Became a feudal lord in the late Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 145 Eat both sides

Late at night, the lights were brightly lit in the handsome tent. Wanyan Yanmu walked in under the leadership of the school captain. She saw Liu Ling sitting there in black royal robes. After bowing to him and saluting him, she said with a smile: "Meet the king."

"My father-in-law doesn't need to be polite."

"Take a seat."

Liu Ling stretched out his hand to signal, and a general brought a chair over. Wanyan's mother did not refuse. After sitting down, she went straight to the point: "Money and jewelry are indispensable. When I return from this trip, I will help you persuade Wanyan." Xieye, expand the scale of trade."

Liu Ling nodded silently.

In terms of commercial trade, there is not much difference between the Jin Kingdom and Yanyun, which occupied most of the Liao Kingdom's homeland. However, Yanyun's land was fertile and with the Song Dynasty behind it, more goods could be sold. A hundred times, plus Liu Ling began to cultivate financial management and business experts as early as three years ago. As long as the Jin Kingdom opens its mouth, the trade deficit will become larger and larger.

But it is impossible to tell all these thoughts to Wanyan's mother. The latter's interest relationship with Liu Ling is not too big, and she is an older generation of Jin people. Liu Ling only uses Wanyan's mother's relationship to win over other Jin people. National dignitaries.

Zhang Wuchuan wrote back, saying that the conflict between Yan Zongwang and the Jin Emperor was getting worse. When Liu Ling found out, he specially sent people to deliver goods worth 50,000 guan to Juyongguan with great fanfare, which made him angry. .

"After my father-in-law returns, my son-in-law will send people to send money and goods every month. He will definitely treat Quan'er well and let her give birth to a child as soon as possible."

Wanyan's mother smiled bitterly in her heart, but she still nodded, chatted with Liu Ling for a while, and then stood up to leave.

"Your Majesty, can he be trusted?" Han Fang sat on his knees and listened silently. He waited until Wanyan's mother left before asking.

"The second emperor of the Kingdom of Jin is a man of many thoughts. I had previously tricked Wanyan Zongwang and instigated a relationship between him and Emperor Jin. Now the two of them are really at odds, which shows that Emperor Jin has a general mind.

Wanyan's mother was originally a high-ranking figure in the Jin Kingdom, but because of her capture, her power had been divided up in the past two years. Now that he returns, unless he really gives up everything and lives with his salary, otherwise."

Speaking of this, Liu Ling shook his head.

"Oh, he and I are both Qiu Ba who have led troops and fought in wars. How can his temper be softened? Even if he doesn't agree now, his fellow Jin people can force him to the point where he has to cooperate with me. "

"Your Majesty is very considerate and I admire you."

"Okay, okay, have the rules for rewards in the military been finalized?"

"Most of them have been decided, but the marquis for Generals Han and Liang has not yet been decided." Han Fang looked at Liu Ling and asked tentatively: "I don't know whether to use the old Liao nobility system or the Song Dynasty system." "

"Just use the name of Yanyun's place and county to directly create a marquis - Han Shizhong, Yanhou, Liang Zhe, Yunhou."

"Here."

"Also, how is the construction of the city east of Yinshan Mountain?"

"The grassland people recruited more than 30,000 people, plus 20,000 people from Yunzhong, for a total of 50,000 people. They built a pass in the name of Shanhaiguan to the east of Yinshan Mountain and north of Yunzhong Prefecture, connecting the Great Wall built in the past dynasties to defend against the Jin Dynasty. country, but the northernmost Hengzhou in Yunzhong is in the hands of the Jin people. After all, there is still a gap that is difficult to bridge."

Liu Ling looked at the map according to Han Fang's instructions. The Shanhaiguan route had been drawn on the map in advance. He looked at it silently for a while and finally nodded.

"Just do it."

Hengzhou, the northernmost city in Yunzhong, is a fortified city, but Liu Ling had already taken advantage of him a lot in the previous peace talks with the Jin people. The Jin people were the only ones who refused to let go of Hengzhou, and there was nothing Liu Ling could do at that time. . The return of the Yinshan grassland now means that Liu Ling no longer needs to worry about problems with the grassland in a few years. The next step is to stabilize the interest relationship between the two parties, thereby achieving a stable defense line in the northwest of Yunzhong.

With the Yinshan grassland, the Great Wall and Shanhaiguan about to start construction, at most one year later, even if the Jin people wanted to go south, they could only choose Hengzhou or the north of Yandi as a breakthrough point. Liu Ling reduced the need for heavy defense. Border lines can push the battlefield to a place you are familiar with.

Among the Juyongguan garrison stationed to the north of Yandi, its commander was Wanyan Zongwang, who had an increasingly close interest relationship with Liu Ling. There were many old officials and soldiers of the Liao Kingdom in his army, and the men sent by Liu Ling were pervasive. Through bribery and inducement, Wanyan Zongwang and the Jin people were constantly poached.

In June, northern merchants in Bazhou and Xiongzhou began to use a kind of paper currency called Baochao. At first, only the merchants of Song Dynasty used Baochao the most, because they could buy more goods with Baochao, less than half of the money. In August, many dignitaries and wealthy households in Bazhou and Xiongzhou also began to use Bao Banknotes, which gradually led more and more people to start using Bao Banknotes.

The banknotes can be exchanged on the same day at the local Beidi Bank, which is safe and convenient.

Beidi Bank used money to clear the way for the Song Dynasty. Every time they transported money, they were escorted by the local garrison. When they arrived at Yandi, they were escorted by officers and soldiers of the Wei March Army under Gao Feng. From the beginning to the end, it was all about government connections. Anyone who dares to be tempted by Beidi Bank's money is an enemy of Liu Ling and the Song government.

In the evening, Zhao Mingcheng drank some wine and came to the courtyard of the back house drunk, and saw his wife sitting in the pavilion writing something.

"Husband."

Li Qingzhao raised his head and saw his husband walking over, and the smell of alcohol hit his face.

She also drank, but she still couldn't help the smell of wine. She curled her lips and motioned to the maid next to her to fetch hot water and make hangover soup.

After drinking the hangover soup, Zhao Mingcheng slowly came to his senses. Li Qingzhao waved to the maids to keep them away. When only the husband and wife were left in the pavilion, Li Qingzhao took out a letter from his sleeve and placed it in front of Zhao Mingcheng.

"When you went to the office during the day, someone secretly sent you a letter."

The letter was unsigned, but both husband and wife knew who wrote it.

Zhao Mingcheng stretched out his hand to open the letter and read it for a while, then sighed and said: "This King of Han asked me to help clear up the relationship on Hebei Road and make more connections for his Beidi Bank."

Li Qingzhao remained silent. Although she was smart, she did not express an opinion on such matters.

Her husband Zhao Mingcheng's current position as governor of the state was obtained by Liu Ling's help. Otherwise, as a "remnant of the Yuanyou Party", it would have been impossible for him to climb to such a high official position in this life.

"Liu Ling is a tycoon in the North. Although I don't know why he went to great lengths to promote this so-called North Bank, I must have his considerations." Zhao Mingcheng thought for a while and asked: "Besides the letter, what else is there? Did you send anything else?"

"The person who sent the letter said that a merchant will deliver your polishing fee tomorrow." Li Qingzhao pursed her lips. Seeing that her husband's expression calmed down because of this sentence, she couldn't help but ask: "What if the King of Han has this intention?" Even if it is not good for Song Dynasty, do you still have to agree to it?"

"In the past three months, Liu Ling has sent us more than 30,000 yuan of money and treasures, including many famous paintings and antiques."

Zhao Mingcheng sighed and replied: "I do want to be loyal to the country, but the court gives us mostly humiliation and suppression. Although Liu Ling is an outsider, he gives us more than the court."

He pointed to the fox fur cloak that Li Qingzhao was wearing and said, "The one you are wearing is made of the same material as the furs that were presented to the court as tribute. There is a legend in the capital that after Cai Xianggong became an official, I wanted to buy a similar brocade robe, but I searched all over the capital to no avail. Finally, I sent someone to wait for half a month in the fur shop and bought one at a high price.

Madam, this court can’t be tough, why are we so stupidly tough here? "

(End of this chapter)