Volume 1: Zhu Xian Town Crisis Chapter 45: The Life-Threatening Shaoxing Negotiation

  In the original historical time and space, after Song Gaozong Zhao Gou and Qin Hui removed the military power of the three major generals Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, they sent Wei Liangchen as an envoy to Jin in October of the 11th year of Shaoxing, and in November, along with the Jin Dynasty's envoy Xiao Yi and Xing Ju Zhan, arrived in Lin'an to sign the "Shaoxing Peace Treaty".

  The treaty stipulated: ① Song would acknowledge Jin as its overlord, with the phrase "son and grandson, carefully guarding the ministerial rites", and Jin would confer on Emperor Gaozong of Song the title of emperor. ② The borders were defined, with the Huai River in the east and the Dasanguan Pass (in present-day Baoji, Shaanxi) in the west as the boundary, with the south belonging to Song and the north to Jin. Song ceded the states of Tang (present-day Henan province), Deng (present-day Henan province), Shang (present-day Shaanxi province), and Qin (present-day Gansu province) to Jin. ③ Song would pay an annual tribute of 250,000 taels of silver and 25 million bolts of silk to Jin, starting from the twelfth year of the Shaoxing era, with the goods being transported to Xuzhou for delivery every spring.

  Yue Yun also knew that the treaty actually had an additional condition, which was that the Jin State required the Southern Song to kill Yue Fei in order to negotiate a peace. And Zhao Gou and Qin Hui, in order to beg for peace from the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, had Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian killed at the Wind Wave Pavilion on December 29, 1141.

  It is now the tenth year of Shaoxing, and there is still more than a year before the formal peace talks between Song and Jin in history. However, the current history has undergone significant changes compared to the original timeline. Whether the "Shaoxing Peace Treaty" will be signed as scheduled is already unpredictable for Yue Yun.

  In the original historical time and space, in the tenth year of Shaoxing, Wei Liangchen also went to the Jin State to have a secret conversation with Wuzhu, but at that time, Yue Fei had already withdrawn back to Ezhou. Wuzhu saw that the Song army had completely retreated, and his confidence increased again, refusing to negotiate and continuing to lead his troops southward to attack. Therefore, in March of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, he provoked the Battle of Huai West between Song and Jin, in which Wuzhu was defeated again, and was forced to put aside his intention to destroy the Song Dynasty, agreeing to peace talks.

  But the situation has changed now. The Yue family army has not withdrawn, and the recent war in Chu State has ended with the defeat of the Jin army, and the Jin country has lost a prince for the first time. This makes it very likely that Wuzhu will retreat and dare not launch another attack. The Huai Xi War at the beginning of Shaoxing 11 may also not happen again. This change will actually increase the possibility of a peace agreement between Song and Jin.

  Yue Yun thought about it carefully, and suddenly his back was covered in cold sweat. Although he didn't know if Wuzong had proposed to Zhao Gou that killing Yue Fei would be a condition for peace talks, just like in history. But from Wei Liangchen's joyful expression when he entered the room, and his secret conversation with Wuzong must have been very fruitful, enough for him to go back and report to Zhao Gou and Qin Hui.

  Thinking of this, Yue Yun no longer had the heart to eat anything. After exchanging a few words with Wei Liangchen and Hu Xianhan, he immediately returned to his own table, finished his meal in a few mouthfuls, and didn't even bother to chat with that beautiful girl. He then instructed Niu Tong and Guan Ling to return to the manor as soon as they finished eating, citing his own fatigue and desire for an afternoon nap as an excuse, before hastily taking his leave.

  After Niu Tong and Guan Ling finished their meal and left, the expressions on the faces of the beautiful girl and her table suddenly turned gloomy. The thin man said in a low voice: "Fourth master, that person is actually the son of our archenemy, what a great opportunity we just missed, why didn't we take action?"

  At this time, the girl only took a sip of cool tea and said in a low voice: "Yue Yun's martial arts are strong, and he has two generals by his side to protect him. Hu Zhong is also surrounded by a large number of guards. Even if we can kill with one blow, it's not necessarily possible to escape smoothly."

  She raised her head and glanced lightly at the two subordinates, her charming eyes filled with a sense of astonishment.

  However, after a glance, she lowered her head again and said in a low voice: "This time we came to Chu State, originally only wanted to pay attention to Li Yu's whereabouts, so as to take advantage of her unpreparedness and sneak up on her. Didn't expect to be lucky enough to find the son of our arch-nemesis here too. Yue Fei that scoundrel has many experts around him, heavily guarded, it's too hard for us to make a move. If we can kill his son, making Yue Fei old scoundrel angry and grief-stricken would also count as getting some interest back. Just now that Yue Yun said he was going to attend Liu Zhifu's birthday banquet, this is an opportunity. At such a banquet gathering, Li Yu for the sake of Li family business, it's likely she'll go, you quickly go and find out about the situation of the banquet, maybe we can kill two birds with one stone and take care of both things at the same time!"

  "That sturdy man nodded in agreement and said, 'Right, no matter how cautious and clever Yue Yun is, he can't possibly bring a large group of soldiers to Liu Zhi's residence for the birthday celebration. This kind of banquet gathering is exactly our chance to take advantage of the chaos. However, those who can attend Liu Zhi's 50th birthday banquet must be officials and celebrities within Chu State City, or people with high status like Yue Yun. How can we mix in with the crowd at Liu's residence?'"

  The girl furrowed her brow upon hearing it, feeling that it was a difficult problem. However, just as she was thinking about it, the sound of gongs and drums came from the street, interrupting her train of thought.

  Three people looked out of the window, only to see a few large vehicles with colorful flags inserted, loaded with props, and dozens of people surrounding the vehicle, slowly moving forward. The people standing in front were still smeared with oil paint on their faces, wearing opera costumes, loudly singing several sections of opera. Attracting the crowd on the side of the road to watch and cheer.

  The two men walking in the front were extremely tall and thin, like bamboo poles. They each held a white banner over two zhang long with large characters: "Guo's theater troupe congratulates General Han on defeating the bandits and achieving a great victory! Congratulations to Lord Liu on his 50th birthday, may your good fortune be as vast as the East Sea and your longevity as enduring as Mount Nan!"

  "I've got it!" The girl was overjoyed at the sight.

  "What's going on?" those two men hastily asked.

  "Hehe, I've got a way in! Just follow my orders and we'll be fine!" The girl said with a smile.

  Yue Yun returned to his residence and began to think deeply. He had already judged that Wei Liangchen would not have dared to return to Lin'an so boldly if he had not agreed to the peace talks, and that he would not have been in such a good mood as to accept the invitation of the Chu State military commander to attend a banquet. It was likely that he would also attend Liu Mingcheng's birthday banquet the next day before continuing his journey back to Lin'an.

  Moreover, he can determine that Wei Liangchen must be a member of Qin Hui's party. This can be inferred from his ability to serve as the Song envoy in the previous Shaoxing peace talks and from his attitude towards himself just now.

  Yue Yun is now most worried that Wuzhu has already agreed to the peace talks and proposed the condition of killing Yue Fei, and will bring this message back to Zhao Gou and Qin Hui. In this way, he and Yue Fei will be in extreme danger. It can be said that their lives are hanging by a thread.

  What can be done to save the situation now? Yue Yun's heart was anxious and uneasy.

  Killing Wei Liangchen? It won't help with the situation, Qin Hui can just send another envoy. Moreover, investigating the murderer afterwards will easily implicate oneself and even drag down Yue Fei.

  It's even more difficult to reignite the war between Song and Jin, now that all fronts, including the Western Front at Daishan Pass, the Central Front in Henan, and the Eastern Front in Jianghuai, have entered a state of ceasefire.

  Wu Lun of Sichuan has retreated to Daxi Pass under Zhao Gou's order, relying on the natural barrier of Qinling Mountains and facing off against Sa Li Hua, deputy commander of the Jin army.

  In the Henan region, his own cheap father Yue Fei wanted to fight, but so many longing for a hard return of the people and lack of food and money, seriously bound his hands and feet, he can now hold on without withdrawing, it is already quite good. It is even more impossible to expect him to attack.

  As for his current location along the Jianghuai region, Han Shizhong had just experienced a battle in Chuzhou and was unable to fight again. The other several routes of the Song army, Zhang Jun had crossed the Yangtze River to the south, Yang Yanzheng also retreated to Shouchun, Liu Qi retreated to Luzhou, all of them had lost contact with the Jin army. Moreover, they were all defensive generals and it was impossible for them to take the initiative to launch an attack on the Jin army.

  The Song army is no longer able to fight, and the Jin army has suffered a series of great defeats, and will also be unable to fight again. In this way, wouldn't the second Shaoxing Treaty between the Song and Jin have been reached one year earlier than in history?

  Thinking of this, Yue Yun was at a loss for a moment, after all, he was not someone who excelled in political strategies.

  Just then, he heard a knock at the door: "Bang, bang, bang".

  "Come in!" Yue Yun said.

  At this time, there was a "creak" sound, and the door opened.

  A young scholar wearing a white robe and a bookish headscarf walked in.

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