Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 295 A Special Day
After Ye Chen figured this out, he suddenly felt fearless in his heart, and he had an inexplicable thought that he could face anyone, any force, and any enemy in the world.

"Let the storm come more violently!" Ye Chen suddenly thought of a sentence in Gorky's "Petrel".For a moment, my heart was proud, although I didn't have full confidence, but it was full of fighting spirit.

July [-]th is a special day.

Today, Ye Chen returned to Kaifeng.Pan Mei returned to Kaifeng with a large army and a group of royal captives, including the descended emperor Liu Yu of the Southern Han Dynasty. At the same time, the envoys of the Southern Tang Dynasty also came to Kaifeng on this day.

The envoys of the Southern Tang Dynasty should have arrived nearly ten days ago, but they were sent back by the people sent by Zhao Kuangyin in Sizhou.And secretly let out cruel words, if you don't bring a big gift of 10 taels of silver and [-] bolts of silk to congratulate, the army of the Song Dynasty will come to the Southern Tang Dynasty within a month.

The envoys of the Southern Tang Dynasty were shocked and sent someone back to report. Li Yu was frightened and frowning, and finally added 10 taels of silver and [-] bolts of silk on the basis of the original prepared gifts, and the envoys continued northward to Kaifeng.This is still the place where the Southern Tang Dynasty is located, and it is indeed the most affluent place in China, otherwise it would be difficult for another country to make up these amounts of silver and silk in such a short period of time.

Ye Chen was not in a hurry to go home, but first went to the Huaxia Weifu outside the city.

As soon as he arrived, he arranged for people to send the gold and silver treasures seized from the rogues to the third division and hand them over to Luo Gongming, and then convened a meeting to arrange what each division should do in the Southern Han Dynasty and Sichuan and Sichuan. All missions and participation in the battle were judged to further verify the credit of each Huaxia Wei and intelligence agent. Prior to this, the merits of officials above the minister and envoy and the letter of merit Ye Chen had reported to the court and the emperor in the form of a memorial.What needs to be done now is to give rewards with great fanfare within the Huaxia Weifu.Ye Chen has always attached great importance to the matter of meritorious service and rewards, and he intends to create a good atmosphere in the Huaxia Weifu where meritorious service is highly rewarded.

At the same time, after Liu Wei and his subordinates were escorted to Kaifeng, Zhao Kuangyin sent Lu Yuqing, the deputy minister, to personally settle Liu Wei in Yujin Garden temporarily.

After entering Yujin Garden, Lu Yuqing looked for excuses to dismiss the others, his expression turned cold, and he said, "Liu Yu! Are you guilty?"

Liu Yu didn't expect that the Deputy Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty who was quite talkative just now suddenly changed his face, his body trembled in fright, and he knelt down and said, "I am guilty, I am guilty."

A trace of contempt flashed in Lu Yuqing's eyes, and he said: "My Song Dynasty's [-] troops took down your Nanhan, and the military expenses cost a lot, but why is your Nanhan's treasury empty?"

Liu Wei was stunned for a moment, and said: "Lv Xianggong! I... I... Although I was called the lord of the country in the Southern Han Dynasty, I was actually just a puppet. The demons Chen Jingyuan and Gong Chengshu of the Tianyi Dao were the masters of the state affairs. I It doesn’t count! So I really don’t know what’s going on with the state treasury, it must be the monster from Tianyi who transferred the gold, silver and jewels away.”

Lu Yuqing had expected Liu Yan's answer, and said with a cold snort, "You think His Majesty, the Emperor of Song Dynasty, would believe your answer like this. If His Majesty doesn't believe it, he will punish you for deceiving the emperor and behead you."

Liu Yan was so frightened that he sat on the ground softly, his face pale, and said weakly: "But! I really don't know what's going on!"

Lu Yuqing sighed, and said: "Your Majesty has always given preferential treatment to the captive lord, to show that my son of Song Dynasty has the spirit and heart of the world. But your answer will definitely commit the crime of deceiving the king. You will be guilty of deceiving the king if you die. There is no benefit to the Great Song Dynasty, and it will affect my reputation as the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. Well... I am loyal to Your Majesty, so naturally I have to think about His Majesty. How about it! When His Majesty summons you tomorrow, no matter who asks you why the treasury is empty , you just follow what the officer taught you."

Liu Wei was taken aback for a moment, and said quickly, "I also ask Lu Xianggong to save me."

Lu Yuqing said: "When someone asks you about this, you just say that you went to the treasury not long before my Song army entered the Imperial City of the Southern Han Dynasty. I remember that there were many, many gold, silver and jewels in it. If someone asks you Who was the first to enter the palace and the imperial city that day, you just truthfully answer that it was Xiangfu Hou Yechen who brought people in first."

Liu Yu repeatedly said yes.

Lu Yuqing looked at Liu Yan's stupid appearance, worried that he would forget to say something, and said, "Repeat what I just said, and I will see if you remember it."

Liu Yu hurriedly repeated what Lu Yuqing said just now, and it turned out to be verbatim.But Lu Yuqing didn't know that although Liu Yu was raised as a waste by Gong Chengshu since he was a child, he was born with an excellent memory. If he wanted to remember what others said, he could remember it verbatim.

Jin Wangfu.

Ren Zhiliang, Wang Xin, Hu Zhengyi and other confidants of Zhao Guangyi sat at the bottom.At the beginning, Zhao Guangyi had a smile like a spring breeze on his face, but he was talking about a major event that happened to Zhao Pu a few days ago.

After Zhao Guangyi finished speaking, Hu Zhengyi said with a little reluctance: "Your Highness, Your Majesty found more than a dozen jars of gold sent by Wuyue Kingdom in Zhao Pu's mansion. Your Majesty didn't even ask him about his crimes. In the case of recruiting security in Sichuan and Shu, instead, let him Zhao Pu ruthlessly showed his loyalty to the country and wholeheartedly for His Majesty in front of His Majesty. The most important thing was that because Ye Chen tried his best to turn the tide in Sichuan and Shu, the dirty water of recruiting security did not fall on Zhao Pu at all, so that Zhao Pu This time can be said to be a great harvest! In this way, His Majesty's dislike towards Zhao Pu has dissipated, and now His Majesty's love for Zhao Pu has not diminished, Zhao Pu's family is still prosperous, and I feel that it is not easy for us to make a move now."

Zhao Guangyi smiled and said, "That's not necessarily the case. The so-called 'a dike of a thousand miles collapsed in an ant's nest. ' This matter seems to have no effect on Zhao Pu, but digging small ant nests one by one, Zhao Pu's long embankment, There are also times when they are washed away. That is to say, these things are just side dishes to accompany the meal, and some suspicions are buried in His Majesty's heart, which makes His Majesty gradually develop a feeling of disgust towards Zhao Pu. If only because of this incident, Zhao Puna It's strange that the old thief is overthrown."

"The salaries and benefits of officials in the Great Song Dynasty are much higher than those of previous dynasties. This is the reason why His Majesty has high salaries and integrity. He wants officials to be less corrupt and accept bribes. Because of this, corruption and bribery are things that His Majesty hates the most. Zhao Pu Although the relationship with His Majesty is extraordinary, the rift has already formed, and it is impossible to heal it. Hmm...so, for example, when Your Majesty met a dozen pots of gold in Zhao Pu's mansion, we still have to Let it happen a few more times. This time, this king deliberately gave up the task of welcoming the Southern Tang envoys to Zhao Pu, which is another chance."

Speaking of this, he smiled coldly, bowed slightly forward and said: "Wang Xin, you are prudent in handling things, and I am asking you to arrange this important matter..."

On the Bianhe wharf, Zhao Pu led a group of civil servants to watch the Tang Dynasty ship approaching from afar, and they dusted off their official robes at the same time, while the ceremony and music team on the side also got ready.The reason why the Song court asked Zhao Pu, the head of the hundred officials, to personally welcome the envoys of the Southern Tang Dynasty was not to say how much the Song Dynasty attached importance to the current Southern Tang Dynasty, but because of etiquette considerations, and did not want to lose sight of these trivial matters. The decency of a big country.Specifically, it was because the specifications of the Southern Tang Mission were unprecedented, but the chief and deputy envoys were distinguished and special figures in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

This time, the official envoy of the Tang Dynasty was Li Yu's younger brother Zheng Wang Li Congshan, and the deputy envoy was Xu Xuan, Minister of the Ministry of Officials of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Needless to say, Li Congshan is the brother of the current Southern Tang Emperor, the prince of the Tang Kingdom, and his status is naturally precious. According to etiquette, the Great Song Dynasty always sends a person of similar status to greet him. There are two princes, Jin Wang Zhao Guangyi and Wei Wang Zhao Dezhao.However, Zhao Guangyi said that he was unwell, so he postponed the job, while Zhao Dezhao was because there was a difficult person in the mission, Xu Xuan. Let Zhao Pu go.

Speaking of Xu Xuan, he is indeed not an ordinary person. This person is a well-known great talent in the south of the Yangtze River. According to legend, he was able to write poetry at the age of seven, and was able to write at the age of ten. He became an official in the Tang Dynasty at the age of 16. Even in later historical records, There are also many pens and inks for him, and he is honored as a very famous writer and calligrapher in the early Northern Song Dynasty, especially Li Si Xiaozhuan.He and his younger brother Xu Kai are both well-known, known as the "Second Xu of Jiangdong". After becoming an official, he was as famous as Prime Minister Han Xizai, and Jiangdong called him "Han and Xu".

The most important thing is that Xu Xuan's eloquence is as well-known all over the world as his literature and calligraphy. He is eloquent, knowledgeable, and has a sharp tongue. He is known as "Su Qin is reborn and Zhang Yi is reborn". The news was reported to the emperor and the imperial court. Although Xu Xuan's visit this time may not mean that the visitor is not kind, he must have been well prepared in terms of words.The so-called "a person's name is a tree's shadow", in the face of such a person, a fledgling like Zhao Dezhao is naturally a little tender.Zhao Guangyi excused himself because he was unwell, and after all the calculations, naturally only Zhao Pu could take on the job.

Zhao Pu is actually a good minister of the generation, but he is mainly good at dealing with practical and political affairs. Although he is good at eloquence in debate, he is not very good at it.Therefore, he was actually unwilling to take this job, but he accepted more than a dozen pots of gold from Wuyue Kingdom as bribes, and was bumped into by Zhao Kuangyin.I had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree.

However, Zhao Pu has already made up his mind, try to talk less with this Xu Xuan, say hello to him later, and chat with the Prince of Southern Tang Dynasty Li Congshan.

The envoy ship of the Tang Dynasty came slowly and was about to enter the pier. King Zheng Li Congshan and Minister of the Ministry of Officials Xu Xuan both walked onto the bow deck in neat clothes. Under the shed covered in red, stood a group of ministers of the Song Dynasty. Li Congshan and Xu Xuan hurriedly adjusted their clothes and got ready to meet each other ashore.

Naturally, they came here with an extremely important diplomatic mission.Because their weak emperor managed to be tough and bold this time, and sent [-] troops south, but nothing was obtained, not to mention spending a lot of food and grass, not fighting a battle, and angered Song Dynasty.Especially thinking of the terrifying fighting power shown by the Song State when it attacked the Southern Han State, the siege was smooth and easy.From Li Yu to the court officials of the Southern Tang Dynasty, down to every noble official, they couldn't sit still.They knew very well that the army of the Southern Tang Dynasty was no match for the army of the Song Dynasty, and they knew that the Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin was definitely not a peaceful emperor.

(End of this chapter)