In the Yanfu Palace, Emperor Daojun was furious, and even his beloved lotus whisk was broken into two halves and abandoned on the ground.
Zhao Tong stood in front of the door, speechless, watching the Taojun Emperor roaring to himself: "I will abolish the Tan Yuan Alliance, I will definitely abolish the Tan Yuan Alliance, let's see what these Khitan Yi slaves dare to do!"
Zhao Tong rubbed his head, knowing that Emperor Daojun would most likely do this. After all, he dared to decide on such a big matter as the Maritime Alliance, but the reason was definitely not for the sake of his family, country, and the world. Emperor Daojun was a typical bully and fearful of the strong, and would fight against the strong. Weak, strong when encountering weakness.
He had watched the Jurchens defeat the Liao Kingdom, and he despised the Liao Kingdom in his heart. If the Liao Kingdom attacked now and the Song army was defeated, he might even take the initiative to add some Sui coins.
After beating for a while, Emperor Daojun looked at Zhao Tong who was in a daze in front of the door and said: "Second brother, these Khitan Yi slaves have bullied me. You have to be angry for me!"
Zhao Tong thought to himself, it's okay to vent his anger, but you have to know what it is about.
"Dad..." As soon as Zhao Tong opened his mouth, he saw Emperor Daojun suddenly grab the letter on the imperial book case and slam it onto the case again.
"Second brother, come and see for yourself, Yanxi's son is simply too arrogant!"
Zhao Tong stepped forward confused, picked up the letter and looked at it carefully. It was indeed written by Yelu Yanxi, but he didn't know if it was really his own handwriting. The calligraphy seemed to be pretty good.
He took a moment to read the letter and felt that what the letter said was too childish. It was just to irritate the Daojun Emperor. After all, everyone in Northern Liao and Western Xia knew that this emperor loved his face the most.
Zhao Tong said: "Dad, the Liao Kingdom wants to send people to set up a ring in Yu Street to compete with the martial arts masters of the Song Dynasty, but this is because they have a guilty conscience!"
Emperor Daojun said: "Second brother, how can you say this? If it were a sumo wrestling ring, and I had a third-class inner-class fighter and a ninth-class warrior, I would naturally be able to win a complete victory. As for martial arts, I'm afraid of the imperial fist." The museum is useless!”
This dynasty loved sumo wrestling very much, but the sumo wrestling here was different from that in other countries in later generations.
Zhao Tong nodded. If it was really about sumo wrestling, the royal family's neihōzi were extremely powerful. Even if they were from Liao, he felt that they would win.
But the Liao Kingdom didn't have a sumo wrestling ring, so they wanted to set up a martial arts ring. He had worshiped Zhou Tong as his teacher since he was a child, and knew that there were no masters in the boxing hall. Zhou Tong had countless registered disciples, and most of them practiced boxing and embroidered legs, and could not really teach them. Now he is in the hall It's nothing more than gaining a reputation.
"Second brother, look again, this Yanxi kid actually said that if I am afraid and dare not take the ring, I will increase the amount of 50,000 coins every year and collect an additional 20% of our government's commercial tax in the market. If you take over the ring and lose, you will have to make the same compensation!" Emperor Daojun said angrily.
Zhao Tong thought about it, this kind of childish thing will only irritate you, but others can just ignore it. He said: "Dad, what do the princes in the court say?"
Emperor Daojun said angrily: "There are different opinions. They say it will be a loss of face if you don't accept the ring. They say it will be even more embarrassing if you can't beat them if you accept the ring. When it comes to how to act, they all talk about martial arts. Tong Guan is the leader. As for the two of them, they are also undecided. I think they are both afraid of taking responsibility for this matter!"
Zhao Tong secretly thought, as expected, they are all a group of good husbands: "Dad, the child said that this is because the Liao Kingdom has a guilty conscience. It is probably true. Dad, think about it, the Jurchens defeated the Liao Kingdom, and the whole country in Northern Liao was in mourning. I am afraid that the Celestial Empire will Seeing that he was weak, he took the opportunity to carry out military operations, but his move was just a false accusation and a bluff."
Emperor Daojun thought for a moment after hearing this, and said: "What second brother said is reasonable, but I... I have to accept this challenge. If I don't accept it, if the news spreads, the people of the world, especially those small foreign countries, will laugh!"
Zhao Tong said: "This matter can be considered, but I didn't see it in the letter. What if the Liao Kingdom loses?"
Emperor Daojun was stunned when he heard this. He reached out and grabbed the letter and read it over again. He couldn't help but said: "It's true that I didn't say it before. The child of Yanxi has bullied me too much!"
Zhao Tong said: "In the Liao Kingdom, a gentleman can be bullied, and a villain behaves like a villain. Dad can completely ignore it."
Emperor Daojun got up and suddenly said: "Second brother, if I send you the authority over this matter, will you be sure of it?"
Zhao Tong sighed secretly, even though he said it so clearly, he still wanted to fight, even if he won, there would be no reward, and he would only lose face.
Emperor Daojun said again: "Young Yanxi is a treacherous child. If you don't fight him, he will be blamed. I think you can win if you fight him."
Zhao Tong glanced at him, "That's not what you said just now. And is this the confidence you will have to attack the Liao Kingdom with the Jurchens in the future?" Is everything based on imagination?
"I'm somewhat confident," Zhao Tong said.
"How sure are you, second brother?" Emperor Daojun raised his eyebrows immediately after hearing this.
"Dad, I heard that there are some capable people in the Liao Kingdom who are proficient in martial arts, and they are only 60% sure." Zhao Tong did not dare to say more, for fear that if he talked too much, the Taojun Emperor would do something wrong.
"Okay, okay!" Emperor Daojun changed his face after hearing this and said happily: "That's enough. Second brother, you will take charge of this matter. I will announce it in the court tomorrow. Let's see where those ministers put their face. put."
Zhao Tong sighed in his heart. At this time, you are still thinking about slapping the courtiers in the face. You don't care about what to do if you lose. You are serious about doing things without leaving any way out. It's really hard to explain.
"Dad, the child will not go to court tomorrow." Zhao Tong knew that he should show up for this kind of thing, but he didn't want to go to court to talk about it.
"Second brother, it's okay if you don't want to go to court. The decree will be sent to your house." Emperor Daojun was happy in his heart. He was an unruly person, so he didn't care about whether he went to court or not.
After Zhao Lili left the palace, his face was dark on the road. The Liao Kingdom was indeed guilty of this move. It suffered a tragic defeat in the battle with the Jurchens. It was afraid that the Song Dynasty would plagiarize its retreat and counterattack, so it took this strategy.
But military and state affairs, the sacred weapons of the country, and the weapons of life and death are so important, how can they be tested in a ring? It can be seen that the Liao court is now in chaos, and people with no political opinions can only do childish things.
But the Song Dynasty still took this kind of childish tricks seriously. From the emperor to the ministers, they actually had a decent discussion, and even tried to pick up the opponent's tactics that were not even considered bad strategies!
Zhao Tong secretly shook his head, left the palace and entered the sedan. Not far away, he suddenly raised the curtain and looked back, only to see the huge palace drowsy under the night...
A few days passed, and Zhao Yu had already received the imperial edict. He was counting the days when the Liao envoys would arrive in Tokyo. Sure enough, at noon one day later, someone came to report that more than 380 Liao envoys had arrived. Kaifeng East Gate.
According to the usual practice, this kind of thing requires the Ministry of Rites to send officials to greet it, and he, the person in charge, must also express his gratitude.
However, Zhao Tong did not go out all day, nor did he send his men there. He just sat in the middle hall and drank tea.
After dinner, when the sky was still bright, Lei San came in and reported: "Your Majesty, there is someone outside asking to see you."
Zhao Tong said: "Who is it?"
Lei Sandao said in a low voice: "My subordinates observed the words and deeds, and also called the dispatched informants to compare. It seems that... people from the Liao Kingdom's mission came in disguise."
Zhao Tong's eyes lit up, he straightened up slightly, and whispered to himself: "He's finally here."
