The atmosphere froze in an instant, Hou Dagui was quite experienced, he sensed the wrongdoing, and chuckled twice and said: "What kind of donkey thing Zhang Xianzhong is, you must understand it in your hearts." It's a repeat routine, but it's an old trick. The situation in Chu Yu was tense, and he did this, but he was just fighting for breath, and when the time was ripe, he would definitely not be willing to live under others. ”

Liu Xiyao said: "What Brother Hou means is that the eight kings sing this play, or a delaying tactic." ”

Hou Dagui said solemnly: "Otherwise, how can you really be his peace official in peace?" You don't know that Xiying is now fighting privately with Zuo Liangyu, with a small fight in three days and a big fight in five days, and the end is in full swing. Xiong Wencan didn't feel comfortable looking at him, and sooner or later he wanted to get rid of him. According to this situation, it is not easy for him Zhang Xianzhong to keep a black yarn hat until next spring. As Zhao Ying's humerus general, Hou Dagui also had access to a lot of secret information, including Zhang Xianzhong's network with various forces in the imperial court. At this time, he lightly selected two sentences, and the expressions of He Jin and the others, who were originally gloomy, eased a lot.

Li Wanqing said: "Brother Hou is a high and powerful position, and the words he says are as heavy as a thousand gold. I think Zhang Xianzhong is Sima Zhao's heart, everyone knows that it is inevitable to make a comeback. In that case, will your camp also echo each other at that time? The conversation changed and returned to Zhao Ying.

As a lobbyist of Zhao Dangshi, Hou Dagui's mission on this trip was to win over He Jin and other centrists to join Zhao Ying. The most important point in this is that it is necessary to convince these wandering leaders that Zhao Ying is reliable, otherwise Zhao Ying will not even be stable in his own basic market, and he will not have the spare strength to take care of other camps.

Li Wanqing was delicate and took the initiative to pick the topic to the cusp. Hou Dagui knew that the other party's question was very important, and if there was the slightest mistake in his answer, it would inevitably make these calculating palms suspicious. These people are frightened birds who are used to walking on thin ice, and they have a lot of concerns, once they lose their trust, then the hard work of this Chengtianfu trip can be regarded as a bamboo basket for water.

Although Li Yanlang is careful and calm, but after all, he has never experienced this kind of scene, so he can only hold his breath and look at Hou Dagui without saying a word. But listening to Hou Dagui's cough lightly, he said: "My Zhao Ying has nothing to do with Xiying, just because I have an old relationship with General Chen of Changping, so I am attached." Now he is recuperating and watching the situation change. If you really wait for the opportunity, it will not be in response to Xiying, but will find its own way forward. ”

Li Wanqing was silent when he heard this, and looked at He Jin, Lin Yangsheng, and Liu Xiyao, and they were all silent. Although he couldn't see through the thoughts of these four people for a while, Li Yanlang knew in his heart that Hou Dagui's answer was undoubtedly excellent.

In the eyes of outsiders, Zhao Ying accepted Zhao'an with Xiying, and the relationship must be very close. When Li Wanqing asked a question, he also had the intention to tie the two battalions together to observe Hou Dagui's attitude, but the experienced Hou Dagui was very keenly aware of this trap. His answer was not long, but every word was fine, and it effectively suppressed the temptation of Li Wanqing and others.

Further analysis reveals three meanings in this answer.

The first meaning, the key lies in the four words "nothing to do with it". Just as the old Hui faction, Cao Cao faction, and centrist faction are now divided into Chu Yu Liukou, Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates also have a large number of followers. And why He Jin and others would rather toss and turn, but never want to belong to Zhang Xianzhong, others may not have thought of this, but Hou Dagui believes that these people and Zhang Xianzhong must have some contradictions that are not humane. Otherwise, when Zhang Xianzhong surrendered, it would not be difficult to bring them with Zhao Dangshi, Du Yingjin, Ma Shixiu, etc. After figuring out this, Hou Dagui's reaction was targeted, and he opened the door and made it clear that Zhao Ying and Xiying had no close relationship, which to a certain extent helped to reduce the resistance of He Jin and others and improve Zhao Ying's image in their hearts.

The second meaning is the four words "self-founding". He, Li, Lin, and Liu are by no means general, not to mention first-class and strong, but they are also very powerful. Since Zhao Ying has the intention to recruit them, the first thing to bear the brunt of is to highlight Zhao Ying's own independence and confidence. Think about it, if you are still looking up to others and being driven by others, how can you serve the public? Under the leadership of Zhao Dangshi, Zhao Ying has fought many victories and tough battles, and his popularity is very high, as long as he dissociates himself from Zhang Xianzhong, there is no reason for others not to believe that Zhao Ying's goods are genuine.

The third meaning is out of the six words "wait and see the changes in the current situation". This is not the first time that Hou Dagui has represented Zhao Ying to attend important negotiations, in fact, including the negotiations between Hanzhong and the official army and other matters in that year, Hou Dagui represented Zhao Dangshi to negotiate. It turned out that Hou Dagui's own position in Zhao Ying was weighty and cunning and fickle, so every time he negotiated and lobbied, he could achieve good results. And this time, Zhao Dangshi was unable to do so, so he sent Hou Dagui to Chengtianfu again, and it was all because he trusted him. Hou Dagui knows that the taboo in the negotiation is to make peace with the plate, and he once summed up the eight words "clouds and mountains are covered by fog, and the rain and fog see the flowers" to illustrate the essence of the negotiation. This is also the case at the moment, even if Li Wanqing asked Zhao Ying's plan directly, Hou Dagui would never reveal half a word to him. Simply answering with "wait and see what happens" is not perfunctory, but also has the effect of doubting the dark formation, so that the other side can't figure out his head and dare not take it lightly and despise Zhao Ying.

As Li Yanlang expected, not long after Hou Dagui finished speaking, the four of He Jin, who were silent at first, still couldn't hold back their temperament after all, and showed a little impatience.

Hou Dagui knew the way well, and felt that the time was slightly ripe, so he took the initiative to attack without hesitation: "The four of them are all well-known masters in the rivers and lakes, and they have a strong friendship with the lord of my family. In previous years, it was difficult to communicate with each other, but now the two sides are close at hand, and my lord is very pleased, so he sent down to talk about the old relationship with the four of them, and then build a new friendship. ”

Lin Chengcheng laughed dryly and said, "Brother Zhao's kindness, I will appreciate it." It's just that the official thief has a different path, the old relationship is easy to tell, how can this new friendship be built? After speaking, he gave Li Wanqing a look.

Li Wanqing immediately took over the conversation, and his index finger lightly scraped the stubble on his cheek and said: "People say that 'the Tao is different and does not conspire with each other', we and the Zhao brothers surrendered, the original intention was to work together, and we did not want to part ways, but if we come and go for a long time as an official thief, it will inevitably be detrimental to your camp and will not benefit us." So the reality is that if we want to establish a solid connection with your camp, we can only be thieves or ......" At this point, he pursed his lips.

He clicked to the end, but the meaning was clear.

Hou Dagui didn't know how to be clear in his heart, how could he have confidence when he came here, if he didn't have dry goods, he only pondered for a while, and then said: "My lord said that he is like a brother with you, the poor and the lowly are not light, and the rich and noble are not forgotten." Now that our camp is fortunate to receive a pardon from the imperial court, how can we sit back and watch you be displaced? ”

When these words came out, He Jin and the four of them were excited, and they each leaned over to ask: "Brother Hou means ......" Before the words were finished, a soldier suddenly rushed in outside the temple, looking nervous and whispering to He Jin and the others.

Hou Dagui saw that He Jin and the others' faces changed sharply, his lips trembled slightly, his heart tightened, and he said, "What's wrong?" ”

He Jin didn't hide it, and said directly: "I don't know how to leak the news, which attracted Chang Guoan's people, and now he has led people up the mountain." ”

Li Wanqing added: "Brother Hou, I'm afraid I don't know, this surname Chang was originally a stick thief in Sichuan, and later he went out of Sichuan and changed his master. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a slave with three surnames, and now he is following Luo Rucai to act as a tiger, and he does not deal with us, and I don't know how many stumbling blocks I have made in private. If it weren't for the unity of the few of us, I'm afraid that Luo Rucai and this surnamed Chang would have been annexed long ago. Although He Jin, Li Wanqing and others joined forces with Luo Rucai, in the final analysis, it was for self-preservation rather than truly harboring "revolutionary friendship". While they had no choice but to join forces to resist the official army, the internal struggle did not stop for a moment. Luo Rucai thought day and night that he had completely wiped out the centrist faction of these battalions, and the battle of wits and courage between the two sides turned back and forth, even if He Jin and the others didn't say it, from their expressions, Hou Dagui could empathize.

In fact, this "King of Heaven" Chang Guoan, Hou Dagui is no stranger, a few years ago Zhao Ying entered Sichuan for the first time, and then the head of the Sichuan stick thief canal "fight for the king" Yuan Tao attacked, Chang Guoan was a general under Yuan Tao at that time, and also fought fiercely with Zhao Ying. But in the end, due to the defeat and Yuan Tao, he had a quarrel, and then he was suspicious and went out of Sichuan, and then circulated in many places, and finally returned to the "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai faction. Whether it is the old grudge between Zhao Ying and Chang Guoan, or the current confrontation between He Jin and others and Luo Rucai, Chang Guoan's unexpected arrival must be not good.

It is reported that Chang Guoan brought more than 500 people this time, and he came prepared at a glance. And the mountain temple up and down He Jin four people accompanied the escort of less than 50 soldiers, the number of people is very different, if you fight hard, you will definitely lose.

Hou Dagui saw that He Jin and the others drew their swords and wanted to desperately break through, so he persuaded: "Chang Guoan must have already planned to catch turtles in the urn, and it is useless for us to fight, so it is better to stabilize and talk to him first, and then deal with it." ”

Li Yanlang also said to Li Wanqing: "Fifth brother, the other party is menacing, don't be tough." ”

Li Wanqing nodded, and looked at He Jin and the three of them, and several of them inserted their knives back into their sheaths at the same time, and their faces were gloomy, and they each sat firmly on the stool. Not long after, with a long burst of laughter, Chang Guoan's boots quickly walked into the temple, and more than a dozen soldiers with helmets and armor behind him were supportive.

Several people settled down, laughed a little, stood up together and arched their hands: "It turns out that Lao Chang is here, it is really a rare guest, and it is not welcome." ”

A few years have passed, Chang Guoan looks much cleaner than before, and his cheeks, which were quite plump earlier, have now become thin to show the outline of his jawbone, and the only thing that has not changed is the pair of round little eyes. He looked around the temple and said with a smile, "I'm a rare guest. But I heard that there are rare guests from the north coming today, and several big brothers have to move their respects to greet them, so they rush to have fun, and they want to show their faces. ”

He Jin said dryly: "Don't dare to do that." Brother Chang is the celebrity in front of Luo Dazhang's plate, and we can't afford to climb it. He felt that there was a lot of luck today, and after thinking about it even if he died, he was stiff, and his words already had some smell of gunpowder.

Chang Guoan smiled and said, "King Zuo Jin is still polite when he speaks. When he turned his eyes to see Hou Dagui and Li Yanlang, he pretended to be surprised, and said, "Huh", "These two are face-to-face." Could it be that it is the rumored distinguished guest from the north? ”

Hou Dagui never loses a battle, and arched his hand to Chang Guoan in response: "Chang Zhangpan, fortunately." ”

Chang Guoan bared his teeth and said with a smile: "Thanks to the care of your camp back then, since I came out of Sichuan, my body is sound, and I am considered to be fine." Just listening to this sentence, it seems that he already knew the origin of Hou Dagui and Li Yanlang.

"In the past, each was his own master, and although there were fights, they were generally in public and not private. Whenever my father-in-law mentions the experience of Sichuan, the most praised is your troops. Hou Dagui is worthy of seeing people who are accustomed to wind and waves, two sentences, his face turned white to red, and his breath was also as uniform as ever.

"Each for his master......" Chang Guoan muttered these four words again, his voice vibrate, and he shook his head and said, "At that time, each is its master, and at this time, each is its master." Since Chang Mou is working for Luo Da, he can't help but say some unpleasant things to you. The big boss once set a rule that it was strictly forbidden for all ministries to make friends with the government without permission, and once it was found out, it would be severely punished. His face froze, "Zhao Ying is now a reinforcement camp enshrined by the imperial court, and these two are even more important generals. ”

Li Wanqing laughed and said: "Even if Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong and others, we have not been brothers and sisters with them, and we have dealt with them. I have a very personal friendship with the two guests, and now it's just friends catching up, how can Brother Chang be so nervous as if his wife Hongxing is out of the wall? ”

Chang Guoan shook his head and said: "This time is different from the past, everything needs to be seen by Luo Da Zhang." I have no other meaning here, since I am reminiscing, my family Luo Dazhang is the most hospitable, and a few friends and two friends from the north can go to the old camp tent to talk about it. As he spoke, he put the knife on the table, and for a while, his soldiers surrounded He Jin, Hou Dagui and others.