Man Tanghong

Chapter 405 Single-handed preparation, two strategic goals
This is power struggle.

In the case where power coverage is adjacent and may intersect at any time, power struggle is inevitable.

And the struggle for power must never retreat.

As long as you dare to retreat, others will think that you are weak and deceitful, and they will pounce on you without hesitation and plunder every ounce of power in your hands.

During this process, others will not show any mercy, let alone give you any chance to breathe.

So when encountering power struggles, you must win.

Even if you know from the beginning that you will lose your head and blood, you still have to fight.

If you fight, you have a chance of winning, if you don't fight, you will be defeated.

Ren Gui obviously saw that he wanted to stay dormant, and wanted to be a person who had no sense of existence when Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were fighting, so he said that.

"I thought about it carefully, and it's really a good thing."

Li Yuanji understood what Ren Gui meant, and nodded in agreement with Ren Gui's words.

The smile on Ren Gui's face became brighter at a speed visible to the naked eye, "So, is Your Highness going to choose to go dormant when His Highness the Crown Prince is fighting with His Highness King Qin?"

Li Yuanji glanced at Ren Gui, and said with a half-smile: "Are you testing me, or are you confirming your guess?"

Ren Gui didn't hide it either, and said with a frank smile, "Both."

Li Yuanji asked with a smile: "Then, are you satisfied with my answer?"

Ren Gui nodded with a smile.

Li Yuanji asked again: "He, what is your purpose of testing me, and what is the purpose of confirming your guess?"

Ren Gui cupped his hands slightly and said, "Naturally, it is to better advise His Highness."

Li Yuanji nodded and said, "I believe your words for now. Then tell me, how will my second brother deal with my eldest brother?"

Ren Gui was stunned for a moment, pulled his beard and said hesitantly: "Didn't I just say that? His Royal Highness Qin Wang should start from two aspects, but I can't say for sure which aspect will be used."

Li Yuanji stared at Ren Gui with a smile and said, "Someone died in the palace, have you heard?"

Ren Gui was taken aback again, not understanding why Li Yuanji asked this question.

After thinking about it for a while, I understood the deep meaning of Li Yuanji's words.

Ren Gui's eyes sparkled and said: "It turns out that His Highness has also noticed this matter, and it turns out that His Highness also guessed where His Highness King Qin will start from."

Li Yuanji said angrily, "Can you tell me the truth now?"

Li Yuanji really has no temper for people who talk half of these things.

It seems that if they don't speak half, they can't reflect their ability at all.

If you don't have something in your stomach, you won't be able to chat with them at all, and you won't even know what they really think.

The reason why Li Yuanji was so sure that Ren Gui had already guessed where Li Shimin would start from was because Ren Gui described Li Shimin's actions so thoroughly that they almost overlapped with some historical developments.

Therefore, Li Yuanji concluded that Ren Gui must have reached Li Shimin's veins, but he didn't know if there was something in his belly, and he didn't know how far he would accept it, so he deliberately hid it.

This is a basic means of being a courtier.

Its purpose is to protect oneself, but also to have new things for the lord anytime and anywhere.

As a minister, especially a minister who works for others, it is indeed inappropriate to talk exhaustively.

Because once you have finished talking and there is nothing new for the lord, then the lord will most likely abandon you.

As a person who has a lot of human resources to mobilize, people will not stop and wait for you.

As long as you are useless, sooner or later you will be abandoned.

As for remembering old love, remembering your past achievements, and still reusing your things, it almost does not exist.

Because the vast majority of hostesses have no friendship at all, and the vast majority of hostesses don't like their old ministers to talk about their old achievements.

Even if the owner occasionally misses the old relationship and your past achievements, it is not really missing the old relationship or the old achievements. It is purely that the owner wants to use this to achieve a certain political goal, or to buy horse bones with a lot of money.

Li Yuanji poured out some dry goods for Ren Gui, but Ren Gui didn't hold anything back, and immediately said enthusiastically: "I think His Royal Highness King Qin should do both."

Li Yuanji raised his brows, "Two-pronged approach? Start with the harem and soldiers and horses together?"

Li Yuanji knew that Li Shimin would start with the harem, and also knew what Li Shimin would do, but he didn't know that Li Shimin would also start with soldiers and horses, and he didn't even hear a word.

Historically, when Li Shimin destroyed Li Jiancheng's reputation from the harem and forced Li Yuan to abolish Li Jiancheng, he did not mention what Li Shimin did in this matter with the help of soldiers and horses.

If Ren Gui's guess is true, the credibility is extremely high.

Then this is undoubtedly a windfall.

Faced with Li Yuanji's question, Ren Gui nodded heavily.

Li Yuanji asked: "What will my second brother do in terms of soldiers and horses?"

Ren Gui lowered her voice subconsciously, and said in a low voice, "It's nothing more than buying the guards from all over the Tai Chi Palace and inserting yourself inside."

Li Yuanji was taken aback for a moment.

He does know this.

Li Shimin has already started to do it, and he is also doing it.

Li Yuanji asked, "What else?"

Ren Gui pointed to the four directions, and said, "Put your own men in the four gates of Guanzhong, so as to cut off the possibility of soldiers and horses from all over the country entering Guanzhong when there is turmoil in Chang'an City."

Li Yuanji nodded thoughtfully.

The four major gates in Guanzhong refer to the four important gates in the four directions of Guanzhong, East, South, North and West.

They are Donghangu Pass, Xidashan Pass, Nanwu Pass and Beixiao Pass.

As long as these four gates are guarded, it will be very difficult for soldiers and horses outside to enter the pass.

This is also one of the main reasons why Guanzhong has been repeatedly selected as the location of the capital.

In the eyes of the emperors who established Guanzhong as their capital in all dynasties, Guanzhong is surrounded by mountains and there are four dangerous passes that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as these four gates are guarded, even if the world is in chaos, it will be difficult for thieves to break into Guanzhong. .

Idea is definitely a good idea.

However, judging from the history of changes in the past dynasties, almost no dynasty that established its capital in Guanzhong achieved this strategic goal through the four passes in Guanzhong.

The main reason for this kind of problem is that when the founding emperors of all dynasties established their capitals in Guanzhong, they underestimated the corruption capabilities of their descendants, and they also overestimated the combat effectiveness of their soldiers.

In their view, no matter how unbearable the descendants of future generations are, occupying such an important place, as long as they send out a few generals who can fight a little, they can still defend Guanzhong.

But in the eyes of their descendants, the four passes in Guanzhong are really useless. Even if they send the most powerful generals and most trusted officials to guard the four passes, they will still lose.

So, the emperors who set their capital in Guanzhong had a good idea, but it's a pity that they thought highly of their descendants.

In their view, the four passes in Guanzhong can be defended casually, but in the eyes of their descendants, the ancestors brought a group of founding heroes back to life, and they may not be able to defend it.

However, Datang is now at the beginning of the founding of the country, and most of Li Shimin's subordinates are among the founding heroes.

In Li Shimin's eyes, it should be an easy thing to keep the four passes in Guanzhong and cut off the communication between Guanzhong and other places.

Therefore, when he decided to use soldiers and horses to seize the crown prince, he would never forget to control three of the four passes in Guanzhong.

The remaining pass is Hangu Pass.

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hangu Pass has been gradually replaced by Tongguan.

Therefore, if Li Shimin wants to control the gateway to the Middle East, he will only attack Tongguan, not Hanguguan.

Whether it was Ren Gui's mention of inserting people in the Taiji Palace, or secretly mastering the four passes in Guanzhong, in fact Li Yuanji had expected it a long time ago, and made a lot of arrangements in secret, so there is no surprise.

It's just that the reason why Li Yuanji was able to predict these things was also based on the analysis of everything that happened in history, which took the advantage of a lot of foresight.

It is not easy for Ren Gui to analyze these based on the existing information.

After all, except for Ren Gui, Li Shimin and some of Li Shimin's insiders, most of the other people are still blind.

Especially Li Jiancheng and those under Li Jiancheng, I'm afraid they haven't figured out how Li Shimin will fight back, how Li Shimin will lay out, and how Li Shimin will calculate them step by step.

So looking at it this way, Ren Gui's mind and analytical ability have far surpassed the group of people under Li Jiancheng's hands, and also far surpassed the vast majority of people.

With such a talent, Li Jiancheng just didn't use it, and he didn't kill him, and let him go.

Li Jiancheng didn't know if it was blind arrogance, or he felt that the gang of relatives under him and those military officials who had never seen any big battles could really help him get things done.

Thinking of this, Li Yuanji once again despised Li Jiancheng in his heart.

While contemptuous, Li Yuanji glanced at Ren Gui and asked, "What else?"

He already knew everything Ren Gui said, and he hoped to learn from Ren Gui what he didn't know, and hoped that Ren Gui could bring him more surprises.

When Ren Gui heard Li Yuanji's question, she was obviously taken aback for a moment, her eyes glared slightly, and she quickly returned to her original state.

He suppressed the shock in his heart, and asked tentatively: "Did Your Highness already know everything I said?"

Li Yuanji didn't hide anything either. He nodded and smiled and said, "Do you think I'm as brainless as the outside world rumors? Do you think there are any brainless people among us brothers and sisters?"

This reason is very powerful.

In the case that Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Xiuning are all good.

The credibility of this statement is extremely high.

Ren Gui believed it without any doubt, and said happily: "So, His Highness has always been hiding his clumsiness?"

Li Yuanji glanced at Ren Gui, and said indifferently: "So what if you don't hide your clumsiness? Do you have a relationship with my elder brother and second brother? Do you think if my elder brother and second brother join forces to deal with me, I will Is it their opponent?"

Ren Gui was taken aback for a moment, and smiled wryly, "That's true."

Based on Li Jiancheng's status as the eldest son, Li Shimin's ability, and the talents of that family, if they join forces to deal with Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji will really have to lie down.

Let alone Li Yuanji, even if Li Yuan met, he still had to bow his head.

The situation is stronger than others, so if you should hide your clumsiness, you have to hide your clumsiness. This is not cowardly, nor is it shameful.

It would be embarrassing to hide nothing and rush out to fight against Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin and be played to death by others.

Winners and losers are not casual talk.

As long as he can finally win the power and rule the world, all the sufferings he has suffered before can be said to be reckless.

For the victors, no matter whether it is the world or the history books, they will not be stingy with their words of praise.

Li Yuanji glanced at Ren Gui and said, "You haven't answered my question yet, does my second brother have any other actions?"

Ren Gui fell into silence for a moment.

After a long time, he said solemnly: "The soldiers and horses of Tiaoshan East Road and Duji Road are dormant in secret, waiting for the right time."

Li Yuanji raised his eyebrows completely.

Sure enough, Ren Gui could bring him more surprises.

Although he guessed this point, there is no relevant record in history, and there has never been such a thing that soldiers and horses from Shaanxi Province and Duji Province entered Beijing to help Li Shimin seize the throne.

So he was not sure all the time, and he didn't make any arrangements for it.

Now that Ren Gui said this, he was sure that this matter might happen, and he could make some arrangements for it.

But before making some arrangements, you have to ask Ren Gui carefully how he saw this.

Otherwise, it would be a waste to make some arrangements if you don't use them.

After all, if you want to guard against soldiers and horses in Eastern Shaanxi Province and Duji Province, you can't do it with just one or two people. You need at least [-] to [-] elite soldiers, plus [-] to [-] auxiliary soldiers.

To gather such a large army in secret and garrison them at designated locations requires a huge amount of manpower, material and financial resources.

If it is not used, then the profits of water transportation and sea transportation within three to five years may have to be taken into account.

He and the people in his family also had to live a hard life for three to five years.

"Why do you think that my second brother will mobilize the soldiers and horses of Shaanxi Province and Duji Province to wait for the right time? In my opinion, my second brother should let the soldiers and horses of Shaanxi Province and Duji Province stand still."

Li Yuanji pondered and said, that's what Li Shimin did in history.

However, it is not ruled out that the historians of later generations did some cover-ups for Li Shimin when compiling history books, covering up the fact that Li Shimin was actually seeking to usurp the throne.

After all, just from the history books of later generations, Li Shimin was fighting with Li Jiancheng for the crown prince from beginning to end, but he didn't think about killing Li Jiancheng. It was Li Jiancheng who wanted to kill Li Shimin again and again, and finally forced Li Shimin into a corner It was only then that he took the risk and launched the Xuanwumen Incident.

Therefore, judging from the history books of later generations, Li Shimin is more like a forced victim of desperation than an ambitious and unscrupulous usurper.

Although the final result is the same, but one black and one white, giving people two completely different Li Shimin.

When people comment on Li Shimin, they will give two different comments.

After all, it is difficult to wash off the black, but the white will become whiter and whiter, and it can even be so white that people can ignore the stains on his body.

Ren Gui heard Li Yuanji's question, and said seriously: "Your Highness, as long as you carefully review the writings issued by His Royal Highness King Qin during the Southern and Northern Wars in recent years, you will definitely see that His Highness King Qin has always been a person who likes to make decisions and act quickly." People who have always liked to be fully prepared to fight the enemy.

Compared with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness the King of Qin has the greatest advantages in terms of military exploits and soldiers.

Let's not mention the military merits for the time being, but His Royal Highness King Qin will definitely make full use of it when the soldiers are on the way.

His Royal Highness King Qin will do his best to fight for the soldiers and horses in Chang'an City.

But relying solely on the soldiers and horses in Chang'an City, it is impossible to be foolproof.

Because as long as the saint is there, even if the soldiers and horses in Chang'an City are won over by His Royal Highness King Qin, they may rebel.

Therefore, it is impossible for His Highness King Qin to pin all his hopes on the soldiers and horses in Chang'an City.

Therefore, His Royal Highness King Qin will definitely make some arrangements with the help of soldiers and horses outside Chang'an City.

It is possible that His Royal Highness King Qin may not be able to use these arrangements.

But His Royal Highness King Qin will definitely do it.

Because only in this way can we ensure that we can advance and retreat, retreat and defend, defend and attack, and attack and advance. "

What Ren Gui said at the end was like a tongue twister.

But Li Yuanji understood the meaning of Ren Gui's words.

As long as Li Shimin makes arrangements both inside and outside, then he can advance and retreat freely.

Once there is a change in the layout of Chang'an City, he will quickly retreat to Luoyang, and then rely on the troops of Shandong Province and Duji Province assembled in Luoyang to resist Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng's attack, and finally switch from defense to offense. Turn from attack to advance, and enter Chang'an City with a strong posture.

If the changes in the layout of Chang'an City are within a controllable range, and it is necessary to recruit from the outside, the soldiers and horses from Eastern Shaanxi Province and Duji Province can also be dispatched to Beijing quickly to achieve the effect of deciding the world in one fell swoop.

Therefore, it is necessary to make arrangements outside Guanzhong and mobilize soldiers and horses from Shaanxi Province and Duji Province to wait for the right time.

Because as long as you make first-hand preparations, you can achieve two strategic goals.

Anyone with a little brain would do it, not to mention Li Shimin.

So Li Shimin will definitely do this.

……

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[PS: Two updates...]

(End of this chapter)