Zhao Zhen has experienced countless ceremonial dynasties. He participated in them when he was the prince, and later he participated in even more ceremonial dynasties as the emperor with Liu E.
Sitting on the throne now, I feel a lot of emotion in my heart. Every detail of the past comes to my mind. The sight of the officials standing solemnly in front of me seems like yesterday.
"The envoys of the three ministers kneel down to report the tributes from all the states, please pay them to the ministers!"
As Chen Tong finished speaking, Cai Qi, the envoy of the Third Division, held an ivory hut and bowed slowly to the throne: "The tributes from various states are to be paid to the Third Division. In addition to money, there are also golden harvests presented to the officials!"
After Cai Qi finished speaking, officials from the three departments entered the palace one after another, holding the best rice from each state on a tray. Jiahe was also auspicious. These rice were harvested in summer and autumn and transported to Tokyo city and processed using special methods.
The purpose of storing it is to present it to the emperor today.
In addition to fine rice, various state capitals also paid tribute to local specialties, such as Duan inkstones, Hui inkstones, Jianzhan and many other valuable tributes. This was a manifestation of the feudal emperors being supported by the world.
After the domestic tributes were read out, it was the turn of the envoys from outside the court. Liu Yue, the Minister of Rites, reported the Tibetan tributes and asked them to be handed over to the Secretary.
At this time, Ye Ancai noticed that the diplomacy of the Song Dynasty was actually quite good. Many envoys from foreign dynasties entered the Daqing Palace one after another. Not to mention the envoys from the Liao Dynasty and Dangxiang, there were also envoys from the Tubo tribes, Qingtang envoys, Jiaozhi County envoys, and even
Even North Korea sent people across the sea, and envoys from the Western Regions also came from far away.
When he saw these people, Ye An knew how complicated the diplomatic environment of the Song Dynasty was. How many of these messengers, good guys, were secretly unwilling to deal with, it was almost written on their faces.
The relationship between Qingtang and the Dangxiang envoy was tense. Fortunately, the officials of the Ministry of Rites arranged for them to be far away from each other. Dangxiang and the Liao Dynasty also did not have to deal with each other. There were also barriers between North Korea and the Liao Dynasty. As for Tubo, they were now in disarray.
, the so-called Tubo envoys were only sent by Tubo tribes who had dealings with the Song Dynasty in order to maintain trade with the Song Dynasty.
The Jiaozhi envoy came to ask for the canonization edict from the Song Dynasty. As a small country in the south of the Song Dynasty, it always needed to be canonized to be considered legitimate.
The former King of Jiaozhi County, Li Gongyun, attempted to usurp the throne and seize the country, but he did a brilliant job and directly killed all the clans of the former Li Dynasty. After inheriting Jiaozhi, he immediately applied for a title from the Song Dynasty to obtain the orthodoxy of the rituals.
At that time, the Song Dynasty did not understand the truth and thought that he was still an envoy of the former Li Dynasty, so he canonized Li Gongyun. In this way, Li Gongyun gained "legitimacy".
Yes, even if the Han family declined, the successor of the Song Dynasty was still the suzerain in the hearts of the surrounding small countries, but this suzerain was already extremely weak.
But Ye An was a little strange, why didn't Dali Kingdom send an envoy? According to past practice, Dali Kingdom would definitely send envoys, and there was no turmoil in Dali Kingdom now.
On the other hand, it is reasonable that the Japanese state did not send an envoy to the Central Plains. The Japanese state has not sent an "envoy to the Song Dynasty" to the Central Plains for many years, and this has been the case since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
They believe that the former Tang Dynasty has disappeared, and today's successors are weak men surrounded by wolves, with nothing to learn from. Moreover, because of the prosperous commerce of the Song Dynasty, the Japanese country even carried out the commodity trade of the Song Dynasty.
limit.
Through the power of Puhui Trading Company, Ye An obtained the official attitude from some Japanese merchants in Tokyo City: "The decline of the Tang Dynasty has been chronicled for a long time, and even those who refused to go to court will eventually stop entering the Tang Dynasty." This is too true.
To put it bluntly, the Tang Dynasty, which represented the highest peak of the Han Dynasty, was in decline, and there was no need to send people to the Song Dynasty anymore.
It's too insulting to say that, the world is such a reality, the Central Plains was as powerful as the Tang Dynasty, and the Japanese were slavishly flattering to the Tang culture, not because they were afraid of the Tang Dynasty's power, or because they were sincerely convinced, but because the Tang Dynasty was so powerful.
Being so powerful allows them to see an opportunity to steal.
It's a pity that the Japanese are short-sighted. They believe from the bottom of their hearts that only the Han family, which is arrogant in all directions, is the most prosperous Han family and is worthy of their stealing. At present, the Song Dynasty is surrounded by wolves and is no longer like the prosperous Tang Dynasty. They don't understand at all.
It's called inner strength.
The Song Dynasty seems to be poor and weak, but in fact it is the most potential existence in the Han Dynasty. Although there is no one in the world, the land of Yanyun is not irrecoverable.
A strong civilization is not only reflected in its military strength, but also in the country's development potential. What's more, the military strength of the Song Dynasty is not as weak as it seems.
Even if the current army of the Song Dynasty is pulled out, it can still defeat the surrounding small countries at will. Even the powerful Liao Dynasty cannot defeat the Song Dynasty when it invades south, and it has to worry about its collapse due to the continuous expenditure of war.
In fact, the Liao people were more aware of the enemy's strength than the Song people, but anyone who sat on the throne of the founding emperor would not have a narrow vision. From Liao Taizu to Empress Dowager Xiao, the Liao Dynasty had never tried to unify the Central Plains over the years.
The Han family's idea, on the contrary, they not only thought about it but also tried it many times, but the result was that they recognized the reality. In terms of protracted war and tough battle, no country was the opponent of the Song Dynasty.
The technology and civilization of the Song Dynasty were far ahead of this era, and they were always at the forefront. If the entire Song Dynasty could not be conquered in one go, the extremely long depth would not be the glorious achievements of the Liao Dynasty, but the cliffs that buried them.
Small countries would not understand these profound things at all. In their eyes, the only thing that represented whether a country was strong or not was its military strength. Of course, the Song Dynasty could not be considered a "powerful country".
The Japanese people don't care, but others do. The Qingtang people, Dangxiang people, Khitan people and even the Jiaozhi people all value their neighbor, because the politics, culture, economy, and even military of the Song Dynasty are more or less important to them.
of ongoing impact.
The tribute paid during the New Year Festival is a kind of feedback from them, and they all hope to gain something beneficial to themselves from this diplomacy.
The envoy from Qingtang bowed and saluted, and at the same time presented the list of tribute gifts. The official of the Ministry of Rites next to him began to read aloud: "The envoy from Qingtang presented three pairs of luminous cups, a hundred catties of honeydew melons, a hundred catties of angelica, a thousand catties of green salt, and a thousand white oxen.
!”
"Pingshen!"
Following Zhao Zhen's words, the Qingtang envoy slowly stood up and saw that the officials of the Ministry of Rites had put down his gift list before he said: "General Qingtang Ningyuan, the training envoy of the Aizhou regiment, Jiao Siluo, wish the official family a prosperous new year and eternal peace.
!”
Zhao Zhen nodded slowly with a smile on his face and said: "Jiao Siluo is interested. I asked him to guard the border in the northwest of the Song Dynasty. Looking at his tributes, you can see that the Qingtang end of the world is peaceful and wealthy! Jiao Siluo Baoshun
The military will observe and stay behind!"
This is a third-grade military minister who sent a salary official. It has no actual effect. It is just an honorary title and has some salary subsidies. That's all. Jiao Siluo does not lack the salary of the Song Dynasty court at all, but what he lacks is the legitimate management of Qingtang.
, he wants to be the king of Qingtang.
Jiao Siluo also had his own difficulties. No matter how strong Qingtang was and how he surrendered to the Song Dynasty, the Xi Lie Army in Liangzhou Prefecture and the Huaiyuan Army in Ganzhou were always watching with eager eyes.
Although Li Yuanhao's attack on Qingtang failed, his desire to annex Qingtang has never been extinguished. Jiao Siluo wanted to use the Song Dynasty's recognition of the legitimacy of Qingtang to stop Li Yuanhao.
He understood that even if he could stop Li Yuanhao's attacks once or twice, he could not stop Li Yuanhao's long-term encroachment and attack.