"Okay, I will take on the heavy responsibility of defending the city!" In response to Ma Shao's proposal, Tuohuan drank the remaining wine in the bowl in one go, and then threw the bowl to the ground and agreed.

"Your Highness, how are you going to deal with it?" Seeing the golden bowl falling in front of him still wandering around, Ma Shao was a little confused. He didn't expect that Tuohuan would agree so happily, and he didn't say a word to persuade him with righteousness. However, this made him wonder, feeling uneasy, and even wonder if he was talking drunk. It was not until the golden bowl stopped rotating and pressed on the ground for a while before he looked up and asked.

"Of course, we should guard the city strictly and wait for reinforcements!" Someone once replaced Tuo Huan with a new bowl and poured wine. He took a sip of the wine sticking to his beard and said.

"Your Highness, reinforcements may not be able to arrive for a while. The Commander of Shu sent a messenger to send a letter saying that he ordered us to defend the city and drag the Southern Army here. I think he had other arrangements!" Seeing that he was drinking again, Ma Shao frowned and said.

"I know Yuxi Timuer, I am the most fond of merit and is a mystery. He must have asked to call for reinforcements, and then gathered troops from both ten thousand houses of the two capitals to trap the enemy troops in the north of the Yangtze River, and then captured the thief alive in the inside and outside. It will take time for this to be arranged." Tuo Huan chuckled and said, but the slightly tugged corner of his mouth showed his disdain for him.

"But the situation is extremely critical now. The Southern Dynasties army has moved to the front of the city to get a camp three miles away, surrounded the city and seized Baoyou City, trying to capture Jiacheng. Moreover, they have the advantage of firearms, and even the city is hard to stop. But if the reinforcements do not arrive for a long time, will Your Highness have a clever plan to defend the city?" Seeing that he did not seem to take the matter to heart, and with the intention of drinking, Ma Shao became more and more unsure and said in a tentative manner.

"You Han people are not the saying: soldiers come to block the enemy, and water comes to garrison. We sit in the city, and there are a large amount of food, grass and weapons stored in the city, and there are nearly 20,000 elite soldiers. It is no problem to persist for several months. But I am still trapped in the city, how dare Yuxi Timuer not save me? If I fall into the enemy, the Khan will definitely pursue his crime and destroy him!" Tuo Huan waved his hand and signaled that he should not worry about the reinforcements, and still said with a smile.

"But Shushu did not explain how to resolve the siege. I am worried that he would make other plans instead of fully rescue Yangzhou City." Ma Shao said that the Han people also have a saying that "there is no father and son in the heavenly family." You are just a son abandoned by your father Khan, and you will threaten the brother of the Khan throne. The prince who has long been out of date, it is hard to say that the Khan will mobilize a large army to rescue the siege. Therefore, although the words seem suspicious, there are some hints about it. Don't take yourself too seriously, but it's better to be on the front of you.

"Hmph, I have been attacking each other for nearly ten years and I know him very well. He is a calculating guy. When he feels a crisis, he will quickly evacuate and will never fight with him. Now he is 100,000 troops to attack Yangzhou, and he will not talk about the outcome. The daily consumption is huge. Everything needs must be transported from Jiangnan. As long as we persist for more than a month, it will be unbearable and will retreat. There are also a large army led by Yuxi Timur outside who is eyeing him. With his temperament, he will naturally not fight hard. Once the army rolls in, he will flee in panic." Although Tuo Huan's doubts about Ma Shao were not angry, he also snorted coldly.

"But Your Highness, what if he launches a fierce attack at all costs, what will happen to us?" Ma Shao saw that he was already a little dissatisfied with his doubts, but he still asked.

"It depends on Ma Youcheng!" Tuo Huan did not get angry, but picked up a bowl of wine and looked at Ma Shao and invited him to drink with him.

"Oh, but I have no power to tie a chicken. How can I keep the city alive?" Ma Shao froze when he heard this, but then turned to a wry smile and drank a drink.

"Although the Right Prime Minister has no force, he has a perfect tongue!" Tuo Huan drank all the wine in the bowl and said, "Yuxi Timur did not allow the Right Prime Minister to negotiate with the Southern Dynasty under no circumstances and promise all the conditions they had put forward in order to withdraw the army!"

"This..." Ma Shaowenzhi was stunned, and was even more shocked. Only he knew the content of the secret letter Yuxi Timuer gave him, and he had not even shown the negotiations to several staff members beside him. One was worried that the content would be leaked, which led to the turmoil of the army; the other was worried that he would take the blame. However, the King of Zhennan, who had always ignored political affairs, knew the content, which made him suspect that there was a spy around him.

"Ma Youcheng doesn't have to be too careful. I have a source of information." Seeing Ma Shao's shocked and suspicious face, Tuohuan was very satisfied. He wanted this effect and let him know his strength from the subtle points.

"Your Highness has made a lot of friends. Not to mention the court, even the movements in the Southern Dynasties cannot escape your highness's eyes and ears!" At this time, the chef who was serving on the side gave Tuo Huan a plate of freshly fried meat pie and said with a smile.

"Lahhuduo, don't talk nonsense, do you want to get whipped?" Tuohuan scolded him as if he was angry, and then said to Ma Shao, "Don't blame Ma Youcheng, this slave is ignorant. I have been guarding Jiangnan for many years, and there are some business dealings in the mansion. Naturally, I know some news about the Southern Dynasty!"

"It's the officials who are ignorant!" Ma Shao bowed, but he cursed in his heart that business transactions were just using the power of the royal palace and the identity of the prince to smuggle goods with the Southern Dynasty.

Everyone knows that salt in the Southern Dynasty was very cheap, and the price was lower than that offered by the Jianghuai River. Tuohuan colluded with illegal salt owls in the Southern Dynasty to traffic, but secretly suppressed the country's salt fields, which made it difficult to recover the output and the salt workers fled. This made it almost control the source of all salt in the Jianghuai River area, and then monopolized more than 60% of the country's market. He made huge wealth in just two years, and it was rumored that it was rich enough to rival a country.

Ma Shao and a group of knowledgeable people in the court knew that salt was related to the lifeline of the country, and King Zhennan did not hesitate to abandon his martial arts for his own benefit, resulting in insufficient self-production. Once the Southern Dynasties cracked down on smuggling, it would cause the country's salt shortage, soaring prices and causing national turmoil. What's even worse was that King Zhennan did not hesitate to smuggle war horses to the Southern Dynasties for salt. He not only colluded with his fiefdom, but also bribed relevant officials and garrison generals to reach out to the war horses shepherded by the Jianghuai Group Pastoral Office, resulting in insufficient supply of war horses, but also signed for civilian horses on this ground, which caused resentment of heaven and earth.

In this way, Tuohuan used money to weave a network of relationships in Lianghuai. They covered each other and communicated information, forming interest groups to advance and retreat together. He had the title of Zhennan King, and the local government did not dare to take care of it. The officials in the court were also bribed by him to cover up. The voice of impeachment could not be heard by the great knights. In addition, the real gold turned a blind eye to the king's power, even if he knew it, he would turn a blind eye and would not really take action to rectify it.

Therefore, Ma Shao believed Tuo Huan's explanation eight points, and he had no doubt that he had the ability to learn the content of the letter from the Privy Council, and even knew Yuxi Timuer's entire combat plan, so that he could be so calm. Instead, he suspected that the generals in the city did not listen to the dispatch and were helpless. Zhang Ting asked him to ask the King of Zhennan to come out of the mountain to preside over the overall situation, which contained an ulterior motive.

"Ma Youcheng is a minister of the country and has been ordered to preside over the peace talks between the two countries. The current siege of the Southern Army is just showing its skills!" Tuo Huan did not see the abnormality in Ma Shao's heart, but felt that he had a plan and said with a smile.

"Haha, the lower official has been trusted by the Khan. Although the peace talks have been going on for several months, there has been no progress. I am really ashamed!" When talking about the peace talks, Ma Shao was very angry. He was criticized by the Tanhualang of the Southern Dynasty. Not only was the conditions he proposed were difficult to accept, but his character was questioned, and he felt that the peace talks were naturally difficult to reach a consensus. He also felt that the Southern Dynasty had no sincerity in peace talks, so he talked intermittently for such a long time, and except for making himself angry, he did not reach any substantial opinions. When he mentioned it, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

"I know a little about the peace talks. When I was in Jiangnan, I had peace talks with the pseudo emperors of the Southern Dynasty many times. The two sides had reached an agreement to quit the army and exchange whether there was any or not. What was hateful is that the demon monk Yang Lianzhenjia, with the favor of his father Khan, did arbitrarily in Lin'an and actually did the excavation of the imperial tomb of the Southern Dynasty, which made him furious. At that time, I happened to go to Helin to attend the funeral, resulting in no one guarding Jiangnan. The thief took the opportunity to raise an army to capture Jiangnan. Otherwise, according to my king's plan, he would just be a free king in Qiongzhou. In a few years, his spirit was lost and he naturally joined our dynasty. How could this happen today happen?" Tuo Huan said half proudly and half resentfully.

"Yes, unfortunately, a big mistake has been made, and Yang Lianzhenjia died for this. The safety of Yangzhou City is now entrusted to His Highness to the protection of the city. The soldiers and civilians in the city also rely on His Highness to protect him. But I am stupid and cannot see through the mystery. I would like to ask Your Highness to give some advice!" Ma Shao has been in office for many years, and he still maintains the pedantic nature of a Confucian scholar, and he easily shifted the topic from leaking the secrets to peace talks. He also understood the incident back then. Although Yang Lianzhenjia's excavation of the Southern Dynasty's imperial tombs intensified the conflict, the most fundamental thing is that King Zhennan attacked Qiongzhou and made him bigger. You might as well listen to him and review the reasons for his failure in peace talks.

"As the saying goes, the world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for profit." Tuohuan also received the education of Sinology, and Ali Hague, who has always assisted him, was also proficient in Sinology, so he could still hang a few books. Seeing that the Han scholar Ma Shao asked him for advice, he couldn't help but feel a little proud, and he showed his cultivation of Sinology, but he missed his timidity in a few sentences, "The killings in the world are all caused by the struggle for property. As for the covenant and oath, they are actually bullshit. For a few taels of gold, they may be left behind. I believe Ma Youcheng also has the same feeling!"

"..." Ma Shao's expression changed when he heard this. The education he received was a gentleman's commitment, but he was said to be a bullshit and couldn't help but get angry. But at this time, the Southern Dynasty's deputy peace envoy Zheng Tanhua ridiculed himself for violating the words of the saints for glory and wealth, and the words of surrendering to the Tartars echoed in his mind, making him swallow the rebuttals back into his stomach.

"I know that you Han people value your promises, but there is another saying called "a promise of a thousand gold", which means that promises are still valuable in the end, although they are a bit expensive!" Tuohuan, who was already sixty or seventy percent drunk, did not notice that Ma Shao's face looked a little ugly. He thought he was talking interestingly, and laughed.

"I also know that you Han people have always said in private that we Mongols are greedy for money and do not hesitate to conquer and plunder everywhere. In fact, what is the difference between you Han people? The countless scholars around the thief in the Southern Dynasty are naturally teaching them carefully. We must say that they know the principles of saints! But when they first attacked Quanzhou, although they were under the banner of killing tens of thousands of clans in the bloody night in Quanzhou, they actually killed thousands of people in the Pu family and took the opportunity to rob the property in their mansion. After all, it was for money!"

"Your Highness, let's talk about how to reach peace with the Southern Dynasty!" If Zhao Bing heard these words, he would naturally regard him as a confidant, thinking that the eldest brother, not to mention the second brother, were all the same. But Ma Shao was sitting here, so of course he would regard what he said as a fallacy, so he asked him to talk about the topic unhappily.

"Since he has something to like, he can do what he likes!" Tuo Huan drank a bowl of wine and said, "Ma Youcheng had been talking to the Southern Dynasty for several months. As far as I know, I have never seen the little thief before!"

"Yeah!" Ma Shao nodded helplessly. He also asked the Southern Dynasty peace envoy to convey his idea of ​​meeting the pseudo-emperor and discussing in person, but he failed to get what he wanted.

"It's not that I am derogatory. When Liu Mengyan was ordered to enter Qiongzhou to discuss peace with the thief, he was much more beautiful than Ma Youcheng. Not only did he see the thief, but he also heard that they wanted to use Annan and Chameng alliance to fight our dynasty, which made our dynasty take the lead and break the alliance of the three kingdoms. In addition, he reached an agreement with them, so that the Suodu army could pass through the border safely to Chameng. He used a lot of money to open the way and presented dozens of boxes of property, which made the thief happy and was able to escape unscathed and fulfill his mission!" Tuo Huan said.

"Is this okay?" Ma Shao said in surprise. Could it be that the young emperor of the Southern Dynasty was so greedy for money that more than a dozen boxes of money could be exchanged for the agreement between the two countries?

"Of course, this little property alone is not enough. The thief has a very big appetite. But I didn't spend a penny, but I just asked the Otu merchants to contact him and gave him a lot of money, so that he let him go to the West and promised not to send troops to harass the coastal prefectures. Of course, our dynasty also promised not to use troops to attack, so he limited his sphere of influence to the small island, and the two sides maintained peace for several years. If it weren't...ah!" Tuo Huan certainly wouldn't say that his side compromised in disguise because of the failure of several troops to attack, the loss of troops and generals, and the power was unable to fight again, and it was all due to the charm of money.

"Ma Youcheng has the order of Yuxi Timur. When negotiating with him, he can grant him a lot of money and temporarily agree to all his conditions. Once our army wins, all the alliance will be empty!" Tuo Huan said the key point at this moment...
Chapter completed!