“Today, this prince prepared fine wine and delicacies, originally intending to show goodwill toward the Jin Kingdom, never expecting so much unpleasantness to arise!” Li Zhijie wore a smiling face, showing he could bend and stretch. He sat down, took up his iron bone fan, and tapped it in his palm, calling for someone to enter. “Quickly! Help set up the table in front of General Bai, and serve General Bai fresh wine and dishes! This prince toasts everyone a cup as an apology!”
Probably due to Li Zhijie’s handsome appearance and extraordinary bearing, when his attitude softened, the expressions of the Jin Kingdom’s peace negotiation envoys also eased considerably.
However, Liu Rushi didn’t buy this courtesy, only wanting to strike while the iron was hot: “No need for apologies! Please have Prince Yan produce Xiliang’s peace treaty and settle this matter quickly!”
Since it was Xiliang suing for peace, naturally, Xiliang had to first present their peace conditions.
In peace negotiations, the two countries would inevitably haggle and wrangle, and a final agreement wouldn’t come easily. The sooner peace negotiations began, the sooner the Nan Jiang matter could be concluded.
Li Zhijie nodded and had someone present bamboo scrolls, giving one each to the Crown Prince and Dali Temple’s Deputy Minister Liu Rushi.
“Our Xiliang is willing to cede eight cities and compensate the Jin Kingdom for military expedition expenses! Beauties and treasures… are also already on the way. As soon as the alliance is signed, they can all be sent to the Jin Kingdom!” Li Zhijie slowly recited the contents of the peace treaty.
“Twenty-three cities, not one less!” Liu Rushi scanned through it quickly, closed the bamboo scroll in his hands and set it aside, then pulled out an exquisite sheepskin map from his sleeve.
The guard following Liu Rushi immediately produced ink and brush. Liu Rushi made a bold stroke with his large brush, very grandly circling all of Xiliang’s territory south of Tonggu Mountain into Jin Kingdom’s land, then had the guard take the sheepskin map over for Li Zhijie to see.
“Using Tonggu Mountain as the boundary, to the north… including Qiu Mountain Pass, Bailong City, Zhongshan City, all twenty-three cities in total shall belong to our Great Jin! Besides compensating our Jin army’s expedition expenses, Xiliang must also pay compensation for the casualties of our troops in this campaign!” Liu Rushi straightened his spine and sat upright, with a tense face, making an outrageous demand. “Furthermore, our Great Jin’s hundreds of thousands of Bai family troops are the fierce and brave army that our Great Jin takes pride in. Their compensation should be ten times that of ordinary soldiers – this matter is not open for discussion! Additionally, your Xiliang must comply with our Jin Kingdom’s General Bai’s words and hand over twenty-three male descendants from the three clans of Xiliang’s Grand General Yun Poxing, for General Bai to behead and disembowel in revenge!”
Demanding that Xiliang hand over twenty-three male descendants from Yun Poxing’s three clans was merely a pretext to extract more benefits from Xiliang. Yun Poxing was now Xiliang’s Grand General – if they handed over twenty-three male descendants from his three clans for Bai Qingyan to slaughter, where would Xiliang’s dignity be?!
Moreover, even if Xiliang dared to send them, Bai Qingyan couldn’t kill them, or else she would truly ruin the Bai family’s reputation.
Bai Qingyan hadn’t expected that Liu Rushi would also demand ten times the compensation for the Bai family army.
Li Zhijie lowered his eyes to look at the sheepskin map, his knuckles gripping the iron bone fan turning white, yet he smiled warmly: “Isn’t Jin Kingdom’s appetite a bit too large?”
“Could it be that Prince Yan has forgotten who first raised troops to invade our Jin Kingdom! Now you talk about a large appetite? When Xiliang harbored thoughts of moving against our Jin Kingdom and violated our Great Jin’s borders, wasn’t that appetite… just as large?!” Liu Rushi, as the peace negotiation envoy of the victorious nation, was extremely arrogant in bearing. “The Xiliang Empress has just ascended the throne, her dragon chair isn’t even warm yet, and there are many in Xiliang territory who are restlessly stirring! Xiliang’s suit for peace is because our Jin Kingdom’s Emperor and Crown Prince are benevolent, giving the Xiliang Empress a chance to catch her breath. If Xiliang doesn’t want it, our Jin Kingdom doesn’t mind taking a walk through Xiliang’s muddy waters!”
Although Liu Rushi was a pedantic scholar, he had quite insightful views on Xiliang’s domestic affairs. Li Zhijie tapped his iron bone fan intermittently, his brows and eyes containing smiles, appearing amiable, yet his heart suddenly grew cold.
It seemed Jin Kingdom wasn’t giving Xiliang any room to maneuver. However, this Lord Liu’s words weren’t wrong – it was Xiliang who first sent troops to attack Jin, and it was Xiliang whose internal troubles were now pressing!
Li Zhijie secretly contemplated whether to bring out the Bai family’s son as a bargaining chip. After all, the Bai family son in his hands was the Bai family’s only remaining male descendant.
Li Zhijie couldn’t help but think again of Lu Tianzhuo, who had already agreed with him to use this Bai family son as bait to ambush and kill Bai Qingyan… to avenge his adoptive father General Pang Pingguo.
His agreement with Lu Tianzhuo wasn’t entirely due to their friendship, but because Li Zhijie also felt that Bai Qingyan posed a greater threat to Xiliang than Bai Weiting.
Having seen Bai Qingyan today, Li Zhijie was even more certain. Whether it was the killing aura or the fierce aura on Bai Qingyan’s body, both were too intense. Recalling what General Yun Poxing had said… this woman’s calculations were flawless; she was both commander and general! If Great Jin and Xiliang were to go to war in the future, this person would be Xiliang’s most troublesome, formidable enemy.
Li Zhijie fell into a dilemma…
If he used the Bai family son in the peace negotiations, then Xiliang and the Great Jin would have room to bargain, but he would miss the opportunity to ambush Bai Qingyan. If he didn’t use him in the peace negotiations, then he would have to accept Great Jin’s sky-high demands.
“With such an appetite from the Jin Kingdom, aren’t you afraid… that our Xiliang will take gold, silver, and treasures to seek alliance with the Rong Di to the east of Great Jin or with Great Liang? When Rong Di and Great Liang send troops to jointly attack Jin, that should be enough to give the Jin Kingdom a hard time! Besides, this Lord Liu also said that your Jin Kingdom relies on General Bai, but General Bai alone cannot be in multiple places at once!” Li Zhijie smiled as he spoke. “Why don’t we each take a few steps back? Once peace negotiations end, our two countries can each live in peace.”
“Prince Yan need not worry for our Jin Kingdom. Before coming to negotiate peace, our Jin Kingdom’s Emperor had already sent envoys to sign non-aggression pacts with Great Liang and Rong Di – the treaties are still warm! Moreover… our Great Jin doesn’t only have General Bai as a usable general!”
Liu Rushi smiled and raised his hand, gesturing for Li Zhijie to look toward Zhang Duanrui’s direction: “This one is General Zhang Duanrui, who, in the Battle of Weng Mountain… turned Xiliang’s hundred thousand troops into pincushions! Among our Jin army, there are also the brave Generals Zhen Zeping and Shi Panshan! There are also the Bai family army’s General Cheng Yuanzhi, General Shen Kunyang, and General Wei Zhaonian! These… are all generals familiar to your Xiliang ears, aren’t they?”
Liu Rushi’s lips curved with a trace of contemptuous sneer: “Speaking of the Bai family… our Jin Kingdom’s Duke Zhenguo’s mansion, the Bai family, besides General Bai Qingyan, this time the Bai family’s Fourth Miss also went to battle alongside General Bai, killing your Xiliang army until not a single piece of armor remained! Not to mention… the Bai family’s Second Miss and Third Miss, who have long been battle-tested! Each of them is unparalleled in wisdom and strategy, inheriting Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting’s character – living for the people, dying for the Kingdom! Never dying in battle, never removing their armor! Prince Yan… do you think that by killing all the Bai family’s men, the Bai family has no one left? Look at our General Bai, and you should know – each of the Bai family’s women rivals any man, each possesses the talent of generals and commanders! Are you still afraid our Great Jin has no one who can fight?!”
Whenever speaking of the Bai family army, of Bai Weiting, Liu Rushi was filled with admiration and reverence, his respectful feelings overflowing beyond words.