In Chang'an, in the east courtyard of the foreign embassy, three begonias swayed in the wind, their beautiful petals falling with the wind, and the colorful fallen flowers brought a little coolness to the increasingly hot early summer.
A stone table was placed at the root of one of the crabapple trees. Wu Fan was sitting on the chair, sipping hot tea and snacks.
Li Shiqi, the Han envoy, was sitting aside, boiling water and adding tea, with a polite but not flattering smile on his face.
If an uninformed person saw this scene, they would never think that Li Shiqi was an envoy from another country and Wu Fan was the receptionist of the Western Qin Dynasty.
After a while, Wu Fan said casually: "I heard that the ambassador wanted to meet the leader of my country?"
Hearing this, Li Shiqi quickly put down the teapot in his hand, his face became solemn, and he bowed and said, "Sir, if you are willing to introduce me, I will surely give you a generous gift."
Wu Fan pretended to be displeased and said: "Ambassador, please be careful. It would be bad if outsiders heard this and misunderstood that I was just coveting the generous gift you gave me and made my remarks in front of the king."
Li Shiqi nodded repeatedly and said, "I just made a mistake. I hope you will bear with me."
Wu Fan waved his hand and said, "That's all. Seeing that I and you hit it off, I won't pursue it further."
Li Shiqi smiled honestly: "Thank you for your forgiveness, sir."
Wu Fan put down the tea cup in his hand and said meaningfully: "The king is busy with affairs and has many things to do, so he may not have time to meet you."
Li Shiqi's expression changed, and he clapped his hands. Several Han officials came upon hearing the sound, silently placed the twelve jade boxes on the stone table, and then left silently.
Wu Fan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "What does the ambassador mean?"
Li Shiqi said with a smile on his face: "I hope you will accept the specialties I brought from Han."
"Really?" Wu Fan said with an unclear expression, then reached out and opened the nearest jade box, only to see an eighth-grade natural material lying in it, emitting a gleaming light.
With a "pop" sound, Wu Fan decisively closed the jade box, breathing quickly.
Li Shiqi took a step forward and asked in a low voice: "Are you satisfied with the specialties I brought here?"
Wu Fan said quietly: "I'm so satisfied. I'm so satisfied that I dare not accept it."
Li Shiqi immediately cursed secretly: "Hey, you've collected it several times, why are you pretending to be garlic?"
Although Li Shiqi thought so in his heart, he said calmly: "These are some specialties that don't know the money. I'm a little petty, so I'll take it as long as you don't tell anyone about it."
Wu Fan was silent for a while, as if he had made up his mind, he took all the jade boxes into his arms and solemnly said: "Wait for the news from me, and I will let you see the king within three days at the latest."
After saying this, Wu Fan immediately stood up and left quickly.
Li Shiqi neither said anything to persuade him to stay nor sent him off. He just bowed behind Wu Fan and said, "I would like to see you off."
…
A quarter of an hour later, twelve jade boxes appeared completely on Lin Ze's table. Wu Fan bowed and said: "To the Lord, I followed your instructions and went to the east courtyard of the foreign embassy."
"As the lord of the country expected, the Han envoy privately sent twelve pieces of eighth-grade heavenly materials to the minister, and asked the minister to advise the lord of the country to receive them. After receiving the things, the minister promised the Han envoy that the lord of the country would receive them within three days.
.”
Lin Ze said with a smile: "Didn't the Han ambassador notice anything strange? It seems that your acting skills are quite good."
Wu Fan bowed and replied: "It's not because I have outstanding acting skills, but because the Han envoys know nothing about me as a person and my loyalty to the king, so they made such a low-level mistake."
Lin Ze laughed loudly and said: "Okay, I know that you are loyal, but your acting skills are really good."
"I won't reward you any more. The twelve eighth-grade materials given to you by the Han envoy will be yours."
Wu Fan quickly said: "I dare not accept such a bribe. Please put it into the national treasury and use it to reward meritorious officials."
Lin Ze was slightly unhappy when he heard this and said: "In your eyes, do you think Gu is such a mean and unkind person? Besides, aren't you a meritorious minister?"
Wu Fan showed a look of fear on his face and said: "The Lord clearly knows that this is not what I meant."
Lin Ze snorted coldly: "If you don't accept it, that's what I mean. You have to think clearly about whether it is better to be loyal to a generous monarch or to be loyal to a mean and unkind monarch."
The implication is, if you think I'm a bad person, don't blame me for wearing small shoes for you later.
Wu Fan replied wittily: "I will only be loyal to the master of the country in my life. No matter who the master of the country is, I will remain loyal until death."
Lin Ze said with a look of disgust: "Come on, you must have the heart to collect these things quickly and go find out whether the Han Dynasty really wants to seek peace."
"If there is any, Gu should reach an agreement with Han as soon as possible and get a free benefit first."
"By the way, as for the Han envoy, you can find a time to inform him later. I will summon him tomorrow and let him think of his words."
Wu Fan knelt down and bowed and said: "I thank the Lord for the reward. I will go and do the Lord's order."
…
In the early morning of the next day, Li Shiqi took a deep breath, walked into the lobby slightly nervously, and bowed deeply: "Foreign Minister Li Shiqi, I pay my respects to the Lord of Western Qin."
Lin Ze said with a smile on his lips: "Without courtesy, come and sit down for the Han envoy."
Li Shiqi bowed again and said, "Foreign minister, I thank the Lord for sitting down."
Taking the stool brought by the guard, Li Shiqi carefully sat on it, using his peripheral vision to look at the legendary figure sitting not far away - Lin Ze, the leader of the Western Qin Kingdom.
Li Shiqi heard the glorious deeds and high praise of the leader of the Western Qin Dynasty from his childhood friend Liu Ji more than once.
If it weren't for the personal relationship, Li Shiqi would never believe that such words as an eternal monster and a capable person with the most wisdom in the world would come out of the mouth of Liu Ji, who seemed heartless but was actually arrogant.
.
"Well, it's different from the ferocious figure in my imagination. The real person looks pretty and pretty, more like a romantic knight."
This is Li Shiqi's most intuitive feeling.
Lin Ze said calmly: "I heard that Han wanted to form an alliance with Western Qin?"
Li Shiqi stood up and saluted and said, "Report to the lord of the country, the foreign ministers are here for this very reason."
"The Han State and the Western Qin Dynasty have always had a close relationship. First, my lord and the ruler of the country were both Hu Hai's disciples and worked side by side. Later, the Western Qin Dynasty allied with the Han State and jointly attacked the Qin State."
"Today, there is great chaos and the four kingdoms are divided. Only the Western Qin and Han are the strongest. As the saying goes, the powerful forces will unite to sweep the world. It will be just around the corner. Is your Majesty interested?"
Lin Ze smiled calmly and said: "No need to be polite, let's sit down and talk. As far as I know, Chu State has also sent envoys here. Whether Western Qin will ally with Chu State or Han State, it depends on which one of you is more powerful."
Sincerity.”
Li Shiqi said categorically: "Of course Han is more sincere, and the fact that foreign ministers can sit here is proof of that."
Lin Ze smiled softly and said: "That makes sense, but this alone is not enough."
Li Shiqi bowed slightly and said, "I wonder what kind of sincerity the king wants? No matter what the king wants, the foreign minister will do his best to achieve it."
Lin Ze nodded slightly: "This sentence is very sincere, but can you be the master of Han?"
Li Shiqi replied: "To be honest with the king, the foreign minister and the King of Han grew up together and were brothers. Before coming to Western Qin this time, the King of Han held the foreign minister's hand and said that he would try to reach an alliance with Western Qin without thinking too much.
.”
"If the ruler of the country has conditions, he can tell him directly. Even if there are conditions where the foreign ministers cannot make the decision, he will send someone to inform the King of Han and get back to the ruler of the country as quickly as possible."
Lin Ze thought for a moment and said, "That's enough for today. I have other things to deal with. Let's talk about it another day. Come and send the Han envoy back."