My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 384 The prince can’t wait to go through Xuanwu Gate?
In fact, Li Chengqian didn't care much about his son Li Xiang, nor was he very worried.

Although being in charge of Liaodong and having strong power may give him more ideas, as long as he becomes emperor, the Tang Dynasty will be a completely different one.

But for now, he still has to sit on the throne of emperor first.

Li Chengqian thought about it carefully and realized that in order to successfully take over the throne, he could not do without Li Shimin's approval.

If Li Shimin did not cooperate, it would be difficult for him to do it.

Just like his great-grandfather Li Yuan, if Li Yuan had not compromised, Li Shimin would have been in a lot of trouble even if he had forced his way to the throne.

Li Yuan's approval was the only choice left.

Because the Tang Dynasty was just established, internal strife at this time would only lead to the demise of the second generation like the Sui Dynasty.

From Li Yuan's perspective, the inheritance of the Li family is still very important.

After planning for so long and serving as vassal of the Turks, the Li Tang Dynasty that was finally established would collapse like this, and all the hard work would be wasted.

Besides, Li Shimin is indeed outstanding enough. Under his leadership, the Tang Dynasty will become even stronger.

What Li Chengqian has to do now is to do what Li Shimin had done.

Li Shimin was forced to compromise, agree, and abdicate like his grandfather Li Yuan did before.

"During the recent New Year, many Liaodong soldiers will take this opportunity to enter the city."

"Yuanchang, go to Lu Tong and ask him to handle this matter."

Li Chengqian instructed Li Yuanchang.

Transferring troops from Liaodong and breaking them up into small groups to sneak into Chang'an was actually a very risky act.

After all, a few hundred people may not matter much, but tens of thousands of people will be very obvious.

With so many people coming in all of a sudden, you can easily tell the problem with just a quick check.

Someone must cover you.

The public security of Chang'an City was under the jurisdiction of the Jinwu Guards.

Therefore, Lu Tong’s cooperation is very important.

This is why Li Yuanchang, the King of Han, made a personal trip to General Lu Tong's mansion.

"Your Highness, don't worry."

Li Yuanchang agreed immediately.

The dusk was as dark as ink, and the bronze door of General Lu Tong’s mansion creaked in the cold wind.

When Li Yuanchang stepped over the threshold, an icicle from the eaves suddenly fell to the ground, making a crisp cracking sound on the blue bricks, startling the two guards in the corridor so much that they pressed down on the hilts of their swords at the same time.

He simply raised his hand to straighten his black cloak, and the jade pendant on his waist made a clear sound, which was particularly harsh in the silent courtyard.

"Why is the King of Han here at this hour?" Lu Tong hurried out to greet him.

Li Yuanchang smiled and walked forward, his boots rolling over the frost on the ground. "General Lu, is this how you treat guests? It's as cold as a knife outside, why don't you invite me in for a cup of hot tea?"

"Please come in, King of Han." Lu Tong raised his hand and invited him in.

In the study, the charcoal fire in the copper stove was burning brightly, but it could not dispel the solemn atmosphere in the room.

Lu Tong placed the celadon teacup heavily on the table. A few drops of tea splashed out, leaving dark marks on the pear wood tabletop. "Does His Royal Highness have any new arrangements?"

Li Yuanchang nodded: "General Lu is a man of few words."

"The Crown Prince has ordered that the Liaodong brothers enter the city in batches during this busy time of the year."

"But the Jinwu Guards' interrogation seems to be stricter than usual?"

Lu Tong's heart skipped a beat.

The Liaodong soldiers entered the city not just now, but had already begun a long time ago.

But there are not many people in the front, only a few hundred people in each group.

As the general of the Right Jinwu Guard, these arrangements were still very simple.

But this time the King of Han came personally to speak, and it was not a matter of a few hundred or thousands of people.

Lu Tong hesitated and said, "I wonder how many Liaodong brothers there are this time."

Li Yuanchang smiled faintly and held up three fingers.

Lu Tong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Please rest assured, King Han, three thousand people..."

Before he could finish his words, Li Yuanchang waved his hand to interrupt: "General Lu, don't make a mistake, it's 30,000 people."

As soon as these words came out, Lu Tong froze.

Thirty thousand people!
The prince's Shenwu Army now has only 30,000 soldiers in total.

It is these 30,000 mighty troops that are overwhelming Chang'an, and even His Majesty feels a huge threat.

Even though he seldom attended court meetings, Lu Tong was aware that the memorials impeaching the crown prince and advising His Majesty to depose him had never stopped.

But the prince has artillery, and there will definitely be heavy casualties in a fight. His Majesty, out of consideration for family ties, cannot bear to take action, and also does not want to fight to the death with the prince.

This is the case with the 30,000 Shenwu troops. If His Majesty knew that another 30,000 were to come, he would surely fight them.

No, that's not right.

Lu Tong reacted immediately.

Could it be that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is going to take action?

Sixty thousand soldiers, plus the cannons in the hands of the prince.

What can we use to defend Xuanwu Gate?
There are more than 60,000 soldiers and horses. Thousands of them have entered the city before. Together with the people on his side, there are a total of 70,000 soldiers and horses.

Thinking of this, Lu Tong's expression became firm.

"Please ask the King of Han to tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that I will definitely live up to your trust."

At this final moment, Lu Tong became excited.

Once the prince ascends the throne, this will be considered as the achievement of following the dragon.

A new emperor appoints new ministers, and by then, he will surely rise to prominence.

Li Yuanchang smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you, General Lu."

Lu Tong immediately said: "I will do my best to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
-
The next day, night.

In the east wing of the Right Jinwu Guard General's Mansion, Lu Tong stared at the twenty-seven men wrapped in coarse turbans in front of him.

These people were hiding in the grain cart at Tonghua Gate last night, but now they were standing in his private residence.

"General Lu."

The leading man lifted his hood, revealing a scar running from his brow to his chin.

"I am here at the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to bring my brothers to obey your orders."

He handed over an iron plate with the words "The Third Team of the Left Wing of the Divine Power Army" engraved on it, and there were traces of fresh filing on the edges.

When Lu Tong took the iron plate, his fingertips touched the engraving on the back, which was the secret mark of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

His eyes swept over the bulging packages around everyone's waists, where daggers or crossbows were obviously hidden.

"Call your leader out."

The scarred man took a half step back and motioned a short man behind him to step out. The man took off his headscarf, revealing an inconspicuous black mole behind his left ear.

It was the Liaodong scout that Lu Tong had met in Chang'an before.

"I am Li San, your humble servant. I am honored to meet you, General."

Lu Tong's pupils shrank slightly.

This Li must not be his real surname, but a given surname.

Obviously, this Li San has made many contributions and is a person valued by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Because the people of the Three Kingdoms in Liaodong had few surnames, and most of the people had no surnames at all.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but Lu Tong would rather misunderstand it.

Suddenly his tone and expression were not so serious anymore.

"We are all brothers, don't be so polite." After exchanging a few polite words, Li San said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that these brothers should be dispersed to various quarters in Chang'an within three days, preferably under the eyes of the Jinwu Guards."

Lu Tong spoke, his voice three points lower than usual: "The brothers of the Jinwu Guard have been investigating closely recently."

After all, he was only the General of the Right Jinwu Guard, in charge of one-fourth of Chang'an.

His boss is the prince’s enemy, Prince Jin.

Li San remained silent upon hearing this and did not respond to Lu Tong's words.

They were following the prince's orders.

As for what Lu Tong would do and how he would arrange for them to hide, that was not something they could influence.

After thinking for a while, Lu Tong said, "At 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, follow the Jinwu Guards' corvée team into the city."

"There are thousands of corvées coming in and out every day. You will pretend to be soldiers feeding horses and be under the jurisdiction of the Right Guard."

He paused and said, "And the commander of the Right Guard is the prince's man."

Li San nodded and took out a stack of household registration documents from his package: "We have already prepared the travel permits for the refugees from Longyou, and we are just waiting for the general's words."

Lu Tong took the document and looked through it. He saw that each pass was stamped with a large cinnabar seal of Longyou Road, and the date was exactly last month.

There was a severe flood in Longyou some time ago, and a large number of refugees indeed poured into Chang'an.

It was obvious that the prince had made arrangements long ago.

"Remember, don't cause trouble."

Lu Tong ordered.

Li San and the scarred man exchanged glances and bowed their heads in greeting: "I understand."

Lu Tong looked at their coarse cloth clothes that were washed white, and suddenly remembered that he had seen the Prince's Shenwu Army training in the snow in thin robes, with almost fanatical loyalty on their faces.

That was the loyalty that the prince had earned with military merits, titles and land.
-
Chang'an is a leaky wall.

It's not just the wind from the Taiji Palace that's leaking, but also the wind from the Daming Palace.

The copper clock in the Secretariat's government hall was ticking. Fang Xuanling was looking at the raindrops dancing outside the eaves and drew a crooked ink mark on the secret report with the wolf hair brush in his hand.

The customs clearance document for the Liaodong merchant caravan on the desk had been flipped over by him until the corners were frayed.

Documents record that from September to date, 371 Liaodong merchant caravans have entered Luoyang.

"Prime Minister Fang, Changsun Situ has arrived."

"Please."

Chang Sun Wuji walked into the hall with a chill in his aura.
"Brother Xuanling, the threshold of the Political Affairs Hall is harder to cross than the wall of Xuanwu Gate."

Changsun Wuji greeted with a smile.

Fang Xuanling was not in the mood to joke and his expression was serious.

When Changsun Wuji saw this, he realized that something had gone wrong, otherwise with Fang Xuanling's steadiness, this would not have happened.

"Look at this first."

Fang Xuanling had no intention of exchanging pleasantries and went straight to the point.

Three volumes of documents were taken out from the rosewood box, the top one being the rotation record of the Jinwu Guards over the past three months.

"Lu Tong, the commander of the Right Jinwu Guard, must transfer 30% of the old soldiers when changing guards on the seventh day of every month, and the new soldiers who are replaced are all refugees from Longyou."

He opened the second volume, revealing a few wrinkled travel permits. "But I asked someone to check the disaster report of Longyou Road, and there are not so many refugees entering the city this year."

Changsun Wuji held up the pass to the candlelight and saw that the date under the cinnabar official seal had been soaked by water, obviously a sign of a later addition.

"What about the third volume?"

He raised his eyes and saw the bloodshot in Fang Xuanling's eyes.

Fang Xuanling's voice suddenly became low: "It's a secret report from Luoyang."

"In the past three months, the grain carts transported from Liaodong to Chang'an via Luoyang have weighed 300 kilograms more when they returned empty—"

After a pause, Fang Xuanling said in a deep voice: "It's not food, it's armor and weapons."

The dripping sound of the copper leak suddenly became deafening, and Changsun Wuji stood up suddenly.

"Are you saying that the prince is sending Liaodong troops into the city?"

His fingertips passed over the Tonghua Gate on the map, where there were densely marked symbols of "caravan" and "grain cart".

Fang Xuanling nodded and pulled out a list from his sleeve: "These are the new lieutenants of the Jinwu Guard, all of whom are from Liaodong. There is also Wang Zhong, the commander of the Right Guard, whose uncle once served as an instructor at the Yanwu Hall in Liaodong."

There were thirty-six names on the list, each with a red circle next to it, making it look very much like the roster of death row prisoners in the Ministry of Justice's prison.

Chang Sun Wuji suddenly grabbed the chess box on the table and poured out a handful of black pieces: "Brother Xuanling, do you remember the snow in the ninth year of Wude?"

He made the shape of Xuanwu Gate on the chessboard.

Fang Xuanling looked at the black pieces on the chessboard and suddenly remembered that twenty years ago, when they followed Li Shimin to raise an army in Taiyuan, Zhangsun Wuji always liked to use chess pieces to arrange troops. At that time, the black pieces were righteous soldiers and the king's army.

"Wuji, do you think the prince is really going to take that step?"

There was a hint of luck in his voice, but even he could hear it trembling.

"You must see His Majesty immediately." Zhang Sun Wuji suddenly stood up, but Fang Xuanling held out his hand to stop him: "Wait! It's too hasty to impeach the crown prince without solid evidence."

Chang Sun Wuji said: "It's already this time, how can we care about so many things?"

"Brother Xuanling, do you still remember the three days before the Xuanwu Gate Incident?"

"Prince Jiancheng did the same thing at that time, constantly dispatching Youzhou soldiers to the East Palace, saying that they were protecting the crown prince."

Fang Xuanling looked up suddenly and saw the candlelight reflected in Changsun Wuji's eyes, like two dancing flames.

He suddenly remembered that this old friend in front of him, who had served as prime minister with him for twenty years, had personally cut off the reins of Prince Jiancheng's horse during the Xuanwu Gate Incident, and at this moment, those hands were about to push another prince into the abyss.

"But the prince is your majesty's eldest son."

Fang Xuanling murmured, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of the chessboard.

"The eldest son?" Zhang Sun Wuji's voice suddenly became sharp. "Prince Jiancheng is also the eldest son! If Your Majesty had not taken action first, it would probably be you and me lying in Zhaoling Mausoleum right now."

He grabbed the secret report on the case and said, "Do you think these documents can be hidden from His Majesty? He just doesn't want to believe it! But we can't let him be confused!"

At the critical moment, Changsun Wuji was more resolute than Fang Xuanling.

In the court, he stood in the position of the prince and spoke for him many times.

But this does not mean that when the prince really goes through Xuanwu Gate, he will support the prince.

He is the prince's uncle and your majesty's brother.

"it is good."

Fang Xuanling said, "I will present the memorial with you at the court tomorrow morning. But we need to clarify one thing first."

He picked up the customs documents of the Liaodong caravan and asked: "Are the Longyou Road seals on these documents really from the Ministry of Personnel?"

This is talking about Hou Junji.

Back then, Hou Junji was also a hero of Xuanwu Gate.

Chang Sun Wuji didn't think much about it and said, "The Crown Prince saved him, so he will naturally follow the Crown Prince."

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard amid the sound of rain, coming from far away.

Fang Xuanling walked to the window and saw the lanterns outside the Council of Government Hall flickering in the rain, just like the ordinary-looking but mysterious shops on the streets of Chang'an.

He suddenly reached out and pressed Changsun Wuji's shoulder: "Wuji, if this were to come true, how would you and I cope?"

Changsun Wuji turned his head and his eyes met his. The candlelight flickered in their eyes, reflecting the twenty years of friendship between monarch and subject and the friendship of life and death.

"On your own?"

He gently patted Fang Xuanling's hand away: "We are ministers of the Tang Dynasty, not slaves of the prince."

These words were powerful, but there was a barely perceptible sigh at the end.

Zhang Sun Wuji stared at Fang Xuanling and said, "Brother Xuanling, you and I both know that once something starts, it is hard to turn back."

These words are both a reminder and empathy.

(End of this chapter)