The reason why Yelu Zongyuan first pointed the spearhead of revenge at Da Zhou was not because he thought that Da Zhou was easier to deal with than the Jurchens at the moment. In fact, there has been a consensus in the Liao State for a long time, that is, although the Great Zhou in the south is a big piece of fat, it is still unrealistic to swallow it in one bite, and it will choke to death. This piece of fat can be bitten off and eaten, and it must not be rushed. The reason why he first made a move against the Great Zhou Dynasty and deliberately made a posture of wanton invasion on the border was precisely because he saw that the monarchs and ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty would inevitably send people to negotiate peace.

Having dealt with the Great Zhou people for many years, the Liao people are familiar with the temperament of the Great Zhou people. As long as there is a chance for peace, they will not fight to the death, but will choose peace. They like to convince themselves with words like "if you can't bear it, you will make a big plan", "take a step back and open the sky", and "the overall situation is important". Since you can't swallow this big piece of fat, then this is the opportunity to take a bite and get benefits.

Therefore, Yelu Zongyuan was not surprised by the arrival of the envoy of the Great Zhou peace talks, he had already expected this.

In terms of etiquette, the Liao people are still polite. Prime Minister Han Yanshou personally met with the newly promoted Vice Minister Yoo Zhenbang, who came to the peace talks. Liu Zhenbang was originally a director of the political affairs hall, and after Guo Xu ascended the throne, he was promoted by Lu Zhongtian to be the deputy minister. This time, he came to the peace discussion, with Lu Zhongtian's entrustment.

Lu Zhongtian's entrustment was: But as long as the Liao people do not invade the Great Zhou, there is nothing to talk about.

The peace talks between the defeated and the victors were undoubtedly extremely unequal, and although Liu Zhenbang was ready to open his mouth with the lion of the other side, he was still shocked when he heard the terms of the peace talks of the Liao. The conditions of the Liao people are too harsh.

Han Yanshou put forward four conditions. The first condition is the cessation of land. The Liao people wanted the Great Zhou to give up several border towns, including Bazhou, Ansu and Daizhou in the west. These were all important border towns, and after being ceded to the Liao, the well-fortified Yanyun defense line and the border towns bordering the Datong Mansion in Xijing of the Liao State to the west would fall into the hands of the Liao. The entire border town defense line will be full of holes. The second condition is reparations. The losses of the Liao State caused by the war all had to be compensated by Da Zhou, and I don't know how Han Yanshou counted the figures, and the total amount of compensation demanded was as high as 30 million taels. The third condition is to demand the punishment of war criminals, and in the list given by Han Yanshou, the names of Yang Junbaiqi and others are impressively listed. They are all high-ranking generals in the Northern Expeditionary Army. The fourth condition was to require the Great Zhou Dynasty to resume the tribute of New Year's Silk and New Year coins, and reopen more than a dozen farms to ban steel, sulfur, gunpowder, rice, salt, lacquer books, craftsmen, manufacturing processes, and many other goods and skills that had previously been strictly prohibited by the Great Zhou court.

These four conditions were put forward, even if there was Lu Zhongtian's 'nothing to talk about' instructions, Liu Zhenbang did not dare to agree casually. If he agreed to such a condition, then he would be immediately delayed when he returned to Dazhou.

The two sides bargained, one asking for the price, and the other sitting on the ground to pay back. One side has an arrogant attitude, and the other side is aggrieved. One side is arrogant, and the other is low. The negotiators on the Liao side overturned the table several times, blew their beards, glared and threatened to terminate the negotiations and start a war immediately, but in the end they still sat down at the negotiating table again and again to continue the negotiations. In fact, the Liao people just want the lion to open their mouths, knowing that there are some terms that the other party cannot agree, but in this way they can force the other party to agree to the terms they really want.

For example, the Liao people knew that it was impossible to achieve the goal of cutting land and cities, and if they insisted on the terms of this first article, they would not be able to negotiate at all. Da Zhou will be forced to the only way to be forced to fight by this one. Therefore, if in the end the Liao side agrees to make concessions and does not ask for the Great Zhou to cede the land, the Great Zhou will also have to make compromises elsewhere. This is the skill of negotiation, and the high asking price is not to break the negotiation, but precisely to exchange more benefits for the next step. And the Liao people are the victors, and they have the capital to do so.

After several rounds, Liu Zhenbang lost countless smiling faces, endured countless ridicule and insults, and finally the two sides reached a new peace agreement.

First, the Liao side was fully compensated by the Great Zhou in the battle between the Great Zhou and the Liao State, and the two sides agreed that the Great Zhou would pay a total of 10 million taels of silver in the form of money and silver, or grain, cloth, tea, and ironware. Second, the Great Zhou Dynasty needed to open the border town of Rongchang, no longer set up a ban on the trading of commodities, and allowed the Liao State to obtain all the commodities it needed from the Rongchang. The Great Zhou court was not allowed to interfere. Third, the Great Zhou Emperor needed to apologize to the Great Liao Emperor, and the two sides resumed friendship and entered into a new Yanyun Alliance. The Great Zhou resumed paying tribute to the Liao State, and the amount of tribute increased to 3 million taels of silver and 500,000 pieces of cloth every year. Emperor Guo Xu of the Great Zhou Dynasty called the Great Liao Emperor Yelu Zongyuan his nephew.

In addition to these three explicit paragraphs, there is also a covert agreement. The Liao people insisted on punishing the generals of the Great Zhou army, and the Great Zhou privy envoy Yang Jun must die, because he beheaded Yelushi, the third prince of Liao, in front of the Liao soldiers and horses in front of the city's head in the battle of Xijin Mansion. Yelu Zongyuan asked Yang Jun's head to pay tribute to the soul of his favorite third prince Yelu Shi.

Needless to say, the Liao State will receive huge compensation and great benefits. From now on, the Great Zhou will not defend the Liao, and any materials and advanced technology will not be prohibited from flowing into Liao. The burden of annual payments will also be heavier. The relationship between the two countries has suddenly changed from the reciprocal relationship of the former brotherly country to the relationship between elders and juniors, which is a great humiliation for the Great Zhou. But this humiliation is no longer important compared to the previous benefits.

What can really see the evil intentions of the Liao people is actually the last secretly agreed clause. The Liao people wanted to kill Yang Jun, and the reason seemed to be to avenge Yelushi, but in fact, the real intention of the Liao people was to destroy the backbone of the Great Zhou army. The only general in the Great Zhou who can lead the soldiers and horses and become the mainstay is the privy envoy Yang Jun. Although he was defeated, this victory actually had a lot of accidents. Yang Jun is still the only figure in the Great Zhou army who can compete with the Liao, and with him, the Liaons are jealous. Once Yang Jun is lost, Da Zhou will be tantamount to self-destruction of the Great Wall, and if you want to attack Da Zhou at any time in the future, you don't have to consider the factors of the other party's coach. Let this Yang Jun, who can fight, finish, is no less significant than the previous three articles.

Liu Zhenbang believes that at this point, he has reached the limit of what he can do. The clause on the cession of land was deleted, and the compensation was cut to only 10 million taels, and it could be offset with materials. There is only one person left in the list of generals to be punished by the Liao. As for the opening of the field, that in itself is a matter of mutual benefit. The Liao also promised to ban the trade in some goods, such as fur and horses. Although the number of New Yanyun Alliance's annual offerings has increased significantly, these millions of taels of silver and cloth can still be borne by the imperial court. The effort I made on my own was big enough.

The only thing that made Liu Zhenbang feel tricky was that the Liao people wanted to kill Yang's secret envoy, which Liu Zhenbang felt that he might not be able to explain when he went back. But the Liao insisted on this, otherwise they would overturn all the terms and launch an attack, and Liu Zhenbang would be helpless. He had to agree to come down and ask Lu Zhongtian to show him when he returned to Bianliang.

……

Today's court meeting of the Great Zhou monarchs and ministers is the terms of the three-day peace discussion. Disputes in the palace were inevitable, and some officials were indignant and scolded Liu Zhenbang for actually talking about such humiliating terms, which made Da Zhou humiliated. Some officials generously stated, asking the imperial court to mobilize troops and horses to prepare for a decisive battle with the Liao, if this humiliating clause was agreed, how would the Great Zhou have face, and how would the Great Zhou gain a foothold in the world.

However, the vast majority of officials know in their hearts that they are afraid that they will bring humiliation on themselves to start a war with Liao under such circumstances. The soldiers and horses in the border towns are definitely not the opponents of the Liao, the 250,000 soldiers and horses in the northwest may be able to fight, and the Northwest Army led by Yang Junyan and Yuan Zhenqian still has combat effectiveness, after all, it is a soldier and horse composed of old people who have fought viciously with the soldiers and horses of the Western Xia, and the strength is there. However, the Western Xia relied on them to stabilize the situation, if the 250,000 soldiers and horses were mobilized to come, what would the Western Xia do? It was too late in time, and the Liao people only gave fifteen days for Da Zhou to consider the terms of peace. In these 15 days, it was too late to mobilize troops or raise money for grain and grass.

Although the crowd was excited, although there were tears, although all the officials vowed to share the worries of the imperial court and fight to the death with the Liao people at all costs. However, in the end, when Lu Zhongtian asked whether this peace agreement could be reached, the vast majority of officials still sighed and said: At present, it may be only appropriate to agree to such conditions for the time being. After all, the society is important, after all, the overall situation is important, after all, you can't lose big because of small things, after all, if you can't bear it, you will make a big plan......

Although a very small number of officials were extremely angry and wept, they did not make any radical moves to crash into the pillar and die. After all...... Life is his own, and it doesn't seem to be time to put on a show with his life.