Chapter 506: Li Shimin's Affair

In May of the 22nd year of Zhenguan, Ashina Sheer successively broke through five cities that resisted the Tang army, and captured a large number of Qiuci nobles such as the king of Qiuci and the minister of Qiuci country. Escorted back to the DPRK to wait for Li Shimin's disposal. Ashina Sheer chose a submissive person from among the Qiuzi royal family to succeed him to the throne.

The turtle is peaceful, and the Western Regions are shocked. Western Turkic, Khotan, Shule, Anguo and other countries vied with each other to give camels, horses, grain and grass to the Tang army.

Ashina Sheerle Stone remembered the merit and returned.

In June, the Anxi Protectorate moved to Qiuci, and the Tang army was stationed in Qiuci City.

At the time of the victory in the Western Regions, Chang'an City was extremely unpeaceful.

When Zhenguan was twenty-two years old, Li Shimin's health was already very poor. When dealing with government affairs at the court's meeting, he was already a little powerless. Standing below and looking at the ruler of the empire, Zhang Yunwen's heart suddenly swelled with inexplicable sadness. When I first saw him, he was full of spirit, commanding the army to surround Wang Shichong in Luoyang, fighting Dou Jiande in the Tiger Prison, facing the army outside the Tiger Prison, looking calm and fearless, what a courage. However, the years are like knives, and after sitting on this throne for decades, Li Shimin has aged so much.

Before Li Shimin, those Wenchen generals who followed him to fight the country and govern the world died one after another. Lai Guogong Du Ruhui, died in Zhenguan for four years; Zheng Guogong Wei Zheng, died in the eighth year of Zhenguan; Shen Guogong Gao Shilian, died in the twenty-first year of Zhenguan; Xiao Yu, the Duke of Song, died a month ago; There are also a large number of civil and military generals such as Duan Zhixuan and Yu Shinan. Among the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, there are only seven or eight people left. Moreover, Xuan Ling, the Duke of Liangguo, and Li Jing, the Duke of Weiguo, these pillars of the imperial court are now lingering on the sickbed and have not been in the court for a long time.

Every time he thinks of this, Zhang Yunwen can't help but feel uncomfortable.

Last winter, Wang Qu finally passed away. This old man was very strong and supported himself on the sickbed for several years, and finally passed away with a smile. Before he died, not only Wang Yan and Zhang Yunwen, but also the Taiyuan Wang family also sent people.

Witnessing Wang Qu's departure, Zhang Yunwen cherished the people around him even more. Whether it is Wei Chigong, who is closed to the world, or his uncle-in-law and aunt, he will take his son and daughter to visit every other day to make the elders happy.

As for Li Shimin, Zhang Yunwen was afraid of this wise lord at this time, and made up his mind to only talk about family affection and not ask about political affairs.

The reason why Zhang Yunwen is afraid of Li Shimin is all because of what Li Shimin has done in the past two years. As if knowing that his life was short and that he would not live for a few years, Li Shimin began to support Li Zhi's forces in the court in an orderly manner and suppressed those officials with great authority.

There is Zhang Liang first. When this general conquered Goryeo, he performed well, and he was a military general who made a lot of military exploits, and was appointed as the secretary of the criminal department. When Zhenguan was in the twentieth year, Chang Dexuan, a native of Shaanxi, sued Zhang Liang, the secretary of the Criminal Department, to raise 500 righteous sons. And once said to the warlock Gongsun that "the name should be a diagram". Later, he asked the warlock Cheng Gongying: "On my arm, there are dragon scales, and I want to do something big, but what?" ”

Of course, these words were said by the person who complained, and it is unknown whether Zhang Liang really said these words. However, Zhang Liang raised 500 righteous sons, which is a fact. And among his righteous sons, there is a guy named Zhang Hun, who is now one of the generals of the artillery battalion.

When the imperial historian Ma Zhou and others asked Zhang Liang about this, Zhang Liang denied it. And Ma Zhou and others couldn't find evidence, and the person who complained couldn't list the evidence. In such a case, it stands to reason that it would be a death case. However, when Ma Zhou reported the situation to Li Shimin, Li Shimin was silent for a moment, and said with a gloomy face: "Zhang Liang has five hundred righteous sons, what is the use of him raising so many righteous sons in the Criminal Department?" Of course, it's a law-making! ”

Li Shimin's remark set the nature of the entire incident.

The officials who received the hint said that Zhang Liang wanted to rebel and should be taken to prison and beheaded for public display. Only Li Daoyu, a young master who was a prisoner in the court, said: "There is no bright anti-form, and the crime does not deserve death!" "It is said that Zhang Liang has not rebelled and should not be beheaded.

However, this voice failed to block Li Shimin's resolution, and Zhang Liang was still sentenced to beheading.

Li Shimin sent Fang Xuanling and his eldest grandson Wuji into the prison of the Criminal Department to say goodbye to Zhang Liang on his behalf.

In the prison, Fang Xuanling sighed lightly and did not speak. And the eldest grandson Wuji said righteously: "The law, the peace of the world, and the public." The public is not careful, he returns with the murderer, and he falls into the law, and now he will be helpless! Gong Hao Go! ”

Hearing the words of the eldest grandson Wuji, Zhang Liang laughed loudly, with a sadness in his voice.

Three days later, Zhang Liang and Cheng Gongying were beheaded in Xishi.

And in February of this year, General Zuo Wuwei and Li Junxian, the Duke of Wulian County, were on duty at Xuanwu Gate, and at that time, Tai Bai Xing appeared many times in the daytime. Li Shimin thinks this is probably some kind of omen. Divination in the history of Zhaotai. After Taishi's divination, he told Li Shimin and said, "Heroine Chang! ”

A few days later, the folk circulated the "Secret Record", saying: "After the third Tang Dynasty, the heroine Wuwang has the world." For that omen and the words circulated among the people, Li Shimin felt very unhappy.

coincided with Li Shimin's Li Shimin banquet of all military generals, and this Li Junxian also participated in this banquet.

When the wine was half-drunk, Li Shimin asked the ministers to make a wine order to cheer up, but this wine order was to let the generals say their nicknames to make everyone laugh. Starting from Li Ji, one by one, the half-drunk generals raised their wine glasses and said their nicknames without hesitation. If it were in normal times, I am afraid that these arrogant generals would still be intimidating, but now, under the stimulation of alcohol, these generals did not hesitate to say their nicknames, causing everyone to laugh.

When it was Li Junxian's turn, he burped, stood up, and said embarrassedly: "Weichen's nickname is Wu Niang!" ”

Li Shimin and the generals were stunned, and after a while, everyone burst into laughter.

This Li Junxian was born tall and burly, and his lips and jaw were covered with beards, and he looked fierce and vicious. Such a man's nickname is "Wu Niang", this gap is really hilarious.

However, after laughing, a resourceful person like Li Ji couldn't help but change his complexion, and his eyes were full of sympathy when he looked at this Li Junxian.

The "heroine Chang" mentioned by Taishi, and this Li Junxian's nickname is "Wu Niang"; There is a folk legend that "the heroine Wuwang has the world in the world", and this Li Junxian is General Zuo Wuwei and the Duke of Wulian County, and this official position and title all carry the word "Wu", which means that it can't help but make people think more.

Sure enough, the smile on Li Shimin's face gradually stiffened. At this time, the next general stood up and said his nickname.

Later, this Li Junxian was ostracized by Li Shimin, and it was very tragic that he changed from General Zuo Wuwei to the history of Huazhou Thorn. What's even more tragic is that shortly after arriving in Huazhou, a clothier said that he knew Buddhism and could cut grain without eating. And this Li Junxian is still convinced, and has a close relationship with this letter.

It didn't take long for the imperial history to impeach Li Junxian for communicating with demons and plotting against him. And Li Shimin beheaded this Li Junxian with a hot hand.

The whole incident is similar to the "Tao Li Zhang" case in the former Sui, it all means that someone is going to take their own country, and as the emperor, he will sweep away all the suspects.

After Li Junxian was killed, Li Shimin asked Taishi Ling Li Chunfeng: "Is the cloud of the "Secret Record" credible? Li Chunfeng replied: "The minister looks up to the celestial phenomena, looks down on the calendar, and knows that this person is already in the palace, a relative, and it has only been thirty years since then, however, whether he can rule the world seems to be incomprehensible!" Faintly, there are stars arching guards, close to the crape myrtle, obscure and unpredictable. Wechen can't say for sure! ”

Li Shimin said fiercely at the moment: "Then I will kill all the suspected people in the palace!" How's that? ”

Li Chunfeng said: "The order of heaven cannot be disobeyed." Besides, it is difficult to predict whether this person can rule the world, and Your Majesty should not make more killings! ”

Li Shimin was silent for a moment, and finally sighed and stopped investigating the matter.

At this time, there was also news that Fang Xuanling was critically ill. Li Shimin's attention shifted to Fang Xuanling.

In July, Fang Xuanling still passed away.

The last general to suffer was Xue Wanche.

In the war against Goryeo, Xue Wanche led an army alone, and he made great contributions. However, when Xue Wanche led the Northern Route Army to attack several cities in the northeast of Liaoning, he treated his subordinates with arrogance, wantonly encroaching on the merits of his subordinates, and after breaking the city, he coveted the property in the city and filled his pockets, which made his subordinates extremely dissatisfied.

In September, the Right Guard General Pei Xingfang played a concert to impeach Xue Wanche for all kinds of crimes, in addition to those in Goryeo, there are also some crimes in the army recently.

After Li Shimin asked people to investigate, they found that these impeachments turned out to be facts. As a result, Xue Wanche was stripped of his official position and exiled to Xiangzhou.

Looking at Zhang Liang, Li Junxian, and Xue Wanche, the three of them were all dealt with by Li Shimin in the last years of Zhenguan, at this time, Li Shimin's health has obviously declined a lot, and Li Zhi has begun to participate more extensively in the government affairs of this empire. The ministers of the DPRK and the central government, among the military generals, Li Jing's life is not long, Li Ji is cautious and deep, Cheng Yanjin will never participate in anything, and Zhang Yunwen is Li Zhi's brother-in-law, and the surrendered generals such as Zhili Sili, Qi Bi He Li, and Ashina Sheer have a group of loyal subordinates, and they are desperate for Li Shimin, so among the military generals, those who have different intentions and are proud of their achievements are the objects of his purge. He didn't know if Li Zhi would be able to control Zhang Liang, Xue Wanche and others once he passed away. Therefore, he must clear the suspicious obstacles for Li Zhi to take over the throne.

Looking at the Wenchen again, the eldest grandson Wuji is Li Zhi's uncle, the eldest grandson Wuji faintly became the head of the Wenchens, with the support of the eldest grandson Wuji, Li Zhi sits firmly on the throne, there is absolutely no problem.

The last thing that worried Li Shimin was the so-called "Li Taiyu Party". In that year, Li Tai and Li Chengqian competed for the position of prince, and each side attracted figures from the DPRK and China, and half of the ministers of the DPRK and China were involved in that turmoil. Now, although the dust has settled on this matter, now Li Chengqian has died in a foreign country, but Li Tai is still in Junzhou as his free prince. Thinking of Li Chengqian's death, Li Shimin's heart still hurt fiercely, although Li Chengqian was disobedient, but in the end he was still his own son, and the unknown guest death in Qianzhou really made Li Shimin feel distressed. Although he ordered the matter to be investigated, there were no clues.

Li Tai is still being his free prince, and there are still many ministers in the court who were originally ministers of Li Tai's party, as well as some figures such as Fang Yiai and Chai Lingwu. After the battle for the succession ended, the punishment they did not receive was not very serious. Although these people have become much calmer with age, no one can guarantee whether they have other thoughts.

Therefore, Li Shimin still has a lot to do, and many people have to be killed!