A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"Then let's fight!"

Li Yuan gave the final decision.

"I immediately started sending people to recruit soldiers and open the granaries of the Great Sui Dynasty, which was enough to arm hundreds of thousands of troops."

"We can't recruit so many soldiers in Taiyuan alone. The Guanzhong region is still unclaimed. The Li family has a long-standing reputation in Guanzhong. We will recruit soldiers in Guanzhong and then use this advantage to annex the entire Guanzhong region as our base."

Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng, and Li Shimin spent the entire night in their study discussing and making a general plan for their unification of the country.

First, annex the Guanzhong region, then take advantage of the battle between Li Mi and Wang Shichong in the Central Plains to seize Hebei. Once Li Mi and Wang Shichong are both exhausted, march south to the Central Plains and unify the entire Central Plains and the north.

After unifying the Central Plains and the North, the overall situation was settled. All that was needed now was to proceed steadily and expand outwards step by step.

This is just a general plan; they have also developed various contingency plans to deal with different unforeseen circumstances.

The most crucial step is the first one: can they swiftly conquer the entire Guanzhong Plain without losing Taiyuan, a strategic stronghold?

"Giggle giggle!"

A rooster crowed, and the three looked up to see the red sun slowly rising in the east.

"It's already early morning. You two brothers should go and rest first. I'll take care of things now."

Li Yuan rubbed his temples, looked at his two sons with heartache, and waved them back to rest as soon as possible.

"Yes, Father."

The two didn't offer any nonsense like "you should also take a rest." What they were about to do was something as important as conquering the world. Moreover, they were already a step behind, and most importantly, once they took that first step, failure would mean the extermination of their entire clan.

The two left the study and walked together for a while before parting ways at a fork in the road.

After saying goodbye, they each headed towards their own rooms.

Li Shimin took a few steps, then turned back to look at Li Jiancheng's retreating figure. His father's words made a lot of sense. But these were all just speculations.

The imperial strategies and governance techniques he learned were all taught to him by the Prince of Yan, whether intentionally or unintentionally. They also had something in common: these things were taught in private, without any outsiders present.

His elder brother was a disciple of the Prince of Yan and spent more time alone with him. Did the Prince of Yan secretly teach his elder brother the art of ruling?

Now the Li family has decided to raise an army to contend for the world. If successful, his father, Li Yuan, will become the first emperor of the new dynasty.

According to the primogeniture system, his elder brother is the first in line to inherit the empire.

In addition, given his elder brother's status as a direct disciple of the Prince of Yan, neither his father nor any of the court officials would object to his brother's succession to the throne.

Even after his elder brother succeeded to the throne, he was still able to use the pretext of teacher-student relationship to invite the Wei family to serve as officials in the court.

No matter how you calculate it, it's extremely suitable.

But what role does he play in this process?

A backup plan? Or a whetstone for his older brother?

If a backup option wants to become the primary partner, it only has one choice.

On the other side, Li Jiancheng yawned, rubbed his eyes, and felt only joy for his father and second brother. At the same time, he also felt reluctant to spend the next few years working for the family and not be able to study scientific knowledge.

On the other side, Li Yuan washed his face, mustered his spirits, and called Pei Ji over.

"Xuanzhen, the world is in turmoil, and the people are suffering terribly. I intend to raise an army to serve the emperor and restore the country. What do you think, Xuanzhen?"

Pei Ji's eyes widened. He had advised Li Yuan to raise an army more than once. Putting aside everything else, the fact that Li Yuan's eldest son was the direct disciple of the Prince of Yan was his greatest asset on his path to conquering the world.

With this, Li Yuan's chances of unifying the country would increase by at least 30%.

Countless heroes and valiant men would travel thousands of miles to Taiyuan to seek refuge for this title.

But now all the heroes and powerful figures in various regions have chosen their masters. You want to conquer the world now? Why didn't you do that earlier?!

Even though Pei Ji was inwardly grumbling, he still showed excitement on his face. At least Li Yuan had finally come to his senses.

"Your subject is willing to devote himself to the cause of his lord until his dying breath."

Pei Ji bowed deeply to Li Yuan, a gesture of respect from a subject to an emperor. In modern times, this would be considered somewhat excessive.

This was also a small test by Pei Ji to see what Li Yuan was really thinking.

Li Yuan ignored Pei Ji's subtle actions and said, "Xuanzhen, please rise. There is something I need your help with."

"Please speak, my lord."

Pei Ji regained his composure and spoke with high spirits.

"The Pei family is a prominent family in Hedong. I hope Xuanzhen can return to the Pei family and persuade the entire Pei family to support me, so that I can take over the entire Hedong without bloodshed."

Guanzhong!

Pei Ji immediately realized that Li Yuanming outwardly wanted Hedong, but in reality, he coveted Guanzhong, which was located behind Hedong.

The Guanzhong Plain, with its vast fertile lands and profound cultural heritage, is the foundation upon which emperors built their empires.

Hedong is the biggest barrier to Guanzhong. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that whoever controls Hedong controls Guanzhong, and whoever loses Hedong loses Guanzhong.

If Li Yuan can take over Hedong, he can use its geographical advantages to sail down the river and take Chang'an.

"Rest assured, my lord, within a month I will lead the entire Hedong region to surrender!"

Pei Ji patted his chest and assured him that his Pei family had long planned to firmly control the entire Hedong region, just waiting to offer it to a wise ruler.

Previously, he had been hesitating between Dou Jiande and Li Mi, but now that Li Yuan had raised an army, there was no need to hesitate anymore; he could simply surrender to Li Yuan.

With this achievement and his current status, the position of prime minister of the new dynasty will surely be his.

The Pei family will also advance further in the new dynasty by virtue of their merit in supporting the emperor, becoming one of the most prestigious families, and may even stand shoulder to shoulder with the Cui, Lu, Zheng, and Wang families, becoming the fifth most prominent family.

After personally seeing Pei Ji off, Li Yuan summoned his other trusted confidants, opened the granaries, and began recruiting soldiers.

Leveraging his influence in Taiyuan, Li Yuan directly used Li Jiancheng's identity and name to recruit 20 soldiers within a month. Combined with the 10 troops he already had, Li Yuan now had 30 troops under his command.

At the same time, he also sent people to persuade Dou Jiande to support Dou Jiande's southward march to take Luoyang, and said that as long as Dou Jiande could take Luoyang, the Li family was willing to surrender to Dou Jiande.

Dou Jiande was overjoyed. The Li family had a direct descendant of the Prince of Yan and a huge granary. If he could obtain the Li family and Taiyuan, his strength would increase by at least 100%.

Furthermore, with Li Mi and Wang Shichong locked in fierce combat in Luoyang, he might be able to take advantage of the situation by going there now, allowing both sides to weaken each other and allowing him to capture Luoyang in one fell swoop.

Lured by enormous profits, Dou Jiande led an army of 50, claiming to be a million, south to Luoyang.