The imperial capital of Chang'an, within the imperial city.

The second day of the first lunar month is the day of the royal family banquet. Early in the morning, the Penglai Hall in the harem of Daming Palace was lively, and the kings, princesses and concubines and relatives came to the scene to greet the emperor Li Shimin. The eldest grandson Wuji, the high-ranking uncle, will naturally be present, and what is remarkable is that he actually arrived with Li Tai, the king of Wei.

In addition, as soon as the four concubines and nine concubines of the harem were present, Concubine Wei Guifei, Concubine Yan Xian, Concubine Yin De, and Concubine Yang Shu, who rarely appeared in public once a year, were arranged in separate seats. However, the appearance of the four concubines together is not as dazzling as a newcomer, that is, one of the nine concubines who have been most favored by Li Shimin recently, Xu Hui. It is said that this little woman is very intelligent, erudite and talented, and she has a very high attainment in poetry and calligraphy. In terms of personality, he is gentle and gentle, virtuous and generous, and has political opinions and can advise the emperor, and has the demeanor of the eldest grandson empress. At first, she was just a talented person, but because she was deeply favored by Li Shimin, she hated to meet her late, and was soon promoted to Jieyu, and then promoted to full appearance, and now she is one of the nine concubines second only to the four concubines.

Whether it is a queen or a prince, it is not only the emperor's family affair, but also a major national matter. Since ancient times, China has had an emperor, and it has always been "the mother is more expensive than the son, and the son is more precious than the mother", after the death of the eldest grandson, Li Shimin has not established the queen again, and the ministers speculated that he did not want to affect the prince because of the queen.

Many people secretly speculated that since the death of Empress Changsun, the harem has been ownerless. Concubine Wei, whose status was second only to the empress, was never authorized to succeed Empress Changsun to lead the harem. Although 'Chengnan Wei Du goes to the sky five feet', the Wei family is one of the prominent families in Chang'an, but the Wei family has not produced one or two outstanding top figures to take charge of the banner, and the Du family has also produced a Du Ruhui! In addition, Wei Guifei is declining and Aichi, she has not been favored by Li Shimin in recent years, and the sons she gave birth to are relatively mediocre, none of them have entered Li Shimin's eyes, and they are not in the scope of Li Chu's consideration at all. Therefore, people speculate that the possibility of Wei Guifei being corrected in the future is almost none. Not to mention Concubine Yan Xian, she has long fallen out of favor, and it is rumored that Li Shimin still intends to demote her to a concubine and set up Xu Hui as a concubine, so Concubine Yan Xian, who is already lacking in her mother's family, has been walking on thin ice, and there is no possibility of establishing a future.

The remaining two imperial concubines, Concubine Yin De and Concubine Yang Shu.

In the past few years, Concubine Yin De, who has always been low-key and forbearing, seems to have been on the cusp, but unfortunately it is all "negative news". The daughter got married, the son rebelled, and it is a miracle that she can still exist in the harem. There is no doubt that what this famous lady with a miserable background now only has may be the emperor's tolerance for her, the world's pity and respect for him, and the green lantern ancient Buddha.

The rest is Concubine Yang Shu, that is, the mother of Wu Wang Li Ke. She is the biological daughter of Yang Guang, the last emperor of the former Sui Dynasty. After being accepted as a concubine by Li Shimin, although she was only at the bottom of the four concubines because she entered the door late, she was one of the most respected women in the harem. Even when Empress Changsun was alive, she was commensurate with her sisters, and they were almost equal. However, Concubine Yang Shu, the princess of the dead country, obviously has no political ambitions, and she has never heard of her being arrogant or concerned about state affairs for so many years. Her low-key and silence are no better than Concubine Yinde. If it weren't for the fact that she had a dazzling son who often haunted politics and court, she would have almost been forgotten.

From this point of view, the possibility of the fourth concubine being established is not large. Therefore, people can't help but turn their eyes to Xu Hui, who has been in the limelight recently, and thinks that if she can give birth to a dragon son for the emperor, it really can't rule out the possibility that she will be made the queen later. However, the emperor has several sons who have reached adulthood, and they are fighting for the throne. Even if Xu Hui can give birth to a prince in the future, once the emperor dies, can this pair of orphans and widows with shallow roots still survive?

It is no wonder why Li Shimin has not re-established himself. It sounds good to miss the eldest grandson, but in fact, he can't make up his mind. This queen can't be established. Without a queen, the harem would be chaotic, there is no doubt about it.

If you don't sweep a house, how can you sweep the world? Li Shimin is really a headache.

The smoke around the Tang Dynasty is full of war, and the party lords in the court are fighting for cold guns and hidden arrows, and even in the harem, there are treacherous undercurrents.

Datang, which has been quiet for more than ten years, ushered in an eventful autumn.

At today's royal family banquet, the eldest grandson Wuji and Li Tai, the king of Wei, who used to be old and dead, are now talking and laughing together. Many people saw it in their eyes and realized it in their hearts, thinking that these two people who were suffering from the same disease must be making peace and forming an alliance. Now that the military's strength has greatly expanded, even Changsun Wuji's limelight has been suppressed. Once when Li Chengqian was still in the East Palace, Li Shimin thought about changing Li Tai as his heir, and an important reason why he did not make a decision was that the eldest grandson Wuji did not agree.

It's good now, the uncle and nephew changed their faces faster than flipping through a book, and they actually joined forces. However, Li Tai has fallen out of favor a little, and the eldest grandson Wuji is not as powerful as he was at the beginning. Will their temporary alliance, which could break down at any moment, touch the heart of the emperor?

After the fall of Li Chengqian, the court pattern that seemed to have become clear is now in chaos. Who will be the prince of the East Palace, and who will lead the court in the future, no one knows.

Looking at the "family members" who seemed to be harmoniously pushing cups and changing lamps at the banquet, Li Shimin smiled on his face and felt bitter in his heart. In his opinion, where is the smile on the two faces of these people, it is clearly a conspiracy of yin and yang; Where is the wine and meat delicacies in the mouth, it is clearly power and interests.

But he couldn't blame these people, because why wasn't he like that? When people live in this field of interests, they are like sailing against the current, and they can't help themselves. Not everyone can be as calm as Concubine Yin De, who has no desires and no desires.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin raised his glass and said to Concubine Yin De: "Concubine Ai, I salute you." ”

"Concubines, thank you, Your Majesty." Concubine Yin De got up and raised her glass to drink, and sat down after drinking, still calm.

Li Shimin sighed secretly, feeling depressed in his heart.

In recent days, the border authorities have sent military intelligence reports, both happy and worried. On the northern grassland, Li Tao reported the victory, and described in detail the remnants of the first brigade led by Xue Rengui in Guanxi, and the battle of the first battle of the Great Destruction of Yi Nan. Now, Li Tao led the Tang Dynasty Wang Shi to join forces with the nine surnamed Tiele in the grassland, and won successive victories in the expedition against Xue Yantuo, breaking the enemy and capturing the chieftain only in the morning and night.

Li Shimin was already preparing for the aftermath of the grassland, and at the same time, he also began to pay attention to Xue Rengui, a general of the Kansai Army who was once unknown. I heard that he made an unconventional decision, all the way north to break through the pass and fight thousands of miles through the desert, and finally preserved the strength of the western expeditionary army, and after breaking Xue Yantuo, he also borrowed tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from Hui Hui to return to Guanxi to regain the lost territory, and the grassland tribes were in awe of him like a god...... All of these are the work of famous wizards.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Li Daozong of Shanzhou played, not long after the victory in Phantom Moon Valley, Yangguan was lost and Xue Wanche was killed in battle, and Qin Mubai had already personally led his men to rescue him.

Li Shimin knew that Yangguan was lost after the victory in Phantom Moon Valley, but it didn't matter. The main battlefield is still Dafeichuan, as long as the situation over there is not out of control, even if Yumen Pass and Yangguan fall together, the Tubo people on that side will not be able to dominate the victory. What's more, Qin Mubai personally led the troops to rescue, and he would definitely be able to turn the situation around and keep the forces safe.

What made Li Shimin's heart depressed was the death of Xue Wanche. He once said in person that there are no more than three famous generals in this dynasty now, Li Tao, Li Daozong and Xue Wanche. And Xue Wanche fought, 'either a big victory or a big defeat'. Now, in response to this, he lost the battle and died.

Xue Wanche is Li Shimin's brother-in-law. Now, Princess Danyang, Xue Wanche's wife and Gaozu Li Yuan's daughter, happened to be present at the banquet, and she was laughing and chanting with everyone to drink, and she didn't know the news of Xue Wanche's death in battle.

"That's it, let's wait a few days for the Spring Festival to pass, Xue Wanche's coffin is sent to Chang'an, and I will tell her again!" Li Shimin was so secret.

In this palace forbidden, even if it is a family banquet, it is clearly hierarchical and strictly ruled, and the atmosphere cannot be very warm, at most it can be considered peaceful. The princes and nobles came to congratulate Li Shimin on the New Year in turn, and in private they were busy pushing glasses and changing lamps with each other to exchange feelings, which was not so much a family banquet as a round of political capital exchange meeting.

There was something on his mind, and Li Shimin was a little unhappy. After a few glasses of wine, it was tasteless. Just as he was about to change his clothes and leave the table to take a breath, his close attendant eunuch walked up to him lightly and whispered: "Your Majesty, Chu Suiliang, who stayed at the Hongwen Pavilion, said that an urgent military report was sent from the front line, so he asked to see His Majesty." ”

Li Shimin's heart suddenly burst out, thinking that if it weren't for the major military situation, Chu Suiliang would not have sent the military report to the harem at such a time. So he got up quietly and walked out, secretly instructed his attendants, and asked Chu Suiliang to go to the imperial study of Zichen Hall in Daming Palace to see him.

Not long after, Li Shimin arrived at the Zichen Palace, and Chu Suiliang was already waiting outside the door of the imperial study. As soon as they met, Chu Suiliang exclaimed in a low voice: "Your Majesty, there are changes in Western Xinjiang, and 100,000 are urgent!" ”

Li Shimin's heart was blocked, "Western Xinjiang? Not Kansai, not Mobei or Jiannan? ”

"Taozhou!!"

"Enter the Imperial Study!"

The two gentlemen and ministers walked in quickly, Chu Suiliang sent the military newspaper, and Li Shimin hurriedly opened it and sat down to watch. As soon as he sat down, he suddenly stood up again.

Chu Suiliang looked at the emperor nervously, and the faces of both the monarchs and ministers changed.

"This ...... How can it be? Li Shimin's face was filled with anger, "How did the Garqin Mausoleum hit Taozhou?" ”

"Wechen doesn't know! However, this is clearly the fact in front of us! Chu Suiliang hurriedly said, "The city of Taozhou was broken, and the two counties of Taoyang and Lintan were slaughtered by blood, with a total of more than 13,000 soldiers and civilians, none of whom survived, and the city was also burned!" After the incident, Chi Jingde, the chief commander of the Jiannan Road march, rushed the army to rescue, but he was in vain. Garqinling led the army to withdraw and turned to Hezhou. Wei Chi Jingde led the army in pursuit, and ordered the soldiers and horses of the neighboring military government to strictly guard against the enemy, in case the Garqin Mausoleum attacked Guanzhong! ”

"Confused!" Li Shimin suddenly shouted, "Why is Wei Chi Jingde so confused!" ”

"What's the matter, Your Majesty?" Chu Suiliang was surprised.

"He was led by the nose by the Garqin Mausoleum!" Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice, "The purpose of the Garqin Mausoleum is to deliberately set fire to the city and slaughter it, the purpose is to attract the nearby Jiannan army to come to the rescue, he is diverting the tiger from the mountain!" ”

"But General Wei Chi doesn't dare not save it! What if the Garqin Mausoleum is still in the vicinity of the bloody city or even the Guanzhong? Chu Suiliang was surprised, "After the defeat of Garqinling, he has been retreating to Qingluoyuan, and it is an amazing move to attack Taozhou, can he still have the ability to transfer the tiger away from the mountain and then divide his troops to take Sichuan and Shu?" ”

"Not really. Cutting down the pass and capturing the city is not the ultimate goal of the Garqin Mausoleum. Li Shimin's face sank and he said, "Otherwise, he wouldn't have killed my hinterland like a moth to a fire." Unless he is crazy, otherwise, with just a little bit of his people, can he destroy my Datang? ”

Chu Suiliang suddenly realized and said, "So...... Does he have another purpose? Is he trying to disrupt our army's western defense line? ”

"He's trying to escape!" Li Shimin said categorically, "However, there are Dafeichuan chasing soldiers in the back, and there are Jiannan troops in front of him to block him, so he doesn't dare to retreat easily!" Therefore, he diverted the attention of our army and drew our forces by attacking instead of defending, and bought time and space for his own retreat camp! ”

After saying that, Li Shimin strode to the screen behind the imperial study, ordered someone to take the military and political map of Western Xinjiang and hang it, pointed his hand to Taozhou, and said: "Look! He defeated Taozhou, and Wei Chi Jingde, who was stationed in Songzhou, must come to the rescue, because this defense area originally belonged to him. As you said, now that this place has been breached, in case the Garqin Mausoleum waves its troops directly at the two capitals in Guanzhong, it will be difficult for Wei Chi Jingdewan to take the blame for his death. At the same time, Lanzhou will also shake if there is a fire in the backyard, and Dafeichuan and Lanzhou will definitely move on the whole line, and they will have to shift from attack to defense, and the center of gravity of troops will shift to the hinterland of Taozhou. You see, as soon as Taozhou is broken, my Tang Dynasty's western Xinjiang will collapse completely, whether it is Kansai or Jiannan, the previous strategic deployment has been broken! Although it is extremely unlikely that the fish of Garqinling will die and kill Guanzhong, it has to be guarded against. Guanzhong and Beijing, there will also be a lot of rumors! ”

Chu Suiliang's face tightened, and he didn't dare to breathe. When he first received the military report, he knew that the situation was serious, but he didn't expect it to be serious. Now listening to the emperor's analysis, his heart is suddenly beating - he has reached the imperial capital! The lightning-like surprise attack of Garqinling was like a sharp knife suddenly piercing into the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty's heart, which was really powerful!

"This Garqin Mausoleum! ......" Li Shimin gritted his teeth and spit out these words, his face becoming more and more solemn and grim. After a pause, he asked, "The general of Dafeichuan seems to be Hou Junji, right?" ”

Chu Suiliang vaguely heard the unkindness from Li Shimin's words!

"Back to Your Majesty, it is Hou Junji."

"He guarded Dafeichuan and clamped down on the remnants of the defeated army in the Garqin Mausoleum, why did he slip away from under his nose without his eyes?" Li Shimin didn't roar, but at a glance, it was as cold and sharp as a cold and ice knife.

Chu Sui's conscience was cold - murderous! His Majesty the Emperor...... Killed!

Li Shimin pointed to the military and political gazetteer with one hand and the other in thought. Chu Suiliang didn't dare to interject much, but said softly: "Your Majesty, did you notify the cabinet to convene an emergency imperial military meeting?" ”

Li Shimin didn't seem to hear it, he still looked at the map with a stern face, his fingers moved slowly on it, and he said with words in his mouth: "After capturing Taozhou, he can transfer to Hezhou to continue to slaughter, or cross Taoshui and go straight behind Lanzhou, or turn around and attack Minzhou, and quickly take the city and then use it as a basis to fight against Wei Chi Jingde's troops who came to the rescue, and even point his sword at Qinzhou to kill Guanzhong and endanger the two capitals." Taozhou extends in all directions, land and water, such a military hub, Qin Mubai and Wei Chi Jingde, why didn't they pay attention to it? ”

Chu Suiliang didn't dare to talk. In terms of military attainments, the only person in this dynasty who can keep pace with the emperor is Li Jing. He is analyzing the battle situation, and there are really few people who can talk. But Chu Suiliang vaguely heard the words in the emperor's mouth, and seemed to be quite dissatisfied with Wei Chi Jingde and Qin Mubai!

"Horn!"

Li Shimin slapped the map, which startled Chu Suiliang, and the parchment map was smashed out of a hole!

"The Garchin Mausoleum must be exterminated! Otherwise, the legacy will be endless! Li Shimin said in a deep voice, "Now, he is like a winter flea, slipping into the thick fur of people, how hateful!" ”

"Your Majesty, have you notified the Cabinet to convene an emergency military meeting?" Unable to make any useful military advice, Chu Suiliang had to repeat this sentence again.

Li Shimin paused, this time as if he heard it, he said: "First of all, we must strictly guard that the news must not be leaked, so as not to cause panic among the people and confuse the two capitals." The Imperial Military Council couldn't be held for a while, it was spring break, and most of the ministers were celebrating the festival in the province. In this way, you go and call the eldest grandson Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Li Daliang, and Li Junxian to me, these people are either in the imperial city or in Chang'an now. ”

"Yes!"

"Wait!" Chu Suiliang was about to leave, Li Shimin called, hesitated for a moment, and said, "There are also King Jin and King Wei, call together." ”

Chu Sui's conscience was a little shocked and didn't dare to say more, so he hurriedly left.

Li Shimin took a long breath and spit out heavily, twisted his eyebrows and looked at the big map with a hole, and said to himself: "In this case, you can still rush to Taozhou to reverse the situation, Garqin Mausoleum, it is indeed a military genius!" …… Qin Mubai, Wei Chi Jingde, let me say what are you good about? ”

"However, the move of the Garqin Mausoleum is also to dig a grave for Tubo!!" Li Shimin's eyes were cold, "Do you want to put it to death and live later?" - I want you to have only death, no afterlife! ”