Han Shizu

Chapter 334

"This Southern Tang Dynasty is really rich!" Liu Chengyou still couldn't help picking up the gift list presented by Han Xizai, glanced at it for a while, and couldn't help sighing.

One hundred bolts of silk, two hundred bolts of silk, five hundred bolts of cotton, one thousand pieces of porcelain, one hundred pieces of jade, and several kinds of curios and jewellery.
"The prosperity of the Southern Tang Dynasty is in front of you!" Liu Chengyou muttered.

The so-called wealth is not revealed. I have always known the prosperity of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but I really didn't have an intuitive impression. I can get a glimpse of one or two of them just by using the gift list. Liu Chengyou was so poor that he was instantly hooked.

If Li Jing hadn't gone north to seek peace this time, Liu Chengyou's greedy heart wouldn't be so hot, but he couldn't help being jealous when he came to "show off his wealth" on his own initiative.On Liu Chengyou's side, Nantang is just a big piece of fat meat. He only needs to pluck the hair and peel it off before he can enjoy it. Right now, what he needs to do is to sharpen his teeth and prepare meat-eating tableware!

"Li Jing's generous gift, I will accept it with a smile!" Liu Chengyou calmed down his restless greed, closed the gift list, and told Zhang Dejun: "Pass my words, the silk, silk, porcelain, jade, and rare jewelry that the Tang envoys paid tribute, get them In the harem, let the empress dowager, empress, and noble concubine choose some, and the rest of the silk will be returned to the internal funds. The empress dowager and the others are virtuous and reasonable, and they have never enjoyed luxury. This can be regarded as my compensation for their debt!"

Zhang Dejun replied: "Yes!"

After thinking about it, Liu Chengyou added: "The rest of the utensils are used to trade money and food. Compared with gold and jade, what I need more is food and drink!"

The Concierge House, belonging to the Honglu Temple, specializes in entertaining guests, and the sense of existence is really not strong. The main reason is that since the founding of the People's Republic, the external environment of Dahan is too bad.The envoys and guests received inside and outside are only Uighur, Jingnan, and Wuyue. The Southern Tang Dynasty can be regarded as the fourth visitor to the DPRK.

In the hall, Tao Gu leader Wang Pu and the officials of the Court of Rites have been negotiating for many days with the chief and deputy envoys sent to Han from the Southern Tang Dynasty on the terms of the peace talks between the two countries.It's called a consultation, but it's actually more like a debate. Tao Gu was instructed by Liu Chengyou, and he was confident and not in a hurry. Han Xizai was more calm, as if he had come to the north to study and study.

Tao Gu was a man with a sharp tongue and a flexible mind, but he didn't take any advantage of his words when talking to Han Xizai.Tao Gu was not a broad-minded person, after a few days, he felt that he had lost face, and he no longer had any patience left.

Therefore, when we met today, as soon as Tao Gu opened his mouth, Tao Gu stared at Han Xizai's showdown extremely forcefully: "Since ancient times, when seeking peace, there has never been anyone who does not cede land, profess ministers, pay tribute, and make peace with relatives. We have diplomatic relations between the two countries, and we don't need you for peace between the army and the people." Ceding the land, don't want you to be a minister, you have been generous and tolerant, and you really don't know how to advance or retreat. There is no reason for the shortage of tribute, and the rivers and Huaihe Rivers are rich. If the Tang Lord is sincere, how can he begrudge the money and food?"

Tao Gu's beard was full of arrogance, but in Han Xizai's eyes, he was stern.Showing his trademark gentle and refined smile, Han Xizai still looked tepid, and said indifferently: "This envoy once again emphasizes that the envoy sent by our lord is for the well-being of the two countries. If the emperor and his ministers of the Han Dynasty have no intention of negotiating peace, rely on The power is bullying, and I, Tang Dynasty, absolutely have no reason to seek perfection!"

In front of Liu Chengyou, Han Xizai was neither humble nor overbearing. Facing Tao Gu, after several exchanges, he seemed to have seen this person clearly, and he no longer planned to save face for him.

His eyes swept over Tao Gu, paused for a moment on the young Wang Pu next to him, and said quietly: "Tao Sheren, I'm afraid I don't have the right to agree, such dry discussions are useless. Please, thank you, Sheren." The Emperor of the Han Dynasty, the peace talks between the two countries are actually for the benefit of both parties. There is absolutely no distinction between superiors and inferiors, no distinction between high and low. It is the right thing to communicate with each other and help each other. However, it is like asking for money in vain, and it is really difficult for the Tang Dynasty to answer it!"

Han Xizai's words were extremely forceful, which made Tao Gu quite embarrassed.Uncertainly sweeping at Han Xizai, who had recovered his composure, his face flashed with sullenness, he flicked his sleeves, and said coldly: "I will tell His Majesty the truth about what your envoy said, and I will never let you down!"

"Thank you!" Han Xizai bowed his hands in a graceful manner, looking around, but he took the initiative to end the meeting: "I will take my leave for the time being!"

After saying that, he got up and left the table, the deputy envoy wanted to explain something to Tao Gu, but considering Han Xizai's strong and conceited appearance, he didn't care much, and followed.

Looking at the back of the Tang envoy, and looking at Tao Gu who was still furious, Wang Pu took the initiative to say politely: "Tao Gong, I really can't discuss anything. The Tang envoy has exhausted his patience, so I should return to the official." Bar!"

But after hearing Wang Pu's suggestion, Tao Gu's expression quickly regained his composure, and he responded reservedly as if he was leaning towards him, putting on airs, but he didn't want to lose his composure in front of this young man.

On the Tang envoy's side, the deputy envoy followed Han Xizai closely, returned to Binyi, sat down and faced him, his words were very rude, and could even be described as questioning: "Mr. Have you considered the seriousness of the consequences?"

Han Xizai still had an elegant and easy-going attitude, and said calmly: "You must keep in mind that I have come to the north this time to discuss peace, not to seek peace and forgiveness. The kings and ministers of the Han Dynasty want to intimidate me with power, but I am burdened How can His Majesty's great entrustment lower the reputation of the Tang Dynasty and let him get what he wants?"

"A small amount of money and food is nothing more than a drop in the bucket for Datang, so why be stingy?" The deputy envoy curled his mouth slightly.

The requirements of the big man are not high, and they are gradually decreasing until they reach [-] guan and [-] shi.However, Han Xizai stubbornly disagreed.

Hearing this, Han Xizai's expression suddenly became strict, as if a layer of frost had condensed on it, and his eyes were piercing, pointing to the deputy envoy: "Even if a piece of paper is a tax collected from the people of the Tang Dynasty, how can it be easily given to others. There is a hundred thousand dendrobium of Shu grain, and there is still the act of cutting off Qin Fengjie into four prefectures, and he is despising our dynasty and blackmailing us, how can he be deceived by him?"

Han Xizai's anger still had a lot of power. The deputy envoy lowered his head, his eyes flickered slightly, and muttered, "However, if you go north this time and return without success, how will you report to your majesty after returning to the court?"

"If you make this promise of humiliating the country and the promise of your family, what face will you have after you return to court, Your Majesty Chen?" Han Xizai asked back, his eyes fixed on the deputy envoy, making him extremely uncomfortable .

In fact, the deputy envoy really has some ideas, such as coming here on a whim and bringing back a humble agreement. At that time, their party will have the advantage of taking the opportunity to make a big fuss.

Returning to his own room, when Han Xizai was alone, he completely restrained his vigor in front of outsiders, and there was deep thinking in that Yingwei's normal face.According to his thinking, there is no need to go north to discuss peace. As a representative of the northern scholars who traveled south, his political direction is basically set, the main war, the main northern expedition.

However, the good opportunities of the previous two years were simply missed.In the future, if there is such a good opportunity again, I am afraid it will depend on the destiny.Of course, he also knew in his heart that the Southern Tang Dynasty did not rule the south of the Yangtze River after all, and there were too many hidden dangers in the rear, and it was too difficult to fight against the north with all its strength.That's why I feel heartbroken that the Tang monarchs and ministers did nothing two years ago and failed to seize the good opportunity to attack the Central Plains.

Especially after going north this time, what made Han Xizai even more worried was that as long as the Northern Han regained its national power, it would be a situation where the north was strong and the south was weak. It's just scratching the surface, and it didn't have much actual trauma to the Northern Han Dynasty.

As a result, blocking the exchanges between merchants of the two countries, so that grain from the south cannot be exported to the north, will do more damage to the big man.In the two years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, in addition to the disasters of war, tens of thousands of Li people died of cold and hunger.Therefore, in this negotiation, the Han court disregarded the appearance, so nakedly and straightforwardly got involved in the matter of money and food, so we can get a glimpse of the situation.

While concentrating on it, Han Xizai almost saw the iron hooves of the Han army crossing the Huai River and plundering the Huainan states.After meeting with Liu Chengyou, Han Xizai was almost certain in his heart that as long as there were no changes in the north, that would be inevitable.

When Han Xizai was in the guest station, thinking deeply and foresight, Liu Chengyou sat safely in the Chongzheng Hall, listening to Tao Gu's report calmly.

"Your Majesty, Han Xizai is arrogant, arrogant and rude. He is not good enough to talk to. The ministers have exhausted their eloquence to tell you good words. Not only does he not know good intentions, but he is arrogant." Tao Gu's mouth was full. They were all complaints about Han Xizai, and they tried their best to put eye drops on Liu Chengyou: "In my opinion, the pseudo-Tang emperor and minister may not have any sincerity."

Although Liu Chengyou was a little surprised in his heart, it was not enough to move him, and he expressed his emotion flatly: "This Han Xizai has a bit of character! You use your power to intimidate him, so it's rare to be surprised, and it's not surprising!"

Seeing that he had spent a lot of talking and talking, it seemed to have no effect, the emperor praised Han Xizai, and Tao Gu couldn't help saying: "Your Majesty, the great Han and the puppet Tang have a lot of grievances. If there is nothing to gain, why do we need to make peace with him? The eloquence of the Tang envoy cut off my way to manage the troops along the Huai River and go south?"

Tao Gu directly ignored the great gift offered by the envoy Tang, and that plagiarism was plagiarism, and when it fell into Tao Gu's mouth, he put it in a more elegant way: management.

Liu Chengyou was not influenced by Tao Gu's words, he thought about it seriously, and murmured with obvious doubts in his tone: "Han Xizai came here on orders, and he doesn't seem to care much about whether he can fulfill his mission?"

Glancing at Wang Pu standing beside Tao Gu, seeing his calm expression, he couldn't help asking: "Wang Qing, you've been discussing with me for a long time, what do you think?"

Wang Pu bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, from the perspective of my ministers, Han Xizai is indeed a hero for a while, with a lot of knowledge, and he may have arrogance, but he is so confident, I am afraid that he has already seen that His Majesty also has a heart for peace. What's more, given the current situation, our dynasty needs to withdraw our troops to restore peace and reduce the burden of border defense, and as far as the puppet Tang is concerned, although it is tired from the invasion of our northern soldiers, it is difficult to hurt its muscles and bones!"

After a short pause, Wang Pu organized his language, and said: "In my view, although Han Xizai was sent to negotiate a peace, but his heart and will, I am afraid that he wants to fight against the big man."

"How do you know?" Liu Chengyou asked.

Wang Pu responded calmly: "The minister tried to talk with the envoys and officials, and found out some news. The pseudo-Tang Dynasty, the Nandu scholars headed by Han Xizai, have the ambition to make progress, and they are not partial to peace."

"If your majesty agrees to a peace negotiation, he will return to the court with the merits of envoy Han; if your majesty refuses, the two parties will continue to fight against each other, so there is no harm in spreading their ambitions!"

Hearing Wang Pu's explanation, Liu Chengyou couldn't help but nod his head: "Wang Qing is really quick, and he has also studied the Southern Tang Dynasty! If so, I will definitely not do what Han Gong wants!"

Hearing his words, Tao Gu couldn't help saying: "Your Majesty, is this the only way to allow it?"

He raised his hand and wiped it on his chin. There was no trace of worry on his face from beginning to end. He looked at the two of them and said, "Second Qing, are you interested in taking a trip to Jinling?"

"Your Majesty wants to send ministers to Tang!" Tao Gu said.

"Come and not reciprocate!" Liu Chengyou almost narrowed his eyes.

"I wish to go!" Tao Gu and Wang Pu said in unison.

Although the two people have different considerations, they are both very interested in going to Jinling to see it.

The reactions of the two did not meet Liu Chengyou's expectations, and he said a little slyly: "With Han Xizai, you can't ask for money and food, but with Tang Lord Li Jing, it's not necessarily the case. How much benefit you can get for the big man depends on the Erqing. It's up to you!"

Looking at each other, the two ministers bowed again and asked for a pledge.

Under the circumstances that no consensus could be reached and the "seeking peace" was fruitless, Han Xizai finally decided to return to the south.It is said to be full power, but how could it have been expected that Hanting would make so many rude additional demands.

Chongzheng Hall, Han Xizai resigned face to face.

"Mr. Han is leaving now, why don't you hang around for a while, could it be that I didn't entertain you well?" Liu Chengyou expressed hypocrisy to stay.

"Your Majesty's warm hospitality is deeply felt by the minister!" Han Xizai still had the same air of neither humble nor overbearing, with a strong implication: "However, since His Majesty has selected an envoy to go south, I am willing to be the one who guides the way!"

With a sudden look in his eyes, Liu Chengyou was suddenly very solemn, and the corporal said politely: "Mr. Han is a great talent, I am really eager, why don't you stay in Tokyo and assist me in making achievements together, I will definitely use it."

Seemingly seeing Liu Chengyou's hypocrisy, he politely refused: "There are many talents in the big man, but there are not many people in Han!"

Liu Chengyou still didn't give up: "Mr. Han is originally from the north, doesn't he have the intention of returning to his roots, and wants to die outside his hometown?"

"I will be a courtier for a day, and I will be a courtier for life!" Han Xizai seemed very firm, without any emotion.

Seeing this, Liu Chengyou's face was full of regret, and he said helplessly: "It's really a pity that we can't do things with the public!"

"Forget it, Mr. Han is coming back from the south, you can send my regards to Lord Tang on my behalf." Liu Chengyou's face changed quickly: "Reciprocity is a courtesy, and I have prepared some gifts."

It is true that he has prepared some gifts, but he himself is a bit speechless. Thirty cows and a hundred sheep, in terms of value, of course they cannot be compared with Li Jing's gifts, but it can be explained by the lightness of etiquette and the importance of affection.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Foreign ministers leave!"

After Han Xizai retreated, Liu Chengyou was a little happy, he said to keep Han Xizai, of course he did it on purpose.It is not a good thing for the big man to have such a radical faction in the south.

He also summoned Tao Gu, Wang Pu, and Liu Chengyou to tell them about their trip to the south.As a principle, as much as you can talk about, there is no loss to the big guys, but the premise is that you don't let the real talk collapse.

In addition, let the two carefully investigate the situation in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the government, the military, the folk customs, and the accompanying officials, and Liu Chengyou also assigned them some spies from the Wu De Department and the Military Intelligence Department.

By the way, Liu Chengyou confessed that when they arrived in Jinling, they mostly did publicity for Han Xizai, such as how Han Gong is not afraid of power, how he will not fall into the country's prestige under the threat of a big man, how to express his favor for a big man, and how the emperor of Han values ​​him and wants to stay. It is an official.
In short, Liu Chengyou did not hesitate to attack the banner of the Southern Tang court who crossed the north.Whether it works or not, Liu Chengyou doesn't care.If it is effective, whether it will cause changes in the political situation of the Southern Tang Dynasty Hall is not in his consideration, that is something that Tang Lord Li Jing needs to weigh.

(End of this chapter)