The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 298 Ming and Song Negotiations

(General map of the Northern Song Dynasty)
There were a few other people present, and they also showed joy in their eyes.

They had no choice but to be unhappy. The new Song Dynasty had just been established and many places did not recognize it, and those that did were not necessarily respectful.

They now urgently need to establish their prestige, unite the people's hearts, and consolidate the orthodoxy and legitimacy of the Song court.

The fastest way to establish prestige is to defeat the Jin and Liao kingdoms.

They cannot do this, but if they can gain recognition and support from the Ming Dynasty, it would be a powerful method.

In the name of the Ming Dynasty, it is enough to make everyone in the Song Dynasty recognize the legitimacy and orthodoxy of the new Song court.

By then, it will be much easier to unite people's hearts when you have a righteous cause.

"That's right." Weng Taibei nodded and said with a bit of arrogance: "My Great Ming can announce to the world that we recognize the legitimacy and legality of the Longxing Song court.

But you have to agree to my three conditions."

"Please speak, Your Excellency." Zhao Gou calmed down, stretched out his hand and smiled politely.

As for the other party's arrogance, Zhao Gou and the ministers present did not care.

Is it abnormal for the envoy of the Ming Dynasty to be a little arrogant?
"First, immediately and formally cede the six routes of Jingdong East Road, Jingdong West Road, Hebei East Road, Hebei West Road, Jingxi North Road, and Huainan East Road to the Ming Dynasty.

And let these six ministers who originally belonged to the Song Dynasty all pledge allegiance to the Ming Dynasty." Weng Taibei's first condition made Zhao Gou and his ministers look pale.

But they did not show anger, nor did they resist much, just hesitated a little.

Weng Taibei smiled calmly, not giving them time to hesitate, and said forcefully: "Now that my Ming army is entering the Song Dynasty to fight, of course we must have our own territory.

Moreover, if it weren't for the Ming Dynasty, these six routes would have been obtained by the Jin Man without any accident. Now the Ming Dynasty is going to snatch these six routes from the hands of the Jin Man.

Even if I ask you to formally cede it, it is just a name. Do you want to refuse?"

Weng Taibei's tone and attitude made Zhao Gou and others feel insulted.

A minister wanted to speak, but Zhao Gou smiled and said, "Your Excellency is joking. We certainly won't refuse.

The Ming Dynasty saved the people from the hands of the Jin barbarians, and the Song Dynasty should be grateful to the Ming Dynasty and cede the territory."

"Yes." Weng Taibei nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "Secondly, my Great Ming is dealing with the Jin Man, and the Liao Man will not oppose my Great Ming for the time being, and will continue to move south.

You will have to deal with the Liao barbarians."

"Of course." Zhao Gou and others nodded immediately, this was certain.

"You can hold off the Liao barbarians first, and wait until the Ming Dynasty has dealt with the Jin barbarians, and then deal with the Liao barbarians.

By then, all the territories occupied by the Liao barbarians will belong to our Ming Dynasty.

This point must be determined in advance." Weng Taibei said without question.

Emperor Zhao Gou and his ministers took a deep breath, and as their eyes met, they reached a consensus.

There's not much to say about that either.

They didn't even think about launching a Northern Expedition. All they wanted was to keep the Jin and Liao armies out of the south.

It would be no big deal to give the entire north to the Ming Dynasty at that time.

On the contrary, Zhao Gou felt relieved.

The Ming Dynasty clearly wanted the north, which meant that it would not fall out with the Song Dynasty, nor did it have the intention of directly destroying the Song Dynasty.

Thinking of this, he nodded in agreement.

"Third, all the expenses incurred by our Ming army in the war against Song must be borne by you." Weng Taibei said solemnly.

Emperor Zhao Gou and his ministers were completely restless.

"Your Excellency is wrong. Since the Song Dynasty has agreed to cede the six eastern routes in the north to the Ming Dynasty, then those six routes are the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Now the Ming Dynasty is fighting with the Jin barbarians on its own, fighting for itself, not to help the Song Dynasty.

How can we, the Song Dynasty, bear the cost?" A minister stepped forward and said solemnly.

"Ridiculous." Weng Taibei raised his chin and said proudly: "Why did the Ming Dynasty enter the Song Dynasty from the north?
Why not enter Song from the south?

Entering Song from the south would just avoid the Jin and Liao kingdoms. After sweeping the south, wouldn't it be better to attack Jin and Liao from the southeast?"

These words made Emperor Zhao Gou and his ministers tremble with fear.

This is also what they have been most worried about.

If the Ming Dynasty really invaded the Song Dynasty from the south, they would be finished.

With their newly established court, which could not even integrate itself internally and had few experts, how could they resist the Ming Dynasty, which was more orthodox among the Han people?

"Humph." Weng Taibei snorted coldly, "This is my Majesty. He believes that the righteousness of China should be put first and that the Tartars should not be allowed to occupy the land of China, so he ordered the Grand Commander to march from the north and attack the Jin barbarians directly.

However, our army's logistical problems were extremely serious when fighting the Jin barbarians head-on.

If you do not take responsibility, then the Grand Commander can only report to His Majesty and enter Song from the south."

Zhao Gou and others knew clearly that the reason why the Ming Dynasty invaded the Song Dynasty from the north was definitely not just the reason Weng Taibei said.

But they didn't dare to gamble.

It is impossible to ask them to bear all the expenses, as they cannot afford it.

The two sides started bargaining.

In the end, the entire burden was changed to providing the Ming Dynasty with 1.4 million shi of military rations and 2 million taels of silver each year, and the expenses were borne by the Song court.

He also promised that the number could be increased after the new Song court stabilized and the south was reorganized.

This time was set for one year later.

We will discuss how much to increase then.

The first batch this year will be sent by the Song court in batches to Huainan East Road and handed over to the Ming Dynasty.

But we still have to give the Song court some more time to prepare.

Weng Taibei left with a satisfactory result, leaving behind Zhao Gou and his ministers who were somewhat angry but more helpless and fearful.

Weng Taibei told Wang Shouren everything and said disdainfully, "General, the new Song court's Zhao Gou and his ministers are still extremely cowardly. This Zhao family is really a waste of people from generation to generation."

"In your opinion, it is true. It is a good thing for our Ming Dynasty." Wang Shouren said with a smile.

After a pause, he said seriously: "But we can't underestimate them too much. Sleeping on straw and tasting gall may not be impossible.

We still have to be on guard against them.”

"The Grand Commander is right." Weng Taibei put away his contempt and nodded.

"The purpose of this test has been achieved. It's time to focus on dealing with the Jin Kingdom." Wang Shouren looked towards the west with calm yet sharp eyes.

the next day.

News began to spread that the Ming Dynasty recognized the legitimacy and orthodoxy of the new Song court established by Zhao Gou.

On this day, news spread that the new Song court would cede all six northern eastern routes to the Ming Dynasty and require all Song officials in the six eastern routes to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

The two pieces of news together caused a stir.

It had a great influence mainly in the south of Song Dynasty and the six eastern routes in the north, and also aroused the anger of Jin Dynasty.

On July 17, after more than a month's journey, Wang Shouren finally arrived at Jingdong East Road with his three armies.

The First and Third Armies led by Li Jing and the Eleventh Army led by Wu Yunzhao had been waiting for his arrival.

Only Han Shizhong's 21st Army was on the way.

“Spread the news that the Song court ceded the East Sixth Road to our Ming Dynasty to every corner as soon as possible.

Jingdong East Road and Huainan East Road must be firmly under the control of the Ming Dynasty as quickly as possible.

All the information collected should be submitted to this governor for review."

“In addition, this governor will check on the situation of the First Army, the Third Army, and the Eleventh Army.

If anyone fails to meet my standards, don't blame me for being ruthless in my military law."

"Yes."

Of course, Wang Shouren, who arrived at Jingdong East Road, would not immediately send troops to attack the Jin Kingdom.

Instead, he began to concentrate on reorganizing the two territories that he had already roughly taken control of, as well as the three armies that were familiar to Li Jing and Wu Yunzhao.

Another way is to use the Jinyiwei as tentacles to explore the situation in various places and contact the martial arts forces and masters in the East Sixth Route.

The Jin army, whose main force was still in Bian Jing, also quietly sped up again.

Although neither side had any intention of fighting now, they both knew the situation.

Both sides are preparing for a war, and once one side is ready, no mercy will be shown.

The entire North East Sixth Route seemed to be shrouded in the atmosphere of war.

July 20th.

While Wang Shouren was busy preparing for war in Song territory, Zhu Houzhao on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty was also busy.

Another night passed and the sun came.

Zhu Houzhao slowly finished his training and looked at his talent as usual.

Tai Chi Thirteen Forms Level 34769 (Not yet qualified: 50000/)

The fourth level of Mingshen Wudian (94391/120000)

In just over two months, his strength had increased, but he knew that it was still not strong enough.

With his current strength, Old Man Zhang, Old Man Wuji and others are no longer his match.

But it is still not enough to reach the level of two ordinary celestial beings.

However, he believed that once he entered the fifth level of Tai Chi Thirteen Postures, his strength would truly improve, and by then he would also be able to improve greatly and cultivate the Ming Shen Wu Dian almost to its peak.

It is definitely equivalent to the ordinary two celestial beings, or even stronger.

At that time, perhaps we can try to impact Temujin.

Zhu Houzhao thought with some excitement and anticipation.

This was his idea all along, and he never thought about spending the long term battle with Temujin here.

Still need...

Zhu Houzhao blinked his eyes and calculated carefully.

About five or six months.

The further you progress, the slower your practice will get, but in five or six months at the latest, you will definitely be able to master the fifth level of Tai Chi Thirteen Postures.

He stared toward the north and bared his teeth.

Let Temujin be proud for another five or six months.

After I make a breakthrough, I will settle the accounts in one fell swoop.

He made up his mind resentfully, ate a simple breakfast, did morning training with Emperor Wu's Dragon Riders, and then began to check the news that was continuously coming in from all over the place.

The internal reforms of the Ming Dynasty, the situation of Wang Shouren's army, the situation in the Sui Dynasty, etc.

After reading it, he only put forward his ideas and requirements on some issues of internal reform in the Ming Dynasty and asked the cabinet to come up with solutions.

The day passed without any free time, and at night, I continued to practice alone.

In fact, the concubines wanted to come and accompany him.

After all, this is in the Ming Dynasty, so there is no problem.

But when Zhu Houzhao saw the dragon cavalry and border troops who were not accompanied by his wife, he refused and did not allow them to come.

In a blink of an eye, it was August and there was movement on the border of Sui State.

Kublai Khan, who had been patient for several months and focused on rectifying the situation among the Turks, finally took action.

(Chapter 1.)
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(End of this chapter)