Chapter 299: Negotiation

After she left, the carriage started moving again. The skinny man grabbed He Lingchuan's uninjured arm and said eagerly, "Jiajia! You're something else, kid. You're about to achieve fame and success, and you even get to enjoy a beauty's favor!"

The envy of the single man overflowed.

Two claps of thunder boomed across the sky.

He Lingchuan sat up and stretched.

That was the good thing about drinking in a dream: no headache upon waking.

Hu Min had organized a celebration banquet for him at Yixiang Restaurant. Originally, there were only four people, but somehow, the more they drank, the more people joined, and eventually even Willow and Door Plank arrived.

Seeing the way the two of them exchanged glances, He Lingchuan concluded they were already a couple.

Of course, this was before he became dead drunk.

He Lingchuan couldn't remember how many jars of wine he'd drunk; anyway, the moment he opened his eyes, he was back to reality.

Speaking of which, Sun Fuling's promise had yet to be fulfilled.

No chance.

He Lingchuan rubbed his face, got up, and pulled back the tent flap to look outside. The heavy rain was still pouring down with a gushing sound. Had Heaven not grown tired of pouring water onto the ground for so many days straight?

He had asked local soldiers, who said that Xiaobei was now entering its flood season, with rain expected to fall continuously for thirty to forty days, with only brief pauses in between.

In contrast, Blackwater City's rainy season was never this long.

Clearly, this weather posed a challenge for food storage. However, that was not the immediate priority. As soon as He Lingchuan had finished getting ready, He Chunhua sent someone to call for him.

When He Lingchuan went to the main command tent, a meeting was in progress. He waited in the adjacent tent for a while and heard that the main discussion inside concerned camp relocation.

It was now largely certain that the main flood season for the Han River had arrived early. After several days of heavy rain, the riverbanks were prone to loosening and collapsing, so the Kite Army would do best to retreat another hundred zhang.

In terms of encampment locations, the ground south of the Han River, which the Kite Army guarded, had soft foundations, while to the north, there were rocky mountains. In previous years, floods would inundate the south bank first before the north bank.

Therefore, Zhao Pan was also highly tense at this time. The main camp had to be relocated, and quickly, but it couldn't retreat too far, lest the enemy on the opposite bank gain an undue advantage.

He had to strike the right balance in this matter.

The meeting concluded, and He Chunhua stepped out, finally seeing his son.

"Father, what's wrong?" He had been engrossed in his cultivation for the past two days, forgetting that this was the front line.

He Chunhua unfolded a crumpled letter on the table. "You'll have to come with me."

The letter was damp, and the characters on it were blurred from water damage, but it didn't prevent reading:

3:30 PM (Shenshi Erkè), Soaring Dragon Peak, Baiming Valley. If you do not come, the front line will surely be defeated.

He looked up at He Chunhua, wondering if this was it. His father then said, "Hong Chenglüe insists on meeting us."

Indeed.

"To be precise, he wants to see his wife and confirm her safety," He Chunhua said solemnly. "The day before yesterday, I ordered people to shoot dozens of message arrows into the surrounding woods, demanding that he withdraw from Xiazhou. Hong Chenglüe did receive them, and what you see is his reply."

He was certain that even after the grain transport team arrived at the front line, the Xunzhou cavalry would still be monitoring the vicinity.

Sure enough, the message arrows he had ordered to be shot all over reached Hong Chenglüe's hands.

"If you don't go, the front line will surely be defeated?" He Lingchuan said, surprised. "This man speaks with such arrogance. How can he easily accomplish something that tens of thousands of Xunzhou soldiers on the other side couldn't?"

He Chunhua remained silent, his gaze flickering.

"Yet Father still intends to meet him?"

"Better safe than sorry," He Chunhua, a cautious man, replied. "Besides, he only has a hundred or so cavalry. What do I have to fear?"

"Go prepare yourself. We depart in an hour."

He Lingchuan hesitated, wanting to speak, but ultimately could only accept the order and leave.

An hour later, He Chunhua, accompanied by over six hundred cavalry, set off through the rain toward Baiming Valley.

Among them were four hundred men from the grain transport team, and Zhao Pan had also allocated an additional two hundred elites, whom He Lingchuan saw were all carrying large bows.

"In a place like Baiming Valley, archers are most effective." Those were Zhao Pan's exact words.

Also accompanying them was a carriage, inside which lay Hong Chenglüe's wife, Ajin. Naturally, this was no longer a civilian carriage from Hanpang. Before departure, a maid had helped her bathe, change clothes, and apply a light touch of makeup to make her complexion look better.

Ajin remained very quiet, allowing herself to be attended to.

Another hour passed, and the group arrived at Baiming Valley.

Upon reaching this point, He Lingchuan understood Zhao Pan's meticulous efforts. Baiming Valley was surrounded by mountains, with many exposed rock faces, oddly shaped boulders, and countless caves and hollows among the peaks.

Such terrain was advantageous for concealment, making it no wonder that Hong Chenglüe specified this location for the meeting.

Locals led the way. Soaring Dragon Peak was the first low peak encountered upon entering Baiming Valley and was not difficult to climb.

He Chunhua sent a few scouts up, and the feedback was that everything was normal, with no ambush.

However, He Chunhua did not go up the mountain; he only had the troops stop on the flat ground at the entrance of Baiming Valley.

He then ordered someone to bring a chair from the carriage, and sat down in a commanding posture.

The message was clear: "I've come to Baiming Valley as agreed, but I won't go further inside. I won't let you dictate everything. If you want to see your wife, come out yourself."

Baiming Valley had complex terrain, and He Chunhua certainly couldn't let Hong Chenglüe lead him by the nose. Who knew what strange arrangements might be on Soaring Dragon Peak?

The elites he brought went to control the nearby high ground, and archers were positioned in ambush.

As if Heaven were granting its favor, the rain stopped just as He Chunhua arrived at Baiming Valley.

The fragrance of damp earth lingered, and birds began to chirp in the mountains and forests.

The valley was secluded and quiet, with no one in sight.

Haste makes waste, so He Chunhua simply closed his eyes and rested.

Two quarters of an hour passed like this. Suddenly, the ground five zhang in front of He Chunhua moved, and pebbles bounced everywhere. His personal guards immediately stepped forward, surrounding He Chunhua.

The gravel on the ground quickly gathered, and in less than ten breaths, the surface sank, forming a large pit over a zhang wide and several chi deep. From within the pit, a stone figure, two heads taller than a person, emerged and walked with heavy steps toward He Chunhua.

The personal guards drew their weapons and shouted, "Stop!"

He Chunhua, however, waved his hand. "Let it come closer." This thing seemed to bear no ill will.

The sturdy stone figure walked a few more steps before stopping, its voice deep, as if ground by a millstone: "Lord He!"

He Chunhua raised an eyebrow. "Hong Chenglüe?"

"Where is my wife?"

"Let's discuss proper matters first." He Chunhua's gaze scanned the distance. The stone figure was merely a puppet conjured by the other party for dialogue. However, the control range of such a spell was limited, so Hong Chenglüe himself should be hiding not far away. Zeng Feixiong should currently be leading his subordinates in searching for Hong Chenglüe's location nearby.

"I don't want your life, nor do I intend to make things difficult for you. I only ask that you withdraw from Xiazhou and not return for one year," He Chunhua said slowly. "Your wife will be an honored guest here, well-fed and cared for, guaranteed to have no discomfort whatsoever, even better than camping out with you. After one year, I will return her to you."

Hong Chenglüe, moving freely behind Zhao Pan's main forces, was a huge menace to Xiazhou. He Chunhua resented him for burning military provisions but was even more concerned about his endless continuation of sabotage.

But this fellow was slippery and hard to catch. So, He Chunhua decided to settle for the next best thing: drive him out.

"No," Hong Chenglüe flatly refused through the stone figure's mouth. "Return Ajin to me now, or I will assist the Xunzhou people in breaking the enemy, and Zhao Pan will be defeated within half a month."

He Chunhua couldn't help but laugh.

Nian Zanli, who commanded a large army, was not far from the north bank of the Han River. Even he couldn't cross the Han River's natural defenses or break through Zhao Pan's lines. How dare Hong Chenglüe make such a guarantee?

Hong Chenglüe remained silent, waiting quietly for him to finish laughing.

The stone figure was already expressionless, making it even harder for He Chunhua to gauge his thoughts.

Negotiation was an art, and without seeing the other party's facial expressions, one would miss a lot of information. He Chunhua was quite displeased by this. "You are confident you can defeat General Zhao, yet you dare not show your face before me? Come out and speak first! I don't trust those who hide their true selves!"

The stone figure fell silent.

After a short while, figures seemed to flicker in the distance.

The He family father and son focused their gaze. Two figures appeared on a small peak about ten zhang directly ahead.

Was that Hong Chenglüe?

He Lingchuan had never met Hong Chenglüe, but he recognized the other person as Dong Rui.

This person truly had a tenacious life, impossible to catch or kill.

He Chunhua's gaze swept left and right, and naturally, someone quietly began to infiltrate toward the small peak.

The stone figure spoke again: "Lord He, there's no need for these petty tricks; you won't catch me."

"How will I know if I don't try?" He Chunhua chuckled. "General Hong indeed has spirit. But you are originally a Kite citizen, so why are you helping Nian Zanli, a defeated opponent, attack the Kite Kingdom? How about this: as long as you agree to withdraw from Xiazhou, I will release your wife within three months."

The battlefield situation was constantly changing. If Hong Chenglüe truly led his troops out of Xiazhou, it would be uncertain whether he would, or could, re-enter later.

Therefore, the core of the current negotiation between the two parties truly lay in Hong Chenglüe's "withdrawal."

With this withdrawal, He Chunhua would earn the credit of "persuading an enemy general to retreat without deploying a single soldier." This would satisfy the front line, Xiazhou, and the royal court, and his prestige would remain intact.

However, this withdrawal would also bring trouble upon Hong Chenglüe himself. First, the troops he now commanded were entirely Xunzhou cavalry, not Beijia soldiers. Their adaptation period was less than ten days, and due to the abandoned mine incident a few days prior, the Xunzhou people were already dissatisfied with this leader. Privately, whispers of "those not of our kind are sure to have different intentions" were not uncommon.

If Hong Chenglüe were to withdraw from Xiazhou for personal reasons, how could the Xunzhou people be expected to obey?

Secondly, guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines was a directive from Beijia. His unauthorized withdrawal would be an act of insubordination, a serious taboo in the military. Hong Chenglüe had only just returned to active duty; would he cut off his own retreat now?

Yet, the crucial point He Chunhua held was undeniably real.

Others could not possibly imagine the bond between him and his wife.

That fellow He Chunhua was trying to ruin his future. Hong Chenglüe, who was accustomed to making difficult choices, visibly hesitated at this moment.

Dong Rui nudged him with his elbow. "Hey..."

Hong Chenglüe immediately raised his hand, cutting him off.

Seeing this, He Lingchuan understood that Hong Chenglüe's claim of "assisting the Xunzhou people in defeating Zhao Pan" was likely something he couldn't provide evidence for.