After two rì, inside the Honglu Temple.

"Prisoner exchange, this is the first big thing. Xin Qiwu no longer had the reckless look when the two countries were negotiating, and said lightly: "Your Majesty has a will, no matter what, the captured soldiers must be exchanged back, and the rest are trivial matters, we might as well back down in this regard." ”

An official below replied and said: "The number of people who captured the Northern Qi and their small countries this time has been roughly counted, there are more than 2,400 people in total, and about 1,000 people have been captured by our side. According to His Majesty's will, even if the two of us change one, we can exchange it back. ”

"Hmm. Xin Qiwu nodded, very satisfied with the work efficiency of his subordinates, and said: "Regarding the issue of re-demarcation, His Majesty's meaning is also very clear, all the land occupied this time, not an inch will be caught, if Northern Qi wants land, take the grassland in Qianlong Bay in exchange." ”

Qianlong Bay is in the northwest of Qingguo, connected to Qingguo's only enclave there, if it can be retrieved, Qingguo's enclave will be safe.

The officials below worked hard to record the meaning of their superiors, and someone had a headache and said: "It's just that this time I don't know why, the Northern Qi side is particularly tough, as if some fish are dead and the net is broken, and they only promise to give money to horses, but they refuse to cede the land." ”

The lord who jumped out of the last tea party was obviously an impulsive person, and slapped the table and scolded: "We have already occupied those lands, do we still want to vomit back." ”

Xin Qiwu nodded: "Although Lord Xiao said it directly, it is indeed the truth. He glanced at his subordinates with a cold gaze, put down the teacup in his hand heavily, and said: "Colleagues, don't forget that these lands were brought back by our soldiers with a knife and a shot, and they were exchanged for blood and flesh and blood, of course we can't return it with both hands, and those soldiers paid the price of their lives." What about us? We are only talking about it, so we must not give up the interests of our own country and fight with each other for every inch of silver. ”

The person who spoke earlier continued to frown and said: "My lord's words are extremely true, but according to the envoys stationed in Shangjing of the Northern Qi Dynasty, the relationship between the Empress Dowager of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the emperor has become more relaxed because of the defeat in this battle, and the younger brother of the Empress Dowager has now been convicted and returned home. You should know that if the Northern Qi side is really single-minded, a hundred-legged insect will not be comfortable to bite someone. ”

"Northern Qi is too far away from Beijing, and once and again, this information may not be effective. "Xin Qiwu has a headache, the most important thing in the negotiation is to know oneself and the other, although the current home and the winner have the advantage, but the other party is in their own capital, relying on those Northern Qi spy networks that the imperial court has not had time to reap Ganjing, they can have first-hand information about the reaction of the Qingguo court, and the Qingguo side wants to know the real reaction of the Northern Qi court, but it is a little difficult.

Someone came up with an idea: "Why don't you ask Your Majesty to let the Supervision Yuan go around to assist us? You must know that the people in the Northern Qi Dynasty are much more powerful than the other yamen in the imperial court." ”

Everyone's eyes lit up, thinking that this was the truth, as an official in Kyoto, of course, he feared and hated the Supervision Yuan, but if it was, using the mad dog of the Supervision Yuan to deal with the enemy, no official would have an opinion, and would only approve it with both hands and feet. To everyone's surprise, as soon as he heard this, Xin Qiwu suddenly lost his demeanor, and scolded: "What you think of, can't the official and Lord Siqing think of? That Yama Hall refuses to give things, what can I do? Do you want me to go to your majesty's palace to cry and kneel?"

The officials said in their hearts, their faces returned to tranquility, but deep down they thought, if you can get the information of the Northern Qi Dynasty, what are you afraid of crying on the stone steps in front of Xingqing Palace?

The hall suddenly fell into silence, although the officials and people of Qingguo have always considered themselves to be the most powerful country in the world, but before His Majesty ascended the throne today, the people of Qingguo have always lived under the terrifying shadow of the huge Northern Wei Dynasty. Although the Northern Wei Dynasty was beaten by His Majesty's three Northern Expeditions, only half of its territory was left, and it became the current Northern Qi Dynasty, but if the other party was forced to fight again, it seemed to be a very terrifying thing. So without the support of strong confidence, the negotiations seem to have to go down the road of stalemate.

"I'll enter the palace again tonight, please ask for His Majesty's will. ”

Xin Qiwu frowned and said, but his eyes glanced at Fan Xian, who had been sitting quietly at the bottom. Fan Xian, the deputy envoy, doesn't seem to have any consciousness of the deputy envoy, these days, no matter what he is negotiating or doing, he always sits speechless with a smile on his face, not knowing what he is thinking. Xin Qiwu was ordered by the prince to transfer him here, the original intention was to let Fan Xian make some political capital, this kid is very sensible and does not steal credit, but it is not a matter to be bored like this.

He thought for a while, and Wen Yan said, "Master Fan, I don't know what you think about this matter?"

Fan Xian's fist in his sleeve tightened slightly, but his face was still calm, and he responded gently: "Xia Guan thinks that Northern Qi is just bluffing at the moment, if they really have the strength and heart to fight again, they will not be in such a hurry to send an envoy to sue for peace." ”

The officials have always known that Master Fan's poetry and fist are quite famous, and these rìzi appreciate the other party's quiet and indisputable achievements, so they have some expectations for his speech at the moment, but they can't help but be a little disappointed when they find that he can only say such a big way. But in terms of face, the officials were not good, and casually echoed a few times.

However, Xin Qiwu thought that since he wanted to sell the other party's favor, he would simply sell it thoroughly, and continued to ask gently: "This is reasonable, but the exchanges between the two countries are real, and the truth is false, and the truth is real, a country is like a person, and sometimes it is often dominated by love, so it can't be inferred from all reason, I don't know if Deputy Envoy Fan can have other evidence?"

Fan Xian secretly praised Lord Shaoqing's sentence "A country is like a person" in his heart, and after thinking about it, he said: "The key is that Zhuang Mohan, you adults also know the status of this person in the hearts of the world's scholars, if Northern Qi did not have the intention to seek peace, he would never spend a lot of money to invite this Zhuang Mohan to come to Kyoto with the mission." ”

The officials of Honglu Temple are all from the imperial examination, of course, they know the name of Zhuang Mohan, and after a little silence, they found that this is indeed the case, but this alone is not enough to pull the direction of the negotiation back to the original path.

Xin Qiwu frowned and said, "If you can know how Zhuang Mohan is willing to come, maybe it can be of some help." ”

It is clearly written in the case file of the Supervision Yuan that the reason why Zhuang Mohan is willing to come is that the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi and the emperor lowered their bodies to ask for each other, and secondly, Zhuang Mohan boasted to the mortal saint and wanted to mediate the war between the two countries, and the third reason seemed to be the person's personal reasons, which had not yet been found. Although Fan Xian despised the attitude of this "saint", he would not despise the reputation of the other party, but at this moment, he would not say these reasons in front of the officials, but only responded softly: "If you can meet him, you may be able to see some clues." ”

Master Xiao shook his head and said a little helplessly: "The practice of exchanges between the two countries, such a character can generally only be seen at the banquet in front of the palace. Like the officials of our Honglu Temple, if the other party doesn't see us, we can't do anything about it, we just take the humiliation ourselves. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and said: "But Vice Envoy Fan's poetry has already spread all over the world, and with the name of poetry friends, I believe Zhuang Mohan will not refuse." ”

Fan Xian was stunned for a moment, thinking that he had only copied three poems in total, and two of them were written by Ruoruo, how could he get the poems famous all over the world? Fortunately, Xin Shaoqing shook his head and helped him out of the siege: "Zhuang Mohan has always been extremely arrogant, and he is the first choice in the world for poetry and songs, how can he put down his body to see Deputy Envoy Fan, in my opinion, the key to inviting him from Northern Qi this time is the link of the banquet in front of the palace, and I want to borrow his fame to say that his majesty is moved." ”

The officials thought to themselves, probably so.

After the meeting was over, Fan took a moment to spare, pulled Lord Shaoqing aside, and handed over the advance strategy that he and Ruoruo had spent several nights "sorting out". Xin Qiwu hastily flipped it, his eyes lit up, he didn't expect Fan Xian to be able to write such a thing, although the evidence in it was quite absurd, but after careful analysis, it seemed to directly point out the current situation in Northern Qi.

"Okay!" Xin Shaoqing said excitedly: "In this way, I will have the confidence to negotiate in Honglu Temple." It's just that...... Deputy Envoy Fan, why didn't you mention it before, but now you give it to me privately?"

Fan Xian looked at his boss suspiciously, and said with a slight smile: "Some of the inferences in it are a bit ridiculous, but they are just the personal opinions of the lower officials, so I don't dare to say it in court, just for the reference of Lord Shaoqing in private." ”

Xin Shaoqing couldn't help the excitement in his heart, so he stood in the corridor and read carefully, but his eyebrows gradually wrinkled, and after a long time, he asked softly: "Fan Gongzi, there are many things in this, which are secrets that the imperial court doesn't know." ”

Fan Xian's heart sank, knowing that he couldn't hide it from the other party after all, but his qi cultivation kung fu had been practiced from Lanzhou to Kyoto for more than ten years, and he said with a smile on his face: "There are some things that Xia Guan is inconvenient to talk about. ”

As an official, one of the main points is to pretend to be unfathomable. Sure enough, Xin Qiwu no longer asked, but smiled gently: "If this negotiation can compete for full success, I will definitely write to His Majesty to ensure you a great credit." ”

Fan smiled and saluted.

Xin Qiwu looked at the back of his green shirt that disappeared into the courtyard, and his face was faint, he was close to the prince, and naturally knew that Sinan Bo Fan Jian had a force in his hands that belonged to His Majesty, but this force never seemed to have shown its style on the political stage of Qingguo, could it ...... He never linked Fan Xian with the Supervision Yuan, after all, the Supervision Yuan was His Majesty's private spy agency, and even the princes could not interfere, let alone the illegitimate son of a minister.

Sitting in the sedan chair, Xin Shaoqing held his jaw and pondered, after the sedan chair stopped, he looked at the high vermilion palace wall outside the sedan chair, and pondered in his heart, it seems that his words to the prince are correct, for the Fan family, can only be wooed, not attacked.