() (Thanks to the two book friends liiiip and woodhdc for their monthly passes. It’s a new month. It is said that all accounts that made purchases last month will have guaranteed monthly passes this month. I would like to ask for a few.)
"Xia must cancel the imperial title, and I, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, canonize him as the lord of the Xia Kingdom, give him the "Seal of the Lord of the Xia Kingdom", allow him to set up officials, proclaim himself a minister to the Song Dynasty, and regard the Song Dynasty as Zhengshuo; the generals of the Song Dynasty who were captured in the war
, soldiers and civilian households who need to be returned to each other; from now on, if the people on the border of both sides flee to the other side's territory, they are not allowed to send troops to pursue them, and both sides can return the fleeing people to each other;
The equal rights and other border areas where Han residents live on the border need to be returned to us; both sides can freely build castles on their own territory; it is not your turn to make irresponsible remarks on whether we, the Song Dynasty, station troops on the border; this is our Song Dynasty.
The terms of the peace negotiation are up to you to decide."
Zhang Yuan's eyes widened angrily and he said: "Absolutely not. You are insulting me, Daxia. We have established a country, how can we cancel the imperial title? Wouldn't this make the world laugh at my weakness and incompetence?"
Su Jin sneered and said: "I say you are smart, but in fact you are very stupid. Let me ask you, is face more important or the subjugation of the country is more important? I have made it clear. You are allowed to appoint your own officials. You only need to surrender to me, the Song Dynasty.
It is enough for the Song Dynasty to be Zhengshuo. In fact, all you lose is face, and what I, the Song Dynasty, want is face. Otherwise, why would I raise troops to fight with you for several years? Li Yuanhao could have become the emperor behind closed doors, as long as he professed his vassalship to the outside world.
Even if you give me an explanation from the Song Dynasty court, I am doing this for your sake. If you don’t understand this, our peace negotiation will be meaningless.”... .
Zhang Yuan said flatly: "No, absolutely cannot agree. Such a peace negotiation is an unfair peace negotiation. You have no sincerity."
Su Jin sighed: "Well, maybe you can't make the decision, but I believe Li Yuanhao won't be that stupid. It doesn't matter if you don't agree. You can send someone back to the country to ask what Li Yuanhao means. I don't care if I wait a few more days, I will be wronged in these few days."
I have been staying at the post house for a few days. If you want to talk anytime, just send someone to let me know. I have some important things to do, so please forgive me for not accompanying you for a while!"
Su Jin stood up and returned to the inner hall, leaving Zhang Yuan standing in the hall with a pale face, gritting his teeth angrily.
Li Zhong, the prefect of Weizhou, arranged for Zhang Yuan, the Xia envoy, to stay at Weizhou Guanyi, and asked him to take good care of him. The envoy came even though the two countries were at war, so he was naturally polite to the envoy. The Guanyi was rebuilt from the original Zhaiyue Tower.
It is spacious and comfortable, and can be regarded as the best house in Weizhou. This is also a sign of respect and courtesy for Ambassador Xia.
Zhang Yuan returned to Guanyi and immediately summoned his subordinate officials to discuss countermeasures. The Song people had a tough attitude, which was completely contrary to their expectations before coming. This time he came with Li Yuanhao's trust.
After the peace talks were concluded, Zhang Yuan also understood that the reason why the always arrogant Li Yuanhao was so humble was actually an act of forbearance. The country really could not withstand a war.
However, Zhang Yuan never expected that the conditions of the Song State were so close to his own bottom line that he wanted to cancel the imperial title and declare himself a vassal. This was something Zhang Yuan never dared to make the decision. Everything Li Yuanhao did was to become the emperor. Such
If he agrees to the conditions rashly, Li Yuanhao will definitely chop off his head without hesitation.
After much deliberation, Zhang Yuan decided to send people back to the country immediately to ask for Li Yuanhao's orders as Su Jin said. Zhang Yuan immediately went to his desk and wrote down all the conditions of the Song Dynasty, without adding any opinions of his own, and ordered people to hurry up.
Rush back to Xingqing Mansion to ask for orders.
At the same time, in order to force Xia Guo to submit, Su Jin also wrote a letter to Fan Zhongyan in Yanzhou, requesting Fan Zhongyan to cooperate with his actions for the purpose of negotiation; while Jingyuan Road deployed deputy capital commander Pan Jiang in Su
Under Jin's instruction, troops and horses from Jingzhou, Yuanzhou, Lanzhou and other places were immediately gathered to Weizhou.
More than ten days later, armies from all walks of life arrived in Weizhou one after another. More than 80,000 soldiers and horses were gathered in the entire city of Weizhou. All the state capitals near Weizhou on Jingyuan Road, except for the necessary officers and soldiers on daily duty, were all gathered in Weizhou.
Of course, Zhang Yuan, who was in Weizhou City, would not be idle. Although he could not see Su Jin, he wandered around the streets every day. It was nothing at first, but in the next few days, he found that on the streets of the city
Soldiers and horses are pouring in every day, grain trucks, weapons and siege equipment are pouring into Weizhou City. Zhang Yuan is certainly not easy to fool. Originally, he sneered secretly. It was obvious that Su Jin was playing a blind trick. Maybe it came and went.
Even for Weizhou's soldiers and horses, only a few carts of supplies came and went. Perhaps the sacks of the grain carts were filled with soil, which was not surprising at all.
But Zhang Yuan soon discovered that there was something wrong with his judgment. He ordered his Han soldiers to find out information from the incoming Song troops, and concluded that those soldiers were from different prefectures, and they all said they were coming to Wei.
The state gathered together and said they were going to fight a big battle, but they didn't say who they would defeat.
Another soldier who was inquiring secretly went to the warehouse of the Song Army and saw with his own eyes that the carts of grain were stacked into grain piles. The hundreds of piles of grain weighed hundreds of thousands of dan. The people pulling the carts spoke from all over the world.
With a northwest accent, he followed them into the teahouse and eavesdropped, and found out that they were all transporting grain from the south in the Huaiyang area. This made Zhang Yuan even more frightened.
Obviously, the Song army gathered on a large scale, transported grain and grass from the southern states to stock up, and weapons and equipment were also prepared. This was exactly what they meant to fight. As for who to fight? This fool can guess it.
Zhang Yuan received Li Yuanhao's imperial edict in anxiety and hesitation. As expected, Li Yuanhao scolded Zhang Yuan for being incompetent. He would never agree to such conditions, and asked Zhang Yuan to try his best to fight for the interests of Daxia.
Zhang Yuan turned Li Yuanhao's ancestors upside down for eight generations, and Li Yuanhao was still kept in the dark about everything in Weizhou. Didn't he know that the Song people didn't even think about talking about it. As long as he said no, the Song people would immediately declare that the negotiation had broken down.
Just take this opportunity to attack.
Zhang Yuan thought about it and decided to report the situation here again to Li Yuanhao and ask him to make a decision. At the same time, he must delay the date of the Song army's dispatch of troops and wait for Li Yuanhao's final instructions. Before the soldiers who were delivering the message could take a breath, they were again
When he was sent back, he carried with him what Zhang Yuan had recorded about Weizhou; but Zhang Yuan no longer had the time to wander around Weizhou City or drink tea in the official post, so he quickly ordered someone to see Su Jin and asked for continued negotiations.
Su Jin didn't show off, and resumed negotiations with Zhang Yuan in the government office lobby as promised. The first thing he asked Zhang Yuan was: "Can Li Yuanhao agree to my request from the Song Dynasty that he cancel the imperial title?"
Zhang Yuan hesitated: "This... the decree has not come yet. I am also waiting for news."
Su Jin was displeased and said: "Your envoy's words are untrue. My subordinates clearly told me that the soldiers you sent to request the order have returned. How come there is no order? Is it possible that you don't agree?"
Zhang Yuan said helplessly: "This... there is indeed a decree, but my Lord has not commented. There is no clear instruction in the decree, so..."
Su Jin stood up suddenly and said: "It turns out that your envoy is just here to entertain me. Since you didn't agree, what are we talking about? Sorry, I still have a lot of things to do. I have been busy these days, and we will have to... cough
Cough..." Su Jin was surprised to realize that he had slipped his words, and hurriedly covered his mouth and coughed twice to cover up.
Zhang Yuan pretended to be oblivious and said with a smile: "Master Su, don't be anxious. I have asked for a clear answer again, but before that, the following clauses also need to be considered by each other, so that when our emperor's imperial edict arrives,
, we can sign the peace agreement directly and save time and effort when the time comes."
Su Jin declined: "That's not necessary. The key is that you cancel the imperial title. The rest will be easy to discuss. It will only take half a day. You can rest peacefully."
Zhang Yuan would never let Su Jin get away. He understood that Su Jin must be busy with the expedition to Xia. Only by dragging him on the negotiation table could he delay the Song army's attack, so he said: "Su
Sir, even if there is nothing to talk about below, I, Zhang Yuan, can be regarded as a person. We are just our own masters, but we have no personal hatred. It is very rude for you to treat me like this. In fact, I am very polite to Mr. Su.
I admire you very much. I wanted to treat Mr. Su to a few drinks today and negotiate the following terms while establishing friendship with Mr. Su, but I didn’t expect Mr. Su to treat me like this."
Su Jin smiled and said: "Master Zhang would have any intention of becoming friends with me, Su Jin? I don't believe it."
Zhang Yuandao: "I have admired Mr. Su's name for a long time, and even when I was still young, I could not lose when I faced off against the heroes of Great Xia. As the saying goes: Heroes cherish heroes. Although I, Great Xia, lost in Weizhou, everyone in my court was full of praise for Mr. Su."
, To tell you the truth, everyone in Daxia has a sense of awe towards Mr. Su."
Su Jin laughed and said, "Stop teasing me, I'm afraid you'll want to sleep on my skin and eat my flesh."
Zhang Yuan said solemnly: "How could it be? I, the Emperor of Daxia, also said that if the peace agreement between the two countries is completed, he would like to marry his beloved daughter to you, and it would be a good idea to have a mutual relationship."
Su Jin was stunned and blurted out: "Is this Princess Ahli?"
Zhang Yuan said in astonishment: "How do you know the name of my Princess Xingping?"
Su Jin hurriedly covered it up and said: "Isn't Li Yuanhao just a daughter? Princess Ahli is said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and naturally it is known to the whole world. What's so strange about this?"
Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Sure enough, even the people of the Song Dynasty know that I, Princess Xingping, am extremely beautiful. Then you should believe that I, Daxia, actually have no hatred for you?"
Su Jin pretended to be salivating and said in a low voice: "If this is really the case, then I will ask Mr. Zhang to help match him."
Zhang Yuan cursed in his heart, Princess Xingping will marry you? Stop dreaming; you are a small envoy and my enemy of Daxia. After the peace agreement is concluded, in a few years, Daxia will definitely raise troops to attack the Song Dynasty.
, when the time comes, the first one to be chopped off will be your head, and you are still dreaming about spring and autumn here.
But with a smile on his face, he said: "That's natural, I will take care of this matter. Mr. Su is young and ambitious, handsome and majestic, and he happens to be a couple with Princess Xingping."
Su Jin said happily: "Okay, I've invited you to have a drink today. Come, serve the food and wine, and inform Magistrate Li and Commander Pan that if there is anything you need to report, I will have a few drinks with Mr. Zhang in the afternoon to get close to each other."