Li Jiancheng, who left Luoyang, was anxious to return to Xiangyang, went west to Hongnong, and took a boat from Lushi along Xishui South to Xiyang Junyang, through Hanshui, to Yincheng. In order to avoid the Beizhen Army in Gucheng County, they switched to the land route and were escorted back to Xiangyang City by a cavalry.

The carriage was speeding on the street, Li Jiancheng looked at both sides of the street silently, the pedestrians were in a hurry, and the taverns were deserted, which was diametrically opposed to the dense pedestrian population in Luoyang, and the groups of homeless beggars in the past were no longer visible.

Li Jiancheng knew that it was not the homeless beggars who starved to death, let alone become wealthy, but they all went to Xiyang, Nanyang and other counties, most of these homeless beggars were forcibly relocated from Nanyang by their father, but after arriving in Xiangyang, they were not properly resettled, so they became homeless people and beggars.

Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng couldn't help sighing, although they also adopted the policy of reducing taxes and granting land to encourage the people to migrate to Yizhou, but the effect was not satisfactory at all, because they could not implement compulsory education like Yang Tong, let alone reduce taxes for two years for the newly relocated people, because the tax reduction would not only affect the meager income of the imperial court, but also cause dissatisfaction among the local people in Yizhou. Another reason is that the common people do not believe in the Li Tang Dynasty very much, so they would rather go to the counties of the Sui Dynasty to receive land than accept the fields of the Li Tang Dynasty.

This is the consensus of the people of the world, the people believe that sooner or later the Sui Dynasty will fight, sooner or later will defeat Li Tang, sooner or later will unify the world, the Sui Dynasty's commitment is far more reliable than the Li Tang Dynasty in danger, it is this consensus that makes Li Tang lose in the population war with the Sui Dynasty.

As the saying goes, "three feet of ice, not a day's cold", the people's distrust of the Li Tang Dynasty actually began to arise as early as after the end of the Battle of Guanzhong. Just because the capital has always been the face and majesty of a regime, but the Li Tang Dynasty lost the imperial capital and fled south to Xiangyang in an embarrassed posture, and the majesty and backbone of the Li Tang Dynasty suddenly collapsed. Coupled with the fiasco of last year's Eastern Crusade, the people did not believe that the Li Tang Dynasty could defeat the prestigious Sui Dynasty.

"Your Highness, Taiji Palace has arrived."

The carriage slowly stopped, and Chen Shuda's voice came from outside.

"I'm sorry I got distracted." Li Jiancheng hurriedly got out of the car and said apologetically.

"Nope." Chen Shuda shook his head slowly, even if Li Jiancheng didn't say anything, he roughly guessed what Li Jiancheng was thinking, wasn't he also shocked by the gap between the two dynasties?

In the past, I just felt that the military was inferior to others, and other places were not much worse than the Sui Dynasty, and even had a victory, until I went to Luoyang to take a walk, only to find that Yang Tong in many aspects, has walked in front of the self-contained, old-fashioned Li Tang Dynasty, the most representative hundred schools of thought, may not be a good thing for Confucianism that has been respected for hundreds of years, but for the whole world, the hundred schools of thought do have the effect of stimulating the progress of the times.

Neither of them spoke, and walked silently all the way to the imperial study.

Li Yuan heard that the two were back and met urgently.

"Son-in-law, see father."

"We're looking at the saint."

"No courtesy."

Li Yuan motioned for the two to take a seat, although he was already anxious to death, but the emperor's temperament forcibly suppressed his anxiety.

"Erchen and Chen Xiangguo have lived up to their father's trust and have reached a truce agreement with the Sui Dynasty."

'Whew'

Li Yuan exhaled a breath of turbidity and pretended to be flat: "What does Yang Tong want?" ”

"As long as I destroy the Guanlong nobles, the truce will take effect." Li Jiancheng told the cause and effect of the matter, the matter of Tubo was not written on the surface, and when he decided to be alone, he would tell his father again.

After listening to Li Jiancheng's statement, Li Yuan nodded approvingly, and deeply agreed with Yang Tong's statement that 'the poison of the world is no more poisonous than the gate valve, and the poison of the gate valve is no more poisonous than the Guanlong nobles'. Now that the Guanlong nobles have already raised troops against the Tang Dynasty, of course, there is no such thing as 'opening the net'.

Li Yuan was still concerned about the truce, and from Li Jiancheng's expression, he sensed an extremely serious problem, so he asked: "In other words, if our dynasty does not destroy the Guanlong nobles, the two dynasties will be in a hostile situation?" In the meantime, anything can happen, right? ”

"Exactly." Li Jiancheng said.

After being silent for a long time, Li Yuan nodded his head and ordered the eunuchs outside: "Quickly summon King Jin, King Qi, Liu Xiangguo, Pei Xiangguo, and Xiao Xiangguo to enter the palace for discussion." ”

"Whoa." The eunuch outside the door answered, and hurried over.

All the prime ministers are in their own official offices, and Li Shimin is also in Xiangyang City during this time, so a group of people soon arrived at the imperial study, when they heard the news of the truce between the Sui and Tang Dynasties, their expressions were different, compared to Xiao Yu and Pei Lian, Li Shimin's face was quite ugly, but he also knew that the truce was jointly recognized by his father and everyone, and what he won was the general trend that was difficult to change with the power of one person, so he was unhappy in his heart, and he didn't say anything against it.

As Li Jiancheng brought the agreement one by one, the imperial study fell into a short silence, and from this, Li Shimin found two questions and asked: "Brother Huang, junior brother has two questions. ”

"Second brother, you say." Li Jiancheng smiled.

"Before the fall of the Guanlong nobles, the hostility was still there, isn't it?" Li Shimin asked what everyone shared.

"Exactly." Li Jiancheng nodded and said with a wry smile: "So we have to hurry; What is the second question of the second brother? ”

Li Shimin frowned and said, "How to position the Guanlong nobles?" Among Yang Tong's conditions, do they include the Dou family, the Dou Lu family, and the Changsun family? ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was dumbfounded.

Yes, the Dou clan, the Dou Lu clan, and the Changsun clan are also members of the Guanlong nobles, but they have all handed over their private armies, as well as more than ninety percent of their wealth, and they are proper loyal ministers. If he doesn't kill him, it means that Yang Tong will not have a truce at all, and the defaulter still belongs to the Li Tang Dynasty.

"Not really." When Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda returned, they also discussed this issue and said: "Yang Tong's purpose is to weaken the Guanlong nobles to the point where they cannot rise, and the Dou family, the Dou Lu family, and the Changsun family have handed over ninety percent of their wealth, and they will no longer threaten the imperial power, and Yang Dong will not care about these." ”

"In this case, the little brother will be fine." Li Shimin didn't quite agree with Li Jiancheng's statement, Yang Tong was a Guanlong noble, how could there be no Dou factions such as the Dou family, the Dou Lu family, and the Changsun family? In the final analysis, Yang Tong still had no intention of a truce, it was just a trick to confuse Li Tang Junchen, he felt that everything had to be fought, so he bowed his hand to Li Yuan and said: "Father, the son has a request. ”

"You say." Li Yuan nodded.

"Erchen wants to march immediately, unite all armies, and annihilate the Beizhen army, as long as this army is completely annihilated, the Guanlong nobles are toothless tigers, and there is no problem with what they want. also asked his father for permission, "Li Shimin was afraid of arousing his father's suspicion, so he didn't dare to say that he was going to pick up Liu Hongji and others to retreat west, so he could only say it in another way."

"This is a very good, very timely suggestion and proposition, I have it!" Li Yuan pondered for a moment and asked, "When does the emperor plan to send troops?" ”

"Father, the situation is critical now, and the retainer plans to send troops tonight, so as not to have too many dreams at night.!"

"Tonight?"

"Yes."

"Yes." The Beizhen Army is not far away in Gucheng, which is a variable, and Li Yuan also hopes to solve it as soon as possible, so he agrees.