The first time it was determined that the "emperor" was higher than the "heavenly king", probably the current Great Qin Emperor Fu Jian. When Fu Jian first ascended the throne, he issued an edict to "demote the number of heavenly kings", and through the word "demote", the superiority between the two titles was clarified. However, Emperor Qin's demote was not a real demotion, he just played a routine. At that time, the former Qin had just passed through the rule of the deposed emperor Fu Sheng, and the national strength was exhausted, and the treasury was insufficient. So Emperor Qin made an excuse to demote the title, but in fact, it was to cut the knighthood.

Look at it, the emperor has become the king of heaven, and you dare to continue to be a prince? You want to be on the same level as the Heavenly King? There is no way, the prince can only become a duke; Lao Tzu became a duke, and you deserve to be compared with me? Get out of here! So the original dukes became marquis again... The result of this is that the duke can naturally only take the duke's money, and it is impossible to send you the king's money. And the size of the duke's fief is regulated, and your original royal fief is too big and does not meet the regulations, so you have to take it back. And so on for the later titles... After some routines, all the titles of the former Qin were downgraded by one level, and the imperial court not only saved a lot of money, but also recovered a large number of fiefs.

In this way, Emperor Qin easily filled the treasury of the former Qin through a move of "lowering the number". Then, Emperor Qin issued another edict and canonized the empress dowager, empress, and crown prince. Now the ministers were dumbfounded, Your Majesty, aren't you the king of the day, you should be the queen mother and queen, what the hell are you, the queen mother, the crown prince? Only then did the ministers understand that Emperor Qin had never thought about being a bullshit king at all, and the so-called "demotion" was just a trick on their fiefdoms and fiefdoms, and this time they would not admit it if they didn't admit it!

Later, there was also a minister of Toutie who was called "Emperor" instead of "Emperor", and it was not surprising that the minister was assigned to the Western Regions to repair the city wall. Emperor Qin used a god-like routine to play tricks, so that everyone in the world knew that the Great Qin Dynasty only had an emperor, not a heavenly king, whether it was in the past or now! Of course, after this incident, it has become common knowledge that the Heavenly King is half a level lower than the Emperor.

"It can't be!"

Sima Daozi shouted loudly, let the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty change his name to the King of Heaven? A few decades ago, this was not a matter, and I could agree casually, isn't it the same thing for the Heavenly King and Emperor. But now it's different, after the toss of Qin Emperor Fu Jian decades ago, now the whole world knows that the emperor is older than the Heavenly King. Once the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty changed his name to the King of Heaven, wouldn't he admit that he was a head lower than the Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.

What Sima Daozi knew, the rest of the Eastern Jin Dynasty mission naturally knew. If the world is unified, it doesn't matter if you change your name to the king of heaven, anyway, it will be the biggest. But now the Qin Dynasty in the north has an emperor, once the emperor of the Jin Dynasty changes his name to the King of Heaven, won't the Qin Dynasty become the only emperor in the world? In this way, the Jin Dynasty was not only a head lower than the Qin Dynasty, but even the legitimacy of the Jin Dynasty would be affected. Why did Emperor Qin play tricks after playing the routine? Isn't it just to not affect the momentum and legitimacy of the Qin Dynasty?

Sima Daozi said: "Pei Hou, this matter must not be allowed!" If my majesty descends to the title of Heavenly King, won't I admit that I am not as good as the emperor of your dynasty? What is the difference between doing so and being a vassal? ”

Pei Shengqin smiled: "Oh? So the emperor of your dynasty is more willing to be a minister? Well, if the emperor of your dynasty is willing to be a minister, this marquis will ask me to keep the title of emperor of the Jin Dynasty to His Majesty, and officially canonize your brother as the emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty, how about it? ”

Isn't it just that the big emperor canonized the little emperor, there were many such things during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The Southern Liang Emperor canonized the Northern Wei Emperor, and the Northern Zhou Emperor also canonized the Western Liang Emperor, which is a normal operation. If you are willing to be a vassal, it is not a big deal to keep an imperial title.

"No, no, no, this king didn't say that." Sima Daozi shook his head like a rattle, damn it, this surnamed Pei was clearly deliberately misinterpreting Lao Tzu's meaning. Ministers? If you really want to be a minister, I'm afraid it's better to lower your name: "Since Emperor Cao Wei gave me the throne of my ancestor, my Sima clan has never called a minister to anyone. The matter of being a minister, Pei Houxiu has to mention it again. ”

"Don't want to be a minister? That is to say, the emperor of your dynasty still chooses to demote the title of Heavenly King? Pei Shengqin turned the topic back again.

Sima Daozi saw that Pei Shengqin had bitten this to death and did not let go. He smiled bitterly and said, "Pei Hou, does it have to be like this?" ”

Pei Shengqin squinted at Sima Daozi and said proudly: "Ben Hou said something unkind, your Jin Dynasty has nothing to handle, all you can do is to bow your head and make me happy." It is also my kindness to Your Majesty, and I am willing to give you another chance, otherwise you really can't fight anymore when I am a great Qin, hundreds of thousands of iron horsemen? ”

This is the threat of Chiguoguo, and for people like Sima Daozi, threats are much more effective than persuasion.

In this peace negotiation, Pei Shengqin's real purpose is to force the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor to surrender! In the short term, this matter is not good for Qianqin, but in the long run, it is very beneficial. Once the Eastern Jin Dynasty was demoted, Emperor Fu Jian of Qin was the only emperor in the world, and as time passed, the legitimacy of the former Qin would become higher and higher. To put it bluntly, when the Western Jin Dynasty fell, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was able to continue its life in Jiangzuo by relying on the legitimacy of the remnants of the Western Jin Dynasty. Now the Eastern Jin Dynasty has already lost most of the people's hearts, once it loses its legitimacy, it will not take a few years, and there is no need for armed invasion, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty itself will collapse from the inside.

Of course, these things were obvious in later generations, but due to the limitations of the times, basically no one in this era could think so far, and Pei Shengqin was not worried that someone in the Eastern Jin Dynasty would have insight into his conspiracy. Now the main reason for the entanglement of the Eastern Jin Dynasty mission is just that the descendants can't get over after the demotion, maybe some people will realize that something is wrong, but absolutely no one can analyze the consequences so clearly.

Sima Daozi looked at Feng Gai, who hurriedly lowered his head and said nothing. This Nima is a loss of power and humiliation of the country, whoever speaks now will be likely to take the blame for Sima Daozi in the future, and the fool will speak.

Sima Daozi turned his head to look at Chen Zong again, and Chen Zong's reaction was exactly the same as Feng Gai's.

The other petty officials saw that the two deputy envoys did not dare to answer, so they naturally followed suit.

Sima Daozi waited for a long time, but he couldn't find the person who took the blame. After thinking about it, this pot can't be carried by him, since it is the imperial brother's pot, let the imperial brother carry it himself! So Sima Daozi said in a low voice: "This matter is very big, this king can't be the master, and he still needs to ask the imperial brother." ”

"Yes, you can go and ask for instructions, I heard that it only takes one day for your Jin Dynasty's flying pigeon to pass from Weishui to Jiankang, and it only takes two days to go back and forth. Ben Hou gives you three days, and after three days, Ben Hou will see the answer. If the emperor of your dynasty is willing to surrender, whether it is Wang Ningzhi or Huan Xuan, our dynasty can let them return south safely. ”

Pei Shengqin was confident that Sima Yao would agree to lower the number. If Sima Yao was a mediocre emperor, Pei Shengqin would be worried that he would have a good face and would not bow his head. But Sima Yao is obviously not mediocre, the three conditions that Pei Sheng Qin proposed this time, in the final analysis, the Jin Dynasty did not pay any actual price - except for one Zhu Xuan, but that was not a matter at all. If you change a few titles, you can negotiate peace smoothly, and you can also exchange a few big people on your side, so why not do it?

The more wise the emperor, the less he cares about a name at this critical moment.

Of course, Pei Shengqin is not unwilling to exchange some practical benefits for Qianqin, but the problem is that once it comes to actual benefits, it must be negotiated for a long time, such as the amount of New Year's coins, or the size of the land, which cannot be finalized in three or two days. And once the negotiation lasted for a long time, the news of the turmoil in the northern part of the country reached the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and then the former Qin lost the initiative to negotiate, and maybe the Eastern Jin Dynasty would turn around to make things difficult for the former Qin.

Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not know about the affairs of Saibei at the moment, it was the safest to finalize the peace treaty as soon as possible, and it was the most appropriate choice to attack the legitimacy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. As for a fool like Wang Ningzhi, Pei Shengqin was naturally willing to put him back, if all the senior officials in the Eastern Jin Dynasty were at Wang Ningzhi's level, how wonderful it would be. There is no harm in putting a careerist like Huan Xuan back, and the traitors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty are naturally as good as possible.

Once a treaty was reached and announced to the world, even if the Eastern Jin Dynasty learned of the turmoil in the north of the former Qin Dynasty, it would have no chance to repent. In this era, the most important thing for a dynasty is credibility, and a dynasty that does not emphasize credibility will not be supported by the people. If the Eastern Jin Dynasty had just concluded a treaty and tore it up immediately, without the help of the former Qin, they would have internal chaos.