Control your ancestors and create an immortal family starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty

Chapter 278 Sitting Tranquil on the Edge, Seizing the Opportunity to Unify the World (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Just as Gu Rui had predicted.

As he once again ordered the Song army to adopt an offensive posture, even the Liao royal family generals did not believe that the Song army would be so unwise.

But faced with reality, they had no choice but to accept it all.

And just as Gu Rui said.

—They, too, couldn't hold on any longer.

The main offensive of the Song army this time was against the Liao Kingdom. Although the Liao royal family could tacitly allow the Western Xia to lead their army to the Liao Kingdom during the war, they also had to control the influence of the Western Xia army to avoid any further changes in the future.

This is the reality they have to accept.

To resolve all of this, they must demonstrate their stance.

Sure enough, it was less than ten days later.

The Liao envoy arrived at the Song camp again and met with Gu Rui. Naturally, the two sides then engaged in another tug-of-war.

No one wants to reveal their secrets easily.

Gu Rui showed an extremely resolute attitude, determined to attack no matter what, constantly pushing the Liao Kingdom's bottom line.

Although the Liao Kingdom had some precautions, it did not fall for the trap easily.

This led to several more major battles between the two sides.

In the end, the Liao Kingdom finally admitted defeat!

January of the fourth year of the Longhe era.

Thirty li north of the Sanggan River lies Baicaopo.

Although this area belonged to Liao territory, it was now under the control of the Song army's outposts.

At this moment, a large tent with green canopy was temporarily erected on the hilltop, and the Song and Liao armies lined up on the east and west sides respectively, their armor gleaming against the snow, creating a solemn and silent atmosphere.

The Song soldiers had serious expressions.

In contrast, the Liao soldiers, though equally grim-looking, seemed to be putting on a brave face.

A cold wind blew continuously, and time slowly passed in this somber atmosphere.

It is 9:00 AM.

Gu Rui and Yelü Renxian, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court of Liao, arrived at almost the same time, each bringing ten guards into their tents.

There was no high seat in the tent, only two tables facing each other.

Gu Rui calmly took his seat, while Yelü Renxian did not observe the proper etiquette, but merely stared at him coldly.

"Grand Tutor Gu is making a concerted effort to destroy our Great Liao Dynasty, could it be that he truly intends to perish with us?" Yelü Renxian's voice was low and filled with suppressed anger.

Gu Rui did not answer, but pushed a scroll of silk onto the table: "This is the treaty drafted by our Great Song Dynasty. The Privy Councilor may take a look."

Yelü Renxian unfolded the silk scroll, his gaze sweeping over it, his expression growing increasingly grim.

When he saw the "annual stipend" item, he looked up sharply, his eyes practically spitting fire: "An annual stipend of 150,000 shi of grain?"

"Gu Rui! Do you think my Great Liao Dynasty is a vassal state of the Southern Dynasty?!"

"No." Gu Rui's expression remained unchanged as he calmly stated, "This is not an annual gift, but a war reward."

He paused slightly, his voice low but clear: "In the past three years, the Liao army has burned eleven of our border towns, plundered more than 300,000 shi of grain, and slaughtered countless border people. Today, we are demanding the return of less than half of what we have.

Yelü Renxian clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

The tent fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of the cold wind whistling through the banners outside.

He knew that Gu Rui was not lying.

The Liao Dynasty is now beset by internal and external troubles. Although the Western Xia is an ally, it is like a wolf at its side. If it continues to fight the Song Dynasty, even if it does not perish, it will be severely weakened.

Otherwise, the Liao Kingdom would not have ended up in this situation.

His body trembled uncontrollably.

Yelü Renxian understood exactly what this meant.

This is a disgrace to the nation and a loss of sovereignty!

As a member of the royal family, it would be difficult for him to sign this contract.

But what could he do even if he was unwilling?
The situation has forced him to this point.

The Liao Dynasty could no longer continue fighting. Even if it could eventually hold off the Song army, it would be extremely weak, and the most likely outcome would be that the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty would share the spoils.

Amidst these myriad thoughts, after a long while, he slowly released his grip, his voice hoarse: "Ten thousand shi."

"This is the maximum that my lord can grant."

He revealed the truth.

This was the limit that the Liao court officials could come up with.

Gu Rui stared at him for a moment, then finally nodded slightly: "Okay."

Once the word was uttered, there was no turning back.

When Yelü Renxian, in his high position as the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court of the Liao Dynasty, solemnly affixed his seal to the silk covenant and slowly pushed it to the other end of the table, the entire world seemed to fall silent.

The tent flap was lifted, and the eyes of the soldiers from both countries waiting outside instantly focused on it.

When the terms of the agreement, symbolizing submission and tribute, were loudly read aloud by the official in charge of rites, and the clear voice echoed throughout the surrounding area, the Song army camp arrayed at Dongpo was initially deathly silent.

It was as if they couldn't process the result they had been waiting for for so long.

Then, someone took a breath, the sound of which was tinged with an uncontrollable sob.

Immediately afterwards, as if a dam had burst, countless battle-hardened and wounded soldiers had tears welling up in their eyes.

On the Liao army's side, most of the soldiers silently lowered their heads.

Yelü Renxian did not linger.

He seemed to understand what all of this meant. After confirming the completion of the ceremony, he turned and left.

Gu Rui remained silent, staring at the covenant before him with a complex expression.

His eyes held both desolation and a long sigh of relief—as if a huge boulder that had been hanging over his heart for a long time had finally been lifted.

Perhaps no one can truly understand his state of mind at this moment.

The burden he bears is far beyond what ordinary people can imagine.

No matter how confident he was, when faced with a war between nations, he still had to consider the risk of defeat, and all of this affected him constantly. Coupled with his ambitions, this feeling was something that others could not understand.

Outside the tent, the faint cheers of soldiers could be heard.

Gu Rui simply sat alone in the tent, looking desolate and saying nothing.

Time flies by.

The sudden end of the great battle once again surprised everyone.

But for the people of Kyushu as a whole, this is indeed a good thing.

And this was exactly as Gu Rui had guessed.

As the Song army withdrew from Liao territory, friction arose once again between Liao and Western Xia.

The Western Xia felt that they had sacrificed too much to support the Liao Kingdom and that they should make the Liao Kingdom compensate them no matter what.

The Liao Kingdom, on the other hand, felt that the two countries were interdependent and interdependent, and that it was impossible to say who would help whom in this battle.

There are no permanent allies.

Especially between countries.

The Liao and Western Xia dynasties are a case in point today.

Of course, faced with this chaotic situation, the Liao Dynasty still had to make some sacrifices in the end, sending several pastures and some grain to the Western Xia again, which finally resolved the dispute between the two countries.

Everything seemed to have returned to the peaceful times of the past.

But it is completely different.

The Liao Dynasty was utterly defeated.

Not only did the Liao Dynasty lose a significant amount of territory, but the tribute it paid to the Song Dynasty and the compensation it received from the Western Xia Dynasty were also fatal to the Liao Dynasty.

In particular, the tribute given to the Song Dynasty was an annual offering.

This was a further blow to the Liao Dynasty, which would not be able to recover for decades.

It can be said that this single battle dragged the Liao Kingdom into the abyss.

But that's reality. No matter how much the Liao royal family hated the Song Dynasty and cursed the Gu family, they couldn't change that reality.

It is worth mentioning that--

Since returning to the Song Dynasty, Gu Rui has become a completely different person. He no longer has the ambitious and unrealistic feeling he once had, and instead resembles Gu Jun from back then.

He did not say anything more about looking towards the world.

Instead, they focused their attention on their feet.

Integrate into the newly conquered territories, address various domestic problems within the Song Dynasty, including the increasing number of foreign merchants in Kyushu, establish diplomatic relations with them, and regulate trade routes.

All of this seems reasonable.

But he is distinctly different from the Gu Rui of the past.

He would even stand in front of the map of the Grand Tutor's mansion every day, just like Gu Jun in the past, standing in the mansion and keeping a close eye on the world.

Gu Rui has changed.

Reality and responsibilities forced him to slow down and plan a reasonable path for the entire family and the Song Dynasty, meticulously arranging everything step by step. Of course, he didn't completely become like Gu Jun.

Perhaps it should be said that Gu Rui has found a mission that belongs to his generation.

Weakening the Western Xia and Liao dynasties;
To sow discord between the two countries.

This is a goal that Gu Rui set for himself.

Through this great battle, he has seen the current situation in the Nine Provinces. No matter how strong the Song Dynasty is, as long as the Western Xia and Liao Dynasties maintain this state of affairs, the Song Dynasty will find it difficult to unify the entire world.

He had to solve this problem no matter what.

Fortunately, he was already very good at this kind of thing.

He tightly controlled the Liao Kingdom's vital commercial lifeline.

The regulations of the Great Song Dynasty's Market Exchange Bureau were quietly added to and deleted from. Grain, ironware, and medicines that Liao Dynasty merchants could easily purchase in the past are now either subject to heavy taxes or limited in quantity.

Instead, more ostentatious luxury goods and luxuries were encouraged to be imported into Liaodong.

This move was intended to accelerate the outflow of Liao's wealth, leaving it with only the burden of annual tributes and no real means of recovery.

While the common people may not have noticed, the Liao state's treasury was gradually emptying, like a dull knife cutting flesh, causing those in power to feel a despair even deeper than that of defeat on the battlefield.

At the same time, Gu Rui tacitly approved and even condoned the "smuggling" on the border, allowing some key supplies to flow into the hands of Liao tribes with centrifugal tendencies through secret channels at higher prices.

A combination of kindness and severity was used to divide and weaken the enemy.

In addition, there is the annual tribute that has never been interrupted.

All of this made the situation in the Liao Kingdom even worse.

For the Western Xia, however, it was an even more complex web.

Gu Rui cleverly took advantage of the Western Xia's desire to make peace with the Song Dynasty, and signed an alliance treaty with them, which greatly increased the official trade volume with the Western Xia.

In particular, the acquisition of treasures and warhorses from the Western Regions allowed the Western Xia nobles to make a fortune in a short period of time.

However, this is only a superficial phenomenon.

Every gift comes with an implicit price tag.

Gu Rui deliberately made concessions in order to make Western Xia increasingly dependent on trade with the Song Dynasty, so as to indirectly control Western Xia and Liao through the Song Dynasty's current most powerful commerce.

Simply put, it means using one's strengths to attack the opponent's weaknesses.

This is indeed a very useful trick.

The situations in the two countries are completely different.

Now Liaodong is completely under the control of the Song Dynasty. It can be said that the entire Liao Kingdom's commerce is completely tied to the Song Dynasty. They can do nothing about Gu Rui being ruthless towards them.

But the Western Xia was different.
Li Yuanhao's opening up of the Western Regions was arguably the most influential event since the founding of the Western Xia Dynasty.

This meant that Western Xia's trade did not have to rely entirely on the Song Dynasty.

This is also why Gu Rui was willing to give up his profits.

He needed to exert control subtly, and he never even interfered with the trade between the Western Xia and the Liao Dynasty.

This is targeting people's hearts and minds!
As the Liao Dynasty's situation worsens, the people of Western Xia will inevitably oppress them more and more, which will definitely provoke conflict between the two countries and widen their rift.

This is both the human heart and human nature.

At the same time, Gu Rui also did not give up sending people to influence the hearts and minds of the people in both countries.

This includes interference in the courts of both countries.

Enticement and partisan strife
Gu Rui always manages to seize every opportunity to influence various initiatives between the two countries.

Under his deliberate maintenance, the Song Dynasty became the behind-the-scenes manipulator between the two countries, seemingly not interfering in everything, but in reality constantly influencing the development of the entire Kyushu.

Actually, if we don't consider the bigger picture...

Gu Rui will definitely have even more ruthless methods to influence all of this from behind the scenes.

Given the Song Dynasty's current economic and trade advantages, he has countless ways to influence the livelihoods of both countries.

But he couldn't do that.

It was not out of benevolence, but because of the unification of Kyushu.

Royal families from different countries can harbor hatred towards each other.

But ordinary people absolutely cannot.

If that were truly the case, it would have a fatal impact on the unification of Kyushu.

This is a red line drawn by Gu Yi for the Gu family, and it is also a red line drawn by the Gu family for the entire world.

Gu Rui would never do that.

Even so, it's enough.

That's just how it is between countries.

If the Western Xia wants to continue to develop, it must continue to annex surrounding territories.

The Western Regions were remote, and the costs incurred were far beyond what the Western Xia could bear.

The Song Dynasty, on the other hand, was far too powerful.

Especially after this battle, Gu Rui's reputation soared. As long as Gu Rui is still alive, no one will dare to offend the Song Dynasty.

In that case, they are left with only one choice.

That was the Liao Dynasty.

The Liao Dynasty has indeed been weakened too much.

This was a golden opportunity. Whether it was to prevent the Song Dynasty from attacking Western Xia in the future or to prevent the Liao Dynasty from rising again, Western Xia would not give up this opportunity.

As for the saying "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold"...
If Western Xia could swallow up the entire Liao Kingdom, why would it need to fear the Song Dynasty?
This was the consensus among all those in power in Western Xia!

Even without Gu Rui, conflict between these two countries was inevitable, let alone now that Gu Rui is secretly interfering.

Although they didn't openly break off relations, the behind-the-scenes power struggle was no less intense.

Gu Rui, on the other hand, acted as if he hadn't seen anything at all, seemingly tacitly approving of everything that happened between the two countries, and always leading the Song Dynasty to stand firmly on Diaoyutai, watching the vicissitudes of the two nations with a smile.

He is still waiting for an opportunity.

And this opportunity did not keep him waiting for long.

The eleventh year of the Longhe era.

Suddenly, a violent earthquake struck the Xingqing and Xiliang prefectures of Western Xia, causing houses to collapse and countless people and livestock to be killed or injured. The Yellow River then went out of control, and the Xia and You prefectures suffered devastating floods, turning fertile lands into marshes. The disaster spread and shocked the entire country.

This natural disaster ultimately shattered the last balance between the Western Xia and the Liao Dynasty.

It was in July of the eleventh year of the Longhe era.

The envoy from Western Xia then secretly arrived in Kaifeng to request an audience with Gu Rui.

It was late at night, and the study in the Grand Tutor's mansion was brightly lit with candles.

Looking at the dusty Western Xia envoy before him, Gu Rui's expression remained unchanged, as if he had expected this.

“I have come under the command of my lord, and I am here under the cover of night to present a great gift to Lord Gu, which will also bring peace to the Song and Xia dynasties for generations to come.”

The envoy was very direct, stating the purpose of his visit before Gu Rui could even speak: "My lord wishes to join hands with the Grand Tutor to share the Liao Kingdom!"

He stared intently at Gu Rui's face, trying to catch a glimpse of her emotions, but Gu Rui merely raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.

"The Liao emperor is incompetent, the country is declining day by day. Last year there was a snow disaster, and this spring there was an epidemic of cattle and horses. It is already outwardly strong but inwardly weak."

"Although our Great Xia has encountered a natural disaster, its foundation remains intact and its spirit is at its peak." The envoy's words grew increasingly impassioned, and then he revealed his true intentions: "If Lord Gu is willing to nod his head, our Great Xia is willing to send troops to strike directly at the capital of Liao!"

“At that time,” he paused, then said decisively, “the Central Capital Circuit of the Liao Kingdom will belong to our Western Xia!”

"The prosperous areas of Nanjing and Tokyo have all been returned to the Song Dynasty!"

He deliberately emphasized the word "all," adopting an extremely humble posture, as if placing Western Xia in a subordinate position on the frontier, while handing over the most fertile territory to the Song Dynasty.

“Our Great Xia has already occupied the Western Capital Road. If we also acquire the Central Capital, we can form a unified territory and control the southern desert.”

"The Song Dynasty has taken over the Liao Kingdom's southeastern financial and economically important areas. What you and I have gained can be said to be a win-win situation!"

He made no attempt to conceal his intentions and went even further, stating the post-war agreement: "As long as Lord Gu is willing to establish a pact of never invading each other in the name of the Gu family, our Great Xia will willingly submit to Lord Gu's command and be the vanguard of the Great Song!"

The envoy's expression was solemn, and his words were resolute.

This open and frank discussion was the result of many days of deliberation in the Western Xia court.

They must win Gu Rui's tacit approval.

Otherwise, the Western Xia would never have been able to swallow up the Liao Dynasty.

This is something they have to do.

Throughout the conversation, the envoy kept his eyes fixed on Gu Rui, trying to read Gu Rui's thoughts from his face.

But Gu Rui's expression remained unchanged throughout.

Even upon hearing that the Liao Kingdom had ceded its rich territories to the Song Dynasty, he remained completely unmoved.

This silent pressure sent a chill down the envoy's spine, and cold sweat gradually soaked his inner shirt.

Fortunately, not long afterward, Gu Rui's calm voice rang out.

"can."

(P.S.: I'm begging for monthly votes! I'm begging you guys for your support, brothers! I'd be extremely grateful.)
(End of this chapter)