Song Yi

Chapter 442 Strong
Du Wenhao was stunned for a moment, and praised in his heart, no wonder the emperor of Xixia sent him to negotiate, this old boy really could bear it, he insulted the emperor to his face like this, he didn't get angry and didn't reply back, he was really a master of negotiation.Hearing what he said sincerely, most of the anger in my heart disappeared. Thinking that negotiation is a process of bargaining, it is understandable that the other party initially proposed very harsh conditions.Then he counter-offered, so there was no need to get angry.

Du Wenhao glanced at him, then walked back slowly, pulled up his robe and sat back on the chair: "Well, let me talk about our conditions. We won't ask you for a price like you, and then negotiate slowly , we don't have time to spare."

"All ears are here."

"Okay! Our condition is that we can help your emperor regain the imperial power, but the method used must be safe. The price in exchange is: first, you will cancel the title of emperor, and I, Song Dynasty, canonize him as a vassal king. Xixia is still under his jurisdiction, officials are appointed, finance and taxation, people management, etc., all maintain the status quo. Da Song will not interfere in any way."

After Du Wenhao said this, he waited for Wei Ma to object, but he didn't expect that Wei Ma remained calm and looked at him quietly.

Du Wenhao didn't know that before Xi Xia proclaimed himself emperor, he was originally subordinate to the Song Dynasty and accepted the canonization of the Song Dynasty. Even after he became emperor, he also accepted the canonization of the Great Song Dynasty and paid tribute to the Great Song Dynasty. Of course, in exchange for more "year gift".For the Xixia emperors, it doesn't matter whether they call themselves emperors or not. The emperor is what the Han people call the supreme ruler. Naturally, they don't care too much, as long as they are still the supreme leader of Xixia.Just changing from emperor to vassal king, they can exchange a huge amount of old coins. They think this is very advantageous. Therefore, the conditions offered by Du Wenhao are not new to Wei Ma at all, and naturally they are not unacceptable conditions at all. .

Du Wenhao was secretly astonished, and continued: "Second, except for the 1 royal guards in your army, the rest of your army is reorganized into the Great Song Army, which is commanded and dispatched by the Great Song. When the Great Song Army enters Xixia, there are The right to use Xixia Shandan Racecourse and other military facilities, in order to defend Xixia, the right to station troops in any place except the imperial palace, to take on defensive tasks."

This condition finally froze the smile on Wei Ma's face, but he still didn't speak, and listened quietly.

This old boy is really powerful, Du Wenhao admired secretly, and then said: "Thirdly, from now on, Xixia cannot sign any agreements with Daliao or other countries. The power to represent the country to the outside world can only be exercised by Da Song. Or It is said that the acts that need to be carried out in the name of the country can only be performed by the Song Dynasty, and Xixia cannot perform them. ——Well, our conditions are only these three. "

After a pause, Du Wenhao added: "In a word, Xixia has become a vassal state of Song Dynasty. Military and diplomatic power is exercised by Song Dynasty, and the rest of the power is still exercised by you Xixia vassal. Song Dynasty will not intervene. There is no need to hand over a penny to the court for taxes. Do you understand?"

Wei Ma swallowed his saliva, forced a smile, and said, "Your Excellency, I have heard clearly. For the first condition, I have obtained the authorization of my emperor, and I can agree to it. For the third condition, I will accept it." I need to go back and report to the emperor. From my guess, the problem is not too big. However, as for the second condition, we must reorganize our army and the Great Song Army will station in Xixia. This condition is too harsh and we cannot agree to it."

This result was completely within Du Wenhao's expectations. The first one was accepted by them before, so it was naturally not difficult. The third condition was the issue of diplomatic power. In ancient times, it was only dealing with neighboring countries, and the surrounding areas of Xixia were Daliao and Tubo.Foreign affairs are very limited, and the ancients didn't care much about the so-called diplomatic independence, they cared more about benefits.Compared with the imperial power, this price is still worthwhile, so it is barely acceptable. The third military power is difficult to accept. Without the army, the imperial power will not be guaranteed.Unless there is no way out, no one will agree, and Xixia is far from this point.Emperor Huizong also knew clearly that without an army, his imperial power would be lost sooner or later.

However, for Du Wenhao, among the three conditions, the first and the third are false, only the second is real, which is Du Wenhao's favorite, although he expected this result, but Still a little disappointed, he smiled and said, "You haven't reported back to your emperor, so how do you know he won't agree?"

"You don't need to report, the conditions that the emperor can accept are very clear to me."

"Oh?" Du Wenhao laughed, "So, Master Wei has a hole card? Then you don't have to go through so much effort, just show your hole card and see if we can accept it. You know, to abolish Queen Mother Liang and regain the imperial power, This matter is still very urgent, beware of long nights and many dreams!"

"Yes, your lord is right, and my emperor also thinks so, so this time, I want to make a deal once, and don't waste too much trouble. Try to reach a condition acceptable to both parties in one negotiation."

"Then show your cards!"

"Hey, actually I don't have any hole cards. We can agree to the first and third conditions that your lord raised. But the second condition is really hard for us to accept. Can you change the condition?"

"Then tell me, how can you accept it?"

Du Wenhao didn't want to show his hole cards at once. Now they have something to ask from their own side, and they are the ones who are anxious. They must use this as much as possible to obtain the greatest benefit.So Du Wenhao still kicked the ball to the opponent, let's wait and see what the opponent plays.

Wei Ma thought for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "How about this, how about halving the old coins that the Song Dynasty gives to Xixia every year?"

Du Wenhao sneered and said, "Sui coins? I want to talk about it if you don't say it. Do you think it's fair for us to give you the so-called old coins every year?"

"This is what Da Song bestowed on Xixia."

"I solemnly tell you that I hope you can convey to your Emperor Huizong that we will no longer give yearly coins in the Song Dynasty. We will cancel this rule, because this is an unequal treaty!"

"Unfair? Why?"

"Why? You still ask me why? Hey, both sides of the peace need it. Why do you want us to give you money in exchange for peace? Do you really think we are afraid of you? Ride a donkey to read the libretto, wait and see!"

Wei Ma was tepid: "Lord Zaizhi, let's unify the conditions of both parties. We have reached an agreement before. It is your agreement to send troops to help our emperor regain the imperial power. The two sides will form a brotherhood and never fight... "

"A truce to maintain peace is the wish of both parties and cannot be exchanged!"

Wei Ma tried his best to smile: "Okay, I agree with Mr. Zai Zhi. Don't take this as a condition, but as the result of the alliance between the two sides. Then, we will release more than [-] prisoners of war from your side in exchange for our army that you will invade." Is it acceptable to return Hengshan and the fort south of Lanzhou to our side?"

Du Wenhao shook his head and said: "No! The prisoners of war must be released unconditionally. Since both sides have formed an alliance, they can no longer detain any hostages from the other side. This is the inevitable result of the alliance. You should return all the more than 4 prisoners of war to our side unconditionally!"

Wei Ma smiled bitterly: "Since ancient times, there has been no such thing as unconditional release of prisoners of war!"

"I have it here!" Du Wenhao said coldly, "Conversely, if we capture your people, as long as the two sides strike and form an alliance, we will unconditionally release your prisoners of war!"

"Lord Zaizhi, our personnel captured by your side in previous battles have never been released unconditionally."

Du Wenhao said: "That's fine, I'll go back and count, if our side captures your personnel, then the two sides have exchanged."

"However, our side captured many more people from your side, so we are not at a loss!"

"What's the loss? Once the two sides strike, the prisoners of war must be released unconditionally. This is justified, and it's not a market for business, so you have to bargain."

Wei Ma couldn't laugh or cry. He found it very difficult to convince Du Wenhao that the prisoners of war could not be released unconditionally, and what he needed now was to reach an alliance agreement as much as possible. If there was no agreement on the issue of prisoners of war, he could only use other methods. Wei Ma said: "Then let's not talk about this issue, let's talk about other conditions..."

"No!" Du Wenhao said brazenly, "Since we want to form an alliance, we must unconditionally release the prisoners of war, otherwise, nothing will be discussed!"

Wei Ma finally turned his face down: "Since your lord has said so, the two sides form an alliance. Should your country return the land it invaded to our side?"

Du Wenhao recalled the alliance between the former Soviet Union and the new China. At that time, the former Soviet Union was sure that the new China would rely on it, so they refused to return the large territory that the Czarist Russia invaded and occupied our country. In the end, the two sides still formed an alliance. From this point of view However, it is not necessary to return the land to form an alliance. He decided to follow the strong approach and use the other side to ask for what he wants.

Du Wenhao sneered and said, "Land is different from people. Whoever owns the land will own it. Prisoners of war are soldiers of our army who were captured by you during the war, so they must be returned to our army!"

"Master Zaizhi is a bit unreasonable, isn't it?"

"Excessive words? Hey, I want to ask Mr. Wei a few questions. Can you?"

"Master Zaizhi, please tell me."

"Excuse me, when did you found your country in Xixia?"

"The first year of Yanzuo's etiquette bestowed by Emperor Jingzong, that is, the first year of Baoyuan in the Song Dynasty"

"Let me ask again, before this, whose land was Xixia?"

"Dang Xiang Li."

"Whose canonization did they accept?"

"Daliao and Great Song."

Du Wenhao patted his thigh: "It's still true. Speaking of which, your entire Xixia is the land of Song Dynasty. Do you want to return it?"

"That's wrong. At that time, Dangxiang just formed an alliance with Song Dynasty and accepted the canonization. Song Dynasty did not govern Xixia."

Du Wenhao was not familiar with this period of history, and didn't know if what he said was true, so he turned a corner: "May I ask, have you never occupied the land of our Great Song Dynasty since the founding of Xixia, and have never invaded?" Someone else's land?"

Wei Ma was stunned for a moment. Xixia once used troops against the Uighurs and occupied a large area of ​​territory. During the war in the Song Dynasty, while being captured by the Song Dynasty, it also occupied part of the territory of the Song Dynasty. In fact, both sides occupied a part of the land. the other side's land.This point cannot be avoided. If it is an ordinary negotiation between the two countries, Wei Ma will definitely argue nonsense and slowly.But now he has something to ask for, and he doesn't want to do this, lest he annoy the other party and it will be counterproductive.

He is now eager to form an alliance and use the power of Song Dynasty to regain the imperial power, which is the most important thing.Since they are not even willing to return the occupied land, let alone ask the other party to cede the land.Wei Ma also didn't want to bring up the issue of the Song Dynasty ceding Jialu, Mizhi, Futu, and Anjiang.Resentfully said: "This..., it's not the same thing..."

"Of course it's the same thing!" Du Wenhao was secretly complacent, but his face was full of indignation, "Master Wei, the negotiation must come from the heart, it's not just words, but actual actions. Don't talk all the time." For those unrealistic things, let's think about some real conditions that are fair to both parties!"

Wei Ma sighed, and said, "In the opinion of Mr. Zaizhi, what are the conditions that are fair and realistic?"

Du Wenhao didn't bother to play tricks with him, and guessed that they would not accept changing the conditions of the Xixia Army, so he said: "Okay, I think you are also a happy person, straightforward, I will modify the conditions, as long as you agree to our few conditions. None of these conditions can be changed! If it’s okay, it’s fine, if it’s not, it’s done.”

"Okay, Mr. Zai Zhi, please tell me."

"We sent troops to help you kill the Queen Mother Liang and regain the throne. The exchange conditions are: first, release all our prisoners of war unconditionally; second, cancel the old currency; third, cancel the proclaiming emperor, and my Song canonized him as the king of Xixia, Xixia Still under his independent jurisdiction; fourth, cede Xuanhua Mansion and the land south of Liangzhou to me Da Song!"

Wei Ma nodded repeatedly when he heard the front, and when he heard the end, he was stunned for a moment, and smiled bitterly: "Your Excellency, you really know how to joke, that area is one of the most affluent places in Western Xia, how can I cede it? Everything else is easy to say, the last one, Hehe, it's really hard to obey. My lord, let's change the conditions."

Du Wenhao stood up: "As I said, none of these conditions can be changed. If you can, you can get it. If you don't want to cede this land to us, it doesn't matter. Anyway, our army will capture those lands in the future." If you don’t believe me, let’s wait and see. Farewell!”

"My lord! It's easy to discuss if you have something to say!"

Du Wenhao has already thought about it, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he must come to Shandan Racecourse.To build a strong cavalry force, count on the world's second largest racecourse.So this condition must not be allowed, even if you give up the previous two conditions except prisoners of war.What's more, they have obviously agreed to these three conditions, which can be regarded as extra income.So Du Wenhao didn't want to talk anymore, ignored Wei Ma, and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Cai Jing hurriedly caught up, not daring to talk nonsense outside, and kept sending Du Wenhao to the door.Before Du Wenhao got on the sedan chair, he told Cai Jing to take care of the Xixia envoy, and then returned to Wuweitang in the sedan chair.

(End of this chapter)