Half River Autumn Moon and River Spring [Rat and Cat]

Chapter 126

Xixia entered Beijing with great momentum.At this time, the Tokyo epidemic is currently underway, and the prosperity at the beginning has long since disappeared. However, in the palace, there are still lights and festoons, trying to paint a peaceful scene.

Li Yuanhao had to bring all the envoys of Xixia to meet the Emperor Zhao Zhen of the Song Dynasty in a big way. After a set of official procedures, in the court hall and in front of all the officials, he said straight to the point without any concealment: "Your Majesty, on the way here, I heard that the capital city In the epidemic, many people in the capital have been infected, and there is no medicine yet."

Zhao Zhen, who was sitting on the throne, looked around at the ministers who were whispering, and said slowly: "But there is this matter. This epidemic came suddenly, and there is no good cure for it for a while."

Li Yuanhao frowned falsely, and said with some emotion: "It's a coincidence that not long ago, the Black Water City in Xixia also had the same epidemic, because the infected people were covered with snake-like spots, so they It's named 'Fire Snake's Spotted Plague', and I think the disease in the capital is of the same family as the one in Heishui City."

"Oh?" Zhao Zhen paused, "Then Ai Qing has a way to deal with it?"

"Later we discovered that this disease can be cured quickly as long as it is taken internally and applied externally with Hulancao, otherwise, it will have spots and fester all over the body and die." Li Yuanhao couldn't help but proudly said, "We in Heishui City were trying to treat this epidemic at that time. disease, and in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, a large number of Hulancao was hoarded, but fortunately, with the help of Hulancao, the epidemic was brought under control in a short time."

"It's no wonder that I can't find any traces of Hu Lancao in the Song Dynasty. They were all bought by Aiqing." Zhao Zhen looked at Li Yuanhao and said, "But the disaster of Heishui City has been solved. I don't know if Aiqing has any extra Hu Lancao. Bluegrass, can Da Song relieve my urgent need?"

Li Yuanhao said bluntly: "Of course there are Hulancao, but I didn't bring Hulancao with me. If Your Majesty wants it, he has to bring it from Xixia."

"It's just that Xixia is a little far away from Tokyo. If it's transported by land, it will take at least half a month. I'm afraid that the people in the capital will suffer unspeakably..." Li Yuanhao pretended to be distressed, paced up and down in front of the hall, and said suddenly "However, if it is transported by water, the time can be greatly shortened, and the people in the capital can be rescued as soon as possible."

Zhao Zhen thought for a while: "Traveling by water? It's not a bad idea. If that's the case, there will be Lao Aiqing..."

"Hey, Your Majesty, don't worry!" Li Yuanhao raised his hand and interrupted impolitely, "Since Your Majesty also thinks that water transportation is a good idea, it is better to open the water transportation between Xixia and Song Dynasty, so that Luojiang and Bianshui can communicate with each other. The checkpoint is lifted, and the water tax is exempted."

Zhao Zhen frowned upon hearing this: "This..."

"King of Xixia, Bianshui is the lifeblood of my Song Dynasty's trough grain. Millet from the six roads in the southeast all enter Beijing through Bianshui. If this kind of traffic gateway allows you Xixia to come and go freely, wouldn't it be equivalent to letting you clamp your throat? You Isn't that too much to ask?" Grand Master Pang said coldly.

The surrounding ministers whispered and shook their heads.

Li Yuanhao smiled and said: "This is just the first request of the minister. If you want to get Hu Lancao, you need to meet the other two requirements of the minister."

Taishi Pang frowned and said, "King of Xixia, you are only a small country of Cuoer, how dare you make yourself big in front of Song?"

Li Yuanhao said indifferently: "I have a population of 1904 million in Xixia, but I have 30 elite soldiers. Your Song Dynasty has a population of more than 5000 million. How many old, weak and disabled soldiers dare to charge forward?"

"you!"

"Hey, Grand Master Pang, don't get excited. Since the king of Xixia has already raised it, why don't you listen to his next two requests? For a business, you have to know the price before you can bargain, right?" After making a round, he said to Li Yuanhao, "Why don't the king of Xixia talk about the last two requirements first?"

"After all, it is still the Eighth King!" Li Yuanhao turned to look at the quiet and elegant Eighth Prince with a hint of a smile, cleared his throat and said, "This is the second requirement. It has been increased to 20 taels of silver and 30 pieces of silk per year. I, Xixia, do not open my mouth like the Liao Kingdom, as long as Your Majesty allows me 10 taels of silver and 20 pieces of silk per year!"

As soon as this remark came out, the whole court was shocked. Xixia has always been a small country that bowed its head to the Song Dynasty. Although there have been wars and provocations on the border between the two countries every year, since the founding of the Song Dynasty, Xixia has always only had the share of offering gifts. Asking Da Song for old coins is simply ambitious!

Zhao Zhen tightly clenched his fists on the side of his body calmly, and then said calmly and slowly: "Then what about the third requirement?"

"The third request?" Li Yuanhao sneered, "I don't want to be the king of Xixia anymore. I, Xixia, want to be on an equal footing with your Song and Liao kingdoms. From then on, I will be the emperor of Xixia, and Xingzhou will be me The capital of Xixia, if you have your Kaifeng mansion, I will build my Xingqing mansion! I don’t want any surnames like Li and Zhao, but I want to restore the ancestral surnames and create the glory of our Dangxiang clan in Daxia!"

"You...you are simply lawless!" Grand Master Pang couldn't stop listening, and directly opened his mouth to curse, "With just a few herbs, how could you be so whimsical?"

Li Yuanhao said with a smile: "The grand master's words are wrong. This orchid grass is just an incidental thing. If you accept my conditions, then the orchid grass is a gift from Xixia to you in the Song Dynasty; if you don't accept my conditions, then accept it." If we go on, we will only have to fight each other. At that time, it will not only be as simple as these three requirements. Take the initiative to admit defeat and ask for peace, or be whipped by me and beg for mercy, which one do you think is more sensible?"

"Joke, I, Da Song, will be afraid of you, Xixia?"

"Presumably the grand master doesn't remember how badly the Song army was injured in the Sanchuankou battle?" Li Yuanhao smiled rascally.

"Sanchuankou is because of your deceit and treachery. You used the tactics of besieging the city and fighting for reinforcements to cause our Song Dynasty to lose more than [-] elite soldiers. This is really an act of a villain!"

"The so-called soldiers never tire of deceit. There is no distinction between a villain and a righteous man on the battlefield. As a civil servant, Grand Master Pang only knows how to talk about war on paper. He doesn't know how to adapt to the situation. However, Grand Master Pang can ask your son for advice on marching and fighting when he is free. An opponent hahahahaha!"

Grand Master Pang was so angry that Li Yuanhao almost didn't turn over. Zhao Zhen on the throne finally said: "Let's discuss this matter again. It's been hard work for the Xixia king to come all the way. Let's go to rest first. Tonight, I will prepare for the Xixia envoys." Be sure to attend the reception banquet."

"Retreat!"

"Long live my emperor!"

Li Yuanhao knew that he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry, so he was not in a hurry. The little emperor wanted to take it easy. Anyway, Li Yuanhao was not the one who was anxious about the epidemic in the capital. He always came to beg him. Seeing that Zhao Zhen was gone, he would He looked contemptuously at the ministers, snorted, and left on his own.

The Eight Sage King went to help Grand Master Pang who was caressing his heart all the time, and sighed: "Old Pang, your ability to resist pressure is not good enough. Li Yuanhao's few words made you so excited?"

Grand Master Pang gave Baxian Wang a blank look, and was panting with anger: "Listen to what he said? How can you not be angry if you are bullied to the top? How did Li Deming give birth to such a son?"

The Eight Sage King pointed to Bao Zheng beside him: "Look at Bao's appearance, he is more calm than you."

Grand Master Pang glanced at Bao Zheng, and said angrily, "Bao Zheng's face is already dark!"

Bao Zheng saluted at the side and said: "The grand master is right, what Li Yuanhao said just now really made people furious."

The Eighth Sage King said to Taishi Pang: "I said earlier that we should beware of Xixia, but you insisted on not listening, now you can't help it."

Grand Master Pang couldn't help but spit.

"Eighth Prince, Grand Master Pang, Lord Bao, Your Majesty invites you." The inner court officer saluted the three of them. The three of them looked at me and I looked at you. gesture.

……

That night, thousands of lanterns were lit in the palace, and the reception banquet was held outside the palace according to the traditional Song banquet, so singing, dancing, wine and food were all available, but the officials on the Song side, because of what Li Yuanhao said in the morning, seemed to be The air pressure is very low, and everyone is absent-minded enough to eat delicacies without taste.On the other hand, the envoys of the Western Xia Dynasty all drank very happily and enjoyed it very much.

After drinking for three rounds, Li Yuanhao got up with the wine glass, and said to Zhao Zhen: "Your Majesty, the singing and dancing of your Song Dynasty is really dull, and it makes people drowsy. I recently got a peerless beauty. Why don't you let her sing and dance?" Come to perform a song, it's just to cheer everyone up!"

Zhao Zhen was not interested in any beauties at all, but it was not easy to refute Li Yuanhao's face, so he agreed. The dancers and musicians on the stage bowed and retreated one after another. Then, a group of musicians dressed as Xixia Dangxiang held instruments When they got on the stage, after they were seated, four more people carried a gauze sedan chair surrounded by tulle and shaped like a palace lantern into the arena. field.

The breeze raised layers of tulle, and the figure in the gauze sedan was looming, and the scene suddenly became quiet.

Everyone stopped the banquet one after another and focused their eyes on the venue.

Xixia's musician plucked the first note in his hand.

The people in the sedan chair showed their true faces, and everyone was shocked by it!

The bright and beautiful girl dances to the music, but what is surprising is not her appearance, but the snow-white jade-like boa constrictor body that is entrenched beneath her!

This girl has no legs, instead, she has a slender and winding tail of a giant white python!

Everyone was shocked, but this girl with a snake's tail seemed to have some kind of magical power, which made people not afraid. In the girl's coquettish dancing posture, she couldn't help being fascinated and sinking, and this girl was cruising out step by step amidst the music. On the stage, when they come to the audience, they dance with the music more boldly and indulgently. The long tail like a snow snake stretches for several feet, but it makes people have a glamorous visual effect!

The girl's skin is as white as snow, and it almost blends with the pure white snake tail, and it seems to emit a faint soft light in the night!I saw her slowly swimming towards the throne, and everyone stared at her intently, including Zhao Zhen on the throne. In the girl's intoxicating dance, she felt that everything in the world was like a dream, and she didn't want to wake up!

Until a sword suddenly cut off the girl's way forward, everyone suddenly woke up and looked at the somewhat familiar sword in front of the hall.

The sound of the sword is faint.

The snow-white girl looked up at the owner of the sword: "Who is it?"

The young man on the roof smiled mischievously, wearing a dusty indigo casual suit, which lifted everyone's spirits.

"The fourth-rank imperial guard with a knife, Zhan Zhao."