The person whom Yelu Po admired the most in his heart was the famous minister Yelu Renxian.
When Qingli increased coins, Yelv Ren first forced Song Renzong to increase the 200,000-year-old coins every year in the name of "increasing coins" instead of in the name of "increasing coins" to establish the status of Song and Liao.
Therefore, later generations will call this incident "Qingli Increasing Coins". In fact, it is to save face for the ancestors, so it is more accurate to call it "Qingli Nabi".
In the letter of credence written by the Song Dynasty to the Liao Dynasty, the word "tribute" was written. The word "Gong" means serving the king as a minister.
Later, Yelvren also put down the Chongyuan Rebellion.
Yelvpo claimed to be Yeluren first, and he saw that every step of the demarcation was under his control, but Xiao Teidi made him fail.
He knew that the coaching change was what Yelu Yixin meant.
No one in the court was more powerful than Yelu Yixin.
Even Yelu Renxian, the hero of the quelling the rebellion who was kind to Yelu Hongji, was squeezed out by Yelu Yixin.
Yelupo looked at Xiaotide who replaced him, with no good expression.
Xiao Tride said to Yelv Po: "Xiao Hugu, Yelv Tao was also exiled for assassinating the King of Wei, and Yelv Tao was also imprisoned!"
Yelv Po looked horrified. Yelv Tart was not Yelv Renxian's son. He and his father made great contributions to quelling the Chongyuan Rebellion. But Yelu Hongji listened to Yelu Yixin's bewitchment, and now he imprisoned the other party indiscriminately.
Yelu Po and Yelu Ta were both ministers who supported and sympathized with the prince. When Yelu Yixin wanted to harm the prince, Yelu Ta warned Yelu Yixin in public in front of all the officials not to act rashly.
Now that Yelu Ta is in jail, who will protect the prince in the future?
For this reason, Yelupo, who was responsible for negotiating with Song Dynasty, also had to withdraw. Otherwise, if the negotiation was successful, it would not be a credit to the prince.
Yelupo couldn't help but said: "Da Liao is ruined at the hands of those who wield power like you!"
Xiao Tride's tone seemed very calm. He had already expected Yelupo's rage and said: "Yelülingya, which dynasty or country does not have people who wield power? Do you think there are none in the Song Dynasty?"
Xiaotide changed his position on the chair and lowered his voice: "You have been talking for too long! Now the borders of Korea, Tatar, and Jurchen are about to move. Your Majesty can't bear to rush you, but don't you have any idea in your heart?"
Yelu Po's face showed a hint of self-blame, and he said: "Zhang Yue, the envoy of Song Xuanfu, is not an ordinary person."
Xiaotide said disapprovingly: "No matter what, they are just Cao Bin and his ilk."
Yelu Po sneered and said, "The King of Wei is not Yelu Xiu's brother."
Xiao Tride snorted when he heard this and said: "When Emperor Taizong (Yelü Deguang) destroyed the Jin Dynasty and entered Bian, the gains outweighed the losses. The first two companies of the Chanzhou Alliance fought for more than 20 years."
"Although Daliao is rich and powerful now, it is nothing compared to the Holy Sect. When the sect was established. If you want to expand the territory of Daliao, even if Brother Yelu Xiu comes back to life, there will be no use for it."
…
Yeluhong wrote down all the Khitan characters he knew in small characters, and Zhang Yue read them.
Khitan script is divided into large characters and small characters.
Khitan characters were created very early, but they were ideographic characters. The Khitan people obviously overestimated their own level. Except for Chinese characters, there is no other type of ideograms that they can play well with, and most of them are just short-lived.
Therefore, very few Khitans learned Khitan's large characters. The Khitans later learned their lesson and changed the Khitan's small characters into phonetic characters.
The Khitan small characters penetrated the Khitan language, so it was recognized.
Although the upper classes of the Khitan people are still accustomed to using Chinese characters, they regard the Khitan small characters as a treasure and only circulate them among the upper classes, and do not allow any Khitan characters to be spread to foreign countries.
In order to avoid being assimilated by the Han ideology, the Liao State also tried its best. In terms of writing, it chose Khitan and Chinese to go hand in hand, and in terms of culture, it chose Confucianism and Buddhism to go hand in hand.
Yeluhong, as the concubine of the prime minister's family, also learned this kind of writing.
Zhang Yue ordered him to copy it and compare it with the Chinese text.
In addition to Khitan texts, Zhang Yue also talked with him about some Khitan history.
For example, the issue of increasing coins in Qingli was completely different from what he heard about it.
According to Ye Luhong, the former Han minister Liu Yunfu and the late emperor (Xingzong of the Liao Dynasty) said that the land of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and China is not mine, and the Liao will not be able to live in it for long.
The late emperor asked how to win over the people, and the number of people who were controlled by the people was reduced to five out of ten. In this way, the people fought to become the subjects of the Liao Kingdom.
How?
Liu Liufu said that he wanted the Song Dynasty to cede the land south of Guannan and use military parades to increase the garrison to coerce it. If the Song Dynasty refused to cede the land, it would increase the annual coins. In this way, the increased annual coins would reduce the people's rent.
Later, the Song Dynasty increased coins, but only used two-tenths to reduce the rent, but the people of Yanyun were already happy.
Zhang Yue heard this and thought, if this matter is true, then the Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers are being manipulated by the Liao Kingdom. He doubts in his heart whether the other party is telling the truth.
However, after Liu Liufu returned to the court with more coins during Qingli, he added Zhongshu Pingzhangshi and became one of the prime ministers of the Liao Kingdom. This should be due to his counselor's planning.
Yeluhong added: "In Yanyun, like Han, Liu, Ma, Zhao and other Han families have endless hairpins, and they can even compete with the big families of the Northern Dynasty."
"Now under the rule of the Northern Dynasties, the taxes of the people of Yanyun are lower than those of the people of Hebei."
Hearing this, Zhang Yue knew that Yeluhong's words were true. It was an indisputable fact that the Liao Dynasty valued the Yanyun Han family, and that the people of Hebei were heavily taxed.
For example, the matter of salting is common in all walks of life in the world, but not in Hebei.
In terms of salt consumption, the people in Shaanxi Road need to eat more than 40 cents per catty of salt, while the Xixia green salt only costs 15 cents. This is the price that Xixia smuggled to the Song Dynasty, and the Xixia people themselves can only eat five cents per catty. .
Therefore, many ministers advised officials to treat Hebei equally. Why don't you tax everyone if you don't? However, the officials were obviously not confused and agreed to my request. Therefore, all kinds of salt lords are prevalent in the world, but there are no private salt dealers in Hebei.
People's livelihood in Hebei is still suffering.
Zhang Yue listened to Ye Luhong's words and said: "It can be seen from Liu Liufu that although the Liao government is in chaos, people's hearts are still there. It should not be said lightly that there is no one in Liao."
“The people’s support cannot be unpredictable.”
Yeluhong's eyes gleamed after hearing Zhang Yue's words.
At this time, Zhang Yue smiled and said to Yeluhong: "Yes, how did you guess that I wanted to conquer Liao?"
These words hit Yeluhong like a thunderbolt in mid-air.
Although Yeluhong had been making guesses since he arrived at Zhang Yue's side and tried to prove his suspicions, he thought it was only 20 to 30 percent possible. Now that Zhang Yue said it, Yeluhong was also shocked. When did the Song Dynasty dare to threaten the Liao Kingdom with war?
It is not a threat to Zhang Yue.
It is truly prepared.
Since the Liao Kingdom implemented war blackmail last year, Hedong Road and Hebei Road have been mobilized.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses on the front line confronting the Liao, there are also two to three hundred thousand soldiers and horses on the second and third lines for purge and training. The Song army had enough food and grass on the front line for three months.
Now that Xixia has been defeated, and the Liao side is still like a single tree, if there are any signs of failure or instability in the rear, Zhang Yue will not hesitate to send troops to Youyan.
Although Yeluhong was entrusted by his father to Zhang Yue to take care of him, he was from Liao after all, and he was very anxious when he heard this.
"It's over, this time we have fallen into the trap of the Song Dynasty." Yeluhong thought.
…
Yelupo left sadly the next day, and Zhang Yue also saw him off.
Although Yelupo was annoying, he was determined to fight for the interests of the Liao Kingdom at the negotiation table. His shrewd, aggressive, and negotiating style of always observing you and catching the other party's weaknesses also left a deep impression on the officials of the Song Dynasty. .
This is a tough opponent.
When bidding farewell, Yelupo said to Zhang Yue: "Mr. Zhang, I have offended many people in the past."
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "From the perspective of your country, Yelu Linya's loyalty to the country is understandable."
Yelupo smiled, but Xiaotide looked a little unhappy. Doesn't he mean that the leader of Liao was wrong to change the candidates for negotiation?
Yelupo said proudly: "But from the perspective of the two countries, what you and I say sitting here is of little use. No matter how much we talk here, in the end it still depends on who is tough enough."
Liao's diplomacy was similar to the strength diplomacy of later generations.
It supports its diplomacy with strong military strength and adopts a pre-emptive strategy. From the Qingli currency increase to this demarcation, it was the Liao State that provoked it first, which was very offensive and forward-looking.
Putting it in a political struggle, I saw something was wrong with you recently, so I took the first step to teach you a lesson. I provoked conflicts preemptively and did not give you the opportunity to rebel in the future.
To deal with the preemptive strategy, the first thing is not to be afraid yourself, the other is to delay.
It is the same as Zhang Kai's strategy for his great victory over the Taoshui River, which is to avoid his vigor and attack his laziness.
From the point of view of the art of war, in any battle, if the enemy's formation is neat and sharp and cannot be fought, it is advisable to wait for him with a strong wall, wait for his formation to weaken over time, and then attack him with an attack, and he will be victorious.
To sum up, it is to wait for others to decline.
The longer the negotiation drags on, the better it is for me.
Zhang Yue said to Yelu Po: "At this time and that time, today's Liao is not the Liao of Chanyuan, and the Song is not the Song of Chanyuan; it is not the Liao of Qingli, and it is not the Song of Qingli. If the Liao were to use sharp weapons and armor, I’m not afraid of it either.”
"Of course, I quite agree with Yelu Lingya's saying that what cannot be fought over on the battlefield cannot be fought over at the negotiation table."
Yelupo smiled upon hearing this.
Zhang Yue was also a man who cherished and valued heroes. He also admired Yelupo and immediately gave him many special products of the Song Dynasty.
Yelupo glanced at what Zhang Yue had given him and said, "I don't want anything else, I just want a piece of Zhang Xianggong's inscription."
"My lord likes Zhang Xianggong's calligraphy very much. Unfortunately, Zhang Xianggong's calligraphy is hard to find in China, so I decided to ask for Zhang Yue's calligraphy on my lord's behalf."
"Of course! Serve it later!"
Yelupo smiled and said, "Thank you very much."
After Zhang Yue left the banquet, he called Cai Jinglai and said, "Imitate my handwriting and write to the Lord of Liao."
Cai Jing agreed.
How could Zhang Yue be willing to let his handwriting spread to the Liao Kingdom, which would be detrimental to him in the future, so he ordered Cai Jing to imitate his handwriting and write a calligraphy for Yelvpo to take back to the country.
Yelupo was an honest man. He didn't expect Zhang Yue to lie to him, and he didn't see any clues.
Cai Jingben was an outstanding calligrapher, and he had been with Zhang Yue for many years. He also copied Zhang Yue's calligraphy on weekdays, and he learned that 90% of his calligraphy was similar in form to spirit.
Therefore, when Yelu Po's calligraphy was given to Yelu Hongji, the Lord of the Liao Dynasty, he was also very happy when he got Zhang Yue's calligraphy treasure. Several Liao ministers who had seen Zhang Yue's calligraphy didn't see anything.
Finally, Yelu Hongji also treasured the seal collection very much.
