While walking, Zhang Dun recorded all his experiences and hearings along the way. This would be the most intuitive understanding of the Liao Kingdom in the Song Dynasty. Although there was a lot of information about the Liao Kingdom back to the country before, in comparison, what he saw with his own eyes was easier for the ministers in the court to accept, and this was also one of the missions of the mission.

According to the experiences along the way of the mission, Zhang Dun discovered that from the Dading Prefecture of Zhongjing in Liao Kingdom to the south to the Great Wall of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, this vast space can be said to be extremely desolate. Most of the Han people chose to escape to the Yanyun land controlled by the Song Dynasty. The remaining few people did not want to escape, but the Liao Kingdom is very strict now, and they have no chance to escape.

However, after we went north to Dading Prefecture, the situation here became relatively stable, and the number of Han people decreased a lot, so the impact was not particularly great. We often saw villages and towns, but these villages and towns were not comparable to those in terms of number and scale. Zhang Dun even estimated the density of villages and towns and the land area of ​​the Liao Kingdom. At this time, the population of Liao Kingdom was estimated to be at most about five million, and this number was even less than one-twentieth of that of the Song Dynasty. You should know that the total population of the Song Dynasty, including Nanyang, had exceeded 100 million, and this number alone was enough to scare the Liao Kingdom.

The decline in population also directly affected all aspects of the Liao Kingdom. Zhang Dun went along the way and found that not only a large number of farmlands were abandoned, but other industries were also greatly affected. For example, business as an example, among the towns of the Liao Kingdom, the most popular goods were the goods of the Song Dynasty. Whether it was cloth, sugar, porcelain, etc., most of these merchants imported from the Song Dynasty. As for the local goods of the Liao Kingdom, it was not lacking, but because of poor quality and high cost. They were completely crushed by the Song Dynasty's goods. It can be said that the business of the Liao Kingdom seemed very prosperous, but it was actually based on the goods of the Song Dynasty. The local industry shrank extremely. If a war broke out with the Song Dynasty, I am afraid that the business of the Liao Kingdom would immediately become extremely depressed.

Originally, Zhang Dun didn't understand the above economics knowledge, but he once heard Zhao Yan say that an official did not understand economics and could not do his job as an official. For this reason, he went to the Business Department of the School of Geophysics for several months before he understood some knowledge of economics. Later, he made him make a lot of political achievements while in office, and at the same time he understood the reason for the failure of the reform. The main reason was that no one understood these economic principles. He made a mess in the Song Dynasty. If it weren't for the King of Yue to help him finish it, it would have really caused chaos.

The closer it is to Shangjing City in the Liao Kingdom, the denser the population will be. When Zhang Dun and his friends came to Shangjing City, they finally saw a place with a population density that is almost the same as that of the Song Dynasty. However, the capital of the Liao Kingdom, the population density can only be compared with ordinary cities in the Song Dynasty. If it is compared with Tokyo City, it will be too different.

Yelu Jun was also very concerned about the arrival of Zhang Dun's mission. As soon as they arrived outside the capital, Yelu Jun immediately sent his son Yelu Yanxi to greet him in person to show his importance to the Song Dynasty mission. After entering the city, Yelu Jun immediately summoned Zhang Dun into the palace. After all, he was very curious about the purpose of the Song Dynasty mission and couldn't wait to know why they came.

"Envoy of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Dun, the minister of the disciple, paid homage to His Majesty the Emperor of Liao!" After Zhang Dun entered the hall, he immediately performed the etiquette of the king and the ministers to Yelu Jun, who was sitting upright in the hall.

Speaking of which, Zhang Dun and Yelu Jun had a relationship with each other. At that time, Emperor Yingzong Zhao Shu ascended the throne, and Yelu Jun went to congratulate on behalf of the Liao Kingdom. Zhang Dun was about to go to Beijing to take the exam. He had seen the Liao Kingdom missions entering Beijing on the streets of Tokyo. At that time, he was not very impressed by Yelu Jun, but he was very energetic. He had not seen each other for many years. When he saw Yelu Jun again, he found that although the other party looked much more mature and steady, he did not have the same sharpness as before. Instead, he felt a deep dusk aura, which made Zhang Dun think in his heart. It seemed that rumors all said that Yelu Jun was becoming more and more stupid, and it should not be groundless.

Zhang Dun had seen Yelu Jun, but Yelu Jun did not remember Zhang Dun. After all, that was something that happened decades ago. And when he entered Tokyo, there were so many people watching, so he was even more unlikely to have any impression of Zhang Dun. Therefore, he smiled and said, "Envoy Zhang doesn't have to be too polite. Song and Liao were originally brotherly countries. At that time, I and Emperor Shenzong even hit it off at first sight, and they called each other brothers. It's a pity that God was jealous of talent. I didn't expect that Emperor Shenzong would die young. I was heartbroken when I heard this news. Unfortunately, due to my limited identity, I was really a big regret in my heart!"

Although Zhang Dun knew that all Yelu Jun was talking nonsense, it was when Zhao Xu was in power that the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Kingdom and regained the land of Yanyun, so Yelu Jun would probably only hate the Emperor Zhao Xu of Shenzong to the core, so how could he have any feelings?

However, Zhang Dun dared to think about the above words in his heart, and on the surface he had to look moved, bowed and said, "Your Majesty has a deep friendship with Emperor Shenzong. I am also grateful to the Song Dynasty. I hope that the diplomatic relations between the two countries will be permanent in the future and that the people of the two countries will be spared from the suffering of war!"

After saying a few unnutritious clichés, Yelu Jun suddenly kept silent. Yelu Yixin, who was standing next to him, immediately understood and immediately stepped forward and asked Zhang Dun: "Enter Zhang, I wonder if your country sends an envoy to our Daliao this time, is there anything important?"

At this time, Zhang Dun looked at Yelu Yixin, who was powerful in the Liao Kingdom in front of him, and then said: "Report to Your Majesty, King of Wei, I was originally sent to Liao Kingdom this time to discuss an extremely important matter with Liao Kingdom, that is, to form an alliance!"

"Assembly?" Hearing Zhang Dun's words, Yelu Jun and Yelu Yixin were both stunned. Then Yelu Jun asked in surprise, "Didn't our Song and Liao dynasties have formed an alliance long ago? It was the alliance signed by me and the King of Yue. Could it be that you, the Song Dynasty, want to change the alliance without authorization?"

At the end, Yelu Jun's face was also a little gloomy, because in the past, the Liao Kingdom relied on its strength to force the Song Dynasty to change the content of the alliance several times, such as increasing annual monies, etc. Unfortunately, the Feng Shui now changes, and the Song Dynasty's strength is stronger than the Liao Kingdom. So as soon as Zhang Dun talked about the alliance, Yelu Jun immediately thought that the Song Dynasty might have to change the alliance.

Seeing Yelu Jun's appearance, Zhang Dun immediately guessed what the other party was thinking, but he smiled calmly at this and said, "Your Majesty misunderstood. Since the King of Yue personally signed an alliance with Your Majesty, it would naturally not change it easily. As for the alliance I mentioned, it is another thing."

After hearing Zhang Dun's explanation, Yelu Jun's face finally looked a little better. After all, if the Song Dynasty really proposed to amend the alliance, he really didn't know what to do. If he agreed, he would definitely be extremely humiliated. If he disagreed, he would likely anger the Song Dynasty. If the Song Dynasty sent troops to attack their Liao Kingdom, he would probably not only lose the land of Yanyun, but also be defeated by the Song army to the capital of Shangjing. By then, the entire Liao Kingdom would be in danger of destruction.

"Well~, since it's not about revising the alliance, what aspect does the Song Dynasty want to form an alliance?" Yelu Yixin next to him also breathed a sigh of relief. He had just thought about revising the alliance like Yelu Jun. Although Zhang Dun denied their speculation, he still did not dare to relax.

"In fact, the imperial court sent an envoy to discuss alliances with the Liao Kingdom and jointly deal with the rising Jurchens. Although the Jurchens are still very weak now, our Song Dynasty has always regarded it as a major concern, and your country has failed many times in stifling the Jurchens. This made my Song Dynasty very worried, so I wanted to form alliances with the Liao Kingdom and jointly deal with the rising Jurchens!" Zhang Dun said with a serious look on his face.

"What? Make an alliance against the Jurchens?" When Yelu Jun and Yelu Yixin heard Zhang Dun's words, they couldn't help but want to scrub their ears and wonder if they had heard it wrong. The Jurchens are still thousands of miles away from the Song Dynasty, and they can't threaten the Song Dynasty no matter how hard it is, right?

Seeing the expressions of Yelu Jun and the ministers, Zhang Dun could also guess that they must be doubting their words, but he was prepared for it and said immediately: "Your Majesty, maybe in your opinion, it is a bit of a big deal for my Song Dynasty to propose alliance with the Liao Kingdom to deal with a small Jurchen. However, His Highness of the King of Yue of the Song Dynasty had been wandering with the Jurchens for nearly a year, and he knew the terror of the Jurchens. Even after returning to the Song Dynasty, he had always paid attention to the situation of the Jurchens."

When he said this, Zhang Dun paused and then said: "The Liao army suffered setbacks when it wiped out the Jurchens the year before yesterday. Our Song Dynasty once sent people to arrive at the Jurchens by boat, wiped out many Jurchens, and even burned down the materials stored by the Wanyan tribe. Unfortunately, they didn't expect that they had lived through the long winter. Now the Wanyan tribe has all its strength, even more fierce than before. Our Song Dynasty, as a brother country of the Liao tribe, has an unresolvable hatred with the Wanyan tribe, so we want to form an alliance with the Liao tribe and destroy the enemy of the Wanyan tribe in one fell swoop!"

"So that's it. No wonder the strength of Wanyan's tribe did not increase last year, but became very weak. Unexpectedly, the Song Dynasty took action!" Yelu Jun also showed a thoughtful expression when he heard this. He had already known about Zhao Yan's descent to Wanyan's tribe, but he didn't know that Zhao Yan and Wanyan's tribe had such a big grudge, and even sent a fleet to the Jurchens to attack Wanyan's tribe.

However, Yelu Jun then thought that even if Zhao Yan had a personal grudge with Wanyan’s tribe, from the perspective of the Song Dynasty, the rise of Wanyan’s tribe would only restrain its own military strength. It should be beneficial to the Song Dynasty without any harm. Could it be that the Song Dynasty really had a long-term vision to regard Wanyan’s tribe as a future enemy? (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!