To The Land of Nevernight

At the end of October, Zhao Fu fell ill again and cut off the early court.

Qin Tianjian Supervisor Li Xiaoren and Monk Shanting prayed for the emperor every day in the Funing Palace. In the palace, you can see the bull-nosed Taoist priests in Taoist robes and the bald monks in monk clothes everywhere.

This time, Zhao Fu's illness was severe, except for a few first-rank ministers, all other officials disappeared.Not to mention Tang Shen, even Su Wenyun couldn't meet Zhao Fu.

One day, when Tang Shen returned home from Yushitai, he saw Lin accountant, Yao San and Tang Juan reconciling the account books.

When the three of them saw Tang Shen, they immediately gave him the ledger to read.Tang Shen casually flipped through the pages, and was surprised to find that this quarter's profit was nearly [-]% higher than usual.He called Don Juan into the study room, and after careful inquiry, he found out that the extra [-]% income was not due to the increase in total income, but the decrease in costs.

"I always think that the biggest business of our family is Zhenbao Pavilion. Now Xixialou has opened stores in Gusu, Jinling and Shengjing, and there is also a branch in Shengjing. But Zhenbao Pavilion is different from Xixialou , It is very difficult to open Zhenbao Pavilion in other places, and only in Shengjing can there be so many customers. How to reduce the cost, I thought for a long time, thinking that it is better to hire more people. "

Tang Shen already understood what his sister was doing, but he still asked, "If you hire more people, won't the commission be more?"

Tang Juan: "But the efficiency will also increase." She took an abacus, fiddled with it a few times, and showed it to Tang Shen: "Take the Liuli Workshop as an example. Usually, we have tried to divide the work among the craftsmen. But for example, let a craftsman take care of all the work of preparing raw materials. Although he does a lot of work, he can only make one bucket of materials a day. If one craftsman is asked to grind ink Lingzi stone, one craftsman is responsible for mixing materials, and one craftsman is responsible for inspection According to the ratio, the three of them can make three barrels of materials per day. The profit is much more than the wages for three craftsmen."

The 16-year-old Tang Juan has grown into a big girl now, and she can no longer see the fierce appearance of protecting the fruit juice and fighting off the local ruffians when she was in Zhaojia Village.But Tang Shen looked at his younger sister, but felt that she had become stronger.

After a long silence, Tang Shen asked, "Did you find what Brother Yao was looking for earlier?"

Tang Juan said helplessly: "No. I'm afraid the Song Dynasty is gone, or no one has discovered it. I have to go to the Liao Kingdom to find it."

The two brothers and sisters talked for a while, then said good night, and parted ways.

Naturally, Tang Shen would not tell Tang Juan that he had planted spies in the Liao Kingdom, in fact, this is not considered a private use.Qiao Jiu was originally a businessman, so it would not take much trouble for him to find things in Liao Kingdom, but Tang Shen didn't intend to do so.

However, Tang Shen did not expect that he and Tang Juan only talked about Liao Kingdom tonight, and the next morning, an urgent secret report from [-] Li arrived in Shengjing.

The official who delivered the letter ran away and killed two fast horses, and sent the secret report into the palace exhausted.In the afternoon of that day, Tang Shen and Su Wenyun received a secret letter from Wang Xiao.There was only a short sentence in their hearts, but when the two saw the letter, they became horrified and looked at each other in disbelief.

The next day, things could no longer be hidden.

Three days ago, in the Dading Mansion in Shangjing, Princess Anding committed adultery with Yelu Longzhen, the fourth prince of the Liao Kingdom, and was caught by the Liao Emperor on the spot.Yelulong was really demoted from the palace, and Princess Anding was beaten to death with a hundred lashes by the Emperor Liao.Then Emperor Liao launched an attack on the Song Dynasty and sent a mission, which will arrive in Shengjing soon.

Princess Anding is the one whom Zhao Fu sent to Liao Kingdom to marry her a year ago.

The Ninth Prince had passed away for many years, and the princess in the palace had been neglected by Zhao Fu all the year round. The only time Zhao Fu remembered it was to send her to the Liao Kingdom to get married.Zhao Fu bestowed on her the title of Princess and the title "An Ding". Who would have thought that she would become stable this time, and cause such a catastrophe.

Zhao Fu was still sick and unable to go to court, but he summoned a few princes into the palace and talked for a long time in Funing Palace.

Zuo Xiang Ji Wengji walked out of the palace gate of Funing Palace. He stood outside the palace gate, raised his head, and stared at the vast blue sky.Right Prime Minister Wang Quan walked past him, stopped, and asked, "What is Ji Xiang looking at?"

Ji Wengji withdrew his gaze: "Just looking at it casually, Wang Xiang doesn't need to care."

Behind the two, Chen Linghai, Xu Wei and others also walked out of the palace gate together.

Ji Wengji heaved a long sigh and left with a flick of his sleeves.

That night, Tang Shen and Su Wenyun entered the palace together and reported to the emperor the truth about Princess Anding's fornication in the harem of the Liao Kingdom.

Zhao Fu lay on the pillow, slightly closed his eyes, and listened to Tang Shen's words.

After Tang Shen finished speaking, his voice was low and hoarse, with a slight sickness: "According to Jingze, my niece may not have really done anything. There is no reason to blame her. She just An excuse for some people to get rid of the four princes of the Liao Kingdom?"

Tang Shen was silent and didn't say anything.

Zhao Fu: "Feiran, what do you think?"

Su Wenyun lowered his beautiful peach eyes, bowed his head and saluted, and said bluntly: "Princess Anding is my princess of Song Dynasty, did she really do something she shouldn't do, except for the dead princess herself and the maid who was given to death, Only the fourth prince who was demoted as a commoner knew about it. The facts are meaningless, I think that the envoy of the Liao Kingdom will come to Beijing two days later, which is the most important thing."

Zhao Fu closed his eyes and said in a soft voice: "The emperor of the Liao Kingdom had only four princes in total, and now one is gone, leaving only three. This is the same as me."

Tang Shen and Su Wenyun bowed their heads in silence.

Two days later, the Liao envoy arrived in Beijing.

Zhao Fu still failed to go to court, and this time the task of receiving the envoys from the Liao Kingdom fell on Meng Lang, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.Fortunately, the Liao emperor did not send his princes to accompany him this time, so the three princes of the Song Dynasty were not in Beijing, so there was no need to rush back to receive the Liao envoy.

Tang Shen was naturally inserted into the mission by Zhao Fu'an, and because Su Wenyun had shown his face in the Liao country, on the day the Liao mission arrived in Beijing, he was sick at home and never went out again.

The Liao envoy came this time, even more arrogantly than a year ago.

A year ago, the Liao Kingdom relied on its strong soldiers and horses. It was obvious that it took the initiative to attack Youzhou City, but it was blamed on Da Song.That time they were not justified.Now they have a proper reason. The incident of Princess Anding made the Liao Emperor furious. When the Liao envoys saw Meng Lang, they angrily scolded: "Song people, is this how you apologize to others! No wonder there are people who are so obscene. Princess, Song people's behavior is disgusting!"

After Song officials heard this, it was difficult to decide which one was not frightened and angry, but Liao envoys were so arrogant that even Meng Lang couldn't do anything against them.

Meng Lang tried his best to appease the Liao envoys, and only waited for Zhao Fulong to recover before greeting him and asking how to deal with this errand.

After seeing off those scolding Liao envoys that day, Meng Lang returned to Qinzheng Hall, he sighed and said, "What should I do!"

Tang Shen followed behind him, he could only lower his head, feeling very helpless in his heart.

The next day, Tang Shen was free and went with Meng Lang to the posthouse to receive the Liao envoy.

This time the Liao envoy to the Song Dynasty did not have Yeluqin, but another tall and thin southern official named Xiao Zhang.Xiao Zhang uttered evil words to Meng Lang, completely ignoring this second-rank official.Meng Lang had been sullen for a long time, after Xiao Zhang made trouble again, Meng Lang smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said, "Dare to ask Liao envoy, where is Princess Anding of Song Dynasty now?"

Xiao Zhang was stunned for a moment, and said: "The princess who is promiscuous in the harem has already been beaten to death by my Emperor Daliao and thrown out of the palace."

Meng Lang took a step forward and said angrily, "My princess of the Great Song Dynasty, is someone else free to deal with it? Even if she married into the Liao Kingdom and committed a serious crime, she should be handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice of the Great Song Dynasty for trial. No matter what , why don’t you see the fairy body of the princess? You can’t hear people, you can’t see the corpse when you die, and Emperor Liao prevaricates it by saying ‘the princess is promiscuous in the harem’, how can there be such a reason in this world!”

Xiao Zhang: "You...!"

Meng Lang said: "I will take my leave first, and hope that the Liao envoy will explain the matter in detail tomorrow." After speaking, he left with a flick of his sleeve.

Song officials also left the post house with Meng Lang. When they left, they gave these Liao envoys a hard look and let out a bad breath.

Tang Shen also imitated their appearance, pretending to relieve his anger, and scanned the dozen or so Liao envoys in the posthouse.Suddenly, his eyes stopped for a moment on a young man behind Xiao Zhang.After Meng Lang walked away with a flick of his sleeve, Xiao Zhang lowered his head and whispered something in the young man's ear.

This was not a strange thing, but Tang Shen always felt that Xiao Zhang seemed to be asking that person's opinion.

This scene is very familiar. After Tang Shen returned home, he thought about it, and suddenly a flash of light flashed in his mind——

Half a year ago, he went to Liao Kingdom in private, wasn't that what Qiao Jiu looked like when he talked to him!

Tang Shen suddenly had a thought, and in the darkness of night, he quietly came to Su Wenyun's residence.When Su Wenyun saw him, he first teased: "Master Tang came to the humble house, which really made me shine. How can I invite you to come and visit me?"

Tang Shen straight to the point told the man he saw in the posthouse and his own speculation.

Su Wenyun's face changed, he thought for a moment, and asked: "There are very few young high-ranking officials in the Liao Kingdom. The Liao envoy Xiao Zhang is already considered a third-rank high-ranking official in the Liao Kingdom, and none of the Liao officials with a higher rank than him is under 30 years old. .This person is definitely not a Liao official."

The two looked at each other.

Tang Shen: "Which prince is it?"

Su Wenyun: "You describe that person's appearance."

Tang Shen: "Fair skin, handsome appearance, not as tough and strong as other Liao officials, but somewhat like our Song Dynasty literati. However, this person has a sinister temperament, and there is a bit of fierceness in his brows that has not been hidden. Think about it There's a lot of blood on your hands."

Su Wenyun was stunned for a moment, then sneered and said, "Nine out of ten, this person is the second prince of the Liao Kingdom, Brother Yelushe!"

Tang Shen said quickly, "Why did he come here?"

Su Wenyun pondered for a long time, then raised his head and asked, "You said earlier that the Liao envoys came to Beijing to attack the Song Dynasty who sent Princess Anding to the Liao Kingdom. Besides, what other demands did they make?"

"It's nothing more than land cession and compensation. Naturally, cession of land is impossible, and the issue of compensation is still under discussion. Other than that..." After a pause, Tang Shen said, "The Liao Kingdom wants to marry another princess!"

Brother Yelushe secretly came to Shengjing, so it has something to do with the princess whom Emperor Liao wanted to marry again?

Tang Shen couldn't figure it out, and Su Wenyun couldn't figure it out either.

However, when Tang Shen was about to leave, Su Wenyun said: "By the way, Master Tang, Master Meng showed great power in the post house today, so you are not afraid of Liao envoys anymore?"

Tang Shen was startled.When he talked to Su Wenyun just now, he didn't mention what happened in the posthouse today at all.

Tang Shen remained silent, and Su Wenyun already knew the answer by looking at his expression.He said disdainfully, "Aren't you wondering why?"

Tang Shen: "Why?"

"A year ago, Meng Lang suddenly gained confidence because someone sneaked back to Shengjing and supported him. What else can he do now?" Su Wenyun snorted coldly, "Someone quietly came back again. "