The next day, near noon, the Tang envoys Zhong Mo and Li Deming were finally led to Liu Chengyou. Both of them had neat crowns and belts, but their faces were pale.
The Guardian Army was ordered to perform martial arts, obviously understanding Liu Chengyou's intention. In addition to normal drills, Li Chongjin and Wang Yansheng, two generals, also picked up more than a dozen death row prisoners from Hefei Prison, put them in Tang Army costumes, and killed Zhong and Li The two of them watched. It's not that they have never seen murder, but they were still frightened by the brutal and cruel behavior of the Han army.
"Your Majesty Zhong Mo (Li Deming) comes to see His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty!" Facing the Emperor of the Han Dynasty who was sitting according to the case, the two people immediately paid their respects.
Zhong Mo was feeling better, but Li Deming still had a look of fear on his face. Sharp eyes quickly swept over the two of them. Liu Chengyou looked at Zhong Mo and said, "Shilang Zhong, we meet again!"
"It is an honor for me to meet His Majesty!" Zhong Mo's tone sounded neither humble nor arrogant as he said the compliment.
Feeling that Zhong Mo was not as frightened as he imagined, Liu Chengyou turned his attention to Li Deming: "Are you Shilang Li?"
Li Deming raised his head and glanced at Liu Chengyou, then quickly buried his head: "It's my minister."
"I just watched the martial arts performance. How does our army look like?" Liu Chengyou asked lightly.
Li Deming replied without thinking: "The soldiers are burly and well-armed, and they are truly the strongest army in the world!"
"Haha..." Liu Chengyou laughed openly, seemingly satisfied with his answer.
"Tell me!" The smile faded, and Liu Chengyou seemed to have no intention of lying. He waved his hand directly and said: "Li Jing sent you two to the north, what are your plans?"
"Your Majesty, I have been ordered to come here, hoping that the great powers will withdraw their troops and end the war. If this is the case, our lord will follow the Han's intention of becoming a vassal and paying tribute, and cede the six states of Guang, Shou, Hao, Si, Chu, and Hai!" Zhong Mo handed over, instead of fighting like Sun Sheng, he directly revealed all his trump cards.
"Ha!" Liu Chengyou immediately sneered and said coldly: "The six states you mentioned have now all surrendered to the Han Dynasty. They are the states and counties under my control. You use Han soil to bribe me and show my generosity. What are you doing? Intentions?"
The Han Emperor's mouth was full of gangster logic and greed, and he was nakedly displayed in front of his two ministers. Zhong Mo's face trembled slightly, and his mood was gloomy. It was obvious that Liu Chengyou was not satisfied with Li Jing's conditions.
Seeing this, Liu Chengyou suddenly changed his face, stared at the two of them fiercely, and said in a sharp tone: "First Sun Sheng, and then you two, come north one after another to fool me, do you think I am easy to bully? Come, pull these two out of the government office and behead them in public!"
After the emperor's order, four guards immediately came in, set up Zhong and Li, and pulled them out of the hall. The sudden change made the two of them unable to react at all. Judging from the appearance of Emperor Han, it didn't look like he was faking it at all. His murderous intent was so serious that they immediately panicked.
Zhong Mo struggled and shouted: "The two countries are at war, don't kill the envoy!"
Li Deming directly begged for mercy and cried out in pain for his life. His legs dragged on the ground and swayed so much that he almost dropped his boots.
"Your Majesty, spare your life, I have something to say, I have something to say!" Li Deming's voice was tearing and even cruel.
Seeing this, Liu Chengyou waved his hand and asked the guards to let go of the two. Li Fang, who was waiting on the side, also closed his mouth and was about to remonstrate. Liu Chengyou's eyes were cold and impatient, and he said in a cold voice: "What else do you have to say? I don't have time to listen to your deceitful words here!"
This time, the two simply knelt down in front of the emperor. Zhong Mo's expression was tense and unnaturally pale. Li Deming then paid homage and said, "My lord does not know the majesty of your majesty and the strength of the Han army. I only hope that your majesty will be lenient and punish you in three or two days. I am willing to return Jinling. Please offer the land of Huainan to your majesty!"
After hearing what he said, Liu Chengyou's expression softened and he looked at Li Deming, he was the one who understood current affairs. After pondering for a while, staring at this person, he felt uneasy and broke into a cold sweat. Liu Chengyou said quietly: "In that case, I will give you a chance to save your life for the time being!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Deming said immediately.
Liu Chengyou pointed in the direction with his hand and said: "Go back and tell Li Jing that I don't want much, but to cede territory, become vassal, and pay tribute! Now, our Han army is sweeping through the Huainan states. He doesn't have much time. I'll take everything, just Huainan, but that's not enough to make me stop my troops! Do you understand?"
"Yes!" Li Deming said: "I understand!"
"Send someone to send them back!" Liu Chengyou ordered.
After the two Tang envoys left, Liu Chengyou once again covered up all the expressions on his face. He remained numb as usual, but his mind was extremely active.
"Your Majesty!" Li Fang put the several memorials he had compiled on his desk and asked softly: "To intimidate the Puppet Tang Dynasty in this way, if the force is too much, it may have the opposite effect and make him resist!"
"You are very worried!" Liu Chengyou said: "However, as for people, once the will is relaxed, it is not so easy to regain the ambition. More importantly, I cannot let Li Jingjun and his ministers see through my intentions. Invasion The more urgent it is, the harder it is to force it, in order to deepen its decision. Even if it is counterproductive, I will only become more urgent in order to slow down."
After thinking about it, Liu Chengyou said again: "I am going to issue an edict to all the armies to intensify their attacks, continue to uproot the fortresses of the puppet Tang Dynasty along the river, and drive the Tang army into the river for me. We don't have to negotiate for peace; we may as well fight for war!"
The treatment on the Tang envoy's side seemed pretty good. He was escorted to the ferry by the Han Emperor's imperial guards, boarded the ship, pulled anchor and set sail south.
In the cabin, Zhong and Li were sitting across from each other. They were both in bad condition, their faces were as dark as water, no one spoke, and the atmosphere was extremely dull for a while. After a while, Zhong Mo finally spoke: "Li Shilang, do you really want to return Jinling? Please offer Huainan to your majesty?"
"What else?" Li Deming raised his eyelids and said to Zhong Mo: "You have also seen the ferocity of the Han army. They killed people at every turn and were ruthless. How could the Han emperor's greed be satisfied by small profits? If we raise Huainan and offer it as a gift, how can we stop the war and eliminate the disasters of war?"
After listening to his words, Zhong Mo looked confused and said: "I raised this proposal to the envoy. How can I stand in the temple in the future and how can I face the Jianghuai elders? There is a line on the Qingshi Dan Book, which is also pointed out by thousands of people. It is notorious. !”
"If Mr. Zhong is afraid of criticism, let me play the solo after returning to the court. You can keep silent and stay out of the matter!" Li Deming said calmly.
Seeing his attitude, Zhong Mo shut up and said no more.
In fact, Li Deming had no choice. Looking back, he behaved too badly in front of the Han Emperor. Especially in order to survive, if you ask for help from Huainan, once you say it, there will be no way out.
On the other hand, he also saw that although this proposal was too Tang Dynasty and was not beneficial to Jianghuai, it was a great contribution to the Northern Han Dynasty. In the future, if the Northern Han Dynasty can destroy the Southern Tang Dynasty, with this merit, it will also have a place in the Northern Han Dynasty court.
This time the Northern Han Dynasty conquered the Tang Dynasty. As the war progressed, it can be said that the whole world has attracted attention. Many people have realized that this troubled world is coming to an end. Judging from the rapid development of the Northern Han Dynasty, as long as no major accidents occur, It is only a matter of time before the world becomes unified again.
In the eyes of ordinary people, the Northern Han Dynasty's conquest of the Tang Dynasty was just greed for the wealth of the Jianghuai River. But in the eyes of knowledgeable people, this is the prelude to world domination. And Li Deming is obviously one of these many knowledgeable people.
Zhong and Li returned to Jinling and reported on their mission. Sure enough, Li Jing was furious and was very dissatisfied with both of them.
"Robbers, bandits, thugs!" In the inner hall, Li Jing was so angry that his hands shook, and he almost overturned the imperial case, and said angrily: "I have sent envoys repeatedly to appeal to him, but I have been so humble and humble. Humiliation. The vast land of the six states cannot satisfy his ambitions. He actually wants to covet my entire Huainan. He is bullying others too much!"
"The Northern Han Dynasty wants to fight, I will fight with him! After humiliating the country and humiliating me, it will be difficult to bow to that kid again!" Li Jing danced her hands vigorously and shouted loudly.
Sometimes, the louder the shouting, the more it makes the person feel guilty, incompetent and angry. Li Deming and Zhong Mo knelt in front of the emperor. After they finished venting, Li Deming said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the six states of Huai River are now under the control of the Han army. The same goes for most of Chu and Yang. Huang, Shu, He and Taizhou are under attack. It is really difficult to satisfy their ambitions with just six states!"
"Could it be that we, the Tang Dynasty, can only let him take whatever he wants?" Li Jing glared at Li Deming.
Li Deming said: "Now the Northern Han Dynasty, hundreds of thousands of troops are attacking my defense along the river. I go north to see the strength of the Han army, which is unparalleled in the world. Our dynasty has suffered a series of defeats, and only the King of Qi's mixed army of less than 100,000 How can we stop the crowd? If your Majesty refuses peace talks with his will and fights with him, or if he completely angers the Han Emperor and crosses the Yangtze River to attack, how can your Majesty take it? Once the defense of the river is lost, it will be too late to regret it!"
After listening to Li Deming's words, Li Jing's anger subsided slightly, showing a little fear. When he realized the situation, he couldn't help but trembled.
But obviously, he was still unwilling to give in, and his eyes were dejected: "Is there no other way?"
"Your Majesty, the Northern Han Dynasty is attacking the land north of the Yangtze River more and more urgently. If we don't decide as soon as possible to get the troops to retreat, once Huainan is completely captured, I'm afraid the fourteen states will not be able to satisfy the Han Emperor's greed and violence!" Li Deming sighed sadly.
In order to complete the task, Li Deming also went all out, showing the style of a "surrender" in every word.
However, Li Jing still showed hesitation. Compared with the six states in Huaishang and the fourteen states in Jiangbei, the gap between them was not even a tiny bit. At this time, the assist came. Li Zhenggu, the deputy envoy to the Privy Council, came to report: "Tai, He, and Shuzhou will surrender to the Han army!"
Hearing this, Li Jing seemed to have no extravagant hopes anymore. He waved his hands dejectedly and said in a choked voice: "That's all, I am willing to dedicate all the land in Huainan! I will surrender and pay tribute to repel the Han soldiers!"
