Yan Ji shook her head and said, "I'm afraid this will be difficult!" Yang Peng said, "Just give it a try. It's too early to say anything before things come to an end." "Yes."
A secret guard rushed in with a letter, clasped his fists and reported: "Young Master, just now the servant of An Mansion handed over a letter. It is for the Young Master, and what is written on the cover is 'Old friend presents to Young Master Yang for personal acceptance' ." He came forward and presented the letter to Yang Peng. Yang Peng felt a little strange. He took the letter from the secret guard and took a look at the cover. Sure enough, there were nine characters written on the cover: "Submitted by an old friend to Mr. Yang for personal endorsement". Yang Peng opened the envelope, took out the letter paper, unfolded it and read it, and saw the writing on the letter paper: I, Zhou Rong, have admired the young master for a long time, and I am eager to meet the young master. If the young master can be kind to you, I will have sex at Taibai Tower this afternoon. The pavilion is waiting for Young Master Yang to arrive. The final signature is: Yours sincerely, Zhou Rong.
Yang Peng smiled and said: "This is really beyond my expectation. It turned out to be an invitation letter from Zhou Rong." He handed the letter to Yan Ji. Yan Ji took the letter, read it again, frowned and said, "Could this be the Hongmen Banquet?"
Yang Peng shook his head, "Probably not. The current situation in Chengdu is complicated and subtle. Although I occupied the Jiange, it was Zhou Rong's fault. From any aspect, Zhou Rong should not have taken action against me, even if he had to. , and definitely not now!" Yan Ji felt that what Yang Peng said made sense, nodded, and then asked doubtfully: "Since he doesn't want to attack the young master, what is the purpose of inviting the young master to the banquet?" Yang Peng laughed. Said: "We don't need to guess too much, we will know it when we get there!" Yan Ji nodded, looked at Chen Xiao, and said: "Master, please bring more people. I will also lead people to ambush around. If something goes wrong, I will Then lead the people to support the young master!" Yang Peng smiled and waved his hand, "It's not necessary."
In the afternoon, Yang Peng led two secret guards to the Spring Water Pavilion in Taibai Tower. The so-called 'Chunshui Pavilion' is actually just a private room in Taibai Tower.
Yang Peng saw a middle-aged man coming towards him. Apart from him, there was only one follower in the entire 'Chunshui Pavilion'. "Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm so happy to be honored by Mr. Yang!" the middle-aged man said with joy on his face.
Yang Peng asked with a smile: "Do you know that I am Yang Mu?" The middle-aged man smiled and said: "Young Master Yang has such a temperament that not one person in a million can recognize him at a glance! " Then he clasped his fists and said, "I, Zhou Rong, I am so lucky to know Mr. Yang!" Yang Peng smiled and clasped his fists and said, "Master Zhou, you have given me too much praise!"
Zhou Rong asked Yang Peng to take a seat. Yang Peng walked over and sat down. Zhou Rong sat down when he saw Yang Peng sitting down, and then shouted: "Serve!" The waiter at the door quickly agreed, and a moment later, the wine and food were served at a discounted price. The guys set out the drinks and dishes, bowed and left. The attendant guarding the door closed the door.
Zhou Rong poured the wine for the two of them and picked it up, "I'll do it first as a courtesy!" After saying that, he raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, and a layer of wine dizziness immediately appeared on his face. Yang Peng picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp, but his expression remained unchanged. Zhou Rong praised: "Young Master Yang is such a good drinker!" Yang Peng said with a smile: "That's all I have!" Zhou Rong said with a smile: "Young Master Yang is so humble! Young Master Yang is a great person. ah!"
Yang Peng's heart moved, and he couldn't figure out for a moment what the other party meant. Could it be that he had discovered my identity? As soon as I thought about this, I couldn't help but become more vigilant. He said: "I had no choice but to deal with Jiange. If I offended you, please forgive me!" Yang Peng was testing the other party with words.
Zhou Rong waved his hand very magnanimously and said: "Young Master Yang is serious! I should be the one to say this. It's all because of my subordinates' misbehavior that offended Young Master Yang! Young Master Yang taught them a lesson, that's great." ! I don’t dare to complain at all against Young Master Yang!”
Yang Peng saw that Zhou Rong's expression didn't seem to be sarcastic, so he smiled, cupped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, I admire you for your magnanimity and magnanimity!"
Zhou Rong quickly returned the salute and said: "How dare you!" He then picked up the wine pot and filled himself a glass. He picked it up and said very sincerely: "This glass of wine is for me to apologize to Young Master Yang!" After saying that, he raised his head and drank. . Yang Peng said with a smile: "Although your subordinates have offended me, I have not lost anything. I am embarrassed that you are doing this!"
Zhou Rong said with a smile: "After all, I have offended Mr. Yang by teaching you Wufang. It is only natural to apologize to Mr. Yang!" After a pause, "Well, Mr. Yang came from Yanyun, right?"
Yang Peng thought to himself: 'Sure enough, although you are not here to trouble me, you are here to find out my identity! I'm afraid the raid on Jiange made you guess something! This thought flashed through his mind, and he smiled and said: "To be precise, it came through Yanyun." Zhou Rong was stunned and asked in confusion: "Going through Yanyun?" Then he understood and was surprised. He asked: "Mr. Yang, could it be that he is from the Liao Kingdom?"
Yang Peng nodded, "Exactly. I am a Han merchant on the Zhongjing Road in the Liao Kingdom. I heard that Sichuan has a large population and is very wealthy, so I led my subordinates and brought good horses from the Liao Kingdom to see if there is any business. ."
Zhou Rong secretly said: 'I'm afraid you are not a businessman of the Liao Kingdom, but a secret envoy of the Liao Kingdom! You are indeed here to do business, but it is a very big deal! Zhou Rong did not suspect that what the other party said was all lies. In fact, he was not from Liao at all, because as a secret envoy, the party always had to reveal a little bit of his identity, otherwise it would be impossible to negotiate; and since the other party has told his identity Himself, it means that there should be no final agreement between them and An Bing. As for the Jiange incident, it should be just an unexpected incident.
Zhou Rongan felt a lot more at ease, smiled, picked up the wine glass, played with it, and said, "It would be great if Sichuan became the territory of the Khitans. I'm afraid Sichuan cannot be preserved if it is left alone!"
Yang Peng thought to himself: 'This guy really thinks of me as the Khitan's envoy. ' Then he said: "Of course we have a way! If Mr. Zhou can be the first to raise the flag of justice, he will have made a great contribution, and we will definitely not treat him badly!" Zhou Rong smiled, clasped his fists and said: "Thank you for your support! However, I wonder how you will treat me? My lord, please forgive me. It would be better to explain these things clearly."
Yang Peng smiled and asked, "I wonder what Mr. Zhou hopes?"
Zhou Rong hesitated for a moment and said: "I don't know what to do. It's just that not long ago, both the Tubo and the Song Dynasty sent secret envoys to lobby me! The conditions offered by the Tubo people were that I would be conferred the title of General of Tubo, and at the same time be granted the title of Oriental In the post of staying behind, I am promised to guard Xichuan forever, and the conditions offered by Emperor Song are similar to this. In several respects, it can be said that I am sincere, but I actually have no virtue or talent. I am really sorry!" Zhou Rong did not say that. He made a request directly, but he added the price proposed by others, so naturally he was asking for a high price.
Yang Peng smiled slightly and said: "Of course we can provide these conditions!" He glanced at Zhou Rong and said: "Your Excellency is a smart man, and you should know that neither Tubo nor the Song Dynasty can compare with our Liao Kingdom. If you surrender to them, I'm afraid you won't be able to withstand Yan Yun's military front! In the end, you'll end up with nothing!"
Zhou Rong couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, and said to himself: "What he said makes sense!" Yanyun is extremely powerful. Not long ago, the Tubo Western Liao and the Japanese Japanese from the Liao Kingdom, with more than a million soldiers from the four countries, took advantage of the Yanyun disaster and lack of food and grass to launch a large-scale attack, but in the end they ended up losing their troops and generals without gaining anything. It can be said that stealing the chicken is losing the rice. Yan Yun's army is the most powerful in the world. Although the conditions offered by Tubo and the court are very tempting, once Yan Yun's army invades, will all this not be reflected in the mirror? ’ Then he thought: ‘There is no point in surrendering to the Khitans. Not to mention that the territory of Xichuan and the Khitans are isolated. Even if they are close to each other, they may not be able to block Yan Yun’s front! Not long ago, they took advantage of such a good opportunity to invade the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun. Not only did they get nothing, but they lost all the land west of Longmen Mountain. This shows that the Khitans are no match for Yanyun! '
Zhou Rong frowned and couldn't help but think of the conditions given by Yan Yun, and murmured: 'The conditions given by Yan Yun are too low! It's just too stingy! 'Zhou Rong felt that he could only surrender to Yan Yun, but he was very dissatisfied with the conditions given by Yan Yun and felt very unwilling. He always felt that if he surrendered to Yan Yun, it would be a cheap sale.
Yang Peng smiled and said: "My lord seems to be very undecided! Don't worry, your lord can think about it slowly!" Seeing the other party's nonchalant look, Zhou Rong was very suspicious: "He doesn't seem to care much about my attitude. Could it be that he doesn't care much about me?" , could it be said that An Bing has reached an agreement with them? 'When I read this, I couldn't help but be surprised and doubtful.
Yang Peng stood up. Zhou Rong was surprised and stood up quickly. Yang Peng smiled and said, "Your Excellency is busy with official duties, so I won't interrupt you. I'll take my leave." Zhou Rong clasped his fists at a loss and said, "Good riddance, young master!" Yang Peng turned and left.
Zhou Rong sat back in his seat and stared blankly at the table full of delicacies. Then he filled a glass of wine and drank it in one gulp. After drinking the cool drink, it instantly turned into a ball of flames and rose up, temporarily burning away all the worries in my heart. However, after the drunkenness passed, the troubles came back more fiercely.
Zhou Shi came in sneakily and asked curiously: "Brother, what did you talk about? Who are they?" Zhou Rong said: "They are not from Yanyun..." Zhou Shi heard that they were not from Yanyun. , couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but said: "If you are not a Yanyun person, you are not afraid of them!" Zhou Rong glanced at Zhou Shi and asked, "Are you afraid of the Yanyun people?" Zhou Shi's expression changed slightly, "Brother, it's not that I'm afraid of Yanyun people. Who is not afraid of Yanyun people now!"
Zhou Shi couldn't help but change his expression when he heard his brother's question. He sat down and said, "Brother, who is not afraid of the Yanyun people today! People outside are saying that the Yanyun army is like evil ghosts. The army is everywhere, corpses pile up like mountains, blood flows into rivers, the sky is dyed red with blood, and the earth turns into hell! They are just like the Qin army back then, extremely ferocious, but invincible, sweeping across the world, unbeatable!"
Zhou Rong frowned and couldn't help pouring more wine into the wine glass. As a result, he was distracted and the wine overflowed from the wine glass. He didn't realize it until Zhou Shi reminded him, and then he suddenly realized that there were already many drinks. The wine was overflowing. Zhou Rong was a little embarrassed, put down the flask, and asked Zhou Shidao: "Do you think our Sichuan can withstand the Yanyun army's attack with its natural barriers?" Zhou Shidao: "How do I know this? But although our Sichuan is surrounded by natural barriers, but It’s not like it hasn’t been defeated before. Cao Wei destroyed the Shu Han, and the Sui army later entered Shu. It can be seen that the natural barrier of Xiongguan cannot stop the powerful army! Today’s Yanyun army is probably even stronger than the original Cao Wei and Sui armies. If the Yun army really attacks with all its strength, I'm afraid, I'm afraid..." Although Zhou Shi didn't finish his words, Zhou Rong already understood what he meant.
Zhou Rong was worried and felt that what Zhou Shi said made sense. Zhou Rong couldn't help but be inclined to turn to Yan Yun, but he was still unwilling to do so. It was as if he had a product in his hand that could be sold at a high price, but the good seller was only willing to offer a low price. Thinking of this, Zhou Rong couldn't help but feel very angry. He just wanted to sell the goods to others out of anger and make Yan Yun regret it. Thinking of this, I picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.
Zhou Shi asked curiously: "Brother, since those people are not from Yanyun, who are they? Why are they so powerful?" Zhou Rong put down his wine glass and said: "They are secret envoys sent by the Liao people, and they also want us Sichuan, hum!" Zhou Shi was surprised: "Khitan people?!" Zhou Rong nodded. Zhou Shi said in surprise: "I didn't know that the Khitans were also involved!" Zhou Rong said proudly: "Our Sichuan is known as the land of abundance. We have extremely rich money and food. Naturally, everyone wants to take it!" Zhou Shi said with deep understanding. nodded.
Zhou Rong remembered something and asked, "Do you think that old fox An Bing might collude with the Khitans?" Zhou Shi was stunned and said, "This is unlikely!" "Why?"
"This is too simple! We, Sichuan and Liao, are separated by Yanyun and surrender to the Khitans. Naturally, the emperor will not let him go. We will definitely fight to the death with him. Yanyun may also take action. The Khitans are separated by Yan Yun, if we can't save him, isn't he doomed? To defect to the Khitan people is to seek death. An Bing can't be that stupid, right?"
Zhou Rong glanced at Zhou Shi in surprise. Zhou Shi was embarrassed by Zhou Rong and asked tremblingly: "Brother, did I say something wrong again?"
Zhou Rong said in a surprised tone: "You kid, you actually said such insightful words, it's really rare!" When Zhou Shi heard his elder brother's praise, he was overjoyed and beamed, and couldn't help bragging: "My little brother is very smart to begin with. , It’s just that I don’t usually have the opportunity to show it!” Zhou Rong ignored Zhou Shi and thought to himself. Zhou Shi boasted a lot, but when he saw that his elder brother ignored him, he couldn't help but feel bored and couldn't help but shut his mouth.
A soldier hurried in and reported urgently: "Sir, the messenger from the imperial court has come to deliver the order again. He also said, and said," the soldier looked like he was hesitating to speak. Zhou Rong frowned and shouted: "What else are you talking about?" The soldier quickly said: "You also said that if you don't obey the call again, you will be punished as a traitor!" Zhou Rong was furious and said in a deep voice: "Which party is not right to us? To put it mildly, it is the imperial envoy Pu Da! He angered me and made him unable to return to Bianjing!" However, despite saying this, he still got up and left the restaurant and went back to his residence to see the imperial envoy.
As soon as the two sides met, the imperial envoy said bluntly: "Mr. Zhou, you now have two options. One is to be called upon and immediately transport money and food to the front line to support the king's division. In this way, not only can your official position be guaranteed, but you may also be able to get a promotion. The second is to continue to disobey, and the result will be to confiscate the house and destroy the family!"
When Zhou Rong saw that the other party's attitude was completely different from before, not only were the promised benefits gone, but he was also full of threats, he couldn't help but be confused. The momentum he had in the tavern just now was gone, and he was hunched over with fear on his face. He said with a serious expression: "Your Majesty's words are serious, how dare I disobey the imperial edict?"
The imperial envoy smiled coldly, "Really? In that case, your Excellency, please take action immediately! Your Excellency, the Xuanfu Envoy, has already taken action. I think you are unwilling to be left behind, right?" Zhou Rong promised repeatedly. The imperial envoy said: "You only have three days. After the deadline, if you still haven't seen your actions, huh, don't blame me for being ungrateful!" He said, and left proudly. Zhou Rong was so surprised that he forgot to send the imperial envoy out. When he reacted, the imperial envoy had already left.
Zhou Rong quickly called his confidants and asked, "Are there any new battle reports coming from the east?" The confidant said, "The battle report I just received is that the imperial army captured Yicheng a few days ago!" Zhou Rong was shocked. I originally thought that the imperial army was going unstoppable all the way, which was a trick used by the Cao brothers to lure the enemy. The Cao brothers were extremely wise and courageous. They had previously resisted the Khitan army, but the immortals blocked thousands of soldiers and horses and blocked the 100,000 Khitan army. Their wisdom and bravery can be seen. , now facing the imperial army with 200,000 people, naturally it is impossible to be so vulnerable! But I didn't expect that even Yicheng has been lost now. Yicheng is only a few dozen miles away from Xiangyang and is the last barrier to the south of Xiangyang. Even here is lost, which is not a trivial matter. This shows that the Cao brothers are really defeated, not What's the plot going on?
When Zhou Rong thought of this, he couldn't help but panic. He glared at his cronies and asked, "Why didn't you report such important information earlier?" Seeing Zhou Rong's very annoyed look, the cronies were frightened and quickly explained: "It's not a villain. The deliberate delay is actually because we just received the battle report and haven’t had time to report it to you, sir!”
Zhou Rong snorted and couldn't help but regret it, secretly thinking: If I had known this, I should have accepted the imperial court's rewards and orders! At this moment, a captain of the soldiers rushed in and reported: "Sir, envoy Yanyun is asking to see you!" Zhou Rong said angrily: "From now on, these messy people will not be seen, unless they are envoys from the imperial court! "The captain of the soldiers promised and ran down.
On the way to the Luo Family Chamber of Commerce, Yang Peng and his party passed by the official warehouse controlled by Zhou Rong, the governor of the town. They saw hundreds of soldiers and horses gathered outside the official warehouse, and countless migrant workers were busy transporting grain, grass, ordnance and other supplies. The warehouse was loaded onto the mule-cart waiting outside the warehouse.
Yang Peng was greatly surprised, reined in his horse, and said to Zhao Xiang'er, "Go and find out what's going on?" Zhao Xiang'er agreed, got off the horse, and went to the crowd of people watching. He saw several middle-aged women discussing endlessly. He lost no time in poking in and asked the middle-aged woman who was chatting the most: "Miss, why is it so busy here?" When the woman heard Zhao Xiang'er call herself "Miss," she was immediately elated. After hearing her question, she said without hesitation : "My little sister may not know if she asks others, but I am different. My boy is a guard here," he said, pointing to an ordinary-looking, medium-sized soldier among the officers and soldiers in the distance: "No, that's the one! Hee! Hee, he looks pretty good!"
Zhao Xiang'er wanted to understand the situation, so she had to echo a few words. Seeing that Zhao Xiang'er echoed her words, the middle-aged woman became even more happy and said: "Listen to my boy, not long ago, the imperial court issued an order, ordering us to mobilize from Sichuan We need supplies to support the imperial army in suppressing the rebellion, so this place is so busy." Zhao Xiang'er asked again, "I wonder how the war is going in the east?" The middle-aged woman said, "I also heard what my boy said, and I heard that the imperial army has occupied Yi. City!" Zhao Xiang'er's heart moved, she thanked her and ran back. The middle-aged woman hurriedly shouted: "Little sister, don't leave! I still want to arrange a marriage with you!" Zhao Xiang'er just pretended not to hear.
He ran back to Yang Peng and saw a teasing smile on Yang Peng's face. He couldn't help but blush, and said angrily: "These market women always like to talk nonsense!" After saying that, he got on his horse and said to Yang Peng. : "Brother Chen, I have inquired, these grains and grass are going to be transported to the front line to support the imperial army!"
Yang Peng frowned, "In other words, Zhou Rong completely turned to the imperial court! Why is this happening? Have you heard about the situation in the east?" Zhao Xiang'er said: "I heard that the imperial army has occupied Yicheng!" Yang Peng He was taken aback, and then he started to think about it, and an unpredictable smile suddenly appeared on his face. Seeing that Yang Peng could still laugh, Zhao Xianger couldn't help but said: "Brother Yang, this is not good news for us. Why can you still laugh?"
Yang Peng said: "You will know soon. If my prediction is correct, the various official warehouses under the control of An Bing, the Xuanfu envoy, are also busy loading supplies and preparing to support the court. Zhao Xiang'er nodded and said: "Now The imperial court has the upper hand, and An Bing will naturally fall to the imperial court! Then he said worriedly: "I wonder if they will be detrimental to Brother Chen?" "
Yang Peng shook his head, "Don't worry about this. These guys are all veterans of the officialdom. They are well versed in the ways of being an official and know that they must leave a way out for themselves in everything. Therefore, they will never do anything to all parties, including us. The envoy is at a disadvantage. This is called 'leaving a thin line in everything so that we can meet again in the future'." Zhao Xiang'er suddenly realized it and couldn't help showing contempt in her eyes. She just felt that these officials who were usually sanctimonious were really filthier than the most despicable delinquent woman! Yang Peng glanced at Zhao Xiang'er and said with a smile: "Put these things aside for now, let's go." Then he led everyone towards the Luo Family Chamber of Commerce. He was going to have a good talk with Luo Yanran about Sichuan affairs. The Luo Family has been operating in Sichuan. He must have a very good understanding of things in Sichuan.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
