The Liao envoy Yelupo came again with the credentials of the Liao emperor.
In the few months without negotiations, Xiao Ying, the deputy privy councilor of the Liao State, Yang Yijie, the deputy privy envoy, and Yelvshou, the military commander of the Shiping Army, successively came to Zhending Mansion to pay homage to Zhang Yue and received many gifts.
Zhang Yue also asked his subordinates Cai Bian, Cai Jing, Chen Mu, Xu Xi, Tong Guan and others to go to Yuzhou and Xijing in turn. Chen Mu even met the Lord of Liao, Yelu Hongji himself.
Yelu Hongji personally asked Chen Mu about the boundary demarcation and conveyed his greetings to his nephew Emperor Song Dynasty officials.
This also corroborates the information obtained previously that Yelu Hongji, the Lord of the Liao Dynasty, was indeed in Xijing and did not even go to the Spring Nabo Conference.
No one knows whether Lord Yelu Hongji of the Liao Dynasty was in Xijing planning the southern expedition.
No one dares to guess.
This is completely different from the analysis that Zhang Yue had communicated to the emperor in advance and that the Liao Kingdom's path was uncertain, leading to internal instability.
Yelu Hongji stayed in Xijing for half a year and showed an attitude of being determined to win.
Anyway, this matter was reported to Bianjing, which made the officials worried so much that they could not sleep all night, and then issued a decree to Zhang Yue, asking him to seek peace with the Khitan.
News came that the Xuanfu Division in Zhending Mansion was in chaos.
Just at this moment, the Liao negotiating delegation arrived. Yelu Hongji, the representative of Yelu Po, handed over the credentials of the Emperor of Liao and put forward more stringent conditions.
That is to add the ownership of Tianchi to the original disputed ownership of the boundaries of the four places.
This strategy of the Liao Kingdom is very common in the negotiation field.
The other side continued to exert pressure and at the same time put forward more stringent conditions than before, which shook the confidence of the negotiators and was criticized by opponents.
Zhang Yue could imagine that once the new conditions of the Liao Kingdom came out, he would definitely be criticized by the opposition in the court.
In fact, you don’t even have to think about it, it’s a given.
This is also a side effect of the confusion of different opinions, and the country's major political affairs are prone to swings.
Zhang Yue felt a chill in his heart after reading the official's instructions.
The previous memorial to the officials had thoroughly analyzed the pros and cons of the situation, and he had talked about it for several times, but now he really didn't want to explain any more.
At this moment, Zhang Yue lamented sincerely that those who achieve great things must have strategic determination. These words are not empty talk.
A person is like this, and a country is like this too. If you follow the path you have chosen, you must keep going.
At this time, the officials also knew about this, and Li Ping said to Zhang Yue: "May I ask Xianggong Zhang, how should I talk to the Liao envoy tomorrow?"
Li Ping was the first to propose Zhang Yue's conditions for accepting the Liao envoy, but he also knew that Zhuge Liang was of no use in doing things after the fact. This was not the time to proudly accuse Zhang Yue, but to face the problem.
Zhang Yue didn't say anything, but Cai Jing already spoke up: "I think this is the only way to talk! Slow down and things will go smoothly!"
"Let's go back to Shangshu and fight with the officials on this matter."
"How to slow down?" Li Ping asked.
Zhang Yue said: "There is no need to argue. Tomorrow you and Yu Ru (Han Zhen) will negotiate with the Liao envoy! I will not come forward."
After saying this, Yue stood up and left.
…
Zhang Yue returned to the study, and Cai Jing and Cai Bian came with a worried look on his face.
Seeing Zhang Yue reading, Cai Jing asked worriedly: "Prime Minister Xuan, how will the officials deal with it?"
They knew they couldn't change things with words this time, and the officials wanted them to show their attitude.
Zhang Yue said: "This matter is not difficult. You can ask the officials to give you a letter of credence as a formal reply to the Liao people's demarcation of the border!"
Cai Jing and Cai Bian were surprised when they heard this and said: "This plan is great!"
This time, the Liao State brought a letter of credence to formally request that the Song Dynasty cede these five lands by demarcating boundaries, so it was reasonable and reasonable for Zhang Yue to ask officials to respond with a letter of credence.
But the problem is that once the certificate of credence is issued, it is a written record that will be written into history in the future.
Zhang Yue must have expected that because of his official temperament, he must have paid special attention to the emperor's face. It would be a shameful thing to write it down in history. He must have hesitated again and felt that it was better to be tougher on the Khitan in the negotiations, so he would postpone urging Zhang Yue to negotiate peace.
Things.
There is no problem in delaying this for some time.
Cai Jing and Cai Bian were both impressed with their admiration, but they were worried that the delay would not last too long.
…
The next day, when Song and Liao were negotiating, Yelupo was very unhappy when he saw that Zhang Yue was not present.
However, the negotiation still had to continue, and the necessary procedures had to be completed. The Liao State immediately produced three pieces of evidence that Tianchi belonged to the Liao State.
Because there was no Tianchi ownership before, this time the Liao Kingdom suddenly brought it up for negotiation, and it must be paved the way, otherwise it would look very shameless.
Responsible for the specific negotiations is Xiao Ying, deputy privy councilor.
Xiao Ying gave three reasons for proposing the ownership of Tianchi this time. One was that the Shunyi Army of the Liao Kingdom had requested the Song Dynasty to repair the Tianchi Shrine. If Tianchi did not belong to the Liao Kingdom, why did the Liao Kingdom send this note?
Secondly, King Yi of Khitan led more than a hundred tribes to graze here for more than half a year, and no Song people had any objections.
During the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, Hengling was roughly defined as the boundary, and Tianchi was to the north of Hengling.
Cai Bian smiled at Xiao Yingsu and said: "Your envoy has said so much, and all of them are verbal evidence, but there is no written evidence."
"On the contrary, we have written evidence that Tianchi belongs to the Song Dynasty."
After speaking, Cai Bian took out a document from the Liao Kingdom to the Song Ning Dynasty. It said, "In the northwest of Tianchizi, across Henglingzi, there is a Bichuozi tree, and the Bianzi tree is about three miles south to the southern boundary."
Seeing Cai Bian produce written evidence, the Khitan envoys present all made a mistake.
Xiao Yingqiang defended himself: "The Hengling mentioned at that time is not the Hengling mentioned today."
What is shameless? Everyone present has seen it.
Yelvpo said: "Okay, there's no need to say anything more, and you don't have to argue with me. This is our last sincerity!"
This time even Li Ping was angry and said: "Your words are unconvincing, how can you explain it like this?"
Yelupo said: "You Song people have forcibly occupied my territory of Daliao. My emperor has wanted to have diplomatic relations between the two countries for many years, so he asked me to separate. If the separation cannot be achieved, then we will have to fight all the way."
"We just want to give it a try. Are your horses and soldiers on Xihe Road fast? Are your knives weak?"
Yelupo thought it was time to send an envoy, and Zhang Yue felt ashamed that the cavalry on Xihe Road showed off his troops to him. When he said this today, he had been grudged for a long time.
He dared to say this now because he did not pay attention to the soldiers and horses transferred from Xihe Road in the Song Dynasty.
Li commented: "You Khitan may not be able to win. Even if you win, your Emperor Taizong once came to the Central Plains and went back in the end."
After hearing Li Ping's words, everyone had no confidence at all and considered themselves the losers.
Historically, Yelu Deguang, the leader of the Liao Dynasty, destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty and even took over Bianjing, but failed before he could secure the throne.
Even before the war started, Li Ping planned to defeat Bianjing.
Yelupo laughed when he heard this but thought to himself, if the emperor of the Song Dynasty only used people like you, it would be easy to defeat Bianjing.
Yelupo sneered and said: "It's up to us Khitans to fight or not, but you Song people don't count. Just think about it and beg for peace in a few days. That won't be the case."
…
At this time, Xixia Prime Minister Liang Yimi led an army of 50,000 to Tiandu Mountain.
This place was attacked by Zhang Yue and Wang Shao in the third year of Xining, and even the Tiandu Mountain Palace was burned down.
Now Liang Yimi is coming with his troops to take revenge!