Lin Jue didn't really know the specific contents of the three peace talks until now. But unlike Zhang Hanqiu's anger, Lin Jue didn't feel as humiliated and angry as Zhang Hanqiu did after hearing the conditions of the three peace talks.
Because Lin Jue saw that although the three terms of the peace agreement were harsh, they did not touch Dazhou's bottom line.
You must know that the Great Zhou Dynasty is facing the threat of annihilation of the country. After the defeat of 300,000 elites, if the Great Zhou Dynasty wants to enter into a peace agreement with its opponents, the Great Zhou Dynasty must pay a huge price. This kind of negotiation is not equitable, and there is no
The right to speak. And now, in addition to requiring large amounts of compensation and annual coins, the terms of the entire peace agreement are the so-called humiliation of calling yourself a nephew's country. But although calling yourself a nephew is indeed a humiliation,
But it was a meaningless humiliation. It seemed as if the Liao people did it deliberately to dampen the morale of the Zhou Dynasty and attached conditions. The real core content of the peace agreement was just to compensate a large sum of money.
Compensation is inevitable. With the national strength of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it is just talk to say that such a small amount of compensation and annual coins will cost the entire Great Zhou Dynasty. After all, the Great Zhou Dynasty has experienced a hundred years of prosperity. Although the country is in financial deficit
The situation is serious, but the people are still quite prosperous. The so-called people do not refer to the homes of ordinary people, but the aristocrats, scholar-bureaucrats and merchants of the Zhou Dynasty. After so many years of peace, these people have accumulated a lot of wealth. At this time,
, if the country is in trouble, Guo Xu will definitely force them to take money. Moreover, the annual fiscal and tax revenue of Dazhou is at least 70 to 80 million taels. Overall, this compensation will greatly damage the national strength, but it is not fatal.
No wonder Guo Xu quickly agreed to the terms of the peace treaty. It was best to solve the crisis with money. The other party did not propose ceding land or other unacceptable demands that would shake the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty. Under the current circumstances, this kind of peace treaty was naturally for Guo Xu.
Absolutely acceptable.
Thinking about it conversely, this may be what the Liao people want to see. If the Liao people are just trying to divide and conquer and break up the alliance between the Zhou Dynasty and the Jurchens, as they think, then the terms of this peace agreement are so simple, which seems reasonable.
was hit. However, what Lin Jue wanted to know in his heart was that since the peace agreement did not harm Dazhou very much, then how did he anger Guo Xu and let him kill Yang Jun at this time? Is it just because
Stupid?
"Master Zhang, please don't be angry. With all due respect, the terms of the peace agreement are harsh, but they are the consequences that must be borne by Zhou's defeat. Zhou's decision-making was wrong in the first place. It would be a blessing if we could get real peace with this agreement."
What I'm afraid of is that this agreement is just a delaying tactic for the Liao people." Lin Jue expressed his opinion.
"Master Lin seems to have something to say?" Zhang Hanqiu frowned.
Lin Jue looked at the two white waterbirds flying and chasing each other on the lake in the distance, and asked in a deep voice: "Master Zhang, I got the news that the imperial court killed Yang Jun as a result of the defeat? What's going on?
"
Zhang Hanqiu's already somewhat calm mood instantly became agitated. He clenched his fists and pounded the stone table in the pavilion, and said loudly: "Master Lin, it was this incident that made me completely disappointed with the court, so I resolutely
The decision to leave the capital is simply unbelievable. Can you imagine that at such a difficult time, the imperial court is still fighting with each other and taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents? Can you imagine, as the emperor, personally in front of hundreds of ministers?
Did the killing of important officials in the court happen? How could I, the Great Zhou, become
Is this like this? How come we, the Zhou Dynasty, have such a person as the emperor? The emperors of all dynasties knew it well and feared that they would never rest in peace. This is really heartbreaking."
Lin Jue frowned and said, "What's going on?"
Zhang Hanqiu gritted his teeth and described in detail the situation of the early morning court that day. As the Minister of Rites, Zhang Hanqiu naturally attended the early morning court. He witnessed Guo Xu's beast-like behavior and heard Yang Jun's behavior with his own eyes.
Those words he said. After going to court, the more Zhang Hanqiu thought about it, the more he felt that it was no longer necessary to stay in the court. The court of the Great Zhou Dynasty was already in a mess, and the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty was no longer worthy of his loyalty and support. So he thought twice.
The Queen of Heaven finally made a decision, packed her luggage, and fled with her family out of the capital to the Funiu Mountains. She didn't even resign or say hello to anyone. Because he knew that if he did that, he wouldn't even be able to escape. Such a court
It is no longer the court he works for.
Lin Jue almost listened to Zhang Hanqiu's narration with his mouth half open. When he heard the scene where Guo Xu smashed the incense burner in front of everyone and left Yang Jun half dead, he shook his head and laughed.
"Are you still laughing? Mr. Lin, you said yourself that you are still a minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Can you still laugh when such ridiculous things happen to me, the Great Zhou Dynasty? Things like peace negotiations and compensation are not terrible. What is terrible is the chaos in the court.
.Do you know how the entire imperial court feels now after the emperor did that? Many officials are heartbroken. They cannot imagine how I, the Great Zhou, could become like this, and how could the emperor be such an emperor?"
"What's there to say? Master Zhang, what else can you expect from a man who killed his father, his brother, his mother, and his empress? Don't you believe this yet? You thought I, Lin Jue, was willing to leave the capital.
Do you want to plot rebellion? You people just don’t want to believe the truth. You have to see it with your own eyes before you believe it. Now you understand what kind of violent person Guo Xu is. Hahaha. I’m not laughing at Guo Xu.
I'm just laughing at you." Lin Jue laughed non-stop.
Zhang Hanqiu frowned and smacked his lips in silence.
"Continue, Mr. Zhang, what's next? What happened in the court after Yang Jun was beheaded?" Lin Jue asked.
"...The emperor ordered Yang Jun to be beheaded and his confession was made public to the world. Later, Lu Zhongtian was appointed to concurrently serve as Privy Council envoy, and Yuan Zhenqian was appointed as Deputy Privy Council envoy..."
"What? Lu Zhongtian is appointed Privy Councilor?" Lin Jue exclaimed. Until now, this was the most unexpected thing he had heard.
"Originally, Bai Qi was to be promoted to the position of Privy Councilor, but for some unknown reason, Prime Minister Lu was suddenly asked to temporarily take over the post of Privy Councilor. The explanation given by the emperor was that Bai Qi was still young and could not convince the public. At this time, he should be a senior minister.
Only by holding the post can we stabilize the morale of the military. Temporarily replacing him with Prime Minister Lu will be beneficial to stabilizing the overall situation. We will find suitable candidates for appointment after the situation stabilizes. All this is changing too fast, and all kinds of private news are flying all over the sky. I don’t know the specific reason.
.”
"Oh? What kind of gossip are they all?" Lin Jue became interested in these private gossips.
Zhang Hanqiu frowned and said: "Some people say it's because Bai Qi reported to the emperor that he should not kill Privy Envoy Yang. This is an act of self-destruction of the Great Wall. It made the emperor unhappy. Others said that it was because the emperor wanted Bai Qi to kill him.
Yang Jun's party members asked him to convict and behead Han Gang, Ma Qingshan and other generals of the Northern Expedition who were still in Bazhou, because
They must also bear the joint responsibility for the defeat. The emperor was also worried that they would be dissatisfied because Yang Jun was executed. But it is said that Bai Qi refused, so the Privy Council left the matter. In short, there are various theories,
But I don't have the heart to ask around, you know I'm not the kind of person who likes to ask for gossip."
Lin Jue's brows knitted into a knot. The problem was much more serious than he thought. His original doubts about Yang Jun's death now had a basic answer. Besides this matter, there was an additional layer of worry.
The matter was very serious, so serious that it was almost irreversible. Lin Jue could almost conclude that Yang Jun's death was a conspiracy of the Liao people, which also explained why Guo Xu executed Yang Jun in this situation.
Guo Xu may be stupid, but Lu Zhongtian is definitely not stupid. Doesn’t he know what Yang Jun’s death means? But he doesn’t seem to stop Guo Xu from doing this. The reason why Lin Jue made such a judgment is naturally from Zhang Hanqiu
Derived from narrative words.
"Yang Jun's death was a trick of the Liao people. The imperial court was forced to kill Yang Jun. Mr. Zhang, this is my opinion on this matter. You are in the capital, I wonder if you feel this way." Lin Jue pondered.
Zhang Hanqiu was stunned for a while, then frowned and said, "How could you come to such a judgment?"
"It's very simple. First, if Guo Xu wanted to kill Yang Jun, he didn't have to wait until Yang Jun confessed. After the defeat, he could be punished. Why did he have to wait until Yang Jun took the initiative to plead guilty before taking action? And he only did it after the terms of the peace agreement passed the court discussion.
In this way, there must be a connection between Yang Jun's death and the terms of the peace agreement. Maybe this explanation is not convincing enough, then we can look at it from another angle. Assuming that the Liao people asked to kill Yang Jun, can it be perfect?
Explain why Guo Xu killed Yang Jun after the terms of the peace agreement were reached? Because in addition to the three items we saw, there was also an invisible requirement in the agreement, which asked Guo Xu to kill Yang Jun. I was surprised.
The terms of this peace agreement are too simple and too easy to reach, and with the addition of this clause, there will be no doubts in this regard."
Zhang Hanqiu's mind was filled with confusion, and he couldn't figure out the key to it for a while.
Lin Jue said in a deep voice: "The Liao people only need to make one more secret request in addition to the agreement. Under such circumstances, Guo Xu has to agree. And this condition must be both acceptable to Guo Xu and achievable."
The purpose of the Liao people was to weaken the Zhou Dynasty. Yang Jun could be used as a scapegoat, and Guo Xu could shift all the blame to him, so that he could avoid the pressure of public opinion. Killing Yang Jun was in the interests of the Liao people.
His purpose is to divide the alliance between Dazhou and the Jurchens. After the peace negotiation with Dazhou is successful, he can go all out to destroy the Jurchens. After that, he will still attack me, Dazhou. Then cutting off Yang Jun is for the future.
When we go back to use troops against the Zhou Dynasty, we have one less big problem. Yang Jun is the backbone of our Zhou army. If he is here, the Liao people will still be extremely afraid of him, because he can unite the morale of the army and command the troops. Only he is suitable.
Leading the army in battle, no one else can convince the crowd. You also said that the imperial court's killing of Yang Jun was an act of self-destruction of the Great Wall, which shows that you think so in your heart. So if you can force Zhou to kill Yang Jun, then
But the people of Liao are more happy than receiving some money and materials as compensation."
Zhang Hanqiu suddenly had a feeling of enlightenment, but he was still a little confused: "But... the emperor could just kill Yang Jun directly. Why did he create such an uncontrollable situation in the court?"
