The Tang army rushed to the road in an orderly manner, all their siege equipment was left outside Jiangling City, replaced by a few carts of jewelry and money, Wei Ting was in the middle of the army, his head was buried very low, and those ox carts full of jewels and money were behind him, but it had been two days since he left Jiangling City, and Wei Ting only glanced back. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Jiancheng said before leaving, Xiao Mo has surrendered to the Southern Sui, Jiangling City cannot be stormed, those jewels and money are the testimony of the friendship between the Southern Sui and the Tang Dynasty, these words are okay to coax the soldiers of the three armies, how can Wei Ting believe it?

Thinking of this time when hundreds of thousands of troops went to Jiangling but returned in vain, Wei Ting's face became extremely gloomy, he looked up at the front, and thought to himself that he had reached this step, His Royal Highness the Prince, you can really stop the mouths of the courtiers when you go back to Chang'an first?

Li Jianwei should be in the army, but he took the first step, and under the protection of hundreds of cavalry, he rushed to Chang'an day and night. There are more than 100,000 officers and men of the three armies, and some of them must be loyal to Li Shimin, and Li Jiancheng has no choice but to guard against them.

No one knows what Li Jiancheng and Li Xuanba talked about, but everyone knows that the reason why Li Jiancheng retired from the army was precisely because he and Li Xuanba met.

The sky gradually darkened, the footsteps of the people seemed to be very hurried, the Tang Dynasty paid attention to the law, once the city gate was closed, they could only sleep outside the city, now the day is extremely cold, who dares to spend the night in the wilderness?

Li Jiancheng looked at the slowly closing city gate in front of him, and couldn't help but speed up, and the guards on the city wall also saw a line of cavalry rushing towards the city gate, and couldn't help but be vigilant, he ordered the soldiers to prepare bows and arrows, and then squinted his eyes to carefully observe the cavalry in the distance.

"It's His Royal Highness the Prince, quickly open the city gate." As Li Jiancheng got closer and closer, the guard finally recognized him and hurriedly ordered. The guards under the city heard the order, reopened the gates, and stood on either side.

Li Jiancheng didn't care about showing his love for soldiers, so he entered the city at a gallop, ran all the way, and rushed to the palace.

The founding of the Tang Dynasty was not long, and the state affairs were busy, Li Yuan sat in the imperial study and reviewed the folds, and a father-in-law stood quietly on the side, drooping his head, neither making a sound, nor looking at the dragon case, as a eunuch who was on duty in the palace during Yang Yu's reign, he was able to serve Li Yuan closely, and he had his own advantages.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asks to see you." A voice sounded outside the study, very sharp but very soft, as if he wanted to let the people in the room hear, but he was afraid of disturbing the Tang Emperor in the room.

The eunuch who was waiting beside Li Yuan opened his eyes, bowed down and whispered, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has returned and is waiting outside the palace. ”

Li Yuan hummed casually, continued to carefully finish the notes in his hand, and then raised his head and said concisely: "Pass." ”

The eunuch did not loudly announce that Li Jiancheng had entered the imperial study, but trotted out of the door, then poked his head out and whispered: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Xuan has come to see you." ”

Everyone in the palace knew that Li Yuan liked to be quiet, and the little eunuch waiting outside the imperial study heard this, and immediately saluted and hurriedly went to pass on Li Jiancheng.

"The son of the emperor to meet his father!" Li Jiancheng's armor was neat, and the long sword at his waist had already been removed, left outside the palace, as soon as he walked into the imperial study, he knelt down on one knee and said respectfully: "The son failed to conquer Jiangling, and he asked his father to punish him." ”

Li Yuan frowned without a trace, looked up at Li Jiancheng slightly, and found that although Li Jiancheng's armor was neat, his face and armor were full of damp soil, so he guessed that Li Jiancheng must have rushed back to Chang'an day and night. As for why Li Jiancheng was in such a hurry, Li Yuan also guessed some reasons.

"With a quarter of the strength of the Tang Dynasty, why can't you capture Jiangling City?" Li Yuan continued to flip through the folds and said lightly: "Do you remember what you promised when you led the troops to the battle?" ”

"Erchen remembers." Li Jiancheng did not panic, and said in a deep voice: "I won't destroy the beam for a day, and I won't return to Chang'an for a day!" ”

Li Yuan nodded and said casually: "Since you remember what you said at the beginning, why do you enter the palace in the middle of the night now, but tell me that you can't capture Jiangling?" ”

"If you don't destroy the girder, your son is willing to be punished." Li Jiancheng knew that he would plead guilty first, and then said: "But before being punished, I also asked my father to give my son some time, so that my son could tell my father about the situation in Jiangling." ”

Li Yuan knew Li Jiancheng very well, if Li Jiancheng was defeated for no reason, he would definitely not dare to enter the palace alone, and he spoke so confidently, so he put down the fold in his hand and motioned for Li Jiancheng to get up: "Say it." ”

Li Jiancheng thanked him and said his strategy of besieging Jiangling City and preventing the reinforcements of Daliang, Li Yuan's face was silent, but he thought deeply in his heart, and secretly said that Li Jiancheng was gentle and elegant on weekdays, but his ability to lead troops was not small.

Then, Li Jiancheng told Li Xuanba about leading the army into Jiangling, and also told him about the meeting between himself and Li Xuanba under Jiangling City, but Li Jiancheng did not tell the conversation between them.

"Ridiculous, you are the prince of the Tang Dynasty, how can you risk your life?" Li Yuan reprimanded, but there was no trace of anger on his face: "Fortunately, it was Xuanba who met you this time, if it were other thieves, would you really have the life to leave alive?" ”

"The son knows his mistake." Li Jiancheng heard Li Yuan's reprimand, breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and said with a straight face: "What Xuanba said, Erchen didn't dare to believe it all, and he didn't dare to ignore it, there was no war in Southern Sui during this time, and Erchen was worried that Yang Tong would really send troops to aid Daliang." At that time, not only did they not capture Jiangling, but they caused heavy losses to the soldiers of the imperial court, so they withdrew their troops first, relaxed the vigilance of the Jiangling defenders, and rushed back to Chang'an to ask for the will of his father. ”

"Jiangling is in danger, since Xuanba dares to enter the city at this time, he must have something to rely on, you immediately ordered the withdrawal of troops, this courage is worthy of appreciation." Li Yuan not only didn't get angry, but stroked his beard and smiled, and said: "This time the army went south, and more than a dozen cities have been captured, and the land of several counties under Zhu Cang's rule has now become the land of the Tang Dynasty, and the right should be an exchange with Xuanba!" ”

Zhu Cang killed the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan had long wanted to eliminate him, but at that time, the Tang army was facing Daqin, Daliang, and Northern Sui respectively, and they really couldn't be distracted to deal with Zhu Cang, so they could only put it aside for the time being.

"Father, there is a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not?" Li Jiancheng lowered his head and said hesitantly.

"You and I are both kings and ministers, as well as father and son, what can't you say?" Li Yuan frowned and sighed, "If I guessed correctly, you want to talk about Xuanba, right?" ”

"Father is wise." Li Jiancheng arched his hand and said: "Although Xuanba is Jiancheng's brother, he has refused his father's kindness several times, and now for the sake of Daliang, he actually threatened his son, and his son dared to say bluntly, Xuanba is not the king of the Tang Dynasty, but the Duke of Zhou of the Southern Sui, and I hope that my father can see clearly!" ”

"Xuanba is highly respected by the courtiers of the Southern Sui Dynasty, and Concubine Wan has already told me." Li Yuan closed his eyes, waved his hand, and said, "You step back first, I have my own decision on the matter of Xuanba." (To be continued.) )