The imperial court in the capital sent an envoy, and Fang Yuan was not surprised at all. But Sun Chuanting sent a messenger privately, and Fang Yuan was very surprised.

Because the two sides were in a state of hostility, Sun Chuanting, as a general at the front, privately sent an envoy to negotiate with Fang Yuan. To put it mildly, it is a long sight; At worst, it is an attempt to rebel. One of the charges that Yuan Chonghuan was killed that year was to negotiate peace with the Manchus without permission.

Since Sun Chuanting had sent an envoy, Fang Yuan was happy to listen to what the envoy had to say.

Fang Yuan met with the envoy sent by Sun Chuanting in the palace, and it turned out to be Fang Yuan's old acquaintance, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu whose fief was in Huai'an Mansion.

Zhu Yihai is the king of the Ming Dynasty who has a strong and positive foundation, and he is an old acquaintance who has a harmonious relationship with Fang Yuan, and he has even done crimes together and killed the old partner of the former Lu King Zhu Yipai.

He personally came to Jiangnan as an envoy, and Fang Yuan couldn't slack off, so he hurriedly got up, walked closer and arched his hand and said, "It turned out to be His Royal Highness King Lu, there is a loss of welcome, there is a loss of welcome!" ”

Zhu Yihai also had a smile on his face, and said politely, "The regent doesn't need to be polite, we are all kings, and I hope don't blame me for coming abruptly." ”

Fang Yuan saw that he lightly agreed with his position as regent, and he had no guilt for this self-styled prince, so he also had a good impression, and hurriedly took his hand to the right position, sat side by side with him, and continued to be polite with him, "His Royal Highness King Lu is the Prince of Daming with a red Miaozheng, I am a wild man, I can't compare, I can't compare." ”

Zhu Yihai laughed and said, "I, a red seedling, now I want to be a peacemaker on behalf of Inspector Sun, and I can't compare with the regent, I can't compare!" ”

Fang Yuan ordered the maid to serve tea, and then asked straight to the point, "I don't know what advice His Royal Highness Governor Sun Tuolu has brought, I will listen to it." ”

Zhu Yihai shook his hand and said, "I can't talk about advice, I, the little vassal king sandwiched between Inspector Sun and the regent, am here to be a microphone for the two." ”

Fang Yuan is also what he said, it is the truth, Zhu Yihai's fief is in Huai'an Mansion, just sandwiched between Fang Yuan and Sun Chuanting, which is a buffer zone between the two sides. Whether Fang Yuan's northern expedition or the capital court went south, they must pass through Zhu Yihai's fiefdom.

The war is together, Huai'an Mansion must be the main battlefield of the war between the two sides, and Zhu Yihai is now in a dilemma in the middle, so he has to condescend and make peace in person as a messenger.

Zhu Yihai continued, "Inspector Sun's idea is still to negotiate peace with the regent, after the two sides negotiate peace, the regent will go straight from the Yangtze River to Huguang and Bashu, and the imperial court will attack the Henan Mansion of the thieves, and then unite with the Qin army to go southeast from Shaanxi to annihilate the thieves and the big western thieves in one fell swoop!" ”

"After the Liukou in the Ming Dynasty is pacified, we will send troops to Liaodong to eradicate the Manchu Qing in Liaodong in one fell swoop, and rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty!"

Fang Yuan was secretly amused when he heard it, Zhu Yihai drew him a big cake as soon as he came, and even planned the blueprint for the future for him. However, Zhu Yihai deliberately avoided the most important issue, that is, what were the conditions for peace talks between the two sides, and the conditions negotiated by Sun Chuanting, the imperial court would not approve them. Otherwise, the two sides are playing oral work, so it is better to save some time and go back to their respective homes.

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Inspector Sun, as a feudal official, is going to make peace with me in private, I'm afraid it's inappropriate!" ”

Zhu Yihai hurriedly said, "Inspector Sun is carrying the secret decree of His Majesty and the Empress, and he has been ordered to negotiate peace, so the regent does not need to be suspicious. ”

Fang Yuan was slightly shocked when he heard this, Sun Chuanting had Empress Zhou's secret decree, and it made sense. But when it comes to Emperor Chongzhen's secret decree, it is incredible. Wasn't Emperor Chongzhen under house arrest? Did something happen in the capital, or was he fooling Fang Yuan by falsely transmitting the holy decree?

Fang Yuan asked hesitantly, "Isn't Your Majesty under house arrest by Empress Zhou and the prince of the prison state?" Inspector Sun is pretending to be His Majesty's order to commit fraud! ”

Zhu Yihai hurriedly explained, "I didn't believe it before, but Inspector Sun's words are conclusive, and I don't look like a fake!" It's a mere trick, how can the regent take the bait? ”

Fang Yuan asked straight to the point, "What are the conditions for peace talks?" ”

Zhu Yihai took out an edict in his arms and handed it to Fang Yuan, "This is the secret decree of the imperial court brought by Inspector Sun, and it contains the conditions for peace talks issued by the imperial court. ”

Fang Yuan spread out the edict and looked at it, his eyes first fell on the jade seal seal, the jade seal was marked with two knife marks, at first glance, and the seal scratches on the Chongzhen edict brought by Wang Chengen from the capital before, no matter the direction or the length is about the same. This is also the seal scratch agreed between Chongzhen and Fang Yuan, and if there is this scratch, it means that it is the real Chongzhen edict and the expression of Chongzhen's true will.

He was taken aback, could it really be written by Emperor Chongzhen?! From his heart, he already agreed with Sun Chuanting's statement that he did come to the peace talks with the wishes of Chongzhen and Empress Zhou.

Fang Yuan looked at the content of the edict again, and there were five conditions for peace talks issued by the imperial court.

First, Fang Yuan had to go to the title of regent and change his title to the king of Zhennan, with the territory of Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and still exercise the power of the governor of Zhejiang, and the position of governor was hereditary;

Second, the cabinet in Jiangnan was abolished, and the existing cabinet members, as well as those in Nanjing, could go to the capital to take up posts. The cabinet of the capital can retain one cabinet member, and the six ministers can retain one scholar and two squires to properly settle the officials of the Jiangnan regime;

Third, the establishment of the Xuanjia Army was temporarily retained, and it was still under the command of Fang Yuan, after pacifying the Liukou Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, exterminating the Manchu Qing outside the Guan, and recovering Liaodong. and then disarm in the same proportion as the capital court;

Fourth, Fang Yuan was granted the right to levy exclusive opinions in the south, without the need to report to the imperial court.

Fifth, once the peace talks between the two sides were successful, they deposed the perverse Zhu Cihong and renamed Zhu Cihuan, the king of Wuyue, as the crown prince.

Fang Yuan returned to review the three conditions for peace talks issued by the imperial court, logically speaking, these three conditions are not excessive, both rewarded the prince of Fang Yuan Zhennanwang, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the king with a different surname is only one family in Yunnan Muwangfu; Moreover, the establishment of the Xuanjia Army can be retained, and the military power is also in Fang Yuan's hands; granted the right to exclude and negotiate, that is, Fang Yuan could arbitrarily conquest any power in the south in the name of the imperial court; The re-establishment of Zhu Cihuan, who was close to Fang Yuan, as the crown prince and the inheritance of the unification in the future is to remove Fang Yuan's doubts.

Taken together, these five conditions make the power almost the same as Fang Yuan's current power, the only difference is that Fang Yuan's title of regent has been removed, as well as Jiangnan's cabinet. The imperial court was able to prescribe this condition, which was to acquiesce in the existence of Fang Yuan's secession in the two provinces of Zhejiang.

In other words, as long as Fang Yuan agreed to be under the banner of a Ming Dynasty, any conditions could be negotiated.

Fang Yuan could almost conclude that if this condition could be prescribed, there must be Chongzhen's shadow behind it. According to Zhu Cihong's thoughts, it is absolutely impossible to prescribe such conditions.

Zhu Yihai persuaded in a low voice on the side, "Regent, if the capital court can make such a condition, it is to acquiesce to the existence of the Tang Dynasty domain. We, the vassal kings, are the only regent who is looking forward, and we want everyone in the feudal town to join the feudal town, and the court will regret it when the time comes, and it can't help us, right! ”

Fang Yuan squinted at Zhu Yihai, in fact, this was the reason why Zhu Yihai came to Nanzhili in person. The king of the Ming Dynasty was not allowed to exercise any rights in the fief before, and even went out of the palace to be monitored.

With Zhu Yihai's ambition, how could he be willing to be such a famous and powerless vassal king? Zhu Yihai's idea was to take advantage of Fang Yuan's shareholder style to blackmail the imperial court and change the feudal king's fiefdom into a feudal town, and the feudal king had absolute military and political power over the feudal town. Even Fang Yuan, a person with a foreign surname, can have the power to secession, and they, the vassal kings, should naturally also have the qualifications to secession.

At that time, centralized power will be gone, and the Ming Dynasty will become a United Kingdom with dozens of semi-independent states, similar to the pre-United States.

Fang Yuan had already seen the conditions offered by the imperial court, and he already knew in his heart, and said lightly, "His Royal Highness King Lu, the conditions offered by the imperial court seem to be inappropriate, but my conditions are slightly different. ”

Zhu Yihai was slightly stunned, Fang Yuan was still inappropriate for such relaxed conditions in the imperial court, could it be that Fang Yuan really wanted to rebel? !