In the imperial study, Emperor Zhao Gou stood in front of the window with his hands behind his hands, his face ashen and silent.
He fainted briefly, and the imperial doctor asked him to rest in bed, but he refused and immediately summoned five ministers to discuss matters in the imperial study.
"Let's talk about it! What should we do now?"
Zhao Gou said in a low voice: "The Fujian Road was forcibly taken away by the Western Army, which also cut off our connection with the Guangnan Road. What retreat do we have?"
The four prime ministers all looked at Qin Hui. He was the right prime minister, so he should answer this question first.
Qin Hui had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Now we should summon the special envoy of King Yong and ask them to abide by their promise and withdraw from the Fujian Road that was occupied by them. No matter what, we must have the upper hand morally and let everyone in the world know Chen Qing's treachery."
.”
Next to him, Xu Xiantu said coldly: "If everyone in the world knew about Chen Qing's treachery, then he would really have no worries. With an army of 500,000 people pressed down, how many days can we support him?"
Xu Xiantu's reminder made Zhao Gou feel shocked. Maybe Chen Qing was really waiting for this day.
"What should we do?"
Qin Hui said dissatisfied: "Just watching the Fujian Road being taken away, and watching the Guangnan Road cut off from us? What should we do with the taxes on Fujian Road? What should we do with the taxes on Guangnan Road? I'd better ask Xu Xiangguo to talk about it.
Great idea from you!”
The tax issue stung Zhao Gou. How could they support their army if they lost the taxes on Fujian Road?
Zhao Gou also turned around and said to Xu Xiantu: "Xu Aiqing, please tell me!"
Xu Xiantu said slowly: "Your Majesty, it is a fact that Fujian Road has been occupied. We also need to take action. It is necessary to summon Hu Yun first. They have indeed violated the agreement reached by both parties and require the other party to give us an explanation.
Secondly, we need to get a channel to connect with Guangnan, which also requires consultation with the other party.
Third, we must actively consider ways to reclaim Fujian Road, including military pressure and encouraging Fujian Road gentry and people to resist.
Fourth, we are too passive on the waterway, and we must find ways to reverse this passive situation."
After Xu Xiantu finished speaking, Qin Hui immediately objected: "Your Majesty, I don't agree with Xu Xianggong's second point. We cannot negotiate with the other party to connect the Guangnan Road. This is tantamount to recognizing the legality of the other party's occupation of Fujian Road.
.”
Zhao Gou also felt that something was wrong. He asked Zhang Jun, "What do you think, Mr. Zhang?"
Recently, Zhao Gou has attached great importance to Zhang Jun and almost obeys his words.
Zhang Jun said calmly: "Your Majesty, I support Xianggong Xu's plan, but on the second point, I suggest you slow down and don't rush to negotiate with the other party. That is a last resort.
Wei Chen suggested that we first send people to Guangzhou in the name of a caravan, on the one hand, to inform the states of Guangnan and Guangnan about the situation, and on the other hand, to collect ships and prepare to open sea lanes, so as to continue to maintain our legal rule over Guangnan and Guangnan."
Zhang Jun's suggestion was appreciated by Emperor Zhao Gou. It was very rational and pragmatic. The top priority was to get things done first, rather than discussing illusory things like morality. Of course, Zhao Gou was also afraid of angering Chen Qing, so he no longer had moral concerns.
The Western Army could destroy the Song Dynasty in a few days.
"Let's do it separately! Xianggong Xu went to negotiate with Hu Yun and asked them to fulfill the agreement and withdraw from occupying Fujian Road. Xianggong Zhang arranged a troop dispatch plan to put military pressure on Fujian Road. Xianggong Qin was responsible for contacting the famous gentry on Fujian Road.
Encourage them to stand up against the Western Army's occupation of Fujian Road."
After finalizing the strategy for the Fujian Road, Zhao Gou immediately summoned Huang Guinian, encouraged him, and then appointed Huang Guinian as the pacifier of the Guangnan and Guangnan Roads. He represented the court to pacify the Guangnan and Guangnan Roads, and was responsible for collecting ships and opening up the sea.
aisle.
Ships have become a top priority. Jiangnan's shipbuilding capability is actually very strong. There are boats in the river, all small boats with less than 500 dan or tugboats with about 1,000 dan. But what the imperial court needs is large ships that can go to sea and can resist
Living in the strong winds and waves at sea, it is obviously unrealistic to build a big ship. First, we can't afford to wait. It would take two or three years at the fastest to build a three thousand stone ship. Secondly, we can't afford it financially. The imperial court is so poor that it can only
If the salary can be barely guaranteed, all other expenditures will be reduced, let alone expenditures such as shipbuilding, which can easily cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Without the financial resources to build ships, the imperial court could only find ways to exploit the private sector. Unfortunately, after several rounds of exploitation, there were very few existing private ships.
The last hope is on Guangnan Road, where there are some sea ships.
Early the next morning, Xu Xiantu and another deputy prime minister Guo Wanqixi came to see Hu Yun according to the imperial edict and made a strong protest to King Yong represented by Hu Yun.
"This is a breach of trust and completely violates the Fujian Road agreement reached by both parties that year!"
Xu Xiantu took out the agreement reached by Chen Qing and Emperor Zhao Gou, pointed to the last one and said: "It is clearly written in black and white on the paper. The imperial court will hand over the Fujian Road Quanzhou to the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Envoy Administration. Except for the isolated islands in the outer sea, the Fujian Road
The remaining states are all under the imperial court, and neither party has any objection."
Hu Yun smiled slightly and said: "Now and then, the premise for signing this agreement was that the late emperor was still in the city and that the late emperor would no longer seek the throne. If either of these two prerequisites is not true, then this agreement will be invalid.
These two premises were also written down in writing and signed and approved by both parties. I remember that they are in the attachment of the text. Does Mr. Xu still remember them?"
Of course Xu Xiantu remembered that he drafted this agreement. Xu Xiantu was silent for a moment and said: "Don't these two premises no longer exist?"
Hu Yun nodded, "One of them no longer exists, the late emperor passed away!"
Xu Xiantu and Wan Qixi looked at each other and asked in unison: "When did it happen?"
"Two months ago! He liked to make elixirs, but he was poisoned and died after taking the elixir he made. Unfortunately, at the request of the former prince, His Highness did not have a public funeral. The coffin will be transported back to Bianliang for burial at the appropriate time."
"this."
Xu Xiantu didn't know what to say. He felt like he had punched the air. He came up with an agreement. He thought he would be able to condemn the other party and gain the moral upper hand. Unexpectedly, he was resolved by the other party calmly. The premise of the agreement was not
, then this agreement will be invalidated, and there will be no moral terms that they can bind each other to.
Wan Qixi said unwillingly: "It's not that without an agreement, you can invade the imperial court's land at will. Your behavior itself is illegal and a betrayal of the emperor and the imperial court. The imperial court requires you to immediately evacuate the illegally occupied Fujian Road
States.”
Hu Yun said calmly: "The territory of the world belongs to the people of the world, and only the virtuous can live there. We are just to enable the people in Fujian Road to have enough to eat, to work lightly and recuperate. This is the rule of saints.
But under your rule, the land tax actually received five taxes per pound, and the price of salt was four hundred coppers per catty. There has never been such a heavy tax in the past dynasties. The people were brutally exploited and the people were in dire straits. In order to survive, people from all over Fujian Road fled to Quanzhou with their families.
, in just a few years, the population of Quanzhou has increased five times. With such a bad government, you still have the nerve to say that Fujian Road belongs to you. Where have you read the books of saints? I am really ashamed of you!"
The two of them were scolded until they were speechless. Naturally, Hu Yun did not accept the so-called protest. However, Xu Xiantu and Wan Qiqi had no choice but to go back to the emperor to pay their respects.
In the imperial study, Wan Qixi was sent away, and Zhao Gou left only Xu Xiantu. The situation changed. The troops were opposed to fighting with the Western Army. They were excited. In order to appease the troops, Zhao Gou had to cancel the military measures on Fujian Road.
Pressure plan.
At the same time, news came from Wenzhou that dozens of officials who were unwilling to be loyal to King Yong were driven out of Fujian Road. The Western Army on Fujian Road did not allow court officials to cross the border. Huang Guinian and his party might not be able to go to Guangnan Road.
Zhao Gou's Fujian Road plan suffered a major setback and had to be adjusted.