The current situation can be described as "clouds clearing and the moon is bright" for the East Palace, and everything is great. However, after all, it has not yet reached the point where the offensive and defensive reversal has occurred. The Guanlong rebels are still strong after receiving support from the world's elite, and still have an advantage in military strength.
There are two roads before the East Palace, war or peace.
If they fight, it is bound to be a bloody and cruel killing. The two sides combine more than 200,000 troops to attack and kill each other around Chang'an City, which will do no more harm to the imperial society. Although there is no need to make concessions and cede benefits to Guanlong, the victory or defeat also matters.
Between the unknown.
If there is a peace, the mutiny can be eliminated immediately, and the empire will quickly enter the recovery process, but it will inevitably cede its interests to win Guanlong to stop the war. The resulting fall of monarchy and the rampant power of powerful ministers will take ten or even twenty years to resolve.
Keep fighting to take it back.
War and peace both have advantages and disadvantages, and it is not easy to choose between them.
…
Liu Jie did not give in, straightened his back, and said: "Your Highness clearly knows that although the situation has improved now, the rebels have already gained a greater advantage and will fight to the end. The outcome is unknown and will cause irreparable damage to Guanzhong. Your Highness
With great righteousness and justice, they naturally have to shoulder the well-being of the people. They cannot ignore everything and use any means. The rebels are already rebellious officials and traitors. They only want to succeed in the rebellion and intimidate the people of the world, so they naturally act without any scruples. Under such a situation,
Peace talks should be started as soon as possible, and we should take advantage of the opportunity of a lucky victory to determine the overall situation."
Several big shots in the military curled their lips in disdain.
Fang Jun fought life and death and took extraordinary risks to achieve a great victory in reversing the situation. Liu Ji actually said that he won by "lucky luck". He was really shameless.
Li Daozong said: "Liu Shizhong's words are wrong. Since His Highness is the most upright person in the world and has great righteousness, how can he easily collude with the rebels? Even if the military disaster is eliminated, it will inevitably become a stain that cannot be washed away. How can we convince the people of the world?
? Not to mention that after the peace talks, a group of rebellious officials and traitors are still allowed to occupy the court. Where is the law and justice?"
A series of questions were also high-sounding.
Today's alliance with the rebels seems to have ended the war and prevented further losses to the foundation of the empire. However, those rebellious ministers who have no king and no father will continue to stay in the court. Such a surrender to thieves will naturally make it difficult for the prince's prestige to be preserved. From now on, he will suffer
People all over the world criticize him.
History books will also regard this as a great shame and humiliation for Emperor Zhengshuo.
Liu Jie asked back: "But if we fail to annihilate the rebels and bring order to chaos in the end, who will bear this responsibility, and who can afford it? War is just a continuation of politics, and a soldier's bounden duty is to obey orders. As long as he is above the court,
To make a decision, the military can just follow the orders and act without saying anything, and don't stretch your hands too far, intending to influence the government and deceive the emperor. This is what the powerful officials have done, and the world will condemn it."
In terms of quarreling, how could Li Daozong be the opponent of Liu Jie, who was a censor?
He was so angry that he laughed and was about to scold him when Fang Jun said: "If peace talks are restarted, what conditions will be given to the rebels? In other words, what is the bottom line of the East Palace?"
Pointing to the core, Li Daozong also closed his mouth and looked at Liu Jie.
In fact, even if it is more in line with the interests of the military to continue fighting, the military does not reject peace talks now. After all, the Guanlong clan has always occupied high positions since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and the military was based on the Guanlong army.
Sweeping the world and pacifying all directions, he has always been closely connected with the Guanlong Clan.
Seriously annihilating the Guanlong clan may not necessarily serve everyone’s interests...
Of course, the military will never tolerate the civil servants headed by Liu Jie and others simply negotiating for the sake of peace, and then transferring too many benefits of the East Palace.
Because the problems are obvious, the most important condition for Guanlong to agree to the peace talks is the restriction of the Donggong army. Otherwise, as long as the Sixth Army of the East Palace and the Youtun Guards continue to grow, the East Palace can counterattack the Guanlong clan at any time.
Liu Ji had his own concerns, but he did not dare to say it outright at this time, because no matter what he said, it would inevitably arouse opposition from the military and cause the situation to get out of control.
Therefore, he just said vaguely: "The peace talks have not yet started. It is too early to discuss this point. We will slowly test and play during the peace talks. In the end, His Highness's consent will be needed before the final decision can be made."
Fang Jun shook his head, ignored Liu Ji, turned to Li Chengqian and said: "Your Highness, the peace talks are of great importance, and the situation of the army is the basis of the peace talks, so Wei Chen believes that the military should be involved in the peace talks.
, can control the current situation at any time, so that Liu Shizhong will not be blinded, and eventually be deceived by the rebels, harming the interests of the East Palace."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ji firmly objected: "Absolutely not! The military has a tough style and can't bear to see the sand in its eyes. How can it make concessions in negotiations and move forward and retreat freely? Previously, the Duke of Yue brazenly raided the rebels, causing the peace talks to be terminated.
We must not repeat the mistakes of the past now."
Not only him, but this time even Xiao Yu also nodded in agreement: "The war is over and the rebels have suffered heavy losses. If the East Palace military is involved during the peace talks, it will definitely arouse the hatred of the rebels and be detrimental to the progress of the peace talks."
Although he was extremely dissatisfied with Cen Wenwen's support for Liu Jie, the interests of both parties in this matter were consistent and the military must be excluded from the peace talks. In fact, as long as there are ministers in the court who are interested in peace talks, no one is willing to let the military participate.
Li Jing has a high status and is impatient with these complicated affairs. As a royal family, Li Daozong has deep entanglements with Guan Long, and neither of them is suitable. If the military participates in the peace talks, Fang Jun can only participate in it personally, and Fang Jun is now
With his current status and qualifications, how could Liu Jie be able to suppress him?
Moreover, Fang Jun is clearly opposed to the peace talks. If he joins, the peace talks will be in trouble...
Li Chengqian waved his hand and said decisively: "Let Liu Shizhong take the lead in presiding over the talks, find out the rebels' demands as soon as possible, and then formulate corresponding peace talks terms."
This is tantamount to complying with the wishes of Liu Jie and others and excluding the military from the peace talks.
Regardless of whether he is inclined to Fang Jun or not, he still has the idea to win over the civil servants of the East Palace. The way of the world is to promote both civil and military affairs. With the support of the military, he cannot just ignore the civil servants and ignore them, right?
As a prince, he can be distant and distant in his heart, but his behavior must be as fair as possible. When civilian officials are so resistant to the military's participation in peace talks, he cannot insist on forcing the military into the peace talks team.
After all, "balance" is everywhere...
Li Daozong was dissatisfied and was about to express his opposition when he was secretly poked by Fang Jun. When he looked at Fang Jun suspiciously, the latter had already nodded and said: "Your Majesty, you are aware of this. All ministers will obey the order."
Liu Jie and others all breathed a sigh of relief.
Given the prince's favor and trust in Fang Jun, and the fact that Fang Jun now has the power of victory, if he insists on participating in the peace talks, the prince will have no way to refuse. Fortunately, Fang Jun also knows the general situation, and knows that the peace talks are the most important thing at the moment.
The right thing to do, otherwise Li Ji stationed at Tongguan would be a sharp sword hanging over the head of the East Palace. No one knows whether or when he will fall...
…
At the end of the meeting, all the ministers exited in unison, chatting in low voices and leaving in twos and threes.
Li Daozong stood at the door and waited until Fang Jun came out. Then he asked his soldiers to hold umbrellas to block the rain, and together with Li Jing who came out later, they returned to his residence at the inner gate.
This is a house not far from the prince's residence. Although it is not large in scale, its architecture is exquisite and its interior furnishings are also different from ordinary military buildings. It was probably the residence of generals in the past.
The three of them took off their boots at the door, stepped on the smooth floor and entered, sitting at the coffee table by the window. Li Daozhong boiled water and made tea himself.
The water in the pot was spraying white air, so Li Daozong took off the kettle and started making tea. After the soldiers offered a few plates of pastries, Li Daozong waved his hand and dismissed him.
After drinking tea and eating a snack, Li Daozong asked: "Why did Cai Erlang stop me just now? Those civil servants are now blinded by the achievements of the peace talks, and they only want to hold all the achievements in their hands, and they don't care at all.
What kind of losses will the East Palace suffer, and what kind of restrictions will be placed on our army... If we cannot participate in it, who will protect our interests?"
Maybe he didn't care too much about the benefits he would gain from this mutiny, but as a member of the military, he watched the troops belonging to the East Palace fight to the death to turn the tide, but in the end the fruits of victory were seized by civilian officials, and even
Selling part of the military's interests in exchange for Guanlong completing the peace talks as soon as possible... Li Daozong was disgusted.
Fang Jun disagreed and took a sip of tea. His tone was calm but full of domineering: "So what if we don't participate in the peace talks? The soldiers are in our hands. If we feel that the terms of the peace talks are inappropriate, the worst we can do is start a war directly. A few greedy civil servants can't succeed.