1068 Negotiations, the Emperor Dare Not Provoke

The Ninth Prince asked Nanling Jinxing to quickly capture Taicheng and then negotiate. However, capturing Taicheng was easy, but the peace talks involved the interests of many parties and were not something that could be settled in a few words.

On the surface, it was Nanling and the Third Prince who initiated the war against Taicheng. After the war, the ones who benefited were of course people from these two sides. However, Fu Lin was leading his men to massacre the Third Prince's troops in Shandong, so how could they come out to share the fruits of victory in the war? So the benefits fell into the hands of Nanling Jinxing.

Peace talks were a matter of wrangling. Nanling Jinxing alone could not suppress Taicheng and Tai Shao. Tai Shao was clearly a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water and refused to cede land or pay compensation. The two sides remained in a stalemate until the Ninth Prince secretly took over Shandong and Nanling Jinxing found Fu Lin as an intermediary. Only then could the peace talks proceed smoothly.

In fact, Fu Lin also came here to negotiate. He helped Nanling Jinxing negotiate with Taicheng, and he wanted Nanling Jinxing to give him the rebel army of the Third Prince so that he could take it and report to the Emperor.

This is a win-win situation, and Nanling Jinxing would certainly not refuse. Besides, the Ninth Prince also said before he left that one should not feel sorry for these 50,000 people. When the Third Prince took out these 50,000 people, he was planning on making sacrifices.

Although these 50,000 troops may seem strong, they are in fact useless. Even if they are really handed over to the Emperor and the Ninth Prince, he will not feel bad about it. After all, the Third Prince has already obtained the real strong troops.

Moreover, returning to Dongling as surrendered soldiers is a good thing for these soldiers. Killing surrendered soldiers is unlucky. Even if the emperor hates the Third Prince, he will not kill the surrendered soldiers. After all, they are just ordinary soldiers, and they are just following orders.

As the defeated party, Tai Shao was disappointed but not too depressed, and he did not take the conditions proposed by Nanling Jinxing seriously. He knew that Dongling would not allow Taicheng to fall into Nanling's hands. With Dongling's troops around, Nanling Jinxing did not dare to act recklessly. However, he did not expect that Nanling Jinxing would secretly join forces with Fu Lin and turn around and sell out the people who fought with him.

"Shameless, shameless, really shameless. All the royal family members are really shameless." Tai Shao cursed, but what could he do? He could not change the facts at all.

In this battle, Taicheng not only suffered heavy casualties, but also paid compensation of two million taels of silver and several commercial towns. It would take Taicheng thirty years, let alone ten, to recover from this loss.

Cede territory and pay compensation were normal contents of peace talks, and Tai Shao had no choice but to accept them even if he was not satisfied. However, what he could not understand was another condition proposed by Nanling Jinxing.

"Prince Jinxing, are you mistaken? I am the mayor of Taicheng?" Tai Shao gritted his teeth.

If the people of Taicheng knew that he, the city lord, was locked in a black hole by Dongling and Nanling, how would he save his dignity and how would he manage Taicheng in the future?

"I know you are the Lord of Taicheng, but so what? Don't you know that Feng Qingchen is my sister? If you dare to lock my sister in a black hole, you should understand what the consequences will be." When the Ninth Prince wrote to Nanling Jinxing, he specifically mentioned that Tai Shao had locked Feng Qingchen in the black hole of Taicheng for two days.

Although the Ninth Prince did not mention revenge, Nanling Jinxing understood that the Ninth Prince brought this up because he wanted him to help Feng Qingchen take a small revenge.

Just a little revenge really.

"The situation at that time..." Facing Nanling Jinxing's cold gaze, Tai Shao swallowed his words of explanation and said weakly: "Prince Jinxing, I didn't know that Feng Qingchen was your sister. Ignorance is not a crime."

"It doesn't matter. City Lord Tai doesn't know that Qingchen is my sister, but he definitely knows the relationship between Qingchen and the Ninth Prince of Dongling. If you dare to imprison someone protected by the Ninth Prince, you will have to pay the price. Lord Fu, don't you think so?" Nanling Jinxing shamelessly dragged Fu Lin into the water.

Dongling and Nanling joined forces, and the little Tai City Lord could do nothing but consider himself unlucky.

"Prince Jinxing is right. Lord Tai should pick an auspicious day to stay in the secret cave for three to five days. It doesn't matter if Lord Tai is unwilling. I believe there are many people in Tai City who are willing to replace Lord Tai." If Fu Lin didn't speak, it would be fine. But as soon as he opened his mouth, it was a threat.

You want the city lord's face, so you don't want to go? Well, if you don't go, someone else will go. Whoever stays in the secret cave for three to five days will be the city lord of Taicheng when he comes out.

What? You don't agree? The people of Taicheng don't agree

It doesn't matter. If you disagree, I will kill you. If the people of Taicheng disagree, I will continue to send soldiers to kill them until everyone agrees. Anyway, the troops of Dongling and Nanling are just outside Taicheng and can come in at any time. After the battle, they can also ask for some silver as compensation. Anyway, they will not lose out.

Tai Shao was furious, but this is how the world is. Want dignity? Want pride? Sure, show your ability. No ability? You either compromise or die.

It was obvious that Tai Shao didn't want to die, but it would be too humiliating for him to change his words immediately. Tai Shao's face turned red as he confronted Fu Lin and Nanling Jinxing.

Mr. Zhuge secretly flashed a trace of contempt, and seeing that the situation was almost settled, he stepped forward to persuade: "Young Master, a little impatience will ruin a big plan. Young Master, please put the overall situation first. Even if you don't think about it for yourself, you should think about the people of Taicheng."

He was obviously afraid of death, but he raised the banner of justice. With this excuse, Tai Shao's face immediately looked better, as if he was enduring humiliation.

Nanling Jinxing and Fu Lin were both disdainful, but at the same time they also felt relieved. The troubles in Shandong and Taicheng were finally resolved, and they should each be given a higher title after returning.

Nanling Jinxing took this opportunity to win over many people in the army, and with his victory, he is closer to the position of Crown Prince of Nanling. However, Nanling Jinfan will definitely not agree, and Nanling will be in chaos and bloodshed again.

Similarly, Fu Lin also returned victoriously. The most important thing was that he did not lose a single soldier, and he even made up for the military losses. After returning to the city, he would definitely be promoted.

Nanling Jinxing was quite generous. Taicheng paid two million taels of silver as compensation, so Nanling Jinxing gave Fu Lin fifty thousand taels of silver. Afterwards, the Ninth Prince discovered that he was short of fifty thousand taels of silver...

There had been no war in the past ten years or so, so the news on Shandong could be considered good news, which was reported back to the imperial city in a few days. After hearing it, the emperor felt much better, and his illness was cured as his mood improved.

After the emperor recovered from his illness, the first thing he did was to settle the matter between the Third Prince and Concubine Su, but the Ninth Prince had already dealt with it, so the emperor had no idea where to start. He wanted to find Feng Qingchen, but he found that a group of strange forces had come to Feng Mansion. Although the emperor was not afraid of these people, he did not want to offend them...

Although only a few people knew about the arrival of these people, the atmosphere in the imperial city became tense and solemn, and even the Ninth Prince was quite worried.

Is the arrival of these people a coincidence or an accident?

A note to readers: I wrote this during my lunch break. This is a transitional chapter that wraps up the affairs of the Third Prince, Nanling, and Taicheng, and moves on to the next situation.

Can I say that the more I write, the more I like it...