Tibet

Liu Yan drank a few glasses of wine and took a carriage back to Jinzouyuan. As soon as he sat down in his room, he heard ‘Wow! ’ There was a sound like the sound of books falling over. Liu Yan was startled. That was his bedroom. How could there be someone there?

He felt a little nervous. He quickly walked to the door, called the guards forward, pointed to the house, and whispered to them. The three guards were furious and drew their knives to surround them. One of them was outside the window at the back. The other two people went directly into the house.

As soon as the two entered the house, they saw a dark figure rushing out of the window. "There is a thief!" the two guards shouted and rushed out.

There was a flower bed outside the window. The black figure who escaped happened to meet the guards who were surrounding him. He was punched in the face and knocked over. The three guards held the man in black firmly down and twisted his arm. The man in black screamed in pain. Scream.

Liu Yan walked into his room and found that his box had been opened and all kinds of documents had been messed up and strewn all over the floor. Just now, 'Wow! ’ The sound was the sound of the document falling to the ground.

Liu Yan's face suddenly became very ugly. These documents contained his negotiation strategies and ideas, as well as the bottom line explained by King Qi. If they were stolen, the consequences would be disastrous.

At this time, a large group of guards arrived and took the man in black into the house. Liu Yan was stunned for a moment. This thin man in black turned out to be Wang Gan, the deputy manager of Jinzou Academy.

Wang Gan took advantage of Liu Yan's opportunity to go out to meet Dugu Ming and used the prepared key to sneak into Liu Yan's bedroom, preparing to steal information. Unexpectedly, Liu Yan came back so quickly. Under extreme nervousness, the large stack of documents in his hand clattered to the ground, alarming Liu Yan. Finally, Caught by guard soldiers.

Wang Gan knew that he had been exposed, and he could not explain the documents all over the floor, so he could only plead in a low voice, "Sima, spare your life, I don't dare to do it anymore!"

At this time, the steward Yan Quanming also came over after hearing the news. He asked anxiously: "Sima, what happened?"

Liu Yan glanced at Wang Gan and said coldly: "This person sneaked into my house to steal confidential documents and was caught by the guards."

Yan Quanming was so angry that he was shaking all over. He stepped forward and slapped him several times, "Asshole, I trust you so much, you actually..."

Liu Yan waved his hand, "It's a very important matter, let my men interrogate him!"

Wang Gan was frightened. The interrogation by the soldiers would inevitably lead to severe torture. He knelt down and cried: "It's Li Fuguo. I was so obsessed that I took him a thousand dollars."

Liu Yan nodded. It was said that Li Fuguo had spies in all the houses of officials above the fifth rank. It was normal for Li Fuguo to have spies when he entered the memorial hall. However, he was too lazy to ask more questions and gave the soldiers a wink. The soldiers dragged Wang Gan down for interrogation.

Yan Quanming's face was full of shame, and he bowed and said: "Improper employment of people in a humble position has led a wolf into the house. I am willing to bear all responsibilities."

Liu Yan said calmly: "Chief Yan will write a report to Jiedu Mansion. Wang Wei is in charge of the Department of Civil Affairs. I don't care about this matter, but Chief Yan doesn't need to blame himself too much. This is Chang'an, and this kind of thing is impossible to prevent."

Yan Quanming sighed and said: "We recruited this Wang Gan when he took office three years ago. He is a local. We need a local from Chang'an. This Wang Gan worked in Longyou Jinzou Academy before. He is very smart and capable, and he is a local snake." , I hired him for a humble job, I didn’t expect it... ugh!”

Liu Yan smiled and said: "When you hired him, he was not necessarily from Li Fuguo. Didn't you listen to what he said? He was dragged into the trap because he was greedy for a thousand dollars. It probably happened last year or this year."

Yan Quanming nodded silently. He also hoped that Wang Gan would be dragged into the water halfway, otherwise his responsibility would be heavy.

At this time, the leader of the guard hurriedly came over and handed a confession to Liu Yan. Liu Yan took it and looked at it, and frowned. This Wang Gan actually informed Li Fuguo about the last time he carried the jade seal, and copied the confession many times. Report.

"Master Yan, let's take a look! He was bribed early last year."

Yan Quanming looked at the confession and felt annoyed. He actually used the night to copy the memorial. Although it was of little use, this behavior was abominable.

"Excuse me, Sima. How should I deal with him in this humble position?"

Liu Yan thought for a while and asked, "Where is his salary paid?"

"It was paid from the funds allocated to the Imperial Academy. He does not have an official title in Jiedu Mansion."

"Since you are not from Jiedu Mansion, you can handle it on your own! Just don't kill anyone."

"Report to Sima, if he is not executed, one of his legs will be broken and he will be driven out of Jinzouyuan!"

Liu Yan waved his hand, "Okay, let's deal with it like this!"

The guard leader nearby reminded: "But he just peeked into Sima's secret."

Liu Yan said calmly: "I checked it. I put all the important documents in envelopes and sealed them. He didn't have time to open them, and he didn't find the real secrets."

Liu Yan knew very well that with Li Fuguo's ruthlessness, this Wang Gan would not have a good outcome, and there was a high probability that he would be silenced by Li Fuguo.

Wang Gan had one of his legs broken and was thrown out of Jinzouyuan.

Three days later, someone picked up a body from the moat. It was Wang Gan. His throat was cut with a knife.

The Wang Gan incident was just a minor episode. The next day, Jinzouyuan reported the news of Sima Liu Yan's arrival in Chang'an to Li Xian, the Prime Minister on duty at the Political Affairs Hall, in accordance with the procedures, and submitted a negotiation letter on Bashu affairs.

Although Li Ye could have ignored the imperial court and annexed Bashu in one fell swoop, this would have resulted in serious political losses.

The reason is simple. Just like China is trapped in the Strait of Malacca and urgently needs an outlet to the Indian Ocean. With China's strength, it can annex Myanmar in one go and have an outlet to the Indian Ocean. So why doesn't China do this?

Because there are rules, and the rules are the United Nations Charter and international law. You cannot annex a sovereign country, otherwise you will be spurned and boycotted by the whole world, and the gains outweigh the gains. Just like the Soviet Union wanted to annex Afghanistan, in the end Afghanistan became the noose that strangled the Soviet Union.

The United States was smarter than the Soviet Union. It created a 911 ploy to gain authorization from the United Nations and legally occupied Afghanistan.

Did India take advantage by annexing Sikkim in one fell swoop? Not at all. Losing the strategic buffer zone with the northern powers is completely strategically stupid and has become a strategic bleeding hole. It has consumed a lot of manpower and material resources for decades. At the same time, morally, it will always have the leverage in the hands of others. We can wait and see, sooner or later the Sikkim bomb will explode.

Everyone can accept Li Ye's separatist rule of Helong. He is not hated by the world like An Lushan. This is because Li Ye's separatist rule of Helong is legal, approved by the emperor and the political hall, and signed an agreement with the imperial court.

Therefore, no scholar would say that Li Ye was separatist and independent. The local government of Helong and the local noble families could accept it calmly. So far, Li Ye has ruled very smoothly without any problems. It is because it is legal and completely within the control of the Tang Dynasty. within the rules.

What would happen if Li Ye forcibly annexed Bashu? First of all, the local government and the wealthy gentry in Bashu would be at odds with Li Ye. Even if they obeyed on the surface, they would continue to cause trouble in the dark. Now the peasants would revolt here, and the bandits would be rampant there, which would make Bashu The garrison was exhausted.

Secondly, the forced annexation of Bashu was a serious violation of political rules. Then the court could not recognize the Helong Agreement. The clearly legal separatist rule of Helong suddenly became illegal. Not only would no more talented people come to defect, but even the current civil servants and military generals It may not be possible to keep it.

Political rules are very, very important. Even a careerist like Cao Pi did not dare to directly abolish the Han Dynasty in name only, and had to hold a hypocritical abdication ceremony.

Even if Cao Cao attacked Jingxiang, he did not dare to lead his army south directly. He had to use the name of the imperial court to let the emperor issue an order. He was following the order to crusade the rebels. This meant that he had a reputation for trouble and followed the political rules.

Since Li Ye wants to legally obtain the throne of the Tang Dynasty, he must abide by the political rules of the Tang Dynasty and let the court willingly hand over Bashu to him. In Dugu Lie's words, he must swallow this piece of fat comfortably. Meat.

He sent troops because the emperor issued an edict deposing the emperor's younger brother and declaring Li Lin guilty, so Li Ye became famous.

Next, he will also legally occupy Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road.

The Zhengshitang immediately drew up a draft and asked the emperor to agree to negotiate between the Zhengshitang and the representatives of the King of Qi.