Chapter 334: Discussing Heroes over Drinking Wine

"It's better to speak less about speculation in the future."

After hearing Li Er's words, everyone was silent. After all, the relationship between the King of Qin and his two brothers was still very close at present.

Furthermore, in the current situation, neither of the two brothers has revealed any intention of competing with the King of Qin for the position of crown prince. At this time, the Palace of the King of Qin must show friendliness towards the King of Jin and the King of Qi.

The three brothers are all legitimate sons, have made great contributions, and have a large number of supporters behind them. They are all qualified and capable of competing.

At present, perhaps because of the overall situation or because of brotherly love, no signs of this have been revealed to the outside world. The Qin Palace must be tolerant and show kindness and friendship.

This is also why, even though some of Li Er's former subordinates were killed or captured in the Battle of Yecheng, the Qin Palace did not take the opportunity to attack the King of Qi.

The first reason was that Li Er felt that what Lao Si said to him that day was true. But he never told these words to his staff. After all, some things should not be told to outsiders.

The second reason is that even the emperor cannot blame the fourth brother too much for what he did this time. On the one hand, he got away with it cleanly, and on the other hand, he is so powerful that it is difficult to hold him accountable.

Most of the troops currently confronting the Yan army in Hanoi are the direct troops of the King of Qi. If we want to replace the King of Qi's commander at this time, what if he takes his troops directly back to Jianghuai?
Then the area north of the Yellow River would really fall into the hands of the enemy.

Even if he didn't take his men with him, who could mobilize the 100,000 troops in Jianghuai?
The biggest difference between Li Yuanhui and his two brothers is that his territory came from the appointment of the previous dynasty, the army was built up by him, and the generals were promoted by him.

There were no resources provided by Li Yuan. Instead, Jianghuai had been helping Guanzhong share a lot of pressure.

This has led to the current situation. Although Li Si has no foundation in the court, he has an army of over 100,000 and the Jianghuai area, which gives him confidence.

He controlled almost one-third of the territory of the Tang Dynasty, which was equivalent to a large vassal state.

To hold him accountable for his mistakes? Is this a matter of an imperial edict?
This is the core of the Tang Dynasty and the largest external force of the Tang Dynasty. If it is not handled properly, who knows what kind of fluctuations it will cause.

Therefore, Li Yuan could write a letter to scold his son in any way he wanted, and even go to Luoyang in person to beat him up. This was between father and son.

No one could say anything.

However, the emperor's edict had to be written with caution, and he had to take into account the opinions of the 100,000 troops in Jianghuai.

In mid-October, the autumn harvest was completed and the north began to get colder and colder, with the weather gradually becoming freezing.

The war between the Tang Dynasty and the Yan Dynasty basically came to an end. In the Battle of Yecheng in the first year of Wude, the Tang army suffered heavy casualties and lost Yecheng (to be precise, they did not get it).

But on the battlefield of Bingzhou, Hedong was also captured, so it was not a disadvantage in terms of strategy.

Because Hedong's strategic position to Guanzhong is far more important than Yecheng.

With Hedong, there was not only an additional salt-producing area, but also an additional route of advance, and the threat of Bingzhou to Guanzhong was eliminated.

Strategically, there was no loss at all, and there was even a small profit.

This is also the reason why neither Li Yuan nor the Guanzhong nobles could blame Li Yuanhui.

The army of the King of Qi can capture the important areas of Hedong all the way. Are you jealous and insist on going there, only to suffer heavy losses?
Where does this face come from?
In fact, when the Yan army did the math, they didn't lose out.

Hedong was nominally under the control of the Su family, but they had no actual control and did not feel bad about losing it. Yecheng was nominally under the Tang Dynasty, and it was of great significance to capture this important town in Hebei. At the same time, it dealt a heavy blow to the Tang army, beheading thousands of people and capturing more than 10,000 enemies, including many senior generals.

Therefore, after the war, Li Yuan from Chang'an specially sent envoys to exchange for prisoners of war and captured soldiers.

Liu Xuanji neither agreed nor refused, and proposed to have a face-to-face meeting with Li Yuanhui.

The envoys from Chang'an naturally did not dare to make the decision.

What is surprising is that Li Yuanhui actually agreed and brought Zhang Jian, Lao Zhu, Duan Wuda, Yuchi Jingde who was a general, and dozens of cavalry guards.

Before leaving, Li Sixing was appointed as the temporary general manager.

"Don't worry, I will be back in three days at the least, and five days at the most." The two met at the post station outside Dangyin City.

When Li Yuanhui arrived, there were dozens of military horses outside the post station, and the person guarding the entrance of the post station was also an old acquaintance of Li Yuanhui.

"Greetings, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi." Zhang Shiwu saluted very respectfully. Even though they were in different camps now, Zhang Shiwu, a man from the border area of ​​Youzhou, still admired Li Yuanhui very much and was grateful for his promotion.

"Fifteen, you are now a general? Things are really different now."

"Thanks to your highness."

Zhang Shiwu smiled.

"Where's Lao Liu?"

"The general is waiting for your highness inside."

"Haha, this guy, he's putting on airs after not seeing him for a long time. I want to see how powerful General Liu is now."

After that, Li Yuanhui went straight in, followed by Zhang Jian, Lao Zhu, Duan Wuda, and Yuchi Jingde. Zhang Shiwu did not stop him.

At this time, a banquet was set up in the hall of the post station. Liu Xuanji, wearing a dark round-necked robe, also learned to wear a fu hat and a cloak, and stood in front of the courtyard.

There were also several strong men standing behind him. Looking at Li Yuanhui who had entered, Liu Xuanji spoke first: "Silang, how are you?"

Li Yuanhui saw this and smiled, "I hope you are well."

Then Liu Xuanji looked at the people behind Li Yuanhui. He recognized Zhang Jian, Zhu Heshang, and Duan Wuda, but he had never seen Yuchi Jingde before. However, just by looking at his figure, he knew that he must be a fierce general.

"Brother Zhang, I haven't seen you for a long time. Monk Rujing, have you returned to secular life?"

Zhang Jian nodded without saying anything. Old Zhu smiled and replied, "Yes, Brother Liu, we have been secular for several years, and our son Dalang is almost two years old. By the way, our name is Zhu Deyu now."

Liu Xuanji pointed at him and laughed, "Okay, you monk, you really have impure senses, hahahaha."

The friendship between the few people was initially established in Chang'an, where they killed the guards of Prince Liang's Palace together, and later worked together in Jianghuai.

Liu Xuanji also happened to be in control of the two states of Hebei, and is the number one powerful official and actual controller of the so-called "Great Yan" regime.

After exchanging pleasantries, Li Yuanhui and Liu Xuanji also sat down and started drinking.

Although the wine and food were prepared by Liu Xuanji, Li Yuanhui didn't mind at all. He drank with Liu Xuanji very freely and talked about some of his experiences in the past few years.

The two men talked a lot and drank a lot of wine. Liu Xuanji did not mention anything about repatriating the captured generals and soldiers, and Li Yuanhui did not ask.

The two sides just reminisced about the past and talked about family matters.

Li Yuanhui talked most about his time in Jianghuai, while Liu Xuanji talked about how he had gradually risen to a high position in recent years.
The two old friends drank a lot of wine. When they were drunk, Liu Xuanji got excited and said to Li Yuanhui, "Silang, Wei Wu and Zhaolie talked about heroes over plum wine. Today, there are no plums. How about you and I talk about heroes?"

Li Yuanhui said, "I'm glad to hear that Brother Liu has a good opinion."

Liu Xuanji drank the wine in the cup and said, "I will tell you about a hero. If you agree, you can drink a cup of wine. How about vice versa?

"it is good."

"The greatest hero in the world is naturally your father, the Emperor Li Gong of the Tang Dynasty. Li Gong is far-sighted, generous and kind, tolerant, and able to use people according to their talents. He is a natural saint. What do you think, Silang?"

Li Yuanhui pointed at him and laughed, "Hahaha, good, it looks like I have to drink your wine no matter what."

(End of this chapter)