Tang Wenyuan, the governor of Yangzhou City, was already waiting at the city gate to greet the delegation.
It is no problem for ordinary envoys to be received by others, but this time the envoys have the Marquis of Anding County and Prince Xian as the principal and deputy envoys, which is no different from the prince acting as deputy envoys.
Tang Wenyuan kicked Yangzhou Biejia behind him and came out to greet him.
As the delegation marched all the way to the gate of Yangzhou City, Xu Qing and Xiao Ye dismounted from their horses. The governor of Yangzhou immediately came forward to greet them. He cupped his hands and said, "Tang Wenyuan, the governor of Yangzhou, has met His Royal Highness the Prince and the Marquis.
"
Xiao Ye looked at Tang Wenyuan and asked, "President Tang actually put down his government affairs and came out to greet him in person."
Tang Wenyuan smiled and said: "It should, it should. Yangzhou has prepared a hundred stones of food and some other supplies for the mission. Please go to the post house to rest first."
When the mission set off, the states and counties along the way began to receive news one after another. As an important supply station for the mission, Yangzhou naturally did not dare to neglect it. After receiving the news from above, it began to prepare. Now everything is fully prepared and absolutely
Can't go wrong.
Xu Qing shook his head and said: "Prince Tang, we are not here to replenish supplies."
Tang Wenyuan smiled and said: "Master Hou, don't be ridiculous. After the mission leaves Yangzhou, it still has a hundred miles to go to the next state capital to get sufficient supplies. How can we not bring more at this time?"
Xu Qing asked: "Are there any bandits or bandits behind you?"
Tang Wenyuan heard Xu Qing's words and said with embarrassment, "Master Hou also knows that after the great disaster in the past few years, many people went up to the mountains to become bandits. In recent years, the lower officials have also been arranging government soldiers to exterminate them..."
Xu Qing said; "Does that mean there is still more?"
Tang Wenyuan couldn't help but break out some cold sweat on his forehead: "Give Xiaguan some more time, and Xiaguan will definitely return Yangzhou to a clear sea and clear rivers!"
Xu Qing smiled and said, "Since there are bandits, we won't be hungry."
"It's...eh?!" Tang Wenyuan didn't react. What did the Marquis of Anding County say?
Xiao Ye said: "President Tang should contact the grain merchants quickly. We have many grain merchants waiting to sell them. These grains have seriously slowed down the progress of the mission and must be disposed of."
Tang Wenyuan wondered: "These grains..."
Xu Qing said: "You don't need to make a fuss, Governor Tang. I picked up a few thieves' dens on the way here, but I didn't expect that except for the last one, each of these thieves' dens is better than the last one. There is too much food."
Tang Wenyuan: "..."
In fact, he also knew that the mission had frequently wiped out copycats when they came here. This was the first time he had seen such a hard-core mission in many years as an official, but he really didn't expect those copycats to be able to hoard so much food.
If the government troops were not wiped out, let's just let the envoys do it, and the food was brought back in carts. Where could he, the governor, put his face?
But it’s normal to think about it. Chu State has a total of three people who have been entrusted with langjuxu. Two of them are in the mission. They are not going to Zhou State to negotiate. They are clearly putting pressure on Zhou State. They are using those bandits along the way.
What happened to relieve boredom?
He, the governor, was trembling and naturally he did not dare to provoke him, so he had to send someone to contact the grain merchants in Yangzhou City.
Fortunately, there are still many grain merchants in Yangzhou City. Especially in winter, the price of grain has risen. It is estimated that many grain merchants will be willing to buy this relatively cheap grain.
It's a robbed thing. It's a cost-free transaction. After selling the money, just send the money to these shadow guards.
Xu Qing and Xiao Ye didn't need much money, they just wanted to enjoy robbing bandits.
The governor came forward and the grain merchants were still very enthusiastic, but within three days they had negotiated a price and sold all the grain.
After that, Xu Qing and Xiao Ye did not delay too much in Yangzhou and continued to go to Zhou Kingdom.
Due to the severe cold weather, there was a heavy snowfall on the way, and the road was slippery due to the snow, so it took the delegation more than a month to reach the capital of the Zhou Kingdom.
After Xu Qing and Xiao Ye got off their horses, they led the horses and walked on the bustling streets. The cold weather in the capital city in winter did not seem to affect the excitement.
The capital of Zhou State was more impressive than the capital of Chu State, but Xiao Ye looked down upon it and kept picking on Zhou State's capital all the way.
Xiao Ye is a military commander, and it is easy to consider everything from a practical point of view, such as whether the city wall is strong after being besieged, the location of the granary in the city, etc.
Since the Chu State saved the Zhou State on the grassland last time, the people of the Zhou State did not have much resistance to the Chu State, but welcomed it very much.
The three countries of the Central Plains had their own residences in their respective capitals, which were equivalent to embassies in later generations. Naturally, they did not need to live in posthouses like envoys from small subordinate countries.
After the envoys entered the residence, Xu Qing ordered many envoys accompanying him to prepare.
A thousand shadow guards could only bring 100 people into the Zhou capital, and the remaining 900 people could only camp outside the city.
When everyone was packing their luggage, snowflakes started to fall in the sky again. Xiao Ye walked into a pavilion, looked at Xu Qing who was watching the scenery and said, "Brother Xu, do you think this negotiation will go smoothly?"
Xu Qing said: "The State of Zhou owes us a favor to the State of Chu. Under its own responsibility, it should not have too much entanglement with our country on the grassland territory. Moreover, our State of Chu occupies most of the grassland. The State of Zhou wants to compete with our country."
Our Chu country can only resist by attacking the Western Regions. If there are no accidents, this negotiation should go smoothly."
Xiao Ye nodded and said, "This is also the first time I have come to the capital of the Zhou Kingdom. Apart from being a bit more prosperous, grand and tidy, it is not much better than my capital of the Chu Kingdom."
Xu Qing immediately waved his hand and said, "Brother Xiao, stop talking, I'm getting more and more sad..."
The Imperial City of Zhou Kingdom, in the Imperial Study Room
The Imperial Preceptor walked in, looked at Emperor Zhou who was still dealing with government affairs, and said, "Your Majesty, the Chu State's envoy has arrived in Beijing."
Emperor Zhou nodded and said: "Instruct the Ministry of Rites to arrange a cleansing banquet. Speaking of which, Zhou State owes Chu State a favor, so I can't neglect them."
The Imperial Master said: "Our Kingdom of Zhou is a country of etiquette, so naturally we will not treat you harshly."
Emperor Zhou smiled and said, "There are three people in the Chu State who have been granted the title of "Langjuxu", and two of them came at once. They are demonstrating to our Zhou State, especially since Xiao Ye is the eldest son of the wise king.
He has no literary talent, but he has learned ten times ten in martial arts. If the prince is as talented as Xiao Ye, I will feel at ease."
The Imperial Preceptor said: "Compared with the virtuous prince, I am more optimistic about this envoy. He has risen from a white body to the current position of Marquis of Anding County. Although the virtuous king intends to support him, he is indeed knowledgeable and has many clever ideas. Unfortunately, he is just too lazy.
Yes, I heard that he was disliked by the wise king because he was too lazy, so he was directly sent here as an envoy."
Emperor Zhou said: "How can laziness be considered a sin? The wise king is very harsh on his ministers. If he was born in our country of Zhou and made suggestions for our country of Zhou, I would marry the princess to him."