Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 220 Negotiations ([-])

On the sixth day of the eleventh lunar month in the 50th year of Qianlong's reign, Zhao Xin and his entourage of more than 50 people set off from Karen, Mongolia in a horse-drawn sled, went west along the Mongolian River, crossed the southern foot of Tongken Mountain two days later, and entered the Hunchun River.From then on, I headed south all the way, and arrived at the foot of a hill twenty miles north of Amida Karen three days later.

This journey can blow Zhao Xin enough.The speed of the horse-drawn sleigh was about forty or fifty miles, and the bitter north wind was blowing against him, making him "ouch" from the cold.

On a low slope near Amida Karen, several white tents stood alone, with puffs of white smoke rising from the top.Inside the small camp, several bonfires were burning brightly.Near the gate of the camp, several armored soldiers of the Qing army were wearing cotton armor and a large cloak, stomping their feet on the ground from time to time with steam.

At this time, it was almost noon, and with the shaking of the curtain of a tent, bursts of meaty smell wafted out from inside.Several Qing soldiers standing guard immediately salivated.

After about a meal, when the cook left the big tent with the leftover lunch from Qitai, there was a sound of horseshoes in the distance.More than a dozen armored soldiers looked at each other and hurried over.

On two short and strong Mongolian horses, each sat a person in a gray coat.The two wore a big hat with a circle of animal skin exposed on the edge of the hat; the brim of the hat was pressed so low that they couldn't see their faces clearly.

"Stop whoever comes!" A Qing soldier shouted loudly.

"Woo~~~" The two horses stopped a dozen steps away from the Qing soldiers. "I'm from Beihai Town." The person who came spoke in Manchu, and the Qing soldiers on the scene were all shocked when he opened his mouth.When Beihai Zhenbing came to Ning Ancient Pagoda, they all stood guard on the city wall.Thinking of the power of the guns and guns in Beihai Town like a storm, all the Qing soldiers felt numb in their backs and broke out in cold sweat.

"I came here to inform you that our people have arrived twenty miles away."

"You, hurry up and report to the adults." Before the words finished, a Qing soldier hurriedly turned around and ran towards the largest tent.Then, the leading military officer said very nervously: "Please sit down in the tent, both of you."

The two men on horseback raised their hats, and the Qing soldiers discovered that the hats and coats were connected together.Under the hat, an even weirder outfit stunned everyone present.

I saw that both of them were wearing a pair of large black objects on their faces, and the lower half of their faces were covered by a fluffy scarf.At this time, one of them took off the things he was wearing on his face, revealing half of a slightly immature man's face.The man said to the leading military officer with a smile on his face: "No need, the brigade will arrive in a while. I'm here to fight the front station, and arrange a place to camp by the way."

"Gulu!" The military officer swallowed and said in a muffled voice, "Big team? How many people are there?"

"Hehe, this question is so strange. Isn't it the 50 people you asked for?"

The military officer let out a long breath, then pointed to a large open space two hundred paces away to the east and said, "That's reserved for you, please do what you want."

"Thank you! Brother." Immediately, the two of them clasped their fists together, and then turned their horses to the open space.

"Bah! Who the hell is brother to you gang of rebels? I haven't lived enough yet!" The military officer spat at the backs of the two men, cursing fiercely in a low voice.

Several Qing soldiers noticed that after the two knights from Beihai Town got to the open space, they got off their horses and found a place in the lee to tie the horses first.Then the two walked back and forth in the open space, holding a branch in their hands and drawing strange lines on the snow.

"My lord, what are they doing?"

"It's hard to say, the gods and gods are weird. Get up and be alert with bows and arrows!"

The two Qing soldiers hurried to their tents, took out a sack from inside and tied it around their waists.Then the bow was drawn, and the arrows drawn, set and ready.

The two people from Beihai Town seemed to have noticed the movement of the Qing soldiers, and looked up and smiled at the Qing soldiers in the distance.After a while, the two of them seemed to have finished painting, they threw the branch in their hands, and found a cat in a leeward place.Soon, a puff of white smoke floated out from behind the big tree, and soon turned into blue and dissipated in the air.

"Damn it! Those two seem to be smoking!" Several Qing soldiers with good eyes cursed angrily.

After about two sticks of incense, there were more intensive sounds of horseshoes coming from the path to the north.

"They are coming! Go and inform your lord!"

On the gray-white mountain road, dozens of two-horse sledges lined up in a long black line, like a black dragon swimming in the forest.When the opponent got closer and could see more and more clearly, all the Qing soldiers saw an eight-foot-long and five-foot-wide red flag fluttering in the wind on the leader's sled, with a big white ring gear in the middle, In the middle of the gear is a white five-pointed star, and the middle of the five-pointed star and the gear is painted black.

"My lord, what banner is this bandit playing?" Outside the big tent of the Qing army camp, Na Qitai, who had already received the report, and a middle-aged man in a fur cloak and a plain gold official hat were looking at the banner. .

Na Qitai pondered for a moment, as if recalling something, and then said: "Zhao Ni erected the flag of false Ming Dynasty and general flag under Ninggu Pagoda city before. I have never seen this flag before."

The two Beihai Town knights who arrived first also got on their horses at this time, galloped to the first sled and made a circle, leading the group of people towards the open space.A long sled team made a big turn in front of the Qing army camp, splashing pieces of snowflakes.

"I wipe it! It's numb!" Zhao Xin screamed in a low voice and stood up from the sled, his legs were so numb that he couldn't walk.Gui Sheng on the side was numb because he couldn't care about his feet, he gritted his teeth and bent down to rub Zhao Xin twice.

"Okay, okay." Zhao Xin pulled Guisheng away with his hands, and walked a few steps with his teeth bared, his legs felt as if they were being pricked by countless small needles.He kicked his legs a few times and took a few steps before recovering.

"My lord, the locations of the camps have been selected. The monk and I have drawn the locations on the ground."

"Okay. Except for the security personnel, everyone else hastened to set up tents while it's still early."

Wang Yuanfang came over, pulled down his mask and asked, "Mr. Zhao, do you need to report to the Qing Army?"

Zhao Xin thought for a while and called out, "Monk Zhou!"

"To!"

"Go and tell the over there that we need to set up camp first. We can talk about it later or tomorrow. Anyway, the day after tomorrow is the day after the negotiation."

"Yes!"

Monk Zhou put on his mask and hat, led his horse to turn over, hummed a little tune in his mouth, and swayed slowly towards the Qing army camp.

"What the hell is Monk Zhou, he still looks like a fool!"

Wang Yuanfang smiled and said: "The person you lead. This kid is not bad in training, but he likes to hum a few words when he has nothing to do."

At the gate of the Qing army's camp, a dozen Qing soldiers saw a tall man riding a black Mongolian horse, strolling over.When the other party walked more than ten steps away, he raised his hand and signaled: "Stop!"

Monk Zhou didn't get off his horse either, with his chin up to the sky, he clasped his hands casually, and said, "Our chief has said so. Now we have to set up camp and cook, so I don't have time to talk to you. We'll talk about it tomorrow if we have anything to say." Pull the rein, turn around and go back!

A group of Qing soldiers were almost driven mad by Monk Zhou's actions, and they all gritted their teeth and stared at each other's backs.

"Pfft! Pretending to be a wolf with a big tail!"

"Hey? Why does this grandson look so familiar to me?"

"Well. I seem to have seen it somewhere."

Suddenly, a Qing soldier jumped up and scolded: "Damn it! Isn't this the fake monk in the city back then! I beat him back then!"

In the camp in Beihai Town, a dozen soldiers unloaded tools from their sleds and began to clear the snow in the open space; others unloaded a bunch of metal shelves and fasteners from other sledges. These people were busy After a while, the ties and turnbuckles of each tent were assembled.After a clearing was cleared, they unloaded the top and front and rear peak cloths from the sleds and began laying.After the uprights are installed, a large tent of 5m*6m will be set up.The soldiers moved very skillfully, and in less than two hours, five white rectangular tents were set up.

"Sir, the tents are all set up."

"Well, you all stay outside."

"Yes!" Judging from the expressions of the soldiers, everyone is used to this these days.

"The Immortal Zhao" began to appear.A few minutes later, Zhao Xin came out from the fifth tent.A dozen soldiers from Beihai Town bowed their heads and entered the tent without saying a word.

After some clanging, a tin cylinder emerged from the side of the tent; after a while, a thick gray-black smoke emerged, which turned white in a few minutes.

Two hundred paces away, watching the large tents and the white smoke rising from the side of the tents one after another in the open space, all the vigilant Qing soldiers were dumbfounded.

A Qing soldier murmured: "They came here with a stove chimney? This, this is too extravagant!"

Another Qing soldier cursed in a low voice: "This fucking traitor doesn't care about the imperial court! Extremely arrogant!"

"What do you think we are here for?"

"You ask me, who do I ask?"

At this time, a military attache of the Qing army heard the conversation between the two, came over and shouted: "You bastard! You can talk about military and state affairs?! Shut up! If you dare to speak rashly, I will beat him with fifty troops first. stick!"

In fact, the military attache only vaguely heard that the Vice President came to discuss with the other party the return of the prisoners.However, he felt that it was better to pretend not to know about this matter, so as not to cause trouble to the upper body in the future.

At night, cooking began in the camp in Beihai Town.Fortunately, the northwest wind was blowing, and the camp in Beihai Town was downwind, otherwise the Qing army on the upwind would have been starved to death by the smell of stewed meat in Beihai Town.

At dawn the next day, the Qing soldiers standing guard were surprised to find that there was a wall more than one person high outside the opposite camp, which frightened them half to death.I didn't fall asleep in the second half of the night, so I was always on guard!I didn't know such a big movement on the opposite wall.When I woke up the Qing army who was on duty in the middle of the night and asked, the other party also said that they did not hear any movement on the other side.

Damn!Is that human being?

When the sky was bright at 7 o'clock in the morning, the Qing army officially sent a messenger.A military attache and a post-style horse rode to the gate of the Beihai town camp, and agreed to start negotiations in the Qing army's camp at the exact hour of the morning.

Without Zhao Xin's words, Wang Yuanfang directly rejected the other party's request and proposed to change the negotiation location to the middle of the two camps.After getting the reply, Na Qitai agreed directly without haggling; he didn't want to be entangled in such trivial matters.But the seventh-rank civil servant who came with him raised objections.

"Then my lord, how can I be threatened by bandits?"

This person's name is Wu Shenglan, 47 years old this year, and is currently an editor of the Imperial Academy of the Qing court.He and his elder brother Wu Xingqin are He Shen's dogs.Originally, the two He Shen studied as masters in Xian'an Palace. After He Shen became the Minister of Military Aircraft, they worshiped He Shen as their teacher and gave advice.

The reason why He Shen brought Wu Shenglan this time was to help him get some credit so that he could be promoted.Because it was inconvenient for He Shen to come forward, he sent Wu Shenglan over as a deputy negotiator.

Na Qitai was very annoyed by these literati, this Wu Shenglan had come up with crooked ideas every now and then, all of which were rejected by him.If it wasn't for He Shen's face, he would have been kicked away long ago.

"Mr. Quanzhi, I have my own reasons. It's important for us to get down to business. Every day of delay, the pressure on He Zhongtang will increase."

At around [-]:[-], a shed that was very familiar to Na Qitai appeared in the center of the two camps.That strange black and white flag with a red background was planted on the left side of the shed.

The soldiers of Beihai Town put a curtain around the shed to keep out the cold wind.When the Qing army saw it, they quickly brought out several braziers from the camp and put them in the shed, which made it much warmer.

Just after eight o'clock, a trumpet sounded in the Qing army camp, and Na Qitai and Wu Shenglan walked over with five guards and a pen post.Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang also took Serdan, Erlu, and Monk Zhou out of the camp.

After the two parties were seated, Zhao Xin cupped his hands to Qitai with a smile and said, "Master, it's been a long time. This is our deputy envoy Wang Yuanfang."

That Qitai is called Ao Tao, he greeted Zhao Xin's family a hundred times in his heart a hundred times!He put on a smiling face, cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Zhao, it's been a long time. This is our deputy envoy, Mr. Wu Shenglan, editor of the Imperial Academy."

Hanlin!Ox!Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang immediately looked at Wu Shenglan with admiration.wait!Why does this name sound so familiar?
"This Mr. Wu, what is Wu Shengqin's relationship with you?" Zhao Xin didn't know what Wu Shengqin's character was, so he just said his name.The ancients were actually very taboo about calling people by their first names, and they were usually salutations.

Wu Shenglan's forehead was twitching with blue veins, his face showed a sullen look, and he said, "That's my elder brother."

"Oh, oh!" Zhao Xin looked stunned, and said in his heart that it was you!No wonder a seventh-rank petty official can be a deputy negotiator.

Na Qitai cleared his throat and said, "Mr. Zhao, the polite words are omitted. Let's get straight to the point."

"OK, I have no problem."

Wu Shenglan was stunned for a moment, thinking what does "OK" mean?
At this moment, Na Qitai pondered and said: "That's it, I will tell you. I have read Mr. Zhao's letter that was brought to me before. Our condition is 10 taels of silver."

Zhao Xin stretched out his index finger, shook his head, and said, "Master, we are old acquaintances. You are doing this wrong, do you think I am short of money?" After speaking, Zhao Xin took out two silver coins from his coat pocket. The strip was thrown on the table with a "clang".

Na Qitai and Wu Shenglan took a closer look, they turned out to be two silver bars long forefingers, they were polished so brightly that even the silhouette of a person could be reflected; people couldn't put it down when they saw it, and wanted to keep it in their arms.

"These two silver bars are considered a meeting gift. The two of you can take them back and make jewelry or something for the children." Zhao Xin smiled and looked at the two opposite with sharp eyes.

Wu Shenglan slapped the table and said angrily, "Mr. Zhao, what do you mean? Bribe me?"

"Mr. Wu, the two of you brothers came to Heshen for the official position and this. A small gift is not a respect."

"You! You!" Wu Shenglan was suddenly punctured by Zhao Xin's secret, she blushed immediately, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

well!You see, I don't talk to each other.Na Qitai, who had experienced Zhao Xin's methods, sighed in his heart, and then said with a serious face: "Master Wu, don't engage in emotional disputes." He turned to look at Zhao Xin, and asked: "Mr. Zhao, since it is a negotiation , Naturally there are exchanges. If you are not satisfied with the conditions proposed by the official, then tell your conditions."

"Just say it straight from me, sir, look at it." Zhao Xin folded his hands and fingers, put them on the table, and said slowly: "Last time, Ning Guta was eight thousand."

"Bastard! Which pot won't open and which pot to lift? You're trying to stab me in the heart!" Na Qitai almost cursed, but he interrupted with a livid face, "Mr. Zhao, are we talking about letting go or not?" Don't talk about the affairs of the soldiers of the imperial court!"

"Okay! Our condition is that all soldiers get one tael of gold each; leaders get five taels of gold; co-leaders get 200 taels of gold, 500 taels for generals, and 5 taels for lieutenants. As for those two, gold [-] taels One in two."

"You, you are blackmailing!" Wu Shenglan slapped the table, stood up and drank.

"Mr. Wu, please speak up. How can I count it as blackmail? This is kidnapping! All your officers and soldiers are my meat tickets!"

"Pfft!" Wu Shenglan's throat felt hot, and a mouthful of blood almost spewed out.It was hard for him to believe that this guy who looked like a Beijing city ruffian was able to defeat the army of the imperial court!
(End of this chapter)