In order to maintain the connection between Xiao Yu and the Tang Dynasty, Xiao Yu specially brought several eagle slaves and ten letter eagles. In the inn, Xiao Yu's face was as deep as water, his lips were tense in a line, and his eyes were staring at the eagle slave with a serious look on his tying tube tied to the eagle legs.

The preliminary negotiations today can almost be said to have collapsed. There has not been any discussion on substantive issues, the issue of prisoners of war, the issue of captured ministers, the issues of Nanyang County and Xiyang County, etc., and only the issue of Huining County was discussed.

But it was just a matter of Huining County, and the two sides were not giving in. Yang Yuanqing set Huining County as the prerequisite for negotiations between the two sides. If the Sui Dynasty did not recognize Huining's ownership, there would be no need for negotiations later, and tens of thousands of prisoners of war would be put into mining.

Not only did Yang Yuanqing not give up on the two counties of Nanyang and Xiyang, but instead used the attack on Jingxiang as a threat. Of course, Xiao Yu also knew that this was Yang Yuanqing's strategy and gained the best interests with a strong attitude.

But Yang Yuanqing's toughness still made him unacceptable. More importantly, Yang Yuanqing's attitude made him realize the bleak prospects of this negotiation, and he must report to the emperor in time.

"Prime Minister, you are ready, are you going to release the eagle?" asked a entourage carefully.

Xiao Yu nodded, "Let's go!"

The follower waved his hand and the eagle slave threw the Xinying high. The Xinying spread its wings, circled twice over the inn, and flew slowly towards the southwest Chang'an.

Outside the inn, several Sui army scouts who were monitoring Tang envoys found Xinying and immediately ran out of the city to report to Yang Yuanqing in the military camp.

............

In the big tent, Yang Yuanqing listened to the soldiers' reports with a cold look. The Tang envoy released the eagle back to Chang'an. As he expected, today's initial contact, the two sides could be said to have parted in disagreement. Moreover, Yang Yuanqing also knew that his conditions were quite harsh and Xiao Yu could not accept it anyway.

However, this was not his bottom line. At the beginning, Yang Yuanqing decided to exchange Nanyang and Xiyang for Huining County. This was the fundamental reason why he ordered Xu Jiye to seize the two counties. However, after easily seizing Huining County, he had new ideas.

Nanyang and Xiyang counties can be returned to the Tang Dynasty, and he can also handed over tens of thousands of prisoners of war to the Tang Dynasty, but he asked the Tang Dynasty to pay a price, which was not only Huining County, but also a greater price.

The so-called negotiation is a contest between the strong. Negotiation is not a gift, and there is no saying that the weak are pitiful. The weak are always beaten and angry. Only the strong can gain benefits.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered: "Transfer my order and quickly dispatch 10,000 Fengzhou troops to the south. Together with 10,000 troops in Lingwu County, the army will be led by Pei Xingyan, and the army will be stationed in Huining County."

......

In the big tent, Yang Yuanqing listened to the soldiers' reports with a cold look. The Tang envoy sent the eagle back to Chang'an. As he expected, today's initial contact, the two sides could be said to have parted in disagreement, and Yang Yuanqing also knew that his conditions were quite harsh, and Xiao Yu could not accept it anyway.

However, this was not his bottom line. At the beginning, Yang Yuanqing decided to exchange Nanyang and Xiyang for Huining County. This was the fundamental reason why he ordered Xu Jiye to seize the two counties. However, after easily seizing Huining County, he had new ideas.

Nanyang and Xiyang counties can be returned to the Tang Dynasty. He can also hand over tens of thousands of prisoners of war to the Tang Dynasty, but he has to pay the price for the Tang Dynasty. This price is not only Huining County, but also the Tang Dynasty pays a greater price.

The so-called negotiation is a contest between the strong. Negotiation is not a gift, and there is no saying that the weak are pitiful. The weak are always beaten and angry, and only the strong can gain benefits.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered: "Transfer my order and quickly dispatch 10,000 Fengzhou troops to the south, and together with 10,000 troops in Lingwu County, it will be handed over to Pei Xingyan to lead the army to enter Huining County."

......

It was not far from Yan'an County to Chang'an. The next morning, Xiao Yu's emergency report appeared on Li Yuan's desk. Yang Yuanqing's harsh conditions made Li Yuan furious. Yang Yuanqing actually regarded the ownership of Huining County as the premise for negotiations between the two sides. So what is the significance of this negotiation?

"Transfer my will and order Prime Minister Pei and the Prince to come to see me!"

Li Yuan paced back and forth in the imperial study with his hands behind his back. The extreme anger in his heart made him lose his composure. Not to mention that Huining County has a large amount of minerals, even in a barren land, Yang Yuanqing's arrogant attitude made him unacceptable.

What does it mean to determine the ownership of Huining County? It is clearly the land of the Tang Dynasty, so what can be negotiated? Could it be that one day, Yang Yuanqing proposed to determine the ownership of Chang'an, and they would also sit down to discuss it? It is unbearable, and Li Yuan was a little angry.

At this time, a eunuch reported at the door, "Report to Your Majesty, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Pei are waiting to see you outside the hall."

"Announce them to meet!"

Soon, Prince Li Jiancheng and Prime Minister Pei Ji walked in one after another, bowed and bowed together, "See Your Majesty!"

Although Li Jiancheng and Pei Ji walked into the imperial study at the same time, they did not say a word, and even did not look at each other at all. Because of Liu Wenjing's death, Li Jiancheng hated Pei Ji so much that he wanted to kill the thief with his own hands.

Li Yuan sat in the imperial case and asked Pei Ji very dissatisfiedly, "At the time when Xiao Xiangguo advocated the development of the mineral deposits of Ning County, you strongly opposed it, saying that you were afraid that the Sui army would covet and be unsafe. Now, the Sui army simply took Ning County away. The mineral deposits that could have brought us great wealth became someone else's food on the plate. How do you explain to me?"

Pei Ji was sweating profusely when he was forced to ask. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, the mines in Huining County are actually not about whether they are developed or not, they will be taken away by the Sui army. I think the key is not whether the mines are developed, but whether they can be protected."

Li Jiancheng next to him snorted coldly, "This is different. If the mine is developed on a large scale, our Tang Dynasty will definitely station the heavy army. If the Sui army wants to seize the mine, they will not be able to succeed so easily. The Tang army will repel them. It is precisely because there is no mining operation that there is no army stationed. Pei Xiangguo, you are obviously responsible, why are you still quibbling for yourself?"

Pei Ji was sweating profusely. Although the emperor and the prince blamed him together, he still wanted to defend himself. "Your Majesty, although I advocated not to open the mineral deposits in Huining County for the time being, I passed the resolution four to one when the voting of the Political Affairs Hall, and His Highness the Crown Prince did not object to the shelving mining. Why do I still blame me all the responsibility? Although I have made a mistake in my judgment, I should not bear all the responsibility?"

"Pei Xiangguo, are you blaming the priest for turning black and white into arguing you on purpose, right?" Prince Jiancheng said coldly.

Pei Ji suddenly realized that the prince was not as tolerant as the legendary one, and was also very powerful. He seized the loophole in a sentence and immediately took advantage of the issue to expand the situation.

Pei Ji hurriedly said, "I don't mean to blame the emperor at all?"

"Then what do you mean, make it clear?" Li Jiancheng pressed step by step, almost forcing Pei Ji to the corner.

At this time, Li Yuan sighed in his heart. When has it been now? They are still fighting internally. Are the sky falling, and they don’t care?

"Okay, don't fight anymore."

Li Yuan interrupted the internal strife between them unhappily and ordered the eunuch to hand over Xiao Yu's express letter to them. Li Jiancheng and Pei Ji read the letter one after another, and were silent. They both felt that the situation was serious. Now is indeed not the time to argue.

Li Yuan stood up, walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said to the two: "Tell me about you two! What should we do now?"

Pei Ju was an appeaser at heart. He bowed and said first: "Thank you to Your Majesty, I think Yang Yuanqing's attitude is worthy of Shangqi. If I guess correctly, he sent troops to occupy Nanyang and Xiyang counties to seize Huining County. If we can give in, we will give Huining County to him, and at the same time ask him to return Nanyang and Xiyang counties to us, he should be able to agree, and then discuss the surrender of the troops and the captured ministers, and the problem will be solved successfully."

Li Yuan said coldly: "Pei Xiang means to ced Huining County to him? Such a huge mineral deposit, the copper and silver mined are enough to meet the expenses of the Tang Dynasty, and can recruit soldiers and horses, and they are just taken away by the Sui Dynasty?"

Li Jiancheng stood aside, but glanced at the old eunuch in the corner of the wall. The old eunuch winked at him and clenched his fists. This was a hint to him.

Li Jiancheng immediately understood that his father wanted to use force to regain Huining County. In fact, for Li Jiancheng, he was also in conflict. On the one hand, he was never willing to occupy Huining's minerals. He was in charge of government affairs. He knew what those silver and copper mines mean, whether for the Tang Dynasty or the Sui Dynasty, it was an incalculable wealth.

But on the other hand, he was unwilling to go to war with the Sui army for the mines. Once it failed, not only would Huining County be completely occupied by the Sui army, but other negotiations would also be more passive.

Li Jiancheng was in a dilemma, and at this time Li Yuan looked at him, meaning to seek his opinion.

Li Jiancheng bit his lips and said in a deep voice: "Father, I will never want the mines of Huining County to be taken away by the Sui army. I feel that I should fight with the Sui army to fight for Huining County. Even if I lose, I cannot show weakness. This is related to the dignity of the Tang Dynasty. If we make concessions like this, then the back of Huining County will be Wuwei County, and Yang Yuanqing will gradually erode our territory."

After pausing, Li Jiancheng said again: "The key is that even if we lose, Huining County will not be ceded. We can give an explanation to the subjects of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, we will set the tone for recapturing it by force in the future."

Li Yuan nodded slowly, "The emperor's words are very consistent with my wishes. We cannot give up Huining County just like this. In any case, we must give an explanation to the people of the world."

Speaking of this, Li Yuan resolutely ordered, "So quickly order the General of the Right Guard Li Shentong to come to see me!"

.........

Li Yuan was always unwilling to let Huining County, which had abundant mineral resources, be taken away by the Sui army. In order to give an explanation to the court and the nobles of Guanlong, he resolutely decided to send troops to Huining County and appointed his clan brother, Prince Huai'an County and General Li Shentong, the General of the Right Guard, as the general of Guan Neidao, and led an army of 30,000 to Huining County.

......{Piaotian Literature www.PiaoTian.com Thanks to all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}
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