Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1345 Faith and Loyalty
A few days later, Gongsun Huang took his leave and returned to Liaoxi. In the meantime, several waves of envoys arrived one after another, including those from Wuhuan, Goguryeo, and even the Eastern and Western Xianbei.

Yuan Xi had dealt with these people more often now, and knew what they were here for besides showing their loyalty. He immediately asked the officials to open the treasury and take out some luxury items that the gentry liked as rewards.

The rewards he gave were very measured, and most of them were flashy and impractical. As for what the other party wanted most, which was the craftsmanship and technology that was the foundation of the State of Jin, Yuan Xi was on high alert. Unless the other party showed enough loyalty and paid a sufficient price, he would not release the eagle until he saw the rabbit.

Yuan Xi could not learn the style of the later Tang Dynasty where all nations came to pay tribute, nor did he want to learn it. He had no interest in any friendly countries. If he wanted to enjoy the good life in China, that was fine, but the prerequisite was to integrate into China. Otherwise, he should just herd sheep and cattle honestly and stop thinking too much.

The main reason why he was so generous to the Gongsun family was that the other party had always stood on the side of Jin until now. The Korean naval battle was one of them, and the other time was after the battle between Jin and Zhong Xianbei last year. Ju Luohou and Suonu fled with the remnants to Liaoxi and arrived at the territory of the Gongsun family.

Because of the intelligence blockade, the two men did not know the inside story of the Korean naval battle. They always thought that the Gongsun family had rebellious intentions. As a result, they ran to Gongsun Kang for help and even instigated him to rebel. As a result, Gongsun Kang did not waste any time and directly chopped off the heads of the two men and sent them to Jicheng.

The Gongsun family is not afraid of Ke Bineng's revenge at all. Its territory is located in western Liaoning, surrounded by Wuhuan, Goguryeo and Eastern Xianbei, and all three families have surrendered to the Jin State. Unless Ke Bineng captures Zhuo County and bypasses it, he will never reach western Liaoning.

Therefore, Yuan Xi also gave corresponding rewards for the loyalty of the Gongsun family. After all, having such a loyal and staunch subordinate in the north can also set an example for other hesitant forces.

However, what surprised Yuan Xi was that Kobineng had also secretly sent an envoy over.

Moreover, the identity of this envoy was also unusual. His name was Xieguini, and he was the son of Furohan, the middle brother of Budugen. It was actually because of Furohan that Budugen and Kobein had their initial enmity.

At that time, the Wuhuan tribe was divided internally, and a tribal leader named Nengchen Di defected and wanted to seek refuge with Fuluo Han. When Fuluo Han heard about it, he brought more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to welcome him. As a result, Nengchen Di changed his mind halfway and turned to seek refuge with Kebineng. After the three families met, they wanted to swear an oath together, but Kebineng took the opportunity to kill Fuluo Han during the oath, and annexed Nengchen Di and Fuluo Han's tribes.

At that time, Fu Luohan's son Xie Guini watched the whole thing, but not only did he not take revenge, he also voted for Kobineng and was treated very well by Kobineng.

At that time, Yuan Xi was busy fighting in the Central Plains. When he heard the news afterwards, he felt that there must be something fishy about this matter. No matter how you look at it, it seemed like a conspiracy against Fuluo Han, and the role played by Xie Guini in it was probably not very glorious.

So when he met Xie Guini in the hall, after hearing Xie Guini's identity, he said with great interest: "When the three families swore an oath, what happened? Tell me about it."

Xie Guini naturally came with a purpose. He wanted to take the opportunity to convey the conditions proposed by Kobe before leaving. Unexpectedly, the Jin Emperor did not play by the rules, but directly asked him about the truth of the three-family alliance. This put Xie Guini in a passive position. If the truth involved was revealed, it would not be beneficial to this mission and might even have a counterproductive effect.

Imagine if the Emperor of Jin thought that Kobe Neng played an ignominious role in this matter, how could he believe that the Zhong Xianbei came to negotiate sincerely? On the contrary, if he were to exonerate Kobe Neng, he would not be able to explain his role in the entire incident. Would he have to admit that he betrayed his father Fu Luohan and caused his death?
How would Emperor Jin view himself as Kobe's representative in the negotiations?

Xie Guini suddenly realized that the other party had forced him into a dilemma with just a few words. He was speechless and could not utter a word for a while.

When Yuan Xi saw this, he thought to himself that Xie Guini was still too naive. He had the courage to do it but didn't have the face to admit it. It was really not reassuring to deal with such a person.

He didn't want to waste time, so he said, "Tell me your king's conditions."

Xie Guini felt as if he had been pardoned, and quickly told Yuan Xi about Ko Bineng's conditions. After listening to a few words, Yuan Xi understood everything and thought that Ko Bineng really had the nerve to say that.

This time, Kobineng almost acted like a winner and put forward some exorbitant conditions, such as redefining the border between the two sides, launching trade, demanding to exchange cattle and sheep for Jin's smelting and tool-making technology, and jointly sweeping away and dividing the Eastern and Western Xianbei, etc.

No matter from which angle you look at it, Kobe seems a bit too strong and greedy. However, the premise of negotiation is to overwhelm the other party in momentum and thus obtain more favorable conditions. He does this for the purpose of bargaining later, which is understandable from this point of view.

Although Kobineng suffered a great defeat last year, it was intentional. Most of the Xianbei people, young and old, who came over were originally intended to be let go by Kobineng. Although the Xianbei army did not cause great damage to the Jin army, it still had a great impact on the local people's livelihood in Youzhou.

During the months that the Xianbei cavalry stayed in Youzhou, Yuan Xi mobilized a large amount of manpower and material resources to relocate more than 200,000 people to Jizhou in order to fortify the city and clear the fields. This was actually a heavy burden for the Jin State. Although the Jin State won a great victory in the end, apart from the small number of deaths, the financial resources consumed were enormous.

Yuan Xi was already full of anger, and after listening to Xie Guini's conditions, his expression turned cold and he knocked on the armrests of the throne with his hands. The clacking sound seemed particularly quiet in the empty hall.

Xie Guini couldn't help but secretly look around, and found that the civil officials and generals on both sides were all silent. Everyone had a different expression on their face, but they all forced themselves to lower their heads, and their faces looked extremely excited.

As expected, Yuan Xi snorted coldly, "Xie Guini, have you ever thought that you are useless to Kobe now?"

Xie Guini's face changed, and he quickly said, "Master Shanyu has been very kind to me. I have never thought of such a thing, and I believe that it will never happen to me."

Yuan Xi sneered, "But you, Lord Chanyu, have no sincerity in negotiating at all."

"Go down first, think about it carefully in the next few days, and come back to see me when you have figured it out."

Xie Guini gritted his teeth and said, "The above are all the conditions that Lord Kobineng has sincerely offered." "Shut up!" Finally someone couldn't help it. This was Qian Zhao, who had just returned from Xu Wushan's rotation. When he spoke, his loud voice startled everyone, "Is this called sincerity?"

"Are all you Xianbei people so shameless?"

Xie Guini's face darkened, and he could not help but shout, "I am here to negotiate on behalf of the Chanyu. Who are you? Can you represent the Emperor?"

As soon as these words came out, the ministers in the Jin court were all furious, and they all accused him, "How dare you barbarians roar at the throne?"

"Your Majesty, how can you be so arrogant and rude?"

Xie Guini sneered, "I came here on behalf of the Chanyu, naturally with sincerity, but you guys didn't even give me a chance to speak. Is this the demeanor of the Celestial Empire?"

As soon as Yuan Xi saw him, he knew that this person was used to being domineering. No matter what the purpose was, there was no need to indulge him. He sneered and said, "The Celestial Empire is a great country that benefits the world, but it also depends on the recipient."

"The Xianbei have repeatedly invaded my borders and harmed my people, but they have not reflected on their actions and have not figured out their position. Or is it that Kobe sent someone like you just to anger me and make you go without return?"

"Have you ever heard of my nickname before you came here?"

Yuan Xi's voice was not loud, and he spoke very slowly, but Xie Guini's heart jumped for no reason. He felt the air around him suddenly turn cold, and the murderous aura was approaching like a substance. He couldn't help but shudder and tried to defend himself, "You Han people have a saying, 'A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. You are a fierce tiger, but I am a fierce bull on the grassland. I, a Xianbei, am not afraid of you Han people!"

"Now that Lord Shanyu has asked me to come here, I want to negotiate with the Han people on an equal footing, not to be their dog!"

After hearing this, all the officials and generals of the State of Jin, including Tang Yu and Qian Zhao, shook their heads and thought that Xie Guini was so stubborn that Kobe either didn't know his character or sent him to die on purpose.

Your Majesty is a man who responds to soft words but not to hard ones. If you try this, will Your Majesty tolerate you?

As expected, Yuan Xi sneered and said, "What a grassland bull. The name sounds nice, but what he does in private is very dirty. In this case, let's try the sword of the Han family."

"Come on, take him out and chop him up, then give the head to Kirby to deliver."

Xie Guini was stunned. Before he came, Kobe had told him that the emperors of the Central Plains all cared about their reputation. If the Xianbei envoys took a tough stance, the emperors of the Central Plains would appreciate their courage and would not look down on the Xianbei's ambition. He did not expect that this ferocious tiger would not play according to common sense.

Seeing the guards on both sides coming up and about to escort him out, Xie Guini recalled what Yuan Xi had just reminded him of, and couldn't help but tremble. Could it be that Kobe really wanted to die?
His arms had been grabbed by two tall guards, who dragged him out with great force. Xie Guini was really panicked and shouted, "Your Majesty, when two countries are at war, they don't kill envoys. Why are you breaking your promise?"

"Shut up!" Ju Su shouted, "You barbarians have the nerve to call yourself a country. First you sent your tribesmen to die, and then you disrespected His Majesty in court. Is this how you, the barbarians outside the Great Wall, want to die?"

"Do you think you have concealed the truth about Fu Luohan's death well?"

"In order to seize Fu Luohan's position, you actually colluded with outsiders, killed your own father, and betrayed your tribe. How can a person like you still have the dignity to live in this world?"

Xie Guini collapsed to the ground, and only then did he realize that the State of Jin knew everything. He was also certain that Kobe wanted to use the State of Jin to get rid of him in order to erase this stain!
He immediately shouted: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, spare my life, I can correct Kobe Neng!"

"I can tell the world what he did!"

This is what Yuan Xi was waiting for. He said, "Okay."

"I will temporarily detain you in prison. Whether you can save your life depends on what you can write and what you can do."

After Xie Guini was dragged out like a dead dog, Yuan Xi said to the crowd: "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts. The environment outside the Great Wall is harsh, and it has forced people to become inhuman, not to mention the Hu people who are far away from civilization."

"The next ten years will be a life-and-death struggle with no retreat for either side. I will stay here until this cancer is completely eradicated."

After hearing this, everyone bowed and said, "We swear to follow the king till death!"

(End of this chapter)