"There's a story in our later generations. It goes like this: there was a beggar on an overpass. A gentleman passed by every day. He felt sorry for the beggar and gave him one yuan. But one day, the gentleman was in a hurry and forgot to give the beggar money when he passed by. After he passed by, the beggar spat at his back."

"Some time ago, the gentleman was away on business. When he returned to the city and passed by the overpass again, he saw a beggar and walked up to him and gave him one yuan. The beggar said, 'You should give me thirty yuan.' The gentleman asked why. The beggar said, 'You haven't been here for a month, so I should give you thirty yuan.'"

"Some time later, the man passed by the overpass and didn't give any money to a beggar. The beggar came up to him and asked why he didn't give me any money. The man said, 'I'm married and have children, and I gave the money to my wife.' The beggar angrily said, 'You actually gave the money I gave to your wife.'"

“What can we learn from this story?”

Zhao Jun looked around at everyone.

In Chongzheng Hall, Zhao Zhen was the first to raise his hand and speak: "Is this referring to the saying 'a little bit of rice is a blessing, a peck of rice is a grudge?'"

"good."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "For the Liao, it's like a beggar with nothing. If you pay them annual tribute for a long time, they'll think it's theirs. They'll forget that this is a benefit the Song emperor brought them because of his foolishness. Once the emperor wises up and stops paying them, they'll think we've taken their money and become resentful."

"Grandson."

Zhao Zhen glanced at Zhao Jun resentfully. Although it seemed that he praised himself for being smart, it also seemed that he scolded his father for being stupid, making him not know whether to be happy or angry.

"Oh, I'm just used to being around my own people. I'll definitely be careful with my words and actions in front of outsiders, don't worry, brother."

Zhao Jun waved his hand and said, "Everyone in the Song Dynasty knows that the current brother is wise. Although the previous emperor was a little weak, he gave birth to a wise and powerful brother like you, who will be comparable to the Han Wu and Tang Zong, or even more powerful than them. Doesn't this prove that although the previous emperor was weak, his genes were still good?"

"All right."

Zhao Zhen was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Although he should be happy that Zhao Jun was about to make him the greatest emperor of all time, he just felt something was not right when he heard it. He really couldn't be happy.

"What if they insist on the annual tribute thing?"

Lu Yijian asked.

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice, "Then we'll fight them until they surrender. The Liao Kingdom is already internally unstable, and signs are emerging. If Yelu Zong is truly foolish enough to want to destroy the country, then we'll fight him! As long as we are victorious in the end, with the power to destroy the Liao Kingdom, even if the country is in turmoil, we can barely hold on. In the end, we'll just be reborn from the ruins."

"A lot of people will die that way."

Wang Zeng sighed.

"Who wants so many people to die? But I still say that I don't want an all-out war between Song and Liao right now, putting our people in dire straits. But if Liao forces us, we will have no choice but to launch the attack."

Zhao Jun also sighed and looked out the window.

Everyone's face was solemn.

No one really wants war.

Even if a war broke out, they all believed that the possibility of Song winning was very high, at least 70%.

The problem is that even so, it was just two tigers fighting, one died and the other was injured.

Even if the Liao Dynasty was destroyed, the Song Dynasty would not be in a good situation.

So everyone in this room, including Zhao Jun, hopes for peace.

But the great man said, "We love peace, but peace survives when it is sought through struggle, and dies when it is sought through compromise!"

This is a wise saying. Zhao Jun keeps it in mind and dares not forget it!

“Bang, bang, bang!”

At this moment, three clear sounds were heard outside the door.

This is Wang Shouzhong knocking on the door.

Zhao Zhen hurriedly said, "Come in!"

He knew that Wang Shouzhong always followed the rules, so if he knocked on the door while he was talking with the people in the Constitutional Council, it must be something important.

Wang Shouzhong came in, bowed to the crowd, and then said, "Your Majesty, Duke Xiwen has sent an urgent letter from six hundred miles away."

"oh?"

Zhao Zhen hurriedly said, "Present it."

Wang Shouzhong handed the note over. Zhao Zhen took it, glanced at it, and a look of great joy appeared on his face: "The Liao people agreed."

"What? They agreed?"

“This, this, this!”

"That's great, they actually agreed."

Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Song Shou, Cai Qi, Sheng Du, Yan Shu and others all looked incredulous.

Although they were all smart and wise men of the Song Dynasty, to be able to achieve such a victory was something they could not even imagine in their dreams.

After all, for a long time, the Liao Kingdom has been a huge mountain pressing down on their heads.

One day they discovered that the mountain had become so low that it was at eye level with them, which naturally made them feel incredible.

Only Zhao Jun had a wise and smiling expression on his face.

In fact, although he appeared calm on the surface, he was actually very panicked inside.

Although it is certain that the Liao Kingdom will most likely agree, what if the Liao Kingdom has no smart people and is full of warriors with muscular brains, and would rather see the country collapse than suffer losses on both sides?

So now that he saw that the Liao Kingdom had finally made the wisest decision, Zhao Jun secretly breathed a sigh of relief and sighed in his heart that there were still wise men in the Liao Kingdom.

"only."

After reading the letter, Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment and said hesitantly, "They still have a few conditions."

"What conditions?"

Zhao Jun asked.

Zhao Zhen then stated several of the Liao Kingdom's demands, and at the end he asked, "Grandson, can you agree to this?"

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