Hou Xun and Mao Bizhang boarded the north bank, and the accompanying guards were immediately disarmed. They were only allowed to walk to the headquarters of the Xixia commander general. Along the way, the traces of the previous day's battle were still shocking, and the soil was soaked with blood.
It showed a weird black color, and the smell of blood was extremely strong in the air.
Groups of pale-faced Ming army prisoners were digging pits to bury corpses in the distance, while the Mongolians were eating dry food, drinking kumiss, and pointing at the two imperial envoys, and occasionally shouting at the pungent smell.
Sarcastic laughter.
Hou Xun's hand holding the emperor's talisman turned slightly white. Although he had seen a lot of the world, this was his first time dealing with the extremely barbaric Tatars. People become afraid of death when they get old. Hou Xun had just become the head of the cabinet.
After reaching the top of his official career, he could not bear to die just after a few good days, so he looked modest and greeted every Mongolian soldier with a smile.
On the other hand, Mao Pizheng remained unruly, without squinting his eyes, and his waist was as straight as a javelin. He turned a blind eye to the power of the Mongolian troops and walked extremely steadily step by step.
When they arrived in front of the camp, a palace with heads piled up stood in front of them. They were all freshly chopped heads, and their faces were still lifelike. A large group of flies were buzzing on it. Hou Xun almost vomited on the spot, and he suddenly froze.
He supported the teacher and whispered: "Teacher, don't let the Tatars see the joke."
Hou Xun calmed down and nodded reluctantly: "Master, I understand." But his trembling body had betrayed his fearful heart, and Hou Xun said again: "We must not fight for temporary loyalty later, the Tatars are barbaric, and there will be no war between the two countries."
You have to be careful about your cultivation as a beheader."
Mao Pizhang nodded, and the two of them walked to the commander's tent. They saw the ferocious-looking Mongolian general shouting: "The envoy has not knelt down yet!"
Hou Xun trembled and almost fell to his knees, but was supported by Mao Pizheng. He responded in a deep voice: "We are the imperial envoys of the Ming Dynasty, coming on behalf of our emperor. You are the generals of Xixia, why should we kneel to you?"
The general was furious on the spot and drew his sword to kill someone. Suddenly, a voice came from the tent: "Tubulihua, let them in."
Tubu Tachibana immediately became submissive, agreed in Mongolian, raised his handsome curtain, and made a gesture to the two of them to come in.
When Hou Xun and Mao Pizhang walked into the commander's tent, they were almost overtaken by a foul smell. The Mongolians marched long distances and were not very particular about personal hygiene. In addition, they ate meat and dairy products, so the smell was certainly not good.
But the coach sitting in the tent made people's eyes shine.
The general in charge of the Xixia army turned out to be a woman. Although she was not as beautiful as the women from the south of the Yangtze River, she was brave in appearance, strong in figure, and had a different kind of charm. At this time, she was sitting cross-legged on the blanket, looking at the two of them with interest.
Messenger of the Ming Dynasty.
"The young people from the Southern Dynasties are indeed beautiful and courageous. Not bad. I like them." The first sentence of the female general was to comment on Mao Bizhang's appearance. This surprised everyone, but it also gave Mao Bizhang reassurance.
Woman, his self-confidence is still very high. This mission may be successful.
"Tell me, what are you here for?" the female general asked casually, cutting the roast mutton in front of her with a knife, as if she did not regard this as a major matter for peace negotiations between the two countries.
"I am Hou Xun, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet and the minister of the Ministry of Etiquette. I came here in compliance with my emperor's imperial edict. The Ming Dynasty and Xixia have been friendly neighbors since the Wanli period of the previous dynasty...,..." Hou Xun said eloquently.
After a long paragraph, before getting to the main topic, the female general had already finished her meal, wiped her hands and said: "Stop talking nonsense and talk seriously."
Hou Xun was startled and blushed. He tugged his sleeves and stood up and said, "My emperor means that you have traveled thousands of miles to come to the Yangtze River to drink horses. The Ming Dynasty certainly has no reason to treat guests badly."
, one million taels of silver, and half a million bolts of silk and satin cloth, are presented immediately, and the army is also invited to return westward, otherwise..."
The female general looked at Mao Bizhang with her big eyes: "What else?"
"Otherwise, when our troops from Shandong, Hebei, Huguang, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang arrive, you will not be able to leave even if you want to."
"Hahaha!" All the Mongolians in the tent laughed wildly, with tears streaming down their faces. The female general also laughed so hard that her branches trembled with laughter. Suddenly, the laughter stopped suddenly. The female general changed her face and said with a cold face: "You are a threat.
Are we here?"
"It's not a threat, it's a fact. The Ming Dynasty is so big, can you eat it? It's one thing to raid thousands of miles with strange troops, but it's another thing to occupy and manage it. I guess your army doesn't have much food and grass. If I go to the strong wall and clear the country,
Training the people to be brave, how long can you hold on?" She kept talking with a stiff look on her face, occasionally flipping up a wisp of black hair that fell in front of her forehead. She looked so cool and unrestrained that the Mongolian female general actually saw it.
A little crazy.
"Okay, we agree to retreat, but your country's reward should be more, one million taels, you should send it as beggars! The price is one hundred thousand taels of gold, ten million taels of silver, and one million pieces of silk and satin
, In addition, I want you, a handsome boy, to follow me to Xixia to enjoy the blessings, (*^__^*)
whee……"
The lion opened his mouth. The Xixia people really dared to raise prices, but it would be better if they could raise prices. It is better than going to war if they are unwilling to negotiate and have to sit back and pay back the money. There was not much else in the Ming Dynasty. They had plenty of money, and they didn’t want themselves anyway.
After offering a dime, Hou Xun suddenly had a suspicion in his mind, and he said in a deep voice: "It's easy to say, since the general has made an offer, let our court discuss it for a few days, so that we can give you an answer."
"No, I have to answer now, whether I will give it or not!"
"Although I am an imperial envoy, I do not have full authority to handle this matter. Besides, with so much gold and silver, it will take several days just to raise it."
"No, I need to get it today. It doesn't matter if I don't have ingots. Gold, silver, utensils, antiques, calligraphy and paintings can be deducted from my account. Anyway, I just need to get it as soon as possible."
After such a conversation, Hou Xun became more confident. The Tatar felt guilty and wanted to take the money and run away. The more he did this, the calmer he became: "General, you'd better kill me, today I will take it no matter what."
It can’t be reached.”
"Well, you go back and discuss it with your emperor. The price I offer will give you a maximum of 30% off, and no less. Well, this young man will stay here as a hostage, and you can go back by yourself."
Maopizhang was about to speak when he was held down by Hou Xun. He looked at him with firm eyes, conveying in his eyes that the well-being of the Ming Dynasty depends entirely on you. Maopizhang said nothing more and just nodded resolutely.
Hou Xun left, but Mao Bizhang stayed. The female general invited him to the table and put out mutton and kumiss for him to taste. As he got closer, Mao Bizhang realized that this female general was already quite old.
There are faint crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, but she is really well maintained. Her waist, chest and hips are like a girl's. The female general introduced herself as Anu, the deputy marshal of Xixia, and her status was very respected, while Mao Pizhang still looked cold and arrogant.
, because he has a good grasp of female psychology, the more he ignores them, the more they like him, especially this kind of woman who is like a star in the military, and he cannot give him a good look. Women are born to be bitchy.
.
As expected, the more handsome he looked, the more obedient Anu became to him, and even agreed to give him another 20% or 50% off the price. No matter how low it was, it would not work, because for his brother
They can't explain it.
Mao Bizhang pretended to be grateful and promised to follow Anu back to Xixia from now on. Anu suddenly became excited, asked people to arrange a banquet, and gave Mao Bizhang a gold medal. With this gold medal, he could move around the military camp at will, and no one could control him.
.
While waiting for the reply from the capital, Maopizhang and Anu had been drinking and having fun. From noon to evening, Maopizhang finally passed out from the alcohol. Anu put him on the blanket and shouted softly for two times.
After confirming that he was asleep, he returned to the front tent to discuss matters.
There is only a layer of sheepskin between the front tent and the back tent, and the voice can be heard clearly. Who is Mao Bizhang? The famous Mao big wine basket on both sides of the Qinhuai River is said to be drunk with a thousand cups. How can it be filled with a little low-alcohol mare's milk?
To his surprise, he closed his eyes tightly and pretended to be asleep, but in fact his ears were perked up, listening carefully to the meeting in the front tent.
Not all Xixia people are Mongolians. Their official language is Chinese with a Western accent, so Mao Pizhang can basically understand it.
At the beginning, several generals protested that Anu had lowered the price. They said that they had to go all the way from Hanzhong with 20,000 people, and they had to endure a lot of hardships all the way without stopping. They finally arrived at the gate of Nanjing before the officials from all over the country rushed to the city.
After winning a battle, how could we withdraw just after reaping this small benefit?
Anu retorted: "We took advantage of the Ming army's loophole to attack. Nanjing is so tall, how can we attack across a big river? Although the Ming army suffered heavy losses, there are sufficient manpower in the south of the Yangtze River and the productivity is even more terrifying. If something happens to the north of the Yangtze River and the south of the Yangtze River,
When King Qin's soldiers and horses arrive, our advantage will be gone. This is the saying of giving up when things are good."
Another person said: "The Han people are cowardly. Even if the troops of Qinwang from all walks of life come, we will still kill them all."
Anu said: "It's just the others. I'm afraid that Liu Zongmin, the most powerful general of the Western Army, will come. This man is both wise and brave, and has invincible strength. His men are all powerful troops who have fought in hundreds of battles. If he hadn't guarded Tianshui, we would have
There is no need to take a detour, and we can directly enter Henan from Tongguan. Now I am afraid that he has seen through the trick we set up in Tianshui. It is reported that Liu Zongmin has led his troops to the capital at night. They are marching on their own territory.
Logistics and transportation are guaranteed. If we use the waterway to go south along the Yangtze River, we will arrive in Nanjing soon. Not to mention the 50% discount on gold and silver, we can't get even 10% off. It's better to say that we don't have gold and silver. I'm afraid there will be 20,000 Xia troops.
Their lives must be taken to account."
When Liu Zongmin was mentioned, everyone was silent. After a while, someone said quietly: "Liu Zongmin... that is a more powerful person than Liu Ziguang. We really can't afford to offend him."
After the discussion, they decided to follow Anu's wishes and give it a 50% discount. Everyone dispersed. Anu returned to the back tent and saw that the blanket was already empty. Mao Bizhang was nowhere to be found, and a sly look appeared on her face.
Laughing, it took a while before the whole camp was able to clear up the impasse.
At this time, Maopizhang was already standing on the boat returning to the south bank. He looked at the chaotic Mongolian barracks on the north bank, flicked his hair, and smiled sternly.