Under the night, the boat was swaying. Huo Xiaolian glanced around cautiously every time she paddled.
Now that King Qin has proclaimed himself emperor, it is different from last year in the Western Regions. Even Huo Xiaolian no longer easily takes risks with him.
But Li Xia insisted on doing this.
For him, proclaiming himself emperor or not is nothing more than showing off to the world. He is still the same person, his ambitions have not changed, and his attitude towards dealing with things has not changed.
The weather is very cold. Although the Han River is not frozen, white gas still comes out every time I breathe.
Finally, I could see a little fire ahead.
I saw a small boat moored on the river, and someone was standing on the boat with his hands behind his hands.
…
"Seeing General Lu standing on this small boat reminds people of the Zhao and Song Dynasties."
"what for?"
"The boat is small." Li Xia pointed to the boat Lu Wenhuan was riding on and said, "Song Ting is also small."
He did not jump over, but stood on his boat and talked at length with Lu Wenhuan from a short distance away.
"Besides, there are not many people in the Song Dynasty who can still fight. Sooner or later, General Lu will be alone."
It's hard to support a single tree, just like Lu Wenhuan's situation standing on the boat tonight, and it's also like the situation he was in when he was guarding Xiangyang.
Over the years, famous generals such as Yu Zhen, Pu Zezhi, Xiang Shibi, Liu Zheng, Jiang Cai, Gao Gao, Wang Jian, etc. have either died, rebelled, or been demoted. While Jia Sidao and the Lu family eliminated dissidents, they finally allowed
The Lu family has become a single tree.
"The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty has already ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. Does he still want to be a lobbyist in person to show off his rhetoric?" Lu Wenhuan asked rhetorically.
"Otherwise? Has General Lu met Zhao Chu? Does he trust you and is he worth risking your life for?"
"I work hard for the country, the country, and the people."
Li Xia disagreed.
If Lu Wenhuan could blurt out such words, he might be able to surrender for the sake of "the common people" one day.
In his opinion, the Lu family is too wealthy. When a family reaches this level of wealth, it will no longer be possible to serve the country wholeheartedly as before.
There is a desire to serve the country, but it will inevitably be put behind the protection of the overwhelming wealth.
Therefore, Li Xia also knew that he could not get the loyalty of the Lu brothers, and he would never give anyone this kind of wealth.
Lu Wenhuan could feel that after one sentence, Li Xia's attitude became cold and distant, and he did not hide the contempt.
"Have you captured Ezhou?"
"Um."
Lu Wenhuan said: "You want to defraud me?"
Li Xia shook his head slightly, too lazy to answer such a question.
After Lu Wenhuan was silent, he said: "You are indeed extremely ambitious. You have been plotting secretly for several years."
"You and I know very well that Zhao Song has become very rotten, and you, the Lu family, are the biggest piece of rotten flesh."
"If my brother hadn't fought on three sides to protect the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would have been afraid..."
"I'm afraid he will die early. Lu Wende should be the emperor of Zhao and Song Dynasties. If the country belongs to him, there is no need to exclude dissidents and collect wealth and profit."
Lu Wenhuan was furious and wanted to say something, but in the end he held it back.
He calmed down and said, "The reason why I agreed to your coming is because I calculated that this battle should be negotiated sooner or later. You only have 50,000 to 60,000 troops and less than half a year's food and supplies, so you cannot destroy the Song Dynasty."
"Not necessarily. I might sell everything to destroy the Song Dynasty."
Lu Wenhuan is a military commander, but he is actually not good at verbal exchanges.
He knew very well that this battle was likely to lead to peace, after all, the Lin'an court was cowardly.
But he can't just say: "I know I may not be able to get rid of you if I continue to surround you." If he is passive, it will be difficult to negotiate conditions.
And those who bluff and say: "We can annihilate them immediately" will only be laughed at by Li Xia.
After thinking about it, Lu Wenhuan spoke again, and it turned out to be very sincere.
"I don't want more soldiers to die or be injured on the battlefield where you and I are fighting, and I'm also worried that the Meng Yuan will reap the benefits. The Meng Yuan soldiers and horses in Lumen Mountain are still watching."
In this sentence, Li Xia said to Lu Wenhuan
On the contrary, he was a little impressed. He pondered for a moment and said, "Tell me your conditions."
"Since both sides plan to negotiate peace, it is better to do it as soon as possible. I will persuade my eldest brother to agree to a truce, and also ask the Emperor of Tang to agree to some conditions, such as returning Ezhou to my third brother after the peace negotiation, and promising to withdraw his troops and not attack the Song Dynasty again."
For Lu Wenhuan, the situation was like playing chess. He had already foreseen that it would be unfavorable if he continued, so he proposed a draw as early as possible.
Li Xia thought for a while and said, "Before I defeat Lu Wende, if he is willing to call a truce... that's fine."
It was clear that he was the one being surrounded, and was running out of food and supplies, but when he spoke he seemed to have every advantage.
Lu Wenhuan then cupped his hands and said, "I will persuade brother as soon as possible."
After that, he propped up the long pole and let the boat drift downstream.
…
Huo Xiaolian has been thinking about how to kill Lu Wenhuan with a crossbow, or how to protect His Majesty if Lu Wenhuan wants to take action.
Unexpectedly, this meeting on a moonlit night went so smoothly.
"Your Majesty, I thought Lu Wenhuan came here because he wanted to harm Your Majesty."
"It's because of reason." Li Xia looked at the boat floating down the road.
There needs to be some rationality between countries. He has only been in the country for a short period of time and has insufficient savings. He cannot swallow up Zhao and Song Dynasty in one go, so he has to do it step by step.
Demonstrate force, rectify the name, ensure development, accumulate strength, and seek unification...this is his rhythm.
If he is rational, he will not disrupt this rhythm.
As far as the Song Dynasty was concerned, once Ezhou was captured, the Yangtze River would no longer be connected from end to end, so there was a possibility of Lin'an being captured.
No matter how low the possibility is, the war is not suitable to continue. So it is the rationality of the Song Dynasty to negotiate peace first and recognize Li Xia's imperial title.
Of course, the Song Dynasty was also composed of the emperor and hundreds of civil and military officials, especially if the leader was weak and the ministers were strong. If Jia Sidao or Lu Wende got angry, they might become irrational.
Li Xia was very worried for a time. Although the worst case scenario was to fight to Lin'an as Yan Rong said, being irrational would easily lead to various uncontrollable consequences.
For example, being benefited by the Meng Yuan fisherman.
Fortunately, Lu Wenhuan is rational and considers the overall situation.
~~
The next day, the fighting started again on the bank of the Han River.
The difference from the past is that Lu Wenhuan knew that the morale of the Tang army was at its peak, and the Lu army would definitely not be able to annihilate Li Xia.
He rushed to the Longzhongshan camp again.
The two brothers stood on the lookout and looked at the battlefield with a lookout tube. At the same time, Lu Wenhuan also persuaded Lu Wende.
"My eldest brother has been in the army all his life, how can he not understand? Li Xia has always saved some energy. Every time our army was really close to his main ship, he was willing to fire a cannon. He just wanted to make his eldest brother think that the victory of suppressing the rebellion was near.
I am so close, drag my eldest brother here so that I can attack Ezhou..."
"Shut up."
"If we can't take down Li Xia, Hanzhong is upstream. If Li Xia really falls into a disadvantageous situation, reinforcements can come down the Han River at any time to support him. Brother, your great achievement that seems so close at hand is actually far out of reach!"
"Shut up!"
"Now that Ezhou has been lost, the third brother has been captured, our army's retreat has been cut off, and the morale of the soldiers is unstable. Lin'an may negotiate peace at any time, and Meng Yuan is watching from the side in Xiangyang. If the war continues, the situation will be unimaginable, so why not call a truce?
Big brother?"
"Damn it! I've been fighting for the rest of my life!"
"Brother, if there is a truce now, Li Ni can still agree to return Ezhou and release his third brother. When the court recognizes his imperial title, he will withdraw his troops. The situation will at least be controllable..."
Lu Wende pushed Lu Wenhuan and rushed to the fighting platform to personally wave an order flag.
No matter what, he wanted to try again to see if he could annihilate Li Xia.
I can’t believe it. The meat that is brought to my mouth can’t be bitten.
Of course, he may not have listened to Lu Wenhuan’s words of persuasion.
~~
Chen Yuanbin walked down the observation deck, looked around, passed through military tents, and arrived near the stables.
"Mr. Chen is here. The Mongolian horse bought from Xiangyang Market yesterday has been
We have arrived, there are eighteen horses, all of them are good horses, Mr. Chen, would you like to see them?"
"Shaobao sent me here just to take a look at these horses." Chen Yuanbin said: "Maybe Li Ni is about to break out, and there will be a cavalry to pursue him."
The two walked towards the stable.
Chen Yuanbin lowered his voice and said: "It is certain that Ezhou has been lost. Lu Wenhuan was immediately afraid and is now doing everything he can to persuade Lu Wende and Li Xia to have a truce."
"Why?"
"Lu Wenhuan is on guard against Dayuan." Chen Yuanbin lowered his voice and said, "He told Lu Wende several times that there was a problem with the fortress at Lumen Mountain. Fortunately, I responded quickly and told Lu Wende that he was afraid that Lu Wenfu would come to Xiangyang.
, deliberately obstructing mutual trading.”
"We must not let Lu Wenhuan persuade Lu Wende, and we must not let the Song army and Li Xia have a truce."
"I'm just a staff member, what else can I do?"
"There will be a way..."
~~
Lumen Mountain.
Baijianu would observe the upper reaches of the Han River every day with his cherished telescope.
Although he couldn't see the battlefield, he could tell the intensity of the battle from the floating corpses and ship fragments.
"A lot of Han people died today."
"It's best not to say that." Bo Luo Huan said, "The manager can say that many "Southerners" have died."
Baijia Nu didn't care about this and said: "I originally thought that Lu Wende could kill Li Xia soon, but Ezhou has been lost. This war may last longer?"
"Li Xia's baggage is almost used up. If reinforcements come from Hanzhong."
"It's best if they keep consuming it like this..."
After Baijia Nuo finished speaking, he turned around and saw a soldier dressed as a Song Army hurriedly coming.
"Report to the manager, Chen Yuanbin said that Lu Wenhuan has been urging Lu Wende to have a truce and to be on guard against Dayuan..."
Bai Jia Nu and Bo Luo Huan looked at each other, with displeasure, anger, and murderous intent in their eyes.
"How to do it?"
"Let's create some trouble for Lu Wenhuan first. Don't let him leave Xiangyang again. A Xiangyang city guard cannot defend the city well."
"good."
"The war between Zhao Song and Li Xia cannot be extinguished like this. We have to fan it up again..."