Tibet

Due to the assassination of King Lu, Li Ye's return was postponed for two days.

But in these two days, Li Ye also discovered a hidden trap that frightened him. If on his way back to Longyou, the imperial army deployed heavy troops to guard Hangu Pass in the east and cut off Tongguan in the west, His 20,000-strong army would be trapped on the extremely narrow Xiaohan Passage between Hangu Pass and Tongguan Pass. Back then, Ge Shuhan's hundreds of thousands of troops were deceived out of Tongguan and were completely destroyed on the ancient Xiaohan Pass.

This discovery made Li Ye take a deep breath. He didn't notice this problem when he came. Fortunately, the court didn't notice this opportunity, so he accidentally walked through the Weihan Ancient Road and escaped.

When you go back, you must not make this mistake again, and you must not take the Weihan Ancient Trail again.

At this time, the soldiers reported at the door, "Your Highness, Peng Haiyan, the young minister of Dali Temple, wishes to see Your Highness!"

When an old friend came, Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "Invite him in!"

Not long after, Peng Haiyan hurriedly walked into the big tent, bowed and saluted: "I am here to see you, Your Highness!"

"Peng Shijun, I haven't seen you for many years!"

Peng Haiyan was originally a subordinate of Li Ye's father Li Dai. At that time, Li Dai served as the Shaoyin of Jingzhao. Peng Haiyan was still just an official, but he was very smart and capable and was highly valued by Li Dai. In the Yuan Mile incident, Peng Haiyan performed well. He was recommended as an official by Dugu Lie, then Minister of War, and was promoted step by step.

Peng Haiyan's current backstage is the Dugu family, so he can be the young minister of Dali Temple.

"I am sincerely happy to see His Highness achieve what he has achieved today."

Li Ye nodded and asked, "How is King Lu's situation?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, King Lu was helped by His Highness's magic medicine and was brought back from the brink of death. However, I heard that the poison had damaged King Lu's internal organs and head, and he may not live to be more than forty years old. Also, His Highness King Lu You may be delirious from time to time, this is what the doctor said.”

"Who is the assassin? Have you found out?" Li Ye asked again.

"Reporting to Your Highness, this is why I came here to do my humble duty!"

Li Ye frowned, "What happened?"

"Although the case has been solved, Li Xilie sent someone to assassinate him, and all the evidence is available, but"

Peng Haiyan described the case in detail again, and finally said: "Although the evidence is complete, I still feel that something is fishy."

"What's wrong?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

"The first strange thing is the bullock cart. The assassin left the bodies of his companions and ran away, and also dropped the heavy crossbow. More importantly, he revealed the secret that he lived in Nanshi. With the assassin's viciousness, should he be killed? The coachman silenced him? But he didn’t kill the coachman at all. I thought it was very unreasonable.”

"Then what?"

"The second strange thing is that four people committed suicide by taking poison, and several others ran away. At that time, they could obviously escape together, so why didn't they escape? They had to commit suicide by taking poison. Moreover, I also discovered a major problem. The four people who took poison had their hands and feet damaged. There are signs of binding.”

"Do you suspect that they are not Li Xilie's people and that they were framed?"

"No! No! No!"

Peng Haiyan shook his head and said: "They are indeed Li Xilie's people. Their tokens cannot be faked, but I suspect that their target is not His Highness King Lu. Another group of people assassinated His Highness King Lu and put the blame on them."

Speaking of this, Peng Haiyan took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Li Ye, "I found this in another room. Your Highness will know after taking a look."

Li Ye opened the paper, and it turned out to be a sketch. Looking carefully, it turned out to be a sketch of a VIP hotel, with Liu Yan's residence marked on it.

"Could they be targeting me?"

Peng Haiyan nodded, "This map is evidence. The target of Li Xilie's assassin was His Highness, but he was used by others and took the blame, becoming the murderer of His Highness King Lu."

"Then who do you think framed them?"

Peng Haiyan shook his head, "I don't know about the humble position, but it must be related to the eunuch party. The eunuch party wants to make Wang Li Dong the crown prince, and King Lu is their biggest obstacle."

"In that case, why don't you make it clear and bring out the evidence to overturn the conclusion that Li Xiyeol was assassinated?"

Peng Haiyan sighed, "The real murderer is carefully deployed and there are no clues. The emperor has given us three more days to solve the case. Besides, Li Xilie is not a good person. We don't want to bother anymore."

"Then what's the point of telling me this?"

"I just want to remind His Highness that there is a real group of assassins hiding outside. Maybe their target is also His Highness. Please be careful, Your Highness."

"I understand. Thank you very much, Ambassador Peng, for coming here to remind me."

Peng Haiyan said goodbye and left. Li Ye smiled and asked Liu Yan, who had been silent next to him, "What do Liu Sima think?"

Liu Yan said calmly: "The culprit behind this assassination must be Li Fuguo, but the person who initiated this case is His Highness!"

"Why was it caused by me?" Li Ye asked in confusion.

"Because His Highness has taken out the edict from the Supreme Emperor, it has become urgent to establish a crown prince. At this time, the eunuchs will definitely take action in advance to kill King Li Shi of Lu and cut off the support of the officials. In this way, the officials will probably compromise and agree Make Li Xi the crown prince to resist the eunuchs who want to establish Li Dong."

Li Ye nodded, "Speaking of it this way, it is true, but the top priority is that we have to leave Luoyang as soon as possible. You can urge Pei Zunqing tomorrow morning. I will return early the day after tomorrow at the latest, so the day after tomorrow is the last chance to sign a contract. If you miss this opportunity, , they have to come to Longyou to sign.”

In the afternoon of the next day, Li Heng approved the detailed draft of the negotiation, and the two parties signed a governance entrustment agreement. According to the agreement, Li Ye would completely return Jingxiang and the six states of Yue, Hubei, Li, Deng, Ru, and Yu to the imperial court, leaving only Hanyang. and Jiangxia counties.

The imperial court will entrust Beiting, Anxi, Hezhong, Guanzhong, Hanzhong and Guannai Road to the King of Qi for full governance. In return for the trust in the court, the King of Qi will support the court with two million taels of silver within two months.

According to the agreement between the two parties, three days after signing the agreement, the 100,000-strong army from Liang County of Ruzhou retreated to Xiangyang, and then retreated back to Guanzhong within half a month. The troops from Guanzhong and Guannai Road also retreated to Luoyang within half a month. The two parties agreed , the army will withdraw in an orderly manner, and will never rob people's property or government warehouses. Anyone who disobeys military orders will be punished by the other party.

According to the agreement, the troops currently in Beiting, Anxi and Hezhong were handed over to King Li Ye of Qi and became his subordinates.

In addition, the two sides signed a formal statement stating that all the armies under King Qi were the army of the Tang Dynasty. They shouldered the heavy responsibility of protecting the Tang Dynasty and had the responsibility to report the governance situation to the court on a regular basis. If the court needed it, after consultation between the two parties, Qi The king's army will send troops to defend the court, or after receiving the emperor's urgent request for help, the Qi king's army will also send troops to serve the king.

The agreement was made in duplicate, signed by King Li Ye of Qi and the five ministers of Zhengshitang, and stamped with the seal of King Qi and the seal of Zhongshu Menxia. It finally came into effect after being signed by Emperor Li Heng and stamped with his precious seal.

After signing the agreement, Li Ye sent people to Xin'an County overnight and mobilized 15,000 cavalry to join them. In the afternoon of the next day, Li Ye officially left Luoyang and returned to Chang'an and Longyou.

Li Ye returned to Longyou via Wuguan Road. Fifteen thousand cavalry from Xin'an County came to join Li Ye. Twenty thousand cavalry went south from Yique Pass to Liang County. Li Ye led an army of 120,000 south to Xiangyang to repair the two areas. After the day, Li Ye continued to lead the army from Shangzhou to Guanzhong.