"Sure enough, there are traitors!"
Fan Xian and Xin Shaoqing spoke at the same time at eight o'clock, and then shut up at the same time. Both of them believed that the leader of the Northern Qi secret spy in their country was definitely not a soft guy who would speak up under torture. Since the other party was able to capture Yan Bingyun so easily and knew his real name, it was obvious that the secret agent in Qing State Someone in the government must have some kind of agreement with Northern Qi.
Xin Shaoqing shook his head: "Before this matter, even the crown prince and I didn't know that Young Master Yan had gone to Northern Qi. I think there are no more than five people who are qualified to know about this matter in the court. If they are said to be traitors, no fool will I will believe that traitorousness always needs benefits, but in fact, the entire Qing Kingdom is controlled by these people, so what benefits can traitorousness have?"
Fan Xian and Xin Shaoqing looked at each other, and they could see the sadness in each other's eyes, because they both thought of a terrible thing at the same time, what if it wasn't a traitor? What if it was just a means used by some ministers in the DPRK to attack the Overwatch Council
Fan Xian thought back when Wang Qinian told him about Yan Bingyun, he felt a little weird, why did he even know about it? Could it be that the Overwatch Council is so confident in its own internal control? It was only later that I realized that it was Chen Pingping who told herself this matter through Wang Qinian, but at this moment she was still a little scared, if the news leaked from her side, she would really die.
"Will there be such a crazy person? Just for the power struggle in the government, they will trample on the interests of the entire Qing Kingdom." Xin Shaoqing shook his head with a wry smile.
Fan Xian also shook his head, thinking of his trip to the palace, he knew in his heart that there were quite a lot of high-ranking lunatics like Qing Guo. He made up his mind and asked, "Assuming Young Master Yan has been arrested, what are the plans of the Holy Spirit?"
"Northern Qi still underestimated the Holy Majesty's determination." When Xin Shaoqing thought of the aloof emperor, he suddenly felt confident in his heart, and said, "The occupied territory is still not giving up an inch."
Fan Xian asked in surprise, "What about Mr. Yan?"
"Change!" Xin Shaoqing said with a sullen look on his face, "Change of prisoners, the Holy Majesty has made up his mind, the previous agreement on the exchange of prisoners has been cancelled, and a new one will be drafted. We will wait for the token from Mr. Yan from Northern Qi to confirm, and then A new round of prisoner exchange negotiations will begin."
Fan Xian frowned and said, "Bei Qi thought he was holding a big fish, so he probably wouldn't agree."
Xin Shaoqing said coldly: "This time we will also send two more people back to Northern Qi. If Northern Qi is still unwilling, the Holy Majesty will behead a thousand prisoners from Northern Qi and send them back to Northern Qi. The army will rise again. .”
"Using power to overwhelm people is a helpless tactic. I'm afraid that the Northern Qi side will also come to a dead end. There are 3,000 prisoners on both sides. It is always useless to kill them." Fan Xian patted the desk lightly with his hand, and suddenly A strange thought welled up, "Who are the two people who are going to join the prisoner exchange? Can Bei Qi agree?"
"One is Sean who has been imprisoned for twenty years." Xin Shaoqing looked at him gently, knowing that this young man didn't know Sean's name.
"This man was the secret spy leader of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Before the second Northern Expedition, Dean Chen of the Overwatch Council and Mr. Fei personally led the black cavalry. They traveled thousands of miles and captured him alive at Xiao En's son's wedding. He was captured by us. After living here, the Northern Wei Dynasty's spy network had no leader, and suddenly became a mess. When His Majesty personally conquered, he was able to smash a huge empire into its current weak appearance. Later, when discussing the merits, the Overwatch Council made the first contribution for this matter. , and those of us young scholars at the time thought that if Xiao En hadn’t been so courageous enough to leave Northern Qi’s Shangjing to attend his son’s wedding, the court would have been unable to catch him, and the subsequent war would not have been so smooth.”
Listening to the past decades ago, Fan Xian was speechless, and then listened to Xin Shaoqing's last words.
"Of course, Xiao En was brave enough to leave Shangjing. Dean Chen was even more courageous. He dared to go deep into the enemy's territory for eight hundred miles. Although he paid the price with a pair of legs, he caught Xiao En after all. Before that, Xiao En from the Northern Wei Dynasty Well, Chen Pingping from Nanqing is known by the world as the most terrifying minister of darkness, after Xiao En was captured alive by Dean Chen, naturally no one dared to compare with Dean Chen."
Fan Xian listened with longing, it turned out that the old lame man's leg was broken that time, he never thought that Chen Pingping had such a brave side back then.
"Take Sean to change Yan Bingyun." He thought for a while, and judged purely from reason: "It seems that we have lost money."
"Last night, several ministers also thought so." Xin Shaoqing looked at him with a smile, "But His Majesty and Dean Chen don't think so, Xiao En is already seventy after all, and once he is defeated by Dean Chen, naturally It is impossible to repeat the glory of the past. Mr. Yan endured the humiliation and lurked in the enemy's country for four years, and the meritorious service was not awarded. Why not exchange an old man for the future of Qing Kingdom?"
Fan Xian nodded again and again, and asked curiously, "Are you afraid that Bei Qi won't want to, so who else will be added?"
"That woman was a request that Bei Qi had made in the past, so the Holy Majesty simply agreed." Xin Shaoqing looked at Fan Xian and suddenly laughed, "I heard that the Northern Qi emperor liked that woman very much. The young emperor wore a green hat."
Fan Xian's complexion was a little bright, and he said dully, "Could it be Si Lili?"
※※※
Negotiations are always divided into two parts. On the surface, the courtiers of the Qing Kingdom and the missions of the Northern Qi Dynasty are carefully considering every word at the negotiating table. For every title, every word used shows a certain kind of morbid attachment. Only in this way, Only in this way can we ensure that Guochao's face will not be a little weaker in the final letter of credence. So every day in Honglu Temple there is always a lot of noise, people clapping tables, people stepping on chairs, it doesn't look like two countries are negotiating, it's purely shrews scolding each other in the vegetable market.
The other part of the negotiations, however, seemed much more ruthless and direct. There were no officials from the Honglu Temple in the negotiations here, and the Northern Qi side was not the leader of the mission, but a person with real power who was hidden in the dark and could really speak.
The adults in the Overwatch Council spoke like a sea of words. He was also a well-known high-level figure in Kyoto where officials were like running dogs. He coldly signed the secret agreement on the prisoner exchange without even looking at the document.
The agreement has his own son's name on it. Originally, he could resign during this negotiation, but he insisted on coming and taking a look.
That unremarkable official from the Northern Qi Dynasty drew his bet with a smile, looked at Yan Ruohai and said softly, "Don't worry, Mr. Yan, your son is living very well in this country."
Yan Ruohai said expressionlessly: "Today I wanted to see how clever my colleagues in the north are, and they were able to catch the little bastard I was taught since childhood, but when I saw you, an idiot, I knew what was going on."
The official didn't get angry, but just retorted coldly: "My lord, don't speak too much, you have to know that your son is still in our hands. If we are fools, then what is your son? What are you talking about?" What kind of?"
Yan Ruohai sneered twice, got up and walked out the door, and said, "The problem is, you didn't catch my son."
Walking out the door, Chen Pingping, who was sitting in a wheelchair, glanced at him and shook her head: "You have been in this seat for a long time, and you are not as good as you used to be."
"I can bear a lot, but I can't bear a cold arrow shot from behind." It could be seen that Yan Ruohai respected his boss very much, pushing Chen Pingping's wheelchair and walking slowly towards a quiet place.
Sitting in a wheelchair, Chen Pingping stretched out a finger: "In the imperial court, there are countless people who miss you and me. This time we can exchange Xiao En for Bing Yun. Next time, I don't have Xiao En in my hands." people."
Yan Ruohai responded, "There will be no next time."
"Find that person as soon as possible." Chen Pingping said: "This time the emperor is on our side because he knows that some noble person must want to teach us a lesson, but I don't like the feeling of being teased."
"Yes, Dean." Yan Ruohai knew that his old boss would find a way to deal with this matter, so he was not in a hurry, "Although the prisoner change may not be smooth, as long as Bingyun survives, it can be regarded as a treat for young people." Tempering, might as well be a good thing."
"It makes sense, so I also decided to let a young man go to practice. It doesn't take too long, just a few months."
"How many months? Is it the matter of returning to Beiqi this time?"
"That's right, and we have to bring Yan Bingyun back intact. I hope he can handle it well."
"who is it?"
"Before I leave, I will let all of you in the eight major quarters meet him."
※※※
Everything is going smoothly. After Qing Guo paid a considerable bargaining chip, the two sides drew up a captive exchange and a secret exchange of spies. Everyone is happy. woman.
Only the mission from Dongyi City stayed in the courtyard obediently, and everyone seemed to have almost forgotten about him. The court of the Qing Dynasty was also deliberately indifferent to the other party, in order to blackmail more money by relying on the incident at the foot of Cangshan Mountain. Dongyi City is where the world's largest merchants gather. Barbarian merchants, although the force is only Si Gu Jian and Zhi Tian, but the financial resources are inexhaustible.
Three days later, it will be the day when His Majesty the Emperor Qing will banquet the envoys of the two countries. As the Deputy Negotiator, Fan Xian will naturally go to the palace to have a banquet. that night.
He carefully prepared everything in his room, but occasionally glanced at the black suitcase exposed from a corner under the bed. In the past few days of official business, he has seen something more deeply. The Qing Kingdom seems to be huge and powerful, but the imperial court is limited by the ulterior motives of some nobles, so there will still be so much dirt and black water. .
The emperor's family is ruthless, but it is not necessarily ruthless to the members of the royal family, but more to the subjects of the world. Fan Xian knew very well that even if His Majesty knew who was trying to deal with his secret service, he would not really kill them, because those people might be his wife, his sister, his son, or even his mother.
"Be a person who thinks purely for yourself." This is what Fan Xian reminded himself countless times after he came to this world. His eyes gradually turned cold, he hid the long and thin dagger, and carefully inserted the three needles soaked in poison into his hair.