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Chapter 858 Beat the master to death with random punches

This time, the Ningyuan Army's rebellion changed a lot of things. The Sheng family, which once again had a happy reunion, also learned to cherish. Even Lin Qinshuang, who always liked to make trouble, became much more honest and temporarily hid all her viciousness towards Aunt Wei and the newborn Sheng Changsong. You know, Su Ning's random punches stunned many people.

This time, Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai not only brought back Wang Ruofu and Lin Qinshuang from the workshop, but also brought back the servants of the Sheng family. This time, except for Sheng Hualan who left the Sheng family to work as a maid for Su Ning, they found that no one in the Sheng family died. They couldn't help but feel fortunate and happy in their hearts.

"My dear, I heard that the master rested at Aunt Wei's place again last night. This is the third day in a row that the master has been there." Zhou Xuenniang, who has become idle again, still likes to gossip. This is also the biggest reason why she can become Lin Qinshuang's absolute confidant.

"Hmph! We work in the workshop all day long making shoes. Who doesn't have scars and calluses on our hands? My lord must think that my hands are not soft enough." At this time, Lin Qinshuang naturally understood Sheng Hong's thoughts. She stretched out her hands and said with a wry smile on her face.

"Little girl."

"Let that bitch Aunt Wei be arrogant for a few more days. After my hands recover, I will see how I can win back your heart." The smartest thing about Lin Qinshuang is that she knows when to show weakness, and the unwise thing is that she overestimates her own abilities.

"My dear wife, you are wise."

"Well, I heard that milk helps with skin recovery. Please prepare some for me every day."

"Yes! Girl."

After Zhou Xuenniang turned around and left to go about her business, Lin Qinshuang's face was ferocious under the dim light. Sheng Hong only stayed with her on the night he came back, and he spent most of the rest of his time resting with Madam Wang Ruofu and Aunt Wei. So Lin Qinshuang had already decided in her heart that she must kill Aunt Wei as soon as possible, and it would be best if she could kill the newly born Sheng Changsong as well, so that she could keep her position in the Sheng family and relieve her hatred.

Shengjia, Shouantang.

"Hong'er, you really shouldn't have mentioned Hua'er's matter in public last time. After all, Gu Tingye and his Ningyuan Army have only taken the first step. Soon the ministers in the court will use real killing moves against him." When only the mother and son were left in Shou'an Hall, Old Lady Sheng looked at her adopted son with a complaining look and scolded him.

"Mother, now our Sheng family can only follow Gu Tingye to the end. There is no turning back for Changbai and me." Sheng Hong knew that his stepmother had always been a person who refused to admit defeat. She must be thinking about getting the family out of this sea of suffering as soon as possible. However, when he thought of the code on his butt and the liquid chip in his body, he looked at Mrs. Sheng with a wry smile on his face and explained.

"Ah? Why is this? Did Gu Tingye and the Ningyuan Army force you to write something?" Old Lady Sheng, who came from a military family, naturally knew about the surrender. She immediately thought with surprise that Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai had written some letter of allegiance.

"No! But it's even worse than forcing us to write something. The Jinyiwei of the Ningyuan Army branded marks on Changbai and me, and also injected an unknown liquid into our bodies. They said that we can never escape the control of the Ningyuan Army in our lifetime." At this time, Sheng Hong explained with a bitter face, and his right hand unconsciously touched the code on his buttocks.

"What? Brand mark? How could Gu Tingye humiliate you scholars like this?" Old Madam Sheng immediately widened her eyes in anger. This kind of thing disrupted all her plans.

"Hey! Maybe he's worried that we'll betray him? After all, many of the surrendered scholars are loyal to the Song Dynasty, so this will eliminate everyone's petty thoughts."

"What a vicious plot! I had originally thought of taking advantage of this opportunity to escape from Yangzhou with my entire family, but it seems everything is over. Even if we return to Bianjing and gain the emperor's forgiveness, we will never be able to hold our heads up high in the court."

"Yes! Mother, so Changbai and I have decided to stay in Ningyuan Army."

"Alright! Then you should go to Jiangning Prefecture as soon as possible. Since you have decided to stay and serve the thief, don't deliberately stay in Yangzhou and pretend. Gu Tingye will not make three visits to you two. In addition, I will send someone to Bianjing as soon as possible to explain Hualan's suicide to the Earl of Zhongqin's Mansion."

"Yes! Mother." Sheng Hong also noticed the old lady's somewhat angry tone at this time. He knew that the old lady was blaming him and Sheng Changbai for not persevering. After all, the Song Dynasty was the orthodox court that everyone hoped for. "Mother, the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion is in Jiangning Prefecture. Why don't we go over and take a look together?"

"Forget it! Most of the people I knew in the Xu family have passed away. Let's just live our own lives!"

"."

The Song Dynasty is now under attack from all sides and is devastated. It has not yet figured out how to deal with the Ningyuan Army in Jiangning Prefecture, but has heard the news that the Ningyuan Army is marching towards the entire Jiangnan East Road and Liangzhe Road respectively. The old emperor of the Song Dynasty and the ministers also saw the intentions of Suning and the Ningyuan Army, which is nothing more than wanting to divide the river and rule with them.

"Your Majesty, it seems that Gu Tingye and the Ningyuan Army want to divide the river with our Song Dynasty." Prime Minister Fu hurriedly stepped out and looked at His Majesty on the dragon throne and explained.

"Hmph! The fertile land south of the Yangtze River is the foundation of our Great Song Dynasty. We must not give it to these rebels at will." At this time, the old emperor rejected the "divide the river and rule" without even thinking about it. Otherwise, the Great Song Dynasty, which was attacked from all sides, would not be able to exist.

"Your Majesty, this makes sense! But..."

"My dear gentlemen, is there really nothing we can do?" The old emperor did not want to hear the "but" from the gentlemen at this time. Instead, he questioned everyone again very firmly.

"Your Majesty, although we all don't want to admit it, this is the reality we in the Song Dynasty are facing. We no longer have the ability to deal with the northern barbarians and rebellions at the same time." Minister Shen also stepped forward to explain to the old emperor, his words full of frustration and unwillingness.

"My lords, if our Song Dynasty recognizes the Great Ning Kingdom and this King Ning, can we let the Ningyuan Army attack the Great Liao and Western Xia?" Seeing that no one dared to take the initiative to propose the issue of surrender, the old emperor could only ask everyone in person.

"Your Majesty, you can give it a try. The Ningyuan Army's march north can be a condition for our Great Song. When the time comes, the Ningyuan Army will be fighting with the barbarians of the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty, and our Great Song Dynasty can hide behind and reap the benefits." Seeing that the old emperor finally began to face the reality, Han Da Xianggong quickly stepped out to support him.

"Okay! Let's implement this plan." The old emperor, who was at his wit's end, could only agree to the strategy of recruiting officials again. After all, this group of civil officials were already familiar with this tactic.

"Yes! Your Majesty, we can also ask the Ningyuan Army to provide firearms and war horses to our Song Dynasty. I heard that the Ningyuan Army not only has sharp firearms, but also the war horses they ride are far superior to our Song Dynasty's military horses." Now that the matter has been made clear, these ministers also began to speak freely.

"Oh? How did this evil creature Gu Tingye get these war supplies?" At this time, the old emperor on the dragon throne looked at the eunuchs with surprise and asked.

"Your Majesty, it is nothing more than the accumulated wealth of Ningyuan Marquis Gu's family over generations, or it is something that Gu Tingye's grandfather, the Bai family, obtained through maritime trade."

"The Gu family of Ningyuan Hou would not be so ambitious, otherwise they would have been uprooted by Taizu and Taizong long ago. So it should be the Bai family of Yangzhou who has long had rebellious intentions, and they can also obtain these war horses and firearms through the convenience of doing business." The old emperor, who had calmed down, did not think that the Gu family of Ningyuan Hou would rebel. He felt that it was still the Bai family who were salt merchants in Yangzhou. You know, the Song Dynasty had very strict supervision over military generals.

"Your Majesty is right! The Gu family is mostly composed of unruly individuals, few of whom are so audacious. Furthermore, Gu Tingye's rebellion is most likely intended to provoke Your Majesty to confiscate the Gu family's assets and exterminate their entire clan." The ministers exchanged glances of agreement, then offered their own analyses and speculations. "Hmph! A scoundrel! This Gu Tingye truly is a scoundrel." Understanding Su Ning's true intentions, the old emperor couldn't help but grow furious.

"Your Majesty, we have also found out about the Gu family's trip to Yangzhou. They did go there to take over the Bai family's assets. However, they were captured by the Ningyuan Army and taken to Hou'an Salt Farm as laborers just after they got off the boat at the Yangzhou dock. They have not been released by Gu Tingye and the Ningyuan Army yet." Seeing that the old emperor had finally regained his composure, Dong Liang, the deputy commander of the Imperial City Division, hurriedly explained.

"Ah? Working as a laborer in a salt village?" At this time, the old emperor and the ministers present were all shocked by the driver.

"Yes! After that evil creature Gu Tingye took control of Yangzhou City, he captured all the officials, their families, and the wealthy merchants of Yangzhou and forced them to work as laborers in the salt farms and make clothes and shoes in the workshops until they were willing to surrender to his Ningyuan Army."

"What? Evil creature! Evil creature! Evil creature! How can the scholars of my Song Dynasty be humiliated like this?" When the old emperor heard that Suning and the Ningyuan army had humiliated his scholars in this way, he became furious again.

"Your Majesty, the scholars in Bianjing City now turn pale when Gu Tingye's name is mentioned. He can even stop a baby from crying at night."

"Uh"

"Hey! My dear husbands, please contact Jiangning Prefecture and negotiate as soon as possible. I have been unable to eat or sleep lately."

"Yes! Your Majesty."

Sometimes surprises come so suddenly. Before the ministers could decide who to send to Jiangning Prefecture, the envoys of Jiangning Prefecture had already arrived in Bianjing City. The overjoyed old emperor and the ministers immediately started peace talks. After all, they were now overwhelmed and unable to cope.

"Wang Zhixin? It's you?" The ministers naturally knew the person in front of them. They really didn't expect that such an important official of the Song Dynasty had surrendered to the Ningyuan Army.

"Mr. Han, Mr. Shen, Mr. Fu, I am now a fifth-rank cabinet minister of the Daning Kingdom." At this time, Wang Zhixin had already completely let it go. After all, it is not shameful to serve one's own master.

"Grand Secretary of the Cabinet? What kind of official position is this?" The three great ministers who left their names in history looked at each other in confusion. They had never heard of such an official position and government office.

"My dear gentlemen, in order to better govern the Jiangnan area, King Ning specially set up a cabinet to assist King Ning in handling important political affairs in Jiangnan?" Wang Zhixin explained concisely with a smile at this time.

"Hmph! A monkey in human clothing." The three great ministers suddenly commented with disdain on their faces. They felt that they, the ministers of the Privy Council, had no right at all. They realized that Suning was very wary of the civil servants as a whole.

"My lords, I have come to negotiate on behalf of King Ning, and I hope you will show me some respect." At this moment, Wang Zhixin felt that his master had been insulted, and he immediately warned the three of them in a neither humble nor arrogant manner.

"Hmph! As long as you, the Ningyuan Army, lay down your arms and return to the countryside, our government is willing to let bygones be bygones." Then several ministers looked at each other disapprovingly, but Minister Shen spoke in a loud voice.

"My lords, our Ningyuan Army is now capable of conquering Bianjing and capturing all of you and the royal family. However, my Prince Ning is unwilling to continue slaughtering Han people and has always wanted to live in peace with the Song Dynasty."

"Humph! How can we live in peace?"

"Divide the river and govern."

"What? This is absolutely impossible!" The three great ministers stood up angrily and directly rejected Ning Yuanjun's delusion.

"My lords, we, the Great Ning Kingdom, are willing to join the Song army in attacking the Liao and Western Xia. We will lower the tax rate for merchant ships traveling to the Song territory, and maintain the Chinese territory with the Song in the north and the Ning Kingdom in the south."

"."

"My lords, I believe you all know that our Ningyuan Army is very powerful. When we attacked Jiangning Prefecture not long ago, we blew open the city gate with just one cannon. Immediately afterwards, the loyal ministers and generals of the Song Dynasty knelt down and begged for surrender."

"Wang Zhixin, you..."

"My dear gentlemen, we from the Daning Kingdom have come to negotiate with you with the utmost sincerity, so I hope you will cherish this opportunity."

"Will your Ningyuan Army really join the Song Army in attacking the Liao and Western Xia?" The three ministers were not really angry. After all, they had already expected it. They were just pretending in front of Wang Zhixin.

"The conditions stated by my Prince Ning himself are naturally not to be questioned." Wang Zhixin raised his head proudly and explained. Suddenly, he felt that the Ningyuan Army was the rising sun.

"Well, I wonder if you can sell firearms to our Song Dynasty?" The three ministers glanced at each other again, and then Minister Shen looked at Wang Zhixin again and asked.

"This?" Wang Zhixin deliberately made a very embarrassed expression, realizing that he really couldn't agree to too much too quickly.

"What? This question is difficult to answer?" The three ministers looked at each other in surprise, thinking that their conditions really touched the bottom line of the Ningyuan Army.

"Firearms are the foundation of our Ningyuan Army! Naturally, we must be extremely cautious, so we need to report this to our Prince Ning."

"Alright! We will report back to the emperor as soon as possible and will naturally do our best to convince him to accept your terms."

"Well, gentlemen, let's restart the peace talks in ten days. I hope you can come with sincerity then."

"Humph!"

(End of this chapter)