Zhao Zhen's birthday is May 30th, and he is 29 years old.
What surprised the ministers was that the emperor seemed to have become much lazier recently. Even when he attended court in the morning, he often yawned. Sometimes he simply did not come to court, using the excuse of taking care of the prince.
But now the prince is the treasure. At least before the second and third princes are born, the eldest prince cannot have any mistakes, so the ministers understand.
Anyway, the government affairs are now coordinated by the Constitutional Council. Even without him as the emperor, the government affairs of the country can be handled without any chaos.
After the birthday celebration, the Liao envoy told Zhao Zhen that he had heard that the Southern Dynasty had recently developed new firearms and hoped to see them.
Zhao Zhen refused on the grounds that it involved military secrets.
The Liao Kingdom also expressed that even if it could not take a look, it would still like to visit the Song Dynasty's firearms factory.
Zhao Zhen still refused on the grounds of military secrets.
The Liao envoys were obviously a little angry and said that if they could not see the new firearms, they would demand that the Song Dynasty cede the ten counties south of the Guan River and marry Song Renzong's princess to the Liao Dynasty.
Zhao Zhen once again decisively refused.
The Liao envoys were shocked and threatened that if the Song Dynasty did not comply, the Liao Dynasty would march south in large numbers.
Zhao Zhen said it didn't matter.
The Liao envoys were a little unsure when they saw that the Song emperor seemed to have changed his character and was quite confident.
After all, the military drill that day shocked the Liao emperor and his ministers.
From the country's perspective, they certainly hope to resolve the matter peacefully.
After all, if the firearms developed by the Song Dynasty were indeed extremely powerful and the Liao Dynasty invaded the south on a large scale, the Liao Dynasty would be in great danger if it had not been defeated.
By then, it is possible that Yanyun may be recaptured by the Song State, or even that they may be driven out of the Great Wall and have to return to the bitter and cold Northeast region.
So if the Liao Kingdom also had such new weapons, then both sides would be back to the starting point.
Now the Song State is refusing to respond with any words or suggestions and is taking a completely tough attitude. For the Liao State, it seems that the only option left is to go to war.
The problem is that going to war is not something that can be done just like that.
First, the Liao Kingdom also needed to prepare food, fodder, and troops, so it would definitely take time to make arrangements in advance.
Secondly, the Song Dynasty’s new firearms still made them feel worried.
At least for now, the Song State has not threatened to cancel the annual tribute, nor has it said it will launch a northern expedition to Yanyun, and the two sides still maintain a peaceful situation.
Once the Liao Kingdom took the lead in tearing up the "Chanyuan Alliance", it would be the Liao Kingdom that was in the wrong, and the Song Kingdom would have an excuse to send troops.
It would be fine if the Liao Kingdom could withstand the baptism of grenades, but if it couldn't, it would be doomed.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Xiao Ying, Liu Liufu and others did not dare to act rashly. In the end, they stayed in Bianliang for more than 20 days and then returned in disgrace.
The reason they stayed in Bianliang was actually to personally command the Liao Kingdom's spies in Bianliang to see if they could find a way to infiltrate the Firearms Bureau and find the formula.
As mentioned before, the Song, Liao, and Western Xia all had spies inside each other's territory. Naturally, the Liao also had quite a few within the territory of the Song Dynasty. Among them, there were some Liao spies lurking in Bianliang under various identities.
But unfortunately, Zhao Jun kept the formula of gunpowder extremely secret. Apart from him, only Zeng Gongliang and the craftsman knew the entire secret recipe.
The rest of the people went through the division of labor procedure. Even if the Liao people gathered the craftsmen with different tasks, they did not know the specific proportions, production methods, and order of work.
Moreover, the Firearms Department is too dangerous now, because they need to manufacture new weapons, such as researching the red cannon based on the Song Dynasty tiger squat cannon, and researching the flintlock rifle based on the musket, which all require space and open space.
Problems were bound to arise if they continued to stay in the outer city arsenal, so they had long been transferred to the military camp training ground outside the city.
There were more than 100,000 imperial guards watching over it, and there was a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five steps. The craftsmen and their families all lived there, forming an internal kingdom where no one was allowed to enter or leave.
In this case, unless the Liao Kingdom sent a large army to besiege.
Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult for ordinary people to sneak in and find the formula for gunpowder.
After working hard for more than half a month and gaining nothing, the Liao delegation had no choice but to return to Zhongjing Dading Prefecture in July.
It was early autumn in the Zhongjing Palace, but the north had not yet turned cold, and the weather was dry and pleasant.
But at this time Yelu Zongzhen was not in a very good mood.
After listening to the stories of Xiao Ying, Liu Liufu and others, Yelu Zongzhen called his close ministers such as Zhang Jian, Xiao Xiaomu and Yelu Renxian to ask for countermeasures.
Liu Liufu and Yelu Renxian were considered the best of the younger generation, with outstanding talents, and were highly valued by Yelu Zongzhen.
Xiao Ying, Zhang Jian and Xiao Xiaomu were all important officials of the Liao Kingdom. They were respectively the Envoy of the Southern Court of Xuanhui, the King of Han and the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, and they held high positions and great power.
Among them, Zhang Jian is very special. He has resigned from his official position and no longer holds any position.
However, because Emperor Xingzong of Liao respected him very much, in the winter of the sixth year of Chongxi (1037), he named Zhang Jian the King of Han, and specially brought him to the capital to ask him about state affairs.
Now that such an important national event had occurred, Liao Xingzong naturally wanted to consult Zhang Jian to see if he had any solutions.
In the palace's inner affairs hall, everyone took their seats. Yelu Zongzhen explained the situation and then looked at Zhang Jian and said, "Father, the Song State has created such a powerful weapon. It is extremely deadly to cavalry. What should we do?"
After listening to this, Zhang Jian pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's not fatal."
"oh?"
Yelu Zongzhen said quickly, "Please explain clearly, Father."
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