Outside Huayang City, the Southern Sichuan Coalition Army, which has reached 180,000 troops—in fact, it can no longer be called the Southern Sichuan Coalition Army, because the composition of the entire contingent has increased to tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of various ethnic groups who have surrendered along the way, and they do not belong to the southern Sichuan boundary—the joint camp has reached dozens of miles, and almost the entire city has been encircled.

But the army did not take advantage of the situation to attack, because the Ba clan who took Huayang sent people to show their submission early in the morning, and then today, Ba Long, the patriarch of the Ba clan, personally went out of the city to see Sun Ning, in order to show his sincerity, and was willing to hand over Huayang and the whole clan to the imperial court.

In the Chinese military tent, Sun Ning saw the dark-skinned, tall and muscular patriarch of the Ba people, and smiled and asked him to take a seat.

"Patriarch Barong looks very young, and it seems that he is also the most heroic warrior in the whole clan, right?" Sun Ning asked with a smile, his attitude was quite close and kind.

Ba Long also looked smiling, and nodded in response: "I am twenty-eight this year, and I am indeed the most heroic person in the Ba clan!" Our Ba clan has selected the patriarch for many years, and they are all selected warriors in the clan. ”

"yes, that's disrespectful." Sun Ning smiled helplessly, this person is really sincere, it seems that it is a little boring to talk to him with the Han people's greeting words.

So he quickly turned to the topic: "Let's talk about it, what are your requirements for submitting to the imperial court?" ”

Ba Long immediately became interested, straightened his chest, looked at Sun Ning and said: "Your court sent someone to see me before, promising to give us absolute autonomy, and willing to give us all the cities in northern Sichuan. As long as your court can do this, then Huayang I can let you enter, and then fight Kuizhou, and our Ba clan is also willing to send troops to help. ”

These words suddenly made the expressions of several other patriarchs in the tent change slightly, their clans had surrendered to the imperial court before, but they didn't dare to mention the slightest conditions, this guy really has a great appetite and guts.

And several officials from Yuzhou who came later lowered their faces, and someone immediately scolded: "Bold, you actually dare to talk to the court about the conditions, you really can't do it when the court is afraid of you!" ”

It was Sun Ning, the smile on his face was also narrow, he only squinted and glanced at the other party, and he didn't rush to speak.

He was considering whether the other party's attitude really thought so, or whether it was just a temptation.

Ba Long also frowned quickly at this time, and said with some dissatisfaction: "These requests are not made by us ourselves, but the benefits promised by Zhuge Qingyun sent by you, saying that as long as we are willing to submit to the imperial court and help you take down the Huayang of the Mu clan, we will give us these benefits."

"Why, now that it's done, you won't admit it? Is this what you Han people have always done? ”

Seeing his angry appearance of being wronged, Sun Ning quickly made a judgment, this is really the true thoughts of Ba Long, and even the entire Ba Shi people.

Only then did he slowly speak: "Patriarch Barong, please be calm and don't be impatient, that's right, I have already agreed to what Zhuge Qingyun promised you before, and our court will not really go back on its word and go against what was promised to you before." ”

Only then did Barong turn his anger into joy: "That's good, as long as it's ......"

His words were quickly interrupted by Sun Ning: "However, there are some details that we still have to talk about."

"I remember very well that our army was fighting against the rebel army led by the Mu clan in Shunzhou that day, and the situation was far from clear, so we need your Ba clan to raise troops behind and break this Huayang to completely settle the battle situation, which will give you so many benefits.

"But in fact, what are you doing when my army needs help the most? Watching! The Ba clan almost did not send a single soldier in the entire winter moon, but they were just watching the battle on our front line, and it was not until the results of the two battles in Tongchuan and Shunzhou that you really sent troops and entered Huayang. ”

When Ba Long heard this, he was also a little anxious, and hurriedly said: "But in the end, we still took Huayang according to your wishes, and also uprooted the Mu family...... Even, those tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Mu clan who fled back from defeat were also cleaned up by us......"

"That's a good word, but if the timing is not right, your credit will be completely different."

Sun Ning looked at the other party with a smile again, but his eyes became resolute and cold: "Send troops a month earlier to help us take Huayang, you are the key to turning the tide of the battle, and you are a great hero." But when did you really win Huayang in the end? ”

was stared at by Sun Ning, and Ba Long's heart was also cold, so he blurted out: "Ten ...... Twelve days ago......"

"That's right, more than ten days ago...... At that time, our army had already won a great victory and marched north, and all the troops along the way were invincible, do you really think that Huayang is still a problem for us?

"And there is one thing you don't forget, because of the defeat on the front line, the Mu clan sent tens of thousands of more soldiers and horses south to support, which caused the Huayang defense to be even more empty, so that you can take advantage of the weakness and easily take the city.

"From this point of view, it is not your Ba clan who helped the imperial court to take Huayang, on the contrary, it should be a great victory for the imperial court, helping you to easily take Huayang without blood.

"So now you take credit for reaching out to the court to ask for benefits, is it really appropriate?"

This time, Baron was completely out of words.

He is a real person, and he may have insisted on it for the sake of his own clan before, but thinking about it along Sun Ning's train of thought, it seems that this is really the case, and his own family has been stained with the light of the imperial army.

Seeing that he was entangled, Sun Ning also laughed secretly in his heart, these barbarians are simple-minded, and they are really easy to deal with.

He didn't expect at all how much impact Huayang would have on other tribes loyal to the Mu clan after it was taken, it can be said that if the Ba clan had not taken Huayang before, the army would not have been able to advance north so smoothly, and there would not have been a scene where Mu Heng looked at the desperate barbarian tribes all the way.

So to be honest, although Ba's capture of Huayang did not have the effect of turning the entire battle in one fell swoop, the credit for this Northern Expedition was still quite large.

However, Sun Ning didn't plan to really hand over half of Sichuan and Shu to their Ba clan as he said before, wouldn't that kill a Mu clan and set up a new Mu clan?

Sun Ning's tone eased again at this time: "Of course, you Ba Shi still has merit in helping to take Huayang, and the reward that should be given, the imperial court will not lack you." Even Huayang City, we can also give it to the Ba clan at that time, so that you Ba clan can return to the land of wealth.

"However, if you want to truly restore the glory of your ancestors, you can't just rely on this small merit, you need your Ba clan to continue to serve the court, send troops and efforts, and make more meritorious contributions.

"Patriarch Barong, are you Ba Clan willing to obey the orders of the imperial court from now on and become a member of our army?"

This is the purpose of Sun Ning saying so much, he wants to bring all the Ba Shi under his command.