The sunset shone obliquely, and the afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the dome of the Chinese army's tent, and the white tent roof shimmered with a faint hint of magnificent color. The inner tent that served as a royal study was quiet, the curtain was halfway down, and the sunset penetrated through the hollow curtain, turning the whole room into a red beam.

Tang Emperor Li Yuan sat behind a royal case, as if he had entered the old monk, no one knew how long he had been sitting like this, an hour? Or, two hours?

He was angry by the news from the direction of Xiyang, and on top of the imperial case, there was an urgent report sent from Xiyang, which was the news that Li Shimin and Zhang Shigui, the general of the foreign military guard, retreated without a fight and were defeated by the Sui army.

The former, shocked him! but he was able to bear it. The news of Li Shimin's unauthorized retreat made him angry.

'If there is a man who has lost his land, he will save all his land; The phrase "people who save land and lose people, people and land are lost" naturally did not exist in the Sui Dynasty, but it does not hinder people's understanding of the truth. After weighing the pros and cons, Li Shimin's decisive move to give up Zhuyang Pass and Waiwu Pass is the best practice of this sentence, if Li Shimin fights out people in places where they shouldn't be, everything will be over. For Li Shimin's decisiveness this time, even Yang Tong, who is an enemy, has to be praised again and again, but Li Yuan doesn't think so.

Li Shimin's resolute retreat made Li Yuan feel that the emperor's authority had been challenged. He has always believed that all armies are his armies, and he has the right to know everything and decide everything, which is why there is such a strange military government that the imperial court deploys on the map, hands it over to the generals in front of the army to execute, and the generals have to report to the imperial court if they want to make strategic adjustments.

Military power is undoubtedly Li Yuan's rebellion, the eldest son Li Jiancheng only slightly mentioned that 'the imperial court interferes too heavily in the military', he moved the idea of Yi Chu, and the second son Li Shimin dared to openly offend, Li Yuan was furious, and faintly murdered.

The breeding of murderous opportunities against Li Shimin was not only a matter of military power, but also a series of failures that caused Li Yuan to be extremely anxious.

The loss of Henan, Hongnong, Xiangcheng, and Shuyang, Li Yuan is only regretful and lost, just because these places are not his in the first place, and they cannot threaten the safety of Xiangyang and Nanyang, and the loss of Xiyang and the northern half of Nanyang is like a sharp sword in his heart, making Li Shimin retreat to him reasonably and becoming a protector of the Jin Dynasty, ignoring the general interests of the country. Li Shimin's decision to retreat without authorization caused the Tang army in Zhuyangguan to fall into chaos, otherwise, Zhuyangguan would not have been lost, that is to say, the current predicament was caused by Li Shimin's unauthorized withdrawal.

。。。。。。。

And outside the big tent of the Chinese army, Li Shimin knelt upright!

He set up a defense in Xiyang, and then came overnight under the escort of the Red Armor Army to plead guilty, but his father ignored his appeals, he knelt down from morning to now, ran for a day and a night, and did not drop water and rice, and the whole person was shaky.

"Second brother, get up, you need to rest well, if you go on like this, you won't be able to hold on." It was dark in front of him, but it was the eldest brother Li Jiancheng who appeared in front of him again, and Li Jiancheng didn't care about Li Shimin's resistance, he pulled him up, pressed him on top of a maza, and asked people to serve a big bowl of sticky rice porridge.

The fragrance of rice porridge made Li Shimin, who had been hungry for nearly two days, feel hungry, his heart was crossed, he took the big bowl, drank it in one go, wiped his lips with his dirty sleeves, and felt more energetic.

"Thank you, big brother."

"Not necessarily!" Li Jiancheng waved his hand and sat down on top of the other Maza.

Li Shimin raised his head and asked, "Big brother, you say, did I do something wrong?" ”

"What's the difference between asking me and asking you?" After being silent for a long time, Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly and said ambiguously: "If you fight all the people in the places where you shouldn't fight, everything will be over." ”

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, and then sighed deeply. He knew that his eldest brother actually agreed with his actions, but he was very wary of himself, so he said such vague words.

"For my next step in Datang, does the eldest brother have any plans?"

"If you want me to say, it's better to move the capital to Bashu!" Li Jiancheng pondered for a while, and then said: "Bashu is dangerous, there is a vast and fertile land, rich in products, now we occupy Bashu and most of Jingzhou, we can completely follow Liu Bei's example, hold the dangerous place, and make peace with the various ethnic groups in the west, and appease the barbarians in the south, unite Li Mi externally, innovate politics internally, first ensure the stability of the rear, and when the time is ripe, we will send a general from Xiangyang to guide the Yang and Luoyang areas." ”

"The big brother's idea, the little brother doesn't dare to agree!" Li Shimin shook his head and said, "First of all, we have more than 200,000 troops, which is far from the point of moving the capital; Secondly, Li Mi's foundation is unstable, and he is not qualified to be compared with Sun Quan, who has a solid foundation laid by his father and brother, if we retreat, Yang Tong will definitely go all out to deal with Li Mi, once Li Mi is exterminated, the next step will definitely be to attack Jingxiang Bashu, we are in a corner of peace, there are no allies outside, and we will not last long. ”

Li Jiancheng frowned and said: "The second brother is in charge of the military, I don't know the situation of government affairs, since the Tang Dynasty established the country, the war has been endless, the court has been on the verge of collapse, the more than 200,000 offerings, and the death pension are all pressed on the people's heads, and they have already made a lot of complaints, and the people's anger has reached its peak. If there is no civil rebellion, we will not even have a foothold. ”

"I understand what the eldest brother said, but we have so many troops that are losing and retreating, once we relax, we must cut at least half of our troops, so how can we deal with the aggressive Sui army? Big brother, don't forget, Yang Tong is not Cao Cao in his twilight years, he is younger than us, and he has time to spend with his father. ”

"But second brother, can these forces that we squeeze the people's strength to support can repel and defeat the Sui army?"

"......" Li Shimin was dumbfounded, and after a long time, he said again: "Fighting for dominance in the world is the road to death if you don't advance, when we raise troops in Taiyuan, we are destined to die with the heroes of the world. ”

"You are quite unreasonable, you are gambling with the lives of the whole clan, gambling on the fortune of the country and the fortune of the clan."

"It's better than living for a while."

"You ......" Li Jiancheng choked for a long time, shook his head and said: "Forget it, anyway, none of us can convince anyone... There is no point in arguing, it is better to wait for the father to decide. ”

"I think so!"

“……”

There was a silent silence!

The two brothers each thought about each other's opinions, but in the end they both felt that what the eldest brother/second brother said was actually right!

Who's wrong?

Yang Tong? Of course not, as an opponent, what's wrong with people fighting back? Speaking of which, Yang Tong is the most wronged, you have all rebelled, and you are not allowed to fight back?

The fault is your own incompetence.

At the beginning, it was clear that Tang was strong and Sui was weak, and the Sui Dynasty led by Yang Tong had fought foreign wars for several years. Write and draw on the map, and then go to war everywhere, the result is that the road is not passable, and it is not easy to have some results, Yang Tong immediately turned the horse's head and ravaged Li Tang, and Li Tang lost money if he won the battle, and the lie of peaceful coexistence did not take long to fight, and he came to fight Li Tang, who had improved slightly, and lost money if he won Li Tang, but Li Tang's monarchs and ministers ate this set, and the Sui Dynasty became stronger and stronger, and Li Tang became weaker and weaker.

Who is to blame? Naturally, it is Li Yuan who is lucky, and it is naturally Li Yuan who is lucky after losing money.

But as ministers and sons, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin didn't dare to say anything, so they could only complain secretly once or twice in their hearts, and then they had to help their father wipe his ass.

Li Shimin finally resisted once, knelt for a full day, and had to be summoned, when they met, I am afraid that a storm is inevitable. When he made the decision to withdraw the troops, Li Shimin had this awareness, and Yin Kaishan persuaded him to think twice because of this.

Just when the two brothers were silent, a guard came out to report: "His Royal Highness the Prince, the Holy Lord has announced that you have come to see you." ”

Li Jiancheng glanced at Li Shimin, and didn't speak, so he got up and entered, the curtains in the room were drawn, there was only a trace of the sunset, the light was very dim, the two eunuchs with the army stood in the corner of the house tremblingly, not daring to move, the ground was full of broken tea cups and the four treasures of the study, etc., Li Yuan obviously lost his temper before this.

Li Jiancheng hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Son-in-law see my father!" ”

"Sit down!" Speaking of this, Li Yuan let out a long sigh, "What should we do now?" ”

Li Yuan looked at Li Jiancheng, and asked him, what should Li Tang do now?

Li Jiancheng has also thought about this problem for a long time, he has his own plan, especially after arguing with Li Shimin, this idea is clearer, but he never dares to say his thoughts easily, but now, it is not okay not to say it, as the prince, he should take on some pressure.

"Father, the son suggested that the capital be moved to Shudu and a new capital should be established in Chengdu."

"Move the capital?"

Li Yuan's eyes became sharp, "More than ninety percent of the officials in the imperial court are from Guanlong, Guandong, and Jiangnan, do you think it is possible to move the capital to Shu County?" ”

"Father, people have no long-term worries, we must plan for the worst, at least we should reserve a back road, once Jingxiang is in danger, we can move to Bashu in time; Now it's time to make at least some preparations, Erchen means to send reliable and credible people to run Bashu first, to create a Bashu with iron hearts and no internal and external troubles, even if there is no need to move the capital in the future, it is also conducive to the control of Bashu by the imperial court. ”

Li Jiancheng was not intimidated by his father's vision, he knew that his father actually wanted to move the capital a long time ago, but he was worried that all forces would oppose him, so he did not dare to implement it, but if it was in the name of governing the place, appeasing the people, and stabilizing the rear, it would not be a problem to send good officials to run Bashu.

"Now the Sui Dynasty army is surging, temporarily invincible, when to keep the army is the first priority, more important is that I Datang must face the reality, to prepare for the worst, if there is no arrangement in advance, the Sui army suddenly entered Xiangyang, we don't even have a way to retreat, even if we successfully retreat to Bashu, I am afraid that we will face a chaotic Bashu, how long can we hold on? Therefore, the imperial court must have absolute control over Bashu, and gradually move some strategic resources to Bashu, so as not to follow in the footsteps of the hasty south to Xiangyang, Erchen remembered that when he went south, Xiangyang could not fit so many people, resulting in serious military-civilian conflicts, government-civilian conflicts, and finally had to use the army to forcibly pacify, and this also made the people of Xiangyang very disgusted with my Tang Dynasty, and there is not much belonging to it so far. A lesson from the past, you can't do it. As long as we are fully prepared in Bashu, we can calmly withdraw to Bashu when the war suddenly burns to Xiangyang, close the dangerous fortress, and prevent the Sui army from taking advantage of the situation to pursue. ”

When Li Yuan heard this, the fierceness in his eyes gradually subsided, and after a while, he sighed and said with a wry smile: "I'm just very worried, once we show signs of moving the capital to Bashu, it will cause chaos in the government and the opposition, especially the nobles of Guanlong, Jiangnan and Kanto, they will definitely not accept it, and it will cause even greater riots, so I am in a dilemma, and it is difficult to decide." ”

Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly: "My father is worried about it, but he just sent good officials and good generals into Shu to govern the chaos and stabilize the rear, which is a very reasonable arrangement." As long as we don't talk about moving the capital, they are suspicious and can't say anything. When that day comes, they can only retreat if they don't want to retreat, which is called the situation out of control. ”

Li Yuan's eyes lit up, this method is not bad, he thought about it, but sighed again, and said very unwillingly: "Although Bashu is the land of hidden dragons, it is also the land of trapped dragons, if we retreat into it, it will be difficult to come out, that is, there are great changes in the world, and because we are far away from the Central Plains, we cannot respond in time, and it is not a long-term solution to rely on Bashu alone." Shu Han is the most typical example, there is a group of capable ministers, but there is no population and money to support the battle, which makes Zhuge Kongming and Jiang Wei can only lead a small number of troops to the Northern Expedition, because of the lack of follow-up and missed the opportunity many times. ”

In this regard, Li Jiancheng had already imagined and said his own opinion, "Father, the Northern Expedition of Shu and Han is really because the south is a wilderness, but the world has changed, and there are countless ethnic groups that thrive in the south. As far as Erchen knows, in Luchuan County, Qianwei County, and the south of Yuewei County are the six edicts of Mengxi, Yuexi, Langqiong, Shilang, and Mengshe, with a population of about one million, we might as well follow Yang Tong's policy of raising the army and raising the people by war, and conquer it. At the same time, send a general to lead the army from Qike County into the Lingnan counties, and then the northern expedition to Xiao Mo and Lin Shihong's southern Jianghan Yuanxiang counties, Huainan Jiangbiao counties, the above areas are either steep mountains, or water networks are horizontal, the Sui Dynasty's cavalry across the world will be useless, and then you can take advantage of the terrain to lure the enemy deep and annihilate the Sui Dynasty's living force one by one. ”

When Li Yuan heard this, his tightly knit brows slowly opened, and his eyes lit up, from the moment he received the news of Li Shimin's defeat, all his thoughts were disillusioned, and his lifelong dreams seemed to be shattered, and he felt that his life path was dark from now on, and he could only go to death step by step, so he locked himself in his room, saw no one, and didn't care about the military and politics. He felt that everyone had betrayed him. And the blueprint outlined by Li Jiancheng is like seeing a bright light in the dark.

"That's right! I only stared at Sui Wei, why didn't I think of moving back to the rear of the two? ”

Li Yuan jumped up suddenly, his heart suddenly brightened, and a sudden joy made his heart almost explode, and he said repeatedly: "Why didn't I think of it? ”

He laughed loudly, and even the guards outside admired him so much, or His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was powerful, and when he went in, he only said a word, and the saint was like being beaten with chicken blood, unlike King Jin, who made the saint angry every time.

But Li Jiancheng was not happy, knowing that because of the distribution of interests, the big and small forces of the Tang Dynasty would not be able to implement their ideas quickly, which would miss the best period, and he only hoped that his father could take down the six edicts when Li Mi had not yet failed, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty would be connected to Jiaozhi and the sea. Otherwise, everything will be slowed down and people will be controlled everywhere. Li Jiancheng also hopes that the generals who implement this policy will be effective and capable generals, not just people who talk on paper, not only because Datang can't afford to lose again, but also because time waits for no one.

At present, the most suitable candidates are undoubtedly Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong, both of whom are the most reliable people in terms of loyalty to Datang and personal ability. Officially, Li Jiancheng hoped that his father would transfer Li Shimin, a restless guy, to Bashu, so that he would not make trouble in Jingxiang, but from a selfish point of view, he was worried that Li Shimin would run Bashu into his kingdom, and when the time came, not only would he be a servant, but his father would also become a puppet. As for Li Xiaogong, he is undoubtedly the person Li Jiancheng is most interested in, but after all, this is his most loyal supporter, if he recommends Li Xiaogong as a general, will his father also doubt himself as he is worried about what Li Shimin has done?

For a moment, Li Jiancheng only felt in a dilemma.

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