Before the news of the chaos in Changsha had returned, another envoy from the Zhou Dynasty arrived in Jiangning first.

The visitor is Fang Guangxia, the defense envoy of Yingzhou.

Fang Guangxia received Guo Wei's order in Yingzhou and ordered him to serve as deputy envoy to Jiangning. He formally conferred Xue Juzheng as the envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty and was fully responsible for the good affairs of the alliance between the two countries.

Yingzhou was only separated by the Huaihe River from the Tang State. Fang Guangxia set off immediately after receiving Guo Wei's order. Li Jing of the Tang State also issued an order to open the gates along the way to ensure that the Zhou envoys could reach Jiangning unimpeded.

So Fang Guangxia came to Jiangning from Yingzhou in less than ten days.

Zhu Xiu accompanied Xue Juzheng out of the city to meet Fang Guangxia. This Fang Shijun was an out-and-out local official. He had been an official for more than 20 years and had never been to the capital.

In Tianfu's last year, it was his turn to go to Beijing to report on his duties. Before he could reach Kaifeng, he heard the news that Hebei was being invaded by the Khitan people, so he could only return in a hurry.

In the middle of last year, Fang Guangxia took the initiative to request an audience in Beijing, and received permission from Emperor Yin Liu Chengyou.

On the way, the Guangzhengdian Incident broke out and Kaifeng was under martial law. The imperial court issued a decree to cancel the work report activities that year, and Fang Guangxia had to go back home.

Going around and around, Fang Guangxia has been working in the Huaibei area, and has experienced Shi Jin, Liu Han, and Da Zhou, but he has never even been to Kaifeng.

After learning about his experience, Zhu Xiu couldn't help but laugh and cry, and expressed deep sympathy for this thin old man who was over fifty years old.

His experience reminded Zhu Xiu of old man Wen Taiwen who lived in Anding County, Jingzhou.

Old Man Wen was the last Jingzhou Township Tribute before the fall of the Tang Dynasty. He was originally going to Luoyang to take part in the scientific examination. Just as he entered the border of Guanzhong, news came from Luoyang that Emperor Ai abdicated and Liang Wang Zhu Quanzhong established Daliang on behalf of the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty fell, and Old Man Wen's promising status as a rural tribute was gone in the blink of an eye.

The world is turbulent like turbulent waves, and everyone is like a boat on the water, drifting with the current, ups and downs, and it is extremely lucky to not encounter the disaster of capsizing.

As the youngest founding lord after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, Zhu Xiu's name was widely known among the bureaucratic and aristocratic groups, and Fang Guangxia had naturally heard of his name for a long time.

When I learned that he was from Haozhou, I immediately warmly changed to the accent of my hometown in Huaibei.

But Zhu Xiu awkwardly expressed that she didn’t understand.

He took Fang Guangxia to live temporarily in Honglu Temple. In front of the two of them, Fang Guangxia read out a document written by the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, appointing Xue Juzheng as the envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Fang Guangxia as the deputy envoy, fully responsible for establishing an alliance with the Tang Dynasty.

Throughout this book of several hundred words, Zhu Xiu is not mentioned.

It seems that he has been forgotten by the Emperor of Zhou Dynasty.

Zhu Xiu lay on the ground and grinned. Through this book, which did not mention him even a single word, he seemed to be able to feel Uncle Guo's dissatisfaction and anger towards him.

The reason was simply that Uncle Guo knew that he had revealed his surrender to the Lord of Tang Dynasty in person.

Xue Juzheng and Wang Lingwen had previously said that they would not conceal this matter, nor did they dare to conceal it, and would report it truthfully.

Zhu Xiu believed that Uncle Guo's wisdom would not fail to guess that this was just an expedient measure on his part. However, the fact that this article did not mention his bookmaking still showed that Uncle Guo was quite angry about this matter.

Zhu Xiu smelled a sour smell of jealousy.

If you don't get the solution, you can only wait until you return to Kaifeng and apologize to Uncle Guo in person.

The instructions given by Uncle Guo to Xue Juzheng can be summarized as follows: no alliance, no confrontation, expanding trade, and maintaining the status quo.

On this basis, Xue Juzheng was allowed to play his role and negotiate with Tang State.

Zhu Xiu exclaimed in her heart that she admired him. Uncle Guo had clearly seen through Li Jing's little thoughts.

A peace treaty can be concluded, but an alliance is not necessary, lest the Tang State use various moral excuses to restrict Zhou's military actions in the future.

The last three instructions are also perfectly in line with the current status quo of the two countries. Zhu Xiu guessed that the negotiation process would be slightly bumpy, but Li Jing would definitely accept it.

Sure enough, Xue Ju was in Yanjia Hall, having a heated exchange of words with the Tang monarchs and ministers, and negotiated for three days before finally signing a peace treaty that satisfied both parties.

This negotiation was only held between the two envoys of the Zhou Dynasty, Xue Juzheng and Fang Guangxia, the Emperor of Tang and a group of important ministers. Zhu Xiu was not qualified to participate, so he could only wait for Zhou Zong to come back and rush to inquire.

Li Jing made the ceremony of signing the peace treaty very grand. Officials of the fifth rank or above in Beijing attended in court uniforms. Song Qiqiu represented the Tang Dynasty, and Xue Juzheng represented the Zhou Dynasty to sign the peace treaty.

The Tang court also publicized the process and content of this covenant to the people, which cheered up both the government and the public, officials were happy, and the people were encouraged.

The tense atmosphere of the confrontation between the Chen soldiers on both sides of the Huaihe River was greatly eased with the signing of a letter of alliance.

After finishing their business, Xue Juzheng and Fang Guangxia set off back to Kaifeng to resume their duties.

This time Fang Guangxia was finally able to return to Kaifeng calmly and report on his duties, and see with his own eyes the emperor and the court for which he was loyal.

As for Zhu Xiu, Uncle Guo did not mention it in his decree, and Xue Juzheng simply pretended that he was not there.

Li Jing sent his deputy privy envoy Zha Wenhui and the commander of the Xiongwu Army Yao Lin out of the city to see him off, pretending to summon Zhu Xiu into the palace without letting him step out of the city gate at all.

In the following days, Zhu Xiu asked Hu Guangyue to secretly go to Guangyun Shipyard every day to find out whether Wang Lingwen had returned from Changsha.

It's a pity that Wude Si Chazi's answer was no.

June 29th, a late night with lightning and thunder.

The electric light pierced the dark sky, and the thunder snake danced, piercing the dark night like day.

Under the turbulent wind and rain, a fast horse galloped along the official road outside Baoju Gate in the south of Jiangning City. The sound of the horse's hooves was completely drowned in the howling wind and rain.

A gong is hung under the Baoju Gate. If there is an emergency military situation at night, the gong can be sounded to alert the garrison on the city.

The gong rang, and after a while, the dark city was lit up with sparks. A sergeant wearing a raincoat appeared on the city, cursing.

"Who is here? What's important?" The sergeant wiped the rain off his face and roared at the top of his lungs, causing the wind and rain to pour into his mouth.

The messenger under the city held up a bronze command talisman with an inscription and shouted anxiously: "According to the order of Hunan's pacification envoy, General Bian Hao, there is an urgent military situation and I have come to the palace to present it to the saint!"

"What's the matter?" The guard sergeant didn't dare to be careless and asked the reason loudly.

"Sun Lang, the surrendered general from Changsha, rebelled, killed his deputy general Wang Shaoyan, occupied Changsha, cut off our army's food routes, and sent troops to join forces with Xu Wei from Hengzhou to attack our army!

Our army was defeated and General Bian Hao led his army to retreat to Liling!

General Bian Hao wrote a letter written in blood, requesting the imperial court to send troops to rescue quickly!" The messengers below the city shouted.

The guard sergeant was startled, and he was stunned for a moment before he realized: "Hurry up and release the hanging basket! Check the command talisman first, and only then can we open the city!"

Several soldiers hurriedly put down the hanging basket, retrieved the messenger's talisman, and after checking it with the archives issued by the Privy Council and the Ministry of War, the sergeant waved and shouted: "Open the door, please let the messenger enter the city!"

The city gate was narrowly opened, and the messenger rushed in on horseback. Under the protection of several cavalry, he rushed all the way to Xingtang Palace.

Within an hour, fires lit up one after another from south to north of Xingtang Palace, Chengtian Gate, Jiade Gate, Liangyi Gate, and Yanjia Gate, until they reached Zhaoqing Hall, the harem where Li Jing stayed that night.

Under the black wind and rain, dozens of palace guards rushed out of the city and rushed to the mansions of major courtiers to convey the emperor's urgent summons...

Zhu Xiu was awakened by a violent shaking while sleeping.

"Master Hou! Wake up quickly! There is indeed chaos in Changsha. The Lord of Tang Dynasty summoned you urgently. The old master asked me to wake you up quickly and follow him to the palace to discuss matters."

Zhu Xiu's confused mind suddenly woke up, and her sleepiness suddenly disappeared.

"Kacha" a thunderbolt flashed across, illuminating Zhou Zong's figure at the door of the bedroom.

"Uncle..." Zhu Xiu swallowed, feeling that Zhou Zong's eyes were frighteningly bright in the darkness.

Zhou Zong's deep voice came into the bedroom: "The opportunity you wanted has finally come. Change your clothes quickly and follow me into the palace."

Zhu Xiu took a deep breath and said, "Uncle, please wait a moment."

After a while, Zhu Xiu, fully dressed, took a car with Zhou Zong and drove to the palace gate in the wind and rain.

On the second floor of Guzhuzhai, Zhou Xian opened the window and looked at the corridor outside the courtyard filled with people and the lights shining. His father and Zhu Xiu left the house surrounded by people.

Looking at the rainwater flowing like threads on the eaves, Zhou Xian held his heart in his hands, his beautiful eyes full of worry. She knew that the day to leave Jiangning was not far away...

~~~

Dawn breaks, the wind subsides and the rain stops.

The Yanjia Hall was brightly lit.

Li Jing sat on the imperial throne, dressed in white uniform, with a gloomy and terrifying face.

He didn't even bother to put on his black gauze turban, and only fixed his hair with a hairpin.

Prince Li Hongji, King of Jin Li Jingsui, Prime Minister Song Qiqiu, Zha Wenhui, Feng Yanji, Feng Yanlu, Taifu Zhou Zong, Xu Xuan and other important officials were all present.

Even Qi King Li Jingda, who had been recovering from illness for several months, also came, and Li Jing gave him a seat beside the emperor.

Li Jingda was not yet thirty years old, but his complexion was sallow and his eye sockets were sunken. He kept covering his mouth with a handkerchief and coughing.

Zhu Xiu glanced at it and was greatly surprised.

Historically, Li Jingda was not considered to have lived a long life, but he did not die of illness before he was thirty.

There must be something wrong here. Could it be the butterfly wings again?

Suddenly, Zhu Xiu noticed that when Li Hongji glanced at Li Jingda, a sneer flashed across the corner of his mouth...

Is this guy causing trouble?

Zhu Xiu secretly kept his suspicions, but he had to find an opportunity for Li Congjia to remind Li Jingda.

After all, that guy is a vicious person who likes to frame his uncle to death.

"Bian Hao is incompetent and deeply disappoints me!"

Li Jing angrily slapped the armrest of the imperial throne, and the roar of filial piety filled the hall.

Everyone was as silent as a cicada. When they entered the palace, they all knew about the Changsha incident. The Tang army's retreat was blocked, and Bian Hao was attacked from both sides. He could only flee to Liling like a bereaved dog.

If the rescue is not timely, the more than 20,000 elite Tang troops under Bian Hao's command, as well as other small forces scattered everywhere, will face a crazy counterattack by the Chu army.
To be continued...