"Withdraw."

In the palace, in the Chongzheng Palace, the official Zhao Xu still couldn't raise his appetite for a table of delicacies from the mountains and seas, and he didn't want to go to the harem to face a group of stunning beauties - the most painful thing in life is definitely not that there is no deliciousness, no Yan Ruyu.

And I can't eat anything, and I can't use Yan Ruyu...... Moreover, what makes Zhao Xu even more depressed is that he is only in his twenties this year!

The most exciting time of his life has just begun, and he is still the emperor that everyone wants to be, why is it almost gone? Why can't you eat good things and don't need Yan Ruyu? People still want to be promiscuous for decades!

"Your Majesty, ...... tonight"

Yang Jian, the eunuch who was serving Zhao Xu, almost stepped forward to ask, asking Zhao Xu if he wanted to hold the hand of that lady!

This thing is really looking for a lot! But when he ate this line of food, he had to ask hard. Fortunately, the officials of the Great Song Dynasty are all kind-hearted, even if they are annoyed, they will not kill people to vent their anger, at most, they will suffer before going to the Northwest Army, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and they may make meritorious contributions.

"Go to the Queen," Zhao Xu said, "and I'll go later." ”

"Whoa."

Yang Jian let out a sigh, and just wanted to go to deliver the decree, but was stopped by Zhao Xu again.

"Are Li Zhong and Tong Guan in the palace?"

"Yes."

"Let them come to the Chongzheng Palace."

"Whoa."

Li Zhong and Tong Guan were both internal officials who had been to Liao not long ago. Among them, Tong Guan came back relatively early, and did not participate in the later Cheongju meeting. However, Zhao Xu did not let him be idle, but made him an internal official of the Guoxin Office, and also put him in charge of contact with the Bohai people.

Li Zhong, on the other hand, stayed in Xijin Mansion for a long time, and was also responsible for discussing the affairs of Jiehe Shang City with the Liao State, and did not return to Kaifeng Mansion until the completion of the "Qingzhou Meeting".

Today is the day when Li Zhong returns to Kaifeng Mansion, and unlike Zhang Shangying, Zhang Shuye, and Wu Haogu, who went back to their homes first, Li Zhong went directly to the palace and waited for the emperor to summon him. And Tong Guan also realized for the first time that the emperor might ask him for questions today, so he also stayed with Li Zhong in the Hanlin Painting Academy near the Chongzheng Palace.

Therefore, Yang Jian quickly brought the two into the Chongzheng Palace, and after saluting, they were summoned by the emperor to the front of the case.

The dining table in front of Zhao Xu had already been withdrawn, and it was replaced with a royal case full of concerts, from which he picked out a piece of music with a yellow note and handed it to Li Zhong.

"This is the last piece you sent me when you were in Cheongju." Zhao Xu's fingers unconsciously tapped on the imperial case, "You said in the chapter that the Liao people think that as long as the Jiehe Shang City can flourish, Song Liao will become a brotherly state?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is the true words confided by Xiao Baoxian, the envoy of the Liao State, at the banquet. He said that our Great Song Dynasty is equivalent to putting a box of money on the border for them to take care of by the Liao State, and it is not a brotherly state, so it will never do anything. ”

"Do you think that makes sense?" Zhao Xu asked.

"There is some truth," Li Zhong said, "that there are indeed advantages and disadvantages to this river market...... Although the great prosperity of the Shang market is conducive to our dynasty to hoard the soldiers and food needed to attack the Liao and gather the people, but at the same time, once the Shang market is broken by the Liao people first, I am afraid that it will play the role of the enemy. And ......"

Seeing that Li Zhong wanted to speak and stopped, Zhao Xu said: "If you have something to say, just say it, I am not a person who can't listen to the truth." ”

"Whoa." Li Zhong paused and said, "And the one who can get a lot of profit from the Jiehe Commercial Market must be the pro-noble and wealthy people of Kaifeng Mansion...... Will they approve of the Liao Song provocation? ”

That's a bit of a dampening!

Although the Jiehe Commercial Market was established by the New Party, there is no doubt that those who can invest money in the commercial market are the supporters of the old party - the supporters of the old party have money! The foundation of the old party was originally the northern wealthy scholars who fused with Kaifeng Jiangmen and the rich. Not only did they own a large amount of land, but they also accumulated a huge fortune through running a business, and only they could afford to invest in the Jiehe Commercial Market.

And the political philosophy of the old party is very clear, that is, to make less trouble and live in peace and stability - most of them are northerners, and the imperial court provoked the Liao people or to prevent the Liao "Four Changes" and "Five Changes" Yellow River, and they are the unlucky ones! So they are definitely anti-war!

In other words, the Jiehe Commercial Market, which was built for the Liao War, will eventually be controlled by the supporters of the old party who oppose the Liao!

"What about Wu Haogu?" Zhao Xu asked, "Will he oppose the war of Liao?" ”

"Your Majesty," Tong Guan replied after taking the question, "Wu Haogu has always been against the Liao War. ”

"How so? Ma Zhi didn't he bring Kaifeng Mansion? Mr. Murong was also brought by him. ”

"Your Majesty, Wu Haogu, Ma Zhi and Mr. Murong all believe that the Liao State will perish." Tong Guan said, "They just advocate that there should be a move when the Liao State is destroyed, and they should have Yanyun in preparation for the newly rising Hulu."

If the Liao lord could make great efforts to govern and rejuvenate the country, they would not advocate the destruction of Liao. ”

"Can the Liao Kingdom be revitalized?" Zhao Xu asked.

"I can't." Li Zhong replied, "One hundred thousand palace tent soldiers can't help a Mogusi, and the general trend of the Liao State has gone." Now just wait for the female straight and the Goryeo to divide the victory, and the Liao State will be attacked on both sides. ”

"The Liao people only have 100,000 elites available?"

"There are 200,000!" Tong Guan replied, "According to Mr. Murong, what the Liao State can fight is 100,000 palace tent soldiers plus a maximum of 100,000 tribal soldiers...... These 200,000 soldiers are the foundation of the Liao people. However, now the palace tent soldiers are pampered and weak, and the tribal soldiers are tired and tired, and they are no longer as brave as they used to be.

Moreover, the Khitan and Xi people worship Buddha too much, so that the number of descendants is reduced and the ferocity is insufficient. That's why the battle of the North will be invincible for a long time. If there is a strong country in the east, the Khitan and Xi people will inevitably die. At that time, there will be no question of whether to restore Yanyun or not. ”

In the face of the situation of the collapse of the Khitan country, no matter the new party or the old party, they cannot sit idly by. Because if the Great Song Dynasty takes down Yanyun and turns back to replace the fierce Hu Lu who has just risen into the master, does the Great Song Dynasty still want to have a stable life? People don't know that there is an alliance of the abyss!

"What about aiding Liao?" Zhao Xu suddenly asked, "At that time, some people may want to aid Liao for comfort and wealth, right?" ”

Tong Guan and Li Zhong had no way to answer Zhao Xu's question. Because Zhao Xu was talking about what was behind him...... If he was still alive, those wealthy businessmen in Kaifeng Mansion would not dare to promote aid to Liao for the sake of wealth and immediate comfort.

But if he is gone, especially the old man of Zhang Dun is also gone. I am afraid that the old party of Kaifeng Mansion will collude with the mercenary businessmen to sabotage the imperial court's plan to destroy Liao.

There was silence in the Chongzheng Palace, and I don't know how long it took before I heard Zhao Xu sigh: "The merchant market cannot be completely controlled by merchants, there must be a court...... No, there must be people in the palace. ”

In the palace?

Tong Guan and Li Zhong glanced at each other, as if they didn't understand what Zhao Xu meant.

Zhao Xu seemed to be talking to himself, and said in a low voice: "Do you want to set up a bureau in Jiehe Business City?" Specially collected medicinal herbs, royal horses, fat sheep, and jade for the palace...... It also entered the last share of the Jiehe Chamber of Commerce. He suddenly raised his eyelids and looked at Li Zhong and Tong Guan in front of him, "Which of you is going to show me the Jiehe Commercial Market?" ”

……

"Republican ......"

Zhang Dian was also talking to Zhang Shangying in his house at this time, and when he mentioned the republic of "business and city republic", Prime Minister Zhang couldn't help but shake his head.

Of course, he knew the origin of the word "republic", which was the history of King Zhou Li being expelled by the countrymen and ruling by Zhao Mugong and Zhou Dinggong for 14 years.

In other words, the world is not ruled by the Son of Heaven, but is jointly administered by two ministers, and most of them also give those who commit rebellion the right to discuss politics. This is the Republic!

In the "Cheongju Covenant", the word republic was actually used after the commercial market.

"Xianggong," Zhang Shangying understood Zhang Dian's thoughts very well, so he also frowned and said, "Xia Guan also knows that these two words are inappropriate, but he can't find a more appropriate word than the republic to reflect the governance of Jiehe Shang City."

This Jiehe Shang City is not owned by my Great Song family, and the imperial court naturally cannot appoint officials to govern it, otherwise the Liao people will not agree. But the Shang market is not the Liao people who have the final say, so I will not agree. But at the same time, the commercial market is not jointly managed by both parties...... If the commercial market is jointly managed, we will not be able to control the situation.

So Wu Haogu proposed this republican ...... It is the shareholders of the Chamber of Commerce who discuss the implementation of a management yamen. Because there are many rich people in the court, most of the shareholders of the chamber of commerce must be our people, so the name of the merchant market is the republic, and in fact, it still listens to the imperial court. Just like the Western Zhou Republic, didn't it return to the king in the end? ”

It's not the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the word republic is not so negative...... Not only is it not negative, but it is also relatively positive. After all, the result of the Western Zhou Republic was still attributed to the king. Wu Haogu's use of the word "republic" to describe the political system of the Shang market also seems to indicate that the Shang market will eventually belong to the Song Dynasty, which is not wrong.

It's just that Wu Haogu is a mercenary businessman, isn't this ability a little bigger? Is it really good to give him the business market?

"It's nothing more than one more general." Zhang Shangying saw Zhang Dan's thoughts, and said with a smile, "What Wu Haogu wants is nothing more than to be able to seal a noble official after Pingliao and Yan are restored in the future, even if he is given as a festival envoy?" There are so many generals in Kaifeng Mansion, and there are not many of his families. ”

Of course, the jiedu envoy that Zhang Shangying said is not the kind of jiedu envoy who supports the military base, but the rank of a military attaché, and the rank of the lieutenant and below is the jiedu envoy. Wu Haogu is now a military attaché, and he should be satisfied if he can become a festival envoy in the future.

Don't say that the civil officials of the Great Song Dynasty like to bully martial artists, the civil officials of the Great Song Dynasty only bullied martial artists like Di Qing who started from the lonely cold. Wu Haogu was born in a wealthy businessman, and his younger brother Wu Haowen saw that he was a jinshi, and it seemed that he was still married to the Han family in Xiangzhou. So who is bullying him, a martial artist? My own people! And Wu Haogu will not really lead troops to fight, he is just a general who does business and engages in logistics and relations, who would suspect him of rebellion? It's not like to say it, now Kaifeng is full of this kind of gate, if it will rebel against the Great Song Dynasty, it will be gone.