Chapter 4 The two tigers confront each other again
The envoys of Qi Xiang and the State of Chen talked for three days, and neither side gave in. The bottom line between Qi Xiang and Xiang was to cut off one city of Chen State from Qi.
Taxes were used as compensation for the military expenses of the Qi Xiang coalition; Chen Bing had to reduce the garrison by half at the city defense pass bordering Qi and Xiang, and promised not to use weapons again within three years; all conditions were agreed, and the Qi army released all captured Chen troops.
Chen Guo only agreed to return all the gold, silver and grain that had been plundered from Xiang Guo; promised not to use troops first against Qi and Xiang for three years; and to show sincerity, he could compensate Qi and Xiang for some gold and silver treasures; he could not agree to anything else.
The negotiations were mainly conducted by Dai Rongzhen, Prime Minister of Xiang State, and Xu Boxiong, Prime Minister of Chen State. The negotiations took place once in Chen Palace, once in the post house, and the rest were held in Chen Guoxiang Mansion. King Wuyou Qi Sichu met King Chen for the first time.
After attending the negotiation, I no longer wanted to tangle with Chen.
On the fourth day of the negotiation, the prime ministers of both sides met and reached a stalemate, so they negotiated a compromise. The Chen State returned the looted gold, silver, grain and grass, and the Qi army released the captured eldest prince, Chen Cheng, and the captured imperial troops. King Wuyou read the proposal and only
He sneered and told Prime Minister Dai that if the items could be agreed separately, then after the Chen State returned the gold, silver, grain and grass to Xiang State, the eldest prince would be released, and nothing else would be discussed.
King Chen heard that King Wuyou was resolute and had no room for maneuver. He was eager to have the eldest prince released and returned to his country as soon as possible, so he arranged for Xu Boxiong to agree to this.
Originally, Dai Rongzhen was still feeling a little relieved to have completed a negotiation, but as soon as he returned to the post house, King Wuyou came to find him in the house and secretly told him a few things.
Half a month later, the two countries of Chen and Xiang held a handover between Pingguan and Yicheng. Xiang Guo received the wealth and grain plundered by Chen Guo; Chen Guo welcomed back its eldest prince Chen Cheng.
As soon as Chen Cheng entered Chen Di, he immediately ordered Zhou Yongkai to quickly assemble Chen troops at Pingguan and be ready to attack Yicheng at any time. At the same time, he ordered Chen troops in neighboring Tacheng, Yancheng and other places to also be ready to attack. As soon as he arrived from Luocheng
When he came back, he immediately attacked Xiang State, defeated the Qi army, rescued Chen Qi, and took revenge. Knowing that King Wuyou was in Luo City as an envoy, the eldest prince Chen Cheng immediately flew back to Luo City and wrote to Chen Qi on the way.
King: Put King Wuyou under house arrest, and also use King Wuyou and the people from Qi Xiang's envoy to threaten King Xiang and the Qi army to let them release the imprisoned Chen army.
The minor cold has just passed, and the country of Chen has entered nine cold days. The cold wind is biting and the ground is icy and snowy.
As soon as Chen Cheng returned to Luocheng, he went straight to the palace to meet King Chen. King Chen had already received his flying letter and had also ordered the third prince Chen Yi to mobilize the imperial army to attack Qi Xiang's camp outside the city and the post house of the diplomatic mission inside the city.
Blockade and siege. Xu Boxiong also used excuses not to negotiate with Dai Rongzhen. Regarding Dai Rongzhen's doubts about the siege of the mission, he only said that it was to protect the safety of the mission. However, Xu Boxiong was an old thief and ordered his subordinates to attack the two places in his own name.
Daily supplies are handled as usual and no shortage is allowed.
Brothers Chen Cheng and Chen Yi led a group of forbidden troops to the post house. They saw Chen Jun outside the post house and surrounded the post house watertight. They nodded with relief. The soldiers called the guards of the post house to open the door, and the forbidden troops swarmed in.
After entering, the Qi troops and Xiang troops who were on guard in the posthouse also lined up to face each other. Chen Cheng asked the Qi soldiers to quickly inform King Wuyou Qi Si, saying that Chen Cheng had come to pay a visit. Following the shouting outside, Dai Rongzhen came out.
, Prime Minister Dai looked at the tense formations of the two armies in front of him, but instead scolded Qi Jun and Xiang Jun for being rude. Seeing what Dai Rongzhen said, Chen Cheng also signaled the Imperial Army to put away their weapons. He said to Dai Rongzhen calmly:
"Thanks to the care of the Qi army in Xiangcheng a few days ago, I came here to express my gratitude to Prince Qi Si. I would like to trouble Prime Minister Dai to invite Prince Qi Si to come out and see you."
Dai Rongzhen greeted the two princes Chen Cheng and Chen Yi politely, and then pretended to be surprised and asked: "The eldest prince's array of thanks is really big. I can see the eldest prince's sincerity. Or maybe this is
Your country’s ritual of expressing thanks?!”
Chen Cheng was said to be boring by Dai Rongzhen, so he thanked him and stopped talking to him. He only shouted loudly into the room: "Prince Chen Cheng of the Chen Kingdom has come to express his gratitude. King Wuyou, please come out and see him."
Dai Rongzhen waited for him to finish shouting, then sneered and said: "The eldest prince's wishes, I accept it on behalf of Prince Qi. However, the young prince said a few days ago that the beautiful scenery after snow in your country is rare, so he took a few guards to enjoy the snow.
It’s a great sight, but I haven’t come back yet.”
Chen Cheng was stunned when he heard this, and secretly complained in his heart, why didn't he expect King Wuyou to slip away? He really shouldn't have mobilized troops in advance to arouse the enemy's alert. Then he laughed and said to Dai Rongzhen: "King Wuyou really shouldn't have done it.
, he should wait until I come back to accompany him when he walks in the snow and enjoys the scenery. With Xiao Wang accompanying him, he can naturally walk around the snowy scenery everywhere. If he goes out by himself like this, he is afraid that he will not find a good place to go."
Dai Rongzhen quickly raised his hands and said: "What the eldest prince said is true, but it seems that Prince Qi is afraid that when the eldest prince comes back, he will be eager to accompany him and lose the courtesy of being reunited with Prince Chen and his son, so he doesn't want to trouble the eldest prince!"
Chen Cheng was robbed by Dai Rongzhen and felt bored, so he left angrily. Chen Cheng returned to the palace and reported to King Chen the situation of going to the post house. King Chen sighed repeatedly. Chen Cheng comforted his father not to worry, saying that he had asked Chen Yi to
On the pretext of being intimate with him, he went to the Qixiang Mission Camp outside the city to conduct a secret search. At the same time, he asked the officers of the post house to carefully check the inside of the post house to see if King Wushu was hiding in the post house. Even if there was no trace in either place, he had already traced his shadow.
Figure arranged for the masters of the imperial army to conduct inspections in and around Luo City. King Chen agreed and asked Chen Cheng and Chen Yi to go down and handle the matter.
Chen Cheng returned to the palace, threw several things, and then went to the training room to beat the wooden dummy with hatred. It wasn't until the guards came to report that General Chen Qi's granddaughter wanted to see him that he hurriedly dressed up and went out to welcome her.
Chen Qi's son is a civil servant and has only one daughter. Old General Chen regards this granddaughter as the apple of his eye. He taught her to learn literature and martial arts since she was a child. In addition, she is naturally very smart and knows everything. She actually learned the skills of the old general.
His riding and shooting skills are as good as those of the young soldiers in the camp, he is handsome in appearance, and he is knowledgeable and courteous. He can be called a golden flower in Luo City. Chen Cheng has been in love with this little sister-like girl since he was a boy and has been waiting for her.
She has grown up, so she has not yet established a concubine. King Chen and Chen Qi also knew the eldest prince's intentions, but they did not reveal it.
As soon as Chen Cheng walked out of the hall, he saw Miss Chen standing in the yard. He quickly came forward and greeted her: "Sister Mengzhu, come in and talk. You don't have to be polite when you come to my place."
Miss Chen's name is Chen Mengzhu. It is said that she was named because her mother dreamed of a bright pearl falling into her arms when she was giving birth to her. Chen Mengzhu and Chen Cheng saw the gift and followed him into the hall. Chen Guo was in front.
She was paying attention to the war all the time. Before Chen Qi went to the war, she felt uneasy. She once used divination to remind her grandfather, but Chen Qi didn't care at the time. Until Chen Qi was defeated and captured, the whole family was in chaos, and she was the only one.
She comforted everyone, saying that grandpa had only suffered from being a prisoner for a few months, and had no worries about life or death. King Chen negotiated for peace and exchanged the plundered wealth for the eldest prince. She sighed secretly and said that it was a failure. She was cold-shouldered by tens of thousands of Chen.
The heart of a military officer. As soon as she heard that the eldest prince had returned to the city, she sent people to guard the gate of the palace. When she saw the prince returning to the palace, she hurried over.
Chen Mengzhu waited for Chen Cheng to sit down, and then he also sat down. Chen Cheng didn't wait for her to speak and said: "Sister Mengzhu, I know you are thinking about Marshal Chen to comfort you. You can rest assured that Qi Jun knows
He is my Grand Marshal Chen. I dare not neglect him and serve him carefully. When I come back this time, I have already ordered the troops at Pingguan to assemble. After I capture King Wuyou first and bring him to the front enemy to force them to release the old Marshal, I will wave again.
The troops flattened Xiangcheng, defeated the Qi army, and brought shame to Yixue."
Chen Mengzhu listened to Chen Cheng's indignant words, but shook her head: "Eldest Prince, sister, if I say something, you may not like to hear it, but I have to say it."
Chen Cheng was stunned for a moment, then continued: "I love to hear everything the girl says, you say it, you say it."
"It's winter now. The ice and snow hurt people, so we can't use our troops. This is one of the reasons. The Qi army has already deployed heavy troops in Yicheng. My grandfather occupied the city with 60,000 people and the defenders were defeated. If they can drive the troops to attack, how can they attack?"
What are the chances of winning? The second one is: Qi Xiang's coalition army has hundreds of thousands of elite troops. I think your troops at Pingguan and nearby areas will not exceed 80,000. The Qi army's combat strength is not weaker than mine. They occupy a favorable position and have many people.
Peace, and we have the right time, and we are waiting for work, even if we use troops, we are afraid that they will return without success. Thirdly, our army has been defeated in Xiangcheng, and the Qin and Yan countries are ready to move. If the Qi army increases its troops to quell the pass, other border defenses will inevitably be weak.
If an enemy attacks, how can we take care of both of these four~" Chen Mengzhu was talking eloquently, but when she saw that Chen Cheng's expression had changed drastically, she stopped talking and asked him: "Is the eldest prince listening to me?"
Chen Cheng came back to his senses and sighed repeatedly: "What the girl said made me scared. Brother, I really admire the girl. So how should you handle the current situation properly?"
Chen Mengzhu did not refuse, stretched out his hand to draw on the table, and said: "The tens of thousands of captured horses of our army should be welcomed back home as soon as possible. We must not delay any more and chill their hearts; withdraw the army at the border as soon as possible, and our army
Once we retreat, the Qi army will no longer have an excuse to station in Xiang. With the Qi army retreating, Xiang's military power poses almost no threat to us. Then we can reorganize the army, completely pacify the Northern Yi and relieve their worries, and then make peace with Qin and Yan, form an alliance, and wait for the opportunity.
The mature state of Xiang is still in my possession, the state of Chen!”.
Chen Cheng nodded repeatedly after hearing what she said. After hearing what she said, he stood up and bowed deeply, and said to Chen Mengzhu respectfully: "This girl is really a woman who cannot be compared to other women!"
Chen Mengzhu lowered his head shyly and continued: "I told the eldest prince to withdraw the army from the border as soon as possible. If we withdraw, the Qi army covets Xiang's territory and refuses to withdraw, then Qi Xiang will definitely turn against him~"
Chen Cheng listened, stepped forward, grabbed Chen Mengzhu's arm with both hands, and said excitedly: "Sister Mengzhu is really my elder Chen's female Zhuge!" After saying that, without waiting for Chen Mengzhu to react, he turned around and walked out of the hall, shouting.