Chapter 321 Jiang Dong is playing tricks
Chu Yuxuan reported to him that Master Lu from Shunfengsi had sent a letter saying that the King of Zhennan of Dali had passed Cuiping Mountain and was going upstream to Chengdu to ask the third young master to send troops to aid Dali.
The New Song Kingdom sent troops to aid the Dali Kingdom in fighting the Yue Kingdom?
This is impossible. The New Song Dynasty can sell weapons to the Dali Kingdom, but it cannot send troops to help the Dali fight against the Yue Kingdom. If this is really the case, what will happen?
If the Kingdom of Yue also asks the New Song for military assistance, wouldn't the New Song be fighting against itself?
Zhao Yulin felt a little headache, so he went out to talk to Zhang Xiangyang from the provincial school.
When Zhang Xiangyang saw Zhao Yulin coming, he was very happy and immediately asked his servant to invite Mr. Wuyong and Qiao Xingjian to have a drink together.
After everyone sat down, Qiao Xingjian said that the court had been in turmoil recently. He heard that a few high-ranking officials had received a letter from Jiangdong Shi Xiang, and actually proposed to transfer taxes to Jiangdong again, which was absolutely not allowed. Once the taxes were transferred, it would be a disguised recognition of the legal status of the Jiangdong court.
No matter what the reason, taxes cannot be transferred to Jiangdong.
Zhao Yulin raised his cup to toast Qiao Xingjian, thinking that Qiao was a sensible man. He didn't know whether Zhao Yan was just being foolish or had some other ulterior motive.
But this person actually proposed to transport silver to Jiangdong, which was a very bad conscience.
He said that it was not just the court, Jiangdong had also sent letters to many places in Sichuan and Shu to transfer silver and money, and some local officials were already wavering, weighing whether to export tax silver to Jiangdong.
Qiao Xingjian said in a resolute voice that this trend must not be allowed to continue and these people's evil intentions must be eliminated.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that although the New Song Dynasty was a republic, the local governments had to obey the central government, and the central government was headed by the leader, and a minority of people could not do whatever they wanted.
Qiao Xingjian was very happy and picked up his glass of wine, asking everyone to drink together.
Wuyong smiled and said that the people just hope for peace and prosperity in the country, and the public carriage has been opened.
The academic officials, professors and teachers of the provincial school have been traveling back and forth in horse-drawn carriages. It is very fast and convenient. Thank you, Your Excellency the Commander.
Zhao Feiyan hasn’t told him this yet. Maybe he is still in the probation period.
He said that as long as the gentlemen are satisfied, we need the gentlemen to contribute their efforts in order to make Caotang Academy a first-class university.
Several elderly people said that teaching and educating is the duty of a professor and they will do their best.
Zhao Yulin said goodbye and left happily.
After the three old men sent him out and came back, Zhang Xiangyang said that Yulin must have encountered some troubles. Otherwise, why would he come to drink with us old men when the state affairs were so heavy?
After taking a sip of tea, Qiao Xingjian said, "What else is troubling you? It must be Jiangdong who is causing trouble. He is annoyed by the lobbying letters sent to various places to transfer silver."
There is no need to keep nagging. I think it is very likely that even our academy knows about it. There must be quite a few dignitaries in Shu who have received the letter.
Jiangdong is trying to build momentum. He must be so poor that he has no fur pants to wear and has to come up with such a despicable trick.
Haha, even an old scholar like Wuyong can come up with such a despicable metaphor, which shows his deep disgust for Jiangdong's chaos.
Zhang Xiangyang asked us what to do?
We can't just sit there and do nothing. We have to share some of the worries with him.
Qiao Xingjian twirled his beard and said, "We have the Chengdu Weekly in our hands, so let's start with academic affairs and sort out the affairs of the Chengdu Republic so that people all over the world can see the benefits of the Republic."
The two elders, Wu and Zhang, nodded in agreement and immediately started to make arrangements.
When Zhao Yulin returned to the mansion, the guard at the door said that Lord Li had invited him and that Madam Feiyan had already gone. He immediately got in a carriage and rushed to the government office.
Duan Xiaolin, the King of Zhennan of Dali State, was already sitting in the small hall for foreign affairs reception.
When Li Zhongmian saw him coming, he immediately invited him to sit down. He said that Dali was being attacked by Yue State and requested to send troops for support.
Zhao Yulin was stunned immediately. As Lu Youpeng had said in the letter, the Dali Kingdom actually wanted the New Song Kingdom to send troops to help fight the Dai Viet Kingdom.
Duan Xiaolin stated in a businesslike manner: After Yue State obtained the gunpowder from the upper country, its military strength increased greatly. The Dali State was simply unable to resist and had to ask the upper country to send troops.
Zhao Yulin felt that Dali was threatening New Song.
He was also impartial and said calmly that Yue was also a vassal state of the New Song Dynasty. They were willing to exchange rice for gunpowder ingredients, and there was no reason for the New Song Dynasty to refuse.
He remembered that Xin Song gave the gunpowder formula to Dali for free, and the weapons obtained were also the most advanced, without asking Dali for a penny more.
Duan Xiaolin was speechless. Dali was still borrowing money from New Song in order to arm its new army, and it has not yet repaid the debt.
Zhao Yulin said that Dali could not defeat Yue State, not because Yue State was too strong, but because Dali had too many internal struggles, which greatly consumed its own national strength.
Now that a powerful enemy is attacking, the Dali royal court is looking for an opportunity to consolidate power and should unite to resist the foreign enemy.
The New Song Kingdom will not send troops for the time being, unless the Yue Kingdom attacks Dali Prefecture and Dali Kingdom is facing the danger of national destruction, then it will consider sending troops to help.
Duan Xiaolin was stunned when he heard this, his face turned pale.
He told Li Gong that if Yue came to buy weapons again, we would have to refuse them. Yue had originally agreed to buy weapons just to strengthen its border defense, but now that it had penetrated more than a hundred miles into Dali, it was a blatant invasion and had obviously betrayed the original alliance.
Mr. Li nodded immediately. All these treaty documents between countries had passed through his hands. The old man had considered every word and of course he understood them clearly.
Duan Xiaolin saw that it was impossible to ask the New Song to send troops, so he had to settle for the next best thing and asked the New Song to support them with equipment for 10,000 people. They needed to fight against the Yue Kingdom.
Zhao Yulin still didn't agree to this. He said that when Dali Kingdom got the weapons, it went to war against the New Song Kingdom without any credibility, which made the people of the New Song Kingdom very angry. How long has it been?
Even though he was the commander of the Shenwei Army and a capable official in the Central Council of the New Song Dynasty, he was unable to convince the officials to make this decision.
He suggested to Duan Xiaolin that he should go back and integrate the army of Dali and fight against Yue Kingdom with all his strength. He told Xiaolin to rest assured that the New Song Kingdom was honest and would not take advantage of the situation and stab Dali Kingdom from the back.
This was said intentionally for Duan Xiaolin to hear. He must learn a lesson from it.
Lord Li also said that the two countries had just fought each other, and the smoke of war had only dissipated for half a year. The officials would never agree to support Dali's weapons and military equipment. Returning the taxes of Xinshi to Dali was already the biggest concession.
Duan Xiaolin was very frustrated as he gained nothing from this trip.
He stood up, said goodbye, and went straight to Nanmen Pier for his return journey.
Zhao Feiyan asked Zhao Yulin worriedly whether the son-in-law of the Duan family would be angry.
Zhao Yulin gently tightened his arms around Feiyan's waist and said: He is definitely angry, but he will slowly understand that this is a relationship between two countries and we must follow the rules. It is enough for the New Song Kingdom to promise not to do anything behind their backs, which is the greatest support for them. Dali is not trustworthy, we must teach them a lesson.
When he returned to the government office, Lord Li asked him if he had gone too far.
After all, they are related to Dali. Will it be difficult for me to do things in the future?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said it was okay, he would encounter this disaster sooner or later.
Ding Gong asked him: Do you want to send a batch of weapons to Dali? This will not make things too difficult for me.
He shook his head and said that this trend should not be allowed to continue, Dali must learn to follow the rules, and we have supported them enough. The reason why they cannot defeat Yue State is not because of weapons, but because they are not united. The Gao family and the Chai family have a large number of elite troops, but if they don't go to war at this time, what's the point of keeping private soldiers when the country is gone?
He told the gentlemen: Lord Cao has already gone east, and there is nothing important happening in the court. The weather is hot and humid, and the heat is too strong. He suggested that Lord Ding go to Qingcheng Mountain and stay for two days to avoid the heat.
Mr. Ding knew what Lao Cao was going to do. Zhao Yulin's suggestion that everyone go to Qingcheng Mountain to escape the summer heat was obviously a smokescreen to deceive people.
The old man understood what he meant and agreed immediately, and asked all the officials in the Central Council who were at home to go.
Zhao Yulin immediately asked Chu Yuxuan to find Du Baiyue to make arrangements and dispatch, and to ensure the safety of Qingcheng Mountain.
The next morning, a row of brand new carriages carrying the director and deputy director of the Central Council of the New Song Kingdom left Chengdu's west gate and headed straight for Qingcheng Mountain. In less than half a day, the people of the whole city knew that the king, Lord Ding, was taking his important ministers on a trip.
The group arrived at the Jianfu Palace on Qingcheng Mountain. The Qingcheng faction had already completed the repair and expansion of the palace. Zhao Feiyan moved into the courtyard and said happily that it was really cool and she should call her mother to come along.
Lord Li laughed and said that the princess was really filial. Madam Danfeng had arrived five days ago and was living in the Patriarch's Hall.
Madam Danfeng is Zhao Feiyan's mother Kuang Sisi. This is a nickname given to her by the people of Shu for the convenience of addressing her. It turned out that when Lord Li learned that the Qingcheng Mountain was repaired, he had sent someone to tell Madam Danfeng that she had come up the mountain a long time ago because she was feeling uncomfortable due to the heat.
The girl was happy and was about to go up the mountain to see her mother.
Zhao Yulin said, "Why are you in such a hurry? It's a bit late. Let's go tomorrow." With so many important officials coming to the mountain, Baiyue was very nervous, and the garrison officers and soldiers were scattered everywhere.
If she goes up the mountain so late, I don't know how many brothers will be tired.
After bathing and changing clothes, the gentlemen came to the front hall to have tea. Tianjizi enthusiastically served them the newly made tea of that year. The maid brewed it and brought it to the gentlemen. Lord Ding was in a good mood when he saw the fresh and plump tea leaves, and he tasted them carefully.
Everyone followed and recalled the past and present of Qingcheng tea.
In the south, in the Chen Dynasty of Yue State, the young emperor and a group of ministers were celebrating the victory over the Dali State and firmly grasping the jade mines in the north.
Li Shu, who was on diplomatic missions all year round, was indeed full of worry.
Emperor Chen asked him what was wrong. He should be happy that the army at the front had won the victory and captured the three cities and five fortresses of Dali. Why did he look so sad?
Li Shu reported to him: We have an agreement with the upper country and cannot invade Dali with new weapons. Now the army has crossed the border and entered Dali for hundreds of miles. We should retreat quickly.
All the ministers in the court are quitting. What? They want to return.
How can you spit out the fat meat that is already in your mouth? Isn't that crazy?
Some people suspected that he was a spy and lobbyist of the Dali Kingdom.
The young Emperor Chen said lightly, don't worry, Dali is just a weakling, our army has just won a victory, morale is high, we will stop after we take down their two cities.
By the time the upper country found out, we had already stopped fighting and re-surveyed the border.
Everyone was overjoyed, and the entire court was filled with cheers of "Long live the emperor".
