In the fifth year of Taihe, the ninth month of Bingchen, the second quarter of the first day of Chen.

Jiannan Road, Xichuan, Chengdu Mansion, Jiedu Branch Embassy Mansion.

Li Zhi, the envoy of the fourth grade, was the servant of Li Zongmin, the prime minister of the dynasty. At this moment, he was wearing a spotless scarlet robe, with a veil and ink-colored scarf on his head, sitting in the inner mansion of his own mansion in the Wenshu Fang, separated by an elegant sandalwood table, and sitting opposite a general dressed in bright light armor.

"Hehe," Li Zhi cleared his throat strangely, and bowed slightly: "I have always heard of the name of General Yang, and it is worthy of being appointed by Li Jiedu to be the person of the Tooth Army not long after he was transferred to Xichuan. I have always wanted to invite the general to come to Hanfu to sit down, and I didn't have a chance until today to invite the general to come to tea and plant ...... I would like to thank the general for his face. ”

After the high-sounding words, Li Zhi hurriedly beckoned his subordinates to bring the freshly brewed tea soup to the two of them.

"General Yang, this is the Xinchang Buddha Longjing just sent from western Zhejiang a few days ago, a few days ago I just ordered someone to carefully grind it into fine powder, add fresh mint, mountain treasures, absolutely refreshing, a certain self is reluctant to drink on weekdays, come, fast products." Li Zhi grew a carefully groomed beard, looked at Yang Zong with a smile, and picked up the teacup himself and took a sip.

Yang Zong sat up straight, seemingly unmoved, but his gaze at the tea cup from time to time still revealed his thoughts, and naturally he couldn't escape the eyes of Li Zhi, who had lived in officialdom for a long time.

"General Yang, life is alive, you should be happy in time." After Li Zhi finished speaking, he pushed the teacup slightly towards Yang Zong by the way.

"Envoy Li called Yang so early, wouldn't it be just to invite Yang to tea, Yang still has official business to ......," Yang Zong said as he looked at the steaming teacup.

"Marching Sima Li Huaishen, he, like so-and-so, is a person who likes tea." Li Zhi smiled, gently put down the teacup, slowly stood up and paced, and said to him: "But his good tea is fresh and elegant." Dutch ...... A good tea, when the charm is strong, the aroma is overflowing, and this Xinchang Longjing is in this list. ”

Li Zhi looked at Yang Zong's eyes, but Yang Zong immediately looked away, Yang Zong's lips moved, and he saluted with his crossed hands.

"Yang still has official business, and I hope that the envoy will clarify that Yang is called here, what is the ...... So what's going on? ”

Li Zhi remained silent, sat back again, gently put down the teacup in his hand, stroked his neatly trimmed mustache, changed his smile, and his expression became serious.

"A certain is the fifth grandson of Zheng Wang Yan (Li) Yuanyi, the thirteenth son of Emperor Gaozu of my dynasty, and the fifth grandson of Zheng Wang (Li) Zongmin is an uncle of the dynasty, and he has also known Niu Sidian, the prime minister of the dynasty, since he was a child, and there are not many people who have met in the court. If you say so, does General Yang understand? ”

Yang Zong glanced at Li Zhi, and his throat moved.

"The envoy is saying that it is easy to let Yang be promoted?"

Seeing Yang Zong going up, Li Zhi couldn't help but smile at the corner of his lips.

"That's not it, Hehe, I have strict laws in Tang, and I'm not a villain who favoritism, how can I say that whoever is promoted will be promoted? Of course, you still have to have some merit, as the old saying goes, no merit is not punished. ”

Yang Zong looked at Li Zhi and took a sip of tea, obviously the merits he said later were the focus of this side attack.

"For example, the deputy envoy of Victoria, Si Tan, led the army to surrender...... Does General Yang know? ”

Yang Zong was taken aback by Li Zhi's sudden question, and nodded unconsciously.

Yang Zong thought quickly in his mind, but he couldn't figure it out, Jiedu had been planning for so long, and he didn't see any movement from the Niu Party. Now that Victoria's surrender is imminent, Li Zhi suddenly brought up this matter, indicating that he has already heard the rumors, how did he know? Li Zhi called himself here, what was he for?

"Wei Linggong, the king of Nankang County, has conquered Victoria, which has not been achieved for many years, and Li Jiedu has been able to recover it in less than two years after taking office, which is really a great achievement," the corners of Li Zhi's mouth hooked a strange arc, and his eyes flashed, "But, Hehe, we can't forget that if a 'good thing' has a catastrophic consequence, then naturally a good thing will become a bad thing......

Yang Zong's heart palpitated, Xu was nervous in his heart, and he couldn't spit out half a word.

"Hehe, General Yang has just come to Xichuan, and I don't know anything," Li Zhi carefully observed his words and expressions, and put on a good attitude towards the younger generation, "A certain has been in Xichuan for five years, and there is nothing unclear about the affairs of South Tubo Province. The Victorian guard has been reckless for seven years, but why did he suddenly become a conspiracy? Hey, General Yang thinks, is this suspicious or not? ”

"This ...... Isn't there a personnel transfer? ”

"General Yang," Li Zhi shook his head with a sigh, raised the teacup, and talked eloquently: "This Tubo has 'theory' in its name, it is the Zampu royal family, if there is a personnel transfer, it will not be the turn of this Xi Tan to serve as the Victorian Festival." ”

"That'...... What does the envoy mean? ”

"It's not interesting, it's just to make things clear with General Yang, this Victoria surrender, I'm afraid there is another hidden story...... I don't know General Yang, do you know the inside story? ”

Sure enough......

Yang Zong swallowed his saliva, denied it again and again, and inadvertently raised his hand to wipe the sweat oozing from his forehead. And Li Zhi stared at Yang Zong's expression intently like a falcon from Fang Cai, and all these small behaviors were naturally seen by Li Zhi.

However, Yang Zong's inner doubts have become more.

If Li Zhi called him here to find out the inside story, why did he ask himself this Yabing Zhonglang general who had just been in Xichuan for less than a year and didn't know all the details inside? If you ask other subordinates, wouldn't you get more inside information? Why do you want to find yourself?

A series of questions surfaced in Yang Zong's heart, but it was difficult to get answers.

However, when Yang Zong was racking his brains to think about countermeasures and how to prevaricate the past, Li Zhi slowly leaned his waist back into the chair, took another sip of tea soup, and changed the topic.

"I think so, General Yang may not know too much of the inside story...... By the way, General Yang is from Hequ Luzhou, right? ”

"Uh...... Positively, exactly. ”

"Hehe, the northwest border, I heard that there is a lot of wind and little rain, and it is a place of four wars, it is very bitter......"

Yang Zong nodded wryly, he had been confused by Li Zhi's unintended small talk.

"How's the fighting power of the captives over there?"

"Uh...... From time to time, there are more than 10,000 soldiers on the border......"

"Yes," Li Zhi's face was filled with a look of concern for the country and the people, "The division of the Tubo tiger and wolf, although I, the Tang Dynasty, and the Tubo Changqing Alliance, have never thought of abiding by the covenant in the past hundred years, and have done such an unjust thing as the Pingliang Tribulation Alliance......"

Li Zhi patted his palms with the back of his hand, and the anxiety in his expression and words really made Yang Zongxin think it was true.

"Now it is rare for the southwest to have a ten-year truce, and at this time, Xi Tan conspired to lead the people to surrender, which is the truth of the people! This is to make Xichuan, who was only recruited by Nanzhao not long ago, fall into the war again! ”

Li Zhi paused when he said this, silently put down the teacup, looked up at the green bamboo in front of the house, and couldn't help but sigh, his voice trembled a little in a trance.

"Has General Yang ever thought that Li Jiedu would be so determined to go his own way for the sake of his dream phase, and how many lives would be ruined at that time? How many wives have been separated? ”

Not long after, after Li Zhi's slightly nasal words were finished, his reddened eyes became a little moist. This scene made Yang Zong wonder for a while if he had always wronged Li Zhi's original intention, and mistakenly regarded the loyal and righteous people who cared about the world as villains who were the same party and fought against differences.

"Why did you come to General Yang, just because you can see that in Xichuan, Li Jiedu covers the sky with one hand, and only General Yang can be regarded as a clear-eyed person......" Li Zhi spoke sincerely, wiped his eyes with the sleeves of his robe, and said softly: "Right now, Zhi has something to ask for, I don't know if General Yang can help?" ”

"Envoy...... Please speak. After Li Zhi's "understanding and reasoning", Yang Zong relaxed his vigilance, but he didn't know that he was stepping into the trap that Li Zhi had already laid step by step, and responded without thinking.

"Zhi also needs to ask General Yang first," the corners of Li Zhi's lips curled slightly, "If you kill one person, you can save tens of millions of people, will General Yang kill or not?" ”

Yang Zong pondered for a long time, a little hesitant.

"What about degrading one person in order to save tens of thousands of people?"

"Save!"

"That's good!" Li Zhi looked at each other, his face seemed to have changed his face, and he no longer had the sad look when he cried, and said in a serious tone: "Our Li Jiedu, for his own selfishness, actually abandoned the alliance and broke the contract, ignoring the people of the Tang Dynasty!" In his humble opinion, there is no suspicion of abandoning the alliance and breaking the treaty and communicating with foreign countries. ”

Yang Zong was suddenly shocked by these words, sat up straight, and suddenly sobered up. Connecting with foreign countries is the third of the ten evils, and the crime of treason. Li Zhi's short sentence was actually to use the surrender of Victoria to bring Li Deyu closer to the capital crime.

Yang Zong immediately bowed his head to Li Zhi and said, "Li Gong has no such ......."

"General Yang, don't be afraid," Li Zhi smiled, pointed to the tea cup in front of Yang Zong, and said in a tone that seemed to be unrefusable: "Drink tea." ”

Yang Zong only felt that his back was sweating, and he had never touched the teacup, so he also trembled and picked up the tea cup and took a sip, but now he was so nervous that he couldn't taste whether this tea was good or bad.

"General Yang is Li Jiedu's tooth soldier general, if Li Jiedu plots rebellion, General Yang will definitely not be able to get out of it," Li Zhi said in a comforting tone, "But General Yang don't worry, I have been in the Tang Dynasty for two hundred years, and there has never been a shortage of loyal ministers like you and me, as long as General Yang follows a certain letter to the court, General Yang will never be implicated, and as a tooth general, the persuasiveness of this testimony is icing on the cake, even if Li Jiedu did not plot rebellion, he is still sitting on the ground and plotting rebellion, and there is no possibility of defense." ”

Yang Zong's back was cold when he said this, and Yang Zong only realized now that unconsciously, from the moment he stepped into the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion, Li Zhi had no way to retreat for him.

"But, Gong Li...... has the grace of Yang, and Yang must not do this unrighteous thing......"

However, Li Zhi apparently did not give Yang Zong a chance to refuse and explain.

"Hehe, the general doesn't have to worry, although it is not so easy to send into the Shence Army, after all, it is the territory of the eunuchs of the Northern Division, but it is very simple to let General Yang change into this scarlet robe like so."

Yang Zong secretly glanced at the delicate silverfish bag on Li Zhi's waist, and he knew in his heart that if he was allowed to wear a scarlet robe and rank among the fifth ranks, he would have to be promoted at least two levels in a row. That would be something that Uncle had never dared to think of since he sent Yang Zong to join the army, but now he only needs to nod his head, and all this is at his fingertips.

As for the price, Yang Zong couldn't help but move his throat slightly. It is to betray Li Deyu, who has the grace of knowing himself and single-handedly pulls himself in Xichuan Jiedu.

"By the way, Hehe, remember that Uncle Ling donated his life in Luzhou." Li Zhi seemed to remember something, he knew that now he only needed to add one more weight, which was enough for Yang Zong to agree to all his requests and use them completely for his own use.

"Yes...... When defending the city, he was ...... with a cold arrow" Speaking of Uncle, Yang Zong couldn't help but droop his eyes, and his voice was low.

"It's so pitiful," Li Zhi immediately changed into a compassionate look, if he cried again with the next snap of his fingers, I'm afraid no one would feel abrupt, "How can such a strong man not be posthumously gifted?" Dare to ask Uncle Ling when he was heroic, what position was he in? ”

"The lowly family was originally a rogue person, and Uncle was only the main ...... of the Luzhou garrison at that time," Yang Zong said with a wry smile.

"Oh," Li Zhi nodded slightly, "That's easy to do, after this matter, a certain immediately wrote to Li Xianggong, Xichuan Jiedu Yabing Zhonglang General Yang Zong, exposing the criminal Li Deyu meritorious service, hereby recommend him as Jin Wuwei Zhonglang General, Zheng Sipin, give you Uncle as Luzhou Xingbing Soldier Cao, and at the same time write off the identity of Ling Zunliuren, how about it?" ”

Yang Zong listened, raised his head suddenly, and looked at Li Zhi.

Li Zhi once again curled the corners of his lips slightly sly. He understood that this was a condition that Yang Zong could not refuse.