Chapter 481: The Person for the Marriage Alliance

Latest URL: Qin Pass.

The third day after Zhao Xu made up his mind.

News of the war reigniting at Wuguan reached Qin Pass, causing Zhao Heng, who had intended to bargain with the Northern Di, to become anxious once again.

Dou Family generals sent an urgent battle report to Dou Wei; the Dou Family troops had suffered heavy casualties.

If there were no reinforcements, Wuguan would be difficult to hold within ten days.

"Your Majesty, in resisting the Northern Di, our Dou Family has already exhausted the troops of Jingzhou and done our best. If Wuguan cannot be held, I hope Your Majesty will not blame us."

In the temporary palace, Dou Wei's expression was sorrowful as he knelt before Zhao Heng.

This was the scheme he had devised through his secret collusion with the Northern Di.

Its purpose was to force Zhao Heng to submit.

To him, the various conditions of the peace talks caused no harm to his Dou Family; on the contrary, they were beneficial.

Naturally, he had to facilitate them.

Conversely, continuing to fight the Northern Di did not align with the interests of his powerful clans.

In this Northern Expedition, he had intended to avenge the Third Prince.

But the result was that their Dou Family lost soldiers and generals, suffering a great loss.

Although the troops he gave to Dou Xiao were not the Dou Family's elite, they were, after all, his Dou Family's soldiers.

Therefore, he did not wish to be mired in a long-term war with the Northern Di again.

Of course, he also understood that the Northern Di would always be a great enemy of the Northern Di.

Even if the Third Prince ascended the throne in the future, he would still have to face this problem.

But before that, their Dou Family had to help the Third Prince onto the throne first.

If they continued to fight the Northern Di, one of the Dou Family's hands would be tied at Wuguan.

This was something he absolutely did not want to see; comparing the two, he could only seek immediate stability.

Furthermore, the condition in the Northern Di's peace proposal to let the Northern Di fight against Yan Wang was very much in his interest.

In this way,

Both the Northern Di and Yan Wang would be mired in the quagmire of war in the Ningjin Dusi.

"What is to be done?" Zhao Heng's face was full of worry as he paced back and forth.

If Wuguan could not be held, he would not be able to eat or sleep in peace even in Jinling.

Ordering Yan Wang to reinforce Wuguan could solve the immediate crisis.

But Yan Wang's troops could not be stationed at Wuguan forever.

Most importantly, if the war did not stop, Great Song would have to spend a huge amount of military pay every year to resist the Northern Di.

And it was not certain they could win; if a mistake appeared in one place, Great Song would fall into crisis.

This was also the reason why he immediately agreed when the Northern Di wanted to negotiate peace.

Compared to the Northern Di, Great Song was at a disadvantage.

Although Great Song had not been completely defeated—Yan Wang had achieved several great victories.

But he did not want to stake the fate of Great Song entirely on Yan Wang.

After all, if Yan Wang were strong enough to deal with the Northern Di alone, who would be able to suppress him, Yan Wang, when he eventually passed away?

By then, given the relationship between Yan Wang and the powerful clans, I fear that even without the external threat of the Northern Di, a bloodbath would erupt within the country.

Thinking of this, he stared fixedly at Dou Wei.

He actually felt that it might not be a bad thing if the Northern Di did not stop fighting along the Yanzhou line.

Only, he then thought of Yan Wang's warning to him.

Regarding this peace talk, he truly did not want to provoke Yan Wang.

Not to mention that this decision was hard for a normal Yan Wang to accept.

Moreover, he could not predict to what extent his ninth son's mental illness had healed.

If he were to take extraordinary measures, Great Song would be in chaos immediately.

"Difficult, truly difficult." Zhao Heng sighed toward the sky.

He had the intention of letting Yan Wang check and balance the powerful clans, but he did not expect that Yan Wang and the powerful clans would also put him in a dilemma.

Just as he was struggling internally,

Ma Han arrived outside the temporary palace, and after reporting, he came before Zhao Heng and Dou Wei.

"Your Majesty, His Highness Yan Wang has sent someone to deliver a letter," Ma Han said, presenting the envelope.

Zhao Heng was startled for a moment, pulled out the letter, and glanced at it; his whole person relaxed.

"Yan Wang is truly understanding and righteous." Zhao Heng's mood was very cheerful.

In the letter, Yan Wang told him not to be troubled and that he could agree to the proposal of not ceasing fire along the Yanzhou line.

At the same time, he also made a request, asking him to allocate one hundred thousand shipwrights to Yanzhou.

Suddenly thinking of how Yan Wang knew about this matter, he looked at Ma Han, and his heart understood.

However, he did not point it out; if this peace talk could succeed, that was enough.

After pondering for a moment, he said to Ma Han: "You tell Yan Wang's people to tell Yan Wang that I will find a way to allocate craftsmen for him, but one hundred thousand is too many; I can manage a number of sixty thousand, though I will also do my best."

Compared to the peace talks, these craftsmen seemed insignificant.

Ma Han acknowledged and left, and Zhao Heng said to Dou Wei: "Go see Tiemuta again and say that I agree to their conditions; from now on, I am willing for the two sides to cease fire and be good neighbors."

Upon hearing this, Dou Wei's spirit was lifted. "Yes, Your Majesty, I will send someone to Xiangcheng right away."

One day later, the Imperial Guard Cavalry arrived at Xiangcheng, and another day later, Tiemuta arrived once again under the walls of Qin Pass.

It was the same long table and two chairs; Tiemuta's expression was arrogant. "Prime Minister Dou, to speak bluntly, you people of Great Song are just cheap; you have to be beaten before you are willing to agree."

Dou Wei looked awkward and coughed a few times, deliberately bypassing the topic, "Since the peace terms have been settled, we should now discuss the matter of our Song People's troops in Xian City withdrawing to Wuguan."

"Once Wulanba returns, they can go back; we Northern Di have always kept our word and will not take the opportunity to attack them," Tiemuta said, tapping the table.

"That is excellent," Dou Wei nodded, handing the sheepskin scroll, signed and thumb-printed by Zhao Heng, to Tiemuta.

"I will return now to deliver this to the Khan," Tiemuta stood up to leave.

Since the peace talks were concluded, there was no need for him to stay here.

Although he had the intention to have some private dealings with the Dou Family, this did not mean he liked the Song People.

Having walked only two steps, he thought of something and turned back.

With a lewd smile on his face, he said, "Prime Minister Dou, which beautiful princess is your Great Song preparing to marry to me?"

"This?" Dou Wei forced himself to maintain the smile on his face.

Tiemuta's arrogance disgusted him, but for the sake of the Dou Family's interests, he could only hold his nose and endure it.

His eyes darted around, and he suddenly thought of someone, "While our Great Song princesses are indeed beautiful, the most beautiful one is actually the adopted daughter of Prince Chun, Changle Junzhu; back then, Changle Junzhu was even nearly betrothed to Yan Wang."

"Oh?" Tiemuta's eyes narrowed instantly, "Since that is the case, then it shall be her."

He was naturally aware that nine times out of ten, the princesses sent for marriage alliances were not the Emperor's own daughters.

They were either daughters of the imperial clan or foster daughters adopted on the spot.

Therefore, he did not care whether she was a real princess or not.

The information Dou Wei mentioned regarding Changle Junzhu was what interested him the most.

"I will naturally report the request of Great King Tiemuta to the Emperor," Dou Wei laughed softly.

This Changle Junzhu often praised Yan Wang in Jingshi, which had long displeased him.

Therefore, he had done this deliberately.

It would both ruin Changle Junzhu and make Yan Wang uncomfortable.

After all, this woman who missed her home had nearly become his own wife back then.

After seeing Tiemuta off, Dou Wei returned to Qin Pass, reported the peace talks to Zhao Heng, and simultaneously mentioned the matter of Changle Junzhu.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Heng actually breathed a sigh of relief; he had been afraid that the Northern Di would be insistent and demand a real princess, so he hurriedly agreed to the matter.

With the peace talks settled, Zhao Heng lingered at Qin Pass for another two days.

Only after the Northern Di sent over the contract signed and thumb-printed by Mule Hongzhen did he set off for Jinling.

Dou Wei, however, made the excuse that he needed to inspect Wuguan and did not leave with Zhao Heng.

At the same time, an order was sent to Yancheng, commanding Zhao Xu to escort Wulanba to Qin Pass.