Steel Dynasty - Chapter 574

[Chapter 574: Territory cessation and compensation]

Jinling City.

Just two days after Xiao Qi’s message arrived at Jinling City, news of the fall of Yongzhou City came.

Upon hearing the news, King Wei slumped in his seat.

“Father, things are clear now. If the truce is not signed, Xiao Ming will continue to attack the city and capture territory, while King Yan and King Zhao will just sit back and watch. After all, it was my father’s failure to agree to the truce conditions that led to the fall of Huaizhou. “

Xiao Han looked anxious. Under the current situation, his father is still as smelly and hard as the stones in the pit. If this continues, all the cities in Wei will belong to Xiao Ming, so what will he have in the future? Land can be inherited.

So after the fall of Huaizhou, he immediately went to the palace with loyal ministers to persuade him.

The eyes of King Wei on the throne were dull. In the last battle of Pengzhou, some of the defenders escaped. This time, the defenders of Huaizhou were either killed or captured. Only a few people were able to escape.

This battle of Pengzhou was a fluke, and Tongzhou may also be a fluke, but now that Huaizhou has also been captured, he finally realized the gap between the Wei army and the Qi army.

Without artillery and muskets, he would not be able to defeat Xiao Ming.

“Your Highness, the most important thing now is a truce. Only by giving us time can we reorganize the army, otherwise Wei will perish.”

Xiao Han said with a heartbroken look: “Father, Xiao Qi worked hard this time The result of this manipulation is this truce. If we don’t seize the opportunity, the other vassal kings will definitely ignore us in Wei!”

King Wei’s face was extremely ugly. He had great ambitions and was planning to ascend to the top of Chang’an. throne, but now he can only live humbly in Xiao Ming’s shadow.

“Send someone to tell Xiao Qi that I have agreed to the terms of the truce.” King Wei finally said one word at a time.

Xiao Han and the other officials immediately breathed a sigh of relief. There were thirteen states in Wei, so what if we lost three? As long as they can keep their own glory and wealth, they can talk about anything.

Soon, one person and one horse headed to Qingzhou with a message from King Wei.

Five days later, the envoys from the five directions came together again.

Compared to ten days ago, Zhan Xingchang was more energetic at this time. The capture of Huaizhou made officials from top to bottom of the feudal state in a frenzy.

It is the duty of ministers to open up new territories and expand their territory. Now that they are seeing more and more land in the feudal country day by day, of course they are happy.

“Xiao Qi, I told you to sign it that day. Didn’t you ask for it? Now you have lost Huaizhou again.” Cui Zhang sneered.

When Xiao Wenxuan was on the throne, King Wei’s fiefdom was the largest in area, with the largest cities and population.

It is for this reason that other vassal kings with different surnames are a little wary of him, but now even losing three cities is not a big deal for Wei.

Wang Xi’s expression was a little complicated. King Qi’s army conquered another city in such a short period of time, which shocked him. Thinking that King Zhao and King Shu had been fighting for more than a month and still had no results, he became more and more afraid of Xiao Ming. .

It’s just that this time he came to Qingzhou just to take advantage of He Zong and Xini. Now King Zhao is unable to attack Xiao Ming with others, so even though he knows that Xiao Ming has conquered another city, he has nothing to do. If he talks too much, he is afraid of being forced. Xiao Ming was anxious and provided a large number of firearms to the King of Shu.

While the five of them were chatting away, Xiao Ming walked in.

Lu Fei has already sent the battle report to Qingzhou. This time Lu Fei easily captured Huaizhou, which gave Xiao Ming another layer of understanding of the combat effectiveness of the current feudal army.

In the past, he seemed to have overestimated the armies of these feudal kings. Now that Lu Fei had proved the combat power of the feudal kings’ armies with facts, he suddenly realized.

As Pang Yukun said, today’s Great Yu Kingdom is in a state of corruption. This corruption is not only limited to the royal family, but also the land annexation among the feudal kings has reached its peak.

The aristocratic clans were originally too powerful to lose, but now they have plundered the world’s wealth. The battle report sent back by Ye Qingyun further illustrates this problem.

When they attacked Tongzhou City, the people’s indifference was surprising.

So after analyzing this problem, Xiao Ming realized that maybe he could be bolder. After all, although there were many vassals, he was the only one who fundamentally changed.

“Your Highness.”

When Xiao Ming arrived, everyone stood up to greet him.

At this time, Xiao Qi took the initiative and said: “Your Highness, King Wei is willing to agree to the truce contract, and I hope it can be signed as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Your Highness, we have lived in Qingzhou for some time. It’s time to go back after counting the days.” I hope His Highness will make a decision soon.”

Xiao Ming did not speak, but suddenly laid a map on the table.

Others looked at it one after another and found that it was a map of the Wei Dynasty. On the map, the current cities of the Wei Dynasty and the cities that had been captured were marked.

When Xiao Qi saw this map, his expression changed drastically, because in addition to the marked cities that had been captured, a circle was drawn on the location of Yangzhou.

“Your Highness, what do you mean?” Xiao Qi was shocked and angry. He had already guessed something.

“It’s very simple. In addition to Pengzhou, Tongzhou, and Huaizhou, the three cities belong to me. In addition, Yangzhou will be ceded and I will pay an indemnity of five million silver. If this condition is met, I will stamp my seal on the truce.” Xiao Ming said loudly.

Xiao Qi’s face suddenly turned red, “Your Highness, you have gone too far.”

“It must be King Wei who has gone too far. Originally, this truce letter gave him face, but he refused to accept it, so it can’t be blamed. I am the king.” Xiao Ming’s tone was a little tough.

Zheng Hao looked at Xiao Qi and then at Xiao Ming, “His Royal Highness King Qi, this is really too much. Since Your Highness has taken Huaizhou, it is enough to give Huaizhou to Your Highness, but how can we cede Yangzhou?” ?”

“There are many grievances between me and King Wei, which cannot be explained clearly in a few words. Now this is the condition of the truce, otherwise I will have to go and get it myself.”

Xiao Qi and Zheng Hao looked at each other. After a glance, Zheng Hao said: “Since His Highness is so aggressive, we Wei, Zhao, Yan, and Liang will have to fight with His Highness.”

Negotiations are inherently quarrels, relying on words on the stage and strength off the stage.

At the same time, intimidating each other is also a method of negotiation. Now Xiao Qi and Zheng Hao obviously want to use this method.

“Don’t drag Yan Di into trouble. There are thirteen states under the command of the King of Wei. It is reasonable to treat the four states as compensation. Besides, Wei is rich, so these five million taels are nothing.” Cui Zhang waved his hands repeatedly.

Wang Xi also smiled under Xiao Ming’s gaze, “Your Highness, I didn’t say anything.”

Xiao Qi and Zheng Hao’s expressions suddenly became a little embarrassed. This time the cooperation was a complete failure.

“So the King of Wei and the King of Liang are ready to go to war with me?” Xiao Ming said with a smile: “Then I can only accept the move!”

(End of Chapter)