The second letter written by Liu Qing was finally delivered to Xie An, and when he saw the beautiful small words in the letter, Xie An was surprised in the letter.

His earlier speculation was verified, Liu Qing really wanted to negotiate with him, and asked him to meet the next day in a small village called Chuanmu Village near Xiakou, the time was before sunset, if Xie An did not arrive at Chuanmu Village before sunset, Liu Qing regarded Xie An as giving up this talk, and she would scuttle all the ships in Xiakou, regardless of whether Xie An liked to attack Xiakou or not.

"It's a little interesting......" Looking at the letter in his hand, Xie An licked his lips, after all, Liu Qing wrote in the letter without being arrogant or humble, although he vaguely praised Xie An a few words, but there was no intention to bend the meaning, the words of the negotiation were very cautious, and there was no appearance of falling behind at all, as if she took the initiative to give Xie An a chance to cross the river to Jiangling in Nanjun County to support [the Eight Sages King] Li Xian, but the words did not make Xie Ansheng disgusted.

"Do you want to go?" Gou Gong asked tentatively beside him.

Xie An smiled faintly and said casually, "Go, why don't you go?" ――Let's go and see it! ”

As soon as the words ended, a sour muttering sounded in the tent.

"Yes! The lord has admired her for a long time! ”

"......" Not to mention that Xie An was a little puzzled, even Gou Gong was stunned, and looked at Qin Ke'er who was sulking alone with a jealous face.

"Do you recognize that Liu Qing?" Glancing at Qin Ke'er with a puzzled expression, Ding Qiu calmed down and asked Xie An in a low voice.

"I can't call it acquaintance, I just heard people talk about it......" Xie An shook his head and said with a chuckle, the [person] in his mouth was referring to his wife and cousin Chen Bei, after all, when Chen Bei was still in Jijing. also talked to Xie An about Liu Qing, and remembered that at that time, Xie An also teased whether the [Qing'er] in his mouth was his favorite.

"Actually, the last general thinks...... This may be an opportunity......" Glancing at Xie An, who was reminiscing about the past, Liang Cheng, the commander of the Great Liang Army, said cautiously.

"What chance?" Glancing at Liang Cheng, Xie An asked with a smile, looking at the expression on his face, as if he had guessed what Liang Cheng wanted to say.

"My lord, Liu Qing is the head of the Taiping Army, since this woman is about to meet tomorrow, it is better for the last general to bring some people to ......" said this. Liang Cheng couldn't go on, because Xie An was looking at him with a smiling expression.

"Liang Cheng, your method of capturing the thief and capturing the king first is really good, but the question is, do you really think that Liu Qing will not think of it?"

Liang Cheng was stunned when he heard this. sighed a little regretfully, nodded and said, "That's what I said, the last general is ugly!" ”

"Your Excellency really plans to negotiate with the Taiping Army?" Glancing at Feng He, whose expression was a little wrong, Wang Huai asked the question that the former wanted to ask.

Xie An also seemed to notice the indignation on Feng He's face, and coughed and explained, "The so-called elimination of evil is exhausted. From the point of view of this government, it is naturally the best to completely annihilate Liu Qing's more than 40,000 Taiping troops, so that when our army supports [Pit Man King] Li Xian. There is no need to worry about whether Liu Qing behind him will be embarrassed with us, but yesterday you also saw that the Taiping army was united and put life and death out of the way. He used a cone formation to almost break through our army's square gate formation...... Forcibly attacking, our army can certainly annihilate the Taiping army in Xiakou. But tell me, how many troops will our army lose in this battle? Twenty thousand? Thirty thousand? Forty thousand? ”

"......" The generals of the Great Liang Army bowed their heads and were silent, after all, they also saw the fierceness of the Taiping soldiers yesterday.

"Remember, even if our army adds Peng Ze and Jiangxia's soldiers at the moment, it is only seventy or eighty thousand, and besides, it is impossible for all these troops to be brought to Jiangling, and there are only 60,000 people in the Great Liang Army who can be used in this mansion, if more than half of the losses in a battle, what else can we talk about to support Li Xian?" After a pause, Xie An continued, "The reason why Liu Qing sent a letter to ask for a temporary truce is nothing more than that she feels that she can no longer win against my Great Liang Army, in other words, she has no will to fight. ”

The generals nodded secretly when they heard this, after all, they are naturally not fools who can become generals, of course they understand the stakes. It's just that the day before they were still mortal enemies with the Taiping army, and the two sides had countless casualties, but today they have to sit down and negotiate peacefully, which is always a little difficult for them to accept, because they are military generals, not politicians.

"Let's go see the situation first! -- The Great Liang army will not move, but if Liu Qing dares to use tricks and secretly ask his corporal to cross the river by boat in the name of negotiating with the government, you should not be polite, send troops to attack Xiakou! Other than that, don't act rashly! ”

"Yes!"

"As for the accompanying people...... Xie An thought for a moment and said, "Since Liu Qing clearly stated in the letter that no more than ten people should accompany him...... Gou Gong, Ding Qiu, Xiao Li, Mo Fei, you and the others go with this mansion! ”

"Yes!" Gou Gong hugged his fists, and then suddenly remembered that Mo Fei was not in the tent, and added, "The third brother will be notified later!" ”

"Hmm!" Xie An nodded, and suddenly caught a glimpse of Qin Ke'er who was in a bad mood in the corner out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly said with a smile, "Ke'er, if you have nothing to do, why don't you go with this mansion?" ”

"Huh?" Qin Ke'er looked at Xie An in surprise, she thought that Xie An would definitely try to separate her when she went to meet Liu Qing on this trip, but she didn't expect that Xie An took the initiative to invite her to go with her.

"Little ...... Can the slaves go? Qin Ke'er asked tentatively.

"Of course! ――Why can't you go? I always feel that you have some misunderstanding about me......" Xie An looked at Qin Ke'er very strangely when he spoke, and he wondered why Qin Ke'er was secretly angry when he mentioned Liu Qing.

"What about me?" Wang Xin, the little girl beside Qin Ke'er, widened her eyes and said, "Brother, the barracks is suffocating, can you take me too?" ”

"Okay......" Xie An shook his head with a little cry and laughter.

"Hee-hee!" The little girl smiled proudly, and said to Qin Ke'er with a happy face, "Sister Ke'er, I'll go with you!" ”

"Hmm......" Qin Ke'er replied softly and looked at the little girl with a smile.

This scene made Xie An very puzzled. The strange eyes glanced back and forth at Qin Ke'er and the little girl, and said in surprise, "When did you two have such a good relationship?" ”

It's no wonder that Xie Ansheng wondered, after all, the previous relationship between Qin Keer and Wang Xin was quite bad, Qin Keer called Wang Xin a stupid girl, a dead girl, and Wang Xin scolded Qin Ke'er for being a wild fox and a shameless woman, if these two stayed together, it would be more lively than five hundred ducks.

"I won't tell you!" Wang Xin snorted and said, as if she still cared about being inadvertently snubbed by Xie An a few days ago.

Under Qin Ke'er's heartfelt smile. Xie An touched his nose a little embarrassed, shook his head and said, "Okay, okay, if you don't say it, don't say it...... It's getting late, let's go. Go and meet that [Heavenly Ji] Liu Qing! ”

After the order, Xie An took Qin Ke'er and the little girl Wang Xin, escorted by more than 200 Dongling and Jinling assassins such as Gou Gong, Ding Qiu, Mo Fei, and Xiao Li, to the small village south of Xiakou called Chuanmu Village.

The so-called relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and relying on the water to draft water, Chuanmu Village is a village that makes a living from fishing, but sometimes Xiakou, Jiangxia and other big cities supervise the construction of warships. The villagers in the village also made a cameo as a carpenter, after all, in the village where fishing is a living, most of the residents in the village know how to build a ship.

As he approached the entrance of the village, Xie An ordered the two hundred Assassins to wait outside the village. After all, Liu Qing said that the number of people on any side should not exceed ten when entering the village, so as not to cause misunderstanding. Therefore, Xie An ordered the Assassins to patrol and guard the woods outside the village. After all, it is indispensable to defend against people, who can be sure that Liu Qing will suddenly appear with a large team. Will Xie An be taken captive to coerce the Great Liang army into submission? You must know that Liang Cheng of the previous Great Liang Army wanted to deal with Liu Qing like this.

"What a small village......" When she walked into Chuanmu Village, the little girl Wang Xin couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Hearing this, Qin Ke'er explained in a low voice, "This kind of village where herding and fishing make a living naturally cannot be compared with our Guangling County, which has more than 3,000 households...... But then again, this is a relatively large village, you see, there are still 60 or 70 families in the village, which is about the number of people in a small county, and I remember the smallest village, there are only about 10 families in the whole village......"

"A dozen or so households are also called villages?" The little girl blinked in wonder, this little girl who had never seen the world had always thought that the village was about the same size as her hometown Guangling County.

Xie An was not surprised by this, after all, when he lived in Sujia Town in Shili Hetang in Guangling County in the early years, there were only thirty or forty households in the town, after all, the village naturally could not be compared with Guangling, Jinling, Jiangxia and other county towns with thousands of residents and tens of thousands of people.

"Your Excellency!" Gou Gong, who went to the village to explore the way first, came back, hugged his fists and said, "I have inquired about my humble duties, and the people in the village said that I have not seen any strangers, and it seems that Liu Qing has not yet arrived ......."

"Oh, yes!" Xie An smiled faintly, didn't care, and asked, "By the way, is there a restaurant in the village?" ”

Gou Gong shook his head and said, "There are no restaurants, but there are two inns...... The humble post has contracted one of the better environments, please! ”

"Hmm!" Xie An nodded, and suddenly caught a glimpse of many village residents on the side of the road staring at his group, and whispered, "Remember not to disturb the people...... Well, let's do it when I was in Guangling! ”

Gou Gong smiled knowingly, arched his hand and said, "Yes, Eldest Sun Wu, Eldest Sun Gongzi!" ”

The so-called speaker is unintentional, the listener is intentional, as soon as he heard Gou Gong use this title to call Xie An, Qin Ke'er couldn't help but blush, his heart couldn't help but thump, and he couldn't help but glance at Xie An with a slightly resentful gaze. After all, she was redeemed by Xie An with a lot of money from Yingchun Tower in Guangling under the false name, and she was reduced from a free body to a man's personal pet.

followed Gou Gong to the inn, to be honest, Xie An was indeed a little disappointed, the hall on the first floor was full of long tables and benches, which was much more simple than the military camp of the Jizhou soldiers, and the room on the second floor could be described by the word refreshing, there was only one square table, four stools and a bed in the room, and other than that, there was nothing, Rao is Qin Ke'er couldn't help frowning when he walked into the house.

The only thing that is commendable is that the guys in the inn are sweet-mouthed, calling Xie An the master one by one, and Qin Ke'er calling Mrs. one by one, which makes Qin Ke'er feel a little happy in his heart.

However, there are also those who are dissatisfied with this, such as the little girl Wang Xin, after all, this shopkeeper looks at her as a young lady.

In Da Zhou, the title of Miss is not as derogatory as in later generations, it has many meanings, such as addressing women who have never known each other. For example, to call a noble-born daughter, and at this moment, it represents the latter.

"I'm not...... He is my brother, and Sister Kerr is my sister-in-law! The little girl glared angrily at the shopkeeper who was talking nonsense.

may have been frightened by the little girl's teeth and claws, the shopkeeper fled out of the house in a panic, looking at the little girl's angry and red face, Xie An and the others laughed.

"You don't grow longer just by snaking, you know? - Got a lesson? Xie An took this opportunity to educate the little girl seriously.

Like her eldest grandson, Xiangyu, who prefers sweets and pastries, Wang Xin prefers preserved fruits. That is, dried fruit, in the past, in order to save money for her mother's treatment, the little girl was reluctant to spend money to buy preserved fruit, after all, that thing was several times more expensive than fresh fruit, but since she met Xie An. Xie An, who has a lot of money, naturally doesn't care about that money, let alone Xie An, even when Gou Gong, Ding Qiu and others pass through Dacheng, they don't forget to bring some local preserved fruits for the little girl, after all, the little girl's popularity is really good.

was already hungry and malnourished because of long-term hardship, and now she is a picky eater because of her preference for preserved fruits, which makes the little girl look more and more petite. She is obviously sixteen years old and at the age of sixteen, she looks like she is thirteen or fourteen years old, and she stays with Xie An, who has gradually aged in recent years, and Qin Keer, who is dignified and gorgeous, but she really looks like the daughter of the first two. It's no wonder that the shopkeeper would admit his mistake.

"If the concubine has a daughter like Xin'er, it wouldn't be bad......" Qin Ke'er covered her lips and snickered, and at the same time glanced at Xie An intentionally or unintentionally, but it was a pity that the latter was busy making fun of the little girl. Didn't notice the anticipation in her eyes.

"Sister Ke'er is making fun of me!" Seeing that Qin Ke'er, who had been quite close recently, was making fun of herself, the little girl became more and more annoyed and angry. Sitting on the stool next to the table, he turned his head angrily, ignoring Xie An and Qin Ke'er.

After a while, the wine and food were all served, I have to say, although the environment of this inn is not very good, but the dishes are rich, there are fish and meat, and what is even more rare is that there are a lot of mountain delicacies, especially mushrooms, which is very surprising to Xie An, after all, he likes this kind of one-legged food supplement dish very much.

Drinking warm wine and eating delicacies and game that are rare in Dacheng, this meal was eaten for an hour, but Liu Qing still did not show up.

Gou Gong couldn't help it, and said strangely, "My lord, why hasn't Liu Qing come yet?" Could it be that there is fraud in it? ”

"No hurry, no hurry!" Xie An smiled, suddenly looked back at the corner of the room, looked at Mo Fei who was standing there and said strangely, "Mo Fei, are you sure you can't come and eat and drink?" ”

"Your Excellency is kind and despicable!" Mo Fei lowered his head and politely refused.

"Don't be embarrassed for the third brother," Gou Gong said with a smile, "The third brother is a strange person, and he can't stand to be with many people, let alone eat together, so you can let him stand alone in the corner, so that he can feel at ease." ”

Xie An shook his head helplessly, and at this moment, a whistle sounded in the distance outside the inn, similar to a birdsong.

"It's coming!" Ding Qiu's face turned pale, and he reminded Xie An.

"It's long overdue......" With a light snort, Xie An put down his chopsticks, took the handkerchief handed by Qin Ke'er and wiped his mouth, looked in the direction of the door, and waited for [Heavenly Ji] Liu Qing.

After a while, the door was gently pushed open, and Liu Qing walked in with Yang Yu and Qi Zhi, saw Xie An, and said with a chuckle, "The little girl is one step late, and I hope that Lord Shangshu will forgive her sins!" ”

"Humph!" With a sneer, Gou Gong said unhappily, "Xiakou is less than ten miles away from here, and our military camp is fifteen miles away, why is it that my family has been here for a full hour and a half, and you are late?" ”

"Do you really want to reconcile and negotiate with our army?" Ding Qiu rarely helped.

"Eh," raised his hand to stop Gou Gong and Ding Qiu, Xie An looked at Liu Qing for a long time, and said with a chuckle, "Gou Gong, Ding Qiu, don't be rude, according to this mansion, Miss Liu Qing is definitely not deliberately late, for example, in order to occupy the dominant position at the negotiation table, so she is deliberately late, which upsets us or something, it is definitely not like this...... Right, Miss Liu Qing? ”

"......" Liu Qing frowned slightly, and couldn't help but be a little surprised in her heart, after all, she deliberately came one step late, and her original intention was to take the initiative as Xie An said, which was a habitual means of negotiation. Unexpectedly, it was debunked by Xie An.

"Of course not......" Smiling slightly, Liu Qing said apologetically, "There is really something delayed, Lord Shangshu should not be surprised......

"Where, where!" Waving his hand, Xie An said with a smile, "This is the territory of my Great Zhou, and as an official of the imperial court, this mansion is naturally the host and the host, and this is the right thing to wait for guests here!" -- The Lord is free to entertain the guests! Even if it's an uninvited guest......"

There are thorns in every sentence......

Qin Ke'er looked at Xie An with some surprise, surprised that Xie An spoke so without giving Liu Qing face.

A hint of anger flashed in Liu Qing's eyes, where could she not hear the meaning of Xie An's words, he was nothing more than a mockery that the Taiping Army was not recognized by the Great Zhou Jijing Imperial Court [uninvited guests], that is, the thief army who betrayed the country and plotted against the dynasty.

"What do you mean by that, Your Excellency?" Yang Yu's eyes narrowed when he heard this, and his right hand slowly pressed to the hilt of the knife, and at this moment, a fierce murderous aura suddenly rose in the room, Yang Yu subconsciously turned his head to look, only to find that Mo Fei was standing in the corner, looking at him coldly.

Although it was still daytime, Yang Yu was not afraid of Mo Fei, an assassin who was as terrifying as a nightmare at night, but the thought that the injury on his left hand had not yet healed, he felt a little worried in his heart.

"Okay, this time it's a negotiation, what are you going to do? - Right, Shangshu-sama? As she spoke, Liu Qing glanced at Qin Ke'er intentionally or unintentionally, feeling inexplicably surprised and uneasy that this woman was also present. After all, to this day, Liu Qing still can't figure out which side Qin Ke'er is on.

"Negotiations? What are you talking about......" Xie An chuckled, raised his hand to invite Liu Qing to sit down, and after staring at the latter for a while, he suddenly smiled and said, "Do you know?" There are a lot of people who want to kill you! ”

Liu Qing's face was stunned, her eyes showed a little different color, beside her, Qi Zhi and Yang Yu subconsciously pulled out the sabers at their waists, and at the same time, Gou Gong, Ding Qiu, and Mo Fei also pulled out daggers one after another.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense, like a taut bowstring.