At the beginning of the night, Li Jiancheng came to your hotel again, Wei Yunqi personally went out to welcome him into the lobby, the two of them sat down separately, Li Jiancheng took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Today, Wei Xiangguo put forward the conditions for an armistice during the consultation, and my father wants to know, does the specific details of this condition include the relocation of officials?" ”

Wei Yunqi shook his head, "There is no change of flag for officials, in fact, our Son of Heaven does not approve of officials betraying their own court, and we will not easily accept incumbent officials to run to defect, but if their children come to participate in the imperial examination, they fall under the category of this condition, I hope you don't stop it." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

Li Jiancheng nodded, "If the incumbent officials are not included, then we can make your armistice conditions, but before agreeing to an agreement, my father still has one more thing he wants to discuss with you." ”

"Your Highness, please speak!"

Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "It is the remains of the Tang Army prisoners of war and General Qu Tutong in the Taiyuan Campaign........"

Without waiting for Li Jiancheng to finish speaking, Wei Yunqi waved his hand to interrupt him, "Our Son of Heaven respects General Qu Tutong who is loyal to the country and gives him a generous burial, but if his family wants to transport the body back to his hometown for burial, then it is okay, we will not stop it, but the issue of prisoners of war is not within the scope of this consultation." ”

"Wei Xiangguo misunderstood what I meant."

Li Jiancheng hurriedly explained: "We know that this time we will only talk about the armistice, and after all the armistice conditions are completed, we will talk about the prisoners of war separately, and it has nothing to do with the armistice agreement." ”

Wei Yunqi's face softened slightly, and then said, "His Royal Highness the Prince, please continue." ”

"We don't want all the prisoners of war, but just want to get back the 20,000 Guanlong soldiers, their families are all in Guanlong, and they are all looking forward to the return of their relatives.

Li Jiancheng said it with emotion, but Wei Yunqi secretly despised it, it was obvious that the troops were insufficient, and he wanted to send the prisoners of war back to continue the war, how could there be such a good thing in the world, but if the other party ransomed it with money and food, it could also be discussed.

Wei Yunqi smiled slightly: "I can understand the compassion of His Royal Highness and the Son of Heaven of your country, but feelings are feelings, rules are rules, the two cannot be confused, if we want to put 20,000 Guan Long back to our hometown, it is okay, we must redeem it with money and food in accordance with the rules, otherwise we must serve three years of hard labor before returning to our hometown." ”

Of course, Li Jiancheng didn't expect the other party to send people back for nothing, his father wanted to redeem 20,000 soldiers, and now that they have dug up the old bottom of the Guanlong nobles, they are really wealthy, and they can talk about the conditions with the other party.

"Wei Xiangguo, please make it clear, how much food do you need us to provide?"

Wei Yunqi smiled heartily, "The matter of prisoners of war is not within the scope of this consultation, I have no right to make the decision, I must ask our Son of Heaven, so be it!" I will send the pigeon letter back to Zhongdu early tomorrow morning, and I will be able to give a clear answer to His Highness in three or four days. ”

"Then thank you Xiangguo, I won't disturb Xiangguo's rest, I'll leave first."

Li Jiancheng got up to say goodbye, Wei Yunqi sent him out of your hotel and sent him into the carriage, Li Jiancheng opened the window and said with a smile: "Tomorrow afternoon, the contract will be officially signed, does Wei Xiangguo have a problem?" ”

"I can do it at any time, but I suggest waiting for Zhongdu's reply, maybe two things can be signed for one thing."

"That's fine, I'll go back and discuss, if my father doesn't object, then wait for two more days."

Li Jiancheng's carriage slowly left, and at this time, Wen Yanbo next to him said in a low voice: "Didn't the Holy Lord give the negotiation rights of the prisoners of war to Xiangguo?" ”

Wei Yunqi said lightly: "How can you easily agree, grind them, and let them have a little more money and food." ”

"The lowly position understands, but the lowly position suggests that it is better not to return the prisoners of war to them, they now have enough money and food, the only thing they lack is people, and giving them 20,000 troops will enhance their strength."

"This doesn't matter, 20,000 troops can't change the overall situation, and the Holy Lord also wants to extort a sum of money and food from them, and these 20,000 Guanlong prisoners of war are just our capital."

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Three days later, Zhongdu's reply arrived in Chang'an, and Zhang Xuan agreed to release 20,000 prisoners of war back to Guanzhong, but at the same time offered a sky-high ransom.

In the imperial study, Li Jiancheng presented Wei Yunqi's written reply to his father, Li Yuan's face was very ugly, he didn't expect Zhang Xuan to open his mouth so loudly, each soldier asked for twenty taels of gold and twenty-five stone grain, and redeeming 20,000 prisoners of war meant that they had to take out 400,000 taels of gold and 500,000 stone of grain, or a fixed price, this condition was too harsh, and it was twice the normal ransom.

"Father, Zhang Xuan is not sincere, let's give up!" Li Jiancheng persuaded in a low voice.

Li Yuan shook his head and sighed: "It's not that he is insincere, he wants to reach this deal with me, if he is really not sincere, the ransom will be increased tenfold, but he knows that I have dug up the old bottom of the Guanlong nobles, so he wants to follow and extort a good amount." ”

Li Yuan stood up and walked a few steps with his hands in his hands, and finally nodded and said, "Agree to their conditions!" ”

"Father!"

Li Yuan waved his hand to stop his eldest son, "We have enough money and food, and it is not a big problem to bear this bit of gold and food, what we lack now is people, it is an army, we can train these 20,000 troops for a year, they can become the most elite army, and they can fight for ten counties for me, this deal is worth it." ”

Li Jiancheng had no choice but to nod silently and agree, and at this time, Li Yuan asked again: "Does Shimin have a reply to the armistice negotiations?" ”

"Back to my father, the second brother didn't agree in writing, but the eldest grandson Wuji came back and said that the second brother thinks that the other party's trade is to hollow us out, and we should limit it appropriately, and he has no opinion on the flow of people."

Li Yuan snorted coldly, "I still don't understand this question, if you don't trade, where does the pig iron come from, I have already said it, this year we must give priority to the military, everyone will live a little more frugally, buy less things, eat less restaurants, just have food to eat, as long as the military materials and other civilian products are guaranteed, as long as the other party wants, they will all be sent, and I will exchange a little more pig iron to come back." ”

Li Jiancheng actually wanted to use the mouth of his second brother Li Shimin to persuade his father not to engage in unbridled free trade, but he didn't expect that his father only had the army and pig iron in his heart, and he was helpless.

At this time, Li Yuan said again: "There is also to let Shaofu Temple stop minting money, melt all the copper and cast arrows and shield armor, there is only one principle, everything must be military priority." ”

Li Yuan was ruthless, he could agree to all conditions, all humiliation could be endured, he must use this year to get the army up, recapture Bashu and Bingzhou, Li Yuan has no way to retreat, he can only be ruthless to turn this line of hope into reality.

Everyone retreated, but Li Shentong did not leave, and when everyone was gone, Li Yuan glanced at him and asked, "Or what's the matter?" ”

"Your Majesty, something has happened to the rune!"

"What?"

Li Yuan was taken aback and asked anxiously, "What happened to him?" ”

Before dawn today, his personal soldiers fled back to one person, saying that the rune was ambushed by people of unknown origin in the area of Jitou Mountain in Pingliang County, and most of the three hundred guards died, and the rune was also hit by two arrows and was seriously injured, and they fled to Baiquan County desperately.

Li Yuan's face became extremely ugly, he sent Li Shenfu as the deputy envoy of Longyou Jingluo to assist his second son Li Shimin in commanding Longyou's army, but he was ambushed.

What unknown person? It is clearly the army of Longyou, although Li Shentong did not say it explicitly, but Li Yuan understood the stakes, he slowly gritted his teeth and scolded secretly: "Son! ”

"Your Majesty, the rune is not suitable for leading troops outside, let's let him go back to Beijing!"

Li Yuan was both annoyed and helpless in his heart, in this case, he couldn't turn his face with his second son, so he had to nod and say, "Okay!" Let him go back to Beijing to heal his injuries first, and talk about Longyou's affairs later. ”

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After five days of negotiations, the Zhou and Tang dynasties finally reached an agreement, on the condition of free trade and free movement of people, the two sides ceased war for a year, and the Tang Dynasty redeemed 20,000 Guanlong soldiers captured in the Battle of Taiyuan from the Zhou army at the price of 400,000 taels of gold and 500,000 stone of grain.

With the armistice taking effect, tens of thousands of Zhou troops who were actively preparing for the offensive outside Pujin Pass also ceased their activities, and the large army withdrew to Hedong City, and calm was completely restored on the battlefield of Bingzhou.