♂?，，

  Chen Yuan was not afraid of him saying that, at least before the task was completed or failed, Pang Xi would not take action against himself.

  He glanced at Pang Xi: "After entering the city, we will go to the inn first. Go find that Xiao Suri, remember, ask clearly which side they are on. If you can also ask about Liao Guo's military trends, it would be even better."

  Pang Xi nodded: "Got it, when to see Xiao Suli? I'll tell him, although he has no real power, but his sister is the empress of Liao State, she can help us a lot."

  Chen Yuan said: "I know, first pave the way, tomorrow morning I will go."

  "After finishing speaking, he turned his head and shouted: 'A Mu Da, Xiao Wen, you two come over.'"

  A Mu Da and Yang Wen Guang rode their horses to Chen Yuan's front: "Boss, what are your orders?"

  Chen Yuan said: "Ah Mu Da, go to each inn and ask around to see where Wang Lun is staying. They are taking a shortcut, they should arrive earlier than us. Xiao Wen, arrange for the brothers to stay at the inn tonight, everyone has worked hard, remember four words: eat well, drink well!"

  Yang Wenguang and A Mu both nodded in understanding, while Hu Jing's eyes looked at Chen Yuan with great longing.

  Chen Yuan found that women are really a strange kind of animal. Before being pushed down, she took care of everything herself. Now it's good, he let her not speak outside, and she really didn't speak, which made Chen Yuan feel very accomplished.

  She beckoned with her hand and Hu Jing immediately came over to listen for instructions. Chen Yuan smiled at her: "Promise me you won't cause any trouble!"

  Hu Jing nodded: "Uh-huh."

  Chen Yuan was very pleased with this attitude: "Alright, come with me to the banquet tonight."

  "Really going?"

  Chen Yuan nodded, not responding to Pang Xi's words. This guy was all brawn and no brains; this trip to do business was just a cover-up, the real task was to stir up contention between the Khitan people and the Tangut people. If they didn't get in touch with their actual power holders, where would they start?

  They were despising Pang Xi in their hearts when they entered the city gate.

  Thanks to Yelü Nüguo's special care, and with two Liao soldiers leading the way, after a simple check, the group entered Yanjing.

  Yanjing was the capital of Liao, although it was not as prosperous as Bianjing, but from the clothing of the residents to the buildings in the city, one could see some shadows of Bianjing.

  This is the true manifestation of a minority regime facing the thousand-year history of the Han people. On the one hand, they cursed and despised the Song Dynasty, while on the other hand, they unknowingly imitated it, hoping to be like the Song Dynasty themselves.

  Liao Xingzong now wants to reform and actually bring some things that Liao people have been doing in private, and also want to do in their hearts, out into the open.

  But there are always some people who care about their reputation, or in other words, doing so would offend the interests of some people. For example, Ye Ruizhen has been scolding the Song Dynasty for a lifetime, and now he is suddenly asked to admit that he learned from the Song Dynasty, no matter what, he can't swallow this pride.

  But he didn't say it was himself who couldn't bear to lose face, he said it was his ancestors who couldn't bear to lose face. As a result, many people stood on his side, using the excuse of maintaining their ancestors' dignity to maintain their current interests. Among them were two powerful old ministers in Liao State, Yelü Hudie and Yelü Hanba.

  The forces of the reformist faction were no less powerful, with not only the support of the emperor, but also Ye Lü Zhongyuan and his son, as well as Ye Lü Qiuhan, Hou E, and a host of newly risen Han officials cheering them on.

  Chen Yuan had no interest in the struggle for the Liao state, he was only concerned about whether such a situation would affect his own task. Or, can find factors that are convenient for himself to complete the task from among them.

  Yelü Niegulu's footsteps had not yet entered the capital of Yan, but they had already caused a stir. Because everyone knew that the Emperor was about to appoint him as Crown Prince.

  Everyone also knows that whether Yelü Nügu or Yelü Xuebao returns this time will determine the future political direction of the Great Liao.

  They stepped into the capital of Yanjing with Ye Lü Nu's footsteps, and all they heard in their ears were people's speculations about what kind of storm would be stirred up on the imperial court when the Ninth Prince returned.

  Two soldiers led them through several intersections and stopped in front of a very respectable inn.

  The first house, the name of the inn was called First House. Chen Yuan raised his head and saw these three words, then loudly said: "Good! This name is well chosen! The three words 'First House' are written even better!"

  The soldier who led the way said busily: "Hehe, Chen Zhuang is really insightful. I don't know what's good about this name, but the signboard above the inn was written by our emperor himself."

  Chen Yuan was even more astonished after hearing this, to think that Chen Shi Mei was actually quite talented in writing, although Chen Yuan didn't plan on discovering Chen Shi Mei's literary talent, the quality of the words could still be discerned.

  The three Chinese characters on the sign are written with a perfect balance of elegance and boldness, confined within the square yet exuding an unmistakable aura of dominance. This technique is sufficient to demonstrate that the person who wrote these characters has a deep understanding of calligraphy.

  In Chen Yuan's imagination, the emperor of Liao might be a standard barbarian who doesn't even recognize Chinese characters. After hearing that these three words were written by Emperor Xingzong of Liao and knowing that he was dedicated to reforming the national politics of Liao, for a moment, he felt that the title of "barbarian emperor" seemed not to apply to Emperor Xingzong.

  The inn is also very particular, the lobby is spacious and bright, and the tables and chairs are extremely clean. The rooms are divided into four levels. In addition to the usual upper, middle and lower three levels of the Song Dynasty, there is also a common room, specifically for those lower-class people or poor people to live in.

  Another soldier said to Chen Yuan, "Don't worry, Mr. Chen, this is the best inn in Yanjing, it's always been used to entertain state guests, if it wasn't for the Ninth Prince and the boss being familiar with each other, we wouldn't have been able to book a room today."

  Chen Yuan hehe smiled, and his heart couldn't help but think that if this was the place where Liao State received foreign guests, wouldn't he be able to meet Song Qi?

  First arrange for the partners, thanks to their hard work on this road, otherwise Chen Yuan would have died in the hands of horse bandits long ago.

  Although it's a dormitory, Chen Yuan asked for an extra quilt for each person, ensuring that the apprentices wouldn't feel cold at night. He also specially instructed the kitchen to prepare fine wine and dishes, so tonight these apprentices don't have to do anything, just eat well and drink well.

  Watching his companions settle down, Chen Yuan and Hu Jing followed the two soldiers to Yelü Nügu's home, which is now the Beiyuan Dawang Fu.

  "By the way, what's the princess' name?" Chen Yuan asked the two soldiers.

  He asked this question just to open up the soldier's mouth, and also to tell Hu Jing that he didn't care about the princess at all. After spending so many days together, he still didn't know her name. In fact, he had long known that the princess was named Yelü Lüjing.

  The soldier immediately replied in a low voice: "Our princess is called Yelü Lüjing, the eldest daughter of the emperor."

  Chen Yuan nodded: "Oh, the two of you are military officers with families in Yanjing City?"

  The box was opened, and Chen Yuan slowly chatted with them. As they chatted, the conversation eventually turned to the issue of reform in Liao Guo. Chen Yuan knew that whether a reform could succeed or not depended on whether it conformed to the interests of the majority.

  According to his knowledge of Song Dynasty history, it seemed that Liao State had never changed its laws, and presumably failed because of this.

  As expected, the two soldiers immediately poured out a bellyful of grievances as soon as they mentioned reform: "Oh my, what's the point of reforming! You don't know, boss, that's not reform, that's just making trouble!"

  Chen Yuan was very interested: "What's this 'trouble' you speak of? Can't you tell me more about it, sir?"

  The two soldiers' words were already on the tip of their tongues, and if they didn't spit them out, they would be suffocating: "His Majesty said that he wanted to change the pasture into good fields, and let us learn from the Han people to farm. I learned it, but as soon as the seeds were sown, His Majesty changed his mind again, saying that the pastures around Yanjing are not suitable for farming, and letting us go to a distant place to open up wasteland."

  Just as he finished speaking, another one immediately said: "This is not the end of it. We ran to the border with the Song Dynasty to farm. There were enough people, the land was opened up, and the seeds were sown. It seemed that they would be ripe soon, but in a twinkling, we had to fight against the Song Dynasty! Fighting is inevitable, but the Emperor issued another order, saying that there was not enough military food, so our fields were cut down all at once again."

  They initiated the Liaoxingzong reform, and it seemed like they would never end. As soon as one of them finished speaking, another one said: "The emperor also said that he wants to rectify taxation, so we can all pay less taxes. But taxes are constantly decreasing, he reduces one on one side, and two more emerge on the other!"

  Chen Yuan hehe smiled, and now he can clearly feel the mood of Liao Xingzong. No matter how open-minded and wise Liao Xingzong is, he is still a person. Now his heart must be as contradictory as the imperial court of the Great Liao.

  They arrived at the gate of Yelü Nulugu's house, which was also the residence of Yelü Zhongyuan, the current King of Beining of the Liao Dynasty.

  Yelü Nügu's arrangement was quite considerate, although Chen Yuan was just a merchant, Yelü Nügu seated him among his close friends, and since Chen Yuan was good at socializing, there wasn't any awkwardness.

  Hu Jing certainly couldn't take a seat, in the Song Dynasty, it was rare for women to appear at banquets. The customs of Liao were more relaxed than those of the Great Song, but ordinary women still couldn't sit with men at the same table.

  Although women are not allowed on the seat, but the topic of conversation between seats can't help but have women, especially when they drink too much.

  Those at the same table as Chen Yuan were relatively young, and from their mouths, Chen Yuan heard two pieces of news. The first piece of news was about Liao State taking military action due to the sudden increase in power of the Party Items people.

  This issue was highly controversial in Liao, and these young Liao generals at the wine table were clearly divided into two camps. One camp believed that the Tanguts were newborn calves and had nothing to fear. Now they should unite with the Tanguts and get rid of the Song Dynasty first.

  Another group of people, however, held a completely different view. They believed that after the Song Dynasty had repeatedly lost battles and the Yang family generals were almost all killed or wounded, there were no more good generals left. The Tanguts, on the other hand, were in the ascendant and Li Yuanhao absolutely could not be allowed to develop further. Therefore, they advocated attacking the Tanguts first.

  No matter which faction, they are surprisingly consistent on the issue of the second message. These young Liao heroes consistently believe that Liao Xingzong's letting the princess marry Li Yuanhao is an insult to them.

  Even some people said after drinking a lot, this time the Tangut people came to ask for marriage, Li Yuanhao did not come in person, it was indeed wise. If Li Yuanhao had come, he would definitely not have been allowed to leave Yanjing City alive.

  That's all the useful information. The rest is just nonsense they came up with after drinking too much wine, don't take it seriously.

  When Chen Yuan returned to the inn, it was already the 9th hour (around 3-5 pm).

  （）

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