Yebuhua soon met Li Shimin, but as soon as he made his suggestion, Li Shimin almost beheaded him.

"What did you say? You want my eldest grandson to negotiate with you?"

"Your Majesty, it is like this: our Khan has said that he will not negotiate unless the eldest grandson of the legitimate wife personally arrives!"

Li Shimin snorted coldly upon hearing this.

"Who said we wanted to negotiate with you?"

"You attacked my Great Tang's Shuozhou without cause, and I haven't even said I'd let you off the hook yet!"

"If it weren't for the fact that our two countries are at war and the rule against killing envoys is in effect, I would have beheaded you!"

As soon as Li Shimin finished speaking, Changsun Wuji hurriedly offered his advice.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

"Although Xueyantuo's conditions are a bit unreasonable, as long as we send more men to the eldest grandson, along with 30,000 to 50,000 elite troops, I doubt Xueyantuo would dare to do anything to him!"

"As long as we can get the child slaves back, it doesn't matter if we give up some of our profits. We can always fight back in a few years!"

"But if we refuse to negotiate, then the slave will..."

"Your Majesty, please don't forget that when my sister was alive, she loved Zhi Nu the most..."

Changsun Wuji's words touched the softest spot in Li Shimin's heart. Li Shimin's biggest regret was that Empress Changsun died young and could not witness his glorious moments.

"well!"

"All right!"

"For Guanyinbi's sake, I... I'll concede another step!"

"Yebuhua, I can agree to send my eldest grandson to negotiate, but..."

Upon hearing this, Yebuhua immediately interrupted Li Shimin.

"Oh, Your Majesty, there's something I forgot to mention. Our Khan also said that the eldest grandson can only lead five hundred light cavalry. If that number is exceeded, our Khan will kill the Crown Prince of Tang!"

Li Shimin was furious upon hearing this.

"Shut up!"

"Li Zhi is no longer the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty. Our Tang Dynasty has a new Crown Prince!"

"No, no, no, it's the new crown prince!"

"Kill me if you want, I can't be bothered with you!"

"But if you cause me to lose my beloved son, I will repay you a thousandfold, a hundredfold!"

Yebuhua had long been prepared to die, and upon hearing this, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he stretched his neck forward as if he wanted Li Shimin to chop him up.

“Your Majesty, our Xueyantuo are small in territory and few in number, far inferior to your Celestial Empire. However, our ancestral lands have been seized by you, and our Khan’s wife and daughters have been captured. We have nothing left to lose. If we can use the lives of our remaining people to exchange for the Khan’s lifelong regret, I believe this is a worthwhile deal!”

"Your Majesty, please take this foreign minister's life, and then go and collect the body of your Great Tang Crown Prince!"

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, and thought to himself, "I've met my match today."

He would never do it, not even if he were beaten to death, if he were asked to send Li Jue to replace that good-for-nothing Li Zhi.

Besides, who knows what Xueyantuo's intentions are?

If they were to lose Li Jue as well, the Tang Dynasty would suffer a great loss.

"Yebuhua, go back and tell your Khan to give up on this idea!"

"I will prepare Li Zhi's funeral immediately, and I am just waiting for you to bring his body over."

"But please remember, the end of Li Zhi's funeral will be the end of your Xueyantuo tribe!"

Yebuhua smiled slightly upon hearing this.

"Your Majesty understands!"

"However, when the foreign minister was at the city gate just now, he also mentioned this matter to the eldest grandson of the legitimate wife."

"The eldest grandson didn't say anything..."

"oh?"

Li Shimin immediately became suspicious upon hearing this.

He wouldn't be surprised if Yebuhua said something. But Yebuhua didn't say anything, which made him a little uneasy.

Does this mean that Li Jue also didn't want Li Zhi to return?

Li Shimin always valued family ties, but by family ties he only meant his children and grandchildren.

Therefore, he was very eager to hear Li Jue's opinion.

If Li Jue explicitly refuses to go to Xueyantuo for peace talks, he can't do anything to Li Jue, but he will be very sad.

"Someone, take Yebuhua down to rest!"

"promise!"

"Auxiliary machine, you can go down now!"

"oh……"

Changsun Wuji left without hesitation, already guessing what His Majesty intended to do. Sure enough, not long after he left, he saw Zhang Anan rushing out in a hurry, heading towards Li Jue's location.

It seems that His Majesty wants to use the Xueyantuo incident to test the reaction of his eldest grandson.

Upon thinking of this, Changsun Wuji smiled disdainfully.

Because he knew that this was an unsolvable problem. Once His Majesty harbored doubt, no matter how Li Jue answered, it would not satisfy him.

Even if Li Jue firmly stated that he would exchange Li Zhi for him, His Majesty would still feel that Li Jue was putting on an act in front of him.

Li Jue didn't think too much about it. When Zhang Anan came to call him, he eagerly followed him to pay his respects to Li Er.

On the way, Zhang Anan tried to hold back, but in the end he couldn't help himself.

"Your Highness, let me give you a heads-up: if His Majesty asks you to go to Xueyantuo for peace talks, you... you'd better agree on the spot!"

"oh?"

"Oh oh oh..."

Li Juexian was taken aback, but he quickly realized that this was the trivial matter.

"no problem!"

However, Li Jue agreed verbally, but changed his mind when he was in front of Li Er.

"Li Jue, I would like you to represent me on a trip to Xueyantuo. Would you be willing?"

"I don't want to!"

"oh?"

"Your Majesty, please tell me the truth!"

"Are the conditions from the Xueyantuo side extremely harsh? If I don't go, they won't release Uncle Jiu?"

Li Shimin nodded awkwardly upon hearing this.

"yes!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue looked directly at Li Shimin, making Li Shimin feel guilty.

"May I ask Your Majesty, do you intend to use me to exchange for Uncle Jiu?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin quickly shook his head in denial.

"You silly child, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"How could I bear to use you to exchange for a child slave!"

"Don't worry, I won't let you take any risks!"

Hearing this, Li Jue felt a little better, but the thought that Li Er had called him here just to test him still made him feel annoyed.

"Grandpa!"

Are you afraid that I'm the kind of ruthless person who doesn't care about family or friends?

"You had Zhang Aweng call me over just to see my reaction, to see if I care about Uncle Jiu, right?"

Li Shimin was so embarrassed by these words that he wished he could disappear into the ground. However, Li Jue not only did not let him off the hook, but instead took a step forward and stared straight at him, saying each word clearly.

"I'm telling you now, I don't care about Ninth Uncle's life or death. All I care about is the prestige of my Great Tang Dynasty!"

"Our mighty Celestial Empire has been bullied by a small nation. If this gets out, won't we be ridiculed by the world?"

"In short, Uncle Jiu can die, but he absolutely cannot die at the hands of Xueyantuo!"

"Grandson will go to rescue Uncle Nine, and then bring him back and chop him into eight pieces!"