While Kou Ji was thinking wildly, Youzhou City was approaching.
A long way away, Kou Ji saw the majestic Youzhou City.
It retains the unique city walls, gate openings, gate towers, and crenellations unique to the Han Dynasty, but there are Liao flags on them.
Except for those Liao banners, other places were not much different from the other cities of the Song Dynasty that Kou Ji had seen.
Kou Ji even felt as if he had entered a capital city in the Song Dynasty.
This is how the Liao people have been sinicized for many years.
In the Liao Kingdom, Youzhou City was considered the most thoroughly Sinicized place.
The people here dress almost the same as the people in the Song Dynasty, and even their speech is not much different.
When we meet and greet each other, they are all in Chinese.
There are Han people and Liao people among them, but when they all wear Han costumes and speak Chinese, you can't tell who is a Liao person and who is a Han person.
In the eyes of these people, Kou Ji did not see the kind of expectant eyes that looked towards the Han Dynasty, nor did he see the kind of eager eyes after seeing the Song envoys.
Some are just curious, doubtful, and even a little arrogant.
Kou Ji knew that no matter what status, background or blood these people had before, they were all Liao people now.
He felt sad about this, and also felt a little angry.
So when a Liao official wearing a felt hat and calling himself Xiao Pidi appeared, he didn't give him a good look.
Xiang Minzhong and Wang Zeng also did not give him a good look.
It's not that Xiang Minzhong and Wang Zeng were angry, but Xiao Pidi claimed to be Lin Ya from the north of Liao Kingdom.
The official position of Lin Ya was an official position in the Privy Council of the Liao Kingdom, which could be both civil and military.
Linya in the north controls Wenhan's affairs.
Similar to a Deputy Privy Councilor of the Privy Council of the Song Dynasty, his rank was not high.
In the Song Dynasty, it was an official position with some power but little sense of presence.
In the Liao Kingdom, it was considered a powerful official position.
But the quality is also not high.
The reason why Xiang Minzhong, Wang Zeng and others did not give him a good look was related to his rank.
Xiang Minzhong and Wang Zeng were also second-rank officials in the Song Dynasty.
They went to Liao State as envoys from Song Dynasty, but Liao State had to send an official of the same second rank to receive them.
Sending a low-ranking official to receive them was a humiliation in their eyes.
Although the three of them were displeased, they did not act up on the spot.
As foreign envoys to the Liao Kingdom, especially in public places, they will naturally pay attention to etiquette.
Xiang Minzhong and Wang Zeng remained silent throughout the whole process.
Only Kou Ji casually chatted with Xiao Pidi for a few words, and then under the leadership of Xiao Pidi, the group arrived at the post house in Youzhou City.
On the way to the post house, Kou Ji also took a good look at the streets of Youzhou City.
He found that although the streets in Youzhou City were not as prosperous as Zhouqiao Street and other places in Bianjing City, they were enough to surpass busy cities like Xiwazi City.
The things he can buy in Bianjing City are also available in Youzhou City, but the price may be a little more expensive.
Kou Ji even saw the shadow of Kou's bus on the street.
It has been less than two years since he created this thing, but it has already been circulated to the Liao Kingdom.
Judging from the eyes of the people on the street looking at the bandits' cars, they seemed to be used to seeing the bandits' cars and did not feel any novelty because of the appearance of the bandits' cars.
Obviously, this thing has been circulating in the Liao Kingdom for a long time.
Xiao Pidi took Kou Ji and his party to the post house, explained the director of the post house, took care of Kou Ji and his party, and excused himself.
Xiang Minzhong, Wang Zeng, Kou Ji, and other officials settled down in the post house.
Peace talks cannot be concluded in one day.
It's not like we started talking immediately after the Song Dynasty envoys arrived.
The ancients seemed to like to pick the day. No matter what they did, they always had to pick and choose a suitable day.
It seems that before the day comes, this should not be done.
Emperor Yelu Longxu of the Liao Dynasty was probably waiting for the day when he was in the best mood or when he was in the worst mood before summoning the envoys of the Song Dynasty.
So after Xiang Minzhong, Wang Zeng and others arrived at the inn, they fell asleep.
The two old men couldn't bear the fatigue from traveling and traveling all the way, and they were tired and needed a good rest.
The young officials who accompanied the two of them, or those who had never been on a mission to the Liao Kingdom, did not rush to sleep, but left the post house in small groups.
When they left, they specially found a few Liao people to accompany them at the inn.
The purpose was probably to allow the Liao people to prove their identity as envoys when they ran into trouble, so that they could get away with it.
Kou Ji did not go out with them, he chose to stay at the inn.
It wasn't that the officials didn't invite him, but that he really didn't know what he could do after leaving the inn.
Although Kou Ji was greedy for things like eating and drinking, he was not obsessed with them.
He was not very interested in the local customs and customs of Liao.
He had already seen everything he needed to see and wanted to see when he entered the city, so there was no need to make a special trip out.
As for going out to experience the style of Liao girls, Kou Ji was not interested either.
Ever since he saw the open Xiang Yan, he was not very interested in other women.
In his eyes, there are few women who can match Xiang Yan's appearance.
Guarding such a delicate flower without picking it, go out and pick other rotten flowers?
He really doesn't have the leisure and elegance to do so.
Even if there is one, it will only come out after he has ruined the delicate flower Xiang Yan.
Xiang Wang and the two old men went to bed, the other officials went out, and Kou Ji had some free time alone. Feeling a little bored, he picked up a pen and started writing a letter.
During the few months he served in the army, he learned nothing else but became extremely proficient in writing letters.
In the later era of advanced technology, writing letters was a very boring thing for him.
But now, writing letters is an extremely interesting thing for him.
He wrote to Zhao Zhen, telling Zhao Zhen what he saw and heard when he was out, and then when he waited for Zhao Zhen to reply, he found it very interesting to see the ignorance and envy in Zhao Zhen's words.
Every time at this time, he would always feel a sense of superiority that was more comfortable than the emperor's.
When he writes to Xiang Yan, most of the time he tells Xiang Yan what he has seen and heard outside. Occasionally, he will mix in one or two straightforward words of love and teasing. Every time he gets a reply from Xiang Yan, he will laugh.
He is as treacherous as a weasel who has stolen a chicken.
Because when Xiang Yan wrote back to him, she always complained that Kou Ji wrote love words so straightforwardly, and then secretly left one or two love poems containing concern at the end of the envelope.
He just likes this feeling of resisting and welcoming.
However, there were too many straightforward love stories, and Kou Ji found them boring.
He felt that he needed to learn from Xiang Yan and write a love poem or two to let Xiang Yan know that he was also a literate person, but he just hid it and did not leak it.
With the decision made, Kou Ji took up his pen and wrote a sentence.
Bowl……
But before he could continue writing, he heard a faint voice from behind.
"You kid like to be scolded by my granddaughter?"
Kou Ji's hand holding the pen trembled, and he suddenly turned around and saw Xiang Minzhong appearing behind him at some point. He was staring at the poem he had written with a strange look on his face.
Kou Ji stretched out his hand to cover the poem he had written, and said angrily: "Why are you like Chen Lin, walking without making a sound?"
Xiang Minzhong slowly withdrew his eyes from the paper covered by Kou Ji's hand, shook his sleeves and robe, and said calmly: "I walked quite loudly, and even coughed twice. It's because you were too focused on writing poetry.
, didn’t notice me.”
Kou Ji stared and said, "Then you shouldn't spy on others writing letters!"
Xiang Minzhong curled his lips and muttered, "It's not like I haven't seen it before..."
Kou Ji stared at Xiang Minzhong with burning eyes, his teeth clenched.
Xiang Minzhong waved his hand and said, "Okay, okay... I just don't want to look at it."
After a pause, Xiang Minzhong pouted and said, "Your literary talent is average, but the stories you write are very good. The love between fish and birds made me cry a little bit when I saw it."
Kou Ji stood up with a groan, and instantly felt the urge to kill Xiang Minzhong with a musket.
When Xiang Minzhong saw that Kou Ji was really angry, he stopped teasing him and quickly changed the subject: "You haven't answered my question yet? Do you like being scolded by my granddaughter? I didn't expect that you actually have such a hobby.
.”
Seeing that Kou Ji was still staring at him with angry eyes, Xiang Minzhong said again: "This is not a shameful thing. I have also seen a certain veteran who had to be coaxed by his wife to fall asleep when he was sleeping.
Also, the late Zhao Gongpu liked to sleep with a golden horse hoof in his arms...
And there’s more…”
Xiang Minzhong told Kou Ji one by one about the hobbies of the current and deceased important ministers in the court.
Kou Ji glared at Xiang Minzhong and gritted his teeth and said, "I don't have such a hobby!"
Xiang Minzhong said unexpectedly: "Then when you wrote a letter to my granddaughter, why did you use the poem "If life is only like the first time we met?" I can clearly remember that when you and my granddaughter met for the first time, she was
I pointed at my nose and scolded you.
The meaning of your poem is clearly that you miss the time when you first met my husband and granddaughter."
Kou Ji had a dark face and said angrily: "This poem was written by someone else, I just used it for my own use."
Xiang Minzhong shook his head and said: "I am familiar with all the poems of the predecessors and all the poems of today's people, but I have never seen this poem before."
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Can't I just play while I'm writing?"
Xiang Minzhong curled his lips and said disgustedly: "It's a pity that a good sentence was written by you for fun. It's a waste... it's a waste..."
Kou Ji glared at Xiang Minzhong and said, "Since you think it's a waste, then stop reading and go back to your room to sleep."
He finally tried to show off with a poem or two, but now it was better, Xiang Minzhong ruined it.
Instead of leaving, Xiang Minzhong shook his head and said: "You have too little ink in your belly to write any good poems. Occasionally, you can come up with one or two good lines, but it is difficult to complete them."
If you are not careful, your secret will be revealed.
My granddaughter was trained by me.
She has some literary talents, I still know very well.
If she hadn't been a girl and had taken the imperial examination, she would have been on the list.
So I advise you not to show off your literary talent in front of my granddaughter."
After a pause, Xiang Minzhong looked at Kou Ji and said, "If you really want to show off your literary talent, I can give you some pointers."
When Kou Ji heard this, his anger subsided and he stared at Xiang Minzhong in astonishment, "You always want to give me advice? Are you teasing your granddaughter?"
When Xiang Minzhong heard this, his old face darkened and he shouted: "What is teasing? What is teasing? This is called telling each other's feelings!"
After Xiang Minzhong said this, he seemed to feel annoyed again and cursed: "You brat, you don't know anything about style. Why did my granddaughter fall in love with such a thing like you?!"
Kou Ji rolled his eyes and curled his lips and said, "It was you, Lao Fei, who asked me to be your grandson-in-law."
When Xiang Minzhong heard this, he said angrily: "I was deceived by your kid. I didn't notice for a while and became blind."
Kou Ji curled his lips and said, "If you don't like it, how about someone else to tease you?"
Xiang Minzhong was stunned and said with a straight face: "I want to remain blind until the end."
Before Kou Ji could speak out to challenge him, he glared and said, "You kid, do you still want me to give you advice?"
Kou Ji quickly placed the pen and ink on the table in front of Xiang Minzhong.
Xiang Minzhong snorted coldly and sat down slowly.
Then he began to explain to Kou Ji what books Xiang Yan had read over the years, what books he liked the most, what food he liked, what flowers he liked, what rouge and gouache he liked...
Xiang Minzhong talked for half an hour.
Kou Ji was a little tired from bending over.
He wanted to pull Xiang Minzhong's sleeve and shout, "You should write quickly, who wants to hear you talk about this?"
The letter was sent out first, so Kou Ji had plenty of time to listen to what he had to say.
Xiang Minzhong just refused to write and kept talking about it.
The anxious Kou Ji wanted to stuff his mouth with something.
In the end, Xiang Minzhong did not put pen to paper.
It's not that he was unwilling to write, but after he finished speaking and was about to write, the postman from the posthouse came to inform him that Liu Shenxing, the minister of the Ministry of Rites of the Liao Dynasty, had come to visit.
Xiang Minzhong immediately threw down his pen and said he was going back to his room to sleep.
Kou Ji, who had been waiting for nearly an hour, almost cursed Xiang Minzhong to death in his heart.
There was only one sentence left in the end.
"Aren't you going to see Liu Shenxing, the Minister of Rites of the Liao Kingdom?"
Xiang Minzhong snorted coldly and said: "Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, some miscellaneous fish, are they worthy of me coming forward to see them? You go and see them."
After saying these words, Xiang Minzhong returned to his room.
Kou Ji reluctantly packed up the pens, inks, paper and inkstones on the table where he wrote letters, straightened his clothes, and went out to see Liu Shenxing.
Liu Shenxing is not well-known.
His father Liu Jing was also a figure in the Liao Kingdom.
His father Liu Jing, named Keda, was from Hejian, and was the descendant of Liu Bang, the military governor of Lulong in the former Tang Dynasty.
During his tenure in the Liao Kingdom, Liu Jing served as Youshiyi, Zhizhigao, and Hanlin bachelor. Later, he served as minister of the Ministry of Rites, minister of the Ministry of Rites, bachelor of Xuanzhengdian, and military governor of Wuding and Kaiyuan.
After his death, he was granted the title of Prince and Grand Master.
Although Liu Shenxing did not have an astonishing resume as his father, under his father's shadow, he was still firmly at the top of the Liao court.
But even so, Xiang Minzhong felt that this person was not worthy of meeting him.