"Zhang Hu, the envoy of the Great Jin, see His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty." Zhang Hu knelt on the ground and saluted Zhao Chen.

Zhao Chen nodded and said, "Envoy of the Jin Kingdom, flat." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zhang Hu stood up, stood with his hands down, and waited for Zhao Chen to speak.

Zhao Chen said: "Envoy of the Jin State, I have read your national letter, I sent Fan Chengda to envoy the Jin State before, and also put forward the request of my Great Song Dynasty, if you want to negotiate peace, the Jin State must return the land of my Great Song Dynasty, but in your national letter, this is not deniable. Then I would like to ask your envoy, what are the plans of your Jin Kingdom? ”

Zhang Hu said respectfully: "Back to Your Majesty, my Dajin land is all Emperor Taizu Taizong, who worked tirelessly back then, cut and split, and worked hard to obtain it, which can be described as hard-won." How can you easily give it to others? Therefore, the matter of returning the land is absolutely unnegotiable. ”

As soon as he said this, the entire hall couldn't help but stir, and the civil and military officials of the Great Song Dynasty exchanged their heads and whispered, but they didn't expect that the envoys sent by the Jin State would have such a tough attitude.

After Zhang Hu stayed in the museum, he first handed over the credentials of the Jin Kingdom to the Great Song Dynasty. However, in the letter of state, Jin did not put forward new conditions for peace, but reaffirmed his intention to renegotiate peace with the Song Dynasty, and affirmed that all the powers of peace were entrusted to Zhang Hu. In other words, the conditions for peace will be negotiated and determined by Zhang Hu and Da Song.

Zhao Chen immediately summoned the ministers to discuss, what was the intention of the Jin State to send such a letter of state, and how the Great Song Dynasty would deal with the Jin State.

Regarding the intentions of the Jin Kingdom, the ministers discussed a lot, each expressed their own opinions, and they all agreed that they would not visit Zhang Hu and make it clear when they were in the palace. If the Jin State does not make certain substantive concessions, then the Great Song Dynasty will never reach a peace agreement with the Jin State, and this point cannot be changed. Anyway, now the Jin State is unable to use troops against the Great Song Dynasty, on the contrary, once the Great Song Dynasty breathes a sigh of relief, it can unite with Mongolia and start a formal attack on the Jin State.

Therefore, three days later, Zhao Chen summoned the envoys of the Jin State at the Wende Palace. It's just that I didn't expect that at the beginning, Zhang Hu categorically refused to cede the land, and his tone was firm, and there was no doubt about it. It also surprised Zhao Chen and the civil and military ministers of the Great Song Dynasty, because the attitude of the Great Song Dynasty was very clear before, that is, the Jin State must cede the land before it can negotiate peace. If the Jin State did not intend to cede land, then why did it send envoys to Jiankang again?

Before Zhao Chen could speak, Wang Yan couldn't help but speak, and said: "The world is divided into north and south, and the land of the Central Plains has been the land of my Great Song Dynasty since ancient times, not the land of your Jin Kingdom, but it was forcibly occupied by the forces of your Jin Kingdom back then, and now it has been returned to my Great Song Dynasty." ”

Zhang Hu said: "The land of the Central Plains is indeed the land of the Song Dynasty that my Dajin forcibly occupied back then, but this is still a matter of the previous dynasty, and it has nothing to do with my lord now." And my lord inherited the inheritance of the ancestors and ancestors of Dajin, and he should guard the land, and there is no reason to abandon it. What's more, those in the world are not the world of one person and one surname, but only those who can get it. Back then, it was Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty who favored the six thieves, so that the dynasty was corrupted, and the city and land were lost, but who was to blame? ”

When Zhou Kui heard this, he couldn't help it, and stepped forward and said: "What do you say about inheriting the foundation of the ancestors of the Great Jin Kingdom, who doesn't know that the current lord of the Jin Kingdom, Wanyan Changzhi, has seized the throne by force, and he has committed such a rebellion, so he has turned his back on the ancestors, and what face will he have to see the ancestors of the Jin Kingdom in the future." ”

Zhang Hu Huoran turned around, looked directly at Zhou Kui, and said: "My lord is still the son of King Liang, and the descendant of Emperor Taiyuan, why not inherit the throne." As he spoke, he turned to Zhao Chen again, bowed down, and said, "Speaking of which, Your Majesty is not a descendant of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty, and didn't he inherit the throne at the beginning, wasn't he also obtained by competing with King Deng?" ”

Zhou Kui was furious and said: "Presumptuous, my lord succeeded to the throne, but after the death of Emperor Guangzong, he neither established a prince nor had an heir, and was edicted by the Emperor Taishang. ”

Zhang Hu smiled coldly and said, "Okay, even if His Majesty of the Song Dynasty succeeds to the throne in a justifiable manner, then may I ask my lord, where did the Song Dynasty come from, didn't Emperor Taiyuan take it from Chai Shizong's descendants?" Is it justified? If a descendant of Chai Shizong comes to ask His Majesty for this country, will His Majesty return it to him? Or is this still a matter of the past dynasty and has nothing to do with the present? ”

Zhou Kui was speechless by Zhang Hu's refutation. Not only him, but even the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty did not say anything. Everyone knows in their hearts that the Great Song Dynasty has not come from the right place, but the times are long, and the Zhao family has sat on the throne with scriptures, and it has been passed down for twelve generations. Therefore, no one mentions it.

Of course, Zhang Hu also knew this in his heart, if it wasn't for Zhou Kui to finish Yan Changzhi's account, Zhang Hu would not have mentioned it, but now that Zhang Hu has turned it over again, there is no quibble. Zhou Kui's forehead couldn't help but sweat a little, and he didn't dare to look at Zhao Chen's face.

The Wende Hall was silent for a while, and Han Yan said straightforwardly: "Envoy of the Jin Kingdom, today I will only talk about the peace between the two countries, regardless of anything else. Who is the emperor of your Jin Kingdom and how you are the emperor are all internal affairs of the Jin Kingdom, and I will never ask. ”

When Zhang Hu heard this, he immediately borrowed the ladder to go down the wall, saluted Zhao Chen, and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, Fang is a foreign minister who is talking nonsense and disrespectful, and I ask His Majesty the Emperor of the Song Dynasty to forgive me." ”

Zhao Chen nodded, he was actually very angry in his heart, but he also knew that this debate was provoked by Zhou Kui first, and Zhang Hu was just forced to fight back. Therefore, Zhang Hu can't be blamed. Now it's better to discuss peace and bring this one over. Said: "Envoys of the Jin Kingdom, you should know the attitude of my Great Song Dynasty, if you insist on refusing to return my Great Song land, then why send envoys to Jiankang again?" ”

Obviously, Zhao Chen didn't plan to go around in circles with Zhang Hu anymore, and directly mentioned the bottom line. If Zhang Hu still did not plan to cede the land, then the Great Song Dynasty would have ended this peace negotiation.

Knowing Zhang Hu, he was not in a hurry, and said: "Your Majesty's words are very true, the Central Plains is the homeland of the Song Dynasty, in fact, this is not false, so it is natural for Your Majesty to have the heart to recover the homeland." And my lord's inheritance of the land of our ancestors cannot be taken lightly, and there is nothing wrong with it. It was an unsolvable knot, but our lord still appointed Wei Chen as an envoy to visit the Song Dynasty, and there was really a solution. Not only can the Song Dynasty be able to recover all of its homeland, but also my Dajin will not lose its land. ”

This sentence is like a turning of the road, Zhao Chen and the civil and military ministers of the Great Song Dynasty can't help but be very curious, and they all want to hear what else the Jin State can do to solve this problem that neither side is willing to give a step. Zhao Chen said: "Envoy of the Jin Kingdom, if you have any solution, you might as well talk about it." ”

Zhang Hu said with a smile: "Naturally, my Dajin can't give up the land to the Song Dynasty for nothing, but your Song Dynasty can redeem it with silver money." ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall couldn't help but be in an uproar, no one thought that Jin Guo would come up with such a solution.

Zhang Hu then said: "Our Dajin has made a resolution that the old land of the Song Dynasty is limited to Fuzhou, no matter how big or small, the government will be priced at 800,000 taels of silver, and the state will be discounted with 600,000 taels of silver, as long as the Song Dynasty is willing to pay money, not only the Central Plains, but also the land of Shandong, Hebei, and Jingzhao, all can be redeemed." In this way, my Dajin can get silver money, and it is easy to confess before the ancestors, and the Song Dynasty can recover the homeland, and both sides take what they need and have their own gains, so why not do it? ”

At this time, the ministers of the Great Song Dynasty all came back to their senses, and they couldn't help but fall into contemplation, some people were thinking about the intention of the Jin State's proposal, some people were weighing the gains and losses, and some people were calculating how much money the Great Song Dynasty would have to spend to redeem all the lost land if they followed the method of the Jin Kingdom.

Chen Lianghan, the secretary of the household department, asked Zhang Hu: "May I ask the envoy of the Jin State, what you are talking about redeeming the land is the redemption of one state and one government, or the redemption of all the land along the way, or the redemption of all the lost land together." In addition, your envoy just said that the lost land is discounted into silver, so in addition to silver, copper coins are not allowed. ”

Zhang Hu smiled and said: "Everything should be subject to the plan of the Song Dynasty, one state and one government can be, and all the way can be, and if the Song Dynasty has enough silver, it can redeem all the land at one time, and my Dajin will naturally not stop it." If the Song Dynasty could not come up with so much silver for a while, it would be feasible to redeem only a few state capitals in a year. And so on day by day, one day you will be able to redeem all the land. If there is not enough silver, it can also be calculated with copper coins, silk, and grain. As long as Song agrees to my Dajin's proposal, the details of other redemptions can be resolved through negotiation. ”

At this time, the Wende Hall gradually quieted down,

And Zhao Chen also calmed down at this time, and said: "Envoy of the Jin State, this matter is very important, and I need to discuss it carefully with the ministers before I can make a decision, so I can't reply to you immediately." Now you can go back to the pavilion and rest, and I will inform you when I have discussed the results with my ministers. ”

Zhang Hu also nodded and said, "Your Majesty is reasonable, even so, the ministers have retreated." As he spoke, he finished saluting Zhao Chen, then turned around and exited the Wende Hall and went back to the pavilion.

After Zhang Hu left, Zhao Chen asked, "What do you think of Jin Guo's proposal?" ”

Although Zhang Hu left with a classic, after all, the news came too suddenly, and it was difficult to decide whether it was good or bad for a while. Therefore, although Zhao Chen asked, the ministers did not dare to speak easily. There was silence in the Wende Hall for a while.

At this time, Han Yanzhi came out again and said, "Your Majesty, in Weichen's opinion, it is not appropriate to discuss this issue today. If you don't visit, let everyone go back, think about it for a day, and come back tomorrow to discuss it."

Zhao Chen listened, nodded as well, and said, "Han Qing's words are reasonable. All the secretaries can go back and think about it seriously, and make a decision tomorrow. ”