"Of course it's your business!" Zhao Jiu replied solemnly. "The clarity or turbidity of water is all due to the sediment in it. The amount of sediment entering the river depends entirely on the abundance of vegetation in the river basin... If the vegetation is abundant, the sand can be retained and prevented from entering the water. If the sand in the upper reaches does not enter the water, the river water will naturally be clear. Otherwise, the river water will naturally be turbid... The fundamental reason why the Jing River is so turbid now is that you Xixia people have built a lot of buildings in the upper reaches and reclaimed wasteland, causing soil erosion into the river."
This sounded like it made some sense... Everyone was in a daze for a moment.
And Emperor Zhao continued to speak his perverse logic: "As for the harm of turbid water, everyone knows it. The more mud and sand there are in the water, the more silt will accumulate. Once there is a lot of silt, the riverbed will rise, and it will be easy to cause floods..."
"Your Majesty!" Xue Yuanli finally lost his patience. "In the Tang Dynasty, Du Fu wrote a poem, 'When will the turbid Jing River and clear Wei River be separated?'... The turbidity of the Jing River has been a thing since ancient times. At that time, there was no Dabai Gao Kingdom. How can you blame us?"
"The Jing River in the Tang Dynasty must not have been as chaotic as it is now!" Zhao Jiu insisted. "I am not just talking about the Jing River. The biggest sin of you Xixia people is actually the Yellow River!"
"yellow……?"
"The upper reaches of the Yellow River are controlled by you, and the water of the Yellow River has become increasingly turbid since the establishment of the Western Xia Kingdom. The lower reaches have suffered disasters many times, all because of your reclamation of land and construction of cities in the upper reaches!"
"Your Majesty!" Xue Yuanli was almost sad and angry.
"Think carefully, even if the Tang Dynasty fell, it was probably related to the fact that Li Yuanhao's clan established themselves in Hetao at that time and then carried out large-scale construction projects." Zhao Jiu sighed more and more. "It was your ancestors' large-scale construction projects that caused the shortage of food in Guanzhong. If it weren't for the shortage of food in Guanzhong, how could the Tang Dynasty have declined? Hu Qing (Hu Yin) and Zhao Qing (Zhao Kai) told me before that since the large-scale renovation of Zhengbai Canal during the Daguan period, Guanzhong is no longer too short of food... But in my opinion, this kind of water conservancy project is only a temporary solution, not a fundamental solution. If the Western Xia cannot be eliminated and the water and soil in the upper reaches cannot be restored, the people in Guanzhong will not have a good life after all, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River will flood again and again!"
Hearing the word "annihilate", Xue Yuanli completely lost confidence in maintaining peace. He finally understood the meaning of being called here this time, but simply turned away from the table:
"Your Majesty! What you said is no different from calling a horse a deer! You blame my Great Bai Gao Kingdom for the turbid water?!"
“Bold!”
"Absurd!"
"Thief!"
Many people stood up instantly at the opposite generals' table.
"Every word I say comes from my heart!" Zhao Jiu told his generals not to act pretentiously, but he remained calm and composed, as if what he said came from his heart. "As for Mr. Xue, he is just like your king, ignorant of truth and justice, so I don't care."
Besides, Xue Yuanli's words "calling a deer a horse" which he shouted at the risk of death were already a fulfillment of his duty as a minister. However, he was still a prime minister after all, so he was still very graceful, so he was still doing his best:
"Your Majesty, why do you have to pick a fight like this? Isn't it better to speak frankly about Yan'an? But Your Majesty, I have told Minister Yuwen many times before, and I will say it again today. We, the Great White Gao Kingdom, really have no intention of taking Yan'an from the Jin people... But now that the three kingdoms are fighting, Your Majesty's move is tantamount to pushing the Great White Gao Kingdom's 200,000 soldiers to the Jin people's side!"
"Where did you get 200,000 soldiers?" Zhao Jiu sneered. "The Iron Harriers are only 6,000, and the Poxi Army is only 200... But speaking of this matter, no matter what, it is proper for Mr. Xue to come to see me this time. Fifty camels and a hundred good horses are the greatest courtesy you Xixia people can show... I will give all these things to General Qu for the use of the Imperial Camp Cavalry."
Upon hearing this, Qu Duan instinctively wanted to stand up and tease the Xixia people, but unexpectedly he saw that besides the emperor, the two biggest people in the room, Hu Yin and Han Shizhong, were all looking at him, but their faces were stiff and they dared not move.
"Your Majesty, please do as you please!" Xue Yuanli waved his sleeves and sat back. "I have only one question for you now... Can you allow me to return home properly and report to the king, so as to fulfill my duty as an envoy?"
"Of course." Zhao Jiu smiled. "But I haven't finished yet... I also like that white parrot."
"As long as your majesty likes it..."
"You must know that in Tokyo, there was a Taoist priest from Shaoxing who told me a story about Chang'e in the moon, who was Houyi's wife. Because she could only eat crow noodles with soybean sauce every day in Houyi's house, she stole Houyi's elixir of immortality and ran to the moon." Zhao Jiu smiled at the ministers and Xue Yuanli. The ministers didn't understand and could only smile. Xue Yuanli's face remained cold. "He didn't mean to coax me with some elixir of immortality. He probably wanted me to be nicer to the two concubines. Later, I forgot all about the elixir of immortality in the story. I only remembered the bowl of crow noodles with soybean sauce, but I haven't eaten crow noodles with soybean sauce today... Only Mr. Xue is going back to his country, so I'd like to ask Mr. Xue to have a bowl of parrot noodles with soybean sauce to show my appreciation."
Emperor Zhao spoke slowly, and Yang Yizhong waved his hand, and indeed, a fully armed imperial guard brought a bowl of noodles with shredded pork and sauce and placed it directly in front of Xue Yuanli... Everyone was more and more stunned, not to mention the Xixia people, even several generals felt a chill in their hearts.
"Your Majesty, have you made up your mind to start a war?" Xue Yuanli suppressed his discomfort and tried his best to avoid the bowl of noodles in front of him. He then looked up at the sky and closed his eyes for a moment. Only then did he open his eyes and question reluctantly.
"I was just in Changling, and I have already appointed Han Shizhong, the Prince of Yan'an, as the commander, Hu Yin as the logistics governor, Yue Fei, Qu Duan, and Wu Jie as deputies, and sent all the troops to take Hengshan!" Zhao Jiu pointed casually. "My army is small, only a few hundred thousand!"
Upon hearing this, Han Shizhong, who had just sat down, stood up immediately, and together with Yue Fei and Qu Duan, casually bowed to Xue Yuanli from afar.
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