The next morning, just as the sun was rising, the eldest prince of the Kushan Empire arrived early at the negotiation site, looking nervously at Li Ru's group's tent.
The eldest prince breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Li Ru and the others.
"Did you sleep well last night, sir?"
As soon as they sat down, the eldest prince couldn't wait to ask about what happened last night.
"Fortunately, only a few rats got in, but it didn't disturb my rest!"
Li Ru smiled and replied, then looked at the eldest prince and said solemnly, "Your Highness, regarding the conditions you offered yesterday, my king has already responded, hoping you can add a little more!"
"That's impossible. The conditions that Xiao Wang promised earlier are already the maximum that the national treasury can bear. If it's any more, even if Xiao Wang is willing, my father and the ministers in the country will not agree!"
The eldest prince rejected Li Ru's conditions without hesitation.
"Your Highness, please don't be in such a hurry to refuse. Please listen to my terms before you express your opinion!"
Li Ru smiled and said, "Actually, my king doesn't ask for much. He only hopes that you can give him an additional 200,000 shi of grain and 50,000 bolts of silk on top of what was agreed upon yesterday!"
"That's impossible, sir. You should stop thinking about it. There's no room for discussion!" Although Li Ru's request for additional items was not much, the eldest prince still refused firmly.
"Your Highness, I have a few gifts I would like to give you. Perhaps you will change your mind!"
As he spoke, Li Ru made a hand gesture to his subordinate beside him.
The subordinate understood and immediately shouted to the back of the group, "Bring them all up!"
Under the prince's astonished gaze, six stretchers were brought in.
"Your Highness, these are the assassins who broke into our camp last night. Five of them are dead, leaving only one survivor..."
"Oh? There are still some alive?"
Upon hearing Li Ru's words, the eldest prince's eyes lit up.
If these assassins were in my hands, I could solidify the charge that my second brother had sabotaged the peace talks. Even if I couldn't bring him down, I could still deal him a heavy blow.
"So, how about it? Exchanging these gifts for those things seems like a good deal, right?"
Just as the eldest prince was pondering, Li Ru's voice drifted into his ears.
"I can agree to the conditions proposed by you, sir. However, the additional items cannot be written into the peace treaty!"
After a moment's thought, the eldest prince finally agreed to Li Ru's request, but he was prepared to pay for it out of his own pocket.
In this way, he not only proved his negotiating skills to his father and courtiers, but also got what he wanted.
Compared to overthrowing his own second brother, 200,000 shi of grain and 50,000 bolts of silk were nothing.
"Can!"
Li Ru readily agreed to the eldest prince's request.
Subsequently, the two sides formally signed a peace treaty.
According to the treaty, the Kushan Empire was required to pay the Xianbei and Xiongnu corresponding amounts of grain, silk, and gold within two months. Upon receiving these supplies, the Xianbei and Xiongnu would immediately depart from the Kushan Empire.
After the peace talks ended, the eldest prince couldn't wait to return to Mohan.
After returning to the city, the eldest prince summoned the two helpers sent by Jia Xu to interrogate the assassin.
Soon, the eldest prince obtained what he wanted from the assassin.
Immediately afterwards, the eldest prince ordered his men to send the heads of the assassins and the results of their interrogation, along with the peace treaty, to the capital.
On the other side, after returning to the main camp, Li Ru, under the pretext of waiting to receive supplies, led 40,000 cavalry from two divisions to garrison outside Mohan City.
The eldest prince paid no attention to the actions of the Xianbei and Xiongnu, and didn't even ask any questions.
In the eldest prince's view, now that the peace talks have been successful and the treaty has been signed, his mission is complete, and what happens next is no longer his concern.
The day after Li Ru led his army to the outskirts of Mohan City, the eldest prince, carrying a secret letter, secretly left with a few trusted followers and headed towards the capital.
Five days later, Damoti's army of 150,000 men arrived at Lanshan Pass, 100 li south of Mohan City.
This pass was an important barrier to the northwest of the Kushan capital.
If the Xianbei and Xiongnu wanted to move south, they either had to take this pass or take a detour of more than 500 li (approximately 250 kilometers) along the border between the Kushan and Parthians.
Just as Damoti's army entered the pass, Amira also found his way here.
Seeing that only Amira had returned, Damoti's expression darkened: "What happened? Where are the others?"
"Your Highness, those Xianbei and Xiongnu people seemed to know about our movements and had set up an ambush in their camp. I only managed to escape by risking my life..."
"What? How did they know?"
Upon hearing Amira's account, Damoti couldn't help but ask with a doubtful tone.
"Your Highness, in my opinion, the eldest prince must have guessed our possible actions and reminded them. After all, no matter how capable the Xianbei and Xiongnu are, they cannot plant traitors among us!"
“That makes sense!” Damoti nodded, his face gloomy. “I didn’t expect my elder brother to be so capable, he could even guess our moves!”
"Your Highness, although I failed in my assassination attempt, I discovered something truly remarkable!"
As she spoke, Amira took out a secret letter from her bosom: "Your Highness, this was found in the Xianbei camp. It says that the eldest prince has colluded with them and is preparing to attack your army!"
"oh?"
Damoti's brow furrowed, and he quickly took the secret letter from Amira's hand.
"It really is my brother's handwriting!"
Upon seeing the familiar handwriting on the secret letter, Damoti's face lit up with joy, and he then carefully examined the contents of the letter.
In this letter, the eldest prince offered a large amount of supplies as a condition for the other party to agree to peace talks. He also offered to contribute some of the supplies out of his own pocket to allow them to attack the Kushan army.
The supplies that the eldest prince paid for out of his own pocket were the same ones that Li Ru had previously requested to be added to.
In addition, the eldest prince promised to work on the logistics to put Damoti's army in a difficult situation, so that the Xianbei and Xiongnu could win.
The eldest prince's condition was to use the Xianbei and Xiongnu to kill Damoti.
"Well, you really are my good brother, coming up with such a vicious way to deal with me?"
After reading the secret letter, Damoti was both shocked and furious. If he hadn't discovered the letter, he might have really died here.
Immediately, Damoti summoned one of his trusted confidants and handed him the secret letter: "Send someone to deliver this secret letter to Father King immediately!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
