Judging from the atmosphere of this meeting, this negotiation is destined not to be conducted in a pleasant atmosphere.
When both parties entered the tent, they saw a long table with two rows of wooden chairs beside it, which was rather crude. Both parties were concerned about the design of the meeting place, as it was impossible to arrange seats for the host and the guest. In the end, Zhang Fei requested to set up a long table and have everyone sit on each side.
After taking their seats, although it was still early, a friendly atmosphere was established between the two sides. In addition, given the "accidents" that had happened before, both sides hoped that the meeting would start directly and not wait until noon.
So, the meeting began.
Xiao Su was the first to speak: "In the Treaty of Chanyuan, we agreed to use the Baigou River as the boundary river in the south of the pass, and it was clearly written in the contract. 'The cities along the border of the two countries shall remain as usual, and no new city gods shall be built.' However, in recent years, your Southern Dynasty has added more than ten arrow forts at the Baigou Posthouse in Xiongzhou Zhantuoguan City. This seriously violates the agreement between the two countries. I wonder how you explain it?"
Lu Dazhong and other accompanying officials frowned secretly.
In fact, they had already thought about it in advance that the other party might take the initiative in the negotiations by making trouble first, because according to the agreement between the two countries, it was indeed the Song Dynasty that violated the relevant regulations.
But if you really look at it, the Liao Kingdom committed more violations, but there was nothing they could do for the time being, and the Song Dynasty was willing to compromise in this regard.
However, if the Song Dynasty compromised easily, it would be at a disadvantage in the subsequent territorial negotiations.
Zhang Fei said to Lu Dazhong calmly, "A-grade copywriter."
...
...
Lu Dazhong was stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses and was a little flustered. After all, it was his first time working with Zhang Fei, and he didn't know his habits. He had always confronted him directly in the past, because he would memorize the relevant text in advance.
Zhang Fei just gave an order and ignored Lu Dazhong. Instead, he said to Xiao Su, "We have already conducted a detailed investigation on the arrow fortress at Baigou Posthouse. We have determined that this building does not violate the alliance between the two countries. On the contrary, it is to strictly abide by the alliance between the two countries."
Xiao Su said, "Your Excellency, you must have made a mistake. It is clearly written on paper that all border cities should remain as usual and no new city gods should be built. The arrow fort over there was newly built in recent years. Isn't this considered a violation?"
Just at this moment, Lu Dazhong finally found the Type A copy and quickly put it in front of Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei immediately flipped open the document and read it out: "On the tenth day of the ninth month of the first year of the Qingli period, dozens of northern bandits crossed the river and robbed thirty households in Guixin County. On the eighteenth day of the ninth month of the first year of the Qingli period, dozens of northern bandits crossed the river again and robbed twelve households in Guixin County. In the second year of the Qingli period.!"
“That’s enough!”
Xiao Su said angrily: "We are discussing the problem of the arrow fort, why are you reading these?"
Why did he suddenly get angry? He kept saying "Northern bandits" left and right, but he knew in his heart that they were all Liao army soldiers, not some Liao bandits.
But they also could not admit that those were Liao soldiers.
Zhang Fei said, "What you just said is incomplete. The full text of the alliance agreement is that both sides will use the Baigou River as the boundary and withdraw their troops at the same time; from now on, no thieves or fugitives who cross the border will be allowed to stay; the border cities of the two dynasties will remain as usual and no new city gods will be built. I wonder if this is correct?"
Xiao Su said: "Is this different from what I said?"
"You have overlooked one sentence. From now on, any thieves or fugitives who cross the border will not be allowed to stay."
Zhang Fei said: "Although I did not participate in the Chanyuan Alliance at that time, we certainly did not expect that your country would have so many thieves crossing the border. What I just read was the specific record of Guixin County. In just one month, your country had more than ten border crossings.
Our border defense is completely incapable of dealing with so many bandits crossing the border, so I just decided to build arrow barriers to supplement the border defense's anti-bandit capabilities, and it has achieved certain results."
As he spoke, he pulled out a few sheets of paper from the document and handed them to Xiao Su, "This is a record of Guixin County returning four thieves from your country to your country for disposal three years ago."
Xiao Su glanced at it hastily and threw it aside. "Don't tell me these things. We only know that your arrow fort has violated the agreement and must be demolished."
Zhang Fei said: "In order to show that our Song Dynasty abides by the covenant, if your country insists, we are willing to dismantle these arrow forts. But your country must also write a statement."
Xiao Su asked: "What statement?"
Zhang Fei said: "If the rebels of your country cross the border and accumulate strength in our country, your country must not blame our country."
After hearing this, Xiao Su was immediately furious and slammed the table and shouted angrily: "If you dare to do this, you will definitely be met with a hundred thousand iron hooves of my Great Liao."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "In the original Chanyuan Alliance, this clause was specifically listed to prevent this. However, the bandits in your north come in groups, which we did not expect. With the manpower of our border defense, it is difficult to deal with them. What if there are rebels from your country among these bandits and they are hiding in our dynasty? What should we do?
We built the arrow fort only to fulfill the agreement, and as everyone knows, the arrow fort is only for defense and cannot be used for attack.
Compared to increasing the number of garrisons, isn't this the best option?"
Lu Dazhong and the others couldn't help but glance at Zhang Fei secretly, secretly applauding him in their hearts.
In fact, this article was mainly aimed at thieves and robbers, and the Liao people were also worried that their soldiers would cross the border and be caught by the Song people, so they would have a reason to come back.
Traitors come second.
If the Song Dynasty dared to harbor rebels, it would be a matter of national importance. Is this true? If you dare to do so, I will definitely send troops.
But that's how diplomacy works. Since Zhang Fei raised this point, we have to be on guard. If a statement is issued, the Song Dynasty can openly harbor the Liao rebels.
That's too much.
Xiao Ying, who was standing by, could no longer bear it and said, "What do you mean by northerners crossing the border? This is all one-sided talk from your Southern Dynasty."
Zhang Fei said: "We do have specific records. If not, there would be no document from our dynasty returning the thieves to your country. You can investigate this."
Xiao Su calmed down, pondered for a moment, and said, "According to your idea, as long as we allow you to keep this arrow fort, then if there are rebels crossing the border in the future, you will definitely capture them and return them to us."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Your Excellency misunderstood me. What I meant was that our dynasty attaches great importance to the agreement with your country, and we are also very willing to dismantle the arrow fortress, but we dismantle the arrow fortress to dispel your country's doubts, not to arouse deeper suspicion.
I hope your country can understand that the original intention of our building the arrow fort is to better implement our agreement and avoid greater disputes. If your country insists on us demolishing it, I will definitely demolish it.
But we need to tell you the whole story and the hidden dangers. Only by being honest with each other and understanding each other can we avoid more disputes in the future."
This statement was very gentle and the tone was sincere, which reduced some of the tension in the negotiations.
Xiao Su frowned secretly, this problem of rebels really hit their soft spot, because there have been some internal turmoil in Liao Kingdom recently, it is not impossible for something to happen.
He exchanged glances with Xiao Ying for a moment, then nodded and said, "We still need to investigate this matter first."
Zhang Fei said: "Of course."
The Liao envoys were all a little depressed. They were unable to suppress the opponent at the beginning, which was different from what they expected.
Because they expected that the Song envoy was a coward, and that he would be able to suppress the opponent by using the arrow fortification at the beginning. However, they never expected that this coward was not a coward at all when he sat on the table!
Lu Dazhong and his men were even more surprised that they had managed to save those arrow fortifications.
In their view, this is almost certain to be lost.
After a slight adjustment, Xiao Su continued, "Regarding the boundary dispute in Hedong, our dynasty has repeatedly mentioned it to your country, but your country has always responded passively, so that your southerners have invaded our land more and more seriously. This time, we must completely resolve it and must not delay it any longer."
Zhang Fei looked directly at Lu Dazhong, as if asking, is this true?
Lu Dazhong immediately argued, "Whenever there is a dispute in the region, our dynasty has always responded to you. How can you be passive in your response?"
Xiao Su said: "But you are just perfunctory, the problem has not been solved, for example, the land of Tianchi originally belonged to our Liao land, our Nanyuan King's troops often grazed sheep and horses here, now the pastures over there have been occupied by your southerners and turned into farmland, it is really too much."
Lu Dazhong argued, "The Tianchi Lake clearly belongs to the territory of our Song Dynasty. We have a written document to prove it. Moreover, during the Qingli period, Han Qi, the Prime Minister of our dynasty, showed this document to your country."
Xiao Ying smiled and said, "Everyone in the world knows that you southerners love words. We have never acknowledged the document. We only focus on the facts in front of us.
If Tianchi belongs to your territory, why didn't our herdsmen herd sheep and horses here and were not sent back? We are different. When we learned that you southerners were encroaching on our land, we immediately sent a letter to inform you, including this time. Isn't this enough to prove that Tianchi belongs to our territory?"
The Song Dynasty envoys were extremely depressed when they heard this.
It was clearly you Liao people who invaded our territory, we just kept silent about it. Now you are turning the tables on us. This is really unreasonable and too much.
After all, the Song Dynasty was the weaker party, so as long as the Liao Kingdom did not go too far, it would tolerate it.
Speaking of the matter objectively, the Liao Kingdom actually had the best timing, location and people in Hedong and Hebei, and would definitely suffer a loss if a war broke out. After all, most of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were in the hands of the Liao Kingdom, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were the richest region in the north, so the Liao Kingdom could station large numbers of troops here.
Later, Han Qi fought for land, but he did not say that he wanted a large
Driving the Liao people here on a large scale was just a declaration of sovereignty over the area, and at the same time they moved people here to prevent the territory from being further occupied by them.
Lu Dazhong argued: "We didn't say anything because we cared about the peace between our two countries, but we didn't expect you to go even further."
"You're pushing it further?"
Xiao Ying laughed coldly and said, "If we didn't care about the peace between our two countries, why would we discuss this with you and not just send troops to drive you southerners away directly?"
There was a threat in the voice.
My troops are right behind me.
Zhang Fei took over the conversation, "It seems that neither of us wants to hurt the harmony between the two countries. This is good, and this is exactly why we are sitting here. Moreover, we came here with sincerity this time. We hope to draw a very clear line. From now on, there will be no more disputes to avoid misunderstandings and hurt the harmony between the two countries."
After hearing this, Xiao Su secretly laughed in his heart. It seems that this guy is just stubborn. He is still very afraid of our army. He nodded and smiled, "I agree with your words. We also come here with sincerity this time, hoping to draw a clear line.
We hope to use the earth ridge that divides the three states of Wei, Ying, and Shuo as the boundary, so as to avoid further disputes. After all, man-made boundaries can be easily changed, but no one can move the mountains and rivers! "
Zhang Fei whispered to Lu Dazhong: "What does Tulong mean?"
Lu Dazhong said, "I don't know where this earth mound is either."
Zhang Fei said: "What I'm asking is what this word means?"
".?"
Lu Dazhong explained: "It means a pile of earth, just like the earth ridges used by the people to mark the boundary between two fields. It is also often used to mark the boundaries at the border."
Zhang Fei nodded, and then said to Xiao Su: "Regarding the territory, this is a serious matter, and we cannot act rashly. We are not aware of the earthen ridge you mentioned. How about this, let's go and see where the earthen ridge is, and then discuss it more."
Xiao Su nodded and said, "That's great."
This concludes today's meeting.
After returning to his resting place, Lu Dazhong immediately said to Zhang Fei: "Prosecutor Zhang, you must not agree to their request."
Zhang Fei asked: "Why?"
Lu Dazhong said: "There are clear boundaries here. Even if we suffer a little loss, we are just taking a step back. We have also built trenches in the so-called 'disputed' area. This was requested by Han Xianggong back then. They are now asking to draw the line based on the watershed ridge. Their purpose is to destroy the previous border. There are so many mountains here, they can take the opportunity to encroach on our territory."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "But what they said is unclear, and it is difficult for us to refute it. Therefore, we must first know their specific demarcation plan, and then we can refute it one by one."
This is just like a lawsuit. You have to ask clearly before you can refute him. If he doesn’t explain clearly, your rebuttal will be pale and powerless.
After all, the ancient boundary demarcation did not include every blade of grass or tree, and there were indeed a large number of Liao people here, and they were actually a very sharp group of Liao people.
The key is that you can't drive away these Liao people.
The next step was to conduct an on-site investigation to see what the earthen ridges mentioned by the Liao envoys were. As a result, the group wandered around the mountains for seven or eight days but could not find the so-called earthen ridges.
This is so embarrassing.
To be honest, Zhang Fei didn't understand what the other party was saying.
Or are they really just talking casually?
But there is a saying that goes, as long as I am not embarrassed, the embarrassment will be done by others.
When he returned to Dahuangping again, Xiao Su immediately changed his words, emphasizing that what he meant was that the watershed between Wei, Ying and Shuo states was the boundary.
Earth ridge?
What ridge?
Did I say that?
Zhang Fei was too lazy to argue with them, and said seriously: "I have said before that we came here with enough sincerity this time, hoping to draw a clear line between the borders, reduce misunderstandings, and make the two countries have eternal friendship, and also for the benefit of future generations."
Xiao Su nodded immediately and said, "We too."
"But I don't feel your country's sincerity at all."
Zhang Fei said: "I have said before that the issue of territory is a matter of great importance to both countries. We cannot just talk about it or just draw a blueprint to decide it. We must conduct on-site inspections before making a final decision.
But if we use the watershed as the dividing line, the terrain of the border between our two countries nearby is extremely complex, with numerous mountains and winding rivers. It may take us one or two years just to conduct an investigation.
This is not going to resolve the dispute immediately.”
At this point, he took out a document and said, "This is the boundary demarcation plan that our dynasty has drawn up based on the records in the document. It has very clear boundary demarcations. Please take a look at it."
"Why!"
Xiao Su didn't even bother to answer the call. He just stretched out his hand to stop it and said, "Since you emphasize sincerity, if you are not willing to wait even for one or two years, then where is the sincerity?"
Zhang Fei held his hand in the air for a moment before slowly retracting it. He thought, do they also want to drag it out? It can't be such a coincidence, right? He asked tentatively, "So you are willing to discuss this issue for a year or two?"
Xiao Su asked back, "If we can make a clear distinction in one or two years, it will be better than arguing for decades."
Zhang Fei frowned and thought for a while, "We still have to consider this matter carefully."
Xiao Su was confident and said, "Then we'll talk about it another day."
"Um."
This was a big mistake, and Lu Dazhong said to Zhang Fei anxiously, "Prosecutor Zhang, be careful of being tricked!"
Zhang Fei asked: "What do you mean?"
Lu Dazhong said: "These northerners obviously hope to delay the issue rather than resolve the border dispute immediately."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I can see that, but what do you think is their purpose in doing this? What good will it do them if it drags on?"
Lu Dazhong replied cautiously: "I think this may be related to our army's expansion in Xihe. If the border is agreed upon immediately, then they will have no reason to station so many soldiers here. Now they are using this as an excuse to increase their troops here, which will definitely increase the pressure on Taiyuan Prefecture. We can only transfer the Western Army from Fuzhou to defend it.
This undoubtedly reduced the pressure on Western Xia on the northern front, allowing them to withdraw some troops to go south to stop our dynasty from expanding its border in Xihe.
So, in my opinion, they want to delay this matter first, most likely to observe our military actions against Western Xia first, because the Liao Kingdom would never want to see us destroy Western Xia.
Then, once we really send troops and the situation is very unfavorable to Xixia, they can use this border as an excuse to send troops to Hedong. In this way, they can force our country to withdraw its troops from Xixia without completely destroying the alliance between the two countries. "
After all, Song and Liao had an alliance, and the alliance also included annual tribute. If Liao wanted to send troops, it had to find an excuse.
With this dispute, the Liao Kingdom could fight without declaring war. Just as Xiao Su said, he could send troops to expel the Song people here, because from previous actions, the Liao Kingdom did not want to go to war with the Song Dynasty, but the Liao Kingdom was certainly even more unwilling to see the Song Dynasty destroy Western Xia.
By creating this dispute, the Liao Kingdom could easily control the situation here.
Because this is the junction of the Western Xia, Song and Liao. If the Song Dynasty fights with the Western Xia and the Liao Dynasty sends troops from here, the pressure on the Song Dynasty will be very great.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Your analysis makes sense. This should be their plan. So how do you think we should deal with it?"
Lu Dazhong thought for a while, then sighed helplessly: "If they deliberately want to drag it out, unless we unconditionally agree to their demands, otherwise, we can only deal with them slowly."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "You think the same as I do, so let's deal with them slowly."
He was really happy because the result was much better than he had imagined. He also wanted to delay the process to buy enough time for domestic development, but he didn't expect that the Liao Kingdom also wanted to use this to delay the Song Dynasty.
Judging from the current situation, the Liao Kingdom's plan was strategically correct. If they could get involved here, it would definitely make the Song Dynasty feel very uncomfortable.
The reason why they made this judgment was mainly because of Wang Anshi's reforms, because they believed that Wang Anshi's reforms were to prepare for a war against Western Xia.
We have to admit that their judgment is actually very accurate.
The final result of Wang Anshi's reform was to send troops to Western Xia, nothing else. Otherwise, he would have no reason to think of so many ways to make money for the country. He was not a person who was greedy for enjoyment. He made so much money for the country, it was impossible for him to spend it on officials.
Wang Anshi was not yet that great.
We just have to fight.
The Liao Kingdom saw this point very accurately.
But the Liao people overlooked one thing, which was the reform of public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
Maybe it’s not that they ignore it, they just don’t understand it at all. It’s just a law, what else can it be?
The Song Dynasty's strict judicial system posed no threat to the Liao Kingdom. In comparison, Wang Anshi's reforms made them feel a real threat.
If you make your country rich and your army strong, I will definitely be the victim.
Two days later, the envoys from both sides met again in Dahuangping. Zhang Fei pretended to make his last effort to persuade them to accept the plan of the Song Dynasty, but Xiao Su and his men were determined to divide the country by the watershed.
In the end, Zhang Fei did not agree to this division method, but only said that both sides should send some professionals to do a field survey and every inch of land should be inspected and cleared.
Clearly understand the intentions of both parties.
And this was only verbal. The two parties did not sign any agreement or make any verbal promises.
Xiao Su did not force Zhang Fei to sign any agreement, but he did mention one point, that is, the status quo should be maintained before the dispute is resolved. The underlying meaning is that you cannot build more fortifications here.
The meaning is obvious: it is to ensure that if the Liao Kingdom really wants to send troops from here in the future, it will not face too many defensive fortifications.
It can be seen that Lu Dazhong's guess was absolutely correct.
Zhang Fei verbally agreed, but on the premise that no more Liao people would cross the border, otherwise they would still build fortifications.
Xiao Su agreed readily.
If I really want to send troops, it will be too late for you to repair it.
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