The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 467 Everyone is happy
Mu Xu's eyes flashed, and he asked, "Private Tong is talking about the East River?"

Tong Guan patted his thigh and said, "Ah, Master Muzhai really understands! You don't know what Hedong means to Song Dynasty. If you can't eradicate the threat to Gyeonggi here, even the officials will have a hard time convincing the officials. , Now send troops to attack Liao."

Before entering Beijing, Mu Xu had already thought that the Song court might use the excuse of sending troops to the Liao Kingdom to force him to return to Hedong as soon as possible.

Therefore, after hearing Tong Guan's words at this time, he was not surprised at all, he just said indifferently, "Then according to Tong Guan's opinion, how should this matter be?"

Tong Guan smiled and waved his hands and said, "I dare not say that, the old man is just a courtier, but he can't be the master of the official family."

"I made a slip of the tongue, so I don't know what the officials have to say?"

"The official means that it is best for Muzhai Lord to return Hedong first. In this case, the imperial court can also send troops to Youzhou with peace of mind."

Mu Xu said noncommittally, "Have the officials forgotten? I only own most of the east of the river, and Tian Hu owns all the land in the south. Even if I return Taiyuan and other places, the threat of Jingji Road will still not be lifted."

"Master Mu can rest assured on this point, as long as you return the land you occupied, the imperial court has its own strategy to deal with Tian Hu."

Seeing that Tong Guan was so confident, Mu Xu only thought about it for a while, and then guessed the Song court's response. He thought it was to station some troops around Tianhu's territory to deter him from acting rashly.

In fact, if Mu Xu said it, it would be superfluous.It's just because Tian Hu has already lost his enterprising spirit, and now he lives and sleeps in the newly built Fenzhou Palace, not caring what happens to the outside world.

Of course, Mu Xu will not remind Tong Guan about this point.

As for whether to return it to Hedong, Mu Xu also thought of a prevarication method, and only heard him say, "Hedong is my way of retreat, so I can only agree to return a part of it.

If I want to return all of them, there must be a prerequisite, that is to completely drive the Liao people away from Youyun, and relieve my worries. "

Hearing this, Tong Guan immediately said displeased, "According to what Mu Zhaizhu said, as long as the Liao people occupy Youyun for a day, then you will not return the territory of Song Dynasty to me for a day, which is different from our previous Is the agreement inconsistent?"

"What's wrong, how did I agree to the court?"

Facing Mu Xu's rhetorical question, Tong Guan was a little speechless.Seeing this situation, it was Cai You who came out to smooth things over again and said, "Brother Mu should give you a good word, which states you are willing to hand over first, so that the two of us can reply to the officials."

Mu Xu pretended to ponder, "How about Longde and Weisheng?"

Cai You immediately shook his head and said, "Too little, too little!"

"A lot, these are two important places. Longde Mansion is the gateway to the east foot of Taihang, and Weisheng is adjacent to Fenzhou, so it can directly deter Tianhu."

After haggling for a while, Cai You saw that no matter what he said, Mu Xu was unwilling to let go, so he could only cut to the chase, "What conditions does Brother Mu need before he agrees to return Hedong in advance?"

This is what Mu Xu was waiting for, but he still put on a look of embarrassment, and it took him a while to say,
"I'm not going to hide it from you two. At present, my army's money and food are all supported by Hedong. If I lose the supply ground, how can Yunzhou defend?"

Tong Guan made it clear that he didn't believe it, "Master Mu just likes to joke, you have already monopolized eight states in the nine states behind Youyun Mountain, how can you lack money and food to support soldiers?"

Mu Xu immediately poured out his bitterness, "The two adults don't know that the rich land of Youyun is all concentrated in the seven prefectures in front of the mountain. In addition, the Liao people have poisoned the place for many years, and Yunzhou and other places have long been dilapidated. .Now don’t talk about supporting the army, it would be nice not to let me subsidize it!”

Tong Guan and Tong Guan looked at each other. Although they felt that what Mu Xu said was exaggerated, it is well known that Yunzhou and other places are located in frontier fortresses and are poorer than the Central Plains.

And the two of them also understood that what Mu Xu said so much was just to ask the court to give him some money and food, but if he can take back Hedong as soon as possible, this request is not impossible to consider.

Cai You then asked tentatively, "In Brother Mu's opinion, how much food is enough for you to raise soldiers?"

Mu Xu showed his white teeth and replied, "How about twenty million copper coins and eight million stone grains, what do you two think?"

Hearing that Mu Xu opened his mouth like a lion, Tong Guan and the two were naturally dumbfounded.

After a long while, Cai You said helplessly, "So much money and food is enough for the imperial court to buy You Yun from the Liao people."

"The words are correct, but what about the real situation? Even if this number is doubled, the Liao Kingdom will not agree.

Besides, what I want seems to be a lot, but compared with the annual tax of the Song Dynasty, it is not even one-third. Isn't it worthwhile to exchange most of the east of the river? "

Cai You smiled wryly, "You can't calculate the accounts like this. Although the Song Dynasty has a lot of taxes, the annual expenditure is even larger. If you spend so much money and food at one time, the court can't make it through?"

"How much can the court pay?"

Cai You made some calculations and stretched out two fingers, "At most two million guan, there is no food at all."

When Mu Xu heard the words, he stood up and made a gesture to leave. Cai You hurriedly grabbed his sleeve and said comfortingly, "Brother, what are you doing? Everything is negotiable. Why don't you just leave?"

Tong Guan also persuaded him with good words, and after a lot of eloquence, Mu Xu reluctantly sat down again.

Next, Cai You didn't dare to lower the price too hard. The three of them finally decided that Mu Xu would return the Hedong territory except Xinzhou and Daizhou, and the Song court would compensate Mu Xu with four million silver coins at one time , and [-] million shi of grain.

The three of them all made a gesture of being at a disadvantage, but in fact they were all very satisfied.

For the two of Tong Guan, it was a great deal to go back to the eleven states without spending a single soldier.The only fly in the ointment is that, in order to prevent the court from going back on its word, Mu Xu is unwilling to hand over Daizhou and Xinzhou now without saying anything.

But for Mu Xu, it seemed that he had lost a large area of ​​territory on the surface, but he avoided falling out with Da Song now, so that he would not be attacked by Liao and Song from both sides, and he was extorted a large amount of money and food, which was not too much of a loss. .

Seeing that the important event was over, Mu Xu offered to take his leave and leave, but Tong Guan hurriedly stopped him, talking about another purpose for inviting him today.

"Because of Mu Zhaizhu's actions yesterday, the government and the opposition are arguing endlessly, so it is difficult for the officials to do so. You'd better make an apology, so that the officials can give Shilin an explanation."

For Mu Xu, this is nothing more than a matter of refraining from writing, and it will not make him lose a hair, so he will not deliberately refuse.

But when he thought of being schemed by Cai Jing like this, how could Mu Xu let it go, so before leaving, he sighed unintentionally,

"Hey, I'm also to blame for offending Grand Master Cai. It's not wrong for him to seek me out like this. In the future, I will ask Cai Shaobao to be a middleman so that I can ask Grand Master Cai for my crimes!"

When Cai You heard Mu Xu's words, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "How do you say this, brother, please explain carefully?"

Mu Xu immediately said, "I passed by Jiangzhou in the past, and happened to meet Song Jiang and his gang who made a scene in the execution ground and killed his younger brother Cai Jiuzhifu. This matter has nothing to do with me.

But recently I suddenly heard rumors that Song Jiang actually reported to the grand master and pointedly identified me as a murderer. Isn't this a big joke in the world? "

After finishing speaking, he shook his head and sighed, ignoring the wonderful expressions of Tong Guan and the two behind him.

(End of this chapter)