"My lord, Marquis Funing has arrived."
The people below came to Wei Guogong to report.
"Bring him here!" Wei Guogong said with a slightly old voice.
The servants retreated.
Soon, Hou Ning was brought over.
"The Duke of Wei." Hou Ning greeted the Duke of Wei who was sitting on his seat.
Wei Guogong looked at him and asked: "How did your men offend the envoys of the Tiger-Character Banner? Today at court, the envoys of the Tiger-Character Banner sent someone to the Duke of Wei's mansion to tell me that they were going back. , no longer stay here.”
"Is there such a thing?" Funing Hou frowned, "I didn't hear the people below to report it. If it is true that my people have offended the envoys of the Tiger Flag, no matter who is involved, I will show no mercy. .”
Wei Guogong looked back and forth at Funing Hou's face.
After watching it for a while, I felt that Marquis Funing was not lying.
He then said, "Send someone now to ask what's going on. If someone really offended the envoy, take him over immediately to apologize to the envoy. If you don't satisfy the envoy, don't come back."
"Then I'll go back now." After saying that, Hou Ning turned around and left.
Hearing this, Duke Guo of Wei intervened and said, "You stay here with me and send your men back to investigate. I also want to see who has the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard. He dares to provoke even the envoys."
Seeing this, Marquis Funing had no choice but to ask the steward of Duke Wei's mansion to go outside and bring one of his men over.
Hu Ziqi was a visiting envoy, and he had told the people below to protect him, so he did not think that any of his men would have the guts to offend the envoy of Tiger Ziqi.
"Could it be because of something else when the envoy of the Tiger Character Banner asked to leave?" Funing Hou asked Wei Guogong tentatively.
After all, Funing Hou was also present, so he knew everything about what happened in the court.
Duke Guo of Wei was speechless.
He had thought about this reason, but he thought it was unlikely. No matter how temperamental the envoy of the Tiger Character Flag was, he would not leave just because the peace talks were put on hold.
He did not believe that the envoys of the Tiger-Character Banner would not understand that once the people of the Tiger-Character Banner left, the remaining Qing envoys would gain an advantage and might even form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty.
Less than half a stick of incense has passed.
The people sent by the Marquis of Funing to investigate the situation returned to the Duke of Wei's mansion and brought back the results of the investigation.
The result was very simple. No one was found to have offended the envoys of the Tiger-Character Flag, not even anyone else in the team that envoyed the Tiger-Character Flag.
"My lord, it seems that the Tiger Flag side really left because of the peace talks." Hou Ning looked at Wei Guogong and said.
Duke Guo of Wei did not speak.
After a long time, he said in a hoarse voice: "It seems that Tiger Flag really doesn't intend to have peace talks."
"So they are preparing to go to war with the Ming Dynasty?" Hou Ning frowned.
"Maybe!" Wei Guogong seemed to have aged several years again.
Funing Hou suddenly stood up from his seat and said in an urgent tone: "We can't let them leave! Ming Dynasty is not ready for war yet."
"It's not like I don't know what you're talking about." Wei Guogong sighed, and then said, "What can we do to keep others? It's not like you don't know about the peace talks. There are so many people in the court who oppose the peace talks."
"These people are simply the sycophants of the Ming Dynasty. They will only hold the Ming Dynasty back. They know that the Ming Dynasty does not have the ability to go to war with the Tiger Banner, but they still insist on forming an alliance with the Qing Dynasty to go to the Northern Expedition. They don't even think about it. If you can't defeat him, why go to the Northern Expedition? Even if the Northern Expedition is successful in the end, do you still have to imitate Song Huizong and spend your money to buy the Sixteen States of Yanyun?" Hou Ning said bitterly.
Wei Guogong sighed and said: "It is useless to talk about this now. The most important thing now is how to avoid war with the Tiger Character Banner. With the current situation, Ming Dynasty does not have the ability to go to war with the Tiger Character Banner. Once a war starts, It will probably be a disaster for Ming Dynasty."
"I think what we can do now is to find a way to persuade the envoy of the Tiger-Character Flag to stay.
As long as people don't leave, peace talks are still possible. "Funing Hou said.
Wei Guogong asked hesitantly: "Is there any way you can make him stay?"
After hearing this, Marquis Funing looked bitter.
He has a fucking idea.
When the Duke of Wei saw that Funing Hou was silent, he knew what he meant.
He also understood in his heart that asking the Marquis of Funing for advice was obviously too much.
At this moment, a servant from Duke Wei's mansion appeared outside the door, and stood outside the door and kept looking into the room.
The steward of the Duke's Mansion saw this and walked over.
The two people whispered something in front of the door, and then the servant left from the door.
The steward turned back to Wei Guogong and whispered a few words in his ear.
After hearing this, the Duke of Wei waved his hand towards the steward, signaling him to move away, and then said to the Marquis of Funing, "Come with me to see the envoy of the Tiger Character Banner."
"The envoy of the Tiger Character Flag is here?" Hou Ning asked in surprise.
Wei Guogong shook his head and said: "No one came, but the news came. The people of the Tiger Flag are already packing their things. It seems that they are really ready to leave."
Duke Guo of Wei is not young anymore.
His body can't stand the bumps, so his carriage is much larger than the ordinary carriage, and the carriage is thickly padded to make the people sitting inside more comfortable.
The Marquis of Funing came on horseback, and now he was riding next to Duke Wei's sedan chair.
As soon as Wei Guogong's carriage appeared on the street, someone immediately ran to the front in advance to drive away the pedestrians blocking the way and clear a smooth path for the carriage to pass.
Soon, the carriage of the Duke of Wei arrived outside the courtyard where Hong Chengchou lived.
Even if the officers and soldiers guarding the courtyard did not recognize the carriage of the Duke of Wei, they also recognized the Marquis of Funing riding on the horse.
It is not certain whether the other party knows them or not.
The general who was guarding the courtyard immediately greeted Hou Ning when he saw him.
"Young man, I've met the Marquis."
The general knelt on the ground and saluted Marquis Funing on horseback.
Funing Hou glanced past the general, looked at the courtyard in front of him, and asked, "Are all the envoys in there?"
"Yes, everyone is here." Mr. Ba replied hastily.
Marquis Funing dismounted, walked to the carriage beside him, and said, "My lord, everyone is here, should we go in now?"
"Now that we're here, let's go in!"
Duke Wei's voice came from the carriage.
When General Manager heard that there was a Duke in the carriage, he knelt down and crawled back a few steps, giving up his position in front of the courtyard gate.
Duke Guo of Wei got out of the carriage with the help of the steward of the Duke's Mansion and walked towards the courtyard gate.
Funing Hou accompanied him.
When passing by the general, Wei Guogong turned his head to look at him and said, "You should also get up and go in with me."
It makes the general heart happy.
But he did not stand up immediately, but looked at Funing Hou.
"If the Duke asks you to get up, if you don't stand up immediately, you must protect the Duke after entering the courtyard." Hou Ning told him in his mouth.
