Chapter 111 Qingshui River (8)

Luo Ling, a Sogdian businessman, traveled around the country for many years. With his dexterity, accurate judgment and strong strength, he became a guest of the great chiefs of all ethnic groups in the northwest. Although the wars in the northwest were frequent, he traveled everywhere like a flat ground. This kind of versatile figure is extremely valuable in Hou Dayong's eyes, especially in the northwest where traffic is blocked and information is slow.

The guards quickly put some wine and meat on them. In addition to the large pot of mutton, there was also a pot of stewed beef, and the wine was a pot of old wine. Hou Dayong raised the wine glass and said, "On the battlefield, the conditions are simple and there is nothing good to entertain old friends. However, this stewed beef is good, you can try it."

Luo Ling spoke a very fluent Central Plains speech, with an accent that was even more authentic than Hou Dayong. He sighed happily: "Time flies so fast. Don't spend the military service in Fengzhou. In the blink of an eye, it's several months. In the past few months, my caravan and the rich shops have done several big deals. Wu Si sold it to the Hei Khan Kingdom, and the price is very good." Luo Ling's caravan and the rich shops cooperated with several big deals, and Luo Ling and the rich shops made a lot of money. He took a casual sip of the seemingly ordinary beef soup, and was immediately attracted by the taste of the soup, stopped talking, and began to concentrate on tasting the taste of the beef soup. Soon, after drinking a bowl of soup, Luo Ling smashed his mouth and said, "It's really a bowl of good soup that only a god can drink. This kind of cooking skill will make a fortune no matter where you open a restaurant."

Hou Dayong smiled and said, "Luo Lang and I are intimate. This chef was brought by me from Daliang. It is the most famous in Daliang. But I am used to drinking the soup he made and I am reluctant to let him go. The money in the world will never be earned. I will leave a few for others."

The two exchanged a few greetings, and Hou Dayong suddenly stopped smiling, no longer circled, and asked in a straight line: "Luo Lang worked tirelessly. What's the point of coming outside this blood-flying Tongxin City?" Luo Ling wiped his lips with a small handkerchief with exquisite workmanship and said: "I'm coming from Xihuizhou."

Hou Dayong had long expected that Luo Ling was a lobbyist for Dangxiang Fang, otherwise he would not have come to the battlefield. The coalition defeated Fangtang Army's main force, besieged Tongxin City, and divided the Dangxiang army into three parts: Xihuizhou, Tongxin City and Guyuan. The battlefield situation was beneficial to the coalition army. Therefore, Hou Dayong calmly picked up a small bowl of beef soup, drank it slowly, and waited for Luoling's underground text.

While talking, Luo Ling captured the subtle changes in Hou Dayong's face. When he saw Hou Dayong's expression calm and without any change, he continued: "The leader of Dangxiang in Xihui Prefecture is Fang Danghanhai. He wants to make peace with the Jiedushi."

Hou Dayong snorted coldly and said, "Is Fang Danghanhai qualified to make peace? Tongxin City is now surrounded by coalition forces, and even a fly cannot fly out. It will be a matter of time before breaking the city. It will be a matter of time before the Xihuizhou can't defend it. It's too late to make peace."

Luo Ling said in a humble and arrogant manner: "If the Jiedushi only wants to kill, he can completely reject Fang Danghanhai's request. If the Jiedushi wants to fight for long-term peace for the Great Zhou, he might as well listen to Fang Danghanhai's conditions."

"The main force of the Dangxiangfang is already suffering heavy damage and is unable to withstand the thunder strike of the coalition forces. There is no other way except for unconditional surrender. If you continue to resist, there will be no house on the Qingshui River." Hou Dayong did not want to start a massacre on the Qingshui River. Excessive killings will be of no benefit to Hou Dayong. Hou Dayong wanted to beat Dangxiangfang as a person and be afraid of being beaten, and then put Dangxiangfang as a military in his own military system. Of course, this real purpose cannot be exposed to Luo Ling, so Hou Dayong said harsh words in a threatening tone.

Luo Ling was very treacherous. When he heard Hou Dayong's threat, he felt relieved. In a sense, threats are also conditions. Only when conditions can be set, there is a possibility of negotiation. Threats are often the first step in negotiations. Luo Ling smiled secretly and said, "Dangxiang is divided into eight tribes, occupying a vast area in the northwest, with a population of millions. Fangdangren is just one of the tribes. Although the eight tribes of Dangxiang are far apart and have many conflicts in normal times, they will definitely not sit idly by and call for help.

When the Fangdang tribe was destroyed, the Fangdang tribe was forced to flee the Qingshui River, it was the day when other tribes participated in the war. Although the coalition forces currently have the advantage, it is hard to say who wins and loses. Moreover, Fangdang people make a living by nomadic life and live in Xihuizhou, Tongxin City and Guyuan are only a small part of Fangdang people. Most of the houses are scattered along the Qingshui River. It is difficult for the Jiedushi to catch all these houses that live on the banks of the Qingshui River. At most, they will flee west to north. When the time is right, they will make a comeback."

Luo Ling saw Hou Dayong listening carefully and continued: "The Jiedushi is now recruiting envoys in the northwest camp. This position is used to maintain the complete land of the northwest border. If the house is destroyed and the seeds of hatred are planted in the Dangxiang races, there will be no peace in the northwest. At present, the Great Zhou Dynasty is working all its strength toward Huainan. Your Majesty of the Great Zhou definitely does not want a huge fire to ignite the northwest."

Luo Ling analyzed the situation very accurately. These words talked about Hou Dayong's heart. The Northwest Alliance only defeated Dangxiangfang as a man, while the north side of the west was still the people of six tribes, and the east side was still the powerful Tuoba people. Not to mention the Tuoba people, it would be extremely difficult for the Northwest Alliance to win if the six tribes were united. After all, the Northwest Alliance was only a few towns and lands, and did not receive the support of the entire state machine, and did not have the strength to sweep the Northwest Alliance. What's more, if the Northwest Alliance fell into a hard battle with the Dangxiang tribes, it would lose the opportunity to further develop and strengthen the land. At that time, it would be impossible to compete with Zhao Kuangyin's army.

Hou Dayong secretly admired Luo Ling. He looked at Luo Ling's thin lips and a thought suddenly jumped out, "The newly-accepted concubine Situ Xu, the Minister of Personnel, was clearly a gift from Luo Ling. No wonder Luo Ling had a very accurate understanding of the military and political plans of the Zhou Dynasty court. I wonder which officials had received Luo Ling's peach gift? This Sogdian merchant had stretched his hands too long. He was just a businessman. Is it necessary to manage it like this?"

Hou Dayong thought quickly, but his face was as calm as usual, and said, "As far as I know, Fang Danghanhai is not the real leader of Dangxiang people. Is he qualified to negotiate on behalf of Dangxiang people?"

Luo Ling knew what to be honest and when should lie, he explained: "Dangxiang is divided into eight tribes. Fangdangren is also divided into three parts. The largest leader is Fang Dangming, and Fangdangming is also the big leader of Fangdangren. However, he had already died in the battle at Niuguan. Fangdangming has two younger brothers, one is Fangdangbaige, who died in Yizhou, and the other is Fangdangdu, who guards Tongxin City. The smaller leader is Fangdanghanhai and Fangdangling. The smallest leader is Fangdangduer, who is stationed in Guyuan. Now Fangdangming has died in battle. Fangdanghanhai has more than 10,000 troops in Xihuizhou, and his strength is the strongest among Fangdangmen. Of course, he will represent Dangxiang Fangdangman as a person."

Hou Dayong frowned and said, "I'm afraid that Fang Dangdu will not obey Fang Danghanhai. Tell me, what are the conditions for Fang Danghanhai?"

Luo Ling and Fang Danghanhai analyzed the conditions proposed by Hou Dayong when he surrendered to the Hunshima tribe of Tubo. There are three main points: one is to accept Hou Dayong's appointment. The second is to provide cheap horses, and the third is to communicate with each other. To be honest, these three points are not harsh, and they are even extremely beneficial to the desperate Hunshima tribe of Tubo. Fang Danghanhai also wanted to make peace with Hou Dayong with these three points and gain time for Fang Dangren to breathe.

Luo Ling said: "Fang Danghanhai is very sincere. As long as the Zhou army retreats from the Qingshui River, Fang Dangren will always be a minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty and guard the northwest for the Zhou Dynasty."

Since the Tang Dynasty, it is not a simple matter for small tribes around the Central Plains to be rewarded by the Central Plains court. Only tribes who have made great contributions can receive rewards from the court. For example, the people of Dangxiang Tuoba were rewarded for sending troops to help the Tang emperor safeguard the Anshi Rebellion. It is precisely because of the support of the Tang Dynasty that the people of Dangxiang Tuoba were able to obtain the conditions proposed by Xia, Yin, Sui, and Yu, and Fang Danghanhai, who seemed to surrender, but in fact they were cheap and acted obedient.

After hearing this condition, Hou Dayong laughed, "Haha" and said, "I won't go around the corner. This time, Dangxiang Fangdangdang is the leader, Fangdangming and Fangdangbai Ge are dead, but Fangdangdu is still alive, Fangdangdu cannot be forgiven, Tongxin City will be destroyed. I have clearly rejected Fangdangdu's request for reduction."

Luo Ling was shocked, but her face had not changed.

Hou Dayong changed his tone and said, "In the desire for peace, I remember Fangdanghanhai only a threat. I can accept Fangdanghanhai's request to surrender. There are four conditions. First, all the party members in Guyuan withdrew from Guyuan. Within twenty miles outside Guyuan City, no party member is allowed to stay; second, Fangdangren provides 5,000 war horses to the coalition forces for free, and then, one thousand war horses will be provided to the Black Diao Army every year; third, Fangdangren accepts the dispatch of the Black Diao Army; fourth, the merchants of the Great Zhou Dynasty can freely enter and exit the Qingshui River to do business, and Fangdanghanhai will provide protection. If these four conditions are agreed, the coalition forces can withdraw and recognize Fangdanghanhai as the chief leader of Fangdangman."

Hou Dayong's conditions were not much different from what Luo Ling and Fang Danghanhai had imagined, and Guyuan was in the hands of Fang Dangduoer, and Fang Danghanhai promised the Dangxiang people to withdraw from Guyuan, which was purely empty talk. Therefore, these conditions were acceptable to Fang Danghanhai. However, Luo Ling was a veteran of negotiations. Although the conditions proposed by the other party were in his wishes, he still showed a sense of embarrassment and said: "These four are too harsh, and Fang Danghanhai is difficult to accept. In addition, Tongxin City has a high status in Fangdangren's heart. If Tongxin City is broken, it will leave deep hatred in Fangdangren's heart."

Hou Dayong interrupted firmly: "These conditions cannot be discussed. The Zhou army has never attacked Dangxiang Fangdeng. Fangdeng was the same as burning, killing, robbing, and sieging Tongxin City in Zhou. This is a lesson for Fangdengren. After the coalition forces broke through Tongxin City, if Fangdenghanhai really wanted to surrender, I would hand him Tongxin City."

For Hou Dayong, the strategic significance of Tongxin City is not as good as Guyuan. Guyuan City is close to Weizhou and has been occupied by the Uighurs for a long time. It is a bridgehead to enter the Zhou territory. Its geographical location is quite important. If the Zhou army occupied this city, together with Longxi, it would constitute two corners that threaten the tribes in the northwest.

After the conditions were negotiated, Luo Ling quickly returned to Xihuizhou. Fangdanghanhai heard this condition and said no words for a long time. He was able to accept the conditions proposed by Hou Dayong and surrender to the Central Plains dynasty was not a shame for the Fangdang clan. On the contrary, being able to obtain the enthronement of the Zhou Dynasty was also very beneficial to the development of the Fangdang clan. However, Hou Dayong made up his mind to break through Tongxin City, which made Fangdanghanhai unable to stand emotionally. After all, Tongxin City is the ancestral land of Fangdangren and has a sacred place. As long as he is Fangdangren, he has a special relationship with Tongxin City.

However, on the other hand, the number of tribes in Fangdanghanhai is much smaller than that in Fangdangdu tribes. If Hou Dayong breaks through Tongxin City and kills Fangdangdu and the soldiers in the city, Fangdanghanhai will have the strength to completely control the tribe where Fangdangming is located. As for Guyuan, it was originally an Uighur city, and there was no problem for the Zhou army. If Fang Dangduoer, the Guyuan guard general, was unwilling to retreat, he would definitely have to fight the Zhou army to a decisive battle. This may not be a good thing for Fangdanghanhai.

After repeated consideration, Fang Danghanhai accepted Hou Dayong's conditions.

After seeing off Luo Ling, Fang Danghanhai lit an incense stick in distractedness to present it to the Buddha statue. He recited the scriptures devoutly to relieve his inner anxiety. After the incense stick, Fang Danghanhai slowly stood up and walked out of the door. The room was very dark. When he opened the door, Fang Danghanhai felt countless sunlight shining on his body. He narrowed his eyes and encouraged himself: "Fangdang was unkind. He plotted to fight for him desperately. The land of Fang Dangdang was a vicious person. The cause and effect came very quickly. Everything was asked by him."

Fang Danghanhai waved at the door. A young man ingenious walked over quickly. Fang Danghanhai said, "Have you arranged it?" The young man replied in a low voice: "We have secretly captured more than 20 people, all of them were Fang Dangming's confidants, and seven others were monitored, but they were not found suitable for mobile phones." Fang Danghanhai had a gloomy face and said, "All buried, clean your hands and feet, don't let people discover it." The young man said respectfully: "Don't worry. All the people who started are the most loyal tribe members."

Fang Danghanhai successively received more than 2,000 defeated soldiers from Fang Dangming's troops in Xihuizhou. In the past few days, more than 2,000 people clamored to fight to Tongxin City under Fang Dangming's confidant. In order to completely grasp this group, Fang Danghanhai ordered his subordinates to secretly kill Fang Dangming's confidant who was leading the trouble.

Just as Luo Ling was traveling through Tongxin City and Xihuizhou, a mysterious man appeared in Youzhou City. They were wearing military uniforms without signs and no flags. As soon as they arrived at the territory of Youzhou, they burned and killed them. The people of Dangxiang Tuoba had been living in the four prefectures for a long time. Influenced by the people of the Central Plains, they began to live in villages and live a semi-grassing and half-cultivation life. The farming life harvest was relatively stable, and the population of Tuoba gradually increased. This mysterious man robbed unscrupulously in Dangxiang Village on the border of Youzhou. The men of Dangxiang in the village were forced to organize to defend their hometown, but this group of mysterious man and horses had extremely strong combat power and easily shattered the spontaneous resistance of Dangxiang people.

When the governor of Youzhou heard about this, he didn't care much at first. He thought it was just a thief who flew into the country, so he sent a thousand men to clear the enemy. The thousand men and soldiers divided into four groups and quickly went south to encircle this group of robbers who dared to pull their hair from the tiger's mouth. Unexpectedly, the robbers were very cunning. With the speed of the horse, they ran around. The thousand men followed the robbers and chased each other. They were not careful, and the whole army was farther and farther away from the large army. They were raided by the robbers in the middle of the night and were wiped out by the robbers. The other three men and women did not know about this situation and were still surrounding the robbers. After chasing for several days, another group of people was ambushed. A group of people was blocked in a ravine, rolling down into the ground, buried more than 200 people, but one of them did not escape.

The remaining two teams of Youzhou troops did not find the robbers and their partners for several days, and they realized that something was wrong and did not dare to divide the troops. One day, when they were crossing a small river, they had just reached halfway through. A team of cavalry rushed over like lightning. The Dangxiang Army, who had rushed to fight, suffered heavy casualties. More than 300 bodies fell down on the river bank. The soldiers of the Youzhou Army who crossed the river were both despaired and did not dare to fight again. They fled back to Youzhou City in a panic. Li Yiqiu, the governor of Youzhou, saw that the 1,000 horses who had left the city to encircle and suppress the robbers, were surrounded and suppressed by the robbers. In furious, he killed the commander-in-chief of the team and ordered the commander-in-chief of the horse army Li Yixing to lead the 1,000 horse army and 1,000 infantry troops out of the city to annihilate the enemy.

Li Yixing, the commander of the horse army, was ordered to go to the expedition. Li Yixing was covered in silver-white armor. He was less than 30 years old, and his eyes were flashing with a cold light. The soldiers looked at him with a little fear and obvious respect. This was Li Yixing, the former Dehao. The Youzhou Army attacked Yanzhou City and could have done a very secret. However, Fang Dangdu secretly used a trick to make the Youzhou Army attack Yanzhou City a well-known thing. Li Yiyin, the governor of Dingnan, was furious after hearing this. The Youzhou Assassination

Shi Li Yiqiu could not escape the blame, but Li Yiqiu was the younger brother born to his mother. Dehao, the commander of the cavalry commander who led troops to attack the city, became a scapegoat. However, Li Yiyin loved Dehao as a rare general, so he looked for a soldier who looked similar to Dehao. After beheading him, he pretended to Dehao and sent him to Daliang. He was considered an explanation to His Majesty Chai Rong and the envoy Hou Dayong, both the northwest camp. In order to appease Dehao, Li Yiyin gave Dehao the name Li Yixing and still stayed in Youzhou to assist Li Yiqiu.
Chapter completed!