That night, the small second floor behind Fengyue Tower was very lively.

Of course, this excitement is something that no one else has ever seen.

Yan Congwen left the small second floor and walked out of Fengyue Building. He got on a carriage, and the carriage hurriedly drove towards Jing'an Alley.

In the dark night, spies from the Tianji Pavilion were closely monitoring the carriage. However, the carriage did not go to Jing'an Alley. It suddenly stopped on the way. After half a cup of tea, it turned to another alley - Xiaobei Street!

There is a very famous mansion on this street, it is called Beihou Mansion, and it is where An Zhong, the Minister of War of Loulan Kingdom, lives!

Yan Congwen did not go home to see his secret room, but went to visit An Zhong!

Although they were both Shangshu, Anzhong, the Northern Marquis of Loulan Kingdom, was much higher in rank than him, the Shangshu of Works.

The second brother of the current King of Loulan, he is in charge of the safety of hundreds of thousands of Loulan soldiers and horses, and holds a pivotal position in the Kingdom of Loulan. He is also the most powerful force in the hands of the second prince.

At the same time, another elegant young man came up to the second floor of the small building behind Fengyue Tower. This time, Que'er not only stood up, but also went to greet him and bowed. "Hello, eldest prince, why are you here too?"

The eldest prince An Yue looked around the room and sat on the stool where Yan Congwen had just sat.

"Yan Congwen is extremely cunning. How could he be fooled so easily?"

Que'er was stunned. "Isn't he afraid that Shi Yueming will really use force?"

"This old man, in fact, what you just said has aroused his suspicion. Because this old man would never tell such an important place to his concubine."

"So what do we do now?"

"No rush. I think he will go find my second uncle. He wants to use my second uncle to put pressure on Shadow to capture the spy from the Tianji Pavilion. Hehe, I also want to see if Shadow will give in."

"Come on, pour some wine!"

Que'er sat down, poured a glass of wine for the eldest prince, and suddenly asked, "I dare to ask, Your Highness, is Daxia... truly invincible?"

An Yue took a sip from his wine glass, smacked his lips, and raised his eyebrows. "Father has collected a lot of books about Daxia these days. Let me tell you this: there are 20,000 Daxia troops at the foot of Dingfang Mountain right now."

An Yue raised two fingers and said, "Only 20,000, don't you think it's not worth mentioning?"

"But father didn't dare to actually kill those Daxia officials? Why? Because father was afraid too!"

Que'er was shocked. "We have an army of 300,000! And a royal guard of 100,000!"

"Have you ever seen sheep herding? I have. One sheepdog can watch over hundreds of sheep! Why? Because sheep are sheep. As long as the sheepdog shows its sharp teeth and roars twice, all the sheep will obey obediently."

"Alas... Daxia's army is the sheepdog, and our army, which seems to be extremely large in number, is the sheep."

"You probably can't imagine how powerful the Great Xia army was. Back then, when Great Xia attacked Liao, it also had 20,000 men. With just 20,000 men, they easily captured the Liao capital, Dading Prefecture, and even captured the Liao emperor!"

"If it weren't for the twenty hostages my father held, the twenty thousand troops outside would have already destroyed Loulan City!"

Que'er looked at the eldest prince in shock, forgetting to pour the wine. After a moment, she asked, "If so... won't our country be destroyed?"

"So, my second brother thought he was smart and thought he could use those hostages to force Daxia to surrender during the negotiations, but they simply wouldn't surrender."

"...If they can't rescue the hostages, can we still talk?"

"Believe me, the power of Tianji Pavilion is not comparable to that of Shadow. Shi Yueming is probably already in Yan Congwen's house by now."

"He doesn't know the location of the secret room."

"That won't bother him."

"If Daxia wants to rescue people, they will enter Loulan City from underground. If we send people to guard those entrances, they won't stand a chance!"

This time, the eldest prince Anyue was silent for several breaths. "We all thought they would come out from underground, but I don't believe this is their only plan."

"storm?"

"Maybe it will come more suddenly."

Que'er looked at the dark night outside the window again, wondering how the Daxia army would come.

A strong attack is of course the simplest strategy, but if the King of Loulan is determined to fight to the death, even if Loulan is destroyed, the twenty officials of Daxia will definitely not survive.

Daxia's intention now is very clear. They want to rescue these twenty officials, so there are only two options - either negotiate according to Loulan's intentions, or... launch a surprise attack!

Those twenty Daxia officials were imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of War and were guarded by the personal guards of the Minister of War, Bei Hou Anzhong.

How can they do that?

"Whether they can rescue the hostages or not, I'm afraid Daxia's wrath will be vented on Loulan... Your Highness, this fate seems sealed."

"Pour the wine."

"good!"

"The King needs to leave the city."

"Where are you going?"

"Dingfang Mountain!"

Que'er's eyes suddenly widened, "No!"

"Why? Are you afraid that I will betray the country?"

At this moment, a young man walked in leisurely from the door of the second floor of the small building.

He is the second prince An Zizai!

He looked at his eldest brother An Yue with a smile on his face, "Oh, eldest brother is here, what did you say just now? Oh, second brother, I forgot, come on, Que'er, pour some wine, this king and eldest brother will have a few drinks here!"

Anyue frowned, his heart skipped a beat, then relaxed and said with a smile: "Second brother, aren't you going to the second uncle's house for a banquet tonight?"

"Just had a glass of wine. It's so cold out here. Second brother, I thought about it and realized I haven't been to Fengyue Tower for a long time. It's a good opportunity to come and see Que'er... I hope I didn't ruin your good fortune, big brother?"

"Since my second brother is here, I won't go to see my eldest brother Ding Fangshan. Come on, it's been a while since we two brothers had a good drink together. Que'er, pour some wine!"

The two brothers actually started drinking here, and their conversation seemed to be trying their best to avoid the current conflict, and they talked about interesting things in their childhood.

We drank pot after pot of wine, and time passed quietly. Before we knew it, it was already midnight.

"It should be quiet outside now. Should we go back?" Anyue asked.

"No, it should be very lively outside right now. The Shadow is arresting spies from the Tianji Pavilion. I'm afraid that old man named Shi Yueming has been caught."

"So, Second Uncle persuaded Shadow?"

"No, it was Second Uncle who took over the Shadow."

"Are you really not worried about Daxia's sudden attack?"

The Second Prince An Zizai shrugged, "No, I'm worried."

"Then how dare you arrest people from the Tianji Pavilion?"

"This way, we have a few more chips in our hands."

"Even if we negotiate, we have to release the people. What if Daxia attacks again?"

"Daxia is the Celestial Empire, and our Loulan Kingdom is just a little brother of it. Don't worry, Daxia has to save face. If we agree to some conditions from Daxia, but Daxia has to agree to more conditions from us, then the trade agreement will be reached, right?"

"You are trying to get the skin of a tiger by trying to get chestnuts out of the fire!"

"So what? You lost anyway. If I, your second brother, can accomplish this, I will be the crown prince of Loulan. Of course, I will treat you better, your eldest brother."

An Yue was suddenly shocked. All the things An Zizai did were not meant to threaten Daxia at all!

He is fighting for the throne of Loulan!

"What a sneaky plan! Who came up with this?"

"Since Big Brother has said so, I won't hide it... Tomorrow I will personally deliver the captives to Dingfang Mountain. There, at the foot of Dingfang Mountain, I will sign a trade agreement with Daxia on behalf of my father. This is all a misunderstanding. This plan was devised by my uncle Anduo."

Anyue's heart turned cold. He had never doubted the old Prime Minister Anduo from the beginning to the end, but he did not expect that this drama was actually planned by Anduo!

This is a conspiracy!

In this conspiracy, he was just a chess piece standing opposite his second brother An Zizai!

In front of his father, he strongly advocated agreeing to all of Daxia's conditions.

However, the second brother An Zizai advocated to gain more benefits for the Kingdom of Loulan!

As for whether Loulan Kingdom can gain more benefits in the end, it doesn’t matter at all, because the common people don’t know about this trade agreement.

The king would be persuaded by Anduo's eloquence, and he would think that An Zizai really signed an agreement that was beneficial to the Kingdom of Loulan.

An Zizai will receive great praise and support in the court and in the hearts of the people. His father is already old, so he will of course enthrone his second brother as the crown prince.

And I was just playing the role of a clown in this play.

"So you recommended Chen Yang to father for today?"

An Zizai smiled a triumphant smile. "He is indeed an important chess piece. If it weren't for his alarmist words, my father wouldn't have believed him so easily."

"My father is old and timid. So I helped him collect a lot of information and books about Daxia... But I didn't know how powerful Daxia was before."

"But now I know. If Loulan and Daxia go to war, isn't that like an egg hitting a rock? We can't win. My father doesn't want to fight, and neither do I. If we're really wiped out by Daxia, we'll all be sent to the guillotine!"

"Come on, big brother, let me toast you a glass. Thank you for your cooperation!"

The eldest prince and An Zizai actually drank this glass of wine, but the wine tasted a bit bitter.

"I have lost, and I accept it wholeheartedly. Let's do business with Daxia in the future. I'm going back to the palace to see my children."

"Goodbye, I won't see you off."

Anyue took a deep breath and stood up. He looked out the window and was suddenly startled.

Lanterns are lit in the dark night sky outside the window!

An Zizai and Que'er also looked at the strange scene outside the window. What was going on?

An Zizai walked to the window, looked at the lanterns flying towards him, and frowned: "What are these things? How can they fly in the sky?"