The noisy things have been done from August to November, and still no result has been calculated. It's not that neither side wants to negotiate www.biquge.info but that the gap between the two sides is too great. Although as time passed, the leaders of the two sides seemed to be a little impatient, wanting to end the current dispute as soon as possible, so that they could live a peaceful winter, so they gave each other's envoys a very strict order to talk as soon as possible, every day, but under the continuous oppression, Li Sheng and Cao Cao only confirmed a few things: Li Sheng agreed to release Cao Ren, Cao Hong and others; Cao Cao agreed to crown Li Sheng as the general of the Qiang Protector and recognized Li Sheng's control over Jing, Yi, and Jiao for three weeks. These are all fictitious things, as for the real ones, such as the ransom of the 50,000 soldiers in the south, and the issue of Cao Cao's cession of the land of Liangzhou to Li Sheng, both sides have engaged in fierce debates on this, and no one has been determined. For these two conditions, Li Sheng seems to be determined to win, and Cao Cao is also not willing to give an inch, after all, one of them is related to Cao Cao's own face, and the other is related to Cao Cao's strategic situation. Liangzhou, that is also the place where Cao Cao himself beat down, of course Cao Cao is not willing to give it to others like this.

"It seems that this Cao Cao still doesn't give up." At the end of another day's talks, Deng Zhi and Deng Ai returned to the post house, but they sat down and discussed today's affairs in detail as usual.

"They don't give up, so where are we?" Deng Ai's face showed a strange look that seemed to be smiling, but the comparison in his hand was written down like this: "When we made such a request, it was nothing more than asking for a sky-high price and paying back the money on the ground." But I didn't think that today, the original request has become the most basic requirement. From Cao Cao's side, it is difficult for Cao Cao to agree to such a request, especially the cession of Liangzhou. I don't know how this negotiation will end. Although our lord is not afraid of Cao Cao, but we fought with Cao Cao, and it was Sun Quan who benefited in the end. Alas...... Let's hope things don't get to that point. Deng Ai sighed, looking worried about this.

"What are you worried about? The lord has his own ideas, and we just need to do what the lord thinks. Why bother for this? Hehe, we understand this, the lord of Yizhou and the military advisers naturally understand that since there is no news from the white clothes to change the initial delay, then we have to continue to delay the negotiations on the surface despite the urging of the lord. After reading the document written by Deng Ai, Deng Zhi was a little heartless and indifferent, in fact, he had already seen all this thoroughly.

"That's just as well." Deng Ai changed his mind slightly when he heard this, and immediately understood what Deng Zhi meant. He knew that he couldn't intervene in this kind of strategy in his current capacity, so he didn't say anything at the moment.

At this moment, it is a little late, and it stands to reason that it should be a morning rest. After all, the two of them have been extremely tired after a busy day. However, at this moment, a burst of footsteps became clear from far and near, and finally stopped outside their door: "The two adults are here for today's supper." ”

"Supper?" Deng Zhi was slightly stunned but understood what was going on, and hurriedly welcomed the outside in, probed out to look around, and after finding that there was nothing wrong, he asked the person who came in with a smile: "Heh, isn't there any new news from the lord's side?" Why do you come late at night? ”

"There's the latest information coming from the lord's side, and it's the matter of changing the strategy. I didn't dare to slack off at the moment, so I was in a hurry to meet the two of you. The man said with a smile, but he quickly took out an envelope that had been prepared from his arms and handed it to Deng Zhi, thinking that he also knew that Deng Zhi was the main one here.

Seeing that the man said so important, Deng Zhi didn't dare to be the slightest slack at the moment, he opened the envelope with one hand, took out the letter paper from it, and spread it out, but he carefully looked at it from beginning to end. After doing this again, his face became a little excited: "Cheng! Yes...... The lord is really powerful, he actually swept the realm of Liangzhou in just two months, and he has already won Wuwei at this moment. ”

"What...... Reside...... Actually take ...... Take...... Wu Wei? This news was too shocking for Deng Ai, but he sat up straight and stammered and asked. Of course, he knew what the situation of Wuwei was: Wuwei was one of the largest counties in Liangzhou, and its land was directly connected with Yongzhou, which was a gateway to Liangzhou. At this moment, Li Sheng took down Wuwei, undoubtedly cutting off the connection between Cao Jun and Liangzhou. From now on, as long as Li Sheng's side guarded the land of martial power, he could block Cao Cao's army as much as possible, so that his side could have more time to take the city of Liangzhou. It can be said that with Li Shengjun taking Wuwei, half of Liangzhou is already in Li Sheng's hands.

"What amazing news. I like the news though. Compared with Deng Ai's excitement on the dangerous road, Deng Zhi's face was a little calmer, but this calm was only calm compared to Deng Ai, in fact, Deng Zhi was excited at the moment, and his face was full of happy smiles.

"Brother Bo Miao, tell me what the lord's current policy is." After being excited for a while, Deng Ai quickly came to his senses and wrote down his urgent request on paper.

"Yes." Deng Zhi nodded slightly, but said: "What the lord means is that after we have obtained Wuwei, the news of our invasion of Liangzhou has been kept secret. Although the weather is very cold now, the heavy snow in the northwest has fallen, and there are our manpower to intercept it along the way, it will not be possible to spread the news to Xuchang for a while and a half, but it can only be delayed for a while. The lord wants us to quickly contact and negotiate with Cao Cao, and we must confirm the treaty within a few days: the trusteeship of the land of Liangzhou can be noted, and the money and food of the 50,000 soldiers can be exchanged for it, in short, the sooner this matter is settled, the better. If the news of Liangzhou comes, I am afraid that there will be many incidents. That's the general strategy, and the specifics are up to us. ”

"So we're going to back down now?" Deng Aiba blinked and wrote leisurely.

"That's true......" Deng Zhi nodded slightly.

"Hey...... That's a shame. "It's rare for Deng Ai to write such playful words on paper.

"Rare? Maybe a little. A warm smile appeared on Deng Zhi's face, and he turned his head to look at Deng Ai and the person standing in the room who was as easy to ignore as a shadow: "This ...... I said should we discuss it first, and how should we talk to Cao Cao tomorrow? Even if we give in, we have to be polite and courteous. ”

"Hmm...... That's right! Deng **** nodded honestly, glanced at Deng Zhi, and then the two of them gently got together and talked about things in a whisper.

And so the night passed.

The next day, the negotiations began in the same room, in front of the people, and apart from a slight change in time, nothing seemed to have changed from the beginning. Even Deng Zhi and Deng Ai, who participated in the talks, were still on the same tense faces as a few days ago - they were still angry about Cao Cao's refusal.

"Nest fire? It's us who really should be on fire. As soon as he saw Deng Zhi and Deng Ai's obvious faces for himself, Xun You's heart was aggrieved. Originally, an old Confucian like him had a big belly, and he definitely wouldn't be like this. But there is also a large amount of existence, under the provocation of Deng Zhi and Deng Ai every day, even a clay man will be burned out of three points of fire, not to mention that he Xun You is just one person. However, he still knew that he couldn't get angry right now. Therefore, he only wore a face that was almost as tight as the two young men, and did not say a word. Based on the past situation, it seems that the words at the negotiating table have always started first.

Sure enough, not long after the two sides sat down, Deng Zhi spoke. He said something that was almost as uninformative as before: "Don't you get bored of saying that we've all been here for so long?" Ay...... You don't get bored, but I do. It's better for you to agree to this condition as soon as possible, and we'll all break up in two. "The two doors of the house have long been closed, and the people outside naturally can't hear what the people inside are saying, and everything seems a little secret. However, it is precisely because of this secrecy that Deng Zhi put on the appearance of a ruffian to bring Xun You and Jia Xu to them.

"Where the interests of the Lord are, we wait for the lives of us. As for the matter of land cession compensation, we will never agree until the lord has really pressed us to agree. Xun You shook his head, lowered his eyes, and said lightly.

"Really? That's not going to be easy. If neither of us retreats, this daily boring meeting will continue. It's a real headache. Deng Zhi frowned and patted his forehead in distress, "As you know, my father-in-law has been pressing me in a hurry recently, but he asked me to get things done quickly." I don't think it's better to do this, for this matter, we might as well take a step back, you give us Liangzhou, and we won't ask you for compensation anymore, how about it? ”

"No!" Xun You flicked his sleeves, his face was still dull and serious: "Liangzhou is the land that my lord personally took over, how can I give it to you like this?" The idea of cutting the land must not be agreed. ”

"Really?" Deng Zhi looked at Xun Yu eagerly and confirmed again.

"Not really. That's our bottom line. Xun Yu replied loudly.

"So what do you say? We're all about to back down, but you're still holding on to it. Let people see, there is really no sincerity at all? Do we have to fight again? Deng Zhi asked leisurely, "If we fight again, we are not afraid." It's just that if we continue like this, our patience will be worn out, and then something may happen. ”

"You ......" Xun You raised his eyebrows angrily, and his face was full of condensation.

"What am I? Will you not back down a single step? Or do you think we can be bullied more and more? Deng Zhi asked lightly.

"Of course not, it's just that we can't promise you the land cut. As for the side, it can be discussed. Jia Xu on the side said.

"What's the discussion?" Deng Zhi asked again, but he was pressing step by step.

"It's very simple, we pay a considerable ransom, and you give up your claim to Liangzhou." Jia Xu replied coldly.

"Sir, do you think money can be compared with land and population?" Deng Zhi raised his eyes slightly and asked expressionlessly.

"No." Jia Xu shook his head coldly, and then looked at Deng Zhi: "You understand this, and we understand it." That's why we won't accede to your request. ”

"Okay!" Deng Zhi groaned slightly, but then said: "We can not do with the whole land of Liangzhou, and we can further reduce the ransom demand, but we need the southernmost two counties of Liangzhou." You also know that there is too much of a threat to us. This surprise attack caught us off guard. If we don't bring these two places, we won't be very willing. If you don't agree, I'm afraid it's really going to be a fight. ”

"Well...... I'll need to ask my lord. Jia Xu seemed to be a little moved. After all, Cao Cao's economic situation is not very good now, and if they are asked to come up with so much money and food at once, it will make them sad. Now that there is such a way of substitution, how can we say a word of no? Anything like the irreceding of territory is just a matter of talking about the outside world, and in fact, in such internal talks, there is nothing that cannot be discussed except for matters other than those involving one's own fundamentals. You know, this is all a fight between the Han brothers themselves - of course, Jia Xu will not have such a high consciousness, but he himself feels that except for some things that must not be discussed, it seems that these two remote counties can still be discussed.

"That's great." Deng Zhi's face was full of joy: "Today's meeting finally has a good result. Hehe, I'll wait and see Mr. Wenhe's request. Deng Zhi said and laughed slightly, this elegant smile always had an indescribable irony in the eyes of Xun You and Jia Xu.

The day's meeting was dissolved. Jia Xu went to ask Cao Cao whether to transfer the two counties of Xiping and Jincheng to Li Sheng. This request is more of a request than a persuasion. Cao Cao himself was reluctant to let go of what he had already gotten away. He was old, but he had to think about his son. Although he also knew that his son was very good and did have some strong strength, would such a strong strength be the opponent of Sun Quan in the east and Li Sheng in the west? For this, Cao Cao has no foundation in his heart. Therefore, he always seemed a little hesitant when facing Jia Xu's rhetoric.

“…… Lord, do you think that the land of China is vast, or is the land south of the Yangtze River vast? Jia Xu saw that he couldn't convince Cao Cao, so he asked Cao Cao such a question.

"The two should be about the same." Cao Cao replied naturally.

"That's right. If the world is divided into four parts, then the lord has two of the four parts, and Li Sheng and Sun Quan have one of the other two, and their regions are united, but if they are divided like now, they will not be able to compete with us at all. Jia Xu analyzed it, affirmed Cao Cao's answer, and then asked another question: "So is it the population in the south or the population in the north?" ”

"Do you need to ask? Of course, the population of the north is larger. Cao Cao replied as a matter of course.

"Then what else is the lord worried about?" Jia Xu asked again, he looked at Cao Cao who still didn't understand much, so he explained in detail: "The territory of the lord is as vast as the south, and the population of the people under the lord is far greater than the sum of the south. The large size of the region and population meant that the lord had more troops and more money and food to produce. With our forces and food and grass guaranteed in our favour, we will definitely be able to win as long as we do not make any big mistakes. What's more......" Jia Xu rolled his eyes and continued: "Jiangnan is now divided into two families, which are said to be united on the surface, but in fact they are hostile. The lord gave the two counties to Li Sheng, Li Sheng thought he was strong, and he was bound to be strong, and Sun Quan must not like it. When we fall, we will be better able to learn from it. ”

"That's right." Cao Cao heard that he thought about it, and finally a smile bloomed on his face: "The general trend of the world is like this, no matter how bad my Cao Mengde's son is, it is impossible to even follow the trend like this." Okay, Wenhe will do what you say. In order to exchange Zixiao and Zilian as soon as possible, I temporarily entrusted the two counties of Xiping and Jincheng in Liangzhou to Li Sheng for a while. Remember, this is just a 'loan', and sooner or later we will have to take back the land of the two counties. At the end, Cao Cao's smile slowly withered, and his tone became vicious, and anyone could feel the unwillingness in his words.

Cao Cao's approval meant that the biggest obstacle in the negotiations was removed, and the next negotiations proceeded very quickly. The four people involved in the negotiation used their language and organization skills with all their hearts, and soon a paper treaty was finalized. The general content of the treaty has not changed, but it is more satisfying to Cao Cao's face in words: for example, the land of the two counties that Cao Cao ceded to Li Sheng, and the money and property that Cao Cao used to redeem the soldiers and generals captured by Li Sheng, have been explained as the dowry for Cao Cao to marry his daughter to Li Sheng, Cao Cao's daughter Cao Hua had already been sent to Li Sheng several years ago, but Cao Hua was too young at that time to officially marry Li Sheng. In Cao Cao's opinion, this can be regarded as not getting married, so it is reasonable to make up the dowry now. Though everyone knows what that's all about.

The treaty was signed on November 22, the 22nd year of Jian'an, and then announced to the world in the name of the emperor's decree at the request of Li Sheng.

On November 25, Li Sheng's envoy group left Xuchang with the seal letter issued by the emperor to his lord's lord, Shu Hou, Yizhou Mu, Jiaozhou Mu, Jingzhou Mu, and Huqiang Zhonglang Generals. As soon as they left the city, they quickened their speed to the south, and from a distance they looked a little hurried. No one wondered why they were in such a hurry, and even if there was speculation about it, it was basically that they had been away from home for a long time, and they probably wanted to return home for the New Year as soon as possible. This is also a very normal thing, Shu Road is difficult to travel is recognized by the world, if these people in the envoy group really want to return to Chengdu as soon as possible, then it is undoubtedly suitable to enter Sichuan from Jingzhou as soon as possible.

“…… Maybe that's it. They were just two young men. Now that the treaty has been signed, Cao Cao is also obviously relieved.

The signing of the treaty means that the clouds of war are blown away. Although I suffered a lot of anger in this treaty, my interests were finally protected for the most part, which is always good news. Don't say it, let's just say that most of the people in the court were smiling in the days after the treaty was signed, and even Cao Cao and his important ministers met everyone with a slight sense of joy in their indifference. After a few days, everyone's mood was good.

However, such a good feeling, everyone did not enjoy it for long. On the fifth day after Deng Zhi and the others left Xuchang, the envoy who came from Liangzhou entered Xuchang City in embarrassment, crying and bowing down in front of Jia Xu's mansion. He is still a bit of a brain, and he only dares to come to Jia Xu, who is in charge of intelligence, but does not dare to go to Cao Cao, otherwise the news of the fall of Liangzhou will be known all over the city.

"What do you say...... Li Shengjun took Wuwei? Jia Xu's eyes widened in shock, "Tell me?" How many people are there in Li Shengjun? ”

"The local soldiers of Liangzhou and the pawns of the Qiang people are not afraid of hundreds of thousands of people." The messenger gave Jia Xu an answer that he couldn't believe.

"Hundreds of thousands?" Jia Xu felt that this matter was a bit ridiculous: "Li Sheng's total number of people in Yizhou and Jingzhou is only more than 200,000, where can he have hundreds of thousands in Liangzhou?" ”

"The situation in Liangzhou, Mr. Wenhe is not unaware. As long as there is food in that place, just pull out a random person to become a soldier. What's more, this time Li Sheng is heading towards the big family. You also understand that a few of those local tyrants are certainly kind people, but more of them are extremely vicious, and the people have suffered for a long time. In addition, Li Sheng used the strategy of the city to devour the wolf, where did the common people not become thieves? Now Liangzhou is no longer a place. The messenger sighed. When he came out of Liangzhou, he knew best what the situation was in Liangzhou - for Liangzhou, if Cao Cao did not send troops, he would have no hope, because the people of Liangzhou had long been of the same mind as Li Sheng, except for those who were from big clans.

"If one son makes a mistake, he loses everything. In this game, we won't be able to. Jia Xu couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this, but this smile was more ugly than crying: "No wonder Li Sheng will suddenly give up the entire territory of Liangzhou from us, and only need Xiping and Jincheng." At this moment, they have already obtained four of the six counties in Liangzhou, plus Xiping and Jincheng, wouldn't they have won all the six counties? What a strategy, a good means. Jia Xu was stunned for a long time, dumbfounded, and didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.

"Mr. Wenhe, Li Sheng's thief army is ravaging Liangzhou, and my father of Liangzhou is looking forward to the arrival of Master Wang. If Wei Gong is willing to send troops, there is still a glimmer of life in Liangzhou, if not, I am afraid that ......" The envoy did not say any more, because he knew what he was going to say, Jia Xu knew.

"I'll do my best." Of course, Jia Xu knew what the envoy meant, but he also seemed a little powerless now: "However, at present, our army has suffered relatively large losses, and the grain and grass are quite insufficient, and it is almost a harsh winter. Anyway, what you told me today, I will tell the lord word for word. It's just that I don't know whether the lord will send troops or not. The difficulty is too great, I think you should not report too much hope. ”

"Alas...... I know. Hearing Jia Xu say this, the envoy's heart was half cold, but he knew that he was here to beg the other party, and he didn't dare to be too presumptuous for a while. immediately said goodbye to Jia Xu, saying that he was going to wait for good news without mentioning it.

Sending the messenger away, Jia Xu quickly rushed to Cao Cao's Wei mansion, saying that there was an urgent matter to see Cao Cao. It was late at night, and Cao Cao, who always had a pain in his head from time to time, had already fallen asleep. Cao Cao's subordinates were willing to wake Cao Cao up, but under Jia Xu's cold gaze and his status as a military advisor, they had to call Cao Cao up with the determination to die, and then lured Jia Xu in.

"Wenhe? What the hell is so anxious? Cao Cao asked solemnly. Being quarreled from a deep sleep, as long as it is a person, it is always very unhappy, especially when this person has a rare opportunity to sleep. Although he had already tried his best to restrain himself, Cao Cao's eyebrows were still slightly wrinkled, and a little anger was rising in his heart.

"My lord, I just got the information from the messenger of Liangzhou, and Li Shengjun has entered Liangzhou." Jia Xu reported to Cao Cao with a serious expression.

"Did you start taking over the two places so soon? Li Sheng is really anxious. Cao Cao pursed his lips indifferently, his eyelids lowered as if they were about to close again.

"Lord, aren't they stationed in Xiping and Jincheng." Jia Xu knew that Cao Cao had misunderstood, so he immediately raised his voice slightly and reminded: "They have taken the entire territory of Wuwei, as well as most of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, and Zhangye, and now only the counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, and Zhangye have not been taken." ”

"What?" Cao Cao heard Jia Xu say this in a daze, and couldn't help but widen his eyes: "How could Li Sheng be like this?" Tell me what the hell is going on? Cao Cao suddenly became serious.

"Lord, we have all fallen for Li Sheng. If we think about it carefully, the talks between us and Li Sheng were all conducted by Li Sheng in order to delay time to attract our attention. As early as the beginning, after Li Sheng put forward such conditions and we did not agree, but sent troops to attack Hanzhong, Li Sheng was planning an operation against our Liangzhou. Although we do not know exactly when Li Sheng's heart began until now, it was indeed carried out at the same time as our attack on Hanzhong -- they did not pass through Guanzhong to Liangzhou, but went around to Liangzhou through Qiangzhong. Li Sheng's ambitions for Liangzhou may have been there a few years ago, so he must have made a lot of arrangements in Qiangdi. The Qiang people must have obeyed Li Sheng's orders, which is why Li Sheng's battle in Liangzhou became so smooth. Jia Xu pondered and thought about it, but he strung together the things that the messenger told him and some clues he had obtained before, but he got the closest answer to the truth from them.

"That is to say, Li Sheng knew that we were unwilling to cede Liangzhou, so he took advantage of the opportunity of our attack on Hanzhong and transferred Liangzhou's troops to Chang'an, and directly sent troops to Liangzhou...... Is that so? Cao Cao asked in confirmation. He had already judged so much from Jia Xu's words.

"Indeed!" Jia Xu nodded heavily.

"Hey, this is also Li Sheng's cunning." Cao Cao pressed his hand on his head, but he had a headache. He didn't have a headache about the loss of Liangzhou, but a headache about why he always felt a little constrained when he met Li Sheng, as if Li Sheng had counted everything in front of him. Why is this so? Is Li Sheng's army stronger than us? This is not the case, although Li Sheng's military strength is strong, he is absolutely incomparable to his own combat experience. Most of his army has gone through decades of conquest, while Li Sheng's army has only experienced a few major battles. No matter how rigorously they trained, many of them had never been on the battlefield. An army has not experienced the baptism of a major war, and this combat capability is unintentionally much worse. So I don't have enough capable people? Obviously not, Li Sheng has Wolong and Fengxiao, and I also have Jia Xu, Xun You, and Chen Yu on my side, and I think it is also quite in terms of talents. As for the rest of the troops and territory, not to mention, I am much stronger than him Li Sheng. But even if we are so strong, then why do we always lag behind Li Sheng? Cao Cao thought about it carefully, he thought for a long time, but suddenly found a little place where he fell behind Li Sheng: "Intelligence, it seems that in terms of intelligence, we are much worse than Li Sheng." Li Sheng's side could transmit information from the East China Sea to Jingzhou in a few days, and they could carry out coordinated operations thousands of miles apart. That's beyond my reach. Although Wen He's intelligence organization is also very powerful, it seems to be very inferior to Li Sheng's team. That's where we suffer step by step. ”

Thinking of this, Cao Cao's frown stretched slightly, but he asked Jia Xu very directly: "Wenhe, do you know where we lost this time?" ”

"Wen He was originally stupid, and he just thought of this point - this time we lost to a knowledge! Know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles. But when we fought with Li Sheng this time, we only knew ourselves, but we didn't know him. We don't know Li Sheng's true strength, we don't know Li Sheng's strategic deployment, and we don't know Li Sheng's specific tactical arrangement. We've been playing against an opponent we don't know. Therefore, we only know that we are strong, but we don't know that the other party is also strong. Jia Xu thought for a while, and suddenly understood what Cao Cao was thinking, and replied at the moment. He felt that he should bear most of the responsibility for such a situation. After all, it was he Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe who were in charge of intelligence work in Cao Cao's army.

。

Seeing that Jia Xu understood what he meant, Cao Cao nodded, and he gently patted Jia Xu's shoulder: "Wenhe, we lost this time." It's not wrong to lose at all. I'm not afraid of losing, but I'm afraid that after losing, we don't know ******** ourselves. This time we suffered a big loss, but we found our own shortcomings in this loss...... This is good! I think after this experience, we should all be motivated. This is true for you and for me. Originally, I thought that after eliminating Liu Bei, there would be no opponent in the world, but now it seems that the original argument is a bit too much. At least Li Sheng in front of me can still live with me in a few tricks. ”

Wen He understood. Please rest assured, this will never happen again. Jia Xu said fiercely, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He had never felt the weight of the burden on his shoulders.