"There's Lord Lao." Father-in-law Liu said very politely: "Lord Wang, let's take the order first!" ”

"It's coming, it's coming." Guo Qi thought to himself.

"Fifth son, hurry up and prepare the incense case."

After the incense case was ready, Gonggong Liu respectfully asked for the holy decree and shouted in a sharp voice: "Yongwang Guo Qi listens to the decree." ”

"Chen Guo Qi obeys the order." Guo Qi knelt down and said.

Gonggong Liu opened the holy decree and read it out: "Guo Qi, the king of Yong, has been in the logistics and politics of the domain, loves the people, and is even harmonious; I know that Yongdi is located in the western border, is a bitter cold land, the land is poor and widowed, but it is the country of my great Qi, and now I specially give Yongwang 4,000 catties of fine iron, a set of unicorn battle armor, a dragon tooth war knife, and a Weilong long-pole horse lance...... Chin this. ”

Guo Qi was stunned after listening to the holy decree, in addition to rewarding Guo Qi with a bunch of things, the holy decree was more of some words of encouragement to Guo Qi, so that Guo Qi could guard the western frontier for Daqi.

"Lord Wang, take the order!" Gonggong Liu reminded.

"Erchen commands, long live my emperor, long live, long live." Guo Qi bowed and bowed, got up and took the holy decree.

"Lord Wang, this holy decree slave has finished reading, and the slave has two letters from His Majesty and Concubine Hui Niangniang." After Liu Gonggong finished speaking, he took out two letters from his arms.

"There is a father-in-law, and the fifth son will take his father-in-law down to rest." Guo Qi said with a smile on his face.

"Father-in-law, please come here."

After Gonggong Liu left, Guo Qi was overjoyed, and Song Yiming and Hu Qiong congratulated Guo Qi together: "Congratulations to the prince, congratulations to the prince." ”

"Hu Qiong sent a few brothers to bring the armor, war swords, and horse lances that his father rewarded the king with, and made a shelf and placed them next to the king's throne."

"No! The last general will send someone to do it. ”

Soon, the unicorn battle armor, dragon tooth war knife, and Weilong long-pole horse lance that were rewarded to Guo Qi were brought up; Song Yiming looked at the unicorn armor that had been placed and said: "Lord, this unicorn armor is also too beautiful, it really looks like the front of a unicorn, it is really ingenious!" ”

"Although this unicorn battle armor looks majestic, I'm afraid it's flashy!" Hu Qiongyan said: "I took a look at it just now, the armor of this Qilin battle armor is thinner, and the overall weight of the battle armor is relatively light, and the defense power may not be able to catch up with the set of armor that the lord is using now!"

But this war knife and horse lance are both high-quality products, you see this dragon tooth war knife, the blade outlet is actually a dragon's mouth, and the handle of the knife is shaped like a dragon body, this dragon horse lance is also, are made of fine iron in fine iron......"

"Okay, don't look at it, you won't be able to pull it out after a while." Guo Qi joked; "You two come to the study with this king."

After entering the study, Guo Qi asked the two to sit down and wait first, and Guo Qi sat in front of the bookcase and took out the two letters that Liu Gong Bus gave him, Guo Qi first read the letter given by the emperor, the envelope was sealed with fire paint, and there was no trace of opening.

Guo Qi opened the letter and said: "Guo Qi Wu'er, the so-called harmony of Yongzhou, as a child of the royal family, he should guard the frontier and defend his home and country; In the past, when I was in Luodu, I had not found out that Wu'er was so decisive and wise, but Jingzhao Mansion did not conform to the rule of law, and local officials broke the law by their own court, and as a prince, he should take the lead in maintaining the majesty of the court.

In addition, Yongzhou is an important place to guard Guanzhong, of course, I should not give up rashly, but to guard Guanzhong, we must first guard Yongzhou, and the imperial guard Yongzhou must first guard Longzhou and Jing, so as to build a pass according to the Longdi Mountains......"

After reading the letter, Guo Qi's face was very solemn, and the emperor's letter was both a beating and a spur for Guo Qi.

"Lord, what's wrong with you?" Song Yiming saw that Guo Qi's face was not good, and asked Guo Qi.

After Guo Qi handed the letter to Song Yiming: "Look at it yourself!" ”

Song Yiming was shocked after reading it, "My lord, Your Majesty is indeed reasonable in his letter, but if you want to recover Long and Jing Prefectures, it is a matter of great importance, and Your Majesty does not set a time limit, we can take it as a long-term goal; From this letter, it can be seen that the position of the lord in His Majesty's heart is very important! His Majesty attaches great importance to the lord, and it can be said that the entire western frontier of Daqi has been handed over to the lord. ”

"But Yiming! Do we have the strength right now? Not to mention guarding the frontier, it's hard to even protect yourself! Our Yongjun army now has only more than 15,000 soldiers, and what about Xirong! The country's soldiers can reach four or five hundred thousand, and if Xirong really attacks Guanzhong, Yongzhou is the first priority! ”

"My lord, even if Xijon intends to go to war, it will be spring next year, and we have time."

"Don't talk about it." Guo Qi said: "Although this king is the first year of the domain, but according to the rules, every year the vassal king returns to Beijing to report on his work, and my father has said in the letter that this year the king does not need to return to Beijing to report on his work; But this king thought, even if he doesn't go back, this tribute can't be less! This king plans to let Gonggong Liu bring back a piece. ”

"The lord is reasonable, now the imperial treasury is empty, although Yongzhou is barren, but if the lord can pay tribute at this time, His Majesty will be happy, and it also shows the world the lord's benevolence and filial piety, which is very beneficial to the lord's reputation!"

"Yiming, then how much tribute do you say this king should prepare!"

"At the very least, it can't be less than 300,000 taels."

Guo Qi frowned and said, "300,000 taels, is it a little less; Now that they have decided to pay tribute, there is no need to be petty. ”

"How much does the lord plan to prepare?"

"Didn't we seize more than three million taels of silver, more than ten thousand taels of gold, and more than a dozen boxes of jewelry from Baili City this time! In addition to the one million taels of grain and grass that were purchased, there were more than two million taels of silver left; According to this king, he couldn't see that he took out 500,000 taels of silver, 50,000 taels of gold and ten boxes of jewelry as tribute, and the two bronze lions weighing 1,500 catties were also brought back by Gonggong Liu. ”

"Lord Wang, this is not too much, I am afraid that these will be worth more than one million taels of silver." Song Yiming said in pain.

"How long is it! The life of the father and the emperor was even more difficult than that of the king, and after these tributes, he took out 50,000 taels of silver and a box of jewelry for Gonggong Liu to bring back to his mother; In addition, give Liu Gonggong a big red envelope! Give him five thousand taels of silver, and pick out some ornaments and other playthings. Guo Qi finally decided: "Yiming's matter will be handed over to you, and the share given to Gonggong Liu will be prepared first, and the king will give it to him in person in a while." ”

"No! Commanded by humility. ”

After Song Yiming left, Hu Qiong said to Guo Qi: "Lord, it is appropriate to honor Your Majesty and Niangniang, although Gonggong Liu is an envoy of the Yellow Gate, but Zhongjiu is a eunuch, is it necessary for the lord to treat him like this?" ”

"The envoy of the Yellow Gate is a close minister of his father, and getting closer to him will be beneficial to the king and Yongzhou."

While Song Yiming was preparing his things, Guo Qi wrote a thank you sheet (note 1) and two letters in his study; These two letters were addressed to the emperor and Concubine Hui Niangniang, and the letter to Concubine Hui Guo Qi mainly said that he was living well in Yongzhou and did not need Concubine Hui to worry; The letter to the emperor naturally explained the source of these goods, and continued to cry poverty, hoping that the emperor could allocate a batch of grain and grass to Yongzhou.