By May, Yelu Zongzhen finally couldn't hold it anymore and chose to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to fight, but reality has dealt him a heavy blow.
Among the 34 tribes of the Liao Dynasty, only a few were willing to lend their full support. Even in the northwest region, the Naiman rebelled, killed the Liao messenger, and proclaimed themselves king.
And according to rumors from the rear, some tribes were also ready to make moves, such as the Wugut tribe, the Dahuangshiwei tribe, and the Xiaohuangshiwei tribe, which had been in rebellion for many years.
These tribes were originally conquered by successive generations of wise emperors including Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, Liao Taizong Yelü Deguang and Liao Shengzong Yelü Longxu, who fought bravely and attacked continuously before they were gradually pacified.
Pacification only proves their submission, but it does not mean that they have been integrated into the Liao Kingdom and completely become part of the Liao people.
They submitted to the Liao Kingdom because of its abundant military power, and naturally they would become disloyal due to the Liao Kingdom's decline, especially after seeing the Liao Kingdom's disastrous defeat in this southern expedition against the Song Dynasty.
So Zhao Jun's prediction was correct. If Yelu Zongzhen mobilized troops from all tribes, there would be only one outcome - the generals from all tribes would revolt.
If the Song State had intervened at this time, for example, by sending money, food, weapons and equipment to the Jurchen, Bohai and Xi peoples in the northeast through the Bohai Bay, inviting them to attack the Liao State together and dealing a fatal blow to the Liao State, the country would have been destroyed.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Yelu Zongzhen finally decided to accept Zhang Jian's persuasion and agree to all the demands put forward by the Song State.
But they also have their own conditions.
First, they could exchange war horses and minerals for money and food with the Song State, but they hoped that the nominal payment would remain an annual tribute to save Yelü Zongzhen's face. And this would continue every year, exchanging items of equivalent value for nominal annual tribute.
Second, since the Song Dynasty wanted the two countries to be treated equally, it should not require that only the Liao Dynasty allow the sale of contraband. The Song Dynasty should do the same, otherwise it would be unfair.
Third, it required that the land on the south bank of the Laishui River was not ceded by the Liao Kingdom, but a gift from the Liao Kingdom.
When Fan Zhongyan received Zhang Jian's letter and saw that the Liao Kingdom agreed, he was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to deliver the letter to Bianliang.
At this time, Kaifeng was still in a very solemn atmosphere.
This situation has been going on for two or three months.
Ever since their Lord Mayor spoke passionately about fighting the enemy to the death, the initial enthusiasm of the people in the city gradually subsided.
After all, the first thing to do in war mobilization is to continue collecting food and then send it to the front line.
In this war atmosphere where food and fodder had to be prepared before troops moved, the price of grain in Bianliang continued to rise, making the people miserable.
This cannot be changed through any tough measures, and corresponding production capacity must be supplied.
Otherwise, how can you lower the price of food if there is no food?
Therefore, the people of Bianliang also complained. In addition, they had to continue spending money to import sulfur from Japan, which made the national treasury spend money like water, and the officials also began to feel unhappy.
In addition, they had to work at full capacity to produce grenades and cannons. In the case of a shortage of copper, copper cannons were safer than iron cannons. Zhao Jun believed that they could first produce copper cannons, accumulate experience, and then start manufacturing iron cannons.
But a copper cannon costs about two thousand kilograms of copper.
Assuming that one string of coins weighs four to five Song jin, it would cost about four to five hundred strings of coins. Adding labor, shells, etc., the total cost must be more than five hundred strings of coins.
In the Ming Dynasty, an iron cannon weighing more than 2,000 kilograms cost only 200 taels of silver.
This will inevitably be a burden on the finances.
However, Zhao Jun thought that saving 300,000 strings of annual tribute and building 600 bronze cannons would be much better than paying annual tribute to the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, we firmly support the increasingly high military spending.
But I’m afraid this kind of persistence won’t last too long.
The same thing.
Now the people can barely appease their grievances by relying on Zhao Jun's own prestige and the constant publicity in the newspapers.
In the officialdom, the support of Zhao Zhen and the Political System Council, coupled with the Council's support for a large number of idle officials to come to power and the gathering of a group of interest groups, prevented the officials from making trouble.
But if this continues, even those who love their country deeply will probably be caught in a dilemma or even resent the court in the face of the ever-increasing cost of food, clothing, housing and transportation.
Therefore, in a sense, both the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty were actually on edge, it was just a matter of who would give up first.
But one good thing is that they have been preparing for the Song-Xia War and the possible Song-Liao War for nearly three years, so they can still hold on.
Although prices have risen severely, at most it was only the highest point in the increase in grain prices caused by the war with Western Xia during the Qingli period in history.
On the other hand, the Liao Kingdom was in danger of being destroyed, so Zhao Jun constantly boosted morale and encouraged everyone to persevere.
Inside Chongzheng Hall.
Zhao Jun is telling everyone a story.
"According to our spies, the Liao Kingdom will undoubtedly be the ultimate loser. Now, the Bohai people in Bohai, the Jurchens of the Five Kingdoms, and many Liao tribes in Donghai have expressed goodwill to us, saying that as long as we support them, they will never follow the Liao Kingdom south."
"This fully illustrates the sayings: 'A righteous cause enjoys many supporters, while an unjust cause has few, and those who make many friends have few enemies.'"
"Then why is Liao still so tense?"
"I think there are two reasons. First, they still can't let go of their former status as the leader of East Asia and don't want us to be on equal terms with them. This would seriously undermine the dignity of the Liao Dynasty, which claims to be the Celestial Empire and the place where all nations come to pay tribute."
"Secondly, they were reluctant to spend the hundreds of thousands of strings of cash they received for free each year. Furthermore, we had to give gifts to the Liao emperor and empress dowager on their birthdays, and that was all money we didn't have to spend."
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