Li Shimin's eyes gradually turned deep and cold as he said, "Du Qi, you have to be clear that borrowing the power of Tubo is not a good thing. If because of you, countless people of the Tang dynasty are massacred by Tubo, how can you bear it? "
After hearing this, Du Qi shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I once heard someone say something like this. If some people don't understand the cause of the matter and come to persuade you to be magnanimous, then you have to stay away from them. In that case, you must stay away from such people, because it's easy to accidentally injure you when struck by lightning. Changing the wording of this, it's changing magnanimity to worry about the country and the people. As soon as he met someone, he would say that he was worried about the country and the people. Moreover, he did not care about anything else and just said that he was worried about the country and the people. Staying close to such people is easy to be struck by lightning. "
Li Shimin said in a deep voice, "Du Qi, you're too presumptuous."
At this time, he no longer addressed Du Qi as Du Erlang. Just now, Du Qi's words were pointing at the mulberry tree and cursing the locust tree. It was Li Shimin who persuaded Du Qi, saying how could Tubo people have the heart to kill common people?
Du Qi shrugged and continued, "Now, I've already started a war with Your Majesty, what else can be more presumptuous? Speaking of which, Your Majesty, in order to suppress me, you didn't hesitate to mobilize the army to attack me. Don't you think this will cause casualties and ruin countless people's families? "
After a pause, Du Qi continued, "If Your Majesty has a benevolent heart, you can directly retreat now, and Tubo will also retreat. Everything will be peaceful. Wouldn't that be better? The source of this matter is not what I, Du Qi, want to do. I didn't invade the Tang dynasty's territory and didn't attack the Tang dynasty. The cause of this matter is Your Majesty, it's you who wants to attack me. "
"As for Tubo, my view has always been that those who are not of our race must have different intentions."
"Of course, I know that Tubo troops are stationed at the border. After invading the Tang dynasty, it's easy to hurt the people. But whether Tubo will send troops or not, it's not up to me, it's up to Your Majesty to decide. "
Du Qi continued, "If Your Majesty really wants to go to war, Tufan will naturally attack. Your Majesty, instead of blaming me, why don't you withdraw your troops yourself? This is the most fundamental thing. "
Li Shimin said, "Erlang Du, what a sharp tongue! Back then, you were so eloquent that you even bewitched the Retired Emperor. You still haven't changed in the slightest. "
Du Qi said, "Your Majesty, I've never admitted that I have a sharp tongue. I don't rely on my mouth to talk. I always state the facts and explain a basic principle. Let's take the matter of the Tibetans as an example. Because the beginning of the matter was with Your Majesty, it was not because I ordered the Tibetans to do anything. "
Li Shimin stared at Du Qi. His eyes were unprecedentedly sharp.
Du Qi responded with a light smile. He now had enough trump cards to fight with Li Shimin. Because Li Shimin was different from Du Qi. Li Shimin's family business was large, but he did not dare to stake everything on a single throw.
If it were Yang Guang, once provoked, Yang Guang might not care about anything else and just kill first.
But Li Shimin was different. Li Shimin was a promising monarch, he had more considerations. Especially when Du Qi's strength was not weak, Li Shimin could not casually start a war.
After a long time, Li Shimin said, "Du Qi, I really underestimated you."
Du Qi smiled and said, "Your Majesty underestimated me, but I dare not underestimate you. Your Majesty, the former Emperor, who is now the Retired Emperor, underestimated you, so much so that he stays in the palace all day long and does nothing. "
"The former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng underestimated you, and now the grass on his grave is ten feet high. The former Tujue underestimated you, but they were destroyed by you. In short, underestimating Your Majesty is asking for your own destruction. "
Du Qi said, "I never dare to underestimate Your Majesty, I can only do my best. So if Your Majesty really wants to start a war, perhaps the Tang dynasty will fall into a large-scale war again. "
Li Shimin said seriously, "You are threatening me."
Du Qi's eyes had a touch of certainty. He said, "Your Majesty can understand it as a threat, but you can also understand it as the truth. Because in the current situation, Your Majesty has no choice at all. "
"Your Majesty, in fact, if you think about it carefully, is there any conflict between you and me?"
"There is no conflict."
"I have always been grateful to Your Majesty's kindness and consider the Tang dynasty as my suzerain. So I have been expanding westward, wanting to fight my way out of the Western Regions, to Tianzhu, and to go further to Persia. What's more, my family, parents, and brothers are still in the Tang dynasty. How can I attack the Tang dynasty? "
"That's impossible!"
Du Qi said, "What I can guarantee is that if Your Majesty does not take the initiative to attack me, then at least in Your Majesty's lifetime, I will not attack the Tang dynasty, and both sides will live in peace."
"In addition, although Your Majesty is in charge of the Tang dynasty, in fact, there are too many countries around Your Majesty to conquer. For example, Tubo, Nanzhao in the south, Goguryeo in the north, and even Nihon in the southeast are all countries Your Majesty wants to conquer. "
"It's not that I want to say this, but Your Majesty can conquer all these countries and develop Lingnan, which is already a great achievement. So, in fact, there is no real conflict or contradiction between Your Majesty and me. "
Du Qi said, "It's a pity that Your Majesty listened to slanderous words and sent troops to attack me, which led to all this happening today."
Li Shimin's eyes narrowed, and his cold expression suddenly smiled.
"What a good Du Qi, you really have a sharp tongue."
Li Shimin spoke.
At this time, a smile appeared on Li Shimin's face. However, Li Shimin's expression was solemn as he continued, "Du Qi, do you dare to swear that you will not attack the Tang dynasty for the rest of your life?"
Du Qi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the oath I can make is that I will not take the initiative to attack the Tang dynasty for the rest of my life. If people don't attack me, I won't attack them. If the Tang dynasty wants to attack me, just like now, I'm fine in the Western Regions, but Your Majesty wants to pick the peach and intends to deal with me, then I can't just sit and wait for death. Your Majesty, don't you think so? "
Li Shimin said, "Du Qi, you're really not simple. Now I regret letting you come to the Western Regions. I didn't expect that when you came to the Western Regions, you let the tiger return to the mountain. "
Du Qi said, "Even if Your Majesty didn't agree, I still had other ways to come to the Western Regions. I can only say that Your Majesty listened to Zhangsun Wuji and released the beast in my heart. If Your Majesty didn't listen to Zhangsun Wuji and didn't target my Du family, I wouldn't have to come to the Western Regions to run my business. "
After a pause, Du Qi continued, "Your Majesty, Zhangsun Wuji is not bad, but he lacks the breadth of mind of Prime Minister Fang, and also lacks my father's vision and loyalty. For people like Zhangsun Wuji, family and personal interests come first. "
Li Shimin said, "You don't have to say much about Zhangsun Wuji. I have my own plans." After a pause, Li Shimin said, "Du Qi, I can choose not to attack the Western Regions, but I have conditions."
"Impossible!"
Du Qi directly refused without even thinking.
Li Shimin said, "I haven't even mentioned my conditions. But now, you've directly rejected him. Du Qi, isn't your rejection a little too quick? "
Du Qi said, "Your Majesty's conditions, needless to say, I can roughly guess."
Li Shimin said, "Let's hear it."
Du Qi smiled and said, "The first condition is to ask for weapons, which are the three weapons in my hands, landmines, grenades, and gunpowder, right?"
After muttering the names of landmines, grenades, and gunpowder, Li Shimin said, "Du Qi, your guess is right. As long as you hand over these three weapons, my Tang dynasty can also develop them, and I can withdraw my troops."
Du Qi said, "Absolutely impossible."
To Du Qi, landmines, grenades, and other weapons today were equivalent to nuclear weapons in the future. In this era of cold weapons, gunpowder, grenades, and landmines had great lethality and usefulness. Du Qi couldn't directly hand them over to Li Shimin.
Handing them over would be helping the enemy.
It would be digging his own grave.
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