On December 23, 173 in the imperial calendar, Bai Tengqi sent Bai Ruofeng and a group of more than a dozen people to bring a letter from him.

The general content of the letter was that the Li and Bai families could live in peace, or that they would unite according to the verbal agreement of the two patriarchs at Kefield to rule the entire Luoping Plain.

Obviously, Bai Tengqi still thinks that his secret collusion with Atterbury is still a secret.

After reading the letter, Li Yuxuan handed over the letter to his subordinates to circulate, and he looked at Bai Ruofeng, who was standing with his hands down, and asked:

"I wonder how the eldest lady is these days?"

The essence in Bai Ruofeng's eyes flashed, but he still couldn't escape Li Yuxuan's eyes.

"The eldest lady is well, and Brother Lao Li is worried!"

As an envoy, Bai Ruofeng called the other party's monarch "brother" in public, which was obviously disrespectful. When Li Yuxuan's subordinates heard this, they all glared at him angrily, and their faces were full of anger. Bai Ruofeng suddenly felt that the surrounding atmosphere suddenly became tense, and several fierce fighting qi suppressed him almost at the same time, and there was a fighting aura like a sword out of the sheath that was even more murderous, making Bai Ruofeng feel a great threat. And it was none other than Lang Zhong, who was praised by Li Yuxuan as a "tiger general" who exuded such a strong murderous aura.

Bai Ruofeng turned around, looking like he was not smiling.

"I don't know the name of this general?"

"Lang Zhong!"

Bai Ruofeng was suddenly shocked in his heart, he didn't expect that the young man in front of him, who was only twenty years old, would be the most prominent figure in the south recently, "Blood Knife Langzhong".

Looking at the position he was standing, it turned out to be the last one on the left hand, and there were many people on it, it seemed that Li Yuxuan's army was indeed as known to the outside world, it was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Bai Ruofeng, who had an arrogant face, suddenly reined in.

Li Yuxuan waved his hand, signaling that everyone didn't have to care too much, and then smiled:

"Tomorrow, I will send Tang Xu to return to Bahrain with you to discuss the relevant matters in Patriarch Shu's letter. ”

"Before I left, my lord said that I hoped to meet Patriarch Li in Bahrain, and Miss misses you very much. ”

Bai Ruofeng changed his arrogance just now, and even changed his name.

"Actually, I also want to visit Bahrain in person, but there are still a lot of aftermath work to deal with here, and I can't be separated for the time being, and I also believe that Tang Xu has the ability to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement with the noble chief. ”

Bai Ruofeng secretly screamed in his heart that it was a pity, it turned out that Bai Tengqi had asked him to deceive Li Yuxuan to Bahrain as the best result before leaving, so that he could take him hostage, annex the army in his hands, and let the Bai clan take charge of Luo Pingyuan alone. But it is obvious that Li Yuxuan is not an easy person, he has already figured out this joint, and he has no intention of setting off for Bahrain in person.

"My lord, do you really want to unite with the Bai clan?"

After Bai Ruofeng returned to the embassy, Xu Ruoyu first raised questions.

"Does Keqing have any thoughts of his own?"

"I don't think it's better to annex it than to form an alliance!"

One sentence shocked everyone present, only Su Mi and Xu Zhixin nodded in agreement, and the rest of the generals all stared at Li Yuxuan.

Among the generals present, only Xu Ruoyu, Su Mi, and Xu Zhixin did not know the complicated relationship between Li Yuxuan and the Bai family.

"What is the annexation policy?"

As soon as they heard Li Yuxuan's tone, Li Fang and the others began to worry about Xu Ruoyu, they knew very well Bai Ruolan's status in their master's heart.

"The only one who can threaten our army now is Feng Xiang's army, although they are not able to capture Fallen Leaf City for the time being, but Feng Xiang's infantry corps is known for attacking and defending the city. Once Fallen Leaf City is breached, then Feng Xiang's next target must be Luo Pingyuan. The strength of Fengxiang's army is not weaker than that of the Atbury army, and they have no difficulties in supply, as long as they cross Luoshui and enter the north, then we may have to retreat to Bollinger Pass. ”

"By that time, in the absence of retreat and supplies, our army will surely repeat the mistakes of the Atbury Army. Therefore, the only feasible way for us is to rely on the topography of Luoshui's "natural moat" to block its crossing of the river. And today's shape is that the Bai clan and our army jointly have the control of Luoshui, once the Bai clan defects to Fengxiang, then we will not have the power to return to heaven. And now, our army is not only superior to the Bai clan in terms of numbers, but also has strong morale and fierce generals, even if there will be some price to pay for attacking the Bai clan, it is better than the end of our entire army. ”

Hearing this, not only Su Mi, but Xu Zhixin deeply agreed, and even Li Fang and others began to notice the severity of the situation.

"Anything else?"

Li Yuxuan didn't wait for Xu Ruoyu to take a breath. The question continues.

"What I just said was about the external side and the internal part. Although our army ostensibly controlled the entire Luo Pingyuan, there were still many nobles of the Carol Kingdom in various places, and they all had their own armed forces and occupied one side. Although they are not enough to compete with our army in terms of purely military strength, they are after all the nobles of the old kingdom, and once we announce the establishment of a new regime, it means that the prerequisites for their survival are denied. ”

"At that time, what will be the situation of the entire Luo Pingyuan, and at that time, if there is a military force like the Bai Clan that can compete with us now, those local powers will definitely be under its wings. In such a situation, how can our army resist Feng Xiang's attack with peace of mind. Moreover, some policies related to the livelihood of the people will also be opposed by them, which will not be conducive to our control and management of the entire Luo Pingyuan.

"That's right, that's exactly what I'm thinking! I wonder what clever function our guest lord can turn things around?"

Only at this moment did Li Yuxuan reveal his true attitude, obviously he had already planned to annex or even eliminate the Bai clan's military forces.

"First of all, we send representatives to negotiate with them, but there are two things that must be clear. First, the Bai clan must hand over military power. Of course, one or two people from the Bai family can enter our military system and hold certain positions. The second is to hand over the administrative power of Bahrain and promise to hold a number of positions in the new government that will be formed in the future. ”

"Doesn't that mean asking them to hand over a qiē? Will they agree?"

Tang Xu expressed his doubts in a timely manner.

"The Bai clan is just a business group, historically, it does not have the conditions for a military group, and we can make some concessions in terms of business economy. ”

"I'm afraid it's not that easy!" Li Fang shook his head.

"What I'm talking about is just the arrangement at the negotiating table, and we must also make arrangements militarily, otherwise how can they accept our terms so easily?"

"Militarily?"

Li Fang carefully observed the sixteen-year-old boy who was standing on his hands, and began to really perceive his terribleness.

"Yes. I have carefully studied the terrain around Bahrain, which is close to the sea, facing inland, and is a city with a well-developed commercial and shipbuilding industry, especially the salt industry. The salt provided here accounted for about four-fifths of the original Carol Kingdom. Therefore, both economically and militarily, we cannot but take control of the city. ”

"This time, my strategy is a total of 16 words, 'besiege but not besiege, siege but not fight, attack the heart first, siege the city down'. That is, two armies of about 2,000 men were sent to advance left and right in a flanking posture, occupying the towns of Phil and Shelt on the left and right of the city respectively. The town of Phil is the place where Bahrain's salt merchants dry their salt, and the city of Chelte is the gateway from Bahrain to the interior of the Loping Plains. Once these two places are occupied, it is tantamount to blocking Bahrain's land access and economic lifeline. ”

"Then if they do not dare to confront us head-on, they will have to flee to the sea. But the three thousand cavalry in his hands were the people of Luo Pingyuan, who originally belonged to the guards of the old kingdom, not the personal guards of the Bai family, and it was absolutely impossible for them to die at sea. Of course, our negotiators can also make some remarks at certain sensitive times to shake their morale. Putting pressure on it at the military, at the negotiating table at the same time, I am sure that the profiteer would never dare to propose any more joint matters than to seek more benefits in business. ”

"What, you want us to hand over the army and the administration of Bahrain!"

Bai Tengqi brushed his sleeves away at the negotiation table, leaving Tang Xu with a snicker.

On December 27, 173 A.D., the first round of talks between the Li and Bai clans ended unhappily on the morning of that day.

In the afternoon, the news that Li Yuxuan's two forces of about 2,000 men had occupied the city of Chert and the town of Phil reached Bahrain.

The commander of the former is the recently announced "Blood Knife Langzhong", and the commander of the latter is Xu Zhixin, the former Bolin guard general.

Bai Tengqi was furious after learning the news, scolded Li Yuxuan for not keeping his word, led people straight to the embassy, and scolded Tang Xu.

"The military aspect is controlled by Lord Li Yuxuan, and as a subordinate, I have no right to interfere in the military operations of our army. ”

After returning home, Bai Tengqi hurriedly summoned Bai Yunqi, and Bai Ruofeng discussed countermeasures.

"They are so untrustworthy, I am willing to lead the army to retake Phil Town!"

Although Bai Ruofeng said it impassionedly, he chose Phil Town for Shechelt City, obviously because he was afraid of the "Blood Knife Langzhong" who took the rank of general in the army.

Bai Yunqi, who was familiar with military affairs, shook his head again and again after hearing this.

"Whether it is Lang Zhong or Xu Zhixin, they are quite headache opponents. Langzhong's prestige is now known to everyone in the north, and against him, I am afraid that the morale will be weakened by three points before he has not played against him. And Xu Zhixin is not an easy person, when he assisted Xu Shouyi to guard Bollinger Pass, he was already known as the "first wise general of Bollinger Pass". In the battle against the Atterbury Army, the two battles he personally commanded can also be regarded as outstanding combat achievements, which can be called both wisdom and bravery. And according to the information we have collected now, these two people are not the most powerful in Li Yuxuan's army, there are Li Fang, Su Mi and others above them, and the real terrifying one is the Li clan patriarch we know, Li Yuxuan. ”

"So, what are we going to do?

Bai Tengqi was obviously a little panicked after listening to Bai Yunqi's words.

"If it's me, then on the premise of preserving the Bai clan, you can consider the conditions they put forward. At the very least, we can keep our business interests. If they were to be enemies, the consequences would be unpredictable, as was the case with Rimel's Atterbury Army. If things really develop to that time, it would be tantamount to a fool's dream to talk about the union of the two families. Li Yuxuan's posture is also clearly telling us that he will never agree to the mention in your letter. ”

"We still have three thousand cavalry, all of them are elite divisions, is this the end!" Bai Ruofeng shouted.

"Don't forget that those 3,000 cavalry are not the children of our Bai clan, they are all northerners. Now the news of defecting to Li Yuxuan has begun to circulate in the army, and if it really fights against Li Yuxuan's army, the consequences are self-evident. ”

On December 28, 173 years of the imperial calendar, the Bai clan and Li Yuxuan's military signed an agreement, and the representatives of Bai Tengqi and Tang Xu signed their names on the agreement. At this point, Li Yuxuan officially unified Luo Pingyuan.