The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 312
When Li Shimin made plans for himself, the East Palace where Li Jiancheng was located was also brightly lit.

Although his father transferred his second brother Li Shimin's subordinates one by one, Li Jiancheng knew that his second brother was not only ruthless, but also had a strong will to succeed. With a glimmer of hope, he will fight for himself, even if he pays everything, he doesn't care. He is the kind of gambler who only cares about himself and doesn't care about what happens behind him.

Although Li Shimin was in an extremely weak period at this time, if he was reused by his father again, then his civil and martial arts would still be attached again. The act of leaving seems to be a punishment for Li Shimin, but it is actually helping Li Shimin cultivate talents. When these people come out of the shadow of failure and return from local experience, they must be stronger and more powerful than before.

Moreover, after Li Shimin's return, his father continued to let him take the post of Shangshu Ling, and the vital military department was still under his control, and the troops transferred from various counties were still under Li Shimin's command.That is to say, although Li Shimin is in a disadvantageous situation, he actually still controls about [-]% of the military forces, and he also has Duguzheng, Pei Ji, Zhao Cijing, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Dou Jing, Shangshu of the Ministry of Housing, and Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry in the court. Samurai for support.

Look at yourself!The forces in the army are weak, mainly the three factions of Li Shentong, Chai Shao, and Li Xiaogong.In addition, the [-] recruits that Qi Wang Yuanji was training also belonged to his henchmen, barely accounting for [-]% of the military forces.

Li Jiancheng's influence is mainly concentrated in the imperial court. Nearly [-]% of the imperial court and local officials are his supporters. He has a very strong civil service. It is the strength of the civil service system that makes him firmly hold the crown prince. Shake his position.

However, Li Jiancheng was still worried about his second brother Li Shimin's powerful influence in the army and the expansion of the court, especially after his return, he planned to accept Xiao Yu's prostitute's daughter as a side concubine, and Xiao Yu also agreed, which made Li Jiancheng Feeling dissatisfied.

In a sense, the southern faction that had always supported him, Li Jiancheng, cracked because of Li Tang's southward migration. The leader of the Xiao faction, in the future, they will fight for the leadership of the southern gentry.

In the room, Li Jiancheng paced back and forth sullenly with his hands behind his back, while Changsun Wuji sat beside him in deep thought.

After a long time, Li Jiancheng couldn't help but said bitterly: "I don't know what the father thinks, just give him military power! Now he is trying to marry him into the Xiao family, which clearly shows that he is not powerful enough. Does the father not know the consequences? Is it? Father is obviously asking him to compete with me for the position of crown prince? I really don’t understand what father is thinking? If you are not satisfied with me, you can withdraw my crown prince. I, Li Jiancheng, can’t say a word One word."

Li Jiancheng was in a bad mood, he had already failed like this, but his father still wanted to be like this, and he still supported and encouraged their brothers to fight each other. Could it be that his father wanted him to be Yang Yong?

After he lost his temper, he sat at the table in a daze. He just felt upset and chilled. He didn't want to speculate about his father like this, but the facts were clearly in front of him. He couldn't deceive his heart. It can be said, Father's method hurt his heart.Huo Di said to his eldest grandson Wuji: "Wuji, tell me, is Father really so confused? Fortunately, I thought I had a long memory."

Changsun Wuji is Li Jiancheng's confidant and aide, and also Li Jiancheng's military adviser. At this time, he also understood Li Jiancheng's mood. He sighed and said, "Your Highness, don't be too sad. In fact, this is very normal. Although the Holy Majesty is His Highness's father, He is also an emperor, as long as he is an emperor, he will use the emperor's mind, it is the same for the civil and military ministers, and it is also the same for his own son. Ruthless is the saying of the emperor's family, and that is how it came about."

"I think I've made a very clear distinction between 'Junfu'. Why did my father still use the emperor's mind, and what kind of emperor's mind did he use against me?" Li Jiancheng looked at his eldest grandson Wuji, very puzzled.

Changsun Wuji said politely, "Your Highness should have seen the conflict between Liu Wenjing Xiangguo and Pei Ji, right? The two of them even almost fought in front of the Holy One sometimes, with such a fierce and endless hostile attitude. The Holy Majesty did not go to mediate, It's really puzzling, but many emperors will deliberately create conflicts among important officials and let them fight each other, so that important officials ignore the throne, ignore the ambition of rebellion, and only want to kill their political enemies. At this time, the emperor is in the middle Balance, this is the most common method used by emperors."

Although Changsun Wuji didn't say it directly, Li Jiancheng still understood what he meant. The father was deliberately trying to balance the conflict between his brothers, and then balance the relationship between himself and his second brother, but what's the point of this?What is the purpose?Li Jiancheng felt that he had to figure out the reason, otherwise, he would have trouble sleeping and eating.

Li Jiancheng knew that the eldest grandson Wuji had nothing to say, so he got up and closed the doors and windows, and ordered the guards to stand guard at a distance, then lowered his voice and said, "Wuji is the most trusted person in Jiancheng, and now I am very confused about my father's attitude." , as if you can’t see the way forward in the dark, I implore Wuji to tell you frankly, I, Li Jiancheng, swear to God today, Wuji’s words are only in your heart and no third person will know.”

"Your Highness has the grace to save my younger sister Wugou's life, and also has the grace to know the humble job. My eldest grandson Wuji would rather be punished by the heavens than hide it from His Highness!"

Changsun Wuji sighed, "Your Highness, when the emperor is still in his prime and the prince is old, it is a common practice to support a prince to balance and restrain the prince. Let's take the Sui Dynasty as an example. Emperor Wen After that, who is the winner?"

Li Jiancheng was speechless for a while, but Changsun Wuji got to the root of the problem in one sentence, and frowned, "Father really wants to abolish me?"

"That's not true!" Changsun Wuji shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I think the Holy Majesty supports King Jin mainly for the sake of balance. Internal strife. The Holy Majesty's throne will be safe, so His Highness need not worry."

Li Jiancheng sighed, "It's okay if my Tang Dynasty has been unified, and I can understand it, but the problem is that my Tang Dynasty is not only not unified, but also defeated by Yang Tong. The father is playing some imperial tricks on our brothers now, Isn't it too early? He's playing with fire, and sooner or later something will go wrong."

Changsun Wuji thought of Liu Wenjing's entrusted task to him to make him firm Li Jiancheng's hard-hearted task, pondered for a while, then said hard-heartedly: "The Holy Majesty came to the throne too late, he didn't taste the sweetness of the emperor's power until he was over 50 years old, The Holy Majesty thought that it would be fine for him to reign for ten or 20 years, but His Royal Highness would be 41 years old after ten years. Although His Highness had no intentions, the Holy Majesty was under a lot of pressure and was even more worried that His Highness would force the palace, so he was eager to support King Jin. "

Changsun Wuji's words pierced Li Jiancheng's heart like a steel needle, and plunged him into long-term pain.

After a long time, Li Jiancheng sighed. He knew what Changsun Wuji said was right, but he never dared to face this problem and kept deceiving himself and others.But after tearing it apart, there was nothing he could do.

Li Jiancheng gradually calmed down. He knew that it was pointless to dwell on this question, so he returned to reality and asked, "Wuji, do you think the second brother is willing to stay in Xiangyang?"

"Absolutely impossible." Changsun Wuji shook his head, he knew Li Shimin's childhood friend and ex-brother-in-law too well, "Jin Wang is a person who never gives up, in his thinking, he has never been willing to give up and make peace with him." Even if there is no opportunity, he will create opportunities for words such as keeping one's own place. Your Highness, don't expect him to accept the reality."

Li Jiancheng nodded silently.

Before the Taiyuan incident, Li Yuan did not dare to raise troops rashly. In order to force Li Yuan to rebel, Li Shimin planned a "beauty trick" with Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji.One night, Jinyang Palace Supervisor Pei Ji invited Li Yuan to drink.While Li Yuan was drunk, he sent several Jinyang Palace maids to Li Yuan's bed.The next day, after Li Yuan woke up, he found several strange beauties on the bed, and he was in a daze...

Then Pei Ji came over and threatened him that if he didn't agree to raise troops, he would report to the court about Li Yuan's forced Jinyang Palace maids to sleep.Li Yuan has nothing to do, anyway, it's rebellion, sooner rather than later, rebellion is rebellion.In this play, Pei Ji was in charge in name, but in fact, everyone knew that Li Shimin was behind it.

What's more, in order to get the support of the Dugu family, Li Shimin actually did things like divorce his wife and remarry, and give up raising his eldest grandson Wuji. In order to achieve his goal, even his father plotted against him. This kind of person's heart is indeed terrifying.

"What does Wuji think he will do? Or who will he attack?" Li Jiancheng asked.

"Li Xiaogong, Prince of Zhao County!"

"What is the basis?"

Changsun Wuji said calmly: "The King of Jin has always been No. 1 in the military, but he has been defeated repeatedly. It was very big, and he was eager to use a big victory to restore his image and establish his prestige. After learning the lesson of losing the state in an all-out war, the Holy One has turned his thinking to fight all the way steadily, that is to say, in the Before completely defeating Xiao Mian, my Tang Dynasty will not open up a second front, which also means that there is no chance for him to make contributions to the Jin Dynasty. More importantly, Xiao Mian is weak and incompetent, and he is extremely easy to fight. He wants to use Xiao Mian to make contributions. If you don't, you can only seek the right to be the commander-in-chief of Prince Zhao."

"I heard that Zhao Jun Wang has both talents and virtues. Every time he goes to the city, he will personally appease the people. If a general doesn't fight well, what can he do to appease the hearts of the people? If he didn't intend to rebel and become king himself, why would he win the hearts of the people?"

At the end, Changsun Wuji couldn't help shaking his head and smiling wryly. If someone told Li Yuan that, based on his understanding of Li Yuan, Li Yuan would definitely believe it. Even if Li Xiaogong didn't die by then, he might lose the chance to command a soldier.At that time, Li Shimin will not only have the opportunity to lead the army to make contributions, but also cut off Li Jiancheng's strong support in the army.Once Li Xiaogong was lost, Li Jiancheng, who had no advantage in the army, became even more passive.

"I understand!" Li Jiancheng sighed and said, "How is it so difficult to be a good person?"

Changsun Wuji smiled wryly when he heard the words, and silently argued in his heart: It's not that it's hard to be a good person, but that the clan's children can't be a good person.Spending time, drinking, and doing evil all day long is the life that the children of the clan should have.

…………

Three days later, Pei Ji's carriage was stopped by a group of people on the way to the 'Imperial Palace'.

Dozens of people kowtowed and shouted: "I beg Pei Xiangguo to be the master of the grassroots."

Pei Ji poked his head out of the car window, frowned and shouted: "Who are you? Why are you shouting?"

A well-dressed old man said tremblingly: "Pei Xiangguo, the peasants came from Jingling, we want to sue Zhao County King Li Xiaogong for forcibly occupying the people's fields and seizing the property of the noble families in the whole county."

Pei Ji was startled when he heard the words, silently threw a thick memorial on the carriage, and sighed: "It's a step too late."

……

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