The Villain's Counterattack

"Your Majesty, I understand." Li Shimin looked at Li Yuan, his eyes full of brilliance and admiration, which made Li Yuan a little confused.

"Erlang, do you really understand?" Li Yuan felt that his son might not be on the same channel as him, otherwise he would not be so excited, even so motivated. You know, when he knew that Yang Guang was still there, and even still controlled the Sui royal family and was hiding in the dark, and Liaodong was very likely his secret hand, his fighting spirit instantly fell to the bottom. He did not believe that his son could see further than himself.

Li Yuan had many sons, but not many legitimate sons. Among them, the eldest son, Li Jiancheng, was the oldest and was also the one who truly received the education of an heir to a noble family. Although he handed over most of the military power to Erlang and let him fight outside, it was Li Jiancheng who handled most of the government affairs in the court, and it was also this eldest son who interacted with the noble families.

Although military power is important, Li Yuan sees clearly that he has to bow down to the influence of the aristocratic families.

The eldest son Jiancheng married a family from the Zheng family, one of the few aristocratic families in the entire Central Plains. The family that Erlang married, the Changsun family, had fallen on hard times and was somewhat not presentable, so they could basically not provide Erlang with much help.

Are you talking about Changsun Wuji?

Haha, as the head of the Li family, Li Yuan did not think that highly of the young man Changsun Wuji, even though he knew about his father Changsun Sheng's past identity and great achievements.

Not to mention the successor of the former leader of the Demonic Sect, even the real leader of the Demonic Sect, Li Mi, was not taken seriously by him.

While the Demon Sect was powerful, it was ultimately disunited. With the exception of the Yin Gui Sect, the other sects were not worthy of his respect. Furthermore, the Demonic Sect had never been a strong and independent sect, preferring instead to rely on support and influence. Just as Changsun Sheng assisted his uncle Yang Jian and Zhao Deyan assisted the Turks, Changsun Wuji simply chose his own Erlang.

The Demon Sect was not originally unified, with two factions and six paths. If they could really be unified into one, even the four major clans would have to retreat. However, Li Yuan, an experienced veteran who had been wandering the world for many years, was well aware of the nature of the people in the Demon Sect. Not to mention the conflicts between the two factions and six paths, there were also many disputes among their respective sects.

There is a dispute between men and women in the Yingui Sect, a dispute over the inheritance of the Xieji Sect, and the Mieqing Sect, Tianlian Sect, and Zhenchuan Sect have already split up. They don't have much affection for each other, and they even have many contradictions and hatred for each other. The Moxiang Sect is even more typical of each doing its own thing. With Zhao Deyan's temper, he simply looks down on Changsun Wuji.

As for the Huajian Sect and the Butian Dao, Li Yuan felt a little unhappy when he thought of Shi Zhixuan. How could such an outstanding woman like Bi Xiuxin fall for that bastard? Isn't his status as the head of the Li Clan high enough?

Li Yuan always knew that after he surrendered Chang'an, there would definitely be the presence of the Demon Sect around him. Their ability to adapt to the situation and lurk and parasitize is quite powerful. There might even be hidden masters of the Demon Sect around him, just like there are masters of the Yingui Sect around his cousin Yang Guang.

This is a form of self-protection, an investment, and the way of survival for the Demon Sect. Although Li Yuan looks down on it, he has to admit that it is really difficult to avoid.

Let's not dwell on the small talk, just let Li Shimin tell us his thoughts one by one. "I admire your Majesty's idea of ​​temporarily avoiding the limelight and pretending to build a plank road while secretly attacking Chencang. The Great Qin achieved supreme hegemony by making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones. As a result, King Zheng of Qin became the First Emperor, and his name will be passed down through the ages. In my opinion, Du Fuwei of the Jianghuai Army, Fu Gongju, King Xiao Xian of Liang, and King Li Zitong of Wu are all allies worth winning over."

Li Yuan looked at his son who was full of fighting spirit, a faint curve appeared on the corner of his mouth, and an inexplicable light flashed in his eyes, which made Li Shimin, who had been observing his father's expression, a little confused. Could it be that his idea was not good?

If Dou Jiande, Luoyang and Liaodong had not joined forces, Li Tang would not have needed any allies (except the Turks). First, he could have used Wang Shichong, then Dou Jiande, and then joined forces with the Turks to attack Liaodong. He would have become the king of half of the northern half of the country, and then the army would have been able to sweep everything south.

Li Zitong and Xiao Xin were not strong enough to resist Li Tang's army, and Du Fuwei and Fu Gongju were even more ruffians. There was no need to even mobilize a large army; just Cihang Jingzhai could take them down.

Even if Dou Jiande, Luoyang and Liaodong had joined forces and the Li Tang situation was not as good as before, Li Shimin was confident that with the help of Cihang Jingzhai, he could persuade the Jianghuai Army to form an alliance with him, and then use Sichuan as bait to form an alliance with Xiao Xing. As for Li Zitong, to be honest, Li Shimin did not think he would be a match for Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling.

Looking at all the young heroes in the world, the only one he looked up to was Yang Xuyan, the Duke of Liao, and the ones he regarded as his rivals were Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. If possible, he would certainly hope to recruit them under his command, but he knew very well that this was impossible unless his sister Li Xiuning was willing to marry Kou Zhong.

And this is precisely a dead end. Li Xiuning is the bridge between Li Tang and the aristocratic Chai family. It is also the clear evidence that Li Yuan is showing goodwill to the aristocratic family. It is impossible to give up for one or two low-level thugs.

Li Yuan looked at Li Shimin, his interest suddenly growing dull. He had originally intended to ask Li Shimin what would have happened to Qin if the six kingdoms had united. Had he considered deploying the Zhengguo Canal strategy of Han if Qin had become stronger?

This was exactly the method used by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. When he first came to power, the aristocratic families were powerful. Although they were not as powerful as the Sui royal family, they were definitely not to be underestimated. Moreover, their control over the local areas was even greater than that of the imperial court. Yang Guang could not have his say, which was also the reason why he wandered around for a long time after he ascended the throne.

He needed to truly control everything and intimidate everyone, and history has also proved that no one could stop him wherever he went, not even Tuyuhun or the Turks.

The opening of the Grand Canal was an even grander undertaking, consuming the national strength of the Sui Dynasty while enhancing local potential. Which of the local aristocratic families was a fool? How could they not see the benefits of the Grand Canal? This was also why they were willing to expend their manpower and cooperate with it. They were reluctant to give up this piece of fat.

The price of swallowing this piece of fat was a huge loss of power in a short period of time, which also made the aristocratic families unable to resist, giving Yang Guang the real strength and confidence to make his words count. If the aristocratic families had not cooperated with Buddhism to deal him a fatal blow during the three expeditions to Goguryeo, the entire Sui Dynasty would have been completely different.

They were rarely united and even colluded with foreign enemies to fight against Yang Guang. With the cooperation of people around Yang Guang, they forced him to flee to Jiangdu and abandon half of his territory in the north.

This might be what Yang Guang had anticipated a long time ago, but what he did not expect was that the southern aristocratic families did not support him. Even though he had always treated the southern aristocratic families well, he could not make them truly submit to him, which eventually made Yang Guang disheartened and indulged in alcohol and sex.

Li Yuan naturally knew that Xiao Xing was originally Yang Guang's man, and Yangzhou was the rear base that Yang Guang had painstakingly built, but both of them eventually betrayed him. Otherwise, Yang Guang's original plan was to cause chaos in the entire north, and then counterattack with troops from the south.

Li Yuan admitted that he was inferior to his cousin Yang Guang. If he had not seen Yang Guang give up on his own initiative, Li Yuan would not even dare to rebel. Now that he knew that Yang Guang faked his death and started over, Li Yuan's first reaction was: run!

"In that case, I'll leave it to Erlang now. However, the Sui Dynasty imperial family is powerful, and Luoyang and Liaodong are formidable. This must not be made known to others at this time. Remember this."

"Don't worry, Father. I'm relieved. This matter still requires the help of Master Fairy. With her help, Jianghuai will definitely be conquered. The Buddhist forces there are powerful, and Du Fuwei dare not act rashly."

Li Yuan: Two days have passed. I don't know whether my cousin has already taken action against Cihang Jingzhai. If he has, I don't know... Well, it's better not to let Erlang know about such a bad thing.