"Then you're going to lose!" Mulan snorted, "By the way, how long did you say it would take for the peace to settle this time?" What price will the Southern Dynasties pay? ”

Zhao Junsheng shook his head: "This is not good!" ”

Hua Mulan frowned: "The matter of peace cannot be delayed forever, we must promote the signing of the peace treaty as soon as possible, 100,000 people and horses are empty here to consume grain and grass, and they can't afford it!" ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded: "That's why I ordered Liang Yi and Lu Shuang to cross the river to attack, in order to promote peace, to let the Southern Dynasties see our determination, not to let them have a fluke mentality, and if we don't agree to our conditions, we will fight Jiankang, and where their capital moves, we will fight!" ”

Hua Mulan did not have much hope for the attack of Liang Yi and Lu Shuang, almost ten months have passed since this battle, and the officers and men of all units of the cadre army are already physically and mentally exhausted, their follow-up is weak, their spirit has been lost, and the momentum of the offensive is not so fierce.

Previously, with the rapid advance of the cadres to the south, the defenders of the Southern Dynasties in the Huaibei region were frightened and fled south in panic, and now most of these troops are concentrated between the Huai River and the Yangtze River, these horses have stabilized after the initial panic, and their morale is also recovering, Liang Yi and Lu Shuang are not so easy to advance quickly, if they bypass some irrelevant cities to attack the fortress, there is a danger that the back road will be cut off.

Hua Mulan reminded Zhao Junsheng: "Brother Junsheng, I think you still have to warn Liang Yi and Lu Shuang not to be greedy for merit, now that a large number of soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty have gathered between Jianghuai, if you go deep into the enemy territory without support, it is easy to fall into a heavy siege!" ”

Zhao Junsheng thought for a while, "What you said is not unreasonable, although the soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty are inferior to our army in terms of combat strength, they have not all lost their courage, and there are still warriors and good generals!" ”

At about nowhere in the afternoon, the delegations of the two sides came to the venue again to discuss under the chairmanship of Zhou Qiu.

Dongfang Chen took the lead in speaking: "Our conditions have been proposed, if you want our country to withdraw our troops, you must agree to our conditions!" ”

Zhu Bian turned his head to look at Liu Yixuan, the king of Nanjun, Liu Yixuan nodded, and Zhu Bian immediately said: "The conditions you put forward are too harsh, I can promise you some conditions in exchange for your dismissal!" ”

"First of all, we agree with your proposal that you and we should be called brothers, but we think that we should be brothers and you brothers!"

"Secondly, your proposal to cede to your country north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River to your country is absolutely impossible, our country can cede Xuzhou and Qingzhou to your country, but you must return other lands of our country!"

"Again, you proposed to let my country compensate 100,000 catties of gold and 30 million copper coins, even if you turn over my entire Great Song Dynasty, you can't make up so much money, your rude request is making it difficult for me to accept! After consideration, we can compensate your country for 100 catties of gold and 200,000 copper coins! ”

"Again, your proposal to let our country make offerings to your country every year is a joke, my Great Song Dynasty is the kingdom of the Celestial Empire, how can I offer offerings to the country of barbarians? Your request is nonsense! ”

"Again, you proposed to let my country send a proton to Qianjing as a hostage, but I'm afraid that this matter will not work, my emperor has just ascended the throne, neither a queen, nor a concubine, no heirs, who to send as a proton?"

After discussing with the ministers, Li Yuande said: "The two countries are brothers, our country is a brother, and your country is a brother, this is a precondition. ”

On the side of the Song Kingdom of the Southern Dynasty, Pei Songzhi frowned and said: "This is an rude request from your country, the dynasty established by my Han people has always been the upper kingdom of the Celestial Empire, and your Qianguo is a small country that jumped up from under the hands of the Xianbei people, and you still want to be a brother?" Moreover, my Great Song Dynasty has a vast territory, which is far from being comparable to that of Qianguo, so why should you be a brother of Qianguo? ”

Xu Yan, the representative of the Qianguo Peace Council, angrily reprimanded: "It's just full of nonsense and nonsense!" Our Daqian is the Han people in power, and we rose up against the barbarian rule, destroyed the northern captives, and recreated the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty! And your country, hum, with all due respect, is nothing more than a kingdom established by those who betray the mastermind and plot against it, and you are embarrassed to claim to be the kingdom of the Celestial Empire? How is the word shame written? ”

The knowledgeable Pei Songzhi couldn't refute that it was a fact that Liu Yu established himself as the emperor on behalf of the Jin Dynasty as a courtier, which was illegal for an orthodox literati like Pei Songzhi, how could he refute it?

I saw Li Yuande say again: "You actually say that the territory of my great cadre is not as good as your country, this is simply arrogant!" The boundary of our great dry territory starts from Gaoguli Sea in the east and reaches Jincheng in the west; From the Huai River in the south to the south of the desert in the north, it takes three months to ride a horse from east to west, and two months to walk from north to south! The king of our country is old, and the emperor of your country is young, no matter in which respect, it should be my country as a brother, and your country as a brother, my country does not call itself a father and let your country be a son, it is already very polite! ”

The envoys of the Southern Dynasty couldn't find a reason to refute it, but for Liu Song, the indemnity and the offering were trivial matters, and the Great Song Dynasty had money, and it was impossible to lose some money, but they couldn't lose face, so that the Great Song Dynasty was the younger brother, and the Qianguo was the brother, and the few people present could not accept it.

Liu Yixuan, the king of Nanjun, had no choice but to say: "That's it, let's put this article on it for later, let's talk about the compensation first!" ”

Xu Yan sneered and asked: "Your country said that you can compensate my country for 100 catties of gold and 200,000 yuan of copper coins, is this sending Huazi?" An ordinary soldier in our army has a consistent salary every month, and the money you compensate for my army is not enough for one month's salary. ”

Zhu Yan took a deep breath and asked, "Okay, then you said a mutually acceptable amount, don't mention any more 100,000 catties of gold and 30 million copper coins, I can't take it out at all!" ”

Dongfang Chen said with a smile: "Your envoy is humble when he says this, the Southern Dynasty is a rich state, and such a little money is just a drop in the bucket for the Southern Dynasty." In this way, the official is in charge, the gold is reduced, 98,000 catties, and the copper coins are also reduced, 29 million guan, how about it? ”

The envoys of the Southern Dynasty were very angry, and if you took a step back, you would be a little bit less? How much is the difference between 98,000 catties of gold and 100,000 catties?

The envoys of the Southern Dynasty also knew that it would not work without a little blood, and if they gave too little, Qianguo would not agree, so Zhu Bian discussed with Liu Yixuan in a low voice, and then said: "After discussion, our side will give a pertinent amount, and compensate your country with 10,000 catties of gold and 5 million copper coins!" ”

Dongfang Chen slapped the table, got up and said angrily: "Are you really playing us like monkeys?" Let's go! ”

In the blink of an eye, the delegates of the Qianguo State walked cleanly, and the envoys of the Southern Dynasty looked at each other one by one.

When he returned to the resting room, Zhu Yan frowned and said, "Ten thousand gold and five million guan are already a lot, why are these northerners so dissatisfied?" ”

Liu Yixuan sighed: "It seems that the appetite of the Qianguo side is not small, this is the second time they have left the venue halfway, if there is a next time, this king suspects that this discussion and peace will really not be able to continue!" ”

Pei Songzhi was furious: "How can this be reasonable, what a reason!" It's too much to deceive people, it's really not good, let's go back to Jiankang, and ask Your Majesty to recruit troops and fight to the death! ”

At night, Zhao Junsheng, Hua Mulan, Dongfang Chen and several other officials who participated in the peace negotiation ate wine in the handsome tent.

Zhao Junsheng asked: "Dongfang Chen, what kind of amount do you think the Southern Dynasties will accept in terms of compensation?" ”

Dongfang Chen put down his chopsticks and said with a smile: "King, it doesn't matter what kind of number the Southern Dynasties will accept, what matters is how much money they can come up with!" According to estimates, the treasury of the Southern Dynasty reserves about 80,000 catties of gold, as for how much is scattered among the people, it is unknown, so 100,000 catties of gold cannot be taken out by the Southern Dynasty, and the minister's idea is to let them take out at least 60,000 catties of gold. Last year, the total tax revenue of the Southern Dynasties was about 12 million guan, and they couldn't get 30 million guan, so the minister's idea was to let them take out 10 million guan! ”

Hua Mulan asked: "The gold in the treasury of the Southern Dynasties, they shouldn't use it easily, at most, the emperor will reward some to the ministers, so if they want to take out 60,000 catties of gold, it shouldn't be too difficult; As for 10 million copper coins, this may be a bit difficult, you just said that they paid 12 million yuan in taxes last year, but the treasury of the Southern Dynasties must not have so much money, right? ”

Dongfang Chen smiled and said: "Definitely not, but this is their business, they can find the people to collect taxes, in short, this ten million yuan must not be less!" ”

The talks went very hard, and the talks lasted for three days, but the several conditions put forward by the Qianguo side were not agreed, and both sides fought the basis of reason, and refused to give up an inch of money.

On the morning of the fourth day, there was still half an hour to go to the meeting place, and the envoys of the Southern Dynasty were making preparations, and an entourage hurriedly walked in and reported to Liu Yixuan and others: "Lord Wang, my lords, I have just received the news that the Liang Wing of the Qianjun has broken through Gaoyou!" ”

"What?" Liu Yixuan and the others were shocked, and gasped one by one.

To the south of Gaoyou is Yangzhou, which is only a stone's throw away from Jiankang!

"How so? Are the Gaoyou guards and the defenders a bunch of wine bags and rice bags? Liu Yixuan roared loudly.

Pei Songzhi was the first to come back to his senses and said: "Lord Wang, everyone, it seems that we must make big concessions, if we let the cadres continue to fight, once they break through Yangzhou, the threat to Jiankang will be too great!" ”

Liu Yixuan: "Pei Songzhi, how much gold can the treasury come up with?" How many copper coins? You give the king an account! ”

Pei Songzhi hesitated for a moment, and arched his hand and said: "The treasury has 80,000 jin of gold reserves, but when I went out this year, I was rewarded by the Emperor Taishang, and there should be about 75,000 gold left!" ”

Liu Yixuan thought for a while and said: "After bargaining yesterday, they proposed 80,000 gold, I think so, give them 70,000 gold, what do you think?" ”

"They should agree, but if they come, our treasury gold reserves will be empty, and if the court can't take out the money once it is needed······"

Liu Yixuan waved his hand: "No matter in the future, let's take care of the present!" ”