Hey...

Lin Hai took a breath of cold air.

Cambodia's actions reminded him of a country in the Indochina Peninsula in the original world, with the same face, the same greed, and the same plot to conquer the southwest.

How should I put it, he really is still harboring evil intentions.

However, Lin Hai was not going to reject the letter of agreement. After all, Lu You's character was a bandit, so he had to follow the script. Otherwise, it would be too abrupt and would arouse suspicion. Of course, he couldn't let the Cambodians achieve their goal so easily. After all, they could still eat the sugar coating and throw the shells back.

Lin Hai looked at Xin Yuetu with an expression of great joy, staring at him and saying, "That's great. Could it be that Cambodia has decided to send troops to help us? Please rest assured, envoy, as soon as the Cambodian army arrives, we are willing to serve as the vanguard. Not to mention taking Qinghe County, even taking Jinguan City is no problem!"

Xin Yue suddenly felt a slight pain in his teeth. It was obvious that Lin Hai understood what he meant, but deliberately misinterpreted it as Khmer planning to send troops to attack Liang. If the Khmer king was really that stupid, Xin Yue suddenly felt that he could even dream of sitting on the dragon throne.

Isn't this crazy? To provoke the Liang Kingdom at this time, not to mention the deep hatred between the Chen Dynasty and the Khmer nearby, even if the Chen Dynasty followed the rules and quietly watched the Liang Kingdom and the Khmer fight, it would be nothing more than enjoying the Liang Kingdom's various postures to pin the Khmer to the ground for various entertainments.

Xin Yuetu understood the Khmer royal family's intentions perfectly. The Great Liang Empire had begun expanding into the southwest, but whether it was simply to expand the territory or to establish a forward base was unclear. Perhaps expansion was just the first step in establishing a forward base. Currently, the Great Liang Empire's strength in the southwest wasn't strong, with most of its forces engaged in a standoff with the Chen Dynasty. But once the southwest was fully developed and capable of supplying the army, would those veteran Liang soldiers and generals consider attacking the Khmer and potentially gaining some military merit?

Furthermore, it's impossible to say that the Khmer Empire had no intention of conquering the southwest. Otherwise, why did they launch an undeclared war against the Chen Dynasty? Wasn't it to gain a foothold in the southwest, preparing for future advances into the greater southwest and even competing for the Central Plains? After all, God didn't decree that the Khmer Empire could only stay on the peninsula south of the southwest.

This time, the Khmer Kingdom sent out more than a dozen special envoys and gave them great authority. The purpose was to let them contact the various mountain kings in the mountains southwestern of the Chen Dynasty. Simply put, they wanted to find a strong and ambitious one, support him, fuel his ambition, let him make trouble in the southwest, slow down the progress of the Liang Kingdom's development of the southwest as much as possible, and even serve as the vanguard of the Khmer army when necessary, using their familiarity with the terrain and situation to break into the southwest.

But, yes, the most important thing is always what comes after the but.

However, at this stage, the Khmer royal family had no intention of sending troops to aid these mountain kings. After all, provoking trouble was one thing, but blatantly seeking death was another. Without Khmer soldiers, this was just a bandit problem on the Liang border. With Khmer soldiers, even if only one Khmer soldier appeared in these mountain strongholds, it would be a brazen invasion of the Great Liang Empire by the Khmer Kingdom.

Xin Yuetu gave Lin Hai a professional smile in return. "Let's be frank. The kingdom currently has no way of sending troops to directly support your king. However, I believe your king doesn't really want the Khmer's elite jungle infantry to appear in his village. Since you said that just now, I think we don't need to continue testing the waters. If it's your king who asked you to come to talk, then we can officially begin. Let me introduce myself," Xin Yuetu said, pointing to himself. "I am from the Khmer royal family, 23rd in line to the Khmer throne, an official of the Khmer Ministry of Revenue, and a special envoy of the royal family. I'm Xin Yuetu."

Faced with Xin Yue's sudden revelation, Lin Hai was stunned, then asked, "You actually have twenty-two brothers? With all due respect, your mother is truly amazing."

"Bang" Xin Yue suddenly slammed the table with an angry look on his face, and the unfinished food was scattered all over the table, which made Lin Hai feel distressed.

Lin Hai then said seriously, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Zhang Jinnan, a former student of the Great Chen Dynasty. I'm currently serving as a confidential clerk and advisor to King Zhentian, fully responsible for all Cambodian affairs."

When he heard "full responsibility for all Khmer affairs," a smile gradually spread across Xin Yuetu's face. Although he found it ridiculous that a bandit from a mountain stronghold had given himself a seemingly formal official title, complete with an assignment, the fact that he was willing to reveal his real name showed he was still interested in cooperating. Furthermore, Xin Yuetu clearly grasped that Lin Hai had prioritized "Tongsheng of the Great Chen Dynasty." "Great Chen Dynasty" indicated that Zhang Jinnan still missed the Chen Dynasty and was likely interested in disrupting Liang's position in the southwest. And mentioning "Tongsheng" and giving himself a formal official title indicated that he had achieved fame and honor, and even attached great importance to nominal status, a quality worth exploiting.

Xinyue suddenly smiled and said, "As the host wishes, I greet Chief of Staff Zhang."

Lin Hai also quickly returned the greeting: "These are just official titles I picked up for fun on the mountain. Don't take them seriously. Lord Xin, please just call me Xiao Zhang."

Xin Yue suddenly said, "Brother Zhang and I hit it off right away. How about this? We're thousands of miles apart, but meeting is fate. How about we call each other brothers? I'll call you Little Brother Zhang, and you call me Big Brother Xin. How about that?"

"Then I'd rather obey your command. Greetings, Brother Xin."

Hahahahahahahahahahaha, the two diplomats who were new to negotiation laughed out loud, seemingly from the heart.

After a while of casual chat, Xin Yue suddenly said seriously, "Little brother Zhang, I'm not hiding anything from you. The Kingdom is making a big move this time, and the support is quite strong. I can get everything you can think of: gold, silver, treasures, armor, weapons, arrows, bows and crossbows, food and medicine. But you can also guess that there are at least a hundred different groups in the mountains, uh, that rebel army. So no matter what you need, if I want to get it from the Kingdom, I need an explanation."

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