Zhang Yue observed the young man named Yelu Chun in the side room.
To be honest, I only knew that the other party was the prince of Liao Kingdom, but I knew nothing else.
Han Zhen, Lu Gongbi, and Cai Bian all sent to the Liao Dynasty, congratulated the leader of the Liao Dynasty Yelu Hongji on his birthday, and attended the reception banquet.
However, none of them knew this Yelu Chun. The reason was very simple. He was too young, only fifteen or sixteen years old. Lu Gongbi and other envoys to the Liao Dynasty had all been to the Liao Kingdom a few years ago and could not see him at all. The other one was the Liao Dynasty. There are too many people named Yelu in the country.
Except for the Yelu Bei family, who were members of the royal family, the rest were far behind in terms of status and status. They were even down and out, like Yelu Yixin who let others herd sheep when he was young.
Yelu Chun is the nephew of Yelu Hongji, but how many relatives does this nephew have? For example, Zhang Yue is still Zhang Dexiang's nephew, but will anyone treat him as a son of the prime minister's family?
After Zhang Yue became the envoy of Xuanfu, the most important thing was to strengthen the intelligence spying on the Liao Kingdom.
On the one hand, he continued to explore the intelligence of the Liao Kingdom from two people and wandering monks. However, the problem with these people was that they took the information and sold it on both sides. When they went to the Song Dynasty, they said good things about the Song Dynasty and bad things about the Liao Kingdom. When they got to the Liao Kingdom, they said bad things about the Song Dynasty. Good things about the country. And a lot of the information is full of errors and omissions.
Therefore, Zhang Yue also strengthened his persuasion to returnees.
Bai Juyi once called the people who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty from the northern barbarians as Gui Ming people, and the so-called returnees were also to persuade the Tibetan people who admired the Song Dynasty and the Huhua Han people.
To put it bluntly, it is to instigate rebellion.
Although no high-level Liao officials were persuaded, and even middle-level officials were involved, more than a dozen minor Liao officials were identified.
Zhang Yue didn't believe what they said about their deep sense of righteousness and the great Song Dynasty. However, the truth and falsehood of the Liao Kingdom from these people was quite reliable.
One of them was a primary school student in Yuzhou. He was whipped for thirty years by his superiors for no reason, and he fled to the Song Dynasty in anger. This person knows a lot about the Liao Kingdom.
After meeting Yelu Chun, the primary school student said something to Zhang Yue. Yelu Chun's biological father looked like King Yelu and Lu Bo of the Song and Wei Dynasties. He was the biological brother of Yelu Hongji, so he seemed to have the right name in terms of age.
…
After knowing it in his heart, Zhang Yue sat in front of Yelu Chun. When the other party saw that he was wearing a purple robe, his expression changed obviously.
"I am Zhang Yue, the envoy of Xuanfu. Do you recognize me?"
Yelu Chun's eyes changed obviously, but he denied verbally: "I don't recognize it."
Zhang Yue said: "It's okay if you don't know me. You know that I was a very important official in the Song Dynasty, almost comparable to the prime minister and the privy envoy. The Song and Liao countries are brotherly countries, and they pay attention to the etiquette of reciprocity. If you are from the Liao Dynasty, Prince of the country, then it’s okay for me to receive you personally and accompany you with food.”
Yelu Chun still denied it flatly: "I am not a prince, I am just a Khitan. There are so many people named Yelu in Liao Dynasty."
Zhang Yue said: "Yelu's Chinese surname is Liu, and your Liao Taizu (Yelu Abaoji)'s Chinese name is Liu Yi, so I can also call you Liu Chun."
Yelu Chun said: "That's because our Emperor Taizu admired Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty."
Zhang Yue said: "Yes, the Xiao surname of your Liao clan is taken from Xiao He. The high-ranking children of the Yelu family only marry with the descendants. Have you married a wife? Is it also the Xiao family?"
Yelu Chun hesitated to speak. His fiancée, Xiao Pu Xiannu, was the granddaughter of Xiao Cigu, a famous minister of the Liao Kingdom. His aunt, Xiao Tansi, was the second queen of Yelu Hongji, and she was also Xiao De, the consort of Yelu Yixin who had an affair with Yelu Yixin. Jean's sister.
This is an important link that maintains the relationship between Yelv Chun, Yelu Yixin and Xiao Derang.
This virtuous woman Xiao Pu was not only of noble birth, but also very beautiful. She could be called a first-class beauty. Yelu Chun felt that he was the happiest man in the world after seeing his fiancée.
Yelu Chun did not admit it.
So Zhang Yue smiled and said: "It turns out that she is also a woman from an ordinary family. I was wrong."
Yelu Chun immediately denied it and said: "No, my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world. She is of noble birth, and any mention of her name is an insult to her!"
Zhang Yue smiled. Men of fifteen or sixteen years old were lustful and admired Shao Ai, and the slightest ridicule would reveal their secrets.
Zhang Yue asked: "Oh? Your Majesty chose it for you?"
"It was...King Wei chose it for me."
King Wei!
Zhang Yue's heart trembled, the King of Wei was Yelu Yixin.
This shows that Yelu Yixin, the powerful official of the Liao Kingdom, valued his son very much.
When Yelu Chun heard this, he knew that he had let something slip. He immediately shut up in a hurry and returned to his original behavior.
Zhang Yue left without asking any more questions.
The high-level political struggles of the Liao Kingdom have always been a mystery to the Song Dynasty. For example, the Chongyuan Rebellion in the past few years was the great rebellion between Emperor Yelu Chongyuan and Yelu Hongji. The Song Dynasty actually found out about it only a few years later. .
And Zhang Yue knew after reading The Eight Parts of the Dragon that his understanding of the Liao Kingdom was limited to this.
Zhang Yue only learned about the conflict between the royal family of Liao and his descendants after arriving at Zhending Mansion. He recalled that he had just learned that the queen of Liao was sentenced to death. This was actually last year, but Zhang Yue also learned about it half a month ago. Just known.
Because the top officials of the Liao Kingdom kept this matter secret. Moreover, in order to prevent the Song Dynasty from peeking into their secret affairs, the Liao State implemented a book ban. Anyone who knew these things would not be able to write them down, let alone spread them to the Song Dynasty. As for the envoys of the Song Dynasty who arrived in the Liao Kingdom, they also took a special car, which only opened the skylight to let you breathe. There were only small windows on the car wall to prevent you from peeping. The Song Dynasty's envoys to the Liao Dynasty are just as you wish.
In contrast, the Liao State knew everything about the Song Dynasty. This is the difference between information flow and occlusion.
Zhang Yue immediately called more than a dozen returnees from the Liao Kingdom to ask about the name of the successor queen of the Liao Kingdom and her origins. She didn't know anything about it.
However, Zhang Yue knew that Yelu Yixin was now in power in the Liao Kingdom. There was a saying among the Liao people that it was better to violate the imperial edict than to violate the post of King Wei.
In other words, the imperial edict can be violated, but Yelu Yixin's posts cannot.
There is no doubt that Yelu Yixin valued Yelu Chun very much, and Yelu Chun was also the nephew of Yelu Hongji and the biological son of King Lu of the Liao Kingdom.
These are a few things Zhang Yue confirmed.
A few days later, a secret envoy from the Liao Kingdom came to Zhending Mansion. The envoy claimed to be here on behalf of Zhang Xiaojie, the Prime Minister of the Beifu. He paid a private visit to Zhang Yue and brought a box of northern pearls, some of the Liao Kingdom's 'specialties'.
Zhang Yue looked at Beizhu, who was as big as a pigeon egg, and was amused. He looked at the Liao envoy and said, "I have never had any friendship with your husband, but I acted so generously when we met. I dare not accept the reward for nothing."
The other party smiled and said, "Just accept it, Mr. Zhang. My husband just wants to be friends with Mr. Zhang."
"He was the number one scholar in Chongxi's 24th year, and Zhang Xianggong was the number one scholar in Jiayou's 6th year. There was only six years between them."
"He comes from a poor family, and Zhang Xianggong also comes from a poor family. He is now the prime minister of the Liao Kingdom, and Zhang Xianggong is also the prime minister of the Song Dynasty. He said that only heroes in the world can recognize and value heroes, so these small gifts are just a small gift for meeting. . If I really ask for anything in the future, I will give you something else and it will not be included in this."
Zhang Yue laughed after hearing this. Zhang Xiaojie was really a gift-giving expert. His words were really helpful to him, and he also had a good understanding of the humanities and sophistication of the Central Plains officialdom.
Zhang Yue asked back: "No, your prime minister has spent so much effort to send a box of northern pearls. Is it true that you have nothing to ask for my accommodation?"
(End of chapter)
