Li Hong sent Zhou Juan back to the scallion noodle restaurant, and when he returned to the East Palace, it was already Shen time. As soon as he walked into the East Palace with Yan Zhuang and Chen Gong and his party, he saw Wei Zhiqiang hurriedly walking forward and said with a crying voice, "Your Highness, you are here, Niangniang is going to summon you, Gonggong Zhang has been waiting for you in the Chongwen Hall for two hours." ”

Li Hong knew that Empress Wu summoned him for the breakdown of the negotiation with the Tubo ambassador An Lai in the Xuanzheng Palace today, so he said lightly to Wei Zhiqiang, "You go and tell Zhang Ying that Gu is going to change his clothes now, and then immediately go to Daming Palace with him." ”

"No!" Wei Zhiqiang received the order and trotted away.

Li Hong said to Yan Zhuang as he walked, "You go and inform Liu Yizhi, Zhang Khan Zhi and Li Qiao, and let them wait for Gu in the study, and Gu has something to discuss with them when he comes back." ”

Yan Zhuang received the order and strode away.

Li Hong went to the Cheng'en Hall to bathe and change clothes, and then came to the Chongjiao Hall and went to the Daming Palace with Zhang Ying.

In the Zichen Palace, except for the Empress Wu, the seven prime ministers were there, but looking at everyone's expressions, they looked relaxed, and the atmosphere when talking about official business was very harmonious. When everyone saw the crown prince Li Hong, they hurriedly got up, bowed to him and saluted, "See Your Highness!" ”

Li Hong was a little surprised, and he was very puzzled when the prime ministers treated him so politely. Just when he was puzzled, Empress Wu had already spoken, "Prince, your performance today is very good, the Queen Mother is very satisfied, come, come and sit, and we will discuss the specific details of An Laiti's request." ”

"You don't have to be polite!" Li Hong said to the prime ministers, and said to the Empress Wu, "The sons see the queen mother, what does the queen mother mean?" ”

"Come and sit next to the queen mother, and let Le Yanwei tell you!" Empress Wu rarely smiled and said to Li Hong.

Li Hong received the order, and walked to the couch beside Empress Wu and sat down. Le Yanwei opened his mouth and said, "Your Highness, in the afternoon, An Lai re-submitted the book, saying that Tubo was willing to give up the three requirements on the national letter, but he wanted Datang to promise to release Sang Ying and give them another 100,000 yuan of money and materials to facilitate his return to China to resume his life." ”

Le Yanwei was also excited when he said this, because the matter of the Tubo Mission had come to an end, and there were no major twists and turns, which meant that his phase had been preserved.

The other six prime ministers were all very happy except for Li Ji, because everyone knew that Tubo's compromise was related to the prince's tough attitude in the Xuanzheng Palace today, and the prince's deaf declaration extinguished Tubo's wolf ambitions, which was greater than the role of 100,000 male soldiers, and on the contrary, with Li Hong's strong counterattack, Li Ji's threat to An Lai in the Xuanzheng Palace fell into the inferior and became a stepping stone to support Li Hongwei'an.

"At this time, Anlai still dares to ask Datang for something? Do you dare to let Sang Ying leave Datang alive? Li Hong frowned.

When the Empress Wu and the prime ministers heard Li Hong's words, they were completely shocked, they felt that Li Hong could talk about the negotiation to this extent, which was already against the sky, but they didn't expect that Li Hong never thought of letting go of Sang Ying and An Lai at all. What is the rhythm of this? What kind of mentality is this? Do you really want to recruit millions of soldiers, fight with Tibet, and want to destroy this country? Datang and Tubo are not afraid, but the destruction of Tubo has little practical significance to Datang, the plateau where Tubo is located is not suitable for Datang development at all, and the heavy price paid by Datang for this cannot be recovered in a few decades!

Le Yanwei was a little anxious, since Tubo had compromised, his own side couldn't blindly suppress it again, otherwise it might really be forced to rebel, so he hurriedly asked, "Your Highness, what do you mean?" ”

"The materials he wants can be doubled, and it's no problem for us to give him 200,000 yuan of supplies, but as for Sang Ying, he can't let it go. It is natural to kill people to pay for their lives, whether he is the deputy envoy of Tibet or the prince of the Tang Dynasty. Li Hong said with a tough attitude.

Dou Dexuan hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm afraid that this will force An Laigou to jump off the wall in a hurry, right?" ”

"He didn't dare." Li Hong said very confidently, seeing that everyone was looking at him, he said in an aggravated tone, "They don't dare!" ”

In fact, since the beginning of the negotiations, Li Hong's attitude has been so tough, this is not because he blindly used the national strength of the Tang Dynasty to intimidate Tibet, but because he has his own basis.

This basis is Su Dingfang, a famous Tang general who guards the northwest.

Su Dingfang, a famous martyr, is a native of Wuyi, Jizhou. When he was fifteen years old, he followed his father to fight with great strength and courage, and was the first to enter the battle, and the village relied on him to settle down. In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, he defected to the righteous army of Dou Jiande and Liu Heimin, and made many military exploits in the troubled times. Zhenguan returned to the Tang Dynasty in the early years, followed Li Jing's Northern Expedition to the East Turks, and took the lead in breaking through the Jieli Khan's tooth tent as a striker in the night attack on Yinshan.

In the second year of Xianqing, he was promoted to the general manager of the march, began to take charge of his own affairs, and was deeply appreciated and trusted by Tang Gaozong for his extraordinary achievements and integrity, and was repeatedly entrusted with important tasks. The conquest of the Western Turks, the Pingling Mountains, the Yibai Mountains, the destruction of Goguryeo, and the destruction of the Three Kingdoms before and after the Dingfang Dynasty were all captured alive, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty was expanded westward to Central Asia and eastward to the Chaoxian Peninsula, making immortal contributions to the Tang Empire. And he successively moved to General Zuo Xiaowei, General Zuo Wuwei, and was named the Duke of Xing. In his later years, he was appointed as the ambassador of Anji, and was fully responsible for the military defense of Tibet.

This is the information about Su Dingfang that Li Hong knows, and everyone in the Zichen Hall knows the same information. However, Li Hong also has a piece of information that everyone in the Zichen Hall does not know, that is, from Tibetan historical materials, Su Dingfang and Tubo actually had two battles.

The first time was the Battle of Wuhai in 659, which is recorded in the history of the Tang Dynasty, saying that Su Dingfang defeated Dayan 80,000 with one thousand.

The second battle, because it took place in 667, was unknown to Empress Wu and the seven prime ministers, and only Li Hong knew that Lu Dongzan led a Tibetan army of 100,000 in this year, attacked the Tang army, and died in the army. Later, it was recorded that the Tang Dynasty army entered Tibet, and the Tubo people hurriedly welcomed the statue of Juea Shaka to the Shenbian Temple, hid it in the South Mirror Gate, sealed the door with mud, and did not paint a statue of Manjushri to cover it. Before the child, the Tang army set fire to the Potala Palace, failed to welcome the Buddha statue away, but transported the immovable Buddha statue to the half-time place.

The information on this great battle is not found in the orthodox history books, and it is indeed worth studying whether Lu Dongzan really fought with Su Dingfang, but in any case, since 663, Su Dingfang served as the ambassador of Anji to defend against Tibet, if he did not fight Lu Dongzan, who else could destroy Lu Dongzan on the battlefield? Therefore, Li Hong believes in the historical records of this time, Su Dingfang took the opportunity to go deep into Tubo after the great victory over Lu Dongzan, and fought all the way to the capital of Tubo and set fire to the Potala Palace...... As for the battle between Tang and Tibet that took place in Dafeichuan later, which ended with the disastrous defeat of the Tang army, this does not mean that the combat effectiveness of the Tang army is inferior to that of the Tubo elite cavalry, but it can only be said that the Tang army's commanding ability is not good.

Because Li Hong fell out with Li Ji, he was eager to find a general in the army who could compete with Li Ji to support him, so he thought of Su Dingfang, the current Li Ji has not destroyed Goryeo, his military merits are equal to Su Dingfang, his only advantage is that Li Tang was the founding hero, and he chose the right direction three times, so Li Hong believes that as long as he supports Su Dingfang, with Su Dingfang's great military exploits in the Tang Army, he may not lose to Li Ji.

Thinking of Su Dingfang, Li Hong thought of Su Dingfang's battle when he was the ambassador of Anji to defend against Tibet, and thought of the above information on the Second World War, which gave him a reason for his tough attitude towards Tibet-

To put it bluntly, this time Li Hong was gambling, betting that Tubo did not dare to send troops to the Tang Dynasty because Su Dingfang was in the northwest, but he didn't expect him to bet right.

"Why is the prince so sure?" Li Ji asked coldly.

This time he was Li Hong's foil, which made him very annoyed, and now that he saw that Li Hong had achieved a little bit and was so arrogant, he wanted to extinguish Li Hong's arrogance.

"Queen Mother, Rong Erchen will tell you in detail after this matter is properly handled, do you think it's okay?" Li Hong directly ignored Li Ji and said to Empress Wu.

In fact, there is a reason why Li Hong hates Li Ji, just like the above mentioned Li Ji, if Li Ji had not achieved dazzling military exploits in the war of the Tang Dynasty to destroy Goryeo, his military exploits might not be greater than Su Dingfang, but his official position was much bigger than Su Dingfang, and the courtesy he received was greatly higher than Su Dingfang, and the key reason was that he stood in line three times.

For the first time, Li Shimin's Xuanwumen coup d'état, at that time he sought the support of military generals, Li Ji's Li Jing's student, Li Jing said to Li Ji not to meddle in his business, but Li Ji did not listen, he not only agreed when Li Shimin found him, but also persuaded Li Jing as Li Shimin's lobbyist. If this persuasion was unsuccessful, it was doomed that Li Jing and Li Shimin's love would be exhausted, and Li Ji was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Li Shimin. The second time he stood in line was when Taizong Li Shimin's sons competed for the throne, he came forward to support Gaozong at the last moment, and was entrusted by Li Shimin with the important task of taking care of his life. The appointment of the minister of Gu Ming completely put Li Ji on the pinnacle of the minister, because after Gaozong ascended the throne and became emperor, in order to suppress the arrogance of the eldest grandson Wuji, he had to promote him again and again, but Li Ji became a turtle with a shrunken head and did not give Gaozong much support, but from his point of view, he got what he deserved. The third time he stood in line was when Gaozong and Empress Wu dealt with the eldest grandson Wuji, at this time, Li Ji was already able to compete with the eldest grandson Wuji in terms of official position and prestige, at that time, Gaozong and Empress Wu were in dispute with the eldest grandson Wuji, Chu Suiliang and others about the issue of the Empress Wu as the queen, and at this time Li Ji stepped forward and stood firmly on the side of the Empress Wu, so he had the current power and glory-

Li Ji's three correct positions have achieved his current power and prestige, as well as courtesy that is difficult for others to match. In the eyes of any minister, this is wise, but from the perspective of Li Hong's superiors, what he dislikes the most is this kind of opportunistic minister who takes sides to gain his own interests. On the contrary, pure soldiers like Li Jing, Su Dingfang, and Liu Rengui made him like them more and made him more willing to make friends with them.

And Li Ji commanded the Tang army to destroy Goryeo, which is not his credit alone, so the Tang Dynasty fought against Goryeo, Silla and Baekje in the northeast battlefield for several years, during which Su Dingfang and Liu Rengui were the commanders, and they all achieved good results, Li Ji only became the commander when the Tang Dynasty launched the final blow to Goryeo, so it is not an exaggeration to say that his military exploits were cheap...

Because of these reasons, Li Hong didn't treat Li Ji very well, and besides, he knew that he couldn't satisfy Li Ji's interests, and it was impossible for him to have anything to do with Li Ji, so he would be so ruthless to Li Ji.

Li Ji saw that he was ignored by Li Hong, and he was angry and wanted to yell at Li Hong, but it could be seen that Li Hong was talking to Empress Wu, so he held back again.

Empress Wu wished that Li Hong would not deal with Li Ji, so that Li Ji would rely on her more, so she turned a blind eye to this, but said softly, "Since the prince already has a good plan, this matter will continue to be handed over to you!" ”

"Erchen takes orders!" Li Hong bowed down and said.

Immediately, he saw that Empress Wu had no questions to ask himself, so he withdrew from the Zichen Palace.