Chapter Thirty-Five: Youzhou

  After the group of people escaped from the thieves, they quickened their pace and arrived at a post station to rest that night. They reported the incident of being robbed and the murder of all the Liao soldiers who were escorting them to the officials at the post station. The official in charge was shocked by the news and immediately reported it to his superiors. At that time, although the Liao government was corrupt, they attached great importance to the envoys from the Song Dynasty. After all, during the difficult war with the Jin army in the north, the Liao country could not afford to bear the burden of another war with its powerful neighbor in the south. By the next afternoon, Zhang Yu, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Rites, arrived at the post station with 100 cavalrymen and 200 infantrymen to receive and escort the mission team to Youzhou.

  A few days later, the team passed through Zhuozhou and Liangxiang, crossed the Lugou Bridge, and finally arrived at the end of their journey - Youzhou City. On a hill outside the city, Zhou Ping looked at the majestic outline of the city wall of Youzhou with deep emotion as it gradually rose from the horizon.

  "It was here that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was defeated by the Khitan cavalry, losing tens of thousands of soldiers, and even getting shot in the thigh himself, escaping back to Bianjing on a donkey cart!" Zhou Ping muttered to himself, the grand city before him leaving a deep impression. If he were to say that the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng City, gave him an impression of luxury and majesty, similar to a modern metropolis, then the city before him now seemed like a massive fortress, backed by the Yan Mountains, ruling over the vast fertile lands north of the Great River.

  "A deep ditch and dense earthworks, with heavy mountains and winding waters - what a fine and secluded city!" A low, sighing voice came from behind him. Without turning his head, Zhou Ping knew that the speaker was Wen Cheng. Perhaps it was because they had gone through that one difficult experience together, but the usual distance and reserve between them, two people who were still strangers in many ways, had disappeared. The two men both felt a natural sense of closeness to each other. Zhou Ping turned his head, and from the face of almost every member of the diplomatic mission, he saw an expression of melancholy. It seemed that for this city of Youzhou, every Song person harbored a very complex emotion.

  At this point, Zhou Ping finally understood that as a later traveler, it was very difficult for him to truly understand the urgent emotions of the Song people at this time regarding "recovering Yan and Yun". This war was not the result of a small group of close ministers around Emperor Huizong of Song, as explained by the Confucians of later generations. In the Northern Song Dynasty, even if the emperor had great power, he could not drag the entire empire into a difficult war with the Liao State alone, if "recovering Yan and Yun" had become a consensus among all levels of society. Only by living in this society would one understand that the peace between the two countries for over a hundred years was just a thin veil, under which lay the hatred and fear of the Song people for over a hundred years. The annual payment of 50 million silver and silk was not a lot compared to the huge financial income of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the surplus from trade with Liao alone could pay for it, but the shame of paying tribute could not be eliminated; let alone after losing the sixteen states of Yan and Yun, the heartland of the Song Dynasty was under the iron hooves of the Liao army, and the only geographical barrier that could separate Kaifeng from the Liao army was just a river. The emperor's mistake was not that he had rashly launched this war, but that he had lost it.

  "Ah!" Thinking of this, Zhou Ping let out a soft sigh and shifted his gaze to the last carriage. His greatest gain from this trip was inside that carriage - 35 kilograms of gold, which converted to nearly 7,000 guan, enough for him and Yunniang's family to live comfortably for generations to come.

  After returning from this trip to Youzhou, he would bring Yunniang and her family to the southern regions. Famous maritime trade cities like Hangzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou were beckoning to him. With his knowledge that surpassed the times, plus this capital, it wouldn't take ten years for him to own a million guan in assets. In those places, as long as he had money, Arabian horses, Persian dancing girls, carpets, grape wine, sandalwood, and all the luxuries imaginable in ancient society were within his grasp.

  At that time, he would still be under forty years old and could live a life of luxury for at least thirty more years. Even if he wanted to contend for dominance later on, with his financial power, he could establish an army that completely surpassed the times. He had every opportunity to succeed, and even if he failed in the end, he would have already enjoyed everything, without any regrets.

  As he thought of this, a voice with great temptation seemed to echo beside Zhou Ping's ears - "Why not return home? Why not return home?"

  "Ah Ping!" A voice interrupted Zhou Ping's daydream, and he turned his head around in a daze. He saw Xue Liangyu looking at the Youzhou city with great interest, saying: "I wonder how old monk Zhishan is doing now! Didn't he go to Liaodong? It should be that direction, right?" The young man spoke while pointing towards the northeast direction with his horse whip.

  "Ah, probably that direction?" Zhou Ping nodded instinctively, and suddenly a scene flashed through his mind: "Master, although you have become a monk, you still remember national affairs, making this humble person admire you greatly!"

  "I may be a monk, but the food I eat and the clothes I wear, which one can be separated from the offerings of the common people? If I cannot do my part to protect the peace of our village, then it would be in vain for me to have been born as a man!"

  "If I couldn't do my part to protect the safety of our hometown, it would be a waste that I was born as a man!" Zhou Ping unconsciously repeated what Master Zhishan had said that night, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Since he crossed over, if not for Old Man Xue taking him in, he would probably have become a starving corpse by the side of the road. Yet all he could think about was the safety and well-being of one person, at most adding Artisan Nang's daughter and her family to that list. Compared to Master Zhishan, it was simply impossible to measure up.

  "Ah Ping, what's wrong with you? Why are you standing there staring blankly and not responding?" Xue Liangyu's question startled Zhou Ping out of his intense mental struggle. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and forced a smile to cover up: "Nothing, I just remembered that room in Anyang, when I left, there was still one patch on the roof that hadn't been repaired, if it snows heavily, I'm afraid it will collapse."

  "Ah Ping, you're thinking too much!" Xue Liangyu laughed loudly: "Not to mention that Yunniang will definitely take care of the house for you, but this time when you return, you'll be an official anyway, so naturally you'll have a big house built, why would you still want to live in that small one?"

  "That's right!" Zhou Pingqiang laughed twice, covering up the contradictions in his heart. At this time, the group of people had already approached Youzhou City. Only saw that on the high city wall, there were many watchtowers, and outside the city gate, there were military camps and fortresses to protect it. The military camp was fluttering with flags, and the sound of horses neighing could be heard clearly. Apparently, this one of the five capitals of the Great Liao Empire, Guannei Xiongcheng, had also been infected with the atmosphere of war.

  "His Excellency, the Ambassador of Korea!" Zhang Yu, the Liao Dynasty's Minister of Rites, bowed deeply to Han Xiaoji: "Our Great Emperor is not currently in Youzhou City, please allow your esteemed ambassador to rest at Jingguo Temple for a few days!"

  "Thank you, Ambassador Zhang!" Han Xiaoqu returned a courtesy with a proud smile. Before his departure, he had also done some research on the situation in Liao and knew that Buddhism was flourishing there. The Jingguo Temple was one of the most famous temples in Yanjing and had a deep connection with the imperial family of Liao. There were many monks and the environment was beautiful. In the past, only first-class envoys from Song would be arranged to stay here. Today, as a small envoy who was at most third-rate, he could already be arranged to live in such a place. This in itself showed that even before negotiations began, the balance of victory had begun to tilt in his favor.

  After the mission settled down, since they were in Yanjing, the Liao side could no longer use safety as an excuse to prohibit the Song envoys from entering and exiting, and now they couldn't tear their faces apart. So Han Xiaoji immediately ordered Zhou Ping and others to go out and investigate, gathering various intelligence on the Liao-Jin war. By the time they returned to the mission residence that evening, each of them had a joyful expression on their face.

  "Sir, I've heard that the Liao people's strongholds, including Zhongjing and other famous cities, have all been captured by the Jin people. They've lost tens of thousands of soldiers, and the Liao army is already terrified. Not only have many from Bohai and the Jurchen tribes defected to the Jin, but even the four departments led by the Liao emperor's daughter, Guo, and Pishu, have also had many surrender. The 'resentful army' of Liaodong returned to Yan territory, but they are still unstable and causing trouble, making it impossible for Yan to be at peace. Their nobles are divided into two factions, constantly attacking each other day and night. Now it seems that although the Liao country is large, it already has the appearance of collapse!" Wen Cheng's voice was not loud, but deep and powerful, with clear enunciation, and had a stirring effect. Even the bystanders were moved, and Han Xiao's pale face couldn't hide his excited expression. He couldn't help but stand up and repeatedly exclaim: "Unbelievable, unbelievable..."

  "Sir, I have something to say, but I don't know if it's suitable to mention!" Wen Cheng said in a low voice.

  "Lord Wen, please speak!" After experiencing the encounter with the thieves, Han Xiao clearly had a different attitude towards Zhou Ping and Wen Cheng, with a somewhat condescending tone.

  "The Emperor's envoy has come, bearing the imperial edict, demanding that Liao State exempt us from paying 500,000 silver bolts every year and return the sixteen prefectures of Yan and Yun. Now it seems that the 500,000 silver bolts are not a problem, but if the Liao people were to return the sixteen prefectures of Yan and Yun, their capitals would be surrendered to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, and the remaining land would be impossible to survive on its own. If I were the Liao people, I would rather make peace with the Jin dynasty, cede all of Liao's territory to them, and concentrate our forces to fight a decisive battle against our Great Song. Wouldn't that make our Great Song labor in vain, only to have worked for the benefit of the Jin dynasty?"

  "Mr. Wen is absolutely right!" Han Xiao nodded, and Mr. Wen's words had just hit the nail on his mind. In fact, the main reason why the Northern Song Dynasty initially sent a delegation consisting only of low-ranking military officers without any authorization documents to Liaodong was that the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty did not understand or trust the actual strength of the Jin Dynasty at that time. They were unwilling to reveal information before confirming the situation, which would have led to an attack by the Liao people and would have been self-destructive. At that time, the Liao Kingdom had already existed for over a hundred years, with a longer history than the Song Dynasty, and its territory stretched for thousands of miles, with hundreds of thousands of iron cavalrymen, making it the number one power in the world at that time. Its military strength was even stronger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Jin Dynasty had been established for less than ten years, and its population was not as large as that of the Liao army. At that time, people did not think that the Jin could defeat or destroy the Liao Kingdom. After all, the purpose of the alliance between the Song and Jin Dynasties was to use the strength of the Jin Dynasty to restrain the Liao army and assist their own side in recovering Yan Yun, rather than helping the Jin Dynasty eliminate the Liao Kingdom. In this situation, the alliance between the Jin and Song Dynasties actually had a situation where one party took the initiative and the other was passive. From the current situation, the war between the Jin and Liao Dynasties had already begun, and the Song Dynasty occupied a favorable position. However, if the Liao and Jin Dynasties were to stop fighting and reach an agreement, the situation of the "Maritime Alliance" would be reversed, with the Jin people taking the initiative and the Song people being passive.