The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

() Su Jin got up slowly and said: "Master Zhang, I heard that you Xia people are not convinced by the defeat of this battle. Under this premise, this negotiation will definitely not have a good result, so I propose Suspend this negotiation; you go back and tell Li Yuanhao, let’s fight another military battle until one party beats the other until he loses his temper and recognizes the status quo, then how about we sit down and talk about it?”

Zhang Yuan got up angrily and said: "Master Su, I respect you everywhere, but you press on every step of the way. Don't think that my Great Xia army is invincible. You should give it a try. You dare to invade my Great Xia and punish you. return."

Su Jin laughed and said: "Everyone will talk back, I just ask you, is your army gnawing bark and grass stems to fight with us? Don't make your face swollen and fat, if you fight again, you will only be able to eat human flesh Yes! I am very clear about the current situation of your Great Xia. The official warehouses are empty, the people are in dire straits, and the years of war have left the fields uncultivated, and the cattle and sheep ungrazed. It has reached the end of the mountain. You are a smart man, but you speak foolishly .”

Zhang Yuandao: "The situation in your country may not be much better." ..

Su Jin laughed and said: "It seems that you have been away from the Song Dynasty where you were born and raised for too long, and you have already forgotten what kind of country I am in the Song Dynasty. You may as well tell you that this year, the Song Dynasty has good weather and abundant food. In 4000, the grain output in autumn and summer this year reached [-] million shi. Now our treasury is sufficient and our army is strong; Sufficiency is the guarantee. With this heavy snowfall, I am afraid that you people in Xia will be hungry and cold. It is serious to find a way to solve the stomach problem quickly. Don’t lose face first. If you don’t have stomach, you will lose face. You should be better than me for this reason Understand."

Zhang Yuan naturally knew about the harvest situation of Da Song this year. These information are important news that must be obtained every year. Su Jin’s words are true, and Su Jin’s words hit his weakness. There is already a sign of famine, and this year's winter came earlier, and the heavy snow fell early, which made things worse. One of the purposes of this negotiation is not only a truce, but also a truce with Li Yuanhao to ask him to obtain from the Song Dynasty. food mission.

Su Jin continued: "My Great Song Dynasty is a country of benevolence and righteousness, and my Great Song Emperor is a king of benevolence and forgiveness. We will negotiate peace with you if we are sincere. Xingqing Mansion, ask Li Yuanhao to kneel in front of my Great Song Emperor to plead guilty; to be honest, this negotiation is not of interest to me, it’s still the same sentence, let’s not talk, if you want to talk, do as I say, otherwise stop Blame me for immediately terminating the negotiations."

Zhang Yuan sneered and said: "The Great Xia has passed down the country for several generations, and it has its own reasons for its existence. No one can say that it will be destroyed, not to mention how can the Liao Kingdom sit back and watch my Great Xia be annexed by you? I might as well tell you, the Liao Kingdom The emperor has agreed to the request of the Emperor Daxia to help me Daxia with tens of millions of grains and to help me tide over the difficulties in Daxia."

Su Jin laughed and said: "Tens of millions of stones? Are you fooling the children? Hundreds of thousands of stones are considered to give you face. If you say that Li Yuanhao is really nothing, he played a rogue with the Liao Kingdom and married Liao Xingzong's younger sister , but you think they are ugly and don't care about them, and put a princess of the Liao Kingdom in the northwest to stand alone, and eventually died of illness, then Li Yuanhao didn't even look at it; not only that, you also openly accepted the rebels of the Liao Kingdom. The border of the Liao Kingdom was disturbed, and the angry Liao Kingdom almost vomited blood; now that it is in trouble, you go to beg someone again, are you pitiful? Besides, when you had the upper hand, you invited the Liao people to attack our Song Dynasty together, and the Liao people Have you taken care of you? Now that you are poor and poor, they will not help you. Maybe I should suggest that the emperor of the Song Dynasty send someone to the Liao Kingdom to make an appointment to attack you. They get half and we get half of you. I think [-]% of Liao people will agree."

Zhang Yuan was secretly startled. Although this kid is talking nonsense, there is no guarantee that he will not really do so. Now that the country is in decline, the Liao people might really fight back. There is no real friendship in this world. Driven by huge interests Now, the Liao people might really be tempted.

Su Jin smiled and looked at the pensive Zhang Yuan and said, "Master Zhang, actually I sympathize with you. I heard that you were originally from the Song Dynasty, but only failed in the imperial examinations so that you joined the barbarians and abandoned your integrity." Don't talk about it, I admire you very much for your ability to judge the situation and find your own way out; it can be seen that you are living a very healthy life now, but have you ever thought that everything you have exists dependent on Li Yuanhao, if I The army has flattened the tribal city of the Dangxiang people, what will happen to you, Zhang Yuan?"

Zhang Yuandao: "I don't need you to worry about my future."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I don't have the time to tease you with idle talk, I just want to remind you, don't be brave anymore, show your ability to judge the situation, now is not the time for you to be brave; No personal grievances, we just represent different positions, in fact, I don't want to fight, but if you don't repent, then you can only fight again."

Zhang Yuan took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead. He finally knew how difficult Su Jin was to deal with. Although Zhang Yuan really wanted to say: "See you on the battlefield." If he said nothing about it, and the messy situation in the country, his confidence disappeared without a trace; there is no doubt that if he does not fight, he will lose if he fights; Even if others agree to negotiate a peace, the conditions must be extremely harsh. Instead of accepting harsher conditions at that time, it is better to keep a low profile and avoid further wars at this time.

"Master Su, we don't need to be so arrogant. We came here to discuss peace. I didn't intend to come to fight with your country. In fact, the terms we proposed this time are very sincere, and your country will definitely be satisfied. extreme."

Su Jin smiled and said, "Tell me, how can you be sincere?"

Zhang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "My Great Xia is willing to promise to retreat [-] miles, and never enter the Song Dynasty for half a step. The two sides will divide the boundaries according to the pre-war territory, and form an eternal friendship without aggression against each other. How about this one?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "According to the division of the territory before the war, I agree to non-aggression. The rest is nonsense. It is your own business whether to retreat or not. We don't care about it. Anyway, my Song soldiers will not evacuate the border. "

Zhang Yuan said in astonishment: "You don't retreat? Doesn't our retreat give you an opportunity?"

Su Jin laughed and said: "Since you are sincere, why are you still afraid that we will take advantage of it? It is obvious that you have ghosts in your hearts."

Zhang Yuan blushed and said, "There is no reason for us to withdraw from you, isn't that unfair?"

Su Jin said: "It's a joke, we didn't ask you to retreat, why don't you just stay where you are."

Zhang Yuan thought for a while and said: "Forget it, I will modify it according to Master Su's wishes."

Su Jin said: "I didn't force you."

Zhang Yuan didn't answer, and continued: "The second thing is, we hope that your country can resume trade with our Great Xia, and the border markets of both sides will be reopened for trade, so that we can communicate with each other."

Su Jin smiled and asked: "Is there any exchange? Can I, Da Song, buy your horses?"

Zhang Yuandao: "How can it be, this is a forbidden trade."

Su Jin said: "What do you mean by exchanging goods? Then it's okay to ignore this one. I don't have anything to trade except war horses. Our market should not be opened."

Zhang Yuan asked anxiously: "Don't you need our green salt fur beef and mutton?"

Su Jin sneered and said: "Green salt? We have sea salt from the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the taste is not much worse after being selected. As for fur and the like, I have good cloth and silk in Song Dynasty, and cotton is not much better than fur. , and the warm weather is the main thing in the territory of my Song Dynasty, so I don’t need to wear your bulky furs, let alone meat. The rivers, lakes, seas, fish and shrimps are old turtles, and the poultry and livestock raised in the Song Dynasty are as numerous as cow hair, which is not unreasonable. Eat the meat of the party members."

Zhang Yuan was so angry that he thought for a while and said, "Then can we be allowed to buy your things, such as food, tea and so on? The price will be based on your market price."

Su Jin reported, "Don't talk about it!"

Zhang Yuan said anxiously: "I don't agree with this, so what else should we talk about?"

Su Jin sneered and said, "You are here to discuss peace, not to do business, don't make a mistake."

Zhang Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "Then the third point, let's restore your country's yearly tribute to Daxia before the war. The amount will remain the same. Daxia will never ask for an extra penny. This is enough sincerity."

Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "You are crazy, who cares who wants the annual tribute? You are still shy to say it out, this matter is still two words: don't talk about it!"

Zhang Yuan was completely angry, squinting at Su Jin and said: "I understand, it turns out that Mr. Su is not here to negotiate peace, but to sabotage the peace negotiation. I ask your country to change the negotiating envoy, and I can't negotiate with you at all."

Su Jin spat and said: "It's useless to change anyone else, no one will agree to your request; I'm not here to sabotage the peace talks, I'm here to negotiate a peace, but you Xixia people don't have the final say on the terms of a peace negotiation. Instead, listen to us."

Zhang Yuan said loudly: "What about your conditions? Why don't you tell me?"

Su Jin shouted: "Take out your earwax and listen to me carefully. My condition is very simple. There is only one condition. If you agree, we will cease fighting. If you don't agree, I will play the Emperor Ming and lead an army to crush your Xia people." Every inch of land!"