An emperor is an emperor after all, he stands too high, and the people below all look up at him, and their faces are full of flattery, but what about him? What did he think when he looked down on the people below?

Perhaps in his heart, behind every flattering face, there is a dark heart that tries to replace him, so although he looks down on all beings as an emperor, he is full of vigilance and defense against every face below, he is afraid of leaving trouble, he is afraid that others will rebel, and he is afraid that he will be pushed down if he is not noticed.

Therefore, the emperor has no friends, no one worthy of his heart, because in the world, he is the only one who stands tallest, and in order to maintain this highest position, the emperor cannot have friends.

From this point of view, Li Shimin's temptation of Li Su is very normal, a qualified, wise emperor, most of them will come up with this idea, since he has done the special and unique profession of emperor, he must be very concerned about whether anyone resents him, resentment is a disaster, and countless rebellions start from resentment. Li Shimin asked this sentence in front of Li Su, he was already very broad-minded, and he was afraid of the kind of emperor who didn't say anything or ask, but secretly stared at him with gloomy eyes.

Li Su understands Li Shimin very well, and if he is the emperor, he will also care if anyone resents him. And the reason why Li Su can look directly at Li Shimin's inquiring gaze fearlessly is because he really has no ambition.

Li Shimin likes Li Su as a person who has no ambition, it can be said that from the original decision to forcibly bring Li Su up from the people, he did not hesitate to give him an official knighthood, and he was relieved to entrust him with great things, the root cause of which was not Li Su's strange ability, but Li Su's eyes that could not see the slightest ambition, and it was also for this reason that Li Shimin asked Li Su in person today if he had any complaints.

Neither of them is a gentleman. I didn't blink when I talked nonsense to others, but Li Shimin asked so, Li Su answered, and then, Li Shimin believed it, and Li Su didn't think anything had happened.

Very strange way of getting along. Even Li Su himself felt awkward, but it was a fact.

After asking, everything was gentle and drizzling, and the hall was full of strong love for the elders for the younger generations.

"The battle of Xizhou, you have worked hard and made great achievements, this battle is very important, you have set the hundred-year war situation in the west of the Tang Dynasty with the strength of thousands of defenders, but I also know how difficult the battle to defend the city is. Zizheng, I'm sorry for you......" Li Shimin sighed.

Li Su bowed his head and said: "The ministers are not bitter, the bitter ones are those soldiers who died for the Tang Dynasty, and the personal honor and disgrace of the ministers are not enough, so I only ask Your Majesty to show mercy to the families of the soldiers who died in the war, so as to tell the souls of the robes in the sky." ”

Li Shimin nodded: "Good words, I have issued an order, all the soldiers killed or disabled in the Battle of Xizhou." The three provinces will be extraordinarily compassionate and can rest assured. They are all bloody Guanzhong disciples, and they are all heroic and loyal martyrs of me, how can I treat them badly? ”

Li Subai bowed and said, "Your Majesty is benevolent, righteous and holy, and all the people are very fortunate. ”

Li Shimin glanced at him, snorted, and said, "Xizhou has been in the past three years. It's really worn out a lot of your temperament, you wouldn't have said such things to me before. ”

Li Su also smiled: "The minister has gone through life and death, and he has rolled in the pile of dead people, and some edges and corners should be smoothed, if Your Majesty doesn't like the minister's current temperament." How many bastards will he do in Chang'an City to open His Majesty's eyes? ”

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, then looked up to the sky and laughed, laughed so hard that he couldn't straighten his waist, and pointed at him with a trembling rope and said: "I just praised you, and immediately talked about bastards, Zizheng, Zizheng, no matter how flat your temperament is, you are also a bastard after all,...... However, in the past few years, Chang'an City has lost your bastard character, and the wind and waves are very calm, and after a long time, I feel bored. ”

Li Su laughed a few times, and didn't dare to continue joking, the Tang Taizong in front of him, who was famous in history, joked with this kind of person, and accidentally played himself to death.

Li Shimin raised his glass and drank a few more sips with Li Su, put down the wine cup and groaned for a while, and said: "I heard that the battle of Xizhou was very tragic, and I was pacifying the north at that time, and I couldn't spare my hand to help, I only heard that you have made some achievements in Xizhou in the past few years, and you will talk to me carefully." ”

Li Suying was, after organizing the wording, he started from the beginning of his appointment in Xizhou, and talked about how to attract investment, how to recruit villagers, how to defend the city, etc., and many past events were told to Li Shimin one by one.

Of course, there are some places where Li Su deliberately skipped, such as Cao Yu's looting of people's fat over the years, privately raising foreign armies, etc., since he and Cao Yu have resolved their grievances, there is no need to push Cao Yu to a dead end at this time.

When he heard that Li Su led the remnants of the defenders and fought to the death with the enemy army at the head of the city, Li Shimin had tears in his eyes, and sighed in the sky, until Li Su calmly said everything in the past three years, Li Shimin choked up and said: "Zizheng, it's really hard for you, I often regret it in the past three years, I shouldn't have transferred you to Xizhou, a young man less than twenty, where can I suffer so much, and then after I heard the military report in the north, I once said to the auxiliary machine, even if Xizhou can't hold it, I don't blame you, I only hope that you can live safely, the gains and losses of Xizhou, It's just the gains and losses of a corner of Datang, and the trouble of scabies, and if you have a good one, it is a huge pain in Datang! ”

"I didn't expect that you really held the Xizhou, and kept the Silk Road and the entire Western Regions for the Tang Dynasty, so that the Tang Dynasty could rest assured that the Western Regions would be able to pass through the Western Regions from now on, and fall into a crucial ...... in the century-old chess game."

After a long time, Li Su's expression and tone have not been the slightest wave, looking back on the past, there is only a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood in his mind, and bursts of screams and wails, as well as the stone tablet that seems to be piled up with bones and blood.

Li Shimin was silent for a moment, finally calmed down, and then said slowly: "The leader of that Turkic tribe is named ...... Battle? ”

"Yes."

Li Shimin's eyes became sharp again: "That Turkic private army, you found them?" ”

"Yes."

Li Shimin's tone gradually became cold: "Aren't you afraid of committing a taboo?" ”

Li Sumian looked at him fearlessly: "At that time, Xizhou City was in danger, the minister was the minister of the Tang Dynasty, the first priority, first to keep Xizhou, in order to keep it, the minister did whatever it takes, as long as the minister has a clear conscience, any law is willing to try, if Your Majesty feels that the minister has committed a taboo, the minister is invited to punish the crime." ”

Li Shimin stared at him tightly for a long time, and finally smiled: "Yes, those who achieve great things are not informal, if everything is imprisoned by the rules, after all, he is just a mediocre fool, that Turkic cavalry is used well, you have done nothing wrong in this matter." ”

Li Su smiled, before confessing this matter, he guessed that Li Shimin would not add guilt, otherwise he would not speak, just said that this matter also depends on the person, if Cao Yu is replaced, I am afraid that at this time I have been beaten into Dali Temple, although the matter is the same thing, the people who say it are different, and the results are very different, simply put, Li Su and Cao Yu have no comparable status in Li Shimin's heart, and Cao Yu belongs to the kind raised by the stepmother.

Li Su thought for a while and said, "Thank you Your Majesty for your magnanimity, Xizhou has been defended, but the minister promised some things about Battle, and asked Your Majesty to be gracious." ”

Li Shimin pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "I will not let you lose your trust, Hou Junji is now about to sweep away the Western Regions, all countries are panicking, after the Western Regions are pacified by Hou Junji, I will build an Anxi Protectorate next to Xizhou, so I will issue an order tomorrow, I can move all of Battle's troops to the grassland north of Tingzhou, I allow him to build a tooth tent, graze, reproduce the ethnic group, and seal General Anyuan, give gold, silver, grain, pig iron, cattle and sheep a number, by the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate Governor, next year's Shangyuan Festival, give him to Chang'an to congratulate." ”

Li Subai said: "Your Majesty Longen, Battle, Minister." ”

Li Shimin said with a smile: "You don't have to thank me on his behalf, after the pacification of Xue Yantuo in the north and the Western Regions, the prestige of the Tang Dynasty is thousands of miles away, and it is not always possible to intimidate neighbors and foreign races, and you need to be gentle and gentle in the future, whether it is the Tang Dynasty or outside the territory, but all those who respect my Tang Dynasty as the suzerain will regard it as my people. ”

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When I walked out of the palace gate, it was already sunset.

Li Su squinted at the blood-red sunset and sighed lightly.

Maybe because I haven't seen him for a few years, or maybe my heart has changed a lot more than before, when facing Li Shimin today, Li Su feels more and more the imperial momentum from him, this momentum makes Li Su very stressed, there is a feeling of breathlessness, every time you say a word, you have to think before you think, think twice before you speak, and after a dialogue between the monarch and the minister, it seems that you are tired of trekking through a thousand mountains.

It is worth noting that Li Shimin gave him a jade crown and jade belt today, a goldfish bag, a song and dance, and even promoted him to a county marquis, but after all kinds of rewards were awarded, he did not give Li Su any real position, and he did not even return the position of the firearms bureau to him, which is a bit interesting. Who knew that after Li Su was summoned to the palace, Li Shimin didn't mention anything about his future arrangements, and let him out of the palace after chatting, which was really difficult to figure out the intention.

Li Su shook his head and smiled bitterly.

The so-called "Sacred Heart" is like a woman during the Great Aunt, don't try to figure it out, no matter how you figure it out, it's wrong, and you will be thrown bloody.

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PS: It's a change tonight, and I'm starting to compete with my own routine again...... (To be continued.) )