"Mr. Zhou must have overestimated himself." Bai Liyan was contemptuous, stretched out two finger strokes on his right hand and said: "As long as it takes two months, our army can completely annihilate the Western Front Guards and collect all the Changsun Qi County.

In addition, Ben Shuai can also tell Mr. that your army is not suffering from our army's elite firearms, if your army wants to try, Ben Shuai will destroy your army's 100,000 troops within half an hour.

However, God has the virtue of a good life, and the nations fight for the land only, and it is not a blessing in the world to kill and kill, and the commander cannot bear the death and injury of the two armies, so he does not open the killing ring, but it is by no means that the commander cannot. Please also ask Mr. Zhou to remember, and please also tell Mr. Shuo Lanjun that you must not take this handsome's forbearance as weakness. If you feel that this commander can be bullied, your army should weigh it yourself, compared to Jin Xuedi, your army can have a few chances of winning.

Thinking that Ben Shuai slaughtered two million of his soldiers and civilians, Ben Hou didn't blink his eyelids, but now your army is brutal and brutal, burning and looting corpses everywhere he goes, Ben Shuai slaughtered millions of guards, and the world is helpless. ”

"You!"

Zhou Wei was angry, and Fang Cai's hardness was powerless in the face of Bailiyan's toughness. At this time, Bailiyan said again:

"This commander gave Shuo Lanjun two choices, first, lead his troops to abandon their weapons and surrender and hand over the seven counties of Changsun, and our army will not be embarrassed. Second, he accepted the appointment of our country and was incorporated into the Xian Army, which has since become a part of our country. There is no other way. ”

"No way." Zhou Wei stood up and categorically refused: "The three armies can win the commandery, but the horsemen cannot win the ambition, how can my lord suffer such a great humiliation." ”

Zhou Wei's reaction was all expected by Bailiyan, but as a negotiation skill, it was the same as the aunt who bargained on the vegetable field, she was embarrassed to buy vegetables without cutting bloodied with the first knife, and the same was true for negotiation.

There is no affection, no friendship, only interests. In a sense, looking at the current princes from a modern perspective, their political model is not at all the thinking of a normal state.

Of course, we have to consider the compatibility with the current background of the times and the level of civilization, if we use the modern "international law" of the law of the jungle in modern times, the current Central Plains system will naturally not match, and it must still integrate the east and the west, both rigid and soft.

It is undeniable that this Mr. Zhou Wei has some talent and courage, but he is still too young, lacks experience in diplomacy and politics, and does not know how to deal with cunning people like Bai Liyan, who are in two worlds, and it is inevitable that he will suffer.

"Ben Shuai pointed out two clear paths to Shuo Lanjun, Your Excellency said that it is impossible, so dare to ask Your Excellency, is there a third way for Shuo Lanjun?"

"Naturally!"

Zhou Wei's words were decisive and his face did not change, and Bai Liyan said quietly:

"Oh, Shuo Lanjun still has a way out to open up Ben Shuai, Ben Shuai is willing to hear about it."

"Although the rise of the Xianguo is unstoppable, the land of the Central Plains is intertwined, and if the Xianguo occupies it, it will be taboo by the princes. If it is not occupied and continues to be defended, or if it is taken by other countries, it will not be beneficial to the Xian country. Even though the Xian State has powerful firearms, one day the princes will follow suit, and the advantages of the Xian State in firearms will be gone, so whether the Xian State annexes the land or not, it will not be beneficial to the Xian State.

And it from the east of the Xianguo Jiangdong, to the border of the Sun State, the land is long and narrow and many plains, the princes join forces to attack the Xian, the Xian State will be divided into sections and unable to respond to each other, it will be divided and ruled, then the Xian army weapons are excellent, in the face of the strong tigers and wolves, how can it be undefeated.

Secondly, the annexation of more than a dozen counties of Weidi by the Xianguo is more than twice the land of your country, and the population has more than doubled, so it needs to provide countless money and food for comfort, even if the Xianguo is rich in the world, it must not have the spare strength to consolidate the new land in five or six years.

Third, Liang resolutely did not allow Xianguo to become bigger, raising tigers to suffer on the side of the couch, and defending the country today will be the tomorrow of Xianguo. If the Xian State takes the land, it will be divided by the Liang State. With these three evils, Yongxing Hou should think about it. ”

"Mr. Zhou's meaning Ben Hou understands it, Mr. Zhou has said so much, and his feelings are for the sake of my Xianguo......"

Bai Liyan said sarcastically, it can be seen that Zhou Wei's face was vaguely undulating, and the next moment he answered:

"These are all from the bottom of my heart, and they are also planning a way out for me, as for what Yongxing Hou wants, it has nothing to do with him."

"Okay, Your Excellency will talk about Shuo Lanjun's conditions, if you listen to it, Ben Shuai may consider asking me to play the king, if not, your Excellency will weigh whether you should say it or not."

"If you want to be happy, you will not be good. The land of the Central Plains has always been a place where soldiers and tigers are located, and if Xianguo wants to avoid harm, only the mantle of a dummy can be used for his own use. ”

"I don't know what Mr. means, what is the mantle of a dummy."

Bai Liyan asked knowingly, Zhou Wei had been substituted into the play unconsciously, he said:

"If the Xianguo appoints my lord as the king, my lord can have more than a dozen counties and form an alliance with the Xianguo forever, so that he can be willing to be a subordinate state, only in this way can he avoid the harm of tigers and wolves."

As soon as these words came out, Bai Liyan's eyes pretended to be questioning, and he said:

"The territory is sealed, and the king of Shuo Lan is the king!"

"Exactly!"

Zhou Wei said firmly, and Bai Liyan sneered and said:

"Mr. Zhou, now that my Xianguo occupies the territory, don't you think it's funny that Shuo Lanjun wants to stand on his own in the land I occupy. Besides, Shuo Lanjun is self-reliant, is it in vain that I have been busy for half a day in Xianguo! ”

"My lord is willing to give up the seven counties of the eldest grandson to your country and trade with the eldest grandson, and at the same time, the two counties of Dekang and Yuanshan can also be ceded to your country."

"Mr. Zhou knows that only the Son of Heaven can canonize princes in the world, and now you want my country to crown Shuo Lanjun as the king, do you want to trap our country and be unkind?"

"Yongxing Hou misunderstood, Zhou had no such intention. As long as the Xian country is allied with our lord, the matter of conferring the title should be played by the Son of Heaven, and it will never embarrass your country. ”

"I'm afraid it's not easy, or is it that Shuo Lanjun and the Son of Heaven also have private transactions at this time."

"There is no such thing, my lord is happy and sincere to your army, and there is no half-heartedness."

Zhou Wei swore and said, where did Bailiyan believe him:

"Shuo Lanjun has only more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and the Western Front Guards had nearly 600,000 people before, Shuo Lanjun's self-reliance is just a family's words, and other guards can obey him."

"Now that the road to retreat south on the Western Front has been cut off, as long as the Xianguo and our lord form an alliance, the rest of the guards will have no way to retreat, and they can only obey our lord's orders, and the guards of Du Ruixun's department on the eastern front can also be used by our lord, and the guards of the western front are not worried."

It seems that the Zhong family is really ruthless, and before the matter is negotiated, they began to plan to cut the grass and eradicate the roots. But Ben Hou is very worried, can Shuo Lanjun really be bold from this? ”

"Yongxing Hou can rest assured, I know the guards of the Western Front well, and with the Xian army as an alliance, all departments of the guard army will never dare to make a mistake."

"How does Ben Shuai know whether Shuo Lanjun is sincere, what if he turns his face and doesn't recognize people after using Ben Shuai, who will Ben Shuai reason with at that time, and how to explain to my king."

"My lord is willing to take the eldest son of your country as a hostage until he returns to China to succeed to the throne, and at the same time marry his daughter to the eldest son of the prince of your country to form a marriage alliance."

Due to the prevalence of the long-term system, it is very popular to take the eldest son as a hostage in other countries, and there are also those who take the youngest son and the second son as a hostage, such as Bailiyan as a second son. But if it is the second son, it must be the monarch's favorite one.

However, in Bai Liyan's view, the marriage between the two countries is just a piece of waste paper, which can be used to wipe the butt when it is advantageous, and torn up when it is unfavorable. Especially when politics evolves into the category of modern politics, the political interests of the state override the political interests of the family, and it is simply impossible for the parties to the marriage to break with the domestic political forces because of blood relations, and this kind of consequence will be unbearable, and it will not only ruin one's own political life, but even ruin the entire country.

But Zhou Wei had three things that hit the nail on the head and was extremely reasonable, and it was also a situation that Bailiyan tried to avoid before the war. First, the hinterland of the Central Plains is a hot potato, and the closer it is to the Liang State, the greater the threat, and there is no time to enter the Central Plains at present.

Second, the land occupied by Xianguo is at least a dozen counties, covering an area of more than 3 million square kilometers, which is more than twice the land and population of Xianguo overnight, and requires a lot of financial, physical and human resources to operate, and there is no income in the short term, and it has to be reversed, and the finances are unsustainable, and at the same time, it will also drag down the development of the local industrial economy of Xianguo.

Third, the land currently occupied is developing horizontally from west to east, the north and south are short and the east and west are wide, and the strategic location is extremely disadvantaged; before the popularization of advanced telecommunications technology such as telephone and telegraph, it is not possible to consolidate such a span of land by relying on advanced weaponry alone, and once it is besieged by the princes, the east-west communication will be cut off, which is very unfavorable.

I have to say that Zhou Wei's step is to survive in the cracks, and Bai Liyan has to think about it, because before the war, he really didn't consider the possibility of Wei Wang's younger brother standing on his own, and he planned to help Sun Guo to take the throne and reorganize the old land of Sun Guo, but now it seems that the cost of supporting Sun Guo to take the throne is too great, and it is not as good as supporting Zhong Ting to take the throne.

But marriage alone cannot firmly control the hinterland of the Central Plains, and Baili Yan does not intend to directly accept Zhong Ting's plan after thinking about it. After much deliberation, he said slowly:

"This matter is very important, even if this marshal can accept what Mr. said, but this marshal still needs to explain to my king that the details will be determined by my king, so I also ask Mr. Zhou to temporarily return to the guard army and wait for news from my king. During this period, the commander hoped that Shuolan Jun'an would guard himself, and it was best not to plot against our army, and as for the other guards, they would do the same, so as not to be unpredictable. ”

"I also hope that Your Excellency will bring about this matter for the sake of my lord's sincerity, and my lord will be rewarded in the future."

Zhou Wei gave a deep salute, Bai Liyan didn't believe him at all, he said:

"It's dark today, Mr. Zhou might as well stay in our army for another night today, and it doesn't hurt to leave tomorrow."

"Thank you Yongxinghou for your hospitality, Zhou is grateful."

"It's okay, Mr. Zhou, please go slowly."

When Zhou Wei turned to leave, Bai Liyan suddenly stopped him again and asked:

"Mr. Zhou."

"What else does Yongxing Hou have to advise?"

"Ben Shuai saw that your face was yellow and thin, and your army's food was not good."

Zhou Wei was surprised when he heard the news, and after thinking for a while, he said:

"Naturally, it can't be compared with the Xian army."

"Oh...... Please take care of yourself, sir. ”

"That's the next goodbye."

Raising his hand and giving a slight salute, Zhou Wei left immediately. After he left, Wei Qi, who had listened for a long time, stepped forward and said:

"Deputy marshal, our army knows the food of the guards well, why did you have to ask more just now."

"I was worried that he would have an infectious disease and be sent to the army. He is Zhong Ting's staff, even if he is down, a little meat can still be guaranteed for three meals a day in the army, but he is so yellow and thin that people have to worry that he has an infectious disease.

Remember, tomorrow after Zhou Wei leaves, all the utensils used in the tent where he lives will be burned, and those who come into contact with him will be bathed and changed, so that no illness will be passed into the army. ”

"No!"

In agriculture, the country followed the example of the Xianguo to implement a new type of farming method and fertilizer, and the agricultural output value increased, but the development of meat products still relied on simple animal husbandry, and there was no large-scale intensive breeding, and the improvement was not great; on the one hand, the army's non-staple food relied on the pre-war reserves of pickled products and wax products, and the purchase of live poultry and livestock, and on the other hand, the cattle and sheep moved north from the pastures south of the country and the pastures of the Qianyue Mountains to supply the army.

However, no matter how much the pre-war reserves were, they could not withstand the consumption of 15.6 million troops and millions of people. After three years of war, the food of the guards was still substantively in the first seven or eight months, but the second year it began to plummet, and by the end of last year and the beginning of this year, meat products were scarce.

The Xian army marched all the way west, and the food of the guards in the places they passed was extremely embarrassing, basically it was good to be able to manage their fill, and eating meat and drinking wine was basically a luxury.

In addition, the continuous deterioration of the country's finances has also lost the channels for external procurement, and the money and livestock in the hands of the local magnates cannot be used by the imperial court, and even it is difficult for the country to make money, which has actually created a situation in which the local economy restricts the central finances.

Although Zhou Wei's status is lower, he is also Zhong Ting's staff, and he can eat at least some meat every day, so he shouldn't be so yellow-skinned, and he has been in the Xian military camp for several days, with his identity, three meals a day should be served according to the standard of the overseer, so he can eat meat every meal, and he can't help but worry that he is sick, especially infectious diseases.

Since it didn't look like a liver disease, Bailiyan had to worry about what kind of strange disease it was, and she needed to do some preventive treatment for the sake of prudence.