At dusk the next day, the Honglu Temple was brightly lit. All officials from the yamen were present, plus officials from the Ministry of Etiquette and other yamen. As guests, and with Sun Tu as the host, today's dinner was considered to be sufficient. The Xixia envoy lost face.
After the host and guest exchanged greetings and greeted each other, they took their seats. All kinds of delicacies, wine and delicacies were brought in like flowing water. This was something that the Xixia envoys had never tasted before, so these upright people feasted on it without any restraint.
Even the official Xi Fengchang was in good spirits after drinking a few glasses of wine. He kept holding a glass to Sun Tu and mentioned the previous events from time to time, showing that everyone was close and enthusiastic. In this regard, Sun Tu did not act too distant. He drank several glasses of wine with him, and at the same time said some words to recall the past friendship. This made Xifengchang feel even more happy, feeling that this time he It’s the right time to come to negotiate.
In addition to the few important people, the officials and envoys below also exchanged cups and drank wine, which was very lively. Even though the two countries of Song and Xia had been grudges for many years, since people came to their capitals to subdue them, the officials of the Song Dynasty were still very polite and made them feel at home.
It wasn't until he was half drunk that Xi Fengchang let out a belch and looked at Sun Tu: "Sun Qianli... No, I should call you Sun Taiwei. It was so hard for you to hide it from me at the beginning. Do you know, After seeing your methods at that time, I really wanted to recruit you to my side to help me take charge of the entire Xifeng clan. When I learned that you left Xixia, I felt sad for a long time."
"Haha, I did conceal what happened at the beginning, but at that time I was in a foreign country and my life might not have been saved, so I had no choice but to live up to your sincerity." Sun Tu replied with a smile, but his tone There is actually nothing apologetic about.
"Forget it, in fact, I should have figured it out a long time ago. With your ability, it is beyond the control of a little person like me." Xi Fengchang said, his face suddenly became solemn: "But what you did in my Xingqing Mansion After all, it’s a little unreasonable. Just because of you, our country has been in chaos and our vitality has been severely damaged for several years. Can’t you deny this?”
Sun Tu didn't say whether he recognized it or not, he just looked at him with a smile but not a smile: "Why, brother Xifeng, do you want to collect debt from me today?"
"Of course I don't dare. I just want to ask you, have you ever felt guilty in your heart?" Xi Fengchang said, and looked deeply at Sun Tu, but saw that the other party had no expression, and gave another wry smile: "In fact To be honest, what you did in our Xingqing Mansion caused endless internal strife in our Xia Kingdom and also damaged the vitality of the country. But now, you have strong soldiers in the Song Dynasty and are always provoking Chen Bing at the border, which makes the people of our Xia Kingdom There is no peace. I have been ordered by the emperor of our country to negotiate with your country. I hope you can consider the lives of the soldiers and people of the two countries and stop the war as soon as possible. At the same time, the two countries can be reconciled and the border market can be opened again. I’m asking for help, but I wonder if Taiwei Sun would be willing to help us introduce the emperor of your country and make the case on our behalf?"
At the end of his words, Xi Fengchang's eyes settled on Sun Tu's face with great solemnity for an instant. As they got down to business, the atmosphere in the entire hall became condensed. Almost everyone stopped to listen and see what Taiwei Sun would say.
Sun Tu, however, did not rush to speak, but drank the wine in his glass slowly, seemingly thinking about it.
In fact, he had known what kind of situation Xixia was in now. Their situation was indeed very unbearable. But to be honest, it was not the trouble he made in Xingqing Mansion that caused all this. After all, how many years have passed, even if the impact is minimal, and the current Emperor of Xixia, Li Renyou, can be regarded as a wise king. Since he succeeded to the throne, he has worked hard to govern, and with his sharp methods, he quickly solved all kinds of contradictions in the country. Solved.
The real problem in Xixia's country now is only the feud with the Song State and the inability to receive all kinds of support from the Liao State as before. In the past few years, the Liao State has been in constant civil strife, causing its domestic production to stagnate, and even its own production. It is difficult to guarantee the supply, let alone help Xixia. And Xixia had some flaws due to its geographical relationship, which led to constant domestic disasters. And with the Song Army and Chen Bing on the border, they naturally felt a great threat.
After being silent for a while, Sun Tu said slowly: "There are difficulties in Xixia. As your suzerain, I, the Song Dynasty, naturally have the responsibility to help share the burden. But..." After a pause.
Xi Fengchang and other Xia envoys' expressions changed when they heard him mention that Song Dynasty was the suzerainty of Xixia. Although Xia Dynasty had indeed professed vassalage to Song Dynasty, it was decades ago after all, when Xia Kingdom had just been established. , people's hearts were unstable, and they really couldn't fight all day long, so they had to make concessions. But in the following decades, as Xixia continued to grow stronger, the relationship between the two countries gradually became equal. In addition, the Liao Kingdom acted as a check in the north. In fact, in the past thirty years, everyone has acquiesced that the two countries are equal countries. relations between countries.
What's more, when Song became a vassal, they didn't really recognize it as their suzerain state. The two concepts sounded similar, but the gap between the vassal state and the vassal state was really too big.
But somehow, when they met Sun Tu's eyes, none of them dared to object. Even Xi Fengchang, after realizing that Sun Tu had something to say, he actually held back his words and waited quietly for him to finish.
Sun Tu smiled and said: "It's just that what your Xia Kingdom has done over the years is really hard for me, the Song Dynasty, to rest assured. It's easy to say that both sides are light. Not only do you profess your vassalage to me, the Song Dynasty, but you also treat me as a vassal. The Liao Kingdom considers itself a vassal, but where does this put the face of the Song Dynasty
"Also, in the past few years, your Xia soldiers and horses have invaded our Song Dynasty much more. If you hadn't invaded every year, I, the Song Dynasty, wouldn't have had to send a Western army of hundreds of thousands to the Song Dynasty all year round. The border between the two countries is at the border. Let’s not talk about the distance, let’s just say that more than two years ago, you took advantage of my army’s northern expedition and suddenly sent troops. If our soldiers of the Western Army hadn’t fought bravely, I’m afraid there would have been another catastrophe.”
"This... Lieutenant Sun Mingjian, the war two years ago was actually a mistake committed by some generals in our court on their own initiative. Afterwards, my lord was also very angry and killed more than ten generals because of this. I specifically went to the Song Kingdom..." Another deputy envoy from the Xia Kingdom quickly helped to explain.
Sun Tu smiled: "Of course I know this, that's why we didn't really fight back with a large army. However, you can't be wrong if you threaten me, the Song Dynasty. This is not a vassal country against the sect master.
What a country should be like. As a minister, not only do you obey the king, but you should also have enough respect. How can you always provoke and use troops like you
"Now that you are in trouble, you come to Tokyo to plead. Once you get a little better, you want to use troops against the Song Dynasty and mess up our borders. How can there be such a good thing in this world?"
This accusation really left Xi Fengchang and others speechless. As it was, they couldn't argue with it. However, Sun Tu didn't have too much entanglement in this matter: "But the matter is not completely without room for improvement. It all depends on whether you can change your ways."
Hearing what he said, everyone's spirits were lifted. Xi Fengchang even said hurriedly: "Taiwei Sun, tell me, what conditions does the court offer? As long as we can meet them, we will not dare to refuse."
"It's easy to say, the first rule is that you must correct your identity as a vassal state of the Song Dynasty, and then send envoys to the Song Dynasty to declare yourself a vassal, and sever relations with the Liao Kingdom. One minister will not serve two masters. I think Even though you are not descendants of my Han family, you should still understand." Sun Tu immediately made his first request.
Xi Fengchang frowned deeply. The first half of this was fine, but the second half was not easy to draw a clear line with the Liao Kingdom. Originally, the reason why Xixia has always existed is that it can easily maneuver between the two great powers and have both sides. If it completely falls to the Song Kingdom, it will really be controlled by it in the future, and the Liao Kingdom will not help.
But then I thought about the current situation in which the Liao Kingdom was unable to protect itself, and then thought about the grievances between the two countries. I am afraid that the Song Army will soon launch another Northern Expedition, and may be able to annex the entire Liao Kingdom in one fell swoop. Xi Fengchang felt that this It's not too hard to accept at all.
So after some hesitation, he still nodded: "Although I can't make the decision on this matter, I believe that when I return to the court to see the emperor, I should be able to give the Taiwei a satisfactory answer."
Sun Tu smiled and nodded: "The second rule is that since you are a minister, you should behave like a minister. From this time on, you, the Lord of Xixia, should call yourself a minister, and the title of emperor can no longer be used. In this way , changed to the king, and from now on you, Xixia, will be my vassal state of the Song Dynasty. If you have difficulties, we, the Song Dynasty, will naturally do our best to help you, whether it is money, food or other aspects, it will not be a problem."
After saying this, not to mention those Xixia envoys, even the officials of the Song Dynasty all changed their faces, full of surprise and disbelief.
Sun Tu's words were too fierce and domineering. He just wanted to completely negate Xixia from the root. The emperor is the king of a country, but the king, although he is also the king of a country, looks much humbler in name. If there is another conflict between the two countries in the future, the Song Dynasty can depose him as the king with just one decree. —At least in name, there is absolutely no problem in doing so.
Speaking of which, this was also a precedent set when the Song Dynasty was founded. At that time, the Later Tang Dynasty in Jiangnan was a vassal state of the Song Dynasty, and its leader Li Yu was the lord of Jiangnan, not an emperor.
But when the same situation was put in front of the Xixia people, I didn't know if they could accept it calmly. Xi Fengchang's face was extremely gloomy at this moment, and his body began to tremble slightly because of anger: "Sun Taiwei, you..."