Chapter 46 6. Making Accidents: Gifts with Unpredictable Hearts

Li Yuan was born in an aristocratic family, so he is very familiar with fratricidal incidents caused by power struggles.As the founding monarch of the Tang Dynasty, he never thought that such a thing would happen to him when he was young. However, changes in society and destiny pushed him to the position of the king of a country, sitting among ten thousand people. On the Dragon Throne, he knew that he must also resolve such power disputes.Kindness may be regarded as one of Li Yuan's great strengths, but it is also a great weakness. Because of this characteristic, he does not want to see bloodshed, but blindly wants to obliterate the conflict, trying to maintain a moment of peace.Unexpectedly, such a handling method will only exacerbate the conflict.

Under Li Yuan's deliberate management, the brothers above the court have maintained superficial politeness and modesty for a long time.Li Yuan was still very satisfied with this result, so he proposed to take a few sons out of the city to hunt together with Manchu Wenwu. Li Yuan brought his ministers and three sons to the paddock in the mountains outside Chang'an City. Li Jiancheng suddenly brought some horses over and said to Li Yuan, "This is a famous horse that Dawan paid tribute to. It can travel thousands of miles a day and is good at running. Son I don't dare to focus on beauty, I want to dedicate these few horses to my father and two brothers."

Li Yuan was very happy to see that the prince was so generous and harmonious with his brothers; he said to Li Shimin and Li Yuanji: "The prince has a good horse, and he wants to share it with your brothers. From now on, you must get along even more harmoniously to be able to Repay the prince's kindness." Shimin and Yuanji quickly thanked him, and Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "Of the two horses, the red horse is agile and stable, which is suitable for the second brother; the black horse is gentle and galloping, so it is perfect for the fourth brother." Li Shimin stepped forward to hold the puffing red horse, smiled at Li Jiancheng, and said, "You're right, this horse looks more irritable, not as docile as the black horse. But I like it."

Li Jiancheng said: "I chose the horse based on my second brother's temperament. Of course, I want to make my second brother like it. In this case, why don't we brothers have a hunting competition and see who can harvest the most?" After hearing this proposal, Li Yuan, Pei Ji and other ministers all expressed their support, asking the three princes to see who can catch the most prey within the time of a stick of incense.After Jian Jian, Shimin and Yuan Ji took the order, they got on their horses and galloped towards the mountains and forests. Li Shimin didn't understand the prince's act of presenting a horse in public. If he really wanted to give a horse, he should give it away before departure, so that he could choose a suitable saddle to match and get acquainted with the horse's temper by the way.But the prince offered the horse in front of the battle, and in front of Li Yuan, he couldn't refuse. He didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in the prince's gourd.

However, when Li Shimin ran to the mountains with doubts, the answer to this question gradually came to him.This red horse was indeed fierce, and it ran without any rules. Although it was very fast, the rider couldn't control it as it ran around in the woods, and even tried to throw him off the horse several times.After riding for a few miles, Li Shimin realized that it was a strong horse that had not been fully tamed. Li Jiancheng gave him this horse with unpredictable intentions. Although Li Shimin was a good rider, he clamped his legs together to avoid falling off the horse, but he still couldn't resist the violent temper of the Dawan horse, and was thrown off the horse's back on the mountain road.Yuwen Shiji who followed behind him hurriedly rode up to catch up, helped Li Shimin up and asked, "King Qin, are you all right?"

Li Shimin patted the dirt on his body and said with a smile: "This horse has a bit of a temper, I'm fine." Yuwen Shi hurriedly said: "Since the horse's nature is not familiar, it is better to change it to a gentle one, so as not to hurt the King of Qin." However, Li Shimin insisted: "It doesn't matter, I must tame it today!" Before he had time to persuade him, Li Shimin had already jumped up and onto the horse.Yuwen Shiji looked at the stubborn King Qin, and wondered why the King of Qin wanted to ride it again since the horse was so difficult to ride?Do you really want to tame a fierce horse so much?

Yu Wenshi and his attendants rushed all the way to chase, and when they caught up with Li Shimin again, they found him lying under a tree, panting heavily.Looking forward, Li Shimin's face has been scratched.Yuwen Shiji was taken aback, stepped forward to help Li Shimin and said, "Why does the King of Qin have to tame this wild horse? It's important to take care of your health!" Li Shimin wiped off the blood on his face indifferently, and said: "This wild horse has no reason to hurt me, but someone wants to use it to achieve the purpose of hurting me. But I believe in life and death, since God does not let me at this time Death, what can a horse do to me!"

Yuwen Shiji heard Li Shimin's meaning, quickly looked around, and said to Li Shimin in a low voice: "King Qin must not speak casually, so as not to arouse suspicion." Li Shimin laughed heartily and said, "I'm almost on the brink of life now. If they want to suspect me, no matter what I do, they will find a reason." After riding their horses back to the camp, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji reaped a lot, but Li Shimin not only had no harvest, but also suffered injuries on his face.This surprised Li Yuan very much—how could King Qin, who was good at hunting, suddenly lose?Li Shimin just looked at the prince with a smile, and said to Li Yuan: "My minister is not good at training, and his riding skills are not good, so he failed to capture prey for the emperor. Please forgive me."

Seeing that he was injured, Li Yuan didn't blame him, but told him to go back quickly to heal and rest. However, as soon as Li Shimin returned to the camp, he heard an order telling him to go see the emperor quickly.Li Shimin, who was full of doubts, just stepped into Li Yuan's big tent, and felt that the atmosphere was quite different from just now - Li Yuan, who was concerned about his injury just now, suddenly turned frosty.Pei Ji, Yuwen Shi and others who were accompanying him were also silent, while the crown prince and King Qi stood on both sides with a smug look on their faces.

Before Li Shimin, who didn't know what to do, had time to speak, Li Yuan said sharply: "What a bold rebel, who do you think you are?!" This sentence made Li Shimin even more puzzled, and he looked at Yuwen Shiji inquiringly.Yuwen Shiji just shook his head slightly, not daring to make more hints. Li Yuan went on to say: "You fell off the horse today because you are unfamiliar with riding skills. Why do you want to frame someone to murder you?" Hearing what he said, Li Shimin immediately understood.It must be that some villain got into the slander and relayed what he said in the mountains and forests to the emperor with embellishment, which made Li Yuan so angry.

Li Shimin knelt on the ground and was about to explain, but Li Yuan didn't give him a chance to speak, and said with a sneer: "Someone told me that you think you have a destiny, that you will become the master of the world sooner or later, so you won't be killed so easily. What do you say?" You have the destiny, so a mere strong horse can't harm you. Then, where did King Qin's destiny come from?" This questioning made Li Shimin truly understand the seriousness of the matter.The informer was not just relaying his words, but also led him into a treasonous situation.Li Shimin hastily denied it and said: "Er Chen never said such a thing, Yuwen Shiji can testify for me!" Yuwen Shiji also knelt on the ground and said: "After the king of Qin was injured by the fall, he only said that a fierce horse is hard to tame, and he didn't say anything else." However, at this time Li Yuan could not listen to any excuses, no matter how Li Shimin kowtowed to apologize, he could not get his forgiveness, so he just coldly ordered Li Shimin to be detained until he returned to Chang'an. Originally, he went out to hunt happily, but a catastrophe happened.Li Shimin said to Hou Junji very depressedly in the camp: "I thought I could get along with everyone in peace, but who knew that he would never let me die. As long as I am negligent in guarding against it, I will fall into their trap." Hou Junji said: "The people accompanying us this time are all close friends, but I didn't expect someone to inform me. It seems that many people from the East Palace have been placed around us. King Qin must be more careful in the future." Li Shimin nodded and said, "I can't relax in my situation. I was framed for treason this time, and I don't know what the emperor will do with me after I return to Chang'an. Do I want to stop here?" In this carefully planned situation, Li Shimin escaped the murder of Lie Ma, but did not escape the slander.Because of carelessness, he gave others a handle. The charge of treason is the most difficult to clear up, and other people are also worried that they will be regarded as an accomplice, so they dare not intercede for this charge.Li Yuan, who is in power, is also the most taboo to show this sign, and Li Shimin undoubtedly hit him on the muzzle. Just when Li Shimin and the advisers of Tiance Mansion were at a loss, news of the Turkic invasion suddenly came from the border.Turkic Jieli Khan joined forces with Turkic Khan to successively attack Shuozhou, Yuanzhou, Bingzhou, Qizhou and Suizhou in the Tang Dynasty on an unprecedented scale, seriously threatening the rule of the Tang Dynasty.Li Yuan selected talented people from all over the court, and found that sending King Qin to the expedition had a better chance of winning.This unforeseen misfortune gave Li Shimin, who had been in trouble, a chance to be released. Li Yuan ordered him and Qi Wang Li Yuanji to lead an army against the East Turks and make meritorious deeds. Li Shimin came to the border on a flying horse, repelled the Turks after a difficult resistance, and formed an alliance with Jieli Khan.On the day the class teacher returned to the court, he received courtesy and welcome again.Li Yuan had no choice but to stop mentioning the hunting and rebellion, and offset this unhappiness with Li Shimin's military achievements. Li Shimin has never been aware of the problems reflected in the hunting incident.He thought that at least the people around him were safe, but when Lie Ma couldn't hurt him, he was slandered because of slander.This shows that even the personal followers of King Qin have been bought by the prince and become spies placed beside Li Shimin.When the situation developed to such a serious level, Li Shimin realized that if he did not take steps at every step, he probably would not have a chance to stand up. After all, he could not pin his hope on such an emergency as the Turks.