The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 881
Li Jiancheng traveled less than a thousand miles from Chengdu City, Shu County to Fushi County, Luchuan County, and back to Ziyang County from Fushi County, but Li Jiancheng felt that this journey was longer than the road he had traveled in his entire life.

He knew that once he returned to Chengdu, he would be abolished as the crown prince, imprisoned in a prison, and never see his wife and children again; at worst, he would drink a cup of poisoned wine and die accidentally. Apart from this, there would be no third ending.

He only hoped that the ministers in the court would persuade his father not to slaughter the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty because of the dispute over the crown prince, because the Tang Dynasty was at the point of life and death, and it really couldn't bear the torment of muscle and bone.In order to buy time for the courtiers, he deliberately slowed down the itinerary.

At dusk that day, a group of people arrived in Dalao County, Ziyang County in silence. When it rained continuously, Li Jiancheng asked everyone to go to the post station to take shelter from the rain and rest.

He watched the bleak drizzle outside the window, feeling chills in his heart. He lived to be 35 years old. When his father was an official in a foreign country, he took up the responsibility of father and brother at the age of 14, and devoted himself to teaching the family. Brothers and sisters, when their father had the ambition to conspire the world, he ran around again and again, seeking talents for the Tang Dynasty. When the Li and Tang Dynasty raised troops in Jinyang, he paid a heavy price and stayed with his wife in Daxing City. Both children died tragically at the hands of Wei Xuan and Yin Shishi.After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he was still the one who worked hard to govern, handled government affairs, and worked hard to create a good rear for his father. Every time his father had conflicts with the Guanlong nobles, it was him, Li Jiancheng, who came to apologize every time, and stretched out his face to be whipped... But now, for the sake of a precarious throne, his father trampled on the ground and trampled into mud.

"Your Highness!" Prince Sheren Zhao Hongzhi walked up to Li Jiancheng and saluted, "Your Highness, I feel that there is still room for redemption."

"Now, how do you get it back?" Li Jiancheng laughed at himself, "Mr. Zhao thinks how to get it back?"

"According to orders." Zhao Hongzhi said in a low voice: "Please forgive me for my humble position. Now that witnesses and material evidence are not good for His Highness, instead of stubbornly denying it, it is better to pretend that you don't know anything, and admit all the crimes except poisoning King Qi."

"How can this be done?" Xu Shimo, a commoner from the left, said in astonishment: "The Holy Majesty is in a fit of anger at this moment, as long as you recognize one, the others will fall on His Highness's head. With King Qi's deceitfulness, he will definitely throw stones into the well and fan the flames. Wouldn't there be no chance of redemption by then?"

"It would be better if the King of Qi fell into trouble and spoke ill of His Royal Highness everywhere. I'm afraid that he will defend His Highness everywhere and use his 'generosity and virtuousness' to contrast His Viciousness!" Zhao Hongzhi said: "To His Highness, His Majesty has always been kind and considerate. Now the Holy Majesty summons His Highness to Beijing to investigate the situation, it can be seen that although the Holy Majesty is angry, he is still willing to give His Highness a chance to defend himself, and simply proves his innocence by throwing himself into a trap and seeking his own death."

"Your Highness, I also think that Mr. Zhao's method is good." The speaker was Prince Zuowei Wei Ting. He was the youngest son of Wei Chong, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs during Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. The Wei and Li families have always been good friends. good.After the founding of the Tang Dynasty.Prince Li Jiancheng introduced Wei Ting to the East Palace for appointment.

"King Qi has no talent or morality. Taking advantage of His Highness's stay in Beijing and the rare opportunity of being alone in the capital, he first poisoned himself by deceiving himself and others, and then used Er Zhuhuan, Qiao Gongshan and other villains to start riots and stir up all kinds of incidents that are not good for His Highness. Now that the Holy Majesty has fully believed in his one-sided words, if His Highness the Crown Prince takes the initiative to apologize and only admits the wrongful employment, the Holy Majesty will not punish him too severely."

"That's right. Although the Holy Majesty favors and trusts King Qi, from the humble point of view, His Majesty's love for his son is not limited to King Qi. Compared with the vicious King Qi, His Highness is truly loyal, benevolent and filial. dawn."

"Forget it, gentlemen! It's useless."

Li Jiancheng shook his head: "The Crown Princess is a kind person. She has rescued not [-] victims, but several thousand. How can she remember the family of the poisoned court lady? But the benevolence and righteousness at the beginning have become a trick for others to use. It seemed reasonable for the court lady to poison King Qi to repay her kindness. Er Zhuhuan and Qiao Gongshan, they have been with me for many years, and they cannot erase the imprint of the Eastern Palace no matter what. I dismissed them both as deliberate. Arrangement, they have been silenced again now, how can I explain it?"

"Your Highness, don't be too frustrated!" Zhao Hongzhi analyzed very wisely: "The humble official thinks that the other party's perfect arrangement has become superfluous. Especially the most critical batch of gold, as early as in Xiangyang, His Highness has already rewarded the soldiers of the three armies. How can there be spare money to buy assassins?"

Li Jiancheng sighed, "At that time, I gave the batch of gold to Han Zhi, and asked him to exchange it for copper coins to reward the three armies; Han Zhi is the king's mastermind, how could he defend me?"

"Your Highness, this is the best evidence." Xu Shimo's eyes lit up, "There are so many soldiers who have benefited, as long as they are found, they can testify for His Highness."

"It's useless!" Li Jiancheng shook his head and said, "You still don't understand the crux of the problem!"

Zhao Hongzhi, Xu Shimo, and Wei Ting glanced at each other and said, "Your Highness, please express."

"Actually, there is someone who has already predicted my end today."

"Who?"

"Yang Tong."

"Ah?" Zhao Hongzhi, Xu Shimo, and Wei Ting looked at each other in amazement.

"After the Battle of Guanzhong, my third sister and I negotiated with Yang Yu at Fenglingdu. He said at that time that the father had pretended for most of his life, and it was hard to be an upright man, and it was hard to enjoy the sweetness of the emperor's power. Everyone cares about the benefits brought by the throne, and I am not only a prince who stands at thirty, but also has my own influence. I have no intention of the throne, but the pressure from my father is very heavy. Later, my father really supported the people and dealt with me. Deliberately provoked conflict between me and Shimin, turning our brothers against each other. Now Shimin has become self-reliant and does not listen to him. So he supported Yuanji to deal with me. Father just needs a reason to abolish the prince, whether it is true or not If he is fake, he will hold on to it, and thus successfully carry out his plan to abolish the prince. But this does not mean that the father will establish Shimin, or Yuanji will be the prince. On the contrary, he will wait for a vacant seat, prompting my younger brothers to fight endlessly, So that he can concentrate on fighting against the Sui Dynasty, without having to focus on any son specifically. My younger brothers are all fighting for the crown prince's position, and my father's throne is naturally as stable as Mount Tai."

Li Jiancheng sighed and said with a wry smile: "Everything today was expected by Yang Tong, now everyone understands?"

As soon as these words came out, Zhao Hongzhi, Xu Shimo, and Wei Ting all felt as if their heads had been hit hard by a hammer, and there was a bang in their heads, and they fell into a long-term trance.

Until then, the three people knew that the key was the emperor, not the king of Qi. The king of Qi just handed the emperor the handle to abolish the crown prince.

I finally knew why Li Jiancheng was so disheartened and lost his soul.

At this time, Li Junxian, who had been deposed and returned to Li Jiancheng's account, appeared in front of the door and said, "Your Highness, Chen Xiang sent someone to see His Highness!"

"Please come in!"

"Here."

After a while, Li Junxian led the young scholar into the room. Everyone knew him. His name was Chen Shaode, and he was the youngest son of Chen Shuda.

"Chen Shaode sees His Royal Highness, gentlemen!" Chen Shaode saluted respectfully.

"It's Shao De, please sit down!" At this moment when the tree fell and the monkeys were scattered, Chen Shuda's act of letting his parents come here somewhat comforted Li Jiancheng.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Chen Shaode did not sit down, but took out a letter from his arms and presented it to Li Jiancheng, "Your Highness, this is a letter from my father."

Li Jiancheng took the letter and didn't rush to read it, but asked, "How is the court now?"

"The imperial court is very calm now. My father said that everyone is tired and disgusted with the infighting." Chen Shaode said something that made Li Jiancheng sad.

"I understand!" Li Jiancheng smiled wryly, opened the letter and read it carefully. Chen Shuda suggested that he learn from Li Shimin and go to Nanzhao to join Li Xiaogong, and then stand on his own. Opportunity to revitalize Datang.

Although Chen Shuda did not specify what the major change was, Li Jiancheng guessed his hidden meaning.

However, Chen Shuda's suggestion is really good, because the Southern Conquest Army is in the hands of Li Xiaogong. With Li Xiaogong's friendship with him and his dislike for the court, he will never tie him back to the capital, and there are tens of thousands of troops in his hands. Father The emperor didn't dare to act rashly, so he could only acquiesce in their independent affairs like he did to Li Shimin, but in this way, Datang would become a three-point situation, which was not what Li Jiancheng wanted to see.

In the past, he might have fled to Nanzhao, but now he has completely given up, and he doesn't care about the crown prince and the emperor at all.

If he returned to the capital, in order to show his benevolence, his father would at most degrade himself as a commoner and put him under house arrest.If he fled to Nanzhao, not only would he be convicted of killing his younger brother, but his beloved wife would also be implicated and executed.Since you don't care anymore, why run away?
Li Jiancheng burned the letter and asked, "Is Shao De going back to his life?"

"Exactly! My father is still waiting for news from His Royal Highness the Prince."

"Wait a moment!" Li Jiancheng immediately wrote a reply letter and handed it to Chen Shaode: "Please go back and reply to Xiangguo. Li Jiancheng appreciates his kindness, but for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, I must return to the capital."

"I will definitely bring it as it is, so I will take my leave!" Chen Shaode saluted, and as soon as he arrived at the door, he turned around and said, "Your Highness, when I came here, I heard two bad news, please be prepared. Prepare."

"Please tell me." Li Jiancheng's heart trembled, and an ominous premonition hit his whole body.

"Prince Zhongyun, Mr. Wang Gui, and Zuoshu's eldest son, Mr. Sun Wuji, were tortured to death by cruel officials in the prison."

"Is this true?"

"Yes!" Chen Shaode nodded, and said in a low voice, "When I left the city, Wang's family and Changsun's family were confiscated by King Huai'an."

Li Jiancheng's face was pale, he sat down slumped, and murmured: "I killed them."

"In addition, the Holy One sent the champion general Xu Luoren to arrest you." Chen Shaode was also afraid of being implicated, so he gave a deep salute, turned around and left.

Li Jiancheng burst into tears and turned a blind eye.

Zhao Hongzhi's heart was also very heavy, and he reminded: "Your Highness, what did Prime Minister Chen say?"

Li Jiancheng came to his senses slowly, and said in a hoarse voice, "Let me go to Nanzhao to find Xiaogong, so that I can learn from Shimin and stand on my own."

Xu Shimo said: "Your Highness, I think it is a very good suggestion to go to Nanzhao."

"The Tang Dynasty will perish sooner or later, and I don't care about this subjugated king for a long time," Li Jiancheng said sadly, "Wang Gui and Changsun Wuji were sacrificed by my father to scare chickens and monkeys. If I go to Nanzhao, not only will I Bearing grievances and notoriety, and implicating all those who are related to me, as long as I go to the capital, everyone will be safe and sound, but although he will not kill me, he will definitely not let you go. Before Xu Luoren arrives, everyone will be safe and sound. let's go!"

Zhao Hongzhi smiled wryly, "Your Highness, where else can we go?"

"Luoyang, Luoyang is the place you should go to. With your talents, you are not afraid of dying." Li Jiancheng said: "The person my father wants is me. As long as I go, your family will be safe."

The three of them burst into tears: "Your Highness has been kind to us as much as a mountain. If you abandon the Lord and leave in times of crisis, wouldn't you be ridiculed by the people of the world?"

"You are not abandoning the lord, but the Tang Dynasty where villains are in power has no place for virtuous ministers." Li Jiancheng said: "After all, I have been a prince for many years, and I have no merit or fault. As long as I don't plead guilty, father The emperor dare not kill me, otherwise the Tang Dynasty will be in chaos, but he will definitely torture you in order to make me a loner without threat, and finally pour all kinds of dirty water on you. Let's go, wait for the world to be peaceful, and we will finally have a chance to meet again."

Li Jiancheng had already spoken to this point, and everyone knew that if they didn't leave, they would end up exactly like Wang Gui and Changsun Wuji.

In this power contest, Li Jiancheng has been in an unequal and weak position from the very beginning. Now that his father and son have turned against each other, Li Yuan will definitely clean up Li Jiancheng's power and never give him the slightest chance to make a comeback.Once Xu Luoren's army arrives, it is estimated that none of them will survive Chengdu City, and they will be executed on the spot.

Everyone paid homage to Li Jiancheng repeatedly with tears in their eyes, left the post overnight and ran to the southeast of Berkshire.

……

More than an hour later, Xu Luoren rushed to the post station with three thousand cavalry menacingly. Seeing that Zhao Hongzhi, Xu Shimo, Wei Ting, and Li Junxian, the four most important criminals who must be punished, had escaped, he felt very regretful and had to send Li Jiancheng back to the capital.

(End of this chapter)