In the main hall of the governor's house, Li Po held a banquet in honor of the Tang envoy.
There was no longer any quarreling. As for Li Po, he just wanted to hear what kind of concessions Li Tang would make, because this was neither the Spring and Autumn Warring States period when feudal lords were divided, nor the war in the late Han Dynasty.
Over the past few years, wars have raged across the land, and there is almost no reason to argue between the various forces. War is the most common way for them to get along.
If others don't tell me, Li and Tang have tried several times in succession, but to no avail. In such a time of great chaos, Sun and Liu may not unite to fight against Cao.
Therefore, in Li Po's view, the role of the envoy is not great, and it is unlikely that the two families will turn their hostility into friendship.
Moreover, there are no conditions for mutual gain. Li Tang will not give him population, food, or land, and he can't give anything decent to Li Tang here.
The reason why the two families were still able to sit down and talk after a big war was that they were taking time to accumulate strength for the more intense war that would follow.
Li Po felt that for today's princes in the late Sui Dynasty, the role of messenger was not as exaggerated as it was during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Moreover, it was also a very dangerous profession, and one would lose his head at every turn.
For example, the envoy Li Tang sent to Zhu Can was cooked and eaten by Zhu Can. The envoy sent to the Turks had his nose and eyes cut off and died in Jinyang.
It was also like the envoy Wang Shichong sent to him some time ago. He wanted to kill them all because the bullshit edict they brought was really annoying for people to read.
Of course, all the envoys Li Shentong sent to him turned into corpses.
It is really not very popular these days for two countries to refuse to kill envoys when they are at war.
For Li Xiuning, it was almost the same. It was necessary to find out what Li Po was thinking. If Li Po insisted on leading his troops south to Chang'an, then they could go back home.
If there was any intention of calling it quits, we could talk about it. As for how to talk and where the bottom line was, Li Xiuning thought about it and added her father's advice, but she was still not sure.
A banquet is actually just a process of testing each other. No one wants to anger Li Po, and Li Po will not embarrass Dou Dan again.
Everyone avoided talking about the previous vigorous war, as if it had never happened.
There was no need to worry about running out of things to say. Li Po and Li Xiuning were flirting back and forth, recounting their old friendship. The others were all children of the same family, and building friendships was their specialty.
Wen Yanbo's eldest brother worked in Li Tang, which was a good breakthrough, and he soon discussed it with Wei Jie.
Dou Dan had a good rapport with Pei Ji, and he could also talk to Pei Shiqing. The sharpness he had honed in adversity and battles was very well restrained by him, and he was as gentle and gentle as the Zhuojun army back then.
That son of aristocratic family.
He also treated Pei Shiqing with the courtesy of a younger generation, and showed sufficient gestures, and did not neglect Pei Shiqing because of his capriciousness.
As for Zhao Ying, compared with these people, the local family in Jin was far from inferior. Being able to sit here with him today can only be said to be a coincidence.
He came to Jiangjun to meet Li Po because banditry has been very serious in Longquan County this year. There is no way around it. Luliang Mountain runs across the county. Suppressing bandits has always been the norm in Longquan County over the years.
At the beginning of this year, Longquan County sent 2,000 troops, and many of them were recruited. Many of them fled to the Luliang Mountains to escape civilian service. It is normal for gangs of men and women to go out and plunder in order to survive this winter.
But that's it.
Longquan County was originally a lower county. After all this trouble, one can imagine what the autumn harvest will be like this year. Needless to say, he came to Jiang County to plead guilty to Li Po.
I had a conversation with Li Po once and he had a very good impression of this person.
This man was born in the Zhao family of Longquan and married the daughter of the Zhang family in Jinyang. He was considered an honest person. He came to Jiangjun not only to plead guilty to Li Po, but also to fight for an official position and to get some food back from Jiangjun.
How should I put it? There are all kinds of local officials in troubled times. In Li Po's opinion, it is very simple to distinguish the good from the bad. As long as they have a little bit of desire to protect the environment and the people, there is no need to be too demanding.
Zhao Ying felt relieved to be a guest here. He was too far away from these people in terms of status to talk to each other. The table of food and wine was very tempting. He had not eaten such delicacies in many days.
So this guy only drinks wine and eats meat, which looks very embarrassing to the people of Jin.
Just as I was enjoying myself, suddenly someone asked me, "Governor Zhao, when I returned to Xijing from Jinyang, I stayed in Longquan for a few days. I felt that Longquan was exquisite and elegant, but the people's livelihood was difficult and there were more bandits. I don't know what Longquan is like today."
, so what?"
Without looking, Zhao Ying knew who was talking just by listening to the soft voice. He had indeed met Li's third wife in Longquan back then, but at that time she was just a guest from Longquan County, accompanying the prefect to greet her.
of noble people.
Zhao Ying raised his head and was not too panicked. He had long since wanted to stop being a prefect. The bandits below were enough of a headache. In a big war, men and food would have to be provided. It would be fine if he was an official elsewhere. But
That's where his hometown is.
For this reason, Zhao's reputation in his hometown has plummeted. His youngest son was hit on the head with blood when he went out to play. What do you mean by saying that this prefect is a good official?
He came to Jiangjun to plead guilty, not because of banditry. Firstly, he wanted to get some food back, otherwise it would be difficult for everyone in Longquan County this winter. Secondly, he really wanted to take the opportunity to resign, even if he returned
It is much better to teach your children and grandchildren at home than to be hated and scolded by your hometown.
At this point, it became clear that he had no good impressions of Li Tang, and the same was true for Li Po, because a big war this year had caused suffering to everyone in Longquan.
Of course, if he were taken to Shandong, Hebei, Henan and other places to have a look, I guess his thoughts would not be like this.
Li Po treated him very favorably, and he didn't feel much gratitude. It's just that he felt that Li Po was better than Li Tang in that he could also know the reason for the autumn harvest. If he wanted to give the people of Longquan a meal, he would be better than Li Shentong.
Pei Shiqing and others are much stronger.
It can be said that as the head of a county, this person does not have much vision and lacks some talents. But in terms of heart, he is as far away as the Yellow River from those heroes in troubled times.
He sat up straight, first cupped his hands, and then looked at Li Po's face before sighing and saying: "When His Highness returned south that day, only some of the scenery in Longquan was still worthy of the eye. Today,"
"Longquan has six counties under its jurisdiction, accounting for more than 14,000 households, which is much less than it was back then."
Everyone was looking at this guy, and no matter what they thought, they kept silent.
Li Xiuning glanced at Li Po slightly, and his meaning was very clear, "The place is so ruined, how can we bear to raise troops to fight and fight again?"
Li Po raised his brows and raised his glass and said: "Chief Zhao is a person who loves the people. Even today, there are ruins everywhere. There are many people who claim to be emperors and kings. There is not one person out of ten who might care about this. I give a toast to Governor Zhao.
I hope the people of Longquan can be in peace and live a peaceful life under the rule of me and the county governor."
Zhao Ying raised his glass and said, "I wish you nothing more than this. I would like to express my gratitude to the general manager on behalf of the people of Longquan."
Li Po and Zhao Ying had a drink together, then turned to Li Xiuning and said: "Sanniang knows that I am from Fufeng. There is no doubt that Fufeng was a Shangjun family back then. Ha, the Fufeng Dou family is also well-known. I heard that Xue Ju and his second brother Shimin
I have fought against Fufeng for a long time, but I wonder if Fufeng can be like Longquan today?"
Is there any need to ask? In fact, Longquan did not experience much war, but was only affected by the war, but its population has been reduced by more than half. In fact, most of the people have fled to the stockades in Luliang Mountain.
But Fufeng was really reduced to a battlefield. The so-called Fufeng Dou family had already moved their entire family to Xijing, completely abandoning their hometown.
And after the war, we can only ask God how many people there are in Fufeng.
Li Xiuning curled her lips, I said Longquan and you said Fufeng. Such tit-for-tat confrontation was unmanly, but her competitive spirit was also aroused unconsciously.
Then he said: "Yes, the war between the two countries has devastated everyone. He is really not a benevolent person. I think he met his eldest brother for the first time that day. My younger sister respects him the most. Because my eldest brother is different from others. He has the ambition to defeat the Turks in the north and protect the country and the people. He is really not a hero of the world."
Comparatively, the eldest brother is now more ambitious than before, but in the eyes of the younger sister, the eldest brother is now no different from others."
After Li Po heard this, he curled his lips inwardly. You'd better tell your father and your brothers to listen to this.
With a slight smile, Li Po stabbed him fiercely, "Can the person Sanniang mentioned be the same as Tang Gong? If there is a haha, in my opinion, it doesn't matter if he is no different from others."
Li Xiuning's eyebrows suddenly stood up, and her eyes were digging hard into Li Po.
Over there, Dou Dan had already answered, "The emperor's benevolence is known to all the world. When the military prince returns to his hometown in the future, Fufeng will surely be filled with flowers. It is best not to disappoint the military prince."
Wen Yanbo chuckled softly over there and said: "Looking at the land of Jin today, the benevolence of Tang Gong is fine. If my dear brother really said that on that day, there was Fufeng Dou family, who did the flowers belong to? It still needs to be discussed, right?
"
There were no curse words in his words, but the smell of gunpowder was gradually getting stronger.
Li Po waved his hand and asked everyone to quiet down. In his opinion, this kind of dispute was meaningless.
Dou Dan seemed very excited and kept talking to Pei Shiqing. Once he took over Li Po's words, he seemed very tough. Li Po, who was very sensitive to people's psychology, already suspected that this person was not here to make peace at all.
Dou Dan is now the Sima of the Qin Palace, and also holds the post of Taichang Qing. What do these official positions mean? Li Po glanced at Li Xiuning sideways, and couldn't help but have some wrong ideas in his mind.
On the other hand, he said, "Today we are drinking together just to greet our old friends. Don't say anything else. Come on, I'll toast Sanniang with a drink as an apology."
Monthly passes are pending. Monthly passes are pending.
...
This chapter has been completed!