I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

The next day.

Guangning City Government Office.

Pan Hou held the teacup and listened to his subordinates' report in silence: "Mr. Mo was cheated out of 200,000 taels and bought a box of low-quality jade."

"Is this true? Has the liar been arrested?"

Pan Hou frowned.

"Your Excellency, the swindler has already fled Guangning City, and I have already sent people to hunt him down."

"What kind of jade costs two hundred thousand taels?"

Pan Hou didn't understand at all.

The subordinate replied, "Originally, it cost 100,000 taels, but it seems someone is bidding up the price to 200,000 taels."

"Raise the price?" Pan Hou asked doubtfully, "Who dares to raise the price with Mr. Mo?"

"I heard they were from the Yan State delegation."

"Oh?"

Pan Hou's face looked heavy, and he sensed something was wrong.

A moment later, someone else came to report: "Master Pan, Minister Zheng has arrived."

Pan Hou did not dare to delay and quickly stood up to greet him.

Zheng Mingxu was fifty years old. He was the Minister of Rites of the State of Chen and the official sent by the court of Chen to negotiate peace with the State of Yan.

"Greetings, Lord Zheng. I thought you would arrive tomorrow. I am sorry for not coming to greet you."

Pan Hou stepped forward and said respectfully.

"The Emperor is already urging us to negotiate. We can't wait any longer."

Zheng Mingxu's voice was serious.

Pan Hou nodded and said, "That's right, I will go and inform the envoy from Yan State and ask him to come to the government office."

Zheng Mingxu said: "If you don't come to the government office, you can arrange a place for me."

Pan Hou said: "Well, I will let him go to Zuixianlou."

"Let him wait for half an hour."

Zheng Mingxu said in a low voice.

This move was intended to dampen the Yan people's enthusiasm so as to gain the upper hand in the negotiations.

"Sir Zheng, this Jiang Zuo is different from the previous Yan envoys. This person seems to be very scheming. He destroyed the city gate on the first day he arrived in Guangning City. It is obvious that he does not respect our Chen State."

Pan Hou said on the side.

"No matter how scheming you are, you are just an envoy."

Zheng Mingxu was quite disdainful.

Half an hour later, they set out for Zuixian Tower.

"Envoy Jiang has been waiting for a long time."

Pan Hou just walked up the stairs and shouted loudly.

But when he reached the second floor, he found that no one was there.

"What about people?"

Pan Hou was stunned on the spot.

Wow, they were half an hour late. They didn’t expect Jiang Zuo hadn’t arrived yet.

At this time, a servant came over and said, "Prefect Pan, Lord Jiang said that he has important matters to attend to. Please wait for a moment. He will be here soon."

"What does this mean? Let's not talk about it!"

Zheng Mingxu said angrily and turned to leave.

Pan Hou quickly pulled him aside and greeted him with a smile, "Sir Zheng, it's okay to wait a moment. Let's have some tea and chat for a while. After all, it's the Yan State that is being rude."

After hearing this, Zheng Mingxu calmed down a little and went to take a seat.

After waiting for nearly an hour and drinking several pots of tea, Jiang Zuo still hadn't shown up.

"Damn it, why haven't you come yet?"

Zheng Mingxu was about to burst into curse.

Pan Hou smiled awkwardly and said, "Sir Zheng, I have already sent someone to urge them. Please wait a little longer."

At this moment, the items for negotiation had been laid out on the top floor of Zuixian Tower, including a huge map, waiting for Jiang Zuo to come.

After a while, faint footsteps were finally heard.

A moment later, Jiang Zuo led a few people to Zuixianlou.

He walked upstairs and his eyes stayed on Zheng Mingxu, but he did not greet him immediately.

Seeing this, Pan Hou immediately stepped forward and said with a smile, "Envoy Jiang, let me introduce you to this Minister Zheng, the official who is negotiating with Envoy Jiang this time."

Jiang Zuo turned his eyes away, nodded slightly, and remained silent.

"Envoy Jiang is so arrogant, but he is so late. Is he not sincere in the negotiations?"

Zheng Mingxu asked in a serious tone.

Jiang Zuo said indifferently: "What? You don't even want to wait a moment? Then I'm leaving."

"Hey, wait..." Pan Hou was confused and quickly stopped Jiang Zuo, saying respectfully, "Since the Lord is here, let's start the conversation."

Zheng Mingxu had a solemn expression on his face and did not have any good impression of Jiang Zuo at all.

"Don't waste time, let's get started."

Zheng Mingxu said, and then walked to the map, pointed to a point on the map, and said: "In this peace talk, on the border of the three states in the east of the lake, our Chen State has no room for retreat."

Today, the ownership of the three states in the east of the lake has always been the focus of debate between the two countries of Yan and Chen. Conflicts often break out between the two countries because of this area, and cities often change hands, making it difficult for both sides to completely control this place.

Jiang Zuo slowly walked to the map and said calmly, "You mean, you want all three states in Hudong."

"That's right. We will naturally hand over other territories in exchange with Yan State. The three states in the east of the lake will belong to our Chen State, and these three counties in Kuocheng can be handed over to your Yan State."

Zheng Mingxu's words also represent the will of the Emperor of Chen.

The three counties of Kuacheng are far less important than the three prefectures of Hudong.

Jiang Zuo smiled calmly, took out a few pairs of chopsticks from the table next to him, placed them on the map, and said, "Minister Zheng is still too conservative. Why don't you let me divide it up? Why don't you give our Yan State's capital to your Chen State?"

"What do you mean?"

Zheng Mingxu knew that Jiang Zuo was looking for trouble.

"You want to get what you can't get on the battlefield at the negotiation table?"

Jiang Zuo said coldly.

Hearing this, Zheng Mingxu frowned and stared at Jiang Zuo with a cold look, saying disdainfully: "Your Yan army lost more than they won, and you are qualified to say this?"

It is hard to say who has the upper hand in the current situation on the entire border, otherwise there would not be today's negotiations.

Jiang Zuo put away the chopsticks on the map, pointed at the map, and said: "Yan State will not give up the three states in the east of the lake. If you are unwilling, then we can only go to war."

"The three states in the east of the lake are not your Yan territory. Why do you want to seize my Chen territory? You Yan people are really aggressive..."

Zheng Mingxu said sternly.

"What a joke! It's not just the three states in the east of the lake. The eight states and counties in Changyang Lake have been the territory of our Great Yan State since ancient times. It was you, the State of Chen, who took the opportunity to invade our states and counties. Now I want you to return them."

Jiang Zuo said with a serious face.

Since ancient times, the area around Changyang Lake has always been ruled by the Central Plains dynasty. Can the Chen State, a separatist force in the south, be called orthodox?

"Since ancient times?" Zheng Mingxu sneered: "Why don't you include the entire territory in your Yan State?"

Jiang Zuo said calmly: "Don't worry, one day, the territory of your Chen State will be included in our Yan State."

"You have such a loud voice!"

Hearing this, Zheng Mingxu became furious.

"It seems that Envoy Jiang is not interested in negotiations, so I will not accompany you."

After Zheng Mingxu said this, he was about to leave.

Pan Hou could only smile bitterly. He had never expected that these two people would be so confrontational.

This negotiation ended unhappily not long after it began...