Chapter 34 Thirty-three

Changsun Wuji stopped in his tracks.Li Shimin went on to say: "More importantly, the Shandong gentry has been in power for three hundred years. Father and son have followed suit and enjoyed all the honor. The common people hate them for their licentiousness, but they are extremely envious in their hearts. The generals are also proud of clinging to them. In order to marry his daughter to the Cui family, a major surname of the Shandong gentry, Cheng Zhijie used half of his wealth as a dowry to elevate his status. Faced with this reality, I will not back down Is it?" At this point, Li Shimin cast his eyes on Changsun Wuji, and Changsun Wuji's face softened a little, and he turned his face to look at Li Shimin.Li Shimin continued: "The feeling of retiring is really uncomfortable! It's uncomfortable, so what can I do, don't I have to pretend to reprimand you? Who told you that I am the Son of Heaven, and who told you that my grandson Wuji is my own man? !" Changsun Wuji's heart moved, and the words "one of us" made him feel warm in his heart. He glanced at his brother-in-law again, and seeing Li Shimin's haggard face, he suddenly felt a little unbearable, and his legs softened and he knelt down: "Your Majesty , don’t say any more, I’m short-sighted, please punish me for being disrespectful!”

Li Shimin helped his eldest grandson Wuji up: "Auxiliary machine, get up quickly, it's good that you can understand my painstaking efforts, I bear the burden of this country surrounded by wolf smoke, and I have to bear all the grievances, how I look forward to someone who stretches out my arms!" Come here and make up for me. Let’s take Fan Xin’s matter as an example. The military officer wronged him a little bit, but this gave him a chance to make meritorious deeds, didn’t he? With military exploits, I can discuss Reward for meritorious deeds, won't it be a matter of course for him to be promoted to be the Minister of the Ministry of War?"

Changsun Wuji stood up and picked up the gauze hat: "Fan Xin, put it on quickly." The first official imperial military meeting after the fall of Jingyang was held that night. Several important officials of Li Shimin and the main generals of the defenders were summoned to Chengqing Hall.There was chaos in the hall, all the ministers were talking about the military situation, Li Shimin had not been on the throne for a long time, the prestige of the emperor had not yet been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the generals were still used to regard him as the former General Tiance, they talked about the military situation very casually.It wasn't until Li Shimin raised his head and glanced at everyone that everyone stopped talking and became quiet.

Li Shimin asked: "Fan Xin, where's Fan Xin?" , showing a look of uneasiness.Li Shimin said: "Why are you counseling military affairs while hiding there? Come here." Fan Xin hesitated for a while, and walked up to Li Shimin, Feng Deyi and others all cast disdainful eyes on him.Li Shimin pretended not to notice, and asked Fan Xin about the current situation of Jieli cavalry. He did this not only because he really wanted to understand the enemy's situation, but also because he wanted to show his eldest grandson Wuji a show and save him some face. Fan Xin told Li Shimin that Jieli's iron cavalry was already brave. They had been fighting against the Xue Yantuo and Tiele tribes in the north for several years, and finally unified them. After these battles, their combat power became stronger than before.If the cavalry of the two sides confronted each other head-on, 20,000 of our army would be hard-pressed to fight against 10,000 of the opponent, let alone the infantry against the cavalry.

Feng Deyi obviously disdained Fan Xin's words very much, he sneered and said: "Huh, it's really letting other people's aspirations destroy their own prestige, the Jieli barbarians offend me for no reason, they lose their reason first, and they go deep alone. Don't be afraid? Our army is the king's army, and we share the same hatred with the enemy. Have you ever counted how much combat power our army has gained and how much the enemy has lost?" Fan Xin promised: "This—— The officer only thought about the things on the battlefield, and didn't think about things other than the battlefield." Feng Deyi said again: "The emperor is asking about your military and national plans, and your plan is so incomprehensible, isn't it to harm the country and the people?" Fan Xin couldn't stop nodding: "My lord taught me that."

Changsun Wuji saw it, and finally couldn't help but stand up: "I said, Lord Feng, now is the time to tell the truth, not the time to talk big, you keep singing the high-pitched words of the king's teacher here, But the master of the king must rely on real swords and guns to fight, not spitting stars?" Feng Deyi couldn't find words to refute the other party, so he could only say angrily: "You, you, what do you mean by that?" Li Shimin said impatiently: "Okay, don't go too far, let's get to the point!" The imperial military meeting was held in the middle of the night. After Fan Xin and others introduced the combat characteristics of Ashina's cavalry and Du Ruhui's latest observations on the enemy's strength and deployment, Li Shimin made a judgment that Chang'an's defense was fundamental. Can't live.When he came to this conclusion, Changsun Wuji asked: "If you know you can't keep it but you have to keep it, what can you do?" Li Shimin pondered for a long time, and then uttered two sentences: "One attack my city, I attack the other Heart!"

His specific deployment was to send 20,000 elite soldiers to take the initiative to attack, ambush the weaker of the three enemy lines, and immediately return to defend the city after severely injuring the opponent. In addition, he deployed many suspicious soldiers in Chang'an City to confuse the opponent.Li Shimin believes that Xieli came with the momentum of thunder, and he would never have expected that the Tang army would take the initiative to attack. After suffering such a setback, he would definitely hesitate and redeploy his troops. time. Yuchi Jingde and Hou Junji were sent to carry out the ambush mission. At dawn the next day, Li Shimin personally sent the army out of the city.Hou Junji's concubine, Peizhu, came to see her off with her daughter Haitang. Li Shimin's eyes fell on Haitang's braid, which was still hung with filial piety. A trace of sadness flashed across Li Shimin's face.He knew that almost all of Hou Junji's family had been killed by Jian Jian's minions, and only this daughter, who had been fostered in the house of his close friend Secretary Cheng Su Dan since she was a child, escaped the catastrophe because of her surname Su.From Hou Junji's gaze resting on Haitang, Li Shimin could see his confidant general's love for his daughter, so he asked the guards to bring Haitang back to the palace and hand it over to the queen to take care of her.At the same time, he told Hou Junji that as long as he, the emperor's family, was there, there would be Haitang!

With tears in his eyes, Hou Junji proposed on the spot to keep his elite flying tiger army by Li Shimin's side.Li Shimin flatly refused. He said to Hou Junji, "I know what you're thinking, let them follow you to the battlefield! The better you fight, the safer I will be. How can the enemy beat Jieli's 200,000 troops!" Li Shimin's composure inspired the soldiers who went out to the expedition, and they walked out of the west gate of Chang'an generously, and walked into the boundless night. No one thought that they were facing a 200,000 strong enemy . But in fact, is Li Shimin, who is besieged on all sides, really so peaceful in his heart?