At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 696 I am a businessman
Gao Bufan lifted the teapot and poured a cup of tea, savoring it carefully while waiting for Li Xiaogong's reply.There is a saying in the art of war: the first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the next is to attack the city.There is another saying in the art of war: a hundred battles are victorious, and those who are not good are good, and soldiers who subdue others without fighting are good.

Therefore, the best way to use troops is to subdue the enemy through tactics, secondly to use diplomatic means to win, and finally to use force, and siege is the next strategy. The loss of the enemy, the soldiers who surrender without fighting, that is the real perfection.

Although Qi State is in a strong position for the time being, it is impossible to press Tang State on the ground and rub against it. At this time, if Tang Jun can be forced to withdraw from Henan through diplomatic means, it will undoubtedly be a good thing for Qi State. With such a large territory, Qi State also needs time to slowly digest and absorb it, so Gao Bufan is willing to spend time and energy negotiating with Li Xiaogong.

Let's talk about Li Xiaogong pondering for a moment, then suddenly said meaningfully: "The Turkic Shibi Khan passed away last month, does King Qi know about it?"

Gao Bufan calmly said: "I have heard a little bit, what is the intention of King Li Jun mentioning this matter?"

Li Xiaogong said earnestly: "After Shibi Khan passed away, Turkic envoys arrived in Chang'an for the funeral, and informed Tang Emperor of Shibi's death. Tang Emperor mourned Shibi Khan at Changle Gate, and sent envoys to the Turkic tooth tent to express condolences. "

Gao Bufan said in disbelief, "From this point of view, the Emperor Tang has a very close personal relationship with Shibi Khan, and he personally mourned for Shibi Khan. This friendship is really touching."

Subtext: true filial piety!

Li Xiaogong didn't seem to hear the sarcasm in Gao Bufan's tone, he shook his head and said: "King Qi doesn't know something, Emperor Tang actually has no personal relationship with Shibi, it's just a relationship of mutual use, Shibi is a foreign race after all, not me Races, their hearts must be different, if we really want to talk about it, the friendship between Emperor Tang and King Qi is probably deeper than the friendship between Shibi."

Gao Bufan smiled lightly and said: "I can count the number of times I have met Tang Huang with dozens of fingers, and the friendship is not at all. If you have anything to say, Li Junwang, just say it directly, and there is no need to beat around the bush."

Li Xiaogong sighed and said: "The king of Qi may not believe it, but Shibi died on the way to crusade against my Tang country."

Gao Bufan's eyes flashed, and he said in surprise: "Is there such a thing? Shibi seems to have always had a strong relationship with Emperor Tang!"

"Very iron?" Li Xiaogong was a little confused.

"It means...very reliable!" Gao Bufan explained with a light cough.

Li Xiaogong shook his head and said: "That's only superficial. When Emperor Tang raised troops in Taiyuan, he bought a batch of horses from Turks. Before entering Guanzhong, he heard that Liu Wuzhou and Shibi conspired to attack Taiyuan. In order to stabilize Shibi, he had to make excuses. Snake, I sent some treasures to Shibi. Unexpectedly, after Emperor Tang entered Guanzhong, Shibi relied on his merits and sent envoys to Chang'an to ask for benefits. Bi Bian was dissatisfied, and at the end of last year, he conspired with Liang Shidu and Guo Zihe to attack Chang'an, and at the beginning of this year, Shi Bi personally led the army to go south, and unfortunately died of illness when he reached Xiazhou!"

Gao Bufan thoughtfully shaved the stubble under his chin when he heard the words, Li Xiaogong's words obviously did not seem to be lying, but why did he mention this?Could it be that you want to warn me that if you dare to send troops to attack Guanzhong, you will end up like Shibi Khan?I remember that after Longxi Xue Ju defeated Li Shimin, he died suddenly when he was preparing to send troops to Chang'an.

Gao Bufan glanced at Li Xiaogong and said indifferently: "It was indeed unfortunate that Shibi died, but it was the great fortune of the Tang Kingdom."

But Li Xiaogong shook his head and said: "Not necessarily, because Chuluo Khan who succeeded Khan is Shibi's younger brother, he is more aggressive and warlike. Shibi has no ambition to rule the Central Plains, he just wants to get some benefits, that's all. But Chuluo Khan is different, this person has long had the ambition to go south, and now that he is sitting on the Khan position, it will not be a good thing for Tang or Qi!"

Gao Bufan suddenly said: "Junwang Li mentioned earlier that he stopped the war and stopped the army to defend against foreign enemies. Did he mean the Turks?"

Li Xiaogong nodded and said: "That's right, the Turks are very powerful now, with a vast territory, and they claim to have millions of people who control the strings, and the Turkic cavalry is powerful, which is not something we can resist, so Tang Huang thinks that it is more important to turn the war into friendship with Qi. It is the righteousness of the nation to work together to resist foreign invasion, does King Qi think so?"

Well, the righteousness of the nation has come out, and the words are better than the songs, but how can Gao Bufan be easily fooled, and he said solemnly: "What Li Junwang said is very true, the Emperor Tang is worthy of being the backbone of our Han people. , please also ask Li Junwang to agree to the conditions of the king and sign a peace treaty as soon as possible, and then we will discuss how to resist the Turkic invasion of the south!"

Li Xiaogong's face was slightly stiff, this time he really shot himself in the foot, coughed lightly and said: "The matter is of great importance, and the conditions of King Qi are too harsh, Xiaogong has no right to agree without authorization, he has to go back and ask Tang Emperor for instructions." , but according to the information we have inquired, the Turks may attack Yanmen County or even Zhuo County in the near future, King Qi must be careful!"

threaten!This is Chi Guoguo's threat!

Gao Bufan raised his sword eyebrows slightly, and said calmly: "Thank you Junjun Li for reminding, if the Turkic people dare to come, I will entertain them well."

Li Xiaogong took a deep look at Gao Bufan, and said with a smile: "Qi's soldiers are strong and strong, it seems that Xiaogong is worrying too much, anyway, since the peace treaty can't be reached for the time being, I wonder if King Qi is interested in exchanging prisoners?"

Gao Bufan didn't talk nonsense, and said bluntly: "One for another!"

Li Xiaogong congratulated: "Then Xiaogong will exchange Xue Wanjun and Xue Wanche for Li Shentong and Wang Junkuo."

"No problem!" Gao Bufan said generously, "What about Qu Tutong and Cui Gan?"

Of course Li Xiaogong wanted to change, but during the Battle of Hanoi, they only captured Xue Wanjun and Xue Wanche brothers, and they didn't have enough prisoners on hand to exchange for Qu Tutong and Cui Gan.

Gao Bufan said with a "friendly" smile: "No one will change it, you can redeem it with money, not five baht, only gold and silver!"

Li Xiaogong was overjoyed, it would be nice to spend some gold and silver to redeem someone, so he asked, "What is the asking price?"

"Qu Tutong five hundred gold, Cui Gan... five hundred gold!" Gao Bufan said very straightforwardly.

Although Qu Tutong is a fierce general, he is brainless and of low value, and he still refuses to be loyal to him, so he might as well give it back to Li Tang. Take bamboo sticks.

Li Xiaogong couldn't help taking a deep breath when he heard the words, and said sarcastically, "King Qi is a businessman!"

Gao Bufan said with a light smile: "This king is indeed a businessman. He used to be in the horse business. Now that the family business has grown, all he talks about is the business of the country. Occasionally, he sells generals and counselors at a price!"

Li Xiaogong's pupils shrank, Gao Bufan's smile was very flat, and his tone of voice was also very flat, but he was extremely arrogant, and the lofty sentiments that flowed naturally were astonishing and heart-wrenching!
"Okay, then it's a deal. I will send the captives and gold later, but King Qi really doesn't think about the terms of the peace treaty anymore? Tang Jun can withdraw from Zheyang County and promise not to enter Henan County. "After Li Xiaogong finished speaking, he looked at Gao Bufan expectantly.

Gao Bufan smiled lightly and said, "As long as the Tang army withdraws from Hongnong County and Shangluo County, I promise not to enter Guanzhong."

Li Xiaogong sighed and said: "It seems that we can't reach an agreement, so I will take my leave!"

"Master Yu, send one to Prince Li on behalf of the king," Gao Bufan said without hesitation.

Yu Shinan came in from the outside and said politely, "Envoy Tang, please!"

Li Xiaogong was extremely depressed, he cupped his hands and was about to leave, but suddenly he turned around and picked up a few bags of tea leaves on the table and took them away, after all, 1000 taels of gold were also spent, so a few bags of tea leaves are worthless.

As soon as Li Xiaogong left, a few people came out from the back of the hall, it was Du Ruhui, Xu Shiji, Changsun Wuji and Changsun Hengan, they sat around the coffee table without Gao Bufan calling.

"Congratulations King Qi, you have made a fortune, how about a treat tonight?" Xu Shiji teased.

Gao Bufan smiled and said: "No problem, but this king has made an appointment with Qing Ruo to visit Luoshui tonight."

"Forget it then!" Xu Shiji hurriedly said, he couldn't afford to mess with this one.

Brothers Du Ruhui and Changsun Wuji couldn't help laughing, the former reminded: "The wedding date of King Qi and Princess Danyang is set at the end of the year, and it has been announced to the world, but we must pay attention to the influence, if the people recognize it, there will be some rumors. "

Gao Bufan laughed and said, "That's why we went there at night!"

Everyone couldn't help shaking their heads and smiling wryly, Changsun Wuji poured everyone a cup of tea, changed the subject and said, "Do you think Li Yuan will agree to King Qi's conditions?"

Du Ruhui shook his head and said, "No, Hongnong County and Shangluo County are the gates of Guanzhong, Hangu Pass is in Hongnong County, and Wuguan is in Shangluo County, how could Li Yuan agree."

Xu Shiji glanced at Gao Bufan and said, "King Qi is just asking the sky for the price, Li Yuan, an old fox, will definitely pay back the money."

Changsun Heng'an said with a smile: "General Li Jing is progressing smoothly now, the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it is to Li Tang, Li Yuan will make concessions sooner or later."

Changsun Wuji shook his head and said, "Don't be too optimistic. Li Xiaogong said that the Turks would invade Yanmen and even Zhuojun in the near future. Wuji thought that he had to take it seriously."

Gao Bufan nodded and said: "What Wuji said is very true, the king intends to send Yuchi Jingde to Yanmen to assist Li Jing, and let Lu Sheng return to Zhuojun to stay behind, just in case."

Du Ruhui nodded when he heard the words: "As the saying goes, be prepared and avoid any danger. King Qi's move is very kind."

Xu Shiji said indifferently: "If the Turks really came to attack this time, they must have made a deal with Li Tang. Li Yuan, an old fox, is full of national righteousness, but in fact he is extremely hypocritical, and this person is the best at taking advantage of the situation, and he will definitely use whatever means. Create trouble for us."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Gao Bufan raised his eyebrows, and said coldly: "You need to be hardworking yourself to strike iron. Li Yuan's dealings with the Turkic people are undoubtedly attracting wolves into the house. One day they will be backlashed. Let's wait and see."

(End of this chapter)