The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 717
"Hahahaha, okay, what a arrogant Yelang King." Li Shimin, who had a bruised nose and a swollen face, burst into tears from the county magistrate of Changping County, Xiangyang. King Yelang.

Li Jiancheng, who came to deliver the decree, persuaded, "Second brother, father is only angry for a while, and when his anger subsides, he will give justice to second brother sooner or later."

Li Shimin wiped away his tears and laughed at himself: "When the ancient Yelang Kingdom was strong and prosperous, there were more than 20 strong soldiers. It is actually very good for the emperor to make me the king of Yelang. Matched."

Li Jiancheng smiled wryly, and comforted him, "I know it's not that the second brother is incompetent, it's that Dugu Yanyun is too cunning. If it were Xiaogong, I'm afraid he wouldn't have expected that the rebels would burst the embankment twenty miles away."

"Failure is failure, you have to admit it. Father didn't kill me, it's an extrajudicial favor." Li Shimin was silent for a while, and said: "Brother, no matter it is Liu Hongji's defeat or the plan of water attack, there are Yang Tong's feelings everywhere." With the combat style, I suspect that the Beizhen army has already surrendered to the Sui Dynasty."

"What?" Li Jiancheng was stunned: "You mean the main general is not Dugu Yanyun, but Yang Tong?"

Li Shimin pondered: "It must not be Yang Tong, but the general under Yang Tong's command."

Li Jiancheng asked solemnly: "Is there any evidence?"

"I have no evidence." Li Shimin shook his head, and continued: "The combat style is one thing. The main reason is that Dugu Yanyun did not do anything before, but yesterday he defeated Liu Hongji outside the city and flooded the army at night. Since I have already thought of the more vicious plan of flooding, so why go out of the city to fight Liu Hongji, this is very unreasonable."

"You mean...the chief general of the Sui army has just arrived, and he needs to fight a few more victories to establish his prestige?"

"Yes, that's what I think. So brother, be careful."

"I understand, tell Father the news immediately." Li Jiancheng nodded and asked, "Do you want to go back to Beijing with me?"

"No. I have no face to face my father, and I guess my father doesn't want to see me either." Li Shimin said, "I'll go to Yizhou by myself, Mingxiu, their mother and son will bother Big Brother."

"Second brother, don't worry, I will make good arrangements for my brothers and sisters." After talking to Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng left in a hurry.

After seeing off Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin went back to the backyard of the county government office and locked himself in the study room, not seeing anyone or eating, just sitting alone like a monk.

He was thinking about the future of the Tang Dynasty, and he was also thinking about his own destiny. What the elder brother said about his father's first step into Shu was like a mirror, reflecting the cowardly nature of appeasement, and "King Yelang" In order to get rid of his father's hatred and murderous intent towards him, the title of county guard is to seize all his military power.

Faced with such a father and such a dynasty, Li Shimin felt deeply hopeless.

Today's Tang army has no war horses anymore, and the Tuyuhun people have stopped trading under the threat of the Sui Dynasty, and Tubo's war horses are far inferior to Hequ horses.

Without horses in the army, it means that the Tang Dynasty lost the most powerful military force. Without the backing of a strong army, how can it still count on retreating to a corner of Yizhou?Certainly not, Yang Tong is a hero of a generation, and he will never allow any forces in the world to oppose him.

Li Shimin is now only full of despair for his father, and he hates what happened to him. His father's dismissal of his Shang Shuling and all his military posts is just the beginning, and the title of "King Yelang" is actually a blow to him in the army. His prestige made him a laughing stock in order to regain military power.

If I acted according to my father's will in everything like my eldest brother, the main combat faction in Datang would disappear completely, and Datang, which was ruled by a group of surrender factions, would surely perish within a year!
"Your Highness, the humble Yin Kaishan seeks to see you." At this time, Yin Kaishan's voice came from outside the door.

"Please come in, Mr. Yin!" Li Shimin said.

Seeing that there were still tears in the corner of his eyes, Yin Kaishan asked in surprise, "Your Highness, what happened?"

"It's nothing, I feel very sad to think that [-]% of the soldiers are gone like this." Li Shimin quickly concealed the reason for his crying.

After a moment of silence, Yin Kaishan asked again: "I heard that His Highness has been removed from the Minister's order and military post."

"More than that." Seeing that he knew, Li Shimin didn't hide it, and said bitterly: "Father even lowered me to be King Yelang. power."

Seeing that he was depressed, Yin Kaishan comforted him: "Perhaps the Holy Majesty couldn't accept the loss of the army, so he was a little angry. Your Highness doesn't need to think too much. It may also be that the crown prince is obstructing it."

"In the past, my elder brother and I had fights, but we never harmed Datang's interests; now that Datang is in danger, there are many people who want to rebel, and after all, I am the most prestigious person in the royal family. There needs to be a strong person in charge. At this time, the eldest brother will never use the 'Yelang King' to attack me. So he will not make trouble, and he will not be able to influence the decision of the father. The root cause is still the father."

Li Shimin smiled wryly and said: "The military power struggle between our father and son has always existed. The father can tolerate everything about our brothers, except for the military power, and no one can touch it; I don’t believe it anymore. Eldest brother has been at his mercy for so many years like a puppet, but in the end, hasn’t Li Junxian been transferred from elder brother’s command? I have more influence in the army than anyone else, and my father is afraid that I will not be accepted. Control, so I want to take my military power. I know my father better than anyone else, he is generous and kind on the surface, but in fact, he is more selfish than anyone else, and his heart is smaller than anyone else."

Yin Kaishan nodded. Li Shimin's thoughts were within his expectations. The eldest brother, who is the eldest son, is now deprived of all military power. As a brother, Li Shimin didn't feel that the opportunity was coming, but was panicked. This shows that he really sees his father clearly. .

"The Holy Majesty kept a low profile for dozens of species, and finally tasted the dessert of imperial power, so he attaches great importance to imperial power, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is old, not only controls the affairs of the Tang Dynasty, is unanimously loved by civil servants and common people, but also has his own The prince has the military and political power in his hands, and he has the support of the people, so he is only one step away from enthronement." Yin Kaishan said: "Does your Highness still remember the time when the prince had the highest prestige and strength? It's a 'sickness', leaving all the important affairs of the court to the prince, now thinking about it, I feel like defending the prince, the Holy Majesty is hiding a deep scheming."

"It's also big brother. If it were me, even a hundred heads would not be enough to cut off..." Li Shimin did not accuse Yin Kaishan of treasonous words. If he was so hypocritical that he couldn't even tolerate such words, then he would not be Li Shimin. Sighing: "It was also during that time that my power grew at a speed visible to the naked eye."

The chatterbox opened, and Li Shimin, who was depressed in his heart, seemed to be out of control: "If the elder brother is a puppet, then I am the pawn used by the father to restrain the elder brother. Now the father has Yuan Ji, a more obedient pawn, and I don't need it anymore." I am a disobedient chess piece."

Yin Kaishan pondered for a moment and said: "Your Highness, I'm sorry to say something disrespectful. The rebellion of the Guanlong nobles is just the beginning of the civil strife, and a bigger storm has just begun."

Li Shimin asked: "Sir, are you talking about Yuanji?"

Yin Kaishan nodded, and said worriedly: "Everything the King of Chu does now is to gain the trust of the Holy One. On the surface, he cares about everything, but in fact, relying on the trust of the Holy One, he is gaining military power step by step. Once the Holy Majesty asked him to be responsible for liquidating the Guanlong nobles in Yizhou, he would definitely take the opportunity to grow stronger. Both the crown prince and His Highness put the interests of the Tang Dynasty first, and he will not."

"This..." Li Shimin was completely stunned like thunder.

"The crown prince is too lenient to guard the Tang Dynasty; the king of Chu is cruel and ruthless and can't guard it. Only His Highness is the guardian of the Tang Dynasty and the only hope for the revival of the Tang Dynasty."

Yin Kaishan is undoubtedly a master who can see through human nature. He first took advantage of Li Shimin's distress, ruthlessly tore up Li Shimin's expectations for Li Yuan, and then dumped the moral halo of "Datang Revival" to Li Shimin in time. Under the light of the halo, Li Shimin's ambition swelled without restraint.

He was silent for a while, and said: "Mr. is right. My Tang Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles. If I don't take on this burden, who can take it? For the sake of the Tang Dynasty, I decided to go all out this time. My husband thinks that I should now what to do?"

"His Highness recommends that His Royal Highness take the first step to gather the direct line of troops and move to Dangchang County."

"Why do you want to go to Dangchang? If I don't go to Chengdu, wouldn't it be cheaper for Yuanji?"

"Your Highness, the villain must be done by someone. Since His Highness King Chu is willing, why not do it? His Highness uses the excuse of fighting against the Sui army in Liangzhou and recovering Hehuang to firmly occupy Dangchang, Tongchang, and Wudu. The five counties of Shunzheng, Shunzheng, and Pingwu bought good horses with the foreign races in the west, and developed silently, and then contributed to the flames of Chengdu, the capital of the empire. Once there is a change, the army of justice can enter Chengdu. Under control." Yin Kaishan said with a smile.

Li Shimin understood Yin Kaishan's meaning very well, pondered for a long time, and finally sighed: "Just as Mr. said, let's go to Dangchang. As for the possible fight between eldest brother and Yuanji, I don't bother to care about it. It's just my soldiers. Almost gone."

"Isn't there still 7 to [-] people in Yiling?"

"This..." Li Shimin frowned and said, "Will the Nanjun Sui Army take advantage of the situation?"

"The humble position does not mean that all the troops in Yiling should be taken away now, but that His Highness should first go to Yiling to discuss with Hou Junji and the others, to strengthen his position, and then ask the generals to transfer the troops after the Holy Majesty enters Yizhou. Walk."

"Forget it, then I will go to Dangchang to be the prefect first. Yu Zhining, Duan Zhixuan, Liu Hongji and the others will ask you to contact me."

"Follow your orders." Yin Kaishan didn't persuade him any more. It was already very difficult for Li Shimin to take this step. If he really didn't want to participate in the future internal struggles in Chengdu, that's fine.As long as there is an army, it can respond to all changes without change, and can enter Chengdu at any time.

. . . . . . .

With a new decision, Li Shimin's decadence was swept away, and he became radiant.Without any delay, he took away half of the defenders in Changping County that day.At the same time, he also wrote a letter to Li Yuan, saying that if war breaks out in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Sui army in Lintao and Hanyang must be the first to send troops, because that is the place closest to Shu County where Chengdu is located in the Sui Dynasty, so it must be built in Dangchang. Build a strong defense.

Li Shimin's actions were all about beheading first and playing later, but he didn't care about it. Only when the imperial decree to dismiss him had not been passed to Yizhou, could he successfully collect the troops and money from the counties on the way.

According to the plan in advance, after Li Shimin arrived in Yiling, he would first have a showdown with Hou Junji and take away [-] monks and soldiers who had nothing to worry about, and then turned around and headed west. Tens of thousands of troops marched mightily towards Dangchang County.

(End of this chapter)