Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 736 Dao Slave and Financial Crisis

During the Great Court Meeting, Xin Shi went up and whispered to Ye Chen: Zhang Wumeng's second disciple Xing Xiyang came to Xiazhou and brought Ye Chen a secret letter from Zhang Wumeng.

Ye Chen knew that Zhang Wumeng sent Xing Xiyang to deliver a letter to him, which must be related to Yu Daoxiang, so he ended the Dachao meeting ahead of schedule, and was anxious to meet Xing Xiyang first.

Ye Chen hurried back to the Xiangrui Palace where he usually reviews memorials.Xin Shi then said: "Report to Your Majesty, Xing Xiyang has brought it here, and it's just outside the hall."

Ye Chen walked towards the seat and said, "Hurry up and bring him up."

Ye Chen sat on the throne and watched Xin Shi walk in with a middle-aged man dressed as a Taoist priest. He looked at the middle-aged Taoist priest with lightning-like scrutiny.

This person has an ordinary face, the type that will not be noticed when thrown in the crowd. The only thing special is the pair of overly vicissitudes of the eyes, which makes him appear to be in his thirties at first glance, but if he looks at him , I always feel that he is not young, he is already 50 years old, or even 70 years old.

This is the first time Ye Chen saw Xing Xiyang. After looking at him, he felt that Xing Xiyang was a bit extraordinary——even though he was dressed in an ordinary Taoist robe, he couldn't hide the dusty aura emanating from his bones. Chen's eyes fell on him, and he felt a clean breath blowing towards his face.

Since the troubled times of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there have been four forces in the world that have been the source of chaos—the most mysterious and powerful holy church that has covered the world; the Taiping Sect in the north; the Tianyi Sect and the Maitreya Sect in the south.Among them, Tian Yidao is the best at manipulating and playing with important officials of the royal family with sorcery. Facts have proved that Chen Jingyuan used Gu insects to control the royal family of the Southern Han Dynasty.The Maitreya Sect is best at bewitching the people, defrauding them of their fat and anointing them, and even inciting them to make troubles. Ye Chen knew that this was the power of Lou Yanming's collective spirit hypnotism.But the Taiping Sect is best at bewitching the emperor. Guo Wuwei, the great disciple of Taiping Sect Zhang Wumeng, once held a position in the Northern Han court, and the Khitan Emperor was once addicted to the Taiping Sect, and even wanted to worship Zhang Wumeng as his teacher. It can be seen how deep the Taoism of the Taiping Sect is in this respect. Of course, the Taiping Sect also has its own unique exercises or secret methods.

How could Ye Chen not know these things.

Now, as soon as Xing Xiyang entered the hall, he tried his best to practice his special mind, trying to improve Ye Chen's favor for him and influence Ye Chen's judgment on him. How could Ye Chen not see this.

Facing the famous Ye Chen, especially after learning from his master Zhang Wumeng that Ye Chen may be of the blood of an immortal, Xing Xiyang saw Ye Chen for the first time, and he was also a little apprehensive and doubtful. , not without the intention of testing and verifying.

However, when he met Ye Chen's eyes, he found that the latter's eyes were still as clear as a spring and as calm as an ice surface, and then the ice surface shattered, instantly turning into an endless sea, and then it turned into a vast starry sky. Unfathomable.Xing Xiyang's body trembled, and his heart was already terrified. He wanted to look away, but found that his mind seemed to be caught in the vortex of Ye Chen's eyes, and he couldn't extricate himself. His whole body was sweating like rain in an instant.

But Ye Chen didn't expect that just looking at Xing Xiyang's eyes made the other party's skills seem to be backfired. He thought that this guy was trying to influence his thoughts with a cold snort, and looked away.

Xing Xiyang was traveling in the vast starry sky, his mind was full of fear, and suddenly there was a thunderbolt, and then his body shook, and finally returned to reality, his breathing was extremely rapid like a bellows, blood was spilled from the corner of his mouth, but he had already suffered internal injuries.

He quickly lowered his head, never daring to look into Ye Chen's eyes again.

With a thud, Xing Xiyang came back to his senses completely, knelt down with fear on his face, and said loudly: "The second disciple of Master Zhang of the Taiping Sect, Daliao Tiyin Xing Xiyang pays homage to His Majesty. I wish His Majesty a long and boundless life, and ascend to the fairy world as soon as possible. "

Xing Xiyang has an official position in the Liao Kingdom, and it is quite a special post of Ti Yin.The so-called Tiyin is the official name of the Liao Kingdom, who is in charge of the Great Tiyin Division.In the second year of Yelu Abaoji, the founding emperor of the Liao Kingdom, he established a new official position "Tiyin" in the alliance, which has been passed down to the present.Its duty is to manage the politics and religion of the nobles of Diela, that is, to regulate the internal affairs of the noble group in order to ensure their obedience to Abaoji.There is a saying that "Tie Yin ruled the clan, Lin Ya repaired the proclamation".Although he does not have much real power, it is a rather noble and special official position.

Regarding Xing Xiyang being Tiyin of the Liao Kingdom, and Ye Chen knew of Tiyin's authority, what made Ye Chen puzzled at this time was the last four words Xing Xiyang said.He couldn't help asking: "Ascension to the Immortal Realm?"

When Xing Xiyang heard that Ye Chen's tone was wrong, his heart trembled, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is an immortal descended from heaven, and the ministers just offended you, please forgive me."

Ye Chen was stunned for a moment, he was anxious to know the news about Yu Daoxiang brought by Xing Xiyang, and he didn't want to get entangled in any fairyland issues, so he said, "You are Xing Xiyang?"

Xing Xiyang said respectfully, "It's the foreign minister."

Ye Chen couldn't wait to say: "Zhang Wumeng asked you to bring up the secret letter."

Xing Xiyang took out a secret letter from his bosom, and Xin Shi, who had been preparing for a long time, took it, ran forward and handed it to Ye Chen.

Zhang Wumeng's letter mainly said three things.The first thing was his deal with Yu Daoxiang a month ago.The second matter explained how Yu Daoxiang was arrested. Zhang Wumeng narrated the roles played by himself and Xing Xiyang without any concealment. Of course, he also persuaded Xiao Chuo to keep Yu Daoxiang's life. Did not pull down.The third thing is to tell Ye Chen that he can help Ye Chen rescue Yu Daoxiang, and tell the plan without reservation in the letter.

In addition, Zhang Wumeng also stated that he already knew that Bai Canghai, Hu Sanguang and others had sneaked into Shangjing.His plan was also to be carried out by Bai Canghai and others: to kidnap a group of Khitan ministers and exchange them for Yu Daoxiang.But considering Xiao Chuo's character, these ministers alone may not be able to succeed, and even make them angry, which is counterproductive.So Ye Chen was established to prepare another 100 million taels of silver, still in the form of a bride price, but in fact it was a redemption.

Of course, what Zhang Wumeng said was not so simple. In order to win Ye Chen's trust, he sent his personal disciple Xing Xiyang as a hostage, and analyzed Xiao Chuo's character with many past examples.He also stated that he was confident that after adding 100 million taels of silver, he would persuade Xiao Chuo to change.

After Ye Chen read the secret letter, his expression changed. During this process, Xing Xiyang kept kneeling on the ground. Ye Chen was annoyed that Xiao Chuo made great efforts to arrest Yu Daoxiang, so he intentionally didn't let her fall down.

After a while, Ye Chen stared at Xing Xiyang and said, "Xing Xiyang! Let me ask you, do you know the contents of Zhang Wumeng's letter?"

Xing Xiyang lowered his head when he heard Ye Chen call him, his heart was agitated, and he said: "Your Majesty, the master let the foreign ministers read it, and the foreign ministers know the contents."

Before Ye Chen could say anything, Xing Xiyang said suddenly, "Foreign minister... No! Taoist slave Xing Xiyang is willing to serve His Majesty from now on, and please His Majesty to fulfill it."

Ye Chen was slightly taken aback, looked deeply at Xing Xiyang for a while, and said, "Give me a reason to believe you? Or tell me what you want from me?"

Xing Xiyang immediately said excitedly: "The foreign minister has only one request, and I implore His Majesty to accept the foreign minister as a Taoist slave."

Ye Chen frowned slightly, and said, "Tao slave? Why do you have such a request?"

Xing Xiyang said frantically: "Because of becoming His Majesty's Taoist slave, His Majesty may bring the Taoist slaves to the fairyland when one day ascends to the fairy world."

Ye Chen looked at Xing Xiyang with a strange expression, and said after a while, "Very well, I will accept you as a Taoist slave, and promise that if I can leave this world one day, I will take you with me."

Xing Xiyang was overjoyed immediately, he lowered his upper body, touched his forehead to the ground, and bowed to Ye Chen like a Taoist slave throwing himself to the ground.

I don't know if it's because of Xing Xiyang's fanaticism towards his faith like a fanatic, but Ye Chen doesn't doubt what Xing Xiyang said, and he has been loyal to himself ever since.Or this is an indescribable feeling.

After further asking Xing Xiyang about some secrets, Ye Chen decided to follow Zhang Wumeng's plan to save Yu Daoxiang—because this method seemed the safest.Of course, sacrifices are inevitable. For example, the Beifu that Xiao Xiuming worked so hard to build in three years may be destroyed in one fell swoop.Because if Bai Canghai and Hu Sanguang wanted to kidnap a large number of Khitan ministers, it would be very difficult to do so without the news and help of Xiao Xiuming, a local snake.And this will inevitably expose Beifu, with Xiao Chuo's personality and attention to this matter, he will definitely investigate thoroughly afterwards.

After letting Xing Xiyang withdraw, Ye Chen sent someone to summon Jia Xian to the palace and ordered him to prepare 100 million taels of silver.It is about the life and death of the queen, Jia Xian dare not slack off.But in the end, he couldn't help complaining in front of Ye Chen, calling him poor.

That's right, there is a financial crisis in Xiangfu country.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, in order to win the hearts of the people, the Xiangfu government set various taxes very low, and some poor places even directly exempted them from taxes for a year.In addition, the population of Xiangfu Country is not large, including Xinde Fuzhou and Linzhou, there are only more than 400 million people. The most important thing is that compared with the Central Plains and Jiangnan, the Northwest is originally a poor place, so the whole country The monthly tax is less than 20 taels of silver.These silvers are barely enough for the normal operation of Xiangfu Kingdom's imperial court and local governments at all levels.

Since the founding of the country, the court of Xiangfu Kingdom has done too many things, and everything costs money like water.For example, building palaces, repairing government offices at all levels, recruiting troops, updating equipment, establishing military factories, reclaiming fields, establishing schools, etc., almost all things are created from scratch, and the cost is huge.For example, the 100 Xuanwu heavy armored cavalry that were almost exhausted in the First Battle of Fuzhou, the [-] Dawan horses that were chosen out of a hundred, and the expensive heavy armor and equipment cost more than [-] million taels of silver.There is also the initial payment of [-] party cavalry in the form of mercenaries.

(End of this chapter)