Seeing Queen Mother Pan's doubtful eyes, Cao Bin cupped his hands and said:
"Weichen has some friendship with the Queen Mother of Xixia. Let Weichen handle this matter."
At this time, Sima Guang's traitorous remarks had been exposed, making them a target of public criticism.
If there is no other way to solve the immediate crisis, the ministers can only pinch their noses and agree. After all, the problem at hand must be solved. Even if the loss is greater, they can only think that this is a stopgap measure.
But as long as he can defeat the Liao and Xia advance without any damage, Sima Guang will become a traitor and will be hated and expelled by his ministers.
Seeing that the heat was coming, Cao Bin didn't bother to delay and took the matter directly on himself.
For him, this is a very easy thing to solve, and he is very confident that he can convince Wu Zangheiyun.
To put it bluntly, even if he didn't hide the dark clouds and prevent his tricks, he could still send a message and let the spy in Xixia stab Zhao Ji and his son directly to death.
He didn't believe it. Without these two trump cards, he still dared to provoke without hiding the dark cloud.
Compared with the court officials, he didn't take the Empress Dowager seriously at all, so he had a lot less worries.
Of course, this kind of plan cannot be openly stated. It is just a back-up to prevent mistakes and cannot be used easily.
After all, she is also his cheap "mother-in-law". If she really kills him, he will inevitably feel a little guilty and leave some excuses for himself...
How could Sima Guang know his thoughts? He didn't expect that he would take such pains to set a trap for himself, but he laughed angrily and mocked:
"Is this Mr. Cao's plan? You are so kind..."
If you have such a big reputation, why don't you just say that Xixia will surrender?
They are all boasted to no end and are simply nonsense.
Seeing that everyone also looked disbelieving, Cao Bin smiled and said:
"I might as well make a bet with you. If I can convince Xixia, do you, Sima Guang, dare to plead guilty to treason?"
Upon hearing this, Sima Guang immediately said:
"Why don't you dare?"
"If the Marquis can withdraw from Liao and Xia just by his words, how can I, Sima Guang, have the face to show off his talents in the court? I have read the book of sages in vain."
"I wish to decide on my own in front of the statue of Confucius!"
As he spoke, he looked at Cao Bin with wide eyes and said:
"But if Marquis Cao mishandles the situation and triggers a national war, how can he bear the crime of causing chaos to the country?"
Cao Bin suddenly laughed, pointed at Pan Renmei and said:
"If it is handled improperly, it means that I am incompetent. Grand Master Pan and I will resign together and retire, leaving this court to you and other 'competent ministers'."
Pan Renmei was speechless when she heard this, Made, what does the bet between you two have to do with me? This is a completely unreasonable disaster.
But in this matter, Cao Bin did it in the name of standing up for the Pan family and his daughter. He had no way to stand up and object, so he could only hold his nose and admit it.
In order to completely trap Sima Guang and teach Wang Yanling a lesson, Cao Bin also risked his life.
Although he felt that failure was unlikely, he forcibly pulled Pan Renmei out just in case.
With Pan Renmei's character, even if he really loses the bet, he will be shameless and refuse to admit it, and Queen Mother Pan will not let go.
With him by his side, Cao Bin can justifiably cheat.
When the time comes, it is better for two people to be embarrassed than for one person to be embarrassed.
Sima Guang didn't know Cao Bin's plan, but he was overjoyed when he heard this promise.
I just thought that I could take this opportunity to eradicate the two traitors in one fell swoop, and gain a lot.
All the ministers looked at Cao Bin in confusion. Is this too much fun? Not only did you take the risk yourself, but you also tricked Pan Renmei into it.
For a moment, the ministers attached to the two men were a little anxious, mainly because this plan was too perfunctory.
Can the competition for interests between countries be resolved with just one letter? It doesn't look very reliable no matter how you look at it.
But seeing that neither Pan Renmei nor his daughter objected, and Cao Bin himself looked determined, they could only secretly guess whether the Marquis really had such a great reputation?
In fact, Queen Mother Pan was also very worried and said at the right time:
"In the court, state affairs are the most important thing, and there is no need to talk about bets."
"Since the ministers have no objections, let's leave this matter to Marquis Zhongjing."
At this point, Wang Yanling couldn't say anything else, but he was quite troubled in his heart.
For the sake of official business, he hoped that Cao Bin would have the face to ask Xixia to retreat.
But if Sima Guang loses the bet, he, the supporter behind him, will not be given a demotion warning, and several other capable subordinates will also be demoted.
As a result, his prestige is likely to be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult to suppress Pan Renmei and control the court as easily as he does now...
After the dynasty dispersed, as soon as Cao Cao left the hall, he was surrounded by Zhang Dun and others, and they all asked:
"Master Hou, are you sure?"
Even Bao Zheng came over and sighed:
"Hou Zhongjing, you are a bit reckless this time."
"As a trusted minister, how can you make such a bet?"
"How rash!"
Although Wang Yanling was his teacher, what he saw in the court this time made him deeply aware of the other party's weakness in foreign affairs.
Therefore, he did not want to see Wang Yanling in charge of the court alone without any restrictions.
Regardless of Cao Bin's attitude towards Liao Xia or his personal talents, he greatly agreed with him.
It would be a pity if it collapsed because of a small bet...
Behind the crowd, Mrs. She wanted to step forward and ask, but was stopped by Kou Zhun, who said in a low voice:
"Old lady, please don't get involved in this matter. Hun Tianhou is about to return to the capital in triumph, and the position of commander in front of the palace still needs to be fought for by the king."
Taijun She sighed, nodded, and left the palace with Kou Zhun.
With her status, it didn't matter whether she expressed her attitude towards the court negotiations or whether she participated or not, but she could not offend Wang Yanling at the critical moment.
It's not that she wants to fight for power, but she needs to have sufficient capital to ensure that she will not be harmed by Pan Renmei's hidden methods.
Although the Yubian sent by the late emperor was useful, it also had great limitations.
Pan Renmei was in charge of the Privy Council. If there was not enough suppression from above, it would be too easy to cause trouble for Yang Zongbao privately.
Therefore, the Yang family still needs the protection of Wang Yanling and others...
Cao Bin took over the task of appeasing Liao Xia and did not interfere much with the Foreign Affairs Council. Instead, he left Yelu Yi and Brother Wei Mingwei alone, just waiting for Wu Zang Heiyun's reply.
In the following days, he did not care about the affairs in the court and stayed at home every day to express his condolences.
Only on the day of Emperor Daxing's funeral, he did not pretend to be ill and accompanied his ministers and clan to see him off.
The emperor's funeral was naturally very grand, and the procession stretched for more than ten miles, winding towards the imperial mausoleum in Luoyang.
The national mourning ended before the end of the year, which made all the ministers breathe a sigh of relief.
Although banquets and merrymaking will continue to be prohibited, at least we can celebrate the New Year with ease.
The deceased is gone, but the living must continue to live, even if the deceased is an emperor.
On the first day of the new year, Cao Bin showed up at Sansi and then returned home. He did not receive a reply from Xixia, but he waited for Li Qingzhao's reply...
