In the south of Taiyuan City, a team of Sui troops escorted more than a dozen envoys from the Tang Dynasty gradually arrived in Taiyuan City, the leader of the person is about forty years old, tall, with thick eyebrows and fine eyes, a big nose like an eggplant hanging on the face, this person is Li Yuan's younger brother Li Shentong, the official worships the King of Huai'an, the general of the right Yiwei.

Li Shentong entered Hedong from Pujin Pass, but his 500 soldiers did not make it in, but instead the Sui army escorted him all the way north to Taiyuan.

Since the outbreak of the Taiyuan Battle between the Northern Sui and Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty has been in a passive situation, which has made all walks of life in Guanlong generally dissatisfied with the imperial court, especially the Tongguan incident that led to the fiasco of Hongnong, and also caused the dissatisfaction of the Guanlong nobles with the Li family.

Li Shentong was well aware of the tremendous pressure his brother was under, and he also agreed with Jiancheng's suggestion to reconcile with the Northern Sui first, and then find a way to make achievements in other areas, and gradually restore public confidence in the imperial court.

When he walked to the city gate, he saw an official waiting by the city gate, he immediately urged his horse to meet him, bowed down and saluted: "Is the envoy of the Tang Dynasty?" ”

"Under Li Shentong, it is the Tang envoy."

"The lower official is Wei Lun, who is from the Inner Shishe, and he is waiting for the Tang envoy here on the order of Ziwei Pavilion, and His Royal Highness has worked hard all the way."

Li Shentong saw that he was only in his twenties, quite knowledgeable and reasonable, and he couldn't help but feel a little good about him, so he returned the salute and smiled: "Thank you!" ”

At this moment, Li Shentong suddenly heard the sound of gongs and drums in the city, and there were bursts of shouts from time to time, which was quite lively, and he couldn't help but be stunned, what happened in the city?

Wei Lun smiled slightly: "Today happens to be the new science and technology jinshi parade on the street, so the city is very lively." ”

Li Shentong was suddenly a little curious, so he smiled and said, "Can you go into the city to have a look?" ”

"Of course, Your Highness, please!"

Li Shentong and his entourage entered Taiyuan City, only to see a sea of people on Jinyang Street, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered on both sides of the street. The crowd was crowded, dense, and there was no edge in sight, and the cavalry was three steps and one post, five steps and one sentry, maintaining order.

The whole Taiyuan is like a festival, beating gongs and drums, and the sound of suona. At this moment, I saw a group of young soldiers appear from the street. They numbered about two hundred, dressed in red and scarlet brocade robes. Wearing a double-winged gauze hat and a cluster of red flowers hanging on their chests, everyone is red. The joy was palpable.

In front of them were 500 cavalrymen to open the way, followed by a drum band, and finally 200 jinshi on horseback, in order to prevent the horses from startling, each horse was equipped with a groom to lead the horses, and the jinshi came in a stream, attracting cheers from the people on both sides, and the jinshi were so excited that their eyes flashed, and this glory made them unforgettable.

Li Shentong rode slowly outside the crowd. He felt a lot of emotion in his heart, when the Tang Dynasty was still arguing fiercely about whether to hold the imperial examination, the Northern Sui had already put it into practice, and the most discussed by the government and the opposition before reading away with glory and respect was the grand march of Taiyuan scholars, and many people had a kind of schadenfreude in their tone, as if Taiyuan's imperial examination had suffered a major setback. But in fact, the people of the Northern Sui Dynasty have long forgotten the unhappiness brought by the parade, and now there is only the glory and pride of the scholars, and a deep sense of crisis swelled in Li Shentong's heart, and the Tang Dynasty had fallen behind. The Northern Sui not only achieved military victories, but also developed rapidly in all its aspects.

Li Shentong thought that he had gone all the way north and saw the people living and working in peace and contentment. Seeing the government organizing the people to build water conservancy, and seeing so many young and strong men working in the fields instead of wearing armor and serving as soldiers, this is the implementation of the strategy of enriching the people with elite soldiers in the Northern Sui Dynasty, and they used a large number of young and strong people for production rather than war, so as to ensure that the Northern Sui can cope with the consumption of long-term wars.

A group of people passed through Taiyuan City, went out from the north city, and went to Jinyang Palace, both sides of the road were crowded with onlookers waiting for the crowd, the official road was covered with a red felt carpet, which extended to the Jinyang Palace in the distance, when Li Shentong came out of the city, the people on both sides thought that it was the Jinshi who came out, which attracted a cheer, which made Li Shentong look very embarrassed, he was embarrassed to walk the official road covered with felt carpet again, but went around the path to Jinyang Palace.

The people on both sides are welcoming Xinke Jinshi, if they know that he is an envoy of the Tang Dynasty, they may be greeted by rotten eggs and stones, which Li Shentong is self-aware.

Li Shentong came to the gate of Jinyang Palace, Su Wei and Pei Ju, the two old ministers, have been waiting for him here for a long time, Li Shentong knows Su Wei, and also knows Pei Ju, these are the prime ministers of the Sui Dynasty back then, especially Su Wei, who is the founding father of the Great Sui, and the greeting of these two heavyweight figures makes him feel a huge pressure.

Li Shentong no longer has the Qinggao of the King of Huai'an, he turned over and dismounted, and quickly stepped forward and bowed, "Li Shentong sees the two old ministers. ”

Su Wei squinted his eyes and smiled: "The prince is a distinguished guest of the Northern Sui, we have been slacking off along the way, please forgive me!" ”

"I had a smooth journey, the Sui army was well guarded, and the old minister was serious."

Pei Ju next to him also smiled: "Originally, the prince should be allowed to rest for a few days, but we estimate that the prince is also very anxious, so let's talk briefly first!" ”

"Exactly, I also want to talk to the Northern Sui Imperial Court first, and I am not in a hurry to rest."

"Then please!"

"Two old ministers, please!"

Li Shentong followed Su Wei and Pei Ju into Jinyang Palace, all the way to Ziwei Pavilion, he glanced at this huge palace pavilion as high as ten zhang, he remembered that this place was originally called Qifeng Pavilion, and now it is renamed Ziwei Pavilion, this is the highest power center of the Northern Sui Dynasty, Yang Yuanqing is also dealing with court affairs here, I don't know if he will see himself?

Li Shentong walked into Ziwei Pavilion in a worried mood, but it was Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu who greeted him, Su Wei and Pei Ju did not follow, he felt a little strange in his heart, Du Ruhui smiled and said: "I'm sorry, today is the day when Jinshi enters the office, there is a very grand ceremony, Su and Pei will preside over the ceremony, and Wang Xiangguo will be the instructor, so it can only be me and Cui Xiangguo and His Royal Highness to talk." ”

Cui Junsu next to him said again: "Chief Yang has been busy with military affairs and imperial examinations in the past two days, and he will meet His Highness the day after tomorrow!" ”

Li Shentong understood in his heart that Yang Yuanqing actually asked Du Ruhui and others to talk to him for the first time, and he would come forward after some progress, which was also a normal practice, and he was not surprised at all.

"Then it will trouble Du Xiangguo and Cui Xiangguo."

Li Shentong was invited into the chamber, this is the highest place of Ziwei Pavilion, from the window you can clearly see the north gate of Taiyuan, only to see that two hundred Jinshi have come out of the city, and gradually arrived at Jinyang Palace, the front of the palace gate is covered with carpets and high platforms, Su Wei and Pei Ju with more than 100 officials are waiting, Li Shentong suddenly saw Yang Yuanqing standing on the high platform, Du Ruhui smiled, explained: "Today is the chief manager awarded the Jinshi hat, the first three will leave portraits in the Literature Museum, and then hold a big feast, the saint will also receive them, the etiquette is very cumbersome, Tomorrow is a day off, and later he will be appointed to the Ministry of Officials. ”

At this time, Yang Shidao, Wei Zheng and Zhang Shu also walked into the hall, Yang Shidao served as the administrator, if he did not enter the phase, but he was already an extremely important person, Wei Zheng was in charge of the proceedings, and Zhang Shu was the supervisor of the meeting, which was a very formal meeting.

Li Shentong sat down, closed the windows, and then retreated, and the hall became very quiet.

Du Ruhui stood up and said solemnly: "We have already read the letter sent by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty in advance, the letter proposes to end the hostility and the two countries to reconcile with each other, in this regard, the attitude of the Northern Sui is also very clear, we welcome such a settlement, but there are many details that need to be implemented, so the two sides sit down and talk slowly, hoping to reach a complete reconciliation plan by the end of the year." ”

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An hour later, Du Ruhui appeared in Yang Yuanqing's official room, at this time, the new science and technology jinshi entry ceremony has ended, 200 jinshi went to Wenchang Hall to participate in the banquet held for them, Yang Yuanqing returned to his official room.

He actually attached more importance to Li Shentong's secret visit than the ceremonies of the Jinshi, and just yesterday afternoon, he received a handwritten letter sent by Li Yuan, in which he expressed his wish for reconciliation between the two imperial courts.

Yang Yuanqing also hopes to see such a result, he understands in his heart that the Northern Sui can't swallow the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty can't destroy the Northern Sui, rather than the two of them endlessly consuming, it is better to temporarily stop the war and develop their own forces, he Yang Yuanqing needs to go east to Hebei, and Li Yuan also needs to completely exterminate the Western Qin State and stabilize the rear.

Both courts had their own urgent tasks, which made it possible to reconcile between them, of course, there are still many details to be implemented to truly reconcile, such as what to do with Youzhou when the Northern Sui attacked Hebei? Luo Yi has surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and has been named the king of Beiping, and the Northern Sui will inevitably attack Youzhou, so what about the reconciliation agreement?

These problems must be resolved through negotiations, and the Tang Dynasty must make concessions, so Yang Yuanqing made Du Ruhui a negotiator, fully responsible for the negotiations with Li Shentong, and tried to extend the negotiation time, preferably until the end of the year.

"Chief, this time Li Shentong's envoy did not pass through their imperial court, but Li Yuan's personal thoughts, sending him to test the possibility of reconciliation between the two sides, as well as the price to be paid."

"Did you tell him about Youzhou?" Yang Yuanqing asked.

"Speaking of which, according to the requirements of the governor, I frankly talked about the problem of Youzhou, and hoped that the Tang Dynasty would give up Youzhou."

"Then what did Li Shentong say?"

"He said he needed to go back and report to the Holy Lord, and he couldn't call the shots."

"And what are they asking for?" Yang Yuanqing asked again.

Du Ruhui bowed and said, "The Tang Dynasty wants us to give up our support for the Western Qin State. ”

If the Tang Dynasty is willing to give up his support for Luo Yi in exchange for him giving up his support for the Western Qin State, this is not impossible, but he needs a formal meeting, not the so-called secret envoy.

Yang Yuanqing walked a few steps behind his back, and said to Du Ruhui: "You can tell Li Shentong that I hope it is a formal meeting between the two imperial courts, so that the settlement agreement reached will be more binding, rather than Li Yuan's personal intentions, and in addition, you must understand the real reason why I asked you to delay the negotiation." ”

Du Ruhui did not answer, waiting for Yang Yuanqing's explanation, Yang Yuanqing walked to the north window, stared at the northwest direction, and said lightly: "Su Dingfang and Shen Chun have already led the army to the northwest, and I hope to take Dunhuang County and Yiwu County before the settlement agreement is signed." ”