While the ministers were arguing endlessly about joining forces with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty and regain the homeland of Youyan, Cai Jing had already figured out the thoughts of Emperor Huizong by carefully observing the expressions and words of Emperor Huizong, Tong Guan, Wang Fu and others. He had insight into the motives and intentions of Tong Guan and Wang Fu, and had an accurate judgment on the development trend of the matter. Therefore, when Emperor Huizong arranged for him to discuss the matter with Wang Fu and Tong Guan, although Cai Jing did not agree with it in his heart, It is a matter of fact, but on the surface, it expresses a completely supportive attitude.
Although Emperor Huizong was very eager to regain the territory of the sixteen Youyan states and was also very active in uniting with the Jurchens, he still had some hesitations due to disputes among ministers through court discussions. Under such circumstances, Emperor Huizong was preparing to send a second envoy to Jin. At the same time, he asked Cai Jing, Wang Fu, and Tong Guan, the three most important ministers in the court, to conduct another argument. He wanted to use the results of their arguments to Further determine your attitude.
After some balancing of interests, Cai Jing, Tong Guan and Wang Fu finally reached a superficial agreement, that is, they fully agreed with the imperial court's decision to unite with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty and regain the lost territory of Yanyun. Then they entered the palace together to meet Emperor Huizong.
In the palace, Emperor Huizong saw Cai Jing, Tong Guan and Wang Fu coming together. Knowing that the matter had come to a conclusion, he smiled and asked the three people to sit down. The four monarchs and ministers secretly discussed uniting with the Jurchens to conquer the Liao Dynasty. Things.
After Cai Jing and the other three people each talked about the benefits of uniting with the Jurchens, they advocated taking immediate action to unite with the Jurchens and take advantage of the war between the Jurchens and the Liao Kingdom to regain the territory of the sixteen states of Youyan. In addition to verbally expressing his opinions, Tong Guan also gave Emperor Huizong his "Ping Yan Ce".
Emperor Huizong took the "Ping Yan Ce" from Tong Guan and read it carefully, feeling very happy.
After Zhao Ji had a chat with Cai Jing, Tong Guan and Wang Fu, Cai Jing, Tong Guan and Wang Fu stood up to leave.
"The Grand Master and the Grand Master will return first." Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji said, "Privilege Tong will stay here while I discuss matters related to your "Ping Yan Policy" with you."
Cai Jing and Wang Fu then said goodbye and left the palace, leaving Tong Guan alone.
Zhao Ji said: "Sit down, sir. At this moment, we, the monarch and the minister, don't need to be polite or have any worries. We should know that we should say everything and say everything."
Tong Guan replied: "Thank you, Your Majesty." Then he sat down.
Zhao Ji left Tong Guan alone, not to discuss Tong Guan's "Ping Yan Ce", but because Zhao Ji was still unsure about uniting with the Jurchens and jointly conquering Liao. On the one hand, he wanted to Tong Guan gave him a guarantee. On the other hand, he arranged for Tong Guan not to make any publicity about the second envoy, and secretly sent envoys to the Jurchens to test their true thoughts, so that the court could make a judgment accordingly.
Tong Guan reported: "Your Majesty, I have informed you a few days ago that the envoy of the Great Jin Dynasty Li Shanqing came to the court with Ma Zheng and was placed in the royal post. Your Majesty's decree is to ignore him. At present, Li Shanqing is at the inn. I have been staying here for many days, has the Holy Spirit asked me to meet with Li Shanqing and get some information from him?"
Zhao Ji said: "He is an envoy from the Kingdom of Jin. It is inconvenient for me to summon him. If I summon Li Shanqing, it will be like directly confirming the matter. If it happens again in the future, it will be difficult to operate, so it is better not to summon him. This time I send someone Envoy Jin, ask Li Shanqing to follow him back to the country, and toss him back and forth several times, so that the excessive desires of the Jin people will be eliminated, and then the court will have the advantage of forming an alliance."
Tong Guan replied: "The Holy One is wise."
Zhao Ji looked at Tong Guan and said, "Privy Privy Tong, this envoy will still be conducted in a private manner."
Tong Guanjian said that he asked Emperor Huizong: "Your Majesty, who should be sent to envoy Jin this time?"
Huizong said: "This matter is decided by you. You can send whoever you think is appropriate."
Tong Guan sat up, bowed to Emperor Huizong, said goodbye and left the palace.
Li Shanqing, the envoy appointed by Wanyan Aguda and came from the Jin Kingdom with Ma Zheng, was arranged by Ma Zheng to stay at the royal post. For several days, no one came to discuss the Song-Jin alliance with him. Li Shanqing inevitably became anxious.
Ma Zheng's official position was humble, and it was not easy for him to meet Li Shanqing without getting specific instructions from the court. Ma Zheng knew in his heart that if he went to see Li Shanqing, Li Shanqing would definitely ask about the Song-Jin alliance and request an audience with Emperor Huizong. At that time, how should he reply? ! Because Ma Zheng didn't know how to answer Li Shanqing; therefore, Ma Zheng also avoided seeing Li Shanqing.
Li Shanqing came to the Song Kingdom from the Jin Kingdom and was placed in the royal post. No one paid attention to him anymore. It was not that Tong Guan and others had forgotten about him, but the court felt that the Jurchens were barbarians. Although the Jin Kingdom was called a big country, it was actually a small country. In order to take a more active position in subsequent contacts, I deliberately left him out in the cold.
In fact, after Ma Zheng reported the situation to Tong Guan, Tong Guan immediately entered the palace and reported the situation to Emperor Huizong. Emperor Huizong instructed Tong Guan to deliberately snub the Jin envoys so that the Jurchens could position themselves correctly.
At that time, Emperor Huizong said to Tong Guan: "I know the situation reported by you. The envoys of the Kingdom of Jin were arranged at the royal post to entertain them. Think of the Jurchen, a bitter and cold land, I have seen so much of the world! Our dynasty is rich in products. , there are outstanding people, and the streets are prosperous and beautiful, but if he eats and drinks with him, he will definitely respect our court. However, when it comes to the alliance, no matter how anxious he is, let him go first, so that his Jurchen will not make excessive demands and wait for our court. After confirming the person who will be the second envoy to the Jin Dynasty, we will contact him and arrange for him to return to the country with the official who was the second envoy to the Jin Dynasty."
For this reason, Tong Guan deliberately ignored Li Shanqing, so no one went to see him or discuss the alliance with him.
Li Shanqing has been with Ma Zheng in Bianjing for seven or eight days, and has been basically left out. Tong Guansui arranged for Ma Zheng to see Li Shanqing, and asked Ma Zheng to comfort Li Shanqing more, so as to prevent Li Shanqing from becoming anxious and doubting the imperial court's decision to unite with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty. .
Therefore, Ma Zhengsui came to the Royal Inn and visited Li Shanqing on the ninth day after Li Shanqing arrived in Bianjing.
No one paid attention to him for eight days in a row. On the ninth day, Ma Zheng came to visit him. Li Shanqing was very angry about this and couldn't help complaining. Then he asked Ma Zheng to meet the emperor of your country.
In fact, before Li Shanqing accompanied Ma Zheng to Bianjing of the Song Dynasty, Wanyan Agu called Li Shanqing to make detailed arrangements. Wanyan Aguda specifically said to Li Shanqing: "When you go to the Southern Dynasty with Ma Zheng of the Song Dynasty, when you see the emperor of the Song Dynasty or the ministers of the court, you must treat each other with respect and do not trust them. If they want to form an alliance, they should deal with it based on the principle of fairness. . What they want is nothing more than the Sixteen States of Youyan. As for that place, it belongs to them. You can agree to it, and whoever captures it in the future will be the one to take it. When you go this time, you must do a good job in the alliance. It’s best if we talk to each other and have a result.”
Li Shanqing nodded in agreement, saying that he would discuss the matter with the Emperor or ministers of the Song Dynasty and urge the success of the alliance. What Li Shanqing didn't expect was that he had traveled all the way to the Jin Kingdom to propose an alliance to the Song Kingdom. Eighty-nine days after he arrived in Tokyo, the capital of the Song Kingdom, the Song Emperor did not summon him, and no important ministers came to discuss the alliance. Even Ma Zheng, who went to our country to propose an alliance, did not show up. How could this not make Li Shanqing angry? ! So when Ma Zheng came to see him, Li Shanqing complained for a while, and then proposed to see Emperor Huizong.
Ma Zheng is a humble official. How can he decide such an important matter without authorization? So, Ma Zheng smiled and comforted Li Shanqing and said: "Brother Li, please be patient and wait patiently. The alliance will eventually come to fruition. As for Brother Li's request to see me on the pilgrimage, I really don't hide it from Brother Li." He said that I have a humble official position and it is difficult for me to decide on such an important matter. I hope Brother Li can forgive me."
Li Shanqing heard this and said: "So, I am skeptical about whether your country is in alliance. Brother Ma personally went to our country to initiate the alliance, and the emperor of our country specially sent me to confirm whether this was true. As a result, I came It has been nine days, and I have not been summoned by your emperor, nor have any ministers come to discuss this matter. I wonder what your country means? Therefore, I request to see your emperor or important ministers; otherwise, I will return to my country and ask for help. Report to the Great Emperor."
Ma Zheng just kept laughing and apologizing. He just kept asking Li Shanqing how his life was, whether he was used to eating, and if there were any inconveniences. If there was any inconvenience, he could say that I would arrange to solve it, etc., but he never said anything about the alliance. thing. The more Ma Zheng acted like this, the more anxious Li Shanqing became. Several times he talked about the alliance, but Ma Zheng used gossip to disturb him.
Ma Zheng and Li Shanqing exchanged pleasantries for a long time before saying goodbye and leaving.
Li Shanqing didn't get any results and became even more troubled. Li Shanqing thought to himself, the great emperor of our country sent me to handle the affairs of the Jin-Song alliance. I stayed in the Song country for ten days and a half with no results. How should I explain to the great emperor when I return! No, I can't wait like this. I have to take the initiative and visit other countries' privy envoy Tong Guan, Prime Minister Cai Jing and others. I must ask them for an attitude. This way, I can also give a mission to the emperor when I return.
With this in mind, Li Shanqing prepared to take action and visit Tong Guan, Cai Jing and others separately.
Just as Li Shanqing was about to visit Tong Guan, Cai Jing and others, Ma Zheng suddenly came again and told Li Shanqing that Tong Guan, the Imperial Privy Envoy and the Inspector of the School, was going to meet him. Li Shanqing was overjoyed to get his reward and urged Ma Zheng to go see Tong Guan. Ma Zheng then took Li Shanqing to Tong Guan's mansion to pay homage to Tong Guan.
Li Shanqing came to Tong Guan's house and met with Tong Guan. Following Wanyan Aguda's instructions, Li Shanqing treated Tong Guan with great respect, said some words of infinite admiration, and praised Tong Guan so much that he asked about the Jin-Song alliance.
Li Shanqing said: "Your Excellency, Doctor Ma is a military righteous official of your country. He went to our country in person a few days ago and met with our great emperor. He said that your country wants to ally with our country and jointly conquer Liao. Our great emperor has this vision because your country has , so I was sent to accompany Dr. Ma to verify the relevant situation. I am Mr. Tong Taiwei. I was appointed by the Emperor of our country to verify with you whether the alliance mentioned by Dr. Ma Zheng, the Wuyi doctor of your country, is true? Is it true? What is the opinion of your country’s imperial court?”
Tong Guan turned to look at Ma Zheng, who was sitting on one side, then turned to look at Li Shanqing and said, "This is serious. Ma Zheng is the Wuyi doctor of our court, and he was sent to your country by our court. Ma Zheng There is no doubt that the alliance mentioned represents the opinion of our court."
Ma Zheng also nodded to Li Shanqing.
After receiving Tong Guan's affirmative reply, Li Shanqing said: "Even so, your country should come up with a specific plan so that we can discuss it and then report back to the emperor of our country to determine whether to form an alliance. I don't know what your country's considerations are. Why has there been no movement in the past ten days since my envoy came to your country?"
Tong Guan replied: "Last time, I had too many government affairs to take care of this matter. Now that I have some free time, I have summoned you to meet to discuss this matter. Regarding the alliance, you can explain your country's plan. , which is convenient for our country to study and judge. Of course, I am not in charge of this matter alone. You can also visit our prime minister Cai Taishi and Taifu Wang Xueshi."
When Li Shanqing heard this, he felt aggrieved and thought, judging from Tong Guan's words, Song State had no specific plan. If this was the case, why did it send envoys to our country to propose an alliance? Could it be that you are testing our country?
With this in mind, Li Shanqing said: "Tong Taiwei, your country first sent Doctor Ma to our country to propose the alliance between the Jin and Song dynasties. It was your country that took the initiative to request an alliance with our country, but now how can we let our country get the plan first? Tell the truth to Lieutenant Tong, because our country did not know that your country intended to form an alliance with our country before, so our country has no specific alliance plan."
Originally, Li Shanqing wanted to tell Tong Guan the opinion of Wanyan Aguda, the Great Emperor of the Jin Kingdom, that is, to attack the Khitan from the north and the south and jointly destroy the Liao Dynasty. As for the territory of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyan, whoever conquers the Jin and Song Dynasties in the future will be the winner. Because Tong Guan meant nothing about the alliance, Li Shanqing did not tell Tong Guan about the other country's intentions.
Tong used to see Li Shanqing's specific plan for an alliance between Song and Jin, so he looked at Ma Zheng and said: "I still have important things to deal with now. Doctor Ma, please wait until the Jin envoy returns to the post house, and let the post house receive him well. Don't neglect it. As for Regarding the specific matter of uniting with Liao, I will take some time to discuss it with the Jin envoy."
When Ma Zheng heard this, he stood up.
Seeing this, Li Shanqing had no choice but to stand up and leave.
Back at the post house, Li Shanqing felt very depressed.
