Due to the poor geographical location of Xixia, surrounded by countries, and always sandwiched between the two superpowers of the Central Plains and the Northern Kingdom, this also makes them attach great importance to their foreign policy, and they have always advocated relying on strong countries and attacking weak ones.
I will hang out with whoever gives me more benefits and is more powerful, in order to maintain the continuation of party rule.
Once upon a time, their policy achieved very good results. However, this time they finally tasted the bitter fruits they sowed.
In fact, when Richard came here this time, he still had very high hopes at first, because everyone in Xixia believed that they were the balance point between Song and Jin, and both Song and Jin would fight for them. The competitive relationship between Song and Jin made them
It can also seek benefits between the two countries.
Obviously they were very wrong this time. With the increasing military strength of the Song Dynasty, they are no longer afraid of this great northern country. You Xixia people can go with whomever they like. I am not afraid of you now. I have plenty of allies to contain the gold.
Country, do we have to beg you Xixia? Even if I can beg you now, when you see that there is a profit, you will still come and beat me.
Xixia relies on the Song Dynasty far more than the Song Dynasty relies on Xixia. The goods of the Song Dynasty are second to none in the world, and most of them are necessities for daily life. Are they afraid that they will not be able to sell them? Now they have signed an alliance with the Jin Kingdom.
Cattle and sheep can be purchased directly from the Kingdom of Jin. As for horses, now we also occupy some pastures in the northwest and the north. Although not many, our chariots and soldiers can get Dali horses with better patience from Dali, and even
You can also go to the Kingdom of Jin to smuggle horses.
As for you Xixia, if I don’t say anything else, even if I don’t buy your salt, it’s enough for you to drink a pot.
After Zhao Kai came to the throne, he also decided to change his strategy towards Xixia. He would use both soft and hard tactics. This is no longer the case. If we want to talk, we have to talk about interests. If it makes me angry, I will join forces with the Jin Kingdom to carve you up.
Xixia.
Li Qi was about to cry when he saw Richard, and he secretly laughed in his heart, Damn! If you want to play both sides in front of Uncle Li, you are really looking for the wrong person. This is how I started my career.
The atmosphere seemed a bit silent.
Because Richard didn't know what to say. In fact, they in Xixia could have found reasons not to send troops at the beginning. It was just because they saw that Wanyan Zongwang had gone to Kaifeng and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get a share of the pie. Unexpectedly, Wanyan Zongwang
Being so incompetent not only caused a complete defeat, but also made the Song Dynasty even stronger. They firmly controlled most of Yanyun, which put them in a very embarrassing situation. I cursed the Kingdom of Jin half to death, you bastard.
If you don’t have this ability, don’t mess around!
After a while, Li Qi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I have no objections to you. I welcome you very much to be my guest. Let's not talk about those annoying official matters, so as not to ruin your life and mine."
In my mood, let’s talk about the romance.”
I have traveled thousands of miles to come here to chat with you. I must be crazy. Richard smiled and said: "Privy Councilor, this is indeed our fault, and we admit it. I hope your country can ignore the past grievances and negotiate with us."
Xixia reunited with Qin and Jin."
Li Qi said angrily: "Your Majesty, why don't you understand? We have never cared about any past grudges, but we hope to act according to the rules. In this way, even if there is an emergency, we will not be angry about it.
, I can tell you privately and privately that the Emperor has made up his mind and there is no room for discussion on this matter. It is up to you to communicate internally."
The tone was very resolute, with no room for maneuver. It was difficult to hear such resolute words coming from Li Qi's mouth, and it was even more difficult to hear them in Song Dynasty, because Song Dynasty's diplomatic strategy had always been very weak and in a passive position.
Richard frowned and glanced at Li Qi, pondered for a while, and seemed to have made some kind of decision, and said: "Privy Council, if you are willing to help us Xixia, I, Xixia, are willing to submit an oath to your majesty to restore the relationship between monarch and ministers.
present."
This means that if you lift the economic sanctions against us, we are willing to surrender to you.
This is actually the bottom line for Xixia. In history, this is already the middle period of the Jingkang Disgrace. Of course, Xixia relied on the Jin Kingdom and went to attack the Song Dynasty, but it is different now. They have seen the power of the Song Dynasty.
The military, which has always been criticized, has also been significantly improved. They even defeated the arrogant Jin Army. They dared not act rashly. Based on the weak diplomatic strategy of relying on powerful countries and confronting them, they obviously mixed up with the Song Dynasty.
It is more promising than Daikin.
Let's not talk about anything else. When Xixia professed their vassalage to the Jin, they had to pay annual tribute to the Jin State. However, when they professed their vassalage to the Song State, the Song State gave them annual tributes. This difference is very big. Moreover, after Xia Chongzong came to the throne, he completely adopted the Song Dynasty's
A system, in the words of later generations, is a country under a system. Both sides have many common languages. After several years of development, Xixia has gradually emerged from the shadow of successive wars, and its people have begun to become richer. But this
Most of it relied on trade with the Song Dynasty.
The most important thing is that Xixia doesn't want to see Song and Jin. The relationship is too close. If you two get along, what should I do? So, they want to use this to sow discord between Song and Jin, and then meet again.
This is also a diplomatic strategy to ensure the continuation of the party's political power.
Based on all this, Xia Chongzong told Richard the bottom line. Although they were very confident in this negotiation, there are no phone calls these days, and it takes a long time to go back and forth. Normally, negotiations between the two countries are still
This kind of important negotiation is very thoughtful.
Damn it! You did this again. Your mother wants us to pay you for her submission. This little brother’s move is really shabby. Li Qi waved his hands repeatedly and said: "No, no, no, no, my lord, these words
Don’t say any more, otherwise, our emperor will have to send you back.”
Richard was completely confused. He thought that as soon as his bottom line was revealed, the Song Dynasty would definitely agree. You are already evenly matched with the Jin Kingdom. If we add Xixia's surrender, one will go down and the other will go up. You will definitely
To be one step ahead of the Jin Kingdom, this is such a great thing, you have no reason to refuse it.
It's a pity that their prediction was wrong again. Their duplicity made the Song Dynasty completely lose trust in them. Unless you hand over the power and incorporate your territory into the Song Dynasty, let's not talk about this.
"Why did the Privy Council say this?"
Li Qidao: "We have just reached a brotherly alliance with the Kingdom of Jin, and now we turn our backs and poach our brothers. This is not what our country of gentlemen does. Moreover, in this way, it will also cause damage to our alliance with the Kingdom of Jin.
The impact is not small, please forgive me and don't make it difficult for me."
This simple sentence made Richard heartbroken. He was at a loss and didn't know what to say, because he had no chips in his hand. How could he talk without chips.
If the Song Dynasty really broke with Xixia, they would not be able to defeat the Song State now, so they would have no choice but to rely on the Jin State. But in this case, they would not have the qualifications to negotiate with the Jin State, and the Jin State could take them away at will.
Squeezing it into a round shape and flattening it out, it can be said that the changes in the Song Dynasty's diplomatic strategy gradually forced Xixia into a dead end.
Li Qi looked at it and it was almost done. If this continues, Richard will really collapse. So he said: "Your Majesty, there is something I don't know whether I should say."
No matter how ugly the words are, I have heard a lot of them, so what do I care about? Richard quickly said: "Privy Councilor, please speak, please speak."
Li Qidao: "I'm not saying that you, Xixia, don't even have any crops anymore. Why do you want to be someone else's minister? I can't figure it out."
What kind of ministers are we? If there is no benefit, we will surrender to the Kingdom of Jin? Besides, now we and the Kingdom of Jin are two countries. Everyone knows this, but you have to hold on to this. Richard is full of complaints, but
But he sighed: "The Privy Councilor doesn't know something. We also have our own difficulties."
"What's the difficulty?"
Li Qi snorted and said: "Look at Goryeo and Yelu Dashi. They refuse to surrender even if they are dying. Especially Goryeo. The country is about the same size as your Xixia. The military is probably not as strong as yours, although the Jin Kingdom has begun to move there.
Although they dared to confront the Jin Kingdom, in order to maintain their own dignity, they would never surrender. Besides, Yelu Dashi, how much Jin Taizu valued him at the beginning, but Yelu Dashi would rather be the head of a chicken than the queen of an ox.
It is bound to restore the Liao Dynasty. But look at you Xixia, for such a small amount of land - by the way, did the Jin Kingdom give you that land?"
Richard blurted out: "I only gave a little." As soon as he said this, he came to his senses.
Li Qi suppressed his smile and said: "You don't even want your dignity for such a small amount of land. Yes, I admit that our Song Dynasty had a lot of friction with you Xixia in the past, but in recent years, we have always hoped to treat you as a normal country
I think it's good to be friends with you in the Qin and Jin Dynasties, but you don't live up to your expectations. Can you blame us for being unjust? To tell you the truth, this time you send troops, it really makes us feel a little chilled. I also know your helplessness, but you
You have to understand us, just like doing business, we in Zuixianju will never go to a bartender in Fanlou to negotiate a deal. If we sign a contract with a bartender, this contract will be poison to us. If it is beneficial,
But of course, the owner of Fan Tower is willing to fulfill this contract, but if something unexpected happens in the middle, the owner of Fan Tower can deny the contract with just one sentence. What can we do? We will not only suffer this dumb loss. In short, our Song Dynasty
An alliance will only be negotiated with a normal and independent country."
Every word contained a hint of encouragement.
If this had happened before, Song Ting would have happily agreed to let Xixia surrender. This was such an encouraging thing. However, under the policies of Zhao Kai and Li Qi, such mistakes would never be made again. If the Song Dynasty
Accepting Xixia's surrender would be tantamount to pushing Song to the front and going head-to-head with Jin, while Xixia was hiding behind it, because Jin must have accused Song of poaching. Xixia is now my subject. How can you be my brother?
If you can accept my subject's surrender, aren't you stabbing me in the back?
And if the Jin Kingdom sends troops to attack Xixia, can you, as the big brother, not help? However, you and the Jin Kingdom are allies, which will put the Song Dynasty into a dilemma.
But if Xixia is independent, the situation will be very different. The Song Dynasty can secretly support you Xixia from behind, but the Jin Kingdom has no reason to use this as an excuse to trouble the Song Dynasty. In addition, we can do business, but I, the Song Dynasty
But I am not obligated to give you money. I have to take a step back and say, who likes a disrespectful little brother like you? Of course, if we fall out in the future, we will not be fettered by our status as monarchs and ministers. I can beat you if I want to.
What the Song Dynasty now pursues are mutually beneficial allies, rather than the original relationship between monarch and ministers that had no guarantee and wasted money.
All this is based on the premise of the rise of Song's military power.
Having said this, how could Richard not understand that there were only two choices in front of them. One was to completely surrender to the Jin Kingdom and not have any contact with the Song Dynasty. The other was to be independent and act as a normal person.
National Identity and Song Alliance.
Among the two paths, Richard still prefers the latter, because the Kingdom of Jin has no trust in them. In addition, this incident has made everyone in the Kingdom of Jin very angry. Now the relationship between the two countries has dropped to a freezing point.
, If you seek refuge with the Jin Kingdom, you will definitely be oppressed by the Jin Kingdom. Rather than doing this, it is better to declare independence.
Moreover, Li Qi also revealed two important pieces of information to Richard, that is, the Kingdom of Jin is also in a lot of troubles now. There is Goryeo in the east and Yelu Dashi in the west. This is an excellent opportunity for them in Xixia. They even
You can support Yelu Dashi and use Yelu Dashi to contain the Jin Kingdom. You can take the opportunity to become independent and scrap all the superficial things, and you may also win the support of the Song Dynasty.