Horse on the World

Chapter 349 Negotiations
After living in seclusion for more than ten days, Lu Zhaoting finally saw the light of day again. He and his two guards, Lu Hao and Lu Zheng, were taken out of the Statistics and Investigation Department. Outside the gate, a carriage with the logo of the Statistics and Investigation Department was waiting. where.

"Mr. Lu, please get in the carriage!" Wang Qi, who single-handedly hijacked him from Luzhou to Dingzhou, stood beside the carriage with a smile and invited Lu Zhaoting to get on the carriage.

"Where are we going?" Lu Zhaoting asked Wang Qi with a cold face.

Wang Qi said with a smile: "Where can I go to take you home? Oh, do you think that our Dingzhou's customs and customs are very different from those in the north, and you still want to hang around for a few days?"

Lu Zhaoting took a deep breath in his heart, but he didn't quite believe Wang Qi's words, "Send me home?"

Wang Qi nodded, "Of course, Young Master's father, Mr. Lu Fengchun, has arrived in Luofeng. We are sending you there to meet Mr. Fengchun!"

"How did my father come to Luo Feng?" Lv Zhaoting wondered.

"So that you can know that Luo Feng and Changqi in Luzhou have fallen into the hands of me in Dingzhou. Mr. Lu Fengchun couldn't find you in Luzhou, so he asked Dingzhou for help. We are not what Mr. Ying wants Please, send the young master back?"

Lu Zhaoting's face turned bitter, he made a careless move, and he was at a disadvantage, it was extremely embarrassing, and he didn't know what price his father and family had paid to make Dingzhou agree to release him, with a black line on his face, he stopped talking and remained silent stepped into the carriage.

Wang Qi smiled and waved his hand, and the carriage started slowly with a rattling sound.

In Luo Feng, the negotiation between Shang Haibo and Lu Fengchun can be said to be going quite smoothly. They knew each other's cards before, and they didn't get too entangled in the details, and went directly to the most core point.

Dingzhou has occupied Luo Feng and Chang Qi, and the fat in their mouths will definitely not be spit out. As compensation, the Lu family can also occupy the two counties near the north of Luzhou, and the two sides will station troops on the territory of Luzhou No more than [-] people each, and the rest of Luzhou will maintain the status quo, and neither the Lu family nor Dingzhou can get involved.The two sides just reconciled the status quo, but both sides knew the future well. No one raised this issue. In fact, everyone knew that no matter who slowed down first, the war between the two sides would begin .

If Lu's progress in the east is smooth, he will swallow Zeng's effortlessly, and then he will deal with Dingzhou, and Dingzhou's calculation is that Lu's best to fall into the quagmire in the east and cannot extricate himself However, when Dingzhou recovered from the Pingman War, he would never mind getting a knife in Lu's back.Time, at this time, is extremely important to both parties.

As for Luzhou, at this time, who would care about Luzhou's interests, which would allow him to survive for a few years, and both sides felt that Luzhou had made a lot of money.Whoever frees up his hand, Lu Zhou will be eating meat, so why not eat it?Right now, the two sides have reached a delicate balance in Luzhou, allowing Xu Hongwei to be the stable commander of Luzhou for a few more years. Once this period of time passes, Luzhou will immediately become the first battleground for the two sides to compete.

Going north first and then going south, making long distance and short attack, is Li Qing's grand strategy of stepping into the Central Plains.

Just when Shang Haibo signed the treaty with Luo Feng and Lu Fengchun, Li Qing, who had just returned to Dingzhou, welcomed a special envoy from Emperor Zhaoqing of Luoyang.

For Li Qingping's complete victory, successfully including the grasslands and the white mountains and black waters outside the pass into the territory of Dachu, Emperor Zhaoqing did not hesitate to praise Li Qing, saying that Li Qing is rare in the sky and unparalleled on the earth, calling him As the No.1 general in the history of Great Chu since Emperor Yingwu, there are countless rewards, and a lot of official titles are piled on Li Qing's head. Although there is nothing substantial, in name, he is indeed En Pang Extremely.

Regarding these things, Li Qing laughed it off. Compared with the special envoy from the palace, he valued the Xiao clan member who came with the special envoy more. For Li Qing, the things he brought were more useful to him .After receiving the imperial decree, when the special envoy told Li Qing in a low voice that he had a private letter from His Majesty the Emperor to deliver to Princess Qingcheng, although Li Qing was a little surprised, he still signaled to take it to the backyard and let the eunuch go to see Princess Qingcheng , and I stayed to meet the real important person in this mission, one of the core figures of the Xiao family, Xiao Haotian, Xiao Haoran's younger brother.

"I've seen Marshal Li!" Although Xiao Haotian was already very old and his beard and hair were white, but due to his status, he still had to give a big gift to Li Qing.

Li Qing waved his hand and said: "Master Xiao, let's not use these empty gifts, let's go straight to the topic, what did Duke Xiao bring to me?"

Xiao Haotian was a little embarrassed, he was very unaccustomed to Li Qing's straightforward way of talking, and completely abandoned the set of formalities in the officialdom. Although it seemed very happy, it actually made people extremely uncomfortable.

However, Xiao Haotian must be a person with deep pockets in his heart. After adjusting his mentality a little, he has returned to his natural state, "Marshal Li, I came here for two reasons, one of which is to resolve the old grievances between the two families!"

Li Qing sneered and said: "Old grievances? Master Xiao, I was humble and light-hearted back then, but a small battalion officer. General Xiao Yuanshan tried his best to put me to death. In the end, if it wasn't for General Lu Dalin's deep understanding of righteousness, at this moment Li Qing is afraid that there is only a pile of bones left, this old grievance is really serious, I was able to repay the grievance back then and returned General Xiao Yuanshan to you intact."

Xiao Haotian smiled wryly and said: "Marshal Li, it would be too unkind to say that. The matter between you and Yuan Shan back then was just a mutual calculation. Admit defeat, now that Marshal Li said so, didn't he get cheap and act like a good boy, did he slap us in the face?"

Hearing what he said was funny, Li Qing couldn't help laughing out loud, unable to see that the old man was quite humorous, "Okay, okay, I won't mention the old things back then, but you can talk about the second thing!"

Xiao Haoran lifted his spirits, and said: "The second thing is that I, Xiao Shi, seek to form an alliance with Li Shuai!"

"Alliance?" Li Qing blinked, "Why should I form an alliance with you, even if I don't mention the old grudges, there is no need to form an alliance with you!"

Xiao Haoran said with a smile: "Why, of course it is for profit."

"Benefits?" Li Qing said with a smile, "I can sit firmly in Dingzhou and return to the two states, and just sit and watch you fight life and death in the Central Plains. No matter who is the final winner, will Li Qing be missing a high position at that time?" , why should I dip into your muddy water?"

Xiao Haoran sneered, "Marshal Li, this remark is insincere. Now everyone knows that Da Chu has actually collapsed, and any powerful wealthy family is not eyeing that high position. Marshal Li, you don't want to follow him. I said, you don't have the ambition to compete in the world. Before leaving, the Duke once cooked wine with me and talked about heroes. They are just people, one is King Ning, and the other is you, Marshal Li."

"Thank you, Duke Gao, for looking at me. If this is the case, why do I have to form an alliance with your family? Wouldn't it be better for me to form an alliance with King Ning for the sake of profit? First, I have never had any old grudges with him." Second, I think he has a better chance of winning!"

Xiao Haoran shook his head, "Marshal Li will never form an alliance with King Ning. If there is no old grievance, you can't hide it from people, but let's skip this section, Marshal Li will definitely conflict with King Ning. The Lu family has a conflict of interest, and the Lu family wants to attack the Eastern Zeng family. Dingzhou must support the Zeng family and drag Lu Da into the quagmire of the war. However, Dingzhou is far away from the Zeng family and there is no land route. The only way to support the Zeng family is by sea. After the Fuzhou navy fell into the hands of the commander in chief, it developed rapidly. Presumably the commander will use them to support the Zeng family by sea, but the sea route will inevitably pass through the waters controlled by King Ning. What's more, King Ning is counting on the Lu family to deal with the Zeng family quickly, and then turn around to deal with Dingzhou, so as to reduce the pressure on him in Dingzhou!"

Li Qing's expression became serious. It seemed that Xiao Shi had indeed put a lot of effort into studying the situation in Dingzhou, and had a complete understanding of Dingzhou's strategic intentions.

"Even so, so what, even if I form an alliance with your family, one day, you and my family will meet each other and have a showdown?"

Xiao Haotian laughed loudly: "Who can tell clearly about the future? It's better to focus on the immediate future first, Marshal Li. When that day comes, naturally you and my two families don't need to talk nonsense, but now, we will benefit from cooperation. , divided into two evils, with the ability of a commander, one should be able to know the serious relationship between them."

"You're honest. You're right. When the time comes, you and I will still have to rely on our fists to talk. Whoever gets the hardest fist will have the last laugh."

"That's right, but before that, we have to work together to sweep those clowns into the trash." Xiao Haoran smiled.

Li Qing played with Yu Ruyi on the case, "What can Duke Xiao give me?"

Xiao Haoran asked back: "What does Marshal Li want?"

Li Qing threw Yu Ruyi on the desk, and made a crisp crashing sound, "I want to merge the state!"

Xiao Haoran's face changed, "Marshal Li, your appetite is too big, we are ready to squeeze our noses to swallow this bitter fruit if you take away Qixia Pass, but if you want the whole Bingzhou, it's too much! "

"It's not too much at all. You and I form an alliance. You are strong and we are weak. You don't have enough strength. How can you share enough benefits? I need Bingzhou, a grain-producing area, and you will give it to me. I will not only give it to King Ning by sea. I can even send an army to contain some of King Ning's troops, Lord Xiao, you know, our army is seriously short of troops after the suppression of the barbarians, and being able to do this is a sign of our sincerity!"

Xiao Haoran was silent for a while, "This is a big matter, I need to ask the Duke for instructions before I can make the decision!"

Li Qing nodded, "I'm not in a hurry in these three or two days, but you have to hurry up, I guess, King Ning's special envoy will arrive in a few days."

(End of this chapter)