Man Tanghong

Chapter 7 Survival in the Struggle

When Li Yuan failed to beat Li Shimin, Pei Ji took him out alone and praised him for his courage and strategy. Isn't that just a wake-up call for Li Yuan, can he be used to deal with Li Shimin?
Li Shimin is so easy to deal with?

If Li Shimin was easy to deal with, he wouldn't be able to become an emperor through the ages.

Li Shimin's Tiance Mansion and Xiuwen Museum almost took over half of the talents in the early Tang Dynasty, and Li Shimin still controlled nearly [-]% of the soldiers and horses in the Tang Dynasty.

What did Li Yuanji do with Li Shimin?

Courage?
"The tree wants to be still, but the wind doesn't stop!"

"Pei Ji, you bastard, wait for me, I will kill you sooner or later, and even dig your grave!"

Li Yuanji gritted his teeth and muttered.

Li Yuanji was really pissed off by Pei Ji.

Pei Ji's trick was both sinister and ruthless.

Even if he does nothing, Li Shimin will stare at him suspiciously.

After Li Jiancheng knew about this, he would also be wary of him.

There is an allusion called Suspicious Neighbor Stealing Axe, which roughly means that when you think a person is a thief, no matter how you look at him, he looks like a thief.

If Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng have been looking at him suspiciously, sooner or later they will regard him as a 'thief'.

At that time, in order to survive, he can only compete with Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng.

Li Yuanji was angry, but he also realized two truths from Pei Ji's trick.

First, it is not easy to jump out of the cage in the cage.

Second, if you don't have enough strength, if you are calculated by others, you can only be at the mercy of others.

If Li Yuanji had Li Shimin's strength, would he care what Pei Ji said?
If Pei Ji dared to plot against him, he could lead his troops to take Pei Ji and Li Yuan together.

Li Yuanji carefully analyzed that Li Shimin now has the strength to replace Li Yuan.

The reason why Li Shimin didn't move was because Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng hadn't fought to the point of death, and Li Shimin didn't have the intention to kill his brothers.

Li Shimin still has great expectations for Li Yuan now, hoping that Li Yuan can pass on the crown prince to him as promised.

"Since I can't easily jump out of the cage and I don't want to be manipulated by others, I can only survive in the struggle. The first task of the struggle is to strengthen myself.

Pei Ji of the dog day, you have harmed your father. "

Li Yuanji already hated Pei Ji completely.

He could have closed the door, kept his ears shut, and devoted himself to being a happy king.

If Pei Ji did this, he wouldn't be clean even with the door closed.

Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng only think that he is hiding his strength and hiding his clumsiness in secret.

While scolding Pei Ji, Li Yuanji thought of ways to strengthen himself.

He has no shortage of money, land, or manpower.

The only thing he lacks is someone who will follow him faithfully.

But the talents in the early Tang Dynasty either entered the East Palace or went to the Prince Qin's Mansion. There were almost none who could be recruited by him and had to be loyal.

"No... not right!"

Li Yuanji suddenly thought of a group of people who might be the only ones he could use.

They were a group of people that Li Yuan didn't like. Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng were unwilling to use them because of Li Yuan's reasons, so that they were full of scriptures and bravery, so they could only be low-level officials in the Tang Dynasty. .

"If Li Yuan listened to Pei Ji's slander and used me to deal with Li Shimin, he probably wouldn't mind me recruiting those people. If Li Yuan didn't listen to Pei Ji's slander and didn't need me to deal with Li Shimin, then if I recruited those people, Li Yuan would scold me twice at most. In other words, you won’t really do anything to me.”

Li Yuanji thought of this, and immediately shouted outside the hall: "Thank you, Uncle Fang?"

The guard outside the hall appeared tremblingly in the hall, knelt down on one knee in front of Li Ji cautiously, and reminded in a low voice, "Your Highness...it's the second watch... Xie Zhizhang has gone back to sleep..."

Li Yuanji was a little embarrassed, he was so absorbed in thinking about things that he forgot the time.

"Then you step back. When Xie Shufang wakes up tomorrow, let him come over."

"Here!"

The guard agreed with a sigh of relief, and exited the main hall.

Li Yuanji thought for a while, and when he felt sleepy, he went to sleep on the precious couch behind the screen in the main hall.

Not long after Li Yuanji fell asleep, a figure carrying a bowl of soup entered the hall softly.

After a few days in the hall, he didn't see Li Yuanji's figure, so he bypassed the screen and appeared in front of Li Yuanji's bed.

Seeing that Li Yuanji was already asleep, she prepared to leave with the soup.

He just saw Li Yuanji kicking off the quilt, with one leg sticking out of the quilt, he hesitated.

She gritted her teeth, put down the soup, walked tremblingly to Li Ji's side, and carefully put Li Yuanji's feet into the quilt.

During this period, she didn't dare to take a breath.

After covering Li Yuanji with the quilt and confirming that Li Yuanji had not woken up, she tiptoed out of the main hall with the soup in her hands.

Go to the gate of the main hall.

The guard guarding the gate couldn't help but said: "Mrs. Chen, His Highness is already asleep, and he probably won't wake up until tomorrow morning. You should go back to sleep too."

The guards saw Chen Shanyi guarding in the corner not far from the main hall for most of the night, and did not bring soup to Li Yuanji until Li Yuanji was free.

Chen Shanyi hesitated for a moment, said nothing, and left in a hurry with the soup.

"Hey……"

The guard let out a long sigh.

……

The next day.

Accompanied by the bell of the bell tower, Li Yuanji opened his eyes.

The maidservants had been waiting in front of the precious couch with the things for washing.

Li Yuanji sat up, and the servants immediately came forward to serve Li Yuanji.

While Li Yuanji denounced the corruption of the feudal society in his heart, he enjoyed the service of the maidservants with peace of mind.

Li Yuanji can also not let them serve.

But the consequence is that Shangyi officer will hold them accountable.

Before Li Yuanji cleaned up the Shangyi officials in the mansion, Li Yuanji could only enjoy their service with peace of mind.

After Li Yuanji washed and dressed neatly, he walked up to the head of the main hall, and saw Uncle Xie Fang was kneeling on the ground with one knee, and the eunuch Liu Jun beside Li Yuan was standing beside him.

When Liu Jun saw Li Yuanji, he bowed and said, "My subject, Liu Jun, has seen Your Highness."

Before Li Yuanji could speak, Liu Jun straightened up again and said, "Everyone told me that from now on, His Highness will not have to restrain his feet."

At the entrance of the hall, Chen Shanyi had just walked up the stone steps with food, when he heard Liu Jun's words, his body froze in place.

The guards guarding both sides of the entrance of the hall sighed inwardly, closed their eyes, and couldn't bear to look at her.

People often say that the Tian family is ruthless, and the Tian family is ruthless, but no one expected that the Tian family would be so ruthless.

Li Yuanji was grounded because of his disobedience to Chen Shanyi.

After a few days, it was lifted.

Who cares about Chen Shanyi's thoughts?
Perhaps Chen Shanyi didn't want Li Yuanji to be punished because of her.

But how could Chen Shanyi bear Li Yuan's perfunctory way of doing things? !

"Come on, I think grounding is good. You go back and tell my father that I love grounding."

Li Yuanji sat down a few feet back and said carelessly.

Liu Jun didn't respond to Li Yuanji's words, nor did he say much. He just saluted Li Yuanji again, "Your Majesty, leave!"

He has conveyed Li Yuan's verbal instructions and completed his duties. Whether Li Yuanji will listen or not is up to Li Yuanji.

When Liu Jun came out of the palace gate, he saw Chen Shanyi holding the food in his hand. He was taken aback for a moment, and gave a slight salute to Chen Shanyi, then bypassed Chen Shanyi and left Wude Hall.

"It's not like that."

After Liu Jun left, Li Yuanji sighed in a low voice.

Li Yuan didn't take Chen Shanyi as a person at all. When he gave the oral instructions, he didn't care about Chen Shanyi's mood at all.

Even if Chen Shanyi was born as a domestic servant of the Li family, he would be kind to his son in nurturing him.

Li Yuan was obviously a little ungrateful for doing this, or he never admitted from the beginning to the end that Chen Shanyi was kind to his son in nurturing him.

He may feel that Chen Shanyi is not worthy of nurturing his son.

But is this a matter of worthy or not?
"Go, pass the order down, and say that I have grounded myself. During this period, there is no order to leave the Wude Hall."

Li Yuanji gave instructions to Xie Shufang.

Xie Shufang agreed, and immediately went out to deliver the order.

Chen Shanyi at the gate of the hall, after hearing Li Yuanji's words, her eyes turned red for some reason, and she left the gate of the main hall of Wude Hall as if she was running away with her food.

The guard guarding the door suddenly opened his eyes with an expression of disbelief.

When did His Royal Highness become so affectionate and righteous? !
This is not normal!
Li Yuanji didn't care about other people's thoughts. Li Yuan didn't regard Chen Shanyi as a human being, but he had to treat Chen Shanyi as a human being.

When Li Yuan was dealing with this matter, he didn't care about Chen Shanyi's feelings, he cared.

Not long after Xie Shufang left the main hall, he returned to the main hall and replied to Li Yuanji, "Return to Your Highness, I have already given your instructions."

Li Yuanji nodded in satisfaction.

Xie Shufang said again: "I have also investigated what you ordered me to investigate."

With that said, Xie Shufang took out a stack of papers from his bosom, and placed them respectfully in front of Li Yuanji.

Li Yuanji was not in a hurry to look at the paper Xie Shufang handed him, but asked with a smile: "You are old too, do you have any girls you like?"

"what?!"

Xie Shufang was dumbfounded.

"Is there any?"

"No... no."

"It's boring. When other people are your age, their babies can run all over the place. You don't even have a girl you like."

Li Yuanji waved at Xie Shufang in disgust, making Xie Shufang confused.

Xie Shufang stepped aside, looking at Li Yuanji from time to time, always feeling that Li Yuanji was a little out of order in the past two days.

Li Yuanji picked up the paper on the long table and read it carefully.

It took a full two incense sticks before Li Yuanji finished reading Xie Shufang's 'investigation report'.

Li Yuanji put down the paper and said with emotion: "The female officials and subordinate officials in my house are really rich. A small official from the eighth rank has thousands of acres of fertile land outside Chang'an City. There are four shops and two houses in Chang'an city."

When Xie Shufang heard this, he immediately stood up and said: "Your Highness should be talking about Chen Dian's signature. After checking by the minister, among the thousands of acres of fertile land outside Chang'an City, only a hundred acres were signed by Chen Dian, and the rest were signed by Chen Dian. There are the lands that he steals from other servants and eunuchs in the mansion, and there are also the lands that he invades the common people.

The four shops in Chang'an City were all taken by stealth. Of the two houses, one was given by His Highness, and the other was forcibly taken by him in His Highness's name. "

Li Yuanji rapped on the long table with his fingers, and asked, "After they learned that I was investigating them, did anyone escape? Did anyone plead guilty?"

Xie Shufang was a little flustered when he heard Li Yuanji's words. He hurriedly explained, "The minister's investigation of this matter was all done in secret, and nothing was leaked."

　Thanks to 'Brother Azusa Chuan' for the reward of [-] book coins!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)