Chapter 644: Final Result

In Tutuha's opinion, he alone will never be able to fight Zhao Kui, who has been the prime minister for decades in his seventies, but he still has a fluke mentality to negotiate with Zhao Kui. Because he believes that Zhao Kui will not be capricious, as long as he makes a promise, he will not regret it. In other words, as long as he planned properly and induced Zhao Kui to make a promise first, there would still be a chance not to return the entire Hexi Corridor.

As for the emperor, Tutuha was not worried at all. As long as Shi Bin and Zhao Kui, the two important ministers, agreed that the Yuan people would only return the east of Jiayuguan and not the entire Hexi Corridor, the emperor would no longer insist on the entire Hexi Corridor. Because Li Zong is an emperor who loves ease, he can take back half of the Hexi Corridor, and with Jiayuguan as a barrier, he will be so happy that he will wake up smiling when he sleeps.

Zhao Kui had already expected Tutuha's arrival, and he was not surprised, and he also knew why he came. It's just that in order not to make Tutuha suspicious, Zhao Kui still pretended to be puzzled, and even asked who Tutuha was and why he came to the Privy Council.

After Tutuha introduced himself, he talked to Zhao Kui about the alliance between the Great Song Dynasty and Ali Buge against Kublai Khan. To Tutuha's surprise, Zhao Kui was like a stinky and hard stone, no matter how brilliant his tongue was, Zhao Kui only said that he could support weapons and food.

When he said that his throat was smoking, Zhao Kui compromised slightly, saying that he would only send a maximum of 3,000 soldiers and horses out of the customs to disturb Kublai Khan, but he must return to Lanzhou immediately. This condition was much harsher than Shi Bin's, which made Tutuha very frustrated. Because only 3,000 soldiers and horses could not pose any threat to Kublai Khan, in order to prevent accidents, he sent at most one or two hundred people to keep an eye on him. But in exchange, I had to return Lanzhou to the Song Dynasty,

At this time, Tutuha suddenly felt that Shi Bin was very kind, and Zhao Kui in front of him was a cunning and insatiable guy. Knowing that he could not make a breakthrough in Zhao Kui, Tutuha could only give up and turn to Li Zong as a breakthrough. Knowing that the emperor was weak and could not promise alone, he asked Shi Bin to enter the palace to see Li Zong.

Seeing Tutuha with a depressed face, Shi Bin smiled and said, "How about Lord Tutuha, do you know how powerful my old bureaucrat of the Great Song Dynasty is?" ”

"I have seen it, I have seen it. My tongue smoked before he agreed to send 3,000 troops, but he wanted me to return to Lanzhou immediately. It seems that the reason why the Great Song Dynasty is weak is not because of the courtiers, but because of your king. Tutuha smiled bitterly.

"Lord Tutuha doesn't need to be so frustrated, Lord Zhao Kui's conditions are a bit harsh, I will invite him into the palace to discuss with the emperor, I believe that in the end there will be a result that satisfies everyone." Shi Bin said with a smile. Then he said, "Xu Feng, go and invite Lord Zhao Kui to enter the palace to face the saint." ”

Xu Feng took the order and left. Not long after Shi Bin and Tutuha met the emperor, Zhao Kui rushed into the imperial study.

Knowing that Zhao Kui was afraid that he and Tutuha had reached some kind of agreement with the emperor, Shi Bin opened his mouth and said with a smile: "Lord Zhao, don't worry, sit down and take a breath, we have been waiting for you." ”

This sentence made Zhao Kui very comfortable to listen to, because it showed that Shi Bin, Tutuha and the emperor did not do anything behind their backs. Especially the emperor did not make a promise in confusion, which made Zhao Kui the happiest.

"Lord Tutuha, please tell the emperor what you think, and then Lord Zhao and I will tell the emperor our thoughts, and everything will be decided by the emperor." Shi Bin said matter-of-factly.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, after I left the palace, I thought about it and felt that I had indeed paid a little little. After all, fighting a war is not a trivial matter, and a few thousand horses are still not enough, so I plan to promise you three thousand good horses from the Western Regions of the Great Song Dynasty after the war on behalf of the Great Khan. ”

He was very happy to hear what Tutuha said, but he still felt that he was far from meeting his requirements. Because he felt that sending 10,000 troops would give him at least 5,000 good horses from the Western Regions, which could be regarded as two soldiers for one

Good horses. And when Tutuha asked for at least 40,000 reinforcements, then the Emperor thought that 20,000 good horses would be enough. Therefore, Li Zong still kept shaking his head, but it was obviously made, and it could be seen that he was still quite happy in his heart.

At this time, Zhao Kui said: "Your Majesty, the minister has an idea. ”

"Zhao Aiqing, please speak." The emperor said with a smile. He knew that such a powerful person as Zhao Kui would definitely help him get more benefits.

"I talked to Lord Tutuha before, and the minister thought that he could support 3,000 soldiers and horses to Ali Buge Khan, but asked them to return to the Lanzhou area. If we want to continue to send troops, then we have to negotiate separately. The minister thought that we could redeem the Hexi Corridor by helping Ali Buge Khan fight Kublai Khan. ”

With 3,000 soldiers and horses in exchange for returning to the Lanzhou area, everyone knew that this was a good deal, and Li Zong was very excited. However, in order to hide this excitement, Li Zong still said with a sad face: "Zhao Aiqing, I'm afraid your suggestion is still up for discussion. Although my Great Song army can fight well, but 3,000 soldiers and horses is not a small number, is it not cost-effective to use so many men and horses to exchange for an area where no one can actually resist us? ”

Li Zong's reaction was much more than Shi Bin, Zhao Kui and Tutu Ha expected, they didn't expect Li Zong to be so shrewd and sober this time.

Turning around, Li Zong asked Shi Bin again, "Shi Aiqing, Lord Tutuha said that you also have an idea, say it to me." ”

"It's the emperor." Affected by the emperor's reaction just now, Shi Bin felt the pressure this time, and he was a lot more cautious when speaking, although in fact, it was not necessary. "The minister's idea was to send 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses from Lanzhou to support Ali Buge Khan through the Hexi Corridor. The condition is that Lanzhou should be returned to us immediately, and the Hexi Corridor should be completely returned after the war. ”

It was found that Shi Bin and Zhao Kui had similar attitudes on the issue of supporting Ali Buge, and their goals were both aimed at controlling the Hexi Corridor, and the only difference was the number of troops to send, which made Tutuha feel uneasy.

Although it has been a long time since he lost the Hexi Corridor, Li Zong still clearly knows the importance of the Hexi Corridor, so he agrees with the idea of both of them, so he throws aside the idea of asking for the good horse of the Western Regions. The reason why he didn't express his position immediately was that he didn't think about how much it would cost to get back this strategic location.

Naturally, he couldn't let Tutuha wait for a long time, and found that Li Zong was thinking about the problem alone, Zhao Kui coughed twice, and said, "Your Majesty, may I ask your attitude towards the thoughts of Lord Tutuha, Lord Shi Bin, and me." ”

After smiling, Li Zong said, "Yes, yes, Lord Tutuha, what do you think of Zhao Kui and Shi Bin's thoughts?" ”

"Your Majesty the Emperor, Tutuha thinks that Lord Zhao Kui and Lord Shi Bin's requirements are too harsh, and everyone knows that the Hexi Corridor is very important. So I can't agree to their request. Tutuha can ask my Great Khan to return the area around Lanzhou now, and return the large area east of Jiayuguan after the war. But west of Jiayuguan still has to be the territory of my Great Yuan. ”

For Tutuha's proposal, Li Zong felt that it was also acceptable, and he could get half of the Hexi Corridor by helping Ali Buge fight a battle, and take back Jiayuguan, so that there would be a barrier in the northwest, and he would no longer have to worry about the invasion of the Yuan people and Tubo all the time.

Seeing Li Zong's eyebrows, Zhao Kui immediately said: "Your Majesty, please think twice." ”

Seeing Zhao Kui and Shi Bin's reactions, Li Zong understood that Zhao Kui was dissatisfied with the Yuan people who only returned half of the Hexi Corridor, and only returned it to Jiayu Pass, not even Yumen Pass. So Li Zong also pretended to be embarrassed, saying that this plan was not suitable and had to be discussed.

This situation was something Tutuha didn't want to see, so he had to turn his gaze to Shi Bin and motioned for Shi Bin to help say a few words. Shi Bin ignored it, and just sat with a smile on his face. At this time, Tutuha realized that he had been tricked by Shi Bin. Because Shi Bin must have expected that with Zhao Kui here, it would be impossible to allow the Yuan people to return only half of the river

West Corridor, and the reason why Shi Bin agreed to the condition was just that he didn't want to be a villain, so he asked Zhao Kui to be the villain.

But Tutuha couldn't help it, because Shi Bin only promised not to be a stumbling block and did not promise to help persuade Zhao Kui and Li Zong, so he was not untrustworthy.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, the Hexi Corridor has long been the territory of my Yuan people, isn't it enough for you to help our Great Khan contain Kublai Khan's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to get a large area of land east of Jiayu Pass?"

Li Zong is not a good negotiator, and he was speechless when Tutuha asked him this.

Of course, he couldn't be persuaded by Tutuha just like that, Zhao Kui immediately spoke: "Lord Tutuha, under Putian, it is not the king's land; On the shore of the land, it is not the king's minister. The land of the world is only inhabited by the virtuous. What's more, Lord Tutuha said that the Hexi Corridor has long been the territory of your Yuanren, which is a big joke. Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Hexi Corridor has been the territory of our Han people. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor has been occupied by the party members, when did it become the territory of your Yuan people? To this day, there are still party nobles who resist the rule of your Yuan people in various places. ”

Zhao Kui's words are true, and the Yuan people have not completely wiped out the remnants of the Western Xia resistance. Now that Ali Buge and Kublai Khan are in a civil war, the resistance of the party is even more fierce, and the Hexi Corridor has gotten out of control.

Since he couldn't say Zhao Kui, Tutuha could only choose to compromise, so he proposed another way: the Song Dynasty sent 60,000 troops to help Ali Buge resist Kublai Khan, and returned the land east of Yumen Pass to the Song Dynasty after the war. But this time, the condition was not just to harass Kublai Khan, but to fight him head-on.

This condition is actually acceptable, only 40,000 soldiers and horses are indeed difficult to have a big effect, self-protection is a little reluctant, and only Jiayuguan is not enough to resist the enemy's attack. If there are 60,000 soldiers and horses, and then a general leads the troops, even if it fails, there will be no big losses. But in exchange for returning to the east of Yumen Pass, it can be drawn. Because once the Yumen Pass is in hand, there are two barriers in the northwest, and the situation will be much better.

"Sixty thousand soldiers and horses... Frontal Combat··· East of Yumen Pass..." Zhao Kui and Li Zong invariably groaned.

After a while, Zhao Kui smiled: "This condition is also acceptable, but it is still not good enough." The northwest is a horse Pingchuan, and most of our Great Song Dynasty are infantry, and the battle with Kublai Khan's men and horses will be very bad, and the casualties will definitely be not small. Therefore, even if Ali Buge Khan agreed to return the east of Yumen Pass, our 60,000 men and horses would not take the initiative to attack Kublai Khan, and could only guarantee that they would not easily retreat when fighting Kublai Khan. ”

Although Tutuha still has some city government and wisdom, he still can't fight an old man like Zhao Kui, and finally reluctantly accepts Zhao Kui's plan. However, Tutuha also put forward one condition of his own: he asked Wang San to lead the troops along the river, otherwise everything would have to be discussed again.

Wishing that Wang San would leave the important post of envoy along the river, and Wang San was a general under Shi Bin, he could greatly increase the probability of victory by leading the troops, and Li Zong and Zhao Kui immediately agreed to Tutuha's conditions. It's just that before he was happy, Shi Bin said that he would decide who would take over Wang San's position, otherwise Wang San would not be allowed to hand over the power of the envoy along the river.

Feeling Shi Bin's obviously non-negotiable attitude, the two of them remembered that Shi Bin was the actual ruler of the Great Song Dynasty, so they had to agree that Shi Bin would decide who would replace Wang San.

In order to show some respect for the emperor, Shi Bin still expressed his gratitude with a smile on his face. And said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the pacification of Jinghu and the two roads will enable Li Chao to take on the important task of making arrangements along the river. The functions and powers of the Jinghu and Lianglu pacification envoys can be temporarily replaced by Li Zengbo. ”

Knowing that there was no need to discuss, Li Zong and Zhao Kui didn't say much more, and directly agreed.

Although the process was not pleasant, for the possible benefits, both sides would try their best to support each other before the end of the war, and there was no need to worry about tearing each other down.

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