On the royal steps, Li Qing listened to Su Ge's words, raised his eyebrows, and shook his golden crown.

Under the imperial stairs, Shantes's heart moved, and the Han Emperor's expression seemed to be a little bad.

All the ministers looked at Li Qing, the prince's thoughts had been conveyed to His Majesty, but I didn't know if the prince wanted to fight or obey.

Li Qing's eyebrows furrowed, and he spoke:

"General Shantes, your country's requests are too many and too complicated, and my Han Kingdom can't accept them, you go back to the emperor of your country, and come back after thinking about it."

"Retreat"

Li Qing flicked his sleeves and left.

"Her Majesty the Empress is slow"

Shantes shouted twice, and seeing that Li Qing had no intention of stopping, he was in a hurry, so he pulled his legs to chase up.

Zhou Yuan's figure flickered, appeared in front of Shantes, stopped his leg to step on the imperial step, and his face was cold:

"Your Excellency, please stay."

"This is the main hall of the Han Imperial Palace, and above it is the imperial staircase, not a place where you can walk."

Shantes' eyes widened:

"Fart, it's not where I go, your majesty the Empress is gone, who will I talk to."

Zhou Yuan sneered, his face full of mocking smiles:

"Your envoy is wrong to say this, you said it, we want to fight and make peace, please choose for ourselves, my majesty wants to fight, why did your envoy retreat?"

Shantes's face turned red, and his expression filled his face with anger, and his tone became unruly:

"Fight is war, whoever is afraid will come."

"I have heard that the Han Kingdom is unparalleled in foot warfare, and the prince of your country is invincible in commanding the army, and the battle is like a god, so it is a pity that I can't see it with my own eyes this time."

Zhao Pu, the squire of the military department, flashed next to him:

"Your envoy has something to say, that is, he is a guest from afar, and I still have the capacity to accommodate people."

Shantes's heart flashed the explanation of the former imperial minister, try to listen to the truth of Han ** Wu, but try not to have a national war, the Han country has a strong crossbow that is not weak, and if it really fights, even if it can hurt the Han country, but it will definitely not be comfortable at home.

"Okay, this general is polite, according to what I mean, then we will fight, I came this time to bring a hundred sergeants, let's take a hundred sergeants as the boundary, attack and defend each other, and win two out of three games."

Next to him, Zhou Ping said coldly: "But what kind of color does your envoy want?" ”

Shantes smirked:

"I know that you don't have the ability to decide state affairs, since the empress of your country has decided to fight, if you can defeat me, then I will stop the war, if you lose, I don't want you to surrender, just let me see if your country's strong crossbow is good or bad."

"How about it, do you dare to fight?"

Zhou Ping and Zhao Pu glanced at each other, both of them were considering, the generals who are still in the capital now, there are many who can lead the army, but they can win the Mali people, except for the prince, I am afraid that there is no one.

Shantes was a little impatient:

"Why, as ministers of a country, you don't even dare to make a decision on such a sure-fire deal."

Dong Ling separated the ministers, walked over, and said with a smile:

"Then promise this envoy that since he wants to fight, then we will fight."

Dong Cheng scolded beside him and said:

"Nonsense, your lords are talking about state affairs, there is a place for you to talk here."

Qian Qianyi stopped Dong Cheng and said:

"Dong Shilang's words are too much, General Dong Ling, as a general of the General Staff Office, is also a fourth-grade official, how can he not have the right to participate in the military aircraft, you can't watch your juniors surpass you, you have to suppress it."

Dong Cheng's face was full of smiles when he heard this, but he still said in his mouth:

"She was lucky to get the title of the fourth rank from the prince, this is a state affair, and if she is not careful, she will have a dispute with a big country."

Qian Qianyi waved his hand to stop Dong Cheng from continuing:

"This matter is so decided, if we lose, we will fight, win, but we can avoid a war, even if it is Your Majesty and the prince, I am happy to see it."

"General Shantes, please go back and prepare, after I ask Your Majesty, I will reply to you when and when, let's perform martial arts on campus."

Shantes nodded, and commanded:

"Okay, then I'll go back and wait to see your country's peerless military formation."

Shantes retreated, the ministers discussed the meeting, Qian Qianyi took the lead, and the military department and several generals of the General Staff Office followed, and asked to see Li Qing together.

Li Qing and Su Lu met them in the imperial study.

Qian Qianyi told the ins and outs of the matter, and stood aside, waiting for Su Lu's decision.

Li Qing glanced at Su Lu: "We have never had contact with the Mali people, this Shantes is so arrogant, there must be something to rely on, this time you need to go out in person." ”

Next to him, Dong Cheng also spoke:

"Shantes is full of confidence, if our army wants to win, it must be the prince."

Su Lu glanced at Dong Ling among the ministers.

Dong Ling stood up and said lightly:

"I don't need the prince to come out, I have a way to win."

When all the ministers heard this, they all looked at Dong Ling, and they didn't understand why she was so confident.

Li Qing opened his mouth and said:

"Dong Ling, there has been news from Pingqi, the Mali soldiers are strong, fully equipped, the army is well-founded, it is a rare strong army, the prince said that these elite Mali soldiers are not much worse than our Han army."

Dong Ling smiled:

"Your Majesty, although the Mali people have an arrogant attitude this time, it seems that they are coming for the purpose of fighting us, but Shantes finally showed his bottom, and they came this time to find out how many strong crossbows we have and how strong they are."

"There must be a Mari spy lurking to find out our crossbow now, we might as well take the plan, disguise the crossbow, fire a crossbow, and triple the number of crossbows to show them."

"Knowing our confidence, Shantes will make the right decision on whether to win or lose."

All the ministers were silent, and after a while, it was Qian Qianyi who said:

"I think this plan is feasible, let them know that our army is false and real, and know that our army is not afraid of going to war, but is actively preparing for it, and the Mali people may not dare to go to war for fear of losing both."

Su Lu nodded:

"Just follow this plan, Dong Ling, you cooperate with the level, let the Taixi people see clearly the reality of our army's strong crossbow, and the most important thing is to let them know that you group of soldiers who want to make meritorious contributions will definitely lose this competition, and then rush to make meritorious contributions in the big war."

Dong Ling received the order respectfully.

Su Lu continued:

"As for the competition, you still have to do your best to win, General Dong Ling, you have been in contact with the Mali people a lot in the past few days, and you must know the other side."

"Zhao Pu, you go to the land battle, select the most elite sergeants from the Praetorian Guard, and you must be proficient in both offensive and defensive formations, this competition, not only to win the Intex, but also to win neatly."

They bowed down and took the order, and withdrew.

Li Qing groaned and said:

"If we really can't win this time, do we really want to go to war with the Mali people?"

Su Lu shook his head:

"You're wrong, even if we win this time, sooner or later we'll have to go to war with the Malis."

"The improvement of the strong crossbow and the flying bird must be accelerated, and once we can make major improvements and have an advantage, the right to start a war is no longer in the hands of their Mali people."

Looking at Li Qing's worried appearance, Su Lu said calmly:

"Don't worry, the Mali people don't want to fight this time, they have their own difficulties."