In the side hall, Guo Xu sat on a chair with a pale face to rest. The process of the right court is embarrassing. As a person who is full of ambition to expand the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty and become the first emperor of the ages. Da Zhou has now reached this point, which makes Guo Xu ashamed. Today in the palace, when the eyes of the ministers looked at him, Guo Xu even had the urge to hide his face and leave.

Since his accession to the throne, nothing seems to have gone well, and every judgment he has made seems to be stupid. The attack on Niushan was defeated, and tens of thousands of rebels were still defeated by hundreds of thousands of troops encircled and suppressed, with tens of thousands of dead and wounded. That had already embarrassed me. Now, he pressed the treasure on the matter of uniting the Jurchen northern expedition against the Liao, and now it seems that it is another wrong decision.

Moreover, the consequences of this mistake will directly affect the survival of Dao Da Zhou and his own throne. This mistake is too big, too outrageous.

Guo Xu knew that the courtiers were waiting for him to admit his mistakes, and they were all waiting for him to make an edict like his father and the emperor, and bow their heads to them to admit their mistakes. After all, the crisis caused this time is too big, and someone needs to come forward and take responsibility. But Guo Xu would not do this, even if he knew in his heart that his decision was a big mistake, Guo Xu had already thought it out and must not admit his mistake. The throne of his own is not very glorious, and the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty still have micro-remarks about their own emperor's position, and there are many discussions. The group of thieves in Funiu Mountain are still ready to move, waiting for an opportunity to make trouble. Admitting this major decision-making mistake at this moment is tantamount to giving the world a pretext. They will think in their hearts that they have ruined the Great Zhou, and that they are not the true son of heaven at all. This is absolutely not allowed to happen.

Although being an emperor is tiring. Da Zhou is too big, and there are countless things waiting for Guo Xu to deal with every day. There are so many things, big and small. Big things may need to be done by yourself. Sometimes, Guo Xu even began to miss the ease he felt when he was the prince. At that time, I was really chic and free. But that's just nostalgia. Being an emperor is indeed a chore, and it is indeed tiring, however, being an emperor is also the most enjoyable and fascinating thing in the world. No one is willing to give up the taste of supreme power after tasting it. Those words that shout bitterly and are tired, and say that they miss the days of being free and easy are all hypocritical words, and they are all a kind of show off in disguise. There are a few people in the world who are really willing to live that kind of life without fighting with the world, and those hermit masters seem to be free and easy, but in fact, they are just because they don't have a chance. As long as they have access to power and status, they will rush to it one by one, running faster than rabbits.

Guo Xu understands that he will never go back to the past, and his throne will never be questioned and seized by anyone. The price he paid for it was too great, and the taste of power was too good. If you have the slightest retreat, then the price will inevitably be death. He couldn't back down, he could only hold on.

Therefore, he was willing to agree to those humiliating terms to negotiate peace, which was a crucial step for himself. If he can't stabilize the situation at this time, everything will really be over. In the past, with his Guo Xu's temperament, how could he accept such humiliating terms. In other words, back then, it was difficult for him to accept even the slightest unfavorable clause of the Yanyun Alliance, which was a little unfavorable to Da Zhou. But compared with the few articles discussed in today's court, the Yanyun Alliance of the year can be regarded as the perfect peace agreement between the two countries on an equal footing. Today's articles not only caused Da Zhou a huge loss, but also carried a great humiliation. Back then, the Great Zhou and the Liao Kingdom were brothers' countries, and there was no distinction between high and low generations, but now he had to call Yelu Zongyuan 'uncle'. The entire Great Zhou and Liao have also become countries with unequal generations, and they are the 'nephew countries' of Liao.

No wonder those courtiers wept bitterly, this is indeed a great humiliation. But what can you do? What the Liao people threw over was a ball of horse manure, and they had to swallow it with their own anger. Because he no longer has the capital to argue with the Liao. If you fight with the Liao people again, you will lose the country.

Fortunately, the content of the agreement, while infuriating and humiliating, did not push itself into a corner. Although the amount of silver taels of those reparations was huge, it was not impossible to raise. It's a big deal to collect more taxes, Da Zhou is so big, you can always get silver by scavenging some here and there. The people of the Great Zhou would definitely be dissatisfied, but compared with the Liao, their dissatisfaction was much less of a threat to the imperial court. The soldiers and horses of the Great Zhou may not be the opponent of the Liao, but they are more than enough to deal with these people. If they dare to make trouble, they will not be relentless. In short, the current difficulties must be overcome, the situation must be stabilized, the safety of his throne must be guaranteed, and the existence of the Great Zhou Sheji must be guaranteed. For the sake of this goal, it is tolerable to contribute some money and receive a little anger.

"Then the first year of the Yelu Sect should be twenty years older than me, I will call him uncle...... It's not too much of a humiliation. After all, judging from his age, even among ordinary people, calling him uncle is a minimum etiquette. Guo Xu sat on the chair and comforted himself. Although I felt a little shameless and actually found such a reason for myself, but after thinking about it like this, I suddenly felt a lot more comfortable in my heart.

……

Just as Guo Xu was sitting there with his thoughts churning, Lu Zhongtian slowly walked into the side hall. The waiter at the door didn't even have time to report it, and Lu Zhongtian had already come to Guo Xu's side.

"Your Majesty!" Lu Zhongtian called softly.

"Oh, it's my grandfather, and I'm about to send someone to invite you. Regarding this matter of peace discussion, since today's court discussion has been decided, I want to ask the political affairs hall to send someone to the Liao State to reply. After all, there are less than ten days left, and I will be relieved if it is implemented as soon as possible...... Also, it is the matter of raising this money, whether to invite his uncle to discuss it together, he is the third envoy, and he has to think about raising this money. When Guo Xu saw Lu Zhongtian, the expression on his face became a little relaxed. At this time, my grandfather was still my backing, and although I had been a little estranged from him recently, I seemed to feel that only my grandfather could be relied on at the moment.

Lu Zhongtian bowed and said: "The emperor said these things, the old ministers will arrange them." Reparations...... Kindness...... The matter of raising silver and two, the old minister has already had a way. As for the timing, it was just in time. It only takes five days to go to Zhuozhou, and you won't miss the time. When the old minister came to see the emperor, he had another thing to report. ”

Guo Xu said lightly: "What's the matter?" My grandfather took matters into his own hands, and at this time, I didn't have any thoughts on other things. I only hope that the peace agreement will be implemented as soon as possible. ”

Lu Zhongtian clenched his fists to his mouth, coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, this is exactly what is about peace talks." ”

Guo Xu looked at Lu Zhongtian in surprise and said, "The matter of peace? Isn't it agreed today? Is there another person who is expressing dissatisfaction? Those few officials are really annoying, and in this situation, I can't understand my situation. If you really want to make trouble, you will all be demoted out of Beijing, and they will make a lot of trouble in the province. ”

Lu Zhongtian sighed and said, "Your Majesty, it's not the officials who are making trouble, but ...... The old minister said it directly. The terms of today's peace meeting are ...... Not all of these terms and conditions. The Liao actually put forward four terms for peace talks. The first three were decided today. The fourth ...... Lao Chen...... did not report to the emperor, nor did he say it to the palace. ”

"What?" Guo Xu got up and looked at Lu Zhongtian in dismay. "You mean, you have concealed the terms of the peace treaty from me? You're so daring. Are you planning to deceive the king? ”

Lu Zhongtian was not flustered at all, and quietly arched his hand and said: "The emperor is a little restless, how dare the old minister bully the king, the old minister is for the emperor's sake." If this last peace clause is made public, I am afraid that this peace agreement will not be negotiated. The old minister felt that it was necessary to discuss this article with the emperor alone, and it could not be agreed on in front of the public, so he did it on his own initiative. If the emperor is angry, the old minister is willing to be punished. ”

Guo Xu became more and more curious, and said in a deep voice: "What kind of terms are that?" So important? Could it be that the Liao people want to cut the land? If this is the case, it will never be possible. I can't be the king of eternal revival. ”

Lu Zhongtian shook his head and said, "It's not about cutting the land, it's about a person's life and death." ”

Guo Xu looked at Lu Zhongtian puzzled, but when he saw Lu Zhongtian looking around the side hall, he waved his sleeves with a serious face. A group of palace maids and others hurriedly bowed and retreated, and the huge side hall was suddenly empty.

"Your Majesty, the last condition for peace proposed by the Liao people is...... They want us to kill Yang Jun. Lu Zhongtian said in a deep voice.

"What?" Guo Xu glared at Lu Zhongtian in astonishment and shouted: "Why? ”

They said that Yang Jun was the commander of the northern expedition and should be punished. Moreover, Lord Yang he ...... In front of hundreds of thousands of Liao troops, he beheaded Yelu Zongyuan's son, Yelu Shi, the third prince of Liao. Yelu Zongyuan is said to hate him to the bone, so he forcibly added this clause to the conditions of the peace negotiation. We want to kill Yang Jun and sacrifice the head. Otherwise, even if the first three peace terms are reached, they will not give up. Lu Zhongtian said in a deep voice.

Guo Xu was stunned for a moment, frowned, and said: "How can this be reasonable, how can this be reasonable, how could they make such a request?" How could Yang Shumi be killed? Although he was defeated, he was my great minister, how could I be like this? If I do this, won't it make the whole court feel cold? Will the Liao people repay like this? Isn't it inevitable that the two armies will fight, and casualties will be inevitable? How can it be so liquidated after the fact? ”

Lu Zhongtian was silent and looked at Guo Xu quietly.

Guo Xu walked a few steps, and suddenly raised his forehead and shouted: "No, the Liao people did it on purpose, they wanted to kill the good generals in our army, the pillar of the court, and they had ill intentions." If we kill Yang Shumi, who will organize the army in the DPRK and China in the future, and who will lead the army to fight? Who will protect the country? ”