I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 403 Proposal
The damage caused by this storm was neither big nor small.

According to statistics from the Prince of Han's Palace, other places were not greatly affected, only Kaifeng Prefecture, especially within a hundred miles of Tokyo City, suffered heavy losses.

Because the scope was limited, Zhao Wei was busy for a few days and was able to make basic arrangements.

That day, when Zhao Wei entered the palace to report on post-disaster issues, he met Gu Qianfan.

"I heard that you were injured while traveling with Yelu Zongsheng of Liao. Are you okay?"

Not long ago, the Liao Kingdom in the north sent envoys to the Song Dynasty. Leading the envoy was the Liao prince, Yelü Zongsheng. Yelü Zongsheng was a man of both civil and military talents, and had a great reputation in the Liao Kingdom.

In order to highlight the importance of the Song Dynasty to him, Zhao Heng sent the Prime Minister Xiao Qinyan to lead the Ministry of Rites for the reception, which was of extremely high standards. Gu Qianfan was also one of the deputy envoys of this reception and accompanied Yelu Zongsheng on the trip.

But during the trip, they encountered an accident and a landslide, and Gu Qianfan was injured while trying to save Yelu Zongsheng.

Gu Qianfan bowed to Zhao Wei and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I am fine now."

"Well, I hope it's nothing serious."

Zhao Wei could see that Gu Qianfan was not in a very good condition, but he did not look like he was seriously injured. He must have been slightly injured, and after treatment, he had recovered a lot.

"You have been accompanying Yelu Zongsheng for several days now. How do you feel about him? Will he be a great enemy of the Song Dynasty?"

Speaking of this, Gu Qianfan's face suddenly became serious. He had been with Yelu Zongsheng for some time and found that Yelu Zongsheng was indeed not a simple person.

"Yelü Zongsheng is a man of outstanding literary and military skills. His way of dealing with people is also incomparable to that of ordinary Liao people. He is very extraordinary. More importantly, he is ambitious and may very likely become the emperor of Liao in the future."

I have to say that Gu Qianfan’s intuition is still very accurate.

It is said that the historical prototype of Yelu Zongsheng was Yelu Zongzhen, Emperor Xingzong of Liao, the seventh emperor of the Liao Dynasty.

For the Liao people, Yelu Zongzhen could be regarded as a wise ruler and one of the few powerful rulers of the Liao Dynasty.

Zhao Wei said in a deep voice: "From what you said, if Yelu Zongsheng ascends the throne in the future, it will not be a good thing for our Song Dynasty?"

Gu Qianfan nodded, then shook his head, and said thoughtfully: "It's hard to say. I think this person is quite friendly to our Song Dynasty, and he also likes our culture. If he becomes the ruler of Liao in the future, it may not be a bad thing for our Song Dynasty."

This was Gu Qianfan's most intuitive feeling, but Zhao Wei kept shaking his head: "Envoy Gu, you still don't understand the culture of the foreigners very well. The more they like our Central Plains culture, the more likely they are to raise an army. If you have the opportunity to go to the border in the future, you will understand how deep the hatred between the Liao people and us is, and how strong the foreigners' desire to destroy our Song Dynasty is."

It is true that Gu Qianfan is both civil and military, but he knows too little about the battlefield and has a superficial understanding of the relationship between Song and Liao. He just thinks that Yelu Zongsheng is a good person, so he concludes that Yelu Zongsheng has a friendly attitude towards the Song Dynasty. This is undoubtedly a wrong judgment.

Although Zhao Wei was not sure whether Yelu Zongsheng was the Emperor Xingzong of Liao in the official history, as far as he knew, during the reign of Emperor Renzong after Emperor Zhenzong, the Liao Kingdom was not friendly to the Song Dynasty.

Gu Qianfan frowned slightly. He knew that the Song and Liao dynasties were hostile to each other, but he had never seen with his own eyes how cruel the Liao people were.

And if he had to choose between Zhao Wei and Yelu Zongsheng, he would definitely believe Zhao Wei more.

"I understand what your Highness means. Instead of expecting the Liao people to be friendly to us, it is better for us to strengthen ourselves. As long as our Song Dynasty is strong enough, the Liao people will not dare to bully us."

In the past many years, the Central Plains court has suffered from humiliation by the Liao people, so many people have a natural sense of weakness when facing the Liao people, especially the Liao officials and dignitaries.

Zhao Wei patted Gu Qianfan's shoulder in appreciation and said with a smile: "You are right. Instead of expecting the enemy to be soft, it is better to strengthen ourselves. We may not take the initiative to provoke a war between the two countries, but the initiative must be in our own hands. As long as we are strong enough, the Liao people will be nothing to us. I have always believed in a saying that dignity lies only on the tip of our sword."

Feeling the confidence in Zhao Wei's words, Gu Qianfan was unconsciously infected.

Especially the sentence "Dignity only lies on the edge of our sword", which shocked him greatly.

After bidding farewell to Gu Qianfan, Zhao Wei went to the Zichen Palace to meet Zhao Heng.

The Purple Palace was the place for court meetings on the first and fifteenth day of each month, for receiving congratulations when the suburban and temple ceremonies were completed, and for receiving foreign envoys. Now there were neither court meetings on the first and fifteenth day of each month nor suburban and temple ceremonies, so it was obvious that Zhao Heng was receiving envoys from the Liao Kingdom.

As soon as Zhao Wei entered the hall, he saw the envoys from the Liao Kingdom headed by Yelu Zongsheng. He just glanced at them and had no intention of speaking, but Yelu Zongsheng spoke instead.

"I think this is the King Han of the Song Dynasty. It is true that hearing about him is not as good as meeting him in person. Meeting him in person is worse than hearing about him." Yelu Zongsheng bowed to Zhao Wei and said with a smile, "I have heard of the King Han's great name for a long time. I have always wanted to make friends with him. I am honored to meet him today."

Zhao Wei turned around, bowed, and said with a faint smile: "Nice to meet you, but I think you, King Liang, don't want to."

King of Liang was the title given to Yelu Zongsheng in the Liao Kingdom.

Hearing Zhao Wei's nonsensical words, Yelu Zongsheng was a little confused: "What do you mean by not wanting to?"

"You don't want to make friends with this king."

"Oh, why?"

"Because as far as I know, King Liang is very talented. If you associate with me, I might not be able to help but kill you."

As soon as these words were spoken, some people in the Liao delegation became angry.

But before he could finish his words, Yelu Zongsheng glared back at him. Then he looked at Zhao Wei and said with a smile, "King Han, you are too kind. As far as I know, King Han is known as the Huo Qubing of the Song Dynasty. I am far inferior to him."

As he said that, he changed the subject: "However, King Han, what you said does make sense. If you and I were to date, I would not be afraid of killing you. After all, I know a thing or two about riding, shooting, and boxing."

Zhao Wei smiled faintly: "How about giving it a try? Our life and death are our own responsibility!"

The King of Han was so brave that he was unrivalled among the three armies and was said to have the power of a tyrant.

Although Yelu Zongsheng thought that this was just an exaggeration by the Song people and the Dingnan Army, he was still a little scared when it came to a one-on-one fight with Zhao Wei.

However, as the chief envoy of the Liao Kingdom, he represents the face of the entire Liao Kingdom and he must not lose in momentum.

So, Yelu Zongsheng took a step forward.

"Then try it."

Both of them were princes, representing the face of the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty respectively. It was naturally impossible for the court officials and Zhao Heng to let them fight.

After all, when Zhao Wei said he wanted to kill someone, he really dared to kill him. He had previously killed the envoy sent by Xiazhou in his own court.

If Zhao Wei really killed Yelu Zongsheng, the Liao Kingdom would certainly take this opportunity to send troops, which was undoubtedly something that the officials in the court and Zhao Heng did not want to see.

As for Yelu Zongsheng defeating Zhao Wei, Zhao Heng and the officials in the court never even thought about it.

Speaking of which, the reason why Yelu Zongsheng dared to stand up was that he was sure that the Song Dynasty court would not dare to do anything to them.

Unfortunately, he was sure that the civil and military officials in the court and Zhao Heng would not dare to take action, but he did not know Zhao Wei's character.

Just when the court officials and Zhao Heng were about to speak up to stop him, Zhao Wei moved.

Everyone saw a flash of light before their eyes, and Yelu flew backwards, knocking down a group of Liao people behind him. Zhao Wei stood in the position before Yelu Zongsheng, looking down at the group of Liao people from a high position, and finally set his eyes on Yelu Zongsheng, laughing and saying, "King Liang, it seems you still need to practice.

Also, I remind you that this is the Song Dynasty. Do not try to provoke me, or I will prevent you from returning to the Liao Kingdom!"

Without waiting for the Liao people to speak, Zhao Heng shouted angrily: "King Han, you are so presumptuous!"

"Yes, yes, yes, I am insolent. You can punish me in any way you want."

Zhao Wei looked nonchalant, took out a memorial from his arms, handed it to the official beside him, and then left the Zichen Hall without looking back.

Compared to the last time he killed the envoy from Xiazhou in the palace, Zhao Heng was serious this time.

That afternoon, the imperial edict of punishment arrived at Prince Han’s mansion.

One month's house arrest and three years' salary deduction!

For Zhao Wei, this punishment can only be described as...not painful at all.

It is impossible to put him under house arrest. After all, he will be marrying Zhao Pan'er in less than half a month, so it is impossible to put him under house arrest.

As for the three years' salary fine, he had long ceased to rely on the court's salary for his livelihood. The salary given by the court was not even enough to cover the expenses of his army for a few days.

That night.

Zhao Wei leaned on the bed, Zhao Pan'er leaned in his arms, and spoke softly.

"Your Highness, do you still remember Chi Pan who had a grudge against me before?"

"What's wrong? Did he annoy you again? Do you want me to help you teach him a lesson?"

"No, he doesn't dare to provoke me now. I have reconciled with him. He is the one who wanted to open a restaurant with me."

Zhao Wei said, "What do you think?"

Zhao Pan'er knew that Chi Pan came to her because he wanted to take the boat of the Han Palace, and said a little embarrassedly: "Your Highness, you also know that after this storm, our half-mask was destroyed. It doesn't matter to me, but Sanniang and Yinzhang both came to Tokyo with me, and I can't ignore them."

"I understand. So you want to cooperate with Chi Pan?"

Zhao Pan'er shook her head, then nodded: "I wanted to open a restaurant for Sanniang and a music house for Yinzhang before. I happened to meet Chi Pan that day. I just wanted to ask him about it, but he said he wanted to cooperate with me."

Zhao Pan'er smiled again when she found that Zhao Wei was not angry or dissatisfied.

"I know why Chi Pan wanted to cooperate with me, but I have thought about it in the past few days and feel that it is not bad to cooperate with him. I heard from Chi Pan that opening a restaurant in Tokyo is not an easy thing, and the investment is also huge. Although he said that he would pay and I would do the work, since it is a cooperation, I can't not pay."

Zhao Wei nodded and said with a smile: "You are the princess of the Han Palace. The conditions for opening a restaurant are just a matter of your words. However, if you really want to open a restaurant, I would like to give you a few suggestions."

"Okay, your highness, you go ahead."

Zhao Pan'er sat up from Zhao Wei's arms and looked at him with great interest. She knew that Zhao Wei grew up in Tokyo and was a member of the royal family. He must know much more about Tokyo City than she did.

"If you just want to open a restaurant that sells food and drinks, I'm not optimistic because there are too many restaurants like that. Although Sanniang's cooking skills are good, the official restaurants in Tokyo City are not bad either. Some of them even have retired royal chefs in charge. If you want to win by the taste, the chances are slim. So if you want to open a restaurant, you have to open a comprehensive restaurant."

"A comprehensive restaurant?" Zhao Pan'er looked puzzled: "What kind of restaurant is that?"

"To put it simply, it's not just a place to eat and drink, but also a place to have fun," Zhao Wei explained.

"Fun?"

Zhao Pan'er was very smart and quickly understood what Zhao Wei meant: "You mean, restaurants like Fanlou and Youranju?"

"Almost the same, but if we simply copy the business model of Fanlou and Youranju, it won't work. Fanlou and Youranju are the two best entertainment and leisure places in Tokyo, each with its own characteristics, but that's not the point. The point is that they are already the best in Tokyo. It's difficult to surpass Fanlou and Youranju in the areas they excel in, so we have to change the track."

"Change the track?"

"That's right." Zhao Wei nodded and said, "You know, the people who can spend money in a restaurant are basically men, and what else are men interested in besides eating and drinking?

woman!

Especially those so-called literati, who are often the most willing to spend money for the sake of face.”

"You mean something like the Jiaofangsi?"

Without waiting for Zhao Wei to speak, Zhao Pan'er shook her head and said, "But, we are running a regular restaurant. If we have that kind of service, wouldn't it be a bit weird?"

Zhao Pan'er came from the Jiaofangsi, and she had a deep-seated aversion to that kind of place, and she couldn't bear to see other women fall for it.

"Pan'er, this is how the world is. If you want to maximize your benefits, this is the best choice."

Zhao Pan'er remained silent, but Zhao Wei did not stop talking.

"However, the service I'm talking about is different from the service you think of. We can't do the flesh trade, but it's feasible to sell art without selling body. It has a certain brothel nature, so it can attract more customers."

Zhao Wei took a breath and said with a smile, "Enjoying singing and dancing while drinking and eating is a unique business model in restaurants, except for brothels, and can be regarded as a major feature.

Of course, the singing, dancing and music performances in the restaurant must show that they are a kind of elegant art.

You can’t ask for money to appreciate art, even if others give you money. This is classy, ​​just like asking Song Yinzhang to play the pipa in a teahouse.”

Thinking of what Zhao Pan'er had said before about opening a music hall with Song Yinzhang, Zhao Wei added, "Speaking of which, if we combine singing, dancing and music, Song Yinzhang can also teach directly in the restaurant. Not only can we save a lot of money for opening a music hall, but if we promote it properly, this may also become a major selling point."

The reason why Zhao Wei said this was actually because he was also considering himself.

Among his tasks was a side quest of listening to music in brothels, a total of a thousand times. He couldn't possibly go to the Jiaofangsi or brothels every day, as that would be too ostentatious.

But if Zhao Pan'er opened a restaurant with brothel attributes, then he would have an excuse to go there often, and it would also be more secretive, killing two birds with one stone.

After listening to Zhao Wei's advice, Zhao Pan'er fell into a dilemma.

She was reluctant about performing songs, dances and music in the restaurant, but she also understood that Zhao Wei's idea was fine, and could even be said to be very good, so she was conflicted.

"I'll think about it again."

Zhao Wei smiled and nodded: "Okay, then you think about it again, but now...it's your turn to help me sleep."

Zhao Pan'er said coquettishly, "Yes, Your Highness, I will wait for you to rest."

(End of this chapter)