The letter from Jianye Nanchang Marquis Mansion was sent to Luling overnight.
Originally, in terms of time, three days was quite a long journey from Jianye to Luling in Soochow, a land with extremely complex water systems and terrain. But fortunately - Jiang Qin seemed to feel it.
What's the same, ever since Zhao Fan lost Guiyang at the speed of light and fled to himself, Jiang Qin felt that he couldn't just wait anymore——
Therefore, when Sun Quan wrote the letter, Jiang Qin happened to have arrived in Poyang City.
After receiving Sun Quan's secret message near Poyang, on a calm night, the former governor of Guiyang, a coward named Zhao Fan, beheaded Jiang Qin with a single blow amid surprise and fear.
Zhao Fan's head was finally placed in a sandalwood box. Jiang Qin, who did not question the joint order of Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, and Lu Su, immediately changed his route, took a wooden box, and took away the entrusted body of Sun Quan in Chaisang.
The people prepared gold, silver and jewelry and soon boarded the ship to Jiangling.
——
Probably because of the news that Zhao Yun was safe and sound, Liu Beijun seemed extremely relaxed for two consecutive days.
The dark cloud hanging over everyone's heads gradually dissipated——
But...according to what Zhuge Liang and Fazheng wanted, apart from the cavalryman who sent the order, only the senior generals in the army knew about the fact that Zhao Yun was still there.
Information gap has always been an advantage that cannot be forced in diplomacy.
Once possessed, it is enough to influence the diplomatic situation for a long period of time.
Zhuge Liang and Fazheng are well aware of this principle.
Not only that, Fa Zheng was good at military strategy, and he was known for understanding other people's psychology. He asserted that it wouldn't be long before Sun Quan would send someone to negotiate with them, and the content of the negotiation would naturally be about Jiangxia - for Liu Bei and the others
In other words, Jiangxia is indeed dispensable... At least with their current military strength, having Jiangxia will even put greater defensive pressure on Jiangling.
But for Soochow, Jiangxia is an extremely important support for Sun Quan in the future whether he marches into the Central Plains or competes with them for Jingzhou. Without Jiangxia, the people of Soochow must be more anxious than them.
This is a game of patience. Fazheng finally concluded that as long as the army can maintain Jiangxia's basic food and grass supply, the first one to be unable to bear it will be Sun Quan.
With Fazheng's analysis, Liu Bei felt that the situation became clearer.
As a result, the day after Fazheng finished speaking, news of the visit of Soochow envoy Jiang Qin reached Liu Bei's ears.
——
At noon, at the foot of Jiangling City, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and Fazheng rode together, with Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, and others holding down the formation. The army went several miles out of the city to meet Jiang Qin, who was about to arrive.
When Jiang Qin came to him, he was worried about how to talk to Liu Bei to resolve the embarrassment, but he didn't expect that Liu Bei took the initiative to greet him with a smile.
Probably because of this surprise, which disrupted the plan, and because of the enthusiasm of Liu Bei and others, Jiang Qin went to the General Zuo Mansion in Jiangling City (the name of Zhou Mu was still occupied by Liu Cong, and this was Liu Bei's current official position).
), before Jiang Qin could speak, Liu Bei said it first:
"Captain Jiang, you have come all the way this time to discuss matters concerning Jiangxia?"
"Uh... this... just as the emperor said... your and our armies were involved in a melee due to a misunderstanding before. Now that all the armies have withdrawn, I am here on behalf of the Marquis of Wu, my lord, to discuss the return of Jiangxia..."
Being robbed of the first move, he was naturally weaker in terms of momentum.
Jiang Qin himself is quite burly, but sitting in the palace, surrounded by powerful people, he put his hands on his legs and sat on the chair very obediently, and there is no trace of him being a "tiger minister".
The important thing in envoy diplomacy is not to lose integrity and not to be inferior to others. Sun Quan and Zhou Yu took a fancy to this and chose Jiang Qin to come because they wanted to show Soochow's indifference to Jiang Xia - to avoid being bargained for by the other party.
But Liu Bei's enthusiasm and initiative to seize the right to speak were actually under the careful guidance of Zhuge Liang and Fazheng. Every frown, raise of hand, stroking of beard and face were all arranged for this purpose.
This allowed Jiang Qin to feel the eagerness of other generals in the palace and at the same time find support in Liu Bei's kindness.
It can be said that Jiang Qin completely fell into the calculation. When Jiang Qin began to take the initiative to follow Liu Bei's words, the initiative in this diplomacy was no longer with Jiang Qin.
As expected, when Liu Bei heard Jiang Qin's admission, he chuckled, while Zhuge Liang, Fazheng and others raised their lips as if their plan had succeeded.
"Hey... Captain Jiang, what you said is wrong, right?"
"ah?"
Before Jiang Qin could prepare his next words, Zhuge Liang took the lead and stopped him:
"You said that this time our armies are fighting because of a misunderstanding... But compared to the reason why we are fighting, you and I both know it well, right?"
"Han Xuan, the governor of Changsha, only had one day's journey according to this. If he, as the first person to be attacked by you, cannot prove it, there are thousands of people in Changsha County who can testify... How can this be said to be a misunderstanding?
"
"Uh...this-"
Of course Jiang Qin had thought carefully when he spoke. Words have such a function. If someone is not careful and distorts the facts by the other party's words and loses his advantage, he will naturally be at a disadvantage.
Zhuge Liang listened carefully and responded quickly. He pointed out Jiang Qin's mistake on the spot.
Upon hearing what Zhuge Liang said, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, these people cooperated very well and showed the sound of their swords being drawn out——
The tense atmosphere made the Soochow soldiers who came with Jiang Qin start to tremble even in their breathing...
"Exactly! Just as Mr. Zhuge said! I made some omissions in my words before. Please bear with me, General and Sir, for this! This war was all started by our army. General, you are just counterattacking——
"
Jiang Qin quickly explained, and Zhuge Liang immediately smiled:
"Well, it turns out that the captain said something wrong. It's a trivial matter. You don't need to be so nervous. It was me who was rude!"
What an abrupt ghost——
Of course Jiang Qin has met Zhuge Liang. Before the Chibi Alliance, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang walked side by side and jointly made plans. He had seen many times and heard many praises from Zhou Yu... For this person, he could only be cautious to avoid being suppressed.
.
But now it seems that if you really want to be an enemy, having such an enemy is really like a disaster.
"No, no, no... I made an oversight..."
"In this case... I will first show the sincerity of our army - I hope this negotiation can end in a satisfactory way."
Having said that, Jiang Qin had to take out their first thing that was said to be sincerity but was actually a writing chip.
As Jiang Qin nodded, the guard who had been waiting for a long time presented a wooden box exuding sandalwood——
Seeing this scene, Zhuge Liang and Fazheng's eyes were full of doubts, but Liu Bei didn't seem to understand anything and foolishly thought that there might be something valuable in the box.
Until Jiang Qin opened the wooden box with his own hands.
Everyone had to exclaim -
"Captain Jiang...what do you mean...a human head, um...this person..."
Zhuge Liang was surprised at first and was horrified by the bloody head...but he soon regained his composure, and when he looked closely, he found that the head looked familiar.
Jiang Qin stood up respectfully, walked to Liu Bei, and slowly presented the wooden box.
"This is the head of Zhao Fan, the instigator of the Guiyang rebellion... We know that this person's rebellion has had a great impact on you, and even caused General Zhao Zilong to disappear - my lord misses General Zhao Zilong a lot.
He is loyal and brave, and therefore cannot bear the appearance of such villains in our territory of Soochow...I hereby behead him as a sign of sincerity."
