After the meeting ended, Li Yuan immediately rebuked Li Jiancheng and said: "The little people complain, deny everything, and don't affect their own doors." As for those in power, you must first consider the interests of your country, and when you have no choice, you must patiently listen to the opinions of others and find the most suitable solution. And you have denied everything with a sentence of national righteousness, what is the difference between this and a reckless man? If I don't have dealings with the Turks, what will happen to the interests of my Datang? And where did it come from? Yes, I also know that the national righteousness is above all else, but the premise is that you must be strong yourself, otherwise it will be unrealistic empty talk! No one will listen to your nonsense. ”

Li Jiancheng was silent. In fact, what he wants to say is: even if the Tang Dynasty and the Turks have no intersection at all, the Turks will still attack the Sui Dynasty and form an alliance, and the Turks will not get anything, but the Tang Dynasty will also not get any actual benefits, so why risk provoking Yang Dong to sign this dead letter? Once the alliance is formed, Yang Tong can use righteousness as a name to tear up the peace treaty, and all the efforts of Datang will be in vain at that time, and next time, will he let Datang go? Since there is no benefit at all, isn't it bad enough to dislike Datang's reputation? It's just that there's no point in saying that now, what else can he say but be silent?

Li Yuan saw that he no longer talked back, and his face was a little better, "I don't need to talk about you about this matter, now that the snow disaster in Guanzhong is serious, and many people have died, you should put your energy into disaster relief first!" ”

"The retainers obey."

Li Jiancheng hugged his fists, when he walked out of the hall, the cold wind made his mind clear, looking back on his own affairs, he suddenly found that his father was no longer the father who tolerated the willfulness of his children, he was now the emperor who was high up and was in charge of the death of the children of a country, and then he was the head of the family, and he must not make this mistake of opposing for the sake of opposition in the future, so as not to be underestimated.

"Big brother!" At this time, Li Shimin hurriedly came over, clasped his fists and saluted: "How to deal with the Turkic matter?" ”

Li Jiancheng did not hide it, and explained Li Yuan's decision in detail.

Li Shimin heard this, and said angrily: "Since my Tang Dynasty has established a country, I should act with a brilliant atmosphere, this so-called alliance is all false, except for angering Yang Dong and losing a sister of the emperor, it is meaningless." Can't the eldest brother persuade his father? ”

"I almost got blasted out because I was against it." Li Jiancheng shook his head, smiled bitterly, and changed the topic: "What does the second brother think about the Turks and the Sui Dynasty?" ”

Seeing that the matter had come to this point, Li Shimin knew that he was powerless to change his father's decision, so he walked slowly in the snow with Li Jiancheng, and said in a deep voice: "The nomads have always been a country where all the people are soldiers, and they have as many young and strong troops as they have, which is the origin of the saying that millions of people control the strings. And the Turks are a loose tribal alliance, in addition to the more than 30 tribes of the Turks themselves, they also control the north and south of the Murwei, as well as more than a dozen Tiele tribes, when the Turks are strong, Tiele submits to the Turks, and when the Turks they will stand on their own, so whether it is suddenly strong or not depends on whether it can control Tiele. ”

"Although the Turkic army of more than 300,000 troops was defeated in Mayi that year, and the loss was not large, the biggest loss was actually the Turks themselves, after the war, the Turkic headquarters was divided into three, and it was no longer able to control Tiele, and it was divided into four, which led to the rapid silence of the Turks."

"But no one could have imagined that Chu Luo and Jieli would be able to abandon their previous suspicions and work together to annihilate the main forces of the Tiele tribes, making them submit to their command again. Although the strength of the Turks today is much less than before, they have been twisted into a rope in the war, and they are more solid than in the beginning of the Bi era. Once it returns to the previous level, it will be several times more terrifying. ”

"But it was at this critical point that the sudden death of the Khan of Juluo led to the triumph of his brother Jieli Khan, and the Tiele tribes had no respect for the majestic Jieli, and it was very likely that there would be signs of centrifugation again, as can be seen from the fact that Jieli married the princess Xue Yantuo as Kedun, and he wanted to consolidate his throne by marriage. But the steppe peoples have always respected the strong, and this marriage is not at all reliable, so that the Turks are in an extremely dangerous and delicate situation. ”

Although the two brothers have their own needs, but the two are very wise, everything is for personal gain without harming the interests of Datang, in terms of maintaining Datang, the two are the same, so they often exchange their views on the current situation, in front of this kind of major right and wrong, neither of them has reservations.

Li Jiancheng nodded and said: "What the second brother said is extremely true, this newly enthroned Jieli Khan is very aware of the crisis faced by the Turks, and he also knows what to do. The only way to completely stop the Tiele tribes and save the current crisis was to establish supreme prestige with a brilliant victory, and it was for this reason that Jieli turned his eyes to the south, and got up from where he fell. ”

"But he doesn't have the certainty of victory, so he plans to take the opportunity of the civil war in the Central Plains to stir up disputes between my Tang Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty. So, he sent two envoys to the Sui and Tang dynasties, and asked the Tang Dynasty to contain the Sui Dynasty for him with some useless piece of paper! As for our life or death, he didn't care at all, and even wished that Guanzhong, Guannei, Bingzhou, Jizhou, and Youzhou would fall into chaos again, so that he could profit from it. I am very worried that once the covenant is drawn up, the Turks will publicize the world, and the Sui Dynasty has abundant money and the benefits of the new Great Wall, so it will be no problem to hold on for a year or two in the face of the Turkic attack, so I am very worried that the Sui Dynasty will deal with us first. ”

Speaking of this, Li Jiancheng's expression was shocked.

Li Shimin also recognized Li Jiancheng's statement in his heart, and his face suddenly turned blue, the Turkic approach was simply to let Li Tang die.

"See my father!"

"See my father!"

The two brothers said three words in unison, and then hurriedly turned back into the palace, facing Li Yuan, and said their analysis again.

"What a Turk, he actually plans to play tricks to lead the water." Li Yuan shouted, gritted his teeth, and said, "How are you going to deal with this matter?" ”

Li Jiancheng saw that Li Yuan was relieved, and his spirit was greatly lifted: "Father, after the battle of Mayi, the Turks fought for more than a year, and their strength was greatly reduced, but they were all soldiers, and there were millions of armored soldiers at the beginning of the year, when Bi Khan was in his heyday, so the Turks still have strength, plus Tiele is attached, Jieli's 300,000 troops can be completely taken out, Jieli is ambitious, and he will inevitably go south to fight against the Sui army next." ”

"Father! The eldest brother has a point. Li Shimin continued: "The Turks have always had the intention and ambition to plunder the Central Plains, and we don't have to deliberately form an alliance with the Turks, lest the world laugh at us!" We can verbally promise to trade with the Turks, but we can use the lack of trade as an excuse for them to help us bring down Hexi! And we can also tell them some information, let them understand the general situation of the Central Plains, understand the internal situation of the Sui Dynasty, as long as the time is ripe, Jieli will naturally go south to attack the Sui, and then the opportunity for us to advance westward will come. If the Sui Dynasty can't defeat the Turks, not to mention the nine counties in Guannei, we can also recover them. ”

Li Yuanda was excited.

Li Jiancheng saw that Li Yuan was moved, which made him see hope, and he pursued after the victory: "Father, although we do not form an alliance with the Turks, some superficial etiquette can still be done, such as sending people to congratulate the new Turkic Khan on his accession to the throne. This not only avoids falling into the truth, but also does not anger Yang Dong, and at the same time shows our sincerity in forming an alliance with the Turks. ”

Li Yuan thought about it, and also felt that the real and virtual method proposed by the second son was more beneficial than forming an alliance, so he readily agreed, "Very good, let Wang Xiaoji of Yong'an County send an envoy to the Turks." Congratulate the new Turkic khan on his accession to the throne instead of me. ”

Li Jiancheng also suggested: "In addition, we should also send people to Yecheng to say that we have no intention of forming an alliance with the Turks. ”

Li Yuan frowned, and asked Li Shimin, "What does Erlang think?" ”

Erchen agreed with the eldest brother's suggestion. The form is stronger than people, the big husband can bend and stretch, it is not a shame to bow his head for a while, and the one who laughs last is the king. ”

"Who can do that?"

"Xiao Yu and Yu Wenshi."

Li Yuan laughed and said: "Xiao Yu is Yang Guang's brother-in-law, Yu Wenshi and Yang Guang's son-in-law, and now they have all descended to my Tang Dynasty, these two people are envoys to the Sui Dynasty, it is extremely interesting, so let them go to the previous grievances." ”