Chapter 6: Each Has His Own Thoughts
Pei Ji was a close minister to Li Yuan and knew Li Yuan's thoughts. Seeing that Li Yuan failed to defeat Li Shimin and was instead controlled by Li Shimin and Li Yuanji, in order to prevent Li Yuan from getting angry, he seized on a bit of cleverness revealed by Li Yuanji and reminded Li Yuan that he could use Li Yuanji to check and balance Li Shimin, thereby easing Li Yuan's mood.
As for whether doing so would attract Li Yuanji's attention, Pei Ji didn't care at all.
The last person who was interested in him was Liu Wenjing.
He was a key contributor to Li Yuan's rebellion in Taiyuan, and was appointed Minister of Civil Affairs, Left Prime Minister of the Shaanxi East Circuit, and was granted the title of Duke of Lu. He was also granted the privilege of "pardoning two deaths" by Li Yuan. In terms of wisdom, strategy, courage and means, he was far superior to Li Ji, but in the end, he was still easily killed by him.
If Li Yuanji dared to target him and attack him, he would have plenty of ways to deal with Li Yuanji.
There are too many troubles in the Prince of Qi's mansion, and any one of them can be used to frame Li Yuanji.
"Pei Jian is indeed my humerus."
Li Yuan sat on the throne with a look of emotion on his face.
Pei Ji cupped his hands and said, "It is my duty to share the worries of my lord."
Li Yuan nodded. "Then lift the confinement order on Silang first and see what he will do. If he is really smart, I don't mind giving him what he wants. If he is pretending to be smart..."
Li Yuan stopped talking here and frowned again.
Pei Ji smiled and said, "Then send him some smart people and let others help him become smart."
Li Yuan's brows relaxed, his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed: "Excellent, wonderful, but..."
Li Yuan still had not made up his mind to let Li Yuanji interfere in the struggle between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng.
Pei Ji pretended not to notice Li Yuan's hesitation and smiled heartily, "Who is the smart one and who can help His Highness the Fourth Prince? That depends on the master's wisdom."
Pei Ji secretly praised Li Yuan, and Li Yuan immediately smiled and laughed happily, "Pei Jian is still good at talking."
Li Yuanming knew that Pei Ji was just flattering him, but he just liked to hear it and was very happy after hearing it.
Just when Pei Ji was helping Li Yuan plot against his son, Li Shimin had already hurried back to Chengqing Palace.
When I arrived at the bedroom, I saw Changsun Guanyin's maid holding the newborn Li Lizhi and feeding her baby, with two-year-old Li Tai lying at her feet.
Changsun Guanyin's maid wore a nine-colour hairpin on her head and dressed in light-colored casual clothes. She was dignified and beautiful, beautiful but not coquettish, with an air of nobility that was hard to conceal.
Li Lizhi lay in the arms of Changsun Guanyin's maid, squinting her eyes and pouting greedily.
Li Tai greedily circled around Changsun Guanyinbi's feet, and from time to time stretched his neck to look into Changsun Guanyinbi's arms.
Li Shimin frowned and walked over to sit next to Changsun Guanyin's maid.
Seeing Li Shimin's frown, the maidservant Changsun Guanyin couldn't help but ask, "Erlang, is there something on your mind ?"
Li Shimin waved his hand, asking all the maids in the bedroom to leave, and then he slowly spoke, "Keming was beaten by Yin Ashu, that scoundrel, and one of his fingers was broken."
Changsun Guanyin's maid was shocked. "Has Yin Ashu become so rampant? Father urgently summoned you to Liangyi Palace for this matter? You frowned, were you scolded by father?"
Li Shimin shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice: "A person named Yin Ashu is not worthy of my father to come out and reprimand me in person. The reason why my father summoned me to Liangyi Palace was to use the matter of Yin Ashu to teach me a lesson."
The maidservant of Changsun Guanyin pondered and said, "Did father get what he wanted?"
Li Shimin frowned, "If father gets what he wants, that would be great."
The maid of the eldest grandson Guanyin looked puzzled, "Since father didn't get what he wanted, why are you still so unhappy?"
Li Shimin glanced at Changsun Guanyinbi and slowly told her everything that had just happened in the Liangyi Hall.
After listening to Li Shimin's story, Changsun Guanyin said thoughtfully: "Silang has always been on good terms with the prince. Today he suddenly speaks for you, which means that Yin Ashu offended Silang badly when he went to Wude Hall.
If Silang becomes enemies with the Crown Prince because of this, it will be a good thing for you, so why are you still so unhappy? "
Li Shimin said meaningfully: "Aren't you afraid that San Hu has other ideas?"
The maid of Changsun Guanyin raised her eyebrows , "You mean that Silang suddenly became enemies with the crown prince, maybe he wants to compete with the crown prince and you?"
Li Shimin nodded solemnly, "The three Hu have average abilities, but they are ambitious and have always wanted to strive for the top. They sacrificed their reputation and fought with Yuchi Gong under my command just to prove that they are the best horse lance masters in the world.
Now that he is at odds with the Crown Prince, it is very likely that he wants to compete with me and the Crown Prince."
Changsun Guanyin Bi thought carefully for a while and said, "Even if that's the case, Silang shouldn't be an obstacle to you."
Changsun Guanyinbi had some understanding of the power in Li Shimin's hands.
With the King of Qi's ability, even if he starts now, he will not be able to catch up in ten or twenty years.
Therefore, even if the King of Qi now has the intention to seize the throne and starts to take action, he will not become an obstacle to Li Shimin.
Li Shimin said earnestly: "I know Sanhu will not be an obstacle to me, but I am afraid that my father will help him become an obstacle to me."
Changsun Guanyinbi's expression changed, "Father is beginning to be afraid of you?"
Li Shimin nodded heavily.
"So how are you going to deal with it?"
Changsun Guanyin's maid asked again.
Li Shimin said with a deep look in his eyes: "Liu Heita is making great trouble in Hebei and is about to conquer all of Dou Jiande's old territory. My uncle is no match for him, and neither is Li Shiji.
Once Liu Heita conquers all of Dou Jiande's old territories, he will inevitably become the number one rival of our Tang Dynasty.
I am the only one who can conquer Liu Heita.
My father will definitely send me to the war, and when the time comes I will ask him to fulfill the promise he made me during the first two wars to give me the position of crown prince.
If my father doesn’t give it to me, I will refuse to go out to fight.”
Li Shimin said this with considerable confidence.
Changsun Guanyinbi did not refute.
Because Li Shimin was telling the truth.
The warriors who can fight in the Tang Dynasty now are either under the command of Li Shimin or Li Xiaogong. Li Xiaogong is now in the southwest trying to surrender the barbarians, so it is impossible for him to go to Hebei.
If Li Yuan wanted to conquer Liu Heita, he could only send Li Shimin.
The safest way would be to send Li Shimin.
If we send other people, the odds of winning or losing will probably be 30-70, with the Tang Dynasty giving 30% and Liu Heita giving 70%.
If Li Jiancheng is sent, the outcome will be 50-50.
Li Jiancheng was not only capable of maintaining national security and prosperity, but also in expanding territory.
Although he is not as good as Li Shimin in strategy, he is better than most people.
Li Jiancheng's status as the crown prince can also help him attract many brave warriors to join him. If he can also dispatch some men from the Tian Ce Palace to serve him, it should not be a problem for him to draw a tie with Liu Heita.
The problem was that once Li Jiancheng went to the battlefield, there would be no one to help the soldiers fighting on the front line to collect food and fodder.
From the moment the Tang Dynasty was founded, wars never stopped.
However, there are only 1.6 million households under the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Excluding the fiefdoms of princes, dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, there are only 1.2 to 1.3 million households that can pay taxes to the Tang Dynasty.
How many people are there in a population of 1.3 million households?
It is probably one-third of the Magic City of later generations.
The grain collected by 1.2 or 300,000 households was not only used to pay the salaries of officials, but also to support tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops fighting outside all year round. This was almost impossible to do.
When Li Jiancheng was helping Li Yuan handle government affairs, what he did was to turn the impossible into possible.
Li Jiancheng had to find ways to squeeze out every grain of food from every corner of the Tang Dynasty to ensure that the army would not go hungry while outside, and also to ensure that the people would not be overly exploited.
Li Jiancheng has done an excellent job so far. He has neither let the soldiers at the front go hungry nor over-exploited the people and provoked civil unrest.
No one can replace Li Jiancheng's position in this matter.
The only ones who could help Li Jiancheng do this were Li Yuan and Li Shimin. The problem was that they knew very well that if they did it, they would definitely not do as well as Li Jiancheng.
Therefore, with the Tang Dynasty already stationed troops in the southwest and Hebei, it was impossible for Li Yuan to send Li Jiancheng to lead the troops.
Li Shimin was the only choice.
This is also the reason why Li Shimin firmly said that only he could pacify Liu Heita.
It was not that there was no one in the Tang Dynasty who could replace Li Shimin. For example, Li Xiaogong's deputy Li Jing, the veteran general Qu Tutong, and others were all able to lead troops to war on behalf of Li Shimin.
But the problem was that Li Yuan started out as a rebel, and he attached great importance to military power and did not trust any outsiders.
Therefore, during the Wude period, the commander-in-chief who led the troops to war was either a relative of the royal family or Li Yuan's son.
Just when Li Shimin had figured out how to force Li Yuan, Li Yuanji returned to the Wude Hall.
Although Li Yuanji left Liangyi Hall earlier than Li Shimin, the distance from Liangyi Hall to Chengqing Hall was much closer than to Wude Hall.
So Li Yuanji was the first to arrive.
Returning to Wude Hall, the front hall and main hall were still brightly lit, but only a few palace lanterns were on in the bedroom.
Li Yuanji did not go to the bedroom, but went to the main hall of Wude Hall with a frown.
Xie Shufang was guarding the door of the main hall. When he saw Li Yuanji, he hurried forward to greet him.
"Your Highness, I have already checked what you asked me to check."
After completing the task rushed to Li Ji and reported to him.
But Li Yuanji was not in the mood to care about those parasites in the mansion. After Xie Shufang came forward, Li Yuanji subconsciously asked, "Why don't you go to bed?"
Xie Shufang was stunned.
Li Yuanji ignored Xie Shufang and walked into the main hall.
Xie Shufang noticed that Li Yuanji seemed to be in a bad mood, so he didn't dare to chase him and provoke Li Yuanji. He could only put away what he found and report to Li Yuanji tomorrow.
Li Yuanji walked to the long table in the main hall and sat down . After taking off his cloak, he frowned and began to think.
Today, he went to Liangyi Hall to meet Li Yuan and did not reveal any flaws. He had dealt with the matter of Yin Ashu successfully. However, when he was leaving, Pei Ji's words made him shocked and angry.
He had already decided to jump out of the cage and become a free and easy prince, but Pei Ji's words made him sink deeper into the cage.
