Chapter 1 The Importance of Momentum

To put it bluntly, embassies between two countries are no different from gang fights. No matter what, you can't lose momentum.

Especially now, with the Yan army occupying a great advantage, they can act as wildly as they want. The more tyrannical you are, the more others will fear you. The most important thing is this mission. If you weaken your momentum and it spreads, the great achievements that were originally in sight will instantly turn into the sin of insulting the country.

The Yan people are too proud, and they would never allow their envoys to be bullied outside and secretly swallow their anger in the name of prioritizing the overall situation.

However, you still have to control the degree; if you go too far, you may not be able to leave this city. You have to grasp the right measure in your heart.

Zheng Fan's reckless posture did make the surrounding Qian people a little caught off guard. In the past, there were frequent exchanges between envoys of the two countries, but no matter what, this was the first time they had seen an envoy who was so "stubborn," like a street ruffian trying to outdo others in ruthlessness.

"Yan dogs!!!"

The young general actually raised his sword and wanted to rush forward, but he was stopped by people on both sides.

"Don't stop me, don't stop me, I want to chop off the heads of these Yan dogs!"

Shao Wenjie couldn't remain silent any longer, otherwise it would be the Qian people who would lose face, not the Yan people. Although he couldn't say for sure what face the Qian Kingdom, with the enemy at its capital, had left.

"General Zu, His Majesty has ordered the Yan envoy to be summoned. Step back!"

General Zu?

Zheng Fan remembered that he had a Zu Dongcheng tied up in his army. Now another one with the surname Zu appeared. Was it from the same Zu family?

At this moment, the blind man's voice sounded in Zheng Fan's heart:

"My lord, if there are no accidents, this person should be from the Zu family in the southeast. Zu Dongcheng, the eldest son of the Zu family, is being held in our army, but the second son of Zu Zhuming was sent to the capital as a garrison commander a long time ago, a bit like a hostage.

His excitement now should be because he believes that his brother has died at the hands of our army."

The blind man's hard work of reading so many files and chatting with those captured Qian officials these days was not in vain. Like an encyclopedia, he provided interpretations to save Zheng Fan from being completely clueless.

Having a clear understanding of the situation,

Zheng Fan hurriedly opened his mouth and said:

"This, could you be the Young General Zu?"

"Yan dogs! Yan dogs!"

Zu Dongling continued to curse while struggling.

"Young General Zu, I think there must be some misunderstanding between us. I hit it off with your brother the moment we met and have already become sworn brothers. In theory, I should also be your elder brother."

Zu Dongling was stunned, and many people present were also stunned.

Shao Wenjie secretly thought it was bad and hurriedly said:

"General Zu, step back!"

"My elder brother is not dead yet? He's not dead yet?" Zu Dongling shouted excitedly.

Shao Wenjie was extremely anxious. How could these things be asked in front of so many people now?

Zheng Fan nodded and said:

"Your brother is naturally safe and sound, and our lord is very appreciative of your brother's talent. These days, he often exchanges military training methods with your brother.

Our lord also said that the Zu family's military training methods are unparalleled in the world, worthy of being the pillar of the southeast!"

Zu Dongling realized that something was wrong.

Zheng Fan didn't care anyway, and showered him with free compliments.

"Silver Armor Guards, listen to the order! His Majesty has ordered the Yan envoy to be brought in for an audience. Anyone who dares to obstruct will be killed without mercy!"

The Silver Armor Guards immediately drew their swords and pointed them at the surroundings.

Shao Wenjie breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Zheng Fan, secretly sighing that although this Yan envoy didn't look like an envoy at all, he was unexpectedly flexible when it came to doing the work of an envoy.

Zu Dongling dared not stop him any longer. Zheng Fan got into the carriage, and the Silver Armor Guards cleared the way, heading directly into the palace.

The curtains inside the carriage were opened, revealing wooden boards, a bit like a budget hotel in later generations without windows, but to avoid making you feel too depressed, they deliberately created a window shape.

It was estimated that they didn't want him to see the true situation inside the capital at this time.

In fact, this kind of cover-up was a kind of self-deception. If the people in the capital were united in their resistance to foreign enemies, why would they hide it from you?

Zheng Fan leaned back in the carriage and chose a more comfortable posture. He asked the blind man, who was sitting in the carriage with him,

"How is it?"

The blind man Bei calmly said, "The people are in a panic."

Zheng Fan nodded, as expected.

When the carriage arrived at the palace gate, they were not asked to get out of the carriage for inspection. Instead, they turned directly inside and drove for a while.

About an incense stick of time later, the carriage stopped.

Shao Wenjie lifted the curtain

and said:

"Yan Envoy, please get out of the carriage."

Zheng Fan got out of the carriage, but before the blind man and A Ming could get out of the carriage, the carriage started moving again.

"Yan Envoy, your entourage will have some refreshments while they wait for you."

Zheng Fan nodded without showing any emotion, but in his heart, he began to panic, like he had prepared a cheat sheet all night before the exam, only to find out that he didn't bring it with him.

However, since he was already here, there was no use in being afraid.

This should be the back half of the imperial palace. Generally speaking, the front half of the imperial palace is used for offices, while the back half is where the emperor and his concubines live.

The imperial palace of the Qian Kingdom was very luxurious, even from the perspective of modern people, it was still shocking enough.

The wealth of the Qian Kingdom was truly well-deserved.

As they continued to walk forward, when they were about to pass a courtyard, Shao Wenjie made a gesture of invitation. A small eunuch appeared in front of them, and after the two made a handover, the small eunuch held a lantern and signaled Zheng Fan to follow him.

Wasn't he going to see the civil and military officials?

In Zheng Fan's original imagination, he might be facing the civil and military officials of the Qian Kingdom in the court, and he would have to engage in a battle of words.

But obviously, this step seemed to have been skipped.

Following the small eunuch for another distance, the small eunuch stopped in front of an arched door, bowed slightly, and took a few steps back.

Zheng Fan nodded and walked straight in.

As soon as he entered,

Zheng Fan saw a female centurion wearing silver armor appear in front of him.

"Yan Envoy, please forgive me."

Zheng Fan did not resist and spread out his hands.

This feeling was similar to going through airport security in later generations.

Moreover, she was a female Silver Armor Guard, which was fine. He didn't resist, and her hands were soft.

Zheng Fan didn't carry any weapons, and the only thing that might have a slight impact was the Demonic Pill in his clothes.

However, the Demonic Pill was very cunning.

When the female Silver Armor Guard's hand checked above, the Demonic Pill went down.

When the female Silver Armor Guard's hand checked below, the Demonic Pill went back up from the back of his head.

From beginning to end, it was silent and without any aura, which was probably the ability of the Demonic Pill, because it was originally a soul body and was in self-sealing, making it difficult to detect.

Unless this Silver Armor Guard was an existence similar to the blind man, or a mental magician that was said to exist in the West.

After the inspection was completed, the female Silver Armor Guard stepped back.

Zheng Fan continued to walk forward.

After passing through a section of the corridor, he arrived at a warm room.

Because standing at this door, you could feel a wave of heat coming, like walking into a sauna.

Looking left and right, finding that no one was coming to guide him, Zheng Fan pushed open the door.

There was no charcoal basin in the room, but it was indeed very warm. The floor was covered with valuable carpets, and the furnishings inside were not only exquisite but also gave people a very comfortable feeling.

Perhaps because he was a painter in his previous life, Zheng Fan was very sensitive to this kind of visual matching and design. At a glance, he felt that this was the work of a famous designer, reflecting the owner's taste.

"Hurry up and come in and close the door, don't let the cold wind run in."

Inside, a man's voice came, with a hint of laziness.

Being able to say these words in this position in the imperial palace, it must be the Emperor.

Zheng Fan exhaled, walked in, closed the door, turned around, and walked around the screen towards the direction of the voice.

"Splashing sound..."

The sound of water came,

Then,

Zheng Fan saw a middle-aged man wearing a Taoist robe with wet hair walking out from behind.

"Foreign Minister Zheng Fan, pays respects to His Majesty the Emperor of Qian!"

Zheng Fan didn't kneel but made a cupped fist salute.

The Qian Emperor looked to be in his forties, probably a few years younger than the Yan Emperor, but he definitely paid more attention to maintenance than the Yan Emperor.

"Rise, there's food and drink here, help yourself if you're thirsty or hungry."

After saying that,

The Qian Emperor personally walked to an incense burner, selected sandalwood, and lit it. After lighting it, he gently fanned it with his palm, smelled it, and showed a satisfied expression on his face.

Zheng Fan was not polite. He walked to the table, where there were many foods, mostly cold dishes and pastries. Many of the pastries were types that Zheng Fan had never seen before.

He chose some and picked them up and put them in his mouth. To be honest, the taste was really good, not worse than the pastries of later generations.

Then,

Zheng Fan poured himself a glass of wine. The wine was red, it should be wine, and there were actually ice cubes stored in a jar next to it.

The iced wine went down, and the whole person was refreshed.

Zheng Fan simply stood there, concentrating on dealing with the food in front of him.

Tasting this, eating two bites of that,

Tsk tsk,

A country bumpkin entering the city was really not afraid of being laughed at. Anyway, getting the benefits was more important. What was face worth?

Besides, there were only himself and the Qian Emperor in the room, so he wasn't afraid that his eating habits and lack of promise would spread.

"Are you Yan people short of food in your army? You look like you're starving. That's not right, logically speaking, you should have captured a lot of food along the way, so there shouldn't be a shortage of food."

The Qian Emperor asked while lying diagonally on the recliner, holding a string of bodhi beads in his hand.

Zheng Fan swallowed the food in his mouth and said:

"The army is not short of food, but Your Majesty should be clear that it's already a blessing to be able to eat enough in the army. It's really not as refined as what you have here, Your Majesty."

"It seems that you are a gluttonous person."

"People live a lifetime, and only two things are the most beautiful, one is food, and the other is beautiful women."

"That's a bit biased, but it can be said to represent the masses, but in this world, besides food and beautiful women, there are actually many better things."

"But it's only limited to people like you, Your Majesty, who can pursue them."

Zheng Fan grabbed a handful of green particles that looked like raisins but didn't taste like raisins and walked over. He wasn't polite and sat directly on the carpet in front of the Qian Emperor.

The Qian Emperor's Taoist robe was just worn as a formality, not buttoned up, and a lot of white flesh was exposed.

To be honest, it was a bit uncomfortable to see a man exposing his flesh in front of you.

"Hey, tell me, what are people living for in this lifetime?"

Zheng Fan silently ate the things in his hand.

"Why aren't you talking?" the Qian Emperor asked.

"In this world, many people can only think about what they will eat tomorrow and can't think so far ahead."

"Oh, I understand, you mean that I'm deliberately chatting with you about these trivial things?"

Zheng Fan nodded.

The Qian Emperor's dress was indeed too relaxed, but relaxing at this time seemed too deliberate.

Furthermore, Zheng Fan came here to anger the Qian Kingdom's monarchs and ministers. Now that he couldn't see the ministers, he could only see the emperor, so he could only try to make the emperor angry first.

However, he had to be careful that he wouldn't be beheaded by the emperor in a fit of anger.

"I'm actually like this every day. It's not specially prepared for you."

"Your Majesty is truly in good spirits."

"Ji Runhao, he can't be as unrestrained as I am, right?"

"Conscientious and diligent." Zheng Fan sighed, glanced around, and said, "Your Majesty, you really are living the life of an emperor."

"Have you ever thought about it?"

Zheng Fan shook his head.

"Really don't want to?"

"Really don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because there are not many days left."

"Hahahaha..."

The Qian Emperor burst out laughing. The laughter echoed in the room, and tears seemed to be coming out of his eyes.

Zheng Fan got up, went over there to get another plate of pastries, walked over, sat down, and continued to eat.

"Why don't you ask me why I laughed just now?"

"Your Majesty was trying to cover up your gaffe. If I asked again, wouldn't I be exposing your shortcomings?"

"Interesting, interesting, you, this Yan envoy, are really quite interesting. There are countless foreign envoys who come to the capital every year. I've seen a lot of them, but you're the first one who's this interesting."

"Actually, I didn't plan to come either, but there's no way, who would have thought that the fighting would have reached the capital so quickly? There wasn't enough time for the official envoy to set off from the capital and come over, so I, this country bumpkin, was forced to come in and say hello to you, Your Majesty."

"Then that's really fate."

"Yes, fate."

"Your surname is Zheng, right?"

"Yes."

"What official position do you hold in the Yan Kingdom?"

"Garrison commander of Cui Liu Fort in Yinlang County."

"Tsk, I've heard of you. Weren't you the little fellow who attacked Mianzhou City last time? And you wrote that line 'Zheng Fan was here'."

"I'm sorry for making you laugh, Your Majesty. I just wanted to come over and take a look. Who knew that the Qian people would be so enthusiastic? It was hard to refuse, so I went in and sat down."

"You took Fu Wang's head, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm just curious, why didn't taking the head of a Fu Wang get you promoted?

Why are you still just a garrison commander?"

"Fu Wang's head is not very valuable." As he said this, Zheng Fan's gaze fell on the Qian Emperor's head.

Perhaps having just come out of the pool, the Qian Emperor's head was still steaming.

Seeing this, the Qian Emperor pointed to his head and said:

"You want it?"

Zheng Fan swallowed and nodded very honestly.

"I'm very curious, if you take my head, what military merits can you exchange for it in the Yan Kingdom?"

Zheng Fan replied without hesitation:

"To be conferred a marquis."

"Wow! That's really valuable. I know that in your Yan Kingdom, a marquis is the highest title for a non-imperial surname, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"I'm sitting right here, why don't you come and take it?"

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "Because I don't know if Your Majesty knows martial arts."

"I don't practice martial arts."

"The Qian Kingdom has a prevalent culture of Qi refiners."

"I don't actually believe in these flowery astrological and feng shui theories."

"Then..."

"Don't 'then' this and 'then' that. I'm telling you plainly, I'm just a good-for-nothing."

Zheng Fan looked around.

"Don't look around. Apart from the woman you saw when you first came in, there's no one else hiding. I specifically dismissed those eunuchs and specially met you alone.

That woman is just a Ninth-Rank martial artist. The reason why she's by my side is because I think she looks good."

"This..."

"Why, why don't you attack?"

"If I kill you, Your Majesty, I won't be able to leave this city either."

"Hehehe, hahahaha..."

The Qian Emperor laughed again. He couldn't help but pat the armrest of the recliner he was sitting on and said:

"You, are you afraid of death?"

"Of course, I'm afraid of death."

"I thought you Yan people weren't afraid of death at all. Are you really a Yan person?"

"I guess."

"Then you're not going to kill me?"

"Your Majesty is treating me to a meal, how could I do such a thing?"

You say there are no experts, so there are no experts? You say you're a good-for-nothing, so you're a good-for-nothing? You say that woman outside is just a Ninth-Rank mistress, so she's just a Ninth-Rank mistress?

"Alright, let's talk business."

"Right here?"

"Yes, right here."

Zheng Fan reached out and took out the official document from his arms. The document had been checked when that woman checked him earlier.

The Qian Emperor reached out and took the document. He didn't rush to open it and read it.

Instead, he first put it on his face and sniffed it lightly,

and said:

"Can't you pretend a little? It's not a state letter, it's not personally written by Ji Runhao, and the ink hasn't even dried yet."

Zheng Fan's old face turned red.

"Hehe."

The Qian Emperor didn't open the document. Instead, he threw the document aside and asked:

"What kind of woman does Zheng Aiqing like?" (Aiqing is a term used by the emperor to address his ministers)

"Ah?"

"I'm asking you, tell me."

"Your Majesty, weren't we talking business?"

"In my opinion, this is also business."

"Your Majesty, I'm shy."

"Men, let's just chat casually, plump or slender, beautiful on the outside and wise on the inside, what kind of woman does Zheng Aiqing like?"

"I basically don't hate the pretty ones."

"Crude!"

"Yes, I'm crude."

"Vile."

"Yes, I'm vile."

"That's also sincere. In fact, that's the truth, people's desires are endless, just like your Yan Kingdom."

"Your Majesty, weren't we talking business?"

Weren't we talking about women?

I'm still waiting for you to continue chatting with me and then say you'll send me...

"Is national affairs not business?"

"It's business."

"That's right, to be honest, if your Yan Kingdom was like before, just wanting some benefits, adding some more silver, my Great Qian would give it to you, anyway, my Great Qian is rich and vast.

To put it another way, if you Yan people came south this time, robbed and plundered and went back, I can understand, everyone knows that your Yan Kingdom is poor. These years, because of the so-called Silk Road, life has been slightly better, but that's about it.

If a poor neighbor comes to your house to reap some benefits, borrowing some rice and flour to cook, since they are neighbors, since you still want to continue to get along well in the future, how can you not lend it to them, don't you think?

But this time, the poor neighbor is not being reasonable, actually wanting to occupy most of the house, tsk tsk tsk..."

Zheng Fan then said:

"Because this neighbor is too cowardly."

"..." the Qian Emperor.

"Your Majesty, I misspoke and told the truth."

The Qian Emperor nodded and said:

"The truth is the most hurtful. My Great Qian is indeed plagued by illnesses now. Every year, the national treasury has to allocate funds to support nearly a million non-existent troops. Just this one item swallows up so much of the people's wealth!"

If there were a hundred thousand more Zu family troops, or a hundred thousand more Western troops, even if the Yan cavalry was invincible in the world, how would they dare to go south?

"Unfortunately, I don't have a Li Liangting by my side, nor do I have a Tian Wujing."

"Your Majesty, which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

First, there must be an ambitious Yan Emperor, then these two marquises can appear, and these two marquises will be willing to stand by this Yan Emperor's side.

"Yes, yes, I'm indeed not as good as him, Ji Runhao. To be honest, Ji Runhao is better at being an emperor than I am. Most of the time, I'm actually thinking about how to enjoy myself.

For example, that Silver Armor Guard outside, you know, she has a husband."

"............" Zheng Fan.

"Tsk tsk tsk." The Qian Emperor fell into self-admiration.

"Your Majesty is truly in good spirits."

"The joy in this is not enough for outsiders to understand."

"Yes, yes."

This Qian Emperor seemed a little crazy, his thinking was unusually active. After just talking about other people's wives, he immediately pointed to the document he had just thrown aside and said:

"Do you know why I didn't read this document?"

"Your Majesty, you just said that you felt it wasn't sincere."

"Yes, it's indeed not sincere, because what's written inside is nothing more than ceding land and paying reparations and sending a prince to be a hostage, it must be a condition that I can't accept,

right?"

Zheng Fan was stunned for a moment.

The Qian Emperor smiled,

"Common people, when negotiating a deal, they have to pay attention to sincerity. You sincerely want to buy, I sincerely want to sell, so that the deal has the necessity to continue, otherwise, it's just wasting time, isn't it?"

Zheng Fan frowned slightly.

"Alas, your Yan Kingdom is not having a good time now. The two major clans of the Jin Kingdom are already sharpening their knives and preparing to send troops soon. The Desert Royal Court probably won't let go of this once-in-a-century opportunity."

"Your Majesty, my Great Yan has its own confidence to deal with it."

"Confidence? Yes, I know."

The Qian Emperor suddenly sat up straight, looked at Zheng Fan, and slowly said:

"Do you know what my reaction was when I learned that your Yan Kingdom's 200,000 cavalry had gone south?"

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"I was scared, really scared. Then, I immediately issued two imperial edicts. One was to order the world's troops to enter the capital to defend the emperor.

The other, do you know what it is?"

Zheng Fan took a deep breath.

The Qian Emperor smiled slightly,

and continued:

"This second edict is,

Strictly order the troops on the three borders not to send a single soldier south to provide reinforcements!"