When signing a covenant, one is a clear victory or defeat, and the other is an even match. There are very few situations like this in Song and Liao.
Fu Bi knew very well that the reason why Guo Chao signed this seemingly fair alliance with Bei Liao despite a great victory was because Guo Chao still needed time.
The imperial court had discussed the border defense in the northwest... Before it was ready to fully recover Fuxingqing and the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, the imperial court had not thought about a war and did not want to expose its strength prematurely.
As a result, this battle still came. The overwhelming offensive of the new army of the Song Dynasty would inevitably arouse the vigilance of the Northern Liao Dynasty, which would increase the difficulty of regaining the sixteen states of Yanyun.
Facts have proved that the Song Dynasty was indeed unprepared. After regaining the four states of Yunying, it was indeed short on troops.
Regardless of whether they are arranging troops with each other or facing each other tit for tat, both sides know that this alliance is different from the Tan Yuan Alliance. Despite such a big fanfare and mobilization of troops, it is impossible for Song Dynasty to be like the Tan Yuan Alliance.
The Liao Dynasty has a hundred years of peace...~ The covenant signed this time is probably a covenant that can be torn up unilaterally at any time.
I still have to sign...~
This is a play, performed for the soldiers, for the ministers, for the people all over the world, and even for Xixia...
"I heard that you personally trained your guards?"
This is the first meeting between the kings of both sides, and it can be called preliminary contact.
Yelu Hongji didn't know how to address the Emperor of the Song Dynasty who was one generation younger than him. He simply stopped calling him.
"yes!"
Zhao Xi is also awkward. There is no need for their emperor to intervene in trivial matters. This initial contact is more like a meeting, a very awkward meeting, and there is nothing to say.
When it comes to hatred, there is none, and when it comes to favorability, there is even less. The positions of both parties determine the eternal relationship of antagonism. They know each other well, but they still have to give in.
"When I first heard the sad news about Emperor Renzong's brother, I was also heartbroken..."
"Countries are not rivers and lakes, and signing an alliance is not a sworn friendship, nor can we call them brothers. I am very grateful to Emperor Liao for remembering my father. However, this is not the right time to say this."
Zhao Xi did not give Yelu Hongji a chance to continue...~Trying this trick again? But in the name of remembering his father, it was not right to refute it, nor to accept it.
Therefore, Zhao Xi simply stopped him from talking.
What are you kidding about? Is it possible that you really want to talk about feelings?
"You trained your guards, and I personally selected my palace guards. Who is stronger?"
Zhao Xi was a little uncomfortable with Yelu Hongji's chatting style, which was all about talking with hammers and sticks. It was boundless and off-topic, so the preparations he had made in his mind were of no use at all.
There are many cases of negotiations between the two heads of state in later generations. Even if it is different from the news reports, it shouldn't be like this, right?
Zhao Xi was prepared for a tit-for-tat confrontation, but he didn't expect that Emperor Liao didn't follow the routine at all...Who knows if this was his routine.
Zhao Xi was stunned for a moment and thought about it seriously... Emperor Liao still needed to continue his questioning.
"When it comes to riding and shooting, my guards are not good at it. If we talk about team battles, your palace guards will be wiped out!"
Even if Emperor Liao wanted to talk nonsense, Zhao Xi never thought of being polite.
He told Emperor Liao objectively... You can't do it!
Don't you mean that the Han people are humble? The emperor of the Song Dynasty is really rude. Yelu Hongji looked at Zhao Xi...it didn't feel like he was being fake.
Although the four states of Yunying were defeated, Yelu Hongji did not think that Song was really stronger than Liao.
Because of Emperor Taishu Yelu Chongyuan's rebellion, he no longer dared to allow the elite palace guards to be dispersed and stationed. He would rather spend money and food to train the elite palace guards in the Four Seasons.
The reason why we agreed to this negotiation was because the Jurchens in the north had some bad signs and were betrayed by Xixia, so Daliao also needed to react.
As for the four states of Yunying, Daliao can take them back at any time as long as Daliao pacifies the Jurchens and teaches Xixia a lesson.
As for the covenant, it can be broken at any time.
Unexpectedly, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty actually boasted that the team battle would annihilate all the Northern Liao warriors!
"Then let the 500-man Guards fight, and it will be considered as a show of fun for the two of us!"
This... Zhao Xi was stunned for a moment. It seems that the reason for Bei Liao's decline has been found.
If the king treats his ministers like his hands and feet, then his ministers will regard him as his heart; if the king regards his ministers as dogs and horses, then his ministers will regard him as a fellow countryman; if his ministers regard his ministers as earth and mustard, then his ministers will regard him as a bandit... ~ As a person with a relatively high degree of Chineseization
In Beiliao, Zhao Xi didn't believe that Yelu Hongji didn't know these words.
He had already made it clear that he would be completely annihilated, yet he actually allowed the fight and said it was just for fun in front of the king.
Zhao Xi does not believe that Yelu Hongji did not report on the decisive battle of Yanmen, let alone evaluate the firearms. Even if he does not believe in total annihilation, overwhelming victory is really not difficult for the new army of the Song Dynasty.
Just letting his own bodyguard die... That's what Yelu Hongji did.
Zhao Xi also knew that his three views were different from those of this era, but he did not think that people did not care about their lives, nor did he think that the ideological education of the soldiers in Beiliao was stronger than that of his new army.
"The mission of the soldiers of the Song Dynasty is to protect their homes and country, and expand their territory. They do not lack courage, nor do they lack the feeling of dying on the battlefield. The only thing they cannot do is play!"
Zhao Xi spoke very calmly, without an impassioned tone, as if he was talking about very ordinary things.
But these few words caused huge waves in the hearts of the accompanying generals such as Di Qing, Zhong'e, and Guo Kui, as well as in the hearts of the guards around him.
Although Han Qi and other civil servants did not mind letting the two sides fight, they had to say that the officials' words were reasonable.
"Oh, that's why I'm afraid!"
"Emperor Liao, this is not fear! If Northern Liao wants to go to war, let alone 500, it will be 50,500, and the soldiers of the Song Dynasty will not hesitate at all."
"But what's going on? The soldiers who should have died on the battlefield died because they were just a show of fun. Even if they were left to be told by descendants, they would be ashamed to speak out."
"I am their king and father, they are my people, and I have the responsibility to let them live a purposeful life and die meaningfully."
Zhao Xi said this with great righteousness. He might really have such an idea. After all, his three views came from later generations. But if he was not trying to run against Yelu Hongji intentionally or unintentionally, it would depend on what the accompanying ministers in Beiliao thought.
"Emperor Song, performing martial arts in front of the emperor has existed since ancient times, otherwise there would be no such thing as Xiangzhuang's sword dance. We, the soldiers of Daliao, are not here to please the emperor, but we, Daliao, inherit the orthodox dynasty, so we inherit the ancient tradition.
Dynasty etiquette!"
Yelu Hongji is not a vegetarian either. Although he is not good at arguing, he also knows how to fight tit for tat.
"Emperor Liao, is Xiangzhuang's sword dance an organic confrontation? Today's signing of the alliance is a Hongmen Banquet? If not, then since the truce is being negotiated, why do the soldiers suffer more casualties?"
"Whether or not the orthodox dynasty is inherited is not determined by the rhetoric of replacing one pillar with another. It is determined by the comprehensive inheritance of etiquette, culture, and even clothing, food, living habits, etc."
"Besides, inheritance should be a selective inheritance, rather than swallowing jujubes wholeheartedly. Our ancestors drank hair, drank blood, ate in the wind and rain, and lived in caves in the wild. Could it be that this is proof of inheritance? Now the people of the world need to do the same?"
“Eliminating the bad while retaining the good, inheriting and developing is the most correct inheritance!”