At the beginning, I gave up my military power with a cup of wine, and I ascended the throne

Chapter 223 Jizhou sent an envoy to seek peace!
As soon as Xie Xuanli closed his eyes, he couldn't help but ask, "What is the prince doing?"

"I am practicing sword skills with Senior Li in the Tingchao Pavilion."

Yuan Hong replied.

"so far so good."

Xie Xuanli breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally I know how to do something serious."

"Let him come tomorrow and help with government affairs."

"Send someone to Tianxian Pass and tell Xiao Han that I am willing to give up the three counties of Youzhou and incorporate them into the territory of Xiliang in exchange for Xiliang's withdrawal."

"promise."

Yuan Hong nodded.

A few days later.

Above Tianxian Pass, the sun was high in the sky, casting brilliant golden light into the courtyard. Xiao Han, dressed in a white robe and holding a long sword, was practicing his sword skills in a methodical manner.

Each strike of the sword was extremely simple and unpretentious, without any fancy techniques, and the sword techniques were coordinated with the steps and extremely coherent.

Opening and closing widely, cutting, chopping, splitting or stabbing.

Qingyao walked out of the room, holding a fruit in her hand, and sat on the shady stone bench, crossing her legs, humming a tune, and looking at the man in white robe.

"Master Hou."

Lu Ju strode in, smiling happily, "The envoy from Jizhou has arrived, just outside the pass. Do you want to see him?"

"Put it in first."

Xiao Han said without even turning his head: "Let him hang out for two days."

"promise."

Lu Ju left.

After practicing swordsmanship for several hours, he stopped until his whole body was steaming and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat.

"afraid!"

With a flick of her wrist, Qingyao caught the dry knife steadily and put it into the scabbard.

"Drink tea."

She put the long knife back into the room and brought over a cup of herbal tea.

"After waiting for several months, old man Xie Xuanli finally gave in."

Xiao Han smiled and said, "If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place."

"In a moment of anger, the superiors sent an army of 200,000 to attack me, which led to the disaster today."

"Remember not."

He looked at Qingyao next to him and said, "Each soldier has a wonderful use, not to mention thousands of troops, which must not be moved without authorization."

"If you make any mistakes, you will lose everything. If you make one wrong move, you won't even know how you died."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Qingyao was confused, took the empty teacup and said, "I don't lead troops to fight."

"It never hurts to write more."

He shook his head. "The art of war is about momentum. There are internal momentum and external momentum. I rely on the momentum of 200,000 cavalrymen from Xiliang and the momentum of Northern Wei. Even the arrogant and domineering Zhenbei Marquis will have to bow his head."

"Can't understand."

Qingyao curled her lips.

"This is unteachable."

He joked: "You say you are smart, but I think you are really stupid."

Two days later, Xiao Han met with the envoy and asked for the entire Youzhou, plus 500,000 shi of grain and 50,000 war horses.

Finally, after much persuasion, they surrendered to the six counties of Youzhou, 300,000 shi of grain and 40,000 war horses.

After reaching this price, they would not budge any further, so the envoy had to leave and return to Jizhou to report to Xie Xuanli.

A few days later.

He called for another envoy to come and ask Xiao Han to lower the price and only ask for the six counties of Jizhou, but the envoy did not agree.

In the courtyard.

After watching the third Jizhou envoy's back gradually go away, Qingyao retracted her gaze and returned to the hall. "There are only seven counties in Youzhou, and you asked for five counties. How could Xie Xuanli agree?"

She spoke.

"If you don't agree, just drag it out."

Xiao Han picked up the teacup, his expression calm, and said lightly: "Anyway, every day we delay, the situation in Northern Wei will become more serious, and I will have more confidence."

"I can afford to delay, it will only consume a few days of food and grass, but Xie Xuanli and Jizhou can't afford to delay."

"I lack everything except food and money."

"The imperial court will not sit idly by and watch Jizhou fall, nor will it allow the Northern Wei army to march south, nor will it allow Xiliang to grow stronger."

Qingyao was worried: "If we continue to delay, if the imperial court intervenes and rushes to help Jizhou, your plan will fail."

"It will take the court at least half a month to raise food and fodder, and at least half a month to deliver it. The fastest time is one month."

Xiao Han smiled and said, "By the time their food and fodder arrives, the daylilies will be cold."

"And there is the Marquis of Qingzhou."

Qingyao said: "If the imperial court orders to transport food from Qingzhou, it will only take a few days."

"Qingzhou Hou?"

He took a sip of tea and said confidently: "Even if I give him ten guts, he wouldn't dare to transport grain to Jizhou. Besides, even if he wanted to, he couldn't get to Jizhou without my permission."

"The Xiliang Iron Cavalry only needs to cross Qingyou Pass to enter Qingzhou. It is much faster than Jizhou."

"Aren't you afraid of angering the emperor and the government?"

Qingyao asked.

"You should ask them if they are afraid of the 200,000 cavalrymen under my command."

Xiao Han shook his head. "I will definitely eat the fat piece of Youzhou. If anyone dares to stop me, I will bite off a bigger piece of meat from him."

"As expected of a subordinate of the Marquis of Zhenbei."

She joked, "You are like two peas in a pod. No, it should be said that you are better than your teacher. You are more scheming, more arrogant, and more unscrupulous than Xie Xuanli."

"At least he doesn't dare to tear his face with the imperial court openly, but you are so good, you want to ride into Qingzhou at any time."

"Just watch."

Xiao Han glared at Qingyao unhappily, and the latter shrank her neck and stuck out her tongue playfully.

"In a few days, the envoys from Jizhou will arrive again."

as predicted.

Five days later.

The fourth envoy sent by Xie Xuanli arrived at Tianxian Pass. As usual, he was exposed to the sun for two days before being received.

"I have seen you, Lord."

In the lobby.

Xiao Han was sitting on a horse with a golden sword. On both sides of him were many brave generals from inside the pass. They were all wearing armor and carrying swords. They had gloomy faces and exuded cold murderous aura from head to toe.

Hu Chi held a saber in his hand and led hundreds of strong men from Shicun to guard both inside and outside. His burly body exuded the aura of a wild beast.

Xueying in a black robe and Qingyao in a white dress stood behind Xiao Han, holding swords in their arms.

The Jizhou envoy bowed and clasped his fists, feeling uneasy.

Anyone who could become Xie Xuanli's envoy and go to Xiliang must be a shrewd person. When he saw this scene, he knew that the Marquis of Xiliang intended to intimidate him.

He was not angry, but clasped his fists and said, "My Lord, you haven't seen Xiliang Hou for a long time, and you missed him very much, so you sent me to visit you."

The subtext between the words is that what is being discussed today is not the affairs of Jizhou and Xiliang, but the family affairs of Xie Xuanli and Xiao Han.

"Didn't the Marquis of Zhenbei come to Xiliang last year?"

Sitting at the head seat, Xiao Han changed the subject and sighed, "It's my fault. When I have time in the future, I will definitely go to Jizhou to see the old man, the Marquis."

"If the Marquis knew about Xiliang Hou's filial piety, he would be deeply moved."

The messenger spoke.

All the generals in the hall had strange expressions on their faces. They wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. Especially Qingyao, who held her head against the wall, trying hard to suppress the urge to laugh.

Xie Xuanli and General Xiao Han have a deep affection for each other?

I'm afraid only a three-year-old would believe such nonsense!
(End of this chapter)