"Um"

Yelu Zongzhen nodded slightly.

Zhang Jian continued, "As for the issue of money and grain, that's a simple one. As far as I know, the price of a warhorse in Song has risen to one or two hundred strings of cash per horse. A good horse could fetch thousands or even tens of thousands of strings of cash. Your Majesty, sell a few thousand warhorses to Song, then tell the people back home that this is the Song Dynasty's annual tribute, and then give it to everyone."

Yelu Zongzhen was stunned for a moment, then said, "How is this different from trying to cover one's ears and steal a bell?"

Zhang Jian smiled bitterly and said, "What can we do? The Song Kingdom is willing to give in to soft tactics rather than hard ones. We can negotiate with them and offer war horses or minerals in exchange. We can probably get back the title. We can use this method to pay the annual tribute. Besides, opening the war horse and mineral market will be beneficial to the Liao Kingdom."

"First, we will appease the people at home, then conduct trade exchanges with the Song Kingdom to replenish the Liao treasury. As long as the Liao Kingdom can temporarily overcome this crisis and the treasury has money and food, we can strengthen our military and strengthen the Liao army."

"By then, we can subdue the many tribes in the country, reform the system, increase national strength, and the tribes will no longer dare to act rashly, and the situation will be stabilized."

"When the Liao Kingdom becomes strong and regains its former glory, it might be possible to march south again and fight a decisive battle with the Song Dynasty."

"But at least for now, we still have to be cautious."

By the end, Zhang Jian's words were full of sincerity.

In fact, he also knew that it would be a loss even if he opened up strategic resources to the Song State.

Because the Liao Dynasty exported resources, while the Song Dynasty imported resources and then turned them into finished products for export, which is somewhat similar to the situation of resource exporting countries and industrial exporting countries in later generations.

Although Zhang Jian certainly did not know what happened in later generations, as a wise man who was able to assist Emperor Shengzong of Liao in creating great achievements, he naturally understood these principles.

So why would he hope for that?

However, the Liao Kingdom is now facing these difficulties. If it does not export resources to ease domestic conflicts, it is likely that the Liao Kingdom will only decline further.

Even if Yelu Zongzhen swallowed his anger and refused to negotiate with the Song Dynasty, but simply stopped sending troops to invade the south, this would not alleviate the domestic problems. The various tribes would witness the decline of the Liao Dynasty, and their rebellious spirit would only grow stronger.

By that time, even if the Liao Kingdom did not go to war with the Song Kingdom, it would have fallen into endless internal friction and rebellion suppression, and eventually perished.

Therefore, Zhang Jian’s path is correct.

First, use strategic materials to exchange for money and food from the Song State to overcome the difficulties. While appeasing the various tribes, strengthen the Liao State itself.

After the Liao Kingdom's military strength, on which it relied for survival, was restored to strength, it would continue to subdue the many tribes and maintain the stability of the regime.

Only when the regime was stable could they have the capital to continue fighting against the State of Song.

But same.

This means that the Liao Kingdom will give up its former status as the big brother of East Asia and become equal to the Song Kingdom.

And they will also lose hundreds of thousands of strings of cash in free income every year.

Not only did the international status decline slightly, but the Song State also lost money for nothing. How could anyone accept this?

Therefore, after listening to Zhang Jian's words, Yelu Zongzhen just sat there and could not respond for a long time.

(End of this chapter)