What's more, not long after Zhao Jun came to power, he left the capital to travel around and conduct research at the grassroots level. This naturally led to the Liao and Western Xia spies in Bianliang paying less attention to him, and their attention was focused on Lu Yijian and others.
Now, he suddenly learned that Zhao Jun might be obstructing the peace talks with the Song State, and Yelu Zongzhen was naturally very surprised.
Zhang Jian replied, "This man returned to Bianliang at the end of last year and seems to have quite a reputation within the Song court. According to insiders, Lü Yijian, Wang Zeng, and others had originally believed that peace talks were possible, and the entire Song court, including civil and military officials, were in favor of them. But once this man appeared, they immediately changed their tune and sternly rejected the proposal."
Yelu Zongzhen was furious and asked, "Is this man really that bold? Isn't he afraid that our Liao army of 500,000 will march south, trample the Hebei River, drink from the Yellow River, and leave the Song people dead without a burial place?"
"Your Majesty, look at this."
Zhang Jian handed over the newspaper and said softly, "This is the plan that the dean has used to deal with us."
Yelu Zongzhen brought the newspaper over with doubt. He didn't believe that the Song people had any way to deal with the Liao army of hundreds of thousands who did not attack the city but only raided the other side's villages and towns in the wild.
However, after reading the newspaper and understanding what had happened, and seeing the strategy proposed by Zhao Jun, Yelu Zongzhen suddenly became a little uneasy. He said coldly, "Is this guy so naive? He thinks he can scare us with just a few words?"
"His Majesty."
Xiao Xiaoyou shouted, "The Song people are rampant. They think that with their firearms they can rival the Liao. I will not tolerate this. I demand another tribute this year. Once the food and fodder arrive, I will ride my horses to crush the Song army!"
Seeing his aggressive demeanor, Yelu Zongzhen glanced at him. Unlike Xiao Xiaoyou, he was not as emotional as he was. Instead, he said calmly, "You go down first."
"His Majesty?"
Xiao Xiaoyou was puzzled.
Yelu Zongzhen said, "We already collected the two taxes last year. Imposing more will only alienate the people. Moreover, we have just finished winter and the tribes have little in their reserves. Forcible collection will only cause unrest in all the countries. Okay, let me discuss this with the Grand Tutor."
"yes"
Xiao Xiaoyou had no choice but to retreat in frustration.
Zhang Jian saw him leave, then he bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise."
Yelu Zongzhen sat down on the stone bench in the yard, threw the newspaper aside, and his face turned ugly.
His attitude just now was naturally pretended, because unlike the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had more surrenderists and peacemakers, while the Liao Dynasty was the opposite. This had a lot to do with the fact that the Liao Dynasty was strong and the Song Dynasty was weak in military strength for a long time.
Although the Liao army was badly defeated in the Battle of Baozhou, this inherent concept was difficult to change in the short term. Therefore, even if Yelu Zongzhen saw the problem, he did not dare to express it immediately.
"I know that Tabuyan has never seen the power of the Song army. He stayed in Nanjing before, and the Song army chased him but was repelled by him. He thought the Song army was still the same Song army as before. He didn't know that if he marched south now, our Great Liao would be in real danger."
Yelu Zongzhen sighed.
Zhang Jian smiled bitterly and said, "It's not his fault. We just don't dare to announce our true situation now."
Xiao Xiaoyou was the Nanjing garrison commander and did not go with him to the war. Although he had heard that the Song army's grenades and artillery were powerful, he had never seen them. Previously, the Song army's troops chasing the Liao people were disconnected, and when he went to support them, he killed many Song soldiers in return, so he thought the Song army was no match for them.
But who knew that the Liao army's main force had suffered heavy losses and low morale? In addition, food and fodder were still being collected and delivered from the rear. If they really assembled a large army and marched south, they would probably suffer another crushing defeat.
Yelu Zongzhen said in a deep voice: "Father, is the Liao Dynasty really in a critical situation now?"
"Not yet, but if the fight continues, I'm afraid it will happen."
Zhang Jian said, "The court used last year's summer grain to fight the Song army. The autumn grain is being delivered, which is enough to stabilize the front line. However, if we want to mobilize a large number of troops, this amount of autumn grain may not be enough."
"However, the powerful people in the country own a lot of land, and the temples pay very little in taxes. If we want to mobilize a large number of troops, we have to take money and food from them, but they can't give it to us, right?"
Yelu Zongzhen finished his words with a cold face.
A bitter look appeared on Zhang Jian's face.
People think that the Song Dynasty had serious land annexation problems, but in fact the Liao Dynasty was almost the same.
The main ethnic group in the Liao Dynasty was the Khitan. The Khitan nobles owned a large amount of land, and the nobles in other vassal states and tribes also owned a lot of land.
In order to take care of their interests, the Liao Dynasty's tax revenue was very low, which indirectly caused the Han people in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to like the Liao Dynasty more.
But this situation will certainly not last long.
Since the late reign of Emperor Shengzong of Liao, the problem has become prominent and increasingly serious.
The powerful people in Liao Dynasty believed in Buddhism, so they built a large number of temples. The temples also had a lot of land. The people had to pay tribute to the court and pay taxes to the temples, which created a certain burden.
In particular, Yelu Zongzhen himself was a devout Buddhist, and was most active in building temples and supporting monks and nuns. With his support, there were hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns in the Liao Kingdom. They ate without working and owned a lot of land, becoming a major social burden.
At the same time, the Yelu and Xiao families of the Liao Dynasty often fought among themselves, and the contradictions between the imperial family and the queen's family became increasingly acute, causing serious internal friction.
The Liao Dynasty could barely maintain its prosperity during the reign of Emperor Xingzong of Liao, but as the Liao Dynasty progressed, the upper class became increasingly corrupt, decadent, and extravagant, wasting a lot of financial resources and the treasury became increasingly empty.
What to do after feeling empty?
That is of course to exploit the people, vassal states and tribes, making the people and the tribes increasingly poor and full of complaints.
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