The Dongtuo Palace of Nanzhao Kingdom, "Cough cough... Cough cough... Lord He, can I have another choice?"

"What other choice does the Second Prince want? If you drag your country down, your fate will fall on the Second Prince. What's wrong with joining me Anxi? At least you can still maintain autonomy in the six tribes of Nanzhao."

He Chengfeng was deliberately forcing him. The destruction of the country in Nanzhao was a foregone conclusion. The six palaces were included in the Hou Mansion by Xu Li, and Mengbo in the west, and were embezzled by Xinyue. Duan Longzhen now only had two prefectures in the east, two counties. To the south is the Great Wei Yuezhou and to the east is the Great Wei Guizhou. Who can he ask for help if he is stuck in the middle?

It’s not that Duan Longzhen didn’t understand his situation. The Nanzhao Kingdom’s population was 6 million, and more than half of it was consumed by his brother’s civil war for more than 20 years. When his uncle was alive, he could still withstand him by relying on the business of the Great Wei, but since his uncle passed away, the civil war of the Great Wei started, and his cousin’s business in the Great Wei year by year.

I remember more than ten years ago, when I heard that my elder brother was going to drive him to Qilan, my heart was cold. Where is Qilan? The land was poor, and my income for two hundred years was probably not enough to catch up with Xiushan County for a year. When I left Beijing, my uncle who was in the Great Wei Dynasty ran back thousands of miles away to send him. The first thing I did when I saw him was to give him three million taels of silver. Yixi remembered the conversation at the beginning: Zhen'er, Qilan was too poor. These three million taels were pocket money given to you by my uncle. When Qilan arrived, you must take good care of yourself. If you had no money in the future, you would send someone to tell your uncle.

In order not to worry his uncle, he smiled and said to his uncle: Don't worry, uncle, I am almost thirty years old, I will definitely take good care of myself. No matter how poor Qilan is, I can develop it. You always have to trust your eldest nephew.

:Well! My uncle believes that Zhen'er will definitely develop Qilan.

: The uncle is waiting at home, and my nephew is coming back to see you during the Chinese New Year.

:Okay, my uncle is old and I will not go out after coming back this time. Your cousin will take over the business and go to Dawei. I can send someone back to tell my uncle any time I need that money. I can still take out your uncle.

At that time, he was indeed full of energy and thought that he was abilities against the will of heaven. The elder brother thought that he could defeat him by exiling him to Qilan. This wishful thinking could never be realized. What! No matter how strong his ability is, he could not withstand the environment. There is a saying in the Great Wei Dynasty that a good wife cannot cook without rice. He didn't understand what this meant before. He had been with Qilan for more than two years and understood. He had no money, no land, and no population. Even if Xiao He, the first prime minister of the Northern Han Dynasty, was reincarnated (actually the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, I would borrow it) he would be difficult to develop Qilan.

He couldn't stay there after Qi Lan just for more than two years. When his father passed away, he quietly returned to Dongtuo and returned to the "Duan Mansion" that had been away for more than two years. My uncle has never been out since he returned to Nanzhao two years ago. Looking at the white-haired old man sitting in the yard, he really didn't know what reason to step into the yard. He had been grinding all the passion at Qi Lan at the beginning. He disappointed his uncle and stood outside the yard for a long time. Finally, when his uncle turned around, he saw him, asked him how he was doing at Qi Lan, and asked when he came back, but he didn't answer anything. A few tears fell from his red eyes: Uncle, I don't want to stay at Qi Lan anymore.

My uncle's hunched body straightened his strength and helped him wipe away his tears: The former king had just passed away, so why are you doing when you come back? The day when the eldest prince ascended the throne is coming soon. Let's go back to Qilan first, and you have to talk about anything that has to be in the limelight.

:No, I won't go back, I've had enough of it in Qilan, and I don't agree with him if he wants to ascend the throne. Uncle... help me...

When he said this, his uncle was silent. He waited for a long time but did not wait for his uncle's answer. He originally thought that his uncle would not support him, but when he turned around and wanted to leave, "Zheng'er, the old king did not want to give it to you by your uncle. But you must remember that no matter the winner, the Bai tribe is invincible." He smiled when he heard this sentence. Uncle was still uncle. If the Duan family supports him, then this position will definitely be fought for.

The Duan family had no money and no soldiers to gather together. It took more than ten years from the rise of the army to defeating the eldest prince. But what did he get after more than ten years of civil war? The population declined, the national strength declined, and the Duan family, which was once rich and wealthy, was also dragged down by his civil war for more than ten years. Now that foreign enemies invade, what is the ability of this Nanzhao Kingdom to resist? Recently, he often wondered whether all this was his fault or his uncle's fault. If he didn't want that position at the beginning, would there be a civil war in Nanzhao? If his uncle did not support him, the Nanzhao Kingdom would not have fallen to such a level.

He would never be able to put the blame on his uncle, because in this world, if anyone is good to him, it is not his father or his mother, but his uncle who has passed away for several years. In fact, in his heart, what qualifications does the former king have to be his father? He has given him nothing except giving him life. Everything he has was given to him by the deceased old man, so that is not his uncle, that is his father's father. (Who treats him well, he understands in his heart that his name was Longzhen before, and later his name was changed to Duan because of his uncle. It is natural for the son to take his father's surname, he thinks so)

Some time ago, when I was inspecting the military camp, I thought of the old king of Xinyue, and I was so angry that I vomited blood and fainted. A few days later, I woke up and said that an army merchant wanted to see him. Thinking about the fact that he had a broken-out with Xinyue Kingdom, I really needed to find a partner for the future source of military resources. Because my health has improved a little today, I simply met the Great Wei army merchant. But he did not expect that this so-called Great Wei army merchant was actually the special envoy of "Anxi", another major force in the Great Wei Kingdom. He hated Dawei, and the Shu army occupied 60% of Nanzhao's land. Now there is an Anxi envoy to persuade him to surrender. The Wei people inside and outside were bullying him.

"Can you even be more shameless in the Great Wei Dynasty? Will you only bully me, Nanzhao? A dignified and etiquette country can even do such acts of bullying the weak and annexing neighboring countries. It will really embarrass your empire." Duan Longzhen said angrily.

He Chengfeng laughed, "Ha...Hahahaha...Hahaha..., Your Highness respects you too much, does it mean? What is annexation? For the Great Wei, your Nanzhao Kingdom is just a strategic depth. If it were not for the war, do you think my Great Wei can look down on you, a broken place with poor mountains and rivers? Also, I would like to ask, do you have surnames from the six tribes of Nanzhao during the Northern Han Dynasty?"

He Chengfeng's words came up with the point. During the Northern Han Dynasty, where was the Nanzhao Kingdom? It was just a group of uncivilized barbarians. The six tribes applied to join the empire several times. Because the old emperor of the Northern Han despised Nanzhao being too poor, he never agreed. In the later period, the new emperor came to power, and because he felt sorry for the small tribes of Nanzhao, he finally reluctantly accepted them and helped them reform politics and laws, revise laws, introduce grain, teach various technologies, and spread cultural knowledge education. Who did the tribe leader of the Nanzhao tribe in the later period have not studied in the Northern Han Dynasty? In the late Northern Han Dynasty, the six tribes of Nanzhao were approved by the Emperor of Northern Han, and the elites of all races were allowed to come to the capital to study. Those who completed their studies could stay in the empire as officials.

The surname was also given, which marked that Nanzhao belonged to the Central Plains Empire since then. By the middle of the Jin Dynasty, there were still Nanzhao students in the empire. The Northern Han Empire gave Nanzhao capital to establish a country, and the aristocratic wars gave Nanzhao the opportunity to establish a country. If Shu had not been concerned about the Yuchi family in the south, they would have destroyed Nanzhao a few hundred years ago. In the later period, the three powerful people fought for hegemony, and there was no reason for the Wei Dynasty to destroy Nanzhao after unifying the world. At that time, Nanzhao had already succeeded in independence. Otherwise, the Emperor of Wei would not have ordered Nanzhao students to never enter the empire to study, let alone take various imperial examinations, and be an official in the empire.

Now Duan Longzhen said that the Great Wei can only bully small countries and weak countries, so what are you kidding? In his eyes, the Nanzhao Kingdom was just a separatist force within the empire, because the Great Wei has never recognized the legitimacy of the establishment of the Nanzhao Kingdom.

As the second prince of Nanzhao, how could Duan Longzhen not understand this history? Nanzhao did indeed join the Central Plains Empire, but now it has been established for hundreds of years. I don’t know how many layers of that history have been buried in dust. He Chengfeng mentioned this matter and didn’t know how to refute it. Although the Great Wei controlled Nanzhao students to enter the country to study, it was still no problem for them to change their identities. When he was young, he still read the book in the Great Wei for a while because of his uncle’s caravan. However, he read it.

They are all military theory, but Zhihuzhe didn't go deeper. I originally thought that the Great Wei had long forgotten the Nanzhao Kingdom, and started a civil war, and never thought that the Great Wei would take the opportunity to invade. However, the ideas always go against the reality, and the Great Wei also fought a civil war. The imperial civil war was not comparable to that of a small country like him, Nanzhao. He could not resist any force in the imperial country to destroy him. Now just one Shu army has crippled him, let alone a Xinyue Kingdom.

To be honest, he hated the most now, not the Great Wei. If it weren’t for the New Yue Kingdom’s treason, he would have fallen to such a point? It is said that the Wei people do not trust, but in his opinion, the Wei people value integrity the most. The Yue people are the most shameful. If they are exposed and behind the scenes, they will be stabbed by the Yue people if they are not careful. The Shu Hou was destined to destroy Nanzhao. In order to fight with the Shu Hou, Anxi forced himself to intervene, and was destroyed by the Shu army. Nanzhao Kingdom was destroyed and surrendered to Anxi. What should he do? Looking at He Chengfeng, he whispered, "I can surrender to the Shu army, there is no need to surrender to Anxi."

Oh! Want to surrender to Xu Li? This idea is OK to deceive the three-year-old baby, but He Chengfeng wants to deceive him? The bad weather is a bit too bad! "Well! Are your highness sure you want to surrender to Xu Li? Then don't bother me, let's say goodbye." After that, he got up and was about to leave

"Wait, does Lord He want to ask me the reason?"

"What are you asking? The Shu army wants strategic depth. He wants you to be a national in Nanzhao? If you want three million beggars in your country, his marquis's mansion will have to pay for it. Moreover, in order to ensure the absolute safety of the retreat, you and your family will die, and the Bai people will also be subject to a great purge. If you want to commit suicide, what else can I say? Say goodbye!"

"Wait, Lord He please stay."

He Cheng didn't look back and asked directly, "What else does Your Highness have? He is rushing back to Yuzhou to report his life. He has no time to continue to argue with Your Highness here. If you have anything to say at once."

Duan Longzhen shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Mr. He really deserves me, okay! You won, but I would like to ask Mr. He a question before joining Anxi."

"Please say it to you, Your Highness."

"Can Lord He save the people of Nanzhao?"

He Chengfeng then turned around and looked at him with a smile, "Congratulations to Your Highness for making the correct decision to save the people of Nanzhao... I promise you this."

...

———

In the spring of the third year of Tianwu in the Great Wei Dynasty, the second prince of Nanzhao State announced his surrender to Anxi, and the Nanzhao regime was destroyed.

The demise of Nanzhao Kingdom marked the re-transfer of the southwest land into the territory of the Great Wei. Xu Li had to carefully consider when he wanted to attack Dongtuo. At present, Shuzhou was not suitable to go to war with the Anxi army. However, Shuzhou had achieved its goal, and Dongtuo was eaten by Anxi. The Xinyue Kingdom was just handed over to Anxi to deal with it. The Anxi army was also not easy to interfere in the war between the Shu army and the Imperial City Army.

At this time, Duan Longzhen sat in front of the prison in Dongtuo Palace, looking at a young man with disheveled hair in the cell. "Longrui, how long do you still want to pretend to be crazy?"

The man in the cell did not speak, and he let his feet be buckled on his own. After the buttoning, he pulled the torn clothes and wiped his feet. He lowered his head and smelled the clothes. He probably felt that it was too smelly. With a strong "sting" with his right hand, the cloth that had rubbed the feet was torn off the clothes by him, rubbed it in his hand, and threw it to the door of the cell.

Duan Longzhen didn't care and continued, "I have announced the demise of Nanzhao some time ago and will join the Great Wei from then on."

The young man in the cell was stunned, obviously because he was shocked. It was a while since time passed. He stretched out his hand to pull the hair that covered his eyes and leaked a dirty face full of dust. He looked really a young man, in his twenties, and his face was somewhat similar to Duan Longzhen, both of which were thin and narrow. His mouth was moving, "Uncle Wang, you are really a good king of Nanzhao! I want to ask Uncle Wang, do you feel very happy when you destroy the Nanzhao Kingdom?"

Duan Longzhen shook his head, "Do you think I want this? If your father hadn't bullied me so much back then, how could I provoke a civil war? After more than ten years of fighting, the people in the country have already lost their lives. I just want to save the millions of people left in Nanzhao. But if they want them to save them, they can only let the Nanzhao fall. Will I be willing to do so? If they don't join the Great Wei, they will come to save the people? I really have no choice. If I want Nanzhao, the people will die, and if they want the people, Nanzhao falls. If it were you, what can you choose?"

The young man crawled from the cell to the door and smiled at Duan Longzhen through the wooden door, "Ha..., who caused all this? Bai Jun is my cousin and Xiaoying is my cousin. Do you think you will let them stay in Qilan after I take power? The three of us grew up together and treat them like biological brothers and sisters. As the eldest brother, we should take care of our younger brothers and sisters. But what did you do? You brought the Nanzhao Kingdom into a land that will never be restored, and you made the people in the country fall into dire straits. Now that Nanzhao Kingdom has been destroyed, why don't you, the new king of Nanzhao Kingdom, accompany the Nanzhao Kingdom to perish? Are you afraid of death, or dare not go down to face my ancestors and ancestors?"

"Oh... Longrui, I and your father were the affairs of the previous generation. If my elder brother was willing to surrender when he was defeated, I would not kill him, but he was unwilling. It was originally a two-sided attack, and he was still struggling to support him after losing the support of Simon. How could his 160,000 troops be my opponent? I was indeed the first to provoke the civil war, but you don't understand why I provoked the civil war? In short, I have no winner in this war, and both lost, and I lost very badly, so miserable that I destroyed the country directly. No matter who is right or wrong, it is all wrong. Today I come to see you, and I have some things to talk to you. It is not a benefit to join the Great Wei Dynasty. At least they can help me save the people, restore Nanzhao to vitality, and help me kill the treacherous Xinyue."

"Please don't talk nonsense."

"Haha! OK, Uncle Wang is going straight to the point. You also know why I was defeated. If it weren't for the New Yue Kingdom, then Xu Li would have no hope for killing me for at least a few years. Although I joined the Great Wei Kingdom, I was not Shu Hou. There were many internal forces, and there were basically no allies among the major forces. The force I joined was for the Western regime of the Great Wei Kingdom - the Great Protectorate of Anxi. Currently, Shu Hou is still separated from Anxi and Nanzhao. The Shu army and the Imperial City Army of the Great Wei Kingdom are fighting, and the Anxi army cannot get through. For the time being, they can only provide military funds. Military rations can be purchased from the South Yue Kingdom and the Mainland of the Great Wei Kingdom. Only the military is a little troublesome. Smuggling from Anxi cannot be too large, but some of them can be solved. I can only find a way to find a way for the rest.

In recent years, I have not been in good health and I am powerless to lead troops to fight. Bai Jun is still studying in Jiangling Academy of the Great Wei Dynasty, and he is not as good as you in leading troops to fight. At present, there are less than 90,000 troops left in the clan. There is no need to worry about the Shu army being dragged by Anxi. The key is that it is impossible to afford to go to war with Xinyue. I won’t mention whether I am wrong. After I die, I will apologize to my ancestors. As the crown prince of Nanzhao, you are facing the disaster of extermination of the clan. You should take this responsibility."

Long Rui knelt in the prison cell and smiled, "Uncle Wang isn't afraid that I will get military power to kill you? You must know that I hate you to the core!"

Huh... Duan Longzhen said with a long breath, "Don't be afraid. I fought with your father Nujiang many years ago. At that time, I was defeated and fled in panic. I was inspected in Xiushan some time ago. I was so angry that I had been hurt for many years. I will do whatever I want to kill or not! The mistakes were all made by me alone, and they have nothing to do with your younger brother and sister. And Xiaoying will also go to Anxi to marry in a few days. I will let him go to Anxi to study in the future. If you want to cause trouble, you will have no chance."

"Ha..., you said Xiaoying was going to Anxi to marry? Can I say you are selling women for honor? Who is the partner of the marriage? Don't be careless with me, if you don't say it clearly, I will kill you."

"Yang Chengyu, the commander of Anxi military and horses, I have never seen this person before. It is said that he is a few years younger than you." Duan Longzhen replied

"The commander of the army? Not the great gubernatorial commander of Anxi? Haha! Duan Longzhen, Duan Longzhen, I, the princess of Nanzhao, were you sold this price?"

"You don't understand this..."

"I don't understand what? Since it's a marriage, then it should be equal. How can my grand princess of Nanzhao marry a general? Are you stupid or confused? Do you agree to such a marriage? I don't agree." Long Rui said angrily.

Duan Longzhen shook his head and continued, "I am your Uncle Wang. Do you know more about your young boy? I have known this Anxi commander. This person is named Yang Chengyu. He is not very famous in the Wei Dynasty, but it is different in the desert. In short, no matter how many you don't know, you just need to know that this person is absolutely worthy of Xiaoying."

He did understand, but it was quite sloppy, and there was no specific definition of the answer He Chengfeng gave him. This person had no official status, and the people in Anxi called him a contractor, but this person in Anxi was definitely the same. Even the great protector Liu Yi had no choice but to deal with this person. According to He Chengfeng, this person had no other problems except for drinking (He Chengfeng dared not say that the old man could spend money), the reason why the protector asked Princess Nanzhao to go to Anxi to marry was mainly to marry a wife for this person. And Anxi gave it to him. And it was mainly to marry a wife and take care of him.

The betrothal gift is not low, five million taels of silver (the early military expenses are not considered less), two thousand pieces of silk and satin (about 50,000 taels, luxury goods are enjoyed by the Nanzhao nobles), two thousand pieces of linen (enough for the military uniform of a hundred thousand army, cheap and not worth), 100,000 pieces of various military supplies (currently ninety thousand troops, 100,000 pieces of military supplies are enough for him to use for a period of time), two million stones of food (Nantiao lacks food, save enough for the people of Nanzhao to hold on for one month), five hundred meat animals (give extra meals to the White Army, otherwise they will not have the energy to fight).

This betrothal gift list is calculated by He Chengfeng. Except for the trouble of transporting arms, everything else can be transported directly by caravans. In fact, what Anxi lacks the most is military equipment. However, the mainland card military equipment card is too strict, and 100,000 pieces of military equipment are not a small number. If it is found, it will definitely be detained, so it can only be sent slowly.

Duan Longzhen was extremely surprised when he saw this betrothal gift list, especially the two million stones of grain, which saved at least enough to eat in China for more than a month and five million taels of military expenses in China. According to the current military pay of Nanzhao, it is not a problem to use it for a year. The main thing is military equipment. In the east, it is not only the Great Wei, but all countries have no relaxation in the control of arms. If they are not in place, not to mention 100,000 sets, even if there is only 100 sets, it is also deducted. The Great Wei military equipment is at the forefront of all countries. In the past, the export volume of the Great Wei was not used because the export volume of the Central Plains was too low. If you could choose, you would definitely not import it from the Xinyue Kingdom (the steel production of Xinyue Kingdom is very low, and most of the export weapons are iron products, and steel products are definitely awesome than iron products). With Anxi providing 100,000 sets of betrothal gift equipment, it is still a bit cheaper to go to war with Xinyue Kingdom. In terms of military sources, it is definitely not as good as the Xinyue Kingdom. It can only be seen how Longrui is capable of leading troops.

"Haha! I don't care whether I deserve the general Anxi. I just want to know if Xiaoying is willing. Don't talk about national justice with me. If I let me know that you forced her to get married, haha! After defeating Xinyue Kingdom, the next enemy will be Dawei, and you will definitely die the first one."

Hearing this, Duan Longzhen smiled slightly, stood up from the chair and walked to him, and whispered, "If you have this ability, Uncle Wang will be free of resentment. However, don't be like you are invincible in the world. If you fight with the Great Wei, you are not capable enough. You should defeat the Xinyue Kingdom first."

"Hahaha... Duan Longzhen, Duan Longzhen, it turns out that you have only such courage. No wonder hundreds of thousands of troops could not defeat my father's 160,000 troops for more than ten years. I didn't even dare to think about it. Why are you talking about being the King of Nanzhao? You can only be in a nest. If it weren't for the Bai tribe, you would have to bury your bones in Xiushan ten years ago." Long Rui sarcastically said sarcastically.

"Whatever you say! I, Duan Longzhen, has been on the battlefield for more than ten years, and I have never cared about how my younger generations talk about me. If you want to hit you Uncle Wang in the face, you have to fight with Xinyue Kingdom. If you come, open the prison cell. I want to see if the one released is a tiger or a dog that can only bark."

In the cell: "A hundred thousand troops defeated Xinyue. Is it a tiger or a dog? Duan Longzhen has to open his eyes and see clearly. Don't die in advance before blinking, so as not to find someone even if you want to slap in the face."

"Haha! Uncle Wang can eat and drink well and try to live a few more years. If you are a tiger, I will go to the grave in person and kneel down and say sorry, brother."

The door of the cell opened with a "click", and Longrui stepped out of the cell, "Then you are ready to confess!"

...

———

Long Rui, the only descendant of the eldest prince of Nanzhao, did not kill him when Duan Longzhen conquered Dali. Now, in order to deal with Xinyue, he was released from prison. It is obvious that he is speaking very awesome. Whether he can defeat Xinyue or not, it is not clear whether the released tiger or dog is a tiger. I will wait and see.
Chapter completed!