On the ninth day of the seventh month, at noon, King Qi and Yuwenshu sat together again.

Yu Wenshu was very unhappy, feeling that King Qi's "eating appearance" was too ugly and too excessive, although they both knew that each other's methods were ruthless and they would do everything to achieve their goals, but the "surface light" thing still had to be done. Could it be that if you King Qi show me a face and use the Grand Canal to threaten me, I will do what you wish? It's too naïve.

Yu Wenshu held back his anger and continued to patiently persuade King Qi to come to the aid of Xingyang and restore the smooth flow of the Grand Canal, after all, grain and grass are too important, related to the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians of the expeditionary force, related to the security of the northern frontier defense, and related to the fate of Guozuo, which is not allowed to be played.

King Qi was always silent, until Yuwen Shu was tired and closed his mouth, and then he said leisurely, "Gu has just received a report from Shun Zhenggong (Dong Chun) that he has captured Jindi Pass and is in Tongji Canal. ”

When Yuwen heard this, he immediately became angry, you dare to tease me? Are you teasing me, or are you insulting the Holy Lord? Yu Wenshu's face gradually became gloomy, and his eyes showed a look of resentment without concealment. Since you want to tear your face, then the old man will accompany him to the end. The old man represents the Holy Lord, and the old man can settle for inconsequential things, and he can even compromise and make concessions, but the old man will not give in an inch when it comes to important matters.

King Qi was secretly happy when he saw that Yuwenshu was angered by himself, but his face pretended to be frightened, and he shook his hand at Yuwenshu again and again, "Xu Gongdon't want to misunderstand, it's not that he deliberately didn't say it, but the internal situation is far more complicated than you think." ”

Yu Wenshu's eyes narrowed slightly, and he sneered disdainfully, Okay, it's time to talk about the conditions, the old man wants to hear what you want to blackmail.

"What's the inside story?" Yu Wenshu asked.

"Although Shun Zhenggong captured Jindi Pass, the price paid was extremely heavy." King Qi made a specific explanation, "Now the number of troops under the Shunzheng public account is less than 1,000, and he is unable to fight again, so he can't take the trigger at all, and he can't restore the smooth flow of the Tongji Canal in the shortest possible time." At present, Shun Zhenggong has urgently written to King Xun (Yang Qing) and Qiao Gong (Zhou Fashang), asking them to rush to reinforcements, but they are too late to panic, once the rebels launch a counterattack, not only Tongjiqu can not be taken back, even Jindi Pass will be gained and lost, and it will change hands again. ”

As soon as Yuwen Shu heard it, he knew that the shape had deteriorated and that things were in trouble. The request for help is false, the warning is true, in the face of King Qi's open threat, King Xun Yang Qing and Qiao Gong Zhou Fa are still impossible to support Dong Chun, so their "throat" will be pinched by King Qi, if you don't agree to King Qi's conditions, don't give him real benefits, I'm afraid I will be "trapped" in Liyang. It seems that yesterday's persuasion had the opposite effect, and his hypocrisy and deliberate deception completely angered the king of Qi, and the king of Qi was desperate, so he took a risk and fought to the death at any cost.

After Yu Wenshu groaned for a while, he stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Shanshun Zhenggong conquered the Golden Embankment and made great contributions. As long as the water division takes Zhuzhu and King Xun enters Xingze again, the three armies can join forces to block the rebels' counterattack and completely control the Tongji Canal, so that the smooth flow of the Tongji Canal can be quickly restored. ”

King Qi shook his head and said worriedly, "If the sailors quickly conquer Zhuzhu, and King Xun can decisively launch an attack north to firmly contain the rebels on the front line of Xingyang and Xingze, then he will definitely be able to spread the good news again." ”

Yuwen Shu frowned slightly, and said with a pun, "If the king rushes to help, this qiē worry will no longer exist." ”

King Qi glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, and finally made his position righteous, "Without the edict of the Holy Lord, Gu will never enter Beijing, and Gu's army will never set foot in Gyeonggi." "The Xingyang battlefield is within the scope of Gyeonggi, and the army of the King of Qi will never set foot in Gyeonggi, that is, it will never enter the Xingyang battlefield.

As soon as these words came out, Yu Wenshu's expression suddenly became solemn, and there was a strong uneasiness in his heart, and even some inexplicable panic.

The King of Qi has a clear position and will never enter Beijing, in fact, he will tell Sù Yu Wenshu and the Holy Lord that at this critical moment, he will not fight for the right to inherit the imperial system, will not deliberately worsen the situation, and will not let the storm get out of control.

This is the promise of the king of Qi, and this promise is what Yuwenshu urgently needs, although he repeatedly advised the king of Qi to rush to the aid of the Xingyang battlefield and lead the army into Beijing to quell the rebellion, but this is purely a temptation, if the king of Qi is willing to enter Beijing, it shows that the king of Qi has not given up the fight for the imperial unity, this is a huge hidden danger, must be eradicated, so as not to dream too much at night; On the contrary, if the King of Qi refuses to enter Beijing, it shows that even if the King of Qi has not given up the fight for the imperial unification, but in the short term, especially at this critical moment, the King of Qi still takes into account the overall situation, or puts the interests of the country and the Holy Lord first, and has not lost the sanity of a normal person. However, after this storm broke out, all the actions of the King of Qi showed that he was going to actively fight for the imperial throne, so after Yuwen Shu reached Liyang, he directly set a "trap" to tempt the King of Qi, intending to put the King of Qi to death, and he never thought that the King of Qi would make a promise not to enter Beijing.

Now the king of Qi has made a promise not to enter Beijing, which not only meets the political needs of the holy lord and the center, but also makes a reasonable explanation for what he did before, the king of Qi actively quells the rebellion for the safety of the country and the safety of the eastern capital, and does not have the idea of entering Beijing to seize the imperial unity, nor does he threaten the holy lord with the Grand Canal and blackmail the interests of the government, in other words, it is not important how the truth of the facts is now, the important thing is that the king of Qi has created a glorious image for himself, and this image is beneficial to everyone, and he must try his best to maintain it.

How to maintain the glorious image of King Qi? The king of Qi has made meritorious contributions to quelling the rebellion, and he will be rewarded for his merits, which is not only conducive to maintaining the authority of the holy lord and the center, but also conducive to stabilizing the chaotic political situation after the storm, which can be described as killing multiple birds with one stone, but the king of Qi has restored the smooth flow of the Grand Canal with his own strength, and the reward is not light, and the reward cannot be achieved if it is light, so what is the reward that the king of Qi hopes to get the most? What is the reward he needs most? Imperial succession? Entering the East Palace? Crown prince? Went around in circles and back?

Yuwenshu is panicked here. King Qi is too clever, turning decay into magic, turning passivity into initiative, retreating into advance, and throwing the "problem" to the Holy Lord in an instant, which is completely beyond Yuwenshu's expectations, and Yuwenshu was caught off guard. This is definitely not the idea of the King of Qi, the political skills of the King of Qi are not so skillful, the game methods are not so superb, the King of Qi must have hidden a "master" by his side, and he has been guided by the "master".

"It's okay for the king to kill Liyang." Yu Wenshu slowly spoke, "Hebei thieves are rampant, after the Grand Canal is restored, there is still a danger of interruption, Liyangcang does need to be heavily garrisoned, and Yongji Canal does need to invest a lot of troops to ensure its safety, but ......"

King Qi raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at Yu Wenshu, waiting for his words behind the "but".

After Yu Wenshu hesitated for a while, he cautiously probed, "However, Hebei's rebellion and suppression of thieves are in charge of Hebei's arrest ambassador Cui Hongsheng, and the king can't overstep his authority." "The implication is that you have an army of 20,000 under the account of King Qi, which is a powerful military force, and it is a huge threat to the Holy Lord and the center in any place, and it is also a potential disaster for the local government and local forces. Now you can stay in Liyang for the time being, but the storm is over, where do you go from here? Before you were in Qilu to suppress thieves, it was because the white-haired thieves were in trouble, but now the white-haired thieves have fled and there is no trace, do you still have a reason to return to Qilu to suppress the thieves?

King Qi smiled lonely, pondered for a long time, and asked, "Duke Xu, the defeat of the Eastern Expedition for two consecutive years will affect the relationship between the North and the South?" ”

Yuwen Shu Huo Ran was shocked. King Qi's question seemed abrupt, but it got to the point. The current situation in China and Turkey is indeed an internal and external one, and the external troubles are far greater than the internal ones. Before Yu Wenshu left, the Holy Lord had said that he hoped that Yu Wenshu could put down the rebellion as quickly as possible, and he himself would postpone his return to Beijing for a period of time, and personally sit in the northern Xinjiang to deter the northern captives, so as not to take advantage of the opportunity to invade the border and lead the border to be tense and further deteriorate the relations between the north and the south.

Yu Wenshu became more and more uneasy. It is normal for the King of Qi to see that the "external trouble" is the biggest crisis in Middle-earth, but what is not normal is that if the King of Qi ostensibly uses the Grand Canal to blackmail the Holy Lord, but in fact uses the "external trouble" to engage in some conspiracy, then it will be strict, after all, the King of Qi has a special identity, if the King of Qi launches a mutiny, its danger is far greater than Yang Xuangan's harm to Guozuo, and the rebellion of Yang Liang, the king of Han, is a vivid example.

"Of course, it will affect the relations between the North and the South." Yu Wenshu said bluntly, "The northern captives on the desert have re-emerged, their strength is very strong, and they are even more eyeing our Middle Earth, and the deterioration of relations between the north and the south cannot be stopped by manpower, so the holy lord launched an eastern crusade to eliminate Goguryeo to deter the northern captives, but it went against people's wishes, and the result was counterproductive, not only failed to delay the deterioration of north-south relations, but intensified the conflict between the two sides." If nothing else, in the coming period, especially in recent years, before our country's strength is fully restored, the northern frontier is very tense, and a major war is very likely to break out on the front line of the Great Wall. ”

Yu Wenshu's words implied a warning, now the external troubles are greater than the internal worries, the top and bottom should be sincerely united, unanimously external, don't engage in internal strife anymore, the interests of the country are supreme, if the country is harmed, the lives are ruined, how can personal interests be preserved?

"So strict?" King Qi looked surprised, "Is there a possibility of a great war between the north and the south?" ”

Yuwen Shu nodded solemnly, "Even if a large-scale war does not break out, in the next few years, the northern captives will be frequent, and the northern Xinjiang town is extremely severe. ”

"Lone wants to go to the northern frontier." King Qi stood up suddenly, impassioned and full of pride, "If you want to fight against the northern captives, you will not hesitate to fight on the bloody battlefield, even if you are shrouded in horse leather." ”

Yuwen Shu was dumbfounded, and looked at King Qi with wide eyes, in disbelief.

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