When the Great Sui envoy group headed by Fang Xuanling arrived in Xiangyang, it was already the eighth day of the first lunar month, and the entire envoy group consisted of two hundred and ten people, in addition to him, the envoy, there was also Du Ruhui, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Cen Wenwen and seven engaged in the court, and the remaining two hundred cavalry were all Xuanjia soldiers. Everyone drove all the way from Luoyang in five carriages, with little rest on the way, although they were a little tired, but when they arrived at their destination, everyone had some happy smiles on their faces.

Fang Xuanling is a secretary of the ministry, and his status in the Great Sui is second to that of the chief official of the three provinces, and his status is lofty, Li Tang is not easy to slacken, Li Yuan asked Xiangguo Xiao Yu to come forward and greet Fang Xuanling and his party outside Xiangyang City.

The carriage of the Great Sui envoys stopped at the city gate, and Fang Xuanling saw Xiao Yu from afar on the carriage and got out of the carriage. Xiao Yu hurriedly greeted him and arched his hand: "Fang Envoy, I haven't seen you for many years, and your demeanor is better than in the past." ”

Xiao Yu has been to the Great Sui several times before, and the departments of the Great Sui at that time were not as complete as they are now, and the object of negotiations on behalf of the Great Sui was always Fang Xuanling, the official secretary, and the envoys represented by Xiao Yu were not less cheated by him.

"Xiao Yuanjun is in good health, congratulations."

"Where, I'm old, you see, my hair is gray."

"That's Xiao Yuanjun working too hard." Fang Xuanling smiled knowingly. Xiao Yu is too old compared to the beginning, and he no longer has the temperament of 'Xiao Lang' at the beginning, it is estimated that he was forced to be like this by Li Tang's unfavorable situation, and the minister of state is still like this, and I don't know what Li Yuan, as the king of a country, looks haggard.

The two talked for a while, Du Ruhui stepped forward and saluted, Xiao Yu returned the salute with a smile: "They are all old friends, Keming is welcome, everyone please follow me into the city!" ”

"Xiao Envoy-jun, please!"

The two teams of Yuan from the forbidden army opened the road in front, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, Cen Wenwen rode slowly, Xiangyang used to be the territory of Xiao Milling, since it was taken away by Li Xiaogong, Cen Wenwen followed Xiao Milling to Jiangling, and came back after many years, and there was a sense of separation in his heart, especially after Xiangyang became the imperial capital of Li Tang, he did some expansion and repair, and there were many high-rise buildings, and it seemed to be much more prosperous than before, but after entering the city, he was stunned to find that Xiangyang was terrible, and there was no New Year's flavor at all, in the snow, It feels very desolate.

"Du Yuanjun came to Xiangyang this time, do you want to go back to the family to have a look?" Xiao Yu asked Du Ruhui with a smile.

"There are still dozens of envoys from various countries in Luoyang, and I, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, are so busy that my feet don't touch the ground, so let's talk about it next time." Du Ruhui is the younger brother of the Du family in Guanzhong, and the family was very deeply contradictory, since the death of his grandfather and father, he and his younger brother Du Chuke were poor and had a difficult life, because the two brothers were talented people, they were rejected by the descendants of the lineage, and the clan elders were afraid that the two brothers would replace the lineage, so they were doubly neglected, and even the family could not even participate in the family sacrifice. After he got Fang Xuanling's letter, his family moved to Yecheng. After so many years, his feelings for the family are very weak, and for him, there is no talk of returning to his hometown, let alone returning to the family. Besides, the ancestral tomb of the Du family is in Guanzhong, and there is no need to see those clansmen in Xiangyang, with his current status and the strength of the Great Sui, once he comes to visit, those people are not allowed to offer him.

"Exactly!" Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "We can only stay for three days at most this time, we really can't stay for a long time!" ”

Xiao Yu's heart sank, what can he talk about in just three days? He tried to ask, "What do you plan to talk about when Fang Yuanjun comes to Xiangyang this time?" ”

Fang Xuanling smiled faintly and said: "There is a lot to talk about this time, last year, both sides of the Sui and Tang dynasties experienced more than ten major wars, and the two dynasties must restore the people's livelihood and let the people recuperate for a few years!" ”

Xiao Yuxin said that only if you believe that you have a ghost, if you really recuperate, why are you expanding your army? But he said, "Yes! After years of war, the people of the world are almost unbearable, and it is the benevolence of Emperor Shengwu to stop and cultivate for a few years. ”

Xiao Yu couldn't find out anything, so he didn't say anything more.

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Cen Wenwen were looking at Xiangyang, and he found that although the main street was as wide as Luoyang Heavenly Street, there were few pedestrians on the street, and occasionally saw a few people, all of whom were in a hurry, almost everyone lowered their heads, looked at this Tang army with a worried expression, and the next moment, they ran away. It was as if he had seen a vicious wolf, with a look of vigilance or panic in his eyes, and he seemed to breathe a long sigh of relief when he saw that Tang Jun had not caught up.

Fang Xuanling was relieved, it seemed that Han Zhi's information was not exaggerated at all, the people of Xiangyang were really frightened by Li Yuanji's Wuchuan Division, and the entire huge city became full of soldiers, causing the people to be afraid when they saw the army. The army was originally a sharp shield to defend the country, but now it has become a vicious wolf that the people fear, how can this get the support of the people? Looking back at the Great Sui, as long as the army passed, the people applauded and cheered, which called the army and the people as one.

At this time, the three of them saw a group of soldiers in black armor and white robes passing by the side of the road, each with their chins held high, and they had an attitude of empty eyes, and their eyes did not look at the mission.

Fang Xuanling couldn't help but sneer, Xiao Yu's sight was blocked, and he didn't see Wu Chuan, he smiled puzzled and asked, "What is Fang Yuanjun laughing at?" ”

"Under the same sky, the treatment of the Tang Dynasty Xiangguo and our Great Sui Ministers is very different, I am very emotional."

"What do you mean by what Fang Envoy Jun said?"

"In Luoyang, if I take Xiao Zhijun to walk on the Heavenly Street like this, whether it is Lao Suo or a three-year-old child, they will salute us, and no one will pay attention to the soldiers patrolling the city, but Xiangyang is the opposite of Luoyang. It shows that the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the army, and their status was much higher than that of Xiangguo. ”

Xiao Yu noticed those Wuchuan pawns at this time, his face was hot, a little ashamed, no one really paid attention to him, but was busy saluting Wuchuan pawns, Xiao Yu of course knew that this was not the people supporting the army to such a point, but that the Wuchuan pawns were too fierce, and the people did not dare to offend these people. ’

Xiao Yu sighed, but he couldn't say a word, the facts were in front of him, everyone knew it in their hearts, if the Great Sui monarch didn't know the evil deeds of Wu Chuan, he would never believe it.

Fang Xuanling frowned deeply, and said seriously: "It stands to reason that I shouldn't comment on the national politics of the Tang Dynasty, but the Sui and Tang dynasties are a battle of luck, and there is not much hatred in themselves, and the people are all victims, whether it is for my Great Sui or the Tang Dynasty, the people of Xiangyang are always the people of the same race, out of concern for the people of the same race, I still want to say that justice is in the hearts of the people." ”

Of course, Xiao Yu knew the meaning of this sentence, but he was speechless, so he had to say insincerely: "Fang Yuanjun cares about the feelings of the people of the same clan and deeply admires them. ”

The group stopped talking, and soon arrived at the post house arranged by Li Tang's Ministry of Rites. Inside, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui smiled at each other, and the rows of courtyards were magnificently repaired, but on the occasion of the New Year, no one saw it, on the other hand, the embassy area of the Great Sui Dynasty was full of people coming and going every day, praying for the Ministry of Rites to receive Hu Shang, who would line up every day, and the Ministry of Rites could judge the life and death of all kinds of Hu Merchants in a word, and it was a real department of real power. But when he arrived in Li Tang's Xiangyang, the Ministry of Rites was a decoration.

Xiao Yu understood what the two meant, the old face was hot and spicy, Li Tang's Ministry of Rites was generally like this, to put it mildly, the place where they greeted foreign envoys was basically a place for idlers, and the people who were arranged to the Ministry of Rites meant that they were far away from the center.

"Envoys, it's here." Xiao Yu led everyone to a spacious courtyard and said to everyone: "Please rest for a while, and let me go down to the Holy Shrine." ”

"Xiao Yuanjun, please, by the way, can we go out for a walk?"

"Yes!"

"There is a letter from Concubine Li, as well as a few gifts, please bring Xiao Yuanjun into the palace." Fang Xuanling asked someone to bring a three-foot-square, exquisitely carved rosewood box and handed it to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu asked people to take it, talked a few more words, and hurried to the palace, to the palace gate, he carried a wooden box into the palace to meet the son of heaven Li Yuan, Li Yuan also eager to know Fang Xuanling's intention, and the Great Sui mission came very suddenly, when they received the news, the waterway mission had already been from the Han River in the Xiangyang area of Xishui, and the defenders stationed in Yincheng were allowed to go and escort them into the country by boat, and they quickly came to report, so that the Li Tang court was not a little psychologically prepared.

In the imperial study, Xiao Yu reported to Li Yuan the process of welcoming Fang Xuanling, and finally said apologetically: "Fang Xuanling just said that the two sides need to recuperate, but he refused to say his true intentions, probably because he thought of a formal meeting. ”

Li Yuan frowned, "Without any preparation and without any content, what are the two sides going to talk about?" He said we listen, he said I accept? This is unacceptable to me. ”

Liu Wenjing said: "The other party's attitude is really unacceptable, if we talk like this, we don't have a little advantage at all, we can follow the rhythm of the other party, but Weichen can guess a clue from their sudden arrival." ”

Li Yuan hurriedly asked, "Liu Xiang guessed from smuggling?" ”

"Shengshang, whether to stop the war or not is always not on a paper agreement, but on the willingness of both sides to go to war, in fact, Yang Tong controls the absolute initiative on the battlefield, from the national strength and situation of both sides, only we go to them to ask for a truce, not the strong Yang Dong. Yang Tong does not need to make a truce with us at all now, and no armistice agreement will be beneficial to him and harmless, because in this way, he will not have the notoriety of tearing up the alliance when he sends troops. And our Datang is in the weakest moment, we need a lot of time to prepare, this is the best time for Yang Tong to send troops, if it is us, we will not miss this precious time. In addition, Fang Xuanling only has three days, and these three days are not enough to prepare, let alone negotiate specifically. So Weichen boldly speculated that Fang Xuanling was not talking to us about a truce at all. ”

"Not bad!" Li Yuan nodded, and asked again: "Then what is Yang Tong's intention to let Fang Xuanling send an envoy?" Demonstrate to me or come to Xingshi to ask for guilt? ”

Liu Wenjing smiled bitterly: "The other party's intention is unclear, it came too suddenly, and it is very difficult for Weichen to guess, but if you really talk about the truce and write the contract, the minister thinks that this is the meaning of paralyzing our army, if we really believe it, he will take us by surprise, which is a tactical deception." ”

"Makes sense." Liu Wenjing's explanation, Li Yuan very recognized, this kind of thing Yang Tong had done before, after the end of the battle of Bingzhou, the Tang Dynasty compensated a large amount of money and grain, so that the Sui and Tang dynasties signed a one-year armistice clause, who expected that in less than half a year, Yang Tong launched the Guanzhong Battle in the name of Li Tang's attack on Xue Ju, and Li Yuan, who had suffered a big loss, believed in the armistice agreement before there was a ghost.

Xiao Yu thought for a while and said: "Holy Lord, Wei Chen and the others will visit again, let him explain his intention clearly, we must not accept Fang Xuanling's visit in a vague way, otherwise, don't talk about it." ”

Xiao Yu knows Li Yuan's personality very well, although he is dissatisfied now, but if the Sui and Tang sides are stiff because of this trivial matter, Li Yuan will never spare himself, it is best to work harder to find out the true intentions of the other party, and then make corresponding arrangements.

Li Yuan nodded and said, "In this way, I will work hard for Xiao Xiangguo to make one more trip." Be sure to get to the bottom of them. ”

"Whoa!" Xiao Yu replied, arched her hand and said: "Holy Lord, Princess Pingyang asked Fang Xuanling to bring a big gift box, saying that it was a New Year's gift for you, and there was a letter from home in it. ”

"Where's the gift box?" Li Yuan's heart moved.

Xiao Yu replied, "Weichen was handed over to the palace guards for safekeeping. ”

"Have someone bring the princess's gift." Li Yuan instructed the eunuch.

"Whoa!" The old eunuch walked away quickly.

.......

At dusk, Xiao Yu's carriage came to the Ministry of Rites Post House again, but the scene made him dumbfounded, dozens of gorgeous carriages were parked in front of the post house, and the roadside was full of guards who came with the car.

Xiao Yu was stunned in his heart, who were these people, who were so bold as visiting the envoys of the Sui Dynasty, he did not rush in, but urgently ordered to inquire left and right, and after a while, the entourage hurriedly came back and reported in a low voice: "The head of the Qiyu family, it is thirty-six Guan Long family masters who came to visit Fang Xuanling." ”

"Who exactly?" Xiao Yu's expression became solemn.

"Home Lord!" The guard said in a low voice: "I heard about it, it is the head of the Dugu family, the head of the Yuan family, the head of the Doulu family, the head of the Zhao family and the head of the Helan family, these people are all members of the Dugu faction, and some of them are the heads of the Dou faction, it is said that they have been here for more than an hour. ”

Xiao Yu's mind "boomed", and he finally realized the seriousness of the problem.

So many heads of the Guanlong family openly visited the envoys of the Great Sui, if the news spreads, it will cause great turmoil in the Tang Dynasty and the opposition, you must know that the Guanlong nobles are the basic force that supports Li Yuan to open the Tang Dynasty, if even the power of this foundation is shaken, who else in the Tang Dynasty has confidence and loyalty to the imperial court?

This was a fatal political wind for the Li Tang Dynasty.