Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

Page 596

If you Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers are not confused, you should quickly agree to the conditions proposed by our army, and the two sides will negotiate a peace, strike and truce.

If not, you Song Dynasty will just wait for the country to be destroyed.

Regarding the terms of the peace negotiation, Wanyan Zongwang proposed that the Song Dynasty give the Jin army 500 million taels of gold, 5000 million taels of silver, 1000 million pieces of silk each, and 200 horses, camels, mules, and donkeys each to reward the Jin army.The Song Dynasty paid [-] million coins per year to the Kingdom of Jin.

In addition, Wanyan Zongwang proposed that the emperor of the Song Dynasty follow the emperor of the Jin Kingdom as his uncle, repatriate all Yanyun civilian officials who fled to the Song Dynasty, and then cut off the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian to the Kingdom of Jin as compensation for the Pingzhou incident.

In order to ensure that the Song Dynasty kept its word and could deliver the land as promised after the Jin army retreated, Wanyan Zongwang asked the Song Dynasty to send a prince to the Kingdom of Jin as a hostage, and send another prime minister to the Kingdom of Jin to delineate the boundaries of the three prefectures together.

Wanyan Zongwang told Zheng Wangzhi, Li Yue and other envoys of the Song Dynasty that if the Song Dynasty could agree to these conditions, the Jin army would withdraw immediately.

Afterwards, Wanyan Zongwang ordered people to hand over the list of peace negotiation conditions to Zheng Wangzhi and Li Yue, asking them to take them back to the city and hand them over to the Song Dynasty emperor.

Zheng Wangzhi tried his best to argue that the Song Dynasty could not afford that much money, and also said that Guo Yaoshi had asked for several war horses to replace in Yanshan Mansion, and it was difficult for our court to get them together, so how can we get [-] horses now.

Wanyanzong saw the Song envoy crying poor, so he asked Guo Yaoshi to ask.

Guo Yaoshi persuaded Zheng Wangzhi, saying that the Song Dynasty had a vast territory and was so rich, how could it not give these money?Even if your country's imperial court can't raise funds for a while, and can't give ten points, it's fine to give seven or eight points.

Then, Guo Yaoshi told Wanyan Zongwang that he had seen the inner treasury of the Song Dynasty when he was in Tokyo, and it was full of gold, and one piece cost several thousand taels, and the Song Dynasty would definitely be able to afford it.

After Wanyan Zongwang heard this, he no longer believed Zheng Wangzhi's words of crying for poverty, and ordered him to go back and ask for an order.At the same time, Xiao Sanbaonu, Yeluzhong, Wang Rui and others were sent along with the Song envoys into the city to meet the Song emperor.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Emperor Zhao Huan received Xiao Sanbaonu and other gold envoys in the hall.Xiao Sanbaonu formally submitted to Zhao Huan the terms of the peace agreement of the Kingdom of Jin.

Chapter 896 Li Gang, who is eager to fight

After reading the terms of the peace talks proposed by the Kingdom of Jin and sending the envoys of the Kingdom of Jin out of the palace, Emperor Zhao Huan immediately discussed major issues with the ministers.

Li Gang is a tough fighter. He doesn't care how many soldiers there are in Bianliang City, Tokyo, or how much surplus food is left in the homes of millions of people in the city. Compromise and peace.

Li Gang's ancestral home is Shaowu, Fujian, and he moved to Wuxi County since his grandfather's generation.

His father's name was Li Kui, who was well versed in military affairs. He once accompanied LV Huiqing in resisting Xixia invaders and made great contributions.

Therefore, Li Gang also came from an official family.

In the second year of Zhenghe, Li Gang, a 29-year-old Jinshi, entered the political arena of the Song Dynasty.

Because of his father's relationship, Li Gang's future can be said to be bright. In just three years, he became an official to supervise the censor and serve as the censor in the palace of power.

The supervisory censor is from the seventh rank, and the servant censor in the palace is the seventh rank. Although the rank is not high, but the authority is quite large.

Because this is the duty of an admonisher, who has the power to supervise and impeach all officials.

In layman's terms, the supervisory censor is a full-time troll raised by the imperial court to scold all officials in the world.

It just so happens that Li Gang is a straightforward person, he doesn't love money, he only loves fame, and the official position of supervisory censor makes him feel like a fish in water, and he can give full play to it.

However, Li Gang was addicted to cursing others, and he also gained a good reputation for being upright and outspoken, but even Song Huizong couldn't stand his so-called uprightness.

One month later, Li Gang annoyed Song Huizong because of his comments on the faults of the government.

However, even though he was dismissed from his position as an admonisher, Li Gang's outspoken and heroic qualities of daring to admonish cannot be lost.

In the first year of Xuanhe, Bianliang City in Tokyo was hit by floods. Li Gang seized the opportunity to make use of the topic, thinking that natural disasters were a warning from the heavens, indicating that there was a problem with the imperial court's governance. Shangshu asked the imperial court to pay attention to internal and external troubles.

Li Gang's move was considered inappropriate by Song Huizong Zhao Ji, who drove him out of the capital and was exiled to supervise the taxation of Sha County, Nanjian Prefecture.

Although he was kicked to a place far away from the capital by Song Huizong, Li Gang became famous and became a representative of Qingliu.

Fame is the talisman and stepping stone for the Qingliu. Although the emperor and the dignitaries don't like it, they still have to give them the official positions they deserve. Otherwise, how can they explain to the scholars all over the world?

In July of the seventh year of Xuanhe, Li Gang, who had been away for six years, was recalled to the court again and served as Taichang Shaoqing.

Less than half a year after Li Gang came back, he encountered a major incident of the Jin army's southern invasion.

Li Gang has neither the experience of leading troops in combat, nor the experience and ability to dominate the world. Logically speaking, he should not easily express his opinions in this complicated military and political struggle.

However, Li Gang is a representative launched by the Tokyo Bianliang interest group and the Qingliu. He lacks ability and integrity to make up for it. He only needs to fight to the end of the tough stance of the war of resistance.

Therefore, Li Gang resolutely opposed the imperial court's desire to have peace talks with the Kingdom of Jin, saying that the Kingdom of Jin had attacked Suanzaomen and other city gates a few days ago and returned without success, so we don't need to be afraid of them.

However, Li Yue said that when I went to negotiate with the Jin Army, I already understood that the Jin Army's soldiers were brave and their morale was high, and our army was no match for the Jin Army.For the sake of the great Song Dynasty, Jiangshan and Sheji, it is better to quickly agree to their conditions and let them withdraw their troops.

Most people in the DPRK are well aware of the weakness of the Forbidden Army in the capital, and Prime Minister Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan also agreed to accept the terms of the peace talks.

As a result of the court discussion, Emperor Zhao Huan accepted the proposal of the peace faction and decided to fully accept the peace negotiation conditions proposed by the Jin army.

Li Gang's opinion was rejected, and he left the palace unhappy.

Not long after Li Gang left the palace, he met Shen Guan who was captured by the Jin army on his mission to the Kingdom of Jin and was released again at this time.

Unwilling to give up, Li Gang asked Shen Guan about the reality of the Jin army outside the city.

When Shen Guan was on a mission, he was caught by Wanyan Zongwang, who took him to the south together.

The Jin army was in full swing all the way in Hebei. Wanyan Zongwang once asked him: "I heard that there were 80 forbidden troops in the Song Dynasty. I don't know where these troops are? Why can't you see them coming out to meet the enemy?"

Shen Guan confidently bragged to Wanyan Zongwang: "Part of the 80 imperial troops are scattered in various places. As long as there is a war, they can be called together. At this time, there are 50 million troops near Bianjing, and there are heavy guards on both sides of the Yellow River. You Can't get through at all."

As a result, the Jin army did not believe in evil and fought all the way to the bank of the Yellow River. Guo Yaoshi's forward only killed three people and wiped out Liang Fangping's [-] imperial cavalry, while He Guan's [-] cavalry on the south bank of the Yellow River also fled.

The Jin army crossed the unguarded Yellow River with a few small boats, so that Wanyan Zongwang asked Shen Guan sarcastically, where are the hundreds of thousands of troops you are talking about?As long as one or two thousand people guard the Yellow River, our army will not be able to get through, but what about people?

Shen Guan was left speechless by the question, deeply humiliated.

After the Jin army decided to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty, it sent the Song envoy Shen Guan back to Tokyo.Only then did Li Gang meet Shen Guan.

Facing Li Gang's inquiry, Shen Guan said that as far as he saw, the main force of the Jin Army East Road led by Wanyan Zongwang had less than 1 cavalry, and even less than [-] cavalry were able to fight.

Shen Guan also said that the army guarding Wanyan Zongwang's tent was less than 2000 people. In addition, Guo Yaoshi led the Ever Victorious Army with [-] cavalry, and the rest of the troops had only [-] people in total, and nearly half of them had not crossed the river to the city of Tokyo.

Shen Guan suggested to Li Gang that the Jin army's strength is very limited, and our army can send surprise troops to attack them.

Shen Guan was obviously talking nonsense, and out of hostility, he belittled the combat effectiveness of the Jin army.This guy didn't even think about it, how many soldiers of the Song Army would be ruined by wrong information.

Anyway, those who go to battle against the enemy are those vulgar military men, so what does it matter to me and other gentle scholars?

Li Gang wanted to fight wholeheartedly, and believed Shen Guan's words.He told Shen Guan that this was a big matter, and he had to discuss it with all the ministers before making a decision, and he was going to lead Shen Guan to persuade the court to send troops to attack the Jin army.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Li Gang and Shen Guan went to Dongfu to discuss with Geng Nanzhong, Li Yue and others the feasibility of surprise attacking the Jin soldiers.

Li Yue was furious after hearing this, and asked Li Gang, "How dare you underestimate the fighting power of the Jin army?"If we send troops, do you dare to say that we will win?

Li Yue resolutely opposed Li Gang's proposal of a military adventure.

Later, Prime Minister Li Bangyan also went to Dongfu and heard about it.