My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 223 Are you going to shoot the eyes of a prince like me blind?

The prince continued to break into the city.

Hou Junji did not dare to delay and after resting for a few days, he began to organize his troops for the expedition.

The prince's troops were divided into three groups to attack the city, and they also used siege weapons such as Thunderbolt Fire.

Hou Junji was very suspicious. If he waited any longer, the prince's troops would probably reach the royal capital.

When going to war, Li Ji came to have a secret talk with Hou Junji.

"Chief Steward Hou, there is news from the Crown Prince."

"When Li Daozong was in Yingzhou, the prince set up a Hongmen Banquet and took away all his military power."

"I have ordered someone to report this matter to His Majesty immediately."

"I have to be careful too."

"The prince is probably very ambitious."

Li Ji always thought that even with Thunderbolt, Li Daozon had made a lot of contributions in it.

And as a famous general of the royal family, he would naturally follow the prince.

But who could have imagined that the prince would be so ruthless and directly set up the Hongmen Banquet to capture Li Daozon and all the captains under him in one fell swoop.

Moreover, the prince recruited a large number of Goryeo soldiers.

When he originally set out, the prince had only 5,000 cavalry, but now he has 100,000 elite troops.

One hundred thousand troops.

In this eastern expedition to Goryeo, there were only a total of 100,000 troops on the land route.

At this point, anyone with a bit of common sense could understand that the prince wanted to gather his own troops for his own control.

"What does Deputy Chief Steward Li mean?"

"Do you think the prince will come and seize our military power?"

Hou Junji asked in a deep voice.

In fact, Hou Junji is also a little worried now.

The secret cooperation with the prince was for the future, which can be regarded as a strong alliance.

But now, the gap between the strong and the weak is huge.

The prince is so strong that he seems even stronger than Your Majesty.

Hou Junji was really worried that the prince would take away his military power.

"You must be on guard."

Li Ji said earnestly.

Hou Junji was silent for a moment, and then said, "In this case, I will ask His Majesty for instructions first. We will march northeast and attack the Goryeo capital from the south to avoid the prince's army."

"But let's see what your majesty decrees."

Li Ji agreed: "Okay."
-
The military intelligence from Goryeo reached Chang'an. In an urgent case, the postmen traveled day and night and arrived in six days.

Six days later.

The situation in Goryeo and the matter of the crown prince taking away Li Daozon's military power were brought to Li Shimin's attention.

According to the sixth chapter of Tang Code, "Law of Unauthorized Actions".

The act of seizing power is almost tantamount to treason.

But this is the prince, and all the Tang Dynasty belongs to his family.

The Prince's edict is second only to the Emperor's imperial edict, but the situation is somewhat different.

Unless Li Shimin deposed Li Chengqian from the position of Crown Prince, this matter can only be called a family affair, not a state affair.

This gave Li Shimin a headache.

The king and his ministers discuss matters.

Show the intelligence to the ministers.

Zhangsun Wuji, Wei Zheng, Chu Suiliang and others looked at each other.

Fang Xuanling remained silent.

As things have developed to this point, the prince's behavior, in a sense, is clearly a display of his own power.

It was clear that he wanted to seize power over the entire Goryeo territory.

Li Shimin was a little unsure and a little angry, but he had not yet gone to the extent of deposing the crown prince.

From another perspective, such a prince is indeed excellent.

Changsun Wuji was a smart man, so he started pretending to be confused.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. The prince has now conquered dozens of cities. Liaodong City and Gaimu City have now entered the territory of our Tang Dynasty, which is equivalent to conquering half of Goryeo."

"Zhang Liang also followed the planned route and occupied Beisha City."

"Perhaps by the end of the year, we will be able to pacify Goryeo and strengthen the prestige of our Tang Dynasty."

With this statement, the topic of the prince was completely avoided and the focus was shifted to the overall situation.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the Tang Dynasty has naturally achieved a decisive victory, and the destruction of Goryeo is only a matter of time.

The prince's current offensive is so aggressive that it is impossible to imagine that Goryeo can put up any decent resistance.

If Goryeo chooses to fight a field battle with the Tang army, that would be even better.

Moreover, the Thunderbolt Fire can do more than just attack cities.

After such an explosion on the plain, the enemy's morale would be at a loss.

Changsun Wuji now understood.

Even if the Crown Prince's rebellion is exposed, His Majesty dare not depose the Crown Prince at the moment, because that would mean a complete fall-out and the Tang Dynasty would be in turmoil.

The intelligence says that the prince now commands 100,000 elite troops.

This force is too powerful.

Zhang Sun Wuji was so slick that Li Shimin frowned slightly. However, some things could not be ignored, so he asked directly, "What should we do if the crown prince seizes Li Dao Zong's military power?"

Zhang Sun Wuji was stunned for a moment, then said: "This must be a false rumor. Li Dao Zong is a famous general of the royal family, so he naturally obeys the orders of the crown prince."

"The Crown Prince has the Thunderbolt Fire Artifact. Li Dao Zong knows how powerful it is. It is normal for him to be under the Crown Prince's command. How can you say that he is trying to seize military power? Your Majesty, please understand clearly."

Changsun Wuji knew that it was meaningless to target the prince now, so it would be better to pretend he knew nothing.

As long as the prince does not openly rebel, what does it matter even if he has his own army?

Li Shimin snorted coldly, obviously unhappy with such an answer.

So he asked, "The prince secretly made the Thunderbolt, but he hid it very well, secretly made it in the East Palace, and no one knew about it."

"Does the prince think that if he tells me about the Thunderbolt, I will still snatch his Thunderbolt."

"If we had known earlier that there was such a powerful siege weapon, why would we have mobilized so many troops and wasted the national treasury?"

Changsun Wuji looked at His Majesty carefully.

I was speechless.

Doesn’t Your Majesty know how to rob?

But that's certainly not the case.

"Your Majesty, I think the Crown Prince is probably worried that the Thunderbolt will show up and alert Goryeo."

"After all, there are still many Korean spies in Chang'an City. If they pass on the news that the crown prince has made the Thunderbolt, the Korean side will naturally have a countermeasure."

"The most important reason why the Crown Prince was able to capture the city in half a day was that Goryeo had no defense against the Thunderbolt Fire. The roar of the Thunderbolt Fire made the Goryeo defenders lose their courage, and the victory was achieved in one fell swoop."

"I think the prince took this into consideration and kept the matter of Thunderbolt completely secret."

This explanation still sounds reasonable.

According to Changsun Wuji's explanation, Li Shimin's anger dissipated slightly.

However, thinking that the prince had already been preparing for a rebellion, he felt very depressed.

It would be great if the prince had no intention of rebelling.

In this situation, Li Shimin didn't say anything more.

No matter what, it is impossible to accuse the prince of any crime. It is meaningless.

Li Shimin knew it, but he was unhappy, so he asked the question.

Ministers such as Zhangsun Wuji knew the whole story, so they certainly couldn't say anything.

If I really want to say something, I have to wait until the prince returns to the court.

No matter how many soldiers and horses there are, it is impossible to enter Chang'an City. But will the prince return to Chang'an City?

Fang Xuanling vaguely guessed in his heart that by now the prince might have planned not to return to Chang'an.
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Li Chengqian really had no plans to return to Chang'an City.

Why go back to Chang'an?

Others are the butchers and I am the meat?

Today, the sky is high and the sea is vast, and the power is in your hands.

There is only one possibility if we return to Chang'an City, and that is war.

That night.

In the palace of Liaodong City.

The emperor's eldest grandson, Li Xiang, is reporting the latest developments to Li Chengqian.

"Father, these Goryeo nobles are so rich that they like to dig cellars and hide their money in them."

"There were mountains of gold and silver, countless copper coins, and even large amounts of bacon and rice."

"I asked someone to do the math, and the meat and rice hidden by these nobles is enough to feed the entire city for half a year."

Li Chengqian nodded calmly: "The rich are feasting and drinking, while the poor are freezing to death on the streets."

"If this is the case in the Tang Dynasty, how much more so in Goryeo."

"The coal mine was short of workers, so all the young and strong men were sent to dig coal. The women were given as rewards to those who had made contributions, and the old men were demoted to commoners and given some land so that they could work and earn their own food."

"You can build a juvenile detention center and send boys under the age of twelve to reform. Girls to the teaching center."

There are quite a lot of these noble families, about several thousand people.

Now that most of the young and middle-aged labor force has been conscripted as soldiers, it seems a bit excessive to recruit soldiers from the civilian population.

For the time being, Li Chengqian also needs enough troops to show his kindness.

There was a shortage of population to begin with, so unless someone had committed a very heinous crime, they would not be executed. Instead, they would usually be sentenced to fifty years of forced labor.

Li Chengqian handed over the trial of these cases to his eldest son Li Xiang.

This also earned Li Xiang a reputation for benevolence and righteousness.

After all, as of now, there are less than ten people sentenced to death in Liaodong City. Compared with the crimes they have committed, this is already very good.

"Yes, father."

Li Xiang's young face has become more mature after months of marching and managing Liaodong City.

Now he has acquired a lot of knowledge that he could not learn from classics and history books, and has also gained broader insights.

Li Xiang was quite supportive of his father's actions, whether it was starting a rebellion or raising an army to rule himself.

Because Li Xiang knew clearly that he was the eldest grandson of the emperor, not the crown prince.

If his father fell, the emperor would never let him succeed to the throne.

Therefore, Li Xiang was very clear about these basic principles.

Besides, his father was good enough to him. Strictly speaking, he was not his father's eldest son, but his illegitimate son, the product of an absurd act.

His biological mother was just a maid, and he didn't even know what her family was like.

Now he acknowledges Crown Princess Su Yuer as his legal mother, and is granted the title of the eldest grandson by the Emperor, which is why he has his current prominent status.

His identity is entirely due to his father.

His father was everything to him.

Even if his father really started a rebellion, Li Xiang had already made up his mind to follow him.

Li Xiang had already made this plan when he was in the military camp outside Chang'an City.

Even though he is only thirteen years old this year.

But in this day and age, boys as young as thirteen already have to take care of household chores.

After a slight hesitation, Li Xiang asked, "Father, Goryeo is about to be destroyed. After defeating Goryeo, shall we return to Chang'an?"

Li Chengqian didn't expect Li Xiang to ask this, and said with a smile: "What do you think?"

Li Xiang replied: "I don't think we should go back to Chang'an."

Li Chengqian felt something was interesting: "Why do you think so? If we don't go back to Chang'an, then where should we go back to?"

Li Xiang thought for a moment and said, "In recent days, when I was handling cases involving Goryeo nobles, I found that the people of Goryeo today are grateful to my father."

"Perhaps father can stay in Goryeo and wait for the right opportunity."

"Chang'an is too dangerous. I think the Emperor is very afraid of my father now. My father has made such a great contribution. If he returns to Chang'an, the Emperor may take away my father's military power."

"Fourth uncle will naturally exaggerate and speak ill of father to the emperor."

"If father stays in Liaodong, the emperor won't dare to do anything to him."

Having grown up in the political center, Li Xiang is very talented in political sensitivity.

Li Xiang is usually very quiet. He listens to everything quietly and never expresses his own opinions, but this does not mean that he understands nothing.

He is also ambitious.

Who doesn't want to be an emperor?

If his father could successfully ascend the throne and become emperor, he would be the new crown prince of the Tang Dynasty.

"Do you want me to rebel against your grandfather?"

Li Chengqian asked with a faint smile.

Li Xiang paused, then said quickly, "I don't dare."

Li Chengqian stood up, walked to Li Xiang and patted him on the shoulder.

"You are still young. You shouldn't worry about these things."

"I know what you are worried about, but you have to trust your father."

“Some things are actually not that complicated.”

"Goryeo is not a good place to go. Staying here means being disconnected from the Tang Dynasty, even though I am recruiting a large number of officials here now."

"After defeating Goryeo, I have my own plans for where to go. Don't ask too much. It's not a good thing to know too early."

Li Xiang felt relieved. He was really worried that his father would return to Chang'an after defeating Goryeo.

He bowed and said, "Yes, father."

Li Chengqian had no intention of following Song Jiang's example.

I have no idea about starting a rebellion now.

Whether to raise an army depends on Erfeng.

If Er Feng insisted on deposing him from the position of crown prince, he would have to lead hundreds of thousands of troops and embark on the path of clearing out the emperor's side.

But Erfeng is also a smart person, so I don't think he would be so stupid.

After all, the Tang Dynasty belongs to the Li family.

Who else could be more qualified to inherit the throne than him, the eldest son?

King Wei?

King of Jin?

Today, things are very different.

If Li Shimin was determined to depose the crown prince, he would probably have to bring Qingque Zhinu's head to see his father.

It's just walking the path that Erfeng once walked and feeling the wind that Erfeng once felt.

September 20th.

Hou Jun gathered his troops and divided them into two groups, capturing ten cities.

Li Chengqian's side is even more ruthless and has captured hundreds of cities.

Goryeo urgently mobilized its troops, and Yeon Gaesomun, the chief of the Daemochi branch, led 50,000 troops and took charge personally.

In the north of Goryeo, Gao Yanshou and Gao Huizhen of Noosa led 150,000 Goguryeo and Mohe soldiers to rescue Anshi City.

In addition to the 20,000 defenders in the city, Goryeo deployed 220,000 troops in Anshi City.

Historically, Anshi City was the stubborn stone that blocked Li Shimin's expedition to Goryeo. After three months of siege, he was unable to capture it. Due to food shortages, he had to retreat back to Tang.

In later film and television works, in the movie The Battle of Anshi City shot by the descendants of Silla, Li Shimin was shot and blinded in one eye at this place.

After hearing the news, Li Chengqian personally led his troops from Liaodong City to Anshi City.

So, this time you are going to shoot the eyes of me, the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, blind.

(End of this chapter)