Zhao Tai claimed to be the King of Qi, which made the Southern Song Dynasty very uneasy. Many Southern Song officials were worried that even if they compromised with Zhao Tai, Zhao Tai would not give up attacking the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, the Southern Song Dynasty began to hesitate whether to continue the peace talks.
As for Zhao Tai, he personally doesn't care whether he calls himself the king or not. It depends on what he wants. He hopes to "build high walls, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become the king."
Although Zhao Tai broke the Mongolian and Song pincer attack this time, the Qi army was still under the Mongolian and Song pincer attack, and the Qi army was still in a passive situation.
Zhao Tai actually didn't want to over-stimulate the Song Dynasty, but sometimes, he had to consider the emotions of the people below him. The brothers had suffered so much and fought so many battles with him, and all they wanted in their hearts was to go further.
If Zhao Tai cannot understand the emotions and thoughts of his subordinates, they will not be promoted for a long time, and it is not impossible to replace the leader in the end.
Therefore, there are some things that Zhao Tai knows will do more harm than good, but he still has to do them.
After hearing Wang Wentong's words, Zhao Tai frowned and said, "What do you think of the Southern Song Dynasty?"
Wang Wentong said: "They are now worried that even if they make concessions, the king will not truly cease the war."
Zhao Tai pondered for a while, "Last year, we broke through the Mongolian and Song Dynasty's pincer attack. The Song army suffered heavy losses and was unable to attack us in a short period of time. The solitary king had just gained Hebei and Huainan. He needed to consolidate his gains and was unable to attack the Southern Song Dynasty. Go. During the war, the Mongols lost their land, but their army suffered no losses. Now that Mongolia controls Youzhou, its army can directly threaten Hebei. In addition, the land of Henan is in the hands of Mongolia, and its army can cross the river to attack Shandong. This pair of isolated poles Unfortunately, there will be a war between Gu and Mongolia. Although the peace agreement is only a piece of paper, it is somewhat binding. Therefore, King Gu still wants to negotiate peace with the Southern Song Dynasty."
Wang Wentong said: "Previously, your Majesty had used the banner of clearing the emperor's side and punishing his traitorous ministers. Now that Shi Songzhi has been captured by us, we continue to go south, and the reason is not sufficient anymore. Now that your Majesty wants to negotiate peace, I am afraid he will have to make some concessions, and some demands cannot be made." mentioned."
This time Zhao Tai proposed to the Southern Song envoy that if peace was to be negotiated, the Southern Song Dynasty must first return his seized assets and restore trade between the two sides.
Secondly, the Southern Song Dynasty must recognize that the Qi army occupied Huainan, and the borders between the two sides were bounded by the Yangtze River in the south and the Dabie Mountains and the Wanshui River in the west. They also allowed the Qi army to station a battalion of soldiers and horses in Zhenjiang to protect Qi merchants.
Secondly, the Southern Song Dynasty allowed merchants from Qi State to enter the Southern Song Dynasty trade. The Shipping Department of the Southern Song Dynasty levied tariffs on Qi State’s goods and needed to negotiate with Qi State. If people from the Qi State commit crimes in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty needs to be handed over to the State of Qi to deal with it.
Finally, considering that Qi was not as wealthy as the Southern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty should follow the example of Xixia and give Qi 500,000 guan of annual coins and 300,000 shi of grain every year.
Zhao Tai thought for a while and said, "What conditions do you think you can give in to, sir?"
Wang Wentong said: "Your Majesty wants to station troops in Zhenjiang, but the Southern Song Dynasty will not agree to it no matter what. In addition, they are also quite resistant to our merchants' free entry into the Song Dynasty for trade."
Zhao Tai stood up, thought for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Let's do it! Gu doesn't have to station troops in Zhenjiang, but our merchants can freely enter the Song Dynasty to trade. We must insist on this. For this reason, Gu can release Li Zhixiao, To show sincerity, after signing the contract, the Southern Song Dynasty can also be allowed to use money to redeem a group of Southern Song prisoners. In addition, Gu Zai will give them a face and allow Zhao Yun to make Gu the King of Qi. How about it? "
Zhao Tai captured hundreds of thousands of Song soldiers and civilians in Huaibei.
Zhao Tai could not recruit all of these people. After selecting 150,000 of them, the civilians released them directly and allowed them to go back to give birth. However, there were still more than 100,000 forbidden troops who were not from Huainan, which became a problem.
Most of the family members of these forbidden soldiers are in the Song Dynasty, and the officers among them are from well-off families, and most of their hearts are on the side of the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhao Tai's inclusion of them will become a hidden danger.
Zhao Tai did not have much time for construction and development before, and Qi State did not have many minerals, so it was impossible to arrange so many captives to mine and create benefits for Qi State.
The release of these people will undoubtedly increase the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty, so Qi is actually quite embarrassed about how to deal with these prisoners.
At the moment, Zhao Tai can only let these prisoners dredge rivers and build water conservancy to prevent them from freeloading.
However, in the Huainan area controlled by Qi State, the population is densely populated, agriculture is highly developed, and the people work intensively. The land has been utilized to the limit, and water conservancy is very complete.
Hebei directly faced the Mongolian attack, Qi did not dare to invest too much, and there were no major projects in Shandong that could be launched, so the more than 100,000 prisoners were not put to good use.
Therefore, Zhao Tai felt that if the Southern Song Dynasty was willing to pay, he could let some people go back.
Wang Wentong listened to Zhao Tai's words and pondered for a moment, "The king has made such a big concession, I guess it will not be difficult to sign the peace agreement."
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In Hebei, when Zhao Tai and Wang Wentong were discussing peace with the Southern Song Dynasty, the prefectures and counties controlled by Qi State had already entered into busy spring plowing.
The war last year affected the autumn harvest in Hebei and Shandong.
Although the results of the war made the Qi government gain a lot, enriched the national treasury, and solved Qi's crisis, the losses suffered by the people in the war were not compensated.
After the war, Zhao Tai announced that the prefectures and counties affected by the war in Hebei and Shandong would be exempted from taxes. However, because the people did not get a harvest last year, many families were left with nothing. In order to survive, many families borrowed large sums of rations from the rich and the government.
Although Zhao Tai ordered the exemption of taxes, the people were generally in debt, and the state of Qi could be said to be rich and poor.
Therefore, this year's spring plowing and this year's harvest are particularly important to the people.
If there is a good harvest this year, the people will be able to repay part of their debts, and at the same time, they will have food to eat before next year's harvest.
If farming is affected this year and people have no harvest, then a large number of people in Hebei will go bankrupt.
The government of Qi State has some understanding of the situation among the people, and it can be said that they pay special attention to this year's spring plowing.
After the beginning of spring, Zhao Tai held a spring plowing ceremony in Jinan, and officials from various states and counties also held spring festivals to encourage people to farm.
On the Hebei Plain, the sky is clear, the breeze is blowing, and the spring sunshine is warm and comfortable. The busy people stand in the fields, see the surrounding trees budding, wild flowers blooming, and listen to the birds singing happily, which makes them feel particularly comfortable.
At this time, countless people wearing simple clothes were standing in the fields. They were either weeding and plowing the fields with hoes, driving cattle, or sowing seeds.
When the people saw this scene full of life and vitality, some people couldn't help but stop what they were doing and sang loudly.
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Suddenly, there was a sound of horse hoofbeats, and a group of cavalry came galloping from the north. The rumble of horse hoofbeats instantly broke this beautiful scene. When the people saw the galloping cavalry, they immediately dispersed in panic.
Wokuotai lost Hebei, and saw that the Shihou of Xiongzhou killed Daruhuachi and defected to Qi. In order to curb this momentum, Wokuotai adopted the advice of his advisers and sent a small group of cavalry south to affect the spring plowing in Hebei and prevent Hebei from letting go. The people are engaged in production, letting them know that following Qi will only make their lives worse and worse.
