First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 118

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Seeing that Chu Liang had escaped, Hao Yuan felt relieved, and immediately looked at Chu Liang and said sincerely: "Ximing, Your Majesty summoned you here for no other purpose than to get to know Tang Jian better, so as to facilitate negotiations." The wind does not fall from time to time."

Xue Ju also nodded when he heard the words and said: "Exactly, Ximing should not think too much. I have always respected and trusted scholars. That Tang Jian was so greedy that he asked me to stabilize the two counties in Tianshui. Ximing has always been resourceful. I don't know what countermeasures can be taken." ?” After finishing speaking, he looked straight at Chu Liang.

Chu Liang was under a lot of pressure for a while, so he had no choice but to smile bitterly and said: "Then Tang Jian didn't mention the negotiation in the humble house."

Hearing this, Xue Ju's face darkened, and he held back his anger when he was about to get angry. Xue Rengao, who was at the side, was not so polite, and immediately scolded, "What use are you for?"

Hao Yuan glanced at Xue Rengao, but didn't stop him, but asked: "In Yi Ximing's opinion, can Li Shimin withdraw his army with only one county?"

Chu Liang shook his head when he heard the words, and said directly: "Impossible".

"Why?" Seeing Chu Liang being so resolute, Hao Yuan was also puzzled, it didn't seem like Chu Liang's character.

"The reason why Li Shimin hesitated to move forward was because he didn't want to suffer too much loss. After all, His Majesty's [-] elite soldiers can be said to be the strongest soldiers in the world. If the conditions are too light, it is inevitable that Li Shimin will put all his eggs in one basket and the whole army will be overwhelmed. At that time, our army will be doomed.

Moreover, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Hanyang Hechi County on standby at any time, and Chang'an Tang... Li Yuan still has hundreds of thousands of soldiers in hand, so Tang Jian cannot retreat."

Chu Liang didn't think about it, and said very carelessly.

After finishing speaking, Hao Yuan had a strange expression on his face, "Did Tang Jian say that?"

Chu Liang was taken aback, startled violently, then nodded in astonishment, and hurriedly apologized to Xue Ju, "It's not that I boosted the morale of the enemy, but the fact is so, I dare not lie to your majesty."

Chu Liang was originally an image of a weak and good old man, but now under repeated questioning, he has no one to tell the whole story, and he smells of alcohol, which makes these words so honest.

Xue Ju also nodded involuntarily, and sighed softly, "The situation cannot be controlled by others, and I am weak now, so I can only let Li Erxiao'er handle it, there is nothing I can do."

Hearing these words, Xue Rengao immediately became unconvinced, "But after a big defeat, why did Aye become so timid?"

Xue Ju looked very calm, raised his brows, looked at Xue Rengao, and said slowly: "If we force the war, Li Yuan will only lose tens of thousands of soldiers, at most a little bit of vitality, but we will be defeated and killed. How to choose? Do you still need me to teach?"

Xue Rengao was indignant, "If you want to talk about peace, you can talk about it yourself, I just don't see it", after saying that, he stomped his feet and turned around to leave.

"Stop?" Xue Ju scolded angrily, "What do you want to do?"

"I'm really depressed, patrolling the city defense," Xue Rengao waved his hands very irritably.

"Your Majesty, please calm down," Hao Yuan hurriedly tried to persuade, "King Qi is young and vigorous, and his military power is unrivaled in the world, so it is inevitable that he will be arrogant."

"Arrogance?" Xue Ju raised his white eyebrows when he heard the words, "Why am I not arrogant? Back then, when I was alone in Xiliang, all the Qiangs in the Minshan Mountains and the barbarians outside the Great Wall saw my supernatural power, and they all took the initiative to surrender to me, but what about now? I How can I not feel depressed in my heart? But the situation cannot be controlled, if I am powerful, I have to go straight to Chang'an City."

Hao Yuan was greatly relieved when he heard this, after this defeat, Xue Ju has changed a lot, although he is still violent and bloodthirsty, but compared to the Western Qin Overlord back then, Xue Ju has restrained a lot.

"King Qi is young, and his martial arts are like me. Although he is not a student, he is quite talented in military strategy. I also hope that the military master will not blame him for his fierceness and give him more advice."Xue Ju looked at Hao Yuan seriously and said.

Hao Yuan was shocked, and hurriedly responded, only to see Xue Juqiang standing up, his body was already a little slumped, "For the peace talks, the military advisor can handle it freely, no matter what the conditions are, the military advisor can make a decision without reporting it."

With a plop, Hao Yuan directly bowed to the ground, "I'm so overwhelmed that I don't dare to bear His Majesty's grace", after he got up, he bowed deeply again, then turned around and strode away very resolutely, while Chu Liang was dizzy Seeing this, they hurriedly resigned together.

When there was no one in the hall, Xue Ju just let go of his tightly clenched palms, only to see a yellow square handkerchief in his hand, which was already stained red with blood. is low.

The next day, Hao Yuan and Tang Jian had another fierce confrontation. Hao Yuan exhausted what he had learned, but Tang Jian remained unmoved. He insisted that the two counties must be ceded, but reduced the compensation to nine Wanshi.

They broke up unhappy again, and Tang Jian even bluntly said that he wanted to meet Xue Ju for an interview, but Hao Yuan arranged for him to be in the post house, guarded by heavy soldiers, and no one notified him to lead the way, so it was impossible for Tang Jian to meet Xue Ju.

In the Chu mansion, Chu Liang looked worried, and Chu Suiliang didn't need to ask carefully, but he could guess the general situation based on a few scattered words, "But the peace talks have reached an impasse?"

Chu Liang frowned and nodded, "Tang Maoyue is determined. He must cede the two counties of Tianshui and Anding, plus [-] shi of food and grass. Although His Majesty has already planned to give up Anding, Hao Yuan does not want to take advantage of Li Shimin for nothing."

Chu Suiliang smiled when he heard the words, "Hao Yuan's good idea. Although Anding is surrounded by Li Yuan on three sides, but there are such powerful passes as Xiaoguan, which controls the central and northwest gates of the pass. When the mountain makes a comeback in the future, Anding will be the front station of the Eastern Expedition." .

Hearing this, Chu Liang couldn't help but nodded in agreement.

At this time, Chu Suiliang pondered again and said: "Since this is the case, then I should start in advance."

Chu Liang was startled, and before he could ask any questions, Chu Suiliang said: "Since the peace talks have come to an impasse, the plan will have to be changed. I will let Li Ziwei do it in advance, burn the stored food, and then surrender to Tang overnight to put pressure on Hao Yuan. As for us , wait until the time to withdraw the troops, and take the opportunity to slip away."

"Then, when do you think you will do it?" Chu Liangchi questioned.

"It's not too late, we can do it tonight," Chu Suiliang said, and immediately prepared paper and pen, and was about to write, but he switched to writing with his left hand, wrote a letter in another font, and immediately ordered his cronies to send it to Li Ziwei.

In Daying South of the city, in the supply camp, Li Ziwei received the letter. After reading it, he stood up abruptly, hesitated for a moment, and burned the letter. ?”

"Five... more than five years", Chu Suiliang's entourage was a little puzzled and replied blankly.

Li Ziwei nodded, drew out his waist knife and slashed across. Seeing the horrified look on his attendant's face, Li Ziwei also shook his head and sighed: "Five years before and after the saddle, kill as soon as you say, Chu Dengshan is ruthless." The attendant dragged him under the bed, and strode away wearing armor and saber.

An hour later, a soaring flame rose from the camp in the east of the city, illuminating the sky above Liyuan City crimson. There was not much commotion in the camp, because the place where the fire broke out was not where the soldiers were stationed, but the baggage at the rear. camp.

(End of this chapter)