The midday sun shines on the ancient roads of Kaifeng City, and dust dances in the light and shadow.

Gu Pei's figure gradually appeared on the distant horizon. He rode a tired horse alone and walked slowly towards the city gate.

His armor reflected mottled light and shadow in the sun, and the damaged areas revealed a sense of vicissitudes and tragedy.

When Zhao Yingluo saw Gu Pei alone with damaged armor, her heartbeat accelerated, as if it was about to jump out of her chest. Looking at him like this, there was a high probability that something was wrong.

He knelt down on one knee, lowered his head and said, "Princess, Wang Shan colluded with the supervisor Lan Gui and killed more than a dozen of my men. He spared my life so that I could come back to deliver the message."

When Zhao Yingluo heard the news, her heart sank.

She looked at Gu Pei's damaged armor and tired expression and knew that he was not lying. She took a deep breath and asked, "What message did the court ask you to deliver?"

Gu Pei looked up at Zhao Yingluo and said, "He asked me to tell the princess to leave the city and surrender as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yingluo sneered and said, "Surrender? Does he think I will give in easily? You go down and rest, I have my own plan to deal with it."

……

There had been two heavy snowfalls in Yanjing at this time, and the city was covered in snow. The original dirt roads were covered with ice and snow, but they looked much cleaner.

Qin Hui took Zhao Gou's edict and went through all kinds of hardships, and finally entered Hebei from Shandong, and then came to Yanjing City.

The emperors and ministers of Yanjing looked at this famous capitulator with disdain in their hearts.

However, since he came to request the Kingdom of Jin to send troops, he naturally wanted to take the opportunity to do more beatings to make up for the losses caused by the last two defeats.

As the emperor of the Kingdom of Jin, Wanyan Sheng naturally found it inconvenient to blackmail Qin Hui, so he winked at Wanyan Zonghan.

Wanyan Zonghan understood the idea, coughed dryly, and then slowly told the conditions of the Kingdom of Jin, "It is not difficult for the Kingdom of Jin to send troops. One million taels of gold and silk each, and one hundred cannons. Defeat Zhao Yingluo. After that, the Song and Jin countries should be bounded by the Yellow River, and everything north of the Yellow River should belong to the Jin Kingdom. Taiyuan, Pingyang Prefecture and other places should also belong to the Jin Kingdom."

When Qin Hui heard this condition, he was filled with joy. The Song Dynasty had long lost control of the land in the Central Plains, and it was not an exaggeration to cede it to the Kingdom of Jin. As for the one million taels of gold silk, it was enough to spread it down. However, these one hundred cannons cannot be easily agreed. If the Kingdom of Jin really has this strange weapon, Bao Qi will become ambitious and continue to invade the south.

"Your Majesty, if our Song Dynasty really had these one hundred cannons, the imperial court would have recovered the Central Plains by itself."

Wanyan Zonghan sneered. Of course he knew that Qin Hui was trying to dodge, "Are you really not aware or are you pretending not to know? Do I know that the supplies originally supplied to Luoyang were snatched away by Guo Yan's tribe? Don't there be a hundred cannons in those supplies?"

Seeing that he could not hide it, Qin Hui had no choice but to admit in embarrassment that there were indeed a hundred cannons.

Wanyan Zonghan looked at Qin Hui's embarrassed expression and felt happy in his heart, "Without these one hundred cannons, the Kingdom of Jin would not have sent troops."

Qin Hui looked helplessly at Wanyan Zonghan's cold eyes and sighed deeply.

He knew he had no way out and could only bite the bullet and agree to these harsh conditions.

The air above the court seemed to have solidified, and everyone was quietly waiting for Qin Hui's answer.

In the end, Qin Hui nodded and agreed to Jin Guo's conditions.

……

【Xingqing】After the Jingkang Incident, the influence of the Song Dynasty on Xixia plummeted.

Li Qianshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, coldly ordered the suspension of the almanac given by the Song Dynasty. After Zhao Gou, who was far away in Lin'an, learned about this, although he was furious, he had no choice but to watch the relationship between Xixia and the Song Dynasty become increasingly tense.

It was twenty days after Wang Boyan arrived in Xingqing City via Xijing, Luoyang and Shaanxi. However, he did not receive grand treatment from the envoys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and he felt cold everywhere, as if he had been placed in an ice cellar, which made him feel particularly uncomfortable.

Finally, at dusk on the third day, he was able to meet Li Qianshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom.

After Wang Boyan stepped into the hall, he took a deep breath and informed Li Qianshun of the Song Dynasty's request, "Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty is now facing the danger of the rebellion of Princess Zhao Yingluo, and we sincerely request the Great Xia to send troops to help put it down. In return, the Song Dynasty will give a gift Daxia's gold and silk are three hundred thousand each."

Li Qianshun frowned slightly when he heard this, as if he was not satisfied with this condition, "It is necessary for Daxia to send troops, but the Song Dynasty needs to cede Shaanxi, Hehuang and other places to Daxia and increase the gold and silk to 500,000 taels."

Wang Boyan was shocked, but he knew that he had no room for bargaining at this moment, so he agreed. Anyway, the land and money sent were not his own. As long as he could persuade Daxia to send troops, his mission would be completed and he could Successfully handed over to Zhao Gou.

Seeing that he agreed so happily, Li Qianshun couldn't help but feel a flash of regret in his heart. Perhaps he should have made higher demands.

However, as a king, it is taboo to go back on one's word. He could only suppress the regret in his heart and nodded and agreed to send troops to help.

【Lin'an】

In the main hall, Zhao Gou frowned.

Although Qin Hui and Wang Boyan were sent as envoys at different times, they returned almost at the same time. They told Zhao Gou in detail about their mission to Jin and Xixia. Every word was like a sharp blade, piercing Zhao Gou's heart.

"One million taels of gold silk will be given to the Kingdom of Jin, and five hundred thousand taels will be given to Xixia." Zhao Gou murmured to himself, feeling a pain in his body.

This wealth almost emptied the Song Dynasty's treasury, but he knew that if the two countries could unite to destroy Zhao Yingluo, then the price would be worth it.

After all, Zhao Yingluo's existence has become the biggest threat to his throne.

However, when it came to the artillery requested by the Kingdom of Jin, Zhao Gou showed a reluctant look on his face.

The imperial court did not have a single artillery piece, but it was difficult to capture these one hundred. If these powerful weapons were really given to the Jin Kingdom, it would be tantamount to aiding the enemy.

He pondered for a moment and then told Qin Hui: "The artillery can be sent to the Jin Kingdom fifty first, and after Zhao Yingluo is wiped out, the other fifty can be sent over."

Qin Hui took the order and sent another messenger to rush the news to Yanjing.

As the messenger left, time passed unconsciously. In the blink of an eye, it is already the end of the year, and there is a hint of chilling in the cold wind.

The Jin Kingdom agreed to temporarily collect fifty artillery pieces, which relieved the court. Zhao Gou immediately issued an edict, ordering Guo Yan to escort fifty artillery pieces from Xijing to Taiyuan along the Fen River Valley.

On the other hand, they stepped up contact with the Jin Kingdom and Xixia, and agreed to meet in Kaifeng in the spring and March of the fourth year of Jianyan. At the same time, they urged Guo Yan and Zhu Zhenhai to prepare for war at Hulao Pass.

The edict to prepare for war was also sent to Han Shizhong who was stationed in Daming Mansion.

Looking at the edict in his hand, Han Shizhong tore it into pieces! And quickly informed Zhao Yingluo of the court's movements.

At the same time, Zhao Yingluo in Kaifeng City was not panicked because Luoyang, Xijing, was occupied by Zhu Zhenhai.


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