Li Jiancheng did not lose heart, and then he came to Li Yi's room in person.

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, why are you here?"

Li Yi hurriedly got up to greet him, and reprimanded the guards at the door: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come down, why don't you report it, I will go to greet His Highness." ”

"I didn't let them tell me." Li Jiancheng walked straight to the top seat and sat down.

Li Yi waved his hand, motioned for the guards to retreat, and then came to Li Jiancheng: "I have seen Your Highness, if Your Highness has orders, even if you send someone to call me, I will go to see Your Highness immediately."

"His Highness came here in person, it really scared me."

Li Jiancheng looked at him and smiled: "Between you and me, there is no need to be polite." ”

After a few pleasantries, Li Jiancheng got to the point: "Although Youzhou is an important military town, and most of the generals sent to guard it are trusted by His Majesty, Youzhou is too far away from the court and is not as prosperous as Beijing.

"King Yan has made great contributions this time, have you ever thought about leaving Youzhou and entering Chang'an to seek an official position?"

Li Yi's eyes moved, and he immediately understood Li Jiancheng's intention, and he pretended to lament: "Alas, although Chang'an is good, the relationship between Chang'an is complicated, and I am an outsider with no roots and no foundation, I'm afraid I won't be able to gain a foothold." ”

"Who said that you have no roots and no foundation, the East Palace is your backer."

Li Jiancheng immediately threw out an olive branch: "As long as King Yan helps me, with me, there will be endless glory and wealth for King Yan." ”

Li Yi immediately knelt down: "The minister is willing to serve His Royal Highness for the work of dogs and horses, and go to the soup and fire, and do not give up." ”

Hearing this, Li Jiancheng smiled with satisfaction.

So, Li Yi wrote a letter to Li Yuan, asking to join the court as an official.

......

Soon, the news that Liu Heimin was beheaded by Li Jiancheng reached the ears of the leaders of all parties.

After Xu Yuanlang found out, he began to be afraid in his heart, and heard that General Li Jiancheng would lead the army to attack him, and there was Li Shiyun chasing after him, and his fear became stronger and stronger.

Finally one night, Xu Yuanlang abandoned his base in Yanzhou and led hundreds of guards out of the city at night.

It's a pity that he didn't go far before he met Li Shixian's army.

There was a huge disparity in the strength of the two sides, and Xu Yuanlang and his personal guards all died under the Tang saber.

On the one hand, Li Shiyun sent people to send good news back to Chang'an, and on the other hand, he continued to recover the lost territory in Henan.

After Xu Yuanlang's death, all but a few henchmen surrendered to Li Shichang.

Liu Heimin died, Xu Yuanlang also died, Du Fuwei returned to the Tang Dynasty, except for Yuan Junzhang and Gao Kaidao, most of the Central Plains belonged to the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Gao Kaidao was very panicked and convened his ministers to discuss countermeasures.

"Now that all the forces in the Central Plains, except for me and Yuan Junzhang, have been annexed by the Tang Dynasty, don't think about it, the next person to deal with in the Tang Dynasty is me, what countermeasures do you have?"

Xie Ling heard what he meant, and said tentatively: "The lord wants to return to the Tang Dynasty? ”

Gao Kaidao hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"The unification of the Central Plains by the Tang Dynasty has been the trend of the times, and it is the right choice for the lord to return to the Tang Dynasty." Xie Ling said.

Zhang Junli also expressed his support: "With our own strength, we can't defeat the Tang army, so it's better to submit to the Tang Dynasty."

"If the lord follows Du Fuwei and invites himself to the court, he will definitely be crowned king."

Gao Kaidao's heart was moved.

Zhang Jinshu, a confidant general, saw Gao Kaidao's loose expression, and hurriedly said, "Lord, no." ”

"Why not?" Xie Ling and Zhang Junli asked in unison.

Gao Kaidao also looked over.

Zhang Jinshu was silent for a moment, and said slowly: "Although the emperor of the Tang Dynasty has always been courteous to the leaders who surrendered, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty will never show mercy to the leaders who have repeatedly rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. Three k

"Xu Yuanlang surrendered to the Tang Dynasty twice, and rebelled against the Tang Dynasty twice, and the emperor of the Tang Dynasty once said that he wanted to kill Xu Yuanlang.

Sure enough, Xu Yuanlang died at the hands of Tang Jun.

"The lord, like Xu Yuanlang, also surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and then rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and became self-reliant, with such a repeated position, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty will not believe that you are truly surrendering.

"When you go to Chang'an, it will be a dead end."

Hearing this, Gao Kaidao's face turned pale and gave up the idea of surrendering to the Tang Dynasty.

The other officials were silent, and they had to say that Zhang Jinshu's concerns were correct......

Zhang Jinshu continued: "In order to protect ourselves, we should continue to rely on the Turks and hold one side. ”

Gao Kaidao thought that Zhang Jinshu was right, so he adopted his opinion and continued to confront the Tang army with the support of the Turks.

......

Gao Kaidao did not surrender to the Tang Dynasty, which surprised Yuan Junzhang.

The general Gao Manzheng persuaded Yuan Junzhang: "Now the eastern, western, and southern parts of the Central Plains have been unified by the Tang Dynasty, and in the northern region, you and Gao Kaidao have only occupied a few cities.

"Judging from the current situation, the Tang Dynasty will unify the Central Plains sooner or later, so it is better for us to surrender to the Tang Dynasty now."

"No, I'm not going to surrender." Yuan Junzhang's attitude was very clear, and his sharp gaze shrouded Gao Manzheng: "Do you want to surrender to the Tang Dynasty?" ”

Seeing that he was suspicious, Gao Manzheng hurriedly expressed his loyalty: "Of course not, the reason why I persuade you to surrender is just for the sake of the overall situation and the lives of you and your brothers."

"If you don't want to surrender, I'll follow you to the death."

"Are you telling the truth?" Yuan Junzhang still didn't believe it.

Gao Manzheng raised his hand and solemnly swore: "What I just said is true, if I have the intention of betraying Daxingtai, I will not die well." ”

The "Daxingtai" in his words is the official position given to Yuan Junzhang by Jieli Khan, who not only gave Yuan Junzhang an official position, but also sent Turkic soldiers to assist Yuan Junzhang in guarding the base area.

Hearing Gao Manzheng's oath, Yuan Junzhang believed him.

Late at night the next day, Yuan Junzhang and Gao Manzheng led an army to attack Daizhou by surprise.

Who knew that Wang Xiaode, the assassin of Daizhou, made strict arrangements, and Yuan Junzhang failed to capture it.

Afterwards, Wang Xiaode presented a recital to Li Yuan.

Not long after, Li Yuan sent an envoy Zheng Yuanxuan to see Yuan Junzhang.

"General Yuan, I am lenient and benevolent to Your Majesty, I don't want to see the flames of war, and I hope that the people of the Central Plains can live a stable and prosperous life.

"I believe that General Yuan doesn't want to see his soldiers die in vain and no one collects their bodies, right?"

Yuan Junzhang said impatiently: "Don't be verbose, didn't Li Yuan send you just to persuade me to surrender, let me tell you, I will not surrender." ”

"Since General Yuan said so, then I'll get straight to the point."

Zheng Yuanxuan opened the box in his hand and took out a scroll of brocade silk: "This is a letter of appointment given to you by Your Majesty, if you surrender, you are the assassin of Jizhou." ”

He took out another thing: "This is an iron coupon given to you by Your Majesty, you can avoid death, Your Majesty promises you, as long as you surrender, I will not kill you." ”

Yuan Junzhang glanced at those things disdainfully, and said coldly: "You don't have to talk in vain, I, Yuan, will do what I say, and I won't surrender if I don't surrender."

"You'd better disappear in front of me now, or I'll be unkind to you."

Seeing his resolute attitude, Zheng Yuanxuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and then put the thing back in the box.

"General Yuan doesn't need to be in such a hurry to refuse, you can think about it for a few days first.

"If you change your mind, send someone to find me in Daizhou.

"Farewell."

......