Luoyang, the former imperial capital, was desolate. The once bustling streets were deserted, and a broken corner of the palace could be vaguely seen under the setting sun.
A carriage stopped on the Tianjin Bridge, and Xu Bin, dressed in linen, stepped out of the carriage, stroking his beard and scanning the palace wall in front of him.
Shi Siming's troops guarding the palace knew that he was an envoy sent by Li Siye, and opened the corner door with an expressionless expression and waited for him to enter.
As Shi Siming's trusted minister, Xue Song also walked out of the palace gate to greet him. The two smiled and held hands with each other. Xue Song led the way and said: "Please, Mr. Xu."
As the two of them walked from Duanmen to the palace city and then to the Mingtang, Xue Song began to test Xu Bin verbally: "Mr.
By supporting him as the emperor, could it be that he wanted to imitate the Cao family who used the emperor to control the princes? But the orthodox emperor of the Tang Dynasty is still there, and besides, you can't control it, but you make a fake to confuse the real one with the fake one? But the integrity of the Tang Dynasty
No one is a fool."
Xu Bin smiled calmly and said: "How can anything in this world be true or false? Everything is measured by strength. When it comes to self-destruction, the false becomes true."
Xue Sheng laughed a few times after hearing this, and followed his words and continued: "You are right, no matter whether it is true or not, there will be a day when Li's banner will not be useful."
"You are right. What the people of the world care about is not who can rule the world, but who can give them peace and stability."
The two chatted secretly for several rounds, and Xue Song introduced him into the tall and majestic Mingtang. Shi Siming could be vaguely seen wearing a yellow robe and sitting on the imperial steps. On both sides of the hall sat the civil and military officials he had pieced together.
Hundreds of officials.
Xu Bin walked up to him, bowed to Shi Siming, folded his hands and saluted, saying: "Xu Bin meets Emperor Yan Xiongwu."
Shi Siming looked at the mask on Xu Bin's face and asked in surprise: "Why don't you show your true face?"
Xu Bin replied calmly: "My face was burned by a fire, which probably tarnished the emperor's face."
Shi Siming did not continue to delve into this issue, nor was he low-level enough to slander his appearance. Instead, he said quite complacently: "I wonder if Prime Minister Xu represents the puppet emperor of the Tang Dynasty, or does he represent Li Siye?"
"Oh. How do you say this?"
Shi Siming smiled and said: "If you represent the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, then in my eyes, only Li Heng who retreated to Jiangdong is the real Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and the one you support is a fake. You represent a fake to follow
If I talk about it, it means you don't give me face."
"If you represent Li Siye, he does have the qualifications in terms of momentum, but his official position is not high enough. I am the emperor and he is just a minister. Logically speaking, he has to come to see me in person. Is this what it means if I just send you to come?
"
As soon as Shi Siming finished speaking, the whole hall rang with the ridicule of his courtiers. Xu Bin still stood proudly, unaffected by the ridicule of these people.
"In the past, everyone called the emperor the most noble, but saints are not noble, and sages are not noble. Isn't Duke Yi Yin of Zhou a great talent? He is not as good as those mediocre monarchs who do not seek their own political affairs in their positions. He is not as good as those who take advantage of the situation to cause chaos.
A short-lived monarch who crossed history like a shooting star? Wei Wu and Cao Cao were never crowned in their entire lives, so how could they not be worthy of the title of saint? Yuwen Tai served as a soldier throughout his life, prospering the land, and opening up military forces. His achievements were those of Sima Min, Liu Yuan,
Are Shi Le, Murong Yun, Feng Ba, Tuo Ba Tao, Gao Huan, Xiao Daocheng, etc. comparable?"
Shi Siming stood up angrily, walked to the edge of the imperial steps, glared at Xu Bin and said: "Li Siye is just a clown who follows in the footsteps of others. How dare he be compared with Duke Zhou, Yi Yin, Cao Cao, and Yu Wentai?"
Xu Bin quickly retorted: "The current situation is not stable, the world is uncertain, and the victory or defeat is not yet known. How do you know that he cannot be compared with them. Based on the current situation, my lord will monopolize Guanzhong with Feihu cavalry, take Longyou, and regain
In the west of Hexi, Shangdang is dominating and has more than 200,000 strong soldiers. Its power is so powerful that even you, Emperor Yan, and Deng Jingshan combined can't resist it."
"You're farting! There's someone who is so flattering to your master's face. I can't resist him. Why are you here? He's just taking advantage of the dangerous terrain of Shangdang and the solidity of Tongguan.
If you ask him to lead his troops out and have a real fight with me, I will definitely beat him until he throws away his armor and his entire army is annihilated!"
Xu Bin said with a smile: "You are right, my lord is indeed not as good as you. It took a lot of efforts to obtain this treasure land in Guanzhong, and it took a lot of effort to stabilize Hexi, my hometown.
That's why I relied on the terrain advantage to fight against you. But now the one who really has the terrain advantage is not Deng Jingshan who occupies Taiyuan? At the beginning, you and my lord agreed to jointly deal with the imperial court. My lord took Shangdang and entered Guanzhong, and you attacked Yunzhong Taiyuan.
We won Hedong. Unexpectedly, in the end, our lord defeated Shangdang, Puzhou and Jiangzhou, and crossed from Pujin to Guanzhong, but you came back at the foot of Taiyuan City. If you put it this way, you are actually the strongest in the world.
Is it Deng Jingshan from Hedong?"
Xu Bin raised his hands and said to himself: "If this is the case, then I came to the right place this time. You were defeated at the hands of Deng Jingshan, but you joined forces with him to attack my lord, thinking that Deng Jingshan could help you unify
The north? If you think so, you are totally wrong. But don’t forget that he is Li Heng’s loyal dog. Once he breaks through the Shangdang, captures Jinpu and passes through Guanzhong, the first thing he will do is to seize the people entrenched in
Let Guo Ziyi from Hanzhong and Shuzhong come in, and then welcome Li Heng back to Guanzhong from Nanyang. When the time comes, he will still attack you as a traitor."
Shi Siming raised his eyebrows and asked: "In your opinion, I should join forces with Li Siye? Humph, joining forces with him is seeking the skin of a tiger. Do you think I don't know that? How many times has he tricked me?"
Xu Bin crossed his hands and shook his head with a smile: "Your Majesty, you are wrong. You think that Deng Jingshan seems to be isolated and helpless, but behind him are Li Heng and the stubborn forces that protect them. The only ones who are truly isolated and helpless are you and my lord, Your Majesty.
If we don't unite, will we wait until the future when Zheng Hua Jiedushi, Chen Xu Jiedushi, Xu Si Jiedushi, Zi Ziqing Jiedushi, and Xiangyang Jiedushi will help Deng Jingshan one by one with the cooperation of the imperial court?
Defeat us? In the eyes of others, we are rebellious and cannot hold up the same sky as them."
Shi Siming asked with a look of disbelief on his face: "Li Siye lives in Guanzhong and has already driven Li Heng to Jiangdong. How can he be so cowardly?"
"This is not called cowardice. Being prepared for danger in times of peace is an essential quality for great things. Although Li Heng was defeated, most of the land in the world still belongs to him, and most of the military governors in the world are appointed by him. If you are not careful, they will come back. And.
We all know that Deng Jingshan is probably a rotten scholar, and he will not surrender under any circumstances. Your Majesty, by joining forces with him today, you are truly seeking the skin of a tiger."
Shi Siming nodded slowly at first, and then said with a smile on his face: "In this case, I can unite with Li Siye and stop attacking the Shangdang. But Deng Jingshan has occupied Yunzhou in Taiyuan for a long time, which is a great threat to Gu.
Now that I occupy Luoyang, I am also threatened by Chen Xu Jiedushi Wang Zhongsheng, so I need some troops to garrison Luoyang. I have only one request for our two families to unite, and that is to deal with Deng Jingshan as soon as possible. You must serve as the main force, because I cannot spare any troops.
, you can cooperate with the Hexi Army as support. How about it?"
Xu Bin thought silently, thinking that Shi Siming was indeed treacherous. In his eyes, Deng Jingshan was a hot potato. He would wait for others to catch it first and get burned before he went to pick the fruit. But how can things in the world be done?