Tibet

The next morning, Emperor Li Heng summoned Pei Min, Xiao Hua and Wu Qi to the Imperial Study Room. Since Wei Jiansu and Li Dai had gone to Luoyang, Pei Min was currently in charge of the Political Affairs Hall.

Li Heng read Li Huaixian's letter to the three of them and said slowly: "Li Huaixian's surrender must be conditional. What I mean is that the two sides should talk first and find out each other's bottom line. If it is acceptable to me, Within the range, you can agree to the other party's surrender. What do you think?"

The emperor's decision cannot be refuted, and even if we don't talk about it, what are the other party's conditions?

Xiao Hua couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, these traitors have no integrity at all. Shi Siming has learned from the past. If the other party continues to go back on their word, surrender today and rebel tomorrow, we will be very passive!"

Li Heng smiled slightly and said: "Just because you were bitten by a snake, you can't dare to touch the well rope from now on. The key is to distinguish the difference between snakes and ropes. Shi Siming killed too many people because he knew that we would liquidate him sooner or later." , so his surrender was originally a false intention, and Li Huaixian does not have the burden of this crime, he can surrender to the court, I do not doubt his original intention to surrender, I am only worried that the price he asks is too high."

Xiao Hua bowed and said: "Your Majesty's words are reasonable, and I also support the negotiation!"

Li Heng secretly thought in his heart that Li Fuguo saw things through, and he slowly said: "Can you recommend a negotiator? Who is the better envoy?"

Pei Min bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I recommend Zhang Hao, Hebei's pacification envoy, to be responsible for negotiating with Li Huaixian. Zhang Hao is careful, smart and capable, and he can take up this position!"

Wu Qi also said: "Weichen recommends Luo Fengxian as deputy negotiator. In addition, Weichen suggests negotiating in Taiyuan so that both parties can report easily!"

Luo Fengxian is Li Guangbi's supervisor and Yu Chaoen's confidant. He is currently based in Taiyuan. Wuqi is Yu Chaoen's man, so he will naturally recommend Luo Fengxian as his deputy envoy to participate in the negotiations.

Of course, as the two major factions in the imperial court, the civil servant faction is represented by Zhang Hao, so the eunuch faction must also have people participating. Therefore, it is not surprising that Wu Qi recommended Luo Fengxian as deputy envoy to participate in the negotiations, but he should not be the one to recommend it.

Li Heng did not reject it. He thought about it and agreed, "Both suggestions are reasonable. I'm sure!"

Coming out of the imperial study, Xiao Hua whispered to Pei Mian: "Don't you think it's strange, Mr. Pei? How could Li Huaixian's letter be in the hands of the emperor?"

"Li Huaixian should have found a certain channel and handed it directly to the emperor. I don't think this problem is serious!"

Xiao Hua sighed, "I'm actually worried that Li Huaixian has gone through the eunuch party's channels. He must have given heavy bribes, and the eunuch party has benefited, which may harm the interests of the court."

Pei Min frowned, "If this is unfounded, Xiao Xiangguo had better be careful what he says!"

Pei Min turned around and glanced at Wu Qi quickly before leaving in a hurry.

Xiao Hua shook his head secretly. How could Pei Min be so timid and afraid of getting into trouble? How could he support the overall situation?

The fighting outside Luoyang had ended. Wu Lingxun repeated his old tricks and immediately chose to surrender after being surrounded by 120,000 Tang troops.

This time he met Tie Ban. Bai Xiaode escorted his family to Luoyang and was publicly executed by Li Ye. Wu Lingxun, his brothers, sons, and nephews, a total of more than 20 people, were all killed.

Wu Lingxun was killed and his army was divided. Bai Xiaode selected 6,000 soldiers, and the remaining 24,000 were divided equally between Li Xian and Ji Guangchen. The territory was also divided equally. Li Xian took Ruzhou and Xuzhou, and Ji Guangchen divided them. Yuzhou has the largest area.

Without Wu Lingxun's backstabbing, Li Guangbi attacked across the board. He ordered Pugu Huai'en to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Xu Shuji, and he himself led an army of 50,000 to attack Zhang Zhongzhi. In less than ten days, Xu Shuji attacked twice. Defeated, he committed suicide in despair.

Zhang Zhongzhi was very cunning. When the news came that Luoyang had been captured, he realized that something was wrong. He led 30,000 troops to abandon Bianliang and Songzhou, and before Xu Shuji was defeated, he crossed the Yellow River from Puzhou to Hebei. direction to retreat.

Li Guangbi commanded his troops to occupy Bianzhou and Songzhou, and then continued to advance to the southeast. Together with Tian Shengong, they surrounded the rebellious Liu Zhan.

Just before Li Ye was about to withdraw his troops, Wei Jiansu and Li Dai both arrived in Luoyang.

Wei Zhi, who was left behind in the Eastern Capital, came to the VIP Post and paid homage to Wei Jiansu, the right minister.

Wei Jiansu asked him to sit down, served tea, and asked with a smile: "How is the situation in Luoyang?"

Wei Zhi pondered for a moment and said: "The good ones are very good, but the disappointing ones are also very disappointing."

"How do you say this?"

Wei Zhi said slowly: "You can't speak out of conscience when you are in a humble position. The Helong Army is very admirable. It truly did not commit any crime in autumn, did not disturb the people, did not harm the people, did not insult women, and did not rob businesses. On the contrary , His Highness King Qi ordered relief for the poor and help the elderly. Compared with the Tang army who burned, killed and looted everywhere after the defeat of Xiangzhou, the Helong army was touching and admirable."

Wei Jiansu nodded, "I know that saving millions of people in Hebei is really valuable. Helong has Li Ye as its commander. It is a great blessing for the Tang Dynasty. Let's talk about the disappointment!"

Wei Zhi smiled bitterly and said: "Only some grain reserves were left, and the rest of the left storehouse and treasure house were empty. Most of the grain and almost all property except real estate were transported to Longyou by him."

Wei Jiansu frowned. What he was most worried about happened. Li Ye took away all the loot and he was a step too late.

"How much food did he leave for us?"

"He left one million shi of grain for the imperial court, and another 300,000 shi of grain for Luoyang. He took away more than 3 million shi of grain."

Wei Jiansu nodded, keeping 30% of the food, which was not bad, but leaving no wealth at all was a bit too much. The imperial government's finances couldn't get rid of the problem, so they were just waiting for Luoyang's money to help solve the crisis!

Thinking of this, Wei Jiansu said calmly: "I'll talk to him tomorrow and ask him to transfer some money from Longyou!"

At the same time that Wei Zhi reported to Wei Jiansu, Li Ye and his father Li Dai also appeared on the top of Luoyang City.

Li Dai looked at the majestic Luoyang City and sighed: "Luoyang is finally back, the people are peaceful, there is no fire burning the city, and the palaces are well preserved. How gratifying!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "The reason why I took this job is that I am afraid that the Huihe people will destroy Luoyang."

Li Dai glanced at his son and said calmly: "You must have taken this task to seize Luoyang's wealth!"

Li Ye laughed dryly and said, "It's all right! We take care of both public and private matters."

Li Dai pondered for a moment and said: "Whether it is old rice or new rice, if you can leave 1.3 million shi of grain for the court and the local government, it is very good. You can eat the big head and the court can take the small head. The court can accept this, but you can't do it at all." Not keeping money is a bit too much. The imperial court's financial difficulties are so severe that it is impossible to open the pot. Hundreds of officials have not been paid their salaries for two months. Everyone is eagerly waiting for Luoyang's money, but

Ye'er, the court's inability to pay salaries originally had nothing to do with you, but now everyone will scold our ancestors for three generations! "

Li Ye also knew that he went too far by not leaving wealth to the court. No matter what, he wanted to give his father face.

He pondered for a moment and said: "There are still a lot of bulk supplies in Luoshui warehouse over in Gong County, so leave them to the imperial court! There are also 150 large ships, which will also be left to the imperial court."

"What's in the warehouse?"

"There are eight million kilograms of copper ingots, 200,000 pieces of copper and porcelain, thousands of pieces of precious wood, 300,000 dans of tea, and 150,000 barrels of oil. They are basically bulk goods with a value of Millions of dollars."

Li Dai breathed a sigh of relief. With so many things, he could barely deliver them to the court.

"Don't you have any money at all? I'm afraid that water from far away will not quench my thirst for nearness." Li Dai asked again.

Li Ye smiled and said: "There may be an unexpected fortune. I have only liquidated the residences of high-ranking officials in the Yan State before. During this time, I am counting the residences of the middle and low-level generals and officials of the Yan State. By the way, there are also the residences of the Yan State." I haven’t even had time to liquidate the wealth in the officials’ shops!”

Li Dai quickly asked: "How many generals and officials of Yan State have not yet been liquidated?"

"There are about three hundred households and nearly a thousand shops. I estimate that after the liquidation, there must be three million yuan."

Li Dai was overjoyed, "Don't delay, the liquidation will begin today. With our full cooperation, we can give an explanation to the court."