Traveling the Heavens in Thunderbolt

Chapter 57 Yuanji's Death
It was precisely this obituary of Li Yuan's execution of Liu Wenjing that would once again stir up turmoil in the Li Tang court.

Liu Wenjing was originally the prefect of Jinyang. Later, he contacted Pei Ji and Li Shimin, assisted Li Yuan in raising an army against the Sui Dynasty, and was ordered to go on a diplomatic mission to the Turks. Later, he followed the army southward, defeated Sang Xianhe, and captured Qu Tutong. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Liu Wenjing served as a minister and became the prime minister. Later, he followed Li Shimin to pacify Xue Rengao of Western Qin, and served as the Minister of Revenue, the Left Prime Minister of the Eastern Shaanxi Road, and the Duke of Lu.

As the prime minister and founding hero of the dynasty, Li Yuan should not have done such a thing as "when the birds are all gone, the bows are put away; when the rabbit is dead, the dogs are cooked", leaving a stigma in the history books of later generations.

The main reason was that Liu Wenjing clearly supported Li Shimin's succession to the throne from the very beginning. Later, he became resentful because he was jealous of his good friend Pei Ji, who was more favored by Li Yuan than himself.

During a banquet at home, he complained after getting drunk, drew his sword and chopped the hall pillars, saying that he was determined to kill Pei Ji. It happened that the family had several evil spirits, so Liu Wenqi summoned a wizard, who performed magic at night with his hair loose and a sword in his mouth to drive away the evil spirits. At this time, a concubine who had fallen out of favor with Liu Wenjing told her brother about this and asked him to report the incident to the emperor, falsely accusing Liu Wenjing of treason.

I don't know what Li Yuan was thinking, but he actually believed this. He ordered Liu Wenjing to be handed over to his subordinates and ordered Pei Ji and Xiao Yu to interrogate him.

During this period, Li Shimin had repeatedly supported him and suggested that Li Yuan would pardon Liu Wenjing in view of his meritorious service.

At this time, his "good friend" Pei Ji took the opportunity to say: "Liu Wenjing's talent and strategy are indeed above everyone else, but he is suspicious and sinister by nature, and he is reckless. His ugly words and strange behavior have already been revealed. Now that the world is about to be settled, although there are no strong enemies outside, if Liu Wenjing is pardoned, it will definitely cause trouble in the future."

This statement dealt a fatal blow to Liu Wenjing, causing Li Yuan to worry that his talent would backfire on him, so he made up his mind to eradicate him. He ordered Liu Wenjing and Liu Wenqi to be executed and their property confiscated. Before his execution, Liu Wenjing stroked his chest and sighed, "The high birds are gone, and the good bows are hidden.' This is true!" He was 52 years old.

His death also meant that Li Yuan wanted to clip Li Shimin's wings. He had previously found various excuses to dismiss and transfer all the people in his Tian Ce Palace. Now it seems that he wanted to disintegrate his power in the court and remove obstacles for Li Jiancheng (Chengqian)'s future succession.

As for Liu Wenjing's advice at the beginning of the uprising, Li Yuan was indeed somewhat tempted at first, because when Li Shimin was playing in his early years, a fortune teller who passed by said that he had the appearance of an emperor.

Li Shimin was just as the fortune teller had predicted. He showed extraordinary talent since he was young. He was good at both literature and martial arts, and his appearance was outstanding. He was the most like himself among many children. However, his eldest son Li Jiancheng was not fond of martial arts by nature, so his performance in his early years was not as good as Li Shimin's.

As one of the four major clans, the Li clan does not have extremely strict martial arts requirements for its heirs like the Yuwen clan and the Song clan, but as a future heir, the martial arts skills must be more or less acceptable.

Therefore, Li Yuan did consider making Li Shimin the crown prince, but Empress Dou dissuaded him by saying that the rite of primogeniture should not be abolished lightly and that the country must be passed on smoothly in the future. She also cited the demise of Yang Guang and the Sui Dynasty as an example, which dissuaded Li Yuan from the idea.

Later, when he raised his army in Taiyuan, Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) showed his amazing talents in military, political and economic aspects, and was of great help in strategy, tactics, local governance and the implementation of new policies. For example, when Liu Heita attacked Taiyuan that day, if Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) had not reminded him and personally went to govern Hedong, his hometown would have been lost.

He even handled domestic affairs much better than himself, not to mention the other philosophers. He might not be as good as Shimin in military affairs, but in governing the country, he relied mainly on civil governance rather than military achievements.

On the night that Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) received the obituary, Chang'an was under curfew and the city gates were locked, forcing him and his civil and military officials from the Prince's Mansion and the Changlin Army to camp outside the city.

Late at night, when Li Jiancheng (Cheng Qian) was reviewing official documents in his own tent, a figure was moving freely in the Changlin Army's camp, and no one could detect it. After the figure found the target, it immediately rushed into the tent.

The person who came was none other than the current Holy Maiden of the Holy Religion, Kankan, and her target was Li Jiancheng (Chengqian), the current crown prince of the Tang Dynasty and the future successor of the Li Tang Dynasty.

Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) was not surprised to see Xianxian coming, and said calmly: "I wonder if the Holy Lady of the Holy Church is not in Chang'an City to assist my third brother. What are you doing here so late at night?"

Xianxian bowed respectfully to Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) and said solemnly: "Xianxian pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I am here on behalf of the Holy Sect to pay respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince at the behest of the former and current leaders of the Holy Sect."

Hearing this, Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) seemed to have heard a very funny joke and laughed loudly, "I am already the crown prince, and now I am on the verge of victory. You should have also heard from the Holy Teaching that your father in the court has removed the obstacles for my future ascension to the throne. My position as crown prince is as solid as a rock. As long as I don't make any big mistakes in the future, the throne of the future emperor will belong to me. Why should I be assisted by people like you who betray your master? Recently, there is heavy dew in Chang'an at night. Saint, there is no need to waste time with me. Please go back to the city and rest early." As he spoke, Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) issued an order to expel the guest.

After hearing this, Xianxian showed no sign of being annoyed, and continued to speak respectfully, "We are not people who betray our master. We only follow the orders of the previous master."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) stopped talking and gave Wanwan a chance to explain.

"My senior brother had left a letter to Master and me long before the decisive battle with Ling Donglai. It said that Li Yuanji was not capable of being a ruler. After the decisive battle with Ling Donglai, he wanted the Holy Church to abandon him and assist you, the Crown Prince. In addition,"

Having said this, Kanan suddenly paused and looked around warily, fearing that someone might be eavesdropping.

After confirming that she and Li Jiancheng (Chengqian) were the only two people in and out of the tent, she felt relieved and revealed a shocking news to him, "Also, Your Highness the Crown Prince may not know yet, but your fourth brother, Li Yuanji, led Yang Xuyan and other traitors of our Holy Religion to rebel before tonight, and was wiped out by Li Shimin and his people in Tiance Mansion, together with Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Ba Fenghan, and a group of masters including the Yuwen clan, the Dugu clan, and Cihang Jingzhai. Now Li Shimin has taken control of a part of the imperial guards and Li Yuan through the elimination of Li Yuanji, and has slandered..."

Before Xianxian could finish her words, she was interrupted by Li Jiancheng (Chengqian), "They also slandered Yuanji's rebellion as being under my instruction, hoping to use this incident to make my father depose me from the position of crown prince and have me arrested and imprisoned. Tell me, is my guess right or not?"

(End of this chapter)