On the way to Chuigong Hall, Zhao Defang, Zhao Pu, and Eunuch Wang walked shoulder to shoulder. Zhao Pu was in the middle, Zhao Defang was on the left, and Eunuch Wang, who was the guide, was on the right.
However, after Eunuch Wang entered the Zichen Hall just now, he saw the arrogant Khitan envoy group in the main hall of Qi County looking terrified and uneasy. In addition, he saw a majestic warrior of the Liao Kingdom lying on the ground three to five steps away from Zhao Defang and rolling around in pain. He was very curious.
However, because they were in public at that time, although they were puzzled, they did not dare to ask in public.
Now, there were only three of them on the way to the Chuigong Palace that was more than ten feet away. Among them, two of them were witnesses at the scene. Eunuch Wang, who was quite curious, asked Zhao Defang and Zhao Pu to resolve the doubts in his heart.
At first, Zhao Defang smiled and said nothing. Zhao Pu, on the other hand, understood what was going on and chuckled but did not answer. This made Eunuch Wang extremely anxious. In a fit of anger, Eunuch Wang stopped in his tracks. Zhao Pu, a veteran of officialdom, saw that Eunuch Wang, who usually smiled at everyone, was angry for the first time. He also felt that he was the chief of the internal attendants who served the Zhao family on a daily basis. If he offended him, it would not be beneficial to him at all.
Thinking of this, Zhao Pu quickly reached out and pulled Eunuch Wang, who had turned his back in anger, and whispered into his ear. Just now, Zhao Defang had casually made a few boxing poses in the Purple Palace Hall, and that Liao Kingdom warrior, Ye Lui Xiu Ge, who had been so arrogant and arrogant earlier, had been knocked to the ground, spitting out blood, and could not get up.
After hearing this, Eunuch Wang was shocked. He quickly turned around and walked to Zhao Defang, who was pretending to be innocent. He looked up carefully and looked down at the thin and weak Qin King who was only five feet tall. In his opinion, if he had not heard about this from Prime Minister Zhao Pu, he really could not believe that a thin child could beat a burly man.
To be able to show the arrogant Khitans in the Purple Imperial Palace made Eunuch Wang, who was also from the Great Song, feel quite relieved. Moreover, when he learned from Zhao Pu that it was the young Zhao Defang who made the move, he sighed even more. since ancient times, heroes come from young people.
He also thought of how the Fourth Prince, who had just been promoted to the title of King of Qin, was the most favored prince of the Zhao family. Moreover, he was the eldest son of the current Empress. This made him, an old servant who had served the Emperor for several dynasties, sigh even more. A tiger father does not have a dog son, and a dragon son is called the overlord!
Eunuch Wang, who had previously looked down on Zhao Defang, the ignorant, incompetent, and mischievous Fourth Prince, had changed his attitude toward Zhao Defang greatly from this moment on. He gradually began to like this Fourth Prince who had suddenly changed his personality.
After all, Zhao Guanjia was still waiting in Chuigong Palace Hall to summon Zhao Defang and Zhao Pu. Eunuch Wang, who had been "willful" just now, saw that he had delayed quite a bit of time on this journey that was not too far. He was afraid that Zhao Guanjia, who was worried that his dragon face would be unhappy, was waiting anxiously. If he were to be furious again, he, this old internal servant, would not be able to escape too late.
Thus, the three of them who had stopped to chat for a moment, under Eunuch Wang's urging, quickly quickened their pace and walked in large strides towards the Chuigong Hall not far ahead.
After the time it took to make a cup of tea, the three of them arrived at the entrance of the Chuigong Palace Hall. After Eunuch Wang finished reporting, Zhao Defang and Zhao Pu, one young and one old, finally allowed them to enter the palace hall. They stood three to five steps away from the imperial table and lowered their heads, bowing and cupping their hands in greeting.
After they finished their greetings, Zhao Guanjia, who had his back facing them, turned around and put down his hands.
The moment he turned around, Zhao Guanjia's face was filled with anxiety.
When he fixed his eyes on Zhao Defang, a smile immediately appeared on his face. His anxious and uneasy eyes also shot out a ray of hope. This ray of light hit Zhao Defang, who had her head lowered and did not notice it.
"Minister Zhao, my son, there's no need for you two to be so formal. I asked Prince Fu Gui to invite you two here because I have an extremely important matter to discuss. Among the civil and military officials of my Great Song, Prime Minister Zhao Pu is the most experienced and steady, calm and capable. As for my son De Fang, ever since you changed your personality a few days ago and helped me solve my problems, I am very happy.”Zhao Guanjia, who walked from behind the imperial table to the front and back of Zhao Defang and Zhao Pugen, sized up the two of them with a deep smile and praised them with a pleasant expression.
"The officials have been kind to this old minister, so this old minister should uphold the principle of 'loyalty to the monarch and the country' and resolve the worries of the officials and the difficulties of the people of Great Song. This is my duty.”Zhao Pu, who had straightened up and raised his head, quickly cupped his hands and said humbly.
"Imperial Father, I was insensible previously and caused a lot of trouble for Imperial Father and Imperial Mother. Today, I am already over sixteen years old and have grown up. Naturally, I have to help Imperial Father solve problems.”When Zhao Defang, who was standing at the side, heard this, even Prime Minister Zhao Pu, who could be said to have made great contributions to the Great Song, felt ashamed to accept it. He had only done one or two small tricks for the Zhao family, so he naturally had to admit that he did not deserve it. Otherwise, it would seem that he was too impolite, so he replied in a rather low-key manner.
"Alright, alright, the two of you don't have to pretend to be humble in front of zhen.”Zhao Guanjia saw that the two ministers and his son, who he now relied heavily on, standing in front of him, were so ashamed to refuse, making An secretly laugh for a while. However, after a pause, he changed the topic and went straight to the point."I called the two of you here because I have a rather difficult matter to discuss. This matter concerns the life and death of my Great Song and the lives of millions of people. I'm afraid I can't make a decision alone, so I'll ask the two of you to come and give me an idea to solve my urgent need.”
Thus, when he thought of the Zhao family, who felt like their eyebrows were on fire, he told them about the letter of credentials and letter that Xiao Chuo, the princess of the Liao Kingdom, had submitted in the Purple Palace Hall. It was normal for the two countries to have diplomatic relations by submitting their credentials, but the letter written by the so-called Liao Khan was not so friendly.
Zhao Defang, who was standing at the side and listening attentively, learned from the furious Zhao Guanjia that the Liao Khan had assumed a condescending attitude from the beginning of the letter and called Zhao Guanjia "my younger brother". The beginning of the letter was so disdainful of the Song Emperor, so the content of the letter was even more aggressive.
The general content of the letter was that the Liao Kingdom had obtained the Sixteen Prefectures of Dark Cloud from the hands of the former Tang Kingdom. Even the Zhou Kingdom after the Tang Kingdom did not clamor to take it back. Therefore, it was confirmed that the Sixteen Prefectures of Dark Cloud were the territory of the Liao Kingdom. In any case, what he meant was that the Sixteen Prefectures of the Tranquil Cloud Country were the territory of the Liao Kingdom and would never be returned. The Song Dynasty could forget about it.
Not only that, but the Liao Khan also said that not long after the Great Song was established, they attacked and occupied several weak neighboring countries every now and then, causing the people of these occupied neighboring countries to be displaced and live in dire straits all day long.
Therefore, the Liao Khan issued a warning. The Han Kingdom, which was located between the two countries, was a friendly country of the Liao Kingdom. If the Song Kingdom dared to launch a war against the Han Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom would definitely not sit idly by. They would definitely send troops to help the Han Kingdom and share a common enemy.
At the same time, the Liao Kingdom would send another army to cross the Sixteen Prefectures of Dark Cloud and march south to attack the Song Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom would only stop this righteous war of " uprooting the strong and helping the weak " when they captured the Song Kingdom's Tokyo.
Hearing this, Zhao Defang was in a trance. She felt that the Liao Kingdom's rhetoric from her father, Zhao Guanjia, was very similar to the era more than 1,000 years later. The world's superpower, the United States, would often say that they would protect their allies and intervene in the territorial disputes with neighboring countries several times.
Not only that, but the so-called US also brazenly prevented the Chinese from recovering the small path called Ryukyu in ancient times, causing the Hua Kingdom to be unable to recover its original territory, Ryukyu, for more than 50 years.
Thinking of this, Zhao Defang, who was a member of the Tang Dynasty after more than a thousand years, hated the Liao Kingdom and the United States. She secretly said fiercely, Damn it, if I really become the emperor of the Song Dynasty one day, I will first recover the surrounding countries and unify the nine provinces of China. Then, I will find a person like Zheng He from the Ming Dynasty and give him a huge fleet. I will cross the Pacific Ocean to North America and occupy the territory of the United States. Then, he would send hundreds of thousands of Great Song people to move there.
After more than a thousand years, the United States would probably no longer exist.
After thinking about this, Zhao Defang secretly admired herself. However, when he thought about it again, North America was still the territory of the Native Americans. The United States was just a descendant of the European people. Therefore, he quickly canceled the plan.
When Zhao Defang came back to her senses, she heard the Zhao family in front of her say angrily that the Liao Khan had requested the Great Song to submit to them and pay tribute of two million taels of silver, 100,000 bolts of high-quality silk, and 10,000 stones of grain every year. Otherwise, in a month, the Liao Kingdom would march south, cross the northern border, and start a war against the Great Song.
Furthermore, the Liao Khan was insatiable and said that once they started a war and attacked the hinterland of the Great Song, the tribute money, grain, and cloth would have to be increased by ten times before they could stop the war.
After Zhao Guan finished recounting the contents of the letter, Prime Minister Zhao Pu's face turned grave and his brows furrowed. He cursed the Khan of the Liao Kingdom as a greedy and shameless person. He would not let such a person with wild ambitions succeed.
Prime Minister Zhao Pu immediately suggested to the Zhao family that they would recruit strong men from the Song Dynasty tomorrow and form a 500,000-strong army within seven days. They would go to the north of the Bing Province and wait for fatigue. They would fight to the death with the Liao army that had crossed the Sixteen Prefectures of the Dark Cloud.
After listening to Zhao Pu's plan, Zhao Guan's family shook their heads and sighed secretly. They said with a bitter face,"Minister Zhao, you don't know. It has only been three to five years since our Great Song was founded. We have sent Cao Bin, Pan Mei, and the others to recover Jinghu and the surrounding small countries. Our Great Song has been implementing the national policy of reducing taxes and corvee in recent years. The silver in the national treasury is already insufficient to make ends meet. Minister, you want to build a 500,000-strong army. This year's military salary will not be able to be paid without a million silver.
"In addition, the grain and weapons for these five hundred thousand people will require at least three to five hundred thousand taels of silver. To tell the truth, the current national treasury only had less than five hundred thousand taels of silver, and they still had to pay the hundred thousand Imperial Army soldiers stationed in the capital, the two hundred thousand prefectural soldiers, and the nearly ten thousand officials. This summer grain has not been obtained yet. Where do you want me to get that one million taels of silver?”
"Father, Father, I, I have a way to raise the army's salary, but I don't know if it will work.”Zhao Defang, who was standing at the side, saw that her father was at his wit's end. After hesitating for a moment, she blurted out.
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