Surrounded by a group of guards, Gao Zhisheng left the imperial study and boarded the carriage. Gao Shengtai closed the door, sat opposite him, and asked: "Father, how did the negotiation go?"
"Yang Yunxian also followed Duan Silian to put pressure on us to hand over people." Gao Zhisheng sighed: "I was greedy and accepted Nong Zhigao. I thought I would be more powerful, but I didn't know that it would cause such a big trouble."
Then he told his son the news that the Song Dynasty had also gathered a large army on Guangnan West Road.
"It's not worth dying for this troublemaker." Gao Shengtai said softly: "But his status in the Nong tribe is very high, so it's not easy to do too much. It's better to let him hide in Bagan for a while." Bagan is Myanmar.
The western part and the eastern part of Myanmar belong to the Dali Kingdom.
"That's all we can do." Gao Zhisheng pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "It's not convenient for my father to come forward as the envoy of Song Dynasty. Nine days later, you can have a banquet for me to explain the situation of Nong Zhigao's flight. Then make the original plan
The gift money was doubled and everything was covered.”
"The price is too high." Gao Shengtai said sadly.
"It's worth spending any money to send these plague gods away." Gao Zhisheng said: "I think Duan Silian still has no intention of surrendering. Today he wore a Song Dynasty robe to meet guests. How can he hide his thoughts?
Who? If he is really allowed to rely on the Song Dynasty and sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and tigers, it won't be us."
"The Yang family should be more anxious about this matter than us, right?"
"Yes, if the Duan family relied on the Song Dynasty, how could Yang Yunxian play his restoration drama?" Gao Zhisheng nodded and said: "On this point, we and the Yang family are consistent. So we should continue to pretend to be good people and let Yang Yunxian and his son
Let's go dancing together."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the palace, after all the gods were sent away, Duan Silian sat cross-legged on the futon, twisting his rosary beads in his hand, and fell into deep thought.
The reason why he eagerly wanted to attach himself to the Song Dynasty was because of the fear that originated from the bone marrow... Although the emperor of Dali has never been able to be self-centered, there is no one like him who lives such a useless life. Because the position of emperor should not be
his.
The inheritance of the throne in Dali also experienced a story similar to the "Candle Shadow and Ax Sound" in the Song Dynasty. In the process of conquering the world, the founding ancestor Duan Siping relied too much on his younger brother Duan Siliang, which resulted in his excessive power. Duan Siping died.
, Duan Siriang teamed up with the Dong family to depose his nephew and became the emperor of Dali.
After that, the imperial line has been passed down through Duan Siliang's line. Naturally, Duan Siping's descendants were the same as the descendants of Emperor Taizu. They suffered all kinds of rejection and wariness. It was passed down to Emperor Tianming Duan Suxing because he was fond of wandering and living in debauchery.
As a result, he was deposed by Prime Minister Gao Zhisheng and made Duan Siping's great-great-grandson, Duan Silian, the emperor. Since then, the imperial line has returned to the lineage of Taizu.
But what power could such an emperor who was supported by his ministers have in his hands? And the Gao family was just like the Dong family in the past. By virtue of their support, they took control of the political power in one fell swoop. They greatly expanded their strength and became the strongest party in the Dali Kingdom, surpassing
Above all the surnames.
The tribes that originally relied on the Duan family changed their clans one after another because Emperor Tianming was deposed... They needed strong protection. Obviously, an emperor who was supported by ministers on the dragon throne did not have such ability. Most of these tribes were white barbarians, so
Most of them belong to the Yang family. The strength of the Yang family has also expanded rapidly.
Duan Silian, out of fear of the Gao family, has continuously increased the pressure on the Yang family for more than ten years, hoping that they can fight against the Gao family on his behalf, and it would be best for both parties to lose. But he forgot the origin of the Yang family——
They are descendants of the previous royal family, and they have a hatred for the Duan family to destroy the country!
And Gao Zhisheng is worthy of the title of 'the wisest man in Dali'. He did not follow the emperor's script and fight openly and covertly with Yang Yunxian. Instead, he kept a low profile, gave in everywhere, and never had a dispute with him. Just like today's consultation, as long as Yang Yunxian proposed
He will definitely not object, even if it is directed at him, he will not hesitate.
Some subordinates were very angry about this, saying that the current emperor was established by our Gao family, why should we give way to people named Yang everywhere? Anyone who said this would be beaten up by Gao Zhisheng and expelled from the capital. He had been there several times
Tell people that in terms of talent and prestige, I am far inferior to Mr. Yang. Besides, as a black man, I am already trembling with fear even if I can hold the position of prime minister. How can I dare to act arrogantly in front of a noble man like Mr. Yang?
Gao Zhisheng said so and did the same thing. He married his legitimate daughter to Yang Yunxian's concubine. Later, he asked to marry Yang Yunxian's granddaughter for his eldest grandson, and made it clear that only the concubine's granddaughter would be enough. This made Yang Yunxian not happy.
I was so embarrassed that I gave my granddaughter to his family, which made Gao Zhisheng burst into tears of gratitude. He told everyone he met that Mr. Yang was so benevolent and righteous. From now on, our Gao family will only follow the Yang family's lead!
In order to express his gratitude, he tried his best to win the position of Taishi for Yang Yunxian. Taishi is the teacher of the emperor. No one in Dali has ever received this title alive. Many people advised Yang Yunxian not to accept it, otherwise how could the emperor be embarrassed? However, as a former emperor,
The descendants of Yang Yunxian wanted too much to suppress the Duan family and replace them.
Moreover, Gao Zhisheng's continuous concessions and flattery for many years have completely paralyzed Yang Yunxian. He really regarded him as a loser and a yes-man. He felt that he was the only one in Dali, so he happily accepted the position of Grand Master.
After becoming the grand master, Yang Yunxian would always greet the emperor every day. Duan Silian would salute first, and then he would return the salute. If he was in a bad mood, he would just skip it. Moreover, the old guy always acted like a teacher, teaching the emperor a lesson no matter what.
Play.
After all, Duan Silian had been the emperor for more than ten years, but he was being trained like a third grandson by him all day long. The relationship between the two naturally took a turn for the worse, and conflicts began to arise. In other words, Yang Yunxian was deliberately making trouble to test the emperor's reaction.
...According to reliable information, the Yang family has been intensively training soldiers and forging weapons in their fiefdom in western Yunnan. Their disobedience has been clearly revealed.
Although Duan Silian tried his best to restore the strength of the Duan family, it was really difficult to do anything between the two powerful officials. Therefore, knowing that Yang Yunxian was going to rebel, he had no choice but to do anything. It was not until the Song envoy arrived that he saw a glimmer of hope... But
Gao and Yang strongly opposed the surrender, and the reason why it took so long to bring the Song envoy to Dali was because they wanted him to promise not to mention any annexation before allowing the Song envoy to enter.
Duan Silian carried it for a few days, but in the end he couldn't bear it anymore, so he had to agree to the two people's request. However, he knew that this was his only chance, so he took advantage of the time difference this morning to win a moment of alone time with Ambassador Song.
He revealed a few things about his feelings. But before he could talk in detail, two old ghosts came in a hurry and suppressed all his words.
After the Song envoy left, the two men beat him unceremoniously and warned him that he should put rest first and take over all the reception work in the future... but they did not allow him to see the Song envoy again.
Duan Silian felt uncomfortable thinking that he, an emperor, could end up in this situation. He sat on the futon and murmured sadly:
"The emperor is not an emperor, the king is not a king, and thousands of people are riding around Beimang..."
While he was pitying himself and comparing himself to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, he suddenly heard a sound from behind the curtain, and he immediately stood up in surprise and asked, "Who is that?"
"Brother, it's me." A pleasant voice sounded, and a beauty in palace clothes walked out of the curtain.
Duan Silian breathed a sigh of relief and scolded: "Mingyue, why are you here?"
"Brother is meeting with Ambassador Song today, and my sister is curious and wants to eavesdrop." Princess Mingyue stuck out her tongue in embarrassment and said, "I feel numb after standing for too long. I couldn't help but stamp my feet just now."
"Did you hear the conversation just now?" Duan Silian said sadly: "I never thought that your brother would be bullied like this by the minister."
"Brother is not to blame." Mingyue walked to Duan Silian, slowly knelt down and said, "My sister has seen your efforts over the years, but the Gao family controls the government and the Yang family controls the white people. We The Duan family is caught in the cracks, and the harder they exert themselves, the more breathless they become."
"Yes..." Duan Silian nodded and said: "The government and the public do not think favorably of our Duan family, and they all rely on them. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. I have suffered a lot over the years, but I am still empty-handed."
"So brother wants to use the canonization of the Song Dynasty to reunite people's hearts?"
"Yes." Duan Silian nodded and said: "The Celestial Dynasty is very prestigious in our Dali. If I can be canonized by the Emperor of Song Dynasty, my weight in the hearts of various tribes will be restored. If the Gao and Yang families dare to make another mistake, We have to weigh it up. Over the years, one will wax and wane, and in ten years at most, our strength will be restored. At that time, we can start to cut down the vassal, and slowly eliminate the power of the Gao and Yang families. I, the descendants of the Duan family, No more worrying about being a useless emperor..."
"The two families must be worried about this, so Brother is not allowed to see Ambassador Song again."
"Yes," Duan Silian said with a sad smile: "Mei, do you know that if the Song envoy hadn't come, the Yang family might have rebelled."
"Ah..." Princess Mingyue covered her mouth in surprise and said, "Rebellion?"
"Brother, I'm not trying to scare you. Not only did they train the army and build weapons in western Yunnan, they also obtained the tacit approval of the Gao family." Duan Silian said sadly: "Back then, Emperor Taizu treated the Yang family kindly, but unexpectedly it would have the evil consequences it has today." He looked at his sister with regret and said: "The Yang family will not treat us as kindly as Taizu. My sister, pack your bags. When the Song envoy returns, I will ask them to take you to the heaven..."
"I am the princess of Dali, why do I go to heaven?" Princess Mingyue's reaction was beyond Brother Nai's expectation. Although her face was full of fear, her eyes were very firm and she said: "They don't let Brother Nai see Song Dynasty. Let me go see you!"