Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 315 Confession to Ancestors

It has been almost 20 days since Zhao Zhen suffered a stroke. Under the careful adjustment of the imperial doctor, Zhao Zhen's body is recovering day by day, and he can speak and take a short walk in the imperial garden.

This stroke also sounded the alarm for Zhao Zhen's body. He began to realize that he was no longer young, and it was impossible to leave an heir. So who could inherit his throne was already a major event that Zhao Zhen had to face.

From an emotional point of view, he loves Concubine Zhang's adopted son more. Zhao Wenyun is smart and studious, and he pleases Zhao Zhen very much. Of course, this is also the result of Zhao Zhen's love for Wu and Wu.

But reason told Zhao Zhen that the young Zhao Zongshi was more stable, wise, and capable, and he was better able to inherit his position.

During this period of time, Zhao Zhen has been wandering between emotion and reason, and it is always difficult to make up his mind.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Zhao Zhen was lying on the bed quietly thinking about the gains and losses of his 20 years in power. When a person is sick and weak, he will often reflect on what he has done and draw lessons.

Zhao Zhen was no exception. When he fell ill this time, he also began to reflect on his gains and losses in governance, and was thinking about how he would face his ancestors in the future.

At this time, an eunuch whispered: "Your Majesty, Wen Xianggong and Fu Xianggong are here!"

"Show them in!"

The eunuch went out, and after a while, Wen Yanbo and Fu Bi were led into the ward. Seeing that the emperor's face was pale and thin without a trace of blood, they both felt very sad, and hurried forward to salute, "See Your Majesty!"

"You two lovers, please sit down!"

The eunuch moved two embroidered pier and asked them to sit in front of the sick bed.

Wen Yanbo asked with concern: "Does your Majesty feel better?"

Zhao Zhen smiled wryly and said, "It's still a little difficult for me to speak, but the imperial doctor encouraged me to talk more, so I called you here, I want to know about the situation in the court."

Wen Yanbo and Fu Bi looked at each other, Wen Yanbo pondered for a while and said: "This year's start is good, especially Kunzhou received 100 million taels of silver last autumn, which alleviated the financial crisis to a certain extent, and [-] pieces of amber wood were also sold. The good price of [-] guan has filled the void in the inner treasury."

A smile appeared on Zhao Zhen's face, "Who said that Kunzhou is a bottomless pit of the imperial court's finances? At the critical moment, Kunzhou also has a return, 100 million taels of silver! This is equivalent to the annual silver mining output of the Song Dynasty last year."

"It is said that Japan is rich in silver, especially in the northeast region, where the output of gold and silver is very high. Governor Fan sold the obsolete equipment at a high price to the Abe family who owns a large amount of silver mines. Although I don't really agree with this method, it is also worth it. Let Weichen realize that trading with Japan can indeed harvest a lot of gold and silver."

At this time, Fu Bi said from the side: "Governor Fan's support of the Abe family in the form of trade is also to weaken Japan's prying eyes on Kunzhou. I don't think it is necessary to draw conclusions too early. We will discuss this matter after a few years of observation."

Fu Bi obviously disagreed with Wen Yanbo on supporting the Abe family, and the two were silent for a while.

Zhao Zhen smiled slightly and said: "The imperial court does not need to argue about this matter. Since I have entrusted Governor Fan with full authority to handle relations with Japan, this is his authority. The imperial court should not interfere."

Wen Yanbo could only nod silently, and Zhao Zhen sighed again: "During this period of time, my health has deteriorated, and I was thinking for a while, if I go to see my ancestors, what should I say to them, what can I do?" achievements?"

Wen Yanbo and Fu Bi turned pale with shock, and they hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is recovering slowly, don't let your imagination run wild!"

Zhao Zhen waved his hand, "People don't have long-term considerations, and they must have near-term worries. If I don't hurry up and do something, I really can't face Taizu Taizong when I go to Jiuquan in the future. This serious illness made me make up my mind. "

"Your Majesty mean Kunzhou?"

"Not only Kunzhou, but also Jingzhou. Fan Ning has repeatedly suggested that I build a military city in Jingzhou. I haven't made up my mind yet. After thinking twice, I still feel that I should be aggressive and build a military city in Jingzhou. .”

Wen Yanbo said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, the special envoy of the Liao Kingdom arrived in the capital yesterday."

Zhao Zhen was taken aback, and asked, "Why did the Liao envoy come here?"

"Nominally they came for Danzhou, but we all agree that they are still worried that our development of Kunzhou will be detrimental to Liao Kingdom."

Zhao Zhen said with a faint smile: "It seems that we want to do something, and secrecy is still a big problem!"

"The main reason is that the matter of Kunzhou is known all over the world. It is really impossible to hide it from the Liao Kingdom. We can only control the key secrets. Like the iron fire thunder invented by Kunzhou, only the Zhizhengtang knows about it. The secret was kept even from the Military Superintendent."

Zhao Zhen nodded, "Yelu Hongji has just ascended the throne, and he is very high-spirited. When he wants to do something big, his worries should not be underestimated. You can explain clearly to them that we are only opening up territories overseas for trade, and we have no intention of doing anything wrong. The Liao Kingdom is disadvantaged, in short, the attitude must be sincere, and what should be denied must be firmly denied, I don’t want the Liao Kingdom to realize the danger so soon, it will be detrimental to our overseas expansion.”

"I understand, I will definitely follow His Majesty's instructions and deal with this envoy from the Liao Kingdom."

Zhao Zhen sighed slightly, "I hope that spring will start as soon as possible. Fan Ning will go to Beijing to report on his work. I have many questions to ask him."

Coming out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Fu Bi smiled wryly and said to Wen Yanbo: "Did Mr. Wen find out that after the official's serious illness, he seems to pay more attention to Kunzhou?"

Wen Yanbo nodded and said: "In fact, the officials are not only concerned about Kunzhou, but also concerned about the development of overseas borders. I am afraid that he wants to regard the overseas development of borders as the greatest achievement and explain it to Taizu Taizong a hundred years later."

The envoy of the Liao Kingdom is called Yelu Alu, and he is the Minister of the Military Department of the Southern Academy of the Liao Kingdom. This time, he followed the secret decree of Yelu Hongji, the leader of the Liao Dynasty, and went south to the Song Dynasty to inquire about the opening of overseas borders.

Yelu Hongji was enthroned as Emperor of Liao last year. He is very young. He is only 24 years old this year. He is full of energy and ready to do something big.

A few months ago, the Koryo envoy presented a map to Yelu Hongji, and accused the Song Dynasty of occupying Danzhou for the purpose of conspiring against the Liao Kingdom. This map really shocked Yelu Hongji. The Song Dynasty occupied Danzhou Danzhou is actually close to Liaodong. If the Song Dynasty stationed [-] troops in Danzhou, it would not be able to kill the hinterland of Liaodong in the blink of an eye.

Moreover, it is said that the Song Dynasty also set up a larger Kunzhou. They didn't know where Kunzhou was, but Yelu Hongji suspected that Kunzhou was also next to the Liao Kingdom, so he sent a special envoy to the Song Dynasty to learn about the situation of the Great Song's overseas expansion.

Yelu Alu lives in the Liao Kingdom Pavilion in the capital, which is equivalent to the Liao Kingdom's embassy in the Song Dynasty. It covers an area of ​​nearly [-] acres, with hundreds of various buildings and [-] Khitan soldiers stationed there.

Yelu Alu belongs to the Khitan royal family. He is about 40 years old. He was born as a military general.

In the lobby of the Liao State Pavilion, Yelu Alu was standing in front of a map, listening to a report from Yeluping, the head of intelligence in the capital.

"After many investigations, I can basically confirm that Kunzhou is a large island in the north of Japan. It is said that it is uninhabited and the conditions are very difficult. It is at least [-] miles away from Song Dynasty. It takes more than a month to get there by boat. .”

Yelua donkey frowned, he had no idea where Japan was, let alone the north of Japan.

"I just want to know, how far is this Kunzhou from the Liao Kingdom?"

"I don't know exactly how far it is from the Liao Kingdom, but I heard from a boatman that it is at least a few thousand miles away from the Liao Kingdom."

Yelu Donkey heard that the distance was thousands of miles away. He breathed a sigh of relief, and turned his eyes to the map on the table. This is the map of the former Silla that Yeluping got. Although Silla was inherited by Goryeo, its geographical location is different. Change.

On this map, Danzhou is located below Silla, not as Koryo gave them on the map. Danzhou is located in the northwest of Koryo, close to Liaodong.

"Is your map accurate?"

"It must be accurate. This is an old map from more than 100 years ago, and according to the investigation by the staff, Danzhou is very close to the mouth of the Yangtze River. It can be reached by boat in ten days. It is impossible to be in Liaodong."

"Damn Gao Linu, dare to deceive His Majesty the Emperor!"

Yelu Alu was very annoyed. Of course he understood the bad intentions of the Goryeo people. They did not dare to provoke the Song Dynasty, so they deceived the Liao Kingdom to put pressure on the Song Dynasty, trying to use the hands of the Liao Kingdom to take back Danzhou.

Yelu Alu walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, then turned around and said, "Danzhou is put down, let's talk about Kunzhou, what does the Song Dynasty want to do in Kunzhou?"

Yeluping said cautiously: "I got a list of officials who went to Kunzhou to take up the post, and I found that there are many officials from the Group Shepherd Division."

"You mean, Da Song really wants to use Kunzhou to raise horses?"

"Beizhi doesn't have any more evidence, so I don't dare to say that, but I heard that the winter there is extremely cold, and the snow accumulation is higher than that of a person. It stands to reason that it is difficult for war horses to survive in such bad weather, so I am a little confused."

Yelu Alu thought for a while and said, "You must investigate this matter clearly. If the Song Dynasty really used Kunzhou to raise horses, it would be detrimental to our Daliao. We must deal with it."

"I'm afraid that even if the humble official finds out, the Song Dynasty will not admit it."

Yelu Alu snorted, shook his head and said, "Of course they won't admit it. What the Son of Heaven means is that we, Daliao, also want to build a navy, and the Song Dynasty can't be allowed to act recklessly overseas!"

(End of this chapter)