The peace talks between the Song and Liao provinces have reached the fourth round, and in the first three rounds of negotiations, the two sides have only reached two consensuses, one is to exchange hostages, and the Song army will exchange hundreds of noble ministers and thousands of prisoners of war captured by the Liaoyang Mansion in exchange for all the Song people and Song soldiers captured by the Liao State in the past ten years.

Another consensus was the exchange of land, and the Liao agreed to exchange Dongshengzhou from Xijing for Yizhou and Juehua Island, and the Han people in Yixian County were allowed to retreat south with the Song army.

However, there were serious differences between the two sides on the issue of the New Year's coin, and the Liao State demanded the restoration of the New Year's Coin of the Yuanyuan Alliance, giving the Liao State 200,000 horses of silk and 100,000 taels of silver every year, but the Great Song Dynasty insisted on canceling the New Year's coin, and even if an agreement could not be reached, the Song Dynasty would not give the Liao State one or two silver coins.

First, the Liao State lost the New Year's coin, which had a huge impact on its finances, so Yelu Hongji took the restoration of the New Year's coin as the basis for signing the covenant, while the Song Dynasty regarded the New Year's coin as a great shame, in order to maintain the honor of the great power, the young emperor Zhao Ji resolutely disagreed with the restoration of the New Year's coin, and the two sides were deadlocked.

Honglu Temple's Guike Hall, here is the fourth round of negotiations between the Song and Liao sides, the first three rounds are held in the province of Menxia, this time the Liao proposed to change the address, the negotiation venue was changed in the Honglu Temple, which is also the Liao State hopes to remind the Song Dynasty to pay attention to the importance of friendly coexistence between the Liao and Song Dynasty.

But there was no point in changing the venue, the chief negotiator of the Song Dynasty, Xiang Guo was knowledgeable and had a tough attitude, and he did not give an inch on the matter of the New Year's coin.

It is no wonder that the Song Dynasty had the upper hand militarily, and it was the Liao State that took the initiative to sue for peace, so how could the Song Dynasty make concessions in the negotiations.

The two sides have been sitting for two hours, no one has spoken, and the atmosphere in the guest hall is very solemn, at this time, Wen Yanbo sighed, "Zhang Xiangguo thinks it is necessary to talk about the fifth round?" ”

Zhang Xiaojie also knew that it was impossible for the other party to change his position and agree to the New Year's coin, but he also had a strict order from the Son of Heaven, and it was impossible to give in.

He was a little frustrated: "It seems that the consensus of the New Year's Coin cannot be reached, so what should we do with the consensus reached before?" ”

"Zhang Xiangguo, why don't we take a step back first! Sign an agreement based on what we have agreed to before. ”

"Agreements?"

Zhang Xiaojie sneered: "Isn't the agreement without the terms of the New Year's coin just what you need?" ”

"Zhang Xiangguo should first ask what kind of agreement it is."

"Prime Minister Wen, please say, I'll listen to you."

Wen Yanbo said unhurriedly: "Now our two sides are in a state of war, in this state, it is impossible for the Song army to withdraw from Yizhou and Juehua Island, only a temporary suspension of the state of war, the withdrawal of troops, the exchange of prisoners of war, and the exchange of land can be implemented, I mean, we can first reach an agreement to stop the state of war, referred to as the armistice agreement." ”

"But..... What is the difference between this and the covenant? ”

"The difference is very big, after the signing of the Covenant, the two sides are friendly countries, there will be normal trade, there will be normal personnel exchanges, and the signing of the armistice agreement does not change the hostilities between the two sides, but only stops the war so that the two sides can do something."

Zhang Xiaojie was silent, and Yelu Pinghui, the deputy envoy next to him, said coldly: "Is it that after exchanging prisoners of war and land, the two sides continue to fight." ”

"It depends on the will of both sides, if they don't want to fight, then a truce period can be determined, during which the two sides try to stop the war as much as possible, if one side does something that violates the agreement, then the armistice agreement can be torn up at any time, if neither side wants to fight, then within the armistice period, the two sides can be at peace."

"How long is this truce?" Zhang Xiaojie suddenly asked.

He also found that this was a good way, since there was no way to reach an alliance, and he wanted the Song army to withdraw and exchange prisoners of war, then it would not be the intention of the Son of Heaven to sign a non-binding cease agreement.

"This can be negotiated by both parties, three months, half a year, one year, or three years, I think it's nothing more than these four!"

"Alright! Allow me to ask the Son of Heaven. ”

Wen Yanbo smiled slightly, "No problem, what we have is time." ”

.........

On the way back to the Liao State Pavilion, Yelu Pinghui was a little dissatisfied and said: "Obviously, the Song Dynasty did not have the sincerity to reach an alliance at all, and they have already prepared this armistice agreement, this is their purpose, isn't it?" ”

Zhang Xiaojie sighed secretly, how could the Son of Heaven send such a stupid person to be his deputy?

He said calmly: "Yelu Tongzhi knows that all negotiations will prepare several sets of plans, and it is not surprising that the Song Dynasty prepared this armistice agreement in advance, these are not important, what is important, what do we need to get?" ”

"It means that Zhang Xiangguo is very satisfied with this armistice agreement?"

"yes!"

Zhang Xiaojie did not deny it: "If the covenant cannot be reached, what should Yizhou do?" What about the Tokyo nobles and ministers who were captured by the Song army? Did Jerod know that there was any other way? ”

"This ......," Yelu Pinghui didn't know what to say.

Zhang Xiaojie said lightly: "Of course, this matter is not up to me to decide, I will send a message to the Son of Heaven and let the Son of Heaven decide whether to sign an armistice agreement?" ”

Back at the Liaoguo Pavilion, Zhang Xiaojie immediately wrote two text messages, reporting the negotiations and the final armistice agreement as concisely as possible, and then sent the eagle letter to Youzhou.

At present, Yelu Hongji, the son of heaven of Liao, is in the Dade Temple of Youzhou Mansion, and thousands of monks are holding a grand water and land festival to surpass the souls of the Liao soldiers.

In the Song-Liao War in the past few months, the Liao State has lost more than 90,000 people, and it is reasonable to hold a festival to overspend the souls.

But for this festival, Yelu Hongji spent nearly 100,000 taels of silver, the colorful silks in the Nanjing Dao warehouse were exhausted, and the money for recruiting new soldiers in Nanjing Dao was useless, and the Han army did not issue it for several months, but Yelu Hongji spent a lot of money to do Buddhist affairs, which made people criticize.

As the Son of Heaven, Yelu Hongji never considered such a trivial matter, and no one dared to advise him, the reason why he stayed in Nanjing Dao was because he was waiting for Zhang Xiaojie's news of negotiations.

At noon that day, Xinying was finally sent to Youzhou.

In a corridor of the Nanjing Palace, Yelu Yixin hurriedly walked towards the imperial study of the Son of Heaven.

He should have arrived in Nanking two days ago, but he had been delayed by a lucrative business, and fifty taels of silver had already fallen into his pocket, which made him taste great sweetness, and he could not extricate himself, and he knew very well that if he wanted to continue with this business, he would have to convince Yelu Hongji.

Yelu Yixin walked quickly to the imperial study, he waited at the door for a while, and a eunuch said: "Xiangguo, please come in!" ”

Yelu Yixin walked into the imperial study, and saw Yelu Hongji, the son of heaven, standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands, his eyes a little gloomy.

Yelu Yixin's heart was weak for a while, and he whispered for a while: "Your Majesty! ”

Yelu Hongji glanced back at him, and then came back to his senses, "Xiangguo is here, hey!" Zhang Xiaojie doesn't let me worry! ”

Yelu Yixin's heart was relieved, it turned out that it was for the negotiation of the Liao and Song Songs, his thinking immediately regained his sharpness, and he asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, is the negotiation not going well?" ”

"The Song Dynasty refused to restore the coins, so they came up with a temporary armistice, exchanging land and hostages, saying that they could be torn up at any time, is this what I want? Even if it's a covenant, wouldn't it be the same if I wanted to tear it up? The armistice agreement and the covenant are the same thing in my eyes, what I want is the New Year's coin, and without the New Year's coin, who will pay for my military expenses? There are so many Buddhist temples, how can I support them? ”

Yelu Yixin's eyes rolled, and he suddenly had an idea in his heart.

"Your Majesty, Weichen knows Zhang Xiaojie's ability very well, if even he can't make the Song Dynasty back down, then it is inevitable that the Song Dynasty will not pay the New Year's coin, if the negotiation can't get the New Year's coin, then it can only be taken back from the battlefield."

Yelu Hongji had to admit that Yelu Yixin was right, what could not be obtained on the battlefield could not be expected to be obtained at the negotiating table.

He hesitated for a moment and said, "But the army needs to be repaired, and some rebels need to be suppressed, and I am afraid that the war will not be able to start in a short time." ”

"Your Majesty! Even if the Song army is defeated in two years, we must let them pay off the annual coins they owe today, and we are not in a hurry at this time. ”

Yelu Hongji took a few steps with his hands in his hand, and said to Yelu Yixin: "You are Xiangguo, you should be very aware of the current financial situation of the imperial court, if there is no New Year's coin, I am worried that there will be a big problem with the finances." ”

Yelu Yixin seized this opportunity and said, "Your Majesty knows why the minister arrived at Nanjing Dao two days late? ”

Yelu Hongji was stunned and looked at Yelu Yixin in bewilderment.

Yelu Yixin said: "A Japanese businessman found Weichen and bought 500,000 catties of pig iron from the inventory of Liaoyang Mansion with 100,000 yuan, which is the agreement we signed with Japan. ”

Yelu Hongji frowned, "Japan bought pig iron, so how can our army prepare for war?" ”

"Your Majesty, there is a huge iron mine in the south of Liaoyang Mansion, Japan bought pig iron, we will expand mining and smelting, double the number of miners, 200,000 Han miners will mine day and night, our pig iron will continue to come out, not only to meet its own needs, but also to supply Japan in large quantities, so that Japan has the ability to resist the Kunzhou Song army."

"If you get all the Han people to open mines, will it ......?"

"Your Majesty, it is true that the Han people are not good at fighting, but they are easy to manage and obedient, and we think it is very suitable to use them for mining and smelting."

Yelu Hongji didn't care too much about the life and death of the Han people, he nodded, "This matter will be left to Xiangguo to do, in addition, I want to expand trade with Japan, see if I can get warships from them, next time I ask the Japanese envoy to come to Beijing." ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Yelu Hongji took two steps with his hand, and then said: "Send a letter to Zhang Xiaojie, agree to sign an armistice agreement, agree to the proposal of the Song Dynasty, and the period will be set at three years." ”

Although the proposal for a three-year truce was a proposal put forward by the Song Dynasty, Yelu Hongji also accepted it, and he considered that it would take three years to prepare, and the Liao army should also have a naval army, and iron fire and thunder could also be built on a large scale.