Receptions and diplomacy

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, ordered Tao Gu, a scholar of Hanlin, to send an envoy to Wu Yueguo, which had divided Zhejiang and established the capital Qiantang. The State of Wuyue was weak in strength, and had always treated the Central Plains Dynasty in the north with humility and prudence, and finally, Qian Li, the king of Wuyue, took the initiative to offer land to his subjects, so that the Northern Song Dynasty could include the two Zhejiang provinces into the territory without spending a single soldier - this is a later story.

However, he said that Qian Li, the king of Wuyue, was very respectful to Tao Gu, and set up a banquet on the beautiful Bibo Pavilion and personally accompanied him. During the banquet, King Wu Yue raised his wine glass and ordered, "White jade, greet the immortals on the Bibo Pavilion." Tao Gu was very happy to see him split the word "Bi" into "white jade" and called himself a "cyclamen", and immediately replied with a word-splitting wine order: "King of the Mouth Ear, Saint (Saint) Tomorrow Zi guest Qiantang." "Saint Tomorrow's Son" naturally refers to Emperor Zhao Kuangyin, and he is an envoy on the orders of the Son of Heaven, and he is a "Heavenly Dynasty Emissary" who represents the Son of Heaven as a guest in Wu Yueguo, which is also equivalent to the Son of Heaven himself coming as a guest. Although such an explanation is not impossible, it also shows Tao Gu's arrogant mentality of being a vassal of a large country and a king of a small country. However, the gentle King Wu Yue not only did not think so, but also took out his own collection of poems, the Original Collection, and asked Tao Gu to write a preface for him.

Tao Gu (903–970)

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the Hanlin scholar Lin Shu sent an envoy to the Liao State. At that time, the Liao State had just built a new "Bi Room", which according to the Liao people claimed to be not inferior to the "Ming Hall" of the Central Plains Emperor Xuanming's political religion. When a banquet was set up to receive the Song envoys, the Liaoguo "accompanying envoys" raised a glass and ordered: "White jade, the son of heaven builds a bi room." Lin Xi replied, "The King of the Mouth and ear, the holy (holy) people sit in the Ming Hall." The meaning is naturally obvious, your emperor is called "son of heaven", but our emperor is a "saint", stronger than you. The companion of the Liao State made Ne Ken show weakness and laughed at Lin Gui: "Why is the minister who was ordered to send an envoy illiterate?" There is only 'Mouth Ear Nong', where is the 'Mouth Ear King'? Indeed, the traditional character "sheng" is followed by "壬" instead of "king." Lin Yu was momentarily resigned, unable to get off the stage, and even broke his mouth to scold. Fortunately, the other ministers of the Liao State mediated: "What you are arguing about is not a major matter related to the state system, so why should a big dispute be caused by a small gap?" Later, the Liao State wrote about Lin Wei's humiliating mission on the state letter of reply to the Song State, and Lin Yu was demoted after he returned. However, not long after, because he dared to "scold", he fully embodied the so-called "majesty" and "integrity" of the Great Song Dynasty, and was promoted to Zhongshu Shilang.

The above two stories are from the Song Dynasty Zhao Yanwei's "Yunlu Mantuo" Volume IV. However, after reading the historical books such as "Song Shi Lin's Biography" and "Khitan Guozhi Tianzuo Emperor Shang", I found that the latter story was not so simple:

During the Chongning period, Emperor Huizong of Song, who had just ascended the throne, repeatedly sent troops to attack the territory of Western Xia. The State of Xia asked the State of Liao for help, and Emperor Tianzuo of the State of Liao sent envoys to the State of Song, saying that the sister of the Emperor of The Great Liao had married the Lord of the Western Xia Kingdom, and asked the State of Song to look at the face of the brotherly country and return the "land that had been invaded". Therefore, the Northern Song Dynasty sent Lin Wei to report to the Liao State. However, Cai Jing, the traitorous minister who held real power, secretly instructed Lin Yu to provoke the Liao people with words in order to provoke a dispute between the two countries. Lin Huan understood the spirit of the meeting, so he regarded himself as an envoy of a big country, arrogant and arrogant, and as soon as he entered the Liao realm, he treated the Liao officials who came to greet him with great enthusiasm, and when he was slightly unsatisfied, he reprimanded him fiercely. When he saw Emperor Tianzuo, he had just submitted the state letter, and he loudly counted the sins of the Xia people, and complained that the Liao State not only did not accuse the Xia Kingdom, but interceded for him. This remark, which seriously violated diplomatic etiquette, was greatly surprised by the Liao monarchs and courtiers, and for a moment there was no reply. A few days later, when Lin Xi was preparing to resign, the Liao State asked him to tell the Song Dynasty to return the castle built in the territory of the Xia people. This finally angered the Liao state, cutting off the water slurry, fireworks and food supply of the guest house, and even the water outside the house was deliberately polluted with feces to make it undrinkable. For three consecutive days, Lin Xi and his entourage were sent back to China after they had suffered enough from hunger and thirst, and as for the etiquette of entertaining the envoys, such as "gluttony" and "ancestral feast", they were all state banquets, which were bound to be full of mountain treasures and seafood, and as long as they made a slight gesture, they could enjoy the feast and feast. Cough, Lin Xi Ah Lin Xi, you only want to mouth and tongue fast and lead to the loss of mouth blessings, belly damage, why suffer?

A few years later, Lin Washu was relocated to DamingFu in Hebei, and when passing through Fenjing, he also suggested to Emperor Huizong of Song to attack the Liao state in revenge for his humiliation. This suggestion became the precursor of the Northern Song Dynasty's later alliance with the Jin Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, which led to the invasion of the Jin army and the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.

The same liquor order, all of which use word breaking methods such as "white jade" and "king of mouth and ear", all reflect the arrogance and arrogance of the envoys. Tao Gu is at the beginning of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the national strength is strong, the other side is a subservient vassal of the small country, not to mention Tao Gu is not too much, a liquor order, there is no other outrageous words and deeds, so finally did not affect diplomatic relations. Lin Wei is different, the Song and Liao confrontation for more than a hundred years, since the early Song Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi twice defeated the Liao, the Northern Song Has been on the defensive, not to mention that by the time of Song Huizong, the northwest has already had another strong enemy, the Western Xia, and the internal contradictions of the Northern Song Dynasty, which has long been weak and poor, are very sharp. In this case, as a fellow of Cai Jing, Lin Yu "served Jing for treachery, provoked his neighbors, and provoked the Chongqing Covenant", which is indeed a "great crime" as the "History of Song" discusses.

As envoys, even if a large country is an envoy to a small country, it should treat others equally, modestly, and generously. Although Tao Gu is talented, his reputation is not very good; and Lin Xi, who is blindly arrogant and unprovoked, is even more guilty.