eurekapd Chapter 997: Playing a trick
Chapter 997: Playing a trick
"Your Highness, please meet the envoy first and ask his purpose." If there is anyone who can calm down the furious Prince Chu in an instant, among all the people present, it is probably only Zhang Zhenxuan who has this ability.
"Call the people in!" His Royal Highness the King of Chu also understood that time was precious, so he took a precious bow from the shelf and then sat back in his seat.
Upon seeing this, the others immediately separated into two rows and stood in line, waiting for the Goguryeo envoy to enter the tent.
When Quan Jiushan walked into the big tent holding the brocade box, he was also frightened by the fierce momentum of His Royal Highness the King of Chu and his retainers.
Especially the young Taoist standing on the right hand side of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the other party gave him a particularly terrifying feeling.
Of course, what really made him feel suffocated was His Royal Highness the King of Chu, who was holding the precious bow and pulling the empty string.
"I, Quan Jiushan, the envoy of Goguryeo, am here to pay my respects to His Majesty the King of Chu of the Tang Dynasty!" Quan Jiushan was an honest man, so when he knelt down to pay his respects to His Majesty the King of Chu, he raised the brocade box above his head and, without waiting for the other party to ask, continued in a loud voice: "I, your foreign minister, am here to surrender the city to His Majesty the King of Chu in compliance with the order of the King of Goguryeo. This brocade box contains the letter of surrender written by my king himself, as well as... the seal passed down by successive kings of Goguryeo!"
As Quan Jiushan's voice fell, the entire tent was suddenly filled with an extremely mysterious atmosphere.
No, this, this, this... these old retainers like Lord Dou really have something to say...
"Snap!" His Royal Highness the King of Chu suppressed the whispers of the crowd with a thunderous sound. He raised his head and fixed his eyes firmly on Quan Jiushan's face: "You have to know that when this bow sounds... Forget it, you can't catch such an elegant job.
Then let's get straight to the point. Why? Why do you want to surrender to me? Why did the Treasure King send you here?"
"Your Highness, King of Chu, from the moment you landed in Baekje, I knew that Goguryeo would lose this war, so we had to surrender!" Quan Jiushan smiled bitterly and said, "Rather than facing a miserable ending with corpses everywhere and blood flowing, we might as well surrender directly to you. I believe that you will guarantee the safety of our king."
"The King of Baekje and his son were killed by me." His Royal Highness the King of Chu didn't know where the other party got the confidence to think that he was trustworthy.
“They deserve to die.” Quan Jiushan’s expression remained unchanged after hearing this: “Quan Gaisuwen killed King Rongliu (Gao Jianwu), and then he proclaimed himself Mozhili, sidelined our King Gao Baozang, and continued to purge the nobles who opposed him in the country through bloody means.
Sooner or later, Goguryeo will be destroyed in his hands. But... Your Highness the King of Chu, you can save us and prevent us from being destroyed along with him, Quan Gaisuwen!"
"Ah?" His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu found this matter more and more interesting: "So you are not my Uncle Dou's pawn, and you also regard me as the savior?"
"Your Highness the King of Chu did not hesitate to cross thousands of miles to save me from danger. He can be called the 'savior'!" - Quan Jiushan only answered one question of Li Kuan on the surface, but in fact he answered both questions.
He was not a retainer of the Dou family.
He is just a smart man who can see the situation clearly. At the same time, he is also a close minister of the king who is unable to fight against the general trend of the world and has to choose to compromise.
"Something is wrong..." King Chu was watching Pyongyang being taken without a fight, and he couldn't help but start to wonder when he had acquired some of the strange bonus of "God's will". "If I remember correctly, Quan Gaisuwen seemed to have a younger brother who married the daughter of your Treasure King..."
"I have killed this man myself." - Originally, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu was just tentatively asking about the other party's sincerity, but in Quan Jiushan's eyes, this was an opportunity to seek credit and make his position clear: "I have brought his head, it is outside. I didn't bring it with me because I was afraid of offending His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu. If Your Highness needs it, I will have my attendants bring the head into the tent immediately!"
"..." To be honest, His Royal Highness the King of Chu was used to being domineering, and this was the first time he saw someone sliding on his knees so skillfully: "Okay, have someone send the head in."
"Yes!" Quan Jiushan didn't hesitate to respond according to the Tang Dynasty etiquette, and then shouted to the outside: "Send the head in!"
Soon, Quan Jiushan's follower came in holding a wooden box.
"Your Highness, I will be responsible for examining the heads." Gangzi may be a rogue in normal times, but at this critical moment, he really appears to be extremely professional - even if the probability of the other party using this to plan an assassination is very small, but as a retainer, Gangzi will naturally resolutely block any possible conspiracy.
"Open it." Yuan Tiangang stood in front of the follower with his hands behind his back.
"Yes..." Upon hearing this, the attendant respectfully opened the wooden box...
The expected assassination did not happen. Quan Jingtu's head was lying squarely in a wooden box, his eyes open.
"Go back and tell King Baozang that I accept his surrender. From today on, he, his family, and his confidants will be protected by me." His Royal Highness the King of Chu said as he stood up from his seat and slowly walked to Quan Jiushan: "From tomorrow on, I will send 30,000 Tang troops into Pyongyang City to officially take over everything. You need to be prepared in advance. Do you have any objections?"
"We have no objection! Your Highness the King of Wei and the King of Chu can treat the people of Goguryeo well!" Upon hearing this, Quan Jiushan raised the brocade box in his hand higher. After His Highness the King of Chu took it, he bowed to the ground and said, "In this case, the foreign minister and the King of Treasures will be grateful!"
"From now on, there is no Goguryeo." His Royal Highness the King of Chu heard this in a calm tone, as if he was talking about an ordinary matter: "There is only the Tang Dynasty and its people. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand!" Quan Jiushan was stunned at first, then he quickly suppressed his inner sadness and kowtowed to the King of Chu again.
Everything seemed to be settled.
That night, His Royal Highness the King of Chu called Zhang Liang and Cheng Mingzhen to his presence.
"Zhang Liang, all the people you bring with you this time must enter Pyongyang and take over everything in the city. As for the commander of this army, I plan to let Cheng Mingzhen come. Do you have any objection?"
"Your Highness, why is it him?" Zhang Liang felt that there seemed to be some explanation for this matter.
"Because he is ruthless enough, I don't have to worry about him not being able to suppress a possible rebellion in the future." His Royal Highness the King of Chu smiled upon hearing this, and then said, "After entering the city tomorrow, I will drive out all the surrendered troops in the city and confiscate all the weapons. Of course, before Quan Jiushan left, he said that there are still 30,000 troops in Pyongyang, but I estimate that there are more than that number."
"He didn't tell the truth?" Zhang Liang frowned when he heard this: "Wouldn't it be dangerous if we wait until tomorrow to enter the city of Tang Cheng?"
"Now it's being reported outside that Quan Gaisuwen has gone north to Anshi City. This is also what the intelligence I received said." His Royal Highness the King of Chu paused after hearing this, and then said, "But you say... is there a possibility that Quan Gaisuwen actually hid a back-up plan from everyone? For example, he has guessed the Treasure King's idea, but still decided to play along with him, and even use his own brother's head as a bargaining chip, just waiting for tomorrow when I enter the city, and let his confidants find a way to kill me? For example, he made some moves at the city gate, arranged for the assassins to activate the mechanism, so that a huge rock fell from above the city gate, or found an opportunity to assassinate me with a crossbow coated with poison..."
"Your Highness..." Zhang Liang and Cheng Mingzhen heard this and after a brief moment of shock, they said in unison: "It's not impossible!"
"So how can I break the impasse?" King Chu stroked his chin and answered himself: "It's very simple. I can just play a trick of 'Li Dai Tao Jiang' in public tomorrow, right?"