From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 385

Zhou Yuan knew what these old guys were thinking. They only wanted to cede land and pay compensation to quickly quell the war in the northeast. Even if the people were dissatisfied, at most they would just curse the emperor for being incompetent and weak, which had little to do with their cabinet.

But power is the bottom line, and it must not be abandoned. Once the hole is opened, the power of the prime minister will be constantly encroached and eventually overthrown.

This is their life and property, how can they allow others to interfere.

Because of this, Zhou Yuan also understood that in order to take the position of peace envoy, he must be tougher and make them completely unable to refute.

So Zhou Yuan stood up and said loudly: "Your Majesty, my Great Jin has been established for 400 years. From Emperor Taizu to the present, has there been any unequal treaty signed to cede land?"

"Has my Great Jin fallen to such a point that it needs to cede land for peace and be servile to survive? Is your majesty really a mediocre, incompetent, and weak monarch!"

As soon as these words came out, all the ministers and officials changed color.

Zeng Cheng could not help but get angry and said, "Zhou Yuan! In the Golden Palace! How dare you deceive the emperor!"

Wang Lun, who was always taciturn, shouted, "How dare you! Your Majesty is wise, how can you be so presumptuous here!"

"Your Majesty, I ask you to punish the Marquis Zhongwu!"

Empress Zhaojing frowned and slammed the table.

The Golden Palace suddenly became quiet, and all the officials lowered their heads unconsciously and said nothing.

Empress Zhaojing said, "In the Golden Palace, there is a lot of noise. Do you think this is a teahouse in the market!"

"I dare not!"

"Please calm down, Your Majesty!"

The officials bowed and saluted.

Empress Zhaojing said coldly, "Ceding land and paying compensation, signing unequal treaties, Yang Guozhong, do you think that the Great Jin has fallen to this point?"

As the chief minister, when he was among the officials, his attitude was almost equivalent to that of the officials.

In this position, Yang Guozhong naturally did not dare to directly affirm such a statement.

He pondered for a moment and whispered, "Your Majesty, the enemy bandits in the East are nothing but backward barbarians who eat raw meat and drink blood. Even if they are brave for a while, they will not prosper for a long time."

"How can our Great Jin Dynasty be afraid of barbaric and backward tribes?"

"It's just that the Great Jin Dynasty has just passed the two-year famine and is in a stage of reconstruction, so we don't want to bother with them."

"The so-called peace talks are just a stopgap measure. When we have time in the future, we can annihilate them with thundering means."

Empress Zhaojing nodded and said lightly, "Old Yang is worthy of being an old minister of three dynasties. He sees the problem clearly enough."

"So peace talks are necessary, but as the main envoy of the peace talks, if we can strive for better contract conditions, it will naturally be the better one."

"Who in the cabinet is willing to go on a peace talk and guarantee no compensation or cession of territory? And volunteer to serve the country."

The old men looked at each other and dared not speak.

No compensation and no cession of territory? Do you really think the Eastern Tartars are fools? They fought such a big war just to sit at the negotiation table and drink tea?

Zhou Yuan said: "Your Majesty, no one in the cabinet dares to go as an envoy, but I, Zhou Yuan, dare. I can do it without paying compensation or ceding land!"

In fact, in the current situation, it is almost impossible to get rid of the Eastern Tartars without paying compensation.

The reason why Zhou Yuan said this is because he has a plan that can be used as a trump card.

Deng Bochi immediately said: "Your Majesty, although the Marquis Zhongwu is good at fighting, he does not understand diplomacy. If he is the envoy, not only will he not be able to negotiate, but he may have to start a war again."

Zhou Yuan couldn't help but sneer: "Ha! Elder Deng said that I don't understand diplomacy? It's really new. Does Elder Deng understand the Eastern Tartars?"

Deng Bochi said: "At least better than you, a yellow-mouthed child!"

After all, more than 20 years ago, Deng Bochi was the prefect of Shenzhou, and he still had a basic understanding of the Eastern Tartars.

Zhou Yuan said: "Okay, Lord Deng, let's have a debate in front of His Majesty today. If I, Zhou Yuan, don't know as much about the Eastern Tartar as you do, I'd rather not do it."

"Excuse me, Lord Deng, how many tribes are there in the Eastern Tartar, which are the main tribes, and which are the ruling tribes?"

"Also, how many troops do they have, what is the quality of their troops, and how do they fight?"

"How do they survive, how do they make a fortune, and how do they get to where they are now?"

Deng Bochi said coldly: "There are dozens of tribes, and now There are three or five leaders, and the ruling tribe should be the Hunhe tribe where Nurhaci is located. "

"The entire Donglu tribe has about 180,000 soldiers, who live on animal husbandry and nomadic life. They are born on horseback and are good at fighting, so they have the current situation."

Speaking of this, Deng Bochi said: "I know Donglu very well. Is it your turn to be an envoy to negotiate peace?"

Zhou Yuan said indifferently with a blank expression: "There are a total of 41 Donglu tribes. The real ones are the eight tribes of Dajin ruled by Nurhaci in Jianzhou, and the Haixi Women's Tribe.There are four tribes of the real Jurchens, and three tribes of the wild Jurchens, a total of fifteen tribes. "

"Among the eight tribes of the Great Jin, the Hunhe tribe is the leader, followed by the Wanyan tribe and the Zhechen tribe, and the Zhusheli tribe also has considerable power."

"Before occupying Shenzhou, Nurhaci unified the three tribes of the wild Jurchens, the Ula, Huifa, and Hada tribes of the Haixi Jurchens, leaving only the strongest Yehe tribe unruled."

"After Shenzhou was lost, the Great Jin almost ruled the entire Jurchens, and continued to attack the last Yehe tribe, forcing it to the Khorchin grassland."

All the ministers and officials were already confused. Zhou Yuan was born a scholar and had only been in office for a short time. How could he know so much about the Eastern Tartars?

And he spoke in great detail, which seemed to be much more detailed than Deng Bochi.

Zhou Yuan continued in a deep voice: "We in the Great Jin have to defend against Mongolia, the Tusi and Portuguese in the south, and the island bandits in the southeast. Don't the Eastern Tartars need to guard against the Yehe tribe that is ready to counterattack at any time? "

"Although the Yehe tribe has not many people, there are still 8,000 to 14,000 elite soldiers who can fight. They are enough for Nurhaci to pay attention to and keep an eye on them at all times."

"And it just so happens that I, Zhou Yuan, have sent people to contact the Yehe tribe at the end of last year."

"As long as I use a little trick, I can incite the Yehe tribe to go south to contain Liaodong. Will the Eastern Tartars still be in the mood to talk to us?"

"Sun Tzu said, knowing yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger."

"I, Zhou Yuan, said that there is no need to pay compensation or cede land, and I will definitely do it!"

"Can Lord Deng do it! If Lord Deng dares to make a guarantee in the Golden Palace, then I, Zhou Yuan, will no longer ask about the peace talks. "

Deng Bochi's face was extremely ugly, but he could not refute a word, because he was also shocked. He did not expect Zhou Yuan to contact the Yehe tribe. This was too terrible.

At such a young age, he has such long-term thinking and such deep scheming. How can he be restricted in the future?

Empress Zhaojing stood up and said coldly: "I am not so stupid as to cede land and pay compensation. The cabinet can draft an order and let Zhou Yuan be the main envoy of the peace talks. He will go to Tianjin today to meet with the high-level officials of the Eastern Tartars and must suppress their arrogance. "

"The Right Censor-in-Chief and Wenhua Pavilion University Scholar Zeng Cheng will be the deputy envoy to assist in the peace talks and will also go to Tianjin today. "

The cabinet opened their mouths, each of them sweating, but they could no longer fight for anything.

This time Zhou Yuan held the Yehe tribe, which was equivalent to holding the right to speak. His Majesty could send a deputy envoy from the cabinet, which was already a balance.

After the court was dismissed, Xiaozhuang quietly came behind Zhou Yuan and whispered: "Your Majesty asked you, how did you contact the Yehe tribe?"

Zhou Yuan was stunned, then smiled and said: "The Yehe tribe and the Shanxi merchants have trade relations. I found out about it in the case of King Jing's rebellion, and then I contacted them through the Shanxi merchants."

"Don't worry, senior sister, this peace talk will not fail. Dajin also has to consider the interests of many parties. Nurhaci is a smart man and knows what the foundation is."

Xiaozhuang smiled and said lightly: "Get ready to go. We will leave at the latest tomorrow afternoon. His Majesty has asked the cabinet to draft an edict and ordered Jinmen Governor Qu Shaogeng to arrange a meeting at this time."

"The next step depends on you. "

Zhou Yuan nodded and said, "No problem."

In fact, Zhou Yuan knew Qu Shaogeng very well. He was a straightforward person and Qu Ling's uncle. Even though he was also a member of the Qi Party, he would not deliberately go against Zhou Yuan.