In Yang Huairen's eyes, Yelu Hongji is a stout man with a square face and big ears.

If he hadn't been wearing a dragon robe, he would not be much different from an old Khitan man commonly seen in the market, and he would not match the rumored majesty and tallness at all, it seems that the emperor of Liao would have enough to blow it.

Yelu Hongji also learned to wear a dragon robe like the Song Dynasty, but the design of the dragon robe is a style of Khitan clothing, although it looks very gorgeous, but the jacket of the fur is embroidered with the pattern of the dragon, which always makes people feel a little strange.

Yelu Hongji is a big bald head, but there are still a few strands of long white hair on the back of his head, and he is not bald, he does not wear a crown, but wears a jade hoop embellished with various precious stones, which is very different from the habits of the emperors of the Song Dynasty.

Although he was over sixty years old, his face was still ruddy, and the beard on his lips and chin was not as white as his hair, and his face was not wrinkled.

It's just that he is old after all, and his whole face looks a little bloated like an old man, and his eyes can't hide the years and vicissitudes he has experienced.

He slowly walked to the dragon chair, lifted the back hem of the placket and sat down straight, before he said loudly, "All the ministers are exempt", and then raised his hands high and made a gesture of asking for it.

The officials shouted "Emperor Xie", got up in unison, and patted their sleeves three times at the same time, and then stood up and listened to Yelu Hongji.

Then Yelu Hongji muttered a lot, and during the period, he was depressed and frustrated, so not majestic. However, what he said was Khitan, and Yang Huairen couldn't understand it, so he could only count people boringly.

Yang Huairen guessed that whether it was the Song Dynasty or the Liao State, the emperor should have roughly the same words at the beginning of this kind of court meeting, anyway, they were all boring and unnutritious clichés and nonsense.

After Yelu Hongji finished speaking, Yang Huairen also counted the number of people standing in the court, plus the envoys who came to meet him, there were more than 640 people in total.

To Yang Huairen's surprise, judging from the clothing, only half of the officials of the Liao State were Khitans, and among the remaining half, eighty percent were Han Chinese, and the rest were officials from other tribes.

He had to sigh, the old emperor Yelu Hongji still lived quite clearly, although the Liao State was a country established by the Khitans, but he knew that the Khitans would not govern the country, so a large number of Han officials were used.

It is no wonder that the Han people in the territory of Liao, but anyone who has a little property, status or literary talent, can be mixed with an official position, and there is no way to complain that they have a greater sense of identity with the Khitan Emperor.

Today's court meeting was specially convened to allow Yelu Hongji to meet with the envoys of various countries, so he did not deal with any internal affairs of the Liao State.

The ceremony was also very simple, Yang Huairen was the first to come forward to present the letter of state, and after a Han official from the Ministry of Rites of Liao State took it, he handed it to a chamberlain in front of the warm pavilion, and then the chamberlain conveyed it to Yelu Hongji.

Yelu Hongji looked at the national letter in a similar way, and then muttered a lot, Xiao Lao'er stood behind Yang Huairen and translated at any time, but the two old guys said that they were fast, and Yang Huairen didn't pay attention to listening, anyway, it was just polite words such as the two countries being brothers, and friendship from generation to generation.

Yang Huairen calculated in his heart, Yelu Hongji officially received him, it took nearly ten minutes, thinking that there were dozens or hundreds of envoys from all walks of life behind him, and sighed in his heart, this first afternoon is going to be in a daze here.

In fact, as Yang Huairen expected, each envoy who submitted the credentials next, although the time was slightly shorter than the time to meet Yang Huairen, the Song envoy, was about five minutes.

In this way, by the time Yelu Hongji had finished meeting with everyone, the sky outside the main hall had already changed from gray in the early morning to clear at noon.

Yang Huairen felt tired when he stood on the side, although Yelu Hongji was sitting, he also moved his butt slightly from time to time at this time, and it seemed that his butt was numb from sitting down.

Yang Huairen held back a smile, and when he saw that the last representative of the tribe was received, and thought that it could finally be over, Yelu Hongji ordered a few words from a eunuch next to him, and the eunuch took out a long scroll, stepped forward and read it aloud.

Yang Huairen was a little confused, so he secretly asked Xiao Lao'er, "What is this reading?" It's almost noon, even if we are not thirsty or hungry, the old Khitan emperor should be hungry, right? ”

Xiao Lao'er also explained softly, "Yang Jungong, this is the last ceremony to receive the envoys of various countries, it is the Khitan Emperor who instructed the eunuchs to issue tributes to various countries, and a gift list that he gave back to all countries and ministries. ”

"Oh," Yang Huairen suddenly thought of something, "Is there a return gift here?" ”

Old Xiao said, "That's nature. Envoys from other countries come to our Great Song Dynasty to meet the emperor, and our officials will also issue a list of tributes and a list of gifts as usual to show the etiquette of a great country.

But ......."

Yang Huairen realized that Xiao Lao'er still had something to say, so he asked urgently, "But what?" But it doesn't hurt for you to say it. ”

Xiao Lao'er hesitated slightly, and saw that although everyone in the hall was listening carefully, in fact, everyone was tired from standing all morning, and it was estimated that they all looked like they were standing up straight to protect themselves, and their minds were not on this at all, and most of them were so delirious that they couldn't go back.

Only then did he whisper, "The first one on this gift list is to read the return gift to our Song Dynasty, but this return gift is too far from the New Year's coin we paid tribute, alas, ......"

Yang Huairen asked again, "What do you mean?" You made it clear. ”

Old Man Xiao chuckled and said, "Our Great Song Dynasty, no matter what small country or small state it is, as long as it comes to pay tribute to our official family, our official family will double the value of the items they pay tribute to them, so as to show that our Great Song Dynasty is rich and prosperous......

Yang Huairen interjected, "Cut, our officials and those ministers have a good face!" ”

"Yes, yes, what Yang Jungong said is very true."

Xiao Laoqi'er is an official of Honglu Temple, so he naturally knows that Da Song is face-loving, but he doesn't dare to say it, Yang Huairen is stunned, no one will care if he says this kind of thing, Xiao Laoqi'er just smiled and agreed.

"But how to say it, it is also our Song Dynasty that has the bearing. But the Khitan Emperor has studied Song etiquette for so long, but it really comes to real money, but it is exposed, and they are very picky.

Just like the past I just recited, the return gift to our Song Dynasty envoys is ......"

"What are you talking about, say it quickly!"

"It is 100 heads of cattle and sheep, 300 skins, 50 furs, 20 Dongzhu, and 20 catties of ginseng, deer antler and Ganoderma lucidum."

"Gone?"

"No ......"

"Your grandma's!"