The Foreign Affairs Academy was newly established in this dynasty.
It is the product of the merger of Honglu Temple, Privy Council Ceremony Room, and the Ceremony Court of the Ministry of Rites and other external institutions. It is in charge of foreign affairs.
There is one person in charge of the court of judgement, and three people in charge of the office of magistrate. They are divided into twelve tributaries, each with a prime minister and a chief minister.
Cao Bin's position is that of Tongzhi Yuanshi and an assistant to the court judge, but his rank is much lower.
The main job of the Foreign Affairs Council is to welcome and send envoys from various countries, and to send envoys to various countries. Small matters are handled by the people below, and major matters are reported directly.
Cao Bin originally thought that this was the job that suited him best.
However, when he arrived at the Yamen, he was stunned.
"Uncle Zhongjing, it's been such a long time!"
Li Tang had a cold smile in his eyes.
At this moment, Cao Bin had the urge to go back and divorce his old father-in-law.
Isn’t this cheating yourself?
Two days ago, Taishi Pang also told himself that Li Tang, the transfer envoy between Zhejiang and Zhejiang, often made his subordinates pay attention to the details of various states and counties.
Local officials and people were often blamed, and strict laws were enforced when they made mistakes.
This aroused public dissatisfaction, and officials from the two Zhejiang provinces competed to impeach him, resulting in his dismissal from office.
Originally, Cao Bin was secretly happy about this.
Unexpectedly, Li Tang would become his immediate boss in the blink of an eye.
He had a grudge against him for killing his son, and now that he was under his command, wouldn't he take the opportunity to take revenge?
"It will be the Queen Mother's sixtieth birthday soon, and envoys from various countries have arrived in Beijing."
"The envoy from the Liao Kingdom is a top priority. Uncle Zhongjing will be responsible for receiving them this time."
When the other two fellow magistrates heard this, they breathed a sigh of relief and cast sympathetic glances at Cao Bin.
In previous years, it was the people who received the Liao envoys who were under the greatest pressure. It would be a heinous crime to accidentally cause conflict between the two countries.
The envoy from the Liao Kingdom who came this time was even more grumpy and was used to finding fault with his eggs. He had already taken the opportunity to beat up many waiters and even smashed the house.
The Foreign Affairs Council can neither beat him nor let him do this, which is a headache.
After assigning the tasks, Li Tang stared at Cao Bin, with a hint of revenge, and said sadly:
"Uncle Zhongjing, please be careful. If you cause the two countries to become enemies, you will be punished by death."
"But we cannot degrade the majesty of the Song Dynasty, otherwise the officials and the court will question me."
After saying that, he didn't even give Cao Bin a chance to shirk, and turned around and left.
In his expectation, Cao Bin would definitely not get a good deal this time, and might even be dismissed from his post.
Seeing the expressions of the other two fellow magistrates trying to avoid matters, Cao Bin laughed:
"Don't worry about me, you two. The worst case scenario is that Mr. Cao will resign, but he is a famously cruel official."
"You two, be careful, don't let him catch you..."
With that said, the concierge he found planned to ask about the specific situation first.
The envoys from the Liao Kingdom were General Yelu Yixian and Jiedushi Liu Liufu.
During the war between Song and Xia two years ago, they were the ones who sent envoys to the Song Dynasty and forced the Song Dynasty to double their annual coins.
Although this amount of money is nothing to Da Song, the humiliation is certain.
The two countries have been at peace for several years. I wonder what trouble they are going to make.
Logically speaking, they should not trouble Da Song at this time.
The concierge looked at Cao Bin and said:
"Master Cao, this Liao envoy is too difficult to serve. What should we do?"
"If there is a dispute between the two countries due to improper reception, we will definitely be punished."
Cao Bin glanced at him and said, "Was it like this before?"
Guan Cheng shook his head quickly and said:
"Isn't it like this before? Although they were very arrogant in the past two years of dating, they were not as unreasonable as they are now."
After hearing this, Cao Bin pondered for a moment and nodded: "It seems that the Liao Kingdom has some ideas."
"ah?"
Guan Cheng looked at Cao Bin in surprise and said:
"Master Cao is saying that they want to start a war. Didn't they just have peace talks two years ago?"
After speaking, he hesitated and said:
"Should we inform the court?"
Cao Bin glanced at him and said:
"I made a guess. If you are not afraid of punishment, just report it. Anyway, I don't care."
"Um...what should we do?"
Guan Cheng hesitated and said: "If they really have different intentions, wouldn't we be derelict in our duties?"
Cao Bin asked:
"Is there a spy in this guest house?"
Guan Cheng suddenly laughed and whispered:
"The people in this hotel are all our spies."
Cao Bin saw his cautious look and said disdainfully:
"Who wouldn't guess what you're talking about? You can find out some shit."
"I'm asking about other means."
The Guan Cheng was stunned for a moment and said: "What method?"
At this moment, the Liao envoy in the posthouse suddenly shouted:
"Call your boss here. I want to ask, is this the way you treat guests in the Song Dynasty?"
"This obviously doesn't take Daliao seriously..."
Then, I heard a "ding-ding-ding-ding-ding" sound.
Guan Cheng smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that the house has been smashed again. What should we do? Mr. Cao, do you want to go and take a look?"
Cao Bin waved his hand and said, "I have a mental illness and it's not easy to find him."
Guan Cheng smiled bitterly and said: "What should we do? If we let it go, Judge Li will probably blame him."
Cao Bin pondered for a moment and said with a smile: "It's okay. Find someone to comfort them first. I will arrange a good place for them tomorrow."
Guan Cheng asked tentatively: "How about I go down to the official position? They won't beat me, right?"
Cao Bin waved his hand and said: "Then I don't care, I won't go anyway, you can figure it out yourself."
Seeing Cao Bin leaving alone, Guan Cheng had a wry smile on his face, and quickly called a clerk and ordered:
"You go and appease those Liao people. If you can't do it well, I won't spare you..."
After Cao Bin returned, he immediately went to Kaifeng Mansion to ask Bao Zheng to borrow someone.
Han Zhang, the gopher, followed Cao Bin with a puzzled look on his face and said, "I wonder what Uncle Cao wants to see me for."
Cao Bin quickly took him to the Daxiangguo Temple and found the old abbot:
"I want to receive the envoys from the Liao Kingdom at your temple, so you have to take good care of me."
Everyone in the Liao Kingdom worshiped Buddhism and believed in Buddhism. If they were brought to the temple, Cao Bin would not believe that they would smash it.
The host will lead Cao Bin and others to a courtyard for entertaining guests.
Cao Bin said directly to Han Zhang: "Give me a tunnel to connect the wall here with the underground. Can it be completed in half a day?"
The presiding monk said quickly: "What do you mean, uncle? Don't destroy the temple."
Cao Bin waved, threw out three thousand-tael silver notes and said, "It's enough for you to rebuild the courtyard. Don't worry about this matter."
The host accepted the money and wanted to say no, but he held it in for a long time and didn't have the heart to refuse.
Three thousand taels is three million yuan. During the New Year, the royal rewards are not that much.
"dig!"
When Han Zhang saw this, he didn't waste any time. He picked up the tools and started working.
In the evening, Han Zhang came to report: "Uncle Cao, Han is lucky to have lived up to his command."
Cao Bin followed him and looked into the tunnel. Although it was not very spacious, the situation in each room could be clearly monitored.
He patted Han Zhang on the shoulder with great satisfaction and said:
"Guard Han, you have made a great contribution this time. Go back and ask Mr. Bao to promote you to an official position. Just do as I say."
Han Zhang wiped the dust and sweat from his face and smiled bitterly. How did you get such a big face?
Co-authoring is just to say something nice and let me work for nothing?
However, he didn't care about money either. Seeing Cao Bin be so kind, he was a little flattered and said quickly:
"Uncle, thank you very much. It's just a trivial matter."
At this time, the Prime Minister of the Concierge Hotel came over with a bruised nose and a swollen face. Seeing that there were monitoring secret passages everywhere, he couldn't help looking at Cao Bin with his mouth wide open and said:
"Sir, this is not good. If an envoy from the Liao Kingdom discovers this, it will cause a big disturbance."
This is too much. The house has been hollowed out. There is no monitoring here. This is clearly putting people in a spies' den.
Cao Bin smiled and said: "This is the Daxiangguo Temple, the territory of the Buddha. What do you care about us?"
Then he looked at the steps leading into the temple, his eyes lit up and he said, "Give me a half-inch heightening of this step..."
