The First Yamen of the Great Song Dynasty

Chapter 165

After a short rest, everyone set foot on the road to Huining Mansion Shangjing again.

Although he had prepared himself to prevent the frost, Gao Ming was so cold that he wanted to cry a few times, and he gave up riding a horse by himself, and instead warmed himself with a hand stove in the carriage.

The walls of the carriage were covered with quilts to prevent the wind, and he was wrapped three layers inside and three layers outside. He was grilling on a charcoal fire and holding a hand stove. Only then did Gao Ming feel that he could persevere for the rest of the journey.

Huarong occasionally came in to keep warm, and every time he came in, Gao Ming would warm his hands personally, enjoying a moment of warmth in this ice.

It was already very cold when we left the customs, and the further north we went, the wind and heavy snow would hit hard, and several Song Dynasty ministers who accompanied us cried bitterly and begged Gao Ming: "My lord, after we arrive, don't rush back, come back in spring! I can't take it, I really can't take it!"

Gao Ming didn't dare to agree or not to agree, lest they have a nervous breakdown, so he calmed down temporarily: "Let's go to the capital of the Jin Kingdom to rest for a while."

These entourages all drank strong alcohol and returned to their horses.

Drinking the spirits in his mouth, even in such a harsh environment, he didn't feel spicy anymore, and even felt that it wasn't flavorful enough, so he could drink stronger ones.

No wonder the later emperor of the Kingdom of Jin also abandoned Shangjing and moved to the warmer Youzhou. Even the descendants of Jurchen could not stand the weather.

Although there are also needs for domination, environmental factors are definitely taken into consideration.

However, at any rate, the preparations were adequate, there was no shortage of food and medicine, and with the exchange of gifts from officials from the Kingdom of Jin, they finally arrived at Shangjing in the Kingdom of Jin in Huining Mansion.

When everyone heard about Shangjing, their hearts were surging. Gao Ming also got out of the carriage and looked ahead, "Shangjing..."

Where is Shangjing?

I didn't see the city wall, but only saw some felt tents dotted around, some felt tall and towering, surrounded by a few small felt tents, but generally speaking, when I looked around, I saw only nomadic felt tents. Houses and castles.

Before Gao Ming and Wanyan's family met in Liaoyang Mansion, it was ruled by the Liao Kingdom which was more advanced than Jurchen, so there were cities and big kang houses, but Jurchen's hometown still maintained the simple Jurchen tribal style.

Still living in felt tents.

Just when Gao Ming looked at the sparse felt tents and didn't know what to do, the officials from the Kingdom of Jin who escorted them got off their horses and ran towards one of the felt tents. After a while, they saw a Jurchen wearing a leather hat Walking out of the big tent, it was Wanyan Zongbi.

The weather was cold, and every breath was a string of white mist. Song Guo's group and the horses exhaled white air at this time, and it was almost impossible to tell who it was.

Wu Shu saw the visitor from the south, and approached with a smile on his face, "Long time no see, hurry up and talk in the felt tent!"

Gao Ming clutched his frozen chin, and stepped on the creaking white snow under his feet, "We first arrived at Liaoyang Mansion, and we didn't know until we arrived that His Majesty the Emperor of your country returned to Shangjing with the princes, so we headed north all the way."

Wu Shu looked at Gao Ming's frozen red face, and said with a smile, "Even us Jurchens don't rush casually in this season of the year. I never imagined that you can resist such cold weather. Hahaha, what's the matter, isn't it cold?"

In fact, he didn't want to return to the north, but there was a major reason that they had to go back to their hometown.

Hua Rong said: "It's okay, but the snow is a bit heavy, and the horse is not easy to walk."

Gao Ming said: "That's it. In order not to delay the schedule, we tried our best to rush on the road, and finally caught up with the birthday of Prince Wu Qimai. It's tomorrow, right?"

Wu Shu was in a good mood, he was indeed happy before there was a happy event to celebrate, and he smiled again, "Yes, it's tomorrow! Come with me to the emperor's village to meet the emperor!"

Gao Ming knew that Jurchen had no manners, so he was not at all reserved, "Okay. Let's go."

The so-called Emperor's Village is the largest of these felt tents, but in the final analysis, it is still a felt tent.

Wu Shu opened the tent door and let Gao Ming and Hua Rong in.

The felt tent was quite large, and Gao Ming felt that it would not be a problem to accommodate dozens of people. As soon as he entered the door, there was a stove with an iron pot sitting on it, and a woman watched from the side.

Facing Gao Ming sat a man and a woman. The man was Aguda, and the woman was about the same age as him. Gao Ming deduced that she was his queen.

On their left is Wanyan Sheng, also sitting cross-legged, there is no adult prince, only a few children running around.

This kind of occasion is very immodest, Gao Mingjiang touched the credentials in the briefcase, thinking he should not take it out now.

Two Jurchen children ran up to Gao Ming, tugged at his sleeve, raised their heads and said something, and stretched out their little hands.

Although Gao Ming didn't understand, this scene was very familiar. Isn't this what a child looks like begging for New Year's money?

Gao Ming smiled slightly. Fortunately, he was prepared. He took out a few candies from his sleeve, peeled off the outer paper, ate one as a demonstration, smiled, and gave them all the other candies.

These candies are for replenishing his physical strength on the road, and he always keeps them in his sleeves, so he doesn't panic.

When the two children got candy, they also learned to peel off the outer candy wrapper and stuff it into their mouths.

Then his eyes lit up, he said a Jurchen saying, he looked at Gao Ming as if he had discovered a new world, and then he jumped to find other children to share the newly acquired food.

Gao Ming, a foreigner who casually asked the members of the royal family for food, was not reprimanded. Everyone watched all this with a smile.

Gao Ming thought to himself, you really have big hearts, aren't you afraid of poisoning?

However, he probably felt that he didn't dare, after all, the Jurchens with a room full of combat power wouldn't let him get out alive.

Aguda seemed to be in a good mood, "You have come from a long way, you have worked hard, I will ask Wushu to send you to live in the newly built imperial city, there will be a banquet tomorrow night, let's celebrate." Then he looked at Wanyan Sheng and said: " Hahaha, you are one year older again."

Wanyan Cheng touched the top of his head and smiled, "Haha, it's almost useless."

The two middle-aged and elderly people joked with each other, and the people next to them also laughed.

At this time, Wu Shu said: "Then, should we present the credentials and gifts at the banquet tomorrow?"

A Gu laughed and said, "Okay, just take it out tomorrow."

Since A Guda said so, Gao Ming and Hua Rong went down with Wushu to rest in their so-called newly built imperial city.

After leaving the Emperor's Village, Gao Ming saw that there were tents of all sizes and sizes around him, and he thought to himself, isn't this thing cold? No wonder the population is small, but they can still fight so well. Those who are not in good health should freeze to death.

Wu Shu pointed to a felt tent not far away and said, "I'm right there, if you need anything, you can come to me."

Although it was not clearly stated, he is now fully in charge of foreign affairs and will not let others get involved.

At this time, the Jurchens were still white, firstly because they did not have the technology of dyeing and printing, and secondly, it might have something to do with living in a snowy area.

Gao Ming breathed on the white mist, wondering how far the newly built imperial city was, if not, he could go back and ride a horse.

After walking for a while, I finally reached the end of each felt tent, and saw rows of brick and tile houses not far or near.

No wonder I couldn't see it just now, it turned out to be blocked by the felt tent.

Gao Ming understood that the so-called New Imperial City was the place where the felt tents were replaced with farming houses.

This is the relocation of the Liaoyang Mansion's residential style back to Jurchen.

Gao Ming said: "We live here? Isn't this a new house? Wouldn't it be good for us two outsiders to live in it?"

Wu Shu said: "Father told you to stay here, so you stay here, respect for the envoys of the Song Dynasty."

This row of houses imitated the lifestyle of the occupied Liaoyang Prefecture and was built by craftsmen.

Father Huang said, wait until next year when all the houses are built, and ask people from the Wanyan Department to move in together.

This winter, they will still live in yurts and live the original Jurchen way of life.

Moreover, the Song people were outsiders after all, and they were arranged in felt tents. Firstly, they were not used to living in them, and secondly, they were too close to them.

The New Imperial City is far away from the felt tent, so they are also at ease.

For example, another group of visitors from afar was also arranged by them in the New Imperial City.

Thinking of the disparity between these houses and the house where Zongqiang and the others lived in the Song Dynasty, Wu Shu felt that he couldn't do anything, but he couldn't show his timidity, and deliberately acted calm and composed.

Gao Ming also knew that if he showed half disdain for these houses, or showed contempt in his words, he would definitely be hated by the narrow-minded Wushu.

Dare to dislike that the houses of our Dajin Kingdom are not as good as Dasong?You humiliate gold!

"Thank you Your Majesty for your warm hospitality." Gao Ming said to Hua Rong, "Then let's go in quickly, I'm freezing to death." Then he asked Wu Shu, "Can our entourage also live in?"

Wu Shu said: "Well, call them over in a while."

Gao Ming chose a room in the middle, walked in with Hua Rong, Wu Shu also came in and walked around, seeing that there was no firewood, he turned around and asked someone to fetch it.

Seeing him leave, Hua Rong looked around and saw that there was a kang inside the house. The layout was the same as in Liaoyang, so he knocked on the wall and said worriedly to Gao Ming: "Is it strong? I doubt their house-building technology."

A man who had been sleeping in felt tents all year round suddenly built a house and asked if he dared to live in it casually.

"It's okay, it can't be built by the Jurchen, it must be built by craftsmen who came back from the robbery in Liaoyang."

Later, Jurchen built a decent capital here, all thanks to the attack on Shangjing of the Liao Kingdom, robbed a wave of builders and craftsmen, and later broke the Han land, and got more talents.

Basically, although I don't know anything, there is no one who knows better than me. I can make it, so I ask them to make it for me.

Sometimes, civilization is very fragile. There have been situations in both the East and the West where barbarians defeated civilizations higher than themselves.

Hua Rong thumped the wall again, "Your analysis makes sense, but there is no fire in this room, and we will have to call someone to heat the kang later."

Gao Ming put his sleeves on and glanced at the kang, "...I was wrong. I hated it when I was in Liao Kingdom. God knows how much I want to sleep on it now."

"It seems that you are really froze, but we have finally arrived at our destination and we can live a stable life. If not, we should really wait until the spring of next year before going back." Hua Rong proposed with Gao Ming in his arms.

Gao Ming was frightened by the cold, "It's not impossible."

After a while, someone came in with firewood and started to burn the kang for them.

At this time, Shi Qian and the others also came over, began to unpack their bags, and moved out the bedding and daily necessities.

The room is warm and the daily utensils are in place.

After Shi Qian and the others left, Gao Ming took off his cloak and lay down on the kang, "I've come back to life—"

He was really exhausted, he was lying on the kang, his whole body was warm, and he was about to fall asleep in a daze.

Suddenly, he heard a scream coming from outside the house, it was really a scream.

Gao Ming got off the kang quickly, but Hua Rong had already pushed the door out before him, and then stood there with a strange expression, shaking his head constantly.

Gao Ming followed closely behind to go out, and saw Shi Qian's lips on the saddle, and kept yelling, "Take it, I can't take it off." When he pulled it off abruptly, the iron buckle of the saddle and his lips were covered Blood.

Gao Ming said helplessly, "Didn't I tell you not to lick it?"

Along the way, several people have suffered disasters, but there are still people trying.

"Master Gao, it's okay if you didn't say it before, but once you said it, I became really curious." Shi Qian said aggrievedly, "I endured all the way, when I saw the iron buckle when I took off the saddle just now, I just couldn't hold it back. "

Duan Jingzhu, who had been in the Liao Kingdom all the year round, passed by Shi Qian, and left a sentence, "Who hasn't licked the iron in the North Kingdom. You will learn a lot from it."

Someone like him who had been tricked in Liao country before would not make the same mistake in Jin country.

Shi Qian stuck out his tongue and looked at his skinless area, "It's also evil, thinking if it's true? This side sticks out his tongue."

Suddenly, at this time Gao Ming saw a room several rooms away from them, suddenly opened the door, a beautiful woman poked her head out, looked at them, and closed the door again.

Gao Ming was a little surprised and said, "It turns out there are other people living here. Let's not make loud noises to them. Let's all go back to our houses."

Shi Qian and the others were also tired, and they went back to their houses according to Gao Ming's orders.

Gao Ming yawned, and with Hua Rong's arms around his shoulders, he went back to the kang to sleep.

But at this time, the woman who poked her head out just now closed the door, and said to a young man inside the room: "Brother, I see those people outside, from the appearance of their clothes, they are definitely Song people."

This man was around 20 years old, with very flamboyant features, and he glanced at his sister with his long and narrow eyes.

His name is Cao Aobai, he can barely be regarded as a relative of the Great Xia Kingdom, and the woman is his younger sister Cao Aoyu.

Under the order of the emperor, the two disguised themselves as businessmen with their entourage and sneaked into the Kingdom of Jin, looking for opportunities to form an alliance with them.

This trip was not easy. He hid his true identity along the way, and encountered several attacks by horse bandits, and finally made contact with Jin Guo.

Not only the pressure from the emperor, but also the hardships spent, did not allow them to fail.

Cao Aobai's eyes revealed a look of embarrassment, "Tsk, I thought the Song people would not be able to make it before the birthday! This is terrible."

Cao Aoyu bit her lip, "I'll go to the fourth prince to find accommodation, and see if it's possible for our two countries not to meet."

"You have to be careful! Don't let him succeed. What you can't get is always the best."

"I know everything, brother." She took off the hat hanging on the wall, put it on her head, walked out the door against the cold wind, and walked towards Wanyan Zongbi's felt tent.

Just as she was walking forward in the white snow, she met a woman dressed as a Jurchen head-on. The two looked at each other, lowered their heads, and went their separate ways.

The woman dressed as a Jurchen walked all the way to Gao Ming's house and knocked on the door.

She looked around vigilantly, waited for the other party to open the door, and hurried into the house.

"Yuxiang?" Gao Ming rubbed his sleepy eyes to make sure that the woman dressed as a Jurchen in front of him was indeed Jiang Yuxiang from Han.

As Wanyan Zongjun's woman, Yu Xiang naturally did as the Romans did, dressing and dressing like Jurchen so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

"Lord Gao, I slipped out to see you because I have something important to report." Yu Xiang heard that the people from Song Guo had arrived, and while Zong Jun was asleep after drinking, he ran out to report something important.

Gao Ming also knew that Yu Xiang was so urgent that something must be important, "Say it quickly."

"Xi Xia also sent envoys here! They live near you." Yu Xiang said anxiously: "A man and a woman lead the team, and there are quite a few of them."

Because Xia State is to the west of Song State, it is customary to call it Xixia.

Gao Ming and Hua Rong were shocked at the same time, "Xixia?"

Yu Xiang nodded again and again, "They arrived just a few days ago. They didn't come here specifically to celebrate Wanyan Sheng's birthday, or they just came to seek Jin Guo's relationship, but Wanyan Zongbi told them that it was their uncle's birthday recently, so they didn't Stay here and wait for tomorrow's birthday celebration. Fortunately, you came in time, if they were later, they would have left."

Gao Ming frowned and said with a sneer, "It's hard for them to run so far to hug Jin Guo's thigh."

I have been busy dealing with Liao and Jin, and have no time to talk to Xixia.

It turned out that it was not idle either. It traveled so far to bypass the Liao Kingdom and came to find the Jin Kingdom.

As for what to do, needless to say, Gao Ming said in his heart, it must be an alliance with the Kingdom of Jin.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty, Xixia was attached to the Great Song Dynasty. Later, after Li Yuanhao became emperor, he began to attach himself to the Liao Kingdom.

And Da Song's attitude towards it is just one word, hit, hit hard, chase and hit!

The fight lasted for hundreds of years, and when the two countries quarreled fiercely, the Liao Kingdom came out to mediate.

Even the current mother of Emperor Li Ganshun of Xixia, Empress Dowager Xiaoliang, was poisoned to death by envoys sent by the Liao Kingdom.

Because the Liao Kingdom felt that she was too capable and provoked a war with the Song Kingdom, they took the trouble and sent someone to kill her directly.

It can be seen that the Liao State has control over Xixia.

However, the State of Song did not let go of Xixia for a moment. In addition to chasing and beating Xixia, it also imposed economic sanctions on it and restricted the trade of various commodities, causing Xixia's economy to collapse.

At this juncture, the Liao State signed the Youzhou Agreement with the Song State, and Xixia should be completely unable to sit still.

Seeing that the boss, Liao, couldn't hold on anymore, it must not be able to cover itself. Song Guo took back Youzhou, and it must free up its hands to continue beating it.

Since the Liao Kingdom is unreliable and the Song Kingdom is the enemy, the only way to find the emerging power is the Jin Kingdom.

After some deduction in Gao Ming's mind, he guessed about Xi Xia's purpose here.

Hua Rong obviously thought about it too, frowned and said: "It's not good, if Xixia and Jin get together, it will break the current situation that is beneficial to Song."

When Xixia got involved, the situation became chaotic.

Originally, the State of Song made profits by repeatedly jumping between the Liao and Jin Dynasties.

As soon as Xixia entered the game, it made Song Guo's bargaining chip to restrain Jin Guo lighter, because Jin Guo had an extra Xixia in his hand.

Yu Xiang looked outside and said, "I've been out for a while, I have to go back."

Gao Ming hurriedly opened the door for her, "Go back quickly, be careful."

After Yuxiang stepped on the snow and left, Gao Ming sat back on the kang, squinted his eyes, "It seems that our journey day and night is not bad, at least we ran into these Xixia people."

Hua Rong said: "The Kingdom of Jin is very happy, but it is just a new regime. In the past, Song Dynasty treated them with the same etiquette as the Liao Dynasty. Later, Xixia came to visit them from thousands of miles away."

Gao Ming grinned, "I think, if Song Dynasty didn't establish diplomatic relations with Jin Kingdom, Xixia probably wouldn't come looking for it either."

To put it bluntly, the Kingdom of Jin showed its strength in the fight against the Kingdom of Liao, and increased its influence and rank in the relationship with the Kingdom of Song.

Xixia looked at it, hehe, Jin Guo snatched Liaoyang Mansion from the boss Liao Guo, and even defeated the opponent with 3 people with 70 people, which is amazing.

Looking at it again, Song Guo also has close contacts with Jin Guo. From this point of view, Jin Guo must have great value, and we Xixia can't lag behind.

Hua Rong asked, "What should we do now?"

Gao Ming couldn't stay still for a moment, "I'll go to Wushu to have a chat and find out what's going on."

Of course, it is not to expose that he already knows about the Xixia people, otherwise he will sell Yuxiang.

Hua Rong said: "I will accompany you."

"Don't go, Wushu is still on guard against you, I am helpless, he can reduce his defense a little bit."

"That was in the past. You are what he should guard against the most now." However, Hua Rong didn't insist on following, and told Gao Ming, "Go early and come back early. If you don't come back in half an hour, I will go find you."

Gao Ming smiled and said, "Yes, that's fine." Then he went out.

-

As soon as Cao Aoyu entered Yan Zongbi's felt tent, he covered his cheeks and stomped his feet, "It's so cold outside? It feels much colder than our place."

She said in Chinese, she is a Han from Xixia, and Wushu is a Jurchen, they must use Khitan or Chinese to communicate.

This time, she did not choose Khitan, a language that Jin Guo hated, but Chinese.

Sitting cross-legged on the low couch in the tent, Wu Shu smiled at her and said, "Why don't you come to my place, it's warm here."

Cao Aoyu pretended to shake her head shyly, "That's impossible."

Wu Shu chuckled, but didn't insist any more, and asked with a smile, "Why are you here again? Did you discover the envoys of Song Dynasty?"

Cao Aoyu's heart tightened, if it wasn't for the concubines of the Wushu brothers who were still alive, she wouldn't have come to chew on his bone.

Wu Shu's main wife had passed away a few years ago, and he was regarded as an important prince in the Kingdom of Jin, so she felt that it was more valuable to start with him.

"Song State? Their people are here?" Cao Aoyu pretended to be stupid.

Wu Shu smiled and nodded, "I live near you. You should meet up."

Cao Aoyu pouted and walked to Wushu and sat down, took his arm and said coquettishly: "Then His Highness will find a way, don't ask us to meet, okay? We will present a gift tonight, and then leave quietly. "

"You want to go? Don't stay to be my woman?"

Cao Aoyu pretended to be shy and kept her face away, but then Wu Shu said: "However, if you want to leave, I will not keep you, after all you are just the niece of a concubine of Xia Kingdom."

Cao Aoyu's complexion changed. Indeed, she is only the niece of Concubine Cao Li Qianshun, the current emperor of Xia Kingdom. Strictly speaking, she can only be regarded as a marginal relative.

Cao Aoyu's face gradually turned cold, and she glanced at Wushu, "What do you want? The princess of the Great Xia Kingdom?"

That's enough appetite.

Wu Shu suddenly pinched her chin, "You guys can't beat Song Guo, and you don't hesitate to come all the way to ask for help, you should show some sincerity!"

What Cao Aoyu saw in the eyes of the other party was a ferocious look of greed like a beast. She understood the meaning of the sentence that rushing is not a business.

But since she can be sent out to shoulder such an important task, it is not easy to get along with her. She pushed Wu Shu's hand away vigorously, and said: "It's not that we are not as good as Song Guo, it's just that Song Guo closed the border market, leaving us in short supply. They eat less and wear less, and panic. They are too tough, so they kill people with soft knives. If the princess is called to make peace, it is not impossible for our two countries to become allies. At that time, we will first attack the Liao Kingdom together, and then use our strength to destroy the Song Dynasty , sweeping the world."

Wu Shu shook his head and smiled disdainfully, "Fight Liao and destroy Song?"

Cao Aoyu said: "The 70 people of the Liao Kingdom lost to the [-] elite Jurchen soldiers. If next year our Xia and Jin countries attack it, do we still expect it to survive? As for the Song Kingdom, there is no need to worry. We have been fighting with their Western Army all year round. If you fight against each other, strength is the only thing, once Liao is destroyed, we will send troops to attack Song together, and the wealth of Song State will not be taken into the pocket of Jin State?"

Xia Guo betrayed Liao State, and they can’t be blamed. Liao Guo first signed the Youzhou Agreement with Song State, and the Song State was so good. When Song State attacked Xia State again, they would choose to stand by and watch Xia State. perish.

In order to survive, Xia Guo could only think more about themselves.

Wu Shu narrowed his eyes, "You mean to attack Liao together first, and then attack Song together after Liao is gone?"

It sounds beautiful, but Wu Shu is still calm, he is not even sure if Jurchen can swallow Liao, let alone that giant Song State.

He has been to Bianliang before, and each person can spit into a small river.

Cao Aoyu persuaded: "Four princes, don't be intimidated by their numbers. In fact, the army is corrupt and afraid of war. Even if they win a battle, they will disperse if they don't give rewards. Only the Western Army can fight. Wait for the Liao Kingdom Once destroyed, the Xia and Jin kingdoms will go down from Yunzhou and destroy the Western Army, and the Song Kingdom will be in the bag."

Just when the two were looking at each other and each had their own thoughts, Gao Ming's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "Is the Fourth Highness there?"

Both Cao Aoyu and Wu Shu were shocked.

When Xia Guo was conspiring with Jin Guo, Song Guo broke in suddenly, which is not good.