With the compromise and balance between the forces of all parties, the new round of election of the Constitutional Yuan will be completed.
The original number of members of the Constitutional Yuan was nine.
In addition to Lu Yijian and other three phases and three ginseng, Yan Shu, Fan Zhongyan and Zhao Jun were added.
Now there are twelve people.
The previous prime minister Wang Sui was reduced, and Zhang Shixun, Jiang Tang, Jia Changchao, and Li Di were added.
In addition, Cheng Lin from the Ministry of Finance, Zhang Dexiang from the Ministry of War, Han Ju from the Ministry of Industry, and Li Shen from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce are alternate colleagues.
Although the candidate fellow magistrates are inferior to the deputy prime ministers, starting from this term, they are excluded from the inner circle, because Zhao Jun's secret is not going to be told to them, and naturally they do not enjoy the same status as Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan before.
In the final analysis, Zhao Jun’s secret from later generations is a symbol of the core of the Constitutional Yuan. Again, with this secret, everyone's communication costs become lower and they can speak much more casually.
And this secret will also help Zhao Jun's authority. After all, once a later generation person who is familiar with history is identified, everyone will naturally be willing to listen to him.
Although people's hearts are unpredictable, everyone who comes in has a faction. Even Jiang Tang had a good relationship with Zhao Jun at the beginning, so the factions can naturally be balanced.
As long as we maintain the two major factions of Lu Party and Wang Party, add a few swing factions in the middle, and Zhao Jun takes the lead, there will be less disputes.
Once there is an internal fight, Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen will always be in the middle to make the decision, so that everyone will not get into too much trouble.
As time goes by, the new year is approaching, and the first year of Kangding has come to an end.
And in the Song Dynasty, because they had just won the war with the Liao Kingdom and had achieved a huge diplomatic victory, the people fell into nationwide celebrations and celebrated the New Year happily.
Xixia is quite miserable.
In the second year of Baoyuan, Fan Zhongyan launched a self-defense counterattack against Xia. He accused Li Yuanhao of launching a surprise attack on the Song Dynasty and refusing to repent, so he brazenly sent troops to attack the hinterland of Xixia.
Although most of the Song army was blocked by the Xixia army at the border, under the leadership of Zhang Kang, they still caused serious damage to the Xixia rear area.
This behavior greatly damaged Li Yuanhao's vitality, so much so that he would not even be able to cooperate with the Liao Kingdom in launching an attack in the coming year.
Later, Li Yuanhao realized that it was very likely that the Song State had noticed the possibility that the Liao State would also go south, so Fan Zhongyan suddenly sent troops before leaving, so that he would not be able to intervene at the same time when the Song and Liao Dynasties started a war. .
After realizing this, Li Yuanhao also felt quite regretful. If he had known earlier, he should have been more vigilant and prepared rear defenses, otherwise such a situation would not have occurred.
But now that the matter has come to this point, it's all in vain.
Li Yuanhao was crippled by the Song Dynasty's initiative, so he could only choose to shrink back, lick his wounds, and wait for the outcome of the Song-Liao War.
Unfortunately, the result was not what he wished for. The Liao Kingdom led hundreds of thousands of troops southward, but also came back defeated.
Seeing this ending, Li Yuanhao was heartbroken.
In October of the first year of Emperor Kangxi, the content of the peace talks between Song and Liao at the end of August had already reached Xixia. At this time, in Xingqing Mansion and Yuanhao Palace, heavy snow was flying outside, and Li Yuanhao's mood was as cold as the snow outside.
He was cruel and bloodthirsty, and he even killed several attendants in the past year out of anger, and even Zhang Yuan was almost killed by him.
Because there were rumors from the Song Army that Zhang Yuan was an undercover agent they sent there.
Although such a simple countermeasure may not necessarily work, many times, for those in power, they would rather believe that something is true than something that is not true.
Wasn't Lian Po just replaced by such a cheap counterintuitive plan?
So Li Yuanhao really had murderous intentions towards Zhang Yuan at that time.
Fortunately, Zhang Yuan was able to speak well and sensed Li Yuanhao's murderous intention. He hurriedly expressed his loyalty to Li Yuanhao and said that this was a counter-intentional plan by the Song Army and asked him not to be fooled. This finally put an end to Li Yuanhao's intention to kill him.
Historically, Li Yuanhao secretly plotted to kill two generals, Ye Li Yuqi and Ye Li Wangrong. This was planned and carefully arranged by Zhong Shiheng.
In addition, Yuan Hao had achieved several great victories at that time and had an advantage in the war with the Song Dynasty, so his importance to the two generals became less. When he was suspicious of the two generals, he could naturally fall into the trap.
But now that he had suffered two disastrous defeats, his heart was in a state of confusion, and it was obviously inappropriate to kill anyone again.
Moreover, the Song Army did not make any arrangements for Zhang Yuan's counter-intentional plan. It was just a joke by the border army, saying that Zhang Yuan brought Li Yuanhao to attack and let Li Yuanhao lose his troops and generals. He was their undercover or something like that.
Therefore, Li Yuanhao was not so brainless as to kill a talented military advisor based on rumors without any evidence.
After calming down, Li Yuanhao immediately comforted Zhang Yuan.
Today there is a discussion in the palace.
Li Yuanhao was with several important ministers.
The charcoal fire was lit inside the house, and through the window next to it, you could see snowflakes falling.
He was wearing a thick fur coat and was warm, but his face was very ugly. He looked around and sighed: "Everyone, where will I go, Daxia?"
Zhang Yuan's face was heavy. He actually knew the current situation. Xixia could only return to the previous situation of professing vassalage to Liao and Song Dynasties without offending either country.
But as a "failing scholar", a legendary profession that has produced "heroes in large numbers" in ancient and modern times, Zhang Yuan's pride told him that he wanted to take revenge on the Song Dynasty, and he could never let Xixia surrender to the Song Dynasty like before.
So he chose silence.
However, another minister and counselor, Yang Shousu, did not have such concerns. He advised Li Yuanhao: "Your Majesty, even the powerful Liao Kingdom was defeated by the Song army's firearms. This is enough to show that the defeat of Daxia was not a crime of war. It should be considered in the long term." .”
"Tell me something."
Li Yuanhao forced his patience and asked, "What should we do now?"
"We should immediately start peace talks with the Liao and Song Dynasties, and surrender to the Liao and Song Dynasties as before."
Yang Shousu said frankly: "Only in this way can we turn around, otherwise it will be detrimental to us to continue fighting with the Song Dynasty."
Yeli Wangrong was also a very thoughtful person. He also advised: "Yes, Your Majesty, the current situation no longer allows us to fight with the Song Dynasty again. Peace talks are the best option."
"Peace talks?"
Li Yuanhao pondered for a moment and sighed: "It's really frustrating."
After saying that, he looked at Zhang Yuandao: "Lei Fu, what do you think?"
Zhang Yuan saw that Li Yuanhao was still reluctant to part with the great cause of the emperor. After thinking for a moment, he said seriously: "Your Majesty, it is indeed necessary to negotiate peace, but your Majesty should not be unwilling. The Liao people will definitely win over us, and there will be a war between the Liao and Song Dynasties after all. .”
"oh?"
Li Yuanhao asked: "Why?"
Zhang Yuan said: "First, the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Kingdom, which greatly reduced the prestige of the Liao Kingdom. How could Yelu Zong really let it go?"
"Um."
Li Yuanhao nodded thoughtfully.
"The Song State has strong firearms. Even if we don't talk about prestige, firearms have seriously threatened the status of the Liao State. How could the Liao State not be afraid?"
Zhang Yuan analyzed: "With these two items, I can be sure that within three to five years, there will be a war between the Liao and Song Dynasties. But this time the Liao Kingdom was defeated, they also need to recuperate, so they temporarily stopped their activities and recuperated."
"Since the Liao people are afraid, what if they dare not act?"
Li Yuanhao asked.
Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "If the Liao people dare not do anything, they will definitely not win over us. But please wait patiently, your majesty. If my prediction is correct, the Liao envoys will come soon."
"You mean that the Liao envoy will take the initiative to come to discuss with us?"
Li Yuanhao was surprised.
"nature."
Zhang Yuan said in a deep voice: "The Song Kingdom has strong firearms, and the Liao Kingdom will never dare to face it alone again. It will definitely seek an alliance with us. Then it will be our opportunity."
"Um"
Li Yuanhao nodded slightly.
Zhang Yuan took the opportunity to suggest: "Your Majesty can present your favor to the Song State and form an alliance with the Liao State at the same time. First, open a border settlement to nourish the country. When the time comes, the Song State will pay for its blood debt with blood!"
In fact, Li Yuanhao was not unaware of the situation he was facing now. After two major defeats, the people's livelihood in the country was in decline, prices were soaring, and herders from various tribes were complaining and suffering unspeakably.
In addition, the enemy attacked the hinterland of his hometown and suffered heavy losses, which greatly reduced Li Yuanhao's prestige. Now it is impossible to launch a war.
The only way is to immediately send an envoy to ask for forgiveness from the Song State, and then declare tribute to the Song State.
But Li Yuanhao really couldn't bear this face.
A few years ago, he established a country with great power and proclaimed himself emperor. However, in the blink of an eye, he was beaten to the point of calling him daddy. His face was completely lost. He was simply thrown into his grandma's house in disgrace.
Although as a hero, things like face don't matter, but if Xixia continues like this, it may become an international joke.
Where will his majesty be at home and abroad then? Where is the prestige? Where is the human heart?
So Li Yuanhao is really in trouble.
But there is no point in holding on. The Song State closed the border areas, making the domestic situation in Xixia worse and worse.
The specialty products of the northwest could not be sold, and the tea needed by the Party members could not be brought in. For this reason, many people could only buy tea at high prices from Qingtanghua. The demand exceeded the supply of goods, and production costs rose, which caused inflation and brought the Xixia economy to the verge of collapse.
In addition, there is another reason why Li Yuanhao is unwilling to accept it, that is, once he officially sends an envoy to the Song Dynasty, it means that he will deprive himself of the throne, accept the canonization of the Song Dynasty again, and become the king of Xixia.
This was hard for him to accept.
But the reality was not optimistic either. No matter how he could not accept it, he had to consider what would happen to the country if he continued to have a long-term military confrontation with the Song Dynasty and did not conduct trade.
I'm afraid it won't be long before many Dangxiang tribes will revolt and overthrow him, the leader of the Dangxiang tribes.
Therefore, Li Yuanhao could only ask his advisers to give him a reason.
Zhang Yuan gave the reason.
That is to say, the Liao Kingdom will definitely not be willing to give up. They will still have a chance when the time comes.
As long as Li Yuanhao endures for a while, declares his vassalage to Song, and waits for Song to agree to mutual trade, he can recuperate like Liao and develop domestic military, economy, people's livelihood, etc.
In a few years, when Xixia and Liao have recovered from their serious injuries, Yelu Zongzhen will form an alliance with him, and they will be able to fight the Song to the death and take revenge!
"well."
Li Yuanhao understood what Zhang Yuan meant, but sighed: "I'm still unwilling!"
"Your Majesty, when the State of Yue was almost destroyed by the State of Wu, Gou Jian suffered from hardships and finally destroyed the State of Wu and succeeded in revenge."
Zhang Yuan advised: "If you want to achieve great things, you need to learn to be patient. Forbearance at this time is for victory in the future. Even if you suffer a temporary defeat, you cannot be a hero. Only the winner in the end can show his true colors!"
"Um!"
Li Yuanhao said in a deep voice: "That's it! Send an envoy to the Song Dynasty!"
The first year of Kangding is destined to be an extraordinary year for the three countries.
At the beginning of the year, the Liao and Song Dynasties fought a decisive battle in Baozhou, and the Liao Kingdom was defeated and returned.
The two sides launched a diplomatic tug-of-war that lasted for more than half a year, and finally ended with Song State achieving a huge diplomatic victory.
In the second half of the year, when Xixia heard the news about the peace talks between Song and Liao, they couldn't sit still and had no choice but to send envoys to declare themselves as ministers.
In November, envoys from the Liao Kingdom also went to Xixia, and the two sides signed a strategic alliance treaty.
This treaty was held in secret. The two parties agreed that if a full-scale war broke out with the Song Dynasty in the future, if one party started to fight, the other party would immediately rush to help.
Obviously, the power of the Song Dynasty made Yelu Zongzhen unable to sit still. In addition to easing the increasingly acute domestic conflicts, it also needed to actively seek foreign aid and work with its allies to deal with the Song Dynasty.
The Song State did not know about this situation for the time being, but the internal affairs of the Song State also knew about the Liao State envoys going to Xixia. The people in the Constitutional Yuan knew with their toes what the Liao and Xia were doing.
But this was something Zhao Jun and the others could guess, so it didn't matter.
Regardless of the peace talks signed by Song and Liao, the Liao State was stabilizing the situation, and the Song State wanted to gain time for development and reform the many internal shortcomings and contradictions?
As long as the Song Dynasty was given a few years and it had money, food, soldiers, artillery, grenades, and even flintlock guns, what was the point of another alliance between Liao and Xia?
Therefore, the Song Dynasty did not care about their alliance, nor did they actively try to destroy their alliance.
At the end of the year, Xixia envoys held peace talks with Pang Ji, Song's economic envoy in the northwest at that time.
Finalize the content of the treaty.
One, seek sum.
Second, the Western Xia Emperor Li Yuanhao proclaimed himself king and paid tribute to the Song Dynasty.
Third, every year Xixia must provide 1,000 sheep, 500 cattle, 500 war horses, and 300 camels to the Song Dynasty.
Fourth, the two sides opened markets and markets for each other on the border, allowing the free circulation and sale of all goods, and no forced interference. Public security and regional affairs were jointly managed by Xixia and Song dynasties, and taxes were determined by the nationalities of the merchants on both sides.
Fifth, Xixia must pay tribute to the Qianyuan Festival (the birthday of Song Renzong) and congratulate the Song Dynasty every year.
6. The Song State will restore all diplomatic relations that were previously severed with Xixia and maintain contact with envoys. However, all expenses for receiving envoys will be cancelled. Both parties can only pay for the envoys on their own expenses. After arriving in Kaifeng, the Song State will only provide food and accommodation. There will be no other reception fees incurred.
7. Song and Xia signed a non-aggression covenant. If one party breaks the treaty, the other party will regard the other party as a hostile country. Because Xia invaded again this time, the relationship between Song and Liao should have been completely severed and Xia should have been required to compensate for all war losses. However, considering that peace is the expectation of the people of both countries, Xia should be given another chance. Don't say anything. Not in advance!
8. Song and Xia used the original border as the boundary, and both sides withdrew their troops. From now on, any thieves or fugitives who cross the border will not be allowed to hide from each other. In the cities along the border between the two dynasties, everything was as usual. They were not allowed to build city gods, were not allowed to send more troops to the border without permission, and were not allowed to send troops across the border to capture thieves and fugitives without notice. Any violation would be considered an invasion.
9. The Song Dynasty agreed to purchase special products such as green salt, saffron, and fur produced by Xixia to alleviate the current situation of economic collapse caused by the accumulation of domestic special products in Xixia. However, it must be ceded to the Song Dynasty, and Xixia could not ban all products including war horses, minerals, etc. from the Song State. contraband. At the same time, like the Liao Kingdom, both parties lifted all embargoes.
After a series of peace talks, Xixia envoys finally went to Bianliang of the Song Dynasty to meet with the emperor, and then after confirmation, the seal was affixed. In the end, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty granted Li Yuanhao the title of Grand Master of the Special Inspection School and concurrently served as the envoy of the Dingnan Army, Xia Yinsui, Youjing and other prefectures to observe and deal with the imprisoned Tibetan envoys, and he was given the title of King of Western Xia. The peace talks ended.
The Song Dynasty naturally welcomed Li Yuanhao's awareness of current affairs with both hands. In this way, the peace talks between the Liao Kingdom and Xixia brought the foreign aggression to an end for the time being.
In the midst of this hustle and bustle, the first year of Qingli has arrived!
(End of chapter)
