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

Chapter 987: Conversation between the Emperor and His Ministers (Part )

Li Shimin's bedroom was completely silent, with only Fang Xuanling's deep voice echoing slowly: "From the perspective of mutual restraint of power, Your Majesty is actually using the power of other factions to attack the Wei Wang faction."

"At this moment, whether it is the King of Wei himself or the Minister of Justice Zhang Liang, Your Majesty has the final say and can deal with them at will."

"But the emperor can capture the King of Wei and imprison Zhang Liang, but he can't eliminate all of the King of Wei's followers in the court in an instant. They still have a strong force in the court, but the emperor cut off their flags at the last minute, and they lost their command for a while."

"At this time, the Donggong faction and the Wei Wang faction became a headless wolf pack, and their fighting power was greatly reduced. And Wu Wang Li Ke was weak, and without the support of Wei Wang, he did not have the courage to challenge the emperor's authority alone."

At this point, a faint light flashed in Fang Xuanling's eyes, and his eyes became brighter, as if something related to the core of power. For Fang Xuanling, who had been assisting Li Shimin in military affairs all his life, this matter touched his strengths and scratched his itch.

Fang Xuanling's decadence and old age were swept away, and he exuded the confidence and charm of being able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away.

When Li Shimin saw Fang Xuanling in this state, he raised his eyebrows and a trace of memories flashed in his eyes, but he did not speak to interrupt the other party's thoughts.

Fang Xuanling's weathered face was full of wisdom, and a trace of frightening sharpness flashed in his eyes. He said with a twinkling look: "As a superior, balance and leveraging are the right way. The worst thing to do is to personally participate in the game."

"Because when the superiors personally take action, it means that the balance has been broken, and the stability and solidity of the entire power system faces huge challenges and risks, forcing the superiors to bet on their last bit of strength."

"After the emperor proposed to make Prince Jin the crown prince, all factions will no longer lend their power to the emperor, let alone support him."

"The emperor can only use his imperial majesty to subdue the people."

"The power of the Prince of Jin is the weakest. When the Emperor pushed him forward, the Princes of the Eastern Palace, the Prince of Wei, the Prince of Wu, and even the Princes of Qi, Shu, Jiang, and Yue, as well as the power they represented, were all abandoned."

"In this situation, most people are panicked and at a loss, and will have two choices."

"First, they are wary of each other and have no backbone. At this time, we, the old ministers, are leading the way, and there is also the pressure of the emperor's power. If they hesitate for a moment, as long as they follow suit, their power will be forcibly lent to the emperor and the King of Jin to restrain other disobedient people."

"With this implicit restriction, if the emperor puts pressure on them and they kneel, the status of the emperor and his subjects will be determined, and the big thing will be done."

"The second scenario is that these people, out of shame and anger, unite together and jointly resist Your Majesty. As long as one person stands up to oppose, others will follow suit, and then more and more people will come out to join in, and finally a joint force will be formed."

"Once this situation is formed, the situation will be over!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin nodded silently. It was indeed Fang Mou and Du Duan who analyzed the situation in detail and guessed people's hearts to the core.

I really wanted to steal the chicken, but unfortunately
Fang Xuanling continued, "After much thought, I think the most dangerous moment in the whole thing is when Your Majesty mentions the Prince of Jin and before the ministers kowtow. It can even be said that as long as Your Majesty mentions the Prince of Jin, I, Zhangsun Wuji, Li Jing, and Li Ji will come out to guide public opinion."

"In fact, what is really important is the period between when His Majesty calls out the name of Prince Jin and before he announces the appointment of Prince Jin as the crown prince."

"The Prince of Jin walked from the crowd to His Majesty on the altar. His Majesty did not delay and immediately began to make the announcement. There was only a few breaths of time, and these few breaths were the key to His Majesty's godhood. The opportunity was fleeting."

At this point, Fang Xuanling's face showed endless regret and sorrow: "It's a pity that I was caught by Hou Junji in just these few moments."

Fang Xuanling looked at Li Shimin, his eyes complicated as he said, "Your Majesty is a natural born general, and he made a prompt decision and immediately rejected Hou Junji. Unfortunately, Hou Junji has been on the battlefield for a long time and has rich experience. He is not inferior to Your Majesty in grasping the opportunity of war."

"Moreover, he had the courage to risk everything, putting his life at risk, and even turning against the emperor, forcing the emperor to temporarily suspend the title bestowed on the King of Jin. This interruption gave the other ministers, who were panicking and at a loss, time and opportunity."

"It will allow them to regroup their scattered forces, stabilize people's hearts, form a strong formation, and confront Your Majesty."

Just like two armies facing each other, Fang Xuanling used the dynamics of the battlefield situation of marching and fighting to analyze today's court situation. The process was vivid and the logic was impeccable, which made Li Shimin immediately understand his mistakes.

It was the enemy who was one step ahead and grasped the key point of the whole chess game, hitting it with one strike, causing the whole game to be lost.

Li Shimin was also very regretful at this time, and said angrily: "If I had ignored it at that time, or called the imperial guards immediately to drag Hou Junji away, perhaps the situation would have been settled now. It's all my fault that I was soft-hearted and showed mercy to this beast."

"This is how I made a huge mistake. He ruined my plan. Now, it's too late to regret!"

"It's useless. Your Majesty, don't blame yourself."

Fang Xuanling was not as conflicted as Li Shimin. Instead, he said calmly, "From the moment Hou Junji stood up, the scene that the emperor deliberately created to shock the ministers was broken. Even if the emperor ordered Hou Junji to be executed, more people would come forward to plead for him." "In addition, as the Minister of Personnel, Hou Junji did not overstep his authority by reporting to the court. The emperor had no reason to immediately pull him away and stop him from speaking."

"No minister can do that. Moreover, Hou Junji is the emperor's right-hand man. He has followed the emperor for more than 30 years, fought in the battlefield, and made many military exploits. He is famous and well-known. All the old ministers in the court know that Hou Junji has many battle wounds on his body."

"She saved the emperor's life many times on the battlefield. She almost died in the battle to protect the emperor at Xuanwu Gate. Of her family members, only one daughter died for the Tang Dynasty. She married into the royal family and gave birth to the eldest grandson for your majesty."

"Unless a man like this rebels, no one in the court will agree with Your Majesty to kill him."

Li Shimin was furious and said, "He is now rebelling. He is forcing the emperor to abdicate in Taiji Palace with his ministers. How is this different from rebellion?"

"Your Majesty, no matter how wrong you are, it's all my fault."

Fang Xuanling's face was heavy. "As the emperor's left servant, I did not help the emperor to complete the important task of appointing a crown prince. Hou Junji destroyed the court's plan, and even condoned the ministers to commit crimes and unite to force the emperor."

"All the sins are on me alone. Please, Your Majesty, punish me severely."

Fang Xuanling bowed his head and kowtowed several times. When he raised his head again, his forehead was already red and swollen, and tears streamed down his face: "When the king worries, the minister is humiliated. When the king humiliates, the minister dies. As the left servant, such a terrible thing has happened. I have no face to stand in the court anymore."

"I ask Your Majesty to remove me from all official positions and titles, and demote me to a commoner, in order to set an example for others."

Seeing the old minister who had assisted him all his life, now with gray hair and old age, kneeling on the ground and crying like a child, Li Shimin felt a pain in his heart for the helplessness and sadness of losing control of the court and causing the monarch to be humiliated.

Sadness and melancholy are the most hurtful, especially for old people like them.

Li Shimin was too sad during this period, and he was unwilling to indulge in grief. As the emperor, the position of crown prince was vacant, there was no successor, the people were uneasy, and the country was in turmoil. The Tang Dynasty was in unprecedented danger.

If he gave up, the country would be without a leader and could fall apart at any time. He had more things to do and had no right to be sad.

So he waved his hand and said, "Xuanling, get up. There is no need to say more about your resignation. As long as I live, you will be the Zuo Pushe of the Tang Dynasty. Sit down and talk to me. How is the situation in the court after I leave?"

Fang Xuanling was also a sensible person, and he quickly wiped away his tears. He was over sixty years old, and after kneeling for such a long time, half of his body was almost falling apart.

Fang Xuanling climbed up with difficulty, holding on to the brocade cushion and using his hands and feet. "After the emperor returned to the inner palace, the court meeting naturally could not continue, and most of the ministers dispersed."

"The important officials and princes above the third rank are basically gathered outside Chengqing Palace, worried about the emperor's health."

Li Shimin was startled and asked doubtfully, "Nothing unexpected happened?"

Fang Xuanling was not surprised by Li Shimin's question. He knew very well that the rebellion in the Eastern Palace today involved many powerful generals.

Those Turkic surrendered generals were fine, as most of them only held positions but did not hold real power. Even if there was an imperial edict, without the cooperation of their deputy generals, even General Ashina Simo of the Left Wuhou and General Ashina Zhong of the Left Tunwei Xunfu could not mobilize the troops.

But those generals who once came from the Eastern Palace are terrifying.

Among them, Changsheng was the General of the Left Guard, the imperial guard directly guarding the Taiji Palace; there were also General Xue Rengui of the Right Guard's Qinfu, General Liu Renyuan of the Right Guard's Yifu, General Sun Renshi of the Right Guard's Xunfu, and General Xi Junmai of the Left Guard.

Gao Kan, the general of the Right Guard, and Li Jinxing, the general of the Eastern Palace.

Su Dingfang, the Prince's guest in the Eastern Palace and the general of the Left Palace, and Liang Jianfang, the Prince's guest in the Right Palace and the general of the Yifu Palace.

Add to that the list is Hou Junji, the former General of the Right Guard and the eldest grandson of the emperor.

He held nearly half of the military power in Chang'an, with veteran ministers like Zhang Xuansu, Sun Yingda and Yu Zhining, close ministers to the emperor like Ma Zhou and Linghu Defeng, and the emperor's eldest grandson Li Xiang. It could be said that the strength of the Eastern Palace in Chang'an had surpassed that of the King of Qin.

If Hou Junji imitated the Xuanwu Gate Incident and took the opportunity to launch a military rebellion, he would become the second Li Yuan when Li Shimin woke up.

(End of this chapter)