On the afternoon of December 19, the negotiators were at loggerheads over the garrison of Anton. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Middle-earth must send troops to Anton, this is a matter of principle, representing the actual control of Middle-earth over Anton, representing the actual inclusion of the Andong region in the territory of Middle-earth, and also the military guarantee for the central government to realize its own intentions in Anton, otherwise it will not be to expand the territory, but to accept a new vassal.

What Middle-earth needs this time is the new frontier of Anton, not to accept a new vassal, but Anton is deliberately blurring the difference between the two, I am not a vassal of Middle-earth, I am a vassal town of Middle-earth, but I want Anton to have autonomy, and I want the vassal town to be divided, but in fact, it is a vassal town that sells dog meat on the head of a sheep, and what is the essential difference between a vassal town with complete autonomy and an independent vassal domain?

For example, the two Turks in the east and west proclaimed themselves vassals to Middle-earth, and the countries of the Western Regions, Goguryeo and other foreign captives also bowed to Middle-earth, they were all nominally vassals of Middle-earth, but in fact they were all independent, wagging their tails and begging for mercy when they asked for money and benefits from Middle-earth, but when Middle-earth needed them to reciprocate, they turned a deaf ear, and one by one they had milk and were mothers, and turning their faces was faster than turning a book.

During a short break, Li Zixiong gathered Yuan An, Yang Gongdao, Wang Yun and Ashina Hanhai together and expressed his thoughts on the matter of Anton's garrison, which must be compromised, and it is not possible to compromise without compromise.

Middle-earth is to appease Anton, and Anton also wants to be attached to Middle-earth, Middle-earth needs Anton, and Anton needs Middle-earth even more. Now Middle-earth has made a huge compromise, but this does not mean that Middle-earth has no bottom line, the bottom line of Middle-earth is actually very clear, Anton can be a feudal town, can have some autonomy, but Anton is absolutely not allowed to stand on his own, and it is absolutely not allowed to raise tigers to bring disaster upon himself.

"There is no compromise on this matter." Yuan An did not hesitate and made his position clear.

"Our principle is that participation in the Third Crusade in exchange for Anton's autonomy, that is, to obtain complete Anton's autonomy is our bottom line. If Middle-earth had not coerced us by participating in the Third Crusade, and had not used this tactic to contain and weaken us, we might have been able to make concessions to a certain extent, but now that Middle-earth has openly and strongly expressed its hostility towards us, wouldn't it be self-defeating for us to compromise and make concessions? ”

Yuan An's position is Li Fengyun's position. Although Li Zixiong and Yang Gongdao had the intention to make concessions, considering the fundamental interests of Li Fengyun and the grassroots forces of the alliance, the two had to have some scruples, after all, the intensification of contradictions at the moment was not beneficial to everyone.

Wang Yun and Ashina Hanhai clearly supported Yuan An. Although the two had received a series of promises from Duan Da in their previous talks with Duan Da, if they wanted to win these promises, first of all, Anton must be attached to Middle-earth, and secondly, he must win Li Fengyun's support, otherwise everything is empty talk, so the two of them saw the overall situation very clearly, resolutely stood on Li Fengyun's side, and advanced and retreated with Li Fengyun.

"In that case, how can the current impasse be broken?" Li Zixiong asked, "Although the Eastern Capital has taken the Anton army's participation in the Third Eastern Crusade as a prerequisite for appeasement, the Third Eastern Crusade has not yet formed a decision, and it is not yet known whether there will be a Third Eastern Crusade next year, so the concessions made by the Eastern Capital so far are not easy, we must cherish it, seize the opportunity, and not gain an inch, once the opportunity is missed, the result will be counterproductive." ”

Yuan An said without hesitation, "The eastern capital gives Anton complete autonomy, and on this basis, Anton can give the eastern capital two choices, either send a small number of troops to Anton, representing that Anton has been included in the territory of Middle-earth, or appoint a trustworthy person to serve as the protector of Anton and exercise Anton's military and political power on behalf of the eastern capital." ”

As soon as these words came out, Li Zixiong and others were immediately shocked. Li Fengyun finally gave in, and in order to get complete autonomy, he had no choice but to compromise with Dongdu.

In this two-choice option, it is necessary for Dongdu to send a small number of troops to Anton, but as Yuan An said, if the number of troops stationed is too small, it is also a symbolic meaning, and the role that can be played is too small, in comparison, if Dongdu appoints a well-known magnate to serve as Anton's protector, the political influence it brings will be greater, but if you want to make it play the greatest role, this candidate for Anton's protector must first win the consent and support of Anton, only in this way, the contradiction between the two sides will be minimal, Cooperation is the best, and this Anton metropolitan protector will not be reduced to a decoration or even a puppet in the fierce power struggle.

Li Zixiong immediately thought of a candidate, Li Hun, the Duke of Yuguo. Li Hun is now the deputy lieutenant of Anton, responsible for the strategy of Anton, if Anton is successfully appeased and successfully incorporated into the territory of China, the envoy of the Anton Governor's Mansion will be over, and then on the reward of meritorious deeds, Li Hun is indispensable, coupled with his prominent identity and status, he is fully qualified to serve as the protector of Anton. More importantly, once Li Hun becomes the protector of Anton, he can work hand in hand with Li Zixiong, Han Shige and other alliance aristocratic forces, echo inside and outside, and form a flanking attack on the grassroots forces of the alliance led by Li Fengyun.

However, Li Zixiong instantly rejected this assumption, for no other reason, Li Hun is a wealthy family in Longxi, a pillar of the Guanlong aristocratic group, pursuing the interests of Guanlong, and Li Fengyun is not a person at all, and the interests are completely different, even if the two sides cooperate, it is based on the common interests of King Qi and each takes what he needs, so Li Fengyun will never give up Anton's interests.

The second candidate Li Zixiong thought of was Huangtai Gong Cui Hongsheng. Cui Hongsheng is the pillar of the Shandong aristocratic group, the pursuit of the interests of Shandong, and the grassroots forces of the alliance headed by Li Fengyun are also from Shandong, the two sides have a common interest base, and secretly maintain tacit cooperation, the alliance went north to conquer Anzhou in one fell swoop thanks to the strong support of the northern Hebei and Youyan wealthy families. In this negotiation, Cui Hongsheng also showed extraordinary efforts and actively promoted, especially the proposal of the key plan of establishing the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, which made Li Zixiong, who is familiar with the inside situation, see at a glance that there is an extraordinary cooperative relationship between Cui and Li Fengyun. It is not difficult to see that Li Fengyun is fulfilling his original promise and sharing the benefits of Anton with the wealthy families of Northern Hebei and Youyan.

Yang Gongdao hesitated for a moment and asked, "If Dongdu chooses to garrison Anton, what restrictions do we have on the number of garrisons?" Two thousand, four thousand, or more? ”

Yuan An smiled, "As long as all the troops on the Flying Fox side are out of the customs, Anton alone has nearly 100,000 troops surnamed Han, plus tens of thousands of captives, the strength is very strong, even if Dongdu asks for tens of thousands of garrisons?" Of course, we have to hide our strength, we have to cut the size of the army by more than half, and we have to do everything to prevent Dongdu from sending more troops into Anton. ”

Yang Gongdao asked again, "If the Holy Director orders his cronies to serve as the protector of Anton, how will we deal with it?" ”

Yuan An was confident, waved his hand and said, "Tell Dongdu that if it is a person we are satisfied with, the two sides will cooperate and benefit each other, otherwise, any unforeseen situation may occur." ”

Yang Gongdao hesitated for a moment and asked again, "If Dongdu is not a two-choice choice, but a two-choice choice, and we want to garrison Anton, but also take charge of Anton's military and political affairs, what should we do?" ”

"That means that Dongdu doesn't want to give us autonomy." Yuan An sneered, "Since Eastern Capital does not allow Anton to be autonomous, the negotiations will not be able to continue, and they will fall into a long-term stalemate." ”

Everyone unanimously agreed, and vowed not to give up until the goal was achieved, and to win the right of autonomy.

After a short break, everyone braved the wind and snow and walked to the main tent of the negotiations. On the way, Li Zixiong weighed it again and again, but still took the initiative to pull Yuan An to his side, and asked in a low voice, "As for the candidate for Anton's metropolitan protection, do you have any intentions on Chifeng's side?" ”

As the highest military and political governor of Anton, the importance of Anton's capital protection can be imagined, although Anzhou's side put forward a request, trying to get the main official positions of Andong Dahu and the capital protection government, but in fact it is absolutely impossible, it is just a lion asking for a sky-high price, waiting for the Middle Earth side to repay the money on the spot. If the result of Middle-earth's appeasement of Anton is to turn those originally notorious and notorious traitors into heroes of Middle-earth's frontiers, to turn a thief full of evil into a high-ranking aristocratic bureaucrat overnight, and to make a heinous rebel suddenly regain his innocence and be promoted to the rank of lord, who can accept it? The contrast is too great, the impact is too great, and the black and white right and wrong are completely subverted, which will not only seriously deal a blow to the authority of the Holy Lord and the central government, but also seriously shake the dignity of the law and the foundation of the country.

Li Fengyun, as the "designer" of the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, could not have thought of this, and since he thought of it, he must have countermeasures, and he must do everything possible to protect the fruits of his victory. Because there has been no breakthrough in the negotiations before, it was too early to consider this issue, and Li Zixiong did not think too much, but now that the two sides have reached an agreement on the matter of the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, and the success of the negotiations is getting closer and closer, this issue must be considered, after all, the stakes are very high, directly related to their own interests, and cannot be neglected.

Yuan An shook his head, "So far, the chief manager has no intention of this crucial candidate. ”

Li Zixiong's eyes were suspicious.

Yuan An knew that he had misunderstood, and hurriedly explained, "A certain person also has some suspicions, so he deliberately tested Huang Taigong today." ”

"How?" Li Zixiong asked.

"As expected, Huang Taigong didn't dare to wade into this troubled water at all." Yuan An said, "Dongdu to Anton to participate in the Third Eastern Crusade as a precondition for appeasement, openly expressed a strong hostility towards us, so it is completely foreseeable that after the Eastern Capital achieves the goal of appeasement, it will be settled after the autumn, and since we dare to accept this condition, we will definitely plan and leave a backhand, so the future situation in Anton is extremely sinister, the slightest carelessness is a lose-lose situation, jade and stone are burned, Anton is mostly on the cusp of the storm, and if you are not careful, you will be wiped out." Huang Taigong was already standing on the cusp of the storm and was in danger, where did he dare to jump into the roaring whirlpool and kill himself? ”

Li Zixiong bowed slightly. Cui Hongsheng's reaction was expected by him, in fact, even if he was replaced by Li Hun, even if he was in trouble at the moment, he would not dare to stand on the blade and dance, after all, there was still a glimmer of life with King Qi, and jumping into the trap of Anton would definitely die.

"However, Huang Taigong has a sentence that makes a certain person suddenly enlightened, and he also has some guesses about the real thoughts of the chief manager."

Yuan An's next sentence immediately aroused Li Zixiong's strong interest, "What did Huang Taigong say?" ”

"Huang Taigong said that we have too high requirements for the rank of Anton Daduhu, the highest is from the second grade, and the lowest is the third grade, except for being the ruler of the court, no one can be competent."

When the court is in charge? Li Zixiong had a flash of inspiration, suddenly had an epiphany, and blurted out, "I see, so it is." ”

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