An Tong's vague words made Zhenjin completely calm down, he was not an uninformed 'Xiaobai' emperor, strictly speaking, he was cultivated as the emperor's heir since he was a child. He came into contact with Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and other most advanced cultures at that time, and finally accepted Confucianism, and was successively taught by the famous Confucian Yao Shu and Wang Sui and others.

Zhongshu Province is the highest administrative body in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhongshu Ling is the head of Zhongshu Province, the rank is a product, the status is very high, at this time he was only twenty years old. After becoming the crown prince, he was appointed as the secretary of the Zhongshu and sentenced to the Privy Council. The following year, he began to "sign the edict" in Zhongshu Province. Go to the provincial government office twice a month to sign and sign the necessary official documents. As the crown prince, he participated extensively in the country's political activities and brutal power struggles, and experienced the ups and downs of the historical process in the early days of the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhenjin's experience has given him a comprehensive understanding of the national system and political system, and understands the gains and losses. He knew that the early success of his father Khan was due to his understanding that geographical unification would inevitably require cultural and political unification, so he set the capital of Han and built a large capital; Establish the era name, country name and related etiquette system, set up a temple to worship ancestors, and formulate the Central Plains court rituals; In addition to this, a centralized dynastic bureaucracy was established. It has also adopted a series of measures such as emphasizing agriculture and respecting Confucianism.

Despite this, as a horse-riding nation in the Central Plains, Zhenjin thought that its degree of sinicization was far from enough in the process of learning Confucianism and participating in political affairs, and even in vain. What's more, Kublai Khan issued an edict at the beginning of his reign, clarifying his own founding principle: the ancestral narrative is flexible. The ancestral narrative is to inherit the old Mongolian system, and the adaptation is to carry out the Sinicization reform, which is destined to the reform of the Yuan Dynasty has not deepened, so that there are many traditional political ills and many non-traditional political ills.

First of all, Kublai Khan was not active in the promotion of sinicization in the later period, and the process of sinicization was sluggish, and it was only treated as a quasi-religion. This in itself is also because the territory of the Mongol Empire is vast, and from the perspective of Mongolia, the Han land is only a small part of the Mongol Empire, so the Mongol ruling class has never looked at the Yuan Dynasty from a central position, and is faced with multiple cultures: Tubo Lamaist culture, Central Asian culture, European Christian culture, and Central Plains Han culture. Compared with so many options, of course, the old sectarian class will not think that Han culture is superior, and it lacks the internal motivation of Sinicization.

Secondly, the Mongols did not know Chinese characters, the court mainly used the Mongolian language, after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the creation of Mongolian new characters, all official documents, must be written with it and then attached to the Chinese, which led to the Han people also had to learn Mongolian, otherwise it is difficult to be a clerk. And most of the Mongolians do not understand Han culture, especially Confucianism, speaking they all say that they do not understand, saying that Confucian teachers have taught Confucianism for many years and do not know its meaning, while Western monks teach Buddhist scriptures, and they will know it overnight.

Moreover, it is precisely because the Mongols have not integrated into the Han culture that they look down on the Han culture and accept the Han culture very slowly, and most people have always been relatively isolated from the rules and regulations, ideology and culture of the Han region. It also prevented them from reusing Han Chinese, and the imperial court did not hold imperial examinations for a long time, so Confucian scholars could not enter the bureaucracy.

In addition, due to the retention of a large number of old Mongolian systems such as the cast-down system, the elimination system, the gift system, the cowardly Xue system, etc., the Mongolian nobles were able to use their privileges to wantonly embezzle and corrupt, creating a lot of fame for accumulating wealth, and this has also become the norm in the officialdom, not greedy and corrupt but abnormal, making the court itself like a big corrupt official.

In addition, after Kublai Khan conquered Jiangnan, he did not give up the campaign, and still refused to stop his troops, and successively launched aggression against Goryeo, Japan, Annam, Champang, Java and other places. However, these countries were too poor, and because they did not capture much, or even failed miserably, they used troops at a loss several times, not only did they not gain anything, but they also took advantage of the capital. It was precisely because of the attrition of the war and the devastation of officials that inevitably led to frequent financial crises.

Zhenjin also realized that the political situation was unstable due to the internal struggle for power and profit within the ruling group, and most of the officials ignored the national affairs, greedy for enjoyment, and extremely corrupt. Under the counteroffensive of the Southern Dynasty, the tax land was lost one after another, which made it impossible to honor the gifts, which made the old kings dissatisfied with the imperial court, and their control over the grassland was also declining.

"What does the left minister think is the case now?" Although Zhenjin had already seen everything, he also thought that after inheriting the throne of Khan, he could do a big job ambitiously, eliminate bad governance, implement Han law, and revive the majesty of Dayuan. However, time did not wait for himself, and the Southern Dynasty continued to launch wars, which made him tired of coping and had no time to reorganize the interior. And the current chaotic situation is just a concentrated explosion of the accumulation of various contradictions in the past, he asked weakly with a pinching of his head.

"Your Majesty thinks that you should negotiate peace with the Southern Dynasty!" An Tong said with a struggle on his face.

"Peace?!" Sure enough, as soon as his words fell, everyone gasped and looked at An Tong in disbelief.

"No!" Sang Ge reacted first and said sharply, "At the moment, our army has destroyed the enemy's baggage and injured its lord, it is a good time for a counterattack, how can we negotiate peace?" ”

"Prime Minister Zuo proposed peace at this time and gave in to the southerners, which not only humiliated the national body, but also caused endless harm!" Yuechi Cha'er also rebuked loudly.

"His Majesty thinks that the discussion of the left minister can be discussed, and it is the great plan to build the country by taking a truce with the Southern Dynasty, purging internal affairs, rearmament, and recuperation!" However, Li Qian expressed his support for An Tong and stood up to salute.

"The minister thinks that missing the opportunity for a counterattack is the way to destroy the country, and the Great Khan has already made a decision!" Yue Chi Cha'er spoke again.

"The minister thinks that now that the Southern Army has lost its baggage, the offensive is weak, and it is unwilling to retreat, it is a good opportunity to negotiate peace, and we can also strive for the initiative!" Li Qian said.

"Pingzhang is too naïve!" Sang Ge sneered and said, "Even if you want to negotiate peace, it is not a good opportunity, it will definitely ask for Kaifeng and Songzhou, and want to use the Yellow River as the boundary to annex half of the Central Plains." If our army can seize the opportunity to break through the current enemy, the southern army will be difficult to coordinate with several troops and horses, and will inevitably panic and rush to flee for their lives, and it will be difficult to take care of each other at that time, not only can the enemy be expelled from Huaibei, but Huainan is also not unrepeatable, and then the peace negotiation will lose Huainan at most, and the Central Plains can be safe! ”

"The counselor only wants to win, and if he is defeated, the Song army will cross the Yellow River and go straight to the capital, and our dynasty will have no place in the Central Plains, so we can only retreat to the grassland!" An Tong snorted.

"What's wrong with the grassland, there are hundreds of thousands of iron horsemen from my dynasty there, and you can protect the Great Khan without worry!" Sang Ge said with a smile.

"Alright, you all stand down, and wait for me to think about it before making a decision!" Seeing a few people arguing, Zhenjin was even more upset in his heart, and waved his hand to let everyone retreat......

Discussions with several important ministers were fruitless, and the next day at the court meeting, the ministers were divided into two factions and there was another dispute. The faction led by Sango and the Mongol kings fought the main battle, and they thought that they could not compromise with the Southern Dynasty, but should fight with all their might. If you win, you can expel the Southern Dynasty from the two Huai, and if you lose, you will only withdraw from the Central Plains and return to the grassland; An Tong and a group of Hanchen were the main peace, they believed that only by keeping the Central Plains could there be hope for revival, as long as they tried their courage, worked hard, and quelled the civil strife, it would not take ten years to go south again and unify China.

'Pap ......' several court meetings ended in quarrels, and Zhenjin listened to what both sides said and made sense, so they were in a dilemma, unable to choose, and didn't know how to decide for a while. And the ministers argued endlessly in the court, and after the next court, they also played one after another, and for a time the table was sent to his desk like snowflakes. He looked at it for a while, but there was not much new in it, and threw the piece in his hand aside.

Zhenjin is on the soft couch outside, with his eyes closed and pretending to sleep, but his brain can't rest, and he is still thinking about state affairs. He knew very well that if the Southern Dynasty seized half of the south of the Yangtze River, if it only hurt the skin, then the entire army of Yuxi Timur in Jiangdong was wiped out, and the loss of Lianghuai would be a break in the muscles and bones. And now, if the guards and pro-army who came to the aid are defeated, they will lose the Central Plains and even the Han land, which will hurt the country.

Because Zhenjin saw it more clearly than those Mongol kings, once it lost the Han land, not only did it lose the source of wealth and population. The most important thing is that without the support of the Han people, they lose the weapon to balance the old kings, and even if they return to the grassland, it is difficult for them to maintain their authority and become puppets. And eyeing other khanates, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not take advantage of the fire to rob, and the steppe will fall back into civil strife, so falling apart is the fate of Dayuan.

Therefore, Zhenjin thought that it was not unprofitable to negotiate peace with the Southern Dynasty at the moment, but he felt very unwilling to give up the land south of the Yellow River. In this way, the Southern Dynasty was like holding a sharp sword against his throat, and he was always under the threat of the Southern Dynasty. Therefore, he felt that it was necessary to launch a counteroffensive while the southern army's baggage was burned, so that even if he could not recapture the two Huai, he could still win the first opportunity in the negotiations, after all, peace under the sword and peace talks with the attitude of the victor were completely different from the chips and the right to speak in his hands.

And Zhenjin thought that he also needed time and a space for temporary peace, freeing up his hands to rectify internal affairs, suppress rebellions, establish his authority, and become a real Mongol Great Khan, rather than a whispering worm who was constantly elbowed and swayed. But in order to do this, he must first eliminate external troubles and stop fighting with the Southern Dynasties, so no matter whether he wins or loses, peace negotiation seems inevitable.

But for the current war and peace, although Zhenjin is still wavering, he understands that the war cannot be delayed any longer, because it is difficult to support it with the current financial and material resources of the imperial court. Otherwise, if the Song army did not come to the city, the imperial court would have collapsed. And although he thought clearly, he was undecided, and it was difficult to make up his mind whether to start a decisive battle with the Song army......