"The Khitan envoy is already on the way. According to the spies, the envoy is here to seek peace."
Upon hearing the news, Li Jie smiled slightly, then stood up from his chair and waved his hand.
"Get the map!"
"yes!"
After a while, four chamberlains came to the inner hall carrying a huge map four meters long and two meters wide.
The map is the junction map of the Song Dynasty and Xixia.
At this moment, the border areas are already filled with red flags.
Wherever the red flag was erected, there were Song troops.
Correspondingly, the Khitan troops are marked in green.
Looking at the entire map, the red flag has formed a pocket shape, and the green flag has become a turtle in a urn.
In fact, if necessary, the Song army can launch a general attack at any time, and by then, even if it cannot eat all the Khitan army.
But leaving half of it is definitely not a problem.
However, the current situation is to besieged but not attacked!
This is Li Jiete's underground order.
As for the purpose.
Isn’t this coming?
The Khitan envoys seeking peace are already on their way.
The chief envoy of the Khitan this time was Xiao Xiaoxian.
Xiao Xiaoxian was the brother of Xiao Yujin, the concubine of Yuan Dynasty. In the fifth year of Kaitai (1016), Xiao Yujin, the concubine of Yuan Dynasty, gave birth to Yelu Zongzhen, the future Xingzong of Liao Dynasty.
At that time, Xiao Xiaoxian entered an official position and became the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Army. He also married Princess Nanyang, the fourth daughter of Yelu Longxu, that year.
In recent years, Xiao Yujin's mother's power has been growing due to her son's wealth.
As a result, Xiao Xiaoxian also became a powerful figure in the Liao Kingdom.
However, when Li Jie saw the list of envoys, he immediately understood one thing.
Xiao Yujin's struggle for power may have aroused Yelu Longxu's resentment.
Otherwise, Yelu Longxu would not have let Xiao Xiao come to the Song Dynasty first to seek peace.
After all, the purpose of Liao's envoys this time was to seek peace!
No matter what choice Xiao Xiaoxian made, it would all be wrong in the end, and there would always be people who could find fault with it, especially people from Queen Xiao Bodhisattva's lineage.
They will never miss this opportunity.
Even if the results of the negotiations far exceeded the expectations of the Liao people, Xiao Xiaoxian would still be criticized after he returned to the court.
Maybe then, Yelu Longxu will still acquiesce.
"Get the ink pen!"
After withdrawing his thoughts, Li Jie ordered Liu Maoqin on the side.
After a while, Li Jie stood on the ladder and took the ink pen, then waved his hand and circled the map.
This circle is not small.
Only several states south of Xijin Prefecture (ancient Youzhou, today's Beijing) are all included in the red circle.
Immediately afterwards, Li Jie casually threw away the ink pen.
"Send the map to Zhongshu."
"At the same time, inform the two governments that this negotiation will be limited to this. If the Liao Kingdom can accept the cession of territory, then we will negotiate."
"If you don't want to, then keep fighting!"
"yes!"
Liu Maoqin looked at the map with fiery eyes, and the excitement in his heart was uncontrollable.
At this time, there was only one thought in his mind.
The official family is the real hero!
With just a flick of your hand, you can influence the world's situation.
"Go down."
Li Jie walked slowly to the wooden stairs and waved his hand.
Negotiations and other matters will be left to the ministers of the two governments for the time being.
certainly.
He will also always pay attention.
To avoid the recurrence of the old incident in Jingde.
It must be said that some scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty were definitely 'negotiation geniuses'.
During the Jingde period, the situation of the Khitan was even more embarrassing.
What's the result?
Peace talks, peace talks, and finally a Chanyuan Alliance was negotiated.
This time, with Li Jie in charge, he would not let the Khitans retreat easily.
Li Jie will never stop until he peels off several layers of their skin.
No big deal, keep fighting!
Although he is not financially wealthy enough, Li Jie will not be stingy with money when the time comes. If the national treasury has no money, he will transfer it from the internal treasury.
With the existing finances, it is not impossible to continue fighting this war for another year or two.
…
…
…
Political Hall.
Afternoon.
After receiving the decree from the palace, Kou Zhun immediately summoned the ministers of the two governments together.
Not long after, everyone came to the main hall one after another.
As soon as everyone entered the door, the first thing they saw was the huge map.
At this time, the red and green flags on the map had been removed, so the circle of marks drawn by the ink pen appeared particularly conspicuous.
‘Is the official going to continue the Northern Expedition?’
Almost everyone has thought of this.
Because, this is not difficult to guess at all.
Which of the emperors of the Song Dynasty did not yearn for the land of Yanyun?
Taizu and Taizong were all like this.
Although Zhenzong did not show a strong desire to make progress, if Yongxi had not preceded the Northern Expedition, Zhenzong would probably have followed the example of his fathers and carried out the Northern Expedition.
Wang Qinruo was the last one to arrive, and he almost stepped into the house without hesitation.
As soon as he entered the door, the first thing he saw was Kou Zhun's smiling face, and it was only at the second glance that he saw the map.
The moment he saw the map, Wang Qinruo was obviously stunned.
What does the red circle mean?
What do the officials want to do?
Is it possible that they are taking advantage of the victory to pursue it and go straight to the north?
Thinking of this, Wang Qinruo couldn't help but frown slightly.
Although the frontline achieved an unprecedented victory, he was still a staunch peace seeker.
What good is there in fighting?
Let’s just talk about the battle on Hebei Road. If we win, what benefits can we gain?
Nothing!
Even if we can take advantage of the opportunity to recapture part of the state capital, what can we do?
In the third year of Tianfu in the Later Jin Dynasty (936), Shi Jingtang dedicated the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun to Khitan. It has been nearly a hundred years since then.
Although there are many Han people living in the land of Youyun, the Khitan has been operating for a hundred years. Even if the Song Dynasty attacked Yanyun, can they hold it back?
Even if it can be defended, how much money will it cost?
Does Da Song have that much money?
Obvious.
No!
Therefore, in Wang Qinruo's view, fighting the Khitan people was a loss-making business with only investment but no profit.
How good would it be if the two sides maintained peace and gave the Khitan three melons and two dates (referring to annual coins) every year?
Although the Song Dynasty lost a little face, it gained some dignity.
This is called spending a small amount of money to accomplish big things.
The other side.
Seeing the last minister arrive, Kou Zhun coughed twice and walked to the map.
"His Majesty's oral message was just transmitted from the palace."
"The Khitan envoys seeking peace are already on their way. This negotiation is our bottom line for the Song Dynasty!"
As he said that, Kou Zhun stretched out his hand and pointed towards the circled place.
"The wanderer has been away from home for nearly a hundred years, and it's time to return home."
Li Jie's countermeasures can be said to be very to Kou Zhun's liking.
We should be more forceful towards Khitan!
After all, it was the Song Dynasty that won the battle on the front line, not the Khitan!
Looking around, Wang Qinruo couldn't help but curse secretly when he saw no one objected.
'A bunch of yes-men!'
Then, he stood up.
"Isn't this strategy inappropriate?"
"I would like to ask, can the Khitans agree?"
"The Land of Dark Clouds has always been forbidden by the Khitan, and there is no way the other party will agree to it!"