On the morning of September 16th, a small group of cavalry galloped in from the east gate of Bianliang City in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The knights on the horses were dressed fiercely. They wore black brand-new armor, and carried cold-lighting maces on their backs. Their eyes were cold and their toes were cold.
Speeding through the streets with high spirits.
The well-informed people of Bianliang quickly recognized who these people were. Judging from their buns, they should be Jurchens. Coincidentally, just half an hour ago, another group of Liao soldiers
Envoys also came to Bianliang City. Obviously, both the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens sent envoys, and they didn't know what they wanted to discuss with Zhou Dynasty.
The envoys from the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens came to Bianliang City in the Zhou Dynasty by "coincidence" and it was not for tourism. Lu Zhongtian received them in the spacious public room of the Zhengshi Hall. The Liao Kingdom envoy Hu Luba and the Jurchen envoy Hu Lu each submitted their
A document signed by Emperor Yelvchun of the Liao Dynasty and Wanyan Agu, the leader of the Jurchens.
After Lu Zhongtian read the two documents respectively, his gray eyebrows and beard trembled violently, and his face became extremely ugly. But soon after, he regained his composure.
"The two noble envoys have come here after a long journey and should have a good rest. The clerk has already read it, but I can't make a decision on these matters. I need to go to the palace to meet the emperor and ask the emperor to make a decision. The two noble envoys and their men will go and have a rest first.
"Okay." Lu Zhongtian said calmly.
"Prime Minister Lu, we don't dare to delay for too long. The leader of my family is still waiting for a reply. I hope Prime Minister Lu can reply to us as soon as possible. We Jurchens don't have too much patience." The messenger Hulu said loudly.
"Exactly, our emperor is also waiting for a reply. I hope Prime Minister Lu will give you a reply as soon as possible." Hulu Baye said solemnly.
Lu Zhongtian said coldly: "I will go to the palace to meet the Holy Spirit. You two noble envoys, please be patient. I, the Emperor of Zhou Dynasty, will have a decree soon. There are rules and procedures for everything, and there is no need to rush."
Hulu and Huluba looked at each other and said at the same time: "Well, we will wait for the news. No later than tomorrow afternoon, because by that time, no matter whether there is a reply or not, we will have to return. Say goodbye."
Lu Zhongtian smiled and handed over his hands, and ordered people to send Hu Luba and Hu Lu out. After the two left, the smile on Lu Zhongtian's face suddenly turned cold. He slammed the two documents on the table and cursed angrily: "Barbarians"
It's really abominable, greedy and greedy. They are a bunch of bastards."
Deputy Prime Minister Liu Zhenbang, who was standing nearby, hurriedly asked: "What are they going to do?"
Lu Zhongtian pointed to the official document on the table and said, "Just take a look for yourself."
Liu Zhenbang hurriedly stepped forward to open the official document and read it, his face changed greatly and he said: "This... this is too much of a deception. Isn't this just sitting on my head and shitting and pissing? The barbarians are hateful, Prime Minister Lu, we need to
There is no need to formulate a reply or verbal rebuke? Send these two envoys out of the Zhou Dynasty."
Lu Zhongtian frowned and shouted: "What nonsense are you talking about? Just take a look, have I asked your opinion?"
Liu Zhenbang was stunned for a moment, then he apologized and said with a smile: "Well... I'm talking too much, Prime Minister Lu. Don't be angry. I'm a quick talker. With Prime Minister Lu here, I have my own way of dealing with it."
Lu Zhongtian sneered and said: "I have no way to deal with it. This matter has to be decided by the emperor. I will go to see the emperor now. You must keep your mouth shut. No one can ask about this matter. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, yes, I understand." Liu Zhenbang hurriedly bowed.
…
Guo Xu is sleeping soundly. He was drunk last night and did not go to court this morning. He is sleeping soundly now.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, wake up, Your Majesty, wake up
.”
The call in his ear woke him up. He recognized the voice of his personal chambermaid, Huang Gouer, and started to curse in annoyance.
"You bastard, do you want to disturb my peaceful sleep? I will skin you and break your legs."
"Your Majesty!" An old voice sounded in his ears. Guo Xu was startled and looked around, only to see the cold-faced Lu Zhongtian standing not far from the bed.
"Grandpa? Why are you here?" Guo Xu hurriedly sat up and asked.
"Your Majesty, it's already noon, and it's time for the Emperor to get up. If he is so decadent every day, it will be a joke to his subjects if word spreads about it. There are so many things that the Emperor has to decide, how can the Emperor be so neglectful of political affairs?" Lu Zhongtian said solemnly.
Guo Xu frowned and said, "Didn't I say it before? Grandfather will handle all matters. You don't need to ask for my opinion. I just agree with it."
Lu Zhongtian said coldly: "It's easy to say, who is the emperor of Zhou Dynasty? It's you! I am only a minister, how dare you overstep your authority? I can take care of government affairs for you, but how can you make the decision on major affairs of the country without authorization? You are going to make me
Are you trapped in a place of disloyalty and unrighteousness, and are you stabbed in the back?"
Guo Xu sneered in his heart, but said in his mouth: "Why did my grandfather say this? Did I mean this? Besides, what big thing can happen now?"
Lu Zhongtian said: "Of course there is something big happening. A big disaster is coming. Can the emperor still sleep?"
Guo Xu was startled and said hurriedly: "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Your Majesty, please read it yourself." Lu Zhongtian threw the two official documents in his hands on Guo Xu's bedside. Guo Xu reached out to grab them, rubbed his eyes and read them quickly. His whole body suddenly froze on the bedside.
"This... this is an official document sent by the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens? How could they do this? These renegade thieves are bullying others too much. How can we agree to such conditions? Grandfather, tell me, how should we deal with it?
?I issued an edict to severely rebuke them and drive them out of the Zhou Dynasty. This is absolutely unacceptable. Are you crazy? One of them wants us to cede Ansu, and the other wants us to cede Bazhou to them. What do you mean by establishing a state?
The market is convenient for trade? Then we can’t ask us to cede it to them. You bastards. Are you asking us to double the annual tribute paid to the two countries? Why? Damn it, you bastards... bastards.
Thing." Guo Xu became incoherent in anger.
The content of the official documents sent by the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens was as Guo Xu said. In the name of establishing a border town to facilitate trade, the Liao Kingdom asked the Zhou Dynasty to hand over the city of Ansu to the Liao Kingdom. Since the two countries have good relations,
The small city of Ansu in the border town was used as a trading ground. In order to facilitate the management of Liao merchants, it was the best choice to hand over Ansu to the hands of Liao. The Jurchens also requested the cession of Bazhou for the same reason.
Give it to the Jurchens. They say that the Jurchens are far away in Zhongjing Road and have no border with the Zhou Dynasty, so it is inconvenient to trade. They must have a city in the surrounding towns of Da Zhou. They have taken a fancy to Bazhou and hope that the Zhou Dynasty can dominate it.
The state gave them to them. At the same time, he also shamelessly asked Da Zhou to double the annual silk supply to help them tide over the difficulties in the name of the domestic shortage of food and materials and the difficulty for the people to survive the winter. He said that this was the best way to show the friendly relations between the three parties.
Opportunities to prove each other's sincerity.
In short, these two sudden official documents made completely unreasonable, overbearing and unreasonable demands without any reason. Seeing such unreasonable demands, how could Guo Xu not be so angry that he became incoherent?
"Your Majesty!" Lu Zhongtian said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, you think you shouldn't agree to them, don't you?"
Guo Xuming
He said: "Of course I can't agree. How can I agree? Isn't my grandfather angry? This is a completely unreasonable request. This shows that I, Da Zhou, don't take it seriously at all. Does my grandfather think that we should agree to them?"
Lu Zhongtian shook his head and said: "How could I think that I should agree to their unreasonable request? The barbarians are so shameful and make people resentful. How could I agree?"
Guo Xu breathed a sigh of relief and said: "That's it. Then the reply will reprimand their unreasonable demands and drive away the envoys."
Lu Zhongtian frowned and said, "Does the Emperor really want to do this?"
Guo Xu said in astonishment: "What? What does grandfather mean?"
Lu Zhongtian said in a deep voice: "Can't the emperor see it? This is an unreasonable request deliberately made by the Liao and Jurchen people. They must know that we will refuse. This is actually their trick. Once we refuse, we will actually
Give them a reason to send troops. They will take this as an opportunity to jointly send troops to attack the Zhou Dynasty. They have obviously colluded with each other and just want to find an excuse. As long as the emperor refuses the order, they will most likely become angry or find an excuse.
Use the truth to take action. Can’t the emperor see it?”
Guo Xu said in astonishment: "Does my grandfather mean to...promise them? No, absolutely not. You can agree to other things, you can agree to money and food, you can double the annual payment, but if you want my city in Dazhou, that is absolutely impossible."
It won’t work. That’s the inheritance of my ancestors.”
Lu Zhongtian said in a deep voice: "A small impatience will mess up a big plan. Will the emperor lose more city land for the two border towns? If they use this as an excuse to attack my country, we are afraid that we will lose more land.
They will even attack Bianliang to control the city and land. Your Majesty, the two cities may be the foundation of the ancestors, but compared with the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, what are they? Isn’t it true that for a moment’s ambition, the entire Great Zhou Dynasty was ruined?
The gain outweighs the loss?”
Guo Xu shouted: "But if we give it, will peace be achieved? Since they are determined to start a provocation, they will never end it."
"Your Majesty, I can negotiate with them and ask them to make a guarantee," Lu Zhongtian said.
Guo Xu slowly shook his head and said: "Grandpa, do you remember the article "On the Passage of Qin"? That policy article written by Lin Jue. That article said: Cut five cities today, cut ten cities tomorrow, and then have to sleep overnight."
He started to look at the four borders, and Qin's troops arrived again. However, the territory of the princes was limited, and they were insatiable in their desire to violently attack Qin. The more they served, the more urgent the invasion became. Therefore, the victory of the strong and the weak without a fight has been determined. As for subversion, it is reasonable.
Of course, it is appropriate. The ancients said: "The land serves Qin, just like putting out fire with salary. If the salary is not exhausted, the fire will never be extinguished. Grandfather, isn't the situation today very similar? Qin is like a tiger and wolf, and the Jurchen and Liao countries are also tiger and wolf countries.
, do you think their appetite can be satisfied? Although I am unworthy, I cannot take the initiative to cede the inheritance of my ancestors to these tigers and wolves. If they really want to attack me, just fight them. I would rather they follow me
Even if you take it away from your hands, you cannot give it to them. Grandfather, if you still have the slightest gratitude to me, the Guo family, for my kindness to you, you can never persuade me to agree to cede the city to them. Do you understand?"
Lu Zhongtian stared at Guo Xu coldly, and Guo Xu looked at him with a rare glare. He didn't give in or dodge at all. On the contrary, Lu Zhongtian felt guilty. He withdrew his gaze and sighed softly: "Your Majesty, if this is the case, I'm afraid...
War is about to begin. Are you really willing to bet the entire country for two cities?"
Guo Xu laughed and said: "The Great Zhou Dynasty has its own reasons for survival. If it dies in my hands, it will be God's will. I have thought about it for a long time. At worst, the fish will die and the net will be broken. Grandfather, Prime Minister Lu, I are not afraid, but you seem to be afraid.
