After Chen Zilong returned to Shandong, he immediately reported to Li Xiaoyu all the results of his talks with the Qing court.

Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info heard that Chen Zilong and they had finally reached the agreement they wanted with the Qing court, and Li Xiao was very happy in his heart.

"Master Li, do you say that Emperor Chongzhen will agree to the agreement that we are waiting for?"

Chen Zilong asked softly.

Hearing Chen Zilong's question, the smile on Lord Li's face suddenly became a little heavy.

Yes, this agreement that he has worked so hard to negotiate, will Emperor Chongzhen, who is suspicious, hesitant and afraid of taking responsibility, really agree to it?

Li Xiao's heart is actually the same as Yang Sichang after knowing the news, completely bottomless.

Eventually, he sighed softly and forked the sensitive and heavy topic.

Li Xiao thought that he might only be in this Shandong land, waiting for the news of the success of the peace negotiation from Beijing, but he didn't expect that after Chen Zilong returned to Shandong, eight days later, there was a eunuch who announced that he would come to Dengzhou City from Beijing and make Li Xiao enter Beijing to meet the emperor.

After receiving Cheng Yi with 50 taels of silver presented by Li Xiao, the eunuch told Li Xiao with a smile on his face that the emperor wanted to summon Li Xiao into Beijing, inquire about the specific situation of peace with the Qing court, and let Li Xiao follow him and return to Beijing together.

Li Xiao quickly thought that it seemed that the emperor was still hesitant and difficult to make a decision about the matter of peace, so he had to rush to Beijing like this.

As soon as he groaned slightly, he immediately agreed to enter the capital with the eunuch to face the saint.

At dawn the next day, Li Xiao took Li Haoran and a hundred guards and cavalry in bright armor and bright red cloaks, and entered Beijing together with the eunuchs of the Xuanzhi.

Along the way, Li Xiao and others stayed overnight, did not dare to slack off, and traveled through Laizhou, Qingzhou, Wuding, Nanpi, Bazhou and other places along the way, and finally arrived in Beijing in the evening of six days later.

Under the dim starlight, standing on the streets of the capital in the dark and silent, with only the faint sound of fighting, Li Xiao's heart was inexplicably heavy.

After separating from the eunuch, Li Xiao did not go straight to the pavilion to rest, but first went to Yang Sichang's mansion and visited Yang Sichang overnight.

Hearing that Chifengbo Li Xiao was coming, Yang Sichang, who was already asleep, immediately got up, dressed up, and ordered his subordinates to take Li Xiao's guards into the hall to rest, and then facilitate the living room to meet Li Xiao.

In the living room, Li Xiao and Yang Sichang sat separately.

After listening to Yang Sichang's sad recounting of the last time he met Chongzhen, Li Xiao sighed unconsciously.

"Uncle Chifeng, in your opinion, can we still say that the emperor agrees to negotiate peace?"

Yang Sichang's voice was low.

Li Xiao was silent, and under the candlelight, his shining gaze was like a jewel in the night.

Facing Yang Sichang's inquiring eyes, Li Xiao finally smiled and said: "Yang Shangshu, as the so-called do our best to obey the destiny of heaven, as long as we are courtiers, as long as we can do our best to share the worries of the king, we have done our duty." As for what the emperor is thinking, Li is also difficult to know the holy will. ”

That night, Li Xiao and Yang Sichang talked for a long time, and it was not until the third watch, when the two of them sighed in the face of difficult times, that they finally stopped this depressing and heavy conversation.

Li Xiao then said goodbye and left, and re-entered the museum to rest.

However, Li Xiao stayed awake all night.

He knew that whether the emperor agreed to negotiate peace was directly related to the life and death of the Ming Empire, and at such an extremely important historical turning point, Li Xiao was very heavy and very worried.

It wasn't until nearly dawn that Li Xiao took a nap in a daze.

Sure enough, after the court was finished the next morning, a eunuch came to summon Li Xiao to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

Li Xiao hurriedly put on the python robe and jade belt given by the emperor last time, and after a bunch, he went to the palace with the eunuch.

Emperor Chongzhen met with Li Xiao in the Dongnuan Pavilion.

"Minister, Li Xiao, meet the emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

"Oh, Aiqing is flat."

"Your Majesty."

Li Xiao stood up, Chongzhen Fu looked him up and down, and then praised: "Chi Fengbo is wearing this python robe and jade belt, but he looks more and more heroic and extraordinary, and his momentum is outstanding. ”

Li Xiao thanked him and said: "The emperor praises falsely, how can Weichen be restrained." ”

Chongzhen gently said from the dragon chair: "Uncle Chifeng, I called you thousands of miles to come to Beijing, but you know what it is for?" ”

Li Xiao said in a deep voice: "Weichen is frightened, and he dares to speculate on the holy will. However, since the emperor has asked Weichen, Weichen has the courage to say, presumably the emperor wants to consult the ministers on peace. ”

Chongzhen looked directly at Li Xiao's calm face and said solemnly: "That's right. I listened to Yang Wen's weak words, most of the terms of this peace agreement were drafted after discussion with you. I read the excerpt of Fang Yizao, the governor of Liaodong, and the terms and conditions set by my Ming envoy and the Qing court above are mostly similar to what you said to me last year. Therefore, I thought that this matter of peace was so important that I still needed to invite Uncle Chifeng to come to the capital in person and tell me that it was good. ”

Li Xiao hurriedly replied: "Weichen is shallow and ugly, and his talent and learning are insufficient, so I am afraid that there will be dirty saints." But the emperor has the heart to consult the micro-ministers, and the micro-ministers must say everything and know everything. ”

Chongzhen nodded lightly, and said: "Li Xiao, let me ask you, do I really have to negotiate peace with the Qing people like this in order to survive the country's capital and support the country's strength?" ”

Hearing the emperor ask himself like this, Li Xiao's heart felt bitter.

The emperor, who had already sent someone to negotiate the terms of the peace and was now hesitating repeatedly, was so forward-looking and indecided.

I think I have expressed the relevant attitude to him last year, but now it seems that I have to go through another time to explain it to him.

"Emperor Qi, Weichen thinks that the Ming Dynasty is now suffering from internal and external troubles, the sinking has been deep, the officials and soldiers are exhausted, and the people are difficult to make a living, under such a difficult situation, if you can't calm the border, temporarily make peace with the Qing people, and let the officials and soldiers go all out to kill the thieves in the country, how can we revive the national situation that has been sunk, how can we revive the former glory and glory of the Ming Dynasty."

Listening to Li Xiao's heavy and sincere words, Chongzhen frowned deeply and let out a long sigh.

"Li Xiao, do you know about the Song and Jin peace negotiations in history? That, that's an ugly thing that has been scolded for eternity. ”

After a long time, Chongzhen's words sounded faintly.

"Your Majesty, your mouth grows on people, what others want to say, Weichen can't interfere. But Weichen thought that Song Jin's negotiation of peace and the cessation of each other's troops was not a scandal that had been stinking for thousands of years, but a wise move to judge the situation and assess the situation. ”

Seeing that the emperor wanted to use this topic to cover himself, Li Xiao unceremoniously clarified his own opinion.

"Oh? Li Xiao, you, do you think so? ”

Emperor Chongzhen was obviously taken aback when he heard Li Xiao's words.

"Exactly. The minister's history is sparse, and he roughly understands the process of the Song and Jin peace discussions. ”

Li Xiao said eloquently: "At that time, after the Jin Dynasty captured the Second Emperor of Huiqin and a number of royal families, the Song royal family was left with only Zhao Gou, the king of Kang, and fled to Lin'an, where he rebuilt the Song court and reorganized the rivers and mountains. At this time, the Song Dynasty was ruined and its military strength was greatly damaged, and Zhao Gou had to sign the Shaoxing Peace Agreement with Jin, which now seems very humiliating, in order to protect the society and the country. It was stipulated that the land from Huaishui in the east to the north of Dasanguan in the west was ruled by the Jin Dynasty, and the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty declared himself a vassal to the Jin and paid the annual coins to the Jin every year. Now, most people in the world think that Zhao Gou's agreement misleads the country and the people, and everyone spurns it, but in the eyes of Weichen, it is the opposite. Because, it was precisely because of this peace agreement that the Song Dynasty was able to survive and recuperate, and finally extended Song Zuo for more than 150 years. If Zhao Gou listened to the words of those main battle factions at that time, regardless of the ruins of the country and the decline of military strength, and blindly confronted the Jin Dynasty, which was as strong as the Japanese army, it is difficult to say whether the Southern Song Dynasty could survive. ”

Listening to Li Xiao's words, Chongzhen narrowed his eyes slightly, and he said lightly: "Aiqing, the Song Dynasty was in such a tragic situation at that time, and it was understandable that it signed a peace agreement with Na Jinting. It's just that now my Ming Dynasty has a territory of thousands of miles and a million soldiers, and it is a first-class Heavenly Empire, which is much stronger than the Song Dynasty, which is so broken that only half of the country is left, right? ”

Li Xiao understood Chongzhen's words, and he replied to Chongzhen and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, with all due respect, my current situation in the Ming Dynasty is actually not much better than that of the Song Dynasty. When the Song Dynasty negotiated peace with the Jin people, although the country was ruined and only half of the country was left, there was no large-scale thief rebellion in the country, and the situation in the country was still stable. And I, Daming, since the early years of Chongzhen, the rogue poisoned the Quartet, attacked Kexian County, killed the people, and all parts of Zhongzhou were eroded. The Qing Dynasty outside the Guan, although its power is too great to be compared with the Jin Dynasty, but now, it has merged with Liaozhong and southern Liaoning, and conquered the Mongolian tribes. And since the early years of Chongzhen, the Qing people have entered the customs three times, and plundered countless gold and silver treasures, grain and cloth, and people's livestock in my Ming Dynasty. In this case, there are thieves raging in this, and there are captives and plundering in the Qing Dynasty, my current situation in the Ming Dynasty is afraid that even the Southern Song Dynasty is much worse! ”

Li Xiao paused, and then continued: "Your Majesty, my Ming officers and soldiers, lack of food and salary, and their fighting spirit is depressed, it is still extremely difficult for them to exterminate the Liukou, how can they redivide the troops to resist the Qing army's invasion again!" Your Majesty, with all due respect, if the Qing soldiers enter the customs again, the elite soldiers and horses I originally used to exterminate the thieves will only go to the border to resist the invasion of the Qing people, in this way, it is likely that the Qing soldiers have not been stopped, and my elite soldiers and horses have been destroyed, and the rogues in the country who are now compressed in the vast land of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Lake will definitely resurrect and poison the world again, and they cannot be copied! Listening to Li Xiao's painful words, Chongzhen was speechless for a long time. After a long time, Chongzhen replied: "Then Li Xiao, do you think that if you let me sign this peace agreement, let me marry the princess of the Tartar chieftain, and become the country of Weng's son-in-law with the Qing people, then the Qing army will really not invade my Daming again?" A wry smile appeared on Li Xiao's face, and he sighed lightly: "Your Majesty, Weichen said to the emperor at that time that signing this agreement with the Qing people was to imitate Gao Huan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty, and marry the daughter of the Rouran Khan as a concubine, in order to ease the expedient measure of the border. Weichen thought that if the emperor signed this agreement, married the princess of the Qing Kingdom, and gave the Qing people a tribute every year according to this agreement, then Weichen did not dare to guarantee it for a long time, but within five years, or even take a step back, at least within three years, the Qing people who have a relationship by marriage and sit on heavy profits will never have the intention of going south to plunder again. Then, in these precious three years, the emperor can dispatch elite border soldiers and make every effort to suppress the thieves in the country. And after the thieves in the country have been wiped out and the people's lives have been restored to stability, it is not too late to reorganize the army, drill the elite, raise grain and grass, appease Mongolia in the north, connect Korea in the east, go out of Liaoxi and go on the northern expedition, and then fight with the rebel Qing captives to recover the homeland! Li Xiao's impassioned words aroused the young emperor's long-extinguished ambition, and he stood up from the dragon chair with a surging throat and an expression of great excitement. Li Xiao saw that the emperor was moved, and hurriedly struck while the iron was hot: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, things have been difficult to succeed and easy to fail, and achievements are difficult to build and easy to destroy. I want to come to the ancient times when the king of Yue is cheap, willing to taste the feces of the king of Wu and survive in humiliation, and finally lie down and taste the courage for ten years to accumulate, and finally destroy Wu in one fell swoop, a shame before the snow. Your Majesty is such a wise and martial king, and there is no need to say much about such a reason to endure humiliation and burden. What Li Xiao didn't expect was that Chongzhen listened to Li Xiao's words, and the originally excited look on his face gradually disappeared. He let out a long sigh and sat back down in the dragon chair. "Li Xiao, your words like this, although I am quite moved by what I said. However, it is still difficult for me to sign, this humiliating agreement that has lost my face! Thinking about the more than 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, how strong and unyielding, even though there is such a treacherous and dangerous situation as the Tumubao incident, there has never been a matter of bending the knee with the Tartars. This time, as the son of the great tomorrow, I have to bend my knees to a barbarian state that has ungrateful betrayal of the great powers, so how will the courtiers view me, and how will the scholars and people of the world view me? And after I die, what kind of face do I have to go to see my ancestors and ancestors! Chongzhen's words were low, and there were tears in his eyes. Li Xiao pounced, knelt on the ground, he clenched his fists, and said loudly to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty! The minister dares to ask, is face important, or life is important! Is it important to evaluate the false name, or is it important to have a society! If the emperor is bound to stick to the so-called face and clear name, delay the peace discussion with the Qing court, and let the Qing chief Taiji launch an army in anger and enter the customs again, how can I stop it! I am afraid that the situation of domestic banditry that has finally improved, will be completely destroyed in one fell swoop! Li Xiao paused for a moment, and immediately continued: "Of course, Weichen knows that if the emperor makes such a determination, there will be a large number of courtiers and scholars who only know how to talk on paper, and they will resist each other, slander and ridicule. Hmph, these people only know the so-called hand-to-hand talk on weekdays, but I'm afraid that in the end, those who are willing to die to repay the king, I'm afraid there are not many! Weichen also asked the saint to make a decision early, Mo was mistaken by the noisy opposition of these useless literati at this extremely critical time, and delayed the rare opportunity for Daming to cheer up! Your Majesty, the minister said another sentence of heart-wrenching, if the Jiangshan Sheji and the Taimiao Ancestral Hall could not be preserved, so that Shenzhou fell and China was fishy, then this so-called clear name and integrity, in the eyes of the ministers, can be of great use! Li Xiao's direct and sharp words made Chongzhen's face red and white for a while, the green tendons on his forehead were full, and his teeth were gritted loudly. That's enough! The furious Emperor Chongzhen slapped the imperial table fiercely, stood up on the ground, and the paper, ink, paper and inkstone on the table jumped up in shock. After the inkstone toppled over, the ink overflowed, soaking the entire imperial table into a mess. Li Xiao, who knelt on the ground, although his chest was heaving and excited, his eyes were calm and sharp, and he looked directly at Chongzhen's angry eyes, and did not avoid it. Chongzhen's right hand trembled and pointed at Li Xiao's face, as if he wanted to scold him loudly, but in the end, his eyes darkened, and he sat down dejectedly, without saying anything. "The Emperor's 。。。。。。" Chongzhen waved his hand, signaling that Li Xiao didn't have to say any more. In the East Warm Pavilion, there is an extremely oppressive dead silence. "Li Xiao, stand down and let me think about it." After a long time, from the dragon chair, an extremely weak and tired voice came into Li Xiao's ears.