Tibet.

Chapter 1396 Active Negotiation
Before the Tang army attacked, Queen Alian sent people out of the city to negotiate. The ministers for negotiation were lowered from the top of the city wall with baskets and ropes. She waved her hands and slowly approached the Tang army.

Several scouts rode up and brought the minister to the army. The minister turned out to be a woman, about fifty years old, and it was obvious that she was a senior female official.

The soldiers brought her to the commander, Bai Xiaode, who shouted, "Who are you?"

The female minister bowed and said in fluent Chinese: "My name is Baglan, I am the Ejin of the Shi Kingdom, that is, the prime minister. I am here to negotiate with the Tang army on the order of the King of Alan."

Bai Xiaode turned around and said to Li Chenghua with a smile: "The military supervisor should talk to her! If the negotiation is successful, I will withdraw my troops. If not, we will continue to fight!"

Li Chenghua brought the female prime minister to the big tent at the back. Baglan was also surprised that the Tang soldier who was negotiating with her was also a woman, and she was pretty good-looking.

Li Chenghua asked her to sit down and ordered the soldiers to serve tea. She smiled and said, "Don't be surprised. I am the only female senior officer in the Tang army!"

Baglan suddenly thought of something and asked tentatively, "Are you Li Dutong, the commander of the inner guard?"

Li Chenghua nodded. "That's me. You should know that I've been to Samarkand!"

"I heard that General Li can fully represent the Tang army?"

"I am the general commander of the Tang Army. I can not only represent the Tang Army, but also the Emperor!"

Li Chenghua took out the emperor's golden medal. This golden medal was not for her as a military supervisor, but for representing the emperor in inspecting Anxi and Hezhong.

Baglan said quickly: "There is a saying in your country that the army has a pretext. The Shi Kingdom has not offended the Tang Dynasty, nor has it harmed the interests of the Tang Dynasty. Why did the Tang Dynasty army suddenly invade the Shi Kingdom?"

Li Chenghua asked calmly, "Is there any relationship between the Stone Kingdom and the Saint Girl?"

"How do you say this?"

"The army of the Saint Maiden Society invaded Suiye and killed the soldiers and civilians stationed in Suiye. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was furious and sent troops to fight against them. The Queen of Bakhchisar was supported by the Saint Maiden Society, so Bakhchisar was destroyed."

Baglan shook his head quickly. "The Stone Kingdom and the Saint Maiden Society have little to do with each other. Although we are ruled by a female king, it is not the same as Bakhan. Because our king is young, our grandmother A Lian is in charge of the government. Eight years ago, A Lian abolished the young king and became the king herself. She has nothing to do with the Saint Maiden Society. We are kings, not queens. General Li, please make this clear."

Li Chenghua sneered and said, "I went to the Great Light Temple in Samarkand. Shiguo, Bukhara and Xiaoshiguo are the three guardian kingdoms of the Saint Maiden Society. I also saw the statue of your queen Alian. In addition, in the legal documents of the Saint Maiden Society, Shiguo is a loyal vassal of the Saint Maiden Society. All kinds of evidence show that Shiguo is a member of the Saint Maiden Society."

Baglan sighed and said, "The Shi Kingdom army was reduced to only 2,000 soldiers under the pressure of the Tang Emperor. In order to protect ourselves, we had to submit to all the forces that bullied us, including the Saint Maiden Society. They sent 20,000 troops to protect Shi Kingdom and Bakhtin. However, this army tried to enter Tuozhi City several times, but we dared not let them in. We could only give them 200,000 taels of silver every year to seek peace."

Li Chenghua shook his head. "When the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty ascended the throne, we sent invitations to the Chamber of Commerce of the Sogdian countries in Chang'an six months in advance, including the Shi Kingdom. Don't say you didn't receive the invitation. You even sent people to Samarkand to discuss whether to send envoys to Chang'an for pilgrimage. But in the end, no envoys from the Shi Kingdom came for pilgrimage, not to mention your queen. She has never been to the Tang Dynasty once in the eight years since she took the throne. But as far as I know, she went to Baghdad twice to pay homage to the Caliph of the Arabs."

Baglan was speechless for a while and said, "Chang'an is too far away. Although we did not go to Chang'an for pilgrimage, we still respect the Tang Dynasty in our hearts."

Li Chenghua still shook his head, "What's the point of saying this now?

"Okay! General Li, please set the conditions! What do you want us to be let go?"

Li Chenghua said calmly, "The only way to let Shiguo go is to do the same as Nanzhao. I guess you don't know the situation of Nanzhao either, so I'll tell you frankly, first, Shiguo disbands its army, and Shiguo is stationed by Tang troops; second, Shiguo pledges loyalty to the Tang Dynasty, and the heir to the throne goes to Chang'an; third, Shiguo's silver and silver mines belong to the Tang Dynasty, and then we don't interfere in Shiguo's internal affairs, and the people of Shiguo are still ruled by the queen, and we don't covet Shiguo's land."

Baglan sighed deeply, "After all, the Tang army came here for the silver of the Stone Country."

Li Chenghua smiled faintly and said, "It is very dangerous for a child to run on the street holding gold and silver. Even if the Tang army does not come now, you will be destroyed by the Arabs within half a year."

"Is the Tang Dynasty going to take away all our silver mines?"

"Not necessarily. We will give you resources to feed the people. If the land can feed them, you will have no silver mines. If the land cannot feed them, then we will leave some silver mines. Of course, there is another plan!" "What is the other plan?"

"If the Shi Kingdom is responsible for supporting our 10,000 garrison troops, the Tang Dynasty can leave 30% of the silver to the Shi Kingdom."

Baglan nodded, "Okay! I fully understand the Tang Dynasty's conditions. I will report to the Queen!"

Li Chenghua said calmly: "We will not attack before dark. After dark, if we do not see the city gate open and the army surrender, the Tang army will not give the Shi Kingdom another chance."

Baglan bowed his head and said: "If we are unfortunately defeated, please don't massacre our people!"

Li Chenghua nodded, "I assure you that the Tang army will never massacre the people of the Tang emperor."

This means the country is going to be destroyed. Baglan's face turned pale and she had to stand up and bow to say goodbye. Li Chenghua took her to the front of the battle, and Baglan went to the city wall under the escort of two Tang cavalrymen.

Bai Xiaode looked at her back and asked with a smile: "What do you mean?"

Li Chenghua said slowly: "I proposed the Nanzhao model, and then use dark as the boundary. If the army does not surrender after dark, the general can attack with all his strength. Those who resist will be killed without mercy, but the people should not be harmed after the city is captured."

Bai Xiaode nodded, "Please rest assured, General, I will strictly enforce it!"

Baglan sat on the wooden basket, and the rope pulled the basket to the top of the city wall. Soldiers helped her down, and Queen Alan was already waiting for her.

"Bagram, how is it?" Alan asked nervously.

Baglan's face turned pale and he said, "Your Highness, let's go back to the palace and talk about this!"

Alan nodded and returned to the palace with several important officials.

There were five people sitting in the palace council hall. In addition to the queen and Prime Minister Baglan, there were General Saduo, Deputy Prime Minister Aman, and the heir to the throne Princess Qianquan. Princess Qianquan was Alan's granddaughter. She was only seventeen years old and extremely beautiful. Logically, she should go to Samarkand to become a saint, but Queen Alian was reluctant to let her go, so she kept her granddaughter with her at the cost of one hundred thousand taels of silver per year.

Deputy Prime Minister Aman is also a woman. Except for the general Saduo who is over 60 years old, the other four are women. To a certain extent, the Stone Kingdom is a country of women, and women are in power.

After everyone listened to Baglan's narration, Deputy Prime Minister Aman said angrily: "This is robbery. They set their sights on the silver of the Shi Kingdom and sent troops to rob it. What is the difference between this and robbing us of millions of silver in Talas and robbing us of one million taels of silver!"

Queen Alan said calmly: "The governor of Hezhong who stole our silver back then is the same person as the current Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, so I know his purpose very well. The key is whether Tuozhi City can be defended if we do not accept his conditions. General Saduo, you tell me!"

Just as General Saduo was about to speak, a thunderous explosion suddenly came from outside the city.

Everyone was horrified. A guard came running over and said, "The Tang army launched a long-range attack, using a kind of firearm to attack our city wall!"

Queen Alan stared at Baglan fiercely, "Didn't you say that the Tang army would not attack before dark?"

Baglan was at a loss and said, "Li Chenghua clearly promised me that. I don't know what's going on."

At this time, Princess Qianquan, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "I think General Li has good intentions and is afraid that we will make the wrong choice."

Princess Qianquan stood up and said, "Grandmother, let's go to the holy platform and take a look and we will know!"

(End of this chapter)