Tibet

Chapter 889 The Eve of Negotiation

At the top of Jixian City, Li Huaixian put his hand on the hilt of his sword and looked into the distance. He got the news that the carriage escorting Shi Chaoyi had arrived thirty miles away.

Li Huaixian was a Xiren general and one of the thirty-six Hu generals promoted by Anlu Mountain. He was about thirty-seven or eighteen years old. He was tall and mighty, with strong martial arts skills. He was extremely good at riding and shooting, and was quite resourceful.

After Li Huaixian defeated Shi Chaoqing's army and captured Jixian, he became the new master of Youzhou. He also faced a choice.

Unlike An Lushan and Shi Siming, Li Huaixian was smarter and better at judging the situation. When he learned that Luoyang had been captured by the Helong Tang Army, he knew that Shi Siming's rebellion was over.

In particular, he received the news that 20,000 Huihe troops were annihilated in the grasslands by the Helong Army, which made him realize that the crisis was imminent. He had to make a decision immediately and could no longer wait and see.

How can you protect your best interests? He thought of following Li Ye's example, nominally loyal to the imperial court, but establishing his own independent kingdom in Youzhou and dividing it into vassal towns.

But he was worried that the court would not agree, so Zhang Tongru, the chief historian, suggested to him that he use heavy treasures to bribe Li Fuguo and other eunuchs, and they would naturally put in good words for him in front of the emperor.

Li Huaixian adopted Zhang Tongru's plan and bribed Li Fuguo with the best pearls in Chang'an, bribed Yu Chaoen with a twenty kilogram golden Buddha, and bribed Cheng Yuanzhen with a high-quality white jade screen.

Finally, the court responded and agreed to hold negotiations in Taiyuan. Li Huaixian immediately sent his confidant Xu Jing'an as his negotiator to secretly negotiate with the Tang Dynasty in Taiyuan.

At this time, some soldiers shouted: "Jiedu Envoy, they are coming!"

I saw several black carriages escorted by cavalry appearing in the distance. They gradually approached the city gate and stopped a hundred steps away from the city gate. Several soldiers ran forward to check the person. After a while, the soldiers came back and reported, "Let's start." According to the Jiedushi Envoy, it is indeed Shi Chaoyi and his generals and advisors, can they be brought out to see the Jiedushi Envoy?"

Li Huaixian waved his hand, "No need, take them directly to the camp and imprison them!"

The carriage drove directly to the city, and Li Huaixian ordered someone to invite Zhang Tongru. Not long after, Zhang Tongru, the chief historian, hurried over.

Zhang Tongru was once An Lushan's confidant, but after An Lushan was killed, he did not loyal to An Qingxu and surrendered directly to Shi Siming. Shi Siming won the respect of Shi Siming. Shi Siming also entrusted the prince Shi Chaoqing to him. However, at the critical moment, Zhang Tongru offered the city. After surrendering to Li Huaixian, Li Huaixian's army entered Jixian County. Shi Chaoqing was desperate and hanged himself.

Li Huaixian appreciated his merits and made Zhang Tongru the governor of Fanyang Jiedu Prefecture. Zhang Tongru was indeed capable. He went out to calm the people, appease local officials, arrest thieves who took advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble, and provided relief to the poor people, so that order was quickly restored in all parts of Fanyang. , Li Huaixian also valued Zhang Tongru's mind and ability more, and made him his mastermind.

"For your humble position, please refer to Jiedushi!"

Li Huaixian waved his hand and said with a smile: "You're welcome, Chang Shi. Shi Chaoyi has been escorted here. I want to hear Chang Shi's opinion. How should I deal with him?"

Zhang Tongru pondered for a while and said: "Chang Shi wanted to publicly execute him for the crime of patricide to win over the people of Youzhou, right?"

Li Huaixian nodded, "I do have this idea!"

Zhang Tongru smiled slightly and said: "However, I still suggest that Jiedu use them as bargaining chips to exchange benefits from the imperial court."

"You mean, killing Shi Chaoyi is not enough to win over the people?"

Zhang Tongru said lightly: "The people in Youzhou are more convinced by An Lushan. If it is An Qingxu, killing him can indeed win over the people. But Shi Siming is too cruel. He not only slaughtered Hebei, but also killed countless people in Youzhou. The people of Youzhou I am filled with hatred. Jiedushi said that he would kill Shi Chaoyi to avenge Shi Siming. I believe that not many people would buy it. Moreover, Jiedushi killed Shi Chaoqing, which was tantamount to denying Shi Siming. Now he wants to avenge Shi Siming. This is a bit contradictory. Got it!"

Li Huaixian suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly, "Thanks to Chang Shi's timely reminder, I almost made a big mistake, so let's use them as bargaining chips!"

Luo Fengxian was one of the backbones of the eunuch party. He was Yu Chaoen's subordinate. He was recommended by Yu Chaoen as the supervisor of the army and led more than a dozen eunuchs to supervise Li Guangbi.

Although Li Guangbi is currently fighting in the Central Plains, Luo Fengxian is not worried. His deputy Dou Wende has been following Li Guangbi and monitoring Li Guangbi's every move.

At this time, Luo Fengxian was appointed as deputy negotiator to negotiate surrender terms with Li Huaixian.

The negotiator Zhang Hao and his party lived in the VIP Inn, and Luo Fengxian had his own mansion in Taiyuan. He did not want to live with Zhang Hao. This was also the current situation of the imperial court. As the two major forces in the imperial court, the civil servant group and the eunuch group could be described as Fire and water are incompatible.

Zhang Hao is one of the important members of the civil service group, and of course he doesn't have a good look towards Luo Fengxian.

This night is the eve of the negotiation. The two sides will start formal negotiations tomorrow morning. A mysterious guest comes to Luo Fengxian's house and moves five large boxes into Luo Fengxian's house.

The mysterious man handed a letter to the steward, "This is my master's message. There is also a letter. Please accept it, Eunuch Luo." The steward nodded, "I will forward it to the master!"

The mysterious man left, and Luo Feng, who had been hiding in the house and peeping, came out first.

"Who gave the gift?"

"He didn't say anything, he just left a letter."

The housekeeper handed the letter to Luo Fengxian. Luo Fengxian was slightly startled when he took the letter. It turned out to be a letter from Li Huaixian to him.

He didn't rush to read the letter and ordered: "Open the box!"

Several servants pried open a corner of the box, revealing white silver inside. The servants stopped quickly, and Luo Fengxian hurriedly stepped forward to take a closer look. Sure enough, it was official silver.

He secretly estimated that one box was almost two thousand taels, and five boxes was at least ten thousand taels.

Luo Fengxian felt happy and quickly ordered: "Carry them all into my study!"

The servants quickly carried the five large boxes into the study, and Luo Fengxian took out the letter and read it slowly.

In the lobby of Taiyuan VIP Inn, Zhang Hao was sternly lecturing more than a dozen of his subordinates.

"This negotiation is of great importance, and I hereby make three agreements with you. First, you are not allowed to meet with Li Huaixian's people in private, no matter what the purpose is; second, you are not allowed to disclose the details and secrets of the negotiation to anyone; third, you are not allowed to meet with Li Huaixian's people in private, no matter what the purpose. , you must not accept invitations or bribes from Li Huaixian's men; anyone who violates these three rules will be severely punished by me."

Everyone nodded in agreement. At this time, a follower walked into the lobby quickly and whispered a few words in Zhang Hao's ear. Zhang Hao's eyes widened, "What?"

He took a few steps with his hands behind his back and gritted his teeth with hatred: "It's true that the eunuchs are harming the country!"

Everyone was confused. Another deputy negotiator, Yuan Zai, asked: "Envoy Zhang, what happened?"

Zhang Hao snorted heavily, "Someone sent Luo Fengxian five boxes of silver, estimated to be ten thousand taels!"

Yuan Zai also exclaimed, "Ah! There is such a thing. Whose big deal could this be?"

Zhang Hao said coldly: "At this critical moment of negotiation, who else will send a heavy bribe?"

Everyone was silent. It seems that this negotiation is not simple!

Yuan Zai was a Jinshi and was a shrewd and capable man. In addition, his father-in-law Wang Zhongsi had a close relationship with the emperor Li Heng. Therefore, Yuan Zai was promoted to Minister of Punishment before he was forty years old.

Many people think that Yuan Zai was promoted because of his father-in-law Wang Zhongsi's close relationship with the emperor, but no one knows another secret. Li Fuguo's wife Yuan is from the same clan as Yuan Zai.

Yuan Zai was actually from Li Fuguo and was secretly promoted by Li Fuguo.

This time Yuan Zai was appointed as the left deputy envoy for negotiations, which was actually recommended to the emperor by Li Fuguo.

Wei Jiansu has been the prime minister for too long, and the emperor has decided to change his position this year. At this critical moment, Li Fuguo has begun to make plans.

Yuan Zai returned to his room and pondered for a long time. He called a close entourage and gave him a few instructions in a low voice. The entourage nodded repeatedly and hurried away.

Yuan Zai slowly narrowed his eyes. If he wanted to get into the picture, Zhang Hao would be his biggest competitor. He must use Luo Fengxian's hand to stop Zhang Hao. He must seize this opportunity.

(End of this chapter)