Chapter 75 Chapter Five: The Chanyuan Alliance

The death of Xiao Talin became a turning point in the battle of Chanzhou. The Liao army lost its commander and had no intention of fighting again. Empress Dowager Xiao proposed a peace proposal. Song Zhenzong certainly wanted it. This is the famous Chanyuan alliance in history.So how was the Chanyuan Alliance signed?What is the main content?What important influences did it have on the development of Chinese history? But how to withdraw troops?Empress Dowager Xiao is worthy of being an extraordinary minority politician in Chinese history, especially a female politician.How to withdraw troops?Get on the horse and run, the Song army will take advantage of the victory to cover up the kill, and we will be finished.How to go then?Taking advantage of Song's fear of Liao, he was already afraid of us. Even if he won the battle, he would not dare to do anything to us. We reached a peace agreement with him, and after we got the guarantee, we will withdraw our troops calmly.Besides, when we came here, General Xiao was killed again. After spending so much money, there must be some place to reimburse the military expenses. The Song Dynasty has to suffer a little blood, and we have to gain something before we can leave.Therefore, the Liao Kingdom still put on an aggressive posture.

At the same time, the Liao Kingdom secretly asked the Song Dynasty to surrender to Emperor Song Zhenzong. We can also consider a peace negotiation. If the two sides can reach a peace negotiation, it will be a good thing for both parties.As soon as Liao said this, Song Zhenzong happened to step down the donkey, that's great, I also had this intention a long time ago, since the Liao Kingdom is now begging us, he has already admitted defeat, and it would be unfriendly not to give him this face.In this way, the two sides began to negotiate a peace. After several exchanges between the envoys of the two sides, the Song Dynasty sent a small official named Cao Li to the Liao camp to negotiate with Liao.Before leaving, Emperor Zhenzong told Cao Yong that it was absolutely impossible to cede the land.Because Liao's peace proposal was to return the ten counties south of Guannan, the ten counties south of Waqiaoguan that were occupied by Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty.Emperor Zhenzong said that cutting the land is sorry for the ancestors, and it doesn't matter if you want some money. Isn't Liao poor?We can help him a little bit, I promise to give one million a year, you can talk according to this bottom line.Cao Yong said that he would never let down the trust of the emperor, go through fire and water, be smashed to pieces, and die, if Liao made an unreasonable request, he would commit suicide in the Liao camp and scare them to death.Cao Li turned around and came out, but was stopped by Kou Zhun.What level is Kou Zhun?He stopped him and said, Cao Li, this time you go to Liaoying to negotiate a peace, the emperor promised you one million coins, if you dare to exceed 300,000, I will kill you when you come back.Cao Li said yes, don't worry, Prime Minister, it will never exceed 300,000.

Cao Li went to Liaoying to see that Empress Dowager Xiao and Han Derang were sitting side by side on a felt cart.At the beginning of the talks between the two sides, Liao really proposed to claim ten places in Guannan, and the land seized in the next week must be returned to us.Cao Lili said, you want the land seized in the next week?That's not the land I occupy, you and Zhou Zhou are going there.I haven't heard of this before, and it is absolutely impossible to cede the land. If you talk about the land cession, I'm sorry, I'm leaving, let's not talk about it.At this time, a minister of the Liao Kingdom came up and told Cao Lili that the land must be cut, and you have to give as much as the old coins.Cao Li laughed out loud, saying that the battle has already reached this point, and we are not ignorant of the death of your commander. Don't scare me with the war. Since you are not sincere, I will go back to the camp and return to command, and the peace talks have failed. The two armies will fight again tomorrow.Seeing that Song Chao had picked up all of his hole cards, Liao had no choice but to say that everyone should not get excited and that there is something to discuss.In the end, an agreement was reached with Cao Lili that the land would not need to be cut, the yearly coins would be 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk and satin every year.

Cao used to bring a Hanlin from the Liao Dynasty back to return to his command. It happened that Emperor Zhenzong was having dinner and it was inconvenient to meet him.But the emperor was eager to know how many coins were given, so he sent an eunuch to ask.The eunuch came out and said how much did the emperor ask you to give?Cao Lili said, you can't hear about the major events in this country.These are all top secrets of the state, how can I tell you, don't ask.The eunuch is in a hurry, the emperor is in a hurry, it's not me who asks, how much money will be given but not our family's money, you have to tell me.Cao used three fingers to cover his face, and the eunuch told the emperor when he returned home that he didn’t tell me about this person whose surname was Cao, but he used three fingers to press his face, and it was estimated to be three million. If you say give one million, he has Negative to the emperor.When the emperor heard it, the chopsticks fell to the ground, how could he give so much?Call too much.After thinking about it, hey, it's worth spending three million to buy a world of peace.After the emperor finished his meal, he quickly summoned Cao Li.As soon as Cao Li came in, he said that it was a death penalty, and the minister promised too much.Cao can also pretend to use it, isn't this intended to scare the emperor?The emperor is very nervous, it's okay, Aiqing, how much did you give?Three hundred thousand!The emperor was so happy that he wanted to hug Cao Lili. I gave up one million, and you only gave three hundred thousand. The land was not cut, so it was over.Therefore, he hurriedly promoted Cao Yong, who was also an official residence and Zaizhi later.The envoys of the Liao Kingdom came in and talked with Song Zhenzong, but their attitude was very tough at first.But the Song Dynasty had touched the bottom line of the Liao Dynasty. Don't come here, it's not bad to have 300,000 yuan, don't even have the 300,000 yuan.

After the envoys of Song and Liao returned several times, the two sides reached a peace agreement.The contents of the peace talks are recorded in "Continued Zizhi Tongjian Changbian" and "Khitan Kingdom Chronicles".Because Chanzhou is also called Chanyuan, this meeting is called the Chanyuan League.The core content is: First, Liao and Song were brothers. Shengzong of Liao was young, and he respected Song Zhenzong as his brother, and Song Zhenzong respected Empress Dowager Xiao as his aunt. Second, with the Baigou River as the boundary, both sides withdraw their troops.No one should occupy anyone's territory, nor strengthen defense fortifications, nor make unfriendly actions against each other.

Thirdly, every year Song would give Liao Sui coins 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk.The two sides set up a market at the border to trade with each other. The Liao traded horses and furs for silk, porcelain, tea, etc. in the Song Dynasty. After the conclusion of the Chanyuan Alliance, there were no major wars in the Song and Liao Dynasties for more than a hundred years.Song and Liao are peaceful and friendly, and both sides can devote themselves to the development of internal affairs.But in any case, under the disadvantaged situation, Liao forced Song to sign the Chanyuan Alliance. For Song, it was indeed a disgraceful thing.Between Liao and Song Dynasties, it was obvious that Liao had the upper hand.At that time, the person who guided Liao to achieve such a great advantage was the famous female politician in Chinese history, Empress Dowager Chengtian Xiao Chuo and Xiao Yanyan.