The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 465 Scapegoat

In the bedroom of the Xiangyang Imperial Palace, Li Yuan looked at Li Jiancheng who was in a tangle with inexplicable eyes.

Li Yuan is by no means a stupid person. On the contrary, he is a hundred times smarter than anyone else, and he knows the many disadvantages of the imperial court's remote control of the army. He knows that the eldest son Li Jiancheng really means not to allow the imperial court to interfere in military affairs too much, but Li Jiancheng knows that it is clearly restricting himself. The emperor's power, so he dare not speak, but he has a strong sense of responsibility in his heart, so it is difficult to choose between truth and lies.

"Father! The war changes rapidly, and every moment is a priceless treasure. However, the military decisions implemented by our Tang Dynasty run counter to this."

"Running in the opposite direction?" Li Yuan asked coldly.

"My son thinks that our military policy of the Tang Dynasty was wrong from the very beginning!" Li Jiancheng thought for a long time, but his strong sense of responsibility still made him decide to speak his heartfelt words, but he didn't dare to look at Li Yuan who was watching him , Said in a deep voice with drooping eyelids: "Take this Eastern Expedition as an example. Xiangyang is nearly a thousand miles away from the battle situation, and the exchange of letters can be as fast as a few days, and as slow as half a month. When we make the decision to let Xiaogong evacuate Yangdi When the decision was made, those of us sitting in the palace did not know that he had fallen into Luo Shixin's siege, that he was not far from defeat, and that we needed to cross the Yingshui River and cross the river from Yangzhai to Runan. Daliu Mountain, crossing the Ru River again... We blindly believe that the march of hundreds of miles is actually only a small distance less than an inch long on the map..."

Li Jiancheng, who has opened up the chatterbox, is now determined to dig out the root cause of the court's remote control of the generals in front of him, even if he offends his father, for the future of the court and long-term stability.

"I have asked Xiaogong and the surviving soldiers. When Daozong failed and was captured, Yique fell, and Luo Shixin led the cavalry to invade, the morale of our army was already a little unstable. At that time, including the warrior Xun Everyone advised Xiaogong to immediately retreat to Jicheng County in Xiangcheng County, and then rely on the Fushui defense line and sufficient food to compete with the Sui army. Chengjun, as for Fuyang County, will not fall, and Xiaogong's army will not be completely wiped out, and we will not be so passive..."

"But why didn't Li Xiaogong withdraw?" Li Yuan asked coldly.

"Because he needs to ask the imperial court for instructions..." Li Jiancheng raised his head abruptly, and said in a word: "If withdrawing troops without authorization is the same crime as betraying the country and seeking glory, no one can afford this crime."

Li Yuan's face was very gloomy, obviously restraining the anger in his heart, even though he was prepared in his heart, Li Yuan was still extremely annoyed when he heard these words that were almost mocking.Because the one who formulated this system was none other than Li Yuan himself, and it was Li Yuan who interfered too much in the military.

He stared deeply at Li Jiancheng, with a teasing smile on his face: "You mean I shouldn't be in charge of the military anymore?"

Li Jiancheng knew that he had completely offended his father when he heard that Li Yuan referred to "Imperial Court" in his mouth as "Zhen".In fact, when he decided to say this, he had already prepared himself, but in order to get rid of the strange phenomenon that the Tang Dynasty must be defeated every Sui Dynasty, Li Jiancheng must pierce his father's fluke heart, so as to make him face up to it. this problem.He took a deep breath, stared at Li Yuan's extremely cold face, and insisted to the end to express his thoughts, "My son is not saying that it is wrong for the court to interfere in military affairs, let alone want the court to let go of military power. Mobilizing the young and strong to join the army, preparing food, casting armaments, transporting food and so on are all inseparable from the imperial court, so the victory or defeat of any war is closely related to whether the military and government are in harmony."

"Then what do you mean?" Li Yuan's expression softened slightly.

Li Jiancheng is also a shrewd person. When Li Yuan took the problem on himself, he said the word "imperial court", thereby excluding Li Yuan.

"The key is a question of speed!" Li Jiancheng, who was sweating profusely, bowed and said, "I always believe that the imperial court can control the overall situation of the war, but it can't interfere too much in every detail of the war. After all, the imperial court is hundreds of miles away from the battlefield. I don't know what major changes are happening on the battlefield at this time. If the enemy attacks and the court has to decide whether to fight back, it's better to let the soldiers simply stretch their necks and poke them, which will save the exhaustion before death. "

For a moment, Li Yuan fell into deep thought!
After he realized that Li Jiancheng didn't ask him to let go of his military power, but reminded him of the reason why he should go too far, his rationality slowly recovered, and he motioned, "Go ahead."

"Here!" Seeing this, Li Jiancheng, who knew what was going on, heaved a sigh of relief, and he continued: "Father, when we occupied Bingzhou, Guanzhong and other vast territories, the national power of the Sui Dynasty was not only inferior to ours, but there were still many people in the Sui Dynasty. There are domestic troubles such as gentry rebellion, lack of governance talents, etc., and there are external enemies such as my Tang Dynasty and Li Mi, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, Liu Wuzhou, Turks, Goguryeo, etc... However, they now occupy at least half of the world. If nothing else, Qingzhou's Dou Jiande will also be eliminated in this battle, and the territory of the Sui Dynasty will add another state by then."

"The Sui Dynasty has become stronger at an astonishing speed that can be seen with the naked eye in recent years, but our Great Tang has been defeated repeatedly and weakened day by day, and large areas of the country have fallen! This is a fact that no one can deny. My Great Tang disease is in the decayed and rigid center of the imperial court. If we don’t make up our minds and scrape the bones and cramps to treat it, we will lose again in the future... Once we lose, we will not only lose Bashu and Jingzhou, but the Great Tang Guozuo And the fate of the Li family, Yang Tong may be able to tolerate my subjects of the Tang Dynasty, but there is no room for my Li family anymore..."

"You... shut up for me"

Li Yuan's angry shout interrupted Li Jiancheng roughly. He stood up and walked to the window, his chest heaving violently. The words of the eldest son deeply hurt him, especially this sentence—"Once you lose , what we have lost is not only Bashu and Jingzhou, but also the fate of Tang Guozuo and the Li family." It was like a thunderbolt from the blue sky, which made Li Yuan's eyes black and his heart beating violently. He knew what Li Jiancheng said It is true that if the Sui army really wanted to invade Xiangyang, the Sui army might not need to do anything, and some officials might tie up their father and son and send them to the front of the Sui army.

At this thought, Li Yuan couldn't stand upright, his weak legs gave way and fell to the ground.

"Father!"

Li Jiancheng was taken aback, quickly helped Li Yuan back to the soft couch, ran out and shouted to the eunuch outside: "Quickly pass on the imperial physician!"

"Here!" There was a sudden commotion inside and outside the imperial study room.

……

Li Yuan's condition did not stabilize until the evening, and Li Jiancheng and the ministers who came to visit stayed there until late at night before going back to rest exhausted.

The next morning!

However, there was an imperial edict from the palace that stunned Li Jiancheng—"Zhaojun Wang Li Xiaogong's serious dereliction of duty during his tenure as the commander of the East Route Army directly led to the annihilation of the entire Tang Dynasty East Route Army, and the fall of Xiangcheng and Yiyang. Tang's grand plan for the Eastern Expedition was extremely bad in nature and had such serious consequences... He should be executed, thinking that he had made great contributions, and he was pardoned from death... However, the crime of living is hard to forgive... Deprived of his clan title and all his official positions, he was demoted to the common people. '

When the edict came out, Xiangyang was shocked.

Many people sighed sadly, and those with a discerning eye knew that Li Xiaogong had become the poor scapegoat for the failure of the Tang Dynasty's Eastern Expedition.

Li Jiancheng was shocked for a long time, and finally, under the reminder of Changsun Wuji, he finally understood Li Yuan's meaning - don't you disapprove of Zong's own command of the army?Then I will justifiably dismiss the commander and your cronies who led to the annihilation of the Great Tang East Route Army.

In this way, someone took the blame for the failure of the Eastern Expedition, and responded to Li Jiancheng's "truth", and followed the strong demands of some ministers for military reform, and solved Li Yuan's urgent need.

(End of this chapter)