Both the host and the visiting guests looked at each other.
The man took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and shook it open. On it was a portrait of Niu Youdao. He compared it with Niu Youdao and nodded respectfully to the woman next to him, "It's him."
Niu Youdao could tell from the shadow on the back of the paper that it was a portrait. He couldn't help but show interest and asked, "Who are you two and what do you do?"
The woman's voice was clear and crisp as she introduced herself: "I am Zhou Qing."
Niu Youdao and Guan Fangyi looked at each other and couldn't help but look the woman up and down again. Niu Youdao hesitated and said: "I? Zhou Qing? I'm sorry for my ignorance, can you give me more details?"
The man introduced him helpfully: "This is the imperial concubine."
The woman added herself, "Nanzhou Governor Zhou Shouxian is my father."
"Oh!" Niu Youdao finally realized that Ganqing was the emperor's concubine and Zhou Shouxian's daughter was here. He probably guessed what it meant. His eyes fell on the man again and asked: "What about you?"
The man said: "Zhongche Mansion Order, Ga Miaoshui!"
"Oh!" Niu Youdao nodded. He had never seen this person before, but he had heard that he was the eunuch close to Emperor Yan Shang Jianxiong. When Shang Chaozong attacked Qingshan County, it seemed that this person was negotiating on behalf of the court. Question: "You are the apprentice of Tian Yu, the general manager, right?"
"Exactly!" Ga Miaoshui responded.
Niu Youdao: "How do I know if you are genuine?"
Ga Miaoshui threw out a token. Niu Youdao caught it, looked at it, threw it back, then stretched out his hand and said: "Two distinguished guests, please take a seat!"
Only Zhou Qing sat down, while Ga Miaoshui abided by his duty and stood beside Zhou Qing with his hands tied.
Zhou Qing took out a jade pendant, put it on the table and pushed it towards Niu Youdao opposite, "Someone asked me to say hello to the Master on my behalf, saying that the Master will know who it is when he sees this."
Niu Youdao's eyes paused for a moment on the woman's slender hands, and found that the woman's hands were really beautiful. It was the first time he had seen a beautiful woman with such beautiful hands, and he was impressed by just one glance. Then his attention fell on the jade pendant. He took it in his hand and looked at it, then smiled and shook his head.
He has a jade pendant that is exactly the same as this one. If the left and right pieces are put together, they should be a pair.
As the other party said, when he saw the jade pendant, he did guess who the greeting person was. He nodded and said, "I would like to ask Concubine Liu to say hello to Concubine Liu for me." He pushed the jade pendant back.
The so-called Concubine Liu was the mother of Shang Xue, the Jade Princess of Qi State. When he was in Qi State, in order to promote peace, Shang Xue gave him a token to facilitate his contact with Yanjing. It was the jade pendant that matched this.
Seeing this jade pendant, I became more and more convinced of the other party's intention.
Zhou Qing said: "I think the Master must know the purpose of my visit."
Niu Youdao: "I probably guessed a little bit."
Zhou Qing: "The princess sent a message to inform this side, saying that the master promised her in Qijing that he would try his best to promote peace between your majesty and Prince Yongping and try to avoid another conflict between their uncle and nephew. I wonder if this is the case?"
Niu Youdao touched his chin and found that this matter was both complicated and simple. Concubine Liu's token did not come, but Concubine Zhou came instead. Apparently the war involved Concubine Zhou's father Zhou Shouxian. It is also understandable that once Zhou Shouxian was defeated, Shang Jianxiong and the imperial court could not bear the responsibility. Someone must take responsibility, and only the defeated Zhou Shouxian could bear the responsibility. It is conceivable that once the imperial concubine becomes the daughter of a guilty minister, the life of the imperial concubine Zhou in the palace will probably be difficult. The relationship between father and daughter is dependent on each other.
Just looking at this situation, Zhou Shouxian, who is backed by the power of a country, seems to have little confidence in the war.
And Shang Xue frequently sent letters begging him to deal with it, and here Zhou Guifei came again, which shows the need of the two women to promote peace.
He believed that the arrival of Zhou Guifei was approved by Emperor Yan Shang Jianxiong. Otherwise, it would be impossible for a dignified concubine to leave the palace so easily. What's more, the official of the CRRC personally accompanied her here. It's strange that Shang Jianxiong didn't agree.
Niu Youdao nodded: "It does happen."
Zhou Qing smiled slightly and said, "It's good if Master can remember."
Niu Youdao: "Remember, never forget, but I can't do anything about it."
Zhou Qing: "If the Master can be favored by Emperor Qi, why should he be humble? The situation here has always been under the attention of the imperial court. According to the judgment of the imperial court, the Master has enough influence on Prince Yongping. As long as the Master is willing to exert influence, This war will be difficult to fight. Not to mention the war, the people will be devastated and suffer. After all, Your Majesty and Prince Yongping are uncles and nephews. What’s more, the biggest beneficiary of the war is not Prince Yongping, but Tianyumen. Why do you need to do this? Is it a stupid thing for outsiders to applaud and applaud blood relatives?"
Niu Youdao was secretly amused. Now that he knew about the blood relationship, who was it that forced Shang Chaozong to despair
She shook her head slightly and said: "Since the imperial concubine knows about Tianyumen, she should know that the five counties in Nanzhou are not the prince's decision. The prince of the five counties only holds two counties and nearly 600,000 horses. The prince only has 200,000. . ”
Zhou Qing: "As long as the prince avoids fighting, there is nothing to worry about whether it is Tianyumen or the three rebels Mei Linsheng, Wu Tiandang, and Zhao Xingfeng!"
Niu Youdao asked with great interest: "Does Prince Yongping have such a great deterrent power?"
Zhou Qing: "My father once served under the command of Meng Shanming, and he knew that Meng Shanming's fame as a famous general was not in vain. The power of King Ning was all helped by Meng Shanming. I thought that Meng Shanming had died long ago, and I didn't want to live in seclusion all the time. Go out and follow Prince Yongping. Let’s not talk about this, just talk about military strength. If those three rebels have to fight, without Prince Yongping’s 200,000 horses, my father’s pressure will be greatly reduced.”
Niu Youdao secretly lamented that in just a few years, Shang Chaozong, who had fled from Yanjing in panic like a lost dog, had already gained the strength to force Shang Jianxiong to lose his dignity.
Of course, it is not that Shang Jianxiong is afraid of the military strength of these five counties. It is because of internal and external troubles that Shang Jianxiong does not dare to fight with the strength of the whole country. If not, the Shang Chaozong does not dare to fight this battle, and Tianyumen is purely taking advantage of this. Loophole.
The reason why Shang Jianxiong was able to let go of this face was because once Nanzhou was lost, what would the people of Yan State think? How could the emperor Shang Jianxiong be embarrassed? The first thing others think of is that Shang Jianxiong is incompetent.
Zhou Qing continued: "There is no need to worry about Tianyumen. As long as Prince Yongping avoids the war, once the war goes against Tianyumen, it will be the death of Tianyumen. Your Majesty will launch three major factions to remove Tianyumen from the territory of Yan State." erase!"
Niu Youdao believes this. Once the war initiated by Tianyumen fails, it means that Tianyumen will have difficulty controlling Nanzhou and does not have the strength to control Nanzhou. No matter how Tianyumen negotiated with the three major factions before, We are all about to be cleared out by the three major factions. If you can’t have fun, why are you still playing
"And Your Majesty will not treat Prince Yongping badly. The Prince will be promoted to Prince, and all the five counties in Nanzhou will be designated as the Prince's fiefdom!"
After hearing this, Niu Youdao smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I really can't do anything about this."
Ga Miaoshui on the side said: "Your Majesty said that Nanzhou would rather be with his own family than with outsiders. If Prince Yongping still remembers what happened back then, Your Majesty can make another concession and classify the entire Nanzhou as a prince. The fiefdom!"
The meaning of this obviously means that as long as the Shang Chaozong avoids war, the Shang Chaozong does not have to fight in Nanzhou and it belongs to the Shang Chaozong.
However, Niu Youdao heard the sinister intentions and raised his brows slightly, "Madam, father-in-law, after talking for a long time, the court doesn't seem to understand the situation. Things are not what you think at all."
Zhou Qing's sitting body leaned forward slightly, "I would like to hear the details."
Niu Youdao: "Prince Yongping has been controlled by Tianyumen, and the military power in his hands has been isolated by Tianyumen. Now the person who can directly dispatch the troops of the five counties is Feng Lingbo."
Speaking of this, he only now realized why Tianyumen did not hesitate to start internal strife within the five counties beforehand. Ganqing had already prepared for some possibilities and wanted to eliminate possible future troubles. It can be seen that in order to win Nanzhou, Tianyumen really put their efforts into planning.
"What?" Zhou Qing was shocked.
Ga Miaoshui said in a deep voice: "How is this possible? Even if Prince Yongping doesn't understand, how can Meng Shanming let the prince easily isolate himself from military power? How can the dignified Commander Meng not know the importance of military power?"
"That's already the case!" Niu Youdao nodded firmly. Naturally, he would not say that this was his suggestion to just follow the trend. One is willing to fight, the other is willing to suffer!
Zhou Qing suddenly looked panicked.
Ga Miaoshui's expression also changed drastically, knowing that if this was really the case, this battle would be inevitable. Considering the internal and external factors, the possibility of Tianyumen supporting Feng Lingbo is indeed very high.
Niu Youdao suddenly said: "If something happens to Prince Yongping, I won't be happy. I have a plan to discuss with you two. Maybe there is room for change."
Guan Fangyi glanced at him, wondering what kind of trouble this guy was going to take.
Zhou Qing lost his composure and rushed to say: "Please tell me!"
After the two sides conspired, Ga Miaoshui and Zhou Guifei did not stay long and left in a hurry.
It’s not that I gained nothing here. At least I knew the situation of Shang Chaozong and who the enemy general was...
All the disciples of Liuxian Sect, Fuyun Sect and Lingxiu Mountain sect all moved away on the same day.
Not long after the three sects left, Niu Youdao also led his people to quietly disappear into the mountains and forests...
Where Tianyumen is located, Mei Linsheng, Wu Tiandang, and Zhao Xingfeng hurriedly left the command center that had been established but had not yet moved forward. Under the escort of Tianyumen's disciples, they secretly went to various ministries.
Peng You then led a group of Tianyumen senior officials out of the courtyard of the command center.
While walking on the mountain steps, a disciple came quickly to report, "Princess Princess Shang Shuqing and others, as well as disciples from Liuxian Sect, Fuyun Sect and Lingxiu Mountain Sect are already on their way."
"Okay!" Peng Zai stopped and turned around, facing the elders, and said in a deep voice: "Don't scare the snake for the time being. Wait for others to arrive. Don't care about others. As soon as Niu Youdao arrives, secretly take all of them. Come on! This kid is the most cunning, and he is also the one I am most worried about. Before the war breaks out, we must control him first and not allow him to change."
Everyone nodded slightly. As long as the overall situation is under control, is there any need to discuss the benefits of drinks with Niu Youdao? Take them down together, let's see how you talk about it.
Feng Entai looked heavy and let out a sigh of helplessness.
However, when a group of people arrived at the main hall, another disciple came to report urgently: "Report to the leader, Niu Youdao is missing!"
Before he could sit down, Peng was startled again and shouted angrily: "Gone? What do you mean?"
The disciple said: "The people over there who were staring at the villa suddenly noticed that there seemed to be no movement in the villa. Then they went over and took a look. They found that the villa was empty and there was no one around. Niu Youdao and his staff did not know where they had gone. , all disappeared."