The Beacon of Kyushu

Li Huan glanced at Yang Yun'e and said without hesitation: "No problem, I will agree to the first four!"

Wan Jianfeng said, "You only agree to the first four? What about the fifth? Don't you want your queen anymore?"

Li Huan said angrily, "I don't even know what the Chaos Religion is. How can you ask me to agree to this? If you insist on asking me to agree to something I can't do, it would be better if you kill Yun'e and we both perish together!"

Wan Jianfeng thought to himself, "The headquarters of the Chaos Cult is in Wushan, and Li Huan would rather not have Yang Yun'e than admit this. It seems that the Chaos Cult may really have nothing to do with Qu Yue. At the beginning, I stepped into this muddy water just to help the little witch destroy the Chaos Cult, but I didn't expect to go in the wrong direction, and in the end I worked in vain!"

Seeing Wan Jianfeng in a daze, Li Huan continued, "It is true that I agree to your conditions, but it seems that your Song Dynasty still occupies a lot of Quyue territory. After you leave, should these territories be returned? Otherwise, I will suffer a great loss!"

Wan Jianfeng was not an official of the imperial court after all. When he heard Li Huan's proposal to return the territory, he could not help but look at Gao Chujun and Wang Shize subconsciously. Although Wang Shize was the chief envoy, he was only a small Right Minister after all, so how could he be qualified to agree to such a thing. Only Gao Chujun, as a general and his mother was the emperor's sister, dared to say: "Lord Li, I can agree to your condition on your behalf. But if you dare to break your promise, I can take it back with my white horse and silver spear!"

Li Huan nodded and said, "General Gao, I know you are Zhao Guangyi's nephew. I believe your uncle will not object to your decision. Zhao Yan, you should quickly take a group of personal soldiers back to Hualu to pick up the people. Don't leave anyone behind, lest the Song people say we are not moral!" Li Gongyun had been accompanying him, but without Li Huan's order, the queen fell into the hands of the Song State and had to be cautious and silent. At this moment, he received Li Huan's order and hurriedly responded. He went outside the temple to select a few personal soldiers and quickly returned to Hualu.

As soon as Li Gongyun left, Wan Jianfeng hurriedly signaled to Zhang Xubai and Gao Chujun to keep an eye on Li Huan, while he kept Yang Yun'e firmly under his control. Li Huan had intended to wait for an opportunity to rob the hostages, then use his martial arts to fight his way out of the temple and return to Hualu to dispatch the army. But now, after being reminded by Wan Jianfeng, the two of them were staring at him without blinking, so if he acted rashly, both sides would suffer, so he had to admit defeat.

About an hour later, Li Gongyun brought Zhang Zongquan, Kou Zhun, and several Song ministers captured in the Zhilingjiang Battle to the palace. When Wan Jianfeng saw Kou Zhun, he stepped forward and whispered in his ear, "Master Kou, my little witch has been missing in order to save you. How do you think she should compensate me?"

Since Kou Zhun entered the hall, his face has been as gloomy as a dark cloud in summer, and he has not said a word. Even now when Wan Jianfeng leaned close to his ear and mentioned the matter of Murong Yunyao, he remained indifferent. Wan Jianfeng touched his forehead with his hand, opened his eyelids and looked for a long time, making sure that the person in front of him was not crazy, stupid, or replaced. But if that was true, how could he become like this after just a few months of not seeing him.

Wan Jianfeng was about to ask Li Huan if he had given Kou Zhun any drugs, when he suddenly saw Li Huan's eyes lowered and his lips slightly opened and closed, as if he was confessing. Wan Jianfeng could not hear his voice, but he could read from his mouth shape that he was saying "The only regret in the past 20 years is that I always remember Zhiling River."

In an instant, Wan Jianfeng understood why Kou Zhun had changed, and even more so why he didn't want to say a word, because he felt guilty. Guilt towards the Song Dynasty, guilt towards Hou Renbao, and guilt towards the thousands of soldiers who died tragically in the battle of Zhiling River, like a thousand-pound burden, accumulated in his heart for too long, how could he not change? But what Wan Jianfeng didn't know was how much Kou Zhun would change because of this, how long would he change because of this, whether it would be a few days or a lifetime, whether he would become self-destructive or become outspoken and daring to remonstrate, only time could give him the answer.

Li Huan had already spread out paper and ground ink himself, and wrote a letter in public, expressing his wish to establish an everlasting friendship with the Song Dynasty. Afterwards, he summoned Zhang Mani and asked him to hand over the antidote for the Thousand Poisons and Heartbreak Powder. Wan Jianfeng winked at Zhang Xubai, who immediately understood and took the antidote and examined it carefully. Soon, he nodded to Wan Jianfeng and said, "Young Master Wan, this bottle is indeed the antidote."

Wan Jianfeng nodded, took the letter of credence in one hand and the antidote in the other, with a satisfied smile on his face, "Lord Li, you are indeed a passionate person, it seems that Lady Yang made the right choice by marrying you! Well, our trip is complete, we will take our leave now!" Wang Shize, Gao Chujun and others saw that the mission was accomplished, and they also said goodbye to Li Huan in turn, leaving the magnificent and solemn Baiding Temple one after another. "Zhao Yan!" Li Huan looked at everyone who had gone far away, and ordered Li Gongyun angrily: "Hurry up and write an edict in my name, ordering Fan Jubei to kill the Song Gou before he arrives in Qiujiang, leaving no one alive!"

Li Gongyun hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, now that Qu Yue has made peace with the Song Dynasty, it would be detrimental to the country if we rashly start a war!"

Li Huan clenched his right fist, his eyes flashing with a fierce light, "Those who obey me will prosper, those who disobey me will perish! Since they want to die, I will grant their wish!"

One day later, at Songping Mountain outside Huabu City.

Songping Mountain is only thirty miles away from Huabu City. The mountain is covered with green peaks and strange rocks. Some time ago, Fan Jubei was still leading his army to attack Huabu City. However, Liu Cheng and Liu Shan led their troops to fight desperately. Wan Jianfeng also made some arrangements before leaving. The Song army actually relied on a small city to resist Qu Yue's army for several months. It was not until the Song Dynasty sent an envoy that Li Huan ordered to temporarily stop the siege and retreat to Songping Mountain to make way for the Song envoy. Fan Jubei was able to rest for a while.

In the afternoon, Fan Jubei was a little tired from sitting in the main tent, so he opened the curtain and went out to patrol the camp. He had not walked far when he heard two Quyue soldiers whispering to each other: "Brother, His Majesty was at loggerheads with the State of Song a while ago and wanted to kill the envoys sent by the State of Song. Why did he recently order a halt to the siege and let the envoys of Song go?"

"I don't know either! Could it be that His Majesty has changed his mind and doesn't want to fight this war anymore?"

"Haha, that's great! If we Quyue people can live a good life, it's better than anything else!"

"Who said it wasn't? Since the rebellion of the Twelve Lords, we haven't had a few days of peace. I hope Your Majesty can change his mind and make peace with the Song Dynasty!"

After hearing what the two said, Fan Jubei strode over and said in his loud voice: "Your Majesty, this move is not to stop the war, but to achieve greater results. I believe that it won't be long before we have another tough battle to fight!"

Upon hearing this, the two soldiers hurriedly agreed with Fan Jubei for anticipating the enemy's moves, but they had a lot of grievances in their hearts. Suddenly, the two found a snow-white carrier pigeon flying from the southwest, and in the blink of an eye it flew over their heads and circled. As soon as Fan Jubei stretched out his hand, the pigeon flapped its wings and landed directly in his palm. Fan Jubei took the letter from the pigeon's feet, unfolded it and read it, and then a strong fighting spirit appeared on his face, "That's right, your majesty really wants to close the door and beat the dog! Well, with this general stationed here, I will make sure that no one in the Song army will survive!"

(End of this chapter)