"You threaten this king?" Situ Lei's body moved slightly, leaned forward slightly, stared at Deng Zhongyao and said coldly, with a murderous intent, slowly came out.

Deng Zhongyao didn't care about Situ Lei's anger at all, just shook his head and said, "No, I'm just stating the facts." With the prince only, I think it is very clear about the contrast between the strengths and weaknesses of you and me, and I am also very clear about the truth and falsehood of what I say. ”

Lin Shiwen suddenly said: "Yes, you and the other armies are still fighting in the land of Bingzhou, successively attacking the Turkic cavalry, the Northern Army of Bingzhou, and the Bingzhou Army. Now not to mention the fatigue of the sergeants and the heavy logistical pressure, it is also in a hurry to appease the place. And our army has four princes leading the army to resist in the south of Bingzhou, and there are 100,000 troops in the south, and there is the Liangzhou army. Is King Zhao really confident that he will fight to the death with our army in this state? Although the Turks do not dare to come out lightly because they have been defeated by you. But once they see us in a stalemate with your army, they won't sit idly by. ”

Deng Zhongyao's face was sneering, and he said, "The governor of the state? Is he still resisting? Presumably, King Yongdu already knew that the governor of the state was short of troops in his hands, and the back road was cut off, and now he has withdrawn west to the Fenzhou capital. And our army surrendered everywhere it went, and everywhere it looked. Especially in the south, wherever our army went, it was like no man's land. At present, most of the Shangdang Mansion, Jinzhou Mansion, Taiyuan Mansion, and Changping Mansion have fallen into the hands of our army under the attack of the north and south of our army. As for His Royal Highness King Zhao, who controlled the place and rescued more than 200,000 people from the grassland, now in the land of annexing the state, no one is dissatisfied, and no one dares to disagree. Taking over the place, it can be said that it could not be more smooth. ”

"If His Royal Highness King Yongwang is determined to take Yongzhou as a bet and fight to the death with our army, then I have nothing to say. At that time, I am afraid that the Yongjun army will face the attacks of the two major princes and several small princes at the same time, and they will be tired of coping. By the way, if His Royal Highness King Yongwang is willing to take the boundary between the two states of Yongzhou and the state as the boundary, then my lord can let the governor of the state withdraw to Yongzhou with the army of the state and the state that is willing to leave with him. At that time, His Royal Highness King Yong will have an extra general who can fight well, and there will be tens of thousands of elite soldiers, why not? ”

"In addition, my lord also promised that he would not take the initiative to cooperate with Murong Cheng to attack Yongzhou. Therefore, His Royal Highness King Yong can drop the army to the east and fight with Murong Cheng. Of course, after our lord takes control of the annexation of the state, the northern merchants will also enter Yongzhou and bring all kinds of scarce things to His Royal Highness King Yong. ”

Looking at Situ Lei, Deng Zhongyao said again: "His Royal Highness King Yongwang doesn't need to worry about my lord doing something to Yongzhou, after all, there is still a group of wild wolves in the north. And the purpose of our lord is to tame this group of wild wolves and let them know that the territory of the Han people should not be lightly offended. ”

"Of course......" Then Deng Zhongyao's face turned cold, and he said bluntly and coldly: "If King Yong insists on fighting with my lord regardless of the great cause, then my lord will never be afraid." His Royal Highness King Yong, the steppe Turkic army of our lord has still won a battle, not to mention the now weak noble army. ”

"Whether to make peace or fight with my lord, whether to preserve the great cause of King Yong or defeat the hands of my lord and Murong Cheng, it depends on the will of His Royal Highness King Yong."

Situ Lei's already pale face became even paler, and the few staff and military advisors in the room didn't say much at this moment. Deng Zhongyao has made things clear, and he can no longer fight, and the decision is all in the hands of Situ Lei. Although Lin Shiwen and the others knew in their hearts that at this moment, it was important to give up the annexation of the state that had been lost almost entirely, make an alliance with Zhao Xun, and go all out to deal with the current great enemy Murong. However, this oppressed promise can only make Situ Lei speak by himself.

"Haha......" Situ Lei suddenly laughed loudly, the corners of his wrinkled eyes twitched slightly, and he said, "Okay! No one has ever persecuted me like this, Zhao Xun, I might as well too! Merge the state, this king can give it to you, but you go back to tell sù Zhao Xun, take this king's merger, and you must not send troops and horses to the south, otherwise, this king will fight Yongzhou and don't want it, but also wave the army to fight with one of them to the death. Saying this, Situ Lei's heart was full of sadness, and at the same time, he was full of helplessness about the current situation. is more of a sigh for the gap between heaven and earth between his son and Zhao Xun.

"If one of the sons of this king can be compared to Zhao Xun, why would this king be humiliated today......" Situ Lei couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and at the same time deeply regretted that he hadn't cleared this scourge earlier.

Then, Deng Zhongyao started detailed negotiations with Situ Lei. Situ Lei promised to give up the annexation and hand it over to Zhao Xun. In fact, it no longer matters whether Situ Lei agrees or not, and the land of the annexed states, except for the two prefectures in the south and west of the state, which are still in the hands of Situ Tai, the governor of the state, the rest have been conquered or surrounded by the Zhao army. But what Zhao Xun needs is that after he takes the annexation of the state by himself, Situ Lei will not say that he regards himself as the number one enemy and attacks the north on all fronts, but lets Murong Cheng take advantage of it. After all, the current Situ Lei is far worse than Murong Cheng, and a large part of Situ Lei's sphere of influence is connected to Zhao Jun, and he can strike at the other party at any time. However, Murong Cheng, who is more powerful, that is, Qi Jun, is between him and Zhao Xun. With the rest of the princes apart, Zhao Xun naturally didn't want to eliminate one enemy, but strengthened another.

Deng Zhongyao left with a satisfactory result, in addition to not continuing the southern offensive with Situ Leicheng, so that Situ Lei's army could deal with Murong Cheng's Qi army well, he also reached some secret cooperation agreements. Among them, a lot of the content is Zhao Xun's statement that he attacked the southern part of the state and gave Situ Lei compensation.

On behalf of Zhao Jun, Deng Zhongyao agreed with Mu Situ Lei to sell some grain, grass, cattle, sheep and livestock, and some war horses to Situ Lei's forces, as well as some armor and equipment. It can be said that these conditions have relieved Situ Lei, who is under great logistical pressure. Of course, Zhao Xun also put forward some conditions, the most important of which was to ask Situ Lei to agree to allow the displaced people from Yongzhou and Liangzhou to migrate to the north of Bingzhou to balance the proportion of Hanyi.

"Lord Wang, Zhao Xun's move is definitely not a good intention!" Lin Shucheng said contemplatively, letting the quiet place of deliberation once again shift his attention to this rather helpless talk.

Situ Hao hated: "Not only is there no good intention, he is clearly taking our advantage, and he wants us to be a knife in front, which not only makes us continue to weaken, but also makes his allies unable to get up." ”

"We don't have a choice right now!" Lin Shucheng's face was dark, "The land of annexation, we originally only barely occupied half of it, with the cooperation of Cao Gang and the Turks, the land of annexation not only cannot bring us benefits, but also become our fetters, and it is not good or bad to be taken by Zhao Xun." It's just that this Zhao Xun is too fast, and has successively transferred almost all the mobile military strength of the Zhao army to the land of Bingzhou, defeated the Turkic soldiers, and quickly defeated the unpopular Cao Gang and the northern army of Bingzhou, so that it has become powerful and unshakable. Especially Zhao Jun of Jizhou, who passed through the Taihang Mountain, suddenly made the southern part of Bingzhou his mouth. Now, whether we draw manpower or not, and state ...... And the state can't get it back. Lord Wang, Zhao Jun's policy is very popular with the people in those places where life is in dire straits, and the annexation of states is like this. ”

Situ Lei was silent, he naturally understood what Lin Shucheng meant. In recent years, the state has been divided into two, and the infighting continues, and at the same time, the Turks have frequently harassed, and the people in the entire land have been embarrassed. However, Zhao Xun's policy is precisely beneficial to the people, and naturally has been supported by these people from the bottom of their hearts. And in the land of annexing states, because of the internal and external wars in the past ten years, the big wealthy families, especially those who dominate one side, are almost extinct, so the people here can be given by Zhao Xun, but the current Yongjun power is not good. Then, the possibility of regaining this annexed state from Zhao Xun is not high, at least, it is not high now.

"That's it...... That's it...... Draw troops outside the defense of the northern part of Yongzhou, and there is no need to send men and horses to the land of the annexed state. In addition, give Tai'er an order, let him immediately gather his men, save his strength, and withdraw to Yongzhou! Situ Lei sighed, and ordered in a loud voice, and between his tones, he was full of gloom.

Situ Hao said in a deep voice: "Even so, we can't just watch the land of Bingzhou fall into the hands of Zhao Xun like this, how to talk about it, Zhao Xun got the land of Bingzhou for nothing, not to mention, but also let us become a knife to weaken Murong Cheng, the dog thief, so ...... So ......"

"Governor, what else can we do? After all, as the other party's envoy said before, Murong Cheng is the biggest enemy I can, and he is also the enemy who wishes we all died. It seems that we have indeed lost, but we have also indirectly defeated the princes all the way. Lin Shiwen said slowly, "Metropolitan Governor, you are the person in charge of the land of Yongzhou, and you should be very aware of the power of the Eastern Qi Army and its coalition forces. Now, with another army of equal strength and greater combat power to the north of us, you say, it is better to provoke him, or to give him a bone that we cannot eat, and let him stop? ”

"Although we lost the merger state, and lost the merger state that is not under our control, it also made Zhao Xun temporarily stop attacking us, but let us weaken Murong Cheng, and for this reason, we also promised the trade of grain and grass materials. It's good for us. ”

Immediately, Lin Shiwen bowed to Situ Lei and said, "Your Majesty, now, what we ultimately want is to hold the land of Yongzhou and wait for the arrival of winter." Most of the Qi army are from the south of the Yangtze River, but I am afraid that they will not be able to carry out winter and snow operations here. Therefore, it is imperative that we hold on from Zhao Xun and buy a large amount of grain and cotton clothes for winter use. After all, our army has a lot of troops, and at this moment, it is impossible to allocate a large number of people to make enough military winter clothes and winter shoes. Lord Wang, a momentary humiliation is nothing, since ancient times, not only many heroes and heroes, but also those who have failed and been persecuted......"

Situ Lei laughed, shook his body, and said, "Do you think this king will be knocked down like this?" Do you think this king will be afraid of Zhao Xun? Sooner or later, one day, this king will take back the state from Zhao Xun. Okay, now that it's a foregone conclusion, let's not continue the discussion, and then, let's do it according to the contract and send someone to buy grain and grass materials! As he spoke, the corners of Situ Lei's eyes twitched, and when the food and grass for the war needed to be bought outside, Rao is Situ Lei was a long-tested person, and he couldn't help but feel an inexplicable panic in his heart.

Lin Shiwen was worried, and then said: "Actually, the biggest danger to us now is to allow the displaced people to move freely to the territory of the Zhao army. What are the displaced people and what are the people, we can't distinguish between them in self-study, but the local policies under Zhao Xun's rule are good to the people, and they are famous in the world. If it had been in the old days, it wouldn't have been much. However, last year's snow disaster, this year's successive wars, hard battles, and internal and external persecution caused the people under the rule of our army to flee to the northeast under the rule of Zhao Xun. If it weren't for the army, I'm afraid that hundreds of thousands of people would have fled for most of the year. If we let it go, we are afraid of ...... I am afraid that the people in the land under our rule will flee to Zhao Xun's rule one after another. ”

At this time, Yang Lin, who was in charge of civil affairs in various places and was in charge of the army's grain and grass and soldier recruitment, and Yang Lin, who was also the guard of the soldiers in Cao, said: "Lord Lin, although that is the case, there are many displaced people in various places because of the war, because of the continuous conquest for three or four consecutive years, the continuous transfer of young and strong soldiers from all over the country, and also because of the needs of the war, the people's taxes are heavy, and the labor force is insufficient. If it is not resettled, it will only cause ......"

Although Yang Lin did not finish speaking, Lin Shiwen and others did not continue to say more. Because it is not once or twice that the displaced people have risen up in order to survive. Besides, in the Yongjun's sphere of influence, except for Yongzhou and Yizhou, the rest of the states of Merge, Liangzhou, and Ningzhou are all poor places, or they are harassed from other places. Coupled with the requisition and transfer of the Yongjun army in various places, many people had nothing and became homeless.

Population, the most important resource in wartime. Although they all understand that they cannot allow the people to move to the territory of Zhao Xun. However, the inability to settle in various places is also a big problem. You must know that in order to compete with Murong Cheng for the land of Jiaozhou and Yanzhou, Situ Lei fought for three or four years, and he didn't know how many times he was transferred to the young and strong soldiers. The people under the rule of King Yong were no better than the people under the rule of Zhao Xun, and the fields in their hands were not as many as those of the big gentry, but they had to bear extremely heavy taxes. In addition, most of the young and strong people in the family are war soldiers, and there is little labor in the family, so it is difficult to pay more and more taxes.

"Father, we must not allow the people to flow into Zhao Xun's thief's land on a large scale, otherwise, we are helping Zhao Xun to grow his power, which will not do us any good, but will make Zhao Xun stronger." Situ Hao said coldly.

Yang Lin frowned and said, "Lord Wang, my subordinates will let those displaced people enter the Zhao army's land first." First, we and Zhao Xun have completed the agreement, aside from the state, we still need to obtain grain and grass materials from Zhao Xun, if the agreement is thrown aside from the beginning, I am afraid that it will ...... Second, these displaced people not only do not bring benefits to our territory, but also bring us a lot of pressure. If they are allowed to stay, it will not be good, and if they are provoked by some people, they will gather troops behind us at the most urgent moment, and at that time, the danger will only be more severe. Moving them to Zhao Xun will not only allow Zhao Xun to see what we mean, but also facilitate our purchase of materials with them. ”

"Third, what does this Zhao Xun need the people to say? In order to increase the proportion of Han people in the north, a better stable place has been reached. Now Zhao Xun's goal is to merge the grasslands of the north of Bingzhou and Liangzhou. If the number of people in these places increases, then the subordinates dare to say that this thief will definitely fight against the Turks and Qianghu, which will also be beneficial to us. In addition, it will allow hundreds of people to live. For us, turning disadvantages into advantages, and surviving countless lives, is already worth our efforts. ”

Lin Shiwen also said: "My subordinates also agree with Lord Yang's meaning, countless homeless people will only bring us endless dangers." However, the intention of the subordinates was to let people organize these displaced people or ordinary people who were willing to move to exchange food and armor with Zhao Xun for food. exchanging the population for materials, presumably, Zhao Xun is also willing. If we don't agree, we will inform the displaced people in our land that the king of Zhao in the north is not far away to help them. ”

Situ Lei nodded and said, "This is reasonable, in this case, let the envoy who went to Zhao Jun's territory to buy go to talk to Zhao Xun, a treacherous boy." ”

Situ Hao, who returned to his mansion, immediately gathered several of his cronies and told a few of his cronies about the previous incident in Yongwang's mansion.

Zuo Sima Han Lin said: "Metropolitan Governor, this matter has become a foregone conclusion and cannot be changed. However, from the perspective of our subordinates, this matter is in our immediate favor. If the pressure of Zhao Xun can be solved, then the troops of Yongzhou will not be transferred to the state, and the soldiers and horses guarded by the metropolitan governor will not be weakened. Now, the fourth prince closest to us is considered defeated, and there is no great threat to the Grand Duke. Now, we should focus our attention on the Eastern Qi Army, and we should also privately send people to contact Zhao Xun to buy grain, grass, materials, and armor and equipment. The Grand Governor, only what he has in his hands is his own. ”

Situ Hao nodded slightly, although Han Lin didn't say the answer to the question he wanted, but what Han Lin said in the end made a lot of sense. Although there are more than 300,000 soldiers in Yongzhou, less than 80,000 are his Situ Hao's subordinates, and the rest are his Laozi, His Royal Highness King Yong. Even those reinforcements, after coming to Yongzhou, belonged to Situ Lei's Yongwang Mansion. The ones that can be directly dispatched are only less than 80,000 teams. Of course, if he ordered these 80,000 troops to go down against his Laozi Yongwang, it is estimated that only 20,000 people can listen to him, which is also the cronies he has worked so hard to support.