Yang Zhi smiled slightly, Bi Fakang stood up and said respectfully: "Ahmad Khan, the Great Khan of the Eastern Qarakhanid, died half a year ago, and his son Ibrahim Khan was the one who was unpopular with the rebellion, causing the Kangli and Qarluq people to rebel, and was forced to invite the Liao State to send troops to help quell the rebellion. Yelu Dashi led his army and quickly pacified Kangli and Qarluq, and reduced the Eastern Qarakhanid State to vassals, and ceded its northern Xinjiang as a territory directly under the Liao State. ”

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, when the Uighurs moved westward, one of them, under the leadership of the Khan Pang Teqin, went west to the Qarluq tribe in the Chu River region, conquered the Qarluq and other Uighur tribes, and established the Qarakhanid Dynasty. Historically, it was by annexing the Eastern Qarakhanid State that the Western Liao was able to expand its strength and conquer the Western Regions.

Yang Zhi and Fan Shiyan immediately understood that vassals and vassal states were two different things, and the Western Xia respected the Great Song as the suzerain, but the war never stopped for more than a hundred years; in the same way, the Great Song Dynasty did not want to completely destroy the Western Xia, but to turn the Western Xia into a vassal to be taken and taken. As for Yelu Dashi's behavior of cutting the land, it was a signal that Yelu Dashi wanted to get involved in the Western Regions, and Gao Changguo couldn't help but be vigilant.

Yang Zhi nodded and said, "Two questions, do you want to fight or negotiate with Yelu Dashi, why did you come to us instead of Western Xia?"

Bi Fakang showed a knowing smile and said: "It will take at least five or six years for the Liao State to annex the Eastern Qarakhanid State, and it will take even longer to fight Gaochang, and we are only taking precautions now; as for asking for advice from the Great Song Dynasty, it is because the Western Xia wants to annex us more than the Liao State, and we don't want to resist the tiger at the front door and welcome the wolf at the back door." ”

Bi Fakang is a smart person, and he knows from Yang Zhi's question that there is no possibility of deceiving Yang Zhi, so he simply said it openly, just turning asking for help into asking for advice, and saving some face for himself and Gao Changguo. Yang Zhi recalled the information he had collected and the information brought by the crossing, and said: "Gaochang Kingdom has always taken the Great Song Dynasty as its suzerain, so there is naturally no problem in asking for advice, and I can tell you my opinion on this matter now."

Unless the Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty, it is impossible for my brother Yelu Dashi to conquer the Jin Kingdom eastward, so he must develop westward. But you still have time to make a choice, one is to keep in touch with our Great Song Dynasty, the other is to form a group alliance in the Western Regions, and in my opinion, the second method is more difficult, because the countries in the Western Regions now have different beliefs and regard each other as enemies, especially when the Eastern Qarakhanid State has submitted to the Liao State, and there are few countries that can stand with Gaochang. ”

Fan Shiyan was amazed by Yang Zhi's understanding of the Western Regions, and immediately realized that Bi Fakang actually had the only way to ask the Great Song Dynasty for help; Bi Fakang did not feel embarrassed, but said happily: "My lord is reasonable, but the Great Song Dynasty and Gaochang are thousands of miles apart, and the far water cannot solve the near fire, so I wonder if the Great Song Dynasty has any plans to develop westward?"

It is really not easy to be a person who can lobby as a special envoy, Bi Fakang is testing Yang Zhi's hole card, Yang Zhi said with a smile: "There is little point in talking about the army on paper, we are now resuming the trade route from Qinzhou to Gaochang first, you still have at least ten years, you can prepare in advance;

Bi Fakang hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "According to what the adults said, from now on, we will send people to the Great Song Dynasty every year to pay tribute." ”

Yang Zhi said appreciatively: "The envoy is indeed old, you see that this is feasible, I will arrange for you to go to Taiyuan tomorrow to see King Yun, and then ask King Yun to arrange for you to go to Runzhou to meet the saint." ”

"That's the best. As a politician, Bi Fakang naturally understood what Yang Zhi meant by letting him go to see Zhao Kai, Yang Zhi was Zhao Kai's subordinate, no matter how this matter works, it must be agreed by Zhao Kai, the king of Yun, so Bi Fakang agreed very simply.

Yang Zhi returned to the Zhifu Division and immediately convened a meeting of the officials in Qinzhou, and a special conference table was placed in the conference hall according to Yang Zhi's idea, and everyone sat down around the conference table, except for the two officials who specialized in making records and Cai Qing, everyone's entourage stayed outside the conference hall. The room was arranged by Cai Qing, with orchids and plum blossoms, which looked a little stylish, and Yang Zhi praised Cai Qing: "I am getting better and better at doing things, which makes me realize that I am still from a Jinshi." ”

Quan Bangyan and Fan Shiyan laughed, the two of them were born as true scholars, and they understood the meaning of self-deprecation in Yang Zhi's words, and other people's feelings may not be very deep;

Yang Zhi asked Fan Shiyan to introduce the matter of Bi Fakang and Gao Changguo, which would inevitably have a major impact on the political situation of the Great Song Dynasty and the northwest, and Qinzhou must have corresponding countermeasures to deal with this sudden change. After a year of running-in on Gyeonggi Road, everyone has become accustomed to it, no matter what kind of person comes from, as long as there is something to discuss in Yang Zhi's team, the agreed things must be implemented without hindrance.

After Fan Shiyan finished his introduction, he looked at Yang Zhi and said, "My lord, we can ignore this matter, the Western Regions are too far away." ”

This is not Fan Shiyan's problem alone, but the evil result of the entire Great Song Dynasty civil official system, so even if he is a person with a halo like Sima Guang, when he presided over the government, he returned thousands of miles of land such as Hehuang and Yinzhou to the Western Xia in one go, because he was worried about the uncertainty of the war in the future, and worried that unexpected circumstances would affect the liquidation of the faction of the reform of the law in the DPRK.

Yang Zhi smiled and said: "The key is that this is ten years later, let's estimate, where will we be in ten years?"

Ten years later, Fan Shiyan's face couldn't help but change greatly, according to the personalities of Zhao Kai and Yang Zhi, he would never give up until he achieved his goal, and after ten years, it would be nothing more than three results, one was that two people were defeated and died or fled for their lives, and the other was that Zhao Kai had recovered Hebei and ascended the throne as emperor; and the biggest possibility was that Song Huizong was in power, Song and Jin were still facing each other, and the Dingbei Army was dominating Guanzhong, including Chang'an, so there was a high probability that Zhao Kai would be in charge of the affairs of the Western Regions.