Yan Sikong returned to Maoren first. He wanted to test Shen Hexuan with the surrender conditions he had discussed with Feng Ye. The officials and generals in Qianzhou were all easy to fool, but Shen Hexuan was different.

Before he left Beijing, he had imagined all kinds of difficulties he might encounter, but when he actually got here, he found that the real difficulties were beyond his imagination, such as Feng Ye's attitude towards him, and the existence of Shen Hexuan in Qianzhou, a poor little place.

After he returned to Maoren, the city gate guard was still respectful to him, but there was something obviously wrong with the way he looked at him. Rumors are like the invisible and intangible wind, which is carried by every breathing mouth and can penetrate into every pore.

As soon as he returned to the city, he went to see Shen Hexuan. Shen Hexuan's face was pale and he had lost a lot of weight in just a dozen days. He remembered that when he entered the city, the dilapidated city wall had been repaired. It must have taken a lot of effort.

Shen Hexuan looked at Yan Sikong tiredly and gloomily: "The Wolf King has withdrawn his troops. Lord Yan has made great contributions."

"If that's the case, why doesn't Brother Shen look happy at all?"

"What ingenious plan did Lord Yan use to persuade the Wolf King to withdraw his troops?"

"Be motivated by reason and enlightened by righteousness."

Shen Hexuan pursed his lips and said, "What kind of 'emotion' is this? Is it the emotion of cutting off one's sleeve?"

Yan Sikong laughed: "I have come thousands of miles to persuade the Wolf King to submit to the imperial court on the orders of the emperor. I am willing to sacrifice my life to repay the emperor's kindness. Does it matter what I feel?"

"It turns out that the rumors in the capital back then were true. I thought they were made up by those idle playboys." Shen Hexuan narrowed his eyes, "You now have a wife and a child."

"Having a wife and children doesn't prevent a man from having fun." Yan Sikong had no shame on his face. "Besides, Brother Shen has probably heard that Princess Wanyang is arrogant and looks down on me in every way. She even forbids me to take a concubine. Brother Shen's wife is not around all year round, so you should understand me."

Shen Hexuan's face turned red with anger: "You...you are shameless."

Yan Sikong smiled coldly: "In my eyes, honesty and shame are the most useless things in the world. If I cared about honesty and shame, I would have committed suicide thousands of times. Brother Shen, on the other hand, values ​​his reputation more than his life. With a useless impeachment, he banished himself to this remote and poor countryside. While I was enduring humiliation and living in Beijing, isolated and helpless, dealing with the eunuchs, you were here to investigate Zhang San who stole a handful of rice from Li Si. You wasted your talent for managing the world in this tiny county. If the teacher knew about this, would he praise you as the most honest person in the world?!"

Shen Hexuan was stunned. Yan Sikong was always courteous and respectful to him, and had never been so aggressive. He was silent for a moment and said, "It is my greatest regret in life that I failed to personally wipe out the eunuch party. However, a gentleman has his own ways and his own ways. If everyone can easily violate morality, what is the difference between them and animals?"

Yan Sikong smiled faintly: "Humans are no different from animals."

"You..." Shen Hexuan suddenly rolled his eyes, thinking of something, "Feng Ye opposed your marriage with Wan Yang not because he disliked your humble background, but because..."

Yan Sikong looked at him and didn't answer.

Shen Hexuan seemed to have connected many seemingly bizarre things together at once: "Teacher had already formed an alliance with King Jingyuan at that time. You and Feng Ye should not have been so confrontational. Are you...acting?"

"We have some grievances, and we still hold grudges against each other and are full of suspicion. But at that time, we both put the overall situation first and really wanted to save King Jingyuan." Yan Sikong did not dare to reveal the truth. Shen Hexuan was too smart. If he allowed this person to think too deeply, he might suspect that he and Feng Ye were in cahoots and had other intentions.

Shen Hexuan paced back and forth in the room. Suddenly, he stopped, turned around abruptly, and stared at Yan Sikong with his eyes fixed on him: "Who rescued Feng Ye from prison back then?"

Yan Sikong paused and said, "It was the steward of Prince Jingyuan's Mansion who brought a group of assassins to rob the prisoners."

Shen Hexuan shouted, "You are lying. Were you involved in this matter?"

"I..." Yan Sikong pretended to feel guilty, "I know."

"Do you know?"

Yan Sikong took a deep breath and said, "This matter was planned by the teacher and the housekeeper together."

"Teacher?" Shen Hexuan obviously didn't believe it. "Teacher was seriously ill at the time, how could he plan such a big thing? And as the chief minister of the inner cabinet, even if the Feng family was wronged, why would he use such an extreme method as robbing the prison?"

"What else do you have?" Yan Sikong looked at him straight in the face. "The teacher knew that he would not live long, and that once he died, the nobles would be defeated. In order to retain a shred of strength and prevent the eunuchs from eating up our Dasheng kingdom, he had no choice but to resort to this last resort. He told me that on the day of the wedding, I must invite all the jailers, and make them as drunk as possible. I knew what he was going to do."

"Didn't you participate?" Shen Hexuan stared at Yan Sikong.

Yan Sikong showed no strange expression on his face, and said firmly: "No, the teacher also knows that this matter is extremely dangerous and does not want to involve me."

Shen Hexuan took a deep breath and said, "What you let go that day was a real wolf. Now he has led his troops to rebel. His force is overwhelming and has caused unrest in the Central Plains. What he is threatening is not the eunuch party, but the fate of the Great Sheng Kingdom!"

"Now that things have come to this, what's the point of saying more? I was also ashamed and wanted to make up for the loss, so I asked Your Majesty to let me lobby Feng Ye." Yan Sikong sighed, "Feng Ye and I are both enemies and friends. If it weren't for the princess, he might have killed me when I went to the enemy camp. But when he heard that Your Majesty intended to redress the Feng family, his heart was shaken."

Shen Hexuan thought quietly. He knew that this matter was not that simple, but he couldn't figure it out for a while.

Yan Sikong softened his tone: "Brother Shen, at this critical moment, are you going to report me for not reporting the truth and letting Feng Ye go? The most important thing now is to quell the Wolf King's rebellion."

Shen Hexuan said in a deep voice: "I am a lowly person with little influence. What's the point of reporting you? Besides, things have come to this point... Has Feng Ye offered any conditions for surrendering?"

Yan Sikong was relieved to finally get over the matter. He nodded and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty will not agree to such a big request."

"As expected, what did he ask for?"

"He wants Your Majesty to clear the name of the Feng family, announce it to the world, restore the title, and hand over all the officials and generals who participated in framing the Feng family, including Xie Zhongren, to him for punishment. He wants a million silver coins, a large amount of silk, food, jewelry, armor, horses, and other things, and even..." Yan Sikong shook his head, "He even wants Your Majesty to grant him a fiefdom."

Shen Hexuan slammed the table and said angrily: "He is simply crazy!"

Every point Feng Ye proposed was extremely unreasonable. Emperor Zhaowu wanted to announce to the world to clear the name of the Feng family. Even if the crime was pushed onto Xie Zhongren, it would damage the reputation of the royal family. Moreover, Dasheng had its own laws. Even if someone was sentenced to death, he could not be lynched by others. Especially a death row prisoner like Xie Zhongren, who was famous all over the world, must be executed by the public. How could he be handed over to Feng Ye for disposal? As for money, such an exorbitant price would have to empty the national treasury. And asking for a fiefdom was even more outrageous and audacious.

Since the Qin Dynasty destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world, the system of princes was changed to a monarchy. The vast land belonged to the emperor alone. This has been the case for thousands of years and every dynasty has been like this. Unless the country is in danger or the world is in chaos, in times of peace, the princes only enjoy taxes and do not own an inch of territory. The term "princes" is actually in name only.

Now Feng Ye actually dares to ask the emperor for a fiefdom. Isn't it obvious that he wants to divide the world and establish himself as king?

"I was also shocked when I heard his conditions, so I came back to discuss it with Brother Shen. I haven't reported it to His Majesty yet, as I'm afraid His Majesty might get angry..."

Shen Hexuan rubbed his brows tiredly: "On the one hand, he is withdrawing his troops, and on the other hand, he is proposing conditions that the court will never agree to. Does he want to surrender or not?"

"In my opinion, he wants to be amnesty. No matter how powerful his Feng family army is, it is only 60,000 soldiers. The reason why he came to Hetao is because he does not have enough troops. He dare not go to the south of the Yangtze River or the Central Plains. Now he is in a dilemma. But he is full of hatred for the death of King Jingyuan. If we can't let him take revenge and make him happy, he will fight us to the death. Feng Ye is very smart. He knows that this condition is unreasonable. I think he is just testing the court to see how much tolerance he can have."

Shen Hexuan thought: "That makes sense, but I am more worried that this is just a delaying tactic. He came to this poor and turbulent place called Hetao not just for the war horses. What if his purpose is to capture the Datong Army?"

"I have thought about it, but the Datong Army has changed commanders several times. The current commander was sent by the imperial court and has never received any favors from the Feng family. It is not easy to get in touch with them. Moreover, there is Qianzhou in between. I am not too worried."

"Although this matter is difficult, we must be on guard. Although Feng Ye is a military general, he has been reading military books since he was a child and led troops to fight when he was in his teens. Looking at the world, the only general who can compete with him is probably General Zhao, who is now trapped in Liaodong... Therefore, we must not take this person lightly." Shen Hexuan glanced at Yan Sikong, "And you, your affair with him has caused a lot of rumors, aren't you afraid of being suspected?"

Yan Sikong sneered: "I, Yan Sikong, have a bad reputation. It would be strange if no one suspected me. But this can't shake me from doing what I want to do. Just like I have been spurned all these years, I have endured until the day when I can overthrow the eunuchs. I will definitely quell the rebellion of the Wolf King, no matter how others see me, no matter what the price is."

Shen Hexuan was moved by the determination in Yan Sikong's eyes. He asked, "What are your plans now? Such conditions of amnesty must not be reported to the emperor."

"This is exactly what I want to discuss with Brother Shen. We need to come up with a way to save His Majesty's face while at the same time explaining the Feng family's innocence. We also need to deal with Xie Zhongren in a way that allows Feng Ye to personally avenge the murder of his father and the extermination of his family. As long as we achieve these two points, Feng Ye will no longer be in the right if he continues to refuse to give in. We can then discuss other conditions for the amnesty."

Shen Hexuan said worriedly: "But His Majesty cares most about his reputation. Even if he was deceived by the eunuchs, he was the one who issued the imperial decree after all. A king never jokes. Now he has to admit that he wronged a loyal minister. I'm afraid..."

"Your Majesty may be concerned about your reputation, but now we are facing internal and external troubles. The situation is so critical. Your Majesty should put the overall situation first."

"Why don't you write a letter first to test His Majesty's attitude?"

Yan Sikong nodded: "Okay."

"But if Your Majesty really rehabilitates the Feng family and hands Xie Zhongren over to Feng Ye for punishment, and Feng Ye still has evil intentions, what should we do?"

Yan Sikong narrowed his eyes. "Although we advocate peace, as Brother Shen said, we have to be on guard against this man. Feng Ye's closeness to me is certainly not for a romantic encounter. He wanted to find out the attitude of the court and the defense situation of Qianzhou from me, but I fooled him with half-truths. We have to prepare for both situations. If peace cannot be achieved, Qianzhou will be the last barrier to stop Feng Ye from advancing into the Central Plains, and we must not lose it."

Shen Hexuan's eyes were firm: "I will eat your salary and share your worries. If we can't make peace, I will defend Qianzhou even if it costs my life."

Yan Sikong stared at Shen Hexuan silently, and for the first time, he had the thought of killing him. Shen Hexuan was the person he admired the most, and the best minister to assist the emperor in his mind. However, this person was upright, rigid, and extremely smart, and it was difficult to fool him. Instead, he might become the biggest obstacle for Chen Yi to ascend the throne.

Although it's a pity, if Shen Hexuan really threatens his grand plan...

——

After returning to Maoren, Yan Sikong was not in a hurry to go to Qianzhou. He stayed up all night and wrote two letters. One was a memorial to Emperor Zhaowu, and the other was written to a person he had never corresponded with for many years but had always been thinking about - the deposed Crown Prince Chen Yi - now the King of Chu.

There are many spies in the capital, and he was worried that his secret communication with Chen Yi would be discovered, so the two of them had no contact for many years. But now he is far away from the emperor and has much freedom. Although Chen Yi is far away in Yunnan, he must be aware of his movements. If this boy still has ambitions, he will definitely be waiting for news from him.

At this time, the whole country was in turmoil, and the various princes were ready to take action in order to protect themselves. Emperor Zhaowu was busy with his own affairs, and it was a good time for Chen Yi to recruit soldiers and buy horses. He had to urge Chen Yi to make plans early and wait for the opportunity.

After he finished writing the letter, the sky was already bright. He had returned to Maoren after a day of raiding the rebel camp and had not rested yet. He was physically very tired, but he still had no desire to sleep. He looked at the pale full moon hanging in the sky, wondering if Feng Ye was sleeping soundly or tossing and turning like him. In the three years of separation, he had missed Feng Ye countless times when he looked at the moon. He imagined that Feng Ye was looking at the same moon as him, missing each other in his heart as he did. At that moment, the two of them might have a connection in mind - no matter how far apart they were.

Now looking at this moon again, he hopes that he and Feng Ye have never met again. In this way, in his heart, Feng Ye will always have feelings for him, and all he can remember is the kindness Feng Ye showed him...

Yan Sikong smiled bitterly. His heart was already numb from the pain, but why was he still unwilling to give in?