Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The envoy sent by Wanyan Zongwang was Shi Liai's eldest son, Shi Jian.

After hearing that the Jin Kingdom prayed for peace, many civil servants were very moved.

These civil servants did not really intend to negotiate peace.

Any fool can see the prince's ambition, and the battle to regain Yanyun will begin sooner or later.

The civil servants just wanted to slow things down. The country was devastated by Song Huizong. Although the Ming Dynasty was in its third year, it never had a good year and a half to recover.

Even Qian Chen, the Minister of Household Affairs, wanted to persuade the prince to develop peacefully for a few years. As long as there is no major war for three years, the provinces and counties will inevitably regain their vitality, and he will be able to store countless money and grain, and then the prince can do whatever he wants.

Xiao Chu and Huan Guo, who admire great unification and great revenge, have differences again this time.

Xiao Chu believed that we should take advantage of the continuous battles and victories and the high morale of the army to suffer the hardships of the people all over the country and drive the Jurchens back to Liaodong in one go.

Huan Guo believed that he should first complete various military and political reforms, work hard on internal skills, accumulate strength, and then pursue and fight fiercely to completely eliminate the Jurchen clan.

The cabinet is also divided into two factions, the difference is nothing more than a quick war and a slow war.

Most of the civil servants in the court held the opinion of easing the war.

Seeing the two groups arguing endlessly, Zhu Guoxiang asked everyone to stop arguing and go to meet the Jin envoy together.

"Shi Jian, the envoy of Dai Jin, was ordered to ask about the well-being of His Majesty the Ming Emperor on behalf of His Majesty the Dai Jin Emperor and the Second Prince Langjun, the marshal of Dai Jindu." Shi Jian bowed in a straight and polite manner.

Zhu Guoxiang nodded to express his acceptance, but did not buy Wu Beggar a gift in return.

Gradually, he bowed to Zhu Ming again.

"Mr. Shi, we meet again." Ju Ming said with a smile.

Shi Jian said: "After nearly three years of separation, His Royal Highness remains as charming as ever."

When Zhu Ming led his troops to confront Wanyan Zongwang on the outskirts of Kaifeng, he also came to act as an envoy at this time.

The two sides exchanged pleasantries, and Ju Ming introduced other ministers to Shi Jian.

Having finished talking nonsense, Zhu Guoxiang, who had done his homework, asked: "Is your grandfather Wang Shiru, the famous Prime Minister of Liao?"

Wang Shiru was just an ordinary deputy prime minister in the Liao Kingdom, but in the Song Dynasty, he was a famous prime minister. Because this guy is a fan of Su Shi and Su Che, and he even had face-to-face exchanges of knowledge with Su Che. That exchange was a symbol of the peaceful diplomatic relations between Song and Liao.

Shi Jian replied: "Your Majesty still remembers my ancestors, and I am honored to do so."

Zhu Guoxiang didn't say anything again. Seeing this, Prime Minister Zhai Ruwen shouted angrily: "Your grandfather regarded Huaxia as Zhengshuo and was a famous minister and scholar of the Liao Kingdom. How can you and your son have the nerve to surrender to the Jurchen barbarians?"

Shi Jian replied: "If the princes use the barbarian rituals, the barbarians will be invaded; if the barbarians advance into China, the Chinese will be invaded..."

"Huh?" Zhu Ming suddenly interrupted.

When Shi Jian heard this, he suddenly did not dare to continue because he recalled the last debate.

At that time, and gradually, this was the same rhetoric: when the barbarians entered China, China would be conquered. Ju Ming directly ended the debate between the two men by quoting Mencius's original words: "I have only heard of using Xia to convert barbarians, but I have never heard of people converting barbarians to barbarians."

Mencius said that the changes between Yi and Xia must be dominated by Xia.

None of the ministers knew that they had debated before. They only saw the prince say "hmm", and the envoy from the Kingdom of Jin was so frightened that he swallowed the rest of his words. They were filled with emotion. The prince's majesty had spread far and wide, and even the envoys of the Jin Kingdom were so afraid!

Ju Ming patted the table and said: "When talking to a gentleman, use gentleman's etiquette. When talking to barbarians, I might as well learn how to speak like barbarians. Just say what you want in exchange for peace!"

Being regarded as a barbarian by Prince Zhu, he gradually felt extremely humiliated. He cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, the foreign minister, as the envoy of the Great Gold, please treat me with courtesy!"

"I'm treating each other with courtesy," Zhu Ming said doubtfully, "Isn't this the etiquette of the Jin Kingdom? I heard an old Song minister say that this is how the Jin envoys spoke to the Song monarchs and ministers when they came to the city three years ago. Extremely He tried his best to humiliate me, but he also threatened him with swords at every turn."

Shi Jian defended: "It's been three days since scholars were separated, and they should treat each other with admiration, let alone a country? Not long after Jin came to China, Chinese etiquette had not yet been properly learned, but at this time, the country of Jin was already a country of etiquette. "

"That's nonsense!"

The ministers present scolded each other, and the phrase "Dajin has entered China" aroused public outrage.

Huan Guo pointed at Shi Jian and roared: "China is here. When did the Jurchen barbarians take over China?"

Shi Jian replied: "Isn't the land of Yanyun China? The Liao Kingdom also called itself China back then. I, Dajin, have completely obtained the legal authority of China from Emperor Tianzuo."

Huan Guo sneered: "You are a barbarian after all. I don't know where China is but it is normal. Do you want me to teach you a lesson today?"

Shi Jian asked back: "Isn't the land of Youyun owned by China?"

Huan Guo also asked: "My family has hundreds of mansions and beautiful houses, and two or three of them have been occupied by robbers. Can we say that the robber is the owner of the mansion?"

Gradually, I had to change my mind: "Song and Liao used to treat each other as brothers. Since the Song Dynasty was China, why was the Liao not China? The Jin Dynasty obtained the legal authority of the Liao Kingdom, so why couldn't the Jin Dynasty be China?"

Just as Huan Guo was about to retort, Ju Ming interrupted: "Mr. Hu, this person is messing around, and you have to be messy too, otherwise you will fall into his verbal trap."

"Please give me your advice, Your Highness." Huan Guo bowed quickly.

Zhu Ming asked: "You said that the Jin Kingdom obtained the legal authority of the Liao Kingdom. How did it obtain it? If the Emperor of Liao was captured, killed, and the daughter of Emperor Tianzuo was taken as a concubine, does this mean he could obtain the legal authority of the Liao Kingdom? A robber That’s what you do!”

Shi Jian sneered: "Is His Royal Highness the Prince talking about himself? It seems that the Ming Dynasty and Song Dynasty got it this way."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's expressions changed drastically, and they were all eager to rush forward and argue with Shi Jian.

Ju Ming's smile remained unchanged: "I am a Chinese. The former Song Dynasty lost its virtues and made the people miserable. I am just the water that overturned the boat. This big house in China belongs to all the Chinese people in the house. If the people who manage the house are incompetent, the rest will take care of themselves. You have the responsibility to stand up and make things right. What about the Kingdom of Jin? A group of bandits killed the owner and then occupied the big house in the Liao Kingdom."

I started to become speechless and didn't know how to refute.

Ju Ming added: "What's more, I didn't kill the former Song emperor. Zhao Huan realized his mistakes, and he didn't harm the people, so I gave him a chance to change his ways. He is still an official in Shandong. If Zhao Ji is caught by me, I will judge him first and then punish him. Even if he needs to be killed, he should be killed with dignity. Unlike the Jurchen barbarians, after capturing Emperor Tian Zuo, Emperor Tian Zuo died in an unknown manner."

Shi Jian quickly defended: "Emperor Tian Zuo died of illness on his own, why did our Majesty, the Jin Kingdom, want to harm him?"

"You will die sooner or later. If you are captured by the Jurchens, you will die of illness. Things are really coincidental," Zhu Ming said with a smile. "As for why we want to kill Emperor Tianzuo, of course it is because we are afraid that he will live. There are countless people who want to rebel against the Jin Dynasty and restore the Liao Dynasty. "

Shi Jian finally broke his guard and shouted: "If you want to accuse me, why bother?"

Ju Ming smiled even more happily: "You also think this is a sin?"

"I didn't!" Shi Jian denied.

Ju Ming showed his average level as a keyboard warrior and didn't want to talk about it anymore. He smiled and asked, "Stop talking about such high-sounding things. Let's just talk about it. How does Jin Guo want to negotiate?"

This guy just blew up and ran away, and even locked the toilet door.

Shi Jianxian said anxiously: "This is the face of the country, how can it be high-sounding? Prince, please don't say anything else. We must debate to the end today!"

"Aren't you here to negotiate peace?" Zhu Ming tilted his head, "Since you are not here to negotiate peace, then you can go and argue with the ministers. I also want to launch my troops in the Northern Expedition to fight the Jurchens, but I don't have time to talk to you here. "

Shi Jian was stunned on the spot. It was neither a matter of arguing nor a matter of not arguing. He was completely dumbfounded for a moment.

When the ministers looked at the envoy from the Kingdom of Jin, they couldn't help but sympathize with him. No one could say anything like the prince's mouth.

If anyone can tell the truth, the prince will act like a hooligan instead!

"Peace talks or debate?" Ju Ming asked sharply.

Shi gradually surrendered completely: "Please invite the two countries to have peace talks."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

All the officials present were laughing, and Zhu Guoxiang was also smiling as he watched his son fool around.

Ju Ming asked: "Tell me, Wu Qimai or Wanyan Zongwang, what kind of peace talks do they want?"

Wanyan Zongwang secretly sent people to negotiate peace with Ming Dynasty behind the back of other forces in the Jin Kingdom. But Wu Qimai will definitely admit it, and once the peace talks are successful, most other nobles will also accept it, because the Jin Kingdom is now short of food and it is inconvenient to fight.

Shi Jian said: "Our Kingdom of Jin is willing to become a brotherly country with Ming Dynasty."

Ju Ming said: "No. If it is the country of grandfather and grandson, I can barely accept it."

Gradually being insulted to the point of wanting to vomit blood, he suppressed the anger in his heart and tried to speak in a calm tone: "Then let's not talk about brothers or grandsons, just talk about the truce between the two countries. Once the war breaks out again, the Jin and Ming countries will be devastated. I His Majesty, the Emperor of Jin Dynasty, is kind-hearted and does not want to see the people suffer anymore, so he is willing to stop the war and negotiate with Ming Dynasty."

The smile on Zhu Ming's face disappeared and he stared at Shi Jian and said, "You have the nerve to say this? How many times have the people under the rule of the Jin Kingdom been forced to revolt? Wanyan Zongwang was defeated and withdrew last year, burning, killing and looting me. There are seven or eight prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty. Now you say you don’t want to see the lives of people in ruins? If you continue to talk to me about these nonsense, then stop talking about it!"

Shi was gradually rebuffed to the point of retreating again and again, and he no longer dared to say high-sounding words: "The two countries will stop fighting now and use the former Song and Liao border as the standard. How about that?"

"Okay, it's a deal!" Zhu Ming actually agreed.

Everyone, including Zhu Guoxiang, looked at Prince Zhu in surprise.

Before Shi could become happy for a few seconds, Ju Ming said again: "Ask Wanyan Zonghan to hand over all the invaded territory of the Song Dynasty and return the territory within three months, and I will agree to negotiate peace with the Kingdom of Jin."

Shi Jian unexpectedly exposed the internal conflicts in the Jin Kingdom and said: "Three months is too short, please give me half a year. Wanyan Zonghan is unruly, and we must work harder to persuade him. Your Highness must stop the troops for half a year."

Half a year? What a bullshit.

Three months later, this year's newly harvested summer grain will be transported to Shanxi to fight.

Zhu Ming was furious: "You said that the territory of Song and Liao was the boundary, but you said it would take half a year to persuade you. The Kingdom of Jin didn't even understand it, so it came to me for peace talks? Barbarians are barbarians, go back to Yanshan Mansion. Come back after you have reached an agreement within three months!"

Shi Jian's mission has actually been completed. He came here on behalf of Wanyan Zongwang, and he only needed to make sure that the Ming Dynasty would not attack Youyan within three months.

As for Wanyan Zonghan being attacked, it is not a bad thing for Wanyan Zongwang.

Of course, for the overall benefit of the Kingdom of Jin, Wanyan Zongwang would also send troops to help.

But the Jin Kingdom and Wanyan Zonghan needed to provide food and grass, and then he would appear as a rescuer, so that he could gain higher prestige, and Wanyan Zonghan's line would still owe him favors.