Seeing that Zhao Yan clearly didn't want to care about this matter, the two envoys of Goryeo were all panicked. At that moment, Yin Guan immediately spoke, "Your Highness, it's our Goryeo that we don't want to care about it. It's really our country's incompetence, especially the severe drought this year has greatly damaged our country's vitality. In desperation, he could only ask the Song Dynasty to uphold justice for our Goryeo!"

Yin Guan is worthy of being a Jinshi, and his acting skills are first-class. He is extremely sad and deliberately raised the Song Dynasty, and even tears flowed down. It seems that they have really tried their best. If it were an ordinary Song official, they would probably be moved by Yin Guan.

However, Zhao Yan was unmoved at all because he knew that this was the usual trick of the Goryeo people. When they faced the strong, they would deliberately dress themselves up as a weak person to take advantage of them everywhere. However, if they became stronger or found a stronger support, they would immediately show a villain's face. Zhao Yan had seen this in those two small North Korean countries many times in later generations.

Thinking of the above, Zhao Yan smiled coldly and said, "Enter Yin, I am quite sympathetic to Goryeo's situation. It's a pity that this fact is not something that I can decide, so I would like to ask the Empress Dowager to ask the Empress Dowager to decide for you!"

Zhao Yan said as he picked up the teacup. This was already the purpose of seeing off guests. Yin Guan and Zhao Gui stayed in the Song Dynasty for so long, and naturally understood what this meant. At that moment, the two of them smiled helplessly and could only stand up and say goodbye to Zhao Yan. Zhao Yan did not get up, after all, they were not qualified to let them see each other out in person.

After Yin Guan and Zhao Gui left, Zhao Yan did not return to the inner house, but sat there for a moment and finally asked someone to call Manager Xu, who was responsible for the business of the southern fleet. As the end of the year approached, managers from all over the country needed to return to Beijing to report on their respective business conditions. The good or bad business also affects the status of the manager, and Manager Xu returned to the capital three days ago.

After waiting for a while, a middle-aged man with a cane walked into the living room. He was the manager Xu who had led the fleet to plunder the Jurchens before. After he came in, he immediately bowed and said, "See Your Highness!"

"No need to be polite!" Zhao Yan said that he would let Manager Xu sit down, and then he spoke. "Manager Xu, the envoy of Goryeo just now came to me and said that many merchants went to Goryeo to buy and sell people and then transported them to Nanyang. I wonder if there is any such thing?"

When Manager Xu heard Zhao Yan suddenly asked about this, he was stunned, but then he reacted and said, "Your Highness, there is indeed such a thing. Although this business is not very glorious, the profit is extremely abundant. A Korean woman only needs a consistent amount of money to buy it, and then transport it to Nanyang and then transfer it to Nanyang for a dozen times, or even dozens of times the profit. Therefore, many people are very jealous of this. During this period, fleets often run north, and almost all those transported back are Korean women."

When he said this, Manager Xu suddenly hesitated for a moment. He seemed to have something to say, but he was a little reluctant to say it. But in the end he gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, the villain has something to report to the business of the Korean people!"

"Oh? What's the matter?" Zhao Yan thought about the possible impact of buying and selling Korean people in his mind, and then asked casually.

"Report to Your Highness, the matter of buying and selling people is actually related to villains. Please forgive me!" Manager Xu finally gritted his teeth and said. He knew that he might be punished if he said this, but if he didn't say it, it would be even more unfavorable to him by being found out in the future, so it would be better to confess and be lenient.

"What? Have you also participated in human trafficking?" Zhao Yan couldn't help but say annoyed when he heard this. It wasn't that he wouldn't let his subordinates sell human trafficking. Anyway, those are just Koreans, but this kind of thing is hard to say after all. If it is spread, it will definitely cause a blow to his reputation. Therefore, even if Manager Xu wants to do it, he must pass his consent in advance.

"No, no~" Manager Xu hurriedly waved his hand to deny it, "Your Highness, the villain knows the importance of it at least. Naturally, he dare not participate in such a big thing. However, the cause of this incident was that it had something to do with the villain. A few months ago, the villain led the fleet to the Jurchens on his order. There were many other merchants accompanying him..."

Manager Xu said that, he told the story of the shopkeeper who came back from the Jurchens and passed by Goryeo, who was known as the fat butcher, buying and selling Goryeo people. He and several other people in the fleet bought a Goryeo woman as a concubine and did not hide it.

When Zhao Yan heard that Manager Xu had only helped Manager Tu transport a group of people due to his affection, he breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his people were not involved in this matter, he could not control other businessmen. Moreover, these people transported Goryeo women to Nanyang, which would make some overseas immigrants feel at ease. After all, he also knew that men and women were unbalanced in overseas immigrants, and he did not take it seriously.

"This is the best. The people from the Prince Yue Mansion must not interfere in this matter. The Gaoli people have come to complain to the court. Although the court cannot stop the merchants from buying and selling people, they must at least act like this." Zhao Yan ordered again.

"Yes! The villain understands that our royal mansion's fleet is doing legitimate business and will never lose big things because of small things!" Manager Xu also spoke immediately, leaning against the Yue Prince's Mansion. Their fleet has many ways to make money, and there is no need to do such a business as a business person.

Seeing that Manager Xu was so clear about the matter, Zhao Yan also pointed it out with satisfaction, and then asked him about the specific situation of selling Goryeo people. It was not until this time that Zhao Yan realized that just a few months ago, no one had noticed this business. It was all because the shopkeeper slaughtered a group of Goryeo women to Nanyang, and he made a fortune all of a sudden. This attracted many people to follow suit. In addition, Goryeo suffered another disaster, and his life was as cheap as grass, so the business of buying and selling people was so popular.

"They are so blatantly buying and selling people. Even if Goryeo doesn't want to offend our Song Dynasty, I'm afraid they won't ignore it?" Zhao Yan suddenly asked when he heard this. The large loss of population is not a trivial matter for any country, so Goryeo should have some action.

"Hehe, Your Highness doesn't know. At the beginning, Goryeo was indeed very angry. King Goryeo issued an edict personally to prohibit the sale of human beings. However, those human traffickers were very good at it. On the one hand, they united to block the trade with Goryeo, especially the food that Goryeo urgently needed, and even no one was allowed to be transported. On the other hand, they bribed Goryeo's nobles and officials, which made many people in the Goryeo court speak for them. In this way, King Goryeo also under tremendous pressure and had to compromise in the end. However, it seems that King Goryeo is still unwilling to give up, so he came to our Song Dynasty for help." Although Manager Xu did not participate in the sale of human beings, he was also very concerned about this matter because of the slaughter of the shopkeeper.

"I didn't expect that a group of small human traffickers could force Gorye to bow their heads. This shows how terrible the power of the merchants is. Unfortunately, no one in the court would believe it." Zhao Yan couldn't help but sigh when he heard this.

With the development of the past few years, the business of the Song Dynasty has become more and more prosperous, which has made the influence of merchants stronger and stronger. Although the business of those human traffickers is not very glorious, they are also merchants. They can now force Goryeo to surrender. If other merchants unite in the future, they may not be able to surrender to the Song Dynasty. Unfortunately, the Song Dynasty has not yet noticed this change. If such words are said, they will only be regarded as a joke.

In the next period of time, Zhao Yan secretly asked the two envoys of Goryeo. It was probably King Gaoli who gave them the death order, so they would not dare to go back if they did not resolve the matter. Therefore, after leaving Zhao Yan, they visited several other important officials in the court. Unfortunately, these people either did not have time to see them or they knew the reason, although they were full of righteous indignation, they did not make a practical promise, because they also knew that although this matter seemed not big, it was actually very difficult, especially the sea trade matter was promoted by King Yue Zhao Yan, so it would be best to solve this matter by Zhao Yan himself. If others intervened rashly, they might offend Zhao Yan for this, which would be a bit unworthy of the loss.

As a result, Yin Guan and Zhao Gui walked around Tokyo countless times, but still couldn't find a solution. Finally, the two gritted their teeth and decided to visit several prime ministers in the Song Dynasty, and they would find someone who could make decisions. So they both focused on the oldest and most respected prime ministers among the prime ministers, namely Sima Guang and Lu Gong.

Originally, Yin Guan wanted to go directly to Sima Guang. Although they were both prime ministers, Sima Guang was definitely the first person under Empress Dowager Gao. However, when they arrived in front of Sima Guang's mansion, they found that because of the Chinese New Year, there were too many people coming to visit Sima Guang and they couldn't squeeze in.

In desperation, Yin Guan and Zhao Gui had to visit Lu Gongzhu first. What they never expected was that just before they arrived at the gate of Lu Mansion, they heard a crying sound from the mansion. Then the servants of Lu Mansion came out and started hanging white silk in front of the mansion. When they stepped forward, they found out that Lu Gongzhu had been seriously ill for many days and had finally traveled to the west just now.

Yin Guan and Zhao Gui heard that Lu Gongzhu was actually dead, which made them have to admit that they were unlucky. Then the two discussed for a long time and finally decided to go directly to Sima Guang. So the two came to Sima Guang's mansion again and lined up for several days. It was about to be their turn, but what they never expected was that news suddenly came from Sima's mansion that Sima Guang suddenly became ill and had no idea of ​​his life and death! (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!