The fundamental reason for Li Yuan's change of mind was that Li Yuan suddenly found that even if he exposed Li Jing's criminal face of betraying and defecting to the enemy, there was no way to clean up Li Jing at present, because now the power in the army was completely in the hands of Chen Yingliang alone, and Li Yuan now had no way to clean up Li Jing, nor could he punish Li Jing, let alone kill Li Jing and eradicate the rebellion, so Li Yuan felt that instead of turning his face with Li Jing now, it was better to pretend not to know, and first find out the specific situation and Li Jing's true position. If necessary, you can also use Li Jing to carry out counter-attacks and ruthlessly clean up your opponent Chen Fuliang.

After making up his mind, Li Yuan changed his cordial face to meet Li Jing, the same sect of the family five hundred years ago, and Li Jing really respected Li Yuan's boss, and immediately after entering the account, he saluted Li Yuan, and said respectfully: "The ambassador forgives the sin, because the lower official accompanied Marshal Chen Yingliang to interrogate the Turkic prisoners of war, I hope the ambassador will forgive me." ”

"It's okay, it's good that you can come, I'm worried that it's too late, and you won't be able to come today." Li Yuan personally picked up Li Jing very graciously, and asked with a smile, "How is the situation of interrogating prisoners of war?" What valuable confessions have not been found? ”

"Nope." Li Jing shook his head and replied truthfully: "Duke Eliver just asked for the treatment he deserved, and refused to answer any questions from Chen Dashuai, his identity is special, and Chen Dashuai can't torture him, he tossed for a lot of time, but he didn't ask for any valuable confession, and finally Chen Dashuai had no choice but to temporarily detain him, and interrogated some Turkic prisoners caught today, and used some punishments, so he asked about some Turkic military information, but it was not important military information. ”

"What kind of military situation does Chen Yingliang mainly inquire about?" Li Yuan asked uneasily.

"The number of Turkic troops, the situation of the camps, the situation of the generals, and the number of Turkic elite troops attached and extended, are mainly led by those generals." Li Jing continued to answer truthfully, but he inadvertently forgot to tell Li Yuan, and Chen Yingliang mainly asked about the number of Turkic defenders in Xicheng Pass, as well as the specific situation of the Turkic general Ashina Simo.

Li Yuan nodded, thoughtful, and then suddenly asked: "Today in front of the big camp in front of everyone, His Royal Highness King Qi suddenly attacked me, do you know what the reason is?" ”

"Know a little." Li Jing didn't even blink his eyelids, nodded directly, and said without blushing and heartbeat: "As far as the officials know, His Royal Highness the King of Qi seems to have reached a secret agreement with Chen Dashuai, and Chen Dashuai will help him lead the ambassador Your Taiyuan Qinwang army will be the first to enter Yanmen City to rescue the driver, in exchange for His Royal Highness the King of Qi not to squeeze Chen Dashuai's elbow, but also to snatch all your Qinwang exploits from the ambassador, and not to give the ambassador a chance to take this opportunity to go further." ”

"What? And this?! Li Yuan was taken aback, his shocked appearance was vivid, and his acting skills were comparable to that of another Great Sui Chen Fuliang, and then Li Yuan hurriedly asked, "Is this news confirmed?" Also, why didn't you report such a big matter to me in time? ”

"The ambassador forgives the sin, and the lower official only found out about this matter today." Li Jing, who was quietly paying attention to Li Yuan's reaction, hurriedly surrendered his hand and explained: "Chen Dashuai is very suspicious, I haven't been in his handsome account for a long time, he still doesn't trust me very much, and I didn't let me participate in many confidential matters, this matter is still after His Royal Highness King Qi made a challenge to the ambassador this afternoon, His Royal Highness King Qi and Chen Dashuai felt that there was no need to keep it secret, so they mentioned a few words in front of the lower officials, so that the lower officials guessed these situations. Otherwise, if the subordinate had known about such an important situation, he would have reported it to the ambassador immediately. ”

Li Yuan's face was a little ugly, and he couldn't wait to strangle Li Jing to death in his heart, and scolded in his heart, "Eating dog things inside and out, Yang Yun and Chen Yingliang thieves secretly colluded, obviously you were the one behind your back to match them, you still dare to fucking say that you only found out today?!" ”

Fortunately, probably because of the thief's weak heart, Li Jing, who noticed that Li Yuan's expression was not good, hurriedly added, and said: "Ambassador, please rest assured, although the lower official has no way to prevent Chen Dashuai from secretly signing an alliance with His Royal Highness the King of Qi to harm you, but before coming to meet the ambassador, the lower official still found an opportunity to speak to Chen Yingliang alone, and strongly advised him not to kill the ambassador and leave no room for you." ”

"Oh, how do you persuade me?" Li Yuan asked curiously, snorting coldly in his heart, "Traitor, can you still have such kindness?" ”

"Xia Guan is Chen Dashuai who is persuaded from the perspective of war." Li Jing replied truthfully: "Ambassador, the combat effectiveness of the Taiyuan Qinwang army under your command is not weak, and the number of cavalry is also the first in the Zhulu Qinwang army, if you really overturn the ambassador to the ground and hand over all the military power of the Taiyuan Qinwang army to His Royal Highness the King of Qi, it is tantamount to wasting the Taiyuan Qinwang army, and the strength of our Great Sui army is originally less than that of the Turkic army, and then weakening the combat capability on its own will only be disadvantageous to the war, so the lower officials strongly persuade Chen Dashuai not to blindly care about personal grievances, and to continue to keep the ambassador on the Qinwang battlefield. In this way, the Taiyuan Qinwang army will not be completely wasted. ”

Li Yuan stared at Li Jing in surprise, and for a while he couldn't understand what Li Jing's position was, and when he noticed Li Yuan's surprise, Li Jing hurriedly added: "Don't worry, after listening to the subordinates' words, although Marshal Chen Yingliang was noncommittal, the subordinates could see that he was still a little shaken, and from the perspective of warfare, it would be better for Chen Dashuai to continue to stay on the battlefield of Qinwang, ambassador, than directly idling the army of King Qin. ”

Twisting the beard under his lips for a moment, he quietly observed Li Jing for a while with the corner of his eye, Li Yuan nodded and said approvingly: "You have done a good job, and your words are also very clever, continue to keep an eye on Chen Yingliang and His Royal Highness King Qi for the old man, and if there is any emergency, report it to me immediately." Moreover, if it is possible, get evidence of Chen Yingliang's secret dealings with His Royal Highness King Qi for the old man, whether it is human or physical evidence. By the way, there is another thing, Chen Yingliang's thief's weapon that made a strange noise yesterday also inquired for me. ”

Li Jing respectfully sang the promise to receive the order, Li Yuan ordered his soldiers to take a pair of jade bibs to reward Li Jing, Li Jing thanked and accepted it without hesitation, and then excused himself to be busy with military affairs and avoid Chen Yingliang to notice and leave, Li Yuan did not stay, and allowed Li Jing to leave after nodding, and looking at the back of Li Jing's departure, Li Yuan also twisted his beard and fell into contemplation, thinking in his heart, "This puppet who eats inside and out, is he secretly taking refuge in Chen Yingliang's thief?" Or are you ready to step on two boats, be loyal to both the old man and Chen Yingliang's thief, and be ready to be invincible in the future no matter who wins or loses? ”

"The possibility of stepping on two boats should be the largest, and Chen Yingliang's thief can't come up with any price to make him die." Li Yuan came up with the most likely answer, and said secretly in his heart: "It's okay, Li Jing's matter can be put aside for the time being, and in the future, just beware of him and don't trust him lightly, and the little loach can't make much waves." The key now is how to dismantle the alliance between Chen Yingliang's thief and Yang Yong, so that they can pinch each other again and turn against each other, otherwise, Yang Yong, a straw bag with a noble status, is really a big trouble for the old man. ”

………………

Li Jing personally threaded the needle in the middle, for Chen Yingliang and Yang Yun secretly concluded the alliance, of course, it does not mean that it can be broken up, our Li Yuan Li Ambassador Li racked his brains for most of the night, but did not come up with any good way to make Chen Yingliang and Yang Yun turn their faces again, so he had to put this matter aside for the time being, and prepared to discuss this matter carefully with his resourceful son Li Er the next day.

It was also at this time that Li Yuan discovered a strange thing, most of the night had passed, and the Taiyuan cavalry that he had sent out to sweep the Turkic outposts outside the camp had not yet heard any news, let alone the slightest shouting and killing sound from outside the camp, Li Yuan couldn't help but feel a little strange in his heart, and he didn't quite understand why the Turkic outposts, which were extremely rampant the night before, suddenly became so honest? However, Li Yuan doesn't need to worry about this strange matter, our Ambassador Li can just snore loudly and leave this problem to Chen Yingliang, the commander of the whole army, to worry about it.

In the early morning of the next day, when the sky was light, Li Yuan sent the Taiyuan cavalry of the battalion to collect the troops and return to the camp, and reported to Li Yuan that he did not find any Turkic sentinels close to the Sui army camp last night, only a few scattered scouts appeared, and they immediately retreated after observing the movement of the Sui army camp, and it was not worth shooting, so the Sui cavalry did not startle the snake, Li Yuan did not care after hearing it, but just let these cavalry return to the camp to rest, and at the same time prepare to go to the Chinese army camp to report the matter to Chen Yingliang. The result was also a coincidence, at this time, Chen Yingliang's Chinese army camp happened to sound the promotion account, Li Yuan did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly led a few cronies to the Chinese army tent to accept the order.

In order not to give his rival a chance to clean up his own opportunity, Li Yuan walked very quickly on the way to the Chinese army's tent, and when he entered Chen Yingliang's Chinese army commander's tent, the generals had not yet arrived, and Li Yuan also took the opportunity to report the results of the sweep of the Turkic sentinel to Chen Yingliang. They have so many cavalry, even if they can't bow and arrow at night, they won't suffer a loss in scouting with us? How could they voluntarily abandon the scout warfare in their favor? ”

Li Yuan spread his hands and said that he didn't understand, at this time, the important generals of the Sui army of the Qin King had already arrived, and Yang Xuan, the king of Qi, also entered the tent and sat on Chen Yingliang's right guard, and the generals saluted Chen Yingliang together, Chen Yingliang had to put aside the matter of the scout battle, and said loudly to the generals: "Generals, please excuse me, everyone, yesterday's battle, thanks to the great blessing of the Son of Heaven, also rely on the generals to fight hard, all the soldiers to serve the country with their lives, our army once again broke the Turks, and captured the brother of the first thief chieftain, Ashina Eliver, congratulations." ”

"It's also because Chen Dashuai is well-directed." General Yun hurriedly said: "Without Chen Dashuai's strategy and the use of troops like gods, how can our army break through the Turks and capture the thieves alive?" ”

Chen Yingliang smiled and said modestly: "The generals have won the award, let's get back to business, although our army has broken the Turks again, but the siege of Yanmen has not been solved, the Son of Heaven Luan has not yet been welcomed, and the thief chieftain has not yet been captured, we still need to make persistent efforts, now I declare that today we will go north again ten miles to the village, compress the activity area of the Turkic cavalry to about ten miles, set up camp on the wall, and then try to completely break through the Turks. ”

When Chen Yingliang proposed to continue to go north, the generals of the Sui army sang their promises one after another, expressing their orders, but Wang Shichong proposed that his team suffered large casualties and hoped that Chen Yingliang would adjust the marching queue, but Chen Yingliang used the excuse that it was not easy to adjust the huge army, and did not agree, so Wang Shichong had to swallow his anger and shut up. However, when Chen Yingliang was about to order the disbandment of the account, Yang Xuan, the king of Qi, who had been extremely honest for the past few days, suddenly stood up and said: "Chen Dashuai, continue to set up camp in the north, this king agrees, but we don't have much grain and grass anymore, does Dashuai need to think about this grain road and the follow-up grain and grass problem?" ”

"Here we are." Li Yuan's heart sank, knowing that Yang Yuan finally couldn't help but jump out to snatch the military power of Taiyuan, and at the same time, Li Yuan couldn't help but feel worried in his heart - if Chen Yingliang insisted on forcing himself to return to Taiyuan to supervise the transportation of grain and grass, how should he deal with it?

"Of course, we need to think about it, I have ordered Cheng Wang Wei of Taiyuan County to transport 150,000 Hu grain to the army first, and ordered the Cheng Gu of Jingzhao County to lead other small units of Qinwang soldiers and horses to the north, but it is just ......."

Chen Yingliang explained with a smile, and was about to provoke Li Yuan and Yang Jian to pinch each other in public to make them completely turn against each other, but he never thought that the plan would not change quickly, but it happened that at this critical moment, a herald suddenly came in outside the big tent, knelt down on one knee and played to Chen Yingliang: "Qiyu Marshal, there is a Turkic envoy who came to our military camp with a white flag in his hand to ask for a meeting, and declared his name and official position as Duke Ashina Gululu, saying that he was ordered by the Turkic Shibi Khan to come to negotiate peace with you and ask you to receive him. ”

"Negotiate peace? The Turks want to make peace? How is this possible? Chen Yingliang's surprise was not trivial, and the generals of the Sui army also looked at each other, not quite understanding why the Turks would ask for peace - it is true that the Sui army has won successive battles in the past few days, but after a few battles, it only hurt the flesh and skin of the Turkic army, and did not hurt the bones and bones of the Turks, the strength of the Turks is still very strong, and the sudden peace is naturally very unexpected.

Surprised, Chen Yingliang of course immediately ordered to summon the Turkic envoy, and in a short time, a Turkic man in Chinese clothes who did not carry a weapon was escorted in, and he also took the initiative to bow and salute Chen Yingliang, and pressed his right hand to his chest and said a lot of Turkic words, Li Jing and the eldest grandson Wuji next to him hurriedly translated, "The descendant of the golden wolf and the Duke of the Turkic Khanate, Ashina Gu Lulu, on the order of the Holy Khan, came to meet the commander of the Great Sui Qin Wang Army, the deputy envoy of the twelve counties of the Great Sui River South Province, the manipulator of thunder and lightning and fire, Marquis Chen Yingliang of Xuchang of the Great Sui Dynasty. ”

"Even I know my title, it seems that your Turks have put some effort into my research." Chen Yingliang was a little proud, and then asked curiously: "But what do you mean by the manipulator of thunder and lightning and fire?" ”

Li Jing translated Chen Yingliang's words, and Ashina Gu Lulu said respectfully in Turkic: "Marquis Chen, our Turkic warriors have seen it with their own eyes, yesterday you put thunder and fire in a bottle, and suddenly threw it out to defeat our Turkic army, thunder and lightning burst the ears of our Turkic warriors, pierced the eyes of our warriors, and the fire burned the clothes and hair of our Turkic warriors. So we Turkic warriors unanimously honor you with this title, the manipulator of thunder and fire. ”

After listening to Li Jing's translation, Chen Yingliang smiled dumbly, and most of the generals of the Sui army were full of expression, extremely proud of the strange weapons of the army that shocked the Turks, and then Chen Yingliang smiled and said: "Duke Gululu, thank you for your compliments on me, but you came here to see me, it should be not just to say these praises, right?" If there is anything, let's just say it, come and set up a seat for the Duke of Gululu. ”

Li Jing translated the words, Ashina Gu Lu thanked him, and at the same time, his own soldiers also moved a chair for Gu Lu to sit opposite Yang Xuan, and Gu Lu then bowed his hand to Chen Yingliang and said: "Marquis Chen, our holy Shibi Khan, is sending me to sue for peace with you, our Turkic army is willing to lift the siege of the Central Plains Emperor on its own, in exchange for you to release all our prisoners of war, as well as our holy Khan Shibi's own brother Duke Ashina Eliver, our Turkic Khanate is also willing to rebuild an alliance with the Sui State and never be an enemy." ”

After listening to Li Jing's translation, Chen Yingliang was a little stammered, and the generals of the Sui army also looked at each other, all of them were suspicious, seeing the surprise and suspicion of Chen Yingliang and others, Gu Lulu took the initiative to say: "Marquis Chen, you must already know that Duke Eliver is the younger brother of our Shibi Khan, and our Khan loves this brother very much, so please don't hurt Duke Eliver, we can talk about any conditions." ”

"But this is not the most critical, I dare not deceive you Marquis Chen, although our Turkic army still has more than 200,000, but we have no confidence to defeat you, we know that since you joined the Great Sui army two years ago, you have never lost a single battle of all sizes, you are the greatest and best warlike general in your country after Duke Yang Suyang, Duke Shi Wansui Shi and Duke Changsun, and can manipulate lightning and fire for the battlefield, our Turkic warriors are very afraid of you, so we don't want to fight with you anymore, we just want to ask you for peace. Our holy Shibi Khan is very sincere, and please believe in our sincerity. ”

After Li Jing translated the words, seeing that Chen Yingliang was still silent, Gu Lu hurriedly said: "Marquis Chen, if you are worried that we are deceiving you, we can do this, as long as you promise not to send troops to attack us again, and also promise to release our prisoners of war and Duke Eliver, our Turkic army can first lift the siege of Yanmen, retreat to the north of Xicheng Pass, and hand over Xicheng Pass to you, and then you can release our prisoners of war and Duke Eliver." ”

Hearing the generous conditions offered by Gu Lulu on behalf of Shibi Khan, the generals of the Sui army were moved, and said that it would be good if it could really be like this, as long as the prisoners of war were returned, the siege of Yanmen could be lifted, which was equivalent to not having to risk the war to welcome back the holy car, and enjoy the great merit of King Qin, and the conditions offered by the Turks were very sincere, they retreated first and then let us release the people, as long as the hostages were in hand, they were not afraid of any tricks played by the Turks.

Of course, Chen Yingliang also had some excitement, but before Chen Yingliang could think about it carefully, Yang Xuan, the king of Qi, suddenly jumped up and shouted: "I can't agree!" Dashuai, you must not agree! The Turks are not credible, and they have besieged their father for so many days, and they have offended him to the extreme, if we don't teach the Turkic army a heavy lesson, how can we explain to our father? ”

Chen Yingliang hadn't expressed his position yet, but Yang Yuan, the precious son of Emperor Yang of Sui, jumped out and resolutely opposed, and the Sui army and military forces present were inevitably all taken aback, and Li Yuan couldn't help but take a puff, and then Li Yuan immediately woke up and said secretly: "God help me!" Not bad! It is absolutely impossible for Yang Jun to agree to the Turkic sue for peace! Because once he reconciled with the Turks, the credit for this Qinwang War was nothing to do with him, that is, Chen Yingliang's thief was alone, and only by continuing to fight, he Yang Yong was the first to rush into Yanmen City to rescue the driver, and the emperor could canonize Yang Yong as the crown prince on the spot under great joy! As long as I grasp this point, I won't be able to provoke the conflict between Yang Jun and Chen Yingliang's thieves, and turn my face into an enemy again! ”

Thinking of this, Li Yuan quickly made up his mind again, and then stood up without hesitation, and said to Chen Yingliang: "The marshal forgives me, the last general must remind you that you have no right to call the shots in this matter, you must seek the holy will, and ask the emperor to personally make a holy judgment!" ”

"Of course I know that, Ambassador Li." Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly and said, "But His Majesty the Emperor is trapped in Yanmen City, fifty miles away, how can I start this matter with him?" ”

"Yes, how do we ask for my father's opinion?" Yang Yun also shouted as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, "Chen Dashuai, for such a big matter as negotiating and reconciling with the Turks, you can only ask my father to be the emperor's holy judge, you have no right to call the shots!" So before you bring back your father, you can't negotiate with the Turks, you can only go north to attack the Turks with all your strength and welcome back your father! ”

Negotiating reconciliation with the enemy countries that were at war, Chen Yingliang didn't dare to be the master for Emperor Yang of Sui no matter how bold he was, so after listening to Li Yuan and Yang Xuan's words, Chen Yingliang didn't dare to make a second move except nodding, and then Chen Yingliang hurriedly said to Gu Lulu: "Duke Gu Lulu, I'm very sorry, I can't make a decision for the emperor as a minister to reconcile and negotiate with your country, so I'm sorry, no matter how sincere your conditions are, I can't agree." ”

Yang Xuan, who had fulfilled his wish, showed some smiles, and Li Yuan hurriedly prepared another Jian, who knew that before Li Yuan opened his mouth to build a yì first asked the Turkic army to allow Chen Yingliang to get in touch with Emperor Yang of Sui, after listening to Li Jing's translation, Gu Lulu actually took the initiative to say: "Marquis Chen, we understand your difficulties, you can rest assured, if you want to ask for the opinion of the emperor of your country, we can allow your envoy to enter Yanmen City, meet the emperor of your country for you, and ask for the opinion of the emperor of your country." ”

After that, he glanced at Chen Yingliang, who looked surprised, and said with a smile: "Marquis Chen, didn't you ask before to allow you to send some grain into Yanmen City on the condition of releasing prisoners of war?" As long as you are willing to help us facilitate this negotiation, we can also allow your envoy to bring a thousand grains into the city to express our sincerity in seeking peace—Marquis Chen, we know that you are the most loyal courtier of the Great Sui Emperor, so in order to keep your Great Sui Emperor from starving, you will not even refuse such a sincere condition, right? ”

There was silence in the big tent, and even Yang Jun, who was resolutely opposed to the truce, did not dare to say anything - because once Emperor Yang of Sui knew that his son deliberately starved him, Yang Jun's position as the crown prince would not be thought about for the rest of his life. Chen Yingliang banged on the handsome table to calculate, and after a while, Chen Yingliang suddenly asked: "There is a question, why don't you directly negotiate with our Great Sui Emperor for peace?" ”

"Don't dare to deceive Marquis Chen, we have already done so." Gu Lulu replied helplessly: "Last night, we sent envoys to the city twice to shout and ask to enter the city to negotiate, but we were all shot back by the defending army of your country, and we know that you will definitely continue to attack the north today, so we have no choice but to come here and ask to see you directly." ”

"**** mother, the third watch went to the city in the middle of the night to call the city, and it is strange that our defenders don't let go of arrows!" Chen Yingliang quietly scolded a dirty word, and said secretly in his heart: "It's troublesome, I can't refuse, if I refuse, once Emperor Yang of Sui knows that I made him hungry one more time in the future, with his careful eyes, he can't let me go around without eating?" ”