Chapter 24 Pre-war Negotiation

Yuanjiaji is only more than 30 miles away from the capital of the Song Dynasty. Because of its superior geographical location, it was also a prosperous place in the past. However, since the continuous disputes in the court in the past six months, and the food problem has become more and more serious, this town seems to be a little nervous at this time, and the people do not go out if there is no need.

Because of this, Ye Chao and other remnants of the family chose this place as their hiding place. They understand the truth of darkness under the lamp and believe that as long as they act carefully, they should be able to stay here safely until the court bows its head and agrees to their demands because of the difficulty of bearing heavy pressure, and the people who are imprisoned can be rescued.

Their low profile made hundreds of families in the town not know that when they were worried about food, there were millions of stones of food hidden around them. Of course, even if the people know that there is food around them, they dare not seize it with their courage at the critical moment of life and death.

In a vast manor west of the Yuan family, these grains transported from Shu are hoarded, and the remnants of the family and the Cao Gang have been staring here, always on guard.

On the afternoon of April 9, Ye Chao and others, who had already used the meal, once again came to several large warehouses where the grain was stored for inspection and cheered the people in charge of the food. After saying many words of encouragement, several people came out of the somewhat stuffy warehouse, and then there was humane uneasiness: "Recently, the capital has been more well-prepared, and I don't know if we can make them comply this time. Don't let those people find out that we are here, and it's over.

"It's not that we haven't seen the ability of the court, but that's all. With our careful actions, it is very difficult for them to find us. Since we can take these grains from their hands, we can keep them!" Wu Qin looked confident at this time: "I'm sure they are still looking for our whereabouts along the river, and they won't think that we are under their eyes." When he said this, he took a look at Ye Chao with great admiration, because this was exactly what the latter proposed.

Ye Chao also nodded and said, "What Brother Wu said, and when things have come to this point, we have no way out at all. Food is in our hands, and we have the initiative. Even if the people of the court really find our whereabouts and send people to encircle and suppress them, they will probably be afraid of the safety of food!"

This is reasonable. Obviously, the court's attention to food is now above them. Naturally, it is impossible to ignore food in order to eradicate them. At the last moment, they can still use food as a threat.

"Is there anything wrong in the town these two days?" Ye Chao asked the people around him again. He has too many things to worry about, and the people in this town must also pay close attention to it. If they detect something, it is also a big trouble.

"There is no problem. They live the same life. No one knows that the owner of the Qiu family has changed."

"Very good, but we must not slack off at all before things are done. We are not afraid of the court's strong attack now, and what we are most afraid of is their raid. Everyone knows the power of Guoan Division, and we must pay attention to it carefully.

"Guo'an Division..." Everyone had a feeling of gritting their teeth after hearing this title. It was this government that failed their own plans and caused many brothers and sisters to die there.

At this time, a person who paid attention to the movement outside rushed over and said uneasily, "There is something wrong with the situation outside..."

"What happened?" After hearing the news, everyone's hearts tightened, and then their eyes fell on the person.

"The number of people we stay outside the town changes every two hours. But this time it has been more than two hours, and those who should have come back have never come back..." The man said uneasily.

"What? Why did you tell us so late?" Ye Chao's face suddenly sank.

"Originally, I only thought they were staying outside, but according to the current situation, this is obviously not the case." The man also blamed himself and said, "I was too careless and thought that it had been calm these days, so I was not too vigilant."

"It's definitely not easy!" Ye Chao clenched his fist and immediately sent the order: "Let everyone not rest and get ready for the guy!" Maybe if the court really finds us hiding here, it will have to be aggressive!" He dares not be careless about this kind of matter about life and death.

Soon, the whole manor moved. They are all strong men, with three or five hundred people, holding weapons of different lengths in their hands, and some of them are carrying crossbows, quickly occupying important strongholds and making full preparations for defense.

The minds who saw this scene were full of worry, and what they were most worried about finally happened.

In fact, after the successful robbery of food, they felt like being fooled. The National Security Department doesn't know what An's heart is, and it actually let people successfully rob the food like this. In this way, the Cao Gang naturally became the enemy of the court and became no way out. In the past few days, they have been struggling with whether to reveal the situation here. On the one hand, they don't want to die with the remnants of these families, and on the other hand, they are worried that the court will eventually condemn themselves, which makes the minds of the Cao Gang very confused and don't know what to choose.

In the end, they came to the conclusion that they would stay with these people for the time being to see if there was a chance to take down all the remnants of the family when they relaxed their vigilance, and then bring people and food back to the court. But although such an idea is good, it is difficult to implement. After all, the two sides have a side of mutual caution, and those people will naturally be careful after doing such a big thing. In a few days, the Cao Gang didn't find any chance to do it.

Now, the opportunity did not wait, but waited for the news that the court might use troops here, which made the people of the Cao Gang even more nervous and pale, and they didn't know what to do for a moment.

"Master Sun, now you and I are already on the same ship. I hope that if something really happens, your brothers of the Cao Gang can help us keep a side." At this time, after arranging everything, Ye Chao came over and said to Sun Qianling: "There are many people in the court, and our manpower alone can never stop them! Once this Zhuangzi is really captured by them, I'm afraid you won't have a good end.

The threat in this sentence is too obvious, but Sun Qianling really eats him. There is really no other way to go now. They have no choice but to cooperate with these people. As for what will happen in the future, let's leave it for the future. So soon, Sun Qianling also gave an order to fight to the people of the Cao Gang. This time, these good hands on the water had to fight several times, dozens of times, or even hundreds of times more people on land, which made them full of panic.

But the people inside nervously arranged everything. After waiting quietly for half an hour, there was still no movement outside. This makes everyone feel strange - is it that you are scaring yourself? In fact, no one from the imperial court came at all, but those few people escaped by themselves?

Ye Chao is also a little impatient. He knows that such waiting is the most grinding and easy to break down. He must grasp the real situation as soon as possible before making the next decision. He immediately said to Cui Fu beside him, "Brother Cui, you are the best here. Let's go outside and have a look. Don't scare ourselves by ourselves."

Cui Fu still had the gloomy appearance, but he still nodded and agreed. Then he ran a few steps to the wall and pressed the upper force with his hand, then went up to the roof. After a few jumps, he had already left the village and went outside.

In the Yuan family, the people have been cleared out of the town, and then every street is full of Song soldiers with long weapons. They are the elite people selected from the Beijing camp. This time, more than 20,000 people were transferred from the two military camps. In addition to setting up a trap around the town, they also set up more than 3,000 people in the town. Of course, if you really attack Qiujia Manor, it will still be dominated by the people of Guoan Division.

A general named Qu Tong looked at Xu Jinghong, who was sitting leisurely beside him, with some puzzledness. After enduring and enduring, he finally asked his own question: "Xu Dusi, since you can be sure that the thieves are in this village, and now that our people have arrived, why don't you attack immediately? Soldiers are so fast. If they are fully prepared, I'm afraid they will have to pay a certain price.

"No hurry." Xu Jinghong shook his head and said, "Of course I have a reason to do this. First, the net laid outside has not been fully unfolded, and we must buy some time for them. Otherwise, if those thieves run away, who will be responsible? Second, I think that after we take down a few suspicious people from the town, they should know that we are here and are ready. Third, although the art of war says that soldiers are noble and fast, it means that the enemy is strong and weak, or the enemy is equal in strength. Now I am more than ten times stronger than the enemy, which can put strong pressure on them. After the war, General Qu can see it.

Seeing that Xu Jinghong said so well, he didn't know how to refute it for a moment. If you think about it carefully, there is indeed a certain truth, so you can only acquiesce in such an approach. Xu Jinghong was secretly happy and knew that he would completely control the command of the operation. In fact, he also had the fourth consideration in doing so, which was to give the people inside time to prepare and put the ignition on the food, so that it would be easier for them to destroy the food by themselves when they attacked later. Of course, this reason cannot be known to others, but only exists in his heart.

And Xu Jinghong's idea was quickly realized, because soon, Ye Chao and others were sure that they were surrounded. Cui Fu just came out of the village and could clearly see the Song officers and soldiers hidden around every courtyard and house. Fortunately, he moved fast enough to escape back before Song Jun could react, otherwise he would fall into the hands of people.

Now everyone is really nervous. According to Cui Fu, there are thousands of people outside. Judging from this, there should be more troops outside the town, so it is impossible for them to escape.

"What's wrong with this..." Everyone had such an idea in their hearts, but no one could give them an answer. Ye Chao cursed fiercely, and then shouted, "Since they are going to force us to the end of the road, let's break the net with them!" Go, take out the prepared spirits and fire oil, sprinkle them on several warehouses, and pile up dry firewood. As long as the officers and soldiers dare to attack, we will set fire to the food and break up with them!

"I'd like to see if they have the courage to take us at the risk of chaos!"

Everyone was also forced to act according to his will. Several warehouses were immediately surrounded by dry firewood, oil and spirits. Now only a little Mars can destroy these things related to the stability of the Song Dynasty!

After seeing that everything was ready, Ye Chao's courage suddenly increased. Now that he has reached this stage, there is nothing to be afraid of. He immediately ordered people to open the closed gate of the manor, and then went out with two cronies and went straight to the center of the army.

Those soldiers were also a little surprised to see that the enemy who was still on a deadly posture suddenly opened the door, and some people came out. It was not until they approached that they shouted, "Sh on, or we will shoot arrows!"

"If you want to see the millions of stones of grain destroyed, just shoot arrows!" Ye Chao took a breath and shouted, "I want to see the biggest official here and tell him to come out to see me immediately!"

The officers and soldiers were a little dumbfounded. It was rare for the other party to dare to be so arrogant under such a siege. But they really couldn't bear the responsibility of destroying the food, so someone immediately ran back to report to the people above.

After a while, Xu Jinghong and Qu Tong came together. One of them was the commander-in-chief of the operation, and the other was the generals of these people, which was also the right aspect.

"Xu Jinghong!" Looking at this guy who has reduced himself to what he is today, Ye Chao's eyes are about to spewing fire. But soon, he still put down the fire. After all, it is the most important thing to save his life now.

"We're here. What do you want to say?" Xu Jinghong said very hard, "I hope you don't have any more illusions now. The court will never let go of a traitor like you!"

"Ha..." After a sneer, Ye Chao continued, "Don't pretend anymore. Your lifeline is in my hand. Aren't you afraid that I will be desperate? Otherwise, I'm afraid you would have sent someone to attack us and talk to me face to face! Now I have the chips. If you want to keep the food, don't refuse my request!"

Xu Jinghong took a look at Qu Tong beside him and found that the other party was really moved by him. Indeed, the issue of food is too critical, and the stability of the Song Dynasty is at this point. But Xu Jinghong did not have such worries, but continued, "Do you want to use this little food to make the court bow? So what other face does our Song court have to lead the four directions? So I advise you to be realistic. As long as you give up resistance and ensure food security, the imperial court will definitely open one side to you!"

Seeing that Xu Jinghong was completely unmoved by his threat, Ye Chao was also a little angry. He had a deep hatred for Xu Jinghong because of the previous incident, but now he is facing such an attitude, how can he bear it? Immediately, he no longer intended to talk about it: "Okay, since you don't care about food, just come and attack!" I'd like to see how bold you are to bear such a crime!" Without waiting for the person opposite to reply, he turned around and wanted to leave.

"Wait, put forward your conditions first!" At this time, on the contrary, Qu Tong spoke.

Ye Chao was secretly happy and knew that there was still room for a turn around, so he turned back: "My request has been written in the letter for a long time, and I want the court to release all our family owners. Now we have to add another one to ensure that we will not be investigated for three months!"

It only takes a month or two, once those families come out, they can make more achievements, so he is confident enough to have the strength to compete with the court in three months.

Xu Jinghong sneered: "You really have a good calculation. The court has its own law. Those people have committed serious crimes one by one. How can you say you can let it go? How can the steadiness of the court exist!"

Ye Chao completely ignored Xu Jinghong and looked at the passage: "This general, now I have another request, that is, I hope that the court can first dismiss this incompetent little man's official position and put him in prison! So that we can continue to talk!"

This move is really powerful. He has seen that Xu Jinghong is tough and wants to prevent him from continuing to target himself by this means. But this is too difficult for Qu Tong. After all, he is just a obedient general, and it is Xu Jinghong who commanded him, so he said in a very difficult way: "This..."

Xu Jinghong's heart tightened and knew that if this was passed back to the court, those officials who didn't like him would really do so, so that his efforts would be in vain, and he was in danger of being seen through. At this time, it has reached the most critical moment, and he must make a decision.

Anyway, we have to fight, so let's start a war immediately! After making up his mind, Xu Jinghong secretly made a gesture to shoot the target to an archer of Guoan Division behind him!

The archer has been staring at the front, and his mind is completely tense. Now as soon as he sees that his own company has typed a signal, he doesn't even think about it, so he released the bow string in his hand.

"Hum-sw!" A wolf tooth arrow flew straight to Ye Chao's heart not far away with a virtual shadow...