Chapter 18: Envoy from Northern Qi

Fan Xian didn’t dare to be arrogant, and hurriedly stood up and saluted, and then made a compatriot fist to the surrounding area, and looked at these diplomatic officials of Qing Guo with a gentle face, and said sincerely: ”The subordinate official hasn’t been in the Taishang Temple for a few days, and he doesn’t even have a clear picture of the court’s music laws. The palace appointed the next official as deputy envoy, think also want to let the Northern Qi thieves see, the people of the Qing country is not able to casually kill, just let the next official to be a house of cards, but not necessarily want me to really in the negotiation process to do anything.” He laughed and continued, “The next official on the interaction between the country state knows nothing, just ask not to drag you all adults on the good, but also ask you all adults do not be stingy with advice.”

After all, he hadn’t lived in the officialdom for a long time, and Fan Xian’s words were a bit too much, a bit too reckless. But this kind of bald statement instead made these officials of the Honglu Temple feel very comfortable in their hearts. Originally, when they learned that Minister Fan’s son was going to join the negotiation process, these officials who claimed to be the most professional diplomats in Qing Dynasty would always feel a bit uncomfortable in their hearts, just like a group of crows who were good at eating carrion suddenly flew a vulture that wanted to snatch the bones.

Since Mr. Fan had made it clear that he was not here to compete for credit, the entire Honglu Temple was naturally much happier, and Xin Qimo nodded with slight appreciation. Of course, everyone knew that if the border could be successfully demarcated this time, and a large amount of tribute silver could be claimed, the reward would be based on merit, and this son of a powerful nobleman, who had obviously come here for gold-plating, would surely get his due portion as well.

After the meeting was over, Xin Qimo led Fan Xian to the small single room that had been prepared for him, pointing to the paperwork inside that had filled a large freezer and said, “The relevant information is all here, the most crucial thing about this negotiation is that the Northern Qi side wants to send some silver to get back a large piece of land, which has already been occupied by us nowadays. The Dongyi City side has no demands, they just want to end the last two assassinations. The first stake is the Ox Stop Street incident related to Mr. Fan, and those two female assassins have been proven to be the female disciples of the second disciple of the Four Gu Swords; the second stake is that incident at the manor under Cangshan Mountain, but ……”

He glanced at Fan Xian, and after a little deliberation still continued, “As you know, that matter is somewhat complicated, so it’s impossible for the court to present too favorable evidence in this regard.”

Fan Xian nodded his head, sniffing the stale air that filled the room and started to get a headache, could it be that he would have to deal with these things for the next ten days or so? Seeming to see his meaning, Xin Shaoqing smiled and said, “If Lord Fan does not wish to sit on duty, he can take it home with him as well, except that documents marked red on the secret level are absolutely not allowed to be taken one step out of the yamen.”

Fan Xian was overjoyed. Although he knew that the other party didn’t want to see himself in the way here, he said gratefully, “To be honest, the next official came here today and is still confused, if you don’t mind my laziness, I’d like to sleep at home every day.”

Fan Xian estimated that the eighth-grade Hierophant who dared to joke with the fourth-grade Minister of the Hongluo Temple was a rare anomaly in the country of Qing. Xin Qimo was stunned at his words, then burst out laughing, and immediately lowered his voice again and said, “Mr. Fan, the East Palace has great expectations for you.”

Fan Xian smiled slightly, knowing the identity of the other party, how dare he be vague, and hurriedly responded, “Please rest assured, my humble servant understands. My father often teaches his family’s sons and daughters that as subjects, they should honor the ways of subjects.”

Hearing this reply, Xin Qimo, who is the Crown Prince’s inner circle, nodded with satisfaction and said, “Lord Sinanbo’s single-mindedness in serving the country is something that my humble servant has always admired.”

After the two said some more unsavory words, Xin Shaoqing went out the door and left. Fan Xian watched his back as he left and gradually narrowed his eyes. His father, Fan Jian, had indeed once said that as long as the Crown Prince was in power, then the Fan family would naturally be loyal to the Crown Prince, but even he didn’t believe that, and the other party, this apparent man of the Eastern Palace, naturally wouldn’t simply believe it either.

Appointing Fan Xian as deputy negotiator was just a careful attempt by the East Palace to see if it was possible for the Fan family to move a little bit closer to the Crown Prince’s chair, even if it was just a very little bit.

After that, Fan Xian really as that day said, every day just shut himself in the mansion to sleep, of course, for him, sleep itself is also a necessary process of cultivation. As for the official matters, after he got back some information, he gave it to Wang Qinian, letting him take the lead to do it, making sure to get a very proper negotiation program out.

In fact, Fan Xian’s heart is clear as a mirror, Wang Qinian will secretly report to the old cripple of the Supervisory Yuan, since this is so, this kind of complicated and uninteresting work, he handed over to Wang Qinian, Chen Pingping, no matter whether it is in the face of the face of his mother, or the face of his father, can’t say that he will be disgraced in the imperial court, of course, will be dealt with appropriately.

In utilizing the available resources, he has always been nonchalant.

As expected, a few days later, Wang Qinian came to the agreed hut with a haggard face and handed over a thick folder. Fan Xian curiously opened it, and his eyes lit up, seeing that it was divided into two parts, one being the internal reference materials that only senior officials of Honglu Temple were allowed to see, and the other being the prepared dossier for the negotiation with Beiqi.

Inside the information, the internal situation of Northern Qi was analyzed clearly, the collusion between the young Emperor and the Empress Dowager, the Bitter Lotus State Master being a pacifist, and so on and so forth. The information stated clearly that the Empress Dowager’s own brother, Ning Guoyu, had been attacked by the Northern Qi civil ministers this time because of his defeat, so the young emperor didn’t care about how much money he had to pay out or how much land he had to cede, as long as the people’s grievances were together, he could instead take this opportunity to cut off quite a bit of the power of the back party. As for the Empress Dowager, because she was eager to calm things down so that she could spare the time to straighten out the dynasty, her instructions for this negotiation were also based on forbearance.

These things hidden in the shadows, of course, could not be seen by the diplomatic officials of Qing. Only the huge power of the Supervisory Court in the dark, through the secret spies around in Northern Qi, had pried into one small thing after another, and then analyzed it in combination, to be able to come to such a clear conclusion.

“Great marvelous.” Fan Xian sighed, “With this information in hand, the officials of the Honglu Temple are going to be smiling.” He paused and asked curiously, “How reliable are these circumstances?”

The corners of Wang Qinian’s eyes drooped, it seemed that he hadn’t slept well in the last few days, “The reliability is very high, Yan Bingyun has opened up a situation in Beiqi at the moment, and the entire intelligence network has been laid out in a very reasonable manner, and with cross-referencing, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Fan Xian couldn’t help but have a bit of respect for the young gentleman called Yan Bingyun, for the sake of the country’s interests, he was content to be a mouse in the shadows for several years, as the son of a high court official, it was indeed not easy. How could he know that the reason why Yan Bingyun stayed in Beiqi pitifully was entirely because of the assassination attempt when he was twelve years old? If Fan Xian knew about this, he didn’t know if he would feel apologetic or lose his voice in laughter.

“Wang Qinian, I didn’t realize that on top of being adept at tracking, you’re also quite good at intelligence analysis.” Fan Xian knew in his heart where this dossier in front of him came from, but did not pick it apart.

Wang Qinian had bitter words to say, so he only mumbled and saluted back, not daring to take credit for it.

“Get, tomorrow, I will go to Honglu Temple and discuss the matter with Lord Shaoqing.” Fan Xian looked at Wang Qinian’s expression of wanting to speak and asked curiously, “What else is going on?”

Wang Qinian said with difficulty, “My lord, this information cannot be given to the Honglu Temple.”

“Why?”

“Because the secrets involved in …… it are of the highest grade, and the entire Honglu Temple, including the Honglu Temple Secretary, are not qualified to access it.”

Fan Xian slapped his head and laughed bitterly, “Then what do you say? Why don’t we just let the courtyard go through the normal channels and give it directly to the Honglu Temple?”

Wang Qinian sighed, thinking that if Lord Dean wasn’t bent on you making a splash in this negotiation and paving the way for your future career, how could he have ordered the entire Sixth Office to run through the night before writing such a dossier. This dossier seems unusual, in fact, but condensed with the Supervisory Yuan more than a dozen intelligence analysis expert blood, you want to casually give the Honglu Temple, the President of the Lord is afraid that the gas will jump up from the wheelchair.

At the end of summer, the lotus show residual meaning, the summer is still, Kyoto pedestrians and the road on the black dog were this weather whole some wan and godless. The eighth day of August, is the auspicious day, Northern Qi mission and East Barbarians mission, at the same time to arrive in the northwest of Kyoto, the last official post, the Qing emperor special decree, the two missions allowed to borrow the emperor’s palace, the three sides of the protocol officer disturbed for several days, and finally drew up a schedule as well as arrangements for the capital.

The people of Kyoto were invigorated, feeling that an autumn rain had suddenly appeared in their ordinary and boring lives. In their minds, the ambassadors of these two states were not here to negotiate, but to hand over the instrument of surrender.

Fan Xian, who was the deputy negotiator, was naturally among the team that greeted the envoys, waiting for the officials of the two countries from the west gate of Kyoto, and arranging for them to stay among the officials in Kyoto. Beiqi delegation’s face is obviously not very good, after all, this command of the vassal states to start the battle, they are the losers, and Beiqi’s generals were also captured a lot, the most critical is occupied a lot of land.

“Lord Shaoqing, who is this?” The highest ranking person in the Northern Qi’s envoy was the current Empress Dowager’s own brother, Marquis Changning. He looked down at that beautiful male, his heart was extremely annoyed, the Qing country was very unappreciative of itself, it was fine that the main envoy of the reciprocal reception was only a young minister of the Honglu Temple, but to actually let such a young man act as the deputy envoy could not be said to be a kind of contempt for oneself.

“My humble servant Fan Xian, greetings to the Marquis.”

Fan Xian was filled with a clear smile as he looked at the enemy visitor, the intelligence from the Supervisory Academy in his arms said clearly that this master was a poseur, and the one in the sedan chair at the back, the one who had preempted the palace to arrange for a stay at a different house, the great man of the generation, Zhuang Mo Han, was the real character.