[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them":3,"chapter-i-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them-i-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them-chapter-292":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Transmigrated to the Northern Song with Them",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2319182,4535,"Chapter 292: The Powder and Paint Scheme: The Emperors of Song, Liao, and Jin","i-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them-chapter-292",292,"\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Aguda did not send these beauties to Zhao Yu out of kindness—he dumped over a hundred hot potatoes onto Zhao Yu’s lap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let alone Yelu Yanxi’s daughter-in-law, Princess Xiao Wanliyan. If Zhao Yu took her, wouldn’t that rekindle the feud?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, don’t forget, Zhao Yu had already “seized” Yelu Yanxi’s Wen Consort before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crucially, among the women Wanyan Aguda gave Zhao Yu were:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two imperial dowager consorts left behind by Yelu Jun, Yelu Yanxi’s father (who could be seen as Yelu Yanxi’s two stepmothers, though their ages were nearly equal to Yelu Yanxi’s).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lower-ranking concubines Yelu Yanxi had no time to take with him (thirty-odd in total, some still untouched).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second wife and two favored concubines of Yelu Heluo (who could be seen as three stepmothers to Yelu Chun and three grandmothers to Yelu Yanxi).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The consort of the Imperial Uncle Huluwā (Yelu Yanxi’s aunt-by-marriage), the secondary consort of King Nielici (Yelu Yanxi’s sister-in-law), the Han Consort of Liao (Yelu Yanxi’s sister-in-law), the elder and younger sisters of Xiao Sesu (the principal wives of Yelu Dage and Yelu Yudu), and the five nieces of Xiao Sesu (three daughters of Yelu Dage and two daughters of Yelu Yudu).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were also many other wives, concubines, daughters, and even mothers of high-ranking Liao officials and key generals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Were these women beauties?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Certainly they were.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These women were not only beautiful, but none were old—the eldest, the two imperial dowager consorts, Yelu Heluo’s second wife, and the consort of Imperial Uncle Huluwā, were barely in their early thirties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was only natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, Wanyan Aguda’s claim of sending “some beauties” to Zhao Yu would have been utterly implausible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the problem was, these beauties, however lovely, were hard for Zhao Yu to accept. If he took them, he would inevitably create a rift with Liao’s ruling class, for it was as if Zhao Yu alone had cuckolded nearly all of Liao’s high officials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not everyone had Yelu Yanxi’s magnanimity—to pretend nothing had happened after being cuckolded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So should Zhao Yu refuse them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wouldn’t that signal to Wanyan Aguda that Zhao Yu had no intention of allying with him, but instead planned to aid Liao in destroying Jin?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That would contradict the Song Dynasty’s strategy of playing both sides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Liangsi and the other Song envoys understood this well. Though they disliked taking these Liao beauties and knew bringing them back might earn them blame rather than praise, they still had to grit their teeth and deliver them to Zhao Yu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Zhao Liangsi’s fleet departed from Shizikou, Wanyan Zongwang, who had held his tongue all along, finally blurted out: “Why did the Lord give us the beauties we worked so hard to capture to the Great Song Emperor?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zonggan, who had come to see Zhao Liangsi off, smiled faintly: “Do you think the Great Song Emperor will easily accept these beauties?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zongwang frowned: “What do you mean?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zonggan said confidently: “Once we send these beauties, the Great Song will never ally with the Khitans.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zongwang’s eyes lit up: “So if the Great Song Emperor receives these beauties, he will abandon allying with the Khitans?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wanyan Zonggan shook his head: “No—it is not that the Great Song Emperor will abandon the Khitans, but that Yelu Yanxi will dare not ally with the Great Song Emperor after receiving these beauties.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zongwang asked: “Why?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zonggan said: “The Lord has long seen through Yelu Yanxi—he is incompetent in governance, stubborn and self-willed, lacks military talent yet craves glory, pursues empty fame while inwardly indulging in lust and pleasure…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Aguda’s move was a open strategy, not a covert trick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Aguda had calculated: by sending these important Liao women to Zhao Yu, he would ensure that Yelu Yanxi—proud to the point of vanity and terrified Zhao Yu would despise him over these women—would never seek refuge with Zhao Yu unless utterly desperate, nor easily form an alliance with him…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Wanyan Zongwang finally felt sending these Liao women to Zhao Yu was not a loss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Zonggan added: “In the past, though the Liao house had declined, its foundations remained intact. Had Yelu Yanxi restored discipline, favored the virtuous, and abandoned his pleasures, he might still have turned the tide. But he indulged in ease and luxury, drowned in wine and lust, rejected loyal advice, and trusted flatterers as if they were his own kin. When our Jin armies stood at his gates, he thought not of defense, only of flight. A ruler must carry the world in his heart, hold the people’s fate close. Yelu Yanxi does not—he values personal grudges above national enmity, personal desires above the state. Liao’s fall is not due to Jin’s strength, but because Yelu Yanxi destroyed himself. His survival is a laughingstock to the world; his destruction is the will of Heaven.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Zhao Liangsi brought these Liao women back to Zhao Yu, Cai Jing immediately berated him and the others in court, calling them fools who had ruined the Song Dynasty’s grand plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Zhao Yu was headachingly frustrated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Wanyan Aguda understood Yelu Yanxi, Zhao Yu understood this foolish ruler well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, Yelu Yanxi already feared Zhao Yu; luring him to surrender to the Song Dynasty was already difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, with this incident, it became even harder for Zhao Yu to persuade Yelu Yanxi to surrender to the Song Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Should Zhao Yu return these women to Yelu Yanxi?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, if Zhao Yu did that, it would be tantamount to tearing up his alliance with Wanyan Aguda.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now was not the time for Zhao Yu to break with Wanyan Aguda.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under Zhao Yu’s leadership, the Song Dynasty’s strategy was simple: emulate the United States in WWI and WWII—trade with both sides, profit from both, wait until they exhausted each other, then swallow Liao and use Liao’s strength to utterly destroy Jin, minimizing their own costs, even avoiding any sacrifice while reaping all benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Liao had been severely wounded by Jin, it still held over half its territory; objectively speaking, Liao’s remaining strength still surpassed Jin’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Yelu Yanxi certainly would not surrender to the Song Dynasty. Zhao Yu still needed Jin to further weaken Liao, until Liao was utterly broken and Yelu Yanxi had nowhere else to turn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then might Yelu Yanxi lead the remnants of Liao to surrender to the Song Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Zhao Yu would lead the Song Dynasty and the remnants of Liao to destroy Jin, drained of blood by Liao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the script Zhao Yu had long written.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, now was not the time for Zhao Yu to break with Wanyan Aguda—so Zhao Yu could not refuse Wanyan Aguda’s “kindness.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1127,"2026-06-20T15:06:50.687Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","49fe02e3e604878313017e4b6ffa1dbd430a91b71bf36606a95db2c11974d5b0","i-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them-chapter-293","i-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them-chapter-291",348,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-transmigrated-to-the-northern-song-with-them-cover.jpg"]