The suspect Suba was caught and Li Chenghua interrogated him in person. There were still many doubts in this case. Li Chenghua always thought that the Saint Sisters had no time to deploy. Now Li Chenghua already knows that the Saint Sisters have many pigeon message transfer stations. The major events that happened in Chang'an
Incident, the Saintess Society will be able to get news of Chang'an within twenty days.
Another thing she didn't expect was that her subordinates who came back from Gongyue City told her that Suiye Guangming Temple refused to accept An Jia and others, and An Jia was not willing to stay in Suiye Guangming Temple, so they considered sending them to
Khanna Guangming Temple, unexpectedly something happened the next day.
All kinds of doubts made Li Chenghua vaguely feel that poisoning An Jia and others was not that simple.
Suba was very thin and timid, but such a timid person was able to put poison into food and killed dozens of people.
Suba said tremblingly: "I don't know what kind of medicine it is. It's exactly the same as flour. A woman gave it to me. She asked me to pour it into the flour and gave me twenty gold coins. I did everything. In the afternoon, there were reports of poisoning."
After hearing the news, I was frightened and immediately packed up my things and ran away."
Li Chenghua frowned, why is it a woman? This is different from what Zheng said! Zheng thought it was the poison given to him by the businessman.
"Do you know this woman who asked you to poison her?"
Suba hesitated, "I have seen her."
Li Chenghua was shocked and asked quickly: "How did you see her?"
"She is the Holy Lady Messenger of Suiye Guangming Temple. I have seen her preach. My mother was attracted by her sermons and joined the Holy Lady Association, but she doesn't know me."
Li Chenghua was really shocked. If what Suba said was true, then the death of An Jia and others was the work of the Holy Maiden. They had already notified Suiye Guangming Temple and would poison them as soon as An Jia and others arrived.
An Jia also noticed something, so she refused to stay at Suiye Guangming Temple, but went to Bahanna Guangming Temple.
But Zheng Ju would not lie to himself, so how could he think that it was an internal act?
"Where did you go after you left the post house?"
"I went to Anping Inn, which is the inn owned by my cousin."
Li Chenghua nodded, that's right, Anping Inn is the inn where the internal merchants stayed, so Zheng Ju misunderstood. He thought it was the internal merchants who sheltered Suba, but in fact it was the innkeeper who hid Suba.
Li Chenghua asked his men to continue the interrogation. She returned to the temporary government office and asked people to find Qu Afeng.
"I want to know, does Anga have any enemies in the Saint?"
"What kind of enemy do you want to ask, personal grudges, or rivals vying for power?"
"Including everything, I also want to know about the factional struggle of the Saint Sisters."
Li Chenghua vaguely guessed that An Jia's death might be related to the internal struggle of the Saint Sisters.
Qu Afeng thought for a while and said: "There is no personal grudge, but there is one competitor, Kang Mira, who we all met this morning. She competes with An Jia for the position of Golden Saint, and the Saint of Light prefers An Jia.
Ga."
"Whose territory is Broken Leaf Daguangming Temple?"
"This is Kang Mira's territory. She once served as the Saint Messenger for ten years. The current Saint Messenger is her former deputy and was recommended by Kang Mira."
It was really hard to find a place after wearing iron shoes. It took no effort to get it. The poisoner Suba was caught. The case of Anga's poisoning was solved instantly. It turned out to be an internal power struggle. The mastermind was Kang Mira.
, she got the news that An Jia and others were escorted back, so she ordered the saint envoy of Suiye Guangming Temple to poison An Jia.
This strange coincidence has nothing to do with Broken Leaf being attacked. It is just a coincidence in time that the two happened simultaneously.
"Who is behind this Kang Mira?" Li Chenghua asked again.
"It's the old Council of Elders. It doesn't have any real power now, but it's still there."
Li Chenghua nodded. It turns out that this also involves the high-level power struggle of the Holy Maiden Society. I am afraid that the Holy Maiden Society's inability to control the army is also related to the high-level power struggle.
Li Chenghua thought for a moment and said: "Let's set off tomorrow to Samarkand!"
The emperor wanted to control Hezhong, and Li Chenghua felt that he had to provide the emperor with good information.
After the Lantern Festival, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually fades away, and the ordinary days of the second year of Jiaxing gradually begin again.
In fact, the mobilization of additional troops to Anxi has already begun. On January 20, Li Ye issued the highest military order, ordering the 40,000 troops stationed in Jincheng to be transferred to Anxi, and simultaneously sent military supplies of 100,000 camels from Jincheng to Anxi.
.
The 40,000-strong army includes 6,000 heavy armored infantry led by Xu Zongran, 4,000 auxiliary corps, 10,000 firearms corps and 20,000 elite cavalry from Xi Wanli.
Li Ye also appointed Bai Xiaode, the governor of Anxi, as the marshal of the Western Expedition, Xu Zongran and Li Feiyuanli as deputy generals, Guo Xin as the chief historian, and Li Chenghua, the commander of the internal defense, to supervise the army and command 60,000 troops for the western expedition.
Just as the Tang Dynasty was dispatching troops and generals to prepare for the Western Expedition, Silla envoys also arrived in Chang'an.
The Silla envoy was named Kim Ji-jeong, and he was a servant of Silla. He was the second most powerful figure in the military, second only to Kim Ryang-sang, a senior minister in Shangdae. He belonged to the hard-line faction of Silla.
Jin Zhizhen had always been hostile to the Tang Dynasty and opposed negotiations with the Tang Dynasty. However, the severe situation in Silla forced Jin Zhizhen to bow his head and come to Chang'an to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty.
Starting from the second half of last year, due to the continued turmoil in Liaodong and the Tang Army's launch of the Liaodong Campaign, it also seriously affected Silla's internal situation.
Ten years ago, King Gyeongdeok of Silla passed away and eight-year-old King Hyegong succeeded to the throne. Due to the lack of a strong monarch, conflicts within the Silla ruling group began to surface, and aristocratic forces were ready to move, covet and challenge the royal power.
The Da Gong and Da Lian Rebellions broke out in the year King Hye Gong came to the throne. Nearly a hundred nobles from all over the country responded to the rebellion. The rebellion lasted for three years. Although it failed in the end, it kicked off the civil strife in Silla.
And in the year, the nobles Jin Yinju and He Yeomian took advantage of the opportunity when the main force of Silla went north to the Yalu River to confront the Tang army. They took the opportunity to launch rebellions in Xiongzhou and incited the Baekje people to revolt. The Baekje people were oppressed and took advantage of the situation to revolt.
The momentum was so great that the Silla court had to urgently mobilize troops south to brutally suppress the Baekje survivors, massacring hundreds of thousands of Baekje people, and the Unongjin coast was stained red with blood.
Continuous internal rebellions and the rebellion in Baekje seriously weakened Silla's national power. In addition, King Hyegong Jinganyun was ignorant and greedy for pleasure, and Silla's national destiny was bleak.
This was the time when Silla was at its weakest since the founding of the country. The house was flooded with rain all night long. The Tang army gathered powerfully on Tamra Island, and a huge dark cloud of national destruction hung over Silla.
Li Ye also attached great importance to the arrival of the Silla mission and arranged negotiations between Left Prime Minister Zhang Li and Jin Zhenzhi.
If he can achieve his goal at the negotiation table and turn Silla into the second Nanzhao, Li Ye can put it aside temporarily and concentrate on the Western Expedition.
If the goal cannot be achieved at the negotiation table, Tang Jun will not hesitate to attack.
On the second day after Jin Zhenzhi arrived, Zhang Li and Yan Quanming, the Minister of War, held the first round of negotiations with Jin Zhenzhi at the Ministry of War.
The two sides exchanged a few words and then went directly to the topic. Jin Zhenzhi came up with Silla's plan. First, Silla recognized Tamluo Island as the territory of the Tang Dynasty; second, the two sides used the Yalu River as the boundary, and Silla retreated three hundred miles. Promise never to peek into the territory of the Tang Dynasty; third, Silla will obey the Tang Dynasty as the suzerainty, accept the canonization of the Tang Dynasty, and send the prince to Chang'an as a hostage; fourth, Silla promises to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty every year, and guarantee that the king of Silla will pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty every year. I went on pilgrimage to Chang'an every three years.
These four plans were full of sincerity for Silla. Among them, Jin Zhenzhi did not agree with the third and fourth items. However, at the insistence of Jin Liangxiang, a senior minister of Shangda University, Jin Zhenzhi had no choice but to accept it and come to Chang'an for negotiations.
Zhang Li looked at the other party's four plans, smiled slightly and said: "I wonder if the servant can fully represent Silla?"
Jin Zhenzhi said coldly: "If it does not exceed Silla's bottom line, I can represent Silla!"
What he meant was that the four plans were Silla's bottom line.
Zhang Li nodded, "In that case, let me talk about Datang's plan. Datang's plan only has three plans, one less than yours. First, the boundary between the two sides is based on the boundary line at the end of the fourth year of Xianqing of the Tang Dynasty; second, Silla disbanded its army and sent Tang troops to station in Silla!"
Jin Zhenzhi didn't react at first. What did the fourth year of Xianqing of the Tang Dynasty mean? After hearing the second article, he suddenly remembered that the fourth year of Xianqing of the Tang Dynasty was the year when Baekje was destroyed. Silla disbanded its army and the Tang army moved in. , what is the difference between this and the destruction of a country?
Jin Zhenzhi stood up and glared at Zhang Lida: "What are you talking about?"
Zhang Li waved his hand and said, "I have a third item, please be patient and calm!"
"What's there to talk about? What's the difference between this and Silla's annihilation of the country?"
"Of course there is a difference. The difference is that the Silla Kingdom is still there. The people of Silla are the subjects of Silla, not the subjects of the Tang Dynasty. Our third article is very simple. The heir to the throne of Silla must be pledged to Chang'an! "
Jin Zhenzhi gritted his teeth and said: "I can also tell you clearly that we will not accept any of these three items. Farewell!"
Jin Zhenzhi turned around and strode out of the Ministry of War meeting hall, followed by a group of his subordinates.
