Chapter 0940 Loyal and virtuous officials emerge in an endless stream of the Song Dynasty (make up t
Everyone in Honglu Temple was worried that the tyranny displayed by the Song Dynasty would hurt the young hearts of the Jiaozhi people, so they all looked at Kou Ji.
Kou Ji felt a light on his back and knew that a group of officials from Zihonglu Temple were waiting for him to speak.
He didn't look back, but said lightly, "We, the Song Dynasty, are a state of heaven, and we naturally have to be domineering when dealing with other small countries. If we grovel to beg them, then what kind of state are we?
If they can't accept it, that's their business, what does it have to do with us?
If they know their interests, they will have business and benevolence and righteousness.
If they don't know what's interesting, they won't be able to buy or sell, and they won't even want to think about it."
The people in Honglu Temple looked at each other a few times after hearing this, and then nodded in agreement.
If the Celestial Empire is superior, one should have the domineering power of the Celestial Empire.
In the past, they used the false name of being a sovereign state and were polite to all envoys.
When others make excessive demands, not only should you not get angry, but you should also greet them with a smile and pray for a chance to discuss things further.
It's different now. They are the true imperial state. They have the strength and confidence to act domineeringly.
There is no need to greet everyone with a smile, and there is no need to be afraid of being a bad name for the diplomatic relations between the two countries, and to serve the envoys like a servant.
Civil servants in both the government and the public did not actually like Kou Ji very much, nor did they like Kou Ji's grandfather very much.
Their grandfather and grandson seemed to be in a high and powerful position, but they never brought any benefits to the civil servants.
On the contrary, he often used the heads of civil servants to establish his power.
When Kou Zhun was the regent of the country, he chopped off the heads of many civil servants. At the end of the attack, the civil servants stared at him and trembled in their calves.
When Kou Zhun took the initiative to resign from his post on Zhao Zhen's wedding day, the civil servants were amazed and even more ecstatic.
They did not hesitate to use all the words in the world to describe saints and sages on Kou Zhun, hold him up high, and let Kou Zhun be a sage from above, so as not to harm them in the court.
Therefore, after Kou Zhun resigned from his official career, he quickly became a sage, and they contributed to the situation.
When Zhao Zhen established the Zhaoxun Chongde Pavilion, he ranked Kou Zhun first among the civil servants, and they did not stop him.
Now that Kou Zhun is gone, Kou Ji has taken over.
Although Kou Ji did not like killing civil servants as much as his grandfather, he always liked to confront civil servants.
He extracted a lot of benefits from the mouths of civil servants and distributed them to the people.
It also caused the dismissal of nearly dozens of high-ranking officials.
Now Kou Ji went to inspect the yamen where the civil servants were in charge, and the civil servants' calves were trembling.
Each one of them was afraid of being noticed by Kou Ji.
The people in Honglu Temple were also afraid of Kou Ji.
But along with fear, there is also awe.
Kou Ji showed them the attitude a powerful country should have towards its vassals.
It also allowed them to appreciate what the magnanimity of a great country means.
Some people in the court may feel that Kou Ji's move is a bit bullying.
But in their eyes, this is how countries interact with each other.
If you don't bully others, others will think you are easy to bully.
If you just tolerate it, others will think you are a toothless tiger.
Etiquette, justice and integrity do not play a big role in the relationship between countries.
Only those rotten scholars who have never seen the abominable behavior of vassal envoys eating people without spitting out their bones will feel that propriety, justice and integrity are the foundation of the relationship between countries.
Being at the forefront of diplomacy, the people at Honglu Temple know it better than anyone else.
Fists are the last word.
It has not changed since the birth of mankind until now.
Kou Ji was not one of those rotten scholars who only knew etiquette, justice and integrity. When he interacted with the vassal envoys, he decisively showed his fists.
A fist that was countless times bigger than others was hanging on top of other people's heads.
The oppression created on them can be easily detected.
The Minister of Honglu Temple felt that after many years of service as an official, he finally met someone who truly understood diplomacy.
He felt that as the chief diplomat of the Song Dynasty, working with a boss like Kou Ji, he would no longer be as aggrieved as before.
"Prime Minister Kou, now that the ship and supplies have been finalized, should we report to the court and get ready as soon as possible. As far as I know, Prime Minister Wang and Cai Xiang have been coveting Jiaozhi for more than three days.
Officials must also covet Cochin.
If this matter is settled as soon as possible, we can take control of Cochin as soon as possible."
The minister of Honglu Temple returned to Honglu Temple and immediately went to Kou Ji to advise him.
Kou Ji just sat down and heard the words of Honglu Temple Qing. He felt that Honglu Temple Qing's attitude towards him had changed. He nodded with satisfaction and said: "It's up to you to make the decision on this matter. We will negotiate with the Jiaozhi people tomorrow.
It's up to you to decide the matter of ordnance. I won't go. You just need to remember one thing. I have told them today the conditions that I, the Song Dynasty, can agree to.
If they can agree, we will have to talk. If they don't agree, then you will send someone to send them back."
When the minister of Honglu Temple heard this, his satisfaction with Kou Ji rose to another level.
A boss who understands him and is willing to delegate power to him deserves his respect and support.
The minister of Honglu Temple nodded without hesitation, "I understand... I will definitely handle this matter properly."
"That's good. I'll leave the rest of the matter to you. I'll just wait for news here."
Kou Ji ordered the minister of Honglu Temple to go down.
As soon as the Minister of Honglu Temple left, Kou Ji curled his lips and said: "I have never thought about winning people's hearts from the beginning to the end. I can't control things like personality charm."
Kou Ji was almost certain that as long as he gave Honglu Temple Qing a little diplomatic support and encouragement, Honglu Temple Qing would immediately fall under his command.
Diplomacy has been a top priority in all dynasties.
There have been diplomatic offices similar to Honglu Temple in all dynasties.
It's just that no diplomatic power has been handed over to a diplomatic office like Honglu Temple in all dynasties.
When diplomatic events are involved, an important minister will basically be sent to a diplomatic yamen like Honglu Temple to be in charge, and sometimes three or five others will be parachuted in.
The yamen looks like Honglu Temple and seems to be a diplomatic yamen.
But more often than not, it serves as a translation department and miscellaneous office.
The yamen of the past dynasties rarely left foreign affairs to be handled independently by the diplomatic yamen like Honglu Temple.
This also led to the fact that when many important ministers were parachuted into a diplomatic office like Honglu Temple, the first thing they did was not to study diplomatic events, but to study the countries they wanted to negotiate with.
A person who does not understand other countries presides over diplomatic affairs with other countries.
You can imagine how many jokes there will be in the process.
There is a problem of three crops and four crops of rice a year in Jiaozhi. If Kou Ji hadn't exposed it, I'm afraid no one in the Song Dynasty would have paid any attention to this matter.
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, I have had frequent contacts with Jiaozhi.
But why was it that only Kou Ji raised this matter, but not other courtiers?
Don’t the other courtiers understand?
no.
Kou Ji from other yamen couldn't say for sure, but Kou Ji was sure that there was definitely someone in Honglu Temple who knew about Jiaozhi's rice and its yield.
But why didn’t the people at Honglu Temple tell the court about this?
It's not that they are unwilling to tell the court, but that their thousands of words are no match for the words of "Jiaozhi, you are a barbarian" from the big guys at the top.
In the eyes of the big guys, what good things can barbarians have?
How could a barbarian land be compared with the wealthy Central Plains?
Such pedantic and ignorant prejudices, because they came from the mouths of big shots in the DPRK, have become the mainstream in both the government and the public.
The noise made by the people of Honglu Temple did not stir up any waves at all.
It is precisely because of this that Kou Ji showed his understanding of diplomacy and delegated power to the Minister of Honglu Temple, which made him completely recognize Kou Ji.
If Kou Ji showed just a little more, wouldn't Honglu Temple Qing fall under his sect?
After Kou Ji handed over the rest of the affairs to the minister of Honglu Temple, he settled down in Honglu Temple and rested there temporarily.
Zhuyuan has no way to go back.
Kou Ji was almost sure that as soon as he returned to Zhuyuan, two old guys Wang Zeng and Cai Qi would definitely come to his door.
He must show that he is working day and night at Honglu Temple.
Those two old guys won't come to your door.
Kou Ji stayed at Honglu Temple.
However, Honglu Temple did not rest because of him, but was busy in circles.
Since taking over the heavy responsibility from Kou Ji, the Minister of Honglu Temple has shown unprecedented importance.
Honglu Temple was very busy.
In Kou Ji's eyes, negotiating with the Cochin envoys about ordnance would only take a day at most.
But it took the people of Honglu Temple four days.
After countless verbal battles, the people of Honglu Temple reduced the number of ordnance and craftsmen proposed by the Jiaozhi envoy to an extremely low number.
Jiaozhi asked the Song Dynasty to provide Jiaozhi with 1,300 craftsmen who were proficient in making crossbows, as well as 30,000 crossbows, 35,000 heavy crossbows, and more than 60,000 other heavy crossbows.
In the past, Jiaozhi was considered a lion's mouth.
After all, the cost of making crossbows in the Song Dynasty is not low, and the cost of making heavy crossbows is even higher.
Important crossbows such as bed crossbows are not only expensive to build, but also take a very long time, usually in years.
The number of these heavy crossbows required by Jiaozhi, if converted into copper coins, would be calculated in tens of millions.
But comparing what Cochin has to pay, their requirements are not so harsh.
After all, it is not too much to ask for some ordnance at the cost of one's entire country.
The people of Honglu Temple discussed it for four days.
The number of craftsmen who made crossbows ranged from 1,300 to 300.
The number of bed crossbows and heavy crossbows has been almost halved.
Other heavy crossbows have not changed much.
In four days, Honglu Temple saved the court millions of dollars.
Kou Ji heard from the people below that a dignified minister of Honglu Temple and a high official in the court, in order to reduce the Jiaozhi people's share of bed crossbows, pulled their sleeves and lectured them for a whole night.
In the end, the Cochin people could not survive him, and based on the original reduction, another 300 were reduced.
In fact, whether it is Kou Ji or the minister of Honglu Temple, they all know it in their hearts.
Honglu Temple was able to reduce the number of bed crossbows by half, which was enough to serve the imperial court.
He then took the Cochin man to stay up all night, purely of his own free will.
But his voluntary decision saved the court a lot of money.
When Kou Ji watched Honglu Temple Qing put a temporary additional reduction document in front of him with bloodshot eyes, Kou Ji wanted to grab him and ask.
Why?
But in the end he didn't speak.
Because he knew why the minister of Honglu Temple worked so hard.
To say that we serve our country and our family is a lie.
The minister of Honglu Temple did this just for Kou Ji's trivial trust.
Kou Ji left all the weapons matters to him, and he wanted to give Kou Ji a satisfactory answer.
After Kou Ji collected all the documents, he stared at the Honglu Temple official who was looking at him with red eyes and said: "I will ask the officials for credit..."
All the officials in Honglu Temple stared at Kou Ji without saying a word.
Kou Ji hesitated for a moment and then added, "I will try my best to leave all foreign affairs to you in the future."
The officials of Honglu Temple who had not been moved when they heard that Kou Ji wanted to take credit for them were completely moved when they heard Kou Ji's words.
The Minister of Honglu Temple and the officials from Honglu Temple all saluted Kou Ji.
"Thank you Kou Xin for your trust."
Kou Ji nodded and said: "I hope you can live up to my trust. I am in the center and busy with official duties, so I cannot keep an eye on you all the time.
I only ask one thing from you.
That is, when interacting with vassals, don’t weaken my name as a Song Dynasty.
At most it's just a fight.
If they dare to clamor, you must dare to declare war.
The number of forbidden troops maintained by the imperial court will soon exceed 900,000.
The purpose of their existence is to enhance the prestige of our country.
When it's time to fight, you need to go out and fight.
Otherwise, if you keep them for a long time, they will become useless easily.”
When the officials of Honglu Temple heard Kou Ji's remarks, they raised their heads and looked at Kou Ji in shock.
They did not expect that in this era when the world was about to be at peace, Kou Ji would actually be willing to take the initiative to ask for a war.
After Kou Ji finished speaking, he ignored them. He took the documents and left the main hall of Honglu Temple.
When Kou Ji's figure appeared outside the main hall of Honglu Temple, everyone in Honglu Temple reacted.
The minister of Honglu Temple was the first to bow down, followed by the young minister of Honglu Temple.
Then all the officials at Honglu Temple bowed down.
It seemed that he was sending Kou Ji off respectfully, and also seemed to be paying homage to him.
After Kou Ji took all the documents, he entered the palace in a carriage.
Zhao Zhen had been waiting at Zishi Hall early.
Wang Zeng and Cai Qi were also there.
They are paying attention to this matter all the time.
So after the discussion at Honglu Temple came out, they already knew about it.
Kou Jiyi entered Zishi Hall.
Zhao Zhen, Wang Zeng, and Cai Qi stood up one after another.
Kou Ji bowed to Zhao Zhen and said, "See the official family..."
Zhao Zhen waved his hand quickly, "No need to be polite, tell me how the conversation went?"
Kou Ji stood up and slightly bowed his hands to Wang Zeng and Cai Qi.
Wang Zeng and Cai Qi immediately responded respectfully.
Kou Ji took the initiative to salute them because they were older.
They responded respectfully because Kou Ji's status was above them.
Above the court, the generals are superior and inferior.
There is superiority and inferiority, as well as dignity and inferiority, not just superiority and inferiority.
After Kou Ji saluted, he straightened up, took out the documents compiled by Honglu Temple from his sleeves, handed them in the direction of Zhao Zhen, and said: "Basically, the negotiation has been completed, but the Jiaozhi people want a lot of things. We
We won’t be able to raise funds for a while.”
When Zhao Zhen and Wang Zeng heard this, their faces darkened.
Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "As long as they can hand over Jiaozhi obediently, I will let them get what they want even if I empty the treasury."
Wang Zeng and Cai Qi nodded in agreement.
Kou Ji handed over the paperwork.
Chen Lin handed it over on your behalf.
After Zhao Zhen got the document, he quickly read it.
But after reading the documents carefully, my expression changed.
"Just...that's it?"
Zhao Zhen held the document and looked at Kou Ji in disbelief.
Zhao Zhen was already prepared for the Cochin lion to open its mouth.
It was only after I got the paperwork and looked through it carefully that I discovered it.
According to common sense, Jiaozhi is indeed a lion opening its mouth this time.
But this negotiation was very reasonable.
Not only did Jiaozhi not want much, but it was so little that Zhao Zhen found it incredible.
Wang Zeng and Cai Qi saw that Zhao Zhen looked strange, and they were anxious to get closer and take a look at the document in Zhao Zhen's hand.
But due to etiquette, they could only wait anxiously.
Facing Zhao Zhen's question, Kou Ji nodded and said, "That's it!"
Zhao Zhen let out a breath and couldn't help but said: "Incredible..."
Wang Zeng and Cai Qi couldn't help it anymore and spoke one after another.
"How far has it come?"
"..."
Zhao Zhen handed the document to Chen Lin and signaled Chen Lin to send the document to Wang Zeng and Cai Qi.
He stared at Kou Ji and said: "I thought the Cochin Lions would open their mouths, but I didn't expect that they only wanted some ordnance, big ships and supplies.
With only some ordnance, large ships and supplies, we bought a huge granary for our Song Dynasty.
I’ve made a lot of money from this business.”
While Zhao Zhen was talking, Wang Zeng and Cai Qi had already gathered together to finish the documents carefully.
They looked at Kou Ji with incredible expressions on their faces.
After Zhao Zhen's words fell, Wang Zeng hurriedly asked: "How did you force Jiaozhi to give up firearms and manpower?"
Kou Ji said frankly with a smile: "I just told them the truth. I told them that it is impossible to sell the firearms of the Song Dynasty, and the people of the Song Dynasty are not goods.
It is impossible to trade the two.
If they force it, they can only fight."
Wang Zeng opened his mouth, wanting to scold him as "nonsense", but when he saw the Jiaozhi official seal used by the Jiaozhi envoy on the document, he could not say a word.
Whether Kou Ji's move was a joke or not is no longer important.
Anyway, Jiaozhi has been threatened by Kou Ji, and they have already given in.
After Kou Ji finished speaking, Cai Qi couldn't help but said: "I took a closer look just now and found that Jiaozhi requested three thousand large ships and countless supplies.
It stands to reason that craftsmen and crossbows are equally skilled in craftsmanship, so why are they so few in number?"
Kou Ji smiled and said: "At first, the people of Jiaozhi really opened their mouths. But after the unremitting efforts of the officials of Honglu Temple in the Song Dynasty, we finally forced the people of Jiaozhi to relent.
This time Honglu Temple not only helped our Song Dynasty retain a thousand skilled craftsmen, but also saved our Song Dynasty millions of money."
"Are the people at Honglu Temple so hardworking?"
Cai Qi was a little unbelievable.
You know, this transaction is very important.
After Jiaozhi gave up its firearms and manpower, the other conditions proposed by Jiaozhi were actually met by the imperial court.
On this basis, it was very dangerous for the people of Honglu Temple to risk their talks with the Jiaozhi people and save transaction costs for the court.
Once the talks break down, if Kou Ji pushes back, someone from Honglu Temple will have to bear the consequences.
Given the importance Zhao Zhen, Wang Zeng and Cai Qi attached to Jiaozhi, it was inevitable for them to go to the guillotine.
But now they not only risked the guillotine to talk to the Cochin people, but also gave the court a satisfactory answer.
Faced with Cai Qi's doubts, Kou Ji smiled and said: "I have always felt that the people in Honglu Temple are capable. More importantly, they know their vassals and neighboring countries better than most of our officials in the Song Dynasty.
They knew the weaknesses of their vassal and neighboring countries.
Therefore, they manage foreign affairs better than most officials in the Song Dynasty.
The results obtained will far exceed the court's expectations.
In the past, the imperial court always sent important ministers to deal with foreign affairs, but it ignored whether the ministers knew about their vassals and neighboring countries.
What's more, they ignored the minister of Honglu Temple, who was also one of the important ministers in the court.
Officials at Honglu Temple are responsible for presiding over foreign affairs.
But I have always been dealing with chores.
In the future, should the imperial court try to let Honglu Temple take charge of foreign affairs?"
Zhao Zhen, Wang Zeng, and Cai Qi fell into silence after hearing this.
The three of them are the rare sober people in the court.
They knew that there was always a big problem in the court.
That is, the higher the status, the easier it is for arrogant and arrogant people to appear.
People with high status always feel that they are omnipotent and always like to point out all kinds of things.
He is obviously an outsider, but he pretends to be more expert than an expert.
Just like the Ministry of Industry.
Before Kou Ji appeared, the Ministry of Industry was not a government office.
Nearly half of the officials at the Ministry of Industry cannot draw, and the vast majority cannot understand precise drawings.
However, when the imperial court was building water conservancy and other projects, they always liked to give pointers and teach those who were truly proficient in water conservancy and other projects their experience in building water conservancy projects.
That is to say, the Ministry of Industry had no power at the beginning, and the power rested with the three departments.
Otherwise, most of the water conservancy projects built during the Song Dynasty would probably not be usable.
"This matter will be discussed later."
After thinking deeply, Zhao Zhen spoke slowly, "Now that the conditions for taking back Jiaozhi have been agreed, let's get ready quickly. Make a settlement with the King of Jiaozhi County as soon as possible and get Jiaozhi back as soon as possible.
For the sake of the King of Jiaozhi being wise, I will give him a promise.
My territory outside the Song Dynasty is up to him.
When he establishes another kingdom, I will grant him the seal of the king."
Don't look at Zhao Zhen as just a simple promise.
The weight is not light.
You must know that among the neighboring countries of the Song Dynasty, no one dares to call the country a country.
Nowadays, all the neighbors in the Song Dynasty are kings.
All those who professed the country were brought down.
Zhao Zhen gave a lot of seals to the Lord of Jiaozhi County, which was considered a generous gift.
The king recognized by the Song Dynasty and the king recognized by the Song Dynasty are completely different things.
"The officials are kind-hearted. I believe that the King of Jiaozhi County will be extremely grateful when he finds out about this."
Kou Ji bowed and said.
Cai Qi walked out of his seat, bowed and said, "Your Majesty Cai Qi has something to report."
As soon as these words came out, the eyes of Zhao Zhen, Kou Ji, and Wang Zeng all fell on Cai Qi, wondering what Cai Qi was going to do.