Tibet

Luo Fengxian listened expressionlessly to what Yuan Zai's men said, nodded and said: "I understand, go back and tell your master, I am very grateful for his timely reminder, and it will be rewarded in the future!"

The messenger bowed and left. Luo Fengxian suddenly became furious, smashed the tea cup to the ground, pointed in the direction of the VIP hotel and yelled, "You bitch named Zhang, have you eaten too much shit? How dare you send someone to monitor our house? Our family must let you know how powerful it is!"

Luo Fengxian decided to deal with Zhang Hao at any cost to prevent him from suing him in front of the emperor.

The next morning, the negotiations officially kicked off. Li Huaixian sent his confidant Xu Jing'an, who was also Fan Yang's military envoy Sima, and several other civilian officials to participate in the negotiations.

The imperial court had high standards, including Hebei pacification envoy Zhang Hao as the chief envoy, Yuan Zai, the Minister of Punishment, as the left deputy envoy, and Luo Fengxian, the supervisor of Hedong Jiedu Mansion as the right deputy envoy.

Negotiating with such a large lineup and the slightly shabby special envoy Li Huaixian seemed very impressive, but in fact it was of no use.

Zhang Hao made an opening statement on behalf of the court, and the two sides immediately started talks. Xu Jingan handed a list to Zhang Hao and said with a smile: "These are the heavy weapons that An Lushan stole from the Chang'an Ancestral Temple. There are 325 items in total. They are piled in the warehouse in Jixian County. To show our sincerity, we are willing to return these more than 300 pieces to the court unconditionally."

This move is very beautiful. It is an important weapon of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. If you want it or not, you have to accept the sincerity of the other party. If you don't want it, destroy it. Who dares to say not?

Zhang Hao said quickly: "Thank you for your sincerity as Jiedushi. I wonder if you have brought all the ritual utensils?"

"There are too many things. We left in a hurry and had no time to carry them. Once the negotiations are over, we will immediately send a ship to transport them back to Chang'an."

Zhang Hao cursed in his heart, making such conditions out of thin air!

Xu Jing'an took out another list of conditions and handed it to Zhang Hao, "These are the conditions for the surrender of my Jiedushi."

Zhang Hao took the list and read it over, his brows immediately furrowed. There were thirteen conditions in total. Although the conditions were not many, they were too harsh and were no different from establishing an independent country.

The first one is to ask for the title of King of Yan. King of Yan belongs to the first-class prince. The court can only grant the title of county prince at most. It is impossible to grant the title of prince.

Luo Fengxian laughed dryly from the side and said, "Envoy Zhang, can you let us also see the conditions of Ambassador Li Jiedu?"

Zhang Hao handed him the list, and Luo Feng read it over first and said: "The first item is not suitable. The most you can do is to be a county prince. The emperor has already decreed that people with different surnames cannot be named princes. Add the word "Yanshan County Prince" after "Yan". It can be discussed.”

Xu Jing'an chuckled, "It's understandable that people with different surnames can't be crowned princes, but my Jiedushi is also named Li. Besides, isn't Prince Qi also a prince?"

Zhang Hao shook his head, "This different surname refers to those outside the royal clan. King Qi himself is a descendant of the clan, and his ancestor is the cousin of the great ancestor. Although he is not directly related, he is indeed an authentic royal family. This rule is not for you Jiedushi, the world It’s all the same, please understand!”

"We took the initiative to return more than 300 ritual utensils from the Imperial Ancestral Temple to the imperial court. We are so sincere, but you refused outright. How can we be embarrassed?"

Zhang Hao responded unceremoniously: "It is because of your sincerity that the court will consider granting the title of county king. So many meritorious soldiers have not been granted the title of county king, but you rebels have been granted the title of county king. This is called letting people Why is it so embarrassing?"

At this time, Yuan Zai next to him said: "The third item is also impossible. Every year, the imperial court allocates five million guan as military salary. How do you calculate it?"

Xu Jing'an said with a smile: "The two Jiedu Prefectures of Fan Yang and Lu Long have a total of 80,000 troops. Each soldier receives five guan per month, which includes food, grass, meat and vegetables, including clothing, shoes and hats, as well as armor and weapons. The cavalry also provides We have to raise horses, the frontier troops have to repair fortifications, etc. Five guan is already the minimum, it’s 400,000 guan a month, doesn’t it cost 5 million guan a year?”

Zhang Hao was in a bit of a dilemma. If he agreed, the court wouldn't be able to come up with so much money, not to mention five million guan, not even half a million guan. But if he didn't agree, it would involve financial independence.

He thought for a moment and said: "Let's do this! Let's show the emperor your list of conditions first, and we will discuss internally what is acceptable and what needs to be negotiated. Let's wait a few days!"

Xu Jing'an nodded, "If the negotiations between the two parties go smoothly, we can also hand over Shi Chaoyi and a dozen rebel backbones to the court for disposal!"

The two parties suspended the negotiations and returned to their respective residences. Zhang Hao immediately sent someone to rush Li Huaixian's list of conditions to Chang'an in an eight hundred-mile rush. He also summoned Yuan Zai and Luo Fengxian to discuss countermeasures.

Zhang Hao said to the two of them: "Among the thirteen conditions, only the second one is to confer Li Huaixian as Fanyang Jiedushi and Lulong Jiedushi. I think the emperor can accept it, but the other twelve conditions are too harsh and the court cannot accept it. "

Luo Fengxian laughed dryly and said: "The so-called asking for high prices and paying back the money on the ground. His high conditions may not be his bottom line. I think it is inappropriate for Zhang Shijun to promise to make him the county king too early. Maybe the other party is just Do you want a Duke? The most you can promise is to make him a County Duke, and then force him to make concessions in other aspects, and then step by step increase the number of people to make him a County King. This is called negotiation, and Zhang Shijun is so angry!"

Zhang Hao said angrily: "The King of Yan who was granted the title of Anlu Mountain, and Shi Siming who was granted the title of Prince of Guiyi County, do you think he will only want the county prince? He took out the ritual utensils returned to the Ancestral Temple as a sign of sincerity, but you promised him a county prince, and the court Where is your sincerity? Besides, didn’t you propose the title of Prince of Yanshan County?”

Luo Fengxian said, "I was just talking casually!"

Zhang Hao also argued, "Then I didn't agree to officially canonize him as the county king. Who wouldn't just talk about it?"

Yuan Zai quickly stood up and smoothed things over: "You two, please stop arguing now. The key point is that we haven't got the bottom line of the emperor and the court, so we can't make rash decisions. I suggest you wait for the court to reply before considering specific strategies."

Luo Fengxian snorted, stood up and walked away.

Zhang Hao looked at Luo Fengxian's back angrily and said to Yuan Zai: "Be careful of these eunuchs. They will leak our details to each other, and in the end the interests of the imperial court will be destroyed in their hands."

Yuan Zai nodded repeatedly, "Senior is right, students should remember it!"

That night, an old man drove an ox cart to the VIP hotel and said to the concierge: "I am a native of the comfort envoy, and I came here to see the comfort envoy."

The concierge ran in and informed. After a moment, Zhang Hao came out and said, "Who's looking for me!"

The old man hurriedly said: "Little old man Wang An is from Liaocheng, Bozhou. We from Liaocheng heard that the Envoy is in Taiyuan, so we specially sent some local products from our hometown to express our respect for the Envoy."

Zhang Hao is from Liaocheng, Bozhou. He waved his hand quickly and said, "I accept my wishes, but I cannot accept the things!"

"They are not valuable things. They are all specialties from my hometown. Red dates from Liaocheng, persimmons from Shuikou Township, Quxiang pears from Sanqu Township, and high-quality gourds from Liaocheng. We know that the governor is an incorruptible person, but these local products are really It’s not worth a few bucks, it just means homesickness.”

Zhang Hao looked at it and saw that they were indeed not valuable, so he nodded, "I can accept it, but I have to pay for it!"

He asked his men to move all the boxes and cages in, and gave the old man three ounces of money. The old man couldn't refuse, so he took the money and left.

Zhang Hao immediately distributed all the local products to his officials.

After all, Zhang Hao is a scholar and is not very familiar with the ways of the world. He does not know that once he accepts the local products, some things will become unclear.

Luo Fengxian immediately wrote a secret letter and sent it to the capital to inform the emperor that Zhang Hao had accepted heavy bribes from unknown people during the negotiations, as many as twenty boxes and cages.