In the imperial study, Li Yuan stood in front of the map, silent for a long time, just as Du Ruhui got the news of Taiyuan, Li Yuan also got the 800 miles of urgent express sent by Li Xiaogong from Zhangye, with the troops of Hexi has been unable to take Dunhuang County and Yiwu County, now in the cold winter season, the Sui army in Dunhuang has made full preparations, the wall is clear, the morale of the Tang army is low, and it is impossible to capture Dunhuang City in winter, in order to avoid the Tang army being wiped out in Dunhuang City, he decided to withdraw and return to Liangzhou.

In his letter, Li Xiaogong explained in detail why he was evacuating Dunhuang County, telling Li Yuan in his heart that the Tang army could no longer afford another defeat against the Sui army, and that a disturbing night attack by the Sui army had nearly broken the morale of the Tang army, and that the fear of the Sui army made the soldiers prefer to hide barefoot outside the tent in the bitter cold rather than return to the tent to get their armor and boots.

Li Xiaogong frankly pointed out that his withdrawal was for the future of the Tang Dynasty, so that the Tang Dynasty would not collapse under the pressure of the Northern Sui, and since he was no longer able to recapture Dunhuang County, it was the best choice to preserve his strength and not fight the Sui army.

Although Li Xiaogong's words in the letter were frank and harsh, Li Yuan knew that what he said was true, and the Tang Dynasty really couldn't afford to be defeated by the Sui army again, otherwise he would not have sued Yang Yuanqing for peace, but the strategic position of Dunhuang County was too important, so he gave it up, making Li Yuan's heart feel as if he had pressed a heavy stone.

"Is my father looking for a son?" The voice of the prince was heard at the door.

Li Yuan glanced back at him, nodded and asked him again, "What about your supernatural imperial uncle, is he here?" ”

"Brother Huang, I'm here!" Li Shentong followed Li Jiancheng and walked in. Li Yuan ordered someone to announce that the two of them came to discuss major matters.

"You two sit down first!"

Li Yuan also walked back to his couch and sat down, he didn't mention Li Xiaogong's matter for the time being, but asked Li Shentong first, "How is the situation of today's negotiation?" ”

Li Shentong shook his head, "Today, everyone sat cold for an hour, and then it ended hastily, or the differences in Dunhuang County are too big." No compromise can be reached. ”

"What about the others?"

"There is no problem with anything else, Luo Yi from Youzhou, Liang Shidu from Xiping County. We have all reached a consensus, and both sides of the pontoon bridge in Pujin have agreed to rebuild, and we have also promised not to seek Hongnong-gun. In return, the other party also promised to reduce the strength of the six counties in Guanbei to a minimum, and the garrison of each county did not exceed 1,000 people, and our Guannei County also corresponded to the garrison, as well as the trade between the two sides and the borrowing of the Silk Road, as well as the normal migration of officials' families, all of which reached a compromise, that is, the ownership of Dunhuang County, and both sides refused to give in, making the settlement agreement impossible to finally reach. ”

Li Yuan nodded. In fact, he knew the progress of the negotiations well, and when he asked again at this time, he also brought up the conversation, and when he saw that Li Jiancheng wanted to speak and stopped, he asked: "What does the emperor want to say?" ”

Li Jiancheng hurriedly bowed and said, "Father." The child wants to propose, or reach a compromise with the Sui Dynasty, to divide Dunhuang County and Yiwu County into two, the Sui Dynasty wants Dunhuang County, and we take Yiwu County, and the two sides recognize each other. Will the Emperor be able to accept this plan? ”

Li Yuan smiled bitterly: "Without Dunhuang County, what's the point of getting Yiwu County?" Lonely in the Western Regions, even the officials have to take advantage of Dunhuang County to report on their work, if there is no Dunhuang County, Yiwu County I don't want it. ”

"Father, the son of the minister means to find a step, both sides can accept, the negotiation has been delayed for half a month, and the son of the minister thinks that it can not be delayed any longer."

"You don't have to look for any steps!"

Li Yuan shook his head decisively, "I asked the two of you to come here to tell you clearly that I have decided to give up Dunhuang County and Yiwu County, and they can be recognized as the territory of the Sui Dynasty. ”

Li Jiancheng and Li Shentong glanced at each other, both of them showed surprise in their eyes, it was the saint himself who had been insisting on refusing to give in, why did he suddenly change his mind, Li Jiancheng sighed and asked: "Father, is there any unfavorable news from Xiaogong's side?" ”

Li Yuan nodded slowly and handed him Li Xiaogong's letter, "Fortunately, there is no loss of troops, so it is not disadvantageous, but we are a step late, and the Sui army has already occupied Dunhuang and Yiwu counties." ”

Li Jiancheng read the letter, and handed the letter to the emperor's uncle Li Shentong, Li Jiancheng finally understood why his father finally agreed, although his father refused to admit defeat, but in fact, Li Xiaogong was defeated without a fight, and Dunhuang County could not be taken back, especially the fear of Sui in the heart of the Tang army, I am afraid that this is the fundamental reason why his father was forced to make the final concession.

After Li Shentong read the letter, he frowned slightly, "But just promised the Sui Dynasty, is it too much concession, and there is no face, maybe we can fight for a little more rights and interests from other places, such as saving the lives of Luo Yi and Wen Yanbo, what does Your Majesty think?" ”

"This is okay, you go and talk to them, but there is one thing to make clear to them, I didn't let them be polite because Dunhuang County was the land of the Sui Dynasty, Dunhuang County was the territory of the Liang Kingdom, and it was occupied by the Sui Dynasty first, which is very important, otherwise in the future, Chang'an was also the land of the Sui Dynasty, so it will be troublesome, and the agreement reached cannot include the article that Dunhuang County originally belonged to the Sui Dynasty."

"The minister understands, he must avoid this article, I believe they can understand it!"

"Alright! That's it. ”

Li Yuan stood up and said, "I hope to reach a reconciliation agreement tomorrow, I need to concentrate my forces to deal with Liang Shidu, and I can't delay any longer." ”

After a pause, Li Yuan said to Li Jiancheng again: "The crown prince will sign and seal the agreement on behalf of me, Yang Yuanqing is only the king of Chu after all, and he is not equal to me." ”

"Sons obey orders!"

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After a long delay of half a month, the Sui and Tang reconciliation negotiations finally reached an agreement in the final concessions of the Tang Dynasty, the two sides promised to abandon hostility, recognize each other's territories, and at least for a year, ensure that their troops would not set foot in each other's territory without the permission of the other party, in addition to the two sides agreed on more than 20 other constraints, the agreement was in duplicate, signed by the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the king of Chu Yang Yuanqing as the highest confirmers, and ten days later, Yang Yuanqing stamped and signed the settlement agreement.

Since then, the Sui and Tang dynasties have officially made peace, and they have adjusted their own troop deployments, and the Tang Dynasty transferred the 100,000 troops deployed in the eastern part of Guanzhong to defend the Northern Sui to Longxi, and the 50,000 troops from Honghua County and Shangjun also withdrew to Guanzhong.

The Sui Dynasty deployed 30,000 troops stationed in Hedong County to Jingcheng in Taiyuan County, and at the same time reduced the 25,000 troops in Lingwu County and the six counties of Guanbei to 5,000 garrisons, and the remaining 20,000 troops were transferred back to Taiyuan and deployed near Feihu in Yanmen County, and the Sui Dynasty began preparations for the Hebei Campaign.

．．．．．．．．

On the tenth day of the first month of November, the day after the Sui and Tang dynasties reached a settlement agreement, a carriage slowly drove into Taiyuan City from the south gate, and there were more than a dozen attendants on both sides of the carriage, all wearing tight black clothes and carrying horizontal knives at their waists, and followed the carriage on horseback.

In the war years, this situation is more common, generally large families will have young warriors to follow, horizontal knives in the old Sui Dynasty was contraband, it is strictly forbidden for ordinary people to carry, and now this ban has long been broken, in the Central Plains, not to mention horizontal knives, even crossbows can also appear at will in ordinary people's homes.

The soldiers guarding the city gate did not interrogate too much, only asked where they came from and let them into the city, the carriage entered the city, a lively and prosperous atmosphere rushed to the face, the curtain of the car opened, a middle-aged man looked around, only to see people coming and going on the street, there was more than a month before the New Year, and the street seemed to be particularly lively.

"Qu Saburo, it's much more lively here than our Jiangling City." The middle-aged man laughed, and he spoke with a southern accent.

Perhaps because the middle-aged man had a good temper, the entourage all talked to him, and a young entourage smiled: "Li Shaoqing is a bit of a favorite!" I don't think Gangneung City is worse than here, but we have been on the road for twenty days, no, it's almost the New Year, and I guess Gangneung City is just as lively at this time. ”

If they were talking at the city gate and were heard by the soldiers guarding the gate, they must have linked their southern accent, Shaoqing, and Jiangling City, and they could immediately be deduced as officials of the Southern Liang Dynasty.

Indeed, this Li Shilang is the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple of the Liang Dynasty, named Li Jing, if Yang Yuanqing sees him, he will be surprised, because this Li Shaoqing is Yang Yuanqing's uncle, the original name is Li Dalang, because of the rustic name, he changed his name to Jing after he came out, and now he is called Li Jing.

In order to envelop Yang Yuanqing, Yang Yuanqing specially named his uncle as the county lieutenant of Jingshan County, Anlu County, in the ninth year of the great cause, Li Jing found out that Xiao Mo was going to rebel, and most of the officials in Anlu County had joined the South China Society, he was terrified, so he abandoned the official and fled to Beijing, and his family defected to Yang Yuanqing, however, after living for less than two months, he missed his hometown and wanted to return to the south, Pei Minqiu couldn't stop him, so he gave him a large sum of money and asked him to return to his hometown to be a rich man.

Li Jing has two sons, the eldest son Li Gui, the second son Li Fu, Li Gui joined the Nanhua Association when he was studying in Nanjun, and is now the governor of Jiangxia County in the Liang Dynasty, while Li Jing is Yang Yuanqing's uncle, half a year ago Xiao Mo personally came to the door, invited him to come to Jiangling as an official, and named him the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple.

This time, he was ordered to send an envoy to the Northern Sui, with Xiao Miao's full expectations, on the one hand, hoping that the Northern Sui would recognize the legitimacy of the Liang Dynasty, and on the other hand, hoping that the Sui and Liang dynasties could form an alliance.

Li Jing was a little nervous in his heart, he didn't know if Yang Yuanqing would blame him for running back to the south last time, and he became Liang Chen, whether it would make Yang Yuanqing annoyed, he was really uneasy in his heart.

The carriage slowly came to Yang Yuanqing's palace and stopped, he glanced at the plaque on the gate, 'Chu Wangfu', Li Jing couldn't help but sigh in his heart, he remembered the scene when Yang Yuanqing took him to Yang's mansion when he was three years old, the plaque of the Yueguo Mansion at that time made him panic, and now that the child has grown up, he has become the king of Chu, and it is said that he will become the emperor in the future, I don't know how happy and proud his mother will be when he knows it.

Li Jing wiped away the old tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, and ordered his entourage, "Go to the gatehouse and report it, and say that His Royal Highness the King of Chu relatives are coming from the south." ”