Liu Yixuan came to the city to see Zong Ze report, Zong Ze asked, "Nephew Liu, why did Wanyan Jilie's men retreat three miles?"

"Sanli? I asked him to retreat five miles, why did he retreat three miles?" Liu Yixuan heard that Wanyan Jilie had only retreated three miles, and immediately cursed loudly. Zong Ze asked Liu Yixuan to leave the city. He was originally just discussing negotiations with the Jin people, and he didn't expect the Jin people to retreat at all. Liu Yixuan hugged the grass and beat the rabbit and followed the situation to let Wanyan Jilie retreat three miles. Liu Yixuan told Zong Ze and the generals the whole story. After hearing this, everyone knew what was going on, and they all praised him as a good dealer.

Liu Yixuan reported to Zongze: "Old General, Wanyan Jilie has sent an envoy to discuss with us the matter of redeeming people!"

"Oh, where is the envoy now?"

"It's downstairs, and the brothers are watching!" Liu Yixuan said as he pointed to the city. The generals went down to the city gate and saw a Jin general sitting right away waiting for the reception.

Zong Ze said: "Since we are the envoy of the old prince, we should treat him with courtesy and bring him to the government office. I will go to see him now!"

Liu Yixuan went down the city tower and took Wanyan Qiuchu to the lobby of the government office. Zong Ze took off his armor and changed into casual clothes. He met the Jin army envoy with the generals in the government office. Zong Ze ordered the soldiers to look at the tea and give up their seats and sit down with the guests and hosts. Zong Ze asked, "Do you dare to ask the general's name, what position do you hold in the army?"

Qiu Chu said: "In the lower Wanyan Qiu Chu, he is the escort commander of the old prince's tent."

"Oh, it turns out that he is the old prince's confidant..."

After Zong Ze asked a few irrelevant words, he winked at Liu Yixuan next to him and asked him to negotiate terms with Wanyan Qiuchu. After all, it was Liu Yixuan's idea to discuss peace talks.

Liu Yixuan walked up and asked Wanyan Qiu Chu: "Dare you ask General Qiu Chu, how many children do your old prince have?"

When Qiu Chu heard this, he didn't know what he meant. He thought to himself: "When he asked how many children the old prince had, could he have to estimate the price? As the saying goes, things are vaguely expensive. If they knew that my prince had only one child, wouldn't they want to blackmail us? If I said that the old prince had many children, maybe this group of Song people would have less gold and silver!" So he said: "We are a thousand-year-old son and nine daughters!"

Liu Yixuan knew that he was lying, so he deliberately said, "Since the old prince has so many children and doesn't care about the two in our hands, just go back and tell the old prince not to worry about it anymore and educate other children well!"

After hearing this, Qiu Chu immediately became anxious and said, "This... How can this work? As the saying goes, children are all the flesh in their parents' hearts. Even if they have too much, they will feel sorry for cutting off one piece, right?" He smiled and said, "I know that all the generals captured the two young masters of my family, just to ask for some reward from your emperor. Now my son-in-law has made a promise that as long as the two little masters can be released, we are willing to give you much gold and silver, so please ask all the generals to offer a price!"

As for the current strength of the two armies, the Song army had no other way except for a ransom. If Wanyan and sisters were really escorted to the capital, the emperor would definitely reward some gold and silver as a sign, but it would inevitably attract the hatred of Wanyan Jilie. At present, there were not many soldiers in Cizhou and the food was not sufficient, so he could not kill the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers for the reward from the court. But then again, should he really be given the Wanyan and sisters.

Is it possible to send all the people back to the old prince outside the city? This may not work. The Jin people have never had faith and righteousness. If they get hostages, they will be fearless. If they come to attack the city at that time, the situation of the Song army will be even more critical. Even if Liu Yixuan asks for a large amount of ransom, he will probably not be able to hold it up. Liu Yixuan thought about it and decided to take a slowdown. He could neither let Wanyan Jilie cut off his thoughts and order the city to attack, nor could the Song army suffer a great loss.

Liu Yixuan smiled at Qiu Chu and said, "If you want to redeem your two little masters, this silver is naturally indispensable. The old prince said in the morning that he would give us the three towns of Puyang, Cizhou and Anyang. Isn't this nonsense? These three towns are long ago, and he doesn't need to give them to you! Therefore, this is not your condition. The old prince also said that he would use a thousand taels of silver to thank us, thinking we were begging for food? One thousand taels of silver would be dismissed us, and it would definitely not work!"

"Yes, yes, you are right. I wonder how much money do you want?" Qiu Chu asked straightforwardly.

Liu Yixuan stretched out his index finger and middle finger to Qiu Chu, and swayed in front of Qiu Chu with a scissor hand. Qiu Chu smiled and said, "Two thousand taels? It's easy to say, it's easy to say!"

"What two thousand taels are, 20,000 taels!" Liu Yixuan was indeed a lion spoke, and Zong Ze and the generals were also shocked. Since Zong Ze led his troops to the war, the total military pay paid by the court was only more than 10,000 jin. According to one tael of silver, it was worth 20,000 taels of silver that was enough for the imperial guards to spend half a year. The Northern Song Dynasty was well developed and the prices were lower than the Tang Dynasty. One cents of rice (97 kilograms) could be bought for one stone of rice (97 kilograms) and a horse only cost about ten cents of money. Liu Yixuan asked for twenty thousand taels of silver as soon as he opened his mouth, which made Zong Ze and the generals a little worried that the old prince would not take out so much money to redeem people.

Wanyan Qiuchu was also shocked and said angrily: "Twenty thousand taels? I heard it right. You are clearly trying to blackmail us! Our old prince will definitely not agree to you. Besides, we can't bring so much silver!"

"Then what else are you talking about? You stole so many of our treasurys and can you still stump you after taking out 20,000 taels of silver? Go back and tell the old prince not to be too stingy. If you want to save his children, you have to put more blood on!"

After hearing this, Qiu Chu quickly pulled Liu Yixuan's arm and begged, "This... this young general is not that my prince doesn't want to bleed, but the 20,000 taels of silver is really not a small amount. Our Jin Kingdom is not richer than your Song Dynasty, and there is not so much silver in the royal palace."

"Then let the old man take military salary to replace him! Twenty thousand taels of silver is already very low. After all, this is the biological flesh and blood of the old prince. What are the parents afraid of spending some money for their children? Just tell the old prince when you go back." Liu Yixuan showed no sign of giving in.

When Wanyan Qiu Chu saw that Liu Yixuan refused to lower the price, he had to ask the veteran general Zong Ze. Qiu Chu said to Zong Ze: "Old General, with the following understanding of my old prince, the old prince will never agree to the ransom of 20,000 taels. Our army's military pay is managed by the court. If you want to embezzle, you must ask my emperor for advice. You also ask the old general to be merciful and ask for less ransom. I can also reply to my master." He also said: "Old General Zong, since our two armies do not want to meet each other, we should show some sincerity. You are so lions like this, so we have no way to do anything."

After hearing this, Zong Ze thought carefully and began to worry about Liu Yixuan's actions. It was not realistic to make Wanyan Jilie take out 20,000 taels of silver at once. If he really lost his thoughts, the Jin people would definitely surrounded Cizhou and not leave. Seeing that the supplies from the court had not yet arrived, his army would not be sure of what day he could last.

Furthermore, the Qinzong also issued an imperial edict last time. The army heading north did not provoke the Jin people easily. Just guard the city. Although Zongze had the ambition to kill the enemy and serve the country, he did not dare to disobey the emperor's orders without authorization. If he really fought with the Jin people and lost the three towns of the Yellow River that he had finally regained, wouldn't all his efforts be wasted in the past few months of war?

After thinking about it, Zong Ze called Liu Yixuan to his side and whispered: "Nephew Liu, I think this Jin envoy is in a dilemma. I guess the old prince really can't afford 20,000 taels of silver. Our city is short of food and grass, so we can't let these Jin soldiers stay outside the city. We have to find a way to let them retreat. If we keep being so stiff and we have enough food and grass, it will be difficult to deal with!"

After hearing this, Liu Yixuan naturally understood Zong Ze's concerns, so he said to Qiu Chu: "You don't want to pay the 20,000 taels of silver, so how much money do you think you can take out?"

Qiu Chu stretched out the five fingers of his right hand and said weakly: "Five...5,000 taels!"

"What, five thousand taels? You really treat us as beggars. No, at least ten thousand taels, not a cent less!" Liu Yixuan said in a tough tone. He could no longer let Qiu Chu bargain, otherwise he would lose money.

Wanyan Qiuchu looked at Liu Yixuan's expression of refusal to give in, gritted his teeth, and agreed, "Okay, ten thousand taels are ten thousand taels, I will report to our old prince when I go back."

"This is almost the same. Okay, after talking about the money, let's talk about other conditions." Liu Yixuan planned to set up the second condition.

"Ah, are there any other conditions?" Wanyan Qiuchu asked in surprise.

"Of course there is. You think you can get some money and get things done. How can you do that? To be honest, when we captured Puyang that day, we captured many servants in your palace. These people have never seen them kill them. I will give them back to you this time!"

"Is that so? Thank you, I'm thankful for this young master. I didn't expect that the young master would be able to make the servants of our royal family come back alive. If the old prince heard this letter, he would definitely not attack him!"

"Don't rush to thank me for now. I haven't finished speaking yet. Since I have given you ten thousand taels of ransom and have given you so many family members, I want the old prince to give us one more!" Liu Yixuan changed his tone, not knowing what he was selling in the gourd.

"I'll give it to you? We don't have any prisoners from your army. I wonder who the young master wants?" Qiu Chu asked in confusion.

"This person is in your army, and he is the garrison of Yanshan Yaoshi! This person was originally a minister of my Song Dynasty. He defected to your Jin Kingdom last winter. Today, I saw him outside the city. Seeing his homesickness, I wanted to ask your prince to let him return to his hometown. I think, you should be able to agree to this condition, right?"

As soon as Liu Yixuan said this, everyone was surprised. Unexpectedly, Liu Yixuan would take this opportunity to exchange Guo Yaoshi, a traitor, as a hostage. Guo Yaoshi sold his owner to seek honor, and had long become the target of scolding for thousands of people in the Central Plains. If he could hold him and hand him over to Qinzong, it would definitely be another great achievement.
Chapter completed!