Chapter 377: Promoting Peace with High Pressure
My brother is just too kind.
Now that someone has posted something, what should I do?
Lao Cao said with some displeasure.
Damn it, this really stumped Zhao Yulin.
He asked Prime Minister Shi if he had any conditions.
Lao Cao told him: This guy is asking for too much. He wants to work in our Central Court. He has a group of disciples who need to be placed, and the Liangzhe East Road will have to maintain its status quo for another ten years.
Then, Lao Cao handed him a list of officials who would remain in office after Shi Xiangqinshu's death.
Zhao Yulin saw a whole article written in densely packed thin gold calligraphy style, indicating that there were quite a few officials who needed to be resettled.
He asked Lao Cao how he planned to respond?
Lao Cao said that they should discuss it together and he wanted to hear what everyone had to say.
Li Gong said that it would be a blessing for the people to unify the country without fighting, and it was the best choice. He had seen the list of officials who would be retained, and he knew half of them. They were basically honest and upright, so he thought it was possible to negotiate.
However, it is well known that Shi is a capitulationist who has done many evil things. If he wants to come to work for our Central Government, I am afraid that even if we agree, the people will not agree.
Fan Zhong and You Shi also opposed Shi's son's entry into the Central Court.
Hua Yue suffered greatly from this and was even more determined to oppose Shi's son from entering the Central Council to discuss matters with him.
Zhao Yulin thought about it and said that it was a good thing that Shi Xiang was willing to promote peace, which showed that he did not want to be a slave of a conquered country. Didn't we say that we should unite all those who are willing to work for the New Song Dynasty to fight against the Mongol Empire? We can talk to them.
One thing must be made clear, Shi Xiang cannot come to the Central Council to work, not even the Shangshu. He is already the prime minister, and these positions are not in line with his status.
However, we can tell him clearly that the New Song Dynasty guarantees his personal freedom. He can work in the Censorate and receive the salary of a deputy of the Central Council. Wouldn't it be better for him to offer advice and suggestions for the governance of the New Song Dynasty?
Lao Cao put down the teacup, patted the coffee table and said that this was the best, and let him go to the Taijiantang to work. For our Xin Song, this was a place that only officials who had served as pacification envoys or above could go.
After listening to Zhao Yulin's explanation, the gentlemen nodded in approval.
Zhao Yulin suggested: Let Lord Li come forward to give instructions to the envoy, so as to prevent Jiangdong from thinking that this is our final statement and losing room for maneuver.
Mr. Li nodded in agreement and asked Yang Daquan where he was and how to respond.
Zhao Yulin said there was no reply and drove him away directly.
They were all in the same group. They openly came here to negotiate for land and money, but in reality they were here under cover to pass on Shi Xiang's message.
Zhao Bing is dreaming, trying to get benefits from us, but he doesn't even know the history, so there is no way?
Zhao Feiyan simply finished her business and seeing that it was still early, she asked him to accompany her to visit her mother Kuang Sisi, where the child was.
Zhao Yulin had nothing to do, so he helped Feiyan get on the carriage and asked the guards to go to Baihuatan.
The little woman fell into his arms before he sat down and said that she was a little timid in the face of the aggressive envoys from Lin'an. Fortunately, her husband was there to support her.
Zhao Yulin gently stroked her cheek and said, "He's just a street rascal. What's there to be afraid of? If it weren't for the fact that the guy was an envoy from Lin'an, he really wanted to kill him with a single blow. Such a person would only do harm and no good to the world."
The little woman said with a smile that she was nothing like him, a general who could kill anyone without blinking an eye. But she was nervous inside, it was so scary.
Zhao Yulin pinched her waist lightly and said, "You will be the king's woman in the future, so you must have some murderous aura." If nothing else, I was scared when I saw Chen Chen yelling, "This palace, this palace" when he opened his mouth and closed his mouth.
Zhao Feiyan immediately laughed out loud, leaned over to his ear and asked: Brother, are you afraid too?
Seeing Feiyan's serious expression, he couldn't help but laugh, and said lightly that everyone has weaknesses and will be afraid sometimes.
As soon as the two entered Danfeng Garden, Kuang Sisi was delighted to see Feiyan, and took her to see her beloved grandson Zhao Guangxiang, and blamed the couple for not visiting the child for a long time . The two mothers had not seen each other for a long time, and they had endless topics to talk about. Feiyan saw that he was bored, so she asked him to go back home alone, and she wanted to stay here with her mother for one night.
Since his daughter should be filial to her mother, Zhao Yulin naturally had nothing to say and said goodbye to Kuang Sisi and went back.
At the dock of Jiading, Zhao Yulin's mother was enthusiastically eating beef with Hu Lan.
When his mother learned that Hulan was the youngest daughter of the Toure family of the Mongol Empire, she did not like Hulan at first. This was the reason why the Song people had been bullied by the northern ethnic groups for a long time.
Later, when he heard that the girl had traveled thousands of miles to the Han area again and again to find her son, and was not afraid of killing and going through hardships to marry Zhao Yulin, his heart softened and he began to treat Hulan as his own daughter.
His mother kept picking up food for Hulan and told him to try it. Yulin often came to this restaurant.
The little girl was delighted, and she obediently picked up the wine glass and invited her mother to drink. The old and the young took turns drinking with the daughter's red wine.
His mother also told Hulan: Don’t think that the academy in Cuiping Mountain is not the Imperial College in Caotang. The teachers there are very interesting. They all understand the new learning taught by Yulin, and the students are very happy.
Haha, Zhao Yulin's mother really put in a lot of effort to coax Hu Lan to stay in Cuiping Mountain.
As for Hu Lan, seeing that her future mother-in-law cared about her so much, she felt like she had gained another reliable relative here, and she felt much more at ease.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was reading documents alone in the study.
Wu Yuqi went out on business with the inspection team. Dongmei, who was in charge of Shunfengsi, brought him an urgent military report: Zeng Yaozu, the leader of the militia stationed in Pingxiang in Jiangnan West Road, openly surrendered to the Shenwei Army and requested Cao Youliang to enter Jiangnan West Road.
Damn it, this is complicated.
When Zhao Yulin saw Cao Youliang's secret letter reporting that he had already ordered the Ezhou navy to go together, this was telling him that the Shenwei Army in Jinghu had already started moving.
Cao Youliang is fearless, but Zhao Yulin has to consider the reputation of the Shenwei Army and must take Lin'an's defense seriously. They have already reached their lair, so they must win if they want to fight.
He immediately asked Shunfengsi to instruct Yang Xingyun Group to dispatch a column to provide assistance.
At present, Cao Youliang has only a small number of troops stationed in such a large area as Kuizhou Road and Jinghu South, and he already seems to be outnumbered.
He was just about to go out to discuss with Cao Youwen, but he saw a figure swaying at the gate. Old Cao had already arrived before him.
This was first passed to Cao Youwen by Shunfengsi in accordance with the regulations on intelligence transmission. Lao Cao came to him immediately after receiving the news, and of course his movements were faster than his.
Zhao Yulin told him that he had asked Shunfengsi to send an urgent message to Yang Xingyun for support, and the rest could only be left to fate.
Lao Cao was a little worried that his little brother was acting recklessly and might provoke a war with Jiangdong.
Zhao Yulin spread his hands and said that we had no better way, we could only leave it to fate, and believed that Jiangdong had no ruthless people who could stop our Shenwei Army. His intuition believed that the people's army's surrender was real, even if it was fake, he was not afraid, it was just right for Cao Youliang's soldiers to catch them and train them well.
Cao was at a loss, and asked tentatively: How about we just stop moving in the north this year and concentrate on building the small court in Lin'an?
Zhao Yulin smiled and nodded, saying very easily that it was not up to us. We must do something in Lin'an, but we have to guard against the north.
He asked Lao Cao to go back and sleep peacefully, and to eat and drink as usual in the morning.
Lao Cao said that he couldn't sleep because of his age, and went back mumbling. Yes, he was almost sixty years old, how could he be so sleepy, and he definitely couldn't sleep if he had something on his mind.
Zhao Yulin didn't care about these trivial things. He took a shower, changed his clothes, and fell asleep on the bed.
At Baihuatan, Kuang Sisi and Zhao Feiyan, mother and daughter, are not asleep yet.
Zhao Feiyan was very happy to watch the child fall asleep and then went to chat with her mother. The two mothers slept on the same couch. Her mother happily said that Feiyan was filial and would never forget to come and see her.
The girl told Kuang Sisi: Brother Yulin asked me to work hard because he wants to be the ruler of the country one day.
The little girl even told her mother proudly that her brother asked her to be decisive and magnanimous. The sisters often shouted "this is the princess" to each other, but Yulin brother did not stop them. He said that there was no emperor at the moment, and we are the masters of our own house, and we can do anything as long as we do not break the law.
Kuang Sisi looked at Zhao Feiyan with envy and said, "Are you showing off? Be careful, here comes another Hu Lan. I think that girl is not someone you can easily deal with."
Zhao Feiyan said she didn't care about all that, because Sister Ma Ling treated all the sisters equally at home. Besides, she was the vice-king, and she had a salary so she wouldn't starve to death.
Her mother said with a smile that everyone in the No. 1 New Song Dynasty was starving to death, and your brother Yulin was probably so angry that he vomited blood and died.
Zhao Feiyan immediately reached out her hand as if to cover her mother's mouth, and told her not to say anything about life and death, because Brother Yulin was often in danger outside.
Kuang Sisi laughed in silence, complaining that she had chosen the wrong words. Then she sighed and said, "I never thought that Shu was such a good place. Everything that Lin'an had is here, and there are many new and interesting things that Lin'an doesn't have."
Zhao Feiyan said with a smile that there would be many new things in the future. She heard that the new town was already making trains. They laid two iron bars on the ground, and the train ran along the bars. It was much faster than the boat.
Her mother looked curious and asked her if it was true.
Zhao Feiyan nodded and told Kuang Sisi that it was Brother Yulin who told her secretly, so it must be true. If she became the ruler of the country in the future, all the news of Shunfengsi would be passed on to her first.
Kuang Sisi pinched Zhao Feiyan's face and said, "Look how beautiful this little girl is." Then we won't have to listen to Yulin's complaints anymore, right?
What a silly girl.
Zhao Feiyan shook her head vigorously and said blankly that she was just a little curious about how many unknown secrets there were in this country and she really wanted to know.
Her mother said that the secret lies with Yulin'er, and if we catch him, he will know everything.
Zhao Feiyan's little face suddenly turned red. She thought that her brother's secrets had long been fully revealed to her and had been explored inch by inch by her. There was nothing she didn't know, hehe.
When Zhao Yulin woke up, he had already gone out to practice martial arts. How could he know the little thoughts of the mother and daughter?
Guard Captain Chu Yuxuan reported to him: Lord Cao has invited you to go to Hengqu Town to see the new military camp.
