"Go out of the city and talk about it? What's the point of talking about me? He brought troops to my city in Cizhou today. How could I open the city gate easily? Go and tell the old prince that his children are in our hands. If you want to attack the city, just come and don't talk so much nonsense!" Zong Ze scolded sternly.

Seeing that Zong Ze had a very bad temper, Guo Yaoshi was unwilling to ask for scolding him again. He went back to the formation and replied to Wanyan Jilie, saying that Zong Ze was unwilling to go out of the city to talk.

Prince Wanyan originally wanted to order the siege of the city, but was worried about the safety of his children. This time he sent troops to this point, with the purpose of returning his children. If he easily attacked the city, he would annoy the Song army in the city, and would be afraid that they would harm the lives of his two children, so he was full of concerns.

Seeing that Guo Yaoshi was useless, Wanyan Jilie had to walk out of the formation in person. A team of soldiers raised their shields in front of them and hugged each other. Wanyan Jilie spoke loudly to the city: "I am the prince of Zhuozhou, the Great Jin Dynasty. I want to talk to Zong Ze today. Which one is General Zong Ze?"

Zong Ze came to the female wall and looked at him for half of his body, and replied, "I'm Zong Ze. I wonder what the prince is doing here?"

Wanyan Gillie sneered: "Didn't the old general ask him knowingly? I've been caught by you. Today I'm going to ask the old general for a return."

"Ask for return? Haha, it's a joke! That's right, your children are indeed in my hands. I'm planning to take them to the capital and hand them over to my Lord. If you come to ask for them today, how can I give them back at will?" Zong Ze said with a smile.

Wanyan Jilie naturally knew that Zong Ze would not send his children back for nothing. These Song people were treacherous and slippery, so they would definitely blackmail them. However, in Wanyan Jilie's eyes, his children were much more important than land, cities and gold, silver and treasures, so he spoke: "What the old general said is reasonable. How can I let the old general give this favor for free? As long as the general can return the dog son and daughter, I will give the general the three cities of Puyang, Cizhou and Anyang, and give him another thousand taels of silver as a thank-you gift, and never meet again! What does the old general think?"

"Hahaha... The prince really treats me as a businessman who is jealous of money. He wants to buy some gold and silver to trade with me?" Zong Ze obviously looked disdainful and continued, "Besides, these three towns in Hebei are originally my Song Dynasty city. I have been ordered by my lord to recover the three towns. How could you give it to me? What a joke!"

After hearing this, Wanyan Jilie looked helpless and suppressed the anger in his heart and continued, "Zongze, you don't know. In May this year, your emperor had signed a covenant with me, Dajin, and cedeed the land north of the Yellow River to our Jin Kingdom. Today, you betray the covenant and took advantage of the war in the north to attack the three towns in Hebei. It's really a matter of no faith and no righteousness! I think of the friendship between the two countries and do not want to pursue your invasion and give these three towns to you for free. You are not grateful to me, and you are still making a fuss about this. It's really ungrateful! If you annoy me, I will order the siege of the city. When the city is broken, you will be dismembered!"

Wanyan Jilie was so weak that he was hard, and he showed off his attitude of attacking the city and kept intimidating the Song army in the city. Zong Ze was not scared, so how could he be afraid of these few words of intimidation?

"Don't get angry, old prince, I am not interested in the two families' alliances you said. I only know that the Yanzhao land has been my territory of the Song Dynasty since ancient times. Your emperor repeatedly raised troops to invade my borders, occupied my city, and killed my compatriots. It's really too much to deceive people! I'm about to lead the troops north, not only to take back the territory of the Song Dynasty, but also to capture your emperor. Ask him what virtues he has and how he dares to have the ambition to invade my Central Plains!"

Zong Ze was not scared by Wanyan Jilie's words, but instead made some harsh words to make his army leader more morale. Liu Yixuan listened to the side and said in his heart: "These two old men are really good at bragging. One said he would kill into the city and tear the other apart from the corpse of the other, and the other said he was about to lead his troops north to capture the other emperor. Could it be that the two of them had their brilliant achievements back then, all of which were blown out by their mouths?"

After hearing Zong Ze's words, Wanyan Jilie sneered: "General is really overestimating his abilities. As far as I know, your emperor has issued an order to cut off your military power. Your city has only more than 20,000 people. What are you going to go north? I advise the general to recognize the current affairs and send my children out of the city early. I promise that as long as my children leave the city smoothly, I will stop the troops and return to Handan and no longer invade. Otherwise, my 50,000 army will flatten Cizhou! Please discuss the interests of this, please let the old general and the generals below discuss it!"

After hearing this, Zong Ze turned around and discussed with the generals. Zong Ze said, "You have heard the words of this old prince. There is a 50,000 army outside the city. He is here to ask for his children. What are your ideas to retreat to the enemy?"

Teacher Yuan said: "This old prince is arrogant because of his superiority of military strength. He dares to underestimate our Song Dynasty imperial guards. Isn't he coming to attack the city? I just want to let him come. I don't believe it. We have 20,000 brothers guarding the city, are you still afraid that he will not succeed?"

"Yes, the old general, that old man is just a tired army. We have prepared the wooden and rocks. If he comes to attack the city, he will never come back!" Song Tie said from the side.

After hearing what his subordinates said, Zong Ze thought it was reasonable. Although the soldiers were in the forefront, there were still some people under his command, and they were not afraid of Wanyan Jilie. Zong Ze looked at Liu Yixuan standing next to him again. Seeing that he was silent, he thought about it, he asked, "Nephew Liu, do you have any plan to get rid of the enemy?"

At this time, Liu Yixuan was indeed thinking about the situation in front of him, because he was also worried about how to repel the Jin soldiers. Judging from the current strength of the two armies, the situation was really worrying. Although the Song army claimed to have 20,000 troops, four or five thousand were newly recruited volunteers and had little combat power. Even with the advantage of the city wall, it would not last for a few days. The worst thing is that during this period, the war has been ongoing in the area of ​​Cizhou City, and the people have been tired of war, and there is not much food and grass left in the city. The Ministry of War has been delayed in distributing money and food. If the Jin soldiers besieged the city, the food and grass will be exhausted within five days. By then, there will be no need for Wanyan Gilead to attack the city, and the military and civilians in Cizhou City will be in chaos.

When Liu Yixuan saw Zong Ze coming to ask him, he decided to tell his thoughts the truth and said, "The old general, it is better not to meet Wanyan Jilie in his opinion!"

"What? Are you afraid? Did the old prince's few words of intimidation scare you?" When Song Tixia heard Liu Yixuan's fearful battle, he quickly stared at him and asked.

Liu Yixuan had no time to quarrel with Song Tixia, so he walked to Zongze and said, "The old general is not a timid battle, but our army has been exhausted for several days of fighting. In addition, there is insufficient food and grass in the city. If the war starts again, it is probably not a big chance of victory."

"How much food and grass are left in our army?" Zong Ze asked.

"It's enough for five days at most." Liu Yixuan replied.

"Five days? Why are there only so many grains and grass? Didn't we seize the Jin people's treasury? Why are there only these grains and grass?" Zong Ze heard that there was insufficient grains and grass, and this was a fatal question, so he quickly questioned it.

Liu Yixuan said: "When Han Ji was guarding Cizhou, he was surrounded by our army for several days. When our army entered the city, there was not much food and grass left in the government office. In addition, the supplies we asked the Ministry of War have not been transported yet. There are still tens of thousands of people in the city that need to open warehouses for relief, so the food and grass in the city have long been in a hurry!"

After hearing this, Zong Ze suddenly remembered this matter. A few days ago, when he was writing a memorial to the Ministry of War, Liu Yixuan mentioned this matter specifically to Zong Ze. At that time, he only felt that there was still more than ten days of food and he didn't take it seriously. Unexpectedly, after so many days, the Ministry of War still did not transfer food and supplies, which made Zong Ze feel worried for a while.

"This...this..." Zong Ze led his troops for many years, so he naturally knew what it meant without food and grass. Not to mention that the combat effectiveness of the Song army was not as good as that of the Jin soldiers. Even if it was equal in strength, it would not last for a few days without food and grass. Thinking of this, the 68-year-old Zong Ze frowned slightly with two gray eyebrows and seemed worried.

While everyone was discussing, they heard Wanyan Jilie in the city asking again. Wanyan Jilie asked, "What's wrong? Are you worried about the lack of food and grass? The food and grass in your city will only last for five days. What are you going to waste with me? I advise you to understand the current affairs and return my children as soon as possible, otherwise the people of the whole city will suffer with you!"

After hearing Wanyan Jilie's words, Liu Yixuan and the generals thought he had a good time. They were just discussing the shortage of food and grass. The old prince already knew that it seemed that the Jin Kingdom's suspicion had long been lurking in the city. But it is not surprising to think about it carefully. This Cizhou had been occupied by the Jin people, so how many informants had been bought in the city.

"Elder General, it seems that Wanyan Jilie is prepared. He has already sent someone to find out our situation. If he fights hard with him, he will probably suffer a great loss!" Liu Yixuan said.

"What are you afraid of? At worst, you can't kill the death. I don't believe it. We have 20,000 brothers, but we can't defend a city!" Song Tixia said fiercely.

"Song Tiehe should not be excited. If the old prince ordered the attack on the city, we would naturally not be afraid of him. But if he only sieges but not attacks, we would run out of food and grass in three or five days. When he comes to attack the city again, there will be no chance of victory. In my opinion, defending to the death is not the best way."

"Then what is the best strategy?" Song Tixia asked hurriedly.

Liu Yixuan looked at Zong Ze and the generals next to him, and then carefully considered the thoughts in his heart. Although it was a bit unreliable, it was worth a try. So he said, "All the generals, as the saying goes, if you keep the green mountains and don't worry about the lack of firewood, our Yongxing camp will have this little family fortune and cannot be used in this Cizhou City for nothing! If you just resist with death, it's just the courage of an ordinary man!" Liu Yixuan continued, "Since this old prince wants to do business with us, then we will negotiate with him. Anyway, we have hostages in hand, how can we suffer a loss? As long as we can delay for a few days, and when our food and grass arrive, we will not be afraid of him siege the city!"

"Negotiation?" Zong Ze asked in confusion after hearing Liu Yixuan's words.

"Yes, aren't there frequent negotiations between the Song and Jin countries? Since this old prince promised that he would give us a lot of benefits after releasing his children. Why don't we do this business with him?"

"Well, you believe Wanyan Jilie's words! He said this just to deceive us to let go of his children first. If we really let the brother and sister go, he will be fearless and our situation will be even more critical. This method does not work, no!" Zong Ze shook his head repeatedly, feeling that Liu Yixuan's idea was very unreliable.

Liu Yixuan smiled and said, "The old general listened to me and said it. Of course I knew that Wanyan Jilie was fooling us with lies, but we are not stupid, how could we be fooled by him? I have an idea that I can not only protect Cizhou, but also make a fortune for my brothers!"

"Oh? What's the idea? Tell me quickly!" Zong Ze asked hurriedly. Liu Yixuan walked to Zong Ze's ear and whispered, "That's it, it's a clever plan. Okay, I'll allow you to go out of the city to negotiate with the Prince Wanyan. If you can get this done, you will be the first to be successful!"

After hearing this, the generals didn't know what idea Liu Yixuan came up with. They had no choice but to wait until next time to break it down!
Chapter completed!