Fang Xuanling thought for a while and said with a smile: "I need to ask His Royal Highness King Qi for the last two conditions, but the first condition can be clearly answered now, as long as Jingzhou is completely surrendered, what I mean here is not to take away the money and grain of the people and the government in Jingzhou, and no longer burn and loot on the land of Jingzhou, then we will not attack the Tang army again, but we will not interfere with Wang Shichong's army, unless this army burns and slaughters the people, otherwise we will send the Tang army out of the country." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

Chen Shuda nodded and said with a smile: "Master Fang means that once Wang Shichong's army is destroyed in Jingzhou, the Sui army will also attack them, right?" ”

"Exactly! This is the principle of our Qi king, we have solemnly warned Wang Shichong before, if he dares to indulge the soldiers in Jingzhou and kill the civilians of Jingzhou, then his army will all be killed, so far, we have not heard of Wang Shichong's army looting the people. ”

"Alright! I hope that Fang Junshi will consult His Royal Highness King Qi as soon as possible, and we hope to solve the Jiangxia crisis as soon as possible. ”

Fang Xuanling understood Chen Shuda's eagerness very well, Chen Shuda was worried that the Jiangling army would withdraw to Nanyang, and if Jiangxia's conditions were negotiated, Li Shenfu's army could quickly retreat to Xiangyang, so as to intercept Wang Shichong's army retreating north.

Fang Xuanling smiled slightly, "Chen Xiangguo doesn't have to worry about Xiangyang, Wu Taishou has already led 20,000 troops back to Xiangyang, and at the same time that Xiangguo arrived in Hankou, Wang Shichong's army in Jiangling would not retreat north to Nanyang so easily." ”

Chen Shuda was stunned, has the warrior Tong army retreated north? I didn't even know.

But he also breathed a sigh of relief, since the Tang army has gone north, he doesn't have to be so anxious to get results, thinking of this, he smiled happily: "All the way east, but I don't have the heart to appreciate the magnificence of the Yangtze River, I heard that the red cliff is not far from here, I want to take a good look." ”

.........

In the big tent, Zhang Xuan calmly listened to Fang Xuanling's description of the three requirements of the Tang Dynasty, and said lightly: "The first condition is to reply according to the opinions of the military advisor, as for the 10 million catties of pig iron, I can't let them all take it away, give them half, we want the other half, and the third condition is the same, Qingjiang County and Yiling County They can only choose one." ”

"Your Highness, in fact, Weichen thinks that five million catties of pig iron and ten million catties of pig iron are not of much significance, it is better to let them choose one of the second and third conditions, which means that we can only agree to two requirements, and they must give up."

"Which one do you think they will give up?"

"I don't know about this, but Weichen heard that pig iron can no longer be bought in the Chang'an market, and even the illegal sale of pig iron on the black market is a capital crime, which shows that Chang'an pig iron is extremely scarce, maybe the Tang Dynasty wants to go east after the eastward expedition, and all the plundered strategic materials and Jiangxia's pig iron are transported back to the Tang Dynasty, but we are head-on, and they can't even take Jiangxia's inventory."

Zhang Xuan took a few steps with his hands in his hands and asked with some puzzlement: "Isn't there pig iron in the trophies they used to destroy Xiao Miao?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, there is no pig iron inventory in Jiangling, Liang Jun's inventory is in Jiangxia, and among the 10 million catties of pig iron in Wuchang City, half of it is left by Xiao Milling in the past, and the other half is mined and smelted by them."

"I see!"

Zhang Xuan nodded and said: "Then according to the plan of the military division, you can only choose two of the three conditions, if you want pig iron, you can't cut off Yiling County and Qingjiang County, if you want Yiling County and Qingjiang County, then don't want to take away a pound of pig iron." ”

........

That night, Fang Xuanling wrote a letter ordering a soldier to enter Wuchang City to deliver a letter to Chen Shuda.

In the official room, the candlelight flickered on and off, and the expression on Li Shenfu's face was also uncertain looking at Xiangguo Chen Shuda, Chen Shuda brought him a message from the Son of Heaven, it seemed that the Son of Heaven wanted to examine the real reason for the fiasco of Fushui's first battle, which made Li Shenfu quite worried in his heart, it seemed that the Son of Heaven did not fully accept his explanation, but unfortunately Chen Shuda was vague and could not satisfy the doubts in Li Shenfu's heart, making his heart as uncomfortable as a cat's claw.

After reading the letter, Chen Shuda didn't say a word for a long time, Li Shenfu saw that Chen Shuda's heart was heavy, so he asked cautiously: "Chen Xiangguo, what did you say in the letter?" ”

Chen Shuda let out a long sigh, "The letter said that pig iron and the county can only choose one of the two, and I don't know what to do?" These are the three conditions set by the Holy One, and there is no concession. ”

"What if we don't budge?" Li Shenfu asked again.

Chen Shuda smiled bitterly, "Let's give an answer within three days, if there is no reply within three days, it will be regarded as a failure in the negotiation, and the Sui army will attack Wuchang County with all its might." ”

The ultimatum of the Sui army frightened Li Shenfu, he was different from other generals, his will to fight was very weak, although Wuchang County was tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the Sui army would suffer heavy casualties even if it attacked with all its might, with Zhang Xuan's principle, he would never pay such a big price for a Wuchang County, if it was Qu Tutong to defend Wuchang County, he would resolutely not give in, and the Sui army fought to the end, and finally forced the Sui army to compromise, even the Tang Dynasty would not lose Jingzhou, at least the six counties of Jingbei could be kept.

It's a pity that Li Shenfu is not Qu Tutong, he doesn't have Qu Tutong's courage and self-confidence, he just wants to withdraw from Jingzhou safely as soon as possible, anyway, Jiangxia will not be able to hold it sooner or later, it is better to retreat with his whole body, and he can also maintain the strength of the army.

Li Shenfu persuaded: "In my opinion, anyway, Yiling County and Qingjiang County can't run away, as long as we need it, we can retake it, but once the pig iron is lost, it is impossible to get it back, I suggest be realistic, transport 10 million catties of pig iron back, and temporarily abandon Yiling and Qingjiang Counties." ”

When Chen Shuda set off, Li Yuan allowed him to solve the Jiangxia crisis with full authority, so Chen Shuda didn't need to ask Li Yuan for instructions, he could make his own decisions, but he lost the two counties of Yiling and Qingjiang, how could he go back and explain to Li Yuan?

And there is a very real problem, how can they transport 10 million catties of pig iron back, they can't ask Sui Jun to help transport it!

After hesitating for a long time, Chen Shuda hesitated and said, "That's what I said, but what do we use to transport pig iron?" ”

Li Shenfu heard that there was a concession in Chen Shuda's tone, and suddenly perked up and said: "We can rent a civilian boat and have a good talk with Zhang Xuan, I believe he will not stop us." ”

Chen Shuda frowned and said, "Will there be civilian ships now?" ”

"Of course there is, but Chen Xiangguo doesn't know, I know that there are two freight companies in Jiangxia County, and their hundreds of tugboats are hidden in the county, and you can ask these two companies to transport the pig iron back to Bashu, and maybe you can smuggle back 300,000 stone of grain together."

"This is unlikely, I have made this matter clear when I discussed with Fang Xuanling before, Zhang Xuan's attitude is very clear, soldiers can carry food with them, but they are not allowed to transport it away, the prince himself calculates, how much grain can we transport?"

Li Shenfu pondered for a moment and said: "You can let the soldiers march lightly, and the armor can be handed over to the cargo ship and pig iron to be transported away, and each soldier can carry five buckets of rice, so that it is 16,000 stone of grain." ”

"This won't work!"

Chen Shuda shook his head and said, "We are likely to encounter the Zheng army retreating north halfway, and the soldiers must wear armor and carry weapons, and this must not be ambiguous. ”

"If that's the case, each soldier can only carry a maximum of seven days of dry rations, and we are giving up all the food."

"There is no way, Zhang Xuan means that we want to leave food, so soldiers are allowed to carry food with them, this is just a subtle expression."

Chen Shuda really didn't want to worry about food, the food was not enough, and the land could be planted, but pig iron could not be obtained, this was a strategic material related to the survival of the Tang Dynasty, and he said: "I can reply to Fang Xuanling, but the prince must confirm that 10 million catties of pig iron can indeed be transported away." ”

"Don't worry! As long as Jang Hyun agrees to use civilian boats, I promise to transport all the pig iron. ”

Chen Shuda finally reached an agreement with Fang Xuanling, and the Tang army gave up the third condition, that is, to keep Yiling County and Qingjiang County, these two counties also belong to Jingzhou, in fact, if the Tang Dynasty must keep these two counties, it is impossible to talk about handing over Jingzhou to the Sui army in its entirety, which is also inconsistent with the previous promise of the Tang Dynasty, so Chen Shuda promised to withdraw the Tang army of Yiling and Qingjiang counties to Bashu.

However, Chen Shuda still retained one point, the premise of the Tang army's surrender of Yiling County and Qingjiang County was that Zhang Xuan must promise to remain neutral in the fierce battle between the Tang army and the Zheng army, and must not support Wang Shichong at the last moment, so that the Tang army will fall short.

Zhang Xuan agreed to this, and at the same time allowed Tang Jun to charter civilian ships to transport the stock of pig iron.

Three days later, hundreds of tugboats loaded with 10 million catties of pig iron sailed in the direction of Yiling County, and at the same time, 32,000 Tang troops under the leadership of Li Shenfu left Wuchang County and marched towards Xiangyang County.

The Sui army then completely occupied the entire territory of Jiangxia, but then Zhang Xuan did not move, but ordered Lai Hu'er to lead a hundred warships to Xiangyang to control the Han River, while Zhang Xuan himself led a large army to be stationed in Jiangxia County, sitting on the mountain to watch the vicious battle between the Tang army and the Zheng army.

(To be continued.) )