The seventh year of the Qingli period was the most comfortable year in the Song Dynasty.

In April, Western Xia and Liao successively sent envoys to ask for peace from the Song Dynasty.

Among them, Western Xia was willing to pay tribute, while Liao hoped to sign a peace and equal treaty again.

They even cautiously begged the Song Dynasty to return Liaoyang Prefecture to them.

But it is obvious that the Liao Kingdom is no longer qualified to bargain with the Song Dynasty. It would be good if they can maintain internal stability.

After Yelu Zongzhen's defeat, the first to cause trouble were the Mongols in the Mongolian grasslands. The Bohai, Jurchen, Shiwei and other ethnic groups in the northeast region were in internal turmoil.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty sternly rejected this request and loudly rebuked the Liao envoys, scolding them harshly but not daring to talk back.

This time, many officials of the Song Dynasty were very proud, while the envoys of the Liao Dynasty were all filled with anger and had to endure it silently.

However, the Song Dynasty did not continue to add insult to injury.

In the Battle of Xijin, the total number of wounded soldiers captured by the Song Dynasty, surrendered Liao people, and soldiers captured on the battlefield amounted to more than 100,000.

The Song Dynasty adopted a relatively relaxed policy towards Han Liao soldiers, organizing them into local garrison troops. The remaining tribesmen from the Mengwu, Bohai, Jurchen, and Shiwei tribes were organized into construction corps.

Under the supervision of these wing troops, these tribal people were allowed to participate in the construction of Youzhou on the spot, referring to the large-scale infrastructure policy currently being implemented by the Song Dynasty, digging canals, building roads, and reclaiming land everywhere.

The Khitan soldiers could be redeemed by the Liao Kingdom using gold, silver, copper, war horses, cattle, sheep, furs, and all resources and minerals as ransom.

Even the Liao general Xiao Xiaomu allowed them to be redeemed.

The Song Dynasty did this not to please the Liao people, but because if it did not do so, the Liao Dynasty would have been destroyed.

With this disastrous defeat, the foundation of the entire Liao Dynasty was shaken.

Due to Zhao Jun's insidious arms race strategy, most of the Liao Kingdom's resources and output had to be used for military expenditures.

Every year, more than one million kilograms of sulfur were purchased from the Song Dynasty as a middleman. Iron and bronze were used to make grenades and cannons, and domestic development was lackluster.

In addition to relying on a powerful guard, the existence of firearms also played a crucial role in their ability to continue to suppress other ethnic tribes by force.

However, in the Battle of Xijin, they not only lost Nanjing of the Liao Dynasty, but also lost Dongjing Prefecture of the Liao Dynasty, an important production base of firearms.

Due to geographical influences, the sulfur purchased from Japan could only be unloaded in Liaoyang Prefecture. In order to reduce land costs, they naturally had to choose to manufacture gunpowder and firearms on site.

As a result, when the Song Dynasty recaptured Chenzhou, it directly destroyed the Liao Kingdom's firearms manufacturing base and confiscated all the craftsmen and raw materials.

Now the Liao people were in big trouble.

The gunpowder production base was destroyed, and Yanyun and Liaoyang prefectures were lost. The population, economy and national strength suffered heavy losses, and the country was bound to be counterattacked by various ethnic groups.

After all, the Liao Dynasty had a population of more than 9 million, and the Khitan ethnic group only accounted for about one-eighth of the total population, while other ethnic groups accounted for seven-eighths.

As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it; when a drum breaks, everyone beats it.

If the Song Dynasty had ignored it, it is very likely that the Jin people would have destroyed the Liao Dynasty, which would have happened decades later, but would have happened right now.

Once the Liao Dynasty was destroyed, the emergence of a unified regime in the northeast established by the Jurchens, Mongols, Bohais, Shiweis and others was not a good thing for the Song Dynasty.

Although the Song Dynasty is now powerful and is not interested in the current operations in the north, it does not mean that they need a strong neighbor.

Therefore, helping to maintain the fragile rule of the Liao Dynasty, allowing them to continue internal conflicts and remain in a chaotic state, was the best outcome for the Song Dynasty.

At this time, the Liao emperor Yelu Zongzhen was seriously ill. The old Grand Tutor Zhang Jian was originally in Shunzhou. When he heard the bad news from the front, he also fell ill.

He could have lived to be over ninety years old, but now he is probably nearing the end of his life.

However, Zhang Jian had been the Grand Tutor for so many years. Although he was dying, it was not difficult for him to understand the Song Dynasty's thoughts, so he made suggestions to Yelu Zongzhen.

Although Yelu Chongyuan was the crown prince, he was still slightly lacking in political ability. Therefore, when Yelu Zongzhen was seriously ill, he also listened to Zhang Jian's advice and asked Yelu Chongyuan to send someone to apologize to the Song Dynasty.

It was just as Zhang Jian expected.

The Song Dynasty did not have the intention to completely destroy the Liao Kingdom at the moment, so after signing a series of unequal treaties, it finally gave the Liao Kingdom a chance to breathe.

The Song Dynasty promised not to continue the attack to the north, and all the captives could be redeemed. In addition, the commercial treaty signed previously was still valid. Apart from requiring the Liao Dynasty to pay tribute of several thousand war horses and 10,000 taels of silver every year, there were no other requirements.

However, the annual revenue of the Liao Kingdom was only a few million strings of cash, and at most only tens of millions of strings of cash, and most of the tax revenue came from Yanyun and the Northeast region.

Now Yanyun and Liaoyang Prefecture, the richest prefecture in the northeast, have been taken away by the Song Dynasty. The annual income can be said to have been reduced by at least 60%. For the Liao Kingdom, it is basically just barely surviving, and it is lucky that it has not collapsed on the spot.

Therefore, it can be said that the Song Dynasty had exploited the Liao Kingdom to the extreme. It agreed to continue the sulfur trade with them, but also wanted to plunder their money.

In this way, the Liao Kingdom could continue to suppress the ethnic minorities in various tribes through firearms. However, in order to have money to maintain firearms, it had to continue to exploit those ethnic minorities, which in turn caused conflicts between the Khitan and other ethnic groups.

Even though the Song Dynasty was willing to let the Liao Kingdom go, the battle between Liao and Song finally came to an end, and the current status pattern in East Asia was finally determined.

The Song Dynasty, which had always been the second-in-command, suddenly became the overlord of East Asia. It shocked the world and attracted tribute-paying people in an endless stream.

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