But everything is about to come to an end, Shi Yan and Xiao Lun both know very well in their hearts, after the first two days of warm hospitality, they began to negotiate on the third day, Shi Yan simply scoffed at Gao Huan's request, he couldn't accept any of Gao Huan's conditions at all, felt that this was a completely insincere negotiation, and didn't understand why he had to send Xiao Lun to go through this trip.

"Lord Wang, you have worked hard all the way, and the lower officials feel that we have destroyed something to talk about, it is better for you to cultivate here for a few days, and then I will send someone to escort you to Shixing, and when you get there, it is equivalent to crossing Lingnan and entering the Central Plains." The meaning of Shi Yan's words is that he doesn't want to talk to him anymore, he feels that it is completely unnecessary, and plans to send off the guests.

Xiao Lun nodded and said, "Lord Thorn Shi has bothered, since this is the case, then I will leave for my life in three days, but I don't know if I should say a few words before leaving." Shi Yan smiled and said, "Lord Wang, but it doesn't hurt to say it. Xiao Lun said: "How does Lord Assassin Shi think that the Western Wei Dynasty can resist the attack of the Eastern Wei Dynasty for many years and be invincible? ”

Shi Yan pondered for a moment and then said: "They have the natural danger Tongguan as a barrier, and it is not easy for the Eastern Wei Dynasty to invade Guanzhong on a large scale. If you go to the clouds, Wuyuan and Wuyuan go south from the north, it seems that the road is far away, which is not conducive to the surprise attack strategy of long-distance attack. Xiao Lun nodded and said, "Then why do you think that when there are no barriers and natural dangers to defend in Lingnan, the Central Plains rarely touches this area?" ”

Shi Yan looked at him puzzled, and felt that there was something in his words, so he said sincerely: "Forgive the minister for being stupid, and ask the king to make it clear." Xiao Lun didn't laugh this time, but said very seriously: "It's not that the central government doesn't want to take care of Lingnan, but it's remote and beyond the reach of the whip, plus the imperial court has used troops in the north for many years, it's really too busy to take care of itself, think about whether this is the case for hundreds or thousands of years." ”

Shi Yan thought about himself, then nodded and pandered: "What the king said is reasonable, the minister was originally a native of the Central Plains in Shandong. The ancestors were sent here to be nominally central officials, and it was only after several generations of intermarriage with the locals that the situation we have today. To tell the truth, it is a vast and sparsely populated place, which is indeed not easy to develop and difficult to manage. "There are many desolate places in the middle of Rinan County to Nanhai County, which shows how barren Lingnan was at that time.

Xiao Lun said: "It is precisely because of this that the imperial court's policy towards Lingnan has always been tasteless and abandoned, and it is a pity. But the current prime minister is not a mortal, he has the ability to create a great cause, not to mention a small Lingnan, that is, the entire Liang country and even the world, I am afraid that in the future, I am afraid that it will fall under his control. There was a hundred disbelieving expressions on Shi Yan's face, Xiao Lun knew that he had not seen Gao Huan himself, and he didn't know how strong he was.

But Xiao Lun still reminded him: "Whether what I said is true or not, I think Master Assassin Shi must hope that after a hundred years, the entire Lingnan will still be under the control of your family." But the prime minister is only in his early thirties this year, and he has a good chance to prove my words. "Shi Yan is over 60 years old this year, the so-called ancient rarity refers to his age, but he still has a few years to live, people always die in the south, Shi Yan is now alive to work for the benefit of his children and grandchildren.

Shi Yan sighed and said, "But he wants me to hand over nearly two-thirds of the land in his hands, doesn't this mean my old life?" Isn't the reason why I became the Assassin of Guangzhou is because I control the entire Lingnan region? Now I'm going to start from scratch in even more wilderness, and I still have a few years to live, so it's better to die. ”

Xiao Lun comforted him and said: "Lord Assassin Shi's words are wrong, no matter how strong and good the officials sent by the imperial court, he is not popular with the people, and it will not help if no one supports him, but if you go to Jiaozhou for a few years, when Guangzhou is not well governed, the prime minister will naturally still think of you, although nominally you do not own these states and counties, but the actual control is still in the hands of your family?" The so-called innocent husband is guilty of his crimes, but you are too famous and have too many titles, so you will be remembered all the time. ”

Shi Yan thought about Xiao Lun's words, and what he said made sense. But he was still reluctant to give up these states and counties, so he said to Xiao Lun: "Don't worry, King, Rong Chen is thinking about it and will give you an answer in a few days." Xiao Lun smiled: "I'm not in a hurry, Lord Thorn Shi can come to me at any time after thinking clearly, if you don't understand any questions, you can come and ask me, I know everything." ”

Shiyan's son Shixie is in his forties this year, and the official worships the history of the Longzhou Assassin and travels to the stage in Guizhou. At this time, he led his troops to be stationed in Maping County, and after sweeping away the remnants of Hou Jing and the local bandits, Wang Seng Bian of Guiyang swept his troops westward according to Gao Huan's intentions, all the way to several prefectures and counties in Guizhou, and the soldiers reached Shi'an County, Guizhou, which was only a hundred miles away from the Shixie Department, and both sides were eyeing each other. Shi Xie felt that the situation was urgent, and sent someone to send a letter back to Guangzhou overnight.

Wang Seng Bian received Gao Huan's order: march into Qianzhong, occupy southern Qiannan, cut off the connection between Shiyan and Wang Kuang of the Western Han Dynasty, and put pressure on Lingnan in terms of military strength. This is a dangerous move, if Shi Yan is really anxious and sends an army to fight with Wang Seng Bian, it is very likely to disrupt Gao Huan's military deployment behind, and he will continue to be mired in the quagmire of Nanliang, his main goal now is not to deal with small forces in these places in Jiangnan, his goal is to prepare a large army to attack Western Wei as soon as possible.

But Xiao Lun's ability is reflected at this time, of course, when people's lives are threatened, they will struggle desperately, and the energy that bursts out sometimes even startles themselves, what's going on? Listen to me slowly.

Shi Xie's messenger sent the urgent secret letter to Shi Yan that night, he was still hesitating whether to surrender to Gao Huan earlier, at this time after reading the secret letter was angry and anxious, angry that Gao Huan did not preach morality, sent troops to attack the prefectures and counties in Qianzhong, and was anxious that it would take at least five or six days for him to organize an army to contend with Wang Seng Bian's department, but I was afraid that the entire Qianzhong would change hands in this short five or six days.

So he was so angry that he asked Xiao Lun to wake up from the bed, and at this time, as a negotiation object, he still had the leisure to sleep? ! The mother was in a hurry, and killed him first. Xiao Lun was inexplicably brought to Shi Yan. Shiyan threw the secret letter in front of him, and said angrily: "Okay, Gao Huan sent you to negotiate peace, but secretly sent an army to capture Qianzhong, can you still have some integrity?" ”

Xiao Lun was sleepy-eyed, he was shocked when he heard the words, and hurriedly picked up the secret letter and read it, after reading it, he was so cool in his heart, this Gao Huan was going to kill himself, it was so difficult to shoot himself to negotiate, and finally he was a little eyebrows, he came to this trick again, not to mention the strictness at this time, even Xiao Lun was very happy and hated to death. But Xiao Lun immediately calmed down, if he showed a panicked appearance at this moment, he would definitely be killed.

So he pretended to sit down calmly, and said calmly: "What should I be, it turned out to be this little thing, in fact, I already knew about it." Shi Yan roared angrily: "Do you know that you still don't tell me? You know you still have the face to negotiate with me? Do you know why don't you find a place to run away? I see you're tired and crooked, come on, tie me up, put an oil pot on the shelf, I'm going to cook him! The sergeant outside the door promised to catch Xiao Lun, Xiao Lun got up and shouted: "Slow, Lord Assassin Shi, I have a word to kill after I finish speaking." ”

At this moment, Shi Yan was angry, he didn't stop seeing him, let alone listening to him, he was originally kind to talk to him, but he was unexpectedly put on a table by Gao Huan, although he didn't capsize in the gutter, he was talking about himself at the moment. Thinking of this, how could he not be angry, and he still had time to chat with Xiao Lun. But when he saw that Xiao Lun was not in a hurry and was calm, he muttered in his heart, so he shouted: "If you have something to say, if there is a half-lie, the old man must fry you." ”

Xiao Lun secretly complained in his heart, his mother's Gao Huan was completely joking with his own life. But the soldier in front of him looked at him solemnly, and he might be eaten alive at any time, so he cleared his throat and said: "Before leaving, the prime minister told me that this peace talk is only afraid of what tricks Lord Shi will play, so first salute and then soldier, let Wang Seng Bian Shuai and the army follow me, and when I enter Guangzhou, they will launch a military operation in Guizhou, with only one purpose, to force you to camp on the conditions of peace talks, in fact, the prime minister also knows that it cannot replace your position in Lingnan, but he is a man who wants to dominate the world, No one else is allowed to have two hearts for him, let alone a second country in his empire. ”

Shi Yan didn't speak, just stared at Xiao Lun, and Xiao Lun continued: "Military pressure will definitely be given a little, otherwise how can you really give in?" I think you'll think the same thing as the prime minister. I think that at this time, if you agree to the conditions offered by the prime minister as soon as possible, you can reduce the losses, and at that time, the imperial court will send at most a few nominal officials to come over and pretend to be, and the whole of Lingnan is still in your hands? ”

Shi Yan still didn't speak, but from his shaking eyes, Xiao Lun saw the opportunity, so he hurriedly continued to strike while the iron was hot and said: "Actually, this matter is easy to do, in the next letter back to ask the prime minister to suspend the action against Qianzhong first, of course, you also have to make a little gesture of willingness to negotiate peacefully, such as withdrawing troops from Qianzhong......"

Shi Yan said angrily: "Fart! , Qianzhong is mine, you actually asked me to withdraw my troops? You're really crazy! Xiao Lun was also a little angry at this time, and said loudly: "Lord Thorn Shi, what you said is a bit too much, Qianzhong is just something you took advantage of the Hou Jing Rebellion to invade, how can you say that it is yours?" Besides, I'm doing this for your own good, it's better to shrink the defense line and reorganize the army and concentrate firepower than if you stretch the front and be divided by others, and then break through them one by one, right?! ”

Shi Yan stopped talking, Xiao Lun's words are the best way to deal with the current incident, skills can not only resolve the crisis, but also reduce unnecessary losses, the most important thing is that Gao Huan represents the court and represents the Son of Heaven, he is at a disadvantage in morality and righteousness, if he really wants to fight, he is not Gao Huan's opponent at all, this is actually as early as when Gao Huan besieged Xiao Duo, he knew it in his heart, otherwise he would not sit idly by and ignore Xiao Duo's demise.

Xiao Lun wanted to say something, but Shi Yan waved his hand and said, "Enough, you don't have to say any more, let's go down first." He was thinking about this meaning, Xiao Lun didn't like this kind of old man the most, he was too indecisive in doing things, although he was steady, but if he was too much, he would become ink, and finally it would become a missed opportunity, Shi Yan couldn't take advantage of Gao Huan's absence and Hou Jing was weak to take the opportunity to enter the Jiangnan area of the Central Plains, which was already very illustrative, and if he was in Guangzhou, he was afraid that he would have already led the troops to Jiankang.

Xiao Lun finally said before leaving: "Lord Thorn Shi, sometimes things are originally very simple, but the people who think about it are too complicated, which makes things complicated. Time is running out, you can make up your mind. After speaking, he turned around and left under the escort of the sergeant.

Early the next morning, Shi Xie's urging document had been sent to both sides, the military situation in front was like fire, there were new changes every hour, Gao Huan's army had also gone south from Xiangyang to Nanjun, it seemed that it was going to enter the Qianzhong region through Wuling, and Wang Seng Bian's army was turned upside down in Qianzhong and Qiannan, and many counties surrendered directly without resistance. The two counties of Lingling and Yongyang were captured by Wang Seng Bian, and Shi Xie could even smell the smell of Jiangnan people in the wind.

Shi Yan also fantasized about bargaining with Gao Huan, but Gao Huan had already ordered Xiao Lun to go back to his life, and the peace talks were over, this was going to start a war with him head-on, Shi Yan had no choice but to choose the former between the family and the land, he asked Shi Xie to lead his troops to withdraw from Qianzhong and garrison Yulin County, Dingzhou, Daonan, and personally wrote a reply letter for Xiao Lun to bring back to Gao Huan, saying that he was willing to surrender according to his conditions.

The Lingnan region, which was originally tense and on the verge of breaking out, dissipated in an instant, Gao Huan's army also turned around and retreated to Jiangling to garrison, Shixie and Xiao Lun met in Shixing, he went to Jiangling to see Gao Huan on behalf of Shiyan, Wang Seng Bian's troops all withdrew from Qianzhong after receiving the order, and Gao Longzhi's political group took over the jurisdiction of Qianzhong.

Although Shixie is in his forties and still has a wife, and even his eldest daughter is in his twenties, Gao Huan decided to let Xiao Daoquan's sister marry him in order to stabilize the Lingnan Shi clan, as a political marriage, this is necessary, and Xiao Daoquan naturally does not dare to object. So the marriage date of the two was at the end of the winter of that year. As a hostage, he had to live in Jiankang, which made the bride feel a little relieved that she didn't have to go to the barren land of Lingnan. (To be continued.) )