Tibet.

Chapter 1381: Envoy from Silla
The suspect Suba was caught and Li Chenghua interrogated him personally. There were still many doubts in this case. Li Chenghua always thought that the Holy Maiden Society would not have enough time to deploy. Now Li Chenghua already knows that the Holy Maiden Society has many pigeon message transfer stations. For major events in Chang'an, the Holy Maiden Society can get news of Chang'an within 20 days.

Another thing she didn't expect was that her subordinates who came back from Gongyue City told her that Suiye Guangming Temple refused to accept Anga and others, and Anga was unwilling to stay in Suiye Guangming Temple, so they considered sending them to Bactria Guangming Temple. Unexpectedly, something happened the next day.

All these doubts made Li Chenghua feel that poisoning Anjia and others was not such a simple matter.

Suba was very thin and looked very timid, but such a timid person could put poison into the food and poisoned dozens of people.

Suba said tremblingly, "I don't know what the drug is. It's exactly the same as flour. A woman gave it to me. She asked me to pour it into the flour and gave me twenty gold coins. I did everything she asked. In the afternoon, the news of poisoning spread. I was terrified and immediately packed up and ran away."

Li Chenghua frowned. Why is it a woman? This is different from what Zheng Ju said! Zheng Ju thought it was poison given to him by the merchant.

"Do you know this woman who poisoned you?"

Suba hesitated, "I've seen her."

Li Chenghua was shocked and asked quickly, "How did you meet her?"

"She is the Holy Maiden of the Suiye Guangming Temple. I have seen her preaching. My mother was attracted by her preaching and joined the Holy Maiden Society, but she doesn't know me."

Li Chenghua was really shocked. If what Suba said was true, then the deaths of Anga and others were done by the Holy Maidens. They had already notified the Suiye Guangming Temple and would poison them immediately once Anga and others arrived. Anga also noticed something, so she refused to stay in the Suiye Guangming Temple and wanted to go to the Bakhchisar Guangming Temple instead.

But Zheng Ju would not lie to himself. How could he think that it was an inside job?
"Where did you go after you left the inn?"

"I went to Anping Inn, which is the inn run by my cousin."

Li Chenghua nodded. That was right. Anping Inn was the inn where the traitors lived, so Zheng Ju misunderstood. He thought that the traitor merchants protected Suba, but in fact it was the innkeeper who hid Suba.

Li Chenghua asked her men to continue the interrogation. She returned to the temporary government office and asked someone to call Qu Afeng.

"I want to know, does Anjia have any enemies in the Saint's Society?"

"What kind of enemy do you want to ask about, a personal grudge or a rival for power?"

"All of them. I also want to know about the factional struggles within the Saint's Society."

Li Chenghua vaguely guessed that Anga's death was probably related to the internal struggle within the Holy Maiden Society.

Qu Afeng thought for a moment and said, "There is no personal grudge, but there is a rival, Kang Mila, whom the governor met this morning. She and Anjia are competing for the position of the Golden Saint, and the Light Saint is more inclined to Anjia."

"Whose territory is Suiye Da Guangming Temple?"

"It is Kangmi's territory. She used to be the Holy Maiden Messenger of Suiye for ten years. The current Holy Maiden Messenger is her former deputy, who was recommended by Kangmi."

It was really a case of searching for something in vain. After catching Suba, the poisoner, the case of Anga was solved in one go. It turned out to be an internal power struggle. The mastermind was Kangmila. When she received the news that Anga and others were escorted back, she instructed the holy messenger of Suiye Guangming Temple to poison and kill Anga.

It was a coincidence and had nothing to do with the sneak attack on Suiye. It was just a coincidence in time. The two happened at the same time.

"Who is the backer of this Kangmi La?" Li Chenghua asked again.

"It was the Council of Elders in the past. It has no real power now, but it still exists."

Li Chenghua nodded. It turned out that this also involved the power struggle among the top leaders of the Holy Maiden Society. Perhaps the Holy Maiden Society’s inability to control the army was also related to the power struggle among the top leaders.

Li Chenghua pondered for a moment and said, "We will set off tomorrow to Samarkand!"

The emperor wanted to control Hezhong, and Li Chenghua felt that he needed to provide the emperor with good intelligence.

After the Lantern Festival, the New Year atmosphere gradually faded away, and the ordinary days of the second year in Jiaxing gradually began.

In fact, the mobilization of reinforcements to Anxi had already begun. On January 20, Li Ye issued a supreme military order, ordering the 40,000 troops stationed in Jincheng to be transferred to Anxi, and simultaneously sending 100,000 camels of military supplies from Jincheng to Anxi. The 40,000 troops included 6,000 heavy armored infantry led by Xu Zongran, 4,000 auxiliary troops, 10,000 firearms troops and 20,000 elite cavalry led by Xi Wanli.

At the same time, Li Ye appointed Anxi Protector Bai Xiaode as the Marshal of the Western Expedition, Xu Zongran and Li Feiyuanli as deputy generals, Guo Xin as the chief secretary, and the Inner Guard Commander Li Chenghua as the military supervisor, to lead an army of 60,000 to the west.

Just as the Tang Dynasty was mobilizing troops to prepare for the Western Expedition, envoys from Silla also arrived in Chang'an.

The Silla envoy was named Kim Ji-jeong, who was the minister of Silla and the second-in-command of the army. He was second only to Sangdaedang Kim Yang-sang and belonged to the hard-line faction of Silla.

Jin Zhizhen had always been hostile to the Tang Dynasty and opposed negotiations with it, but the serious situation in Silla forced Jin Zhizhen to bow his head and come to Chang'an to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty.

Since the second half of last year, the continued turmoil in Liaodong and the Liaodong Campaign launched by the Tang army have also seriously affected the internal situation of Silla.

Ten years ago, King Gyeongdeok of Silla died and the eight-year-old King Hyegong succeeded to the throne. Due to the lack of a strong monarch, contradictions within the Silla ruling group began to surface, and the aristocratic forces were ready to move, coveting and challenging the royal power.

In the same year that King Hyegong ascended the throne, the Daegong and Daeryeon Rebellions broke out. Nearly a hundred nobles from all over the country responded to the rebellion, which lasted for three years. Although it ultimately failed, it marked the beginning of various civil wars in Silla.

In that year, the nobles Kim In-ju and He Lian-sang took advantage of the opportunity when the main force of Silla army headed north to the Yalu River to confront the Tang army, and launched rebellions in Ungju one after another, and instigated the Baekje people to revolt. The Baekje people suffered from oppression and took the opportunity to revolt with great momentum. The Silla court had to urgently dispatch troops to the south, brutally suppress the remnants of Baekje, massacred hundreds of thousands of Baekje people, and the coast of Ungjin was stained with blood.

Continuous internal rebellions and the Baekje Rebellion seriously weakened Silla's national strength. In addition, King Hyegong, Kim Gyun, was incompetent and greedy for pleasure, and Silla's national fortune was bleak.

This was the time when Silla was at its weakest since its founding. To make matters worse, the powerful Tang army gathered on Jeonra Island, and the huge cloud of national destruction loomed over Silla.

Li Ye also attached great importance to the arrival of the Silla delegation and arranged for the left prime minister Zhang Li and Jin Zhenzhi to negotiate.

If he could achieve his goal at the negotiation table and turn Silla into the second Nanzhao, Li Ye could put it aside for the time being and concentrate on the Western Expedition.

If the goal cannot be achieved at the negotiation table, the Tang army will attack without hesitation.

On the second day after Jin Zhenzhi arrived, Zhang Li and the Minister of War Yan Quanming held the first round of negotiations with Jin Zhenzhi at the Ministry of War.

After a few pleasantries, the two sides went straight to the point. Jin Zhenzhi put forward Silla's plan. First, Silla recognized Jeonra Island as the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Second, the two sides used the Yalu River as the boundary, and Silla withdrew 300 miles and promised never to covet the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Third, Silla obeyed the Tang Dynasty as its suzerain state, accepted the Tang Dynasty's enthronement, and sent a prince to Chang'an as a hostage. Fourth, Silla guaranteed to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty every year and guaranteed that the king of Silla would come to Chang'an for pilgrimage every three years.

These four proposals were already full of sincerity for Silla. Kim Jeong-ji did not agree with the third and fourth proposals, but under the insistence of Sangdae Kim Yang-sang, Kim Jeong-ji had no choice but to accept them and come to Chang'an for negotiations.

Zhang Li looked at the other party's four plans and smiled slightly, "I wonder if the Minister can fully represent Silla?"

Jin Zhenzhi said coldly: “If you don’t cross Silla’s bottom line, I can represent Silla!”

What he meant was that the four options were Silla's bottom line.

Zhang Li nodded. "In that case, let me tell you about the Tang Dynasty's plan. The Tang Dynasty's plan has only three points, one less than yours. First, the border between the two sides will be based on the boundary at the end of the fourth year of the Tang Dynasty's Xianqing period. Second, Silla will disband its army, and the Tang army will enter Silla!"

Jin Zhenzhi didn't react at first. What did the fourth year of Xianqing in the Tang Dynasty mean? After hearing the second sentence, he suddenly remembered that the fourth year of Xianqing in the Tang Dynasty was the year when Baekje was destroyed. Silla disbanded its army and the Tang army moved in. What's the difference between this and the destruction of a country?
Jin Zhenzhi stood up suddenly, glared at Zhang Li and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Zhang Li waved his hand, "I have a third one, please be patient!"

"What is there to talk about? How is this different from the destruction of Silla?"

"Of course there is a difference. The difference is that Silla still exists, and the people of Silla are the subjects of Silla, not the subjects of the Tang Dynasty. Our third rule is very simple. The heir to the throne of Silla must be held hostage in Chang'an!"

Jin Zhenzhi gritted his teeth and said, "I can also tell you clearly that we will not accept any of these three conditions. Goodbye!"

Jin Zhenzhi turned around and strode out of the Ministry of War's meeting hall, and his group of men followed hurriedly behind him.

(End of this chapter)