One Piece of Song Dynasty

Li Yongshou still refused to worship. Wang Lun was anxious and hurriedly whispered: "Your Majesty commends Mr. Li for his work for peace. I have to thank him no matter what. Let's talk it over after all."

Li Yongshou then handed over his credentials and knelt down: "Li Yongshou, the envoy of the Jin Kingdom, represents the Emperor of the Jin Kingdom and pays homage to the Regent of the Song Dynasty."

Xiao Dezi took the letter of credence and handed it to Li Xin. Li Xin nodded and signaled the envoy to get up. Li Yongshou stood up and said straight to the point: "The Qi army is about to go south, and a full-scale war is imminent. For the sake of peace between the north and the south, I would like to mediate."

"How to mediate?" Zhang Jun asked.

"Your Majesty will return the prisoners of war of Qi and the soldiers and civilians of the northwest. Song and Qi will use the Yangtze River as the boundary and divide the river to govern, so that war can be avoided."

"The Song Dynasty has already retreated from Henan to the Huaihe River by dividing the river to govern it. If you ask me to retreat to the south of the Yangtze River, do you really think that there is no one in the Song Dynasty?" Zhao Ding said angrily. Li Yongshou threatened: "Now that we, Jin Dynasty and Qi State are united, can Song State still fight?"

Li Xin said sternly: "Today's matter is exactly what we say. Our army is enough to protect the Huaihe River. How could we give up Huainan for nothing?"

"Is the prince really sure of saving the Huaihe River? Isn't the prince not afraid of this situation at all?" Li Yongshou asked aggressively.

Li Xin said calmly: "I have more than troops at present. I have never heard of anyone who has more than troops and still fears others."

Seeing that Li Xin was not intimidated, Li Yongshou softened his words and said, "For the prince's sake, the only way for the Song Dynasty is to negotiate peace."

"Whether it is peace or war, in short, peace and war are up to me. If you want peace, use the Huaihe River as the boundary. The northwest will maintain the status quo, and I will not return the people to you." Li Xin answered him word for word.

Li Yongshou immediately became aggressive again: "What if there is discord? The Song Dynasty is surrounded by enemies on all sides and is besieged on all sides. Does the prince really want to fight on the northwest and Jianghuai fronts at the same time?"

Li Xin said: "It's going to rain and my mother wants to get married. What can I do?"

This meeting is only symbolic and will not have any substantive results. Even if there are substantive negotiations, at present, the gap between the two sides' expectations for peace is still too large. Li Xin saw this and stood up and said: "If we fight on two fronts, we will fight on two fronts. If we want peace, it will be on my terms. If not, I will not hesitate to fight. We will discuss it after the war."

The pigeon flew out from Lin'an again and flew tirelessly to the north. The news that Li Xin refused to negotiate for peace and even said that he would not hesitate to fight was like a piece of ice poured into a boiling oil pan, causing the Jin Kingdom to explode and completely infuriating the Jin Kingdom's nobles. Wu Shu was even more furious and immediately ordered to personally send elite soldiers to attack Monk Yuan three times.

At the same time, the puppet Qi also took advantage of the situation to launch an attack on Dengzhou and Tangzhou, preparing to encroach further south.

The war atmosphere over the Southern Song Dynasty suddenly became tense again. This was a war between a buffalo and a group of hyenas.

As the saying goes, choose the lesser of two evils. Li Xin had power over two evils and could not care about the war situation in Hubei. Besides, with the abilities of Qu Duan, Wang De and others, there was no problem in repelling Li Cheng and Kong Yanzhou. So he sent an imperial letter to Liu Fa and Wu Jie in the northwest: "The survival of the country depends on this move, and the monk must not lose it."

In order to get the Jin Kingdom to continue supporting his southern invasion plan, Liu Yu sent the pseudo-prince Liu Lin to send heavy gifts to Wan Yanchang. Wan Yanchang was as angry as a lion. He threw the gift list into the fire: "You ungrateful thing, give it to whoever has a high profile."

Liu Lin was horrified and didn't know why Wan Yanchang was angry. Wan Yanchang angrily said: "Who asked you to attack the six counties of Xianghan? Now the regent of the Song Dynasty has categorically refused to negotiate peace and issued an edict to fight. What will happen if the Qi Kingdom is defeated? Wouldn't it be a drag on our country?"

Liu Lin explained that this had nothing to do with him and his father Liu Yu, and was all the unauthorized actions of the surrendered generals Li Cheng and Kong Yanzhou. Wan Yanchang asked: "If no one in our Kingdom of Jin supports you, just because you two dare to cause trouble, I was the emperor of Qi State. Your father and son climbed up the ladder to follow you. Go back and tell your father Liu Yu that I am the emperor of Qi State." The king can establish you or destroy you.”

Liu Lin was thrown out in a panic. Empress Dowager Wei came out from behind: "You dare to invade the south even if you rely on false pretenses. You are simply seeking death."

Wan Yanchang said: "When Wu Shu heard that Li Xin said that he would not hesitate to fight, he became furious and swore that if Monk Yuan could not win, he would die under Monk Yuan this time."

Queen Mother Wei asked: "I heard that Li Xin established three major governor's offices."

Wan Yanchang nodded and said: "Yes, Han Shizhong of the East Road Governor's Palace is responsible for the Huaihe River, Quduan of the Middle Road Governor's Palace is responsible for Jingxiang, and Wu Jie of the West Road Governor's Palace is responsible for Sichuan and Shaanxi. They are all generals, and Wushu is in charge of Han Shizhong and Wu. I have all suffered losses at the hands of Jie, especially Wu Jie, who suffered the most."

Empress Dowager Wei asked: "What are Li Xin's peace terms?"

Wan Yanchang said: "The northwest will maintain the status quo, and the east will be bounded by the Huaihe River. People who fled will not be returned."

Queen Mother Wei said doubtfully: "The terms of this peace negotiation are not high."

Wan Yanchang nodded and said: "It's not high, but Li Xin's attitude was a bit arrogant when he met the envoy, and the court also wanted to suppress Li Xin to see if he could earn more benefits from the Song Dynasty."

The tense war atmosphere has not yet affected Lin'an. On the Spring Festival of the eighth year of Jianyan's reign, in front of the Lin'an government office, there was a lively atmosphere with loud gongs and drums, blowing and beating. Actors dressed up as various mythological characters caused social turmoil, and people were crowded to watch. Just when I was dazzled, the door of the mansion suddenly opened, and a colorful cattle rushed out. The crowd of onlookers immediately cheered loudly, threw grains into the air, and at the same time flashed a path to both sides, and raised colorful whips to whip the fleeing cattle. Farmers, even the prefect and officials also participated in this Jiangnan custom of whipping spring with great interest.

Li Xin brought Liang Hongyu and others to watch the fun. Zhao Huanhuan, Zhao Fujin, Wang Xueyan, Xiao Dezi and other palace maids and eunuchs who were visiting privately in casual clothes were laughing and whipping the cattle with colorful whips, while Li Xin, who was worried, stood as if he was not involved. In the distance, a man dressed in white with a worried face is worried about the war in the northwest. As long as the Jin attack on Sichuan and Sichuan is repelled this time, it will be able to stop for several years. Because there is news from Liang Xing that Jin Taizong is not in good health. about to die.

After Liu Fa and Wu Jie received Li Xin's imperial letter, they immediately adjusted their deployment. Now the military strength of the West Road Governor's Office has expanded to people. Liu Fa placed people on the line between Dashanguan and Monk Yuan, and then on Fengzhou strengthened the city defenses between Dashan Pass and Xianren Pass and built a fortified city. There were people left in the second line of defense in Fengcheng, people left in the third line of defense in Xianren Pass, and people left in Raofeng Pass in the east. To prevent the Jin from splitting up their forces to attack, Liu Fa only had five thousand men left by his side, while Wu Jie personally came to command the front line at Monk Yuan.