In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

"call!"

He exhaled a large breath of stale air, his gaze hardening once more as he looked in the direction the Imperial Guards had left, his eyes filled with gratitude.

Regardless of whether Cheng Yaojin forwarded the letter to persuade him to lay down his weapons or simply to help, the fact that he helped deliver it was a favor in itself.

However, this was a negotiation between him and Li Shimin, a choice between life and death, involving too many people. He could not soften his heart just because of their persuasion.

"Your Highness, what did the court say?" At this moment, Wan Jun and the others gathered around and couldn't help but ask.

Li Yuanchang turned and swept his gaze across the pairs of eyes: "I have already set the conditions, demanding that the court pardon everyone and promise not to kill meritorious officials."

"But His Majesty requests that I return to Chang'an first."

"I will instead have the court execute Changsun Wuji first to calm the situation."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt reassured.

"But...Your Highness, will the imperial court agree to this?"

"That old fox Changsun is no ordinary person. He is the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, the future regent, and also the elder brother of Empress Changsun. He is the leader of the entire Guanlong Group."

Li Yuanchang strolled through the crowd: "That's why I deliberately brought this up; this condition cannot be agreed to."

"Then why, Your Highness?"

"I have my own plans. I come from the royal family and am very familiar with the tricks and schemes of those above. So you should remain calm and wait for news."

"yes!"

"..."

Early June.

As Li Yuanchang had expected, the Chang'an side rejected his request and even adopted a tougher stance.

When Fang Xuanling and Cheng Yaojin arrived at the military camp for the second time, they appeared to be struggling and in a difficult situation, most likely due to the strict orders from Chang'an.

"Your Highness, although I do not know what your heavenly lightning is or what its power is, if we really break off relations, you truly cannot bear the consequences."

"While Chang'an's attitude is still acceptable, let's quickly back down. I can guarantee that no one in the Prince of Han's mansion will die."

"Even if it gets any later, we can't hold on any longer. It takes more than a month to travel back and forth to Chang'an. His Majesty has been waiting, but his patience is limited!" Fang Xuanling pleaded earnestly, clearly having some unspeakable difficulty.

Li Yuanchang's expression was calm and extremely experienced.

"Lord Fang, Duke Lu, this is the bottom line. If you don't give us an explanation, I will not return to Chang'an."

"As for the cost, I don't care."

Fang Xuanling and Cheng Yaojin frowned, about to persuade him, when suddenly!

"Report!!"

"Your Highness, something's happened!"

"Large groups of cavalry have begun to appear about fifty miles to the north and south of our camp, and they are suspected to be heading towards our camp!" A scout rushed in.

Immediately afterward, Wan Jun, Jin Minda, and a large number of other military generals rushed in, their expressions tense and angry.

"Your Highness, the imperial court has dispatched troops!"

"These bastards are deliberately stalling for time; they never intended to negotiate with you!"

"Take them down and march into Chang'an!!"

The public outrage was palpable.

Cheng Yaojin and his companion were visibly astonished, their every pore seemingly radiating a sense of bewilderment.

Li Yuanchang reacted quickly, stepping in front of the two: "What are you doing?!"

Kim Min-da and the others cried out angrily, "Your Highness, they're trying to harm us!"

"We agreed to negotiate, but instead they sent troops to surround us!"

You've been scammed!

"More than fifty troops have already arrived!"

The enraged men almost surrounded the area.

"Your Highness, we knew nothing about this!"

"His Majesty has explicitly forbidden it; no army may attack the Kyushu Prefecture forces until a resolution is reached!"

"There's something fishy about this!" Fang Xuanling exclaimed urgently.

"That's right!"

"Your Highness, you mustn't act rashly; you might be used!"

Cheng Yaojin also sensed something was wrong, and his expression tightened.

"fart!"

"How could you not know?"

"Arrest them!" the generals roared in fury.

Seeing that the situation was about to spiral out of control, Li Yuanchang roared, "Insolence!!"

The sound was deafening, like the roar of a tiger.

Jin Minda and the others were startled and instantly sobered up. They then clasped their hands in a fist salute and knelt on one knee.

Only after calming the situation did Li Yuanchang reprimand him.

"What's the rush!"

"There's definitely something wrong with this. If you act so impulsively, you'll only become someone else's pawns sooner or later!"

He'd seen it all, and immediately thought it was impossible.

Even if Li Shimin was foolish or suspicious in his later years, he couldn't be so foolish as to send troops to besiege the enemy while the envoy was still in his own camp.

Isn't this going to kill someone? Li Shimin might be cold-blooded, but he was definitely not stupid.

Jin Minda and the others dared not object: "But Your Highness, the imperial army is imminent; we must respond!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Wan Jun also said.

"Your Highness, why don't we go and take a look? It seems someone is deliberately sabotaging the peace talks behind our backs!" Fang Xuanling said.

Li Yuanchang and the two men exchanged glances without saying much, but all three of them tacitly agreed that something was wrong.

"good!"

Soon after, the army assembled, and a storm rose over the Liao River.

After a standoff that lasted for nearly half a year, the situation suddenly changed, and the shadow of war began to loom over the place.

Li Yuanchang handed over the camp to Xue Rengui for defense, and then led a large number of cavalry out to attack Dayan Pass, which is northwest of the camp.

According to reports from scouts at the front, the main force of the imperial army is here, while the forces in other directions seem to be auxiliary troops.

They sped along the way.

Fang Xuanling was in poor health. Although Li Yuanchang had taken good care of him and even brought a carriage, Fang Xuanling was still struggling and coughed incessantly.

Li Yuanchang repeatedly tried to stop him and let him rest for a while, but Fang Xuanling refused each time, his expression urgent and solemn, determined to reach the front line immediately.

Even until his death, he was still working tirelessly for the Tang Dynasty he cherished.

He truly had no selfish motives, did not show favoritism because of his friendship with Li Yuanchang, nor did he approve of Li Shimin's wrong decisions. All he did was stop the war and prevent the Tang Dynasty from self-destructing.

Among the important officials of the Zhenguan era, Li Yuanchang could be said to admire him the most.

In less than an hour, we arrived at Dayan Pass!

Within the two great mountains lies the Guanzhong Plain, and beyond the mountains lies Liaodong.

Before the people even arrived, dust was already billowing inside the pass, a large number of command flags were flashing, and birds were startled from the forest, as if a vast army was gathering there.

Looking through the binoculars, one could see a large number of imperial scouts reporting news.

Almost instantly, a large number of imperial troops poured out, the earth trembling from the thunderous sound of their hooves.

They headed straight for Li Yuanchang's army. There was no dialogue, no imperial edict, and their murderous aura was palpable, as if they were about to start a war.

"Your Highness, something's wrong!"

"They're going to take direct action!!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After Wan Jun shouted, all the soldiers drew their swords and entered combat readiness.

In the distance, beyond the Great Wall, a massive, dark torrent is drawing ever closer.

"No!!" Fang Xuanling shouted as his aged body stepped out of the carriage.