When Empress Dowager Gao asked the reason for his entry into the palace, Zhao Yan did not answer immediately. Instead, he straightened his waist and turned his head to look at the old man standing next to him and said, "My mother, the ministers and ministers in the hall recognize him, but I don't know who this person is?"

"Your Highness, this gentleman's surname is Wang Lun. He was originally from the Han Dynasty of Liao. He was just because he was interested in the Song Dynasty, so he joined his family to join us." Without waiting for Empress Dowager Gao to answer, Sima Guang, who was standing beside Wang Lun, spoke first. He helped Empress Dowager Gao fight for power with Zhao Yan, but afterwards, Zhao Yan did not blame him, but took the initiative to hand over the power in his hands. This made Sima Guang admire Zhao Yan's noble character, and for this, he specially visited Zhao Yan, which greatly eased the relationship between the two.

"The Caomin Wang Lun pays homage to His Highness the King of Yue." Wang Lun was also reminded at this time and hurriedly saluted Zhao Yan.

"Oh? It turns out that it was from the Liao Kingdom. However, as soon as Mr. Wang came to my Song Dynasty, he could get my mother's personal reception. I think there must be something extraordinary, right?" Zhao Yan looked up and down at Wang Lun at this time, and then asked with a smile knowingly.

"Your Highness is too good. I am just an ordinary scholar. Although I was born in the Liao Kingdom, I always believed that the Song Dynasty was the orthodox Han people, so I moved my family to the Song Dynasty. In addition, I also knew the situation of the Liao Kingdom. I knew that the Jurchens in the extreme north had always been a major concern of the Liao Kingdom, so I offered a plan to the court. As long as the court was willing to form an alliance with the Jurchens and provide some materials to help them, the strength of the Liao Kingdom could be greatly consumed, so I was received by the Empress Dowager." At this time, Wang Lun said very modestly. He thought that Zhao Yan really didn't know why he was received by Empress Dowager Gao.

"Aligned with the Jurchens?" Zhao Yan deliberately showed a surprised expression when he heard this, and then glanced at Sima Guang and others, then turned around and said to Empress Dowager Gao, "Mother, do you really want to form an alliance with the Jurchens?"

"The Ai family and his friends are also discussing the matter of alliance with the Jurchens. Speaking of which, the Jurchens are just a group of uncivilized savages. It is indeed a bit of a loss of the decency of the Song Dynasty, but since we recovered Yan Yun, the Liao Kingdom has always wanted to take Yan Yun back. Therefore, the Ai family thinks that if someone can restrain the power of the Liao Kingdom, it would be a good thing. As for the small matter of losing decency, there is no need to care too much." Empress Dowager Gao's calm voice came out again, although her expression could not be seen through a curtain. However, Zhao Yan could feel that Empress Dowager Gao was already a little dissatisfied with him asking about the government.

"What the Empress Dowager said is that when His Majesty Yingzong was in power, he also mentioned the alliance with the Jurchens, but for some reason it was left unresolved. Now the Empress Dowager mentioned the old things again, which can be regarded as inheriting the will of His Majesty Yingzong." At this time, Chen Shengzhi also expressed his consent. Although he was not in the prime minister when Zhao Shu was in power, he was also an important official in the court. He had heard of the alliance with the Jurchens, but he didn't know that this incident was actually caused by Zhao Yan's wandering to the Jurchens, and he didn't know that the alliance was also destroyed by Zhao Yan.

When Chen Shengzhi mentioned that Zhao Shu almost formed an alliance with the Jurchens when he was in power, Sima Guang and several other ministers also expressed their opinions, and most of them also agreed to an alliance. After all, whether this matter was successful or not, it only required some supplies to the Song Dynasty. This was not worth mentioning for the rich Song Dynasty.

Seeing the opinions of all the husbands, Zhao Yan deliberately sighed and said, "It seems that the Empress Dowager and all the husbands already knew about the fact that they almost formed an alliance with the Jurchens when their father was in power. Unfortunately, Old Han, Ouyang, who knew about the inside story of this matter, has passed away, otherwise it will definitely prevent you from making this decision."

As soon as Zhao Yan said something, Sima Guang and others were stunned. Wang Lun next to him had a smile on his face, but when he heard Zhao Yan's words, the smile on his face also frozen on the spot, and at the same time he felt a very bad feeling in his heart.

"Why did you say this?" At this time, Empress Dowager Gao, behind the curtain, was the first to react and asked immediately.

"The mother didn't know anything. In fact, the alliance with the Jurchens was closely related to the son minister. This matter also needs to start with the son minister and the emperor's brother's mission to Liao Kingdom..."

As Zhao Yan said that, he told him about his experience of his mission to Liao Kingdom and how he was wandering to the Wanyan tribe of the Jurchen Kingdom. Of course, he was concerned about Zhao Xu's reputation. They only tried to provoke internal struggles between the kings and ministers of the Liao Kingdom. However, everyone present was a human being, so how could they not hear the meaning of Zhao Yan's words? However, they all knew that Zhao Yan and Zhao Xu were also considering the Song Dynasty, especially in order not to arouse the suspicion of the kings and ministers of the Liao Kingdom, the incident of Zhao Yan rushing to stay in the palace of the Liao Kingdom, which made Sima Guang and others look at Zhao Yan with admiration. At the same time, they finally understood why Zhao Xu trusted Zhao Yan so much. Not only were they brothers, but they almost lived and died together. This kind of relationship was naturally extraordinary.

The experience of Zhao Yan and Zhao Xu on the Liao Kingdom had been spread before, but it was not as detailed as he said, so Sima Guang and the others were not so surprised. However, when Zhao Yan told him that he had been trapped in the Jurchen Wanyan tribe, he was blocked by the Imperial City Division. Very few people knew about it back then, and no one knew it now. Even when Wang Lun knew that Zhao Yan had been to the Jurchen Wanyan tribe many years ago, he screamed in surprise.

Regarding his experience in Wanyan's Ministry, Zhao Yan deliberately chose some very tragic things to tell, such as insufficient food, so he could only let Zhou Tong and several other guards go out to hunt in person. In addition, due to the distrust of Wanyan's Ministry, Xu Shan, one of the guards, was cut off one of his arm, and even Zhao Yan's life was threatened. In order to save the lives of others, Zhao Yan had to come up with a plan to form an alliance with Wanyan's Ministry. Of course, these are the truth. This plan of alliance was indeed thought of for the sake of saving his life.

"My mother, among the people who had been wandering to the Wanyan tribe with her sons, in addition to Zhou Tong and three other guards, there were also Su Shi and Su Zizhan, who also lived and died with her sons. Later, the sons persuaded the leader of the Wanyan tribe, and then sent Su Shi back to contact the emperor's brother. Then the emperor's brother contacted his father and reached an alliance." When Zhao Yan said this, he pointed to Su Shi who was coming with him and spoke.

"You are the Empress Dowager. As the deputy envoy, I did fall to the hands of the Jurchen Wanyan tribe with Your Majesty in a hot air balloon. I can also testify that everything Your Highness said just now is true." At this time, Su Shi also stepped forward and spoke. At this time, Su Song, who also followed Zhao Yan, finally understood the reason why Zhao Yan called Su Shi.

"So that's it. I didn't expect that you would encounter such a risk when you were on the mission to Liao Kingdom. You have suffered, King Yue." At this time, Empress Dowager Gao's voice came from behind the curtain again, but compared to the calm before, her voice was a bit sad. It was probably because she heard Zhao Yan mention Zhao Xu, which touched her pain of losing her son again.

"Your Highness, although the alliance was a decision you had to make at the beginning, judging from the situation at that time, it was beneficial to the alliance between our Song Dynasty and Wanyan tribe. With the wisdom of Emperor Yingzong, he should agree to this matter, but why did it end later?" Chen Shengzhi asked with a strange look on his face. Although Zhao Yan was very dissatisfied with Wanyan tribe in his words, this matter was beneficial to the Song Dynasty, so Zhao Yan's personal feelings were not important at all.

Chen Shengzhi's problem was actually what everyone else in the hall wanted to know, especially Wang Lun was even more anxious because he suddenly had a very bad premonition, and he was afraid that his previous plan to form an alliance with the Jurchens would be disappointed.

When he heard someone finally asked this, Zhao Yan deliberately smiled embarrassedly and said, "Mr. Chen said very much. He was originally aware of his father's wisdom and was very supportive of this matter. In order to show my sincerity in the Song Dynasty, he even asked his elder brother to escort a batch of supplies to the coast east of Wanyan's tribe on a boat, hoping to exchange me for these supplies. Unfortunately, when the two sides were discussing an alliance, I was very angry when I thought of the humiliation I had suffered in Wanyan's tribe. In addition, I was young and energetic at that time, and in anger, I actually cut off the leader of Wanyan's tribe with a knife, and ordered the soldiers on the ship to blow the Jurchens on the shore several times, which made the Jurchens who came to form a alliance suffer heavy casualties and will definitely not be able to form an alliance again."

"Ah..." Sima Guang heard that Zhao Yan had killed the Wanyan leader who came to form an alliance because of his anger. He pointed at Zhao Yan angrily and couldn't speak. Chen Shengzhi and others were also stunned. He never expected that the final result would be like this.

"Alas, it's all my fault that I was young and energetic. I did such a mistake in anger. Later, my father was furious about this. Fortunately, I made some contributions when I was on the mission to Liao Kingdom, so my father lost his merits. He was not rewarded or punished." Zhao Yan said deliberately with regret on his face, and shook his head while saying that, as if he was regretting the mistake he made when he was young. In fact, he was using these words to block the mouths of Empress Dowager Gao and the others. Anyway, the mistake he made had been punished by Zhao Shu, and no one can do anything about this matter now.

When Sima Guang and others heard Zhao Yan's words, they all looked at each other, and no one could do anything to Zhao Yan. After all, people had been killed by Zhao Yan more than ten years ago, and no matter how much they regretted it, it would be useless. Moreover, after this incident, Wanyan's tribe would definitely hate the Song Dynasty to the core. Even if the current leader has no blood relationship with the leader killed by Zhao Yan, I am afraid that Wanyan's tribe will no longer trust the Song Dynasty, and it is even more impossible to truly form an alliance with the Song Dynasty. To be continued.
Chapter completed!