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

Chapter 577: Conversation between Father and Son in Chengqing Palace (I)

"Cheng Qian, I know that Chang Sheng has been your guard commander for several years, and you two have a close relationship."

Li Shimin was afraid that Li Yan was too young to understand the importance of this matter, so he took the initiative to persuade him and gave Li Yan a way out, saying, "But he is also a military commander of the Tang Dynasty, and rewarding according to merit is also the system of the court. You can't just refuse it because of your modesty. This is also unfair to Changsheng."

"Father has misunderstood!"

Li Yan explained: "Cheng Huailiang is usually close to my third brother. Now my third brother has taken on the important task of negotiating with the Turks. This is a very important matter. Therefore, I think that giving this position to Cheng Huailiang may be a comfort to my third brother."

After the Qing Dynasty, Li Yan knew that the strategy of seizing the throne was not fixed and had to be adjusted flexibly according to the actual situation. Li Shimin was only in his early thirties this year, and he still had a long twenty years of ruling. How many variables would there be in the meantime?

The saying "the longer the night, the more dreams you will have, and after a long time, changes will occur" is exactly this truth.

Even if he was a god, he could not guarantee that he would not make mistakes and keep Li Shimin satisfied under the attacks of his brothers and various forces during these twenty years. And it is very likely that he would be like in the original drama, no matter how good his character is and how hard he works, after a long time, he would be found to have a lot of faults.

In the end, he was even worse than the newcomer Li Zhi who had just grown up.

Therefore, at the very beginning, in combination with the system tasks, Li Yan planned a path for himself to emulate Li Shimin and seize power by force.

But that was not until the later stage when the offensive and defensive situation changed. Li Shimin was in poor health and became wary of and suppressed him. Meanwhile, he was growing up and was placed with high hopes by the civil and military officials in the court. People's hearts gradually shifted and they placed their hopes for the future on him.

When you are in the front, you should try to keep a low profile and not stick your head out.

The higher you jump in the early stages, the faster you will fall.

In the same way, if you want to suppress Li Ke, you are not weakening him, but helping him, which is equivalent to indirectly tempering him and making him perfect. If you really want to deal with him, you have to push him up, not let him grow peacefully below, and let him become famous at a young age.

A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind; if one's behavior is superior to others, he will naturally be criticized by others.

At that time, even if Li Yan did not take action, there would naturally be a lot of people who disliked him. This is determined by human nature and the attribute of power, and it is not subject to anyone's will. Therefore, what Li Yan has to do is to keep a low profile, try not to stand out, do less and make fewer mistakes, do nothing and make no mistakes, and it will not arouse the jealousy of others.

In peacetime, a crown prince with a gentle personality and not so strong is in the interests of the ministers. In fact, Li Chengqian in the original drama has always been supported by the ministers. It’s just that Li Shimin thinks Li Chengqian is too weak and fears that he cannot defend the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, Li Chengqian was afraid of being deposed, so he rebelled in advance, which led to his being deposed.

But even so, Li Shimin still chose Li Zhi, who was gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, instead of Li Ke, who was heroic, or Li Tai, who was scheming. This was because one of them was too strong and the other was too cruel. Not to mention his ministers, even Li Shimin himself was afraid of them.

Li Zhi was made crown prince in the 17th year of Zhenguan at the age of 15. At that time, Li Ke and Li Tai were both 25 years old. Although Li Shimin was already aging, he was only 46 years old after all. Who would think that he would not live for more than two years?

Especially for a person who took elixirs of immortality every day, Li Shimin might have felt that he could live another 20 or 30 years.

As the simplest reference, his father Li Yuan lived to be seventy years old before passing away. According to Li Yuan's standards, Li Shimin could live another twenty-four years. Could Li Ke and Li Tai, who were in their prime, wait that long?

Aren't you eager to poison yourself and ascend the throne early?
Not to mention Li Shimin, if Li Yan himself was in that situation, he would never choose Li Ke and Li Tai. The more smart and capable they are, the less likely they are to be chosen. Even the fifteen-year-old Li Zhi was considered a little too old. He might even get a seven or eight-year-old child to bring up slowly by his side.

Don’t think that the emperor doesn’t need a sense of security. In fact, most of the emperor’s strange behaviors that are difficult for ordinary people to understand can be found in his sense of security.

With these data as a basis, I believe even the dumbest person would know how to be the prince.

There is nothing wrong with Li Chengqian's strategy of maintaining weakness, but the problem is that he can only pretend to be weak, but cannot be truly weak; he can defile himself, but cannot really make a mess of himself. The difference is that the former is planned and controllable, while the latter is a disorderly mess.

Li Yan had already thought this through clearly. For him, even if he wanted to develop his strength, he had to find another way and choose some inconspicuous ways to develop soft power. It was undoubtedly a taboo and the most foolish thing to do to compete for the most sensitive military power.

For Li Shimin, as the crown prince, Li Yan could have access to and be given anything as long as he did not seize military power.

And today, Li Yan came to open up a way that does not exist in this era, and there is no objective horizontal comparison to make intuitive judgments. "In fact, I came here today because I want to ask the emperor about something. It just so happened that the emperor mentioned this matter. I think Changsheng may be more suitable for another position. This may be the best of both worlds."

"Oh?"

Li Shimin was startled. Li Yan's behavior was inconsistent with his understanding of his eldest son. It was completely beyond his expectations. He looked at Li Yan carefully for a long time, thought for a while, and then asked: "What do you think? Tell me."

"Father, today in the court, I heard my third brother mention that he went to the horse market two days ago and learned that the weather in the northern border was good this year, and the grass was green and the horses were fat. I suddenly felt that the Turks were the most important enemy of our Tang Dynasty, but we didn't even know the basic situation of the grassland this year."

Li Yan looked solemn and said with a serious face: "As the saying goes, knowing yourself and the enemy will ensure a hundred battles. We may not know what we will eat tonight, but we must know what our enemies are thinking. Jie Li has eighteen tribes under his command. What are their specific situations? Who are their leaders? Are they loyal to Jie Li or dissatisfied? How many soldiers and horses does each tribe have?"

"Whether the grassland has sufficient rain this year, or drought and heavy snow, these changes in the environment will directly affect the Turkic attitude towards us, and will also indirectly affect our war with the Turkic. However, we are completely in the dark and can only hear a few words from some Hu merchants."

"This is too passive, no!"

Li Shimin looked casual at first, but as he listened, his expression unconsciously became serious and he sat up straight.

Li Shimin had fought countless battles throughout his life and was experienced in fighting enemies. He also knew the importance of the enemy situation. On the eve of each battle, he would go to the front line in person and personally lead people to observe the enemy's defenses, so that he was almost captured alive by the enemy several times.

But in the past, Li Shimin would only learn about it before the war. He had never thought about understanding the enemy's national conditions in advance like Li Yan said. After Li Yan said this, Li Shimin suddenly felt that something seemed to be missing in the court?
So he slowly shook his head and said, "I have also instructed the generals in the north to pay more attention to the situation of the Turks and report back to the court. But they also have difficulties. They can't send many scouts, and they can't go deep into the grasslands on a large scale. They can only capture the enemy's scouts and interrogate them before they can understand something."

"Even if the court sends some people, the Hu people are very different from the Han people. The Hu people live in tribes and follow the water and grass. There are few strangers around. It is difficult for our people to contact them. If we want to understand the details of the Turkic interior, it will be extremely difficult."

Li Yan smiled slightly, and then said: "Father, so, I would like to ask for your permission to establish a special department to investigate the internal intelligence of the Turks, so that you can use it as a reference when making decisions about the Turks."

"Set up a special department?"

Li Shimin immediately became interested and asked, "It seems that you have used your brain to see the loopholes in the court at a glance."

"Tell me, what do you think?"

"Father, I plan to recruit a group of elite warriors, as well as Hu soldiers who have served in the army for a long time and have settled down in the Tang Dynasty. I will then train them and send them to the north to sneak into the grasslands and gather intelligence."

Li Yan said eloquently: "However, if these people want to enter the grassland and survive for a long time, they also need to have a reasonable identity to hide from the Turks."

"So, I, your son, dare to ask your father to approve the establishment of several large caravans under this department, and allow the caravans to legally sell goods back to the north, even including some contraband that is expressly prohibited by the court, such as salt, iron, grain, weapons and other goods."

Li Shimin was still interested before, but when he heard this, his face fell and he scolded with a stern face: "Do you know what you are talking about? You are the crown prince of a country, how can you have such an idea? This is aiding the enemy, do you know?"

"Father, calm down and listen to what I have to say."

Li Yan said calmly, "Father, do you think that even if the imperial court prohibits it, no one in the Tang Dynasty will smuggle these things to the Turks? As the saying goes, live by the mountain and eat by the mountain; live by the water and eat by the water. The profits from smuggling on the border are so huge. Can those generals and soldiers guarding the border just watch this way of making money and remain indifferent?"

"Border trade is so profitable. The more the court controls and cracks down on it, the less the Turks will need it, and the more willing they will be to pay a higher price to obtain it. As far as I know, the court catches many soldiers who violate orders and allow caravans to cross the border every year, but so what? The caravans still sneak north one after another."

"Those people dare not cross the border openly during the day, but at night, they will bribe the generals and give large amounts of silver to the soldiers guarding the border checkpoints."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask the generals like Yuchi Jingde and Zhang Gongjin, and then you will know what I said is true."

"This is no longer a secret among the border troops. If there is really no way to travel across the border, then how did the Hu horse dealer that Third Brother met at the horse market appear?"

(End of this chapter)