"Brother Hao Kang, my father is behind, and he will be there soon." Tuo said as he stepped forward to shake hands with Hao Kang.

This handshake posture is different from that of the Great Song Dynasty, Hao Kang is not picky, and ordered the family to go to Tongyu, and then said to Toto: "My father will come out to greet the imperial envoy immediately." ”

Totoh is a few years older than Hao Kang, but he looks much more serious than Hao Kang. While waiting, Totoku smiled and said, "Brother Hao Kang, last time the Great Khan wanted to give you a few beauties, but I didn't expect Brother Hao Kang to want it." It's a pity. ”

When it comes to women, Hao Kang can't help but think of his classmate Miss Mu. Sighing slightly, Hao Kang asked Totoku: "Brother Toto, I have something I want to ask." ”

"Please."

"If you want to persuade the national teacher to hand over the Gabala bowl made of Song Lizong's skull, how should you start?"

This question was unexpected, and he asked in surprise: "How could the prime minister want this thing?" ”

"It's not that the prime minister wants to use it, the prime minister wants to negotiate peace with the Great Song Dynasty, and Song Guo said that if he wants to negotiate peace, he has to hand over this thing first."

Tokh didn't say a word, thinking about the main point of the matter. At this moment, I saw Hao Ren appear in the courtyard. Totoh hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Prime Minister, Totoku greets you." ”

"Excuse me, it's not until the envoy arrives." Hao Ren's special invitation this time was his quasi-ally Yuxi Timur in Baghdad, and Hao Ren was a little anxious when he had something on his mind.

Without waiting for Tokh to speak, the family outside came in to report, "Prime Minister, the imperial envoy has arrived." ”

Adults speak, and it is not the turn of children to mix. Hao Ren invited Yuxi Timur into the study and asked bluntly: "Imperial envoy, if you want to negotiate peace with the Song State, I don't know what the Great Khan thinks." ”

Yuxi Timur did not answer immediately, he had strongly recommended Hao Ren to be the prime minister, hoping that Hao Ren would reverse the decline of Mongolia. If you want to reverse the decline, you must start from a certain aspect. Negotiating peace with Da Song is also one of the options, but he didn't expect Hao Ren to want to promote this matter in the first place.

After thinking for a while, Yuxi Timur replied: "Why should the prime minister be in such a hurry. ”

Seeing Yuxi Timur say such short-sighted words, Hao Ren regretted in his heart, and his tone also sighed, "If you are not in a hurry, you will not succeed." Now that the Song Kingdom has reached the middle of the Tianzhu Peninsula, peace negotiations cannot be reached overnight. If we delay for a few years, the Song Kingdom will only get closer and closer to us. When the Song fleet stormed Basra, there was no chance of peace. ”

Yuxi Timur was a little uncomfortable by this strategic consideration, and after more than ten years of Mongolian westward migration, the nobles of Baghdad felt that this peace would continue indefinitely. Hao Ren's words sounded unpleasant, but he was much higher than the nobles. After rectifying his mood, Yuxi Timur asked Hao Ren: "If it is according to the prime minister's expectations, when will the Song State start a war with my Great Mongolia." ”

"As far as I can see, it's five years at the least, ten years at the most. The imperial envoy, the Song State has already seized the central and southern part of the Tianzhu Peninsula in five or six years, and they continue to fight northward, and it will take ten years at most to border our Great Mongolia. At that time, can there be no war? ”

Yuxi Timur fought with the Song army, and saw with his own eyes that the Mongolian iron cavalry, who thought he was invincible in the world, was beaten to the ground. The thought of going to war with the Song army again, Yuxi Timur felt uncomfortable in his heart. He sighed: "What the prime minister said is reasonable, but if the Song Kingdom can do this, why should he negotiate peace with us? ”

"Now the official family of the Song State is a person who is good at calculation, and it costs money to fight a war, and it is necessary to give rewards. Therefore, the official family of the Song State was not very willing to start the war lightly. If we can negotiate peace with Song Guo, at least we don't have to worry about Song Guo having an excuse to continue to fight. ”

"Excuse ......, hehe." Yuxi Timur smiled bitterly. The Mongols also made excuses for war, but any excuse did not matter, as long as the Mongols felt that it was profitable to plunder each other, they would declare war. He asked Hao Ren: "Does the prime minister really think that the Song people can abide by the agreement?" ”

"I believe it." Hao Ren replied categorically, "The Song Kingdom is different from the Mongols, if the world is peaceful, their system will be profitable. In the Yuan Kingdom, I fully emulated the system of the Song Kingdom, and the people could have enough food and clothing without excluding looting. The Song people are now fighting to the death with our Great Mongolia, and the hatred is certainly incomprehensible, and they are worried that our Great Mongolia will use troops against them again is the key point. If I can make the Song people believe that my Great Mongolia and the Song people will never meet each other again, we can at least be 50% sure of peace. ”

"I ......" Yuxi Timur stopped talking, and he swallowed the word 'unbelief' back into his stomach. Yuxi Timur wanted to believe Hao Ren's words very much, but he still couldn't really believe it. He could only recall Hao Ren's Yuan State, since the Yuan State struck the invading Kipchak Khanate, the Kipchak Khanate was not counted as complaining to the imperial court. The Mongol court will only be biased towards the interests of the Mongol court, and the existence of people like the Kipchak Khanate, who are not welcome to be seen, has long made the court very unhappy. The imperial court reluctantly mediated between the two sides, but it was worried that the already very powerful Yuan State would take advantage of the situation to annex the Kipchak Khanate.

The Yuan State did not follow the Mongol rules, and they stopped the war and continued the peace, as Hao Ren said. The Mongol court and the Kipchak Khanate were worried for more than a year, and the Yuan State actually accepted one or two million destitute Mongols as agreed. These destitute Mongols were the biggest threat in the Great Khan's territory, but they didn't expect that after this gang of scourges reached the Yuan Kingdom, the Yuan Kingdom would still be rich and peaceful. Hao Ren has the ability to do this, and he said that peace can create abundance.

The old men are talking, and the young people are talking. At this time, Tokhtok had already figured out Hao Ren's thoughts from Hao Kang's side, and as a Mongolian young man who had grown up in exile with the westward migration army, Tokhtok was very supportive of negotiating peace with the Great Song Dynasty.

"Brother Hao Kang, you have been in the Song Kingdom. Does Song really want to negotiate peace? ”

"Yes. The Song State believed that there was only one way to deal with our Mongolia, so he was particularly ruthless in the war. If they think they can really make peace, they will make peace. The people of the Song Dynasty actually didn't like to fight. ”

"Really?" Tokh asked a little weakly. He also heard the elders talk about how the Mongol iron cavalry brutally slaughtered the Song people back then, and he didn't see the elders accuse the Song State of doing the same to the Mongols. On the one hand, it is slaughtered, and on the other hand, it is all killed, what is there to complain about. Peace, on the contrary, seems unreasonable.

"Really." Hao Kang replied. After studying in the Great Song Dynasty for several years, Hao Kang could feel that the Great Song Dynasty had never liked war in China, let alone looked forward to getting spoils of war through war. Da Song had a way to reap unimaginable benefits through peace, and he believed that the two countries could achieve peace.

As a Mongol, Tokhtar did not want to continue the war with the Great Song Dynasty, which had the ability to destroy Mongolia, since Hao Kang said so, Tokhtar replied: "Brother Hao Kang, it is not easy to get the national teacher to hand over the Gabala bowl. The rule of our Mongols is that even the Great Khan cannot ask for such things. Either the national teacher knows that it is powerful and hands it over himself. Either the national teacher was raided. Otherwise, what would the other princes think when they saw such things? If you can take away such a precious magic weapon today, what will you take tomorrow? ”

Hao Kang's face was cold, and he was greatly unhappy in his heart. After returning to Mongolia for so long, Hao Kang is already well versed in Mongolian rules. Whoever is fast with the sword is king, and I am in charge of my territory. In the Great Song Dynasty, these goods were either exterminated as 'reactionary feudal towns', or they were uprooted as 'local underworld forces'. Even in the Great Song Dynasty, such 'tough guys' would be cut off and shown to the public in the Yuan Kingdom.

Just as he couldn't help but want to say a few unpleasant words, he listened to Tokhtar and continued: "If you want to get the Gabala bowl out, you have to use some means. ”

Hao Kang knew that Tokhtar was now the confidant of the Great Khan Timur, and he had always been known for his cunning. Hearing what Totoku said, Hao Kang hurriedly asked, "I don't know what Brother Totoku has to say." ”

"Don't use the tone of the Song people, it sounds uncomfortable. Brother Hao Kang, brother, I have something I want to tell you. The Great Khan gave you beautiful women, but you didn't want them. It's not the Great Khan who asks you to give away a woman, it's the Great Khan who gives you a woman. You don't, you know it makes the Great Khan very unhappy. Takoff said half-complaining, half-reminding.

When it comes to women, Hao Kang thinks of the elegant and beautiful classmate Mu. He was not interested in the woman in the hands of the Great Khan at all, but he did not expect that this would make the Great Khan angry. Hao Kang also felt that he would be happy to save a few women for the Great Khan. It's just that Totoh said this, Hao Kang could only accept Toto's kindness, "Thank you Brother Toto, next time I will definitely not make Da Khan angry." ”

"Hmm. It's good that you know. Tokhtar agreed with Hao Ren and Hao Kang very much, and when he saw Hao Kang listening to the persuasion, he just gave him a word of advice, and began to help Hao Kang find a way, "As for this Gabala bowl, if the prime minister asks the national teacher for it, the national teacher will definitely complain to the Great Khan." At that time, anything unpleasant could be said, but it made the Great Khan suspicious of the prime minister......"

When the elders and juniors were talking, it was time for the banquet, Hao Ren didn't care about the money, and the banquet was also a specialty of the Four-Nation Alliance, and he couldn't even talk about Hao Ren at all. There are Han cooks cooking, and the table is full of dazzling. The aroma of cherry shochu from Athens made the always square Yuxi Timur envoy can't help but smile. The guests and hosts enjoyed themselves, and when they left, Hao Ren also gave a cart of gifts to Yuxi Timur.

After sending off the distinguished guests, Hao Kang went to Hao Ren and said the suggestion to take off. As Hao Kang expected, Hao Ren's brows furrowed and his face was unhappy. I heard Hao Ren say: "In that case, let's try it." ”

Two days later, inside the Baghdad Palace, the Queen Mother Kuokuo Zhen screamed and sat up from the bed. The palace maid waiting next to her hurriedly stepped forward to serve, and saw that the queen mother was looking at the front with dull eyes, and suddenly cried loudly. This is not the first time that the Queen Mother has had such an attack, and the Queen Mother has always had bad sleep and often had nightmares in the past month or so. It's like this if you've been disturbed by something lately. The palace ladies served carefully while going to pay homage to the Great Khan Timur.

Timur is the favorite son of the Queen Mother Kuokuozhen, and he is also very close to his mother. He had ordered the maid to wake him up in such a situation, and when he heard the news, Timur immediately put on his clothes and tidied them as he went, and when he arrived at the queen mother's side, he saw that his mother had recovered from hysteria and was sitting on the boat against a thick backrest. Seeing that Timur had arrived, Kuokuozhen took Timur's hand and cried and said, "Son, I dreamed of your father again. But I couldn't hear him say anything. Looks like I'm going to follow your father. ”

Hearing this, tears rolled down Timur's eyes. He held his mother's hand and said, "Mother, you are just dreaming, but you can't take it seriously. My dad is gone, and if you are gone, what if I'm left alone? ”

Kuo Kuozhen was already mentally weak, and he was even more sad when he heard this, so he hugged his son and cried loudly. The mother and son hugged each other and cried, and even the people around them couldn't help crying. After crying for a while, Kuokuo began to feel dizzy again, leaning on the thick backrest and closing his eyes without speaking.

Timur stood up and called out to his cronies for a few words. Not long after the guards went out, they returned with a small box. Timur took out a vial from the box and said to Kuo Kuozhen: "Mother, Prime Minister Hao Ren heard that you are not in good health, so he sent medicine. I've already had people try the medicine, so you can try it. ”

When Kuo Kuozhen heard Hao Ren's name, he barely opened his eyes and said weakly, "I don't want to take medicine." It didn't work after taking so many pills, I couldn't stand the smell. ”

"Try again. Just this once. Timur advised.

Looking at his son's somewhat haggard face, Kuokuo really fought hard to take the vial. Timur hurriedly unscrewed the bottle himself, and poured out the pill from it, the turquoise pill emitted a strange aroma, a little pungent. Timur left only one, and the others were put back in the bottle. The palace maid hurriedly went to bring warm water and helped Kuo Kuozhen take the pill.

After taking the medicine, Kuo Kuozhen leaned on the backrest and closed his eyes and did not speak, but just took Timur's hand. After a while, Kuo Kuozhen's hand let go and slipped softly on the couch. Timur was so frightened that he quickly shook his mother's shoulders and called out his mother's name. Seeing that the Queen Mother didn't react, she shouted again: "Imperial Doctor!" Physician! ”

The Imperial Doctor was already waiting beside him, and he had already rushed up to check. After a little probing, the imperial doctor stopped Timur from continuing to call, "Great Khan, the Queen Mother is just asleep." Can you stop alarming her? ”

"Ahh Timur was pleasantly surprised, his mother hadn't slept so deeply for too long, and although it was a good thing, it was too miraculous. Gently pull off the backrest and help her mother sleep peacefully. Timur went to the outer room, had his bed made, and told him to wake him up immediately if he found anything wrong with the Queen Mother. Then he lay down in the outer room.

Timur was also tossed a lot, and although he was worried about his mother, he fell asleep not long after lying down. When he woke up, Timur rubbed his eyes, saw his unfamiliar surroundings, and didn't remember what was going on. When he sat up, he remembered yesterday's events. Hurriedly got up and entered the back room, and saw the queen mother lying on the bed really quietly, and asked the palace maid about the situation, and the palace maid said that the queen mother slept very well. As he was talking, he heard Kuo Kuozhen say in a vague voice that was half asleep and half awake: "Is it Timur, don't make noise, let me sleep for a while." ”

Timur held his breath and made a silent gesture to the palace maid, and he left his mother's bedroom lightly, and only after walking away did he clench his fists and show joy. Then I went out and entered other courtyards, and then I laughed out loud.

Three days later, Timur invited Hao Ren to him, and when they met, he said, "Prime Minister, thank you for your elixir. The Queen Mother began to get better. ”

Hao Ren sighed: "Great Khan, it is a medicine that is poisonous. In fact, the minister was also very worried about whether the medicine would hurt the queen mother's body because of its strong properties. ”

Neither Timur nor Hao Ren knew that there was a proper term in later generations, called 'Mongolian doctor'. refers to the guy who has poor medical skills and uses all kinds of fools and fools to 'practice medicine'. Timur only knew that the current Mongolian doctors had poor medical skills, and they also used all kinds of tricks and tricks to 'practice medicine'. Therefore, understand and accept the concept of 'medicine is poisonous'. He didn't dare to give his mother medicine easily, and most of Hao Ren's had to find a palace maid who was also relatively weak to test the medicine.

"Prime Minister, I don't know if there is any medicine." Timur asked. In the past few days, the Queen Mother Kuokuo Zhen has taken medicine every day before going to bed, and now there is only one pill left of the turquoise pill with a pungent fragrance.

"The minister will order someone to fetch it, and ask Your Majesty to send someone with you." Hao Ren replied

Timur immediately sent his henchmen Tokhtar with Hao Ren's guards, and when they were gone, the two of them talked about the Mongol government. After talking about the difficulties of the court for a while, Timur couldn't listen to it, so he was worried about his mother again, and pulled the topic back here.

Hao Ren sighed: "Great sweat, this medicine has a good effect for a while, but after a while, the Queen Mother gets used to it, but I am afraid that the effect of the medicine will become weaker." And the minister felt that the queen mother was suddenly in poor health, maybe it was because of some evil things. ”

Timur had long felt that his mother's behavior was not quite right, and he often had very outrageous dreams. In particular, several times he dreamed that Timur's late father, Real Gold, appeared in his dreams. The queen mother said that it was real gold that summoned her to heaven, but Timur didn't believe it. He hurriedly asked, "Prime Minister, is there a way to exorcise evil spirits?" ”

"This ...... There was no such person around the minister. If you really want to exorcise evil spirits, you still have to sweat a lot to find someone. Hao Ren replied.

"Alas...... I have already asked a master to pray for blessings, but it is useless." Timur sighed.

By this time, Tokhtar had returned with the guards. This time, it was not a vial that was brought back, but a jade box. When Timur opened it, he saw that there were a hundred turquoise pills neatly lined up inside, and the rich pungent fragrance made Timur can't help but sneeze. Closing the lid, Timur handed the jade box to his cronies. He also talked to Hao Ren about exorcism.

Tokhtar listened for a while, and then said: "Great Khan, the national teacher prayed for the queen mother last time, so it is better to ask the national teacher to hold an exorcism ceremony for the queen mother." ”

Timur nodded, agreeing with the suggestion.

Two days before the meeting, Timur did not let his mother continue to take the medicine. Even if he believed in Hao Ren's loyalty, Timur did not dare to give his mother medicine easily. What's more, his trust in Hao Ren is far from the level of the Queen Mother's trust in Hao Ren. I just took advantage of this time to find someone to try the medicine.

Timur didn't dare to try most of them like last time, but cut off a little bit of each pill and kneaded these small dots into large grains for the palace maid to take. The first night was fine, and Kuokuo really slept well. The next day, Kuokuo really didn't sleep well. After waking up in the morning, Kuo Kuozhen looked lazy and fought hard to participate in the exorcism ceremony presided over by the national teacher.

After the afternoon puja, Kuo Kuozhen went back to sleep for a while. I slept until midnight at night, and the Queen Mother was awakened again, and I didn't sleep well all night. Timur had no choice but to give his mother another dose of medicine to stabilize her sleep. He didn't want to look for Hao Ren again, but called for Totok.

Tokhtar listened to the master's lament, and said: "Great Khan, the mana of the national teacher is naturally powerful, but the minister knows a mage who is quite effective, so it is better to ask this mage to do the law to see what kind of evil thing is harassing the queen mother." ”