The scabbard made two gestures above the sand table.
"I do not hope that after Lin'an is captured, there will still be resisting regimes in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi... This is something we must pay attention to when the war comes to an end."
Nowadays, Li Xia has not been talking about the Southern Expedition for a long time. The war is progressing smoothly and there is not much worth discussing.
The reason why several important ministers were still gathered in front of the sand table that day was because Zhao Song sent envoys to discuss peace again.
"Your Majesty, the Song envoy has arrived."
"Xuan."
Lu Wenhuan finally found time at this time and said: "Your Majesty, I have something to report. Last night, the Song envoy came to visit me and gave me some gifts."
As he spoke, he took out a gift list from his sleeve.
Shi Jun, Wang Yinglin and others also took out the gift lists.
Li Xia looked at it and said: "It's such a heavy gift, but I can't give you these rewards. Could it be that Song Ting wanted to instigate the princes?"
Lu Wenhuan suddenly became nervous.
Shi Jun smiled, feeling Li Xia's joke, and said: "It is impossible to instigate rebellion. Song Ting still hopes to negotiate peace."
Han Qi'an said: "I can't figure out why they think His Majesty is likely to agree?"
"The weather is getting hot." Ji Xihu said, slightly sarcastically, "They are counting on our soldiers not being able to withstand the heat and humidity in the south."
"It's ridiculous, the soldiers can even go to the snowfields of the north."
"If you hadn't heard it with your own ears, it would be hard to imagine that the important ministers of a country only hope that our army cannot bear the heat."
"..."
After discussing for a few words, the Song envoy entered the palace and bowed to Li Xia humbly in fear. Naturally, he did not dare to call him "Li Ni", but respected him as the emperor.
After that, he expressed Zhao's sincerity in becoming a minister.
Li Xia sat there silently, only looking at Shi Jun at the end.
Shi Jun then came out and said: "When the Jurchens went south, they thought they could not govern the Central Plains, so they supported the Puppet Qi. Now, as a descendant of Li and Tang Dynasties, my majesty is wise and powerful, and has the heart of the world. How can it be that he can't govern Jiangnan? We still need to keep the Song Dynasty.
The country? However, God is kind to the people. If the war can be settled as soon as possible, even if the peace negotiation is not possible, the Zhao family can surrender. Go back and tell Queen Mother Xie that Your Majesty has promised to treat the Zhao family well..."
At this time, Guan De stepped forward gently and reported to Li Xia in a low voice.
"Concubine Kang would like to invite Your Majesty to come over..."
~~
"Oh? Did you really find it?"
"You didn't expect it, did you? I just asked about Yu Tu because my uncle had escaped. I didn't expect to find him."
Li Xia took the letter from Liu Mengyan and read it, finally recognizing his ability this time.
Although it is a small matter, it is indeed not easy to handle.
This is much harder than finding things or people.
After Liu Mengyan found the cat, he did not blindly go north, but fled back to his hometown Quzhou. In the letter, he said that he would respectfully wait for Wang Shi to go south, and would bring the city with him when the time came, and that Zhao would not be allowed to go from Quzhou to Jiangnan.
West Road.
"How is it?" Zhao Jin asked: "I didn't mobilize the Public Opinion Department, and I helped you, right?"
"You have helped a lot, but not just this." Li Xia asked, "Have you received the gift list from Song Ting?"
"Yeah, but I haven't seen it. What good things have I not seen? When do you think I can receive Yutu?"
"Almost. There are so many people and things you are familiar with in Lin'an, do you only care about one cat?"
"Yeah." Zhao Jin thought about it seriously and nodded: "I really thought about it, but in the end I found that except for my uncle and Yu Tu, there seems to be no one in Lin'an City worth caring about. I could still play with my cousin.
But she still wants to harm me..."
She complained for a while, but she didn't say a word to persuade Li Xia to agree to negotiate peace.
In short, the generous gift that Song Ting worked so hard to send was completely in vain...
~~
But just when the Song Dynasty was trying every possible means to seek peace, the Tang army had defeated Zhang Shijie again.
After the fall of Lushan, the Tang army's navy moved down the canal and approached Lin'an.
The Lin'an court was in panic again.
The current Prime Minister, Chen Yizhong, had just returned to the court. He had been concentrating on planning for peace and never expected to encounter such a situation in an instant.
Chen Yizhong finally defeated Jia Sidao and got rid of Wang Yao. Now even Liu Mengyan has left, and it is finally time for him to take power.
In the past, what he had always wanted was this kind of power, hoping to be able to mend the sky with one hand.
Now that he was well, he stretched out his hand to mend it, but the world was already shattering...
"Prime Minister Zuo, what should we do now?!"
Listening to Xie Daoqing's constant asking "What should we do?", Chen Yizhong was also flustered. He couldn't come up with a good strategy in a hurry, so he had to respond: "I would like to recruit men over the age of fifteen in the city to defend the country."
Some officials in the palace felt something was wrong when they heard this and looked at each other.
Huang Yong, who was then the Privy Council member who signed the letter, stepped forward and was about to speak.
Xie Daoqing couldn't wait to say: "Quickly, let's pass on the decree as Zuo Xiang said..."
The palace immediately became busy again, giving Huang Yong no chance to speak.
It was on this evening that the decree was conveyed out of the palace.
Lin'an City was in an uproar.
When Wen Yunsun heard about it, he immediately wrote a letter to object.
At this time, Xie Daoqing remembered that he had not yet made arrangements for the official who had decided to come to King Anqin, and summoned Chen Yizhong to ask.
Chen Yizhong thought for a moment and said, "I would like to inform the Queen Mother that Wen Yun Sun should be promoted to the position of prefect of Pingjiang."
"According to the advice of Zuo Xiang, convey the decree quickly."
…
Pingjiang Prefecture is Suzhou.
With the Tang army's current offensive, Suzhou was the first to bear the brunt. However, Wen Yunsun was a civil servant without much combat experience. He rushed to serve as the prefect at this time, and it was obviously impossible to stop the Tang army.
That night, officials who were good friends with Wen Yunsun rushed to the post house one after another.
"Now King Yao and Liu Mengyan have all fled. The Queen Mother has placed high hopes in Chen Yizhong, but he does not know the military affairs, and the whole city laughs at him. Why should Song Rui listen to his random orders again and go to serve as the prefect of Zhenpingjiang."
"Chen Yizhong was not mediocre at first, but now he is really confused and has lost his sense of proportion."
"Song Rui, please don't go there again..."
Wen Yunsun, however, shook his head and said: "I don't dare to seek success when I go here, but I only seek complete loyalty."
The next day, he packed his bags and set off north.
Along the canal were all the defeated soldiers retreating, except Wen Yunsun's ship sailed against the current.
~~
A few days later, the messenger who went to Kaifeng came back.
"Li Xia said that peace could not be negotiated and the only option was to surrender. He also said..."
Xie Daoqing was shocked and angry, and asked: "What else did he say?"
"To report to the Queen Mother, he also said that he would treat the Queen Mother and the officials well..."
Chen Yizhong shook his head and said: "Queen Mother, as I said, Li Xia will not easily negotiate peace. The only way to make him surrender is to move the capital."
"No." Xie Daoqing was old and did not want to travel. He shook his head and said: "Emperor Gaozong flew south six times and stationed in Qiantang. He was here to protect the country. How could he abandon it so easily?"
This was a rare occasion for her to refuse Chen Yizhong's proposal.
Perhaps it also has something to do with the word "kindness" mentioned by Li Xia. In comparison, moving the capital seems to be more difficult and dangerous.
"It was precisely because Emperor Gaozong did not cling to Kaifeng that he could preserve the 140-year-old foundation of the Song Dynasty!"
Chen Yizhong was unwilling to give in.
When he fled back to Wenzhou, he also thought about giving up his official position. But he was very sure that no one except himself could turn the tide.
He believed that he still had a chance to rule the world, revive the country, and eventually become a person like Xie An and Duke Zhou...
Haven't failed yet.
He compares himself to a green pine and will not be easily knocked down by severe frost.
"Please believe me, the Queen Mother. After entering the ambush, the northern troops will not be able to withstand the scorching heat in the south. The situation will not change until the fighter plane arrives. The prerequisite is that the Song Dynasty is still there, the Queen Mother is still there, and the Emperor is still there!"
After being persuaded to this point, Chen Yizhong burst into tears and knelt down on the ground.
"I ask the Queen Mother to move the capital."
"My lord, please ask the Queen Mother to move the capital!"
Several important ministers in the palace also knelt down and begged.
Although Xie Daoqing really didn't want to trek, he didn't know how to face such a scene.
She was a woman without her own opinion. She was forced to leave the stage, so she had to say: "My lords, get up quickly, get up quickly. I just agree..."
~~
That day, another decree was sent to Pingjiang Mansion.
Wen Yunsun, who had only been in Pingjiang for just a few days after delivering the order, abandoned the Suzhou defense line and retreated to Yuhang...