Chapter 1246: Negotiation Again

The sound of footsteps could be heard outside the tent. The footsteps were heavy and steady. One could tell that he was a strong warrior with a high status.

The curtain opened, and Shen Kuo turned around with a mare milk cup, but he saw a Xia man wearing a brocade robe, a soft foot wrap on his head, and a loose belly.

There is another person beside him who seems to be a scholar from the Xia Dynasty, but he is also wearing a royal robe and a jade belt, so his status should be high.

Shen Kuo murmured something about the lack of etiquette. The brocade robes were all worn randomly. He put down the mare milk cup and said, "May I ask you two?"

I heard the Xixia military general say: "I am Liang Yongneng, the general manager of the four provinces of Daxia. The person next to me is my army officer, Wu Jinggong, who knows Liang Gewei of Xiping Prefecture."

Shen Kuo said calmly: "The Lord of Xia is only a duke conferred by the imperial court, so how can he be conferred a duke? He is overstepping his bounds."

Liang Gewei rolled his eyes: "Since the Xia Dynasty took over the Five States, our ancestors have overcome all obstacles and conquered the mountains and rivers. The north of Hengshan Mountain in Qilian is just our pasture."

"My lord later had to be canonized as the king of Xixia. The king is qualified to be granted the title of public official. He does his own business behind closed doors. There is nothing overstepping his bounds."

Shen Kuo smiled slightly: "I see, but it doesn't have to be all about doing your own business behind closed doors."

"Xixia founded the country through invasion. To put it bluntly, the land of dozens of states was actually stolen. In terms of roots, your clan should have been in the Songpan area of ​​​​Jiannan, right?"

Liang Gewei was not ashamed at all: "To put it this way, isn't the Huaxia clan only rooted in Shangluo, Weiyuan? Now even the South China Sea is divided into counties, isn't it also based on invasion?"

Shen Kuo laughed loudly: "This is very different. A county in Nanhai is a local royal family, scholars and people, who admire our Chinese civilization and ask for help. I, the Song Dynasty, have repeatedly made concessions. Seeing that the country is in chaos and the people are in ruins, this

It was accepted as a last resort, not as a result of aggression."

"This section needs to be explained in detail today."

This was the first line of Li Xinniang's song around the city, and it has now been circulated on the border between Song Dynasty and Xia Dynasty. Liang Gewei's expression changed drastically, he stood up and shouted angrily: "How dare you come to ridicule me, the Liang family? Treat me like a sword."

Is it disadvantageous?"

"Gewei!" A loud shout was heard outside the tent, and another person opened the curtain and walked in: "Don't be rude!"

The man who had just come in was still covered in travel dust. It looked like he had traveled a long distance. He did not care that Shen Kuo was still there and showed a gold medal: "In accordance with the decree of the Queen Mother, I will temporarily handle all negotiations with the people of Song Dynasty.

Don't speak again!"

I don’t know what the effectiveness of this gold medal is. When they saw it, they immediately knelt down and handed over their hands: "I obey the order!"

The Xia man accepted the gold medal, helped the two of them sit down, and then turned around and saluted Shen Kuo: "The Xixia envoy Liang Yiduo buried, I have seen the Shaanxi Road Manager of the Song Dynasty appease Shen Dayin."

Shen Kuo smiled and said: "I just had a chat with the Governor and Liang Canjun, and found that they are not very familiar with diplomacy."

"The Xia Dynasty always used base language in its negotiation documents with our country, which is completely opposite to military affairs."

"The last time I was provoked, I remember, it was when Yuan Hao wanted to provoke the Song Dynasty to send troops... What, are you... repeating the same trick?"

Liang Yi Duo Mi quickly bowed: "How dare you, they are the leaders of the local army. The Xia Dynasty failed to restrain them this time, which led to the conflict in Huanzhou. After hearing this, the king and the queen mother specially ordered me to come to negotiate. We must let them

The Song Dynasty knows that we are loyal to the court and should not lose our peace because of the border general's misbehavior."

Shen Kuo said: "Yes, this is actually what the imperial court ordered Shen Kuo to come here for."

"Peace between the two countries is hard-won. After the defeat of Weizhou by the late emperor Liang Zuo of the Gui Dynasty, he repented, self-reflected, and declared that he was willing to implement the Han system and did not dare to invade the borders again, and only sought peace."

"After Bingchang took over, he also presented his credentials, saying that he was already in charge and wanted to inherit his father's ambition. I also wrote back with more advice."

"It is about to open up a new situation in which the two countries have good relations and cease war. Unfortunately, the Huanzhou dispute has arisen again, and Shen Kuo has to come and go."

Liang Yiduo bowed and said, "Yes, this battle was done without authorization by our imperial consort, Captain He Luolingzhi. Now he has been executed by the Song Dynasty at the foot of Huanzhou City and punished on behalf of the Xia Dynasty."

"Now that the culprit has been killed, this matter is considered in the past. Let us give Song Ting a token of thanks and express our repentance."

"As for the contents of the Song Dynasty's rebuke, can I ask the Song Dynasty to consider the meaning of my words and suspend their implementation?"

Shen Kuo sighed: "I thought so too, but I can't fool him this time..."

"This time, the golden drums, flags, and documents of your army were all seized by our army. The written correspondence was clearly written. It was an order from the shogunate in charge of the four capitals, requesting the internal guards to supervise the inspection, Xiao Guan, and the prince-in-law.

Wei Heluo ordered his troops to attack Huanzhou."

"When the two armies clashed, the big flag under Huanzhou City was also ridiculous."

"The Golden Whip Banzhi in front of your Imperial Majesty was completely wiped out by our Huanzhou garrison."

"The information from the interrogation of the prisoners shows that they are the bodyguards of the king of your country, and the leader is Meng Meng."

"I, the Song Dynasty, have mastered a lot of human and material evidence. I have sent back to you the prince-in-law who died heroically in battle. The Song Dynasty has also done its utmost to be benevolent and righteous."

"Now that you are prevaricating and putting the blame for raising troops on the heroic martyrs, you are so patient, don't you feel a little bit uneasy?"

The faces of everyone in the tent changed drastically, and Liang Gewei stood up suddenly: "This matter has nothing to do with the manager, it's all..."

"Ge Wei, shut up!" Liang Yiduo Mi quickly interrupted with an angry look: "Aren't you clear about the decree?! I'm the one who promoted Song Xia's negotiation!"

Liang Gewei's face flushed with swelling and he sat down.

Shen Kuo didn't take it seriously and asked slowly: "At least I don't want to see the two countries go to war. But in this battle around Huanzhou, our court has expressed concern about several issues and hopes to get the support of the Xixia court.

Formal answer."

Liang Yiduo buried his hands and said: "The Queen Mother and Your Majesty have given me full authority to negotiate with Song and Xia. If the manager has any questions, Liang Yiduo will be honest and tell the truth."

Shen Kuo smiled and said: "What our court is most concerned about is that the Golden Whip Banzhi appears on the battlefield, which makes our court have to doubt that this is the will of Lord Xia."

Liang Yiduo said: "The imperial palace's Golden Whip Banzhi joined the leadership of Gong Meng and Corruption. However, from the moment they left Xingqing Mansion, the Golden Whip Banzhi was no longer an imperial guard, and was with Di Yong of your court."

Knowing Huanzhou is of the same nature."

"It was our court's fault for not taking back the golden whip that marked their identity. But this matter was definitely not His Majesty's intention. It was just a provocation by the general."

Shen Kuo asked: "Then I would like to ask, what level of border general was the instigator of the Huanzhou Campaign? Did he have the instruction of General Manager Liang? Is it the idea of ​​the General Manager of the Four Routes and the shogunate?"

Liang Yi Duo Mi said: "No, this is... This is the personal behavior of the guard Du Jian Zong Meng Meng, Xiao Guan's inspection, and the Prince Consort He Luolingzhi. All the soldiers and horses of General Manager Liang's headquarters have been on the front line of Xiao Guan.

Your Majesty can investigate this with the prisoners."

Seeing that the facts could not be denied, Liang Yi Duobian had no choice but to abandon his car to protect his commander.

In fact, Shen Kuo had no evidence that Liang Yongneng instigated Gong Meng to blackmail the Song Dynasty. The bottom line Su You gave him was to kill Gong Meng to death in order to provoke a conflict between the Xixia border generals and the palace.

Now it seems that the Empress Dowager Liang has been persuaded by the Xixia Minister, and the two parties have reached a compromise and given up the blackmail.

Gong Menghe's tactics actually frightened the people of the Song Dynasty. After Di Yong captured the three bows, three spears, and crossbows, Su You asked him to immediately send him to Shen Kuo and let Shen Kuo study the Xia people's war technology and how far it had progressed.

.

Regarding traditional crossbow technology, the Xia people were once teachers of the Song people. After Shen Kuo obtained the actual objects, he found that they were more advanced than the three-gun crossbows currently deployed in Weizhou in the Song Dynasty.

In April of the fourth year of Yuanfeng, after Shen Kuo arrived at Yongxing Military Road, he reported to Su You and requested that three guns and crossbows be allocated to each city on Yongxing Military Road.

The Military Aircraft Department's reply was that the three-gun crossbows were too heavy, with one weighing more than 1,000 kilograms, and it was too difficult to transport them from the mainland. Yongxing Military Road was allowed to build them by itself according to the drawings.

However, Su You wrote a private letter to Shen Kuo, believing that the war was imminent. After all the armies entered Xia, the military power of the Song Dynasty would no longer be a secret. Therefore, there was no need to build such old-era weapons and let Shen Kuo use smoke bombs and purchase wood.

, the iron material was used to build the van, although it was claimed to be used for this purpose.

But Xixia has a general who can take this kind of weapon seriously, so it is best to nip this sign immediately.

Shen Kuo completed these thoughts in just one thought: "We, the Song Dynasty, cannot tolerate the fact that the people of the Song Dynasty were massacred under the Huanzhou City, and are ready to take reciprocal retaliatory measures against your country. This is already stated in the credential.
Chapter completed!