At night.

In the imperial study room of Taiji Palace, Li Yuan opened a long list, this is a petition against the Western Tour, the signatures on it are dense, there are more than 160 names, their reason is that the royal car is on patrol, the momentum is huge, the officials along the way offer thousands of food, labor and money, easy to cause dissatisfaction among the local people.

Although it is true that the imperial court is financially tight, this petition has little to do with finances, and the financial constraints are a matter for the household department, and have nothing to do with other ministers.

And their petition against the Western Tour on the grounds of financial constraints was neither signed by Xiao Yu, who was in charge of finance, Chen Shuda, who was in charge of civil affairs, nor was it signed by two scholars, so those people were simply a dog and a mouse.

The fundamental reason is actually that the extermination of Buddhism and the military merit system have affected the vital interests of officials and clans.

In last year's Buddha extermination incident, the imperial court obtained a large amount of land, and the Daomen saw that the situation was not good, and took the initiative to donate a part, and part of it was obtained from punishing local bullies. The imperial court had these fields in hand, and on the one hand, the system of equalizing land was implemented, so that a large number of disaster victims who had taken refuge in the family manor did not want to become slaves and tenants, and gradually left the manor and returned to their hometown to register and receive land. A large number of victims returned to their hometowns, which seriously affected the interests of officials and the Wanguanlong nobles who owned a large amount of land, and now the people who farmed in the major estates in Bashu and Jingxiang were mainly the victims of the disaster in Guanzhong and the Central Plains. You have a lot of land, but if no one cultivates it, there will be no harvest.

On the other hand, it is the introduction of the military merit system, so that the officers and men in the army have hope and expectation, they no longer run away, but accept training with peace of mind, and more training is a strong and powerful army, which is definitely not a good thing for some people who have been looking forward to Sui for a long time.

Li Yuan can tolerate officials opposing the Western Tour for their own interests, and will even find a way to solve this problem, but he cannot tolerate those who point directly at himself and the military merit.

And behind the scenes, it is the Dugu faction that is manipulating, like Yu Yun and others are the backbone of the Dugu faction in the imperial court.

There are also many officials, either the children of the Dugu faction or the protégés of the Dugu clan, who constitute the huge power of the Dugu faction in the Li Tang Dynasty.

In fact, Li Yuan was not opposed to officials forming gangs, let alone the power struggle between parties, as the emperor, Li Yuan even encouraged the existence of these factions, because the existence of many factions helped him control the imperial court. However, some factions turned their targets to him Li Yuan, challenged his authority, and threatened his dynasty, which exceeded the bottom line of factional disputes and rose to fight with him Li Yuan.

This time, the Dugu faction instigated the Guanlong nobles and the ministers of the court to put pressure on him. Asking him Li Yuan to give up the western tour, he must not tolerate it.

With this opportunity in hand, this undoubtedly gave Li Yuan the opportunity to use the 'letter stolen by Li Xiuning' to clean up the Dugu faction, as long as the letter written by Dugu to Yang Tong was revealed, then he would be high-sounding when dealing with the Dugu faction, and a western tour of the wind is that Li Yuan wants to see how many people in the Dugu faction are in the court and how many people are disloyal to him.

The reason for his hesitation is the private army in the hands of the Guanlong nobles, these people are the Guanlong elites recruited by the Guanlong nobles in order to deal with the troubled times, adding up to tens of thousands of people, these dead soldiers are well-equipped and well-trained, in addition, there are many young and strong family servants in each family have also been training, and the elite level is no worse than Li Tang's elite division, although they are scattered all over the place, but once they are concentrated, it is enough to subvert the country. If the plot is not secret and is known in advance by each family, the civil war will break out immediately, and once the Sui army arrives, the Li Tang Dynasty will be over.

But no matter what, Li Yuan will pull out this threatening army at all costs before the arrival of the Sui and Tang Dynasty wars, even if the government and the opposition are turbulent in the short term, he will not hesitate, but whether it is a quick knife to cut the mess, or a blunt knife to cut the flesh, Li Yuan has not yet thought about it.

Just as he was thinking about it, a eunuch reported at the door, "Qi Sheng, Dou Xiangguo and Zhao Yuma ask to see." ”

Li Yuan's eyes lit up, and he suddenly had a solution, so he said, "Xuan the two of them come in!" ”

After a while, Dou Liang and Zhao Cijing hurriedly walked into the imperial study, and the two of them bowed and saluted: "Weichen see the saint!" ”

"Flat, sit down."

"Thank you." The two of them took a deep bow and took their seats.

"I wonder why you two came here at night?"

Dou Liang said to Zhao Cijing: "Jing Zhaoyin, please tell the Holy Lord what happened. ”

"Whoa." Zhao Cijing hurriedly got up and said to Li Yuan: "Shengshang, about an hour ago, someone in the city said that Li Mi was defeated, and the Sui army was overwhelming, and there was a panic in the city; Wechen has arrested hundreds of people who spread rumors, judging from their confessions, they should have been instructed by the same people, and Wechen suspected that it was the Sui army. ”

Dou Liang also added: "These are ordinary people, they take money from others, and from the description, they should have nothing to do with the arson and food burning gang." ”

"Did you catch someone?" Li Yuan asked.

Zhao Cijing hesitated for a moment and said: "Wechen is trying his best to investigate, but these people's accents are exactly the same as those of the people of Xiangyang, and they are very deeply hidden, and Wechen will not be able to find out for a while." ”

"It's useless!"

Li Yuan was extremely annoyed and reprimanded: "I almost caught someone in the arson incident last time, but they escaped cleanly, and this time they escaped again, how long will it take for them to make waves in Xiangyang, and you, Jing Zhaoyin, can give me a satisfactory answer." ”

Zhao Cijing said in a low voice: "Weichen will increase the arrest efforts, and he will definitely give a satisfactory explanation to the saint." ”

"Alright! I'll wait a few more days, you'll have to hurry. ”

"Wechen understood."

Li Yuan was still satisfied with his son-in-law's attitude, so he changed the topic and said, "Since it's chaotic outside, you can go down and investigate first."

"Whoa."

Not long after Zhao Cijing left, Dou Liang worried: "Shengshang, the concubine is upright and not tactful enough to deal with intrigues, and Weichen feels that he is not suitable to be Jing Zhaoyin." ”

"I also know that Cijing can't find out." Li Yuan couldn't be clearer about Zhao Cijing's character, the reason why he was made Jing Zhaoyin was that Zhao Cijing was too straightforward, so that those who were hiding in the shadows felt that the gentleman could be bullied, so they jumped out to make trouble, so as to catch them all. And Li Yuan's real blade is actually his Takekawa Division.

"Why ...... the Holy One?"

Ciying aimed at the Sui army wholeheartedly, and made a big mistake in the direction. Because the people who set fire to the grain and the official residence of the Wuchuan Division were not the Sui army at all, but our 'own people'. ”

"Who did that?" Dou Liang was surprised.

"Soon after the arson case occurred, Takekawa sent the investigation file." Li Yuan said, took out a document from a drawer, and handed it to Dou Liang: "Dou Xiang read it for himself." ”

Dou Liang quickly browsed it, and said a little incredulously: "It's actually Dugu's? ”

"The arsonist escaped from the houses of the Dugu clan and his protégés, and there were still some blood stains on the side doors and back doors of some houses, but it didn't take long for these blood stains to be cleaned. It's just that I don't think the evidence is enough, so I can't do it. Li Yuan said.

Dou Liang nodded, this is indeed suspected of blaming the Dugu clan, there is no conclusive evidence, and it is indeed reasonable not to arrest people indiscriminately. But he also knew that the Holy One had told him about it, and there would be something to follow.

As Dou Liang expected, I only heard Li Yuan say: "I now have enough evidence to prove that it was the Dugu clan that did it, not long ago, Pingyang got some letters from the Ziwei Palace between the Dugu clan and Yang Dong, and we have many major failures, all of which were revealed to Yang Dong by the Dugu clan in advance." ”

After Li Yuan finished speaking, he handed a thick stack of letters to Dou Liang, and these letters were very skillful. The first letter is a letter from Dugu to leak the secret of the Guanlong nobles to besiege Daxing Palace.

In this incident, the mainstay of the Dou clan led by Dou Kang died, and Dou Cong was also captured alive by Yang Tongsheng, if it weren't for Li Yuan's heavy money to redeem it, I am afraid that it would have become a billet loess at this moment, and after that, the strength of the Dou clan was greatly reduced, and he was always in a weak position in the face of the Dugu faction.

After Dou Cong came back, he has also been investigating the culprit of the leak, and they suspected Xiao Yu and Yu Wenshi who had a relationship with the Sui Dynasty; even doubted Li Shimin, because the Dou clan supported Li Jiancheng, if the Dou clan's strength was greatly reduced, it would be of infinite benefit to Li Shimin, they had doubted many, many people, but they never thought of supporting Li Yuan's anti-Sui Dugu rectification. Who would have thought that in order to suppress the Dou family, Dugu Quan, an old thief, would not hesitate to do such a thing as betraying the country, that was the closest Li Tang had to success, and he was ruined by Dugu Quan.

After reading it, Dou Liang only felt angry, there was both family hatred and national hatred here.

Then, he read the second one, which was the last letter written by Dugu, the one that promised to give ninety percent of the land and help the Sui army break the city.

"What a ruthless old thief." Dou Liang only read two letters, and then stopped reading them, he couldn't wait to dig Dugu out of the grave and whip the corpse at this moment, and asked hatefully: "Holy Lord, what do you decide to do?" ”

Li Yuan knew that the time was ripe, and said worriedly: "I also want to seek justice for the court and the sacrificed soldiers, but my Tang Dynasty is in an extremely bad situation, if I attack the Dugu clan, I am afraid that the family of the Dugu faction will use the forces in their hands to rebel, if that is the case, my Datang will be in internal and external troubles, and if I am not careful, I will fall into a desperate situation from which I will never recover." ”

Li Yuan is relatively weak in military and strategy, but the struggle for power is his strength, he is one of the Guanlong nobles, and he knows all kinds of relationships with the Guanlong nobles well. He knew that the Guanlong nobles were indeed a whole when they were enlarged to the world, but the internal struggle was very severe, first of all, the Dugu clan and the Dou clan fought openly and secretly for decades in order to compete for the leader of the Guanlong nobles.

At that time, Dugu Cheng vigorously supported the Yuan family to win the world, Li Yuan was just an alternate, and Dou Wei fully supported Li Yuan, and finally Yuan Min and other outstanding children of the Yuan family died in the hands of Li Mi, in desperation, Dugu Cheng fully supported Li Yuan, so Li Yuan was closer to the consistent Dou family, after the founding of the country, Dou Wei, Dou Rail, Dou Kang, Dou Cong, Dou Jin and other outstanding figures were all reused, on the other hand, Dugu Clan, only Dugu Cheng, Dugu Huaien entered the center of the court.

Now, he intends to use Dou Rail as a breakthrough.

"You really can't act rashly."

Dou Rail thought that Dugu Quan's letter of willingness to cooperate with the Sui Dynasty was a few months ago, and he was afraid that the Dugu clan had already prepared to rebel, and burning grain was only the first step for them to prove their loyalty to the Sui Dynasty.

"Even the Dugu clan has shamelessly betrayed, and I am now very worried about the private armies of various families." Li Yuan said leisurely: "All dynasties and dynasties did not allow troops that were not controlled by the imperial court, and Emperor Wen of Sui received hundreds of thousands of pieces of Guanlong nobles in the sixth year of the emperor's reign, and no family objected at that time. What I can't figure out is that everyone is obviously a person with high hopes from the imperial court, and all families and clans also have heavy responsibilities, as long as everyone is conscientious and loyal to their duties, the imperial court will not target anyone for no reason, even if someone plots against him, this point of soldiers and horses can't cope with the imperial army at all, even so, why keep the private department? ”

"Holy Lord, in fact, the role of the army is to protect their own interests, everyone is afraid of losing their land and wealth, so they are unwilling to let go of the army, and the vast majority of people have no intention of rebelling."

"For any emperor, the most important thing is the stability of the country; And the army that was not controlled by the emperor and the imperial court was the enemy of Sheji. Dou Xiang has now also seen that the private army of the Dugu faction has become the biggest threat to my Datang, and its harm is far greater than that of external enemies, can I not be in a hurry? If everyone didn't have a private ministry, it would naturally not bring violent turmoil to the imperial court. ”

Dou Liang said without hesitation: "What the saint said is extremely true, at the moment, anyone is in a relationship with the Tang Dynasty is a relationship of honor and disgrace, at this time, we should indeed be united, each private family is brave and abnormal, and when the court is in danger, they should come out to serve the country, instead of acting as a watchdog for each family." Weichen was willing to hand over the Dou clan's troops to the imperial court to fight against the Sui army, but there were only about 5,000 people, and I am afraid it would not be of much help to the imperial court. ”

"It's still Dou Xiang who understands the matter, and I'm very relieved." Li Yuan was overjoyed, as long as Dou Liang opened this head, then the private part of the Dou faction could also be owned by the country.

Dou Liang knew that any emperor appreciated the loyal ministers and martyrs, as long as he was wholeheartedly loyal to Li Tang, even if Li Tang was defeated afterwards, Yang Tong might not be able to open the net to the Dou family, if it was like the Dugu family, two sides and three knives, and the wind blew on both sides, he would definitely not die well, so he had already positioned the Dou family as one of Li Tang's loyal ministers, and was willing to cooperate with all Li Yuan's policies. Thinking of the land policy of the Sui Dynasty again, he said: "At present, the state affairs are difficult, and Weichen feels that the Juntian system and the military merit system are conducive to the people's heart, and the soldiers are loyal, so they decided to donate ninety percent of the land, ninety percent of the domestic slaves and half of the wealth, and the rest is enough for the Dou family for several generations." ”

"Good, good, good!" Even Li Yuan, who was moody, was deeply moved by Dou Liang's feat of sending charcoal in the snow at this moment.

"Since he is a minister of the court, he should share the hardships with the court." After Dou Liang expressed his loyalty, he said: "Weichen feels that many officials and families have been deceived by the Dugu clan, and he is willing to come forward to say something. ”

"That's very good." Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and then said, "Actually, I understand the reason why the old master of Dugu is dissatisfied. ”

Dou Liang hurriedly asked, "Holy Lord, what is the reason?" ”

Li Yuan said: "I have actually negotiated with the old master of Dugu more than once, the first negotiation was when Shimin and Princess Jin got married, we had not yet raised troops at that time, and the old master promised to lobby the Dugu faction to fully support me to seize the world, but the condition was to let Shimin be the son of the world." ”

"I can't imagine it." Dou Liang was shocked when he heard this.

"It's really unexpected." Li Yuan smiled coldly and said: "It is an iron law that has not changed through the ages; Moreover, it is built with a benevolent atmosphere, generosity and elegance, and is thorough in all aspects, reasonable and well-founded. When I was serving the Sui Dynasty, he fulfilled his responsibilities as a father and brother at home, kept the house in order, and took care of his younger brothers and sisters; His younger siblings respect him and love him, and the children of the clan also worship him, and such a person is undoubtedly the best choice for the heir; And the people of the world are strong, although they are both wise and brave, but his gambler nature is too heavy. I feel that if the Mandate of Heaven is in my Tang Dynasty and after the country is unified, the world needs to be governed, instead of going to war everywhere, in terms of the temperament of the people, if he inherits the national throne, I am very worried that he will become the second Yang Guang. Yang Guang has the accumulation of Emperor Wen, the treasury is abundant, and the money and grain are piled up everywhere, but it is not enough for Yang Guang to squander, if the people of the world also toss the Tang Dynasty like this, the poor and weak Datang will finish faster. ”

"Therefore, the heir I need should have the ability to write and scenery, and Jiancheng is obviously the best candidate. In this case, how could I possibly accept the conditions of the Dugu Old Master? ”

Dou Liang was awe-struck in his heart, he couldn't imagine that Li Yuan would see so far ahead, and what happened later just confirmed the emperor's speculation: no matter how chaotic the court was and how dangerous Li Tang was, Li Jiancheng could always calm down, he could be called Xiao He of the Tang Dynasty, what is this not Wenjing's ability? And Li Shimin was either a big victory or a big defeat militarily.

"The second negotiation was the assassination of Yang Tong in Daxing Palace. The condition of the old master of Dugu is that he hopes that Dugu Huaien will be one of the six Shangshu, and he is specified to be in charge of the civil affairs of the people, I know that as long as I agree to this time, my Tang Dynasty will never have peace, so I still did not agree to him, but appointed Dugu Huaien as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry. I never expected that the old master was still not satisfied, nominally agreed, and also contributed manpower, but in the blink of an eye, he sold us. After that, there were many negotiations, and of course the old family owner couldn't get the rights and positions he wanted, so he resigned from the position of Xiangguo, but later regretted it and planned to let Dugu Huaien inherit his phase. ”

Li Yuan smiled bitterly: "If Xiu Ning hadn't risked his life to steal these letters, I'm afraid I wouldn't have thought that it was the Dugu clan who did it." ”

Dou Liang was furious in his heart, and he didn't suspect that Li Yuan was lying, because the Dugu clan was indeed angry about Dou Lu's entry into the picture.

In fact, Li Yuan did not lie, at this point, the Dugu clan has become the first to be eliminated, and being honest with Dou Liang, who is loyal to him wholeheartedly, can make him feel more at ease, and make him die for himself.