The signing of the Lin'an Peace Treaty was completed, and both Zhou Zhi and Zhou Zhixue were very satisfied.
They obtained what the Ming Dynasty needed through military means and completed the mission entrusted to them by His Majesty the Emperor. They could return to the court and enjoy the honor.
In a good mood, Zhou Zhixue felt that Shi Hao looked much more pleasing to the eye.
"Isn't it a good thing that the peace treaty was signed? Why is Mr. Shi looking so sad? Lin'an City can be preserved and the people in the city are saved from destruction. Is this the most direct benefit to the Southern Dynasty?"
Zhou Zhixue stepped forward to talk to Shi Hao.
Maybe Zhou Zhixue didn't mean any harm, but his words sounded a bit ironic.
After signing the agreement, although he felt empty in his heart as if something was permanently lost, Shi Hao still felt a sense of relief inexplicably. Faced with Zhou Zhixue's ridicule or sarcasm, Shi Hao had no idea or confidence to refute.
He could only smile bitterly.
"The Northern Dynasty has already got everything it wants, so why should it be like this? There are still many things that the Song Dynasty needs to solve next, and it will have to suffer even more, but the Northern Dynasty can be stable. Isn't that enough?"
"No, I don't mean anything else, I'm just discussing the matter."
Zhou Zhixue smiled and said: "This is not the first time that the Southern Dynasty has encountered such a thing. The last time was far worse than this time. Why can't it work this time? But it is better to cut off one road than the whole Huainan land, isn’t it?”
Shi Hao shook his head helplessly.
"The Northern Dynasties took away Huainan East Road, and Huainan in the Song Dynasty ceased to exist. What's the point?"
Zhou Zhixue shook his head.
"The Ming Dynasty has no intention of continuing to go south. This time it goes south just to repair the Yellow River. Even if it takes the Huainan East Road, it is only as a warning. As long as the two countries cannot afford weapons, what's wrong?
After all, if the Southern Dynasty had agreed to Ming's request as soon as possible, this war would not have happened. The Ming Dynasty was just trying to regulate the Yellow River and for the sake of millions of lives in the Central Plains. The Southern Dynasty was not willing to pay even this small amount of money, which led to the current consequences. Didn't the Southern Dynasties ask for it? "
Facing Zhou Zhixue's seemingly reasonable but actually domineering remarks, Shi Hao was secretly angry, but had no choice but to swallow his anger.
"At this point, the loser has nothing to say. The peace treaty has been established. I only hope that the Northern Dynasty will withdraw its troops and leave as soon as possible to restore stability to the Song Dynasty."
Zhou Zhixue smiled and nodded.
"It's easy to say, it's easy to say. As long as I get your edict to cede land, the entire Huainan East Road will be included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Everything is easy to say. The Ming Dynasty does not want to delay it any longer. If it continues to be delayed for one more day, it will be a waste of national funds.
Moreover, this is also good for you. In the future, the delivery of annual coins only needs to be delivered to the riverside and then can be transported to the north of the Yangtze River by water, saving a period of journey and reducing a lot of transportation costs. Isn't this a good thing? "
"Yes……"
Shi Hao didn't want to say another word to Zhou Zhixue, for fear that he would become ill from his anger, so he quickly left the Ming army camp and went back to Zhao Yu.
After Zhao Min got the terms of the peace treaty signed by both parties, he read it carefully. After reading it, he burst into tears. Finally, he ran to the ancestral hall and cried for a while. In the end, he had no choice but to seal it with the emperor's seal, giving the peace treaty new legal effect. .
From now on, the Song Dynasty will once again bear a heavy political and economic burden.
Zhao Yan also had to make new preparations and request Ming Emperor Su Yonglin to become a vassal and pay tribute, and also request for canonization.
The legal authority of the Zhao and Song dynasties will henceforth belong to the Ming Empire. Only the canonization and recognition of the Ming Emperor can give the Zhao emperor the identity and legal authority of the ruler, at least in name.
The emperor cried, and so did the ministers.
All the civil and military officials and the royal family members all laughed.
They were safe, Lin'an was safe, and everything about them was preserved.
Everything else can be discussed later. Now, they want to celebrate that they have safely passed through this unprecedented political and military crisis, and want to release their happiness and suppressed emotions to their heart's content.
Also on the 9th of May, Zhou Zhi conveyed orders to the main force of the Ming army outside the city, the main force of the Ming navy in Suzhou, and the headquarters of Ma Hongxing guarding Jiankang Prefecture. The war was over, the peace treaty was signed, and the entire army was preparing to withdraw to Huainan to wait for the Ming Dynasty. Further orders from the Emperor.
On the morning of the 10th day of the fifth lunar month, Zhou Zhi received the land-ceding edict stamped with a jade seal from Zhao Hao.
The Southern Song Dynasty also specially sent Tang Situi, the prime minister, as the envoy to cede territory. He accompanied the Ming army to various parts of Huainan to be responsible for ceding territory. He ordered the defenders along Huainan East Road to cede the defense areas and leave as soon as possible.
To be honest, when Tang Situi received this appointment, he felt something bad in his heart.
Shi Hao, who was responsible for signing the peace contract, is not held responsible for this kind of thing, but he, who has always been a bit of a marginal person, is held responsible. This is not a good phenomenon.
Tang Sidei was a pure outsider in military struggles, but he was an expert and highly skilled in internal political struggles. Through this unusual appointment, he was keenly aware of some of Zhao Hao's ideas.
Tang Situi was a little worried and wondered if the emperor wanted to do something.
However, he had no evidence and did not dare to speak nonsense. He had no choice but to accept the order and break out of camp with the main force of the Ming army besieging the city on May 11th, embarking on the road back north.
After embarking on the road back north, Tang Si retreated and learned that there was a Song army unit resisting the Ming army on the front line and did not admit defeat.
Yangzhou City, which was originally guarded by Liu Qi, still resisted after his death and did not surrender, constantly threatening the Ming army's logistics routes. In order to force Song Ting to surrender faster, the Ming army directly ignored Yangzhou and quickly went south to conquer Jiangnan.
Jiangnan never entered a city that insisted on defending like Yangzhou City. The army fled and was defeated. As a result, the Ming army won a complete victory, forcing the Song Dynasty to sign an alliance under the city and become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
It was also during the process of going north that Tang Sidui, Zhou Zhi and others learned about the Southern Song Dynasty's Chizhou Dutongsi Dutongsi Dutong Si Dutong Li Xianzhong led the land and water armies to counterattack Jiankang.
This was the second Southern Song army that the Ming army encountered after moving south that dared to launch an attack.
The reason why the war started was that Ma Hongxing sent Zhou Mancheng to lead the navy to pursue Wang Quan. He didn't want to let that bastard go, so he chased him all the way to the Chizhou Dutong Defense Area.
Zhou Mancheng led the Ming Navy to defeat the royal Jiankang Navy and seized a lot of supplies, but soon Chizhou's navy came to help.
They fought bravely and fought equally well with Zhou Mancheng, and successfully took over the remaining warships of Wang Quan and a few Jiankang Navy.
Seeing that nothing could be done, Zhou Mancheng did not continue the pursuit. After firing a round of large rockets, he chose to retreat.
After returning down the river to Jiankang Mansion, Zhou Mancheng told Ma Hongxing about the resistance of the Song army in Chizhou.
Ma Hongxing said that his mission was to control Jiankang Mansion, rather than take the initiative to attack again. If he continued to attack, it would lengthen the Ming army's front line, which would be disadvantageous for logistics.
Moreover, there was no plan to attack Chizhou in the war plan. As a soldier, he had to obey orders and it was inappropriate to mobilize the army to attack without permission, so he did not take the initiative to attack.
However, Ma Hongxing did not take the initiative to attack, but the Song army on the other side of Chizhou did. Li Xianzhong, the governor of Chizhou, led an army of 10,000 people down the river and arrived at Taiping Prefecture where a small number of Ming troops were stationed. In Taiping Prefecture, they fought with the Ming army defenders. Fierce fighting.
The Ming army in Taiping Prefecture was small in number and was unable to defeat the large Song army and had to retreat. The Song army pursued them all the way to Jiankang Prefecture.
When the news reached Jiankang, Ma Hongxing was furious, thinking that I didn't come to you but you came to me instead. There is a road to heaven but you don't take it, and there is no door to hell and you break in. Then you can't blame me!
So Ma Hongxing mobilized 20,000 troops to fight against Li Xianzhong.
The two sides engaged in an encounter between Jiankang Prefecture and Taiping Prefecture.
Ma Hongxing's elite troops came out together, their cavalry galloping, and Li Xianzhong's infantry formed formations to resist desperately. The two sides fought from morning to dusk, but the Song army persisted and did not give Ma Hongxing an opportunity to take advantage of.
It was not until dark that Song Jun showed his weakness due to lack of physical strength.
Ma Hongxing then ordered the cavalry to attack quickly and smashed the Song Army's infantry formation. The army pressed forward and the Song Army was defeated.
However, its defeat was not complete. Its general Li Xianzhong personally led the elite troops to the rear and fought to the death, which hindered the pursuit of the Ming army. The Song army was able to leave the battlefield relatively safely.
It was dark at that time, and the pursuit became inconvenient. After Ma Hongxing surrounded and killed the rear troops of the Song Army, he had to accept this unhappy victory that did not completely wipe out the remnants of the Song Army.
