Zhou Yuan and Ouyang Chun began negotiations for several days and finally reached an agreement.

The fighting between the two forces ceased to be there, and the Chinese army left the Puzhou border and returned some of the prisoners. On the Zhou side, he paid 100,000 gold, 200,000 silver, some cattle and sheep, some jewelry, and 1,000 war horses to Huaguo.

To be honest, it is to spend money to buy a temporary peace.

This is a helpless choice, the Chinese army is pressing, and there is no way to persuade it to retreat without paying a sufficient price.

It's better than the other party attacking Puzhou and wantonly plundering the people of Puzhou, money, gold and silver. Compared with the resources sent out by the negotiation and peace, the loss is called serious.

In Zhou Yuan's view, in the face of such a situation, he is very satisfied with being able to press the price to this extent.

It's just that he is still a little tender in front of Ouyang Chun, after all, there is too much difference in age and experience.

Huaguo's side has no intention of continuing to move forward, even if he insists on not paying any price, it will be no problem to negotiate peace according to normal negotiations, but it will drag on for a longer time and have no impact.

After the two sides negotiated peace, Zhou Yuan said to Ouyang Chun: "Since the negotiation has been settled, please also ask your army to withdraw from the Puzhou boundary as soon as possible and return the prisoners." ”

"The general doesn't need to be in a hurry," Ouyang Chun said, "as long as you deliver the negotiated property, we will immediately return the prisoners and withdraw from Puzhou at the same time." ”

"Okay! General Ben will go back and get ready, and the goods will be delivered tomorrow. ”

"That's the best!" Ouyang Chun smiled, "I'll send the general out of the camp." ”

"Wait!" Zhou Yuan thought for a while, "General Ben has a good relationship with the prince, and he has not been masked for a few days. Now that the two sides have negotiated and said that they are ready to withdraw from the army, can they let General Ben meet with the prince to see if his condition can improve. ”

"This ......" Ouyang Chun pretended to be difficult, "The prince is seriously ill and is most afraid of the wind." Why don't you wait for him to get better and meet the general next time?"

"The prince is seriously ill, and General Ben should visit him. Zhou Yuan said, "It's just that I will meet before leaving, and I hope to agree." ”

Ouyang Chun touched his chin, still embarrassed.

The main Zhou Yuan is relatively familiar with Ning Ze, and once went to Huajun to participate in the civil and military conference, and met almost every day.

After all, Wang Tong is a stand-in, even if he looks alike, there is a difference, not to mention that Ning Ze's temperament is not easy to imitate, he can learn four or five percent at most, but it is good to say to people who are strangers to Ning Ze, people who really understand and are familiar with Ning Ze are easy to see the flaws.

In case Zhou Zhou Yuan knew that it was not Ning Ze himself who was here, he was just a stand-in, which might cause unnecessary trouble.

It's just that he resolutely opposes Zhou Yuan's meeting with "Ning Ze", which will also increase the suspicion of the other party, and guess that there is something greasy here.

And with Zhou Yuan's cleverness, it is easy to deduce that this "Ning Ze" is not real.

Let him see that Ning Ze's stand-in may be exposed, and if he is not allowed to see it, it may also be exposed, this is a dilemma.

After thinking about it for a while, if he insisted on not letting Zhou Yuan see Ning Ze, the other party would be even more suspicious. Moreover, it is also possible to take this opportunity to spread rumors after returning that Ning Ze is seriously ill, triggering a fierce counterattack by the other two forces.

Although with the current layout, any counterattack is meaningless, it will be very troublesome.

At present, Zhou Guo is powerless to fight, and he has to make peace as a last resort, and Zhou Yuan will see that he is pretending to be sick when he sees Wang Tong, and there is a probability that he will realize that this is a stand-in. Relatively speaking, it is better to meet. Even if Zhou Yuan sensed that something was wrong, he couldn't be completely sure, it would be his constant suspicion, and he didn't have time to think about him, let alone calculate.

So he replied to Zhou Yuan: "In that case, please wait a while, general! I'll go over and ask for instructions first." ”

"There is labor!" Zhou Yuan arched his hand.

Ouyang Chun came to Wang Tong's tent and told Zhou Yuan the truth.

Wang Tong was a little worried: "Shaofu, Zhou Yuan and the prince have an old relationship, what if they are recognized?"

"It's okay!" Ouyang Chun said, "Whether he recognizes you or not, don't let go." It's enough to play the prince to the best of your ability. ”

"This ...... Okay!" Wang Tong took a few deep breaths, reached out and patted his heart, trying to calm himself down, and then lay back and pretended to be sick.

Ouyang Chun gave the guards next to him a look, asked them to take good care of Wang Tong, and came out and said to Zhou Yuan: "The prince is seriously ill and has not recovered, the general will go in and take a look and come out as soon as possible." ”

"Ouyang Shaofu doesn't have to worry!" Zhou Yuan nodded in response, turned around and entered the tent, "Lord Wang, Zhou Yuan is here to visit." ”

"Come in......" Wang Tong pretended to be weak, covering the quilt and deliberately messing up his hair, only revealing half of his face, trying to minimize the part exposed in front of Zhou Yuan, while imitating Ning Ze's usual tone to speak.

Zhou Yuan entered the tent and stepped forward directly to salute: "I haven't seen you for a long time, don't come to harm?"

"The general is very happy to come......! Ahem...... can't meet ...... "Wang Tong has undergone Ning Ze's special training, and it is still very similar in general. In addition, people are easy to change after they get sick, although Zhou Yuan feels a little disobedient, he can't say what the problem is.

"What disease does the prince have?" Zhou Yuan stepped forward and asked.

"It's just a cold...... Ahem...... Some are seriously ......"

Zhou Yuan's eyes kept looking at him, without a slight wrinkle, trying to find out where the sense of disobedience came from: "I have negotiated with Ouyang Shaofu and agreed on a truce between the two sides. The prince can return to Huaguo as soon as possible to recuperate. ”

What I thought in my heart was that although it looked like it was really sick, combined with the cause and effect, there must be something wrong inside, otherwise how could there be such a coincidence. And I always felt that Ning Ze in front of me was wrong, but I couldn't see anything wrong. It's not that simple, and there must be problems!

After chatting a little bit, Wang Tong played extraordinarily and did not show his feet.

Although Zhou Yuan's heart was full of doubts, he always felt that there was a problem, but he couldn't see what the problem was.

After coming out, Ouyang Chun sent him out of the barracks.

Zhou Yuan returned to the city and informed the results of the negotiations in detail.

Tang Niu and the civil and military officials put their minds at ease, and what can be solved with money is not a problem. As long as China withdraws its troops, the pressure will disappear, and it will be convenient for them to re-recruit troops, prepare supplies, and restore morale.

Immediately ordered Zhou Yuan to start preparing.

Zhou Yuan thought while preparing gold and silver money. It took a whole day to finally figure it out: "No! That person is not Ning Ze!"

He had been thinking about what the sense of disobedience was all about, and it took him a whole day to figure it out, precisely because that person was not Ning Ze, but he looked similar, and he pretended to think about it very much. Because of this, I will feel that something is wrong after I see it, but I can't say it.

He is a fake Ning Ze, that makes sense!

That's right, that's it!

He's not Ning Ze, absolutely not!

Others may not be able to see that they are familiar with Ning Ze, but this person is definitely not.

He was not Ning Ze, just a stand-in, which explained why Ouyang Chun was in charge of all the affairs of the enemy army.

It is precisely because that person is fake and just a pretense of deception that Ouyang Chun is in control of the overall situation......

Even if he saw that it was fake, it was impossible for Zhou Yuan to inform Tang Niu and the domestic civil and military.

Because with the current situation of the Zhou army, even if Ning Ze is not here, it will not be able to compete with the Hua army.

After several major defeats, the morale of the army is at the bottom, and the opponent is violent.

If you tell this story, some people will have the illusion that they can seize the opportunity to win the other party. But in fact, doing so will only lead you into a desperate situation.

At present, the Zhou State needs to recuperate, and the continuous war has drastically reduced the youth and strength of the Zhou State.

In fact, in addition to the fact that Huaguo has made the life of the people in the jurisdiction relatively easy because of the policy relationship, and the birth status of the younger generation is not bad, and the policy of recruiting displaced people has been increased, so that countless children and teenagers who have lost their parents have joined, and the domestic situation of Liang and Nancheng is not much better than that of Zhou Guo.

Years of war and policies for the benefit of the people have led to a continuous influx of young people into China to strengthen their strength. The more young and strong the country, the stronger the national strength of China, and the easier it is to recruit soldiers.

If the shortcoming of Huaguo is the lack of talents, no matter how large the population is, most of them are illiterate, then the shortcoming of the tripartite forces of Zhou, Liang, and Nancheng is the population, and the more wars they fight, the greater the pressure on them.

The more young and strong people are consumed in the war, the more aging the country becomes, and the more difficult it is to recruit soldiers.

If this situation is not changed in time, sooner or later he will be defeated by Ning Ze because he can't recruit soldiers.

I have to say that Ning Ze's strategy of attracting and plundering the population is too ruthless, and it is simply a drain from the bottom of the kettle.

Although the forces of Zhou, Liang, and Nancheng have also begun to plunder the population on the border, the effect is limited in the face of the already powerful Chinese state.

Now Huaguo can still be at ease in the face of the three forces at the same time, which is to take advantage of this.

For now, it is better to fight less war, try to recuperate, and come up with new policies to attract people from China. To this end, we should try our best to avoid conflicts with China and take advantage of the short-term peace that was not easily won to solve domestic problems.

According to the intelligence, since Ning Ze is not here, it means that the focus is on dealing with Sima Fa.

And no wonder!

Sima Fa is very powerful, at least Zhou Yuan feels that he will have a hard time meeting this guy, and he is not even his opponent.

Sima Fa had only eaten deflated in front of Ning Ze a few times, and at other times he was basically at a loss and extremely difficult to deal with.

Maybe Ning Ze wants to get rid of the most difficult Sima Fa first, and the pressure is on Liang Guo's side, which can be regarded as the best time for his own side to repair.

In his opinion, it is best for Ning Ze and Sima Fa to lose both, so that they can profit.

From a personal point of view, Zhou Yuan and Ning Ze have a good relationship, and he is also very grateful to Ning Ze for giving him a book on the art of war.

Without his encouragement, it would be impossible for him to continue to grow in the past few years, from the former only on horses to fight, not learning and unskilled, to proficient in the art of war, much calmer real general.

It's just that there must be a trade-off between private feelings and national interests.

This country was created by his brother, and as a younger brother, of course, he must fully support it.

No matter how good the relationship with Ning Ze is, it is now a hostile force. Either Hua destroyed Zhou, or Zhou destroyed Hua.

For the sake of Zhou Guo, he must do his best not to disappoint his brother.

What needs to be done now is to ensure that the Zhou State is in a safe state and will not be attacked by the Hua State so quickly. Strive to improve the strength of the Zhou State and make the national strength stronger.