So if you're asked to be scolded, you really have no choice but to endure it.
"Okay, Hanlong, stop scolding them. They are used to being soft, unlike us grandparents, who are strong in our bones."
Seeing Lü Yijian and the others being humiliated, Zhao Zhen suddenly recalled the time when he was scolded. He pretended to be conciliatory, but his heart was filled with joy. He also imitated Zhao Jun's tone and said, "I think not all emperors of the Song Dynasty are like Zhao Gou. Zhao Xu and I are obviously different. We were all fooled by this group of civil officials."
"Official, why are you also!"
Lu Yijian and others were shocked. How could you, Zhao Zhen, a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, betray the revolution?
Didn’t we agree to be cowards together?
Is he getting tough again now?
Who gave you the courage?
oh.
Zhao Jun.
That's okay.
"That's what the government said."
Zhao Jun was very satisfied with Zhao Zhen's attitude and praised him, saying, "Civil officials are ruining the country. Fortunately, the emperor has woken up, otherwise the Song Dynasty would be in danger."
"Alright, alright."
Wang Zeng couldn't stand seeing the grandparents bragging about themselves anymore, so he rolled his eyes and said, "Then why don't you tell me what we can do?"
"First, we need to see whether the Liao Kingdom agrees to our demands. Kissinger said in 'Rebuilding the World' that diplomacy is about establishing the principle of equality. Diplomats are there to maintain a balanced order and deal with other countries through clever balance of power strategies. Simply put, it's about forming alliances and making alliances."
Zhao Jun pointed out the problem, saying, "The Liao Kingdom's current diplomatic strategy is to threaten us with a desperate struggle. Therefore, our primary diplomatic strategy is to ensure that the Song Dynasty's national dignity and prestige are not insulted under the principle of diplomatic equality, and to achieve the goal of peace."
Everyone was confused, and Yan Shu asked, "So?"
"So we can give the Liao Kingdom a way out, but not by sending them annual tribute. The Liao Kingdom should also put aside its airs and engage in dialogue with us on an equal footing, rather than constantly threatening us with force. Their tactics are outdated."
Zhao Jun emphasized, "We simply love peace and don't want the people of both countries to be harmed again, so we're willing to give them a chance to reform."
"This attitude makes us look superior."
Lu Yijian was very surprised.
It was always the Liao people who made demands on them in a condescending manner, and the Song Dynasty had never done so before, which made him feel novel.
Zhao Jun said in a deep voice, "It's good for a defeated nation to have some dignity. You don't know how humiliating it was during the Paris Peace Conference. We were clearly the victorious nation, but those Westerners sold out our own interests to those so-called powerful nations."
"Okay, then go ahead."
Lu Yijian had no choice but to shut up.
"The way to survive is simple: open more trade and use the horses, iron, and copper they are forbidden to sell in exchange for the Liao Kingdom's survival. Furthermore, they must be treated equally in the future, otherwise we will fight to the death."
Zhao Jun looked around and made a final decision: "Perhaps by then, if they want to stop the war, it will not be their decision. Song and Liao must be defeated!"
That’s the bottom line.
The Liao Kingdom was now almost devastated by a great war, and needed annual tribute from the Song Kingdom to appease the various tribes, so it began to use its usual tactics of blackmail.
Zhao Jun resolutely refused to accept their blackmail, but in order to prevent the Liao Kingdom from becoming desperate, it was not impossible to rescue them.
After all, with a few more years of development and the expansion of firearms, the Liao Kingdom would no longer be a threat. There was no need to perish together with the Liao Kingdom at this time, causing the people of Hebei and Henan Roads to suffer and their families to be broken up.
Therefore, as long as the Liao Kingdom accepted the conditions of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would naturally have other ways to stabilize the situation in the Liao Kingdom.
The most typical way is to open trade and exchange resources on an equal footing.
If you want our 500,000 strings of cash in annual tribute, you can exchange it for gold, silver, copper, iron, horses, or even coal mines.
The Northeast region is rich in products and various natural resources. Otherwise, when the new era begins, my country's heavy industry will not be located in the Northeast.
In fact, looking at the entire Liao Dynasty, they had no shortage of horses, ironware, gold, silver, copper and other resources. They even had their own craftsmen and their own handicraft manufacturing industry.
However, the Liao Dynasty's commerce was still far behind that of the Song Dynasty, so it urgently needed to rely on trade with the Song Dynasty to meet domestic needs.
However, in order to prevent the Song Dynasty from providing aid to the enemy, the Liao Dynasty prohibited the Song Dynasty from obtaining horses, prohibited the Mongols from obtaining ironware, and did not allow any strategic materials to flow into the Song Dynasty. The only products traded were sheep, camels, leather, felt, salt, etc.
Therefore, if the Liao Kingdom really relaxed the restrictions on horses and sold a large number of horses to the Song Kingdom, not to mention the annual income of only a few hundred thousand annual coins, even millions or tens of millions of coins would not be impossible to make money.
It’s just that the Liao Kingdom itself was unwilling.
As for Zhao Jun, if you don't want to, then I will beat you until you are willing.
Anyway, he has already drawn the bottom line. If the Liao Kingdom does not agree, then war will begin and there will be no room for negotiation.
"Secondly, if Liao rejects our demands, then we will go to war."
Zhao Jun took the laptop out of his backpack and placed it on Zhao Zhen's desk. He now carried the laptop with him 24 hours a day to prevent Zhao Zhen from becoming addicted to it.
Open the notebook and bring up the map of our country.
He pointed to the northeastern region and said, "You see, strictly speaking, the Liao Dynasty wasn't a unified state, but rather a tribal alliance. Ruled by the most powerful Khitan people, it also included dozens of other ethnic groups, including the Jurchens, Mongols, Shiwei, Northeastern Han Chinese, Bohai people, Xi people, and Zhubu people, as well as hundreds of thousands of tribes."
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