Luo Junyao and Xie Yan stayed in the other courtyard for half a month, spending their daily leisure time almost making people forget about the trivial chores of Shangyong.
But after all, one cannot escape reality for too long. Half a month later, Shangyong finally began to receive urging letters one after another.
"Are you going back?" Luo Junyao leaned on Xie Yan's shoulder and watched him put away the letter he had just received.
Xie Yan nodded and said, "It's time to go back. Let's go out to play when we are free."
"Okay." Luo Junyao agreed readily. Of course he had a great time in the other courtyard, but there were many things going on in Shangyong, and many people were waiting for them to go back.
Luo Junyao stood up, stretched out, and said, "Gao Yu's envoy has been left hanging for so long. I don't know what happened to him."
Xie Yan stood up and stood side by side with her, saying: "They are not idle during this time."
It is true that they will not be idle. Although Xie Yan is not here, there are so many courtiers in the court who are not vegetarians.
Now they have the upper hand, and they still hold other people's princes in their hands. If they can't take a piece of flesh from Gao Yu's body, they will have wasted most of their lives hanging around the court.
In fact, Envoy Gaoyu is now looking forward to the regent's early return every day.
They were more willing to talk to the regent than to those old gentlemen who dug countless holes with one word. Even if the regent demanded a harsher price, at least they could die a quick death.
Now that they had decided to return to Beijing, the two of them did not hesitate. They gathered a few children, told them their decision to return to Beijing, and started packing their luggage.
Compared to Luo Junyao, several children were actually more reluctant to leave.
They were all born and raised in a prosperous place like Shangyong. The farthest place they have been to in their lives is outside the city. It is a rare opportunity to leave the capital so far away, so they are naturally very happy.
After only half a month, the children's complexions are much better than when they were in Shangyong, and they look very energetic.
"Little Auntie Huang, when will we come out to play again?" Xie Cheng asked.
Luo Jun shook his little head and said, "I'll have to ask your uncle about this."
Xie Cheng drooped his head in depression. The emperor was so busy that he didn't know when he would have to wait until next time.
Xie Cheng looked carefully at Xie Yan not far away, pulled Luo Junyao and whispered: "Little Auntie Huang, if Uncle Huang doesn't have time, can we play by ourselves?"
Xie Yan glanced at him lightly and said, "Wait until you can take charge."
"Ah?" Xie Cheng's face suddenly turned bitter.
Even if he is still young, he knows that becoming a pro-government cannot be accomplished in a year or two. How many years will that take?
Just listen to Xie Yan continue: "When you take charge, I will have time to bring your little emperor aunt out."
"..." So, do I still want to stay in the capital?
It was rare for Luo Junyao to see Xie Yan joking with Xie Cheng, and he couldn't help laughing.
Looking at Xie Cheng's little bitter face again, he said helplessly: "A Cheng, when you take charge, you can decide by yourself when to go out and play."
"Yes." Xie Cheng suddenly realized, "Then I want to move the palace here!"
Although he was born into the royal family and was an emperor, Xie Cheng did not have a good impression of the palace.
In the past, the imperial palace was a place where the imperial grandmother and mother existed in Xie Cheng's eyes, but now the imperial grandmother and queen mother are gone. All that is left are empty and gloomy palaces, like monsters with their mouths open, ready to destroy them at any time.
He swallows it.
Xie Cheng was very afraid that he would be left alone in the palace, so the emperor's uncle and his little emperor's aunt took him out of the palace to live in the Regent's Mansion. Xie Cheng was always very happy.
In Emperor Yong's City, Messenger Gaoyu once again walked out of the palace and felt weak all over.
He was besieged by those old guys from Dasheng again.
Those old men all have white hair and are old, so why are they still so eloquent? Why are their thoughts so complicated?
"Sir." The Gaoyu officials following him looked at his master's gloomy face with some worry, "Master Dasheng is really too much. They dared to make such excessive demands before they even met the regent. Wait for Xie Yan
We don’t know what will happen when we come back. We can’t let them be like this..."
Messenger Gao Yu waved his hand and said: "Who allowed us to defeat, who allowed the eldest prince to be in their hands?"
The man curled his lips and whispered: "The defeat and capture of the eldest prince is already a shame for me, Gaoyu, why do I have to..."
"Shut up!" the envoy said angrily: "Don't forget why the king ordered you and me to go to Dasheng as an envoy."
Isn't it just for the eldest prince?
The people of Dasheng obviously don't want to fight now and will not take the initiative to attack Gaoyu in the short term. They come all the way to Dasheng mainly for the sake of the eldest prince Heruomuti.
A defeated prince did not sacrifice his life for his country, but instead became a prisoner of the Dasheng people. It was simply a shame for the warriors of Gaoyu!
What is the point of the king spending a huge price to replace such a person?
The envoy sighed and said: "We just obey the king's order. It's not that you don't know the situation in Gaoyu King's City now."
Because of the failure of the attack on Dasheng, the king's prestige in Gaoyu dropped sharply. Many families expressed their dissatisfaction with the king's preference for favoring the eldest prince, and instead sided with the second prince and the queen.
It is already quite difficult for the king to persuade the Gaoyu nobles to exchange for the eldest prince.
"Yes, sir."
"Envoy Gaoyu, please stay." The two of them walked out of the palace gate and were about to leave when the guard's voice came from behind.
The group of people had no choice but to stop, turn around and look at the person who came: "I wonder if there is anything else?"
The person who came to deliver the message was a middle-aged official. He said calmly, "His Royal Highness the Prince Regent has returned to Beijing and asked the envoy to meet him in the study."
Messenger Gao Yu took a deep breath and finally returned.
In the imperial study room, Xie Yan looked at the envoy from Gao Yu who bowed to him respectfully, and said calmly: "No courtesy."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Messenger Gao Yu then stood up and said.
Xie Yan motioned for the envoy to take a seat and said: "I am not in Shangyong these days. Please forgive me if I have been negligent."
The messenger sneered in his heart, "Isn't it considered neglect to leave the capital to accompany the princess to relax before I enter the city?"
But he didn't dare to say it, so he could only apologize and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, your words are serious, everything is fine, why should you say you are being negligent?"
"That's good." Xie Yan nodded and said: "I have just watched the negotiations between the two parties hosted by Prince Ancheng and the Minister of Rites in the past few days. Are there any points that you and I can't seem to reach an agreement on?
The envoy nodded and said: "That's true. Two of Da Sheng's conditions are too harsh. Even if I risk my life, I will never dare to agree to this matter. Please give me a clear warning."
Xie Yan raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh?"
Facing his indifferent eyes, the envoy could only bite the bullet and said: "This time it was Gao Yu who took the initiative to provoke the war. Our king is willing to transfer the Kegu area east of Chixia Pass to Dasheng as compensation. But your Ancheng County
The king requested that the Guna River be used as the boundary and that everything west of the Guna River be placed under Dasheng. Is this a little... excessive?"
Xie Yan tapped the folding paper on the table with his right hand twice and said, "I don't think so."
The messenger was speechless and could not speak for a moment.
Just listen to Xie Yan say: "After this war, I know that Chixia Pass is not enough to protect the safety of Yanzhou. If the Guna River is used as the boundary, it will be a good thing for both Dasheng and Gaoyu. From now on
, both sides will surely be able to usher in a truly long-term peace."
What's so good about Gao Yu? The envoy wanted to ask.
"The king intends to build another city outside Chixia Pass as a barrier to Chixia Pass, but the Kegu area is too small. What does the envoy think?"
The envoy just wanted to send greetings to Xie Yan's family at this time.
Gao Yu's family is now the only one outside Chixia Pass. Xie Yan's arrangement is clearly to guard against Gao Yu, and he asked him what he thinks?
Messenger Gao Yu shook his head and said: "Your Majesty's conditions are too harsh, I beg your pardon that I cannot agree."
Xie Yan didn't take it seriously, "In this case, the envoy might as well go back and think about it and talk about it another day. But...if we talk about it another day, it may not be the current price."
"..." Gao Yu's envoy was speechless for a long time, and then he said in a deep voice after a while: "Your Majesty, what if Gao Yu gives up on the eldest prince?"
Dasheng people don’t think that holding this He Ruomudi in their hands can really open their mouths as much as they want, right?
Xie Yan said: "The envoy can set off back to Gaoyu now. I, the king, can make the decision and let you take He Ruomuti's head back."
Envoy Gaoyu took a deep breath and said: "The Guna River is not good. Let's each take a step back and use Gebei Mountain as the boundary."
Xie Yan said: "The east bank of Guna River is ten miles away."
Are you going to raise the price just because you said it will go up?
Xie Yan said: "I know what Gao Yu thinks. Dasheng really doesn't want to use troops outside. As long as there is time, Gao Yu will recover in three to five years. But Dasheng still has the Qi tribe in the northwest.
Suffering. But..."
Xie Yan's eyes were indifferent, "I wonder if the person sitting in King Gaoyu's city in three or five years will still be King Gaoyu today?"
"Prince Regent!" Messenger Gao Yu stood up suddenly and stared at Xie Yan with an ugly expression.
When the guard standing at the door heard the noise, he immediately turned around and looked towards the palace, his hand already pressed on the handle of the knife at his waist.
Xie Yan waved his hand and motioned for them to pick it up.
The guard then let go of the handle of the knife, bowed his hand respectfully and returned to his original position.
"Prince Regent, please be careful what you say." Messenger Gao Yu said solemnly.
Xie Yan said calmly: "If it weren't for the serious internal divisions in King Gaoyu's city, and King Gaoyu and the Queen fighting against each other, how could King Gaoyu care so much about He Ruomudi, a defeated prince?"
Messenger Gao Yu gritted his teeth and said, "My king is not the only one with two princes."
"so?"
The envoy of Gaoyu was speechless for a long time. King Gaoyu did have more than two princes, but it would be better not to have the other princes.
Messenger Gao Yu was silent for a long time, then sighed and said: "I really can't make the decision on this matter. Please forgive me the Prince Regent."
Xie Yan said: "It doesn't matter. Your Excellency might as well send him back to ask King Gaoyu for advice. I am not in a hurry."
The first condition could not be negotiated, so Ambassador Gao Yu simply gave up temporarily and negotiated another condition that he could not accept.
"As for the second point... we have no objection to the amount of compensation required, but the compensation you requested includes 3,000 war horses, which is not possible. Gao Yu is willing to pay 30% higher than the value of these 3,000 war horses as compensation in gold and silver.
.”
Xie Yan said: "Gaoyu has tens of thousands of cavalry, but you and I are stingy with three thousand horses?"
Envoy Gao Yu said with a smile, "Your Majesty, you should know that war horses... are never something that can be taken care of casually."
The biggest shortcoming of Dasheng people is that they do not have enough war horses. The land in the Central Plains is rich, but it is not suitable for raising horses.
There are no excellent horse breeds in Dasheng itself, and the only ones they have are imported from outside the Great Wall or even from the Western Regions.
Three thousand horses may not seem like much, but it is a huge addition to the combat effectiveness of Da Sheng's cavalry.
What's more, they also require that at least 300 of these war horses be stallions.
Last year, Dasheng people had obtained a piece of land outside the customs that was suitable for raising horses. With these stallions, they would be in big trouble in the future.
Xie Yan said: "Only the victor has the right to choose."
The messenger Gao Yu looked a little ugly, "Your Highness the Regent, this incident is indeed Gao Yu's fault, but you and I have some friendship over the years of jointly attacking the Qi people. Why do you have to be so aggressive, Your Highness?"
Xie Yan said: "I have cooperated with King Gao Yu for several years. I have always been very polite to Gao Yu, but he stabbed me behind my back."
"My king and the eldest prince were also bewitched by Cao Mian. Now that Cao Mian has been brought to justice, we are also willing to compensate Dasheng for his losses..."
Xie Yan said coldly: "This is my condition, but since you have mentioned friendship, I might as well give you some face."
Messenger Gao Yu felt happy and waited with bated breath for Xie Yan's next words.
Xie Yan said calmly: "You can choose one of the two, war horse or land."
"..." Messenger Gaoyu was silent for a long time and said, "I need time to think about it."
"Please." Xie Yan said.
After the messenger Gao Yu resigned, Luo Junyao walked out of the back hall.
"Which one do you think he will choose?" Luo Junyao asked curiously.
Xie Yan took a sip of tea, stretched out his hand to pull her towards him, and said, "He will give her the land."
Luo Junyao frowned and asked, "Why?" You don't have to choose which one is more expensive, land or war horses.
Xie Yan said: "The land outside the pass is vast and sparsely populated, and the Gaoyu people are currently unable to govern such a large place. The land outside Chixia Pass was originally the place of the Heli people. Although Heli was destroyed by Gaoyu many years ago, these places
There are still a large number of Heli people living there, and these people hate the Gaoyu people to the core. Unless a large number of soldiers and horses are stationed to cultivate land, ordinary Gaoyu people will not dare to live in these places no matter how tough they are. Nowadays, these places are the Central Plains.
People and Heli people live together, and the Heli people often go in and out of Chixia Pass, so they are no different from the people of Yanzhou."
Luo Junyao said: "So, these places are controlled by Yanzhou?"
Xie Yan said: "Although the Gaoyu people dare not settle down, the Gaoyu cavalry and some big families with private soldiers often come to rob the Heli people. If possible, they would probably prefer to completely wipe out the Heli people. Heli is a
The small tribe has been in disarray since the last patriarch and his family were wiped out. In recent years, it has recovered a little. Their leader has sworn to me that he is willing to join the whole clan to join Dasheng and become a citizen of Dasheng. In this case, I will naturally
Take back their clan land."
"That's it." Luo Junyao nodded.
Xie Yan chuckled and said: "The most important thing is that the land must be obtained from King Gao Yu, but the war horse... can also be obtained from other people."
