"emperor!"
"emperor!"
When Ning Yongnian slowly walked around the screen and appeared in the main hall, all the envoys from Daning immediately stood up and saluted with extremely respectful expressions.
But the people on Dafeng's side behaved differently.
Someone quietly looked at Ning Yongnian with a fearful expression.
Some people stared angrily and gritted their teeth.
Some people lowered their heads and remained silent, not knowing what they were thinking.
Some people were trembling slightly, as if they were a little scared...
Of course, Li Qi still looked stupid, sitting at the head of one side of the long table and playing with the corners of his clothes.
As for Li Wutong sitting next to him...
Her eyes were a little evasive, as if she didn't dare to look at Ning Yongnian.
"..."
"Crash!"
The sound of sleeves shaking was loud, and after Ning Yongnian sat down on the throne, all the envoys of Great Ning also gathered their sleeves and sat down.
"emperor."
A white-haired old man in purple clothes stood up unsteadily, bowed and looked at Ning Yongnian.
This man's name was Sima Cong, and he was the minister of Honglu Temple. He was also the envoy of Daning in the peace talks.
The envoy of Dafeng was a civil servant named Min Zhongguang.
"..."
The tall and empty hall was quiet. Except for the breathing of everyone, there was no movement for a while.
"Um."
After a moment, Ning Yongnian nodded slightly without changing his expression.
Then, Sima Cong cleared his throat and said slowly, word by word:
"Everyone, since the development of the two countries, many people have been separated due to war, innocent lives have been lost, and the world has been in ruins."
"Both the two pilgrims do not want the common people to suffer this disaster, so they are willing to resolve the dispute between the two countries with benevolence and righteousness, the way of peace, and the act of peace..."
"..."
...
In any negotiation process, the person who really makes the decision is often the one who speaks the least.
Usually, the subordinates talk first, and if they really can't reach an agreement, the rightful owner will make the final decision.
The same goes for this peace talk now.
Although Ning Yongnian and Li Qi were both present, the specific details were basically "discussed" by Sima Cong and Min Zhongguang.
"Deliberation" is of course a euphemism.
As the victorious side on the battlefield, Daning must have had an absolute advantage in the peace talks.
To put it simply, Daning will put forward a total of five conditions.
As long as both parties can agree on these five conditions, Daning will withdraw its troops.
Like all "unequal treaties", the first condition is naturally related to the status and territory of the two countries.
"From the date of the conclusion of the alliance, Da Fengxu respects Daning as the main country, and cedes Jiujiang Prefecture, Dangping Prefecture, Miyun Prefecture, Jiangxia Prefecture, and Sanchuan Prefecture. A total of five prefectures will be included in the territory of Daning and can never be recovered. .”
"..."
Respect Daning as the master state and recognize Dafeng as the former's vassal state.
And the land of the Five Prefectures must be ceded.
Compared with many "unequal treaties" in previous lives, such a condition may seem very harsh at first glance.
But in fact, Dafeng did not react too violently to this.
In other words, they have already been mentally prepared.
After losing the war, it is normal to cede territory and seek peace.
As for whether there are many places in the Five Prefectures...
There are a total of twenty-four prefectures in Dafeng, and each prefecture is basically similar to a state in Daning in terms of area and population.
Of course, there are differences between prefectures, some are important, and some are dispensable.
These five prefectures and counties are all located on the border between the two countries and are not very wealthy.
Therefore, what Ning Yongnian wanted was really not much...even much lower than Dafeng's previous expectations.
But even though I was secretly happy, I still had to do what I had to do.
"snort!"
After secretly looking at Li Wutong, Min Zhongguang snorted coldly and said with feigned indignation:
"Lord Sima! This is absolutely impossible!"
"..."
...
About half an hour later, the palace door was slowly pushed halfway open, and a cold wind mixed with snowflakes rushed into the palace.
A eunuch walked out of the hall with a small note, handed the note to the etiquette officer waiting outside, and then returned to the hall.
The ceremony officer lowered his head and glanced at the note, then nodded to the soldiers beside him.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The next moment, the deafening drum beat sounded, dull and heavy.
There was a commotion outside the government office in an instant, with people standing all over the street crowded in the heavy snow, looking up and holding their breath, waiting for something.
Then they heard the official's calm but extremely clear voice.
"The Alliance of Huailing, the first one!"
"The two countries have tentatively agreed that from the date of the conclusion of the alliance, Da Fengxu will respect Daning as its main country, and cede Jiujiang Prefecture, Dangping Prefecture, Miyun Prefecture, and Jiangxia Prefecture, a total of four prefectures, to be included in the territory of Daning forever. No recourse!”
"..."
Under Ning Yongnian's deliberate arrangement, the progress of the negotiations between the two parties was made public as soon as possible.
It's hard to say what the former's purpose is.
Anyway, for the people of Dafeng, it is difficult for anyone to remain calm at this time.
In addition to anger, the feeling may be more helpless.
"Oh, it's so frustrating!"
"Why did the emperor and princess agree to such conditions!"
"Okay, it's pretty good. It's just the land of the Four Prefectures, not much."
"That's it?! This is my great territory!!"
"But the imperial court has lost the war. What else can we do besides ceding territory and seeking peace? If the emperor does not agree, what do you think Ning Yongnian will do?"
"this......"
"Huh? Why is it that our Huailing is not among the four mansions?"
"What? Do you still want to be Daning's lackey?!"
"My dear friend, please don't misunderstand me. I just find it strange. After all, Huailing Mansion is also on the border between the two countries..."
"..."
Soon, the crowd outside the government office began to discuss with indignation or sighs.
No matter what their attitude is, whether they are sad or sober, the negotiations in the palace will not be affected by this and will continue soon.
After discussing the territorial issue, the next step must be "reparations".
The "war compensation" is 50,000 taels, which must be paid within three years.
In addition, as a vassal state, Dafeng had to pay annual tribute to Daning of 20 million taels of silver, 10,000 fine horses, 10 million shi of fine grain, silks, cattle and sheep and other special products...
Compared with "ceding territory", although "reparations" do not involve the issue of sovereignty, the damage caused to a country is more direct and violent.
After all, Daning burned money fighting wars, and Dafeng also burned money.
And now that the national treasury has bottomed out, these huge compensation payments can only come from the people.
At that time, all kinds of complicated and exorbitant taxes will inevitably appear one after another, and the people will not be able to make a living, and Dafeng will enter a vicious cycle of continuous decline in national power. In the end, Dafeng will no longer be Daning's opponent...
No one doesn't understand this.
Whether it is Min Zhongguang or Li Wutong, they all know the consequences of shouldering such a huge "debt".
But what can we do if we don’t agree?
Therefore, when there is no conflict between the bottom lines of both parties, the issue of "reparations" is also discussed quickly.
Sima Cong still relaxed symbolically and reduced the compensation by 10,000 taels.
After Min Zhongguang tried repeatedly to no avail, he could only accept this amount in the end.
The compensation is 40,000 taels, which must be paid within three years, and the other conditions remain unchanged...
So far, two of the five conditions have been agreed upon.
It can be said that these two items are both within Dafeng's expectations and within their acceptable range.
Not even Li Qi, Ning Yongnian, and Li Wutong said a single word during this process.
The former means pretending to be stupid and unable to speak.
The latter two both knew that it was not yet time for them to speak...
There was still heavy snow outside, and the voice of the etiquette officer sounded in Huailing City again.
And as Sima Cong calmly stated the third condition a moment later, the atmosphere in the palace finally became tense for the first time.
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