At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 694
The night was extremely quiet, and the dark sky was suddenly pierced by a flash of lightning, and then there was a loud thunder, announcing the arrival of spring, the roof was pattered, and the spring rain fell, sneaking into the world with the wind, nourishing all things.

The spring rain is getting bigger and bigger, flowing down the eaves, forming thousands of bead lines, converging into thousands of streams, flowing happily.The water in the pond is rising, the water in the Luohe River is rising, the water in the Yellow River is also rising, the weeds in the field are sprouting, the willows by the river are sprouting, the frogs are jumping, the insects are screaming, the old cow Stretching.

All this is the prologue of spring!

Spring is warm and gives people hope, but at this moment Li Shimin is living in the cold spring, even the continuous spring rain is so mesmerizing in his eyes, the boundless rain is as thin as sorrow!
Chunyu brought the imperial envoy from Chang'an, and Li Shimin took over the imperial decree from his father Li Yuan in the damp courtyard of Changping County.There was no reprimand in the imperial decree, but his military power was lifted, and he was called back to Chang'an, while Li Xiaogong was appointed as the commander of the Shannan March, temporarily in charge of all defenses, responsible for guarding the three passages from Changping County to Hanoi County, and guarding against the arrival of the Qi army. attack.

Li Shimin accepted the imperial decree silently, got drunk that night, walked into the continuous spring rain to drink and sing, and even summoned a few brothel women to indulge all night.Fang Xuanling and others did not persuade him, because Li Shimin really needed to vent at this time.

On the third morning, Li Shimin regained his composure, as if nothing had happened, silently packed his bags and went back to Chang'an. I don't believe his father Li Yuan would let him be such a coward.

A few days later, Li Shimin returned to Chang'an in a hurry, and knelt down in front of Tang Emperor Li Yuan. The Prince of the Supervisory Kingdom, Li Jiancheng, stood by with his hands down, his expression neither sad nor happy.

"Father, please give Shimin another chance. Next time, Shimin will definitely defeat Gao Changqing and take Luoyang back." Li Shimin said firmly.

Li Yuan shook his head and said: "Shimin, you are tired after leading the army to fight outside for years, so you should take a good rest and don't have to worry about the war anymore."

Li Shimin's heart skipped a beat, and he said hastily: "Shimin is not tired, but it is Shimin's pleasure to lead troops to fight."

Li Yuan frowned and said, "Even if you're not tired, take a rest for a while. You are not too young. Even your fourth brother Yuanji has been a father for two years, and you are still unmarried. You are almost 20 years old. For the sake of my life, I have ordered the prince to find a suitable candidate for you, and you can go and meet him when the time comes."

Li Shimin was speechless for a moment, glanced casually at his elder brother Li Jiancheng from the corner of his eye, and then said silently: "My child understands, let father and elder brother worry about it."

Li Yuan nodded, waved his hand and said, "Get up, go take a shower and change clothes first, and then take a good rest for a few days."

Li Shimin stood up, and suddenly reminded him solemnly: "Li Jing is a very important person. Now that the army is going south to attack Taiyuan, the father must not take it lightly. The fourth brother Yuanji is definitely not his opponent. It is best to send an experienced veteran at this time." Assist Yuanji."

Li Yuan said lightly: "I know."

Li Shimin had no choice but to retreat silently, listening to his father Li Yuan. Before he got married, he might not give him another chance to lead the army by himself. I don't know if his elder brother said something in front of his father. It was a lot colder before.

Li Jiancheng looked at the back of Li Shimin leaving in a slump, feeling complicated and difficult to understand. Originally, the relationship between the two brothers was not bad, but as they got older, they became more and more unfamiliar, especially after being mixed with interests. .

Li Jiancheng is the prince, the heir to the throne, and Li Shimin is the king of Qin, who holds the position of Shang Shuling. Everyone is persuading him to be careful, and looking for opportunities to weaken Li Shimin's strength, so as not to lose his tail.

This time Li Shimin failed to capture Luoyang and was defeated by Gao Changqing. Li Jiancheng felt mixed, because if Li Shimin succeeded in capturing Luoyang, his credit would be even greater. Father Emperor Li Yuan.

Therefore, Li Shimin's failure this time is a good thing for Li Jiancheng, but it is quite bad for Li Tang as a whole. This time the Tang army was defeated and suffered heavy losses. It is bound to further suppress Li Tang's sphere of influence. If Li Jing seizes the Hedong area again, then Li Tang can only retreat in a corner of Guanzhong.

Li Yuan was clearly aware of the seriousness of the situation, so he decisively called Li Shimin back to Chang'an, not because he didn't trust Li Shimin's ability, but because he planned to make peace with Gao Qi temporarily. Tang needs a chance to breathe and re-accumulate his strength.

Children's shoes who like to watch football games should be very aware of this tactic. When one's side is at a disadvantage and the opponent scores consecutively, the smart coach will immediately call a timeout. First, it can interrupt the opponent's rhythm, and second, the own side can also get respite and summary Opportunities for lessons learned.

Li Yuan's ability to lead troops to fight may not be very good, but he is undoubtedly an excellent strategist, who knows how to grasp the opportunity, control the rhythm, and also knows how to use "off-field" forces.

What is the "off-court" power? Naturally, it is the Turkic people. At the beginning, Li Yuan also used the power of the Turkic people to win Guanzhong. Now that Gao Qi is powerful, he thought of the Turkic people again. This time, Li Yuan recalled Li Shimin to Chang'an , In fact, it is also related to the Turkic people.

It turns out that Turkic Shibi Khan died of illness suddenly. If his younger brother Chuluo Khan succeeds to the throne today, Li Yuan plans to send Li Shimin as a representative to go to the Turkic Yazang to express condolences, attend Shibi Khan's funeral, and have a blind date or something .

On February [-]th, Li Yuan mourned for Shibi Khan at Changle Gate, and ordered his ministers to mourn the Turkic envoy. On the next day, he sent Li Shimin, king of Qin, as an envoy of the Tang Dynasty to deliver [-] pieces of silk (white cloth) Go to the Turkic Yazhang to express condolences to Shibi Khan.

…………

When the first spring rain fell, Xu Shiji broke through Wangwu County, captured Wang Shichong, Wang Renze and others, and at the same time gained a large number of talents under his command, including Pei Xingyan's father Pei Renji.

Both Pei Renji and Zu Junyan belonged to Li Mi. They were captured by Wang Shichong in the Battle of Mang Mountain. In order to save their lives, they had to choose to be loyal to Wang Shichong. Now that Wang Shichong was defeated by Xu Shiji, they became prisoners again.

Because of Pei Xingyan's relationship, Xu Shiji treated Pei Renji very politely and sent someone to send him to Luoyang.

Gao Bufan is currently looking for talents, so he immediately took in Lao Pei. In addition, Zu Junyan's diction is very good, so he also took him in to do paperwork.In addition to Pei Renji and Zu Junyan, Du Ruhui also discovered a large number of talents among the captives, such as Zhang Zhenzhou, Zhang Liang, Liu Changgong and so on.

Zhang Zhenzhou and Liu Changgong were veterans of the Sui Dynasty, so they were quite well-known. Zhang Liang was unknown, but he was one of the 24 heroes in Lingyan Pavilion in history. Practitioner, is a master of politics, was spotted by Du Ruhui and Changsun Wuji's eyes, and was arranged to be the head of the household department, which really shined.

Let’s talk about Wang Shichong and Wang Renze, uncles and nephews who were captured and taken back to Luoyang for trial. They were finally sentenced to be cut in half by the Ministry of Criminal Justice. They were executed in Xishi on the first day of March. Eight brothers, sons and nephews of the Wang family were also executed together. They were all tried by the Ministry of Punishment, and the evidence was conclusive that they were guilty of capital crimes. As for other minor crimes, they were all exempted from punishment.

In this way, Gao Bufan had fulfilled his promise to Wang Jundu, and the Wang family was lucky enough to preserve part of their blood inheritance.

In March of Yangchun, the weather is getting warmer and the branches are full of flowers. After more than a month of busy work, everything is gradually getting back on track, and Gao Bufan is finally free.

On this day, Gao Bufan was planning to spare a day to accompany Yang Qingruo to the suburbs for an outing, and by the way let everyone play the flute and sing songs, but the envoy of Tang Emperor Li Yuan arrived, and this envoy was not light. Li Xiaogong, a famous general of the Tang clan.

Gao Bufan had no choice but to cancel his travel plan, and met Li Xiaogong in Shangshu Province.

(End of this chapter)