Li Shimin, one emperor through the ages

Chapter 49 Blood Splattered Wumen (2)
The raindrops beat hard on the nobility and atmosphere in the palace, trying to destroy the nobility and atmosphere like crazy.Li Yuanji felt a little melancholy, and patted his chest vigorously with his hand.The rain gradually stopped, and everything was quiet again.Through the window lattice, Li Yuanji saw the closed Zhumen, and saw the corners of the eaves flying from the roof of his study on the side.The tranquility after the rainstorm soothed his heart, and gradually, those melancholy left quietly.He gently opened the window, and the cool wind after the rain rushed in, blowing his broad forehead and his handsome face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.He felt a kind of joy slowly rising in his heart, his whole body became refreshed, and his self-confidence was recovering.

"I can't live a useless life in his shadow. He has given me too much sinking and sorrow. I want to make my life independent and wonderful, attract the attention of the world, and I want my own honor and happiness! To get these, only him Die, I can only do this! I will win!" Li Yuanji thought so, and couldn't help shouting out the last sentence.

His princess woke up, and just opened her beautiful eyes when she heard King Qi's voice, hurriedly got up, put on her clothes and walked to King Qi's side.This is his third princess, surnamed Yang Mingyu.Yang Yu is naturally beautiful and understands men's hearts deeply, so among the several concubines, she is the most favored by King Qi.

"Your Majesty!" Yang Yu called out gently, stroking King Qi's thick shoulders.

"It's none of your business." Li Yuanji pressed Concubine Yang's jade finger, rubbed it a little harder, and comforted her.

"The concubine will prepare for you..."

"No need, you go and ask Liu Ling to summon all five of my sons here."

"Chengdu is coming too?" Concubine Yang asked.Although Li Yuanji was only 23 years old at this time, he was already the father of five sons and three daughters.Chengdu is his youngest son, who is less than one year old now.

"Let Concubine Zhuang carry him." Li Yuanji said softly.

Concubine Yang looked at him with surprise in her eyes, she was clearly confused about why.Actually, Li Yuanji himself didn't know why.He was about to kill his own brother, but he wanted to see his five sons, and it was in the morning just after the heavy rain.

After a while, all five sons came.The eldest son Chengye, the second son Chengluan, the third son Chengju, the fourth son Chengyu, and the fifth son Chengdu.

The princes are one or two years older than the other, half a head taller than the other, and are healthier, stronger, smarter, and more sensible than the last, and they are more lovable.Li Yuanji stared at them for a long time, squatted in front of them, pinched their chubby round faces, shaved their red lips, shook their childish little hands, and then asked and instructed a few words one by one.The sons stared wide-eyed at their father.Although they didn't know what their father was doing, they were all overjoyed to be favored by their father.It's just that the youngest son, Chengdu, seemed unable to enjoy his father's love, and finally cried loudly in Concubine Zhuang's arms, no matter how Concubine Zhuang coaxed him, the more he cried, the worse he cried.When Li Yuanji saw him, he waved to his sons and said:

"You all go."

Watching the two concubines lead his son away, Li Yuanji stood in front of the window for a while before walking out the door.His bureaucrats and Bing Yong had been waiting outside the door for a long time, but Li Yuanji turned a blind eye to them, walked past them, and hurried to the prince's east palace.

When the bureaucrats and soldiers met, they looked at each other and followed closely behind their king.

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Li Jiancheng was originally an open-minded person, usually, his dark eyes always shone with clear happiness.This morning, the beautiful and intelligent Concubine Chen saw melancholy in his eyes.Concubine Chen could feel that there was some fear, some worry, and some guilt in the prince's melancholy eyes.Concubine Chen was shocked, and looked at the prince even more melancholy, her eyes were clearly asking: Why is this?
Among Li Yuan's several sons, the prince can be regarded as honest, especially in front of his favorite Concubine Chen, the prince seldom hides anything.But this time, meeting Concubine Chen's gaze, he wanted to smile lightly, but he couldn't.

When the prince made up his mind to kill Li Shimin, he has been struggling between the two reasons of the prime minister.For the sake of the throne, I must get rid of him.But he is my own brother, how can I bear it?These two different voices bothered him and made his soul restless, especially last night, the eve before he decided to act.Whose fault is this?

Everyone knows that the life of ordinary people is indeed not easy.For the basic material to survive, I struggled, sweated and shed tears, and had no peace in my life.But who would have known that a relative of the emperor like Li Jiancheng, for the sake of greater glory and power, would also have no peace in his life.It should be said that Li Jiancheng was lucky.His father, Li Yuan, had sharp eyesight and outstanding abilities. He saw the right time. When the peasant uprising made the Sui Dynasty crumbling, he suddenly changed his face. He disregarded the friendship between his cousins ​​and the loyalty of the monarch and ministers, and rebelled against the Sui Dynasty.Li Yuanmi summoned Li Jiancheng to Taiyuan, and soon gave him the post of governor of the left leader army, and named him Duke of Longxi County.After Li Yuan captured Chang'an, he appointed Wang You, the grandson of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, as Emperor Gong, and changed his Yuan to Yining.Emperor Gong made Li Yuan the king of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Yuan was feudally established as the heir of the king of the Tang Dynasty.Soon, Li Yuan ascended the throne and became the crown prince of course.After that, Jiancheng followed Li Yuan for a long time, assisted Li Yuan in Beijing, and established the major policies of the early Tang Dynasty.There is no doubt that Li Jiancheng should be the natural successor of the emperor!But second brother, why are you here to fight? !Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng heaved a long sigh.

"Stop, stop, stop! Second brother, since you have the heart to covet, don't blame your elder brother for being ruthless!" Li Jiancheng said to himself in his heart, looking up out of the window.For some reason, Yuan Ji, the always impatient fourth brother, hadn't come yet.Just as he was about to send someone to urge him, he suddenly saw Eunuch Liu come in.

"The emperor has a decree, please go to the palace with the prince and the king of Qi to discuss important matters." Eunuch Li said politely.

"The Prince of Qin held a banquet in Yuquan Palace to welcome the Crown Prince and the King of Qi. This is known to the father. At this time, the father..." The prince covered Eunuch Li carefully.

"The slave really doesn't know. He just came here to invite the prince and King Qi to enter the palace as soon as possible."

"Okay, you go and report first, the prince and King Qi will come right away."

Seeing Eunuch Li leave, the prince immediately came to the meeting hall.Wei Zheng, Xue Wanche, Feng Li and other civil and military officials had been waiting there for a long time. After hearing what the prince said about what had just happened, everyone was talking about it for a while.

"It happened suddenly, there must be something strange about it." Wei Zheng said: "According to my opinion, His Highness should say that he is sick, and quickly deploy troops to storm the Qin Palace, kill Qin Wang, to avoid endless troubles, and then go to the emperor to plead guilty. .”

At this moment, Li Yuanji hurried over with his entourage, heard Wei Zheng's words, and said loudly: "This king thinks what Mr. Wei said is true. Brother, don't hesitate, let's do it like this. I'll go back and call the army." .”

After hearing this, Li Jiancheng remained silent for a while.After a long time, he asked Li Yuanji:
"You didn't get the emperor's will?"

"Got it, I met Eunuch Li on the way, he told me."

"That being the case, how can we disobey our father's orders?"

"I'm worried that there's a fraud in it. It was arranged by the father to let the king of Qin welcome us in the Yuquan Palace. The father clearly arranged this matter, why did he call us into the palace in a hurry? Could it be that Li Shimin played some trick again?"

"It must be." Wei Zheng took Qi Wang Yuanji's words and said: "It must be Qin Wang's trick. His Royal Highness and Qi Wang entered the palace, there must be danger."

"The prince and Qi Wang entered the palace, why is there any danger? Could it be that the father will kill us?"

"The emperor loves the prince deeply, so he will definitely not harm him, but King Qin, it's hard to say."

"This crown prince and King Qi entered the palace, even if King Qin wanted to do harm, so what can I do?"

"His Royal Highness!" Wei Zheng yelled loudly, kneeling in front of the Crown Prince: "Going here is absolutely dangerous, please don't go, His Royal Highness and King Qi!"

"If we don't go, how can we explain to the emperor. Besides, inside and outside the palace, there are guards who obey my orders, so what can King Qin do?"

"Prince..."

"Sir, don't say any more." The prince interrupted Wei Zheng's words loudly, and then lowered his voice and said: "The kindness of the sir is appreciated by the prince. Don't worry too much about this matter, the prince has his own opinion." After speaking, get closer together Beside the king, he asked in a low voice:

"Fourth brother, why did you come so late this time?"

"Before going out, for some reason, I thought of my son, so I summoned all five of them to meet."

"Fourth brother is really a father and son. After you say that, I also want to see my six sons." After Li Jiancheng finished speaking, he turned his back to the sky, closed his eyes tightly, and flashed his six sons one by one in his mind: Although the eldest son, Chengzong, died early, Li Jiancheng still remembered his cute appearance, with a thick head and a pair of big eyes; the second son, Chengdao, seemed to be made out of the same mold as the eldest son; Zhaofeng's ears are big and thick, and what stands out is his thick lips, which often blush when he speaks; the fourth son, Chengxun, has been thin since he was a child, but his hair is darker and brighter than a woman's; the fifth son, Chengming, speaks He was always eloquent, and when he saw Li Jiancheng when he was young, he got into his arms; the sixth son, Chengyi, was able to shoot down the eagles in the sky at a young age...

"Son, father is going to do a big event, would you like to bless father?" Li Jiancheng asked his son in his heart.

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Li Yuan's residence, known as the Forbidden City, is located in the center of Chang'an, north of Taiji Palace.To see Li Yuan, there is only one main road at the north gate to enter.The north gate is tall and majestic, and the terrain is steep. It is a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is also called Xuanwu Gate.Because it is the main road leading to the Forbidden City, the guards of the palace are all stationed near the Xuanwu Gate, defending the safety of the emperor, concubines, eunuchs, and maids in the palace.

Before dawn, Li Shimin personally led his sixteen generals and eight hundred warriors, and quietly placed them in the Xuanwu Gate.Everyone held their breath and stared, held their swords and held their guns, and waited quietly, like a group of experienced wolves waiting for their prey to enter their ambush circle.At that time, as long as their head wolf gave an order, they would rush forward desperately and kill the prey that entered the Xuanwu Gate.

The guards who were supposed to guard the Xuanwu Gate suddenly retreated two miles after receiving Chang He's order.Chang He took a lot of money from Li Shimin, and didn't know how things would end, so he made a self-righteous and very smart decision: withdraw the guards, and neither side will offend.Chang He believes that in this way, whoever the three brothers win will not feel sorry for him.This was something that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji could not have dreamed of.It was precisely because this was unexpected that they did not follow Wei Zheng's suggestion.Even so, the crown prince and the king of Qi still took great care and selected more than a thousand elites, led by two generals Xue Wanche and Feng Li, to escort them to the Forbidden Palace.

The road after the rain is a little muddy, but the scenery along the way is more bright and warm.The sky is bluer than in the past, and the chirping of birds is more melodious; the distant mountains and nearby trees, red flowers and green grass, are as clean and bright as if someone has just washed them seriously; The wafting moist fragrance makes people intoxicated.This natural scenery really makes people not want to leave so soon!Perhaps, it was because of nostalgia for the beautiful scenery along the way, or perhaps, because of a different mood, the prince on the tall horse walked very slowly this time.On the muddy road, the prince looked at the green and fresh trees, stared at the fragrant flowers around him, took a deep, deep breath, as if he was intoxicated, and even closed his eyes!Li Yuanji saw it and asked:

"Brother, what's the matter with you?"

"Look, the summer scene after the rain is so beautiful!"

"You still have such a leisurely mood." Li Yuanji muttered dissatisfiedly.

Although Li Jiancheng was listening to the beautiful laughter after the summer rain, he still heard Qi Wang's dissatisfied muttering.As soon as he regained his senses, he pinched the horse's belly, and the horse galloped wildly. Li Yuanji was so happy when he saw it, he shouted "everyone follow closely!" and galloped away.In an instant, the prince's guard of more than a thousand people, like a giant python, pranced forward on the muddy road, stirring up the mud all over the place, Huamu shook his head.

When the Xuanwu Gate arrived, Li Jiancheng reined in his rope and looked back. Li Yuanji led his guards and was rushing towards him like a gust of wind. He couldn't help smiling.He slowly raised his head, looked at the tall city tower, and looked around.Everything was quiet and there was nothing unusual about it.Li Jiancheng smiled coldly: It seems that Wei Zheng is suspicious, how dare King Qin come here to harm the prince!Just thinking about it, Li Yuanji came up to him and asked, "How is it?"

"Look for yourself, what can happen?"

Li Yuanji looked around again, and said to Li Jiancheng: "Brother, you wait here for a while, wait for the fourth brother to go in and have a look first, and then you can move forward."

"This is my territory, do I need to be so careful?" Li Jiancheng gave Yuan Ji a look, then turned around and told Xue Wanche and Feng Li who had just arrived:
"The two of you brought the guards and stayed outside the door, waiting for us to come out."

Xue Wanche listened, looked at Feng Li, and insisted: "Your Highness, let the two of us go and protect."

After hearing this, Li Jiancheng raised his head, pointed to the guards on the city wall, and said, "Look, these are all my men, why did the general..." At this point, Li Jiancheng shook his head, and then continued: "Besides, in Xuanwu Gate, how can you allow the general to bring his weapons in? Please wait here until the crown prince comes out." After speaking, they gave Li Yuanji a look, and the two rode into the Xuanwu Gate.

The outer courtyard of the palace is paved with blue stones, and there is no mud outside, except for the sound of the two brothers' horseshoes stamping on the ground, the surrounding area is even quieter.It's just that it was a little too quiet, which aroused Li Yuanji's suspicion.

"Brother, why don't you come out to greet me?" Li Yuanji asked.

"Yes, why is this..." Li Jiancheng reined in the rope and slowed down the horse.

The sky is still so blue and the surroundings are still so quiet. Li Jiancheng couldn't think of the reason for a while, so why not come to greet him respectfully and with a smile on his face like in the past: "After seeing the father, send him to the mansion to ask Talk." Li Jiancheng thought for a while and said.When it's over, clamp the horse's belly and let the horse fly.When Li Yuanji saw him, he also acted like the elder brother: he caught up with the horse's belly and hurried to catch up.

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(End of this chapter)