Chapter 18. If you can't beat them, you can't beat them.
"Peace talks are not a long-term solution. In my opinion, only by annihilating the Tanguts without leaving a single survivor can we eliminate future troubles."
The three-year-old Prince Cheng uttered earth-shattering words in his tender little voice.
Inside the Chuigong Hall, all was silent.
The emperor, seated in the central position, and several key ministers below him, all had a moment of blankness on their faces. Only the similar astonishment on their faces proved that they had not misheard.
Their surprise stemmed from nothing other than the resounding call to resist Liaobei and reclaim Jiuzhou since the founding of the Song Dynasty. However, the repeated defeats at Gaoheche, Chanyuan Alliance, and Sanchuankou... three generations of emperors and ministers no longer dared to dream the dream spoken of by Fusu.
Governing with virtue is like the North Star. To bring about a ruler like Yao and Shun, with all directions paying homage—that was the ultimate ideal of the scholar-officials who hoped to return power to the Three Dynasties. However, the continuous loss of population and the persistently high military expenditures were the harsh realities they had to face.
When faced with reality, people always have to bow their heads.
Among the ministers, Fu Bi felt it most deeply. What was the origin of the Qingli Reforms? The Song Dynasty was originally a golden age, and his predecessor, Chancellor Yan Shu, had served as a peaceful chancellor for decades. However, the three-year war with the Tanguts had exhausted nearly half of the Song Dynasty's national strength, which is why he and Fan Zhongyan came up with the idea of reforms to save the country.
Now that those who supported the reforms had scattered, and the Song-Xia peace talks were about to succeed, he had finished his last shift and was about to be demoted to a local post when he suddenly heard about Prince Cheng's ambitious aspirations. He felt a mix of emotions welling up inside him.
Many other ministers shared similar thoughts. After their initial shock, they were left speechless with embarrassment, unsure whether to offer praise or advice.
Everyone knows that His Highness Prince Cheng is the crown prince chosen by the imperial family. His ability to read the Analects at the age of three is indeed a remarkable talent.
Encouragement is misplaced. What if His Highness ascends the throne and becomes a reincarnation of Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han (in truth, the average military level of the Zhao family is not even comparable to these two), causing widespread suffering among the people of the Song Dynasty?
Advising him would be too harsh on His Highness Prince Cheng's innocent and passionate heart... Moreover, admitting that he couldn't win in front of the future crown prince would make him seem too incompetent.
Unsure of what to do, they all turned to look at the Emperor. At this point, it was natural to probe the Emperor's intentions and gauge his expectations for his future successor.
Is it hoped that he will maintain the status quo, or...?
However, even the emperor, who should have been expressing his important opinion, fell silent. He leaned slightly to the side, resting his chin on his hand, gazing into his son's expectant eyes, a glint in them. No one could tell what he was thinking.
Fusu, however, did not notice his father's gaze; his attention was entirely focused on the ministers. Sensing the strange atmosphere in the hall where the ministers looked around and dared not speak, even the usually unrestrained Mr. Song was unusually silent, he felt both relieved and pleased.
If he were a player of the Song Dynasty RPG game, the favorability bars above the ministers' heads would have been increasing by +1 several times, but because of this sentence, they would have irrevocably plummeted to the bottom.
As expected, his previous strategy was correct, and all his long-term efforts had not been in vain. The fact that his words had stunned everyone into silence was well-deserved for Fusu!
Fusu quietly, yet proudly, puffed out her little chest.
But at that moment, someone broke the silence, which was unusual for them.
"I believe that His Highness Prince Cheng's words are reasonable. The Dangxiang people are ambitious and treacherous, fearful on the outside but arrogant on the inside, and they are always eyeing us like tigers. Peace talks alone cannot satisfy their appetites."
Fusu: Huh?
His smug smile froze on his face.
The Emperor and his other ministers, as if waking from a dream, all looked up in the direction of the voice. The Emperor was utterly astonished and exclaimed, "Minister Han, is that what you really think?"
Han Qing, who is that?
Normally, Fusu would have considered the person who spoke such words a confidant. Not only because what he said made sense, but also because couldn't the other ministers see the wolfish ambitions of the Western Xia? However, given that the Song Dynasty only had the resources to negotiate, daring to speak such harsh truths required immense courage.
But in his current situation, he just wanted to beg this Han Qing, please don't agree, please don't agree with me!
What if you manage to convince others? I'm here to be a troublemaker, not a hero!
Han Qing, disregarding Fusu's life or death, said in a deep voice, "My thoughts have remained consistent and have never changed. The great defeat at the hands of the Dangxiang was due to my incompetence, not the incompetence of the Song Dynasty. Although the Song and Xia have temporarily ceased hostilities, there will always be a day when the flames of war will reignite. I implore Your Majesty to restore our land and prepare for any eventuality."
The Emperor pondered for a moment: "What Minister Han means is..."
"Your Majesty, I implore that during the peace talks, not an inch of Song territory should be ceded, and the Tanguts must not be allowed to take advantage of the situation."
Upon hearing this, the ministers sat up straight. They had almost forgotten the main topic of the day, having been interrupted by His Highness Prince Cheng's earth-shattering words. Indeed, these key ministers had gathered in the Chui Gong Hall precisely to discuss a single issue.
The Western Xia delegation made exorbitant demands during negotiations, wanting both money and land. Given a worst-case scenario where only one option could be chosen, which should the Song Dynasty give in?
Seeing that the topic had shifted, Fusu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he was also very curious about what the top officials of the Northern Song Dynasty thought about this issue.
He shifted into a comfortable position on the cushion and listened with great interest.
Han Qing—also known as Han Qi—was the main general fighting against the Western Xia on the front lines during the Song-Xia War. Every inch of land was defended by him and the Song soldiers through bloody battles, so naturally he was unwilling to hand it over.
He was also the only one who advocated "forcing peace through war," and like Fusu, he predicted that the Western Xia would mainly retreat strategically and would definitely not dare to continue fighting.
However, because this claim was too risky, naturally some people stood up to refute it.
Those who refuted Han Qi were the two Privy Councilors, Yan Shu and Fu Bi, with Fu Bi having the most authority to speak—Do you know why Fan Zhongyan and I initiated the Qingli Reforms? Was it really because we had nothing better to do? Wasn't it because the front lines couldn't hold out, forcing the rear to tighten their belts to supply food and manpower, causing serious problems for the people's livelihood? You dare to force peace through war? What if another war breaks out? Is another reform possible?
But besides "forcing peace through war," he, like Han Qi, also advocated appeasement primarily through monetary compensation, and his reasons were quite valid.
What if we give land to the Western Xia, and the Liao Dynasty finds out and follows suit? What if they also ask us for land, and threaten to attack us if we don't give it to them? Should we give it to them or not?
"But three hundred thousand taels of silver and three hundred thousand bolts of silk are far too much."
"Lord Fu, you were also sent as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom two years ago. The Liao Kingdom has already made outrageous demands, requiring an additional 100,000 taels of silver and 100,000 taels of silk annually. Now, adding another 300,000 taels of each is simply..."
Yan Shu, the Privy Councilor in charge of finances, sighed deeply, his face clearly showing the saying "You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household," and looked reproachfully at the others present.
Song Qi… Among a group of high-ranking officials and privy councilors, Song Qi, a third-rank vice minister of rites, was merely a figurehead. He was only summoned to the meeting because he was the frontline contact point for the Western Xia delegation. At this moment, just like Fusu, he remained silent amidst the power struggle among the bigwigs, simply watching the show.
Fusu turned his head back and forth, watching the back-and-forth exchanges, his eyes dazzled.
In fact, he had a wicked plan in mind: no matter how much the ministers argued, they all had one consensus: it was absolutely impossible to let Li Yuanhao become emperor and sit on equal footing with the Song Dynasty. At most, he could be called the ruler of the Xia Kingdom and maintain a nominal suzerain-vassal relationship.
But all you need to do is be a little shameless and let Li Yuanhao declare himself emperor, thus reducing the amount of money given to Western Xia in return. Once Western Xia becomes emperor, their former suzerain state, Liao, will attack them, resulting in a mutually destructive conflict, allowing the Song Dynasty to reap the benefits. Of course, the prerequisite is that you must find a way to prevent Liao from attacking you before dealing with Western Xia.
Fusu considered the matter in his mind, then shook his head and rejected the idea. In his first life, small states like Han and Wei often used this method of driving away the tiger to devour the wolf, and it worked quite well. But would Qin drive away the tiger of the Xiongnu and devour the wolf of Nanyue? No, by then Qin would already have unified the six states and conquered the four seas.
Similarly, the Song Dynasty was already a semi-unified dynasty. It was shameful to treat the Western Xia, a contemporary dynasty, as brothers and to use underhanded tactics. Not only was it embarrassing to record in the history books, but it also had a bad ending when it allied with the Jin to destroy the Liao and with the Mongols to destroy the Jin.
No.
Fusu suppressed his burgeoning thoughts and listened to the debates of the court officials, feeling rather bored, as if he were listening to the process while holding the answer key.
In addition, although the court officials debated heatedly, each of them followed the conduct and demeanor of the scholars and officials of the dynasty, and even the most intense opinions were expressed in a calm and unhurried manner.
In other words, it's... very hypnotic.
Fusu had attended classes all day, and before entering the palace, he ate more than a dozen high-sugar, high-calorie desserts. Amidst the drowsy, hypnotic chants, sleepiness overcame him irresistibly. He didn't know how much time had passed when he jolted awake and realized that his eyelids had already closed.
Fusu forced himself to open his eyes, but the next second they closed again as if glued shut, and he couldn't be woken up no matter how much he called.
"Duang!"
The snow-white glutinous rice ball suddenly tilted and fell onto the mat.
Just as the courtiers were engaged in a heated debate, the Emperor suddenly gestured for silence, straightened Prince Cheng's body which had been lying on its side, and seeing that he still showed no signs of waking up, he sighed with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, then gently held the prince in his arms and turned to place him in the back hall.
The ministers, who had just been debating so fiercely, now looked at each other in astonishment—none of them had expected that the Emperor would show such affection for Prince Cheng. He was personally doing the work that should have been done by the eunuchs, refusing to delegate it to anyone else. Moreover, the way he held the child was not at all unfamiliar with the task.
They hadn't even held their children and grandchildren many times when they were at home.
Immediately, envious, jealous, and hateful gazes were directed at Yan Shu. Leaving aside the fact that Song Qi was the Assistant Minister of the Zishan Hall, Yan Shu's youngest son was the only prince among the descendants of these civil officials to serve as a study companion—the very only one!
Yan Shu smiled and stroked his long beard, concealing his achievements and fame.
In his heart, however, he was cursing Yan Jidao. When his son talked about studying at Zishan Hall, all he could come up with were: Mr. Sima was fierce, Li Qiu was stupid but cute, Zhao Zongshi was also stupid but not as cute as Li Qiu, His Highness Prince Cheng was both smart and cute... etc., just a bunch of meaningless nonsense.
Sometimes he would ask His Highness Prince Cheng, "What exactly do you see in my son? Is it just because he's handsome—a two-way attraction between those who are attracted to good looks?"
-
Fusu opened his eyes. All around him was darkness, except for a hazy mist before him. A moment later, as if a deeper drowsiness was washing over him, he lazily turned over, squinted, and decided to sleep a little longer.
...to turn over?
Fusu subconsciously sensed that something was wrong, but because his mind wasn't fully clear, he didn't immediately realize what was happening. He still thought he had been asleep in bed all along.
As she was turning over, her little hand accidentally patted another person. Fusu was stunned for a moment: "...Your Majesty."
There were almost no lights around, only the candlelight in the distance that illuminated Renzong's silhouette, which allowed Fusu to recognize him even with his eyes half-closed.
"Yes, it is I."
Emperor Renzong sat with his head down on the edge of the bed, making no attempt to force Fusu to get up. Normally, he would have told Fusu not to sleep in the evening, lest he be unable to sleep in the quiet of the night.
Fusu seemed to sense this as well, comfortably squinting his eyes, burrowing deeper into the blankets, and muttering in a half-awake state, "Is it over? The debate..."
"It's over." The official let out a sigh, whether from relief or a sigh, it was hard to tell: "You all have worked very hard."
He devoted himself to his dynasty to this extent.
His sigh made Fusu want to sigh too: "Yes, they worked very hard and were very powerful... but unfortunately, they just couldn't beat them."
Just now, another reason why Fusu couldn't bear to listen was that he really couldn't bear it. Fu Bi, Yan Shu, Song Qi... weren't they all pillars of society with lofty ideals and names etched in history? Yet they had to compromise and humiliatingly discuss whether to cede territory or pay reparations.
Unfortunately, the results of peace talks throughout history have not been satisfactory.
As Fusu said, it was all because the Song Dynasty could neither defeat the Western Xia nor the Liao Dynasty. Based on this, even the most capable leader could not cook without ingredients.
"...Yes, that's right."
After a long while, Emperor Renzong sighed again. This time, even the half-asleep Fusu could tell it was a sigh.
He also felt a large, calloused hand gently stroking the top of his head, making him instinctively cup his hands in gratitude: "Su'er, what are your thoughts on the peace negotiations?"
"...The money won't be given. The land won't be given either."
"Aren't you afraid that Western Xia will start another war?"
Fusu closed his eyes and snorted, "I'm not afraid, they wouldn't dare. Your Majesty, you can trust me."
Before an even greater wave of drowsiness washed over him, he poured out all the fragments of consciousness that he hadn't spoken aloud but still lingered on the surface of his mind.
"But Liao and Xia can go to war, as long as we can find a way to make them fight..."
Immediately, as if a memory had been lost, he drifted off to sleep again.
"..."
"…………"
The rear hall of the Chuigong Hall remained silent for a long time, with no one uttering a word except for Fusu's even breathing. After a long while, Emperor Renzong blew out the few candles in the rear hall and placed his warm hand over Fusu's eyes.
Fusu's eyelids twitched, but he did not wake up.
"Get a good night's sleep," Emperor Renzong said, then turned and left.
A note from the author:
----------------------
The funnel-shaped structure is about to be exposed; all the disguises are about to fall off.
If you want to wake Fusu up, type 1; if you don't want to wake him up, type 2.
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