"I only ask that Your Majesty withdraw your troops immediately, and that for the rest of your life, not a single soldier of Liao may set foot across Great Song's borders."
"Indeed. I ask for only this one promise. As long as Your Majesty agrees, we will let you return at once!"
"I, too, ask for only those words!"
"Likewise, just this one promise!"
Gu Hui, Xu Zhu, and Duan Yu all stated that as long as Yelü Hongji agreed, they would release him immediately.
"You dare coerce me? And what if I refuse?"
Xiao Feng looked toward the bottomless abyss. "Then this subject shall perish together with Your Majesty, shattered like jade and stone. When we swore brotherhood, we also vowed to die in the same year, month, and day."
Yelü Hongji said, "Trading my life for decades of peace between Liao and Song. Good brother, you truly hold my life in high regard."
"Your Majesty's life is certainly precious, but under heaven, there are things more precious than Your Majesty's life."
"Oh? Something more precious than my life? Tell me, then!"
"The lives of all the people under heaven! The people of Western Xia, Tubo, the Khitans, Great Song, and Dali—countless lives are worth tens of thousands of times more than Big Brother's life."
Xiao Feng and Yelü Hongji sparred with words, until Yelü Hongji was ultimately left speechless.
Though Yelü Hongji was ambitious, he was not a foolish ruler.
"Brother, I agree. The three armies of Liao, heed my command! Withdraw! Abandon the southern campaign! For the rest of my life, not a single soldier of Liao may violate Great Song's borders. Should I break this oath, let me be as this blade!"
Clang!
Yelü Hongji shattered his saber with a burst of force, then hurled it