"However, I have another purpose for doing this, can the sixth master guess?" Yuan Xi poured a cup of tea and served it to Rong Run.

Rong Run took it with both hands, and then shook his head: "Please also ask the imperial sister-in-law to give advice." ”

"Xiao Rongshen closed the capital, which seemed to have caused us trouble, but in fact, he pushed himself into the abyss of death. Now that I have annexed three states, Xiao Rongshen does not dare to send troops to fight me. That's good, since he doesn't dare to do it, I'll give him a step by step cannibalization, two states he doesn't feel distressed, then three or five, or even all the chassis of Da Chu. At that time, Xiao Rongshen can only fight the trapped beasts in this small corner of the capital, I will cut off his food, cut off his retreat, the people can't survive, they will find a way to escape from the city, this is called a civil uprising. We can take the capital without much effort. ”

Rong Run nodded and laughed: "No wonder Xiao Rongshen wanted to kill the imperial sister-in-law several times, it turned out that he already knew that he couldn't fight the imperial sister-in-law?"

Yuan Xi smiled disapprovingly and said, "There is one more thing, I want to ask the sixth master for help."

"Imperial sister-in-law, please speak. ”

"Your second brother has been fighting against Lu Guo in Guiyun Prefecture for a long time, and with Lu Guo's national strength, he should not be able to hold out for so long, I suspect that someone in the court is secretly helping Lu Guo. ”

Rong Run was taken aback, if he wanted to say that someone in the court was colluding with Lu Guo, he believed it. And he can also guess eight or nine, this person who colluded with Lu Guo is Xiao Rongshen. Otherwise, why would he bow his head to the weak and small country of Lü State, and why would he want to make peace with Lü State? He would still marry Chenxiang to the old emperor of Lü State with gray hair and teeth off!

Seeing that Rong Run's face was very solemn, Yuan Xi was a little surprised: "Did the sixth master think of something?"

Rong Run nodded: "The imperial sister-in-law should not have guessed wrong." Moreover, the younger brother thought that the reason why this person would collude with Lu Guo was because Xiao Rong wanted to borrow troops from Lu Guo to deal with us. ”

Yuan Xi thought about it, what Rong Run said was not unreasonable, and couldn't help but smile contemptuously: "Then he miscalculated." Your second brother only has 50,000 elite soldiers in his hands, so he will block Lu Guo from Guiyunzhou and cannot penetrate deep into the hinterland of Great Chu. Now that we have swallowed Erzhou, how can we expand our military strength by more than 50,000? He Xiao Rong wants to use the hand of Lu Guo to deal with us, which is really whimsical. ”

When Wang Nianen heard this, he couldn't help but sneer and said, "This is also to blame on the prince, he is always different from others." Others led a large army to conquest, and 70,000 or 80,000 of the 100,000 troops had to be named by their families, and the real strength was only 20,000 or 30,000. It's all for the sake of strengthening, and this is the same for generals all over the world. Who is like our prince? It is said that it is 50,000, that is, 50,000 in real combat, and it is not mixed with any water, even if Lu Guo does not underestimate the enemy, he may not be able to defeat our Great Chu, not to mention that he underestimates the enemy? I heard that when the prince's army went to Guiyunzhou, the old emperor of Lu Guo only sent 20,000 soldiers, and he thought that our prince liked to mix water like other generals!"

Rong Run also smiled and said, "Imperial sister-in-law, what do you need your brother to do?"

"Go to see the emperor of the country of Lü. Yuan Xi said succinctly.

"Ah, does the imperial sister-in-law want her younger brother to lobby the old emperor of Lu Guo and persuade him to break off contact with Xiao Rongshen?" Rong Run was a little unsure, and said: "It's easy to meet Emperor Lu Guo, but it's ...... to negotiate I'm afraid we don't have the capital, right?"

Yuan Xi smiled slightly: "Why don't you have the capital? Sixth master, in the past, in order to snatch the grain and rice women, Lu Guo used cloth and pig iron to constantly harass my Dachu. Do you know why Da Chu didn't throw his troops into destroying this restless neighbor?"

Rong Run looked at Yuan Xi calmly and said: "It's because Lu Guo and Qi Guo have an alliance with the Western Regions, one is prosperous and the other is lost, and they won't watch Lu Guo be beaten." ”

"Therefore, the first emperor has always had a soft policy towards Lu Guo. Lu Guodi is small, the people are thin, the emperor is old, and the prince is small. At least half of the silk and linen cloth worn by the people of the Lu State was purchased from the merchants of Great Chu. Half of the rice and grain they eat are produced in the acres of Dachu's fields. In order to appease them, the first emperor sold my Great Chu's grain, rice, cloth, silk, pig iron and other things to Lu Guo at a low cost. Therefore, there has been very little famine in Lü in recent years. ”

Rong Run sighed and shook his head helplessly: "Yes, but that's it, they are still not greedy enough, violating the border of Dachu, killing people, and mutilating innocents." ”

Yuan Xi sighed disapprovingly and said, "I now suspect that even Lu Guo is just a son on Xiao Rongshen's chessboard. ”

Rong Run was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

"It means that Lu Guo didn't want to fight at all, but was just stirred into the war for no reason. But helplessly, Xiao Rongshen, Rong Zhan, Qi Guo and the Western Regions forced him together, making it want to fight, and if it didn't want to fight, it had to fight. Yuan Xi poured the cold tea in the cup and asked Zhong's mother to bring herself a cup of warm water.

Rong Run thought about it, and it seemed that it could only be explained in this way. Otherwise, the country of Lu is weak and the people are widowed, and the little prince is only the same age as him, and the position of the emperor's grandson is still unstable, the old emperor must want to win over the support of the powerful country, how can he provoke Da Chu?

"I understand that someone deliberately dragged Lu Guo into the quagmire of war. If the old emperor of the Lu State didn't want to see the collapse of the government, he could only accept the support of that person, because that person now represents the imperial power of Great Chu, isn't that so?" asked Rong Run.

Yuan Xi and Wang Nianen both nodded in agreement.

Wang Nianen held a cup of hot tea and asked, "But why is it that the Lu State is at war with the Great Chu, but the Qi Kingdom and the Western Regions are not worded?"

Rong Run pondered for a moment and replied: "Because this time Lu Guo and Da Chu are fighting a war of attrition, they want to sit back and wait for Lu Guo to be exhausted by Da Chu, and then take the opportunity to come up and get a piece of the pie." ”

"Exactly. Yuan Xi said firmly: "So just now the sixth master asked me if I had any capital, and I said yes, it is out of here." Now that the Qi State and the Western Regions have seen through the defeat of the Lu State, they will no longer have any material support for the Lu State, let alone send troops. Lu Guo fought alone, and the treasury would soon lose money. At that time, Lu Guo will definitely ask Xiao Rongshen for food and salary, but Xiao Rongshen's decree can't pass the Sanzhou ......"

Rong Run drank the cold tea in the cup in one go, and said with a smile: "In this way, Lu Guo is really going to cross." ”

"We have gold mines in Donglin Prefecture, and gold is endless. Again. There were many wealthy merchants in the same state, and the government treasury was full of silver, and I thought that this money could be used to buy a large amount of pig iron, grain, and silk silk at the border. As long as it is a daily use, you can buy it back. There are only so many things, let's buy them, Lu Guo doesn't want to buy the goods even if he carries the silver. At that time, even if he doesn't want to cooperate with us, he can only listen to us, this is our capital. ”

Wang Nianen stroked his beard and looked at Yuan Xi as if he didn't understand: "What does the sect master mean is to starve them to death and die of poverty, and then they will surrender?"

Rong Run pondered for a while, and smiled calmly: "The imperial sister-in-law really deserves to be born in a merchant family, this kind of idea is much better than fighting, and the soldiers will go down to the country without blood." ”

Yuan Xi said with a smile: "Let's buy pig iron, we can make weapons and step up military training." Buying silk silk can be sold at a low price in Yuexi, filling the market and supporting Yuexi. Grain and rice can be used as military rations, and if there is more, it can also fill the treasury. In short, the more the better, don't give Lu Guo a little respite. Xiao Rongshen can't save Lu Guo, and Lu Guo will find a new master on his own. ”

Rong Run stood up and said, "Since this is the case, I will immediately leave for Lu Guo and persuade Lu Guo to withdraw his troops." ”

Wang Nianen also stood up and said with a smile: "If they refuse to retreat, we will trap them!"

The sky was about to dawn, and Yuan Xi also felt a little tired, so he said goodbye to Rong Run, and went back to the room with Zhong's mother to rest.

Sitting in front of the mirror, Mother Zhong slowly combed Yuan Xi's hair with a comb, and couldn't help sighing: "The master's hair is not as good as last year, a little yellow, not as black as last year." ”

"Don't worry, just go back and raise it with egg whites. ”

Mother Zhong sighed, she originally wanted to persuade Yuan Xi to maintain more, but she also knew that persuasion was in vain, so she gave up.

Won-hee's fingertips swiped over the fat powder box, and he has never touched the fat powder since he was pregnant with the child in his abdomen. Yuan Xi unscrewed the lid of the box, and the fat powder inside was clumped.

Mother Zhong glanced at it and said, "Yo, this is terrible." ”

"It's a pity, this was given to me by Ah Zhan. Yuan Xi rubbed a little with his fingertips and applied it to the back of his hand, the color of this fat powder has changed, and it is not as bright as before.

Mother Zhong looked at Yuan Xi in the mirror, and smiled gently: "It's nothing, the most important thing is that the master gives birth to the child safely." ”

Yuan Xi gently stroked her lower abdomen, feeling that her lower abdomen had begun to curl a little, which surprised her a little. Although she had never seen herself pregnant for three months, she had at least heard the old lady talk about Aunt Yu's pregnancy with her eldest brother, saying that she couldn't see anything in the first three months, and her belly didn't show a little until the fourth month.

Yuan Xi was a little surprised, could it be that he had eaten too much recently and made himself fat? It's not right to think about it, I've been busy these days, sometimes I can't even take a bite of food, I just don't lose weight, how can I get fat?

Mother Zhong was also a little surprised when she saw Yuan Xi touching her stomach: "It's only been three months, why is it a little obvious? It seems that this child is not small." Mother Zhong said, and couldn't help sighing: "The child is too big, and I'm afraid I will suffer when I am born." ”

Yuan Xi smiled slightly, this is not afraid, which mother did not go through a lot of hardships to bring her children into the world?

"Looks like a boy. Mother Zhong said and smiled sweetly.

"Ah Zhan doesn't care much about men and women, but I want to have a son first, and then a younger sister. Yuan Xi put his hands on his lower abdomen, only to feel that his stomach was soft.

Mother Zhong snorted and covered her mouth and said, "I'm afraid that my brother will have a younger sister, and I will be naughty with my sister." When Princess Chenxiang's mother died, the queen took Princess Chenxiang to her palace to raise her. However, the feng shui took turns, and then it was reversed, and it was replaced by Princess Chenxiang playing tricks on the sixth master. ”