Chapter Forty-Four: Interrupt

  If negotiations with the Liao State were successful at this time, Wanyan Aguda, who had established great merit and prestige before, would undoubtedly become the emperor of the Jin State. However, as a person with the most distant blood ties but holding great power, he might be seen as a potential threat to Aguda's succession and become the first target for elimination. On the other hand, if an alliance was formed with the Song State, the war against Liao would have to continue. To wage war on a larger scale, Aguda had to adopt the method of appointing separate commanders for each direction. At that time, the Jurchen people had just transitioned from a primitive tribal system to a slave state, and imperial power was not yet stable. The emperor was only one of the many Balhae tribes' strongest leaders, rather than a semi-divine being above all others. Wanyan Zonghan, who had already shown excellent military talent, would have a great opportunity to accumulate enough war achievements and influence in the war against Liao State, surpassing or even replacing Aguda's successor as the next heir of the Jin Empire.

  This is also the real reason why Khitan brought Zhishan, the Song envoy, out for hunting today. He hopes to observe the true character of this monk through this hunt, because in the next action he needs a real hero to disrupt the Liao-Jin peace talks. The result of the observation made Khitan very satisfied, and as for that Huibi Si, it was just an unexpected surprise.

  After dinner, Zhan Yan and Zhishan returned to the Huining Prefecture together. This is the current political center of the Jin Dynasty. In days when there was no expedition or war, Wanyan Aguda and most of the high-ranking officials of the Jin Dynasty lived here. Since it's still early spring, they will wait until the end of spring plowing before sending troops out. The high-ranking officials of the Jin Dynasty and their personal soldiers are still in Huining Prefecture, making this simple town seem particularly lively.

  Zhi Shan arrived at the gate of the post house, just about to dismount, when a sticky hand reached out from beside him and grasped his reins. "Hold on, great monk," he said with a smile, "there's still something that needs your help later."

  "Me?" Zishan initially thought the other party was joking, but soon he discovered that the smile on his face had disappeared, apparently the other party was not joking.

  "It's actually helping yourself, Da Heshang, do you remember what you said earlier? As long as the Song and Jin are allies, you will help me. Now the Liao country has also sent an envoy to negotiate a peace treaty with our Jurchen people, do you know what to do?"

  The voice was not loud, but it sounded like a thunderclap to Zishan's ears. His instincts made him doubt the truth of what Zhuanhan said. But he immediately heard Zhuanhan continue in a low voice: "You don't need to suspect that this is fake, I have no need to deceive you, soon you will see the envoy of Liao State, on this matter, I and you are consistent, I also oppose negotiating with Liao State."

  "Why?"

  "It's simple, if the war continues, I and my army will have more and more slaves, wealth, land, and warriors and tribesmen will gather around me. But if it doesn't," said here, a bitter smile appeared on his face, and he spread his hands: "Then everything is over!"

  Zhi Shan lowered his head, and after a few minutes, he raised it again, saying in a low voice: "Alright, I'll help you!"

  Unlike Liao and Song, the emperor of Jin, Wanyan Aguda, did not spend too much energy on his own residence, which was just over a dozen wooden houses. So when Zhan Han brought Zishan into the courtyard, Zishan still had no idea that he had already arrived at the central location of the Jin state.

  "Great monk, please wait here for a moment, someone will lead you in later." Zhan Han whispered to Zhi Shan and then walked inside. A moment later, Zhi Shan saw four or five envoys wearing luxurious clothes come in, who should be the Liao envoys that Zhan Han had just mentioned. Because he had just gone out hunting, Zhi Shan was also wearing a leather robe, which looked roughly the same as ordinary Jurchen people, so those Liao envoys did not notice him and went in.

  "Who would have thought that the key to this alliance at sea was in someone's hands!" Zhi Shan clenched his fists tightly, feeling only sweat and heat in his palms.

  "Your Imperial Majesty, Emperor of the Eastern Hua State, these are the sacred objects of the Great Liao, including the national seal, jade book, golden stamp, and ritual instruments. The title 'Great Sacred and Enlightened Emperor' you previously requested is in conflict with the name of our country's Taizu, so we humbly suggest changing it to 'Eastern Hua State Supreme and Enlightened Emperor'. We beg Your Majesty to accept this!" Xie Xini, the Military Governor of Liao Jingjiang, bowed respectfully to Wanyan Aguda, pointing to the dozen or so elaborately decorated wooden boxes behind him.

  "Hmm!" Wanyan Aguda nodded proudly, but it was not hard to see the excitement in his eyes. From a small and unknown tribe in Northeast China, he had risen to defeat the great power that had dominated the north for hundreds of years, forcing his enemies to address him as "brother" and seek peace with him. This tremendous sense of achievement made even a hero like him feel somewhat dizzy.

  "What about the matter of surrender?" Xiao Xini Lie hastily asked.

  "You all withdraw first! I will discuss with everyone and then reply to you afterwards!"

  "Yes!" Xiao Xini Lie hurriedly bowed and retreated with the members of the delegation. The Jin state officials sat on the floor around the fire pit, beginning to discuss and soon formed two factions. Generally speaking, the older Wu Qima (later Jin Taizong), Ci Bu Shi and others advocated for peace talks with Liao; while the younger Zhan Han, Wulu Bu (Wanyan Zongwang) and Zhan Han's father Sa Ge opposed peace talks with Liao, advocating for continued war until the destruction of Liao. Wanyan Aguda himself did not express an opinion, only stroking his mustache, quietly listening to the debate.

  "If it's according to some people's opinion, we should make peace!" Wu Qimai scooped up a handful of ashes from the edge of the fire pit and sprinkled them on the floor. As he drew on the ground with his finger, he began to state his own views: "If we say that the Liao people are a bear, then we Jurchens are just a wolf. Even if the wolf can bite the bear ten times, it can't withstand being slapped by the bear's paw once. We rose up in arms only because of the Liao people's cruelty, but now the Liao country has already ceded us the two circuits of Liaodong and Changchun, and gives us an annual tribute of 250,000 silver bolts of cloth. Our descendants will be able to enjoy this for generations to come, so why must we continue fighting? As the saying goes, 'one bird in hand is better than ten birds in the forest', it's still better to be cautious!"

  "You're wrong about this!" Wu Yue said, erasing the words written in the dust by Ouyang Ke. "As the saying goes, 'If you don't kill the wolf, you'll suffer at its hands!' We've risen up in revolt against Liao and won battle after battle, so we should take advantage of our momentum to attack their capital directly, burn down their ancestral temples, and only then can we lay down our arms. If not, what will happen when the Liao people regroup and fight again?"

  "We were only two or three thousand men at that time, and we didn't fear the Liao army. Now with the addition of Liaodong and Changchun, our forces are a hundred times greater than before, what is there to fear from the Liao people?"

  Wu Qi and Wu Lun were uncle and nephew, but they had a fierce argument, their faces red with rage. They were about to come to blows when Wanyan Aguda cleared his throat, and the two men hastily sat down. Aguda looked around at everyone, his eyes lingering on Zhun Han, and asked: "You are called Zhun Han (which means 'heart' in our Jurchen language), and you have always been known for your intelligence among our people. Come, tell us, should we fight or make peace?"

  Zhan Han slightly bowed and said in a deep voice: "I think it's not clear whether the Liao people are sincere about negotiating peace or just stalling for time, so discussing war or peace is premature!"

  "Not bad, so you say the Liao people are sincere in their negotiations or just stalling for time?"

  "I'm not clear, but there's someone who is!" Zhan Han smiled and said: "If Your Majesty agrees, I'll let that person come in to explain!"

  "Reason is like gold, it's in the deep mountains and needs to be dug out, hurry up and invite him in!" Aguda laughed.

  "Yes, but I have a condition: after that person comes in later, no one here is allowed to interrupt his speech."

  "That's natural. How can we be so rude!" Wanyan Agula said in a deep voice: "Everyone listen clearly, and don't interrupt that person when he speaks later!"

  "Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

  Zhan stood up, walked to the door and summoned a follower, gave some instructions in a low voice, then returned to the fire pit. A few minutes later, someone came from outside, it was Zhishan. Zhan handed over the national letter to him, smiled and said: "Great monk, this is the national letter between Liao people and our great Jin country, take a look if there's anything wrong inside?"

  Zhi Shan nodded and opened the national book to take a look. Inside, he saw that it was written in both Chinese characters and Khitan script, recording the events of the Liao Emperor's conferment of the title of Emperor on Wanyan Aguda. He also glanced at the red bow and ivory tally on the wooden frame beside him, and burst out laughing. Xian Han hastily interjected, "Master, what are you laughing at? This is the national book of the Liao Kingdom conferring the title of Emperor on our Great Jin Emperor, what's so funny about that?"

  "This can't be the imperial edict, right?" Zhi Shan laughed and said: "The red bow and elephant carriage are the rituals of the emperor granting titles to vassals. 'East Huaiguo' means a small country in the east cherishes the virtues of a great country; 'Yao Fen' and ' Duo Jue' do not have good meanings; 'Qu Cai' has a slight insulting tone. There are many impolite phrases like this, it doesn't sound like the emperor of Liao granting a title to your emperor, but rather like an envoy from a superior country comforting a vassal state!"

  The people on the platform immediately stirred up, these high-ranking officials of the Golden State were all grown up on horseback, where did they understand these tedious etiquette. The face of Wanyan Aguda, the first one, also turned gloomy. Only Wu Qibu was older and had a deeper personality, he asked in a low voice: "Great monk, you are an envoy of the Song State, naturally hoping that we will not negotiate with the Liao people, we don't recognize these characters, how do we know if it's your intention to provoke conflict between our Great Jin and Liao?"

  "The words above are not only recognized by me alone, if you don't believe it, you can call the Liao envoys and ask them one by one, whether I am intentionally provoking or not, it will be clear after asking!"

  Wu Qibu looked at the calm and composed expression of Zhishan, who didn't seem to be deceiving him either. He called over his attendants and ordered them to bring in the Liao envoy. A moment later, the Liao envoy returned to the hall, and Xiao Nili also sensed the unusual atmosphere in the hall, her waist suddenly bending down. Wanyan Aguda nodded slightly towards Zhishan, who took a step forward and asked sternly: "You said you wanted to confer the title of Emperor of Da Jin on me, so why did you perform the rituals of bowing with the left hand and presenting gifts? Why were there phrases like 'Eastern vassal state', 'distant fragrance', 'many virtues', and 'talented officials' in your letter? Did you think no one here would recognize them?"