Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 612: She is my prisoner, what does it have to do with the Song Dynasty?

The visit of the Liao envoys gave Zhezong a headache.

Although the Liao Kingdom and the Qi Kingdom met again, this incident was caused by Zhao Ji during his lifetime. The Liao Kingdom envoy also took out the letter of credence signed with Zhao Ji.

Although Zhao Ji almost caused a disaster, he did take back the small cities on the border of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which can be regarded as a contribution to the expansion of territory for the Song Dynasty.

Although Zhezong wanted to send the Liao envoys back, his position was delicate and unreasonable.

Zhezong had no choice but to summon Zhao Mu to the Golden Palace.

On this day, all civil and military officials attended the court. Even Zhao Mu's second brother, the newly appointed Prince of Dongping, was given an empty title by Zhezong and was allowed to attend the court.

Just like last time, Zhezong gave Zhao Mu a chair and let him sit under his throne to listen to government affairs.

After the civil and military officials had dealt with important matters, Zhezong summoned the Liao envoy into the palace and discussed the matter in public.

In the court, the Liao envoy was also shocked to see the spectacle of two emperors in one country.

However, he also bowed to Zhezong and Zhao Mu in turn.

After the ceremony, the Liao envoy said, "Your Majesty, Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, I wonder what you think about releasing the Princess of Zhao from the Great Liao Dynasty? Previously, the Princess of Zhao was sent as an envoy to your country, but you detained her without reason. This is a bit against the rules."

This time, Zhezong did not speak, but looked directly at Zhao Mu who was sitting below him.

Zhao Mu stood up and said, "What are you talking about, envoy? Yelu Yanxiu is not a prisoner of the Song Dynasty. How can the Song Dynasty have the power to release him?"

The Liao envoy replied, "Your Majesty, Emperor Zhong, is saying that your country and the Song Dynasty are no longer one entity?"

Zhao Mu retorted, "Of course. But my Zhongsong is a vassal of the Great Song, and your majesty has granted me the power of military governorship. And Yelu Yanxiu joined forces with Prince Duan to rebel and usurp the throne, and sent troops to attack Qi. Now that I have captured him alive, he is naturally a prisoner of my Zhongsong. The Great Song has no power to release him."

At this time, Zhao Mu turned around and bowed to Zhezong who was sitting on the dragon throne, then said, "Your Majesty, is what I said reasonable?"

Zhezong smiled and said, "Your uncle is right. Qi was originally a vassal state of our Song Dynasty. Today, I have conferred upon your uncle the title of Zhong Tianzi as a reward for your merits. I have only withdrawn Qi's vassalage, not reduced it. Yelu Yanxiu was captured by your uncle and should be a prisoner of Zhong Song. Our Song Dynasty can do nothing to help."

Zhezong really admired Zhao Mu's brain. Zhao Mu was the best at this kind of unreasonable things. Whether it was Yelu Yanping before, Yelu Yanxiu after, or even the Liao envoy in front of him, they could not do anything to him.

But there is no other way, because the Song Dynasty is now strong enough. If there were no battles in Xiongzhou and the confidence to destroy the Xia Dynasty, the Liao envoy would not reason with you.

The Liao envoy bowed to Zhao Mu and said, "Then your majesty, what will it take for you to release my Princess Zhao?"

Zhao Mu sneered and said, "Release? You Liao people took advantage of my attack on the false emperor to launch a surprise attack on Qi State, and you still want me to release that woman? Is there something wrong with your brains, Liao people?"

Hearing this, the Liao envoy was at a loss for words. Although the Liao Kingdom and the Qi Kingdom had not signed a peace treaty, it was indeed the Liao Kingdom that took the lead in launching an undeclared war. It was just that the Liao Kingdom overestimated the strength of the Song Dynasty under Zhao Ji's control. It also overestimated its own strength.

According to the previous estimates of the Liao Dynasty's think tanks, they did not expect Zhao Ji to defeat Zhao Mu.

The only hope was that Zhao Ji would hold back Zhao Mu's main force for a while, and then Liao would attack the cities of Qi with all its might, forcing Zhao Mu to return for help. As long as the war remained stalemate, Zhao Ji's throne would be secure, and a "three-legged tripod" would be achieved, and the Liao would be completely relieved by the three parties' containment.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Mu did not return to help, but divided his troops into two groups. He personally led one group to the east to occupy Bianjing, while Wang Jin and others led another group to help Qi. This was beyond the Liao people's expectations.

Moreover, the Liao Kingdom overestimated its own strength. Although they easily arrived near Lingzhou City, they were met with stubborn resistance from the Xiaqi coalition led by Huyan Jin and Helian Tieshu.

Although the Liao's vanguard army had seen the walls of Lingzhou City, they were easily defeated by Zhao Mu's ace troops, the Iron Pagoda, in field battles, which the Liao people were best at.

The commander of this army was also the famous Xixia general Helian Tieshu. Helian Tieshu personally commanded the Iron Buddha to attack, and he also truly witnessed the terrifying nature of this army. The Liao army was simply vulnerable in front of the Iron Buddha. The Liao soldiers who attacked first were defeated by the Iron Buddha with overwhelming force.

Although Helian Tieshu also wanted to build such an army for Xixia, unfortunately he could not do it. The reason was very simple, that is, "lack of financial resources."

Zhao Mu's Qi Kingdom received annual tribute from the Song Dynasty, tribute from the Western Regions, and a huge source of income from controlling the strategic point of the Silk Road, not to mention that he also robbed Gaochang Uighurs of so many treasures. This was totally incomparable to the Western Xia Kingdom.

Helian Tieshu was also thankful that when Zhao Mu went west to conquer the Xia, he did not actually attack the Western Xia. If he really faced such a group of monsters, they would have ended up like the Liao people.

The Liao envoy was speechless, but the conditions could still be discussed. He then said: "Your Majesty Zhongdi, please calm down. Our Liao Dynasty has no intention of being an enemy of Your Majesty Zhongdi. It is only because the newly agreed Chanyuan Treaty between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty clearly states that the two countries will protect each other."

"The one who ruled the Song Dynasty at that time was Prince Duan, not the two emperors. His Majesty Zhongdi led the army to the east to attack the false emperor, although he had a legitimate reason. But I, the Liao Dynasty, don't know who is real and who is fake between the two of you. But Prince Duan was the true emperor recognized by all the officials of the Song Dynasty, so we naturally have to abide by the covenant."

Zhao Mu looked at Zhezong when he heard this, and Zhezong nodded silently, confirming that it was true.

At this time, the Liao envoy added: "If Your Majesty still recognizes the alliance, then if the Song Dynasty is attacked again in the future, our Liao Dynasty will still send troops to help!"

Hearing this, all the officials could not help but frown, because they all understood that the Liao envoy's words were intended to divide the relationship between Zhao Mu and Zhezong.

Just as Zhezong was about to say something, Zhao Mu spoke up first, "That was signed between the fake emperor Prince Duan and your Liao Kingdom. When did your Majesty and I agree to it? If you want to fulfill it, you might as well go down and talk to 'Duke Hun De'."

Zhao Mu said at this time: "Okay, you can go back and report to the Liao Lord. Yelu Yanxiu is my captive and has nothing to do with the Song Dynasty. If you want to get him back, then we will discuss it after I return to Lingzhou. As for the mutual protection agreement you mentioned, it was signed by Duke Hun De before his death. Your Majesty and I do not recognize it! This is our final reply! You can go down!"

After saying this, Zhao Mu ordered the Liao envoy to expel him.

The Liao envoy was helpless. Although he wanted to discuss the matter further, Zhao Mu had already issued an order to expel him, so he could only go back and report.

After the grand court meeting ended, although Zhao Mu's second brother wanted to talk to his brother, Zhao Mu was directly summoned to the harem by Zhezong. He had no choice but to return home first.

(End of this chapter)