Chapter 20 nineteen

Yuchi Jingde waved his hand: "Jun Ji, how did this happen? Although Li Jing and Li Shiji have nothing to do with the East Palace and the Qi Mansion these years, they are not very close to our Qin Mansion. Now that the knives are on our necks, we only go to ask them. They may not be willing to help, and they may betray us in turn." Hou Junji sighed: "However, who else can we turn to if we don't ask them for help right now? Help? In Chang'an, the Qin government can mobilize less than a thousand soldiers, while the East Palace and the Qi government can recruit at least 30,000 soldiers. Besides, didn't your highness save Li Jing's life? And Li Shiji also served as a general in His Royal Highness's General Tiance's mansion."

Hou Junji said that the fact that Li Shimin saved Li Jing's life happened at the end of the Sui Dynasty. At that time, Li Jing lived in Ma Yicheng and was stationed in the north of Bingzhou.After Li Yuan captured Chang'an, he captured Li Jing. Li Shimin knew that Li Jing was a general, so he went to intercede with Li Yuan, pointing out that Li Jing was just doing his best to report Li Yuan.Li Yuan also loved Li Jingzhi's talent very much in his heart, so he let him go down the donkey and still used him as a general.Later, Li Jing was invincible in the east and west of the Tang army, and became a generation of famous generals.

Li Shimin accepted Hou Junji's proposition, he felt that what Hou Junji said was right, it was really not easy to deal with the tens of thousands of people in the East Palace and Qi Mansion with just a thousand people.More importantly, Li Shimin believes that doing things should not only look at the present, but also look at the long-term.If God blesses, if things can be done this time, the stability of the world in the future cannot rely solely on the people of the Qin family, but other talents must be used.As for whether the two of them would betray them, Li Shimin said that when things got to this point, they could only take a gamble!So it was decided that Changsun Wuji would carry out this secret mission.Then Li Shimin deployed Hou Junji to strengthen the defense of the palace, and asked Yuchi Jingde to call Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui to the palace to discuss matters. A year ago, Fang and Du had already been kicked out of Daoxingtai, Eastern Shaanxi by Li Jiancheng's fault. At home, in order to avoid the eyes and ears of the East Palace, they did not dare to walk around the Prince Qin's mansion often.

At night, Changsun Wuji came back in disgrace.Li Jing did not agree to help Li Shimin. He asked Changsun Wuji to bring back the words that he had learned Confucianism and Taoism since he was a child. Loyalty, he can't violate the foundation of his life.However, he made a promise that although he couldn't work, he would never ruin Li Shimin's affairs by sacrificing his life.Li Shiji learned the art of war from Li Jing, and the two have always been friends.With Li Jing's attitude, it goes without saying what will happen to Li Shiji.Hou Junji cursed at Li Jing, saying that Li Jing was ungrateful.Li Shimin smiled indifferently, saying that Li Jing made such a choice, which is understandable, because everyone has his own principles of life. In the past, Emperor Yang was so licentious and innocent. When the emperor wanted to raise troops against the Sui Dynasty, Li Jing risked his life and went to Chang'an to report. The prince is not as bad as Emperor Yangdi.

Soon, Yuchi Jingde also came back, he said with a sad face that Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui didn't want to come.Li Shimin's expression changed, he was not surprised that Li Jing and Li Shi didn't help him, but Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, who had been with him for so many years, turned their faces and refused to recognize anyone when things came to an end, which surprised him very much.Li Shimin became angry, and he untied his sword and handed it to Yuchi Jingde: "I really didn't expect them to betray me, today I must be so angry! Jingde, you take my sword and go get it!" The heads of these two white-eyed wolves came to see me!"

Before the words fell, there was a burst of hearty laughter from outside the door, and then there was a "creak" sound, and Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui walked in.Li Shimin asked with a look of surprise: "So you have already come, how did you sing?" Du Ruhui smiled and said: "Since the emperor began to deprive His Highness of military power in the fifth year of Wude, the ministers have advised His Highness to stand up and fight. , but His Highness always embraces the word loyalty and filial piety, and retreats step by step. We persuade you to be sad once, and our hearts are already broken. So, this time, we want to try, is Your Highness really going to be with the East Palace, The Qi family has settled the account. Your Highness can even say what he said about killing ministers and Xuanling, which means you have made up your mind. Once His Highness has made up his mind, we can rest assured." Li Shimin punched Du Ruhui on the shoulder and cursed affectionately : "You Du Keming, I just said, everyone in this world has betrayed me, Li Shimin, so you shouldn't betray me either!"

Then everyone began to discuss how to deal with the conspiracy prepared by the East Palace and the fifth day of the Qi Mansion. The opinions were very different. With tens of thousands of elite soldiers under Qin Shubao's command, they can fight against the East Palace and the Qi Mansion with that team.Changsun Wuji came up with a plan that was different from everyone else. He said: "You can't leave Chang'an. As long as you leave Chang'an, no matter whether you go east or west, the East Palace and Qi Mansion can tell the world that we are traitors. If a battle goes on, I don't know how long it will take. Even if we win in the end, it will be a disastrous victory. It will take a lot of effort to clean up the mess! In my opinion, we are not going anywhere, but in Chang'an. Everything that needs to be done has been done.”

As soon as this remark came out, the room immediately exploded. Some people said that Changsun Wuji's method was too outrageous. In Chang'an City, the Qin Mansion could mobilize no more than a thousand soldiers, and there were only 2,000 imperial guards guarding the East Palace. , There are also tens of thousands of people who have been transferred to the leadership of the Qi government to prepare for the westward expedition. The decisive battle with them in Chang'an City is to touch an egg with a stone. Li Shimin listened quietly to the chaotic discussions of the crowd, and he did not speak for a long time. His brain was running rapidly, thinking about the feasibility of each plan.Finally, he raised his head and scanned all the people with his eyes. The core civil servants and generals of the Qin family saw from this gaze that he had already had a preliminary idea, so they stopped discussing.When the room was completely quiet, Li Shimin said: "If the method of auxiliary equipment is adopted, what should be the best way to win?" When raising such a question, it is obvious that he is inclined to adopt Changsun Wuji's solution.

Li Shimin's eyes fell on Fang Xuanling, when it comes to plotting, no one in the Qin family can match him.Fang Xuanling saw some kind of expectation from Li Shimin's gaze, and said, "We have few soldiers, so we can't put on a stance to confront the East Palace and the Qi Mansion in Chang'an City. We can only fight at a place where they have lost their wings to protect them. Only then can we have a chance of winning." Li Shimin nodded, and then asked: "Where can I find such a place?" Fang Xuanling paused for a while, and then gently uttered two words: "Imperial Palace."

As soon as these two words were uttered, there seemed to be a thunder in the air, and everyone's eyes turned to Li Shimin, observing his expression.This is indeed a place where the wings of the Eastern Palace and the Qi Mansion cannot protect them. There are not many imperial guards guarding the palace. They belong to the emperor. Although there are many people from the Prince and the Qi Mansion, they cannot be brought into the palace. They are settled in the palace. The East Palace and the Qi Mansion do not need a few people.To do so, however, is in essence rebellion.Because according to the law of the Tang Dynasty, if a minister brings weapons into the palace without consent, even if he only brings a short knife, he is guilty of conspiracy, let alone bringing a soldier into the palace to capture the current prince and King Qi?Li Shimin's face showed hesitation. In fact, with his strategy, if he was not the king of Qin, if he hadn't used such a strategy against his own brother, he should not be inferior to Fang Xuanling, but he was the king of Qin , is the son of Li Yuan, the younger brother of Li Jiancheng, and the older brother of Li Yuanji.If Fang Xuanling hadn't said it, he wouldn't have thought about it at all, and he didn't dare to think about it.A word of loyalty and a word of filial piety have bound him for nearly thirty years. Even if he has been guarded by his father in this way and bullied by his brothers in this way in the past few years, he dare not think about taking such a far step.

The subordinates saw Li Shimin's thoughts from his hesitant expression, and they all understood what made Li Shimin back down step by step over the years, and that was the two lingering demons of loyalty and filial piety.Now, at the critical juncture, these two inner demons came out to make trouble again.Everyone's heart became heavy. They believed that Li Shimin would not be defeated by any enemy, but they had learned that he had been defeated by these two demons full of evil power more than once. Could it be that he will be defeated again this time? come?In the long silence, Changsun Wuji couldn't bear it anymore, he stared at Li Shimin and asked, "Why, Your Highness, don't you want to?"