Hearing his words, Lu Guanying's face immediately swelled to the color of a pig's liver. He wanted to refute, but he suddenly remembered Cheng Yaojia's sobbing voice from next door last night. He suddenly lost his confidence.
What's more, the battlefield was with his wife. No matter who won or lost, he would be the biggest loser.
Seeing that he was standing there in a daze, Song QingShu pulled Miss Cheng's hand and walked out. Miss Cheng's body trembled and she looked hesitant. However, she quickly let him lead her away.
"Where are we going now?" After leaving the yamen, Cheng Yaojia suddenly relaxed and couldn't help but ask the man who was holding her hand.
"To see someone." Song Qingshu smiled mysteriously. No matter how many times she asked, he just smiled and didn't say anything.
When they arrived at a secluded courtyard, Cheng Yaojia saw the person sitting calmly on the fishing platform. She realized that the person they were going to see was the real ruler of Yangzhou – Li Kexiu.
"Could it be that Li Kexiu has secretly sided with the Golden Snake Camp?" Cheng Yaojia was secretly surprised. As a member of the Southern Song delegation, she had seen Li Kexiu once. Naturally, she recognized him. In addition, she was influenced by the delegation, so she knew a little about the current situation in Yangzhou.
Previously, neither the Southern Song nor the Mongolians regarded the Golden Snake Camp as an opponent. After all, Li Kexiu controlled the territory of Jianghuai and the Golden Snake Camp. He also had 100,000 Green Camp troops under his command. His strength was slightly stronger than the Golden Snake Camp. Therefore, all parties subconsciously thought that it was impossible for him to side with the Golden Snake Camp. But looking at the current situation …
Cheng Yaojia suddenly sighed. What did this have to do with her? In any case, her relationship with her husband was already like that.
Not only was Cheng Yaojia shocked, but Li Kexiu was also startled. If Cheng Yaojia could recognize him, how could he not recognize her? He still vaguely remembered that she was a member of the Southern Song delegation. How could he not be surprised?
The current situation in Yangzhou was delicate. Seeing the Southern Song delegation and Song Qingshu together, he couldn't help but think of more things.
Noticing his frightened expression, Song Qingshu faintly smiled and said, "Uncle Li, you don't have to worry. She is one of my people." He deliberately brought Miss Cheng here to achieve this purpose.
When Cheng Yaojia heard Song Qingshu say that she was his woman, her face turned red. She didn't know what to feel. After all, she was the daughter-in-law of the Lu family and Li Kexiu knew this.
Li Kexiu nodded slightly and stopped thinking about Cheng Yaojia's matter. Her attention returned to Song Qingshu. "Nephew Song, why did you ask me out so soon?"
Song Qingshu smiled. "Didn't I say that to Uncle Li before? We should be able to see the results today."
"So fast?" Li Kexiu's brows knit together tightly while his face was covered in disbelief. After all, he'd only been acting perfunctorily earlier because he didn't believe that Song Qingshu could affect the higher echelons of the Gold and Pure sects at all.
Li Kexiu was skeptical. He called over one of his subordinates and asked. Then he said snappily, "Nephew, are you here to have fun? The Jin and Qing envoys are clearly still in the yamen."
Song Qingshu took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly, "Uncle Li, why are you in such a hurry? How about we play a game of chess first?"
Seeing his confident appearance, Li Kexiu couldn't help but waver in his previous judgment. He hesitated for a moment and said with a smile, "Alright, I'll play with nephew."
His subordinates had already set up the chessboard and the two of them began to play.
Miss Cheng, who was standing to the side, felt very awkward. However, after watching the two of them play for a while, she nearly laughed out loud. The two of them had been so formal that she had thought they were both chess masters. Who knew that after watching for a while, Miss Cheng would realize that Song QingShu's chess skills were even better than hers?
During this period of time, in her heart, Song Qingshu was a high and mighty person who played with her like an ant. It was not until this moment that Miss Cheng realized that he was also an ordinary person. She immediately felt a lot more amiable.
Fortunately, Li Kexiu was also a bad chess player. The two of them were really evenly matched. This time, they really played until the sky turned dark and the earth turned dark.
"Ha ha ha, I haven't been so happy in a long time." Although Li Kexiu was known as a Confucian general, his skills were mostly in the army. Although he was not completely ignorant of the four arts, his level was still very limited. In the past, when he played chess, he was either completely defeated or his opponents were afraid of his power and deliberately went easy on him. How could he be as happy as today? The more he looked at Song Qingshu, the more he liked him.
After an unknown period of time, one of Li Kexiu's subordinates ran over and whispered something in his ear. He was so shocked that he immediately stood up and said, "Did you see clearly?"
The subordinate nodded and said with certainty, "Not long ago, the Qing Kingdom's diplomatic corps left the Xingyuan. I followed them all the way and saw them leave the city gate."
Li Kexiu glanced at Song Qingshu. Seeing that his expression was as usual, he suddenly felt that he was unfathomable. Thinking of another matter, he hurriedly turned his head and asked his subordinate, "What about the Jin Kingdom's diplomatic corps?"
"We haven't seen any movement from the Jin Kingdom's diplomatic corps. When we saw that the Qing Kingdom's diplomatic corps had left, we quietly asked the Yamen's people to investigate. We found that the Jin Kingdom's diplomatic corps had already left. It seemed that they left in a hurry. A person was left in the courtyard, cursing Tang Kuo Bian …" the subordinate replied.
"What?" Cheng Yaojia looked at Song QingShu in surprise. She didn't know that the Jin Kingdom's diplomatic corps would leave today. From what Song QingShu said, the person who cursed Tang Kuo Bian must be her husband, Lu Guanying.
Song Qingshu quietly patted Miss Cheng's hand and used the Secret Voice-sending technique to say, "I'll explain it to you later." This was indeed his arrangement. Before this, he had secretly moved Zhang Hongfan away. He was waiting for his father to pay the huge ransom. In addition, his subordinates had also been quietly informed. After he left with Miss Cheng, everyone quietly left. By the time Lu Guanying reacted, everyone had already left.
Miss Cheng's character was originally soft. Hearing him say this, she had no choice but to suppress her doubts and silently stand to the side.
"Nephew, you have made me have a whole new level of respect for you today." Li Kexiu looked at him with a complicated expression.
Song Qingshu smiled and said, "You flatter me. It's fine as long as Uncle Li remembers his previous promise."
Hearing him mention this matter, Li Kexiu's expression changed, but she quickly recovered. She laughed and said, "Of course." Then he paused and gave Cheng Yaojia a meaningful look. Then he said to Song QingShu, "However, I have a matter that I would like to trouble you with …" Speaking to this point, he closed his mouth.
Song Qingshu knew what he meant. Perhaps he was still worried about Miss Cheng's identity as a member of the Southern Song Dynasty's diplomatic corps. In addition, he didn't want her to know too many secrets, so he said to her, "Miss Cheng, wait for me outside."
Miss Cheng was already preoccupied with her husband's matter. In addition, she had no interest in these state affairs. Hearing this, she nodded and left without any objections.
Watching her figure disappear at the door, Li Kexiu looked at him playfully and said, "Nephew is really resourceful. Not only can you influence the court situation of the Jin and Qing Kingdoms, but now you even have people in the Southern Song Dynasty's diplomatic corps."
Song Qingshu was happy that he misunderstood and didn't explain. He just smiled and said, "I don't know what Uncle Li is worried about."
"It's like this." Li Kexiu paused as if thinking about how to phrase it. "I can bring the Jianghuai region to join the Golden Snake Battalion. But what will I get?"
"The hereditary Iron Hat King." Song Qingshu's answer was also very simple. "If the world is unified in the future, your Li family will enjoy the glory of the empire for generations."
Li Kexiu suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air. This promise was really big. Due to historical reasons, the Han Empire rarely conferred the title of King. The Southern Song Dynasty was slightly better in this regard. However, the title of King was only an honor and didn't have any real power.
In contrast, the Manchurian Qing was much more generous in this regard. All kinds of King titles were given to the surrendered warlords as if they were free. This stimulated the group of warlords to work for them with red eyes. This was how they were able to sweep the rivers and mountains of the Ming Dynasty in a short period of time with tens of thousands of Bannermen.
However, no matter how generous the Manchurian Qing was, they only conferred ordinary King titles. There were only eight Iron Hat Kings, all of whom were the sons and nephews of Nurhachi. Moreover, they had made great achievements in the war to unify the world.
The reason why the Iron Hat King was so rare was that the title was usually given for life. After your death, the title would be taken back by the imperial court and your descendants couldn't inherit it. There was another kind of title that could be inherited, but every time the title was inherited, the title would be reduced by one level. After a few generations, the title could only become the lowest level. However, the Iron Hat King had a special characteristic — it was hereditary! No matter how many generations you passed, your title would not change.
Song Qingshu came from the later generations and naturally learned the experience and lessons of the previous dynasties. Therefore, he was extremely generous at the beginning. Even if there were any problems in the future, he could imitate the way the Qing Dynasty dealt with the surrendered warlords in the future.
Although Song Qingshu's promise was suspicious of painting a picture, it still made Li Kexiu extremely tempted. Because he knew that whether it was in the Qing Dynasty, Mongolia or the Southern Song Dynasty, he would never be able to obtain a hereditary title.
"My dear nephew is really generous," Li Kexiu said with emotion. "But I still need a promise."
"Please speak!" Song Qingshu's expression turned serious.
"In the future, you must give the position of Empress to Yuanzhi." Li Kexiu said in a low voice. As long as his daughter became Empress, then his grandson would be the Crown Prince in the future. Then the whole country would belong to the Li family. For such a great benefit, it was worth it for him to take such a big risk. He abandoned Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty and chose the weakest Golden Snake Camp.
Song Qingshu raised his eyebrows and finally said slowly, "Everyone in the world knows that I already have a wife. She is the head of the Emei faction, Zhou Zhiruo. In addition, we have a very good relationship. In the future, the position of Empress should belong to her. I don't want to lie to Uncle Li, but I can promise that in the future, the position of Imperial Consort will definitely belong to your daughter. "
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