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"General Hongze, I am suffering..."

Before Hongze could speak, Jiang Zhe started complaining loudly.

"General, you don't know that so many troops have run out of food. If we can't return to Daqian soon..."

"I'm afraid they'll completely disobey military orders and start looting nearby villages!"

Hongze looked at Jiang Zhe's face, which looked like his mother had died.

"General Jiang, I am just a general and I cannot make decisions."

His words dashed Jiang Zhe's hopes once again.

Jiang Zhe stopped crying and stared at Hong Ze with curiosity.

That's like saying: If you can't make the decisions, what are you doing back here?

Hongze gritted his teeth and glared at Jiang Zhe: "I have already sent someone to inform the commander-in-chief. She will be here soon."

He was filled with resentment. If he had known it would end like this, he would have gone up to the city wall later.

At least there's still a chance to go out for a run.

Now, Jiang Zhe not only hasn't left, but he's also become attached to him.

Soon, Hongming, clad in armor, appeared on the city wall, stared at Jiang Zhe below, and said coldly, "Jiang Zhe? What do you want with me?"

Immediately, Jiang Zhe burst into tears again: "General, I just want to go home, what did I do wrong?"

"General, you may not know, but a small number of my men are already disobeying orders."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Hongming interrupted. "Stop talking nonsense and just tell me what you want to do?"

Seeing Hongming's cold expression, Jiang Zhe stopped crying and directly stated his idea: "I want to use Fang He to exchange for the army's way back to Daqian."

"Huh? Who is Fang He? I don't know him."

Hongming's lips curled up, but he refused to admit that he knew Fang He.

For a moment, Jiang Zhe was dumbfounded.

He clearly remembered that Fang He personally went to Lecheng to find him.

How come the Northern Wei turned its back on us after only two days?

Helpless, Jiang Zhe waved his hand, and the three people supporting Fang He walked to the foot of the city wall.

Jiang Zhe pointed at the limp Fang He: "He is Fang He, a general of your Northern Wei. How can you not recognize him?"

He thought that if he did that, Hongming would admit it.

To everyone's surprise, Hongming didn't even look down. Instead, he raised his head and looked around haphazardly, saying, "What are you talking about? There's no one there! I don't see anyone!"

After all that, Jiang Zhe was almost driven to despair.

He really wanted to get into a fight.

But he dared not. His side had lost all morale and supplies; it would be a miracle if they could even save their men.

His tone became even more humble: "Then tell me, how can we return to the Great Qian Dynasty?"

That hit the nail on the head. Hongming lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

Just now, while he was daydreaming in the county office, he was interrupted by a messenger.

Chen Nan thought someone was coming to attack the city, so he called her.

I only found out after I arrived that Jiang Zhe just wanted to go back.

Chen Nan refused to show himself, and Hong Ze was unable to speak.

She had no choice but to step in.

The key point is that she's used to fighting on the battlefield and doesn't know much about negotiation.

After thinking for a long time, he finally spoke: "Well then, it seems you really want to return to the Great Qian Dynasty."

"I won't make things difficult for you. Here's ten million in gold, ten million in silver, countless bolts of silk and cloth, and you can leave your warhorses, armor, and weapons behind."

These two short sentences were so shocking that not only Jiang Zhe, but even Hong Ze standing next to him widened his eyes in astonishment.

Good heavens, he never knew his sister had such a big appetite.

Putting aside warhorses and weapons, that ten million taels of gold would probably take the entire Great Qian Dynasty to scrape together.

Moreover, he had also heard that after Chen Nan left, the national treasury of Daqian had been emptied by Jiang He.

Now, let alone gold, I'm afraid we can't even come up with a million taels of silver.

Looking at Jiang Zhe again, his face turned red. He really wanted to refute, but because of the difference between the two, he held back his anger until his face returned to normal.

He then laughed and said, "Don't joke around. Where in the Great Qian Dynasty would there be any gold or silver left, not to mention warhorses and such."

"The main problem is, we can't make these decisions ourselves!"

Jiang Zhe continued to play the victim.

“If you can’t make the decision, then find someone who can. Don’t you have military personnel? Let your military personnel handle the communication.”

Hongming said loudly.

Leaving behind two sentences, without giving Jiang Zhe any time to react, she pulled Hong Ze down from the city wall.

At the city gate, Chen Nan sized up the two people who had come down.

Seeing that their expressions were not good, they looked at Hongze with a puzzled look.

Hongze smiled awkwardly and told him about his sister's request.

After hearing those demands, Chen Nan burst into laughter, patted Hongming on the shoulder and praised him, "You're really a practical person. Ten million gold coins, ten million silver coins, you really dare to ask for that!"

Hongming was a military officer; how could she know so much?

Chen Nan explained, "Given your circumstances, even if you sold the entire Daqian Kingdom, you still wouldn't be able to raise that much money."

The two looked at Chen Nan with suspicion, and he continued to explain, "The economy of Daqian is almost collapsing right now. Haven't you noticed that almost none of the soldiers who came this time recognize me?"

As Chen Nan spoke, the two of them were immediately taken aback.

Yes, logically speaking, given Chen Nan's reputation in Daqian.

If the soldiers knew their enemy was Chen Nan, they would not voluntarily lay down their weapons.

At least they won't come up and attack Chen Nan.

This time, those people clearly didn't recognize Chen Nan.

If Chen Nan hadn't brought it up, they would have completely overlooked such important information.

"You just said that after stating the conditions, you immediately left the city wall, right?"

Chen Nan looked at the two who nodded and continued speaking.

"Hongze is taking some people out for a spin tonight."

"If they come again tomorrow, they will demand 50,000 gold and 2 million silver."

"500,000 catties of salt, porcelain, craftsmen, and so on."

After Chen Nan finished stating the conditions, Hong Ze was the first to object: "What if they take their armor and weapons back and come to attack again next year?"

Chen Nan chuckled mischievously, "You really are stupid."

"If we don't mention this condition, then when we return, we can only return from Lecheng."

"To prevent them from entering Lecheng and harming the people."

"They were ordered to remove their armor and discard their weapons outside the city."

"To prevent them from hiding their weapons, they must remove them in front of us at the city gate for it to count."

"When the time comes, let them go back if they want to, and let them stay if they don't want to."

After hearing the solution, the two unconsciously took a step back.

"Tsk tsk, it has to be you again." Hongming said with a look of disgust.

On the contrary, Hongze was filled with relief. He was truly relieved that Chen Nan was now a member of their Northern Wei.

After hearing this method, he was certain that Chen Nan was not an undercover agent.

If he really is an undercover agent, even if he manages to return to Daqian alive by doing this, probably no one would dare to employ him.

"What about Fang He? Do we still want him?"

Suddenly, Hongming mentioned Fang He, the traitor from Northern Wei.

Chen Nan pondered for a long time before saying softly, "Let's keep him; he'll still be useful."

"I understand." Hongming didn't ask what use it was, only indicating that she knew about it.

Time passed, and night soon fell...