Goryeo envoy Yin Guan and Deputy envoy Zhao Gui came to pay their respects. Zhao Yan was stunned when he saw the greetings in his hand. First, he thought that the Goryeo envoy who had come before had returned to China, but he didn't expect that they were still in the capital. Second, he didn't expect that they would come to visit him during this New Year.

Speaking of this Goryeo delegation, he indirectly helped Zhao Yan a little favor last time. It was precisely when he saw the ginseng they sent to the mansion that Zhao Yan thought of the excuse to weaken the Jurchens' strength, which was to rob the Jurchens in the name of purchasing ginseng, and the effect was very good. The Wanyan tribe was almost disabled by the people he sent. Even if he could survive this winter, he would probably lose a lot of manpower. It would take at least several years of rest to restore his strength. This has achieved Zhao Yan's goal, not to mention that there will be continuous blows in the future, which makes the rise of Wanyan tribe even more difficult.

Thinking of the above, Zhao Yan couldn't keep the people from Goryeo. In addition, he was also very curious about the situation in Goryeo, so after thinking for a while, he immediately ordered someone to invite the chief and deputy envoys of Goryeo to the living room behind the hall. Originally, Zhao Yan should have received guests in the main hall, but now there are too many people visiting, and most of them are placed in the main hall for tea. However, Zhao Yan would not see these people, and the guests who were actually received would only be invited to the back of the hall.

After a while, the servant came in with two middle-aged men. One of them was of medium figure, with a big cake face and a single eyelid, and he looked not astonishing. However, this person was Yin Guan, the chief envoy of the Goryeo delegation. It is said that he was from Goryeo. Although Goryeo is a small country, being able to pass the Jinshi is considered a rare talent. No wonder he was sent by King Goryeo to be an envoy. Behind Yin Guan, there was Zhao Gui, the deputy envoy, who was tall and thin. When he came to meet Zhao Yan last time, he introduced his ancestors as Han people who were wandering to Goryeo, and he didn't know whether it was true or false.

"See Your Highness, King Yue!" After Yin Guan and Zhao Gui came in, they immediately saluted Zhao Yan.

"Haha, you two don't have to be too polite. I thought that the New Year was approaching and your mission should have returned to China for the New Year. But I didn't expect that the two envoys had not returned yet?" Zhao Yan also said with a smile. In later generations, he had no good feelings for the two small countries on the Korean Peninsula, and even had a very disgusted person. However, as the prince of the Song Dynasty, he naturally could not show it. At least he could not lose etiquette on the surface. As for what he did in secret, no one could control it.

When we heard Zhao Yan's words, Yin Guan and Zhao Gui looked at each other hesitantly, and then Yin Guan said, "Your Highness doesn't know anything. We had already heard of the prosperity of the capital during the New Year and wanted to stay for the New Year. However, when we were on a mission, the king had the will to let us return to China before the New Year, so we didn't dare to stay for a long time. We had already set off and left the capital two months ago, and had reached the territory of Dengzhou, and returned to China by boat. But at this moment, we received the king's will. There was an important matter left to us, which forced us to return to the capital again!"

"Oh? This is amazing. I don't know what happened that you actually asked you to go there again?" Zhao Yan couldn't help but ask curiously when he heard this.

"This matter is related to trade. I, Goryeo, have always been very willing to trade with the Song Dynasty. However, some time ago, I had something that made my king very angry, and this matter was also related to the trade between the two countries. That's why the king ordered me to go back to the capital and appeal to the Song Dynasty court!" The tall and thin Zhao Gui continued to speak.

"Oh? That's strange. Since this matter is related to trade, and your king asked you to appeal to the court, why did you come to me? Do the people from the Ministry of Rites ignore your complaints?" Zhao Yan suddenly sat upright and savored the tea ceremony. Although he didn't know what was going on, he could have allowed King Goryeo to send back these two envoys who were about to return to his country. There must be some dispute over interests in this, and he would not easily hand over the interests he received to others.

"This..." Yin Guan and Zhao Gui looked at each other again, and then said, "Report to your Highness, after we came back, we did mention this matter to the Ministry of Rites, and we were also welcomed by several ministers, and we were willing to report our affairs to the court. However, we waited for a long time, but there was still no news from the court. It is said that the court had no choice but to do so. Later, after being guided by others, we came to visit Your Highness, hoping that Your Highness would make the decision for me, Goryeo!"

"Huh? What are you talking about? If even the court can't control it, I will be even less able to help you?" Zhao Yan said curiously at this time.

Hearing Zhao Yan say this, Yin Guan hurriedly said, "Your Highness, you can definitely help us. My subordinates have already said that this matter is related to trade. In fact, our Goryeo welcomes the caravans of the Song Dynasty very much. However, some time ago, some merchants of the Song Dynasty actually started to buy and sell population in Goryeo, and mainly bought some young women at low prices to transport them to the Nanyang area. This made my king very angry, so I asked the Song Dynasty to make the decision for my Goryeo!"

Now Zhao Yan finally understood the reason why these two Goryeo envoys came to find him, but he deliberately pretended to be confused: "Enter Yin, you are wrong. Although I am the prince of the Song Dynasty, I don't care about the government affairs, so you should go to the court for this matter!" When he said this, Zhao Yan deliberately paused and suddenly stared at Yin Guan with wide eyes and said, "Don't you think that those merchants who sell humans were instructed by this king, right?"

"No, no! Your Highness has a noble status, so naturally it is impossible to have anything to do with those human traffickers. It's just that this matter was done by merchants in private, and it was not within the territory of the Song Dynasty, so the Song Dynasty court was not convenient for the management. Later, we learned that Your Highness had vigorously promoted maritime trade in the south and had a very high prestige among maritime merchants, so we wanted to ask Your Highness to come forward and prohibit those merchants from selling humans in my Goryeo." Yin Guan waved his hand when he heard Zhao Yan's last words.

Regarding the businessmen of the Song Dynasty to buy and sell people in Goryeo, Yin Guan and Zhao Gui have also traveled all the yamen in the Song Dynasty these days. However, even if some people were willing to submit memorials, the superiors did not respond. Later, someone still gave them some advice and told them that it would be best to find Zhao Yan about the sea trade. Because even the court cannot even interfere with the sea trade, even if the court wants to take care of it, no one is willing to listen. On the contrary, if Zhao Yan wants to take care of it, it may only take one sentence to solve it.

When Zhao Yan heard this, he understood that Yin Guan and the others must have been advised by others after hitting walls everywhere, so he came to beg for him. However, although trafficking in humans is not a good thing, it depends on the specific situation. This time, the merchants of the Song Dynasty went to Goryeo to purchase people and then sold them to Nanyang. There were many men and few women in Nanyang. These Goryeo women who sold in the past all alleviated this situation well. Many people even took root overseas because of this. This is exactly what Zhao Yan wanted to see, so he naturally did not want to ban this kind of population transaction. Anyway, they were not sold by Song, so he did not have such a broad mind.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yan deliberately said with a look of disgrace: "This... I developed maritime trade in the south a few years ago. I did deal with some merchants, but that was a few years ago. After I returned to the capital in the past few years, I have ignored external affairs again. Those merchants probably forgot about me, King Yue, so I am afraid that my words will not work. You should solve this matter through the court!"

When he said this, Zhao Yan deliberately paused, then seemed to think of something, looked up at Yin Guan and asked, "By the way, since it was those merchants who came to your port to buy and sell people, why don't you care about it yourself? For example, isn't it enough to prohibit those merchants who trade people from entering the Goryeo port?"

Yin Guan and Zhao Gui felt a little cold when they heard Zhao Yan's refusal. As for his words, they even smiled bitterly and said: "Your Highness, we have thought about the way you said, but our Goryeo is very welcome to the goods from the Song Dynasty. Every time the goods shipped are in short supply, so every merchant of the Song Dynasty is a VIP of our Goryeo. It's too late to welcome them, so where is there any reason to rush out?"

Zhao Yan also understood when he heard this. It turned out that Goryeo was greedy for the goods from the Song Dynasty, so he did not dare to offend the merchant in person. It is estimated that the human traffickers also directly used goods to exchange for people. In this way, if Goryeo did not sell people, they would not get the goods they needed in urgent need. So they could only put their hope on the Song Dynasty, hoping to put pressure on the merchants through the Song Dynasty, and finally touched Zhao Yan's mansion.

"Since you are afraid of offending those businessmen, then you might as well prohibit your own people from buying and selling people. If those businessmen cannot buy the population, they will naturally do some legitimate business in the future!" Zhao Yan said again at this time.

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Yin Guan and Zhao Gui showed a look of embarrassment on their faces. At this time, Zhao Gui stood up and said, "Your Highness has nothing to know. On this summer and autumn festival, a large-scale drought occurred in Zhongqing Road and Jeolla Road in our country. Many people fled the famine with their families. Many people even sold their biological children in order to eat in one bite. If we prohibit the sale of people, we will only make these people continue to starve, and some people even go crazy. If we really want to rise up, then we, Goryeo, will have a big mess!"
Chapter completed!