Tang Dynasty: To win Yang Guifei, they asked Emperor Xuanzong to die.

"Run! Run!"

Li Mao coldly gave the order, then turned and left.

For a time, only Shi Chaoyi and a few soldiers guarding him remained on the city wall. To protect the soldiers from arrows from other walls, they were all dressed in full armor and even masks.

Only Shi Chaoyi was completely naked.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Shi Chaoyi could only run away, filled with shame and indignation.

His voice echoed through the air, filling the entire city wall with his curses: "Li Mao! You will pay for this! Just you wait and see!"

Below the city walls, Shi Siming's army, watching from afar, were stunned by what they saw. They stared in disbelief at the figure running naked on the city wall—was this, this, this really their young general?

"How about it? This method is pretty good, isn't it?" Li Mao said to Guo Ziyi with a smile at the foot of the city wall.

Guo Ziyi nodded, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes: "This would certainly allow Shi Siming to taste the bitterness of losing his dignity, but... wouldn't it be a bit too, too improper?"

"So what? Anyway, Shi Chaoyi isn't exactly a respectable person," Li Mao shrugged.

Historically, Shi Chaoyi murdered his father, making his father Shi Siming the second man killed by his son after Shi Siming killed An Qingxu, who had murdered his father, to avenge An Lushan. At present, Shi Chaoyi is still young, so suffering some injustice is nothing to him.

Seeing Li Mao's reaction, Guo Ziyi smiled and said nothing more.

At the same time, on the other side——

Shi Siming was so angry that he was so enraged that one of his souls left his body and the other ascended to heaven.

He glared and slammed his fist on the table: "Outrageous! Outrageous! That rebellious son readily agreed to Li Mao's demands. Li Mao made him... made him do this shameful thing, and he did it? He didn't even bother to deal with him!"

"General, please calm down," the deputy general hurriedly said. "I'm afraid Li Mao used every means to force the young general into this situation."

Shi Siming stroked his beard, wishing he could kill Li Mao and Shi Chaoyi, those two scoundrels who had brought shame upon his old face! Anyway, he had more than one son; sons could be born again after they died, but once his old face was completely disgraced, it would never be regained.

"Things have come to this point, and I'm afraid Prince Shou has made up his mind. If we continue to take a hard line, I'm afraid the young general won't be able to get down from the city wall," the lieutenant said tentatively, wanting to see if Shi Siming would soften his stance for the sake of his own reputation and negotiate with Prince Shou to rescue his naked son.

Shi Siming remained silent for a moment, then sighed.

He said, "It's just the tactics of a rogue and scoundrel. I have no intention of competing with him in this regard. Send someone to inform him that I am willing to talk to him."

It's called talking, but it's really just peace talks.

When the deputy general saw that Shi Siming had finally relented, he also breathed a sigh of relief.

If Shi Chaoyi were allowed to continue running naked on the city wall for a while longer, who knows how much suffering this little devil would endure. He wouldn't even be able to stand in the army camp when he returned. It's truly...sigh, Prince Shou, Li Mao, as a member of the imperial family, how could you come up with such a treacherous and vicious scheme!

Just as Li Mao had predicted, Shi Siming soon offered his conciliatory intentions after seeing his son running naked. Li Mao naturally went along with it. He hadn't originally intended to humiliate Shi Chaoyi, but now that his real goal had been achieved, he was naturally going to release Shi Chaoyi.

Exhausted and ashamed, Shi Chaoyi fainted without saying a word after coming down from the city gate.

Upon seeing this, Shi Siming, who had come to pick up his son in person, thought to himself: It's good that he fainted; he won't have to walk around the streets and lose face!

After instructing his men to see his son off, Shi Siming looked at Li Mao.

Li Mao cupped his hands and said, "Just now, General Shi promised me to withdraw his troops. I hope General Shi will keep his word."

Yes, Shi Siming spared no expense for his son.

The six city gates that had been painstakingly captured were returned directly to Li Mao.

His private army guarding the city gates will withdraw from Chang'an.

However, Shi Siming also had a condition: "Your Highness also promised me that from now on, you will reserve five spots for my Shi family army among the soldiers guarding the city gates. If I have something to discuss with Your Highness, I can enter and leave Chang'an City without any hindrance."

These were the conditions that Li Mao promised to Shi Siming during the peace talks.

He knew that Shi Siming was not truly loyal to An Lushan, but rather harbored his own selfish ambitions and wanted to dominate the country. Now that he had seized such a good opportunity, he naturally wanted to maintain a state of ambiguous enmity with the Tang Dynasty, so that if An Lushan turned against him, he would still have a chance to resist.

Li Mao nodded: "A promise is a promise. All the conditions agreed upon in this peace negotiation will be fulfilled in the future."

Anyway, when Crown Prince Li Heng returns, everything will be a completely different world.

If Li Heng does not acknowledge the outcome of the peace talks that Li Mao agrees to, there is nothing he can do.

Shi Siming took one last look at the Daming Palace, which was so close at hand, and then left without looking back.

……

"His Royal Highness Shou Wang is wise!"

"His Highness Prince Shou is incredibly powerful!"

When Shi Siming withdrew his troops, the entire city cheered.

If they weren't worried about committing treason, they would have shouted "Long live His Highness Prince Shou!"

For a moment, Li Longji and his men, who were on the run, seemed less important. Li Mao didn't care about them either; he knew that once he recaptured the city, there would be plenty of people like General Feng to inform the Crown Prince and urge him to return and enjoy the fruits of victory.

He didn't need to take action himself.

His only thought now is to go back to the Prince's Palace.

After finishing some affairs in the palace, Li Mao prepared to go to the Prince's residence. Unexpectedly, before the carriage was even ready, a eunuch led a woman dressed in a light red floral dress and wearing a shawl to the front.

"A concubine?" Li Mao stood up, his voice filled with surprise. "Why are you here?"

Lady Wang lowered her head slightly and said softly, "These past few days, someone has been secretly protecting me, and I have not been harmed by Shi Siming's private army. Afterwards, I heard that the situation in Chang'an was tense, and I was uneasy, always worried about Your Highness. Now that things are a little more relaxed, I came to visit you immediately. I don't know if I have disturbed Your Highness?"

"You've come at the right time. I was just planning to go back to the Prince's residence anyway," Li Mao said, offering Wang a seat. Although he had no feelings for this woman, she had helped him a lot, and he respected her greatly.

Suddenly, Li Mao remembered something and said, "Oh, right, the concubine is in the palace. There's something I need you to handle at your residence. Make sure it's done properly..."

As he spoke, Li Mao summoned a palace attendant and whispered a few words to him.

A moment later, a woman with bright eyes and white teeth, as gentle as a spring breeze, slowly emerged from behind the screen. She gracefully bowed to Madam Wang and said softly, "Sister Qiongying greets Consort Wang."

This whole spiel about sisters confused Wang Shi.

By the time she realized what was happening, her face was full of question marks.

Wang: ? ? ?

Where did this damn little slut come from?!