Great Song Pirate

Chapter 426 The Alliance Under the City
Zhang Xiao was about to vomit blood, and Xu Yi's opening and closing his mouth was his expense, their loss, so why didn't he think about the loss they caused Annan?Moreover, during this period of time, they plundered all over the coast of Annan, causing the Annan people to suffer unspeakably, and they may have already obtained a lot of property because of this, but now they still keep asking for additional compensation, and endured it for a while After that, he said again with a smile on his face: "Never! Never! What the big boss said is also reasonable, but since it is a peace negotiation, we must leave some leeway for us. The 50 taels of silver proposed by the big boss is already ours. It is difficult to pay. If we increase the amount, I am afraid that we will exhaust our national strength and it will be difficult to meet the requirements of your army. In this case, we who are courtiers will not be able to go back and explain to our lord. I hope the big boss can see us. In terms of the face of these people who do things, if you can hold your hands high, let's reduce some!"

Xu Yi looked at the bitter faces of Zhang Xiao and the other officials, so he discussed with Yang Zaixing and others beside him, and then pretended to be generous and said: "Since Mr. Zhang has reached this point, if I don't make a little concession If so, wouldn't it be too much to refute Mr. Zhang's face? In this case, then we won't pay any additional compensation for the Aizhou grain and fodder we got this time. This is already our bottom line, 50 taels There must be no less silver!"

Seeing what Xu Yi said, Zhang Xiao and the others couldn't get entangled in this issue anymore, so they had to agree to the 50 taels condition, but pointed out that they can't come up with so much cash now, and I'm afraid they need to use some real money. Part of the payment, Xu Yi nodded and agreed, requiring at least 40 taels of cash in cash, and the remaining 10 taels can be compensated with valuables such as spices, ivory, pearls, crystals, etc., but the price must be mutually agreed by both parties, and cannot be higher than Local market price, otherwise, no discussion.

Zhang Xiao had no choice but to agree, and then talked about the issue of war elephants: "At the beginning, the master also proposed that we pay you [-] war elephants, but I have counted the number of war elephants in our army, and the total is not enough. About four hundred, even if all of them are given to you, it is not enough, the head of the family said earlier that it can be paid for with horses, but I don’t know how many horses are needed for a war elephant?"

In fact, Xu Yi doesn't look down on war elephants at all. This thing looks mighty and unusual, but it moves slowly. Moreover, through these two fights with the Annan people, he found that war elephants are very easy to be frightened. Once frightened, they are easy to mess around. He was more interested in war horses, so he stroked the short beard left on his chin and said: "War elephants are a precious thing, I think I should replace them with ten war horses anyway." Come on! If you don’t have enough war elephants, I won’t make it difficult for you. You can use war horses to make up for it at a ratio of one to ten!”

As soon as his words fell, an older Annan official bumped his head under the table, and almost fainted on the spot, Zhang Xiao's face became even more ugly, and he exclaimed: "Ten war horses for one head? This... this... This number is too much!"

Several other Annan officials who came with Zhang Xiao also echoed, exclaiming that this amount is too big, they can't bear it at all, and now they are at war with the Champa Kingdom, it is time to use horses, if a large number of war horses are deployed now to pay compensation to For the Fubo army, they would no longer have to fight their battles. Without their horses, they would definitely lose!
It turned out that after haggling for a long time, the two sides finally reached a ratio of one to five for replacement. However, Xu Yi still asked for a hundred war elephants.The two sides reached a consensus of [-] war elephants plus [-] war horses. However, these war horses will not be given to the Fubo army until after the war between Annan and Champa has eased. Xu Yi finally agreed. The requirement is that the time must not be later than two months, and the quantity must be increased by [-]% at that time. As compensation, Zhang Xiao and his gang vomited blood for three liters, so they could only agree in the end, and the two sides revealed this matter .

Then they talked about Xu Yi's proposal to let An Nanguo cede two seaports to the Fubo army. On this issue, Zhang Xiao and a group of Annan officials refused to agree to it. The king refused to say anything about this matter.

After Xu Yi listened to their statement, his face suddenly sank again, and he said angrily: "This matter is the bottom line we set at the beginning. It is up to you to agree or not. If you think there are too many seaports, I can take a step back. , as long as one is fine, but if none of you are willing to give it, then I have no choice but to get it myself!"

An Annan official stood up angrily and said angrily: "This matter hurts my face. It is fine to compensate your army and silver, but let us cede the land to you. This is absolutely impossible. Even if you force us, don't talk about it." We will not agree, and our king will never agree easily!"

Lin Xiong saw this Annan official say so, so he also jumped up, pointed at his nose and cursed: "Don't be ashamed of your grandma, our lord has reduced two to one, which is enough for you Don’t lose face, isn’t it just a seaport, you don’t even have a navy now, what do you need this seaport for?” His shouting and cursing immediately drew a burst of laughter from the brothers next to him.

Zhang Xiao and other Annan officials immediately turned red like a pig's liver, wishing they could be killed here on the spot, but thinking that the matter is not over yet, they could only suppress their anger, Zhang Xiao held his temper, and asked Xu Yi in a calm tone as much as possible Said: "If the big boss wants us to have a seaport, but which place does your army want us to have?"

Xu Yi saw that Zhang Xiao's attitude seemed to be loosened, so he reached out and took a chart, spread it out in front of Zhang Xiao's eyes, pointed out two places on it, and said to him: "Only these two places, you You can choose one!"

Zhang Xiao and several Annan officials next to him lowered their heads to look at this chart, and saw that the two places Xu Yi pointed to were Dazhanhai Estuary which they had razed to the ground at the beginning, and the other was a harbor north of the Red River Estuary. It is a barren land, there is not even a village or town there, I really don't know what the leader of the skeleton army thinks, he wants such a place where birds don't lay eggs, but after a closer look, I found that although this place is nameless, It is not far from their capital Shenglong, and the river here is criss-crossed, it is easy to go upstream from the river and enter their hinterland, so Zhang Xiao immediately denied this place, even if it is a barren land, If you can't give it to these pirates and let them occupy this place, then they won't make a mess of their hinterland!

So what was left was the Dazhanhaikou that had been burned by the skeleton army. Zhang Xiao tentatively asked: "Does Chief Xu want to Dazhanhaikou?"

Xu Yi immediately shook his head and said, "It's not Dazhanhaikou, but Toulon! The people here are also called Tuonang!"

After hearing Xu Yi talk about this place, Zhang Xiao bowed his head and began to count. This Toulon was originally in the north of Dazhanhaikou. It was originally an unknown town. It turned out to be Zhanren's territory. When they captured it in Annan It didn't take long for this place to be a good place. The two countries fought wars near Toulon. It can be said that this place has changed hands several times over the years, so he remembered this place. Otherwise, he didn't even listen to it. I said that this place is still called Tuonang, and this place is a small place in the southernmost part of Annan. It is far away from their capital, so it is not considered an important place. If the land is really given to them, this place should be considered. It's better than other places he wants.

Zhang Xiao bowed his head and remained silent, and several other Annan officials also bowed their heads and made small calculations in their hearts. They all focused their attention on Toulon, and whispered something to Zhang Xiao alone. Zhang Xiaowen After hearing this, I was surprised again, so I immediately made up my mind.

After Zhang Xiao made up his mind, he said to Xu Yi: "This matter is of great importance, and it is not something that Zhang can decide, but Zhang can write down the request of the big boss today, after I send someone back to speak to our king. , I’ll reply to you later, but it’s too embarrassing for me to talk about ceding the land, so I don’t know if I can change it to another way of saying it?”

Xu Yi didn't even think about it, and said in one go: "Since you, Li Chao, value face so much, it's not hard for you. If you want, it can be considered as a lease from us! The lease period is tentatively set for 100 years. If After the expiration, we can decide whether to continue to renew the lease. In this case, the place is still yours in name, but the management right is in the hands of our Fubo army. In this case, your face can be saved. I wonder what you think?"

After Zhang Xiao and the accompanying officials heard this, they all nodded in their hearts. Lease sounds much better than ceding. Ceding is tantamount to giving it to others for nothing, and the place will no longer belong to them from Annan. It's still their Annan people's place, and it's not so embarrassing to say it out!So Zhang Xiao nodded and said: "This sounds good, the boss will wait for me to write a letter of your army's request immediately, and submit it to our majesty, and let me decide, what do you think?"

Seeing that Zhang Xiao had let go, Xu Yi knew that they were basically ready to compromise on this matter, so he nodded and agreed.

After a day of discussion, they finalized all the terms one by one. After the two sides reached a basic consensus, Xu Yi asked someone to arrange a rest place for Zhang Xiao and others, so that the group of Annan people who were exhausted physically and mentally could rest, and even hosted a banquet for them. over them.

But people like Zhang Xiao looked at these exquisite dishes at the banquet, but they didn't have any appetite, and it was even more unpleasant to eat it in their mouths. The two Annan officials used wine to relieve their worries, and they were already drunk before the banquet ended. , Lie on the table and burst into tears, it is no wonder that they are so sad, since they provoked this gang of skeletons, their Annan people have been beaten to death, and the coastal areas have suffered heavy losses, and now they have to cede land and pay compensation. The cession of the land was changed to a lease, but it is a shame to say the rent. In such a big Toulon, the leader of the skeleton army only pays them a tael of silver a year. What he said really made them ashamed. These Annan officials really want I am ashamed and angry!

Seeing that his two colleagues lost their composure, Zhang Xiao hurriedly led several others to get up and leave, and returned to the residence with the help of two subordinate colleagues. He wrote down the details of the negotiation in a memorial overnight, and sent a guard out of the city to send him off quickly. Back to Thang Long City.

When Zhang Xiao's memorial was placed on King Li Chao's table, King Li Chao carefully picked it up and looked at it, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and summoned several close officials, and handed Zhang Xiao's memorial to them for circulation After seeing it, these important ministers also sighed one after another, and no one raised any objections, but the ministers began to express their opinions on the lease of Toulon.

"This minister thinks that the word lease is okay, at least it won't make our Li Dynasty lose face, at least in name it is still the boundary of our Li Dynasty, and this is just a small town, in my opinion, it's okay Just promise them!" A minister bowed and said.

"In my humble opinion, it might not be a bad thing to hand this Toulon over to the skeleton army!" A minister also shook his head and said.

"Oh? What did Lu Aiqing say?" King Li Chao asked with a frown.

The minister surnamed Lu hurriedly replied: "After Toulon was captured by us, it has always been a place of contention between our dynasty and the Champa Kingdom. The two sides have changed hands here many times. It is of little use to us. Dazhanhaikou is being attacked by Zhan people, and the situation is not good for us now. If we hand over this place to the skeleton army, I will not have to worry about the defense of this place. After Zhan people heard about it, they decided to I will not agree to this matter, maybe I will turn against the Skeleton Army. Once they turn against the Skeleton Army, it should be a good thing for us. The Skeleton Army is extremely powerful. Once we make peace with them, they will not want to harass us. Coastal prefectures and counties will definitely shift their attention to Toulon. Once the Zhan people get dirty because of the ownership of this place, with their temper, they will definitely use troops against the Zhan people. For us, it will become a problem. Good thing, it is like helping us. Now it is very disadvantageous for us to fight against the Zhan people in the south. With them holding the Zhan people for us at sea, we no longer have to worry about the defense of the coast. We can use our best soldiers , to fight against the occupying people with all our strength, although we handed over this place to the Skeleton Army, it is nominally leased to them, and it is also a good thing for us to take care of our face. They should go to Toulon to deliver the goods as soon as possible, so that they can return Aizhou to us as soon as possible. Now the battle ahead is tense, and the news of Aizhou's fall has spread to the front line. If there is no war, there will be chaos, and this matter must not be delayed! I hope His Majesty will make a decision soon!"

(Toulon is the Da Nang of Vietnam in later generations. It is a natural deep-water port with wide and deep water, backed by mountains and facing the sea. It has many berths. There are barriers outside the port and support inside. The terrain is dangerous. It is one of the most important ports in Vietnam in later generations. Basically, it is a necessary place to go to and from the South China Sea, and the scenery is extremely beautiful, but in the Song Dynasty, the climate here was far from being formed! Do you have any objections to Zhujiao wanting this place?)

(End of this chapter)