My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 332: Textbook Prisoner’s Dilemma

Shen Pei's final words were quite powerful, causing Yuan Shang to hesitate for a moment and no longer dare to consider the land exchange conditions offered by Cao Cao.

My father had just died, only a month ago. According to the custom of the Han Dynasty, the rich and powerful would keep the body of the deceased for 49 days before burying him.

This is like Yuan Shang confessing his father's crime before Yuan Shao was even buried. No matter how you look at it, this is a death sentence for the society. How many of Yuan's former officials will be willing to work for Yuan Shang in the future? This is destroying his own appeal!
From this we can also see that although Shen Pei was greedy for power and excluded dissidents, he was still loyal to the Yuan family.

He was not only loyal to Yuan Shang, but also truly loyal to Yuan Shao. He had absolutely zero tolerance for anyone trying to ruin Yuan Shao's reputation after his death.

So Yang Xiu waited in the post house for two days, but there was no follow-up meeting. Neither Tian Feng nor Ji Shen Pei wanted to see him.

In the end, Chen Lin came back and simply informed him that the negotiations had broken down.

Yang Xiu was not surprised by this result, because he knew that Cao Cao's initial condition was to ask for an exorbitant price.

However, the intensity of the other party's reaction was slightly beyond Yang Xiu's expectations. He thought Yuan Shang would still bargain, but he didn't expect him to just stop talking, which was very embarrassing.

Before Yang Xiu came, he had to be personally instructed by Cao Cao, and was also told by Xun Yu and Xun You that he had to offer a high price as required by Cao Cao. If the other party bargained, he would give in a little. Yang Xiu also had this authorization.

However, in the current situation, the other party is so tough. If Yang Xiu were to lower his demands immediately, it would seem that the court was too cheap.

After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Xiu decided to deal with it calmly. On the one hand, he pretended to send people hundreds of miles back to Xudu to ask for instructions from the court. On the other hand, he tried to delay the day of Yuan Shao's death.

Of course, every move of Yang Xiu in Yecheng was watched by the Yuan family, and it was immediately reported to Feng Ji Shenpei.

After hearing this, the two did not stop it, but just had a brief discussion.

"Brother Zhengnan, what do you think Yang Xiu meant by this?"

"I guess he is going to complain to Cao Ze and ask him to make other conditions or allow him to give up his mission. There is no need to stop him. Our initial strong reaction is also to let Cao Ze know our bottom line.

If Cao can really lower the conditions, it is not impossible to negotiate. But the reputation, dignity and prestige of Lord Benchu cannot be humiliated. We cannot let the lord bear such a bad reputation of being unfilial. "

When Shen Pei said this, he had tried his best to be careful with his words. He knew that as long as Yuan Shang negotiated with Cao Cao, he would definitely be labeled as unfilial to some extent. It was impossible to avoid it completely, so he could only work on the degree.

I hope Cao thieves can see the determination of the Hebei heroes and stop having unrealistic fantasies!
……

Yang Xiu's messenger did indeed make a trip back to Xu Du, and the round trip wasted another twelve days.

When he arrived in Yecheng again, it was only five or six days before Yuan Shao's seventh-day mourning ceremony.

After hearing about the fierce reaction of the Yuan family, Cao Cao began to respect them. In addition, he had some feelings for Yuan Shao, so he agreed to make some concessions and gave Yang Xiu greater authority and a bottom line price.

Next time when Yang Xiu makes concessions, he doesn't need to go to Xudu to ask for instructions. At most, he can just pretend to ask for instructions. This will also speed up the negotiation progress.

After receiving two replies from Cao Cao, one open and one secret, the next day, that is, early in the morning of April 12, Yang Xiu asked to see Chen Lin again and asked Chen Lin to introduce him to Feng Ji or Shen Pei and put forward the second round of conditions from the court.

Chen Lin was somewhat embarrassed: "Mr. Yang, the conditions you offered last time were too humiliating to my master. Lords Feng and Shen both reacted strongly and didn't want to see him again. I'm afraid a little bargaining will be useless..."

Yang Xiu still looked confident: "We are not here to bargain, and Lord Cao is not here to make concessions easily. The court has its own dignity, how can it make concessions easily? I have also received another mission this time, and I have to handle it together.

After all, Duke Cao and Duke Benchu had been friends for more than thirty years, and they had fought together against Dong Zhuo and killed the traitor. If they had not had different political views and disagreements on how to rectify the court and revive the Han Dynasty, they would not have fought each other.

Last time, the words of Feng and Shen were very harsh, but considering the reputation of Benchu, they flatly refused. After I reported back to Xudu, Cao Gong was not angry. Instead, he praised their loyalty to their master and their reputation after his death, and only sighed that everyone serves his own master.

Therefore, Cao Gong, out of nostalgia for his friendship with Benchu Gong for more than 30 years, had people prepare another large gift to attend the funeral of Benchu Gong. Regardless of whether the peace talks were reached or not, the imperial army would withdraw from Hejian County on the same day as Benchu Gong's funeral, allowing the Yuan family to regain control of Hejian County as a sign of respect for Benchu Gong.

Other conditions have also been adjusted. The wording of the document in which the Third Master Yuan apologizes to the court can also be changed, and the parts that may insult the posthumous reputation of the Benchu Lord can be diluted or deleted, which can also reduce the reputation of the Third Master Yuan as an unfilial person - but this letter of apology must still be submitted. "

After hearing this statement, Chen Lin had to take it seriously again.

It has to be said that Cao Cao was very good at controlling his opponents.

Firstly, after his opponent was furious and felt humiliated, he treated him coldly for more than ten days, which made the opponent's anger almost subside and the impulsive period passed. The conditions he offered the first time had already been subtly implanted in the opponent's mind. As long as the subsequent conditions were obviously better than the first time, and the key was not to humiliate Yuan Shao himself, the probability of being accepted would be greatly increased. Secondly, Cao Cao did not come under the banner of direct negotiations this time, but first let Yang Xiu represent the court to express condolences to Yuan Shao. As the saying goes, you should not hit a smiling person. No one in the Han Dynasty had refused the court's condolences, even if they were enemies.

Although Yang Xiu did not mention the specific timetable for this round of negotiations, Chen Lin used common sense to know that Yang Xiu had another subtext: Now there are only five or six days left before the Seven Days Ceremony, and this round of negotiations, if there is a little delay, the final agreement will definitely be reached after the Seven Days Ceremony.

This also avoided the problem of his son betraying Yuan Shao's interests before his body was even buried, and it was a little more face-saving.

While Chen Lin was still pondering, Yang Xiu threw out another trump card: "Anyway, regardless of whether your army allows me to mourn Lord Benchu on behalf of the court, Cao Gong has said that he will order the court army to withdraw from Hejian County on the day of Lord Benchu's burial.

If the negotiations fail, then whoever wants to take over Hejian County can do it. If you don’t want to, let Young Master Yuan from Bohai take over. I don’t know how Brother Wang Ling’s negotiations went in Linzi.”

The last sentence was extremely damaging. When Yang Xiu came for the first time, he did not point out that "Cao Cao was talking to Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan at the same time", but this time, he directly broke the window paper.

This is also why Cao Cao was confident in making an offer the second time - if he did not have this trump card, the court would directly make a lower offer, which would be looked down upon by the Yuan family, who would think that the court was anxious to stop the war.

But after this trump card was played, the situation was completely different.

While making an offer, I am also telling the other party that I have a backup plan. It’s up to you to talk or not.

Chen Lin was also shocked. He dared not delay any longer and directly reported Yang Xiu's secondary plan.

……

"Brother Kong Zhang, what are you doing? Didn't you say you would defend to the end and not negotiate with Cao?"

Later that day, when Feng Ji and Shen Pei heard that Chen Lin had brought back Yang Xiu's second condition, their first reaction was to reject it, thinking that Chen Lin had no principles.

But Chen Lin changed their attitudes with just the second sentence:

"Cao Cao is also talking to the eldest son at the same time! Regardless of whether an agreement is reached or not, he has said that he will withdraw his troops from Hejian County on the day of Lord Benchu's burial to show his sincerity and respect for Lord Benchu."

"What? This thief Cao is clearly trying to sow infighting between the lord and the eldest son over Hejian County! He's giving up a county without even discussing it? Or is he trying to show his sincerity and respect to Lord Benchu? Why are you pretending to be so merciful!"

Shen Pei almost immediately stood up from the mat where he was kneeling, and jumped up with his five fingers clenched so tightly that they made a crackling sound.

So vicious!

"But what can we do? Can we bet that the eldest master has the backbone to refuse?" Feng Ji, who was standing aside, also had a painful look on his face, but he was not as principled as Shen Pei. He quickly thought of the dilemma in reality.
"If we don't agree, but the eldest master agrees, then it won't be a matter of four counties, but a gap of eight counties in and out. No one can afford it."

This is a classic prisoner's dilemma.

If only one person was arrested, he could of course stick to his guns with the mentality of "leniency to those who confess, life imprisonment. Severity to those who resist, return home for the New Year."

But if that person was arrested with his accomplices and was questioned in isolation...

How does he know whether his accomplices will betray him and use him in exchange for major meritorious service?
Leniency to those who confess and severity to those who resist is most often used in practice in situations where accomplices are brought to justice together.

Although these laws did not exist in the era when Cao Cao lived, he had indeed understood the essence of the relevant ideas, and Yang Xiu also understood them at a young age.

Upon hearing this, Shen Pei remained silent for a long time, as if trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.

The atmosphere in the hall was oppressive for a long time, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. No one wanted to be the first to speak and bear the bad reputation of being submissive and spineless. In the end, Chen Lin once again found a way out for Shen Pei Feng Ji:

"How about...let Yang Xiu go to the funeral smoothly, and then listen to Cao Cao's new conditions in private?
After all, Yang Xiu is the nephew of Benchu Gong. Even if he doesn't consider the face of the Xudu court, he has to consider the face of Yang Taiwei. How can a nephew not be allowed to mourn his uncle? "

Feng Ji, Shen Pei and others looked at each other and could only nod in tacit understanding. Then they asked Chen Lin to let Yang Xiu take the conditions and have a look at them first, under the pretext of "talking to Yang Xiu about the mourning etiquette on the seventh day of Yuan Shao's death", so that they could negotiate face to face.

The next day, Yang Xiu finally took Cao Cao's new conditions with satisfaction and forced Yuan Shang to sign the treaty.

(End of this chapter)