Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 145 Do you have this strength?

Murong Fu's doubts were also very simple. That is, "Do you have the strength to compete with Daliao?"

He doubted whether Da Song really had the strength to reset him.

The first two things seemed okay. As for the third thing, Murong Fu always felt that Zhao Mu was bragging.

Moreover, if Zhao Mu was speaking to him as the Emperor of Song Dynasty, then Murong Fu would still feel that he was more reliable. Or maybe he could help him seize the throne first, and then Zhao Mu would raise troops from the Song Dynasty to help him restore the country. This would also make sense.

However, Zhao Mu was neither the emperor nor wanted to be the emperor. Instead, he wanted to help him become the emperor. If he hadn't smelled the alcohol, Murong Fu would have thought that Zhao Mu was drunk and was just having fun with himself.

And even if Zhao Mu represents the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, he will be the interlocutor. If the Song Dynasty had the strength, it could have taken back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun by itself. Then why didn't the Song Dynasty do it on its own? Instead, it needed to support him who had no soldiers and generals to do this?

Although the conditions proposed by Zhao Mu were indeed mutually beneficial, the Song Dynasty had paid tribute to Liao every year for hundreds of years and was obviously unable to compete with Liao.

Today's Song Dynasty has Daliao in the north, Dali in the south, and Xixia and Tubo in the west. Song Dynasty can be said to be the place of the Four Wars.

In Murong Fu's eyes, the Song Dynasty was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing the river who could not save himself.

It was not easy to protect himself, and then he lent troops to him to support him in becoming emperor on the land of Liao. Murong Fu felt that Zhao Mu was talking nonsense.

This is also the reason why Murong and his son always wanted to unite with the Liao to destroy the Song and restore the country in the original timeline, instead of uniting with the Song to destroy the Liao.

Because the Song Dynasty valued culture over military affairs and paid tribute everywhere, they obviously did not believe that the Song Dynasty could defeat the Liao Kingdom, let alone help them recover.

Although Murong Fu didn't believe that Zhao Mu had such ability, he was embarrassed to say so because of his face. Zhao Mu suddenly embarrassed him.

Faced with Murong Fu's silence, Zhao Mu was at a loss for a while.

According to Zhao Mu's original guess, even if Murong Fu was not overjoyed when he heard that he could help him regain his country, he should still show some expression. It won’t be like this anymore.

The two of them just looked at each other, neither of them saying anything, and they were awkward for a while.

In the end, Murong Fu couldn't help it anymore and expressed his doubts.

"Mr. Zhao, it's not that I don't believe in Mr. Zhao. It's just that it's not easy to split the land and open up a border. It's just that the Song Dynasty paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty for many years. The Song Dynasty can't seize the city by itself, so how can it support me to become the emperor?" Murong Fu finished speaking. Finally, I felt even more embarrassed.

Although Song and Liao were an alliance of brothers, there was no relationship between monarch and minister. However, the Song Dynasty paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty every year. In Murong Fu's eyes, the Song Dynasty was a de facto vassal state.

However, Murong Fu's words still saved Zhao Mu face. He only said that the Song Dynasty was incompetent, but did not say that Zhao Mu's status was low.

Although Murong Fu didn't know who Zhao Mu was, he had previously visited the palace in Bianjing with Helian Tieshu, pretending to be Li Yanzong, and had also met the young emperor of the Song Dynasty. Among the civil and military officials who accompanied the king to receive the Xixia delegation, as well as the royal family and nobles, Murong Fu was certain that Zhao Mu was not among them. He could conclude that even if Zhao Mu belonged to the clan, his status would not be too high. Otherwise, it would be such a big event to receive a delegation, and all the civil and military officials would be there, so it would be impossible for him to not miss it.

After hearing Murong Fu's words, Zhao Mu also nodded silently. Although Zhao Mu was a little surprised, after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this was a reasonable thing. After all, the "iron-blooded and strong Song Dynasty" was a weak government second only to the two Jin Dynasties. It was normal for Murong Fu to have doubts about this matter.

Zhao Mu smiled and said: "Haha, Master Murong, don't worry about this. It is precisely because the Song Dynasty cannot seize the city by itself that it needs Master Murong's help."

The more Murong Fu listened, the more confused he became. He didn't know what Zhao Mu was thinking. After all, for his time, the concept of "proxy war" was still relatively advanced.

Seeing his confused look, Zhao Mu immediately explained: "Since the Song Dynasty and the Khitan entered into the Chanyuan Alliance during the reign of Zhenzong, although the two countries have made constant small moves in the past hundred years, there has indeed been no large-scale war. Therefore, I don’t intend to let the Song Dynasty go to war with the Liao Dynasty. The Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty have always been brotherly countries."

After Zhao Mu said this, Murong Fu finally understood what Zhao Mu meant and couldn't help but chuckle. Then he stretched out his thumb and sighed at Zhao Mu's scheming.

Murong Fu said: "Gao! Mr. Zhao is really a brilliant plan. Mr. Zhao means that Song and Liao cannot go to war, but they can help the Liao Dynasty to restore the country. When the Liao Dynasty is in civil strife, whether it is to recapture the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and return them to Give the Song Dynasty, or the Song Dynasty, an excuse to send troops to aid the Liao Dynasty, and take the opportunity to recapture the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, or more simply, let the Liao Kingdom cede the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture in exchange for the Song Dynasty sending troops. No matter whether Murong Fu can restore the country or not , the Song Dynasty was always the party that took advantage of the fishermen."

After listening to Murong Fu's words, Zhao Mu no longer concealed his purpose, because he knew that if he tried to hide it too much, it would arouse Murong Fu's distrust. Then he said: "Mr. Murong is right. It is precisely because of this that I came to see Mr. Murong to discuss cooperation. I, the Song Dynasty, want to return to the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, but I don't want to have a full-scale confrontation with the Liao Kingdom. War. So we need an ally."

Murong Fu retorted: "You need a sharp knife and an obedient lackey."

Zhao Mu smiled and then said: "If Master Murong wants to understand it this way, then it doesn't matter. When the time comes, Master Murong will work hard in the front, and we will provide you with money, food, and even soldiers and horses in the back. As long as you don't break up with the Liao Kingdom, We can also weaken the Liao Kingdom and take back the sixteen states of Yanyun. Whether you win or the Liao Kingdom wins, it makes no difference to us. However, I still recommend that Mr. Murong accept my cooperation. This is the only way for you to restore the country. Chance."

Murong Fu thought about it for a while and then said: "The conditions are indeed very tempting. If I agree, there will be no need to be secretive when purchasing military supplies or recruiting troops."

Zhao Mu nodded silently.

But at this time Murong Fu frowned and said: "But, why do I believe that the Song Dynasty will not accept the conditions of the Liao Kingdom and betray me. Or the Song Dynasty, whose vitality is not damaged at all, will not turn around and destroy me?"

Zhao Mu nodded and praised: "It's a wise concern. But don't worry, Mr. Murong, this worry can be completely dispelled. First of all, I only help you divide the Liao Kingdom and take the land from the Liao Kingdom to build the country, not help you divide the Liao Kingdom." Eliminate it. In other words, what the Song Dynasty wanted was to weaken the Liao Kingdom, not to destroy it. Secondly, most of the land east of Liaodong was a bitter and cold barren land, and the people there were fierce, and the Song Dynasty was not interested in going there. We need to directly govern those places, so I troubled Young Master Murong, the Emperor of Yan, to govern them."

Murong Fu laughed when he heard this and said: "Haha, isn't Mr. Zhao afraid that after I succeed in the future, I will unite with the Liao Kingdom and go south to invade the Song Dynasty?"

Zhao Mu also laughed and said: "Hahaha, of course I'm not afraid. The Song Dynasty is not as weak as Mr. Murong looks. On the contrary, the Song Dynasty is even more of a conspiracy against the Liao Kingdom's Chanyuan Alliance. Don't look at it every year. Give hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the Liao Kingdom. But the goods from the mainland are trafficked to the Liao Kingdom for sale. How much money does the Song Dynasty receive every year?"

"Furthermore, those annual coins were paid as tribute to the powerful people of the Liao Kingdom, and the common people at the bottom could not get even half of it. After hundreds of years of oppression by the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom did not dare to say that it had reached the point where Zhumen's bones were frozen to death due to the smell of wine and meat. But the officials are well-dressed and well-fed, but the common people at the bottom are hungry. The century-old layout is about to be harvested."

"As long as Mr. Murong holds high the flag of justice in the Liao Kingdom, other Liao people who are dissatisfied with the Liao Kingdom will also take advantage of the situation to rise up. What the Song Dynasty wants is for the Liao Kingdom to be in chaos, and when the time comes, the Song Dynasty army only needs to move to the border of Song and Liao, and the Liao Kingdom will surely It is difficult to take care of the beginning and the end. They have withdrawn the border troops to suppress the rebellion. They are afraid that the Song Dynasty will take advantage of the situation, but if they do not mobilize their troops, internal worries will be difficult to solve. By then, they will be riding a tiger and be unable to dismount."

"And as long as the Liao Kingdom no longer poses a threat to the Song Dynasty, the next person the Song Dynasty will deal with is Xixia."

(End of this chapter)