I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 361: Song Dynasty Characteristics: Not Suitable for Military Action
"Madam Zhao, in addition to my name being Zhao Chengzong, I also have another name, Zhao Wei."

Zhao Chengzong was the alias Zhao Wei used when he was in Tokyo. When he was in Qiantang, he also called himself Zhao Chengzong to Zhao Pan'er and others.

But he did not lie to Zhao Pan'er, because his courtesy name was indeed Chengzong.

In fact, Zhao Pan'er didn't feel deceived, she just felt shocked.

"Zhao Wei? Is that the Zhao Wei I know?"

Zhao Wei smiled and said, "Well, if nothing unexpected happens, the Zhao Wei you heard about should be me."

"You...you are His Royal Highness the King of Han?"

It's not that Zhao Pan'er had never thought about Zhao Wei being a descendant of the Zhao royal family, but she never dared to think of Zhao Wei as the prince who went to the border to serve as a soldier.

There is no other reason. For many people, His Royal Highness the King of Han is just too dazzling.

The fact that he passed the imperial examination at the age of thirteen shocked countless people, not to mention that he later went to the northwest border and established a large army without any help. The key point is that this large army defeated the Dingnan Army that had been plaguing the northwest border for many years.

For a moment, Zhao Paner was stunned on the spot.

There was no way. The impact of this identity on her was indeed huge, even greater than the previous confession.

As I said, Zhao Wei was interested in her, she could feel it more or less and was somewhat mentally prepared.

But she was not mentally prepared at all for the identity of King of Han. She just stared at Zhao Wei blankly, not knowing what she was thinking.

Just then, Zhao Huai'en walked in.

He first glanced at Zhao Pan'er, then lowered his voice and said, "Master, the emperor has summoned you to the palace for an audience."

Zhao Wei nodded and said to the stunned Zhao Pan'er, "Madam Zhao, Madam Zhao."

After being called out twice, Zhao Pan'er finally came back to her senses from her surprise and hurriedly saluted, being much more respectful than before.

"I pay my respects to His Majesty the King of Han. What can I do for you?"

Zhao Wei helped Zhao Pan'er up and pretended to be bitter: "Madam Zhao, do we have to be like this? Even if you don't agree to me, we are still friends. And I said I really want to marry you, please think about it again.

But don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who forces others to do things. If we really can't be husband and wife, I won't force you. We'll still be friends. I'm going to the palace now and will come to see you in a few days."

"Farewell, Your Highness." Zhao Pan'er saluted.

She was naturally very moved by Zhao Wei's words, but she also knew very well how big the gap was between her status and Zhao Wei's.

She stared blankly at Zhao Wei's departing back, her heart was extremely confused, so confused that she had no intention of looking for Ouyang Xu.

Zhao Wei walked out of the door and glanced at Liu Sheng and Shuang Xi: "You are so brave, you dare to bet with me."

Because he had been beaten before, and now hearing what Zhao Wei said, Shuangxi was so scared that he fell to his knees with a thud.

"Your Highness, forgive me."

Liu Sheng felt a little better, but he still felt guilty: "Your Highness, this subordinate..."

"Okay, you two lost, remember to give money to Huai En." Zhao Wei interrupted him and looked at the eunuch who came to announce the decree: "Eunuch Liu, lead the way."

"Your Highness, are you...not caring?" Liu Sheng asked Zhao Huai'en uncertainly.

"Of course, the Patriarch is not that stingy, and the Patriarch never thought that Madam Zhao would agree today."

In fact, as Zhao Huai'en said, he came to Zhao Pan'er today to confess his love, and he never thought that Zhao Pan'er would agree. He just wanted to plant a seed in Zhao Pan'er's heart.

At this moment, Liu Sheng finally confirmed one thing, that is, in the entire Prince Han's Mansion, the person who knew Zhao Wei best was not the wet nurse Xiuyin, nor Shuangxi who had been with Zhao Wei since childhood, but Zhao Huai'en, the palace's chief steward.

"I will never bet with you again."

At least regarding the bet with Zhao Wei, he would definitely not bet with Zhao Huai'en again.

Zhao Huai'en smiled faintly: "Let's talk about the future later, hurry up and catch up."

The imperial palace of the Song Dynasty was quite special. It lasted throughout the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was modeled after the Luoyang Palace Ziwei City. It is certainly not comparable to the later Forbidden City, but it is still tall, majestic and magnificent.

The main hall of the imperial palace is called Daqing Hall, where grand ceremonies are held. To the north of Daqing Hall is Zichen Hall, which is the front hall where the emperor holds court. The court meetings on the first and fifteenth days of each month, the congratulations upon the completion of suburban and temple ceremonies, and the reception of foreign envoys are all held in Zichen Hall.

To the northwest of the Purple Palace is the Wende Hall. Usually, the emperor would rest in this hall after finishing his morning court session, or summon important ministers to hold a small meeting here. Therefore, the Wende Hall is also known as the Inner Court.

Eunuch Liu brought Zhao Wei to the Wende Hall and waited outside the hall for a while. Then, the eunuchs' shouts were heard from inside the hall. Although it was a shrill voice, it conveyed a sense of panic.

"Xuan, the King of Han is here to see you."

After hearing this, Zhao Wei immediately straightened his robe and followed Eunuch Liu into the Wende Hall.

Arriving at the center of the hall, Zhao Wei bowed and said, "I pay my respects to the Emperor, and to the gentlemen."

"Your Majesty, no gift."

Zhao Wei raised his head and faced Emperor Zhao Heng. Zhao Heng's face was not old. He was dressed in luxurious clothes, sitting upright, and his expression looked quite ugly.

Obviously, he was scolded by several ministers just now.

It has to be said that the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were very tolerant towards their subjects, especially towards scholars. Unless they committed extremely serious crimes, the most they would do was exile, and their lives would not be in danger.

His father Zhao Heng's generation was nothing, but the next generation Emperor Renzong was even more lenient, so lenient that he couldn't even protect his own prince. This can no longer be called leniency, but cowardice.

There have been only a few emperors in history who were bullied by civil officials, and Song Renzong is definitely among the top three.

Before Zhao Heng could speak, Ke Zheng said, "Your Highness, King Han, the northwest border just reported that Xia has sent an envoy to Tokyo to discuss the annual tribute. The envoy is on the way. Do you know?"

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Li Sigong, the leader of the Dangxiang Tuoba, was named the governor of Dingnan Army for his contribution in pacifying Huang Chao, and was granted five states. The Dangxiang people successively surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty. After the five states were annexed by the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Jiqian left home to start a business. In the first year of Chunhua, he was named the King of Xia by the Liao Dynasty. He successively occupied the states in the Hexi Corridor. Therefore, the Xia Kingdom mentioned by Ke Zheng was actually the Hexi Corridor occupied by the Dangxiang people.

Zhao Wei nodded: "Yes, I heard that Li Deming contacted the Liao Kingdom and was preparing to cancel the tribute we had discussed before."

Li Deming is the current King of Xia and the leader of the Dingnan Army. He is not famous in history, but he has a very famous son, who later became Li Yuanhao, the king of Western Xia.

He had fought with Li Yuanhao once before on the battlefield, but unfortunately... if someone hadn't blocked the fatal shot, the weeds on Li Yuanhao's grave would be three feet high by now.

Zhao Heng looked worried in front of the case: "Yes, that's why I urgently summoned you to the palace. I want to hear your advice on something. The Dingnan Army in Xiazhou has recently risen again. You defeated the Dingnan Army and recovered the land of two states. In your opinion, how should our Song Dynasty deal with the Dangxiang Li family?"

Although Zhao Wei was in Tokyo, the entire northwest border was actually firmly in his hands. Except for major events that required an urgent delivery of 800 miles, he knew the news transmitted back to Tokyo from the northwest border even before the court.

Of course, he also knew about the restoration of the Dingnan Army.

"Father, do you really want to hear my opinion?"

Zhao Wei was very clear about the nature of the people in the court and the country, so he actually did it on purpose as he allowed the Dingnan Army to rise again. Only by allowing the Dingnan Army to rise again could the court and the people of the Song Dynasty feel a sense of crisis.

"But it doesn't matter."

"Father, I feel that the Dingnan Army has been colluding with the Liao Kingdom for many years. The best option is to use military force against them and destroy them in one fell swoop. Otherwise, they will be like weeds, rising up at the sight of the wind. If you want to use military force against the Dingnan Army, I am willing to be the vanguard general."

Before Zhao Heng even opened his mouth, Ke Zheng objected directly, "No."

Zhao Wei turned his head and looked over: "Teacher doesn't agree with sending troops?"

As a war advocate in the court, Ke Zheng naturally agreed to send troops: "No, no, no, I just don't agree with your highness leading the army. Your highness is a prince, you must know that a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. Your highness is not the only one who can fight in the court. I think your general Li is not bad. He has defeated the border invaders of Dingnan Army one after another."

That's right. In the past two years, the Dingnan Army launched two large-scale wars, but they didn't get any advantage from Li Junxin. Instead, they suffered some losses. Now Li Deming dared to send an envoy to discuss the cancellation of tribute, probably because he urgently transferred 10,000 blood-clothed soldiers back, and the Liao Kingdom must have made some promises, which made Li Deming think that he was good enough again.

"Well, I still have confidence in General Li. It's okay for me not to go."

Seeing that the master and disciple seemed to be about to be determined, several peace advocates present naturally raised their objections.

Then, the peace faction started arguing with Ke Zheng.

The noise was so annoying that Zhao Heng immediately shouted angrily.

"Okay, stop arguing."

The hall fell silent again. Zhao Heng cursed twice, showing rare toughness, and then looked at Zhao Wei: "I know what you are thinking, but if you use military force against the Dingnan Army, the Liao Kingdom will certainly not sit idly by. It has only been more than ten years since the Treaty of Chanyuan. It has been difficult for our Song Dynasty to stabilize. It is not appropriate to launch another offensive."

Zhao Wei was not surprised by Zhao Heng's words. If his father had ambitions, he would not have strictly ordered the Blood-Cloth Army on the northwest border to only defend and not attack.

And it wasn't just his father who was like this; all the emperors that came after him were the same.

It can be described in one word.

Coward!
It is not advisable to launch a military offensive, which is a characteristic of the Song Dynasty.

But if you need to say it, you still need to say it.

"Father, you must know that there is no permanent peace. Only absolute strength can bring stability to our Song Dynasty. The peace achieved through negotiation is nothing but a castle in the air, which will be shattered at the slightest touch. I, your son, still say that the dignity of our Song Dynasty lies only on the edge of the sword, and the truth lies only within the range of guns and cannons. Only by destroying the Dingnan Army can we ensure the stability of the northwest of our Song Dynasty. Moreover, with the achievement of recovering the lost land in the Hexi Corridor, your Majesty is barely qualified to visit Mount Tai."

Going to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth was something Zhao Heng had always dreamed of.

Zhao Heng was immediately tempted and murmured, "It seems possible to send troops."

But soon, he reacted: "I was almost trapped by you, kid. Sending troops is absolutely not an option, at least not before the two countries negotiate, not an option!"

"The government is wise."

Several peace advocates immediately flattered him. Zhao Wei glanced at them, looked at Zhao Heng, and said speechlessly: "Father, since you have already decided to negotiate, why did you ask me to come?"

Zhao Heng's eyes widened: "Why, I can't call you now?"

"No, you are my father, how dare I disobey you?"

Hearing the word "father", Zhao Heng's attitude softened and he said with a smile: "I summoned you to the palace not only to listen to your opinions, but also to discuss the peace talks. You are familiar with the Tanguts, so I will leave the peace talks to you."

"Let me handle the negotiations with the Tanguts?" Zhao Wei was stunned, and said with a playful smile: "Aren't you afraid that I will ruin the peace talks?"

Ke Zheng lowered his head and couldn't help but mutter.

"It would be better if the talks broke down."

If it comes to using military force against the Liao Kingdom, he will have to think about it and may even oppose it.

But he fully supported the Tangut people in Xiazhou in using military force.

Because Zhao Wei has proved with practical actions that the Dingnan Army of Xiazhou is just a plaything in the hands of the Blood-Cloth Army.

Ke Zheng's voice was not small, and it was obvious that he did it on purpose.

Zhao Heng snorted coldly, but did not accuse him of anything. He just said to Zhao Wei, "I believe you will not let the Song Dynasty fall into war because of your personal ideas. And if the negotiations fail, I will have to reconsider the position of Crown Prince."

The position of crown prince has been vacant for a long time.

After Ke Zheng returned to Beijing, he again raised the issue of establishing a crown prince.

And the candidate for the crown prince was naturally Zhao Wei.

Zhao Heng has actually been considering making Zhao Wei the crown prince recently, and has already spread some rumors to test the attitudes of court officials.

In other words, Zhao Wei was almost certain to take another step.

"You make it sound like I really want to be the crown prince and sit in your position in the future." Zhao Wei rolled his eyes and said with disdain, "Being an emperor is so tiring, you wouldn't even want to be a dog, right?"

When everyone heard this, they were all stunned and it took them a long time to come back to their senses.

Then, they all stole a glance at Zhao Heng.

Zhao Heng seemed to have not heard clearly and asked blankly: "What did you just say?"

"I said being an emperor is so tiring, even a dog wouldn't want to be one."

"presumptuous!"

Zhao Heng was furious. He slammed the table and stood up, pointing at Zhao Wei with shaking hands: "You, you, you...get out of here!"

"Yes, I will retire."

Zhao Wei bowed and left the Wende Hall.

Instead of leaving the palace and returning home, he went to the harem.

Ciyuan Hall.

Before Zhao Wei even entered the room, he heard the sound of jade colliding from inside.

Four women, Empress Liu Wan, Concubine Yang Shufei, Concubine Cao Xianfei, and Concubine Liu Chenfei, were sitting at the table playing mahjong with great enthusiasm.

Seeing Zhao Wei coming in, Liu Wan was stunned for a moment. After throwing a card, she said, "Oh, isn't this our busy man, His Royal Highness the King of Han? How come you have time to come and see an old woman like me?"

Zhao Wei smiled ingratiatingly, came behind Liu Wan, rubbed her shoulders and said, "Mom, you are very beautiful and don't look old at all. If you go out with me, people will definitely think you are my sister."

Liu Wan immediately laughed: "You, just know how to make me happy."

Concubine Yang Shu took over the conversation and said happily: "Your Highness is so sweet, as if you were covered with honey. But after hearing what Your Highness said, I realized that my sister has really become more radiant recently. She looks like a 20-year-old girl. Do you have any secret recipe?"

"It's not as exaggerated as you say. This kid just came up with some beauty and skin care recipes a few days ago. I used them for a while and they really worked."

As long as you are a woman, there is no one who doesn't love beauty.

Hearing Liu Wan's words, Liu Chenfei immediately asked, "Really?"

Concubine Yang Shu smiled and said, "Sister Liu, we are like sisters. It's not good for you to do this."

"It's my fault, it's mainly because I wanted to try it out first to see if it works." Liu Wan looked guilty and shouted, "Cuiwei, go and copy three copies of the prescription that His Highness gave me and send them to the three ladies."

"My sister is so lucky to have a child like His Royal Highness the King of Han." Concubine Cao Xian said, looking at Zhao Wei, a trace of pity flashed in her eyes, and finally smiled and said: "I don't know which girl will get the child in the future."

"Which girl is so cheap? He doesn't even..."

"Mom, I have a girl I like."

After hearing this, Liu Wan's complaints came to an abrupt end. She turned her head sharply to look at her son with a look of surprise.

"What did you say?"

"I said I have a girl I like."

(End of this chapter)