On the first day of November, Cangtai, Yunzhou, the sky was slightly bright.

The wind blew in the middle of the night yesterday, and the red and black flags in the army in the big scene were hunting.

In front of the main general's tent, two long guards stood on the left and right, wearing heavy armor and holding spears, looking at the low sky in the distance, and the cold wind did not break their vision.

Soon, a team appeared in the morning mist and walked straight to the tent.

The leader was a herald, who knelt down outside the tent and reported loudly inside: "My lord, General Xu has arrived!" ”

Soon, He Qingchang's voice came out from inside: "Let him come in alone." ”

Xu Ye was stunned, turned around and said a few words to the soldiers behind him, and then opened the curtain and walked in.

The tent was very warm, braziers were burning everywhere, and as soon as the curtain behind Xu Ye was lowered, the wind and human voices outside were completely blocked.

Xu Ye is the envoy of the Yunzhou Festival, and the Yunzhou army under his command is the main force in the battle against Beidi. Although He Qingchang is the commander of the whole army and also has the right to transfer and command the Yunzhou Army, in the past few months on the front line, he has never interfered in the jurisdiction of the Yunzhou Army, and he has always delegated power to Xu Ye.

Both of them were Gu Shihai's protégés, although they didn't know each other, they were all people in the same boat. In the past few months, Xu Ye has also gained some understanding of He Qingchang's temperament, He Qingchang has a calm nature, and he will not wake him up from bed early in the morning for no reason.

Something must have happened.

Xu Ye took off his soft armor and quickly glanced at the situation in the tent.

He Qingchang stood with his back to him, as if he was looking at the map of the northern land on the wall, and as if he hadn't seen anything.

On the main desk behind him, there was a blank fold that had not yet been penned, and the ink in the inkstone at the corner of the table was already a little dry, but the brushes were still hanging cleanly on the pen stand. There was a candle burning on the desk that was about to bottom, and it seemed that it had been burning all night.

And the strangest thing is that there are two people kneeling in front of the sand table in the middle of the camp, wearing the military uniform of Dajing, and the style of the armor is from the Beijing Division, and the official position is not low. But the two of them were already wholesale at this time, covered in blood, and they couldn't see their human appearance, and they obviously suffered a lot of punches and kicks.

"Beidi is going to retire." He Qing said.

Xu Ye was overjoyed.

But before he could be overjoyed, He Qingchang turned around and sat down in front of the desk.

There was no trace of joy in his voice or countenance, on the contrary, his brows were slightly locked, and the cold in his eyes made the candle flame tremble.

Only his voice was calm: "This is the letter of state sent by the envoy of Beidi yesterday, asking to be forwarded to Your Majesty." ”

He Qingchang folded a letter with a yellow cover on the shore to Xu Ye.

Xu Ye quickly stepped forward and took the "letter of state".

Soon, his face turned from gloomy to angry like a storm of rain.

"How can it be!" Xu Ye almost threw the "national letter" on the table.

Beidi did say in the letter that they were going to withdraw their troops. But in addition, they also made a big statement in the letter that the spring warmth of the next year would make a comeback, so that Dajing was ready to "lead the neck to be killed", and explained that they would go south next year to Shengjing, and they should not think about letting them return with a bribe of five million taels of silver.

The words used in this letter are extremely insulting, and between the lines there is a rampant pride like a bandit.

"What kind of letter is this? This is obviously a war book! Xu Ye said angrily, "How can such a thing be presented to Shengjing?" ”

He Qingchang's face was flat, and he was not half annoyed. I don't know if he was angry, or if he was never provoked.

He Qingchang didn't answer his words, he was silent, didn't raise his eyes, and asked, "Do you know about this?" ”

Xu Ye was stunned for a moment, and said puzzledly: "Lord Shangshu...... What does it mean? ”

He Qingchang raised his eyes and looked at Xu Ye and said, "Five million taels of silver." ”

There was no emotion in his triangular eyes, and his voice was very calm. But this sentence was like a flat thunder exploding in Xu Ye's mind.

He subconsciously glanced back at the two officers kneeling on the ground, and suddenly understood what it was that kept He Qingchang awake all night and called him into the main tent alone early in the morning.

Xu Ye picked up the "national letter" that he threw aside and read it carefully.

"My lord is saying that five million here is not a ...... Imaginary number? Xu Ye's voice trembled a little.

What is the concept of five million taels? If there is no big war, five million taels will be enough for him to eat more than 80,000 Yunzhou troops for two years!

He raised his head in disbelief and met He Qingchang's gaze.

There was an eerie silence between the two for a moment, and then He Qingchang withdrew his gaze, he didn't answer Xu Ye's question, but looked at the two people kneeling on the ground, and ordered: "Raise your head!" ”

Slowly and silently, the two lifted their bloodied faces.

"Does General Xu know them?" He Qingchang asked again.

Xu Ye carefully distinguished, and hesitated: "Is this the time when General Gu joined the army?" ”

"When the Chinese army joined the army, Yuanyi was long-term, and the commander of the baggage battalion was waiting for glory." He Qingchang looked at the two of them, his expression was cold, he frowned, and said, "Tell General Xu what I explained last night." ”

It snowed heavily.

The two guards guarding the camp were still standing upright, and the group of people brought by Xu Ye were also waiting motionless outside the tent for their leader, maintaining the formation when they came.

A heavy cloth of camel skin and black cow hair separates the inside and outside of the tent into two worlds. Outside the house is a howling north wind, and inside the house is a drowsy warmth.

Xu Ye felt that he must have been stunned by the charcoal heat in the house.

Otherwise, how could you hear such a ridiculous thing?

According to the confessions of Shi Yuanyi and Hou Rong, four months ago, they had been ordered to sneak into Beidi's military camp and secretly meet Beidi's second prince, Luo Di, with two million taels of silver tickets and Gu Haiwang's secret letter.

The meaning of Gu Haiwang's secret letter to Beidi is very simple: Aren't you going south so vigorously just to grab money? In this case, there is no need to be so troublesome, I will give you the money directly, you withdraw from the army, I will take military merits, and I don't have to fight, isn't this a triple win?

I have to say that Gu Haiwang is really a logical genius.

In Gu Haiwang's view, Beidi has always been a barbarian, what ambition can a barbarian have? It's just that there are too many people to eat, so they come to the rich scenery and loot a wave, and when they are full, they will naturally leave.

As he expected, Lodi gladly accepted his offer and accepted the deposit of two million taels of silver tickets, and gave back his banner and golden arrows as proof of the alliance.

After forming an alliance, Gu Haiwang and Luo Di discussed to perform a big drama of "Beidi fled in the wilderness, and Dajing pursued with victory" to draw a successful end to this transaction. Unexpectedly, this time Luo Di was a fake show, he feigned defeat and fled, and ambushed Gu Haiwang's army with his backhand.

After listening to this, Xu Ye sat down on the chair next to him in a daze, and couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.

Although the things they said were bizarre, in retrospect, there were traces to follow.

Xu Ye suddenly remembered that time when Gu Haiwang insisted on crossing the river to pursue, no matter how others persuaded him, he turned a deaf ear, and insisted on bringing all the troops he brought from Beijing.

Now that I think about it, in Gu Haiwang's eyes, it is a battle that must be won, and the other side of the river is not an enemy, but a military merit that can be obtained at your fingertips. Naturally, he would not give such an opportunity to others. (End of chapter)