Chapter 53: The Second Idiot
Yuwen Bao was stunned for a moment, scratched his head, and asked tentatively: "Then... give one portion to the Second Prince and the Third Princess?"
Li Yuanji stared at Yuwen Bao for a long time.
Is there also a share for Li Shimin and Li Xiuning?
Is that a question of dividing the spoils?
That was a problem that affected Li Shimin's strategic layout, Li Xiuning's defense of Weize Pass, and the foundation of the Li Tang Dynasty.
It's confirmed that this guy is a bold and reckless idiot.
No wonder his predecessor in history let him hide under his bed to assassinate Li Shimin.
Only such a bold and reckless idiot would not care about Li Shimin's identity, status, strength and ability and would try to assassinate him.
Since he's a fool, there's no need to beat around the bush with him.
Li Yuanji said bluntly: "We will talk about this later. What I told you is also related to food. But it is not about stealing food, but about seeking food."
When Yuwen Bao heard that it was not about stealing food, he lost interest.
This guy relied on the prestige of the Prince Qi's Mansion to do a lot of business without any capital, and he also liked doing business without any capital.
He has little interest in business that requires capital.
Li Yuanji didn't care whether he was interested or not, and directly ordered, "Many people in the palace are interested in being transferred to the Qin Palace, and there are also people in the Qin Palace who want to use this matter to make money.
I need you to connect them.”
Yuwen Bao's eyes widened, "How dare someone in the mansion betray Your Highness? Who? I'll kill him right now!"
Li Yuanji glared at Yuwen Bao and scolded him angrily: "I'm not asking you to worry about this. They don't want to stay under my command, and I don't want them either.
But throwing them away is a bit of a waste.
It would be better to use them to get some food for the mansion to prepare for the Third Commander of Zuo. "
Upon hearing that Li Yuanji was unwilling to keep those subordinates, Yuwen Bao immediately put away his fierce look.
In his view, being betrayed by the officials in the mansion was one thing, and being abandoned by Li Yuanji was another.
Li Yuanji could abandon them, but they could not betray Li Yuanji.
That's his logic.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Leave this matter to me. I will definitely handle it properly."
Yuwen Bao didn't ask whether there was any tricky involved, nor did he ask how difficult it was. He just patted his chest and made a promise.
Seeing him like this, Li Yuanji was a little worried about handing the matter over to him.
After all, doing things like this still requires some thinking.
Li Yuanji warned: "This matter is not as simple as you think. You must not let the news spread and let others contact me. So you need to keep your mouth shut and act cautiously."
Yuwen Bao subconsciously raised his head, "Who dares to meddle in the affairs of our Prince Qi's Mansion?"
Li Yuanji looked at Yuwen Bao and exclaimed in his heart, what a great guy.
You, an official of the Prince of Qi's Palace, are more impressive and powerful than me, the Prince of Qi.
Li Yuanji glared at Yuwen Bao and said, "Don't forget, above my Qi Wang Mansion is the Qin Wang Mansion, the East Palace, and my father."
Yuwen Bao was stunned for a moment. "You have a very good relationship with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. How could he possibly cause you trouble? Although the Qin Palace rarely dealt with us in the past, every time you followed His Royal Highness the Qin Prince to go on an expedition, His Royal Highness the Qin Prince took good care of you. His Royal Highness the Qin Prince should not cause you trouble.
As for the saint, it is even less likely that he will cause you trouble."
Li Yuanji rolled his eyes at Yuwen Bao and said, "My relationship with my elder brother is not as good as you think. If I privately grant official titles to him, the censors will impeach me.
Even if my father defends me, he still has to punish me and give an explanation to those imperial censors. "
Yuwen Bao bared his teeth and said, "Then knock out all their front teeth and see if they dare to talk nonsense again."
Li Yuanji stood up and pointed at the couch behind him, saying with a dark face: "This King of Qi is ready for you. You are much more powerful than me!"
Seeing that Li Yuanji was angry, Yuwen Bao realized that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly scratched his head and said, "Your Highness, please don't take it to heart."
Li Yuanji snorted, "You do whatever I tell you to do, and you keep your mouth shut if I tell you to. If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll knock out all your front teeth."
Yuwen Bao hurriedly nodded and said, "Yes... yes... yes..."
Li Yuanji glared at Yuwen Bao again and said, "Go back to the barracks first. I will come find you after everything is arranged in a few days."
When Yuwen Bao heard this, he looked hesitant.
"Your Highness... Your Highness. It has been a long time since I last practiced martial arts with Your Highness, and it has also been a long time since I last went hunting with Your Highness. I want to stay by Your Highness' side."
"Once you have completed this matter, I will summon you back to the mansion and keep you here."
Li Yuanji promised.
Yuwen Bao was overjoyed, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness."
Li Yuanji waved his hand and said nothing more.
Yuwen Bao bowed and left the side hall happily.
After Yuwen Bao left, Li Yuanji's expression was extremely interesting.
"A guard at the Prince Qi's palace is more arrogant than me! Am I, the Prince Qi, a little timid?!"
Li Yuanji fell into deep self-doubt.
Although Yuwen Bao is a fool, his behavior is what a person from a prince's mansion should do.
Arrogant, domineering, and reckless.
The behavior of his predecessor was exactly the same as Yuwen Bao.
Walk sideways in the Tang Dynasty.
He also acted arrogantly in front of Li Yuan.
Even if Li Yuan was displeased, he would at most scold him a few words, and there would be no substantial punishment.
He was scolded in his previous life, but he still dared to act arrogantly in front of Li Yuan the next time.
Hey, I'm just playing, I'm just acting, you can't stand me, but you can't kill me.
"Typical example of ignorance being fearless."
Li Yuanji sighed.
The predecessor and Yuwen Bao obviously did not understand the situation within the Tang royal family, so they acted recklessly.
What is going on within the Tang Dynasty royal family right now is a fight for the dragon.
They are still two ferocious dragons fighting for the position of an old dragon that is about to die.
Not two dragon hatchlings playing in front of the dragon's eyes.
In this situation, there must be a limit to how reckless we are.
Otherwise, no matter how high your status or position, you will not be able to escape the fate of a sudden death.
Historically, during the Xuanwu Gate Incident, the predecessor actually had a chance to escape.
After Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng, as long as his predecessor submitted to Li Shimin and followed Li Shimin's orders, there was a high chance that Li Shimin would let him go.
But how did the predecessor do it?
He fought to the death with Li Shimin, and even when Li Shimin fell from his horse, he almost strangled him to death with a bowstring.
This action completely wiped out all the friendship between him and Li Shimin.
So when Yuchi Gong caught up with him and wanted to kill him, Li Shimin did not stop him.
This is the result of not seeing the situation clearly and acting recklessly.
When the situation is hopeless, you still offend Li Shimin to death. If you don't die, who will?
Li Yuanji, filled with emotion, stayed in a side hall of the Luoyang Palace and did not go out again.
After Li Shimin had agreed on the battle strategy, he did not hesitate at all.
The army quickly gathered together and marched towards Weizhou.
While watching the army's march, Li Shimin did not forget to write to Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng to discuss the matter of cheating the wealthy families of their grain.
At the same time, he also sent a letter to Yuwen Shiji, asking him to go to the front of the battle.
Li Shimin's treatment of Yuwen Shiji was not like Li Yuanji's treatment of Yuwen Bao, which required consultation.
In the letter to Yuwen Shiji, Li Shimin expressed his attitude: "Either you come to Luoyang, or I will send a sharp knife back to kill you."
The fifth day of the first lunar month.
Li Daozon and Yuchi Gong led 10,000 soldiers of the vanguard and rushed to Weizhou in the cold wind.
The seventh day of the first lunar month.
Yin Qiao and Liu Hongji led 20,000 soldiers and marched towards Weizhou, escorting the food and fodder raised by the Grand Secretariat of the East Shaanxi Province.
In the evening, Li Yuanji stormed into the front hall of Luoyang Palace in a menacing manner. When Li Shimin and Zhangsun Wuji and others were discussing military affairs, he stared at Li Shimin angrily and questioned him.
"Second brother, are you being a little unkind?!"
Li Yuanji couldn't help but be angry, Li Shimin was too cunning.
When Yin Qiao and Liu Hongji were setting out, the damn guy suddenly issued an order, asking Huang Junhan to take his men to the place where Li Yuanji stored grain, and transport away the grain that Li Yuanji had earned from "hard work" by reselling official titles.
Huang Junhan led a group of ferocious warriors and went to transport grain with orders from the commander. The soldiers from Shanzhou guarding the granary were confused about the situation and were frightened.
Huang Junhan was able to transport the grain easily.
By the time they realized something was wrong and ran to the side hall of Luoyang Palace to report to Li Yuanji, Huang Junhan had already escorted the grain and fodder out of Luoyang City.
Li Yuanji had no way to lead his men to chase after him, nor could he lead his troops to fight Huang Junhan when the war was approaching. He could only go to the front hall of Luoyang Palace to find Li Shimin to argue.
Li Shimin knew he was in the wrong, so he asked Li Yuanji to sit down with a smile.
"Why are you so angry, Silang? It's just some food. I'll have food income later, and you can just deduct it from my food."
Changsun Wuji and others looked at Li Shimin and Li Yuanji suspiciously, not quite understanding what Li Shimin meant.
It is not appropriate to publicize the lateral transfer of officials.
Li Yuanji only told Yuwen Bao, and Li Shimin only told Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng in a letter.
So Changsun Wuji and others were not aware of this.
Li Yuanji stared at Li Shimin and said, "First, take some of the surplus grain to deal with the emergency, and then deduct it from your income. Just tell me and I won't say anything.
But not only did you not tell me, you even took away the food for refugee relief.
Do you think I am angry or not? "
Li Shimin looked at Li Yuanji and complained, "Since you mentioned this, I have to say a few words to you. Look at you, when others provide relief to refugees and distribute food, they only distribute it until the beginning of spring. But you distribute it directly until June.
You are not providing relief to refugees, you are wasting food."
When Changsun Wuji and others heard this, they nodded in agreement.
Li Yuanji was indeed a bit extravagant. He provided relief to refugees for half a year.
In their eyes, this is not providing relief to refugees, but "doing good deeds".
Li Yuanji stared at Li Shimin and asked, "I exchanged my official position for the grain. How can I distribute it? Do I need to care about other people's attitudes?"
After Li Yuanji said this, Li Shimin was speechless.
Li Yuanji used his own grain to help the refugees. No one had the right to blame him for wasting it.
Li Shimin saw that Li Yuanji was really angry and realized that this matter could not be resolved peacefully. He immediately asked, "Then tell me, what kind of explanation do you want me to give you?"
