Two hundred and sixtieth chapters [close to ink black]
Chapter 260 [Those who are close to ink are black]
Count Villa is also extremely cunning. Du Wei was depressed and looked at this guy furtively. He thought to himself: He wants to evade responsibility and deliberately puts the burden on me...Whether it is war or peace, the stakes are very important, no matter what the outcome is.
, he will definitely offend a lot of people in the end. How can I let him relax for such an unflattering thing?!
Moreover, Du Wei had dealt with Count Villa several times and knew how smooth this guy was. When he was in the imperial capital that day, Du Wei had a conflict with the steward of Count Villa's family in the slave market. The count actually wanted to fight against him.
As a sign of goodwill, he broke the steward's legs and left him at the door of his Duke's Palace for a day.
Being able to do things like this at the risk of causing great loss to oneself shows that this earl is a very tolerant person! In fact, there was no need for him to bow to Du Wei at all. Although Du Wei had a higher title than him, he was also favored by Prince Chen.
Honorable favor. But Count Villa was also an old friend of Prince Chen when he was not the regent, and he was always an old man who stood with Prince Chen. Otherwise, after the coup, he would not have soared and immediately divided the country.
Originally the property of the Solomon family.
He would rather lose face than show weakness to Du Wei. People like this... should be careful!
Thinking of this, Du Wei smiled slowly: "Your Majesty the Earl..."
Villa quickly smiled and said: "You and I are also old friends. Such a title is too foreign. In this way, there are no outsiders now. In the future, don't call me count in private, and I don't respect you as duke."
.Everyone, please take it easy."
Du Wei thought for a while and said with a smile: "In this case, you are much older than me, and you were once an old friend of my father. If you don't mind, I will just call you Uncle Villa."
The earl laughed: "Then in private from now on, I will call you Du Wei. But don't think that I have taken advantage of you."
After the two of them were polite for a while, you said "Uncle Villa" and I said "Duwei", and they were very affectionate. Seeing that the heat was almost done, Duwei smiled and said: "Uncle Villa,
Your family has quite a lot of business dealings with the grassland, and is familiar with all the affairs on the grassland. Although the regent nominally asked me to be responsible for this negotiation, I am young and inexperienced. Some of the difficult things involved are still
It’s up to you to preside over it.”
Villa immediately shook his head and said with a smile: "This is obvious! Du Wei, although you are young, when it comes to fame, you are more than ten times older than me. Who on the mainland doesn't know that Duke Tulip is
A genius magician? And even though you have been in the northwest for just one year, you have created countless miracles, not to mention. This time the prairie people sneaked in... Although the military exploits were obtained by the guys from the northwest army, many people with a discerning eye know that the northwest
The army is just a fake leader, you are the one who really defeated the Golden Wolf Head. It is natural for His Highness Chen to value you. You will do your part in this matter! I... can just wave the flag and cheer for you from the side."
Du Wei disapproved in his heart and secretly scolded this guy for being cunning, but the smile on his face became more affectionate: "Uncle Villa's compliment makes me a little embarrassed! In any case, you are older than me, so in terms of government affairs,
You are much more familiar with things than I am..."
"That's just because I was born a few years earlier and gained a lot of years. Du Wei, if there is anything you don't understand about this negotiation, I will tell you everything. His Highness Chen sent me to assist.
You, I will definitely work hard to be your assistant."
The two of them walked around for a long time. But Villa insisted on the word "assistance" and refused to let go. Du Wei sighed. Knowing that the other party was unwilling to accept this hot potato, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and gave up the distracting thoughts in his heart.
Finally, after thinking for a while, he suppressed his smile and said solemnly: "In this case...Uncle Villa, you came from the Imperial Capital, and now in the Imperial Capital...what is the tone of the military department and His Highness Chen?"
Suddenly a trace of disapproval flashed in Villa's eyes: "Military headquarters? Huh... what else can those big guys from the headquarters do? They just quarreled three times a day, making the sky dark and dark. His Highness Chen also took the trouble. Alas, don't you?
You know, now the General Headquarters is quarreling internally about whether to fight or not. Then the General Headquarters is arguing with the Ministry of Finance about how much to increase the military budget. Then, the Ministry of Finance is arguing with the Inspectorate, blaming the Inspectorate for being unfavorable in intelligence control. Finally,
The Supervision Office quarreled with the General Headquarters again, blaming the Northwest Army for not cooperating with the intelligence collection work... The imperial capital was in chaos. I'm going to say a few unpleasant things here... Huh, if this quarrel continues, it will only make the people of the prairie in vain.
What a joke! I think His Highness Chen sent the matter into your hands this time and moved the location of the negotiations to Loulan City in order to prevent the prairie people from seeing our internal strife and losing his prestige."
Du Wei was furious after hearing this. This Villa was talking nonsense, talking about gossip in the imperial capital... But why did Du Wei use him to tell these things? He had a source of information in the imperial capital! This
Villa was so tight-lipped that he refused to let out a single word.
Thinking of this, Du Wei couldn't help but feel a bit dissatisfied on his face. He snorted, put down the teacup, and said lightly: "Uncle Villa, the door is closed now, and there are no outsiders. After we left the door, our conversation...
No third person will know. I sincerely ask...whether it is war or peace, what do you mean privately?"
Seeing that Du Wei was getting impatient, Villa also knew that he could no longer pretend. It was not good to pretend to be a turtle too much. He smiled and said: "Du Wei, you are impatient. Well... if you really have to ask me to see you,
What..."
He took a slow sip of tea, then glanced at the closed door and lowered his voice: "You can't fight!"
Du Wei nodded and continued to stare at him closely. Villa was helplessly stared at by Du Wei, and then he continued to add: "This is what we talked about in private... Well, in my opinion,
Now the grassland and our empire are like a young man who is about to reach adulthood and a strong man who is seriously ill! Both sides are eyeing each other eagerly, and both want to knock the other down with one punch, but they both have scruples in their hearts. The young man is still underage and has no strength.
He hasn't grown up yet. He just wants to procrastinate for a few more days so that his body can grow stronger and have a better chance of winning. As for the sick man, who has suffered a serious illness and lost much strength, he also wants to procrastinate for a few more days and wait.
I have recovered from my illness and regained some of my strength."
Du Wei smiled: "So, no one wants to fight."
"That's not entirely the case." Villa sighed helplessly: "Both parties know their own situation, but they also know the other's situation. Although the young man understands that he needs time to grow up, he is also worried that if time passes, the other party will become ill.
After the disease in Han is cured, it becomes more difficult to fight. The sick man also believes that although he is not cured, if he really waits until the day when he recovers, he may become an adult with greater strength and it will be more difficult to fight.
It’s even more difficult... This is the contradiction now.”
In fact, Du Wei also knew what Villa said. But he always had to force the deputy to take a stand. Thinking of this, he continued to ask: "Since it is a contradiction, why did you say you can't fight, Uncle Villa?" I think the long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain. Since I am afraid that it will be troublesome to fight in the future, it is better to just pay a certain price now and beat this young man to the ground. Even if I lose a lot, it will be settled once and for all."
Count Villa's heart skipped a beat. Looking at Du Wei's fierce eyes, he suddenly thought: This guy is quite ruthless! But he immediately said: "Your thoughts are the same as those of the main war factions in the imperial capital now. However,
...I see, although this argument is reasonable, it is too difficult to implement. First, once we attack the grassland people, what should the Northwest Army do? Let the Northwest Army attack the grassland, let alone whether we can mobilize it.
Can we mobilize these warlords... Hehe. What if they don't obey the order? Should we mobilize the troops from the north and south, or send the Royal Guards to the northwest? How will the northwest army react? What if?
When the fight started, it was good that the Northwest Army was helping us. If they stabbed us in the back... that would be bad."
This sentence gets right to the point.
The current situation of the empire really cannot withstand the defeat of a war! Whether it is Prince Chen who has just ascended the throne or the empire is showing signs of illness. What is needed now is stability!
Du Wei saw that Villa had said something real, and then he smiled with satisfaction: "It seems that what Uncle Villa said is indeed right. It seems that he can't hit the ground!"
But Villa hurriedly said: "This... this is just my opinion. It can't be done accurately! Duwei, as the person who is fully responsible for this time, you should listen but not blindly follow the big idea. You still have to do it.
You can make good decisions on your own. His Highness Chen has great trust in you. Moreover, I don’t think His Highness has made a decision yet, so he will hand over the power to you. If you decide to fight, I think His Highness will probably support you in fighting.
Yes! Before I came here, I heard that in the imperial capital, His Highness summoned several military leaders to the palace for two consecutive days to talk all night long!"
Du Wei sneered in his heart, is he really delegating power to himself? I'm afraid he is letting himself be the villain!
Du Wei came from the world in his previous life, so he naturally knew the truth that "a weak country has no diplomacy"! Just imagine, if you become the diplomatic spokesperson of the United States, you will naturally have unlimited glory. If you want to attack Iraq, you can fight Iraq, and if you want to fight Afghanistan, you can fight Afghanistan.
But if it were Li Hongzhang in the late Qing Dynasty, it would be terrible!
The most unfortunate thing is that whether it is war or peace, I am afraid that I will offend a group of dignitaries in the imperial capital.
If you advocate war, you will offend the doves. If you advocate peace, you will offend the hawks.
After talking with Villa for a while, the old fox excused himself from being tired from the long journey and went down to rest. Du Wei immediately called Philip for discussion. Du Wei now relies more and more on this rapidly growing staff, and Long beside him
Patton and other military generals looked down on this weak young man at first, but gradually started to respect him, and privately felt that this young man was definitely a prime minister.
After talking with Du Wei for a while, Phillip thought for a while and suddenly came up with a way.
"Your Majesty Duke, I think it's a matter of whether to fight or not! This decision-making power is a hot potato. Since Prince Chen has left it to you, can't you leave it to others?"
Du Wei smiled bitterly and said: "I would like to throw it to Villa, but this guy is slipperier than oil and he will not be fooled."
Phillip smiled and whispered: "You can't throw it away if you leave it to your own people... So, why not leave it to the prairie people?"
"Huh?" Du Wei's eyes lit up! These words were like a ray of light, immediately illuminating the fog in his heart. Du Wei glanced at Phillip with admiration, and suddenly smiled: "Well, Phillip, for more than a year, you have
Now the ideas are getting more and more cunning!”
Phillip also smiled softly, bowed and said: "Doing things around adults... Well, what is that sentence you told me at the beginning... Ah, yes: when you are close to red, it becomes red, and when you are close to black, it becomes red.
black."
Du Wei was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "What the hell... I said the ground is red when it is close to vermilion, and black when it is close to ink!"
It seems that the people of the Roland Empire cannot understand the true Eastern culture. But Du Wei immediately woke up and cursed with a smile: "Well, Philip, are you saying in a roundabout way that you learned your despicableness from me?
"
Philip smiled slightly: "If you are close to vermillion, you will be red; if you are close to ink, you will be black!"
Du Wei immediately felt much more relaxed when he had the idea. So he ordered the preparations for negotiations to begin.
Count Villa brought a carriage full of documents. Among them were two large boxes, all of which were minutes of negotiations in the imperial capital for many days. Du Wei flipped through them briefly, but there was nothing tangible.
The paper is just a record of the two sides spitting at each other, and there is really no nutritious content.
It’s like two tough-looking guys shouting at each other, “Hit me!” “If you have the guts, hit me first!” “If you have the guts, hit me first!” “Hit me first!” “Hit me first!”
The slobbering of these politicians and the quarrels of urchins are actually nothing more than more flowery rhetoric.
Hmm... leaving this hot potato to the prairie people... is an excellent idea!