After these words were spoken, the hall fell into complete silence, with everyone from top to bottom expressing their anger...
"Your Majesty, you are too kind." After a pause, Wang Boyan raised his hands and spoke. "In fact, Minister Chen (Chen Gui) has said before that as long as the materials and manpower are sufficient, Dongjing City can be defended according to the laws of Nanyang. If this is the case, when the Jin army comes again, it may not be able to gain an advantage..."
"Well said." Zhao Jiu replied casually.
"In fact, in my opinion, the Jin people's request for peace this time may be because they are scared by the previous battle, feel guilty, or are in civil strife... How can we negotiate with them at this time? Instead, we should prepare for the Northern Expedition!" Lu Yihao also expressed his opinion.
But Zhao Jiu couldn't help but frowned at this time.
"Your Majesty!" After waiting for the two prime ministers to finish speaking, Xu Jingheng, who had been waiting for a while, let out a long sigh, but ignored the two prime ministers and went straight to Zhao Jiu in a serious tone, continuing the previous topic. "Your Majesty once made a promise with the prime ministers in Nanyang that they were not allowed to take off their hats without permission. So, Your Majesty, if you are angry, can you dethrone and enthrone?"
Zhao Jiu was slightly startled, then embarrassed for a moment, but quickly nodded: "It was my fault. I shouldn't have gotten angry with you guys, but I have made up my mind about the war and peace."
"Then we still have to ask the government for an explanation and reason..." Xu Jingheng said in a deep voice.
"There are many explanations." Seeing that the other party was relentless, Zhao Jiu became angry again and pointed at the person below. "Minister of the Imperial Censorate, why can't we negotiate peace?"
"The king and father were captured by others, and millions of people became barbarians and cattle. This is an irreconcilable hatred. How can we negotiate peace?" Hu Yin couldn't help it, but the atmosphere was not right just now, so he couldn't speak. When he heard this, he immediately turned his sleeves and said to the crowd. "Have you all forgotten the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period?"
"It is because you always talk about the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period that people with insight dare not speak easily. Only we, who are known to the world for our blood feud with the Jin people, can speak here..." Seeing that it was Hu Yin, Liu Ziyu immediately scolded him. "If you, Hu Mingzhong, followed your righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period, the government would have gone to the North in the first year of Jianyan, and the country would have perished long ago! Are we saying that we will not resist the Jin people and not fight? We just want to seek a safe and sure victory!"
Hu Yin was about to debate with him.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, Li Ruopu suddenly interrupted angrily: "In the past, during the Jingkang period, when our entire family was fighting the Jin people to the death, I wonder what the righteous Hu Zhongcheng was doing at that time? Was he hiding in the Imperial College and watching his father go out of the city to die? Not only did he send his father away twice, but today he is also using the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period to send a third one?"
Hu Yin was filled with shame and indignation, unable to conceal his anger, but he did not know how to argue for a moment.
"Enough!" At this time, Zhao Jiu, who was sitting on the throne, finally calmed down, but his face was expressionless, and he stopped this unreasonable dispute in time. "Who knew that the Jin people would be so cruel? And it was because they knew that the Jin people were cruel, cunning and untrustworthy that Zhang Jun, Zhao Ding, Hu Yin and others in the Imperial College had the idea of war... Don't confuse cause and effect and time for no reason and make personal attacks."
Hu Yin, Li Ruopu and Liu Ziyu looked at each other, all feeling bored, and all turned away in silence.
At this point, Zhao Jiufu, who was sitting on the throne, looked at Xu Jingheng seriously again: "Mr. Xu, do you still remember that I asked you to give the Red Cliff Fu to Prime Minister Zhang Que?"
"I remember." Xu Jingheng bowed in response.
"Where are the words I wrote at the back?"
"I remember, it was Wang Shu's "A Record of a Journey to Mount Baochan"..."
"Which words?"
"But if one has the strength to achieve it, others may criticize him, and he will regret it. If one has done his best but cannot achieve it, he will have no regrets, and who can criticize him? This is what I have learned." Xu Jingheng repeated with gritted teeth. "I will keep it in mind."
"I have also kept it in mind." Zhao Jiu said slowly. "I know that your peace talks are not real peace talks, nor are you going to surrender, but you are advocating war with a conservative and cautious mindset..."
Xu Jingheng hesitated to speak.
"Mr. Xu." Zhao Jiu responded coldly. "I know what you want to say, and I haven't forgotten... Outside Nanyang City that day, although we didn't say it explicitly, we actually had a gentleman's agreement. Facing a powerful enemy, we shouldn't stir up disputes between the old and new parties, let alone talk about whether the ancestral family rules are right or wrong... So today's matter, we shouldn't discuss it from here! But in fact, the reason why you want to negotiate peace is that you still have a conservative mentality. It's not me who is provoking trouble today!"
"If the emperor says so, I have nothing to say." Xu Jingheng sighed. "I will not give up my duties, and I would like to be the envoy to the southeast..."
"No." Zhao Jiu sighed. "Henan is in a mess, and you are indispensable."
Xu Jingheng finally said helplessly: "But the emperor can't stop me from speaking. I am the governor of the capital!"
"I allow you to speak, but the problem with this matter lies in the speech itself." Zhao Jiu also seemed helpless. "If we agree to negotiate peace today, and it's settled tomorrow, and we want to fight again, do you believe that someone will come out and say that we shouldn't fight for the people's livelihood? No matter whether the Jin people are sincere or false, testing or deceiving, this anger cannot be released! And my meaning is in those few sentences in the "Baoceng Mountain Records"... I think that at this time, since the general plan has been decided long ago, and we must fight the Jin people to the end, then the debate itself is not worth starting again. It's not a question of right or wrong, but a question that there should be no debate in the beginning of the national war!"
"I understand." Just as Xu Jingheng was silent for a moment, Lu Haowen suddenly bowed. "Just like the old party struggle in the past, it's not about the new or the old, but the word party struggle hurts the foundation... Today, let's not talk about war or peace, nor about being cautious or radical, but just fighting will lead to internal consumption, just now Hu Zhongcheng and Li Xueshi and Liu Canjun are clear evidence... So we shouldn't have shaken the original plan at the beginning!"
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