The Prodigal Son

Shi Hong's patience exceeded Qin Yu and the others' expectations.

They've all gone to such lengths, yet Shi Hong remains unmoved?

This made Qin Yu and his group feel like they had punched cotton.

Northeast of Yuechi, during a break, Xiong Quhu scurried up to Qin Yu, looking utterly dejected, and said, "General Qin, do you think Shi Hong is some kind of bastard in disguise? We've practically been shitting on his face, and he's still putting up with it?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Dingguo smiled helplessly, "Our fighting style isn't afraid of encountering a general like Liang Jingzhe, but it is afraid of encountering someone like Shi Hong."

The core of their tactics is to get the enemy moving.

As long as the enemy moves, they may expose a fatal flaw.

But now, Shi Hong is lying there completely still, just like a turtle.

This left them with absolutely no starting point.

After all this commotion, the enemy suffered no losses, but they themselves were exhausted.

"Alright, stop acting all innocent after getting the benefit!"

Qin Yu grabbed his water pouch and gulped down a mouthful of water. "If Shi Hong can endure it, then let's do our own thing! Tell the brothers, the chances of getting a good reputation from a fair robbery don't come often, so let's all fucking work harder!"

Dealing with a general like Shi Hong is indeed quite a headache.

However, this is under the premise that they are deliberately restraining themselves.

If he doesn't restrain himself, he has plenty of ways to force Shi Hong into battle.

Hearing Qin Yu's words, the two couldn't help but burst into laughter, "That's true!"

Anyway, it's a win-win situation!

Killing the enemy is advantageous, and robbing gold and silver treasures is also advantageous!

As long as they benefit, it's fine!

After a brief rest, Qin Yu led 5,000 men on another expedition.

Just as they were marching towards the county town forty miles away, a scout suddenly returned with several Chu soldiers.

"Reporting to General Qin, we have captured several Chu soldiers. They claim to be messengers sent by Chu general Shi Hong to deliver a message to General Qin!"

While reporting, the scout squad leader ordered several Chu soldiers to be brought forward.

"Oh?"

Qin Yu looked at the group with great interest. "Where's the letter?"

"Let me go!"

The Chu messenger struggled fiercely, his eyes fixed on Qin Yu.

Qin Yu ignored the man's gaze and gave a wink to the two scouts who were holding the Chu army messenger.

As if by telepathy, the two twisted the Chu army messenger's arm hard, causing him to scream in pain before they finally let go.

"mean!"

The Chu messenger gritted his teeth and cursed, then stretched his arm a few times in pain before pulling out a letter from his pocket and handing it over.

Qi Dachui stepped forward, took the letter, glared fiercely at the Chu army messenger, and then handed the letter to Qin Yu.

Qin Yu quickly opened the letter, glanced at it briefly, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

In his letter, Shi Hong said that the Chu envoy had arrived at his camp. Chu was deeply sorry for supporting Yu Wu's usurpation of the throne and hoped to negotiate with Da Ning.

The letter from the State of Chu expressing its willingness to negotiate has been sent to the capital of Daning.

Shi Hong did not want to disrupt the negotiations between the two countries and hoped that they would stop in time!

Whether to fight or make peace, we'll wait for the reply from the Great Ning court before discussing anything further.

Qin Yu put away the letter and coldly looked at the Chu army messenger: "Go back and tell Shi Hong that I don't know if this is a delaying tactic! I will not back down until the Empress's decree arrives! If he wants to fight, I will fight to the end! If he doesn't want to fight, then he can continue to be a coward and watch the show!"

Shi Hong told them to stop, and they stopped?

Don't they have any pride?

The messenger's expression changed, and he said urgently, "Our imperial letter has already been delivered to your capital through Yun Zhao. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to the front lines of Yinzhou to inquire with Yun Zhao. Our army will not stop you!"

"This general is too busy making money to verify!"

After saying this, Qin Yu immediately waved his hand, signaling his men to send the Chu soldiers away.

Zhao Luan definitely agrees to negotiate!

They don't have much time left to reap the benefits!

We need to hurry and grab the benefits!

"General Qin, we are negotiating in good faith!"

The messenger glared at Qin Yu and shouted, "If General Qin insists on ruining the negotiations between our two countries, and your Empress pursues the matter, you will likely be unable to bear the consequences!"

"I hate being threatened! If that's how you talk, I'm not going to back down!"

Qin Yu waved his hand impatiently, "Show him out!"

"Get out of here!"

Qi Dachui fiercely drove away several Chu soldiers, even waving his golden mace at them.

The group glared angrily at the unreasonable Qin Yu and stormed off.

Watching them leave, Xu Wan couldn't help but lower her voice and ask, "Are we really not going to stop?"

"Why stop?"

Qin Yu smirked, "Anyway, someone will take the blame for me if anything goes wrong!"

"..."

Xu Wan's pretty face twitched slightly, and she said with a wry smile, "If something goes wrong, Senior Zhao and General Xue will definitely regret it to death!"

……

In the afternoon, the messenger returned to the camp and relayed Qin Yu's words verbatim to Shi Hong and the others.

"asshole!"

Upon learning that Qin Yu still refused to stop, Baili Yunshan couldn't help but shout curses.

They have already expressed their willingness to negotiate!

But Qin Yu still refused to stop.

They completely disregarded them and the troops at Mengtang Pass!

This is more than just a provocation; it's downright humiliation!

In a hazy vision, he seemed to see Qin Yu standing in front of him, a mocking smile on his face: Look, I only have this many men, while you have nearly 100,000 troops, yet you can't do anything to me!

"Alright!"

Shi Hong raised his hand to stop Baili Yunshan. "It's just two prefectures. They've been causing trouble for so many days, they've done enough! They can't come up with much more now. The priority is negotiation, let's not create any more complications!"

Whether it's plunder or provocation!

The area of ​​the two prefectures is only so big.

If the two prefectures combined had a total of one hundred taels of silver, Qin Yu has probably already robbed eighty or ninety taels of it!

They wouldn't risk nearly 100,000 soldiers just to keep the remaining one or two taels of silver.

Moreover, Qin Yu did not massacre the people of Chu.

It's better to let Qin Yu and his men plunder than to let the two counties bleed to death!

"I understand the reasoning."

Baili Yunshan sighed with a face full of frustration: "This humble general just feels aggrieved! We have so many men, yet Qin Yu leads such a small force to run rampant. It's truly frustrating."

Do you think Ning Jun's troops are few in number?

Shi Hong looked up at the sand table. "Yun Zhao alone has nearly 100,000 troops under his command."

"We don't know how many Ning troops have come to reinforce us from Yuwang Pass."

"In terms of military strength, Ning's army is still superior to ours."

"If Ning Jun's mere ten thousand men could suppress all our troops and prevent them from moving, that would be truly humiliating!"

"Right now, it's just a matter of being forced by circumstances."

"Especially at times like these, it's important to keep a relaxed mindset..."

Shi Hong patiently persuaded Baili Yunshan, and Xi Ya listened and nodded secretly.

The State of Chu today needs this kind of steady and reliable general!