When Cui Zhong saw this situation, he knew that most of his plan was completed and said: "Ms. Shi, Yu Shi Yan wants to persuade your Majesty to submit to the imperial court."

Yan Jiming nodded and said: "Yes, your grandfather and I were both officials in Hebei Province and were deeply favored by the emperor. I remember that your grandfather's Chinese name was given by the saint himself. You must not let the country's grace be in vain."

But Shi Chaoying stepped forward and took his arm, asking: "Then I'm being bullied, will you stand up for me?"

Yan Jiming originally wanted to get rid of her, but for the sake of the overall situation, he had to endure it.

"Um."

"Xue Bai is frivolous towards me. I was caught by him. What should you do?"

"Then I... beat him up."

"Really? If you are willing to marry me, I will go with you to persuade my grandfather to surrender."

Yan Jiming couldn't help but frowned. Before An Lushan rebelled, Shi Chaoying had not been so domineering.

He didn't understand why now, a captured traitor's daughter was even more arrogant than before.

~~

Cui Zhong returned to the Governor's Mansion, his steps were much lighter.

Wang Chengye was writing a letter again. As for the map Yan Jiming gave him, he had crumpled it into a ball and threw it on the ground.

"how?"

"Come back to Commander-in-Chief, Shi has already agreed. In this way, we will have greater confidence in sending Yan Jiming as an envoy."

Wang Chengye disagreed with this and said calmly: "The important thing is not this, but your Majesty's promise to Shi Siming."

"Yes, yes."

Cui Zhong nodded repeatedly, admiring the methods of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty who had just ascended the throne in Lingwu, and said: "King Guiyi, Fan Yang, Pinglu Jiedushi, with such conditions, it is difficult for Shi Siming not to be tempted."

"Then why don't you go?!" Wang Chengye suddenly cursed with hatred, and said regretfully: "I know that persuading Shi Siming to surrender is a great achievement, so I specially leave the credit to you. It's better for you that all my hard work has been wasted."

"Xiaoguan just thinks that Yan Jiming is more capable of achieving things." Cui Zhong quickly replied: "Because of this, Xiaguan can't even think about his personal future for a moment, and he has let down the commander-in-chief."

Then, there were words of gratitude and loyalty.

In fact, he scolded Wang Chengye to death in his heart, and secretly thought that Fan Yang was like a tiger and wolf, and if he died, what's the use of taking credit?

What's more, he has no lack of merit at all. When the new emperor ascends the throne, the southern officials have no time to express their loyalty. He is the first batch of loyal officials. With such support and his leadership in countering the rebellion, he is already a high-ranking official with a generous salary and a worry-free future.

.

One of them was kind and gentle, the other was grateful. After encouraging each other for a while, they continued to talk about business.

"Let Yan Jiming leave early. Li Guangbi will be back in two days."

"yes."

Cui Zhong felt in his heart that Yan Jiming was also young and easy to deceive. He had already given Shi Chaoying the promise given by the new emperor to Shi Siming. When Shi Siming became King of Guiyi, he would definitely keep Yan Jiming in Saibei.

I will probably never come back from this trip.

~~

The next day, the envoy's team left the city from the north gate of Taiyuan.

Yan Jiming couldn't help but look back again. The morning sun shone on his silhouette, still as when he was a boy.

Shi Chaoying looked at this scene, feeling secretly happy and scared at the same time.

She was really scared when she was captured by Xue Bai, including when she was later handed over to Li E, the governor of Qinghe County. Li E regarded her as a criminal and put a knife to her neck at every turn, threatening Shi Siming.

At that time, Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, and many generals of the Tang Dynasty also chased her grandpa and beat her hard, beating Shi Siming until he was defeated and fled, which was extremely embarrassing.

Just when Shi Chaoying thought she was doomed, Li Longji rescued her. The Tang army was defeated in Tongguan, and the emperor fled. The Hebei Tang army approaching Fan Yang quickly withdrew. Shi Siming, whose life was hanging by a thread, got a chance to breathe, and Shi Chaoying was also taken into custody.

Return to Changshan.

Later, Wang Chengye sent someone to take her to Taiyuan, and she found out that Li Heng was the one who treated her better. In order to win over Shi Siming, he promised generous rewards.

But from this, Shi Chaoying also saw through the weakness of the Tang Dynasty royal family. In the past, they, the border bastards, had nothing to gain by groveling. Instead, they became more rebellious and domineering, and the more rewards they received from the court.

She carries the promise of the new king of the Tang Dynasty in her arms, and is sure to persuade her grandfather to agree.

As for Yan Jiming, he was the reward she was asking for, and he was her prisoner. Who would have thought that while she was still a prisoner, Tang Ting sold him to her.

"What are you laughing at?"

After walking for a long time, Yan Jiming finally couldn't help but ask.

"Guess." Shi Chaoying was still laughing, "I won't tell you."

When she was feeling proud, suddenly, there was the sound of rapid horse hoofbeats behind her, and a knight shouted from a distance: "Is that Mr. Yan Ji Mingyan in front of you?"

"Exactly."

Yan Jiming quickly reined in the reins, rushed towards the other party, and exchanged a few words in a low voice.

Not long after, he came to Shi Chaoying's side again and said, "We have to go back to Taiyuan."

"Why?"

Shi Chaoying immediately realized something was wrong and said, "I'm not going back! It's my grandpa who needs to be persuaded. Listen to me."

At this time, more knights arrived and quickly went around to the back of the envoy team to surround them.

"Let's go." Yan Jiming said, "Listen to me."

When we returned to Taiyuan City, we could already see a continuous stream of soldiers coming from the east and setting up camp outside Taiyuan City.

Looking up, the swaggering flag belonged to the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu, Li Guangbi.

A knight led Yan Jiming to Li Guangbi's tent.

A middle-aged man was pacing in front of the tent. When he saw Yan Jiming approaching, he immediately turned his head, with a look of thoughtfulness in his eyes.

"Dugu Gong." Yan Jiming recognized the other party, it was Dugu Wensu who was instigated by Xue Bai to rebel.

Dugu Wensu raised his hand and said without exchanging greetings with Yan Jiming: "I know all about your experience in Taiyuan City. Wang Chengye has surrendered to Li Heng and will not send troops."

"What? But he promised me..."

"He lied to you." Dugu Wensu said: "This matter is complicated. I will explain it to you later. The most urgent matter is that the Hedong soldiers and horses did not dispatch on time."

Yan Jiming was so disappointed. He didn't expect that he thought it would be hard to convince Wang Chengye, but in the end he achieved nothing.

He pursed his lips, his mouth dry due to nervousness and anxiety, and asked: "What about Li Jieshuai?"

"We have been trying to persuade Li Jieshuai, but he needs to know what happened in Chang'an. You can go in and tell him the truth later."

"The truth?"

Yan Jiming still had many questions to ask, but Li Guangbi's soldiers had already come out and led him into the tent.

There were many generals in the tent, standing in front of a large sand table and pointing something.

"Jie Shuai, Yushi Yan is here."

"You all go down." Li Guangbi waved away the others and said, "You are from Chang'an. Let me ask you, are the saints in Chang'an City real?"

Yan Jiming originally had a lot of strategies to talk about, but he didn't expect that Li Guangbi asked this question first.

"It's true."

"How to prove it?"

"It's true. Li Jieshuai will know it when he arrives in Chang'an." Yan Jiming stopped talking about the matter and stepped forward, repeating the strategic concept he had discussed with Wang Chengye before.

Unexpectedly, Li Guangbi actually waved his hand and said: "No need to say it, I know all this."

"Is Li Jieshuai also perfunctory with me? Don't you want to make the greatest contribution to rebuilding the Tang Dynasty?"

Li Guangbi said: "I participated in the formulation of these strategies you mentioned. I really know it."

Yan Jiming was a little surprised and asked: "So, why hasn't Li Jieshuai sent troops yet?"

Li Guangbi did not answer and remained silent.

Gradually, this silent atmosphere finally became unbearable for Yan Jiming.

"I really don't understand. It's obviously very easy to save Chang'an, so why don't you do it? It's been so long since Shengjia returned to Chang'an, what are you waiting for? That's all Wang Chengye, why are you, Li Jieshuai, too?!"

Li Guangbi glanced at the excited Yan Jiming calmly and said: "Because the saint is fake."

"How could Commander-in-Chief listen to rumors..."

"Since the saint has run away, he will never return to Chang'an in times of crisis. If Xue Bai forces him, the first thing the saint will do when he returns to Chang'an will be to kill Xue Bai, and there is no chance that Xue Bai will survive."

Li Guangbi spoke slowly, not loudly, but very firmly.

"The saint ascended the throne at the age of twenty-seven, reigned for more than forty years, and created a prosperous age with his own hands. Would he be easily hijacked by Xue Bai and become a puppet? Impossible. A saint who would voluntarily give up his power must be a fake. Everything

Everyone knows that it is false, but in their hearts they prefer to believe that the saint is still guarding Chang'an."

Yan Jiming swallowed and finally did not dare to speak louder anymore. He lowered his voice and said, "It's true. No matter what, let's defend Chang'an first."

"Can it be defended? King Zhong has ascended the throne. Without the support of the northwest frontier army, Xue Bai's plan would not be possible. With that little force, against 70,000 Fan Yang Xiaoqi, don't you think it's ridiculous? According to common sense,

Chang'an shouldn't be able to defend it for so long."
To be continued...