Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 521 Sing and Harmony

Yang Yuan, Wanyan Hongkang, Li You, Shangguan Luo, and Kong Yanzhou led 8,000 soldiers and horses, traveled day and night, and arrived at Shangjing City on the fourth day.

The arrival of such a team naturally attracted the attention of various tribes.

Soon, they found out that it was Anbanbojilie Wanyan Hongkang who had arrived in Shangjing City.

As soon as Yang Yuan arrived, he had a secret discussion with Li Taigong. Of course, Wanyan Hongkang was also present.

However, the young prince just listened to his grandfather and scholar Yang's heated discussion with his big eyes rolling around. He could not get a word in and could only act as a qualified listener.

While Yang Yuan and Li Taigong were discussing the matter, people from various tribes came to inquire about the news from Liaodong.

Because the young prince had gone to Liaodong before, everyone knew about it.

After Li Taigong and Yang Yuan had made their plan, they immediately sent people to notify the various tribes and held a meeting in his central military tent.

That night, tribal leaders including Puchaye, Heshelie, Nalanbuha, and Wujihe rushed to Li Taigong's central military tent.

Yang Yuan first explained to them the recent situation in Liaodong.

Wanyan Yong was actually dead, which surprised the tribal leaders.

When they learned the reason why Wanyan Yong was killed, the tribal leaders didn't even know what to say to complain.

Wanyan Yong was a great hero with great power.

According to people's conventional thinking, such a great hero who holds a large number of troops and intimidates one side should have a tortuous and glorious death even if he died, right?

But the way Wanyan Yong died is really speechless.

Before they could recover from the news of Wanyan Yong's death, Li Taigong announced the second thing:

Wang Erbin, the Tongzhi who was left in the capital, together with 17 other officials including the Chief Eunuch Tan Jiu, Meng'an Du Mingtang, Judge Lu Xingyun, and Procurator Wu Zhiyong, jointly expressed his desire to surrender the city.

Li Taigong took out the arrow letter, but told everyone that he had just received it.

Everyone just sighed and lamented the death of Wanyan Yong, but going to the capital city was truly related to the vital interests of every tribe.

The leaders immediately put aside their regret for Wanyan Yong and began to concentrate on this matter.

Wang Erbin and seventeen other officials who came to the capital proposed negotiations to Li Taigong in the form of arrow letters, expressing their willingness to voluntarily surrender the city.

In the Arrow Book, they put forward a total of four demands.

1. Maintain their official rank and grade unchanged.

2. The officers and soldiers who stay behind in Shangjing City will continue to be led by the original garrison commander in the city.

3. Ensure the safety of their personal property and family members.

4. Both parties must sign a formal document, which will be negotiated and signed by Anbanbojile Wanyan Hongkang in person.

None of the tribal leaders were willing to surrender.

The reason is simple. The siege plan drawn up by Yang Yuan does not require their own tribe to make huge sacrifices in attacking the city.

As long as they continue to waste time until the day when the city runs out of food, Shangjing City will fall without a fight.

At that time, all the officials in the city were captives, and they had the right to divide up everything in the city, including the population.

Now we have worked hard to besiege the city for more than a month. If we accept the surrender of the city defenders and agree to their conditions, won’t all our efforts be wasted?
It has been more than a month, and all the expenses, including food for people and horses, have been raised by each tribe themselves.

They are besieging the city here, and the tribe is living frugally. What is they trying to achieve?
Aren't they just hoping to divide up the gold, silver and treasures in the city and seize some real estate and shops after conquering Shangjing City?
This purpose was not easy to make public, so they made a big fuss about retaining the official positions of Wang Erbin and others and allowing them to continue leading troops, and launched fierce criticism.

In fact, the reactions of the leaders were already anticipated by Yang Yuan and Li Taigong.

Yang Yuan let them argue fiercely for a while, then smiled and said: "Everyone, now, Wang Erbin has put forward four demands.

The fourth point is very simple, and I have no objection to it.

As for the other three points, they concern all the tribes we are besieging, and this matter needs to be discussed together.

However, there is an old saying that three is better than two. Another saying goes that four is better than six.

It is impossible for everyone to agree. Before we discuss, let's set a tone that the minority should obey the majority, how about that? "

Everyone agreed.

Yang Yuan added: "The essence of negotiation is how to distribute benefits without taking extreme measures.

If this distribution of benefits is not enough to satisfy both parties, then of course the fighting will continue.

Wang Erbin has already made his offer, what do you think? "

"He thinks beautiful!"

Puchaye Bojin shouted, "In my opinion, we are generous enough to spare their lives. You don't need to pay attention to their other requests."

"Yes, they still want to continue to be officials, but that's a waste of time! They also want to continue to lead the troops, but that's impossible. Don't agree to them!"

Puchaye Bojin's words immediately received a warm response from everyone.

Especially Hesheli's blowing of the tripod was particularly intense.

His tribe suffered heavy losses in the game with Huanxiling, and was just waiting to break into Shangjing City to recover some losses.

Shangjing City was the capital of the Jin Dynasty for more than 30 years, and Wanyan Liang moved the capital to Yanjing only two years ago.

The relocation of the royal family alone took more than half a year.

Although many dignitaries went to Yanjing on their own accord, it was only because of their duty that they could only follow the emperor and the court.

But their wealth is basically in their old house in Beijing.

By this calculation, the city of Shangjing contained at least half of the people's wealth of the Great Jin Kingdom.

Once they enter Shangjing City, these tribes will become rich overnight. Who can resist this temptation? Nalan Buha said: "They are the ones who are at a disadvantage now. If they don't surrender, they will have no way out. How dare they negotiate with us?

My young prince, our tribe has paid a huge price for the siege.

Our tribe now only has one meal a day, just to squeeze out rations to supply the warriors besieging the city..."

The leaders complained that they had mobilized so many young men to besiege the city, and how many rewards they had given out. In order to raise military rations, the tribe had suffered so much loss...

The scene immediately turned into a grievance meeting.

Wanyan Hongkang felt so sympathetic when these tribal leaders cried and begged for mercy that he almost shed tears along with them.

Yang Yuan smiled faintly, but he was unmoved.

These tribes participated in the siege, and there were certainly casualties, but it was definitely not as terrible as they say.

Wuda had Zhuzhu, and he had talked to him about the tribe's background.

After the decline of shamanism, the Zhuzhu witches were still able to thrive and were often invited by various tribes to participate in some important gatherings, weddings and celebrations of the tribe, and got to know their ins and outs.

When everyone had finished speaking, Yang Yuan smiled and said, “Hongkang already understands the difficulties of Bojilie and Hulu.

We don't know whether Wang Erbin and his men are willing to make concessions, and how much they are willing to make. We have to meet them first and talk to them, right?"

Heshelie blew the tripod and said, "Let's talk, but we have to publicly elect a few leaders to accompany the young prince to participate in the negotiations."

Yang Yuan said: "Of course it's possible."

As a result, several tribal leaders who were radical and had relatively strong tribes were elected as negotiating representatives.

That night, the city wall from where the arrow letter was shot received a headless arrow letter shot from outside the city.

That night, a basket was quietly lowered from the city wall, and three people were sent down one after another.

Among these three people, one was Wang Erbin himself, and the other two were just two officials with lower positions among the 17 officials who jointly signed the letter.

After welcoming them into the big tent, Yang Yuan said with a smile: "This prince did not expect that Wang Tongzhi would come in person to negotiate. It is really surprising."

Wang Erbin smiled faintly and said, "Why can't Wang come? If the prince kills me, it will only strengthen the determination of the defenders in the city to defend to the death."

Yang Yuan laughed and said, "What Wang Tongzhi said is true, but if Wang Tongzhi leaves the city late at night, will Wanyan Yan notice it?"

Wang Erbin smiled again and said, "My Lord, there is no need to test me. Since I am sincere in my heart, I will tell you the truth.

The eleven gates of Shangjing City, the three gates of the South City, and the two gates of the West City were originally under the control of Mr. Wang.

Since Wang decided to surrender, he made clever plans and adjusted the defenders of each city.

Now the three gates of the East City are under Wang's control, and the only thing Wanyan Yan is personally responsible for is the North City."

When Yang Yuan heard this, his face immediately showed joy. He quickly asked everyone to take a seat, served tea, and officially began the negotiations.

Before the negotiations, both sides were quite friendly and generous.

But once they sat at the negotiation table, it only took a short while for both sides to start arguing with each other, faces red and saliva flying.

Wang Erbin didn't want to make any concessions on the existing conditions.

It’s not that he still misses his official position or military power, but without it, how can he protect the safety of his family and personal property?

However, Hesheli Chuding and others were eyeing their money, so naturally they could not let them retain their official positions and military power as they wished.

Otherwise, how can we control them and take away their houses, gold, women and shops?

After some negotiations, although Wang Erbin made certain concessions, the extent of the concessions was far from the expectations of the tribal leaders, and the two sides parted unhappily.

The next night, Wang Erbin slipped down from the top of the city wall again.

After he returned, he apparently discussed the matter with his accomplices.

So this time, as soon as he sat down, he took the initiative to offer to hand over the military power.

But the tribal leaders had other intentions and naturally would not be satisfied with this.

However, this time, "Wanyan Hongkang" and Li Taigong showed some intention and seemed to want to agree to the other party's conditions.

Wang Erbin keenly noticed the softening of their attitudes, so he naturally gritted his teeth and refused to give in any further.

Negotiators from both sides banged the table and yelled all night, but ultimately the negotiation ended in a bad mood.

The next day, "Wanyan Hongkang" and Li Taigong began to frequently visit some tribes.

Heshelie Chuiding and several other Bojin who were determined not to make any concessions sent people to inquire about the tribes that Wanyan Hongkang and Li Taigong had visited, and found out that they were indeed lobbying for Wang Erbin.

In order to seek the support of these tribes, "Wanyan Hongkang" and Li Taigong offered them some conditions.

For example, after settling in Shangjing City, the Prince of Yue's Mansion was going to open a large warehouse to connect with various tribes and be responsible for doing exclusive business with the Koreans.

Some shares can be released here.

Some tribes have already shown interest in this.

Tribal leaders such as Hesheli Chuiding suddenly became restless.

At the beginning of the negotiations, the young prince said that in the end the minority would obey the majority.

These small and medium-sized tribes have small appetites to begin with. Once they are persuaded by "Wanyan Hongkang" and Li Taigong, what will they do?
At this time, Shangguan Luo started to take action.

Like a ghost, he began to frequently visit tribes such as Puchaye, Hesheli, and Nalanbuha, which were firmly opposed to agreeing to any conditions of the city.

He offered these tribes a brilliant plan: as long as they sacrificed his father-in-law Kong Yanzhou, everything would be solved!

(End of this chapter)