In the official room of the state yamen, Jia Xu was reporting to Liu Jing about his communication with Zhang Hong today. Liu Jing couldn't help laughing, "I want to use pig iron to compensate for the grain. How to calculate the price? The flower head in the middle is very big, not good. We can only get pig iron at a price of 400,000 grain, but it is good, which is equivalent to 800,000 stones of grain, so how to determine the price?"

Jia Xu also smiled and said, "I also raised this question. Zhang Hong said that both the price of grain and the price of pig iron are determined by us. We feel that they are willing to suffer a great loss in this, but they hope that we can accept their plan in terms of land ceasing."

"Sheng Quan is not stupid at all because he has taken a small loss and took advantage of it." Liu Jing asked with a smile.

"Zhang Hong first agreed to cede Pengze Lake to us. They did not have any disputes about this, but they had different opinions when ceding Qichun County and Yuzhang County."

"Why do they refuse to agree?" Liu Jing's tone became cold.

"No, they hope to ced the two counties to us a year later, and wait until they take down Luling County, Linchuan County and Jian'an County, and then ced the two counties of Qichun and Yuzhang, so that they will not encounter too much opposition. Zhang Hong said, I hope we can understand the pressure faced by Wu Hou."

Liu Jing nodded. Of course, he knew the difficulties Sun Quan was facing now. If there was another news of land ceasing, the people in Jiangdong would be full of grievances, and Sun Quan's position as Marquis of Wu would not be able to sit still. Sun Ben would come to power and become a dog of Cao Cao, which would never be in the interests of Jingzhou.

Thinking of this, Liu Jing asked: "How can Jiangdong guarantee that Qichun and Yuzhang will be given to us?"

Jia Xu smiled and said, "Zhang Hong means that we can station troops in these two counties. They do not station troops, but only serve as prefects. A year later, they will transfer the prefects and we will take over."

Liu Jing thought for a while and said with a smile: "So I will do my best to do my best. I will station troops in Qichun County Wharf, and then Qichun and Yuzhang families will not station troops. A year later, I will accept two counties, so that Sun Quan will be under a little less pressure, but..."

Speaking of the word "nothing" and Liu Jing smiled meaningfully, "I also need Zhang Hong to cooperate with us to create a mystery. We can reach an agreement privately, but the negotiations on the table failed."

Jia Xu thought for a moment and immediately understood, "Has the envoy from Bashu arrived?"

Liu Jing nodded, "I just got the news that the envoy of Bashu has arrived in Fangling County. In addition to the envoy of the Zhengshi Fa Zheng, there is also the deputy envoy Wang Lei, who is a scholar in the Dongzhou, but Wang Lei is a local Bashu clan. He has always advocated closing his house and defending himself, opposing Liu Zhang and Jingzhou's reconciliation. We must believe this person. The reason why the negotiations between Jingwu are unsuccessful is that we are watching the civil strife in Jiangdong and trying to take advantage of the chaos to seek Jiangdong."

Jia Xu smiled happily and said, "I think Zhang Hong will definitely be willing to cooperate with us to set up this mystery."

...........

Zhang Hong has never been as happy as he has today. When he signed his name on the Jingwu contract on behalf of Sun Quan, tears of excitement could not help but burst out.

The signing of this contract means that Wu Hou’s biggest weakness no longer exists. General Sun Ben has no way to accuse Wu Hou of his crushing defeat, and it also means that Jiangdong has stopped on the verge of the most dangerous division.

The person who signed the contract by Liu Jing, the representative of Jingzhou, was the General Secretary of Jingzhou Xu Shu. Of course, their signing was not the final contract, but just a letter of intent, or a negotiation memorandum, which marked that the two sides reached a consensus on several major issues.

The formal contract must be signed one year later. When Jiangdong handed over Yuzhang County and Qichun County to Jingzhou, this was also a request from Sun Quan. If he signed the formal agreement too early, he would also be attacked by Sun Ben and others.

The letter of intention was in duplicate, and both parties held one. Zhang Hong quietly wiped away his tears and bowed to Xu Shu and Jia Xu and said with a smile: "The business is over. Let's talk about private matters again. It is about the marriage between the Jing and Wu families. This is also a major event related to the future of the two families. Wu Hou hopes to handle it as soon as possible."

Xu Shu and Jia Xu looked at each other, and both laughed. Xu Shu said: "Although my lord has not officially answered the marriage, we all agree that the marriage between Sun and Liu is not a personal matter of the provincial governor. As Mr. Zhang said, it is a major event related to Jingwu's future, so we agree to the marriage. In addition, let's discuss the details, where the matchmaker will marry, etc., hoping to be as detailed and thoughtful as possible, so that there will be no unnecessary misunderstandings."

Zhang Hong and Lu Su discussed it. Although Wu Hou advocated marrying his sister Sun Shangxiang to Liu Jing, this was just an intention. Whether the marriage was successful in the end would have to pass the old lady Wu's level, and even Princess Shangxiang herself had to agree. Now, various details are difficult to decide.

Zhang Hong apologized and said, "I can only decide the intention of the marriage now. I need to go back and discuss the details. I suggest that a marriage envoy in Jingzhou send me a marriage envoy to Jiangdong with me. We will discuss the marriage in Jingkou. Xu Changshi thinks what?"

Xu Shu smiled and said, "This is no problem. I'll go back and discuss with the provincial master."

At this time, Jia Xu next to him reminded: "Tomorrow we will continue negotiations in the state yamen. In the end, the negotiations will break down and the two sides will part in disagreement. This is our prior agreement, so Mr. Zhang should not forget."

Zhang Hong nodded silently. Although the contract had been signed, he still had to cooperate with Jingzhou to make a mystery. He thought about it and said, "Since it was a disagreement, we plan to leave Xiangyang and return to Jiangdong tomorrow night."

.........

At dusk, several passenger ships of 500 stone slowly stopped at the dock of Xiangyang. At the bow of the first large ship, Sima Yi was standing with a spring breeze. He went north from Chengdu, passed Hanzhong to Shangyong, and then took a boat to Xiangyang. Although it was quite hard to climb mountains and wade through water, this hard work was nothing compared to his gains from this trip to Bashu.

On the second ship were two scribes standing. On the left was a man in his thirties, with a medium figure and a thin face. This person was the commander Fa Zheng who went to Xiangyang this time, and the thin person next to him was the deputy commander Wang Lei.

Wang Lei was a resident of Yizhou. He was about forty years old. He was tall and tall, with a serious expression and serious smile. He was a person who was difficult to deal with. He was also known for his uprightness in Bashu.

Although Liu Zhang agreed to Fa Zheng as an envoy to Xiangyang, Fa Zheng was a scholar in Dongzhou after all, and Liu Zhang was not relieved. From the perspective of balancing interests, he appointed Wang Lei, who belonged to the local Bashu system, as the deputy envoy, and the two went to Xiangyang to negotiate peace together.

Although the purpose was to discuss peace, Wang Lei's mission was exactly the opposite. He wanted to find evidence that Liu Jing wanted to go westward to Bashu to persuade Liu Zhang to cut off his ties with Jingzhou.

When the ship slowly docked at the Xiangyang Wharf, Liu Jing, who had been waiting for a long time, led the senior civil and military officials in Jingzhou to welcome him. Sima Yi quickly got off the ship and gave a deep bow, "The embarrassing minister Sima Yi, see the lord."

Liu Jing patted his arm and smiled, "Zhongda made great contributions to this trip to Bashu. I understand very well. Let's talk in detail later. Let's introduce two Bashu envoys to me first."

Sima Yi understood and quickly introduced two envoys who had just got off the ship to Liu Jing, "This one is a military officer in Yizhou, and this one is a Wang Gongxian who is engaged in Yizhou. They are both knowledgeable and respected seniors."

Although Liu Jing and Fa Zheng had met twice and had a tacit understanding between them, in front of Wang Lei, they were still as if they had first met. Fa Zheng hurried forward and bowed deeply and said, "Fa Zheng has long heard that the governor of the state is a hero in the world. If you meet today, you will be lucky in your three lives."

"Fa joins the army and is polite. Liu Jing is just a man who has gained the embrace of his father and governs Jingzhou for the emperor. He is actually a mediocre person. How dare he call the hero of the world? I am ashamed."

As he said that, Liu Jing's eyes turned to Wang Lei again, and he asked with a smile: "Is this Wang Gongxian, who is famous for his integrity and integrity?"

Wang Lei despised Fa Zheng's flattery in his heart. He bowed slightly and said lukewarmly: "It is Wang Lei who is here to go to Jingzhou under the order of the governor of Liuzhou. I hope the Duke of Chu will help him and complete his official duties as soon as possible."

Liu Jing introduced the senior civil and military officials in Jingzhou to the two. Everyone greeted each other. Seeing that it was dark, Liu Jing laughed and said, "Everyone is a Han minister. It is not difficult to negotiate for the emperor. The two nobles worked hard all the way. Please go to the inn to rest first. We will talk about business tomorrow."

Liu Jing asked Jiang Wan to lead the two of them to the VIP hotel to rest. Only then did he wink Sima Yi and everyone returned to the state yamen.

...........

In the official room, everyone sat down one by one. Jia Xu first introduced Sima Yi to the negotiations with Jiangdong. At this time, Liu Jing smiled and said, "I am very interested in this Wang Lei. Zhongda might as well tell me about this person."

Sima Yi bowed and smiled, "If you want to talk about Wang Lei, you must first talk about the factional relationship between the Bashu local faction."

"I'll listen carefully"

Sima Yi sorted out his thoughts and said: "The Dongzhou Sect is very simple, namely the Jingzhou Sect and the Sanfu Sect. The Jingzhou Sect is headed by Dong He, and the Sanfu Sect is headed by Pang Xi. Relatively speaking, the local Bashu Sect is much more complicated. Simply put, it is divided into Chengdu Sect, northern Shu Sect, Bajun Sect and Mianzhu Sect. The Chengdu Sect is headed by Zhang Song and Zhang Ren, the northern Shu Sect is headed by Wu Yi, and the Bajun Sect is represented by Yan Yan. The Mianzhu Sect was originally headed by Wang Shang. After Wang Shang passed away the previous year, Huang Quan became the leader of the Mianzhu Sect. This Wang Lei is a nephew of the Wang Shang clan. He also belongs to the Mianzhu Sect. However, because Huang Quan is actually from Langzhong, Basi, Wang Lei does not recognize him as the Mianzhu Sect. The two have deep conflicts, so the Mianzhu Sect is divided into the Mianzhu King Sect and the Mianzhu Huang Sect."

When Sima Yi said this, everyone laughed. The relationship was indeed very complicated, but Sima Yi shook his head and continued: "The complexity of the local Bashu faction is not limited to this. It was just a faction formed by the geographical environment. Recently, because of Liu Bei and his lord, the local Bashu faction took sides and quickly formed a faction that supported Liu, such as Zhang Song; the conservative Huang Quan, Zhang Ren and the centrist Wu Yi, which were divided by interests."

Liu Jing understood a little. This is the division of factions related to them. He pondered for a while and asked, "Is Yun Shao mentioned in Zhongda's letter also among these three factions?"

Sima Yi smiled and said, "He is an exception. He is just an outbreaker in Yizhou. He is not qualified to become a gentry in Yizhou. He has no share in factional disputes."
Chapter completed!