"General Xiang, we haven't seen each other for five years, right? I heard Luosheng say that you want to see me, I don't know why the general is looking for me? Under the city of Jingzhou, Deng Yuanjue smiled at Xiang Dao.

After Deng Yuanjue, who was still in Jizhou City, received Shi Luosheng's letter, he handed over all the affairs in the city to Yuan Chengce, the chief lieutenant, and came to Jingzhou City alone.

Xiang Tong on the opposite side looked at Deng Yuanjue, who was seven years younger than himself, and also had mixed feelings, over the years, the national strength of Chu State did not know how much stronger than Song State, if it weren't for the person in front of him, he would have set foot in Song State and established immortal achievements.

But it is precisely because of Deng Yuanjue's existence that he has returned again and again, and it is precisely because of his failure again and again that he has achieved the title of Deng Yuanjue's first general in the world.

Xiang Tong's expression was a little complicated: "General Deng, we have been fighting for more than 20 years, I used to attack your Song Kingdom, but I didn't expect that in just five years, you have grown to the point where you can take the initiative to attack our Great Chu." ”

"I only understand now why Tian Wuji knew that there was no way to destroy the Yan Kingdom for the time being, and he still sent a large army to attack Hanzhong City all year round. The national strength of the Qi State is far better than that of the Yan State, and the cost of a hundred thousand troops is not worth mentioning to the Qi State, but it is a big burden for the Yan State. In a year or two, they may still be able to hold on, but in ten or eight years, the Yan Kingdom will have to be dragged down. ”

"Tian Wuji's vision is longer than mine, I shouldn't have withdrawn from the army five years ago, if I had been consumed with you, the Song Kingdom might have collapsed now, how could I have the ability to rescue the Yan Kingdom, and even dare to come and attack our Da Chu."

Deng Yuanjue smiled again: "You are right, if you didn't withdraw your troops back then, and you kept spending time with us, we would have been the first to cross in the end." It's a pity that General Xiang, you were blinded by your own personal interests and didn't see the general trend clearly. Now even if you want to spend it with us, we will consume energy. ”

Xiang Tong sighed: "No wonder Tian Wuji has always only regarded you and Yan Chixing as his opponents, I was still unconvinced before." Now I finally understand that I may not be worse than you in terms of using troops, but I am indeed inferior to you in terms of grasping the overall situation. ”

Speaking of this, Xiang Tong's mood was a little low: "The reason why I made an appointment with you this time, you must have guessed it, make a price." ”

It was already expected that things would develop to this point, and he had discussed with the crown prince Xiao Yan before he came, if Xiang Tong really came to negotiate peace, what conditions should be offered.

Deng Yuanjue said without thinking: "The conditions I put forward will not be excessive, please rest assured that if the final peace talks are successful, I can not only let Gao Yi's 80,000 troops leave, but also return Gao Kegong to you, but in exchange, Yuezhou City has to be handed over to us, and all the cities that our Great Song Dynasty now occupies are also owned by us." ”

These conditions proposed by Deng Yuanjue had been discussed with the crown prince Xiao Yan before departure, and Xiao Yan had no opinion. After all, the Song State is not the Qi State, and it can't open its mouth widely, and if other conditions are proposed, Xiang Tong will not agree, at least at present, the Chu army is not at a disadvantage, on the contrary, the other party's strength still has a certain advantage compared with himself.

Xiang Tong knew in his heart that Deng Yuanjue's request was not too much, Jizhou County had already been occupied by the Song soldiers, and it was impossible to let them spit it out. As for the two cities of Huangzhou and Jingzhou, don't think about it, it's been a month since I fought Jingzhou, and there is still no progress.

Although it is not too much to know, if Xiang Tong agrees to Deng Yuanjue like this, Xiong Huan's side is not easy to deal with, and it is understandable to negotiate with Qi State, and appropriate concessions are excusable, and in the face of Song State, a country that has been bullied for two hundred years, it is also necessary to make concessions, where does Xiong Huan's face go?

Xiang Tong couldn't make up his mind, so he had to say: "Let me consider the conditions you put forward for a few days, and I will give you an answer in ten days." ”

Deng Yuanjue naturally knew what Xiang Tong was worried about, and deliberately exerted pressure: "Yes, but I also ask General Xiang to give me an answer as soon as possible, you also know that our Majesty specially sent His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to Jizhou City to supervise the battle, but the prince urges me to fight every day, and I delay again and again, and I can't always save the prince's face." ”

Xiang Tong didn't believe Deng Yuanjue's words at all, in the military of the Song Kingdom, let alone the crown prince Xiao Yan, even Xiao Dao himself had to ask Deng Yuanjue's opinion first, let alone fight such a big thing.

Back in the camp, Xiang Chu stepped forward and asked, "Father, we have made peace with Deng Yuanjue privately, if Your Majesty knows, can he agree?" ”

Xiang Chu asked what Xiang Tong was worried about now, Xiang Tong thought for a while and said: "You must persuade Your Majesty to agree, you have also seen that just a stone falling is so difficult, and now that Deng Yuanjue is also here, do you think we still have a chance to take Jingzhou City?" At the beginning, we didn't have an army of 200,000 to take Yuzhou City, which was only garrisoned by 50,000 people, but now an army of 100,000 can take Jingzhou, which is garrisoned by 40,000 people? ”

"Your Majesty shouldn't have sent Gao Yi to rescue Jizhou in the first place, the problem was not solved at all, but he put himself in danger, all we can do now is to prevent Deng Yuanjue from attacking other places again, and want to regain the lost territory in one fell swoop, it is unrealistic, Your Majesty must recognize this. Use the small city of Yuezhou in exchange for the lives of my 80,000 soldiers. If His Majesty doesn't agree, he will continue to consume it like this, and when the food is exhausted, Yuezhou City will be self-defeating, which is also the reason why Deng Yuanjue has never attacked Yuezhou. ”

Xiong Huan, who was far away in Shouchun, received Xiang Tong's watch, and after reading it, he was furious, fell heavily to the ground, and scolded: "Okay, you Xiang Tong, I spent 800,000 taels of silver to rescue you, and I asked you to rescue Jizhou." It's good that you didn't make an inch of merit after you went, but negotiated peace with Song Jun privately. This is going to spread out, so how can I save face? When did our Great Chu fall to the point where we had to make peace with the Song State? ”

Prime Minister Wu Shiqi, who was standing next to Xiong Huan, picked up the watch on the ground and hurriedly looked at it, and said: "Your Majesty is angry, the general is dedicated to the country, and now he is also in a predicament, so he will make this decision." ”

Xiong Huan was even more angry: "Caught in trouble? What predicament could he encounter? I gave him an army of 100,000, plus 80,000 horses in Yuezhou City, and the troops he could call on were as many as 180,000, while the Song army was only 80,000, the difference in strength and weakness was so great, he was helpless, and he still wanted to negotiate peace, is he still worthy of being the general of our Great Chu? ”

Although Wu Shiqi and Xiang Tong's personal relationship is not very good, they are not political enemies of each other. Now seeing that Xiong Huan had murderous intentions towards Xiang Tong, Wu Shiqi hurriedly comforted: "Your Majesty, this is a bit wronged by the general, although we have 180,000 troops on the battlefield in Jizhou, but General Xiang himself can only call 100,000 people, and the advantage in the face of Deng Yuanjue is not obvious." ”

"The general also said on the table that it is not that he can't beat them when he talks about peace with Song Guo, but there is no way to win in a short time, and the grain and grass in Yuezhou City are limited, and the time drags on for a long time, the 80,000 army will not be able to keep it, and the general's move is also helpless, he just wants to exchange Yuezhou City for the 80,000 army and the big Sima back."

Wu Shiqi deliberately mentioned Gao Yi in order to divert Xiong Huan's attention.

Xiong Huan really scolded: "Speaking of this high righteousness, it makes me angry even more than Xiang Tong, I also gave him 100,000 troops to rescue Jizhou, who knew that he was repeatedly defeated, and then he was simply frightened by Deng Yuanjue and cowered in the city and did not dare to fight, and the remaining 80,000 troops became a burden." When he returns, I will punish him severely. ”

Wu Shiqi saw that Xiong Huan's anger had been transferred to Gao Yi, so he asked tentatively: "Does Your Majesty agree to the general's proposal?" ”

As soon as Xiong Huan finished the fire, he calmed down and thought about it carefully, in fact, Xiang Tong is not to blame, it is still very cost-effective to exchange the lives of 80,000 soldiers in a small city. Although Gao Yi led his troops to fight in a mess, Anbang was also a good hand at governing the country, and many things were really inseparable from him, and he couldn't let him die in Yuezhou City.

Wu Shiqi saw that Xiong Huan didn't speak for a long time, and roughly guessed what he was worried about, so he said: "It's better for Your Majesty to pretend not to know about this matter, let the general deal with it himself, and wait for the army in Yuezhou to withdraw safely, and then see the reaction of the people to this matter, and then deal with the general as appropriate." ”

Wu Shiqi's meaning is also obvious, that is, to let Xiang Tong carry the pot again. Five years ago, the attack on the envoy of Yan was also Xiang Tong's back, and it would be nothing to do it again.

Chu took the initiative to find Song to negotiate peace, if the people knew about it, they would definitely be dissatisfied, in the hearts of the people, their own country is of course a strong country, and Song is just a chaotic minister and thief who is independent. For two hundred years, it was the Chu State that pressed the Song State to fight, and this time the Song State took Jizhou County, which has made the people very dissatisfied.

This alone can explain to the people that it was because of the sneak attack by the Song State, and the main force was pinned down by the Qi State, that the Song State was able to get it, and the people may still be able to accept it. But if you take the initiative to negotiate peace, the people will definitely not accept it, so Xiong Huan does not dare to agree easily.

Wu Shiqi let Xiang Tong take the blame, firstly, to dispel Xiong Huan's concerns, and secondly, to eliminate Xiong Huan's dissatisfaction with Xiang Tong. As a general, Xiang Tong has been in charge of the military power of Chu for almost twenty years, and his reputation is a little worse, which is not a good thing for him.

After listening to Wu Shiqi's suggestion, Xiong Huan sighed and said, "Prime Minister, you can do it yourself, I have other things to deal with." After saying that, he left on his own.

A few days later, Xiang Tong received a reply from Wu Shiqi, and Xiang Tong didn't care much about letting himself take the blame, anyway, it was not the first time.

Soon Xiang Tong also reached an agreement with Deng Yuanjue, Gao Yi led the army to withdraw from Yuezhou City, and Gao Kegong needed to be released a few days later because he had been escorted to Jianye. The whole county of Jizhou County was owned by the Great Song Dynasty, and there were also two cities of Jingzhou and Huangzhou in Ezhou County.

After Gao Yi returned, Xiang Tong led his army to retreat to Xiakou City in Ezhou, where he wanted to rebuild a new line of defense to deal with the future dispute between Chu and Song.

At this point, the war involving the four countries has finally come to an end, and everyone did not expect that the most profitable this time was actually the Song State, which was the weakest in China, followed by the Yan State, which was the second weakest in national strength.

And the powerful states of Qi and Chu suffered heavy losses in this war, and the state of Qi lost more than 100,000 troops, as well as two generals, Gan Zining and Xu Zhendong.

The state of Chu lost the entire county of Jizhou County, Huangzhou City, and military fortresses such as Changli and Jingzhou, and also mounted tens of thousands of troops.

The good news was transmitted back to Jianye, and Xiao Daocheng was happy for two days without closing his eyes. There is no doubt that he has now surpassed the successive emperors of the Great Song Dynasty. For more than 200 years, the Great Song Dynasty had no power to fight back in the face of the invasion of the Chu State, and now under his leadership, he was not only able to turn defense into attack, but also occupied an entire county of the Chu State and captured their general Zhengnan, which also greatly boosted the cohesion of the people of the whole country.

Xiao Daocheng took his ministers to meet Deng Yuanjue's triumph twenty miles outside the city, and the last time he defeated the Yanchu coalition army, he only welcomed ten miles away.

Deng Yuanjue saw Xiao Daocheng from a distance, and was shocked, so he quickly jumped off the horse, trotted on his feet, ran all the way to Xiao Daocheng, knelt on the ground and said: "How can you dare to work hard to meet Your Majesty, capital crime, capital crime." ”

Xiao Daocheng laughed, he was still very satisfied with Deng Yuanjue's performance, but this person is too big, his merits are high, and his reputation is above the royal family, the most hateful thing is that he is still young, but he is in his early forties, if such a person is left to the prince, will he still be surnamed Xiao in the future?

Every time Xiao Daocheng thought of this, he felt very uncomfortable in his heart, it was undeniable that Deng Yuanjue had great kindness to the Great Song Dynasty and their royal family, without him, the Great Song Dynasty might have been destroyed by the Chu State long ago.

From the perspective of personal feelings, Xiao Daocheng didn't want to deal with Deng Yuanjue, but for the sake of the country's stability, he couldn't help but deal with Deng Yuanjue, which may also be the helplessness of being an emperor.

Xiao Daocheng helped Deng Yuanjue with both hands and said: "The general has worked hard, you have made such a great contribution this time, and I should lead the ministers to come out to greet you." ”

After speaking, Xiao Daocheng said to the generals again: "All the generals have worked hard this time, you take Jizhou County for me, I want to reward you well, General Deng Yuanjue, come forward and listen to the seal." ”

Deng Yuanjue quickly fell to his knees again.

"The general sent troops to attack Chu this time, made great contributions, and I named you the protector of the country."

As soon as Xiao Daocheng's voice fell, there was an exclamation among the ministers, Deng Yuanjue is not a person from the royal family, naturally he cannot be crowned a prince, in addition to the prince, among the fifth rank of the prince and uncle, the duke rank is the highest, but no one in the Great Song Dynasty has been named a duke since the founding of the country, and there are two people who have been posthumously awarded after death, and this is the first time that he has been named a duke while he is alive.

Deng Yuanjue was also surprised, but he is now a general, among the hundred officials, only Prime Minister Chen Guoqing has a higher status than him, of course Xiao Daocheng cannot remove Chen Guoqing and give way to Deng Yuanjue, and Deng Yuanjue will not hand over the military power in his hands, so Duke Feng is the best choice.

"Shi Luosheng made a meritorious contribution to the Qi State, and this time he also went out with the army, took Yongzhou, Jingzhou and other places, and named you the Marquis of Wu'an."

"Liu Zixuan, I named you Wei Yonghou, Deng Wenhao, I named you General Pingkou, Deng Wenjie, I named you General Pingkou. For the rest of the generals, after the general reports his merits, I will reward them. ”

This time the reward of Xiao Daocheng is also a big deal, a duke, two marquises, and even Deng Yuanjue's second son and youngest son have been awarded the title of Sanpin General, especially Deng Wenjie, who is only seventeen years old now, and Liu Zixuan was twenty-one years old when he was named the Sanpin leading general.