Xue Chongxun asked Zhang Renyuan, the official of Xicheng, where he died, and the officials took him to the tower of Ximen. It was quiet now, there was no one in the building, only a few guards on duty on the city walls.

A civil official said: "Manager Zhang was here that night, and I was on duty in the yamen downstairs when I heard a flute. ”

Xue Chongxun walked back and forth on the tower, then stood by the arrow hole and looked out, and asked casually: "Where did the flute come from, it was played by Zhang Renyuan?" ”

The civil official frowned and thought for a while: "I didn't hear clearly...... I don't remember exactly. ”

Xue Chongxun paced a few steps, and as soon as Shixing came, he chanted: "The sand in front of the shadow of Yin Mountain is like snow, and the moon outside the city is like frost. I don't know where to blow the reed pipe, and I recruit people to look at the hometown overnight. ”

As soon as he finished chanting, he heard Wang Changling's voice say: "Xue Lang's poem is very good. ”

He looked back and saw that his subordinates had come up, so he smiled cheekily: "It's really unpleasant to be able to get the young uncle to praise the poem." ”

The civil official of Xicheng next to him also had to take a few words, Xue Chongxun remembered one more thing and asked him: "After I entered the city, I saw that the army and the people were performing their duties in an orderly manner, these were all arranged by Li Gongzi?" ”

The civil official said: "Exactly, Li Gongzi said to me, although the Turkic soldiers retreated and retreated, they were still south of Yinshan, and the light troops came in less than a day, so they should not be taken lightly, and should do their best to clean up the roads and repair the city defenses." ”

"Not bad......" Xue Chongxun showed a reluctant smile on his face, thinking about something, and then raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Very good." ”

At this time, Wang Changling said: "Xue Lang, there are two things. First, the letter from Chang'an is official, I thought it was an official document, but I didn't expect it to be Xue Lang's family letter, I promise not to read two lines, please forgive me. The second thing was that the envoy He Xu and others were going to return, and it was reported that Yang Izhi, the son of the Mosi Khan, and others would also accompany him into the Tang Dynasty. ”

"What about faith?" Xue Chongxun stretched out his hand to ask for it. Wang Changling hurriedly handed over the letter from his sleeve, and when he saw that he asked about personal matters first, he couldn't help but remind: "The Turks have replied so quickly, it is obvious that the conditions we have offered are too generous......

Xue Chongxun nodded: "Mo Si seems to be very tempting. ”

Wang Changling said: "The Turks surrender on the surface, after all, it is not our way, is it too much to fund one billion dollars a year?" ”

Xue Chongxun suddenly said: "Of course, you can not give it, or you can disagree, but they will definitely go to Hebei to harass." As long as one state is captured, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people will be inhumanely ravaged, can I say that it doesn't matter...... It's better to give money, although the imperial court is short of money at the moment, they can use the tea, grain, iron, salt, etc. they need to offset the money. Grain can be replanted, money can be accumulated again, and population loss cannot be as fast as growing grass, and human life is important. ”

Zhang Jiuling said: "What Xue Lang said is not bad, although the enemy is not very glorious, but the war and the casualties of the officials and the people are avoided, and the scholars and the people should also be praised." And according to my guess, if Mo Si gets the money and grain, it is estimated that he will go north to deal with the Tiele tribes, and it will be a good move to lead the water north. ”

Wang Changling listened to Xue Chongxun's words, was quickly convinced, and said with great relief: "Xue Lang can think of the difficulties of the people of Li, it is really a blessing for all the people. ”

Xue Chongxun said: "If it weren't for Zhang Shuo's refusal to transfer troops and food, I would have directly killed Mo Si this time, and what would I do with him?" The imperial court gave me the title of 'Shan Yudao Marching Chief', and it was clear that I wanted to make peace, how could I ignore the strategy of the political hall and go my own way? ”

The staff immediately had nothing to say. Xue Chongxun looked left and right, then walked up to the place where Zhang Renyuan used to sit and sat down, holding the family letter to read.

That night, Zhang Renyuan's head was cut off, and it was the place where Xue Chongxun was sitting now. The blood had been wiped clean, and perhaps a closer look could reveal some coagulated blood stains in the cracks of the planks.

He unfolded the letter and read the beginning first, it was written in the name of Princess Yuyao (Li Yan'er), and the format of the letter at this time was to report the identity and name of the writer on the first line. However, he guessed that this letter was definitely not written by Li Yan'er alone, and Sun and others must have also participated.

Seeing the family letter, Xue Chongxun also felt a little more homesick. At this time, he suddenly remembered that Li Yan'er had been pregnant for a long time, did she give birth? He hurriedly skimmed through the entire content of the letter, only reassuring him about state affairs (Sun's tone), and did not mention the birth of a child. Probably not produced yet...... Xue Chongxun lowered his head and recalled the days, pinching his fingers and counting, it has been about eight months since August last year to early April.

He had heard that the pregnancy in October was only 28 days per month, but in fact it was less than 10 months, and it was usually 9 months......

Xue Chongxun's mind was stirred up like this, and he had no fighting spirit at all, he didn't want to fight any battles anymore, he just wanted to go back quickly. He had never been a father, and he was somewhat new and curious at this time.

After a long time, he looked up and saw that his subordinates were all looking at him, and then he came back to his senses from his reverie and said, "Go and prepare, and when the son of the Turkic Khan comes, you will receive him according to the proper etiquette." ”

"Yes." The crowd answered, but they had to retreat. Yang I am not familiar with this person Xue Chongxun, but I heard that he has been a "proton" in Chang'an for a long time, and the Tang court is also relatively generous, and the proton or something is just an ornament, even if there is a war, it will not do anything to them, it is very safe.

…… The next day, Yang Izhi and others came, with some servants and guards by their side. There is no pressure on this guy, and I guess I don't think there is any danger to my life at all. But at this time, Xue Chongxun really didn't want to do anything to him.

Xue Chongxun met with the Turkic envoys in the humble and low official office in Xicheng, and when he first saw Yang Wuzhi, he was very surprised, because the Turkic man looked like a Han at first glance. When I got closer, I found that his appearance was somewhat different from that of ordinary Han people.

Yang I wore a hat on his head and a robe with a lapel, and even the details such as the ornaments were no different from those of the scholars. Walking to the hall, he skillfully clasped his fists and said with a smile: "The Turkic envoys pay a visit to the King of the Tang Dynasty." ”

Xue Chongxun smiled, and returned the salute very casually: "Fortunately, please take a seat." ”

Yang I took the robe very elegantly, calmly sat on the chair next to him, and saw Xue Chongxun holding the teacup, he picked up the cup on the table as a guest and put it to his nose and enjoyed smelling the tea.

Xue Chongxun looked at him pretending to be funny, took a sip of the teacup and took a sip of it, put it down casually and said: "The conditions offered by the Tang envoy to the Turkic camp are my conditions, and the amount is already very rich, let's not bargain, just pull it down if it doesn't work." ”

Yang I was stunned when he heard this, and he was a little surprised when he suddenly heard such a way of negotiating, and after thinking about it, he slowly said in a pure Guanzhong tone: "King Jin is really a cheerful person...... The Khan was very pleased with the sincerity and alliance of the King of Jin, but there were some details that needed to be discussed, which was also one of the missions of my trip. ”

Wang Changling, who was behind Xue Chongxun, whispered to his friend Zhang Jiuling: "Turks will always be insatiable and never satisfied. ”

Yang I coughed and cleared his throat and said: "Four small things, let's negotiate in Xicheng first, first draw up a document, and wait until Chang'an to exchange official credentials." The khan got the letter written by the king of Jin, so he could retreat and rebuild the ...... of peace."

"This is not an alliance under the city." Wang Changling couldn't help but remind, "The Turkic soldiers were defeated by the King of Jin only a few days ago and were forced to retreat to Yinshan. What the envoy said just now means that we won't withdraw our troops if we don't prepare a good submission? ”

Yang Wuzhi was suddenly a little embarrassed: "I didn't mean that!" It's just that our country is very short of things, since we want to make peace, of course, I hope to negotiate as soon as possible, and wait for King Jin to fund some grain, grass, tea and salt soon. This is also one of the four subsections I mentioned, I hope that the Tang Dynasty will do its best to support the first batch of property, and we will stop the army after we repair it, and the Khan can't lead the army to loot immediately without faith, right? ”

Seeing that Xue Chongxun was silent, Yang did not immediately object, and said: "Three other things: first, I hope that the Tang Dynasty will return the remains of the captured Turkic soldiers and my brother and Otler who entered the Guanzhong region; Second, the Khan wanted to form a relationship with the Tang Dynasty and asked the Tang Emperor to marry the princess to the royal court; Thirdly, the first year of the year was given to us once in order to tide over the difficult times (in fact, it was an attempt to start a new war against Tieler). ”

After he finished talking about the conditions, Wang Changling was the first to get angry, and his face suddenly became angry, and the most unacceptable thing was to return the prisoners, those people were going to attack the palace, it was an unforgivable crime, and it was a bit shameless to be acquitted like this.

Yang I glanced at Wang Changling's face, and then at Xue Chongxun, but seeing that Xue Chongxun was still calm, he was thinking about something.

At this time, Xue Chongxun raised his head and said, "I can't agree to your request." The Turks who stole into the customs committed the law of the Tang Dynasty and should be punished according to the law; My advocacy in the court is against and pro-national policy, you let me come out to talk about peace, and the courtiers are most afraid of swaying from side to side; The year's aid was paid in full, the treasury could not afford it, and this year's taxes were confiscated. As for giving you a batch of grain and grass, it is even more nonsense, the Turkic soldiers have just entered the Tang realm to kill and plunder our people, and now the cavalry is still south of Yinshan, and the alliance has not yet been formally reached, how can I send you grain and grass materials? No one in the world can criticize the enemy? ”

It was probably because he refused too directly, Yang Wuzhi's expression was a little ugly, and the appearance of pretending to be indifferent and free before was gone, and his deliberately made temperament really only learned the outside.

"What does King Jin mean, there is no room for negotiation?" Yang asked.

Xue Chongxun said indifferently: "Peace will benefit both sides, and if there is no harmony, continue to fight the army, what is there to discuss?" If you can't be the master, do your best to send a message to the camp of the Turkic Khan and ask. ”

Xue Chongxun's tone was stiff, and Yang and I saw that there could be no progress if we continued to talk, so we got up and said goodbye.

After Yang Izhi and the others went out, Zhang Jiuling said: "The Turks will definitely agree to our conditions, they are short of food now, and it is not a good strategy to continue to attack and harass Hebei." Zhang Renyuan is also destroyed, and the Turks and the Tang Dynasty negotiate peace and get some benefits is the result they want, and we don't have to make concessions anymore. ”H