"You are obviously Shijiulang!" Zhao Jiu was furious. "Did you go crazy after going to the north?! Don't you know that Prince Xin is in Taihang Mountain?!"
The man suddenly realized and quickly corrected himself: "Please do not disturb me, my Eighteenth Brother escaped and I was afraid that the Jin people would pursue me, so I pretended to be Eighteenth Brother..."
Only then did Zhao Jiu nod.
"Your Majesty, why do you have to deceive yourself?" The Jin envoy Wulinda Zanmo, who had followed the two saints and had been watching coldly, could no longer bear it. "After the two saints are released today, we should formally negotiate peace. By then, the five counties of Jingdong will be given to you, and you should also take the people in Taihang Mountain out..."
"That's a matter for those who want to negotiate peace. What does it have to do with me?" Zhao Jiu responded coldly. "Don't forget my words."
Wulinda Zanmo sneered and said nothing more.
Just like that, after waiting for a while, Zhao Jiu finally met all these people one by one, and everyone knew that the key moment of the day was finally coming, and even Wulin Da Zanmo became interested.
As expected, Zhao Jiu hesitated for a moment, but returned to the two saints with a serious face, nodded, and then said earnestly: "I was originally guarding the country on behalf of my father and brother. Now that my father and brother have returned, it is time for me to step down and let others take over."
As soon as he finished speaking, the civil and military officials around him, including the two saints in front of him, shuddered almost at the same time in the middle of summer... The two saints were naturally terrified, and the rest of the civil and military officials were also frightened.
You have to know that if someone else had refused and declined three times, it would be called fatherly kindness and filial piety plus procedural justice. But everyone knows this official, and he shouldn't have this attitude.
However, just when everyone was hesitating whether to bite the bullet and play a double round of three refusals and three declines with the emperor, the emperor did something that shocked everyone to death. He turned around in public and pulled out the knife from Yang Yi's waist... He ignored the fact that the Emperor Taishang Daojun fell down in fright, but he still cut open his bright red robe in public, broke off the hard-winged fu hat on his head, and threw them on the ground. Then, he put on only an ordinary cloth military uniform under his robe, and turned around to mount his horse and leave to the army behind the dragon banner.
The incident happened suddenly, and even Han Shizhong and others were obviously stunned. They actually allowed this official to walk into the army, seize the horse, and then climb onto the horse, but then reined in the horse and said:
"I have returned the palace and the throne of Dongjing City to the two saints. It is up to them to decide who will take over. But as the saying goes, the Han and the traitors cannot coexist, and a great country cannot live in peace alone! Those who want to fight today can abandon their official positions and follow me to Nanjing to take Jingdong! Those who want peace today can stay in office and support the two saints, escort the emperor back to Kaifeng, and then go to the Jin Kingdom to declare brotherhood... There is absolutely no ambiguity between the two."
After saying this, he was about to ride his horse eastward.
The surrounding officers panicked for a moment and actually reined in their horses. Even the imperial guards who were guarding the dragon banner instinctively wanted to pull up the flag.
"Han Shizhong!"
Lü Haowen, who had remained invisible during the peace talks, stepped forward and passed the stunned Zhao and Zhang, and shouted, "Quickly stop the emperor... If the emperor really escapes from the officials this time, you will be a sinner for all eternity!"
Han Shizhong, who was wearing a jade belt, was in a trance for a moment before he came to his senses. He immediately dismounted and grabbed one of the horse's legs. Wu Jie and Wang De quickly dismounted as well, each grabbing a horse's leg. Even Qu Duan had no choice but to dismount and follow suit after being glared at by Han Shizhong.
As for Li Qiong, Liu Qi, Li Shifu, Yang Yi Zhong, Liu Yan and others, plus a dozen commanding officers such as Qiao Zhongfu and Zhang Jing, they had no choice but to lead the crowd to dismount and kneel, surrounding Emperor Zhao and his mount.
"Mr. Lu is not trustworthy!" Zhao Jiu sneered immediately, which was the first time he had done so publicly today. "That's not what you said by the fish pond that day..."
"Your Majesty!" Minister Lu Haowen bowed and responded, regardless of his age. "Just two saints...why would they cause the country to split?"
"Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Zhao Ding also bowed quickly, pointing his finger to the sky in public. "We have already made a plan. All the royal family members who come back this time will be stripped of their titles and become commoners. The Supreme Dao Emperor will be placed in Mingdao Palace, and the Supreme Yuansheng Emperor will be placed in Dongxiao Palace! Just two saints, there is no way they can split the country! Please follow the team back to Tokyo!"
"Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Zhang Jun also bowed his head. "If Your Majesty wants to fight, you can just say so. Why do you have to do this?"
The other civil officials came to their senses, seeing that it was not a serious matter, and bowed down one after another... For a moment, there were so many civil officials bowing and military officials kneeling, but Zhao Jiu just sneered on his horse.
After the civil officials bowed, Wang Shu, the Minister of Justice, became more and more angry. He pushed Liu Dazhong, the Minister of Personnel, on the back and said, "It's all because of you. You always pretend to put the country first, but you keep selling your integrity for fame and use the two saints to suppress the government! If the country is in trouble, it's all because of you."
Liu Dazhong was caught off guard and was pushed to the ground. He was so angry that he turned around to speak, but he knew that he could not make any defense at this time, so he could only pound the ground hard, choking in silence.
At this moment, Li Guang, the Imperial Censor who had been bowing his head for half a day, suppressed all the emotions in his heart, raised his head and slowly said: "Your Majesty! I also think that the two saints can be placed in different places..."
Emperor Daojun and Emperor Yuansheng both burst into tears upon hearing this, and quickly expressed their opinions in front of the dragon banner.
Emperor Daojun first bowed to the man on the horse and said, "Let Ninth Brother know that I know that you can return to Henan alive because of your hard work. I am very lucky and I have no desire for power."
Emperor Yuan Sheng was even more straightforward: "Ninth brother, don't think that people like us have abolished the loyalty between the monarch and his subjects. I would like to set off immediately and go to Dongxiao Palace without stopping."
However, Zhao Jiu just shook his head after hearing this: "If that's all, I'm sorry I can't agree!"
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