The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 287: Trapped in a cocoon
Cheng De had similar ideas.

Even though Li Keyong posed a greater threat to them and the grudges between the two sides were much deeper, they still tended to rely on Li Keyong as a barrier.

Although they consider themselves loyal subjects.

Although the military suppression had caused Li Keyong's initial confidence and arrogance to disappear to a great extent, which made Cheng De feel comfortable and relieved, the rising court, the sage, and the powerful royal army also made them worried.

Li Keyong is certainly scary, but a powerful central government that can mobilize resources from all over the country is even scarier. If the sage is really furious and wants to fight a war with Hedong, it would be a good thing for him if both tigers fight to the point of losing.

The saint remained silent.

Seeing his expression, it seemed that he was determined to fight Li Keyong to the end, so Shi Sizhong said: "Although the Holy Lord and Keyong are father-in-law and son-in-law, the Lord and his subject are neighbors, and both have powerful armies. In today's world, the soldiers are strong and the horses are ambitious. I think it will never be forever peaceful. I ask the Holy Lord to send letters to all directions to fight Keyong. If this thief is not eliminated, he will be a national disaster."

No matter what, Youzhou has reached a consensus that it would be best if they could involve the imperial court in going to war with Li Keyong.

Of course, using the imperial court is one aspect, and the other is that the barbarians have shown signs of re-emergence. In recent years, a Khitan named Abaoji has emerged, conquering the east and the west without any success. If this continues, the northern Hu tribes will soon be integrated by him, forming a new force similar to the Xianbei. Whether it is active conquest or self-protection, or confrontation with Li Keyong, it seems that it is necessary to have a good relationship with the imperial court.

The sage remained silent and continued to ponder.

If this thief is not eliminated, he will eventually become a national disaster... Such a familiar sentence. He remembered Situ's warning again - what would happen if he defeated Li Keyong? He was unable to take over the territory.

"What does the Yiwu Army think?" The saint suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Liang Wen.

"Holy Lord, Keyong has made great contributions to the restoration of the country. Without him, the Holy Tang Dynasty would not be what it is today." Liang Wen stood up and bowed solemnly, then said solemnly, "Although I came to the pass this time to serve the king, I did not come here without an imperial edict, which is one of my mistakes. The three armies were difficult to control, and I offended the capital, but it was not out of my heart. I failed to supervise and disciplined well, which is my second mistake. As for asking for titles for my subordinates, it is understandable. If the Holy Lord does not agree, you can just refuse. For these two mistakes, I think it is too much to add troops to punish them. If Mars is in the heart one day and the country is in a state of recovery, where will the loyal ministers come from?"

"I hope the Holy Lord will be magnanimous and borrow less from me."

"I will have a good talk with him about his crimes and ask him to withdraw his troops immediately and apologize to the Holy Lord."

Yiwu has a feud with Youzhou, but is on good terms with Li Keyong. Now Youzhou is showing its sword and wants to join the court in attacking Li Keyong. Liang Wen naturally will not agree.

His words were like a multiple choice question. If the imperial court allied with Yan to attack Li, it would lose Yiwu.

After all parties exchanged their opinions, there was a long silence.

The saint scanned everyone's expressions.

Zhao and Wei were ambiguous.

Fan Yang stood on his own.

Li Keyong of Yiwu Army Station.

After a long while, he sorted out the complicated diplomatic relations in his mind, and then he smiled and said, "I am not a warmonger. I also know that Li Keyong is a loyal minister, otherwise why would I meet you?"

Picking up the teapot and pouring himself some tea, he said, "I've proposed a plan for you to study. It's not really a study, it's just a favor to me. To put it bluntly, you don't have to deal with the one-eyed dragon, but you can't just let it go. First, the inner followers who fled to him must die, all of them."

"It should be so." Shangguan Daozi nodded.

"Second, the property he stole from me and the damage he caused is worth about five million strings of cash."

Five million? Liang Wen lost her composure on the spot. You are so brave!
"He has to pay." The saint looked at Liang Wen and smiled, "I know Marshal Li can't come up with so much cash, so he can use land, assets, and people to pay. Marshal Li is very powerful. Compared with the wealth produced by the land of the four towns, this is a drop in the bucket. I will take out two million and divide it among the four families. Each family will get 500,000 strings of cash. This is my reward to the warriors of the four towns."

"Third, who gave Marshal Li the idea, and who instigated him to enter the pass without an imperial edict?" The saint questioned, "These traitors alienated the emperor and his ministers, destroyed Marshal Li's reputation, and put him in an unjust situation, leading to the current situation. Don't they need to be held accountable? These war criminals must die."

"If Li Keyong can agree to these three things, it means that he is indeed a loyal minister, and he just fell into the trap of the traitor. I will restore his title and be as close to him as before. If he can't do it, then--" The saint adjusted his Ruyi crown and said, "It's also very simple, then use Li Keyong's life to pay for it. Kill this thief, and the matter ends here."

The whole room was speechless.

After a long silence, Shangguan Daozi's trembling voice rang out in the room: "Holy Lord... calm down and make a more realistic request."

With Li Keyong's personality, the last two conditions were out of the question!
Liang Wen was also quite annoyed.

This saint is just like the turtle in the Trevi Fountain.

Making such a harsh request clearly shows that you don't want to talk.

It seems that the saint is determined to fight Li Keyong to the end.

Considering Li Keyong's strong power, if he refused to give in, he would have to fight. At that time, the situation would be out of control. Either the Holy Tang would fall into danger again, and the country's strength that had been hard to recover would be destroyed again, or the court would recover the four towns, or Li Keyong's entire family would be massacred.

Why! !

Li Keyong, Li Keyong, you can mess with anyone else. Zhu Wen led an army of 100,000 to attack Bo, and the Saint had only 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers at that time, and he still could not surrender. Now his strength is ten times that of the past, what are you thinking?
"Is there no other option?" Liang Wen asked helplessly.

"Everything has a choice." The saint said softly: "Since you choose to make a mistake consciously, you must be prepared to accept equal punishment. Besides, it is not equal."

I'll kill you sooner or later!
"In that case, I'll take my leave." The envoys from the four towns sighed, shook their heads and left.

After they left, the saint lay down on the Luohan bed and hugged Zhang Hui in his arms. It was as if she was Li Keyong, and she was determined to crush him! The one-eyed dragon, of course, didn't have to be dealt with. But if this guy couldn't give up his prestige and face, and was unwilling to offer substantial benefits to settle the matter, what was the point of talking? Wait and see what Li Keyong said.

"Queen, if we attack Li Keyong, do you think Zhao and Wei will send troops?" The sage wiped his finger on his red lips, and the Queen immediately shook her head in disgust: "Your Excellency is the second commander of Zhao and Wei. Keyong was defeated, and the Three Jins were restored. How do you feel?"

It feels like a thorn in the back. "

"Don't lie on me." The Queen Mother was lying on the Arhat bed, her face full of shyness, pink and annoyance, her Ruyi Lotus Crown was crooked, and her pair of hot white arms and jade feet were out of place. Emperor Li lay on her: "And then?"

"Li Keyong is both an enemy and a friend to Hebei. In times of chaos, any relationship can be changed at any time in order to protect oneself. What good will it do to Hebei if Li Keyong is eliminated?" The Queen's eyes flickered: "Even at the critical moment of life and death, Zhu Dalang will also lend a hand."

"You woman." The saint sneered, "It was your idea that Zhu Wen organized the campaign against Li. People in Liang said that with a word from you, Zhu Wen would turn back even if he had led his troops halfway. If you don't agree, how could Zhu Lao San do it? What a deep calculation... You had long been sure that Zhao and Wei would not send troops, and that the Yan people of Datong would have a hard time succeeding. I was the only one who was eager to revive the country, and I was the fool who was calculated..."

The Queen doesn't speak.

"Then are you going to make another mistake?" After a while, the Queen of Heaven said quietly, "The mountains and rivers of Hedong are so difficult to conquer. Lanshi Road leads to Taiyuan Prefecture. Youzhou enters Datong and Daizhou, Zhaowei goes out of Jingxing and Xingming. Zelu Road, Fenshui Valley Road. All the routes need to fight to the death, and the weather must be right, without rain or plague, before it can be possible. But why should everyone help you at the expense of themselves?"

"It would be much easier to deal with Zhu Dalang with the same military force, financial resources, and energy."

"Actually..." At this point, she stared at Saint Li's face and said gently, "Actually, you can trust the people of Bian a little more. You don't have to hate and be malicious towards them because of Zhu Wen. They can accept Zhu Wen's rule, and they can accept you even more. Wang Yanzhang, Huangfu Lin and other soldiers protected a woman like me and traveled thousands of miles. They were so loyal to me, and they can be even more loyal to you. Compared with your soldiers, the unruly Bian army is far inferior. Zhu Wen dared to execute the Bian people, would you dare to do the same to your internal and external troops?"

The sage was speechless.

"The people of Henan have a hard life. They--" the Queen's face showed a look of compassion or pity, "They are not as bad as you think. If the bad guys were the majority, Huang Chao, Qin Zongquan and their ilk would have dominated the Central Plains long ago, and Zhu Wen would not have been able to win people's hearts and rise to power by hypocrisy."

"Why are you silent?" The Queen blinked her big eyes and smiled faintly: "When you conquer the Central Plains, I will help you."

The saint remained silent.

A little dazed.

Yes, why do we have to speculate like this? Zhu Wen is already dead, no one takes him seriously, and only mentions him as a joke after dinner. In a few years, time will gradually blur everything, and Henan people will slowly forget him, like forgetting a weed.

The universe will last forever, and it will not really favor anyone. But the earth under your feet will select the people it likes.

But there was always a whisper in his heart telling Emperor Li, kill them, they have been killing each other for decades, just kill them, and you will be at peace after killing a group of them. Are you waiting to repeat the mistakes of history by giving in to humiliation?

Maybe it's the side effect of fighting and killing for a long time. He was exposed to too much stimulation, so he became insane.

Yes, I may be crazy, I have been a mental patient for a long time...

For some reason, he suddenly became jealous of Zhang Hui.

This fairy's practice is indeed successful.

*******
“………Evil beast! Evil beast!”

"How could I protect such a wicked man, how could I protect such a wicked man!"

In the Tonglingbi camp north of Chaoyi City, Li Keyong was so angry that he paced around on the spot, sometimes anxious, sometimes depressed, sometimes hysterical, and there were torn letters on the ground.

The generals stood aside with their heads down, trembling in fear, not daring to make a sound, as they listened to Li Keyong banging the table and kicking the stools.

Gai Yu closed his eyes silently.

Fortunately, the words of Shangguan Daozi, Shi Sizhong and others were relayed after they had assessed the risks themselves.

Otherwise, I'm really afraid that these people would be hacked to death on the spot, and I'm really afraid that he would be angry to death.

Five million strings of cash!

Oh my god, even a saint dares to say that! The king is selling his liver and kidneys to pay for it?
We also have to deal with the so-called "war criminals".

Of course, these were all insignificant matters, and in Gai Yu's eyes, they were just empty talk. The battle had only been going on for two months, and there was no sign of anyone losing, and it was still unclear who would pay the compensation and who would kill someone to apologize.

What angered Li Keyong and annoyed Gai Yu the most was the interference of the Four Garrisons. Although they had prepared for this before the troops were dispatched, when the envoys of the Four Garrisons really came to Guanzhong to negotiate peace and issued a threat of force, the feeling of oppression still came instantly.

Although Gai Yu has always believed that these people are just good at talking but can hardly accomplish anything, they are not to be feared.

But what if, what if he really does it to you, do you dare to take the risk?
As a strategist, you must strive for the best outcome in everything while preparing for the worst.

Now, Gai Yu was thinking, what should I do? What should I do?
In Li Keyong's heart, there was only one voice repeatedly asking: "Do you want Guanzhong or Hedong?"

The trip to the pass was meant to mediate and gain some benefits. There was no intention to rebel. But who knew that the bastard was not as kind as his dead brother, and he didn't follow the way at all. He started to curse and demote him and started fighting.

Given the current situation, if I retreat easily, it would only cause a huge loss to my prestige!
If he persisted, the fate of himself and Hedong would be heading towards an unknown future similar to Zhu Wen's.

I am in a dilemma. What should I do? What should I do?
Should I give in or fight him?
(End of this chapter)