Taiping Inn

It was Li Xuandu who captured Mingli Khan. Mingli Khan was a little too careless. He sent all his elite forces to attack Xiao Yanshi, which resulted in Mingli Khan's defense in the palace being empty. Originally, there was Ili Khan in charge, so Mingli Khan had nothing to fear. However, at this time, Ili Khan left the palace again, which gave Li Xuandu an opportunity. Huangfu Yuxiu pretended to be a general, and he pretended to be the general's follower, bypassing the heavy defense, suddenly launched an attack, and succeeded in one fell swoop.

Whether it was the old Khan or Mingli Khan, they all verified a truth. No matter how strong the fortress is, it will always be broken from the inside. The millions of troops of the Wei Dynasty could not do anything to the Golden Horde, but the internal strife caused the wolf to enter the house, which made the royal court look so vulnerable.

The easiest person to hurt yourself is not the enemy, but the friend. If you want to stab someone in the back, you have to go around to the back first.

Li Xuandu thought so, and it was absolutely true. The death of the old Khan was due to the betrayal of the national teacher, and Mingli Khan was captured because of the betrayal of Ili Khan.

Now, Mingli Khan's life is in Li Xuandu's hands, or in Li Xuandu's mind, if Li Xuandu does not care about Shi Wuyue's safety, he can kill Mingli Khan in his own palace. As for Mingli Khan's resistance, it is almost equivalent to nothing for Li Xuandu.

Before Mingli Khan opened his mouth to ask, Li Xuandu had already said: "Li Xuandu, the envoy from the Central Plains."

Mingli Khan immediately understood, "Did Xiao Yanshi send you? Do you want to kill me?"

Li Xuandu said: "I have no intention of hurting Mingli Khan, I just want to invite Mingli Khan to be my guest for a while."

Mingli Khan frowned, "What are you going to do?"

Li Xuandu said: "It seems that Mingli Khan is too obsessed with the power of the Khan and has forgotten the great revenge of the old Khan."

Mingli Khan's face changed and he stopped talking.

Tsewang Arabu knew that he was no match for the two men, so he stopped and was held in the vitals by Huangfu Yuxiu's palm.

Huangfu Yuxiu asked with his eyes whether he wanted to kill this man. Li Xuandu shook his head and said in the official language of the Wei Dynasty: "We still need this Qiexue Army Captain to leave Mingli Khan's palace."

Huangfu Yuxiu nodded and said to Tsewang Arabu in the Golden Tent language: "Captain, I hope you can cooperate. This is related to your life and Mingli Khan's life."

Tsewang Arabu glanced at Mingli Khan and nodded. He is not a wandering swordsman on the grassland, nor a wanderer in the Central Plains. He is a Wang Ting Nayan, with a family, a wife and a son behind him. He has more burdens and more concerns. He will not fight to the death unless he is in a desperate situation, so compromise is inevitable.

So Li Xuandu and Huangfu Yuxiu took Mingli Khan hostage, and under the leadership of Tsewang Arabu, they left Mingli Khan's palace in a dignified manner.

Shortly after Li Xuandu left Mingli Khan's palace, Ili Khan brought a woman to his camp, issued an order to cease fire, and sent an envoy to invite Xiao Yanshi to talk.

Now, Ili Khan and Xiao Yanshi pushed aside the puppets in front of them and went down in person.

Xiao Yanshi agreed to Ili Khan's request for peace very straightforwardly. The next day, the two finally met in Naiqi Khan's palace. Ili Khan invited Batu Khan, and Xiao Yanshi invited Yuejibe Khan, Zixuebe Khan, and her son Yaomuhu Khan.

In this way, there were three of the five kings on the right and three of the five kings on the left, and only Mingli Khan, Shigan Khan, Moge Khan, and Suige Khan had not arrived. In addition, there was a special guest, that is, the envoy from the Central Plains. This was a joint decision of Ili Khan and Xiao Yanshi.

Li Xuandu handed Mingli Khan over to Ning Yi and Huangfu Yuxiu for guarding. He went to the meeting alone. However, what worried him was that after a whole day, the national teacher did not show up, and there was no movement from Tan Taiyun. The two immortals seemed to have disappeared from the royal court, and those shamans also did not know where they went. As a result, when Li Xuandu entered Mingli Khan's palace, he did not see any of the royal court shamans who were rumored to support Da Yanshi and Mingli Khan.

This was the third time that Li Xuandu met Naici Khan. The first time was when Li Xuandu spent two thousand gold to visit Naici Khan, and the second time was at Xiao Yanshi's birthday banquet. Unlike the previous two times, Naici Khan was much quieter now, and lost all his spirit. This is reasonable. Not long ago, he was the new Khan candidate favored by the old Khan. But in the blink of an eye, the old Khan who paved the way for him died. The royal court was in civil war. His uncle, brother, and stepmother became the people who decided the fate of the royal court. His journey to become the new Khan had just begun but it ended. Without the support of the old Khan, his strength was so weak that it could be ignored. With only a few young and strong generals, he could not make any waves at all, so that some people were about to forget him.

At the meeting of the kings, at the insistence of Ili Khan, Xiao Yanshi sat in the main seat. At this moment, she had replaced the position of the elderly Da Yanshi and became the recognized mistress of the royal court by the kings. On her left and right were Ili Khan and Batu Khan, symbolizing the two armies of the Golden Horde, one in the east and one in the west. Then Yuejibe Khan, Naiqi Khan, Zixuebe Khan, and Yaomuhu Khan sat in order from left to right. Li Xuandu was an outsider and accompanied the last seat.

It was hard to imagine that in just a few months, Li Xuandu, as a Central Plains person, became a guest of honor of the Golden Horde kings, and participated in the meetings of the kings openly, deciding the future of the royal court and the Golden Horde.

This made Li Xuandu feel dazed for a moment, and he recalled the second year of Tianbao, when he also attended the secret talks of the four ministers of the cabinet, which was very similar to today.

As the most senior man in the royal family, Ili Khan presided over the meeting of the kings. Ili Khan first mourned the old Khan, and then directly exposed the conspiracy of Shigan Khan and the national teacher. No one raised any objections, because the princes who raised objections would not come here at all.

Ili Khan stood up from his seat and said loudly: "The old Khan is dead, but his body is still in the Golden Tent. We must go to the Golden Tent and send the old Khan's body to the mausoleum, so that the old Khan can rest in peace."

Now the Golden Tent is in the hands of Shigan Khan. Ili Khan said that he would go to the Golden Tent to bring back the old Khan's body, which means that he wants to capture the Golden Tent.

Yuejibe Khan said, "As the people of the Central Plains say, the old Khan's body is still warm and his revenge has not been avenged. At this time, we must unite and jointly find the murderer who killed the old Khan, avenge the old Khan, wash away the shame, and let the old Khan rest in peace."

Ili Khan said, "I propose that whoever can avenge the old Khan will be the new Khan. What do you think?"

As soon as this was said, the whole hall was silent.

The kings had different expressions. They all had golden blood and were qualified to inherit the Khanship. The only difference was the order of rank. If the old Khan did not leave a will, the first heir would be the old Khan's eldest son Mingli Khan, but Mingli Khan disappeared. The second heir would be the old Khan's second son Shigan Khan, but Shigan Khan had been accused of murdering the old Khan. Obviously, it was impossible for him to be recognized by the kings. Power comes from below, not from above. Without the recognition of the kings and the Nayans, the Khan is nothing. The third heir is Naiqi Khan. This made everyone feel that it was destined by fate. It seemed that the old Khan was still in charge of everything in the royal court. After a while, the position of the Khan of the royal court would fall on Naiqi Khan, which coincided with the decision made by the old Khan before his death.

However, Ili Khan's proposal put everyone in the same position, without any order. Naiqi Khan's face flushed and he wanted to object, but he was the weakest and had no room for objection.

After a while, Batu Khan said, "Now in the royal court, we only have our own guards, but Ili Khan, you have nearly half of the Qiexue army. Isn't it more likely that you will become the new Khan?"

Ili Khan had already responded to Batu Khan's question and said, "I will withdraw from this competition and serve as a witness to the new Khan."

As soon as this was said, everyone understood Ili Khan's intention. Although he withdrew from the competition for the Khan, he also had a transcendent status, because no matter who wanted to become the new Khan, they could not do without Ili Khan's help. If nothing unexpected happens, after the new Khan takes the throne, Ili Khan will still be the leader of the kings and the Grand Commandant of the Keshig Army.

He is second only to one person and above ten thousand people.