You Miao watched Li Yan go out of the city. At this moment, his impression of himself seemed to have changed. He couldn't help but look at Zhao Chao again. He really couldn't tell the taste of it.
Zhao Chao has not entered the palace since the Tatar envoy left yesterday. Seeing You Miao coming up, he asked, "What did they say?"
You Miao replied: "I want to make peace, I agreed to the second and third. Li Yan took the document to negotiate."
Zhao Chao sneered and said, "My royal brother, won't you agree to kowtow to the Khan in a proper manner and send some royal descendants to be prisoners?"
You Miao sighed, and he also knew that it was absolutely impossible for the emperor to make himself a minister to the Tatar Khan. Even if the emperor himself was willing to kneel, the soldiers and the common people would never tolerate it. After so many troops were killed in battle, the emperor would kneel down, fearing that all the soldiers would mutiny.
"What about the ceding of land?" Zhao Chao said, "So many people died, and now you want to give Hebei to them?"
You Miao replied: "I told them that Hebei must not let it go. All the Tartars want is money, and they don't know how to cultivate the land, so it's better to give them taxes. Otherwise, the Central Plains will have no barriers, and they will not be able to survive in the future. But Zhao Chao, you told me, if we have to let it go, what should we do?"
The Tartar army made way, and Li Yan rode his horse and disappeared into the enemy camp.
Zhao Chao said, "It's you, what would you do?"
You Miao couldn't come up with a solution either. Given the current situation, if there is no peace...
"It's my words." You Miao said, "Open the city gate, everyone rushes out to fight with vigour and dynamism, and they die. There was no apocalypse in this world thousands of years ago, and after a thousand years, nothing will be left. "
Xiaoxue covered their sight and gently covered the capital. The capital was still asleep in a tired sleep between the battles. Zhao Chao murmured, "But the best opportunity has been missed."
Indeed, only then did You Miao realize that when the Tartar army drove the prisoners of war to attack the city two days ago, if the prince of the emperor was willing to go into battle in person, with Zhao Chao as his arm, and take Diwei out of the city, he would definitely let him go. The prisoners of war have defected again, and perhaps a battle can be decisive. What Zhao Chao mentioned when he went to the palace was nothing more than this.
But the crown prince didn't respond, because he pinned his hopes on Nie Dan and waited for Qin Wang's army to come to help. Now that all hopes are dashed, Li Yan shoulders the heavy responsibility of the entire court and goes to negotiate peace.
On this day, the capital was shrouded in a haze, and there were only a few people left in the court. Although the prince did not speak, he could see obvious anxiety.
"30,000 taels of gold and 100,000 taels of silver." The Minister of the Household said: "Report to Your Majesty, the treasury is connected to the deficit of last year, and now there are only more than 8,000 gold left, but there are 120,000 taels of silver. There is also a thousand pieces of silk. , the money and taxes in Jiangnan have not been put into the warehouse, and it is not enough at all, Your Majesty!"
The prince wearily rubbed his forehead with his fingers and said, "Let's borrow it from the Beijing official first, and then pay the taxes next year and return them one by one."
Tianjia opened the state treasury, counted the remaining money and waited for Li Yan to return, but for a whole day, there was no news from the Tatar army. Zhao Chao sent people several times to inquire about the news, but all came back without success. The Tatars blocked almost all routes out of Beijing. You Miao looked at the map and had a vague sense of foreboding.
In the middle of the night, a eunuch came to ask You Miao for money. You Miao complained bitterly: "Where is the money? There are two thousand taels left, if you want, take it all."
You Miao's bank notes were all handed over to the servant and brought back to Jiangnan. The remaining 1,000 taels of silver that was exchanged before the war, Zhao Chao ordered 500 taels to the eunuch and asked him to take them back to the palace, and the IOUs were no longer issued.
"Li Yan may be detained." Zhao Chao said worriedly.
You Miao frowned at the map and asked, "Is there a secret passage leading to the outside in the capital?"
"There is one, but the waterway." Zhao Chao pointed to the waterway behind the palace: "The cliff leading to the Yellow River was used for flood discharge before. It is very narrow and almost impossible to pass through. It can only accommodate one person to drill. In the past, you wanted to go out and ask for help?"
You Miao shook his head, but he couldn't say anything for a while. He always felt that maybe Li Zhifeng was waiting outside the city to come in to save him. fifty thousand troops.
I just don't know why, You Miao simply wanted to see him at this time, no matter if tomorrow is alive or dead, it's always good to see him again.
On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, there was a waning moon in the sky, and there was a faint sound of flute in the distance. You Miao put away the map, looked up at the window, and then walked out slowly and stood in the courtyard. The wind is blowing, it is the coldest time of the year.
"Go to sleep." Zhao Chao put a hand on You Miao's shoulder and said, "Maybe when you fall asleep, everything will be resolved and the Tartars will all leave."
Youmiao smiled bitterly and said, "I hope, I remember when I was a child, I went back to Yangzhou with my mother, when there was a flood in that year, my mother told me to let me sleep, and when I opened my eyes, the flood would recede and everything would be fine. "
Zhao Chao hummed and said, "Don't worry too much."
At this moment, another person came from outside the palace, and hurriedly said, "His Royal Highness! Your Majesty has asked you to enter the palace!"
Zhao Chao was tired again when he heard this, and asked, "What exactly are you going to do?"
It was a bodyguard who sent the order. Zhao Chao knew that he couldn't ask anything at such a time, so he could only signal to You Miao with his eyes to go out by himself.
You Miao didn't know why, but she always felt an ominous premonition, so she said, "Wait."
He went back to the room to search for a while, found a short dagger that Li Yan had given him in the past, handed it to Zhao Chao and said, "You keep your bodyguard."
Zhao Chao: "You keep it."
"Don't talk nonsense!" You Miao said, "You take it with you!"
Zhao Chao watched You Miao for a while, then had to stuff the dagger into his boots and followed into the palace.
The music outside stopped faintly, You Miao returned to the room and lay down, tossing and turning overnight. There are too many facts that happened in just over half a year. All I can say is sleep, and when I opened my eyes, the Tartars left. But when he was asleep, someone had to fight to kill the enemy, protect the family and defend the country... And he, Yumiao, couldn't always be a child who sleeps obediently.
Unconsciously, he thought of Li Zhifeng again, and his home in Jiangnan.
Menghuijiao Company may be talking about the state of mind at the moment.
He dreamed again that Li Zhifeng led his soldiers to fight on the battlefield, and his ears were full of shouts of killing, the screams of soldiers before they died.
You Miao fell asleep in a daze until a loud noise woke him up, grabbed his collar with one hand and dragged him up from the bed.
"Run!" The man's voice roared anxiously beside You Miao's ear: "Master You! The Tartars have entered the city! Get out of the city now!"
You Miao was still half in a dream, stretched out her hand and grabbed aimlessly, shouting, "What's going on?! Where's Zhao Chao?"
Several soldiers couldn't help but carry him onto their horses, wrapping You Miao in a roll of robes, and someone shouted, "Be careful!"