Chapter 358 Negotiations Begin

After Dawu's delegation arrived in the North, Lu Chen didn't receive them for more than half a month. He just left Dawu's delegation there to hang out, as if they didn't exist.

Wu Ming was not in a hurry. He was waiting for news from the Dawu court and his father's decree. If Wu Yunwan could be sent to the North as a hostage this time, it would be worthwhile for him to stay in the North for a long time.

at the same time.

North Palace.

Lu Chen sat at his desk, processing official documents and listening to Wang Qingci's report next to him.

Wang Qingci has now taken over the work of Tingyu Tower again. Although Tingyu Tower has been exposed, all the major dynasties already know that Tingyu Tower is the power of the Northern Palace. However, because the Northern Kingdom easily defeated Dawu this time, the major dynasties They didn't dare to take action against Tingyulou easily.

Nowadays, Tingyu Tower can openly inquire about information from major dynasties, even in Dawu’s Tingyu Tower. The branch of Tingyu Tower has been built in Dawu’s imperial city, but today’s Dawu Dynasty does not dare to deal with it. Listen to what Yulou is doing.

For Lu Chen, the information gathered by Tingyu Tower is a supplement to the information collected by Jinyiwei. Of course, there are spies from Jinyiwei in Tingyulou, but they belong to two systems.

The information collected by Jinyiwei should be reported to Jinyiwei, and the information collected by Tingyulou should be reported by Tingyulou.

Wang Qingci said with a smile at this time: "Your Majesty, it seems that the beauty Dawu will become your forbidden love soon."

Hearing this, Lu Chen stopped writing, then glanced at Wang Qingci, and said lightly: "Qingci, I think it's been too long since I took care of you, and your skin is itchy again, right?"

Hearing this, Wang Qingci sighed slightly and said, "Oh, the prince has changed. Ever since he got that Murong Xueer, the prince has no interest in the slave family."

Having said this, Wang Qingci raised her slender hand and wiped the non-existent tears from the corners of her eyes, showing the appearance of a weak woman.

Lu Chen laughed, this vixen.

The next moment, Lu Chen raised his hand and directly used his spiritual power to roll Wang Qingci's soft body into his arms.

Lu Chen was about to do something bad to Wang Qingci when a maid's voice suddenly came from outside, "Your Majesty, Commander Liang wants to see you."

Lu Chen then let go of Wang Qingci. Seeing that Lu Chen let go of him, Wang Qingci felt a little reluctant. Seeing that he was about to be taken care of by Lu Chen, someone else came.

It was getting harder and harder to be intimate with Lu Chen in the study. It was exactly what she thought at the beginning. As the North Country became stronger and stronger, Lu Chen would have more and more things to do in the future. , Lu Chen will spend less and less time with women like them from now on.

Now Lu Chen only has less time to rest in the study. When there are more government affairs in the future, Lu Chen's sleeping time will be occupied by those government affairs. And Lu Chen has so many women. In the future, those women will be able to share Lu Chen's time. There will be less.

Wang Qingci knew that this was bound to happen, and she had no choice but to ask her to follow this man.

Wang Qingci immediately stood aside and did not continue to seduce Lu Chen.

The next moment, Liang Zong entered the room and reported all the affairs of the major dynasties collected by Jin Yiwei.

There was a lot of overlap between the information reported by Liang Zong and the information collected by Tingyulou, but there was also some information that Tingyulou had not inquired about. Lu Chen did not feel that this was a waste of resources.

Having two intelligence agencies is actually a good thing for Lu Chen, because the two intelligence agencies can check and balance each other and supervise each other. Although Lu Chen has not yet learned the emperor's art of controlling people, he has gradually developed his own in his heart. Employment methods.

After listening to Liang Zong's report, Lu Chen thought that since Dawu Chaotang had been connected, it was time to start negotiations, but there was one more thing that needed to be done before the negotiations.

Lu Chen immediately said: "Pass the military order and ask Mu Changtian to lead 200,000 soldiers south and station them at the border of Youping County and Lingdu County. When there is nothing, let's fire off artillery and exercise."

Liang Zong instantly understood what Lu Chen meant. Lu Chen was planning to create pressure on Dawu and force Dawu to pay more compensation.

Then Liang Zong said: "Yes, Your Majesty."

…

At this moment.

Dayue Dynasty.

Emperor Yue, who was wearing a phoenix robe, was meditating on the phoenix bed. At this time, a breeze blew into her bedroom, and the red curtains kept swaying with the breeze.

At this time, a female soldier appeared outside the red curtain. The female soldier took out an envelope, knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Dawu has agreed to go to the Northern Kingdom to be a hostage."

Hearing this, Emperor Yue, who had her eyes closed, opened her eyes instantly. The next moment, she waved her hand, and the information in the hands of the female soldier flew directly into Emperor Yue's hands.

Emperor Yue tore open the envelope, glanced at the information on the letter with her beautiful eyes, and said in disbelief: "Strange, how could Yun Wan agree to this request of her father?"

Wu Yunwan is an arrogant woman. Emperor Yue has been with her for many years and knows her character. With Wu Yunwan's character, she will definitely not be able to bear it if she is asked to be a hostage.

Emperor Yue originally planned to have Wu Yunwan brought to Dayue directly, but he did not expect that Wu Yunwan agreed to go to the North Kingdom to be a hostage.

After a moment, Emperor Yue reacted instantly. The corners of her mouth raised slightly, and then she said: "It seems that Yun Wan hasn't given up yet."

Emperor Yue had basically guessed what Wu Yunwan was planning to do. She took the initiative to go to the North Country to be a hostage, most likely for the North Country's mysterious weapons and the North Country's secrets.

If Wu Yunwan can find out the secrets of Beiguo and obtain the blueprints for making Beiguo's weapons, she may have a chance to turn around in the future.

only……

Emperor Yue had a worried look on his face at this time.

King Bei is a lustful person, and his good sister is as beautiful as a fairy. If she is asked to go to the North to be a hostage, I am afraid that King Bei will have some thoughts about her.

Emperor Yue didn't want to see his good sister being defiled by that little man.

Thinking of this, Emperor Yue said to the female soldier kneeling on the ground outside the curtain: "What has Xue'er been doing recently?"

The soldier immediately replied: "Your Majesty, Lady Murong often goes to the North Palace recently, but she will always come back at night."

Hearing this, Emperor Yue showed a hint of displeasure on his face, "Going back in the evening?"

In Emperor Yue's view, if he wanted to control Bei Wang, Bei Wang would have to have a sexual affair with Murong Xueer. As a result, Murong Xueer went back at night, which means that Murong Xueer did not climb into Bei Wang's possession. Bed, has not yet controlled Bei Wang.

In Emperor Yue's mind, she defaulted to having sex between men and women at night, so she believed that Murong Xueer and Lu Chen had not done that kind of thing, but in order to realize her plan, Murong Xueer had to sacrifice her life. .

Emperor Yue said at this time: "Fei Ge sent a letter to Xue'er, asking her to find a way to climb into King Bei's bed."

Her good sister is about to go to the North Country soon. She must control the King of the North before Wu Yunwan goes to the North Country. Only in this way can the King of the North have thoughts about Wu Yunwan.

As long as Lu Chen and Murong Xueer sleep together, Lu Chen will completely fall in love with Murong Xueer and will have no interest in other women from now on. In this way, as long as he can stabilize Murong Xueer, Bei Wang can be used by her,

After hearing Emperor Yue's words, the kneeling soldier in the palace immediately said, "Yes, Your Majesty! I will send a letter to Lord Murong right now!"

Emperor Yue said coldly: "Go down."

"Slave, please leave!"

Then the female soldier got up and left the palace.

Emperor Yue said to himself at this time: "I hope my curse pattern can work. As long as there are no heavenly beings in the North, this curse pattern should not be discovered..."

A few days later.

North.

In the political hall.

Dawu's envoy waited in the North Kingdom for almost a month and finally met the King of the North.

Unlike the last time Dawu's envoy came to the North Country, this time the Dawu envoy came to the North Country. He had no seats and could only stand in the middle of the hall. Even the prince Wu Ming was the same. Who made them a defeated country.

Wu Ming stood in the middle of the hall, looking at Lu Chen on the throne. He felt very uncomfortable. He couldn't help but clenched his fists.

After all, he is also a prince of a dynasty, and he is also a candidate for the future prince. As a result, he can only stand in front of the vassal king of a dynasty. When has he ever suffered such humiliation?

But he was unhappy because he was unhappy in his heart. Wu Ming did not make any impulsive actions or say any impulsive words.

Lu Chen also saw that Wu Ming was feeling very uncomfortable now. He smiled and said: "Your Highness Wu Ming, I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon. It seems like it was yesterday that you left the Northern Kingdom last time. I have always been thinking about being able to meet you again." Let’s meet and chat with His Highness Wu Ming.”

Hearing this, Wu Ming sneered, trying to control his emotions and said: "It seems that the King of the North does not know that our great military envoy has arrived in the North Kingdom for some time. If he knew, he must have met us long ago."

Lu Chen said calmly: "Well, there have been too many things recently. There is nothing we can do. Emperor Qin sent troops to attack the Northern Kingdom, which caused huge damage to the Northern Kingdom. Now all places are busy rebuilding."

Wu Ming instantly heard what Lu Chen meant. Negotiations were about to begin.

Wu Ming immediately said: "King of the North, let's not beat around the bush. Just tell the truth. How can the North be willing to end this war and give up the counterattack against Dawu?"

At this time, before Lu Chen could speak, Li Rui in the main hall said, "His Royal Highness Wu Ming is really impatient."

For matters like negotiation, it is natural that the prince Lu Chen does not need to speak in person, only the Northern officials in the hall need to bargain.

If Lu Chen went to bargain in person, he would lose some of his value. Lu Chen would only need to say "yes" or "no" to the outcome of the negotiation.

Li Rui continued at this time: "Dawu attacked our northern country, causing the death of a large number of soldiers, and destroying many cities in the northern country, causing huge losses to the northern country, and also causing the displacement of the people. If Dawu sincerely wants to negotiate peace, he will naturally have to come up with something Come with sincerity.”

Wu Ming immediately said: "I, Da Wu, are willing to pay 10 million taels of silver as compensation."

As soon as Wu Ming finished speaking, the Minister of Hubu of the small court stood up and said: "Your Highness Wu Ming, are you kidding us? Ten million taels of silver may not be enough to pay pensions to our dead soldiers!"

At this time, an envoy from the Dawu Mission stood up and said: "Not many people died in the Northern Kingdom, so why do we need so much pension money?"

After the words fell, an official from the Ministry of War of the North stood up and said: "We have not disclosed how many soldiers were killed or injured in the North. How could you, Dawu, know how many people we had killed or injured?"

After the words fell, Ambassador Dawu continued: "The Northern Kingdom has such terrible weapons, and our soldiers were defeated before they even got close to the Northern Kingdom's army. How could the Northern Kingdom have too many casualties?"

Although it was a shameful thing, in order to pay as little compensation as possible, the members of Dawu's mission had no choice but to talk about these things.

When the envoy from Dawu finished his words, the officials from the Northern Kingdom began to reply. Then the entire hall became a place for bargaining between members of the envoy from the Northern Kingdom and Dawu's ministers. It was as noisy as a vegetable market.

Lu Chen sat on the throne and just looked at it, as if all this had nothing to do with him.

After an unknown amount of time, Wu Ming finally took the initiative and said: "Twenty-five million taels, this is Da Wu's final bottom line!"

After hearing this, the entire hall fell silent. Both members of Dawu's mission and officials from the North Kingdom all turned to look at Lu Chen on the throne.

The corner of Lu Chen's mouth raised slightly, and then he said: "Twenty-five million taels? It seems that Dawu doesn't want the 200,000 Dawu soldiers who surrendered."

Upon hearing this, Wu Ming and the people in the mission were startled.

These 200,000 Dawu soldiers must go back. These are Dawu's elites. Even if they were defeated by Beiguo, they were still Dawu's elites. This time they lost to Beiguo just because Beiguo's weapons were too advanced. , has nothing to do with these two hundred thousand soldiers.

If these 200,000 soldiers do not go back, the strength of the Dawu Dynasty will be greatly weakened.

Wu Ming asked directly: "King Bei, why don't you just tell me how much money you need."

Lu Chen immediately said without any nonsense, "Thirty million taels of silver."

Hearing this, Wu Ming and the people in the Dawu Mission were relieved. This has only increased by five million. Although thirty million taels is a lot, it is enough to add five million taels of silver in exchange for the two hundred thousand soldiers. Very good deal.

Just when Wu Ming was about to say something, Lu Chen continued: "Plus five million taels of gold!"

Upon hearing this, the people from the Dawu Mission immediately exploded.

Five million taels of gold?

What a joke!

In this era, five million taels of gold are worth fifty million taels of silver. Adding the previous 30 million taels of silver, the total value is eighty million taels of silver.

Moreover, gold is a scarce currency. If the Northern Kingdom is compensated with five million taels of gold, the Dawu Dynasty's treasury will not have much gold in stock.

The Dawu Dynasty's annual tax revenue is only a small amount. If the compensation is close to 80 million taels of silver all at once, then Dawu may not have a good life in the next few years.

Wu Ming said with a dark face at this time: "King Bei, don't you think Beiguo's appetite is a bit too big?"

Just when Lu Chen was about to say something, a Jin Yiwei soldier suddenly entered from the main entrance of the hall, then walked around to Lu Chen's side, leaned over and said something in Lu Chen's ear.

Lu Chen smiled slightly.

Seeing this scene, the expressions of Wu Ming and the members of the Dawu Mission suddenly became more solemn, and they also expected that something must have happened.

At this moment, a soldier outside said: "Your Majesty, people from the Great Military Envoy request to enter the palace."

There were many people from the Dawu envoy this time, but not all of them entered the main hall to bargain with the officials from the Northern Kingdom. There were some who stayed outside and waited to receive the news that Dawu might arrive at any time.

As soon as Wu Ming heard that people from their mission were coming in, he knew that something must have happened to Dawu, otherwise the people from Dawu's mission would not have requested to enter the palace at this time.

Lu Chen smiled and said at this time: "That's right!"

The next moment, a member of the Great Wu Envoy entered the hall. He first saluted Lu Chen on the throne, then hurriedly walked to Wu Ming's side and handed an envelope to Wu Ming.

Wu Ming quickly took the envelope and checked it. Upon seeing it, Wu Ming's face suddenly turned pale.

A few days ago, the Northern Kingdom sent 200,000 troops to camp at the border between Lingdu County and Youping County, making rumbling thunder from time to time.

Opposite the Northern Kingdom's military camp was stationed the Northern Kingdom's heavy cavalry military camp. Originally, the Northern Kingdom had no intention of attacking. As a result, a certain general of Dawu lost his mind and thought that the Northern Kingdom had relaxed its vigilance. In addition, there was a flat land in front of them, so they directly led the heavy cavalry. The cavalry took advantage of the darkness to sneak attack the Northern Army camp.

However, even if the sneak attack failed, Dawu's 20,000 heavy cavalry were defeated instead. The Northern Army took the opportunity to go south and occupied several cities in Lingdu County.

After Wu Ming read the contents of the letter, he couldn't help but crush the entire letter into a ball of paper.

He couldn't help but yell in his heart, idiots, what a bunch of idiots!

Twenty thousand versus two hundred thousand, who gives them the courage!

Don't they know that the North Country has such terrifying weapons?

Now their negotiations were passive again.

Lu Chen smiled and said at this time: "Your Highness Wu Ming, your face seems a little unpleasant?"

Wu Ming immediately said: "King Bei, I am feeling a little unwell today. How about we discuss the peace talks tomorrow?"

Lu Chen agreed without hesitation: "Since His Highness Wu Ming is feeling unwell, let's stay here today. Wu Ming needs to have a good rest."

Wu Ming cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, King Bei!"

Then Wu Ming and the people from the Dawu Mission turned around and left the hall.

Seeing their backs turning and leaving, Lu Chen stood up. The great warrior was really "full of martial virtue".

Still thought it was that time in the past?

If it were the cold weapon era in the past, it would indeed be possible for 20,000 heavy cavalry to charge into a 200,000 infantry camp at night. After all, the advantages of armor lie there.

But alas, times have changed.

Moreover, there is another reason for the failure of Dawu's heavy cavalry sneak attack this time. That is the caution of the general Mu Changtian. If the soldiers of the Northern Kingdom really slack off, Dawu's 20,000 heavy cavalry sneak attack at night, there is actually a certain probability of killing the Northern Kingdom. The soldiers took off their armor.

However, Mu Changtian thought that now was the most critical moment for the peace talks, and Dawu would definitely find a way to increase the bargaining chip in the peace talks, so they would definitely cause trouble, so he was always on guard against Dawu, but Dawu actually sent troops to attack the camp.