General, please be a loyal minister!

Under the night, several cars slowly parked in front of the courtyard that was temporarily turned into a hotel, with puppet guards on both sides, the door was opened, and a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair came out...

Xu Chiying stepped forward to greet him.

Not far away, Han Zhao, who was leaning on the roof, glanced coldly at every entourage of the puppet court mission, and then frowned.

Although he had doubts, Han Zhao didn't have much time. He scanned the people of the puppet court mission again, turned his head and jumped off the roof after confirming that there was no one he was looking for, and left through the back alley.

It was dark and moonless, and Han Zhao was walking back to the post house when he suddenly noticed a figure in front of him.

It's Liu Ji.

Liu Ji also saw Han Zhao, walked towards Han Zhao, and asked in an unhappy tone, "Where have you been?"

Han Zhao calmly replied, "Take a walk."

Liu Ji suppressed his anger: "Walking in the direction of the puppet court envoy's residence?"

Han Zhao's current identity is an aide who accompanied him on a mission, and he left the post in the middle of the night without informing his superiors, acting suspiciously.Is Han Zhao sure that he will not deal with him, or does he not care what he thinks at all?

However, the ridiculous thing is that he was really reluctant to pursue Han Zhao, and even came to pursue Han Zhao himself in order to cover his whereabouts.

But he didn't allow Han Zhao to talk about him: "What are you doing there?"

Han Zhao still insisted on the original answer: "Take a walk."

Liu Ji was angry: "Don't fool me with such words!"

The smell of gunpowder filled the air again. Han Zhao didn't want to quarrel with Liu Ji, not to mention that what happened tonight was indeed his fault.He lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, "Sorry, I'm the one who didn't follow the rules."

Han Zhao is apologizing?Liu Ji was stunned, and the fire in his heart was extinguished like a pot of water was poured on it.

He didn't understand whether it was Han Zhao giving in to him, or whether he was being fooled by Han Zhao, anyway, he was definitely pinched to death by Han Zhao.

He wanted to know what Han Zhao did when he went out, but he also knew that he probably wouldn't be able to ask the answer. He didn't want to speculate on Han Zhao in the worst possible way, but he had to be on guard: "The next time in Bingzhou, I don't allow it. Leave the posthouse."

"it is good."

Han Zhao's straightforwardness surprised Liu Ji. He looked Han Zhao up and down, but couldn't find any clues, so he could only turn his head and walk towards the posthouse with doubts.

The one guarding the back door was Geng Yi.

After arriving at the posthouse, Han Zhao bid farewell to Liu Ji and went straight back to his room.

Geng Yi looked at Han Zhao's back, then at Liu Ji who had been staring at Han Zhao, and said hesitantly, "Boss—"

Liu Ji, who was already in a bad mood, was made impatient by his stammering tone: "Fart your fart!"

Geng Yi swallowed a mouthful of saliva, bit the bullet and said: "Can't you--change someone?"

Liu Ji didn't understand: "What do you mean?"

Anyway, after saying it out loud, Geng Yi simply broke the can, and bluntly warned: "Mr. Gu is good-looking, but he is a man, and he is still the second son. Boss, you can't miss a big deal because of him."

Liu Ji realized that Geng Yi felt that he was interested in Gu Chongming.

Although it is true in a certain sense, how did Geng Yi see it?Liu Ji felt that he had never shown any flaws in front of him.

He looked at Geng Yi with a sullen face, and Geng Yi lowered his head immediately, feeling as uneasy as a drum beating in his heart.

Although his friendship with Liu Ji is unusual, there is no guarantee that Liu Ji will not get angry when he hears such words.

Just when Geng Yi thought that Liu Ji was going to get angry, he saw him make a wicked smile, and said in a meaningful tone: "I recognize him."

After finishing speaking, Liu Ji glanced at Geng Yi with a half-smile, then turned and went back to his room.

Geng Yi who was left behind was full of astonishment.

It's over, seeing how the boss looked just now, he is determined.What should I do now?

Liu Ji is an extremely egotistical and strong person, to change his mind, Geng Yi might as well start thinking of a way now, so that he can cleanly wipe Gu Chongming's ass after Liu Ji can't help but sleep him one day...

Geng Yi grabbed his head in pain: What crime did he commit?

Han Zhao didn't know about the conversation between Liu Ji and Geng Yi. When he returned to the house, Su Xin was already waiting there.

Su Xin has been paying attention to the movement outside: "Sir, did you come back with the third son?"

Han Zhao walked to the table and sat down, poured himself a glass of water, and said sullenly after drinking, "Xu Zhongyan is not here."

According to news, Xu Zhongyan was supposed to be in the mission, but Han Zhao only saw Yan Huan.

The appearance of the fifth child made Han Zhao realize that anonymity cannot get rid of the organization. He didn't know why the organization didn't continue to attack him after Liangzhou was destroyed, but in order to avoid the matters he valued being hurt by them again, Han Zhao decided to act first. .

But his only clue was Xu Zhongyan, but Xu Zhongyan was as slippery as a loach. Han Zhao heard his news, but couldn't touch his person.

After hearing that Xu Zhongyan would come to Bingzhou, Han Zhao originally planned to take this opportunity to tie Xu Zhongyan up in Bingzhou, and interrogate him about what he knew.

Although it sounds simple and rude, if it succeeds, it will save them a lot of trouble.What's more, most of Xu Zhongyan's hidden guards are now broken, and the only one who follows him is the fourth child who has lost one hand. Han Zhao can give it a try.

But I didn't expect Xu Zhongyan to not show up at all.

This feeling of having nowhere to focus made Han Zhao very annoyed.

Compared to Han Zhao, Su Xin is much more normal-hearted, perhaps because he has no deep hatred for Xu Zhongyan.

He saw Han Zhao's eagerness, and asked a question: "Have you ever seen farmers catch fish, sir?"

Han Zhao looked at Su Xin, waiting for him to speak.

Su Xin turned over an upside-down cup, picked up the teapot and poured water into it: "They will block the mouth of the pond with a net, drain the water in the pond, and it will be fine when the fish can only struggle in the mud caught"

"Xu Zhongyan is a fish, and the Puppet Dynasty is his water. If you can't catch him in the water, let the water dry."

The water in the cup was full, but Su Xin didn’t stop. He let the water flow out of the cup and onto the table. After the pot could no longer pour water, Su Xin straightened the teapot, opened the lid, and the tea inside stuck to the pot. bottom, like a stranded fish.

"So he can't escape?"

Su Xin raised his eyes to look at Han Zhao, with confidence in his eyes.

Han Zhao understood what Su Xin meant, but he still had other worries: "Xu Zhongyan was supposed to come to Bingzhou with Yan Huan, but now that he is not here, could something change in Dongdu?"

Su Xin admitted that Han Zhao's worry was justified, but felt that it was unnecessary. He put down the teapot and sighed: "Sir, brother is in Dongdu."

If what happened in Dongdu can't be handled by Cheng Ju's talents, it's useless for them who are far away in Bingzhou to worry.

Although this is the case, Han Zhao still can't be so big-hearted as Su Xin that he doesn't worry at all.However, there is currently no clue about this matter, and it is useless to talk about it. Han Zhao changed the topic to the alliance: "What do you think about this alliance?"

This question is half an inquiry and half a test. Su Xin organized his language a little bit, and said eloquently: "The puppet dynasty is unpopular. Tong Rong's incident was because he disdained to serve the puppet dynasty, so there is no need to worry about their alliance with the puppet dynasty. And Yan Huan probably didn't have the idea of ​​forming an alliance, their main purpose was to destroy the alliance between Jingzhou and Bingzhou."

Han Zhao nodded, these are the same as what he thought.

Su Xin hasn't finished yet: "The original intention of the Jingzhou alliance to merge the state is to prevent troubles in the east when I attack the puppet dynasty. However, Bingzhou has always been weaker than Jingzhou. Helping Jingzhou attack the puppet dynasty will make Jingzhou stronger. Tong Rong will not Willing to do it."

"But from another perspective, this plan will not only allow Jingzhou to annex the puppet dynasty, but if it is done properly, Bingzhou may not be able to use this to develop and catch up with or even surpass Jingzhou."

"The key here is how to distribute responsibilities and benefits."

"So what Jingzhou has to consider is how to find a balance point, if it can satisfy Bingzhou, but not let it threaten Jingzhou."

Su Xin put his hands into his sleeves and sighed: "Tomorrow's negotiation will probably involve a long period of division of battle lines, and I don't know how the third son will deal with it."

Su Xin's opinion is not far from Han Zhao's, but Han Zhao has more confidence in Liu Ji: "He can do it."

Hearing this, Su Xin looked at Han Zhao in surprise, then he shook his head and sighed with a smile, "Mister really dotes on his apprentice."

Han Zhao explained: "I'm telling the truth." I didn't say that to favor Liu Ji.

Su Xin was helpless. He didn't mean that when he said this, but he was referring to the pride in Han Zhao's eyes when he said Liu Ji could do it.

But he didn't explain, Han Zhao's face is thin, and he might be annoyed if he pointed it out directly, so it's better to stop the topic here.

Although Su Xin had a thorough analysis, it was not easy to negotiate.

Xu Chi and Liu Ji are now their own masters. Although there is an old relationship, they cannot harm the interests of the master.

The good news is that Xu Chi supports the Jingzhou side of the alliance, so he saved a lot of effort in persuading Tong Rong; the bad news is that Xu Chi is very shrewd, and he and Liu Ji are in conflict with each other in terms of front line allocation, and they both want to fight for less consumption. , Profitable attack area.

Bargaining has always been a very laborious effort, and "Gu Chongming" and Su Xin are not Liu Ji's cronies, so they don't participate much, and most of the time they just wait at the posthouse for news.

On the third day after arriving in Bingzhou, Han Zhao received the news that Yan Huan had left Bingzhou.

Although the puppet dynasty's plan to separate Bingzhou and Jingzhou did not go well, it seemed too hasty for him to leave suddenly.Even Su Xin, who has always been optimistic, noticed something was wrong, he frowned: "Could it be that something has changed in Dongdu?"

Although they are worried, they run their own business with Cheng Ju and have almost no contact with each other. Now they can only secretly pray that everything goes well for Cheng Ju.

Two days after Yan Huan left, the negotiations finally came to fruition.

In addition to a bunch of cumbersome clauses on the division of responsibilities and interests, Xu Chi also wanted Weicheng—the city that Han Zhao took advantage of Liu Jin to conquer.

I didn't expect to cut it out before it was warm in my hand.

Han Zhao was very displeased when he heard the news. He went to Liu Ji and said, "Weicheng can't be given to Bingzhou, please think about it again, Third Young Master."

But Liu Ji didn't want to fulfill Han Zhao's wish: "My son thinks it's a good deal to exchange Weicheng for Tong Rong's help, and my father will agree."

Of course Liu Ci would agree.This price tag has been much lower than his initial estimate.

But for Han Zhao, Weicheng is very important, at least for the Eastern Front.

Liu Ji has won his true biography, so he can't understand what kind of strategic plan he made to capture Weicheng, but he just sent Weicheng out. This will not only slow down Liu Jin's progress on the Eastern Front, but also affect The relationship between "Gu Chongming" and Liu Jin.

Han Zhao didn't know if Liu Ji was targeting Liu Jin, him, or both.

The seemingly easing relationship these days is really an illusion. When Liu Ji made a real move, he was steady, accurate, and ruthless, which made Han Zhao palpitate.

——His disciple has really become a teacher.

Liu Ji didn't seem to notice Han Zhao's complex expression, and when Han Zhao left, he "considerately" asked: "To celebrate the alliance, Mr. Zaiyu invited everyone to a banquet tonight, sir, don't forget."

Han Zhao stopped, and replied in an obviously displeased tone, "Understood." Then he left without looking back.

The author has something to say: The emotional drama made me scratch my head (Is there an emotional drama?)