After not seeing each other for a year, Fu Zhi's hair became whiter, his face had more wrinkles, and there was a hint of sadness between his eyebrows. When he saw his grandson and his future granddaughter-in-law, he couldn't help but smile, but the sadness between his eyebrows did not diminish much.
The worry in his eyes became even heavier.
Zhao Hanzhang dismounted when he was about ten steps away from him, and then he and Fu Tinghan quickly stepped forward and saluted, "Grandpa Fu!"
Fu Zhi's beard was flying in the cold wind. He grabbed the flying beard with one hand and waved to them with the other hand: "Get up, get up quickly. The envoys from Xiliang are already waiting in the tent. Let's go and see them."
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Zhao Hanzhang agreed with a smile and handed over all the people accompanying him to Fan Ying to manage.
She followed Fu Zhi closely, "Who is coming from Xiliang?"
"It's the cure for Yang Dan."
Yang Dan was a tall scholar with a small beard, a fair face, a medium-length face, and an upright look.
Zhao Hanzhang glanced at his left ear, which was empty and had been cut off by someone.
That was probably the one he had cut in order to see King Nanyang to plead for Zhang Gui. Zhao Hanzhang admired this kind of person who was so cruel to him.
Yang Dan was also sizing up Zhao Hanzhang. He had heard of Zhao Hanzhang for a long time, but today was the first time he saw him.
This year, Xiliang and Zhao Hanzhang cooperated frequently. The highland barley, medicinal materials, cattle, sheep, and fur produced in Xiliang were all sold to Luoyang, Yuzhou and other places through Chang'an.
Zhao Hanzhang herself was short of food, so she introduced several grain merchants to Xiliang, facilitated their transactions with them, and even allowed them to sell salt to Xiliang.
Their Xiliang army also had a branch serving under her command. They heard that she used Beigong Chunru to use her arms, and she didn't mind at all.
Because of this trust, both Zhang Gui and his subordinates had a favorable impression of Zhao Hanzhang.
Yang Dan couldn't help but smile. As soon as Zhao Hanzhang approached, he bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty, Yang Dan, pays homage to Governor Zhao."
Zhao Hanzhang waved his hand and said with a smile: "Yang Zhizhong, there is no need to be polite, please take a seat quickly."
After saying this, he realized that she was also a guest, and couldn't help but turn around to look at Fu Zhi.
Seeing her flattering smile, Fu Zhi waved his hand angrily and said, "Please sit down, Governor Zhao will also sit down."
To travel between Xiliang and Luoyang, one must pass through Chang'an, so Yang Dan invited Fu Zhi to talk with him.
Now there are two people who call the shots in Chang'an, one is Fu Zhi, and the other is King Nanyang.
King Nanyang had a relatively high status and it seemed reasonable to change his name, but he had no talent. Fu Zhi had only been in office for a year. Not only the people inside and outside Chang'an, but also many generals and ministers under King Nanyang defected to Fu Zhi.
So now Fu Zhi is in charge of Chang'an.
In terms of official battles, Zhao Hanzhang was no match for him.
So she never invites famous high-ranking officials to be her subordinates, because she knows that she can't defeat them for the time being, and she prefers to promote people from lower positions.
Xiliang's request is very simple. They hope to attract more merchants from the Central Plains. They are not limited to grain merchants. Silk, satin, linen, porcelain, colored glaze, etc. are all very popular in Xiliang. They hope that these merchants can go to Xiliang.
Go and take a look...
At the same time, they can transport Xiliang's spices, gems, medicinal materials, furs, and even the cattle, sheep, and horses that Zhao Hanzhang urgently needs to the Central Plains.
This is economic cooperation, political and military cooperation, and Yang Dan hopes that they will have deeper cooperation with the Qiang people and the Xianbei in the west and north.
The location of Xiliang destined them to have four enemies: first, the Xianbei and Qiang people in the west who lived together, third, the Huns of the Han Dynasty who could cross the Qiang people and reach Xiliang at any time, and the fourth was the Xianbei in the north.
Among these enemies, except for Xianbei in the north who cannot reach Zhao Hanzhang for the time being, the other three may also go south to attack Zhao Hanzhang at any time.
Therefore, Xiliang hopes to strengthen cooperation with Zhao Hanzhang. Just like this time, when Zhao Hanzhang sent troops to attack Liu Yuan, Xiliang sent troops to plunder the battlefield for her. Xiliang hoped that one day if they fought with foreign enemies, Zhao Hanzhang could also send troops to support him.
Zhao Hanzhang agreed without much hesitation.
Zhang Gui's conditions were very straightforward and her demands were reasonable. She likes allies who are self-aware and will pay first if they want to get something.
This negotiation seems to be between Zhao Hanzhang and Xiliang, but in fact it cannot avoid Chang'an.
Because whether it is business or soldiers entering and exiting, they all need to pass through the checkpoint of Chang'an, so Fu Zhi is very important.
Fu Zhi had been listening to their talk in silence. He had no objection to their cooperation. He only had one request, "If one day your majesty is in trouble, I want you to promise me that you will protect your majesty and the Jin Dynasty no matter the cost."
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Zhao Hanzhang and Yang Dan looked at each other and bowed their heads in agreement.
Fu Zhi slowly exhaled and said, "Then let's draw up a covenant."
Both parties were friendly, so they talked quickly and the agreement was finalized in just half a day.
Fan Ying drafted the alliance letter, copied one copy each from Fu Zhi's account, and handed over the three copies of the alliance letter.
The three of them read it and signed and sealed it after confirming it was correct.
Yang Dan glanced at Fan Ying, and laughed with Zhao Hanzhang: "I have heard long ago that there are many capable female officials in Zhao's account, and today I saw them and they are indeed well-deserved."
Zhao Hanzhang also looked at Fan Ying with a smile, nodded and said: "This is my job in governing China."
In other words, Fan Ying and Yang Dan have the same official rank.
Hearing this, Yang Dan became more respectful, stood up and bowed to Fan Ying, and then said to Zhao Hanzhang: "The girls in our governor's house heard that there was a female official here, and they clamored to come together, and also said that they wanted to work under Zhao Hanzhang.
We are a half-officer, and our governor scolded the girl for her misbehavior, but in the end we couldn't defeat her, so we asked her to follow her and gain experience."
"In a while, the girl will come to see Governor Zhao. Please bear with him. We will stay for a few more days and then return to Xiliang."
Zhao Hanzhang raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "It turns out that Governor Zhang's daughter is also here, so I want to meet him. They say that if a tiger father has no daughter, Governor Zhang is a hero, and Lady Zhang must also be a heroic woman."
Zhang Gui's daughter is named Zhang Ru. She is Zhang Gui's fourth child and the youngest one. She is quite favored, otherwise she would not cry and make trouble, so Zhang Gui asked her to follow her.
She was the same age as Zhao Hanzhang. She was dressed in red, but she looked very gentle, with a heroic look on her eyebrows. When she heard that Zhao Hanzhang wanted to see her, she immediately came to see her with a long sword in hand.
She bowed hastily to Fu Zhi, who was sitting at the top, and then looked up to find Zhao Hanzhang. She caught sight of the young girl sitting on the left side of Fu Zhi and was stunned.
Zhao Hanzhang looked at her with a smile. When he saw her staring at her in a daze, he couldn't help but laugh out loud and asked: "Why is Miss Zhang so dumb? Could it be that I am too ugly and scare you?"
Zhang Ru blushed, shook her head repeatedly, looked at her with shining eyes and said: "No, Shijun is the most handsome governor I have ever seen. I was stunned for a moment."
Zhao Hanzhang burst out laughing when he heard this, patted the seat next to him and said, "Miss Zhang, come up and sit down, let's drink together."
Fu Zhi silently turned to look at his grandson, and saw that Fu Tinghan just raised his head to glance at Zhang Ru and Zhao Hanzhang before lowering his head to drink the soup.
Fu Zhi felt very complicated for a moment and didn't know what expression to make.