Zhu Nao

The next day, Liu Buxing's troops finally came to Renshou.

Zhu Nao and Liu Buxing did not meet immediately, because the two parties were still on guard against each other.It is impossible for Liu Buxing to go to Chengdu, and it is impossible for Zhu Nao to come to Renshou.So the two sides sent a few cronies to each other, and chose a meeting point between the two armies. The cronies first discussed various cooperation matters. After a certain consensus was reached and a foundation of trust was established, the two sides prepared to meet formally.

Ever since, Liu Buxing sent one of his lieutenants named Dai Shi to negotiate.

However, Zhu Nao made a choice that was beyond everyone's expectations—he sent Wei Yue's Boss Zhao.

When Zhu Nao announced the candidate, Yu Changming and Wei Yue were by his side, and they were shocked when they heard it.

Although Yu Changming is not familiar with Boss Zhao, he has dealt with him once or twice.He immediately objected: "Boss Zhao is too frivolous. How can we send him to discuss matters?"

Wei Yue glared at Yu Changming first.In any case, Boss Zhao is his subordinate, and he has always been protective of his subordinates and does not tolerate criticism from others.But then he also expressed his doubts, and he was more critical than Yu Changming: "Boss Zhao can talk, but he can only brag, and he can't speak a few serious words at all. You send him to do such serious things." [-]% of the time, he has to screw it up. It's not right."

Zhu Nao said slowly, "Who said this is a serious matter?"

Both Yu Changming and Wei Yue were taken aback.If discussing how to place Liu Buxing's five thousand soldiers and horses is not a serious matter, what else is a serious matter?

After a while, Wei Yue came to his senses first, his eyes lit up: "Could it be that you have already made a plan?"

Zhu Nao was noncommittal, and said slowly, "Let's take one step at a time."

……

Before Dai Shi set off to negotiate, Liu Buxing and Xu Zhuben had repeatedly told him to hold back his airs so that he could increase his status—when they sent envoys to deliver Xue Baohui's head to Zhu Nao earlier, Because it is to promote cooperation between the two parties, the more sincere and earnest the attitude, the better.But now that the cooperation between the two parties is imperative, they should be a little more arrogant and appear not in a hurry, so that they can propose more self-interested conditions.

Dai Shi took Liu Buxing's words to heart, so when he met Boss Zhao for the first time, he deliberately arrived half a stick of incense late, wanting to give him a warning first.

When he brought people to the agreed place, Boss Zhao had already brought people there to wait.Contrary to Dai Shi's expectation, Boss Zhao was not displeased at being neglected at all, on the contrary, he smiled when he saw him.

"Oh, you're Deputy General Dai, right? Tsk tsk tsk, you're so suave and talented!" Boss Zhao greeted him warmly, and opened his arms like a bear hug, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I've seen you for a long time!"

Dai Shi almost made him feel stupid, and hurriedly pushed him away in embarrassment: "You, you are Zhao Sima under Zhufu Yin?"

Boss Zhao hurriedly replied, "It's me, it's me." His title of Sima was temporarily given to him by Zhu Nao before departure, and he was the adjutant in charge of military and political affairs.In fact, he didn't take care of anything. Such a title was just for the convenience of him coming out to negotiate.

He laughed and said: "Liu Lieutenant, although we are both adjutants, I can't compare with you. I heard that Lieutenant Liu came from a good family, he is the son of a rich family! And I am a mud leg, two years ago He also robbed houses with Brother Wei, luckily we ran into Fu Yin Zhu. Hey, I became a Sima in a blink of an eye! I still find it incredible."

Dai Shi: "..."

He didn't expect the envoy sent by Junao to be in such a style, and his mood suddenly became a little delicate.

Before he came, he had inquired about the military officer at Zhu Nao's side. The Brother Wei that Zhao Boss was talking about must be Wei Yue, a refugee who came from a family and robbed a house.There is another general under Zhu Nao's command, named Yu Changming, who is not the same as Wei Yue, and is a bandit recruited by Zhu Nao.Zhu Nao paid more attention to him, and it was said that most of his soldiers were led by this Yu Changming.

A refugee and a bandit, it can be seen how short of soldiers Zhu Nao's men have.Ordinarily, Boss Zhao, as the envoy sent by Zhu Nao, should make use of his strengths and avoid weaknesses in the negotiation, but he actually exposed his weaknesses as soon as he came up, and he didn't know whether he should be said to be honest or careless.

However, it may also be that this person is extremely cunning, and exposing his shortcomings is a means he uses to confuse people.Dai Shi did not dare to be careless, distanced himself from Boss Zhao, sat down in his seat, and began to get down to business.

"Zhao Sima, we are meeting here today to discuss the matter of joining forces between General Liu and Zhu Fu Yin." Dai Shi said, "I wonder what arrangements Zhu Fu Yin has for General Liu?"

Boss Zhao immediately said: "Arrangement? General Liu wants any arrangement, just ask!"

Seeing that he spoke so boldly, Dai Shi couldn't help squinting his eyes in doubt.

Boss Zhao hurriedly explained: "Deputy General Dai, you don't know, our Zhu Fu Yin doesn't know how to lead troops at all. Didn't our Chengdu Mansion recruit [-] soldiers before? Because we don't know how to lead them, it's a mess now." , There are a lot of problems, and I hope that someone who knows how to lead troops will come to help quickly. So you, General Liu, are willing to come and defect to the Chengdu Mansion, but Zhu Mansion Yin is very happy!"

Dai Shi: "..."

Boss Zhao had thought of these questions before he came here.The reason why Liu Buxing dared to ask him to raise his social status was because he looked at the Chengdu government and hoped to join forces with them, so that they would have the qualifications to negotiate terms.So before coming here, he had already thought about all the possible shortcomings and troubles of the other party, and prepared to use it as a bargaining chip when the negotiation reached an impasse.

——But it was clearly his bargaining chip, and he wasn't in a hurry to make it yet.The opponent was the first to expose his shortcomings again.What kind of negotiation is this? ?

Dai Shi couldn't keep up with his train of thought, and it took him a long time to say again: "In this case, our general hopes to be the 'General of Chengdu'."

Chengdu General is the title of the highest military officer in Chengdu Prefecture.In other words, Liu Buxing required him to be above Yu Changming and Wei Yue after he settled in Chengdu.

Boss Zhao's eyes widened upon hearing this.Dai Shi thought that he was going to object, but he didn't expect Boss Zhao to take it for granted: "Okay! General Liu is the most senior, so it is right to let him be the general of Chengdu!"

Seeing that he agreed so readily, Dai Shi couldn't help asking suspiciously: "Zhao Sima, didn't you come from under General Wei? Wouldn't General Wei be unhappy that you made this decision?"

Boss Zhao shrugged nonchalantly: "What's wrong with Brother Wei? Anyway, our brother Wei's status is not as good as General Yu's. Even if the General Chengdu doesn't give it to General Liu, it won't be our brother Wei's turn."

This statement is very reasonable, Dai Shi couldn't help dispelling his doubts, and thought: It seems that the relationship between Yu Changming and Wei Yue is not very good.

Dai Shi said again: "Then let's talk about the food and pay of our army."

"Okay." Boss Zhao asked, "Do you have any requirements for food and salary?"

Dai Shidao: "I heard that the recruits recruited by the Chengdu Mansion have a military salary of five taels of silver every year, as well as various subsidies. If this is the case, the soldiers under our general Liu will have at least eight taels of silver a year in the future. Other items Subsidies will also increase.”

Boss Zhao frowned, his expression became ambiguous.

Seeing that he seemed to have objections, Dai Shi immediately said: "The soldiers under General Liu are all well-trained elite soldiers who have served General Liu for many years. You can even give such high treatment to the recruits you just recruited. We It is even more indispensable here. The military salary of [-] Liang cannot be more reasonable!"

Boss Zhao laughed and said, "I'm afraid it won't work."

Dai Shi frowned.Wasn't it fun just now?Why didn't you agree now?

Zhao Laodao: "Brother Dai, you don't know. Although our Zhufu Yin doesn't know how to lead troops, he is a businessman and he values ​​money the most. Before I came out, he told me repeatedly that other conditions are easy to negotiate. General Liu If you want the position of the Great General, you should have given it to you. It is the salary that Zhu Fu Yin told me not to pay too much."

Dai Shi frowned and said, "Then what does Yin Zhu mean?"

Zhao Laodao: "The soldiers brought by General Liu can be paid two taels of silver first..."

Dai Shi became impatient when he heard the two taels of silver, and was about to get angry when Boss Zhao raised his hand to signal that he was not busy, and continued, "Isn't Zhu Yushi not familiar with your General Liu? What if you don't work for Yin Zhu? You have to wait and see for a while, and when Yin Zhu understands that you are sincere, the salary will naturally be added to you."

Dai Shi was dumbfounded.The previous conditions were discussed so smoothly that he almost forgot Jun Nao's scruples about them.It is very humane to be said by Boss Zhao.

In fact, when he first came here, he was prepared for how he would negotiate terms if the other party's offer was too low, but Mr. Zhao didn't play cards according to common sense, which messed up his thinking, so that he almost couldn't find him for a while. Come up with a rebuttal.

In the end, he could only object with a lack of momentum: "Your recruits can get five taels of military pay, but you only give us two taels of silver? No, absolutely not!"

Boss Zhao said unhurriedly: "But didn't you not have two liang of military pay before? Why can't you do it?"

Dai Shi choked again.

Liu Buxing's soldiers were not recruited by Liu Buxing himself. Those soldiers were left over from the former military household system.It's just that I have been with Liu Buxing for a long time, so I have some feelings.

Dai Shi said: "Then... so what! That's the way it was in the old system! Now that we've defected to the Chengdu government, we're the soldiers of the Chengdu government. If our brothers are treated so much worse than your recruits , everyone will definitely not be convinced!"

Boss Zhao wondered: "Then if your treatment is better than ours, our brothers here will not be convinced."

Dai Shi: "..."

The two were deadlocked on the issue of military pay. Seeing that they didn't know how to proceed with the conversation, Boss Zhao suddenly waved his hand and took a step back: "Forget it, since we can't agree on military pay, let's not talk about it for now." This. Let’s talk about other things, let’s talk about the controversial ones later.”

Dai Shi had no choice but to follow him.The two continued talking about other things.

Boss Zhao was extraordinarily honest when it came to negotiating.He made himself very clear from the beginning: Zhu Nao only cares about money, if Liu Buxing wants status, power, prestige...these are easy to talk about.

In the ensuing negotiations, he did follow this path.Liu Buxing wanted a territory, Liu Buxing wanted to recruit new soldiers, Liu Buxing wanted to put his own people in the government... Some conditions he agreed to immediately, even if he didn't agree, it was easy to discuss and negotiate.But when it comes to money alone, he bites to death and refuses to let go.

After this day, the two sides have made a lot of progress, and naturally there are many contradictions.

Negotiations cannot be completed in a day.So the two sides put the dispute on hold for the time being, and sent their staff back to ask for instructions and continue to prepare for the next negotiation...

=====

Liu Buxing paced back and forth anxiously in the tent, stomping around for an unknown number of times, and finally heard someone shouting outside: "General, you're back!"

Liu Buxing hurriedly said: "Quick, let him come and see me!"

After a while, Dai Shi's men entered the army tent, and Xu Zhuben and Jia Cong, who got the news, also came.

Liu Buxing couldn't wait to ask: "How is it? What's the other party's attitude?"

The messenger who came back reported: "The attitude is very sincere, and they very much hope to cooperate with the general."

Liu Buxing was surprised and delighted: "Really?!"

The envoy reported to Liu Buxing what Boss Zhao said about the lack of qualified generals in Chengdu.

Liu Buxing was overjoyed after hearing this: "It went so smoothly? That's great!"

In fact, before sending Dai Shi out to negotiate, Liu Buxing was very nervous.In negotiating this kind of thing, whoever is more impatient will be left behind.And he has 5000 people under him, and the monthly consumption of money and food is very large. He is very anxious to find a local official to take refuge in.But in order to negotiate conditions, he couldn't show his impatience. On the one hand, he wanted to put on airs, but on the other hand, he was worried that the airs would be too high, and Zhu Nao would ignore him.He was fidgeting while waiting for the outcome of the negotiation.

When he learned that Zhu Nao was very sincere in cooperating, he put his heart back into his stomach.

He asked again: "Then how are you talking about the specific matters?"

The emissary said: "Zhao Sima sent by the governor of the Zhu government said that due to their lack of manpower, the generals can easily discuss their status, authority, and territory. But the governor of the Zhu government is a businessman and he values ​​money very much, so he refuses to pay more. .”

Liu Buxing frowned: "How much is not willing to give?"

The messenger said: "The other side said that each soldier can only be given two taels a year..."

"What?!" Liu Buxing was startled when he heard the number, Xu Zhuben and Jia Cong were also taken aback.

Liu Buxing's smiling face collapsed, and he said angrily: "Two taels?! His people have five taels a year, and mine have two taels a year. What kind of joke are you talking about?!"

The envoy was afraid that Liu Buxing would blame them for the failure of the negotiations, so he hurriedly explained: "Vice General Dai also disagrees, this matter has not yet been settled, and negotiations are still underway. The other party said that it is because the Governor of Zhu Fu still does not trust us, so we need to investigate first. It can be added in the future. In addition, the title of 'Chengdu General' requested by the general was immediately agreed by the other party."

Liu Buxing turned pale when he heard that his title and status were guaranteed.After thinking about it, the current progress is reasonable.Merchants value money, so it would be strange if Zhu Nao gave money generously!

After a while, he scratched his head and said: "You guys did a good job. Go back and let Dai Shi continue to work hard and talk to them well. Anyway, even if the food and salary of my soldiers is not more than his, it can't be better than theirs. There are so few people!"

The implication is that he has agreed to take a step back.

Liu Buxing turned to look at his two staff members again: "What do you think?"

Xu Zhuben hurriedly said: "The general is wise."

Jia Cong followed suit, bowed his head and said, "The general is wise."

The smooth progress of the matter has exceeded Liu Buxing's imagination, so the envoy was sent back to report to Dai Shi.

=====

On the other side, Boss Zhao returned to his residence, and as soon as he opened the door, he saw a person sitting at the table drinking tea in a leisurely manner.

He was stunned for a moment, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "Brother Wei! Why are you here?"

Wei Yue hurriedly made a booing gesture to him.

Boss Zhao stuck out his tongue, quickly closed the door, and overjoyed, ran to Wei Yue and sat down next to him.

Wei Yue asked, "How are you talking with people?"

Boss Zhao stepped on the stool and cursed: "Oh, Brother Wei, you don't even know how dark that Liu is. As soon as he came up and opened his mouth, he asked Fu Yin to make him a general of Chengdu. He wanted to suppress you. On the head of General Yu. Forget it all. Isn’t our brother paid five taels of military salary every year? He is so good that he asks for eight taels per person per year. He must say that his soldiers are more expensive than ours, and everything is better than ours. Fiefdoms, official positions, and power... I'm wondering, doesn't he take a look at his eyes and nose when he urinates?"

Wei Yue was amused by him, and asked, "You didn't get scolded back on the spot, did you?"

"How come? I've been with Brother Wei for so long, am I such an uncountable person?" Boss Zhao snorted, "I'll just follow what Zhu Zhoumu said, everything else is negotiable, and I won't do anything about money. Let go."

Wei Yue asked again: "What about their attitude?"

Zhao Laodao: "Have a bargain with me. To be honest, I think that although they are putting on airs, they are actually very impatient. When I was nice and angry, they tried to increase the price like blackmail. When I got tough, they Immediately subdued."

The reason why Zhu Nao chose Boss Zhao to preside over the negotiation is that he is eloquent and quick-witted; the other is that he has been out and about since he was a child, and has been in contact with people of all kinds, and he has developed the ability to read people's hearts. , and don't be afraid when things happen.

Sure enough, Boss Zhao also completed the task well. Although Dai Shi found his muddy-legged temperament very strange at the beginning, Boss Zhao was loose and tight during the negotiation process, and he was stubborn about money. On the contrary, Dai Shi gradually believed in the sincerity of their cooperation, and even more believed in the lack of people under Zhu Nao.

Boss Zhao asked: "Brother Wei, I still don't understand. Governor Zhu asked me to agree to so many conditions for them, and then those will really be promised to them? This deal is too bad, it's not like Mr. Zhu's handwriting."

Wei Yue sneered: "Do you think it's possible? That Liu Buxing, it's impossible to keep him at all."

Boss Zhao nodded approvingly.At the beginning, Liu Buxing led troops into Shu, but he came to attack Chengdu.But as soon as Zhu Nao was appointed as Chengdu Yin, he immediately killed Qianzhou Mu and surrendered.And this time when the two sides discussed cooperation, he asked for power, territory, and a lot of money when he opened his mouth. Is this an attitude of sincerity?It is clear that he has no intention of surrendering to Zhu Nao!If this kind of person is kept, it is to find guilt for oneself.

Wei Yue said: "Continue talking here, and find a way to delay it for a while. I also have a mission when I come back here. I have to bring a few people and find a way to sneak into their army."

Boss Zhao was taken aback, and said nervously: "Brother Wei, you are not going to assassinate Liu Buxing, are you? This, this, this, can you do it? Will it be too dangerous?"

"Who said we were going to assassinate?" Wei Yue waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, it's just to inquire about the news. This Liu Buxing must die, but he can't die in our hands. Otherwise, we will kill him when he comes to surrender Now, will anyone dare to defect to us in the future? This is called killing the chicken and taking the eggs, and it cannot be done."

Boss Zhao was stunned for a moment, then said blankly, "Then what exactly is your mission?"

Wei Yue chuckled, and said, "You'd better do your own thing well. I won't tell you about my mission, lest you accidentally let it out, or startle the snake, which would be a bad thing."

Boss Zhao felt itchy in his heart, but Wei Yue refused to say anything, and there was nothing he could do.

Wei Yue waved her hand and said, "Okay, I'll come and see you. As long as you're doing well, keep working hard. I'm leaving!" After drinking the tea on the table in one gulp, she opened the door and went out.

=====

a few days later.

Quartermaster Wu Ba took a few soldiers to a nearby county to buy the supplies needed by the army, and then led the donkey cart back.It rained two days ago, the ground was very muddy, the wheels kept getting stuck in the mud, and the team walked very hard.

As they were walking, the donkey stopped again. No matter how much the soldiers pulled it, they couldn't move. Everyone saw that the wheels had sunk into a big hole again. This time the hole was very deep, and the donkey cart was heavy. It's hard to come out.

Several soldiers were pushing the cart hard together, and they were sweating profusely from pushing, when suddenly some civilians came to help them push the cart and pull the donkey together.With many people and strong strength, the donkey cart quickly got out of the mud pit smoothly.

Wu Ba looked back and saw those few people who were helping, he couldn't help but laugh aloud: "It's you again, what a coincidence!"

Those people said: "Yo, it's really a coincidence. Why do you often meet some of you who are soldiers recently?"

Wu Badao: "You live near here, we have to come here every day to replenish military supplies, of course we often meet."

Seeing that they were covered in mud, those few people kindly suggested: "It rained yesterday, and the road is difficult to walk. Otherwise, let's push them back together for you, so as not to fall into the pit again later."

Wu Ba was just worried that he didn't bring enough people out, so he was happy to have ordinary people willing to help, so he agreed.

So several common people accompanied Wu Ba to push the cart and walked towards the barracks.

Since I saw them often recently, and these people offered to help them again, Wu Ba had a good impression of them and asked, "Brother, what's your name?"

The leader said: "You can call me Abai."

Wu Ba nodded: "Ah Bai."

Abai asked: "Bingge, are you soldiers from Chengdu Mansion?"

Wu Ba sneered and said, "This... is almost the same. Have you heard of General Liu Buxing? I am his subordinate."

A Bai said: "I seem to have heard... Since you are a general, you must be very powerful, right? I heard that the salary of being a soldier is very good now, much better than farming for a landlord. I want to join the army, do you still accept people here?"

Wu Ba hurriedly said: "Accept, of course!" Now everyone is recruiting soldiers, and Liu Buxing has long thought that his [-] soldiers are too few.When he has money, he will definitely expand the army.

Ah Bai said again: "Brother, I see that your dress is different from theirs. Are you an official in the army? Do you know many high-ranking officers in the army? Tell me about them, and I will go back and talk to you." People in the village said that many people in our village also want to join the army.”

Although Wu Ba was only a small official, he was very happy to be praised so much by him, and he quickly bragged about several big men in the army.When he was talking, Ah Bai listened very carefully, and occasionally asked some questions, and Wu Ba answered them all readily.

Wu Ba bragged about all the main officers in the army, and showed off how familiar he was with them.After understanding the general situation, Ah Bai continued to ask: "I heard people say that there are very powerful advisers around the general, who specialize in advising the general. Is it true? Do you have such people around you, General Liu? What have they done? Is there anything serious about it? Tell me a few things, so I can go back and tell stories to the villagers."

Wu Ba did not doubt that he was there, and said openly: "Of course. Our general has two very powerful staff, the most powerful is that Staff Officer Jia. I know him very well, and we had dinner together the day before yesterday. .Do you know how good he is?"

A Bai hurriedly asked: "How powerful?"

Wu Badao: "Before, Xue Zhoumu of Qianzhou wanted to fool our general against Zhu Fuyin——Zhu Yushi at that time—and Xue Zhoumu also lied to our general that he had someone in the court, and the court would definitely appoint him as the next one. Chengdu Yin. Staff Jia saw at a glance that Xue Zhoumu was bragging, and forced him to write a letter to the court, asking the court to give him a canonization before talking about other things. As a result, something went wrong with Xue Zhoumu's letter, and the court immediately promoted Zhu Yushi to be the new Chengdu Yin ignored Xue Zhoumu at all. Our general also saw that Xue Zhoumu was a liar, so he immediately killed him, and then came to surrender to Zhu Fu Yin."

Wu Ba was bragging so hard that he didn't notice that Ah Bai turned his head and exchanged glances with his companion silently.But it was only a blink of an eye, and Ah Bai turned his head again, and continued chatting with Wu Ba about people and things in the army.