"How about it?"

"I have accomplished my mission and have received the reply from the Emperor of Song."

"Great, what did he say?"

Li Yuanhao was cheered up.

The messenger said, "The Emperor of Song is saying that they don't want to resort to war. The Song Dynasty has always advocated peace and harmony with neighboring nations. But Daxia has rashly attacked Qingtang, provoking war with the Song Dynasty. This is unforgivable."

Li Yuanhao was shocked and asked, "Didn't you tell them that we were only fighting against the Zuo Si Luo and had no intention of becoming an enemy of the Song Dynasty?"

"I have said it, I don't know how many times."

The envoy smiled bitterly and said, "But the Song Dynasty has always used the mutual offensive and defensive alliance agreement signed with Qingtang as an excuse to accuse us of attacking Qingtang as an attack on our Song Dynasty ally, and of intending to provoke war."

"What should I do?"

Fang Dangqiu Hu slapped his legs and said bitterly, "The Song army is strong and powerful, how can we defeat them?"

Everyone also looked worried.

No one expected that attacking Qingtang would provoke the now powerful Song Dynasty.

If it were not so bad before, the Song Dynasty had grenades and artillery. If they gritted their teeth and had the support of the Liao Kingdom, they could have built hundreds or even thousands of more.

But now the Song Dynasty has muskets, and there are more than 10,000 such troops in the northwest. Coupled with the cannons and grenades that the Song Dynasty already has, how can they resist?

"But there is a chance of a turn for the better."

The messenger said quickly.

"Hurry up and tell me."

Li Yuanhao suppressed his anger.

The envoy said, "General Yang's intention is that Song can cease fire, but our Great Xia must show sincerity and compensate Song for its losses this time."

compensation?

Everyone suddenly looked confused.

Under normal circumstances, everyone should be able to think of things like war reparations.

But that was something the Song people could think of.

For nomadic peoples like the Dangxiang and Khitan, this kind of thing was not acceptable.

If you are defeated, just run away to the northern frontier.

Could it be possible that the Song people could chase them to the northern frontier?

They will come back after the Song people leave.

So the first thing they thought of was that the apology was not enough.

Someone immediately said, "Your Majesty, why don't you continue to pay tribute of hundreds of cattle and horses every year as before, and pledge your loyalty to the Song Dynasty in exchange for rewards from the Song Dynasty?"

"That's fine too."

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is the only way to appease the anger of the Song Dynasty."

"I don't think so."

Fei Tinggu said in detail, "The Song Dynasty hates traitors the most. When the war broke out, the Song Dynasty offered a reward for Zhang Yuan's head in the border market. I'm afraid that only by killing Zhang Yuan can the Song Dynasty refrain from fighting."

Li Yuanhao's eyes suddenly narrowed.

He could actually understand what Da Song meant.

After all, his vision is different from those under his command.

As an ambitious monarch who attempted to transform the nomadic tribal system into a feudal system, Li Yuanhao naturally had a vision beyond ordinary people.

So he understood that the Song Dynasty did not actually want Zhang Yuan's head, but wanted Western Xia to cede land and pay compensation.

The specific amount of money cannot be negotiated through one or two envoys' negotiations. It will inevitably take a long time, just like the agreement signed between Song and Liao.

But Li Yuanhao actually didn't want to pay compensation.

First of all, the compensation would definitely damage his prestige at home.

Secondly, it also depleted the national strength of Western Xia.

Xixia was originally weak. Even though it had made a lot of money by utilizing the Silk Road over the years, its national strength was still far behind that of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, if you can avoid paying compensation, you definitely don’t want to pay.

The problem is that the Song Dynasty will definitely hold on to its promise and insist on asking him to pay compensation.

What to do?

You can't fool people by pretending to be stupid.

If a fight really breaks out and he can't win, he will be in trouble.

Then the best option is to push a scapegoat out.

The Song Dynasty hated Zhang Yuan very much.

The noble leaders of the tribes in the country were also annoyed by him.

If Zhang Yuan is killed, it will not only appease the domestic situation, but also calm the anger of the Song Dynasty and give the Song Dynasty an explanation. That would be great.

And doesn’t the Song Dynasty require sincerity?

Then send out the Xixia military advisor as a sign of sincerity, isn’t that enough?

Even if the Song Dynasty explicitly demands compensation, since Zhang Yuan has already been handed over to them, would they still have the nerve to ask for more?

Perhaps now is the time when Zhang Yuan is needed.

Although Zhang Yuan was gone, many strategies were difficult to formulate and the core of the pro-war faction was missing.

But sometimes, he has no choice.

Li Yuanhao sighed.

There was a hint of viciousness in his eyes.

Zhang Yuan.

No wonder I am like that.

We can only blame Daxia for not being able to defeat Song in recent years.