Xiao Zunru was somewhat bewildered. He gathered himself and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Great Song, my Lord has sent me here to show his goodwill because he feels guilty about rushing here."

Zhao Huan said coldly, "Loyalty, filial piety, trustworthiness, brotherly love, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom—you talk about them, but you trample on them. When I marched north to conquer the Jin, you bowed your heads in obedience, only to stab us in the back. Now that the Jin has been defeated, you're trying to show your friendship. Let me tell you, I'm ready to use military force against the Western Xia. Do you think you can outfight the Jin?"

Xiao Zunru was startled. "Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Great Song, I have come here to seek peace. As for the territory we have occupied from the Great Song, Your Majesty has already promised to return it to the Great Song."

Zhao Huan was delighted. This was a good thing. It seemed that Xixia didn't want to mobilize troops either.

In fact, Xixia had been under the dictatorship of the mother party, with dark politics and weak soldiers. It was only under Li Ganshun that things started to improve. They had been defeated in the war with Song and were eager to seek peace.

Zhao Huan tried not to let anyone see his joy, so his face remained as cold as ice: "What conditions did Li Gan offer to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty?"

Xiao Zunru said, "My Lord has said that Anzhou, Linzhou, Jianning Village, Huaide Army, Tiandu Village, and other places will be returned to the Song Dynasty. The two countries will never again engage in war, and trade between the two countries will be open at the market."

They did not mention Tiande, Yunnei, Wuzhou, the Hedong Eight Pavilions area, and Zhenwu City, because these places were originally the territory of Western Xia, and it was Tong Guan who incorporated them into the territory of the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Huan also knew that he couldn't push the enemy too far, otherwise there would be no hope for peace talks, so he had no choice but to acquiesce and allow these areas to once again belong to Western Xia.

Li Gang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, if Xixia is willing to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty, they must agree to several other conditions."

"Oh, please speak, Lord Li." Zhao Huan stretched out his hand.

Li Gang, holding a tablet, spoke eloquently: "If Xixia wants peace, it must submit to the Song Dynasty and open up horse trade. Otherwise, peace talks are absolutely impossible!"

Zhao Huan was delighted. Xixia had a large number of horses, so the Song Dynasty cavalry would surely rise one day.

"This..." It was obvious that Xiao Zunru was a little conflicted. He did not quite agree with opening the horse market.

He Li, Chen Guoting and others even shouted that they would never negotiate and would use military force to deal with Western Xia. This was naturally for bluffing.

Zhao Huan flicked his sleeves and said, "If there is no horse market, there will be no trading market. If you, Xixia, want to open the trading market, you must agree to open the horse market."

Xiao Zunru thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Your Majesty, Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, Xixia agrees to open the horse market and become a vassal of the Song Dynasty."

Little did they know that Xixia's move was a desperate one. At that point, the state's economic lifeline was completely controlled by the Jin. Furthermore, Xixia was unable to trade with the Song. Opening a horse market would at least allow them to exchange horses for daily necessities. Everyone knew that horses were crucial to cavalry, and cavalry was crucial to a nation's military success. Although reluctant, they had no choice but to agree.

A smile finally appeared on Zhao Huan's face: "Well, since Xixia is willing to seek peace with the Song Dynasty, there is no reason for us to start a war again."

Xiao Zunru was overjoyed. He bowed again and said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Great Song, since our Lord has spoken of peace, we must cultivate everlasting friendship between Song and Xia. To show our Western Xia's gratitude, our Lord is willing to marry his beloved daughter, Princess Sisi, to the Emperor of the Great Song."

Zhao Huan was quite surprised by this. The Western Xia Emperor Li Ganshun actually betrothed his beloved daughter to him. It seemed that he really wanted to seek peace.

This was indeed the case. When the Jin Dynasty was at its peak, the Western Xia Kingdom was facing internal and external troubles and had no choice but to submit to the Jin. The Jin people firmly controlled the Western Xia's economic lifeline, including its military horses and supplies.

Now that the Jin had been defeated, Li Ganshun, anxious to escape their control, sent envoys to the Song dynasty to seek peace. He offered to marry his beloved daughter, Sisi, to the Song emperor. In fact, they had originally intended to abandon Tiande, Yunnei, Wuzhou, the Eight Pavilions of Hedong, and Zhenwu City. Unexpectedly, Zhao Huan didn't mention this, and Xiao Zunru was overjoyed.

This was a political marriage, and although Zhao Huan was reluctant, he couldn't refuse. Refusal would easily cause friction. "We, the Western Xia, are willing to marry the emperor's beloved daughter to you, and you still want to refuse. That clearly shows disrespect for us, the Western Xia. Let's meet on the battlefield."

Of course, our lustful Zhao Huan didn't necessarily reject it in his heart. His reluctance was because he was worried that the Xixia princess was too ugly and the Xixia people were barbaric. If Princess Sisi looked like Fengjie, Zhao Huan would be in tears.

Before Zhao Huan agreed, a group of ministers agreed first.

"Your Majesty, since the King of Western Xia is willing to marry his beloved daughter to Your Majesty, we can be said to be one family." Li Gang said with a smile.

He Li also said: "The marriage between Song and Xia can be said to be a happy event for the ages. Our Great Song has such a powerful friend, and from now on, the whole world will submit to us."

Chen Guoting bowed directly and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

All the ministers followed suit and congratulated him. Zhao Huan cursed in his heart: "It's not your turn to arrange a marriage. I haven't even seen the Xixia princess, and you bastards are forcing me to agree."

Although he cursed in his heart, he had to pretend to be happy on the surface. So Zhao Huan could only smile and said: "Thank you so much, King Xixia, for your kindness."

…

Wang Zongchu's army finally arrived in Yi County. Wherever the army went, they posted notices: all the rebels who surrendered would be innocent, and the court would also distribute disaster relief food. For a time, the people of Yi County were delighted.

Liu Guisheng has been busy these days preparing for Wang Xiaohu's coronation ceremony.

The coronation ceremony was treated like a child's play, and a dilapidated Lai County government office was used as the Dashun Imperial Palace.

Rather than a coronation ceremony, it was more like a farce.

Unable to prepare in such a hurry, Wang Xiaohu wore a newly made khaki dragon robe made by a tailor from Lai County. Unfortunately, there was no yellow silk, so the tailor had to use khaki fabric as the material for the yellow robe.

There was a crookedly embroidered dragon on the khaki dragon robe. Wang Xiaohu was very dissatisfied with the dragon because when he looked left and right, it looked more like an earthworm.

All the civil and military officials are leaders under his command, and their names are loud and clear.

Wang Xiaohu sat on the dragon throne dyed yellow with the sap of the mulberry tree. What was even worse was that the words "Mingjing" (Mirror of the County Government) were hung high above his head, making him look even more out of place.

Wang Xiaohu waved his hand and said, "I, um, ascend the throne today as emperor. All leaders, please come forward and receive my title. Li Dayou, I confer upon you the title of, as..."

Wang Xiaohu was illiterate and had no way of remembering so many names. He looked helplessly at Liu Guisheng beside him.

Liu Guisheng coughed and said, "Li Dayou was promoted to General Zhentian, Zhang Tiezhu was promoted to Marshal Pingtian, Zhao Ergou was promoted to General Huntian, and Li Sanpang..."

Finally, it was his turn. Liu Guisheng coughed and said, "Liu Guisheng, Prime Minister of the First Rank, one of the Three Dukes. From now on, generals, if you have any questions, please inform me first, and I will notify Your Majesty. To spare Your Majesty any hardship, generals are not allowed to come before Him without proper instructions."

This was equivalent to handing power to Liu Guisheng. Wang Xiaohu felt that Liu Guisheng was a loyal minister. It would be even better if you were willing to take care of these military affairs and let me enjoy myself.

The leaders below knelt on the ground in a chaotic manner and shouted: "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor!"

"Wow, my dears, please stand up!" Wang Xiaohu actually started speaking in a zaju (various opera) style. (Note: There was no Peking opera in the Song Dynasty, only folk zaju.)