The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 514 The time has come
Yue Wenxuan eavesdropped outside the "peace negotiation room" and heard Li Gang and the Jin envoy arguing heatedly.

Li Gang had always served under the weak and incompetent Zhao Gou, and every time he negotiated with the Jin envoys, he had to endure humiliation and hardship, which was extremely difficult.

This is the first time in my life that I've felt how great it is to have a powerful motherland backing you up!

He no longer needed to swallow his anger; if he felt even the slightest displeasure, he would immediately show it to the Jin envoy.

This time, however, the Jin envoy could no longer stand up for himself. Instead, he became the one who had to endure humiliation. Faced with Li Gang's aggressive approach, the Jin envoy could only back down again and again, and his bottom line kept dropping.

Li Gang was so excited he could hardly breathe. He slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Give them back! We have to give them all back!"

The Jin envoy said, "No, we can only... we can only return the remains of your Duke Hunde and his concubines. We cannot return the remains of Marquis Chonghun. This is our bottom line. Otherwise, the Jin Kingdom will fight you to the death."

Li Gang: "Our country will gather 100,000 firearms to welcome the two emperors."

The Jin envoy replied resolutely, "At worst, our country will send 100,000 cavalry to exchange for your land!"

At this point in the argument, both sides felt they were exhausted from arguing any further.

Li Gang also knew that firearms units were slow to move, especially the huge cannons, which required several horses to pull them, slowly traversing mountains and valleys, making it difficult to wage mobile warfare. If the Jin Dynasty were to fight to the death and engage in a "trade-off" tactic with the Northern Song Dynasty, then the Northern Song's Northern Expedition would be full of twists and turns and would not be so easy.

The Jin envoy also knew that the term "exchange of home" sounded fierce, but it was actually a last resort. Once the tactic of exchanging home was used, what difference would there be between the Great Jin and the bandits?
Both sides compromised and signed a peace agreement.

After a year-long truce between the Jin and Song dynasties, the Jin dynasty returned Emperor Huizong's remains, along with his concubines.
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Lin'an has become visibly desolate.

Fewer pedestrians are on the streets, and businesses are struggling. Even the once bustling Grand Canal is now much quieter.

This is an inevitable consequence of population decline.

Zhao Gou was completely helpless!
He could not stop the population loss in Lin'an, nor could he stop the population loss of the entire Southern Song Dynasty.

In recent months, people from the Southern Song Dynasty have been flocking to the Northern Song Dynasty.

Several important passes and strategic locations are now crowded with locals, who are using all sorts of creative methods to cross the border.

Some swam across, some climbed over mountains, some dug tunnels to crawl across, some flew across on kites, and some even dressed up as animals in animal skins and ran across...

The sheer variety of methods used to cross the border dazzled Zhao Gou, who realized for the first time how creative his subjects were.

Qin Hui walked in from outside the hall: "Your Majesty, bad news has come from Tongcheng Town."

Zhao Gou: "Hmm?"

Qin Hui: "More and more people gathered in Tongcheng Town, and after they exceeded 30,000, someone shouted that these 30,000 people had rebelled! The border soldiers guarding Tongcheng Bridge saw that there were so many rebels that they dared not resist and could only watch helplessly as all 30,000 people fled to the Northern Song Dynasty."

Zhao Gou was furious: "This is outrageous! These border soldiers are paid by the emperor and do not know how to share the burden of the country. How can we sit idly by and watch these rebels escape? We should fight to the death to bring them back and punish them severely."

Qin Hui: "Well, cough, I haven't finished speaking yet..."

Zhao Gou: "Hmm? Is there anything else I haven't said?"

Qin Hui spread his hands and said, "The border troops guarding the bridge, fearing being held accountable, also ran across the bridge with the people and surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty."

Zhao Gou: "!!!"

This is fucking embarrassing.

Zhao Gou was furious: "I love my people like my own children, why do they abandon me?"

Qin Hui thought to himself: "You love the people like your own children, my foot! Don't make me, a scholar, swear!" He cursed inwardly, but his expression was full of righteous indignation: "That's right! The emperor treats the people well, but these guys are ungrateful. The Northern Song Dynasty gives them a little bit of benefit, and they betray the emperor and the country. They are really troublemakers, troublemakers, all of them are troublemakers."

Zhao Gou: "You also need to help me think of a way to deal with these unruly people."

Qin Hui: "Your Majesty, I will go back and think about it carefully."

He slipped out of the palace, where a large group of treacherous officials were already waiting for him. He quickly asked, "Prime Minister Qin, what did the Emperor say?"

Qin Hui sneered: "The Emperor has instructed us to find a way to solve the problem of the people fleeing."

A group of treacherous officials laughed: "What good is that?"

Qin Hui: "The Emperor's reputation among the people has long been ruined. The common people now only know that the Northern Song Dynasty was militarily strong, defeated the Jin Dynasty, and recovered Kaifeng. They also know that the Northern Song Emperor was diligent in his duties and loved the people, truly a rare and wise ruler. In my opinion, the best time to promote the unification of the two Song Dynasties is about to arrive. Now, all that is missing is the most important catalyst..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as if something terrifying was staring at him from behind.

Qin Hui turned around abruptly, and without even looking, he bowed deeply: "The heroine has arrived!"

Ake appeared a few meters behind Qin Hui without anyone noticing and whispered, "Here's the latest news from the Northern Song Dynasty."

Qin Hui: "I would like to hear the details."

Ake said, "The Jin Dynasty was defeated by the Northern Song Dynasty and sent envoys to sue for peace. The Northern Song Dynasty took the opportunity to propose a condition: that the Jin Dynasty return Zhao Ji's remains. The Jin Dynasty has already agreed. Now the Jin Dynasty is preparing to send Zhao Ji's remains to the Northern Song Dynasty!"

Qin Hui's eyes lit up when he heard this.

Ake: "Do you understand now?"

Qin Hui: "This humble official understands."

Ake's body flickered and disappeared.

Qin Hui turned around and laughed loudly at his cronies: "We were just talking about needing an important trigger, and here it is! Hahahaha! The Supreme Emperor's remains returned to the country, but not to the Southern Song, but to the Northern Song. Tell me, isn't this the perfect opportunity?"

His confidant Gao Yigong immediately stepped forward and said, "In this way, the Northern Song Dynasty will undoubtedly become the legitimate dynasty, while the Southern Song Dynasty will become the illegitimate one."

Weng Shun also stepped forward: "The opportunity to push for the Southern Song to be incorporated into the Northern Song is right in front of us."

Wan Qixie: "This humble official will immediately go and contact all the officials to communicate with them."

Luo Ruji: "Be careful, lest we get pierced by a few tough nuts before we even have a chance to gain any real strength. The Imperial Guards are still in Yang Yizhong's hands, so it would be easy for him to kill us."

Wan Qixie sneered: "Where are you going to find any tough guys? Last time when Yue Fei was killed, all the tough guys were buried with him. Now, apart from Yang Yizhong, all the civil and military officials in the court are our people."

Qin Hui nodded: "Go and do it quickly! We need to put on a good show for Zhao Gou, make him look around and see that all the civil and military officials are from the Northern Song Dynasty. Hahaha, I'm sure Zhao Gou's expression will be quite interesting then."

The treacherous officials chuckled and laughed.

Qin Hui said, "Once this matter is accomplished, we will have rendered a great service to the Northern Song Dynasty. Young Master Yue will surely reward us handsomely. After we arrive in the Northern Song Dynasty, our status will not be lower than it is now."

The treacherous officials laughed loudly: "Following Prime Minister Qin is truly exhilarating."

Yue Wenxuan, attached to A Ke's body, coldly looked at the group of treacherous officials, a mocking smile playing on his lips: Thinking of making it in the Northern Song Dynasty? Hehehe! You're dreaming.

(End of this chapter)