Chapter 165

Entering July, the 90,000-strong Jin army led by Duke Zheng Wei Jinglue had been fighting with the Japanese for nearly half a year. Not only had they recovered all the cities that Zhang Fu had occupied after his withdrawal, they had also captured a city that the Japanese had occupied the year before. Now the 100,000-strong Japanese army was hiding in the remaining four cities. Although the Japanese side could not organize a decent counterattack, the Jin side had no chance of advancing, and the armies of both sides had been in a stalemate for more than a month.

　　Faced with such a situation, both Japan and the Great Jin Dynasty came up with the same idea to break the current dilemma: peace talks.

　　As for Japan, they have been operating in these cities for several years, and all the facilities and businesses in the cities have already reached a certain scale. They will never let go and give them to Chaoguo or Dajin for free. As for Dajin, the national treasury will no longer allow it to go to war.

　　In the past two years, the Jin Dynasty has been fighting on both the east and west fronts. In addition to the troops fighting on the front lines, Xichuan also had 30,000 soldiers of the "Goshawk Legion" who detoured to the southwest and attacked the Xichuan rebels from behind. However, the rebels were prepared. More than 100,000 troops on the eastern front fought against the Japanese. In order to maintain the two-front war, the court had to spend more than 4 million taels of silver on military expenses every month. The treasury, which was already not rich, was now even more stretched.

　　Now that the Japanese had proposed peace talks, the officials in the court were more than happy to do so. They not only saved their money but also their reputation. So the Japanese peace talks delegation was a natural thing. Even though the poor envoy from the Korean Kingdom cried and complained in the Honglu Temple every day, it was of no avail. The Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple said: "If the military expenses for my Great Jin Dynasty to fight against the Japanese are paid in full by your country, I will immediately report to His Majesty for him to decide. Otherwise, it will be useless even if you cry your eyes out." This made the envoy from the Korean Kingdom, who was crying but making wishes, shut up.

　　The leader of this delegation was still Kujo Tomiaki, an old acquaintance of the Jin Dynasty, but he was no longer the Minister of Jibu, but a councilor above the fourth rank, and the person responsible for escorting him was Sanada Yukogen, the commander of the "Bushen Camp".

　　However, what's interesting is that the delegation did not take the usual Xinzhou route, but went through Songzhou where Pang Jun was, which caught Pang Jun off guard. Just now, the pregnant Luosha woman Isinya gave birth to a cute daughter with blonde hair and black eyes for him, and Yue Siwan and Ji Shuanghua were also found to be pregnant. Yes, Ji Shuanghua, the beautiful mature woman, was pregnant with Pang Jun's second child. Before Pang Jun had time to be happy, he received the news that the Japanese delegation was coming.

　　As soon as he saw Pang Jun, Jiujo Deming greeted him with a smile as if he had met an old acquaintance, "Hahaha, Lord Liu, it's been a long time since we parted at the Thousand Years Banquet in Tianjing. Two years later, Lord Liu has become a prominent figure in the area, and has been granted the title of nobility. He is truly a young and accomplished man, and it's cause for celebration."

　　Pang Jun also pretended to be happy and said, "Master Jiutiao, you are joking. I heard that Master Jiutiao has also been promoted. I am happy for you. But having said that, the reason why I have the position I have today is mostly thanks to your country and you all."

　　Pang Jun's words made most people in the Japanese envoys' group change their faces. Everyone knew that Pang Jun became famous for his clever answers to Kujo Tomoaki's three difficult questions at the Qianqiu Banquet, and that he rose to prominence after making great contributions during the siege of Zhejiang by the Japanese. Last year, he risked his life in the Snow Wolf Valley to save Zhang Fu and a group of soldiers, and he also gave his wife and son titles. His promotion along the way was all due to stepping on the bones of the Japanese. Isn't he just angering the Japanese by saying this now?

　　So, Yukigen Sanada, who was standing behind Kujo Tokuaki, glared at Pang Jun and said, "Liu Jun, how dare you, a defeated general, be so arrogant?"

　　Pang Jun ignored Sanada Yukigen's shouting with a smile, and asked Kujo Tomoaki: "I wonder who is the leader of Lord Kujo's visit to our Great Jin this time? As the head of Songzhou, I can only talk to Lord Kujo without the approval of the envoy. I wonder who..."

　　Kujo Noriaki stopped Sanada Yukigen from getting even more angry and said, "Sanada-kun, be careful with your words."

　　Then, he said to Pang Jun, "Master Liu, please be at ease. Biguo has no intention of offending us. We only need to stay in Songzhou for one night and leave for Tianjing early tomorrow morning. Master Liu, please don't worry about it. Let's go." After he finished speaking, he led his men away. Before leaving, he turned around and gave Pang Jun a meaningful look, and said, "Master Liu, we will meet again. See you later."

　　Pang Jun looked at Jiujo Deming's performance and had a bad feeling in his heart, but he couldn't tell what he was up to.

　　On the way to the posthouse, Sanada Yukigen said, "Master Kujo, Liu Jun is so rude, don't I need to teach him a lesson?"

　　Kujo Tomoaki shook his head and said, "Don't worry. This time, in addition to the peace talks, I have another goal, which is to deal with Liu Jun. Although he has not really become a big shot yet, he cannot be underestimated. There is always such a nasty fly flying around, so I will take this opportunity to deal with him."

　　After the Japanese delegation left, Pang Jun ordered the people of "Suifeng" to secretly observe the movements of the Japanese. Kujo Tokuaki gave him a very strange feeling, so he had to be on guard. However, until the delegation left, the Japanese were honest and never left the inn, which made him even more worried.

　　In desperation, he planned to write a letter to his fiancée, Wei Wangshu, the legitimate daughter of Duke Zheng, for help. However, he was told that since she knew the current plight of the court treasury, she had concluded that the peace talks would be successful and there was no need for her to stay in Xinzhou. So she left Xinzhou and returned to the capital. Therefore, even if he wrote a letter to ask his beautiful fiancée, it would take at least more than a month. Whatever conspiracy the Japanese had, it might have been implemented long ago. So he gave up the idea.

　　Under such circumstances, Pang Jun could only focus on governing Songzhou and his martial arts, especially after he absorbed and refined the pure yin energy brought by Yan Huixin, his internal strength training had a qualitative leap. This was the reason why he dared to provoke the Japanese envoys in front of Sanada Yukgen. Now, he can face Sanada Yukgen with confidence and not be at a disadvantage, and even defeat this "strongest soldier in Japan."

　　In addition, intelligence from all over the world has also been gradually transmitted to Songzhou. Since the death of the Black Deer King, the "Tianyi Divine Sect" seems to have entered a dormant period, and the activities of the followers in various states in the world have also decreased a lot. However, it is worth noting that in Huaizhou, Liaodong, someone has discovered traces of the activities of the Tianyi Divine Sect. Although they are very covert and in small numbers, this is the first time that the followers have appeared in Liaodong. Even if they did not appear in Songzhou, Pang Jun still vaguely felt that they were coming for him, so he ordered the "Suifeng" people to keep a close eye on them just in case.

　　News also came from Shen Luohua in Xichuan. Because Shen Luohua brought back the news that the court planned to attack Xichuan from behind, the Xichuan rebels were able to prepare in advance, causing the court army to fail at the last minute. She made a great contribution, and as a result, the third son of the Qi State, Qi Xuan, whom she served, was rewarded by Qi Tiansheng and gained more say in Xichuan. Her granddaughter Pei Yuyan also successfully married Qi Xuan in June and became the third son of the Qi State's principal wife. She herself was also granted the title of a second-rank lady of honor and was able to enter and leave the third son of the Qi State's mansion freely.

　　As for the caravan run by Wang Fangmei in Jiangnan, its power is still growing. Although the caravan has gained considerable fame in Jiangnan, not many people know about its owner behind the scenes. Even the Nan family in Zhejiang Province only knows that the wife of the governor has a caravan doing business, and they don't know that this highly respected lady has already been secretly communicating with the governor of Songzhou in Liaodong, and they don't know that on some overseas islands, some guards similar to sailors have been trained.

　　Yan Dai, the head lady of the Songshan School in the Central Plains Province, brought news that the Five Mountains Alliance Conference will be held on August 15th. By then, Zuo Xuanzhen will force the other sects of the Five Mountains Sword Sect to merge and hand in their sword manuals together. The five sects will share the sword manuals, with the Songshan School as the most respected. They will integrate all the resources of the Five Mountains Sword Sect and be on an equal footing with Shaolin and Wudang. Pang Jun has already made preparations for this. He has written letters to Yu Meng of the Hengshan School and Fang Nan of Huashan as a man in black, asking them to listen to Zuo Xuanzhen and hand over the sword manuals obediently. When the two received Pang Jun's letter, they knew in their hearts that the person Yan Huixin had killed before was just a scapegoat, and the real mastermind behind the scenes was someone else. But since they already had the handle in someone else's hands, they had no choice but to obey orders.

　　The capital city has been peaceful during this period, but Pang Jun has a hunch that the major forces are waiting for an opportunity, and this opportunity is the arrival of the Japanese envoys. Once the peace talks begin, various forces will come on stage and compete for their own interests. By then, it is possible that his own small governor will be affected by their competition.

　　The Japanese envoys were followed by the spies of "Sui Feng" all the way until they arrived in the capital, but they did not find anything unusual. So Pang Jun deduced that there were only two possibilities: one was that Jiujo Deming was just bluffing and did not really care about Pang Jun, but just wanted to scare Pang Jun. The other was that Jiujo Deming's conspiracy against Pang Jun was carried out in Tianjing City! Jiujo Deming was a smart man who paid attention to details. He would not despise Pang Jun just because his power was still weak. In other words, the latter situation was more likely. Fortunately, Pang Jun's wise and deep-minded fiancée Wei Wangshu should also be in the capital at this time. He could only pray that the beautiful and glamorous big sister could help him out of danger.