Chapter 467 General Zhou’s face!
The conditions proposed by Li Yun were not completely without room for compromise. He still left himself some room for negotiation.

For example, he can give up Haozhou.

Well, not yet.

That’s how negotiation works, you name the price and pay it back when it’s done.

If you give your bottom line at the beginning and there is no way back down later, it will be difficult to make a deal.

It’s the same as selling something. You always have to leave a little room for the other party, so that they feel that they have gotten a little advantage. Otherwise, the deal cannot be done.

Of course, it would be best to get it directly so that Li Yun wouldn’t have to worry about it later.

After leaving angrily, Master Zhou did not leave Chuzhou City directly. Instead, after obtaining Li Yun’s consent, he sent an attendant close to him back to the Pinglu Army camp to report the news. He wrote Li Yun’s conditions in a document and reported it to his old father.

After reading the document, General Zhou was furious. He kicked the concubine who was kneeling in front of him away and slammed the table fiercely: “Arrogant!”

The concubine was startled and knelt on the ground trembling, not daring to move.

General Zhou straightened his clothes, stood up, and walked back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back for who knows how many times.

He wanted to call Luo Zhen in countless times, and wanted to attack Chuzhou or Chuzhou by force, but he suppressed this idea countless times.

Not worth the candle.

The initiative has been lost. If the fighting continues, the Pinglu Army will be seriously injured.

In this way, it was not until late at night that General Zhou handed out a document from his tent and asked someone to deliver it quickly to Chuzhou.

By the time this document arrived at Chuzhou City, it was already the morning of the next day. When Master Zhou received the document and unfolded it to take a look, his expression became very strange.

He was not in a hurry to meet Li Yun, but wandered around Chuzhou City before arriving at the door of Li Yun’s residence and asking to see Li Yun.

The two men’s previous negotiation was two days ago. At this moment, because there was no war, Li Yun was drinking with Su Sheng.

After the two men clinked glasses, Li Yun smiled and said, “The Pinglu Army has basically stopped moving. Yangzhou, Chuzhou, and Chuzhou are all in our hands. I think that General Zhou is about to give in.”

Su Sheng said, “Hey!” and said, “Zhou Xu looks smart, but he is actually very cautious. Previously, when the governors of various provinces came to Beijing to defend the emperor, the governor of Fanyang went, but he did not dare to go.”

“Now, they want to occupy the entire Huainan Road, but they don’t plan to use their full strength. I’m afraid that the Pinglu Army will suffer a big setback.”

Su Sheng raised his head and drank it all, saying, “Not hard enough.”

Li Yun thought about it, took a sip of wine and said, “This may be because he is not starting a business, but just maintaining it.”

The first generation of entrepreneurs are often quite tough. They create something out of nothing and sometimes they have a kind of courage that is not afraid of wearing shoes even if they are barefoot.

For example, Wei Quanzhong.

If General Wei was in Zhou Xu’s position, with his temper, he might even spend all his family fortune to fight Li Yun to the end, even at the cost of losing his old nest in Qingzhou.

Let’s see who’s better!

But Zhou Xu, although this person is not stupid, and is even quite smart, but he obviously does not have the courage of Wei Quanzhong. He looks ahead and behind and considers too many things.

Just as Su Sheng was about to speak, Zhou Bi came running over to the door, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, “Envoy, General Su.”

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: “What happened?”

Zhou Bi bowed his head and said, “Mr. Zhou has arrived and requests to see the envoy.”

Li Yun and Su Sheng exchanged a glance and said with a smile, “It came really quickly. I originally thought that it would take at least a few more days to get a result.”

Su Sheng laughed: “Erlang still thinks too highly of General Zhou.”

Li Yun stood up and waved to Zhou Bi: “You haven’t eaten yet, come here and have a drink and a meal with Brother Su. I’ll go see Zhou Chang.”

Zhou Bi was startled and waved his hands quickly, saying, “Sir, how can this be possible?”

“We’re eating in the backyard, and there are no outsiders.”

Li Yun smiled and said, “Brother Su is not a stranger, just come here.”

As the “Jiangdong Kingdom” gradually took shape, Li Yun needed some very close “own people”.

These brothers who came from the old village were obviously a good choice.

Even if we put aside these political considerations, these second-generation villagers are indeed of the same generation as Li Yun, and they even grew up together.

Zhou Bi is a calm and cautious person who rarely makes mistakes. He is also a brother that Li Yun grew up with, so naturally he is worth getting close to.

In the future, people like Zhang Hu, Liu Bo, Li Zheng, and Zhou Bi will become Li Yun and the Li Yun family’s more intimate “inner armor”. For these people, it cannot be a simple superior-subordinate relationship, there must be some extraordinary close relationship.

Otherwise, even if it succeeds in the future, Li Yun’s family may not be that safe as time goes by.

After pulling Zhou Bi over, Li Yun stood up, put his hands behind his back and walked out. When he got outside, he saw Master Zhou waiting in the main hall of the front yard.

After seeing Li Yun, Zhou Chang quickly stood up and bowed to Li Yun, saying, “Envoy.”

Li Yun sat down, motioned Zhou Chang to sit down as well, then asked with a smile, “Mr. Zhou, have you thought it through, or are you here to say goodbye to me?”

Zhou Chang sighed and said, “I am in Chuzhou City. I don’t think my every move can be hidden from the eyes and ears of the envoy. The envoy knows that I sent a letter to my father. Why bother asking?”

“After the letter is passed, the general may ask you to return to the army to prepare for war.”

Li Yun said with a smile: “Don’t worry, Mr. Zhou. My business is now big. For the sake of my family’s reputation, I will not make things difficult for you. If you want to leave the city, you can go out at any time.”

“I can even send someone to escort you back to the Pinglu Army camp, to prevent those people with bad intentions from robbing and killing you on the way and sowing discord between me and General Zhou.”

At this time, many external forces were eyeing Jiangbei, and it was really possible that someone would send an assassin to kill Zhou Chang on the way, thus causing Li Yunping and Lu’s army to fight to the death with no room for easing.

Zhou Chang’s heart moved, and he suddenly said: “Since you said that, when I leave, I will really trouble you to send someone to see me off.”

Li Yun smiled and nodded, agreeing readily.

“Well, since Master Zhou is not planning to leave, let’s talk business. Has the general agreed to my terms?”

Zhou Chang took a deep breath, looked up at Li Yun and said, “My father agreed, but he has some requirements.”

Li Yun was overjoyed, but his face showed no expression. He just said calmly, “Tell me about it.”

“First, it’s money and food.”

He looked at Li Yun and said, “These six states can be given to you, but you need to give us 100,000 strings of cash.”

“There are still 100,000 shi of grain.”

Li Yun frowned, looked up at Zhou Chang, and continued, “Anything else?”

“There is still one.”

At this point, Master Zhou’s expression also became strange. He looked at Li Yun and said, “My father wants you to worship my father as your uncle and issue a notice to inform the world.”

When Li Yun heard this, his expression turned strange.

Is this Zhou guy…sick? Why is he suddenly acting like my elder?
But when he thought about it, he understood General Zhou’s train of thought.

To put it bluntly, the Pinglu Army fought in Huainan Road for so long that they not only lost cities and territories, but also suffered casualties of thousands of soldiers and horses. It would be too embarrassing to spread this news, and Zhou Xu could not bring himself to do it.

But now, he wants to end it gracefully, what should he do?

He had no choice but to find some face from Li Yun, asking Li Yun to recognize him as his uncle and compensate him with some money and food, and then the matter would be over.

If the news gets out, even if General Zhou saves face, outsiders will not say that he suffered a great defeat in Jiangbei.

This is what it means to care about appearance rather than substance.

However, the Pinglu Army is now in a difficult situation. If General Zhou can get the inside scoop, he would certainly want it. However, Li Yun has a tough attitude, so he can only ask for some face from Li Yun.

Mr. Li thought for a moment, looked at Zhou Chang, shook his head slightly and said, “I am also short of food here, so I can’t give you so much. I can give you 20,000 dan of food.”

“Money.”

Thinking of the copper mine in Yi’an and the money he minted, Li Yun narrowed his eyes and continued, “I can offer 50,000 strings of cash.”

“As for uncle and nephew.”

Li Yun touched his chin, thought for a moment, and then smiled and said, “Forget about uncle and nephew. I don’t think it’s appropriate. But I can become brothers with General Zhou and worship him as my brother.”

“What do you think, Mr. Zhou?”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chang stared at Li Yun with wide eyes.

“Envoy Li, you…you…”

“You worship my father as your brother?”

(End of this chapter)