The ditch between the fortress and Handan was wide and deep, and Chidi piled up a high earthen wall on the west side of the ditch and built strong fortifications, so that the Chinese coalition forces could not break through the defense line in a short time; But as soon as Chidi abandoned the line and retreated, the coalition forces would swarm and chase and slaughter them like wolves into a pack of sheep. The current situation is unfavorable to Chidi, and the more it drags on, the worse the situation will become, so Luzi chose to negotiate.

The representative of Chidi was Luzi's younger brother Yongzhi, and he said to the people of the Central Plains: "Now that the two fortresses of Xingguo have been destroyed, we have more than a thousand prisoners of war, including two sons. One of our lords and more than a dozen of our brothers and uncles were also killed in battle, and countless casualties among our soldiers were also counted. What we mean is: we will return all the bodies of the prisoners of war and the dead to you, and then we will withdraw our troops.

"As a sign of sincerity, I have brought some prisoners who are seriously wounded. Otherwise, we will have to kill the prisoners first, and then fight you to the death—there are still 50,000 warriors in Chidi ready to go. If we are defeated, we can still retreat to the city of Lai, which you know is an impenetrable city; But once you are defeated and Handan is lost, Xing and Wei will perish, and the people in the north of Qi and Zheng will probably not have the heart to farm. Think carefully about where to go! ”

There were different opinions within the Huaxia coalition army, Gongzi Qingfu thought that this was a sign of Chidi's weakness and should be resolutely attacked, and Qingfu was selfish, because if it was really like what Di Envoy said, Qi would focus on the north and would no longer pay attention to the situation in Lu.

But the other princes did not want to fight. Duke Qi Huan didn't want to let the hegemony he had built up over the years be destroyed because of the small Xing Kingdom. Xing Bo absolutely couldn't allow so many warriors to be slaughtered, not to mention that there were two younger brothers among them, and Chidi retaliated again, and it was Xing Guo who suffered first. Wei Yigong was originally a lazy and indulgent guy who had nothing to pursue, but at this moment, his mind was all on those "Crane Generals" and "Crane Lady" in the palace, so he had no intention of fighting at all. So the coalition finally decided to hold peace talks with Chidi.

The representative of the Huaxia coalition was Zhongsun Huan of the Qi State. Originally, Uncle Bao had taken the initiative to ask for help, but Qi Huan Gong thought that he was too straightforward and didn't know how to change; Zhong Sun Yu has been running between the princes for many years, and is an experienced and sophisticated diplomat.

When the delegations of the two sides were negotiating, Qi Huangong, Xing Bo, and Wei Yigong sat behind the scenes. Zhongsun Yu and Yongzhi first had a pleasant relationship, and then slowly began to condemn each other, and then they were arguing with each other, and in the end, they were about to be tense.

Qi Huan Gong pinched a handful of sweat in the back, he even wanted to stand up and rush to the front to grab Zhong Sun Huan and say, "Okay! That's it! Promise it! But in the trust of Zhong Sun Yun, he still held back. Just as the negotiations were about to break down, Zheng Guo's representative Shu Zhan proposed to adjourn the meeting for the time being and resume the talks tomorrow, and the two sides then left separately. Yongzhi left his deputy in the coalition camp and returned to the Chidi army to discuss countermeasures with the think tanks.

After sending off the envoy, Zhongsun wiped his sweat: "Lord! As long as Yongzhi is still there, Chidi will be a big disaster! This man is scheming and cunning. Next year, Chidi will not attack Handan, and I am afraid that the defense of the country will suffer! The country of Qi must also be constantly prepared. ”

Qi Huan endured it for a whole day, and then he reproached him and said, "You are so aggressive, aren't you afraid of the collapse of the talk?" Don't you know that the fate of Zhuxia is in your hands alone at this time! ”

Zhongsun Yu said: "Of course the minister is afraid, but the other party is even more afraid. The minister found that Chidi had made a mistake: the wounded they sent were all from the southern camp, and the attack on the southern camp was the responsibility of the Duochen people. The wounded affirm that they had killed Duo Chenzi; But there were not a single wounded in the North Camp, and it was Luzi who was responsible for attacking the North Camp.

At that time, the minister was thinking, did Luzi also have an accident? Is it even possible to die in battle? Because you know, these Lords are leading by example. So I demanded that all the wounded be sent back at once, and he immediately covered up his panic with severe accusations, and then the minister's psychology was at the bottom, so the minister demanded two thousand horses and two carts of gold from him even more. Don't worry, if Chidi has the slightest certainty of victory, he will not come to negotiate. ”

Qi Huan Gong said: "The widow's city is still not as good as the master!" ”

Zhongsun Yun said: "The prince is thinking about hegemony, and all the ministers are thinking about is how to quarrel with the foreign ministers. ”

Qi Huan Gong smiled, and the two of them praised each other and then returned to their respective accounts.

On the day they arrived in Handan, the coalition forces erected a bamboo wall on the other side of the trench to resist the enemy's bows and arrows, and the people hid behind the wall to ram the earth platform. As the bamboo row wall rises, the earthen platform also gets higher and higher; The work of the coalition forces was progressing quickly, and the earthen platform was soon a cut above the opposite wall. When it was done, the coalition forces condescended to shoot arrows at each other.

Negotiations are still ongoing, but the conflict between the two sides has never stopped, but the scale has not been large, and the Chinese coalition forces have not stopped moving and deploying troops.

Early the next morning, Yongzhi came to the camp again, and he reproached Zhong Sunyun for not showing sincerity in the negotiation process, and the negotiation was to achieve peace and not to intensify the conflict; He also brought some wounded prisoners of war as a sign of goodwill, while the princes never stopped hostilities, which was not in line with the peace intentions of both sides.

Zhong Sun retorted that it was precisely because the negotiations were inconclusive that the coalition forces could not be unprepared, otherwise it would be too late to prepare for war once the negotiations broke down. This also shows that Zhu Xia was full of sincerity in the negotiations, because they could have launched a large-scale attack on Chidi, but they did not launch it.

After that, the two of them rambled on things that had nothing to do with the subject, and the camp was full of nonsense. Qi Huan Gong was a little impatient when he heard this, so he got up and went out of the tent to patrol the camp.