Xu Zizhen's guess was correct. The old fox Xia Chongzong was now facing an extremely difficult situation.
Xixia was originally surrendered to the Liao Kingdom, but with the decline of the Liao Dynasty and the rise of the Jin Kingdom, the direction of Xixia has slowly turned. In these years, Chongzong has always appeared as an old fool and a confused king, and he has no power in the court.
It all fell into the hands of the Xiao family, so the idea of surrendering to the Jin Kingdom was naturally promoted by Master Xiao.
Chongzong did not object, but surrendered to the Jin Kingdom obediently, because the time had not come yet, so he could only endure it, but what happened next was somewhat beyond his expectation. When the Jin Kingdom declared war on Daliao, it sent
Envoys came to Xixia and asked Xixia to send troops to the Song Dynasty border. Because Song and Liao had an alliance agreement, this could restrict the Song Dynasty from taking action.
It's just that the intention of the Kingdom of Jin was to contain the Song army, but they didn't expect that Taishi Xiao would directly order the attack on Lanzhou. The Kingdom of Jin didn't mind this. Anyway, their target was only the Liao Dynasty, and Song Xia was no match for them whether they fought or not.
It has nothing to do with it, but it has a completely different meaning to Chongzong.
It is conceivable that Xixia had to assist the Jin Kingdom in marching north to attack the Liao Dynasty, while at the same time it had to be distracted from attacking the Song Dynasty. At the same time, it had to be careful not to lose too much, lest the country's vitality be seriously damaged in the future and be occupied by the Jin Kingdom or the Song Dynasty.
Cheap.
This is only part of the crisis on the surface, but there is a greater difficulty for Chongzong, and that is the Xiao family.
Xu Zizhen was right about one more thing. The death of the Xixia Crown Prince was like a fuse, quickly igniting the beginning of the dispute in the Xixia Palace, because Empress Xiao did have a son. With her means and status, and the entire
With the support of the huge Xiao family, the new crown prince's position is inevitable, even if her son is only four years old.
There are some things that even Yu Qi doesn't know, such as Li Luoyan's current safety issue. The Xiao family is going all out to fight for the position of the heir apparent. How can they have time to take care of her, the Yeluzi princess who has been away from home for many years?
It's not surprising that Chongzong would seek peace and a truce, but why didn't even the Xiao family object this time? Could it be because of that good-for-nothing Xiao Xuan? Xu Zizhen wouldn't believe it was that simple anyway.
Just as he thought of this, the second prince of Xixia placed two scrolls made of yellow silk on the table, smiled slightly and said: "If your country agrees, the armistice agreement will take effect immediately."
Since everyone was so direct, Wen Chengyan had no reason not to agree. But having said that, he had never seen such a simple peace negotiation, especially since Xixia had not suffered a substantial defeat this time.
To the point of being at the end of its rope.
The two parties jointly paid for the agreement and each kept one share. Since the silver and horses involved a lot, there was no time to exchange them that day, so they agreed to meet here again at noon tomorrow. Song Fang returned the three prisoners.
Xixia delivered the silver and horses, and everything was settled.
Everything went very smoothly. The second prince stood up to salute and was about to leave. Wen Chengyan smiled and was about to say goodbye when Xu Zizhen behind him suddenly coughed and said, "Master Xiao, wait a moment."
Xiao Ye, the Minister of War of Xixia, was slowly getting up and preparing to leave with the second prince. When he heard the call, he slowly turned around, glanced at Xu Zizhen with squinted eyes, and then said: "What's the matter with this little brother?
"
Wen Chengyan did not expect Xu Zizhen to interrupt. Logically speaking, he was not qualified to speak in such a situation. Although he was the first contributor to the victory, he had no official position after all. He and Zhong Shizhong looked at each other, but they did not say anything after all.
They wanted to see what Xu Zizhen had to say.
Xu Zizhen took out a crumpled piece of paper from his sleeve, opened it and showed it in front of Xiao Ye: "Young master still owes me five hundred taels of silver. Since you are going to take people back, I have to settle the account.
"
A few lines of words were clearly written on the paper: I owe Mr. Xu Zizhen of Lanzhou five hundred taels of silver, with a weekly interest of three cents! The signature is Xiao Xuan.
Owe money? Everyone present was stunned. Xiao Xuan was captured and thrown into prison as soon as he entered Lanzhou City. How could there be any chance that he owed Xu Zizhen money? Not to mention five hundred taels, the interest was also
It's too exaggerated. The weekly interest rate is three cents, which means that if you don't repay the loan five hundred taels a week, it will become 650 taels. This is not usury, it is simply robbery.
Xu Zizhen saw the doubts on everyone's faces, stuffed the note back into his armhole, and said nonchalantly: "The past two days, I had nothing to do and played a few games with Brother Xiao. As a result, he was unlucky and lost consecutively.
You accidentally owed me so much."
Hiss... accidentally? Wen Chengyan and the master were dumbfounded, Xu Zizhen actually knew how to gamble? And he also gambled with the captured Xiao Xuan? Is this a clear attempt to trick him?
The same thought was also expressed on Xiao Ye's face, but he didn't say anything, or even moved his eyebrows. He just said calmly: "It is only natural to pay back debts. I will bring them tomorrow."
Xu Zizhen's eyes flashed with joy, just like the look of a scoundrel taking advantage of others. Xiao Ye looked dim on the surface, but he saw this scene clearly.
The peace talks ended and both parties retreated. Wen Chengyan didn't ask anything on the way from outside the customs to the city. With Xu Zizhen's temperament, it was impossible for him to go to prison and force a prisoner to gamble, and also let him owe such a high-interest debt, but
What is his purpose in doing this?
Xu Zizhen didn't explain anything to Wen Chengyan. After returning to the house, he said goodbye and went back to his residence. The peace talks were over, and he would have to return the captive cashier tomorrow, including his share of the money owed. This was just the first step in his plan.
It's a step forward, and I don't know if it can be done yet.
The old man Xiao Ye looked like he was unwilling to live or die, but since he could represent the Xiao family to participate in this peace negotiation, it must not be that simple. I hope he can understand his performance today.
After returning to the room, Xu Zizhen threw himself on the bed, lying there without taking off his clothes, looking at the beams with wide eyes.
The second prince spoke and behaved very well. Although he came to seek peace, he was neither humble nor arrogant. He would not offend his opponents or lose his identity and face. It seems that the old man Chongzong taught his son quite well.
, I just don’t know if the next Emperor of Xixia will have any role for him. Also... the key problem is that he came to this peace negotiation with the Xiao family, which means that he is not in the same boat as the Xiao family.
Xu Zizhen re-examined his plan in his mind. The first step was to pretend to be greedy for money, and the next step would be to make excuses in public tomorrow. As long as Mr. Wen scolded himself, it would be a logical contradiction. If
Old man Xiao Ye is smart enough and will win over him as soon as possible.
Xiao family, I don’t believe how many of you can use it. You can bring a God of War back with you just for money. Will you not do this business?
In the Xixia camp, Xiao Ye held a cup of tea in his hand and smiled coldly: "Young boy from the Xu family, do you want to deceive me just like this?"