The long wait outside the palace gate made Shao Xi very impatient. He had never gone to court in Jingyuan Kingdom, and he had never waited like this. He didn't expect that the first time he went to court was in Southern Zhao Kingdom. I really don’t know how these officials in the DPRK managed to get up early in the morning and wait in front of the palace gate in the dark all year round waiting to go to court? It seems that this official job is not easy!
Finally, when the eunuchs in the palace came to the palace gate and loudly announced the start of court, all the officials tidied up their robes and lined up to enter the palace.
Shao Xi, led by Feng Xianpei and Zhang Shou, also entered the palace city along with the civil and military officials, and came outside the main hall to wait for the summons of the Holy Master of Nan Zhao.
When the emperor goes to court, he must first discuss government affairs with the civil and military officials, but Shao Xi and Xu Maocheng can only wait outside the palace. There is nothing they can do if they don't call him, but this time is really too long.
Although Shao Xi looks calm and composed, in fact, he has already begun to curse in his heart. It is really unethical for you monarchs and ministers to chat inside and leave me alone outside like a fool. .
I don’t know how long I stood there, I just know that the sun is already high and my legs are numb from standing there.
Shao Xi was about to get angry when he saw a young eunuch running out of the main hall and telling him that the Holy Master of Nan Zhao had announced that he should come to the palace to pay an audience. Shao Xi then took Xu Maocheng and walked into the main hall with the young eunuch.
Entering the main hall, although Shao Xi did not dare to look around casually, he glanced around with the corners of his eyes. He saw that although the main hall was not magnificent, it was also carved and decorated, which was quite luxurious. Shao Xi had never entered the main hall of Jingyuan Palace before, but compared with Linde Palace, the main hall of Southern Zhao Palace seemed more spacious and magnificent.
Shao Xi came to the middle of the hall, and the eyes of the civil and military officials on both sides were all focused on him. There has been no contact between Jingyuan and Nanzhao for more than a hundred years. This time Jingyuan sent an envoy to Nanzhao for the first time in more than a hundred years, so all the ministers in the Southern Zhao Dynasty wanted to see it. What gifts will the Jingyuan Empire send its envoys to this time, and what conditions will it impose on Southern Zhao?
According to the etiquette of diplomatic relations, Shao Xi bowed his head to Zhao Hongjin who was sitting on him, and said: "Shao Xi, the envoy of the Jingyuan Empire to the Southern Zhao Kingdom, has an audience with the Holy Lord of Southern Zhao!"
Zhao Hongjin, who was sitting on it, took a closer look at Shao Xi and felt secretly surprised.
Although I had heard before that the envoy sent by Jing Yuanguo was about the same age as me, when I saw that the envoy was so young, I couldn't help but sigh that Jing Yuanguo was really full of talents. I didn't expect that such a young person had already reached the official position. The fourth rank is responsible for the great responsibility of being an envoy.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to be polite. Please stand up and speak."
"Thank you Holy Lord!"
After Shao Xi stood up, he still respectfully lowered his hands and waited for Zhao Hongjin's questions. Since as an envoy, he must abide by the etiquette of envoys. Even if he is not used to it, he must do it step by step to avoid losing national integrity.
"At the beginning of the year, I sent an envoy to your country. I didn't expect that your dynasty would send a mission back so quickly. It seems that the wise king of your dynasty also agrees with the improvement of relations between the two countries. That's very good!"
"Returning to the Holy Lord, I was very pleased that the Holy Lord sent an envoy to my court during my pilgrimage. For more than a hundred years, there has been no contact between Jingyuan and Nanzhao because they did not understand each other. Now the Holy Lord wants to To enhance mutual trust between the two countries, I am naturally willing to respond, establish friendly diplomatic relations with your country, and open up border trade, so that the two countries can become friendly neighbors and have good ties for all generations."
Zhao Hongjin was very satisfied with Shao Xi's answer. When he agreed to send envoys to Jingyuan Kingdom, his original intention was to improve relations with Jingyuan Kingdom, so as to open up border trade between the two countries, so as to increase the number of Southern Zhao Kingdoms. to increase fiscal revenue while also solving the country’s plight of material poverty.
At this time, it was exactly what he wanted to know from Shao Xi that the Jingyuan Empire was willing to respond positively.
"Okay! It seems that my decision was correct. Since your dynasty also intends to establish friendly relations with Southern Zhao, in the next few days I will arrange for Han Xiangguo to discuss specific diplomatic matters between the two countries with your envoy. Your dynasty If you, virtuous sir, have anything to say, please ask your envoy to bring it to me, and your envoy can also tell me directly."
Shao Xi cupped his hands and replied: "Back to the Holy Lord, I did say something on my pilgrimage for my envoy to bring to the Holy Lord. I said on my pilgrimage that although there has been no contact between Jingyuan and Nanzhao for a hundred years, they have done so after all. Neighbors for more than a hundred years should help each other. If your dynasty has any needs, just ask our dynasty. We, the Jingyuan Empire, will do our best to help our neighbors. At the same time, we hope that your dynasty can regard us as brothers. The two countries should treat each other with sincerity, communicate with each other heart-to-heart, and not be instigated by outsiders, so that the two countries can achieve long-term harmony."
Although these are not Xiao Changyi's original words, they are indeed Xiao Changyi's meaning.
To others, Nan Zhao's request to Jing Yuan and that Jing Yuan would do his best to help were just polite words. After all, countries all put their own interests first. Such words are just polite words on the scene. stop.
As everyone knows, Shao Xi's coming this time to carry the secret agreement has indeed brought benefits to Southern Zhao, but this benefit cannot be given explicitly at the moment. After all, there are still people who want to use the fact that the two countries have little understanding of each other to provoke them. I need to write some articles.
"Your virtuous king is indeed a sage and virtuous king. The two countries are good neighbors to each other. The formation of a friendly state in the future will definitely benefit the people of the two countries. This is really a great blessing. Your envoy must remember to convey this to you when you return to the dynasty in the future. My greetings and admiration to your noble lord."
"My envoy has thanked the Holy Lord for his kindness in advance on my pilgrimage. This time, my envoy is here to be entrusted by my pilgrim to present my credential and national gift to the Holy Lord to show my sincerity. I also hope that the Holy Lord will accept it."
With that said, Shao Xi turned around and took the certificate of credence from Xu Maocheng's hand, opened it and read it. The content is just some official polite words, which are all formal things and don't have much meaning. After reading the credentials, he handed his hands to the eunuch in front of the palace and presented them to Zhao Hongjin.
Immediately afterwards, Shao Xi took another brocade box from Xu Maocheng's hand, raised his hands above his head and presented it. The eunuch in front of the palace presented the brocade box to Zhao Hongjin's case. After Zhao Hongjin opened it, he was also shocked by the thousand-year-old mountain ginseng in the brocade box.
Since ancient times, there has been a saying that seven taels is a ginseng and eight taels is a treasure. However, the thousand-year-old mountain ginseng in Tianqiong Mountain in front of you is worth nine taels. It can be said to be a unique treasure ginseng in the world. This Southern Zhao is located in the land of Bozhou. Very few people have seen ginseng, let alone such a big thousand-year-old mountain ginseng. It is no wonder that Zhao Hongjin was shocked when he saw it. He did not expect that the Jingyuan Dynasty sent an envoy to them. A small southern country like Nan Zhao actually gave such valuable things as gifts.
Shao Xi spoke at this time: "This is the thousand-year-old mountain ginseng that is a specialty of Tianqiong Mountain in the Northeast. This ginseng weighs nine taels and eight coins. There is only one like this in the world. I was not willing to take it myself during my pilgrimage. This time I entrusted you with it." I will give this ginseng to the Holy Lord to show my sincerity."
Such precious wild ginseng actually has no practical significance to Zhao Hongjin at the moment. He is so young and has not yet been reduced to relying on ginseng to replenish his blood and energy and increase his energy. However, the precious value of this ginseng is there. After all, it is a unique treasure in the world. Regardless of whether he is useful or not, this favor must be received.
"Your Majesty is too kind. Such a precious thing shows your sincerity, so I accepted it. I also ask your envoy to convey my gratitude to your Majesty for your generous gift when he returns."
Shao Xi hurriedly replied: "The Holy Lord is the Lord of Southern Zhao, and we should give generous gifts to him. Only in this way can we express our sincerity. In addition, in order to express my personal respect for the Holy Lord, I personally also wish to express my sincerity." I have prepared two gifts to present to the Holy Lord and Princess Haizhu respectively, and I hope that the Holy Lord and Princess will not give them up."
Zhao Hongjin was quite surprised to hear that Shao Xi personally prepared gifts for herself and her sister. As an envoy of the mission, he originally only acted on behalf of the emperor. Now the young envoy in front of him was so sophisticated and even prepared gifts himself. This aroused Zhao Hongjin's interest.
"Oh? Your envoy actually prepared gifts for me and Princess Haizhu? This is a bit beyond my expectation. I have heard before that your envoy is young and promising, and is a young talent from the Jingyuan Dynasty. Today I am lucky enough to receive this gift. See, please raise your head and let me see your appearance, it will be a great experience for me."
Shao Xi secretly muttered in his heart: "This little emperor is really interesting! We are all men, what's so good about it? Don't they all have two eyes and one nose? Even if I have seen it, you are still you, I It's me, can I still see a flower?"
Although there are all kinds of complaints in my heart, when someone makes this request, I can't be ignorant and refuse to give face, right?
So, Shao Xi slowly raised his head, but he didn't want to feel extremely shocked when both parties saw each other's appearance.
Zhao Hongjin was shocked that the envoy in front of him was not only young, but also had outstanding appearance and extraordinary aura. He looked like a proud man of heaven, and seemed to be more emperor than himself.
What shocked Shao Xi was that he had just seen the face in front of him on the street yesterday. But the person I saw yesterday was obviously a woman, so why did she sit in this hall and become the emperor of Southern Zhao today? Could it be that this little emperor is a woman disguised as a man?
No, no! How can this be? Putting aside men and women, although they look the same, the woman yesterday has a completely different temperament from the little emperor sitting in the hall now. That girl looked unruly and willful, with a wild temperament, but the little emperor in front of her was mature and steady, with a majestic demeanor.
How can one person have two completely different personalities and temperaments at the same time?
etc!
If I remember correctly, it seems that Princess Haizhu and the little emperor are twins, which means they look exactly the same.
Holy shit!
Could it be that it was Princess Haizhu who was tied to the horse yesterday and paraded through the city with her butt stuck out?
You won't be so unlucky, right?
Some people died, but not completely...
