The King of Yue really did what he said. In the afternoon two days later, he brought Xi Fengchang and Sun Tu to the Ugu family's mansion to meet with Uguru Ya in the name of meeting Ugu Boqi.
Before that, Sun Tu had actually inquired a lot about the specific situation of the Privy Envoy of the Xia Kingdom from Xi Fengchang, and also had some side understanding of him. Although Wuguruya and Mochihe were the most important ministers in the Western Xia Dynasty, his style was much more humble and low-key than the latter.
Except for military and political matters or the emperor's inquiries, Uguruya would express his opinions in the court, otherwise he would not see any movement in the court. In addition, unlike Mozhihe, who had already won over many high-ranking party officials, Uguruya had almost no allies. As the supreme commander of the Xia army, except for some of his subordinate generals, he had almost no party affiliation. Truly be on your own.
For such a low-key and reserved minister, even Xi Feng often sighed when talking about it, thinking that this was really a rare existence. Sun Tu, on the other hand, felt that this might be the smart point of Ugulu Ya, because he had already found his position, that is, as a pure minister, who only cares about loyalty to the emperor, and everything else can be put aside.
Because only in this way could he avoid being defeated by Zhongshu Ling, Mo Xiahe, who was far more powerful than him.
Mo Qihe was a veteran of the Xia Kingdom for several dynasties. Regardless of his prestige and connections, Wu Guluya, an upstart who had been promoted by Li Qianshun in recent years, could not compete with him, especially since he had participated in the coup decades ago. He had done so much for the emperor, which made it difficult for Li Qianshun to attack such an old minister just because of trivial matters. Therefore, if Uguru Ya really comes into conflict with Moshahe, his defeat will be inevitable.
In this case, if he wanted to secure his position as Privy Councilor, he could only rely on the emperor to protect him, and at the same time avoid any friction with Mo Xixihe. Keeping a low profile as an official and not belonging to any party or group is the best way to protect yourself, which can make both the emperor and Mo Xuxing feel at ease with him. And as long as he sits in the position of Privy Councilor for a long enough time, and one day Moshahe dies of old age, or something happens because he angers the emperor, Uguru Ya will be able to rise quickly and take his place!
Although Sun Tu had never had any contact with the Privy Councilor, he had vaguely guessed his overall plan. As for why he is actually ambitious, some clues can be seen from the fact that he allowed his son to have a close relationship with the king of Yue. At the same time, Sun Tu also thought about something. Is the friendship between the King of Yue and Ugu Boqi really just because the two have similar temperaments, rather than having any other purpose
With such suspicion, Sun Tu couldn't help but take a closer look at King Yue in front of him, who was hugging Ugu Boqi with a smile. This man's mind was not as simple as he thought.
Under the leadership of Ugu Boqi, the three people entered his mansion naturally without any obstruction. Along the way, Sun Tu could see that this house was quite suitable for Ugulu Ya's temperament. Although it still occupies a large area, the interior layout was extremely simple and plain. There were no embellishments such as gardens or pavilions. The courtyard houses that you entered were just ordinary brick houses without any special meaning. The only thing that is a little different is that there is a large piece of yellow sand on the left hand side after entering the hospital.
Looking at the paved school ground, it is obvious that Uguruya has the habit of practicing martial arts here on weekdays.
At this time, there were no soldiers and horses on display on the school grounds, but there was a motorcade and a dozen horse knights parked. Sun Tu glanced at them and raised his eyebrows. After several months, he finally saw the friendly Han people dressed up again!
The people standing next to the motorcade were all dressed in Song attire with wide robes and large sleeves, and not far away, staring at them with provocative eyes, was a cavalryman dressed in Liao attire. Just seeing this scene, Sun Tu had already guessed the identities of these people. They should be the envoys from the Song and Liao countries who came here to see Uguru Ya again today as lobbyists!
In fact, not only Sun Tu was paying attention to the situation there, but also Yue Wang and Xi Fengchang showed curious expressions after seeing these two groups of people. Upon seeing this, Ugu Boqi explained in a low voice: "In the past half month, the Song and Liao missions have always sent people to see my father. My father always avoided seeing me before, but today for some reason, he was suddenly willing to see their people. . The people in the school grounds over there are all the envoy’s retinues, and I’m really afraid that they will take action here.”
Xi Feng Chang, who originally felt a little strange, heard that Wuguluya had actually received the Song and Liao envoys. His face suddenly changed, and he looked anxious. He glanced at the King of Yue and wanted to say something.
The King of Yue understood immediately, coughed lowly and said: "Boqi, besides wanting to catch up with you today, I also want to ask your help for something."
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions. As long as I can do it, I will not refuse."
"Xifeng Chang is from the Xifeng family. He wants to see the Privy Envoy this time to talk about how to deal with the disputes between Liao and Song Dynasties. Could you recommend him to us?" The King of Yue made his request, and Xi Feng Chang looked at Uguboqi expectantly, waiting for him to nod.
Ugu Boqi's expression suddenly froze: "Well... my father never lets me pay attention to his official duties. If I do this, I'm afraid I will be blamed by him..." After a pause, he looked at Yue Wang and Xi Fengchang again. , finally gritted his teeth, nodded vigorously and said: "Since the prince has said so, I will help you even if you are scolded by father. Now father should meet guests in the side hall, I will take you there .”
Xi Fengchang was overjoyed when he heard this, and he quickly saluted and thanked him: "Thank you very much, Uncle Wu Gu, for helping me this time."
"You don't have to thank me. I'm just doing it for the sake of the King of Yue. Besides, this matter is related to the national destiny of our Xia Kingdom. If you can think of being prudent so that we don't get involved in the dispute between Liao and Song Dynasty, I will naturally I want to help you." Ugubochi said, turning around and leading them to the other side.
Xi Fengchang was grateful again after hearing this, and his favorable impression of Ugu Boqi increased a lot. But Sun Tu felt a little strange after hearing this. How did this person know what the Xifeng family's attitude was on this matter? Thinking of this, he glanced back and forth at King Yue and Ugu Boqi. Had the two parties communicated with each other a long time ago? In fact, the relationship between them was already closer than imagined
With questions in mind, Sun Tu followed them and soon came to the most majestic hall in the mansion. Because of the cold weather, the doors and windows at the front and back of the hall were tightly closed at the moment, and there were seven or eight sabers standing in front of the door.
Guards, apparently when Uguruya was talking to the envoys of the two countries, his servants were not allowed to approach at will.
But Ugu Boqi was obviously not someone they dared to block. Under his leadership, they approached the door smoothly. Just because people were talking loudly at this time, he did not rush to knock on the door. Enter. Just like this, the sound of the conversation inside came out clearly through the door—
"...Don't pretend that we don't know about the treacherous things you did in the Song Dynasty before. Humph, do you think that secretly communicating with the Jurchens can pose a threat to Daliao? That's too much for yourselves!"
"I, the Song Dynasty, have never had any contact with the Jurchens, so please don't spit on anyone! And what we are talking about today is not the past, but the present. Nowadays, there are constant troubles in your Liao Kingdom. Not long ago, even Nanjing There is almost a rebellion in the city. If you really dare to become enemies of the Song Dynasty at this time, I am afraid that the disaster of destroying the country is not far away!"
"It's just nonsense. How can our country, the Liao Dynasty, be at its peak when compared to you, the people of Song Dynasty? On the contrary, your country, Song Dynasty, is experiencing a lot of chaos in the country right now. You can't even put down the rebellions in the north and the south, and you actually want to fight against them. Is Daliao the enemy? As far as I know, Fangla's rebels have already captured half of your cities in the south of the Yangtze River, right? And the land in the south of the Yangtze River is an important place for money and food for your Song Dynasty. In such a chaos, you How much strength can you still use to compete with Daliao? So in my opinion, you are trying to make Xia Kingdom a pawn!"
The two parties' accusations against each other immediately made the smell of gunpowder in the hall stronger and stronger, and also stunned several people standing outside. The most surprised among them was Sun Tu.
He was an eyewitness to the incident in Nanjing of the Liao Kingdom, so he naturally didn't care. What he really cared about was the fact that the other party mentioned that there were rebellions in both the north and the south of the Song Dynasty.
It had only been more than half a year since I left the Song Dynasty. I didn't expect that so many changes had happened in the country, and uprisings, or rebels, appeared one after another!
Fang La's name was naturally familiar to him. He was the most powerful rebel army in the late Northern Song Dynasty, far beyond the Liangshan bandits who were more famous to later generations. As the Liao envoy said, Fang La's rebellion in the south of the Yangtze River was bound to affect the Song Dynasty's money and grain taxation. Its destructive power was quite astonishing. I wonder if the court could quickly quell the rebellion at this time
In addition, although the other party did not mention which rebel group was responsible for the rebellion in the northern part of the Song Dynasty, as long as you combine your understanding of history and grasp of current events, you can guess that it is probably a group of people in Liangshan who are causing trouble!
Liang Shan and Fang La started troubles in the north and south at the same time. This was undoubtedly an extremely serious blow to the Song Dynasty court. Presumably Tong Guan, who had returned to the Song Dynasty, would also be troubled by this. And his previous decision to spend a year preparing weapons and food, and then uniting with the Jin Kingdom to attack the north and south of the Liao Kingdom may be temporarily put on hold.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that the imperial court sent envoys to discuss with Xixia this time and use the power of the three parties to deal with the Liao Kingdom, right
Just when Sun Tu was distracted by these explosive inside stories, Ugu Boqi, who heard the temporary silence inside, stepped forward and knocked on the door: "Father, the King of Yue has something important to discuss with you!"