Nightwatcher

The princes in the Jinluan Palace had already received the news, and they were not surprised when they heard the news. The chief assistant, Qian Qingshu, stood up and expressed his opinion:

"This strategy may be a strategy for the rebels to delay their troops. Please think twice, Your Majesty."

Before Emperor Yongxing could speak, someone immediately stood up and retorted:

"When did Qian Shoufu and Yang Buzheng get along so well?"

The one who spoke was the Ministry of Military Affairs, one of the leaders in the trolls.

Qian Qingshu frowned, looked at the affairs of the Ministry of War, and said lightly:

"Master Yan, what's your opinion..."

The Ministry of War gave everything to the matter and said loudly:

"Your Majesty, since the autumn harvest, 100,000 troops have been buried in Jingshan City by Wei Yuan, and nearly 60,000 elite troops have been lost in Qingzhou after the winter. If the fight continues like this, my soldiers will definitely be exhausted.

"However, there are disasters caused by displaced people everywhere, and there is a shortage of troops. The Ministry of War has no more troops to support Yongzhou. I believe that negotiating peace is really the right move, and it can solve the urgent need of the court."

The Minister of the Ministry of War hesitated to speak, sighed, and chose to remain silent.

"Relieve the urgent need?"

Right capital censor Zhang Xingying snorted coldly:

"If you want to negotiate a peace, the rebels will definitely open their mouths. I'm afraid the court will have no spare power to fight against them. Master Yan doesn't understand the truth of cutting flesh with blunt knives?"

At this time, Hubu Shangshu came out and said in a deep voice:

"Zhang Yushi is so perceptive and understands the situation so well, it's not as good as I, the Minister of the Ministry of Households, let you do it."

After finishing speaking, he sneered, bowed to Emperor Yongxing, and said loudly:

"Your Majesty, the treasury is empty. If the imperial court continues to fight the Yunzhou rebels, it will be dragged down by the war sooner or later. The spring festival is approaching, and the earth will rejuvenate. What we need is time. And the peace negotiation can buy time so that we can survive the cold disaster. "

The war faction and the peace faction immediately clashed, arguing endlessly.

Every time the situation was about to get out of control, Zhao Xuanzhen would whip his whip and shout "Silence".

Emperor Yongxing silently watched the debate among the princes, until more and more people expressed their opinions, and the peace faction gradually overwhelmed the war faction, then he looked at Zhao Xuanzhen and signaled with his eyes.

Snapped!

Zhao Xuanzhen whipped the whip again, and the bright ground made a crisp sound, quieting the debate in the hall.

Emperor Yongxing looked around at the crowd and said slowly:

"I sympathize with the soldiers and the people, and I can't bear to go to war again. The matter of peace negotiation is settled like this."

The imperial city, the palace.

The luxury carriage was parked outside the mansion, and Qian Qingshu got out of the car with the support of his servants on a small stool. The guards outside the palace knew his identity and did not stop him.

All the way into the mansion, a moment later in the inner hall, the butler led him into the inner courtyard and came to Wang Shoufu's bedroom.

For a decent person like Wang Shoufu, seeing guests is not in the study, but in the bedroom, which shows how serious the condition is.

Beast gold charcoal is blazing, exuding warmth, the bedroom door and windows are closed, and there are two maids standing in the outer room and inner room.

Wang Shoufu sat leaning against him, with a soft pillow on his back.

He was thin and bony, and his face could not hide his old age, except for a pair of eyes, which were still bright and energetic.

"well!"

Qian Qingshu sighed: "Why is your disease not getting better?"

As he spoke, he waved his hand and told the maids to step back.

"Perhaps the end is approaching." Wang Zhenwen smiled:

"As soon as a person gets old, he will be sick like a mountain, and the gods can't save him. The so-called knowing the destiny at fifty, since it is the destiny, then let nature take its course."

Qian Qingshu pondered for a while, and said:

"I shouldn't have come to you, it's important to let you recover from your illness, it's just"

Wang Zhenwen raised his hand to interrupt, pointed to the window, and said:

"Help me open the window first."

Qian Qingshu frowned:

"It's freezing cold, open the window, can your bones withstand it?"

Wang Zhenwen waved his hand:

"The stagnation in this room makes me feel uncomfortable. Wouldn't it be easier to get sick? Stop talking nonsense, and open the window quickly."

Qian Qingshu hesitated for a while, walked to the window, opened a small opening, and let the cold but fresh wind blow into the room.

He returned to the bed, sat down on the round stool, thought for a while, and said:

"Qingzhou has fallen."

Seeing that Wang Zhenwen didn't speak, he also fell silent. After a while, Wang Zhenwen's voice was low:

"Go on"

"Jianzheng died in battle in Qingzhou. The rebel army now occupies Qingzhou and confronts Yang Gong at the border of Yongzhou. Yesterday, Yao Hong, the chief envoy of Yongzhou, handed over the paper, and Yunzhou wanted to send a mission to negotiate peace."

Wang Zhenwen listened without saying a word, did not move for a while, and his eyes seemed to freeze.

After Qian Qingshu finished speaking, his eyes moved slightly, and he regained his anger:

"His Majesty agrees?"

There was deep disappointment in his tone.

Qian Qingshu nodded lightly:

"There is no choice. Dafeng lost his supervisor, and there is a vacancy in the extraordinary combat power. It is like a flock without a leader. Sooner or later, the hearts of the people will be scattered. If you continue to fight, what is the use.

"Change position, I'm afraid I will be like him."

Suddenly realizing that what he said was disrespectful, he sighed and changed his words:

"It's the same with other princes."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenwen nodded slowly and said:

"He was sure of this, and when he was sure of winning, he took the initiative to send a mission to negotiate peace."

Qian Qingshu gave a wry smile:

"There are many smart people, but they all pretend to be fools. Who doesn't know the truth, but what can be done? Recently, the people in the capital are panic-stricken. You tried to calm down, but in fact, you were scared out of your wits. You even think that Dafeng's demise is just a matter of time. question.

"If you haven't found another way out, it's already considered loyal.

"Your Majesty also knows that the peace talks are a blunt knife, but what can he do? The peace talks are his only hope, and he will desperately seize them, and then say to himself, all this is to buy time and wait for the cold to pass. "

Wang Zhenwen was silent for a while, then said:

"Don't talk about this, you find a way to get Xu Qi'an to come and see me."

"he?"

Qian Qingshu shook his head with a wry smile:

"Who can watch this uncle, I don't even know where he is."

"He is in the capital, he must be in the capital now." Wang Zhenwen covered his mouth and coughed violently, "The prisoner is dead, and he will definitely come back. Hey, if the Yunzhou rebels want to negotiate a peace, it depends on whether he agrees or not."

Qian Qingshu got up, strode to the window, closed the window, turned around and said:

"Do you think Xu Yinluo can solve this crisis?"

Wang Zhenwen was silent, and after a long time, he whispered:

"Even if Wei Yuan comes back to life, he won't be able to win this game of dead chess."

Si Tianjian.

In the alchemy room on the seventh floor, Xu Qi'an didn't even return home, so he went straight to find Song Qing.

"I have gathered all the materials for the soul-calling banner, but there is one auxiliary material."

Xu Qi'an took out the fragments of the book from the ground, two jade bottles exuding cold and yin energy, a stone covered with honeycomb holes, and a mass of silk that was as black as ink and exuded highly poisonous gas.

Song Qing quickly took Pidu Pill, covered her mouth and nose with a silk cloth soaked in the potion, and then pulled out the cork of the porcelain bottle to confirm the material.

In the porcelain bottle are the nails of the ancient corpse and the black corpse water extracted from the carotid artery.

After confirming Mingjinshi and the silk that emits poisonous gas, Song Qing said:

"The last material is the hair, skin and flesh of Wei Yuan's original body, which is used for positioning. But Wei Yuan's body was destroyed in Jingshan City, so it must be found."

In fact, Wei Yuan's body was swallowed by Joan of Arc, and Song Qing didn't know the details.

"So?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"Children's bloodline can replace it." Song Qing said slowly.

Wei Gong has long since passed away! Xu Qi'an sighed in his heart, and his tone was low:

"It must be replaced by other methods, otherwise the supervisor will not let me find the magic weapon for refining the soul-calling banner."

Song Qing stared at him:

"Wei Yuan has no heirs, but you were promoted to the third rank by relying on his blood pills, so in a sense, you are his heirs.

"So next, you need to refine a blood pill. It doesn't need to be too much, and the fingernails can urinate and defecate. This will not affect your cultivation.

"Then, you have to help me get rid of the poison contained in the ghost silk. I can't get rid of the poison of the descendants of gods and demons."

Xu Qi'an's gaze swept across the Nether Silk:

"It takes three days to refine the blood pill to remove the poison.

"These are not problems. The real problem is, can you do it with such a powerful magic weapon as the Soul Calling Banner?"

The supervisor is no longer there, Sun Xuanji is recovering from his injuries, Yang Qianhuan is not in the capital at this time, and Song Qing is the highest-ranking Sitianjian.

But Song Qing is only a sixth-grade alchemist.

As a bigwig in the field of alchemy, Song Qing has a deep understanding of himself, holds great respect for alchemy, and will never show off, he shook his head decisively:

"I can not!

"Metals like Mingjinshi cannot be melted by ordinary fire, and it needs to be condensed by fire spirits in the formation of fire to melt it.

"Well, I can use some combustion-supporting materials to increase the flame temperature, but I need to build a new stove, and the combustion-supporting materials are my own creations, and Si Tianjian has no reserves.

"For this aspect alone, it will take half a month."

Song Qingka has been immersed in alchemy for many years, and has explored many ways to replace the formation, but these methods are definitely not as convenient as directly forming the formation.

"So you need to replace the combustion-supporting material with an air machine, melt the Mingjin stone, and refine the pole of the soul-calling banner. As for the banner cloth of the soul-calling banner, we can only wait for Senior Brother Sun to recover from his injuries. Because in the weaving process, we need to constantly integrate into the formation .”

After Xu Qi'an listened patiently, he said:

"Will you be able to wake up Wei Gong if you refine the soul-calling banner?"

Song Qing still shook her head:

"Then it is to describe the Yin Gathering Formation, waiting for one of the three times of the year when the Yin Qi is most abundant, and it is up to you to summon Wei Yuan's soul."

Xu Qian frowned:

"When was the last time?"

Song Qing didn't think about it, and replied:

"Spring festival day!"

After about a month, Xu Qi'an let out a sigh of relief, thinking that this was acceptable.

On this day, a long boat flying through the clouds and fog broke through the sea of ​​clouds and landed slowly on the boundary of the capital.

Yufengzhou, this magic weapon originally belonged to Dongfang Wanrong, but it fell into Ji Xuan's hands during the battle of Jianzhou. This boat travels thousands of miles a day, and it is an extremely rare large-scale transportation tool.

There were three people standing on the bow of the boat, the middle one was a young man in fine clothes, with handsome features and gentle demeanor, holding a small silver bone fan in his hand.

His appearance is four to five points similar to Ji Xuan's, but his temperament is completely different. Ji Xuan tends to be masculine, but his edge is hidden.

This young man has a bookish spirit and an arrogance full of knowledge.

On the left and right are Xu Yuanhuai, a boy in black, and Xu Yuanshuang, a cold girl.

These three are the core figures of the mission. Besides them, there are sixteen mature and prudent scholars, forming a negotiating team.

And a hundred elite guards with good cultivation.

"The capital city"

The small silver bone fan in Ji Yuan's hand twirled a few times and said with a smile:

"I have been famous and admired for a long time, Yuan Huai and Yuan Shuang, aren't you happy?"

Both Xu Yuanhuai and Xu Yuanshuang have a personality that should not be entered by strangers, one is indifferent and the other is cold, this has something to do with the environment they lived in since they were young.

But they really couldn't be happy. Anyone could see who the father was targeting when he sent them to Beijing to negotiate.

"I heard that outside the city of Yongzhou, Xu Qi'an was merciful to you two and didn't kill you. When we enter the capital, you two must protect me." Ji Yuan said with a smile:

"That fellow is not willing to kill his younger siblings. If he kills my cousin, I'm afraid he won't even blink his eyes."

Seeing his cousin's expression was calm, he felt bored and said with emotion:

"The first reason for coming to the capital this time is to gain greater benefits for Qianlong City. The second is to make meritorious deeds. Seventh brother is already an extraordinary powerhouse, but I have not accomplished an inch of merit. If I can handle this job beautifully, Father will pay more attention to our brother. The position of Seventh Brother will be more stable.

"The third thing is to test Dafeng's current confidence. Your big brother is the first person I want to test. Tsk tsk, do you think he has thought about peace talks?"

Xu Yuanshuang said lightly:

"He will not!

"This person would rather bend than bend."

Ji Yuan nodded, and then said:

"A strong temperament does not mean pedantic. If he agrees to peace talks, it will be a tactic to delay the attack, which means that Dafeng still has a backhand."

While speaking, Yufengzhou slowly docked outside the capital.

The yamen in charge of welcoming the Yunzhou mission is the Honglu Temple and the Pedestrian Division, and the leader is the Minister of the Honglu Temple. The official residence is from the third rank, which really gave Yunzhou great face.

Honglu Siqing is a middle-aged man with a goatee beard and a thin face. He has deep crow's feet and smiles all year round.

Sophisticated and tactful.

He led his subordinates to face the Yufeng boat, waiting for the Yunzhou mission to come down.

But wait and wait, wait and wait, the Yufengzhou was completely quiet, no one was seen, and the pedal was not put down.

A quarter of an hour later, a guard looked down from the side of the ship and said loudly:

"May I ask who your lord is?"

The Minister of Honglu Temple put on a professional smile and bowed:

"I am the Minister of Honglu Temple."

The guard let out an "oh", retracted his head, and after a dozen or so breaths, poked his head out again, and said lightly:

"My son said that you are not qualified enough, please go back."