Xiao Yuan Sangong was really moved, because the mediation conditions publicly offered by Yuan San were not harsh, 300,000 grains of grain and grass, 500 catties of gold and silver, and 1,000 horses of colored satin, which were absolutely within the affordable range for Huainan, which was rich in money and grain, and the third prince of the big Yuan wanted the little Yuan Sangong to pay the money, grain and cloth to the Xuzhou army in the name of congratulatory gifts - as an uncle's to give a rich dowry to his niece, which was not only not ashamed at all, but also said to be justified, and Xiao Yuan Sangong did not lose face. Therefore, Xiao Yuan Sangong inevitably had such an idea, wouldn't it be a pretty cost-effective deal to exchange a little money and grain for Tao Ying, the plague god, to get out of Huainan and exchange all the occupied Huainan land and cities?

Of course, the conditions of the third prince of the great Yuan also have one point that the third prince of the little Yuan cannot accept, that is, to hand over the jade seal of the country, for the little Yuan Sangong who dreams of being the emperor, this is tantamount to something more uncomfortable than killing the head, so the heart is moving, and the little Yuan Sangong is at most hesitant and calculating, and he did not open his mouth to agree to the mediation conditions publicly made by Song Kai on behalf of the big Yuan San, but he did not open his mouth to scold and refuse, and drove Song Kai out of the hall who put forward the rude conditions.

"Huh?" The Huainan civil and military forces present are all confidants and cronies of Xiao Yuan Sangong, and they are also familiar with Xiao Yuan Sangong's empty eyes and all the surnames of the fierce and inward-looking, seeing that Song Kai made public the rude conditions for Da Yuan Sangong, Xiao Yuan Sangong did not get angry for the first time, and also showed a hesitant look, and all the confidants of Xiao Yuan Sangong suddenly understood in their confidence - Xiao Yuan Sangong was tempted! However, after thinking about it carefully, Huainan think tanks like Yan Xiang were inevitably a little moved, and they secretly said: "If the lord agrees to Yuan Benchu's conditions, Yuan Benchu will also be able to keep his word and force Tao Ying's thief to return the Huainan land, this is a great opportunity to redeem the defeat, and it is not worth trying." ”

At this time, Xiao Yuan San spoke openly, and snorted in a strong manner: "Yuan Benchu is too childish, Yuan Fang is an orphan niece, she is married, she should reward her with some dowry, and he Yuan Benchu sent an envoy to ask for it?" Go back and tell Yuan Benchu that I will send the dowry to my niece, and I don't need him to ask for it! ”

"No." Song Kai, who had been worried, breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly agreed, and hurriedly saluted and said, "Duke Yuan, if there is no other explanation, the villain will leave." ”

"What's the hurry?" Xiao Yuan Sangong was a little flustered, and hurriedly snorted: "Since you have come all the way from Jizhou, then you will have a drink and dinner in Shouchun City before leaving, lest the lord of your family laugh and be stingy behind his back, and he will not even reward you with a meal." ”

"Thank you Gong Yuan, but the little envoy has already eaten in the Xuzhou military camp, so I won't bother." Song Kai was afraid of long nights and dreams, and he dared to stay in Shouchun City for a long time, and he just said goodbye, although Song Kai's expression was a little panicked, but Xiao Yuan Sangong and Huainan Wenwu did not have any suspicions - when the relationship between Yuan Sangong and Yuan Sangong was at its worst, he killed the other party's soldiers on the battlefield, so Song Kai was afraid that Xiao Yuan Sangong's panicked expression of turning his face and making a move was reasonable. At the same time, in order to get rid of the retention of Xiao Yuan Sangong, Song Kai added: "Besides, the little envoy is from the Xuzhou military camp, and after a long time, I am afraid that Tao Ying will be suspicious." ”

"Mr. Bei'an, I wonder if Mr. can teach me something?" Yan Xiang interjected and asked: "Mr. came from Jizhou, first through the Xuzhou military camp and then arrived in Shouchun, I don't know what excuse Mr. used to let Tao Ying destroy the thief and allow Mr. to enter the city as an envoy?" Like a presumptuous speculation, Tao Ying's thief should not allow Mr. to enter the city to negotiate and mediate the war, right? ”

"What the gentleman said is very true, exactly." Song Kai had already prepared for this question, and hurriedly replied: "The small use is an excuse to persuade to surrender, and the little envoy told Tao Ying that the purpose of entering the city was to persuade Yuan Gong to sue for peace with the Xuzhou army, and persuaded Yuan Gong to cede Jiujiang and a county in exchange for a truce with the Xuzhou army. As for the excuse used by the envoy, it is to supervise Tao Ying to recapture the jade seal of the country, and then send the jade seal to Jizhou, by the way, it is not allowed to kill the Yuan clan indiscriminately, Tao Ying's northern line of Xuzhou depends on the protection of our lord, so Tao Ying did not dare to allow the small envoy to accompany the army. ”

"I see." Yan Xiang nodded in disbelief, and asked tentatively: "Xiang asks Mr. again, if Mr. contacts Jizhou Benchugong now, how long will it take to come back and forth?" ”

"Why are you asking this question?" Song Kai wondered in his heart, but he didn't dare to panic on his face, and after a little calculation, Song Kai replied: "It will take about fifty days, the Xuzhou army now has a request for our army, and does not dare to stop the messenger sent by the envoy to Jizhou to liaison, that is, Yanzhou is more troublesome, Cao Ying hates our lord the most for forming an alliance with the Xuzhou army, and it is very inconvenient for our army messenger to pass in Yanzhou." ”

"It takes about fifty days?" Yan Xiang's heart sank and he began to be disappointed, but it was inconvenient to show it, and after thanking Song Kai, he returned to the train. Over there, Song Kai repeatedly asked for his farewell, but Xiao Yuan Sangong couldn't keep it, and he didn't dare to detain the envoy of the strong big brother by force at this time, so he could only reluctantly nod his head and agree to Song Kai's resignation, and said meaningfully: "If Mr. Bei'an has something, you can enter the city at any time to meet Yu Gu, you are my Yuan family's retainer, and my army will not embarrass you." It's a pity that Song Kai, who was born as a fortune teller, is only good at observing words and feelings, adapting to changes, and has no understanding of Xiao Yuan Sangong's extra-string sounds, so Xiao Yuan Sangong's flattery can be regarded as a blind man.

……………………

Around Shen Shi in the afternoon, Song Kai smoothly returned to the camp of the Xuzhou army, and reported to Tao Ying about the before and after he entered the city to visit Xiao Yuan Sangong, and also reported the situation in Shouchun City that he saw when he entered the city - that is, the Huainan army was desperately strengthening the city defense, hoarding materials to defend the city, and prohibiting the people from entering and leaving the city. However, Tao Ying did not expect Song Kai to get a lot of useful information under the strict surveillance of the Huainan Army, so Tao Ying focused his attention on the meeting between Song Kai and Xiao Yuan Sangong from the beginning, and asked Song Kai to try to recall Xiao Yuan Sangong's speech and demeanor, as well as the change in expression, so as to analyze and figure out the psychological condition of Xiao Yuan Sangong.

As a result, an important situation was quickly discovered by Tao Ying, and he couldn't help but ask Song Kai repeatedly: "After you finished saying the false conditions set out by Yuan Shao?" Yuan Shupifu didn't scold, nor did he get angry, are you sure you remember correctly? ”

"Back to the lord, the villain doesn't dare to be mistaken." Song Kai replied with a wry smile: "When the villain set off before, the lord and the military advisor have repeatedly warned the villain, saying that Yuan Shu's temper is very bad, and he thinks very highly of himself, and after opening the blackmail conditions for Yuan Shao, Yuan Shupifu may turn his face, so the villain was very scared at the time, and kept peeking at Yuan Shu's expression, not daring to mistake his reaction. ”

"What was Yuan Shupifu's expression at that time?" Tao Ying couldn't wait to ask: "You recall it carefully, the more carefully the better." ”

"This ......." Song Kai's culture is not high, and he couldn't find any suitable words to describe the expression of Xiao Yuan Sangong at that time, so he could only make an analogy and said: "The lord forgives the sin, the villain feels that Yuan Shupifu was like some guests that the villain met when he used to measure words and fortunes. ”

Tao Ying and Lu Su were both amused by Song Kai's description, and after laughing, Tao Ying's heart also had a rough idea, and he said in a deep voice: "In this way, deep in Yuan Shu's heart, he actually hoped that Yuan Shao could come forward to mediate, and even forced our army to return the land and city that he had won, but for some reasons, he did not immediately agree to ....... It should be so, even if it is not too wrong. ”

"My lord, why don't our army make some fuss about this?" Lu Su suggested.

Tao Ying didn't answer, and thought about it for a long time before shaking his head and saying: "This question is not easy to make a fuss, Shouchun and Jizhou are too far away, and it takes nearly two months to come back and forth. It is even more impossible for Song Kai to directly mediate on behalf of Yuan Shao, no matter how stupid Yuan Shupifu is, he will not believe that Yuan Shao will send a nobody to mediate the war in Huainan on his behalf. ”

Lu Su thought about it carefully and found that this was indeed the truth, and couldn't help but be disappointed: "In this way, Mr. Bei'an's adventure into Shouchun City this time is tantamount to running for nothing?" ”

"It's definitely not for nothing." Tao Ying continued to shake his head and said: "At the very least, Bei'an has figured out a very important situation for us, that is, Yuan Shupifu himself also knows very well in his heart that it is difficult to rely on his Huainan team to kill our army and recapture the fallen land!" Another point is that if Yuan Shao really came forward to mediate the war between our army and Yuan Shu, as long as the conditions were not very harsh, Yuan Shu might accept it! ”

"But these two points don't mean much to our army?" Lu Su said with a wry smile.

This time Tao Ying was speechless, pondered for a long time, and couldn't find a way to use the psychology of Xiao Yuan Sangong, Tao Ying was about to give up, but a herald came in outside the tent, knelt down on one knee in front of Tao Ying and said: "My lord, there is a Shouchun messenger who crossed the river by boat with a white flag in his hand, claiming to be the lord of Huainan Bo Yanxiang, and asked the lord to meet in person, General Hou Cheng who was on duty at the river defense has entertained him according to etiquette, and sent a villain to ask the lord if he received it?" ”

"Yuan Shupifu took the initiative to send a messenger?" Tao Ying, who was worried that he couldn't find a hole to drill, was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered: "Quick, please Mr. Yan Xiang." ”

The herald sang a promise, and when he got up and was about to go out, Tao Ying changed his mind and shouted: "Wait, let Hou Cheng tie up that Yan Xiang!" Zhong Kang, arrange a team of sword and axe men to wait in the tent! ”

The herald and Xu Chu agreed together, and followed the order separately, but Lu Su next to him was completely confused, and said in confusion: "Lord, Yuan Shupifu took the initiative to send an envoy to contact our army, this is a great opportunity to act from it, lord, why do you treat Mr. Yan Xiang like this?" ”

"Zijing is still too honest." Tao Ying replied with a smile: "Yuan Shupifu beheaded my envoy last time, and the old revenge has not been avenged, this time Yuan Shupifu took the initiative to send an envoy to contact, if I don't treat his envoy as badly as possible, wouldn't I tell Yuan Shupifu that I have long been looking forward to him taking the initiative to contact me?" Lu Su suddenly realized, and hurriedly slapped his ass, praising Deputy Director Tao's meticulousness, while Deputy Director Tao was proud and ordered Song Kai to avoid mentioning it immediately.

As Tao Ying speculated, the Xuzhou soldiers were ordered to tie up Yan Xiang and put him in their own camp, and Yan Xiang, the current number one think tank of the Huainan Army, not only did not have the slightest anger and fear, but on the contrary, he took it for granted - after all, Xiao Yuan Sangong killed the envoy first, and if the Xuzhou army did not abuse the envoy of the Huainan Army, it would be unreasonable. Therefore, when Yan Xiang was escorted into the big tent of the Chinese army in Xuzhou, and saw the Xuzhou knife and axe hands standing solemnly on both sides of the big tent, Yan Xiang, who was quite confident, felt that everything was under his control, and bowed to Tao Ying very politely, and said respectfully: "Bo Yanxiang, the master of General Zuo's mansion, meet the Xuzhou Assassin Shi Tao Envoy Jun, and make Jun Jin'an." ”

Tao Ying stared at Yan Xiang, who had a slightly pale beard, for a long time, and then said viciously: "People say that Lord Yan is bold, and he has repeatedly committed direct advice, but now I can see that the rumors are true-Lord Yan Bo is really bold enough, I can't imagine that last time Yuan Shu killed my messenger, Lord Yan Bo today said that he dared to send my army to death?" ”

"Tao Envoy Jun blamed right, the previous beheading was indeed the fault of our army, like a poor obstruction, so that the king wants to kill the elephant to take revenge, and the elephant has no regrets." Yan Xiang is a cheerful person, and honestly admitted that the last time he beheaded the envoy was indeed wrong, and then said loudly: "But before the envoy beheads the elephant, please listen to Yan Xiang's words first, and wait for the elephant to finish speaking, and the elephant will die without hatred." ”

"If you have something to say, if you have a fart, let it go!" Tao Ying shouted vulgarly.

"Xie Tao envoy." Yan Xiang thanked him, cleared his throat again, and said loudly: "Don't hide it from the envoy, like this time, I sacrificed my life to send an envoy, not for the Huainan team, but for the Xuzhou team!" The soldiers of Xuzhou threw their heads and spilled their blood, so that the king spent countless efforts, countless money and food, countless sacrifices, won the land of Huainan, and achieved fruitful results, which are about to come to naught! ”

Tao Yingleng paused, and then glanced at each other with Lu Su, and then snorted coldly: "Don't come to this set of lobbyist tricks that startle first and then caress later, when it comes to lobbyist skills, I have seen more than you have heard!" ”

"Shocked first and then soothed?" Yan Xiang smiled dumbly and said, "Could it be that the envoy thinks that the elephant is intimidating the envoy?" Although the envoy is young and promising, he is very smart, but the envoy probably never dreamed that someone has already taken the results of the envoy as already and used it for extortion! ”

"What do you mean by that?" Tao Ying began to look surprised.

"Do you know that after Song Kai, the envoy of Yuan Shao, entered the city, what did he say to my lord?" Yan Zhu Bo is obviously also a ruthless character, and almost without hesitation, he sold the Great Yuan Sangong for a good price - that is, he repeated what Song Kai said after entering the city to Tao Ying, adding fuel and vinegar to emphasize that the Great Yuan Sangong was ready to sell the victory of the Xuzhou army in exchange for Huainan submission and the inheritance of the jade seal, and then Yan Xiang smiled and asked Tao Ying: "Dare to ask Tao Envoy, if my lord agrees to Yuan Shao's conditions, promises to hand over the jade seal of the country and surrender to his brother, the original Duke orders the envoy to return the captured Huainan land and city, What should you do? ”

"Is that really the case?!" Deputy Director Tao's face changed color, and he secretly admired Lord Yan in his heart, and said secretly: "Ruthless character, the ability to see the seams and push the boat down the river is really not small, if Yuan Shao's messenger is not fake, the current honeymoon relationship between Lao Tzu and Yuan Shao will really be divided by this guy!" ”

"There is no evidence for empty words, so that you can not believe it." Yan Xiang observed his words and replied confidently: "But the envoy is a smart person, you can think about it yourself, with Yuan Benchu's personality, can he do such a thing?" ”

Tao Ying's face changed gloomy, sometimes gritting his teeth, sometimes frowning and pondering, and sometimes clenching his fists, as if he was angry at Yuan Shao's shameless betrayal. After a long time, Tao Ying finally said hatefully, "I'll just say, Yuan Shao's envoy, how could he be kind enough to persuade me to surrender?" Sure enough, I didn't have a good heart! ”

"Tao envoy Jun, the Book of Poetry has clouds: brothers are on the wall, and they are insulted outside." Seeing that the fire had arrived, Yan Xiang slowed down his tone and said very sincerely: "Although my lord Yuan Highway is at odds with Yuan Benchu, they are brothers after all, Yuan Benchu allowed the Jun soldiers to commit Huainan, but he just wanted to borrow the hand of the Jun to punish my lord of my family for disrespecting his brother, if my lord really bowed to Yuan Benchu, Yuan Benchu thought of brotherhood, how could he allow Jun Zhen to destroy our army?" How can we allow the king to annex my lord's land? At that time, won't all the efforts and sacrifices of the envoy be in vain? ”

After Tao Yingku sat down at the desk, after staring at Yan Xiang for a long time, Tao Ying suddenly snorted again and said, "So what? Yuan Shupifu is the brother of Lord Yue, and I am also the son-in-law of my father-in-law, and the son-in-law and his brother are fighting, so does Lord Yuezhang still favor anyone? ”

"What the envoy said is extremely true, Yuan Benchu really does not intend to favor anyone." Yan Xiang replied with a smile: "That's why Ben Chu Gong proposed to my lord and asked my lord to take out 300,000 pieces of grain and grass, 500 catties of gold and silver, and 1,000 horses of colored satin as a congratulatory gift to compensate the envoy - Ben Chu Gong loves his virtuous son-in-law so much, I don't know how the envoy feels?" ”

Tao Ying closed his mouth again, bowed his head in contemplation, and pretended to see Lu Su's reaction, and took the opportunity to give Lu Su a look, Lu Su and Tao Ying have been partners for two years, and Tao Ying's temper has long been familiar with his chest, and he immediately understood, and immediately said angrily: "Yuan Benchu deceived people too much, since our army crossed the Huai, the sacrifice of soldiers has reached 10,000 people, and the cost of money and food is also millions, do you want to use such a small amount of money and food, just want our army to give up the current income?!" ”

When Lu Su sued for peace with Xiao Yuan Sangong on behalf of Tao, Yan Xiang had seen Lu Su, so Yan Xiang didn't need to be introduced by others, he immediately turned to Lu Su and said with a smile: "Mr. Zijing, the situation is forced, if Yuan Benchu really comes forward to mediate and ask your army to return the occupied land, what will your army do?" If you refuse, with Yuan Benchu's temper, I'm afraid there will be no peace on the northern front of your army, right? ”

Lu Su's mouth was stupid, his face was full of anger and clenched his teeth, Tao Yingze's face continued to be cloudy, and he did not speak, Yan Xiang saw that there was an opportunity, and said hurriedly and respectfully: "Don't worry, my lord has a strategy, or you and your army don't have to be embarrassed - my lord thinks that since Yuan Benchu is destined to come forward to mediate the dispute between the two armies of your army, then you and my army don't have to bother Yuan Benchu to mediate, if you can withdraw from Huainan and draw the Huai River with my lord as the boundary, then my lord will compensate you to make your army 500,000 grains and grass, 800 catties of gold and silver and 2,000 horses of colored satin, so that the king will not only gain more, but also do not have to risk the unfilial piety of offending his father-in-law?! ”

"Talent!" Deputy Director Tao appreciated Lord Yan more and more, and said secretly in his heart: "I'm afraid this guy's ability to coerce and lure is not under me, if Yuan Shao really comes forward to mediate at this time and force me to return the Huainan land that I have already won, I'm afraid I will really have to bite the bullet with the conditions he offered, and talk to Yuan Shu privately about a truce." And this guy did this, not only to drive a wedge between me and Yuan Shao, but also to avoid the risk of being ripped off by Yuan Shao's old lion. ”

Appreciation is appreciation, but now is not the time to appreciate talents, after a little calculation, Tao Ying suddenly slapped the table in front of him, and roared: "Shut up!" With hundreds of thousands of grains, I just want me to forget the revenge of Yuan Shupifu's bullying and revenge, and I want to hand over the land of the Han Dynasty that the soldiers of Xuzhou threw their heads and shed their blood to recapture from the hands of anti-national thieves? Dream! ”

"Don't be angry." Yan Xiang reminded without humility or arrogance: "The envoy of the primordial prince is in your army, if he presents the words of the envoy to the primordial duke, the primordial prince will blame him, so that the king is afraid that he will eat the ...... of sin." ”

"Don't take Lord Yue's uncle to press me!" Tao Ying rudely interrupted Yan Xiang, and said with a cruel smile: "Go back and tell Yuan Highway that if he wants to be blackmailed by my father-in-law, then he can just go, it takes almost two months to go back and forth from Shouchun to Jizhou, and two months is enough for my army to take Shouchun City!" After the city was broken, the first thing I did was to cut off the head of his Yuan Shu puppet and present it to my father-in-law, and see how my father-in-law could mediate! ”

After laughing evilly, Tao Ying turned to Lu Su next to him and shouted: "Zijing, pass the order, start tomorrow, attack the Feishui defense line with all your might, within three days, be sure to break through the Feishui for me, and the soldiers will come to Shouchun City!" Within ten days, you must take Shouchun City for me and cut off the head of Yuan Shupifu! ”

Lu Su quickly sang a promise, and the self-defeating Yan Xiang was full of black lines, and hurriedly said: "Don't be angry, my lord is very sincere in talking with the envoy about a truce, and if you have any conditions, you can ......." ”

"Shut up!" Tao Ying interrupted Yan Xiang again and shouted angrily: "What conditions do I have, can I open it?" Good! As long as he Yuan Shupifu hands over the jade seal of the country and hands over the whole county of Jiujiang, then I will stop fighting with him, if not, Shouchun City will be broken, and it will be when his Yuan Shupi wife's head falls to the ground! Go back and report the news, I only give you three days, and after three days, our army broke through the fat water and still has not answered satisfactorily, so he Yuan Shupifu washed his neck and prepared to die! ”

Seeing that Tao Ying was really angry, Yan Xiang had no choice but to honestly say goodbye and leave, and as soon as Yan Xiang came out of the tent, the anger on Tao Ying's face was immediately swept away, and he applauded and laughed: "Yuan Shu Pifu has been completely timid, and our army in Shouchun City has broken the decision!" ”

"Shouchun is broken?" Although he cooperated with Tao Ying to act in a play, Lu Su was still full of confusion, and hurriedly asked: "Why does the lord think that Shouchun is not difficult to break?" Also, the lord sent Song Kai to pretend to be Yuan Shao's envoy to meet Yuan Shu's husband, and it looked like he had inadvertently reminded Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao's brother that he could come forward to restrain our army, if Yuan Shu's puppet really went to ask Yuan Shao to mediate, wouldn't it be self-defeating for us? ”

"Without our reminder, Yuan Shu would have pulled down his face sooner or later to ask Yuan Shao for mediation, it doesn't matter sooner or later, Yuan Shao's appetite will not be so small that he may not agree to mediate immediately." Tao Ying waved his hand confidently, and said with a smile: "As for me saying that Shouchun is not difficult, of course, it is because Yuan Shupifu will soon give up his plan to defend Shouchun." Quick, call Song Kai to me immediately, he has to enter Shouchun City for me again, and persuade Yuan Shu to give up Shouchun and exchange space for time. ”

(To be continued)