Chapter 418 Treaty

The afternoon was sunny and the spring breeze was blowing along the banks of the Hutuo River. If it were not for the dense queue of corpses outside Zhending City and the many broken flags and bodies that occasionally emerged from the turbulent waters of the Hutuo River, it would be hard to imagine that just the day before, just across the river, a battle broke out that determined the fate of two great countries for a hundred years.

Under the dragon flag fluttering in the wind, the atmosphere was a little tense, because Emperor Zhao, who was dressed in casual clothes, kept staring at the dragon flag above his head in a daze, which attracted many people to look up, and also caused many people to not dare to look up.

"It's time to wash it." After a long while, Zhao Jiu lowered his head, pointed at the dragon flag on his head and said to Shao Chengzhang, the eunuch guard beside him. "It's a bit hard... The hole should be mended."

Even though Shao Chengzhang was known for his calmness and seriousness, he was still stunned at this moment, and then responded hastily.

After explaining this matter, Zhao Jiu, who was sitting on a stool, looked at the group of people standing in front of him with their hands crossed, and finally looked at the leader: "Are you Eluguan? The sixth son of Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda?"

"The surrenderer is Erluguan, the sixth in rank, and the former governor of Datong Prefecture." Like many people behind him, Erluguan finally breathed a sigh of relief, then hesitated for a moment and refrained from kneeling. He just bowed again surrounded by countless soldiers. "I have come to see your majesty today, please..."

"No one was crowned a king?" Zhao Jiu obviously didn't care about these etiquettes, and just frowned and asked. "Why do I remember that the Jin Kingdom had conferred a king title on a large scale a few years ago?"

"Yes." The interrupted Erluguan quickly crossed his hands and answered. "To let your majesty know, this is true, but at that time, in order to win the hearts of the people, the eldest brother of the surrendered people once told the surrendered people... we brothers should not rob others of their titles."

"It does make sense." Zhao Jiu nodded and said indifferently. "But it should also be to establish a status and emphasize the authority of you three brothers among the brothers, right? You must have more than a dozen brothers..."

These words sounded like they were questioning the weight of Eluguan, so the Sixth Prince himself didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Fortunately, the official in front of him did not dwell on this matter, but quickly got to the point: "Eluguan, I didn't want to come today, but I came anyway. Do you know why?"

"Your Majesty is merciful and forgiving." As a member of the royal family who grew up after the founding of the country, although Eluguan could not be compared with the current ruler of the Jin Dynasty, he still had a basic level of cultural literacy. In addition, the other party did not force him to kneel, so his words were particularly soft.

"It's not mercy or forgiveness. I don't want to come because I was not in good spirits after the battle the day before yesterday... Think about it, I have worked hard for ten years, almost like sleeping on straw and tasting gall. Now that I have succeeded, I can almost entrust all the important matters to my marshals, and then I can lie back and watch the sweeping trend... Of course, it seems a bit empty." As he spoke, Zhao Jiu pointed to Zhending City not far away. There, Han Shizhong's banner had already entered the city with bronze-faced soldiers. "To be honest, I wrote a fan for Mr. Kongxu yesterday... In the end, I felt ashamed and tore it up again."

Erluguan was speechless for a moment, but could only bite the bullet and praise: "Your Majesty is in a very elegant mood."

"And I came here again today because you are sincere and saved me a lot of trouble." Zhao Jiu ignored him and continued to look at the direction of Zhending City and explained calmly. "You must know that since Taiyuan, I have not had enough gunpowder. I guess it's just a matter of bombing another Yanjing City. I am reluctant to use it in Zhending, and there are so many stores in Zhending City... In this situation, you are willing to surrender with courtesy, so of course I have to return the favor. In addition, there is another reason, which is that the accompanying Lu Xianggong has been bedridden again after watching the battle in the rain the day before yesterday. His health has been getting worse since the Northern Expedition, and I am afraid that he will be delayed in returning to Yanjing... Before the Song-Jin War, he was the governor of Yanshan Road."

These words sounded sincere and serious, but to Eluguan, it sounded more like a direct discussion of peace terms.

Speaking of gunpowder, how much Emperor Zhao said he had was one thing, but whether the Kingdom of Jin dared to believe it was another. And how much relationship he had with Prime Minister Lu was probably only known by the two of them... But both of these things directly mentioned Yanjing, which made people take it seriously.

After all, Yanshan Road was the fundamental reason for the war between the two countries, and it was also the core area that Song State had the strength to take but had not yet taken after this war... From any perspective, it was the core condition for peace talks... and from the perspective of those who surrendered today, since they were prepared to negotiate peace after surrendering, they had actually already accepted this option in their hearts.

However, although he tacitly agreed, he could not admit it openly... because that was the capital, Eluguan had no right to make any promises. Instead, he had to do his best to maintain and preserve Yanjing.

Of course, the offer has already been made and rebuttal is futile. It would always be a good idea to listen to Emperor Zhao's conditions for the time being.

"Your Majesty!" With this thought, Erluguan on the ground quickly took out the words he had prepared long ago. "Yanjing is the capital of our country. I, a garrison commander of Datong who lost my station, cannot speak for it..."

"I know." Zhao Jiu waved his hands impatiently. "Eluguan... I never expected a surrender like you to facilitate any real peace talks, nor did I expect to get what I wanted by talking... But didn't you take the initiative to talk? Let me know how much I have left and what my real intention is... So that you can make a decision when you really need to take charge of things in your country."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!