The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 438
Two days later, in Baode City.

After receiving the news that Zhe Ke was willing to negotiate a peace, Mu Xu immediately ordered Zhe Yanwen brothers to come to see him.

When the two brothers first came here, they were a bit dishonest. After being starved by Mu Xu for two days, they finally learned how to raise and lower eyebrows. When they saw Mu Xu, they immediately greeted each other, "I met the village master!"

Mu Xu leaned on the soft couch, flipped through the "Zuo Zhuan" in his hand, and asked without even raising his head, "Zhe Zhizhou has agreed to meet with me. You can go home."

The two reacted differently when they heard the words, and Orihiko's face was full of joy, as if he didn't want to stay here for a moment.

Orihiko was just the opposite, not only didn't look happy, but instead looked ashamed.Because he knew in his heart that his father said he was here to meet the alliance, but in fact, it was his father who bowed his head to Mu Xu for the safety of their brothers.

Thinking of this, he felt extremely uncomfortable, and asked in a hoarse voice,

"Can the village master tell me what kind of conditions you set for my father?"

Mu Xu finally raised his head, and after seeing Zhe Yanwen's red eyes and clenched fists, he said with a smile,

"It's okay to tell you, I want to reach a treaty with your father, a treaty of non-aggression between the two families. If possible, you and your family will have to have another junior to stay with me for two or three years."

As soon as this remark came out, the two brothers showed indignation, but Mu Xu seemed to have not seen it, and continued to say to himself,
"Of course, if anyone of you two wants to stay, that's the best. I welcome you."

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhe Yanwen immediately took a step forward and said, "I would like to stay as a hostage, please don't look for anyone else."

Mu Xu shook his head and laughed, "It's not a hostage. From the bottom of my heart, I am willing to believe in the reputation of the Zhe family, but my brothers don't believe it. I should give them a reassurance.

Besides, my place is not a dragon's pool and a tiger's den, so it may not be a bad thing to stay here, and there may be another future in the future. "

After speaking, seeing the frustration on the faces of the two, Mu Xuxu didn't bother to say any more, and waved them to go out.

……

On the day of the meeting, according to the prior agreement, Mu Xu and Zhe Keqiu each brought a thousand troops to the border between Fuzhou and Baode, and then the two armies set up camp at a distance of twenty li.

After the scouts confirmed that there was no problem with the meeting place, the two of them rode to the designated place accompanied by ten entourages.

As soon as Fang met, neither of them dismounted from their horses, nor did they salute, they just looked at each other.

In Mu Xu's eyes, Zhe Keqiu, the contemporary head of the Zhe family, does not have the temperament of a general, but looks like a middle-aged scholar in his forties.

Unexpectedly, Zhe Keqiu felt even more uneasy, even though he had already heard his brother describe Mu Xu's appearance, he was still amazed at Mu Xu's youthfulness and demeanor.

After a while, Zhe Keqiu turned his eyes to the two sons first, and saw that the two were surrounded in the middle, his heart suddenly relaxed, and he said politely,

"Thank you, Master Muzhai, for taking care of the dog. I hope they didn't cause you any trouble."

Mu Xu replied calmly, "Zhe Zhizhou was joking, the two Zhe junior generals are rare young talents, I wish they could stay as guests for a few more days, so that I can show my respect as a landlord."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, signaling to Zhe Yanwen brothers to let them go, and let them go to reunite with Zhe Keqiu.

Zhe Keqiu looked at his son who was kneeling in front of the horse, and wanted to reprimand severely, but firstly, he was concerned about the wrong occasion, and secondly, considering that the two of them had suffered a lot this time, so he just lightly taught,
"In the past, I have repeatedly reminded you not to underestimate the heroes of the world. Today, you can see that you have worked hard for your father? I hope you two can survive this incident, gain wisdom, and stop showing off your bravery."

"Yes, I would like to follow my father's instruction." The two brothers bowed three times and replied in unison.

"Okay, you all step back! As a father, I have to discuss business matters with Master Mu."

After Zhe Keqiu finished speaking, he got off his horse, made an invitation gesture to Mu Xu, and took the lead to lead the people to the temporary camp.

Mu Xu smiled slightly, and didn't care at all about the emotions that could be expressed.After all, no one would be happy to bow to others, would they?

It's just that what happened next was beyond Mu Xu's expectation.He originally thought that the negotiation would definitely not go smoothly because of the attitude he showed just now.

Whoever wanted to ask for anything but did not make much rebuttal to the conditions he proposed, and agreed to them one by one.

It wasn't until Mu Xu asked Zhejia to send a proton that Zhe Keqiu showed his reluctance, but in the end, Zhe Yanwen himself was willing to let it go, apparently acquiescing to the matter.

After signing the formal documents, Zhe Keqiu suddenly suggested, "Master Mu, can you accompany me for a walk outside?"

Mu Xu was startled for a moment, and then said, "Being respectful is worse than obeying orders."

At that moment, under the surprised eyes of everyone, the two walked side by side to the hill not far away.

Looking at the withered and yellow land in the distance, Zhe Keqiu asked with a complicated expression, "Is the Lord Mu Zhai curious, why did I easily agree to all your requests?"

Mu Xu admitted, "Yes, as far as I know, Zhe Zhizhou is not a good talker."

Zhe Keqiu didn't answer this question, but stared at Mu Xu with a very sharp gaze, and asked, "I don't know what the next plan of Mu Zhaizhu is, is he going to occupy the entire Hedong, or attack Hebei or Guanzhong? "

Mu Xu hesitated for a while, and after thinking about Zhejia's attitude towards the Liao Kingdom, he replied, "Neither of them. I plan to send troops to the north next year to recover the sixteen prefectures of Youyun that my Han people had lost for hundreds of years."

Zhe Keqiu's eyes widened, and he couldn't help saying, "Is this true?"

"Of course it's true. If it wasn't for recovering You Yun, why would I have come to take Hedong? Otherwise, with my strength, I could use Liangshan as a base to eat away at the entire Shandong. Wouldn't it be better to look far away?"

Zhe Keqiu nodded, as if he agreed with the words, and then asked, "After you take down Youyun, how are you going to get along with Da Song?"

Regarding this issue, Mu Xu had also thought about it in private. In fact, the best way is to sit back and watch the Jin people go south and take over the entire Song court.

Then he, Mu Xu, held high the righteousness of the nation, stood up and raised his arms and shouted. At that time, the whole north will definitely be a hero, and all places will respond.

This is undoubtedly the best strategy to seize the world in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty.After thinking about it for a long time, Mu Xu finally gave up on this tempting idea.

Perhaps this move seems a little silly, a little thankless.But as a descendant, Mu Xu is too aware of the splendor of the land under his feet and the hardships that the Chinese people have experienced.

Even if this is not the original time and space, the Yanhuang blood flowing in his body is not fake.

That being the case, why not change the humiliating scene in history?

"I don't know if Zhezhizhou can teach me?"

Not hearing a clear answer from Mu Xu, Zhe Keqiu couldn't help being a little disappointed, but he still suggested,

"The Great Song Dynasty has been established for nearly a hundred years, and it is orthodox in the world. Even though there are traitors in the court, people's hearts have not been lost. If the village master can regain Youyun, and then rely on this credit to return to the court, he will not lose his position as a prince. Wouldn't it be beautiful? ?”

Mu Xu didn't expect that Zhe Keqiu made such a big detour to persuade him to submit to the Song court, so he didn't know what to say for a while.

He thought about it in his heart, and felt that there was no need to make Zhe Keqiu feel bad for the future. It is better to keep him steady at the moment. Even if he made a teachable gesture, he solemnly said,

"The wise words of Zhizhou must be remembered in my heart. If there is a day to regain Youyun, I need Zhizhou to match me with good words in the court."

Zhe Keqiu believed Mu Xu's words to be true, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said in a hurry, "Okay, it's a deal. This kind of great good thing, I am obliged to do it."

Because Zhe Keqiu was deceived by Mu Xu, everyone saw a strange scene next, they were talking and laughing, and walked back together from a distance.

When he came to the crowd, Zhe Keqiu was the first to say, "Brother Mu, why don't you let my son Yanwen go with you today?"

Mu Xu didn't want to, but made an unhappy look, and waved his hands repeatedly to refuse,
"No, no! Where is this? If I don't trust others, can I not trust Zhejia? For the time being, let Brother Yanwen go back to reunite with his family. He can come to me whenever he wants."

Afterwards, the two exchanged greetings for a while before taking their leave.

On the way back to Fuzhou, Zhe Kezhi asked his elder brother with a puzzled face, "Third brother, didn't you have a big opinion on Mu Xu before, why did you suddenly change your attitude?"

Zhe Keqiu looked around and saw that the brothers Zhe Yanwen also showed doubts. After thinking about it, he ordered all the guards around him to retreat a few meters, leaving only three of his own family by his side.

"Do you know what Mu Xu's ambition is?"

The few people knew nothing about it, and Zhe Keqiu sighed, "There is a saying in the strange way, heroes come out of youth! Then Mu Xu is young, but he has great ambition. What he wants in his heart is to regain Youyun."

"Oh, did he really say that?"

"Could he be lying to father?"

Zhe Kezhi and Zhe Yanzhi raised questions at the same time, while Zhe Yanwen was thoughtful.

Seeing this, Zhe Keqiu was not in a hurry to answer what the two said, but instead asked with great interest, "Yanwen, do you have anything to say?"

Zhe Yanwen replied truthfully, "From my boy's point of view, this matter is likely to be inseparable."

"Tell me your reasons."

"Yes, father. I'm thinking from Mu Xu's point of view. You may wish to think about it. If he wholeheartedly plots Hedong, he shouldn't negotiate peace with my family, and he can annex us with all his strength.

With his strength, it is actually not difficult to do this.But he just did this, so what's the purpose? "

Zhe Keqiu nodded in relief, and said, "My son has indeed grown a lot after suffering a lot of setbacks! What you said is very reasonable. I also heard from Mu Xu today that after he wants to raise his troops to the north, Just wanted to understand the reason here.

Thinking about it, the reason why Mu Xu insisted on reaching an alliance with my Zhe family was simply because he didn't want to fight head-on with my family.After all, the son of our family is not comparable to those places in Hedong? "

When he said this, he paused for a moment, with a mocking expression on his face, showing his extreme disdain for the local officers and soldiers.

"If our two families go to war, not to mention time-consuming and labor-intensive, it may also be cheaper for Xixia and Liao, which a wise man would not take!
Another point is that Mu Xu must be worried that once he goes northward in a big way, the imperial court will order my family to send troops to Daizhou and copy his retreat.Therefore, he did everything possible to stabilize our family. "

After listening to Zhe Keqiu's explanation, the three of them figured out the way inside, and Zhe Yanzhi objected even more, "If that's the case, then father doesn't have to agree to him at all?"

Unexpectedly, when Zhe Keqiu heard this, he immediately flew into a rage,
"Bastard, what are you talking about! Although Mu Xu was born in a reckless family, I agree with both hands and feet that he wants to take back You Yun. This matter is not only about the fate of the Central Plains, it is also beneficial to my family. From then on, it can be free from the pressure of the North.

Besides, have you forgotten what your elder brother said just now?If I don't agree to negotiate a peace, will you let it go as a family?Also, don't mention this matter again in the future. I have persuaded Mu Xu. After You Yun is recovered, I will speak to the court for him and make him a prince in exchange for his obedience to the court. "

Being scolded by his father, Zhe Yanzhi was so frightened that he quickly bowed his head and confessed, not daring to talk anymore.

Seeing his elder brother who was teaching his nephew a lesson, Zhe Keqiu's eyes flickered slightly, and he thought to himself,
"Judging from Mu Xu's words that day, this person doesn't care about the court at all. How could he submit to the court? The third brother must have been deceived by him. Should I remind him?"

After thinking about it, Zhe Kezhi still couldn't make up his mind, especially when he saw his nephew Zhe Yanwen again, he suddenly had a bold idea.

So, seeing Zhe Kezhi casually persuaded his elder brother a few words, and then told Zhe Yan Wendao,
"Yanwen, you will serve under Mu Xu's command in the future, and you must do your best. You must not be resentful because of being captured this time, understand?"

Zhe Yanwen didn't know the reason, but he still responded seriously, "Don't worry, uncle, my nephew knows what to do."

"Okay, this is the demeanor that a boy from my Zhe family should have!"

Seeing his elder brother agreeing, Zhe Kezhi asked with a smile, "Third brother, you asked me the day before yesterday about Mu Xu's opinion, and I couldn't tell you anything. Then I wonder what you think of him today?"

Zhe Keqiu wryly smiled and said, "What can I say, I am a dragon and a phoenix among people! Speaking of us, when we were in our early twenties, we were still under the protection of the second brother's wings, and we spent all day fighting cocks. Such a big deal."

"Oh? Third brother really thinks so?"

"Then can there be a lie? Brother Wu has something to say, that is, there is no need to beat around the bush between us brothers!"

"It suddenly occurred to me that this girl, Yuemei, has reached the age of Ji, but she doesn't have a husband's family yet. It's really worrying."

Zhe Keqiu was stunned, of course he understood the implication of Zhe Kezhi's words, after thinking for a while, he hesitated and said,
"Yuemei is the second brother's old daughter. The second brother loved her the most during his lifetime. And before he died, the second brother told me to take good care of Yuemei. If this girl is allowed to marry far away, Whether there is something wrong, the brothers are afraid that it will be difficult to agree!"

Zhe Kezhi already has a countermeasure, just listen to him,

"Hey, this matter is easy to handle. When Yanwen goes to Taiyuan in a few days, Yuemei will go with her. If this girl wants to, she has nothing to say to others."

Zhe Keqiu was a little moved by what he said, but he still didn't dare to make a decision lightly, so he could only evade, "Let me think about it again."

(End of this chapter)