My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 388: Your Majesty, I Can Only Bear With You

The advantage is mine.

Li Chengqian is no longer the young man he used to be.

There is no need to be submissive in front of Li Shimin.

With the current strength of the Shenwu Army and the Shenwei Army with 60,000 elite soldiers, even if they cannot completely suppress Li Shimin, it will be no problem for them to break through the Xuanwu Gate.

Since the secret plan of the hidden troops has been exposed, we might as well play it openly.

After the prince spoke, the others stopped discussing.

In fact, Li Chengqian had already made a decision on this matter, but as a leader, he cannot decide everything directly. He always has to go through a process and let his subordinates put forward their own ideas and opinions.

At the same time, you can also understand what others are thinking and better control it.

The empire is so big that it is impossible to let Li Chengqian take care of everything by himself. What's the difference between him and cattle and horses? He will eventually die of exhaustion on the throne.

In any case, it is impossible to be like Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, who could bring even petty thefts to the court.

the other side.

Outside Chang'an City, in the military camp.

Li Shimin's secret decree arrived.

After reading it, Li Jing felt deeply moved.

The relationship between Your Majesty and the Crown Prince has finally come to this point today.

Li Jing naturally would not disobey His Majesty's edict, and immediately began to arrange for the mobilization of troops.

However, Li Jing also knew that it was impossible to hide the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops from the prince, so he could only try his best to buy time.

Fortunately, it is Chang'an City, not an expedition, so there is no need to mobilize too many civilians for the time being.

Therefore, Li Jing first mobilized the troops in the military camp. The military camp was not in the city, and the security in the camp was strict, making it difficult for news to spread.

Everyone knows that the current Chang'an City has become a sieve. The prince has deployed a large number of spies so that any disturbance can be quickly known.

Facing the prince's powerful Liaodong elite troops and artillery, Li Jing understood his majesty's intention, which was to encircle the prince in Chang'an City.

If a matter cannot be done, then mobilize all the troops in the world.

No matter how powerful the prince's artillery is, it is impossible for a few hundred cannons to fight against the entire Tang Dynasty.

Although we still haven't fully understood the artillery, its advantages and disadvantages are clear.

Even the cannon in the prince's hands could only fire a dozen or so shots, and most of them would misfire after only a dozen shots.

Without artillery, the prince is like a tiger without teeth, nothing to be feared.

The 60,000 elite troops from Liaodong were indeed powerful, but they were not enough to shake Chang'an.

If it were any other era of the dynasty, it would be enough, but now it is the early Tang Dynasty, and the old soldiers who followed Li Shimin to conquer the world can still fight.

Li Jing in action.

The situation in Chang'an city is changing rapidly.

In Taiji Palace.

Li Shimin was discussing matters with his ministers.

The tone for the surprise attack on the prince was set yesterday, so naturally we must start today.

Today is the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, and tomorrow is New Year's Eve.

In fact, Li Shimin wanted to wait until after the New Year, but he also understood that opportunity waits for no one.

Judging from the current intelligence, the prince has recently risked being discovered by suddenly sneaking in a large number of soldiers, and it is obvious that he is preparing to take action before the end of the year.

Li Shimin actually didn't quite understand why the prince had suddenly changed.

Li Shimin was very clear about the prince's thoughts and situation.

According to the current situation, the prince needs to slowly accumulate strength, such as building up a team of talented people, buying off court officials and generals, and so on.

For example, the previous painstaking reform of the imperial examination system and the recruitment of talents all take time.

This progress will take at least two years for the prince to grow fully fledged.

But the Spring Examination hasn't even started yet, and the prince wants to take action?

Maybe there is something he doesn't know.

However, the situation was right in front of him, and as the saying goes, it is better to strike first than to gain the upper hand. Even if Li Shimin had some doubts, he could only keep them to himself for the time being.

At this moment, a eunuch came hurriedly to report.

"Your Majesty, there are a large number of unknown soldiers in Chang'an City, surrounding the left and right Jinwu Guard camps."

Li Shimin was startled and looked into the eyes of Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling.

This must be the result of a leak of information, which led to the prince taking action first.

Li Shimin calmed down and told Zhang Ananda, "Go and find out the situation in Chang'an City."

After a pause, he continued, "There is also movement in Daming Palace."

Zhang Ananda accepted the order: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhang Ananda retreated, but Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling did not look very good.

You should know that during yesterday's secret conversation, only four people knew about it.

Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling, Zhangsun Wuji, and the eunuch Zhang Ananda.

What we discussed in Taiji Hall yesterday was known by the Crown Prince today?

No, perhaps the prince knew it after the meeting yesterday.

Then what secrets does this Taiji Palace have for the prince?

Fang Xuanling glanced at Zhangsun Wuji, then turned and said, "Your Majesty, I went to bed early after returning home yesterday."

This was to show that he had not told this matter to anyone, not even to his son's confidant.

Li Shimin's gaze turned to Changsun Wuji.

Needless to say, it is absolutely impossible that the eunuch Zhang Ananda was the one who revealed the secret to the prince. If he couldn't even trust the eunuchs, how could he, as the emperor, control the court?

Changsun Wuji had a bitter look on his face and could only tell the truth: "Yesterday I asked my son to find the King of Jin and tell him about the Crown Prince so that the Jinwu Guards could assist in the secret investigation."

Li Shimin trusted the two old ministers, who had fought with him in battles across the country and had come through the Xuanwu Gate. If he couldn't trust them, who else could he trust?

If Fang Xuanling didn't miss anything, then the incident could only have happened to Prince Jin.

"Zhi Nu is too young after all."

Li Shimin quickly set the tone. The young man's mind was wandering, and he did not know that secrecy leads to success, while words lead to failure.

Come to think of it, Zhinu went to see Wu Cairen yesterday and probably told her about this matter.

Li Shimin did not doubt Wu Cairen. He knew that Wu Cairen wanted to escape from the harem which was like a cage through Zhinu.

When Concubine Wu entered the palace, wasn't it also to protect herself from being bullied by her family?

Although Li Shimin had his own spies, they were different from the Ming Dynasty's Jinyiwei and he could not fully control them. Therefore, he inferred that something had happened to Prince Jin, but he didn't know who leaked the information.

Now that the prince has taken action, there is no time to investigate carefully.

Not long after, the eunuch Zhang Ananda sent someone back with the news. "There is no movement in the Daming Palace. The Crown Prince's hidden troops in Chang'an City, and the Crown Prince Zhengyi has ordered that they must forcibly replace the Right Golden Guard."

After hearing the news, Li Shimin hesitated for a moment.

Because he didn't know what the prince was going to do, would he completely break off relations?
If this is the case, then the Daming Palace must have taken some action.

Although the Daming Palace seems to occupy a high position, it is actually the place that Li Shimin paid the most attention to. Although it is guarded by the Shenwu Army, a large number of craftsmen were introduced for its construction.

Li Shimin naturally arranged for many spies to infiltrate the Daming Palace to monitor what was happening there at any time.

Now the prince just lets the undercover soldiers float around, while the Daming Palace remains motionless, and it is obvious that he has no intention of starting a war.

That’s right, for Li Shimin, the only thing he was afraid of was the cannons hidden in the Daming Palace.

The hidden soldiers in Chang'an City are nothing. Without artillery, they are nothing to them. They can't even attack the imperial city, let alone the imperial court.

Chang'an's strongest city wall is not in the outer city, but in the inner city.

With 30,000 soldiers and generals and no siege equipment, they would be useless once the gates of the imperial city were closed and could be surrounded and attacked at will.

"Your Majesty, I think the prince realized that the submarine had been discovered, so he simply surfaced."

Fang Xuanling expressed his thoughts.

This was approved by Zhangsun Wuji: "This may be a demonstration by the crown prince. Your Majesty asked the Prince of Jin to use the Right Golden Guard to investigate, and then the crown prince moved his hidden troops from the dark to the open and forcibly replaced the Right Golden Guard."

"Or maybe it's to intimidate King Jin. Apparently, the Crown Prince has already known about King Jin's affairs."

Li Shimin nodded slightly, he thought so too.

According to the news, the prince was attacked by the Right Jinwu Guard, and the general of the Left Jinwu Guard was Li Ji.

There was no movement from Li Ji, the Zuo Jinwu Guard who was in charge of the public security of Chang'an County.

Are you just going to watch helplessly as the prince seizes the Right Golden Guard?

This made Li Shimin somewhat unwilling, or he felt that he had lost face.

Fang Xuanling was a considerate person and he noticed His Majesty's thoughts. Naturally, he did not want His Majesty to fall out with the Crown Prince at this time.

Since there is no way to communicate with the Crown Prince, Your Majesty will have to bear with it.

He said, "Your Majesty, this General Lu Tong of the Right Jinwu Guard originally obeys the orders of the Crown Prince, and the Prince of Jin has very little control over the Right Jinwu Guard, and now he has encountered a large number of hidden troops from the Crown Prince."

"Now that the story of the King of Jin has been exposed, the Crown Prince must be resentful. The situation is not easy now. The Western Turks have just been destroyed and the losses are quite great. This is the best time for our Great Tang to prosper. We should first focus on stability and strengthen our national strength."

"Besides, the Crown Prince values ​​the law. Even if he is in charge of Wannian County, he will not act recklessly. It would be better to acquiesce to this matter so as to maintain stability."

Stability is above all else; this is Fang Xuanling’s view.

He is old and really doesn't want to be too exhausted, especially after catching a cold some time ago and feeling like he almost couldn't make it.

My health is getting worse and worse, like a candle in the wind, how can I withstand the strong winds and waves.

After much thought, as long as the Crown Prince does not turn against you, the advantage will always grow on your side. When the time is right, your Majesty is old, and the situation turns favorable, the Crown Prince will be able to ascend the throne smoothly, and the Tang Dynasty can avoid a civil strife.

Fang Xuanling's statement gave Li Shimin a way out, but he was not entirely satisfied.

Zhang Sun Wuji said at the right time: "Your Majesty, it's not a big deal that the Crown Prince has seized the Right Golden Guard, but are the original Right Golden Guard soldiers going to return home?"

"In my opinion, it would be better to let these original Jinwu Guards continue to serve, and let the prince's soldiers also join the Jinwu Guards. This way, they will be mixed up. First, they will be used to monitor the prince's soldiers, and second, it will make it difficult for the prince to do his job as he wishes."

"By then, the Crown Prince will have to be wary of the Jinwu Guards and will not be able to fully control Wannian County."

Changsun Wuji almost made it clear that he supported Prince Jin. The Crown Prince was probably aware of this, so Changsun Wuji naturally had to think of more ways to suppress the Crown Prince.

The chances don’t seem great now, but what about in the future?

The prince currently has 60,000 soldiers and horses, 30,000 in the Daming Palace, and 30,000 in Chang'an City and Wannian County.

It seemed that the prince had annexed the Right Golden Guard, but there were so many people in the Right Golden Guard, and together with the reserve troops, there were more than 20,000 people. How could the prince control them all? This instead tied up the prince's 30,000 troops.

From this perspective, it is actually a good thing for Li Shimin.

It's like exchanging pieces on a chessboard, not to mention that Li Shimin had never originally intended to expect the Jinwu Guards to do anything.

"Yes, that's it."

"However, Lord Fang will go to the Crown Prince to discuss this matter."

Of course, it was impossible for Li Shimin to give the prince a title or confer him the title of General of the Right Jinwu Guard or something like that.

In name, the General of the Right Jinwu Guard is still the Prince of Jin.

Of course, given the current situation, Li Shimin could only put Zhinu in a difficult position for the time being.

Logically speaking, the person who should communicate with the Crown Prince, which was something Li Shimin tacitly agreed to, should be Changsun Wuji. However, Li Shimin also knew that the Crown Prince had probably noticed that Changsun Wuji was on the side of King Jin. It would be awkward to communicate at this time and it would also easily mess things up.

It would be more reasonable to arrange Fang Xuanling to go. In fact, the best candidate is Wei Zheng, but Li Shimin doesn't want to deal with Wei Zheng now.

After being released last time, Li Shimin rarely summoned Wei Zheng and Chu Suiliang.

The two men have very strong sense of position. One supports the King of Wei, and the other supports the Crown Prince. There is no concealment at all. So where does this place His Majesty?

I haven't even passed away yet, but these two are already hastily planning my affairs after death.

No matter how you think about it, you'll feel unhappy.

After looking around, Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji, the old ministers who have always followed him, are the most reliable.

Chu Suiliang can be considered as such, but his character is a bit worse.

As for Wei Zheng, to be honest, he was the confidant of Prince Yin back then.

He didn't care about it before because Li Shimin was in control of the overall situation. Now he is unhappy because he thinks the prince is threatened.

After the matter was settled, Li Shimin did not forget to send another secret decree to Li Jing.

Let him not mobilize too many troops for the time being, as it will not only affect people's livelihood, but will also easily lead to misunderstandings with the prince.

However, we also need to make plans and preparations to be ready to deal with variables at any time.

the other side.

After the Crown Prince's order from Li Chengqian was conveyed, 30,000 Liaodong soldiers directly surrounded the barracks of the Right Jinwu Guard.

The leader was Lu Tong, holding the prince's order, ordering the soldiers of the Right Jinwu Guard to obey.

The generals looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

The prince has the power to regulate the country. Theoretically, he can obey the orders. However, anyone with a discerning eye knows that these soldiers who suddenly appeared are obviously trying to seize the camp.

Naturally, they did not dare to go against the prince. Everyone knew that the prince was very powerful now and even occupied the Daming Palace. But they were reluctant to surrender.

The part under Lu Tong's jurisdiction did not have much of a problem. After all, the Generals of the Central Army were all his own people and of course they had to obey his orders. However, those under the jurisdiction of another General of the Right Golden Guard, that is, the group following the Prince of Jin, were unwilling to do so.

They had followed Prince Jin to ambush the prince on Suzaku Street. Now that they belong to the prince, they are like sheep walking into a tiger's mouth. They will definitely be bullied in the future.

Especially the military attachés, they directly ordered the gates to be closed and refused to go out.

Fortunately, the confrontation did not last long. After Fang Xuanling heard the news, he came in person.

Faced with Prime Minister Fang, the General of the Household naturally did not dare to resist, and he no longer had any thoughts. He had originally hoped that the court would take some action, but now under the circumstances, he could only open the door obediently.

After all, they didn't dare to confront the prince and then argue with the court. If they really did that, it would be treason.

As for Prince of Jin Li Zhi, he naturally ran away.

He didn't dare to stay in Wannian County, so he simply ran to Chang'an County, west of Zhuque Street, to Puningfang where Li Ji was.

(End of this chapter)