Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 461: Zhongsun Aspires to Become the King
At this time, Li Shimin did not resist Zhongsun Xie's invitation to rebellion as he had originally done. In fact, in Li Shimin's view, it might really be time to reshuffle the world.

He put down the book, looked at his eldest grandson and nodded slightly: "Please ask him to come in."

Zhongsun Xie was slightly stunned when he heard Changsun Wuji's words. In fact, he was already prepared for Li Shimin to reject him again.

After all, he had come to bother Li Shimin many times in the past few years, but the answer he got was the same every time.

"The sheriff is out."

"The sheriff is not here."

"The county magistrate will not see any guests today."

In short, Li Shimin would delay as much as possible and avoid meeting with this person if possible.

"Zhongsun County Magistrate?"

Changsun Wuji turned his head with a confused look on his face, as if he was curious why Changsun Wuji didn't move.

Zhongsun Xie straightened his clothes, then smiled slightly, and followed Changsun Wuji into the backyard.

The backyard is elegantly decorated - or rather plain and simple.

Li Shimin was sitting under a tree reading a book, with a thoughtful look on his face, as if he was thinking about the problems in the book.

Seeing this scene, Zhongsun Xie suddenly felt a little regretful.

He regretted spreading his ambitions to this young man - Li Shimin was too young.

In the past, when Zhongsun Xie met Li Shimin, it was always in formal occasions, or Li Shimin was wearing armor and looking murderous. At that time, Zhongsun Xie did not realize a problem.

Li Shimin is too young!
He was so young that even Zhongsun Xie felt scared.

When seeing such a handsome young man sitting there, without any sharpness or "stability" in him, Zhongsun Xie realized his age.

Twenty-five.

He hasn't even reached the age of thirty!

If such a young man, or such a young man, really joined his rebellious camp and made great contributions, how should he reward him?
Reward Li Shimin as one of the Three Dukes and the Grand Marshal, and give him military power?
Is this configuration familiar?
The regret in Zhongsun Xie's heart flowed slowly like the sea.

He was afraid that Li Shimin would be the next Yang Jian.

Because Li Shimin really has the same blood as Yang Jian - the blood of Dugu.

His mind was full of thoughts, but in reality, only a moment had passed. When Li Shimin saw Zhongsun Xie, he put down the book in his hand, smiled and looked at Zhongsun Xie and said, "When Zhongsun County Magistrate visited me several times before, it happened that I had important matters."

“So I couldn’t see it.”

"I have some free time today."

He looked at Zhongsun Xie curiously, like a curious young man.

"I wonder why the prefect Zhongsun Zhong came to see me, Li?"

Zhongsun Xie's thoughts flashed through his mind quickly, and he finally decided to be honest - as long as he didn't reveal his intention to pull Li Shimin into a rebellion.

Thinking of this, he smiled and said, "It's actually an old story."

He picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip quietly, and after moistening his throat, he looked in the distance and said, "The Great Sui has been occupying the Great Yu for a long time. When Emperor Kai killed Emperor Wansui, he once said that this great land should be ruled by those who are capable."

“And now, Zhongsun feels.”

"Zhongsun has the country in his heart and ambitions in his mind. He fought for the position of governor in the past. Now he wants to conquer the world and learn from the princes who asked the emperor of Zhou for the tripod."

"I wonder what Shimin thinks?"

Li Shimin's expression remained unchanged: "So that's how it is."

He looked at Zhongsun Xie and said, "It's just that Li doesn't understand, what does this have to do with Li?"

Zhongsun Xie did not hide his purpose and said, "Brother Yu occupied Liaodong Zhijun, while Brother Shimin occupied Liaodong Xijun, and Lin'an Hou occupied Youzhou and other places."

"Although Zhongsun has tens of millions of naval forces and can sail south, it is still a little lacking."

"so."

Li Shimin was silent for a moment, then he looked at Zhongsun Xie and said, "So, the prefect Zhongsun wants to borrow your passage."

Yes.

Borrow the road.

This was the excuse that Zhongsun Xie came up with on the spur of the moment, but he also knew that Li Shimin would never agree. After all, in history there was also a country that said it wanted to borrow a road, but on the way back it destroyed the road as well.

He shook his head slightly, looked at Li Shimin and said, "That's not the case."

"Among the five counties in Liaodong, Liaodong East County is long and narrow, and it borders Liaodong Branch County and the hinterland of the Central Plains. At this time, I have already convinced the governor of Liaodong East County, and he is willing to follow me and join me in the uprising."

Zhongsun Xie revealed his real purpose.

"Brother Shimin is the Grand Commander of Liaodong and also the Commissioner of Demotion and Appointment. If there is any military information in Liaodong, the court will certainly order Brother Shimin to go to war."

"I wonder if Brother Shimin can show mercy then?"

Li Shimin's brows relaxed, he looked at Zhongsun Xie and said, "So that's how it is."

He just remained silent for a moment before speaking: "I can't make a decision on this matter."

Li Shimin said calmly: "Liaozhou is connected to Youzhou. If one move affects the whole. I don't know what Brother Lin'an is thinking. If he takes action, I will definitely do the same."

"So Brother Zhongsun found the wrong person."

"I should ask Brother Lin'an about this matter."

At this point, Li Shimin added with some hints: "But speaking of Brother Zhongsun's ambitions, I think of someone."

He smiled and said, "Emperor Gaozu also had such ambitions in the past. Later, he competed with King Xiang Yu of Chu for hegemony. The two of them fought for the Central Plains, but in the end, Pei Gong was the winner."

"Brother Zhongsun, do you know where Pei Gong won?"

Zhongsun Xie thought for a moment and said, "The advantage lies in being able to employ talented people and win their hearts; being able to treat the people well and win their hearts."

Li Shimin nodded: "Yes, that's right."

"Brother Zhongsun is able to have such an understanding. If you can keep this in mind when you fight for supremacy in the future, you will surely have a good ending."

After Zhongsun Xie left, Li Shimin smiled and shook his head. Changsun Wuji beside him was a little curious.

"Erlang, why did you change into such a youthful outfit today? Didn't you dislike emerald clothes the most in the past, saying that it couldn't make the people below succumb to your majesty?"

In response to Zhangsun Wuji's question, Li Shimin just sighed and said, "Clothes are actually a mirror that reflects the way you want others to see you."

He looked at Changsun Wuji and said, "In the past, I dressed in a dignified and steady manner in order to maintain the dignity of the county governor or to make my subordinates obey me. At that time, my identity was the county governor in charge of a region or the general who commanded the entire army on the battlefield."

"And today, when I meet Zhongsun Xie, I need this county governor who wants to recruit me to his group to understand one thing."

Li Shimin stretched out his hands with a slight smile on his face. "I am a young general, even more than 20 years younger than him. This young general is very talented and has already stood at the position of prefect and Liaozhou deposed envoy at a young age because of his military merits."

"It just so happens that this young man has a very good family background and he also has a title - even a title of Duke."

"This young man has a better relationship with the Guandu Chen family, which controls the world's situation. His father is a disciple of the current head of the Guandu Chen family, and his brother is the second son of the current head of the family."

"Brother-in-law."

Li Shimin smiled and looked at Changsun Wuji and asked, "If you wanted to rebel, would you choose a young man like this as your subordinate?"

Changsun Wuji was startled, and then quickly reacted: "No."

Li Shimin said: "Yes, no."

"Especially when there is a 'Yang Jian' in front."

"I am so young. When the world is unified and he establishes a new dynasty, will he dare to give me an official position? Will he dare not give me an official position?"

"If I am to be granted a title, it must be a position of one of the Three Dukes, with control over the military power of the world, and I must even be allowed to concurrently hold positions in three provinces - because my military merits and family background are all here, and if the position is lower, it will surely cause dissatisfaction among everyone."

"But - the consequence of doing this is that I may very well be the next Yang Jian."

"He conquered the world with great difficulty, but I took it down easily. Would he be willing?"

Changsun Wuji shook his head: "Of course I won't be willing."

Li Shimin smiled: "But if I don't confer the title, the problem will be even bigger - if I confer the title, I will probably wait until he dies before taking action, but if I don't confer the title, I will probably take action immediately - and it will make my subordinates feel disheartened, and they might even follow me in rebellion."

"So as long as he recruits me, although there will be some benefits temporarily, there will be endless troubles in the future."

Chang Sun Wuji fell into silence. After a long while, he sighed and said, "Alas..."

"I am indeed not as good as Shimin."

He looked at Li Shimin and asked, "But why did Shimin want to enlighten Zhongsun Xie? If he hadn't thought of this, wouldn't we be able to dominate at the lowest cost if we just followed his lead?"

Li Shimin stood up, walked under the tree, put his hands behind his back, and had a complicated expression.

"There are two reasons for this."

"First, I want to try and see if Zhongsun Xie is a wise leader."

Faced with his brother-in-law's puzzled look, Li Shimin had to patiently explain to him.

"If Zhongsun Xie retreats at this point, it means he is indeed not a heroic leader."

"Did the Duke of Pei suspect that Han Xin and others would usurp his position before they succeeded? Did the Emperor Taizu of Dayu worry that Master Tianshi would establish himself as emperor? Even the Duke Xuande of the Han Dynasty, when did he ever doubt Zhuge Liang?"

"If Zhongsun Xie starts to doubt me and even retreat because of a few figures in past history, then such a person is definitely not a wise leader, and is not someone I want to rely on."

"Brother Changsun, whether you believe it or not."

"In fact, I have never wanted to be an emperor. Being an emperor is too hard. That position is definitely not what people who have not sat on it imagine. You can do whatever you want and have unlimited power."

"Anyone who thinks like this will definitely be recorded in history books as a licentious and incompetent ruler."

"Does one climb to that position and go through so much hardship to get there just to become a tyrant in history, to be reviled by future generations like Jie and Zhou?"

"And if you want to be a wise ruler, you must work hard and bear endless responsibilities."

"So if Zhongsun Xie had not backed down just now, but had honestly explained his concerns and then made a promise to me, then I might really have served him as my master and helped him conquer the world."

"Unfortunately, there are no ifs in this world."

"Zhongsun Xie has backed off."

"And looking at the world, other people are even worse than Zhongsun Xie."

As Changsun Wuji listened to his brother-in-law's words, his expression remained unchanged, but countless joys emerged in his heart.

This was the first time that Li Shimin expressed his desire to dominate!
If Li Shimin became emperor, wouldn't he be the emperor's uncle?
The Changsun family was also able to develop by leveraging the power of the Li family.

But then Changsun Wuji thought of another problem - what Li Shimin said just now was "the rest of the people in the world are even worse", and now that the chaos has not yet been revealed, there are even fewer people who can be known by Li Shimin and say such words.

He knew who it was without having to think.

Li Yuan, Duke of Tang.

The eldest grandson lowered his head: "What about the second one?"

Li Shimin sneered: "The second one is of course because I think he doesn't have the ability to make it to the end."

"When I said that the rest of the world is even worse, I was only referring to their character and morals, not their power."

"Let's not talk about anything else, just my biased father and that wicked brother. The power of the Longxi Li family is not comparable to that of Zhongsun Xie."

"Many things in this world ultimately depend on strength and background."

"Especially when the aristocratic families are so powerful."

"Do you think that the power of the Dugu family + the Li family can be surpassed by Zhongsun Xie's management in the past few years?"

"Under the circumstances, it is certainly impossible for me to surrender to him."

"Otherwise, wouldn't it be like walking into a fire pit yourself, and then pushing the world into the fire pit as well?"

Changsun Wuji fell into silence.

The words are rough but the truth is there, but aren’t they a bit too rough?

In the rickety carriage

Zhongsun Xie closed his eyes and thought about what Li Shimin had just said.

Although Li Shimin was young, he was extremely shrewd and what he said could never be just superficial.

He said that the struggle between Pei Gong and the King of Chu must be a metaphor.

"Pei Gong, people's hearts, and talented people?"

A flash of lightning seemed to pass through Zhongsun Xie's mind, and he seemed to understand what Li Shimin was saying.

Pei Gong did have talented people around him at the beginning, such as the three sages of Pei County, but why did the rest of the talented people gather around him? Because Pei Gong found the then Duke Chen and got Chen's tacit consent.

Pei Gong did have the support of the people, but where did it come from? Because Pei Gong found Chen, and Chen acquiesced, the people were willing to believe Pei Gong, so he had the initial "opportunity".

Why did Pei Gong allow "Emperor Wulie of Qin" to give him a chance?
Because Chen acquiesced.

Why was the Han Dynasty able to successfully survive the period just after its establishment?
Because of Chen’s help.

Zhongsun Xie opened his eyes suddenly: "Prepare the horses."

"I'm going to Youzhou immediately!"

(End of this chapter)