Bang!"
Sheng Changsong said and suddenly fell down.
"Good nephew, good nephew!"
Li Ge pushed Sheng Changsong and saw that he just muttered twice without any response, so he frowned and sat down.
Although Sheng Changsong did not finish speaking, he already roughly understood what Sheng Changsong said.
Unexpectedly, Da Song had this idea.
Thinking of the Song Dynasty's lack of money, he already believed it.
He didn't believe it if the Song Dynasty didn't even have the money to buy fine grain for its war horses because of bad debts of several million taels.
But if the Song Dynasty wanted to build the Great Wall as a barrier in the north, everything would make sense.
After all, the border between Song and Liao was so long, how much would it cost to build the Great Wall?
However, he didn't completely believe Sheng Changsong's words, and he had to investigate carefully before he could be sure.
As long as it can be confirmed that the Song Dynasty sent more troops to the north to build the Great Wall, Yelu Chongyuan did not need to worry about the Song Dynasty joining forces with Yelu Yixin or directly invading the border.
Thinking of this, Li Ge was in a good mood.
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“Your Highness!” Sheng Changsong saluted.
"No courtesy." Zhao Xing waved his hand and asked: "How did things go?"
"I have done what His Highness ordered, but I don't know if Li Ge will believe it." Sheng Changsong said .
"You don't have to worry about this. Just entertain him these days." Zhao Xing said.
Li Ge will definitely investigate whether he believes it or not. What Sheng Changsong said is inherently true and false. It can even be said that it is completely true, but some of it is concealed.
When Li Ge investigates further, he will definitely believe it.
As long as Yelu Chongyuan can put down his guard and fight Yelu Yixin.
Zhao Xing never thought of pretending to agree and defrauding Yelu Chongyuan of some war horses.
But Yelu Chongyuan was not that easy to deceive. If the Song Dynasty did not really retreat, he would not be able to give him the horse.
Even if he really retreats, he will use the excuse that the border is full of Yelu Yixin and temporarily hold back the war horses.
As for what Yelv Chongyuan said about returning Yanmen Pass to him, he didn’t believe a word of it.
The Jin Kingdom also asked the Song Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty together, and said that the sixteen states of Yanyun would be returned to the Song Dynasty.
As a result, the Liao Kingdom was destroyed, and Bianjing was captured by the Jin Kingdom.
Zhao Xingcai is not so naive.
Those who are not of my race must have different minds.
What the ancestors said still makes sense.
As for whether Yelu Chongyuan would send troops to interfere with the Song Dynasty's construction of the Great Wall, Zhao Xing was not worried at all.
Not to mention that the cities at the junction of the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty were not under the control of Yelu Chongyuan.
Even if Yelu Chongyuan occupied part of it, he would not provoke the Song Dynasty until the winner was determined.
……
(End of this chapter)