The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 533 Suspicious "Ambush"

"Your Majesty?"

Li Yan stretched out his hand and looked at it in disbelief. It was obviously a child's hand that was one size smaller, and there were two short legs. He was half-dragged by Fan Xing and ran into the depths of the dense forest with his feet almost not touching the ground. He seemed to be much younger than the 18-year-old himself. Could it be that he had traveled through time and space and became the future Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, Li Chengqian?

Li Yan felt very sympathetic towards this tragic prince after watching the entire drama. It can be said that as recorded in history books, Li Chengqian was 'intelligent by nature', 'particularly sensitive and benevolent', 'handsome and handsome, and deeply kind and filial'. He was smart, kind and filial, and a well-rounded child with all-round development in moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic qualities.

If he was born in the middle or late period of any unified dynasty, he would surely be a good monarch.

Unfortunately, he was born in the early days of a dynasty established after the Five Barbarians Invasion of China. After the Jin Dynasty moved south, the north became a racetrack for foreign races, an arena where many northern ethnic groups such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang fought and killed each other, an era where one emperor took turns to be the emperor.

After 300 years of occupation, the Central Plains was no longer the ritual environment of Confucianism and Taoism during the Han Dynasty. It went through the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarians, the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and Southern Liang, until Yang Jian came to power and established the Sui Dynasty dominated by the Han people, and then turned to the Tang Dynasty.

Although the ruling class was dominated by the Han people, in fact, the court was filled with descendants of various ethnic groups. Even the royal Li family, which called themselves the Longxi Li family, still had Xianbei blood flowing in their veins. Not to mention, the mother of the original owner Li Chengqian, Zhangsun Wugou, was a descendant of the Northern Wei royal family, the Tuoba clan.

Li Shimin's Xuanwu Gate Incident was seen by later generations as a great act of treason, complete lack of moral principles, and moral corruption. However, in the rough background environment of the fusion of Hu and Han cultures at that time, Li Shimin's behavior was not a big deal.

After all, Confucius also said that when the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace. When survival is not guaranteed, it is meaningless to talk about ethics and morals.

As we all know, at that time the nomadic peoples in the north had just been civilized. They had no etiquette, let alone writing. They lived in tribes and followed the water and grass. Whenever the leaders of each ethnic group were replaced, there was blood all over the ground and killings everywhere.

Those leaders who came to power through iron-blooded means and killed their fathers, brothers, sons, and nephews, although they were cruel and horrible, worse than beasts, were often more respected and supported by the tribe.

Don’t say it’s too bloody. In that kind of fiercely competitive and chaotic environment, leading your own tribe to survive, reproduce, develop and grow is the first priority.

Facts have also proven that leaders who have risen to power through iron and blood are more aggressive and capable of survival.

It was obvious that the Sui Dynasty, which had only existed for thirty years and ended three hundred years of chaos, could not change this barbaric culture of advocating violence in a short period of time. Li Yuan's rebellion and Li Shimin's rise to power allowed this rough and unruly atmosphere to be preserved and continued.

For a gentle, respectful, frugal and elegant prince, the outcome in this era and environment is predictable. His fate is almost doomed, as being too weak is his original sin!
It was impossible for Li Shimin to hand over the Tang Dynasty, which was an integration of various nationalities, to such a mild and cowardly prince. This would be tantamount to handing over the empire conquered by his ancestors to others.

At the beginning, Li Shimin was particularly fond of this eldest son, and expected Li Chengqian to "inherit the imperial career and take charge of the world." Of course, this might also have hidden his own ambitions and expectations.

But in the end, he still had to give up the kind eldest son and chose the black-bellied youngest son Li Zhi who pretended to be righteous. And to be honest, Li Yan personally felt that Li Shimin's choice was not wrong.

At this moment, the original owner's memories came flooding back in an instant. They were all the few memories of Li Chengqian's growth. Fortunately, Li Chengqian was not very old at this time, and coupled with the population mobility in ancient times, the things he came into contact with were relatively few, and the amount of information was not large.

Moreover, Li Chengqian was sent to Zhongshan County to guard the border when he was only six years old. All his memories of the few short years of his life were scenes of life in frontier cities, and there were very few images of his parents getting along in his mind.

According to the TV series, Li Chengqian should be quite old at this time, but in fact he is not that old. According to the historical data that Li Yan checked, Li Chengqian was born in the early Wude period, and now he is just over ten years old.

However, the lifespan of ancient people was generally shorter, their bodies grew and developed faster, and they matured earlier. For example, Empress Changsun married 13-year-old Li Shimin when she was 16 years old, and gave birth to her eldest son Li Chengqian at the age of 18.

This is unimaginable in later generations. It is equivalent to a junior high school student marrying a high school student, or a first-year junior high school student marrying a first-year high school student.

Therefore, the memories in Li Chengqian's mind are not many, not even as many as the original owner in Infernal Affairs.

In addition, after going through two worlds, Li Yan's thinking had become much stronger than that of ordinary people, so he completed the absorption with just a slight frown, and he didn't even feel too uncomfortable or have a headache. The memories in his mind, plus the original drama he had just watched several times, made Li Yan immediately understand his current situation better.

He hurriedly followed Fan Xing and ran forward. After a while, Chang Sheng also caught up. More than a dozen other guards held back the Turks. It was unknown how many of them could survive. Fan Xing and Chang Sheng discussed it and thought that since they could encounter Turks here, there must be more to go. So they decided to go the other way, take a boat to the east to cross the Yellow River, then bypass the official road to Chang'an from Tongguan in the north and return to Chang'an from a small road.

Li Yan was young at this time and had just traveled through time. He didn't know much about Guanzhong during the Tang Dynasty. It was wise for him to say and do less, letting Fan Xing and Chang Sheng make arrangements and follow them.

At this time, Li Yan was checking the few memories of the original owner to deepen his impression, while thinking about the long arrow that had just flown from the darkness.

It was obvious that the arrow was aimed at him. When watching the drama, Li Yan felt that it was too coincidental. Fan Xing and his group consisted of only a dozen people, not at all noticeable, and they were marching at night. Why did they happen to encounter the Turkic cavalry?
Li Yan, who had looked up information before, knew that the Turks lived in the cold north, their staple food was meat and milk, the supply of vegetables and fruits was very scarce, and they lacked vitamin A. Over time, most people suffered from night blindness to varying degrees.

Because you can't see in the dark, the Turks usually move around during the day and rest at night.

What's more, they have come to the territory of the Central Plains people, with enemies everywhere. Even if they want to rob the grass and valleys, they usually do it during the day. Even if there are no enemies at night, they will get lost. Once the cavalry from the northern grasslands get lost in the mountains and dense forests of the Central Plains, they will be lambs to be slaughtered.

The Turks blocked Li Chengqian and his party's way back to Beijing, which was unreasonable in itself. In addition, they did not flee when they were attacked by regular soldiers in armor from the Prince's Mansion, but fought in the dark, which was even more suspicious.

In the original owner's last memory, Li Chengqian was protected by Fan Xing and Chang Sheng behind, hiding in the night, while the people on the opposite side let go of the soldiers charging in front and shot arrows to the rear, even directly at the half-grown child Li Chengqian, which made people even more vigilant.

This was a critical moment in establishing the crown prince. Li Yan, who had experienced decades of power struggles, had to suspect that these people were most likely sent by some of his own people in Chang'an City in order to prevent him from returning to Beijing to compete for the position of crown prince.

But the current environment makes it impossible for Li Yan to pursue the matter. He can only keep these doubts in his heart and silently think about the situation that will follow. Fortunately, he still inherited Li Chengqian's memory this time, which means Li Yan does not have to worry about revealing any flaws next.

In addition, the original owner had not seen Li Shimin and his wife for three or four years. They must have known Li Chengqian's personality from the descriptions of people around them. This made Li Yan, who had just been possessed, more confident in making some changes that could be concealed from everyone.

As for the two close confidants around him, Li Yan was quite helpless. Needless to say, Chang Sheng was a deeply hidden traitor who was bent on revenge for the former crown prince Li Jiancheng. He was lurking around him just to find an opportunity to subvert the Li Tang Dynasty.

He did not hesitate to start a war for this, and led Jie Li to invade with Sun Da, an old subordinate of Li Jiancheng. He can be said to be a completely hound-like character. He only knows how to repay personal favors, but not the national justice. For his own personal revenge, he disregarded the lives of countless people all over the world, and even abandoned his father and engaged daughter-in-law. He is more hated than Chen Yongren. At least Ah Ren knows that he is a policeman.

People like Chang Sheng are both admired and hated.

Li Yan admired him for his determination to repay Li Jiancheng for saving his life, just like the ancient Yu Rang, who was willing to die without regret. However, he also hated this man for not knowing right from wrong and being so confused.

The other Chief Clerk, Fan Xing, is a tragic hero-like figure who is too fair and selfless. No matter what situation he is in, he always considers the overall situation. Li Yan admires such people and will use them, but he himself will not be such a person.

A person who is too selfless and is always ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good will die sooner or later, because the thing that is most abundant in life is the opportunity to sacrifice oneself for the greater good. If he does not die this time, he will die next time.

Because they are too selfless, they will not develop personal power, nor will they sacrifice the interests of the court in order to repay their lord.

If Chang Sheng still has a chance to be saved, no one can save a person like Fan Xing. Such people are born saints and will leave after completing their benevolent duties in the world.

Li Yan originally thought that he would travel back in time and start his career as an ordinary person, but he did not expect to travel back in time to Li Chengqian, which made things difficult. As a young man who has been bombarded by the information age, Li Yan also knows that throughout history, the most difficult thing to do is to be a prince.

This is more difficult than being dressed as an ordinary person. If you are an ordinary prince, you can develop your power and accumulate strength in a fair and open manner.

But it is different for the crown prince. What is a crown prince? He is the one who prepares to become the emperor!

However, there is a son of heaven sitting in the court, so this candidate will naturally be closely watched by the emperor and his ministers, for fear that he will pose a threat to the emperor. It can be said that all the failed princes from ancient times to the present have died at the hands of the emperor.

(End of this chapter)