Chen Shuda hurried back to the imperial study room and waited outside the gate for a moment. An eunuch came out and laughed and said, "Your Majesty is waiting, please ask the Prime Minister Chen!"

Chen Shuda walked into the imperial study room. Li Yuan was reviewing the memorial before the imperial case, and he could see that he was in a good mood.

"I'm going to see your Majesty!"

"How is it? Have you received Mr. Pei?" Li Yuan asked with a smile on his face.

"Report to your Majesty, I have arranged him."

"How did you talk to him?"

"He refused to say the real reason for his withdrawal from the court. As for Zhang Xuan's refusal to ascend the throne, his statement was exactly the same as His Majesty's views, or because of military power."

Li Yuan smiled, "His withdrawal from the prime minister must have something to do with the Lu Chu incident. In the end, Lu Chu became innocent, but the rumor planner behind the scenes has never been heard of. With Zhang Xuan's character, how could he give up? Zheng Shanguo was demoted and Pei Ju became prime minister. I think this is the reason."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Chen Shuda sincerely praised.

Li Yuan smiled proudly, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, looked out the window for a while and said, "The Prime Minister thinks why did Zhang Xuan send an envoy to Chang'an?"

Chen Shuda was born in the Chen Dynasty royal family and heard and witnessed it since childhood. He knew better than ordinary people about the emperor's thoughts. When should he express his opinions directly and share his worries for the emperor, and what should he be slow to think and not to steal the emperor's excellence. Chen Shuda knew clearly in his heart. It was precisely for this reason that he was more respected by Li Yuan than Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing and became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.

He knew that the emperor was not asking him at this time, but was throwing bricks and attracting jade. Chen Shuda threw out a brick to lead to the emperor's words of gold and jade, but pretending to be ignorant, it would also make the emperor look down upon. Therefore, it is best to grasp this level and just prescription.

Chen Shuda pondered for a moment and said, "The first two times Zhang Xuan reached an armistice agreement with us is because he had other plans. Could it be that something happened to Goguryeo?"

Li Yuan smiled slightly, "You underestimate Zhang Xuan too much. He can't handle a small Goguryeo? It's not Goguryeo. If I'm not mistaken, the Turks should have launched a large-scale invasion of the south."

"Turkish?" Chen Shuda was shocked.

Li Yuan nodded, "Does Zhang Xuan think that the three northern counties are so easy to seize? After Liu Wuzhou killed them, there will be no trouble? I will wipe out the 5,000 Turkic troops in Fuqibo and seize more than one million cattle and sheep. The Turkic will think that nothing has happened? Only when the Turkic attack on the south will Zhang Xuan lower his posture and compromise with us temporarily. Apart from this, I can't think of any other reason."

Uncle Chen nodded silently, "Your Majesty is completely correct!"

At this moment, an eunuch reported at the door, "Report to Your Majesty, Your Highness, the Crown Prince, urgently asked for a meeting!"

"Supreme him in!"

After a moment, Prince Li Jiancheng walked in quickly and bowed, "Son of the Lord, please see the father."

"Is there anything wrong with the emperor?"

"Your father and son minister just received news from Taiyuan that the Sui army had begun to evacuate the population of Mayi County, Yanmen County and Loufan County on a large scale, and evacuate along Feihu Road towards Shanggu County."

Li Yuan sneered, "It seems that I'm not wrong at all."

Chen Shuda exclaimed: "Your Majesty is better than others when he sees the world. Pei Ju's arrival is really the reason for the Turks."

Li Yuan enjoyed it in his heart. He glanced at Jiancheng, and saw that he wanted to speak but stopped, he asked, "What else is there?"

"Father, it's about Song Jingang—"

Before Li Jiancheng finished speaking, Li Yuan's face darkened. This was something that made him very disappointed. When Song Jingang first fled to Yan'an County, there were only a few thousand people. He occupied the mountain and became the king, and did not dare to provoke the government. However, for some reason, Song Jingang's army increased sharply in the past month, reaching 30,000 people. Ten days ago, he captured Fushi County, the county seat, occupied Yan'an territory, and proclaimed himself the King of Yan'an.

Song Jingang's rebellion was not big, but it was not small, which made Li Yuan very troubled. Li Jiancheng mentioned Song Jingang when he was in a good mood, which really made him unhappy, "Speak whatever you have!"

"Father, my son-in-law recommends the fourth brother to lead his army to wipe out Song Jingang, and to wipe out Song bandits in the bud before they grow stronger."

Li Yuan thought about it and agreed, "Okay, let him and Xiaoji lead 30,000 troops north to wipe out Song Jingang within three months."

Li Jiancheng was about to leave, but Li Yuan stopped, "Wait a minute, I have something to say to you."

Li Yuan said to Chen Shuda again: "Captain Chen, let's go first! Let's meet with the Sui envoy at Chengtian Gate tomorrow morning."

Chen Shuda bowed and left.

At this time, Li Yuan said to his eldest son Li Jiancheng: "Tonight, please visit Pei Ju and test him. How likely is it that the Sui army will return Shangdang County and Changping County to us?"

Since the Turkic army was extremely likely to invade the south, Li Yuan did not want to merge the three northern counties for the time being, so he was unwilling to face the Turks at this time. However, since the Northern Sui envoy came to Chang'an on his own initiative, it should be Zhongdu's concessions. Li Yuan naturally thought of Shangdang County and Changping County, which he had always been worried about. Using this negotiation to take back Shangdang, the two counties of Changping became Li Yuan's greatest hope.

Li Jiancheng certainly understood his father's thoughts. He smiled and said, "Please rest assured, my son will visit Mr. Pei tonight!"

This time, Pei Ju was sent to Chang'an as the chief envoy, and Wen Yanbo was the deputy envoy. The chief envoy usually attended the welcome ceremony, the two sides signed an agreement, etc., and when the specific negotiations were made, the deputy envoy came forward. On the other hand, since Pei Ju was old, Wen Yanbo was responsible for more negotiation trivial matters, and Pei Ju planned behind the scenes. He was more cunning and more experienced than Wen Yanbo.

In the inner hall of the VIP hotel, Pei Ju poured Wen Yanbo a cup of tea and said with a smile: "Tomorrow morning, I will only meet Li Yuan to express my sincerity of reconciliation. Maybe I will also reminisce about the past and will not involve specific matters of negotiations. The negotiations should begin in the afternoon. We must be mentally prepared, and we may not be able to end the negotiations within a month."

Wen Yanbo pondered for a moment and said, "Does the other party know the reason for our negotiation?"

"It should be possible to guess that we have begun to evacuate the people on a large scale from the three counties in Bingbei. Will Li Yuan not guess? But in this way, Li Yuan will have to speak loudly."

"Duke Pei refers to Shangdang County and Changping County?"

Pei Ju nodded, "The two counties of Shangdang and Changping are always the main concern of the Tang Dynasty's control of Bingzhou. The last time was to exchange for Hedong County and Pujin Pass, the Tang Dynasty had to agree to cede Shangdang County and Changping County to us. This time we delivered it to our door by ourselves. How could Li Yuan miss this opportunity?"

"But Your Highness does not intend to hand over these two counties to the Tang Dynasty."

Pei Ju laughed, "Your Highness just said that he didn't want to return Shangdang County and Changping County to each other, but it was not absolutely impossible. Shangdang and Changping County had great strategic significance to the Tang Dynasty. Losing them was like losing their own children, but to us were just two ordinary counties, just like two goods that could be sold to the Tang Dynasty, but they needed to pay the price. This is the significance of our coming to negotiate this time."

Wen Yanbo nodded slowly, "We have taken down the three counties in Bingbei. The two counties of Shangdang and Changping have little strategic value to us, and they have become two ordinary counties. Gong Pei, is this what it means?"

Pei Ju laughed loudly, "I am sure that he is the most outstanding among the three Wen brothers, and I can see it thoroughly."

"Thank you, Mr. Pei, for your praise, but I still don't know what price we need to offer?"

Pei Ju shook his head, "To be honest, I don't know. Your Highness just said that the Tang Dynasty must show its greatest sincerity, so we need to continue to talk little by little, but at the beginning of the negotiations, Shangdang and Changping had no room for compatibility. He wanted to exchange for Shangdang and Changping for a ceasefire agreement, and there was no door!"

"But at least we have to take out something. Since we are here in Chang'an, where is our sincerity?"

Pei Ju smiled like an old fox, "Of course we will have sincerity. For example, our warships will withdraw from Nanjun in time when they attacked Xiao Xian. I think this is the greatest sincerity."
Chapter completed!