The envoy of the Tang Dynasty was Huangmen Shilang Wen Daya. He was only received by Li Mi three days after arriving in Chenliu County.
The Qinzheng Pavilion of Chenliu Palace was the official residence where Li Mi handled official business. Under the guidance of several guards, Wen Daya walked through the long corridor and arrived at the door of Li Mi's official residence.
"Report to your lord, the Tang envoy will bring you here!"
"Invite him in."
The door opened, and Wen Dayan walked into the room with his head held high. The room was spacious and bright, filled with a faint scent of sandalwood. In the middle, sitting in the middle was Wei Wang Li Mi, who was wearing a purple dragon robe and a three-beam crown.
A minister sat down, and opposite Li Mi there was a couch, obviously reserved for him.
At this time, Wen Daya noticed that there was a huge sand table two feet wide and three feet long placed near the window. Since Yang Yuanqing took the lead in using the sand table, other major forces followed suit. There was also a sand table placed in Li Yuan's imperial study room.
A huge sand table covering the entire Central Plains.
Wen Daya gathered her mind and quickly stepped forward to salute Li Mi, "His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty's special envoy Wen Daya is here to see the King of Wei!"
"It turns out to be Minister Wen, please excuse me!"
Li Mi's literary accomplishment was excellent, and he was born into a noble family in Guanlong. This made his pomp and etiquette quite decent, and he had the momentum of a formal dynasty. Li Mi also felt good about himself. His only regret was that he did not have a decent palace.
Capital cities like Taiyuan or Chang'an supported him.
Li Mi smiled slightly again, waved his hand and said: "Servant Wen, please take a seat."
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Wen Daya sat down, and Li Mi introduced him to the two senior officials next to him with a smile, "These two are Shangshu's right servant She Fang Xuanzao and Internal History Ling Bing Yuanzhen. They are both important ministers of the Wei Dynasty. I think Minister Wen must also
I’ve heard of it.”
Of course Wen Daya knew that although Li Mi accepted a group of Sui officials from Yu Wenhuaji, such as Pei Yun, Yu Shiqing and others, it was just a facade. In fact, the power was still in the hands of his former confidants, just like in front of him.
These two people are also the main reason why Feng Deyi escaped from Li Mi.
"It turns out they are two important ministers. Daya has admired them for a long time."
The three of them saluted each other. When Wen Daya and Bing Yuanzhen saluted, they exchanged glances. There were some things that both of them knew well.
Fang Xuanzao, on the other hand, sat still like an old monk with his eyes half closed, as if nothing had anything to do with him. He ignored Wen Daya's greetings and looked very arrogant.
This was not because the literati were disdainful, but because Fang Xuanzao opposed forming an alliance with the Tang Dynasty. He did not want Li Mi to be involved in the conflict between the Sui and Tang Dynasties. He saw clearly that the Tang Dynasty was obviously taking advantage of the Wei Dynasty. Fang Xuanzao firmly opposed it.
, but Li Mi was very enthusiastic, leaving him helpless.
Wen Daya got a cold face from Fang Xuanzao. She was a little embarrassed. She could only smile and said to Li Mi: "I submitted a handwritten letter to His Majesty the day before yesterday. Your Highness must have read it. I don't know.
Is Your Highness willing to accept my suggestion to His Majesty?"
Li Mi smiled faintly, "I have indeed read the Tang Dynasty emperor's personal letter and fully considered his suggestions. In principle, I can accept his plan, but some details need to be discussed again. I wonder if Mr. Wen can
Can you make the decision?"
Wen Daya was startled for a moment, then quickly leaned forward and said: "If the change is not big, I can make the decision!"
"The changes are not big, but I would like to add some small conditions."
Wen Daya heard that Li Mi wanted to add conditions, and he felt a little nervous. Although the Tang court had considered that Li Mi might put forward conditions before he left, the court was not prepared to make concessions. Among them, the emperor made it clear that land and population were determined.
Don't give in.
Wen Daya actually didn't have much room to make the decision, but he said calmly: "I wonder what conditions His Highness wants?"
"I have two conditions. The first condition is that the Tang Dynasty provides me with 300,000 shi of grain for military purposes."
Hearing that the other party asked for 300,000 shi of grain, Wen Daya felt a little relieved. There was enough food and grass in Jingxiang and he could afford 300,000 shi of grain. He could agree to this condition.
However, he couldn't agree straight away, which made Li Mi feel it was too easy. Wen Daya showed a look of embarrassment on her face. She pondered for a while and asked again: "I wonder what the second condition of His Majesty the King of Wei is?"
"As for the second condition!"
Li Mi prolonged his tone and his tone became cold, "I want a head, Feng Deyi's head, as a condition for alliance..."
Wen Daya was shocked. The first condition was still a pretense, but he really couldn't accept the second condition. How could it be possible! Feng Deyi was now the internal history minister of the Tang Dynasty and a high-ranking official.
How could the Tang Dynasty give his head to Li Mi again? Otherwise, no one would dare to seek refuge with the Tang Dynasty in the future.
"The second condition is a bit overwhelming. Please think again, King Wei." Wen Daya politely rejected Li Mi's second condition.
"It's a pity for me. I originally wanted to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, but it's a pity!" Li Mi shook his head, his words full of regret.
"Your Highness, can you change the conditions and compare your feelings with others? If the Tang Dynasty proposed such a condition, would Your Highness be able to accept it?"
Li Mi raised his head and thought for a moment, with a sly smile in his eyes, "Since I am forcing someone to do something difficult, I have to change a condition, okay! I won't force the Tang Dynasty, so I will change a condition, I want one hundred thousand pieces of silk cloth.
"
This is Li Mi's real condition. Although Feng Deyi's betrayal made him angry, it was only a loss of face. Now Li Mi values more actual interests, such as food and cloth, the most practical property. With Feng Deyi,
Trading one's head for one hundred thousand pieces of silk cloth was a big deal.
Wen Daya immediately understood Li Mi's intention, and he cursed in his heart for being shameless. Fortunately, these two conditions did not violate the bottom line of land and population, so he could agree.
"Does His Highness the King of Wei have any other conditions?"
"The other thing is that we hope that both of us can treat each other with sincerity and jointly deal with the Sui army's southward expansion."
Wen Daya nodded solemnly, "Based on His Highness the King of Wei's words 'treat each other with sincerity', I agreed to both conditions."
...........
Wen Daya left, and Bing Yuanzhen also withdrew, leaving only Fang Xuanzao and Li Mi in the room. Fang Xuanzao was firmly opposed to forming an alliance with the Tang Dynasty. He did not have selfish motives like Bing Yuanzhen, but
He believed that the alliance with the Tang Dynasty was a strategic mistake.
"Does Your Majesty realize what our Wei Dynasty lacks compared to the Sui and Tang Dynasties?"
Li Mi knew this very well. He walked slowly to the sand table with his hands behind his back and stared at the sand table for a long time. After a long time, he sighed and said, "What I lack most now is population."
"Your Majesty is right. The Tang Dynasty was involved in neutralizing Bashu and occupying the wealthy Jingxiang with a large population. The Sui Dynasty had Hedong and Fengzhou. I heard that Fengzhou was gradually migrating its population to Hebei. These are extremely important.
strategic resources, but we lack a densely populated place like Guanzhong or Hedong, so our strength is never comparable to the Sui and Tang dynasties."
Fang Xuanzao saw it very clearly and pointed out Li Mi's biggest weakness now. In fact, Li Mi also had another weakness, which was that his name was not justified and his words were not consistent.
Although he captured Yang Tan and Empress Xiao, the empress and grandson of the Sui Dynasty, the dynasty he established was called Wei Dynasty, and his army was also called Wei Jun. This was a bit nondescript and made him lose his legitimacy. Empress Xiao and Yang Tan
The political advantage has not been fully exerted.
But compared to the fact that it is justifiable, the weakness of not having a strategic location is more serious. Why he asked for 300,000 dan of food as a condition is because his military rations are seriously insufficient.
The territory he occupied could not feed an army of 200,000, so he could only use the army to farm, but the army's farming could not solve his immediate needs. Without a population, there would be no food, no taxes, and no sources of troops. This was Li Mi's biggest weakness.
Fang Xuanzao knew what Li Mi's problem was, and he also thought of a solution.
"Your Majesty, we can actually develop to the south, with Jiangdu as our capital and the land of Wuyue as our hinterland. We can control the Jianghuai Central Plains in the north and Wuyue and Fujian in the south, which is enough to divide the world with the Sui and Tang Dynasties. So, why do we have to work hard for the Tang Dynasty?
, being used by it?”
Fang Xuanzao's words made Li Mi a little tempted. Although in the early Sui Dynasty, the economic population of the south could not be compared with that of the north, but in the chaos of the late Sui Dynasty, the north suffered great damage and a large number of people fled south.
On the contrary, Jiangnan suffered relatively less damage from the war and became an economically developed place. Although in the late Sui Dynasty, Jiangnan also had rebellions by Li Zitong, Du Fuwei and others, but at that time, various princes had already paid more attention to people's livelihood.
No longer plundering and killing, but now knowing how to release water to raise fish.
The first thing Li Mi thought of was Jiangdu City. The city was tall and wide, with a large population. It later became the capital of the Sui Dynasty. It was a large capital city comparable to Taiyuan and Chang'an. If he could win Jiangdu, he could directly ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.
"Let me think about this again, think about it again!"
Fang Xuanzao actually didn't ask Li Mi to agree to anything immediately. After all, the matter was very important and it was impossible to agree to anything all at once. At the same time, he didn't ask him to regret his alliance with the Tang Dynasty. The key was that as long as Li Mi had his own interests in mind, he would take it easy.
, will not spend all his life working for the Tang Dynasty.
"I'm resigning from that humble position!"
.......
Li Mi stood alone in front of the sand table with his hands behind his hands. He thought of the past again. In fact, he and Yang Yuanqing had a deep relationship. The first person who appreciated him was Yang Su. He was studying on the back of an ox and was attracted by Yang Su.
When he saw it, he was deeply surprised after some conversation and ordered his son Xuangan to date him.
Yang Xuangan was his best friend in his life, and he planned Yang Xuangan's rebellion, but he did not expect that his biggest enemy now was actually Yang Xuangan's son and grandson of Yang Su, which made him feel the wonder of life.
Li Mi walked to the window again with his hands behind his back, looking at the gorgeous sunset in the distance, which dyed the entire sky purple. The thing Li Mi regretted most was killing Zhang Xutuo.
He and Yang Yuanqing had an indissoluble feud, and the grudge between them could only be resolved by death.
This knot made Li Mi couldn't help but let out a long sigh.