After Du Chongwei waited for the envoy to leave, he retreated left and right, closed the door, sat on the desk, took out the holy decree, and read the contents of it repeatedly. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 The last few words of the Info Decree made him feel heavy, as if there was a thousand joys in his chest, and he was overwhelmed. "Don't live up to my expectations. "Yes, he has a great responsibility for the successive defeats in the previous battles in Daizhou. But as the highest military and political official of Daizhou, he can still sit in the mansion unharmed, which is already commendable.

When Du Chongwei was in office in Fangzhou at this time, he offended the prime minister because he bluntly spoke out about the rebellion, so he was transferred to Daizhou by the imperial court. Now the prime minister has changed several times, but he is still forgotten in Daizhou. It wasn't until this Khitan border that the imperial court remembered him. However, the military discipline of Daizhou was lax, and there was not much left of the military salary issued by the imperial court in his hands. Du Chongwei did not covet this little bit of military salary anymore, but added his own money to the military salary to make up the amount. The soldiers of Daizhou saw that Lord Du was so honest and honest, so they stepped up their training day and night.

The so-called "raise soldiers for a thousand days, use soldiers for a while". Finally, the time has come. The Khitan in the north saw that the Central Plains had been in turmoil for a long time and its vitality was greatly damaged, thinking that it could destroy the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop like the Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, so they attacked Daizhou on a large scale, using more than 100,000 troops before and after. Although the Daizhou defense line was impregnable, it was outnumbered after all, and after holding on for half a month, it retreated to the state city to hold on. If he had listened to the advice of his brother-in-law Shi Jingjiao and put a little embankment on the Khitan army, the current battle situation would not have been so embarrassing. Although the imperial court was disappointed in him, but now that he was fighting on both sides, he had to weigh the pros and cons and try to buy time for quelling the chaos. That's why he hurriedly transferred the Anxi army to Hedong, so as to deter the Khitan army and make them dare not act rashly.

Du Chongwei read the decree again, and even wrote: "The secretary is solely responsible for the matter of negotiating peace with the Khitan, and everything that is beneficial to the two countries can be discussed; ”

Du Chongwei repeatedly comprehended the meaning of this sentence, could it be that he wanted to cede land and seek peace? He also felt that this matter was unacceptable, and it was not written in the holy decree that if he had not brought about peace talks between the two countries and undermined the strategy of the imperial court, would he not have been within the scope of killing without mercy? But if he really ceded land and sued for peace and satisfied the Khitan's demands, would the people of Daizhou let him go? How will people view it thousands of years later? Will they say that he is greedy for life and afraid of death, and has betrayed the country to seek glory. Imperial court, imperial court, what do you want me to do with Du Chongwei? He thought in his heart. Because the matter was more urgent, he invited General Anxi to come over, he is now a celebrity in the imperial court, the savior of Daizhou, if he agrees, the possibility of success in the peace talks will be much greater.

At that time, Le Yuan was on the city wall, looking at the black and oppressive enemy army outside the city, racking his brains to think about how to resist the enemy. In the morning, he also received a secret order from the emperor, telling him not to let the Khitan break through the Daizhou defense line under any circumstances. He saw that Du Jianshi sent someone to invite him to the mansion for a gathering, explained a few words to the deputy general Lotte Zang, and then left with the people. When Du Chongwei saw Le Yuan, he hurriedly greeted him and said, "General Le, Du is looking forward to the stars and the moon, and he finally looks forward to you." ”

Although Le Yuan is in the position of General Anxi, he is only a third-rank official, and the establishment of the army is still under the control of assassination. Seeing that Du Chongwei was so polite, he knew that he had something to ask for, so he replied respectfully: "Lord Du, I don't know what is the matter with recruiting a lowly position?" Du Chongwei said: "General Le, at this time, we are all a family, so don't be restrictive about these red tapes, just call me eldest brother." Seeing Du Chongwei's anxious appearance, Le Yuan replied casually: "Obey orders." ”

Du Chongwei said: "Brother Xian, I received a holy decree from the imperial court today. Guess what the content is?" Le Yuan was puzzled, and asked casually: "Is it related to the Khitan?" Du Chongwei replied worriedly: "Brother Xian guessed right, this is exactly what happened." Le Yuan replied: "Big brother, rest assured, the 50,000 soldiers of my Anxi Army will definitely rise up to kill the enemy and ensure that people are in the city." Du Chongwei said: "What the virtuous brother said is serious. The emperor's holy decree to me said that now that the Central Plains is in turmoil, we are mainly trying to find a way to negotiate peace with the Khitan to ensure that the frontier is worry-free, so that the imperial court can concentrate on fighting the rebellious army. ”

Le Yuan was stunned after hearing this. Now the Khitan is very strong, and if the terms of the peace negotiations are not satisfied, they can attack again at any time. If the land is ceded and the money is compensated, it will inevitably arouse public resentment, and the situation will be even more uncontrollable. Turned to Du Chongwei and said, "I don't know if the eldest brother has an idea?" Du Chongwei pretended to be worried and said: "I haven't thought of it for the time being, so please come over to discuss." Le Yuan sighed and said: "Fang Jin's plan is only to talk about this road, but I don't know what conditions the Khitan will propose." ”

Du Chongwei saw that Le Yuan agreed to negotiate peace, and he was overjoyed, and said: "Brother Xian, I will first show the sincerity of talking about peace, as for the conditions, you can talk slowly, if you can't talk about it for twenty days, you can talk about it for three months, if it doesn't work in March, you can talk about it for a year." Anyway, it is a delaying strategy, if the imperial court annihilates the rebellious army in the Central Plains, it will naturally increase the number of troops in Daizhou. At that time, there is no fear that the Khitan will not retreat. Du Chongwei's eyebrows danced. After that, he took out the letter of request for peace that had already been written and handed it to Leyuan.

Le Yuan saw that this Lord Du was indeed not a simple person, and with such careful thinking, it was no wonder that he could sit in the position of Daizhou Assassin. Le Yuan took the letter and said, "Big brother is wise, I'll send someone to do it." ”

When Le Yuan returned to the army, he thought that the matter was urgent, and immediately summoned the adjutant general Le Tianzang, told him about the peace talks, and instructed: "Tianzang, the matter of suing for peace with the Khitan is very important, and it can neither be bad nor damaging the national prestige." The Khitan camp is full of murderous opportunities, you must be careful everywhere when you go. "Lotte Zang is the brother of Le Yuan, he grew up with Le Yuan since he was a child, and he knows his brother's personality, if it is not at a critical juncture, he will never let him, the deputy general, come out. After he listened, he patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, big brother, even if I fight for my life, I will contribute to this matter." Le Yuan nodded approvingly, and then personally escorted him out of the city.

The Khitan army was stationed thirty miles outside the city of Daizhou, and it took Lotte to hide for half an hour before arriving. The Khitan military camp occupies a circle of several miles, all of them are white camp tents, and pennants are erected outside each camp tent, and the north wind is whistling by, and those pennants dance with the wind, making a whirring sound, as if the victor is singing Kaige again.

Lotte hid on the hillside and watched the camp silently, wondering what to do with Jerod Light and his soldiers. "There can be no mistakes, and there can be no damage to the national prestige. He pondered the meaning of these two sentences repeatedly, and finally said, "That's it, if you don't succeed here, you will become benevolent!" and then waved his whip and galloped down the hillside.