However, the lobbying of the Tibetan envoys was not completely useless. After all, not everyone had such a big-picture view, and not everyone was indifferent to bribes from rich and beautiful women.

Many officials were persuaded for various reasons and began to try to write letters to stop targeting Tibet.

And rumors gradually arose in Beijing that it was uneconomical for the imperial court to spend such a huge price to target Tibet.

The terrain there was so high that it was difficult for people in the Central Plains to even breathe, let alone survive.

Moreover, there are high mountains and steep cliffs everywhere, and there is not even a piece of flat land. What is the use of conquering it? In the end, it can only benefit the four countries such as Zhangxiong and Tuyuhun.

Besides, Tubo was very respectful to the Tang Dynasty and even sent envoys to pay tribute. It was unethical to beat others like this.

These rumors quickly reached Lu Dongzan's ears, which made him very happy, which meant that those who were persuaded by him began to take action.

However, he was still a little worried whether the Tang court would take coercive measures to stamp out the rumors.

After all, he has a clear view of the overall situation. Datang's purpose is to maintain chaos on the plateau and prevent the situation from happening.

In the face of such discordant rumors, it is normal for Datang to take certain measures.

If you put yourself in his shoes, he would do the same thing.

However, to his surprise, the court did not take any action after a long time, as if it had not heard the rumor.

Lu Dongzan was still confused at first, what did this mean?

As smart as he thought of a possibility, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty also seemed to want to end this war.

However, the main war faction was coerced into not daring to take a stand easily, so the rumors were allowed to be used in order to find an excuse for a truce.

Although this possibility was unlikely, he had no choice but to believe it.

So they stepped up their efforts to fuel the flames and spread the rumors even wider.

What he didn't know was that just as he was fanning the flames behind his back, Li Shimin met with Xiang Xiong and other envoys from the four countries.

You have also seen the situation. The people in the country and some officials have objections to our endless assistance.

In the past, we kept it secret from the mainland and did not dare to tell them how much food they consumed.

Most people think that the main force fighting against Tibet is the four countries of yours. We just used to wave the flag and shout, so we did not object.

Now that the cunning Tubo people have revealed this secret and are fanning the flames behind their backs to confuse the people, we really have no choice.

You see, there are thousands of books on impeachment. We really have no choice.

Except for Xiangxiong, the envoys from the other three countries were shocked. Without the support of the Tang Dynasty, they would definitely not be able to defeat Tubo.

But I couldn't let them withdraw, so I begged and explained my strong relationship.

Li Shimin took advantage of the situation and stated his ultimate goal. It was okay to continue fighting, but he had to give an explanation to the ministers and the material support would be reduced in the future.

Shang Hung still doesn't matter. It is a big country on the plateau with a long history. It has a rich foundation, but its only weakness is its military strength.

As long as the Four Nations Alliance is there, and as long as the Tang Dynasty is willing to provide military assistance, any amount of material assistance will be fine.

Tuyuhun, Bailan and the envoys from Dongnu Kingdom had to accept this reality even if they were reluctant.

However, they were relieved deep down. Just a little less would be better than no support at all.

After sending them away, Li Shimin, under the "advice" of his ministers, "reluctantly" received the Tibetan envoys.

After several arduous negotiations, a consensus was reached and a ceasefire was reached.

Of course, it was not a truce between Tang and Tubo. After all, Tang and Tubo never declared war. The war was between the Four Kingdoms Alliance and Tubo.

The Tang Dynasty only came out of the obligations of the suzerain state to help its vassal states deal with powerful enemies.

There is no way, who makes the Four Kingdoms Alliance all vassals of the Tang Dynasty, but you Tubo insist on treating each other as brothers.

But anyway, Lu Dongzan was overjoyed when he heard that Datang was willing to mediate.

I never thought that the most unlikely one might actually be true.

Then Honglu Temple came forward to call together the envoys of the Four Kingdoms Alliance and Tibet to conduct some mediation.

The most outstanding performer in this negotiation was Lu Dongzan. With his intelligence and sharp tongue, he managed to retain the previously annexed land.

Of course, there are factors from the Tang Dynasty and Xini, otherwise the Four Nations Alliance would not be able to agree easily.

But similarly, they did not admit that those lands belonged to Tibet, nor did the Tang Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, before the armistice agreement was signed, everyone was already looking for excuses for the next war.

Everyone knows that the current truce is just to take a breath and accumulate strength to launch a larger-scale war.

The melee that lasted for two years on the plateau finally ended, and the conservatives within the Tang Dynasty celebrated.

I thought that I had controlled the situation of the country, which was a rare victory.

Although the main militant faction has opinions, it's hard to say anything.

It's really hard to conquer that area, and it's really not worthwhile to waste people and money for so many years.

Only a few people know that the Tang Dynasty dug another pit this time, preparing to bury all the five plateau countries in it at once.

Chen Jingke naturally has a clear background, because this pitfall was raised from the very beginning.

It's just that the conditions were not mature at that time and it has been useless. Now it has been brought out in a different way by Li Shimin.

To put it bluntly, it's simple.

The environment on the plateau was so harsh that Datang was temporarily unable to manage it, and it would not be able to manage it once it was conquered.

Besides, would it definitely be beneficial to the Tang Dynasty if Tubo was really wiped out?

The Four Kingdoms Alliance is now respectful to the Tang Dynasty because of the threat of Tibet.

Without Tubo, or rather annexed by Tubo, would the four plateau countries still be so respectful?

Maintaining the current situation is best for Datang.

Tubo and the Four Kingdoms Alliance restrained each other, and then the Tang Dynasty slowly operated.

It will not be too late to take action after the Han people who migrated to Tuyuhun have adapted to the plateau climate.

But we must also prevent Tubo from colluding with the four plateau countries. If they abandon the Tang Dynasty and form an offensive and defensive alliance, it will be a trap.

This is not impossible to happen, especially since the country of Xiangxiong has a very long heritage and is an inherited ancient Qiang country.

Although it did not give birth to a particularly developed civilization, it did give birth to its own writing and was the mother civilization of the plateau.

It was only because King Xiangxiong admired the power of the Tang Dynasty that he surrendered to him, but he always maintained his cultural independence.

Maybe one day King Xiangxiong would change his mind and want to unite with Tibet. It wouldn't be surprising.

In order to prevent this from happening, mines must be laid for them. Those disputed lands are mines.

It can be said that unless Tibet takes the initiative to return the occupied land, it is unlikely that the Four-Nation Alliance will reconcile with them.

Even if their monarch is willing to reconcile, the powerful people below will still have opinions.

After all, losing your country will result in being nailed to the pillar of shame.

And do you really think that after signing the armistice agreement, you will honestly stop fighting? It's impossible. The hatred between the two sides is too deep and cannot be restrained by a piece of paper.

Small frictions between the two parties will only become more frequent and will not disappear just because of an agreement.

Even if they want to calm down, Datang will find ways to make them chaotic.

In short, in Li Shimin's eyes, the plateau was far more threatening to his struggle for world hegemony than Goguryeo, Turks and other countries.

Although Goguryeo, Turks and other countries were powerful, they all lived at normal altitudes, and Datang had ways to deal with them.

The plateau is truly a natural hazard and there is no other way.

The key is that the plateau is on the side of the Hexi Corridor from the Tang Dynasty to the Western Regions. Once it is cut off, it means losing the entire Western Regions.

This is something that Datang absolutely cannot accept.

Therefore, it is best for the plateau to remain chaotic and for both sides to contain each other.

What Chen Jingke didn't expect was that after the incident, Lu Dongzan took the opportunity of offering incense to pay homage to him, and his attitude was very sincere.

This made him very curious and decided to meet him.

And he was really curious about this legendary figure who married a Tang princess in his previous life.

However, for safety reasons, he took Yang Tianlu with him.

When the two parties met, it was natural for them to exchange pleasantries.

Chen Jingke said: "I heard that Xiaolun overpowered Tuyuhun, Zhangxiong and other envoys during the negotiations and protected Tubo's interests."

"This matter is widely spread throughout the capital. Even the saints praised you as a great person. Only when I saw you today did I realize that the rumors were true."

Lu Dongzan said in some weird Mandarin: "Zhenren Chen is ridiculous, but he is just trying his best."

"The real purpose of my trip is to marry the Princess of Tang Dynasty so that the two families will be together forever. But now it seems that this purpose is difficult to achieve."

Chen Jingke smiled and said: "The princesses of the Tang Dynasty are not so easy to marry. To put it bluntly, what qualifications do you, Tubo, have to be brothers to the Tang Dynasty?"

"Han Feizi said: If a country is small but does not feel humble, if it is small but does not fear the strong, if it is rude and insults its neighbors, if it is greedy and ignorant, it will perish."

"This is the impression that the Tang Dynasty had on Tubo. How could you possibly marry the princess to you under such circumstances?"
To be continued...