In Taiji Palace, Emperor Li Yuan sat on the dragon chair with a sad face and sighed.

Wang De, the chief eunuch, asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, are you still worried about the crown prince, the king of Qin, and the king of Qi?" ”

Emperor Li Yuan said: "It was my idea to let Yuanji support Jiancheng, but now, seeing Jiancheng and Yuanji join forces to suppress the people, the people are wronged, and I feel very uncomfortable." They are all my sons, is it wrong for me to do this? Isn't it too partial to the prince? Is it too ruthless to suppress the people? ”

Wang De, the chief eunuch, said: "The old slave has a saying, I don't know whether to say it or not?" After all, this involves His Majesty's family affairs. ”

Li Yuan said: "You have been with me for many years and are my confidant. There are words, but it doesn't hurt to say them. ”

Wang De, the chief eunuch, said: "In the memory of the old slave, the descendants of the old slave's hometown, as long as they are brothers, have a very good relationship, and it is rare to be like His Majesty's son, so competing with each other and making such a big fuss. Recently, His Majesty has been in a bad mood, and the old slave is also wondering in his heart, why are the princes, the king of Qin, and the king of Qi so discordant? Later, Lao Chen discovered one thing, that is, His Majesty's sons, there is too little contact, and there is too little communication, if they let them live closer to each other, communicate more, communicate more. The old slave thought that their brotherhood would inevitably increase very quickly, and it would increase a lot. Therefore, the old slave hoped that His Majesty could let the King of Qin and the King of Qi move into the palace and live closer to the prince, so that there would be much less contradictions between them and more harmony between them. ”

Emperor Li Yuan thought about it and felt that what Wang De said was very reasonable. So, he ordered Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, to move into the palace together. Li Shimin lived in the Chengqian Hall to the east of the East Palace, and Li Yuanji lived in the Yanying Hall to the west of the East Palace. The three halls of the East Palace, the Chengqian Palace, and the Yanying Hall are next to each other, and the three of the Prince, the King of Qin, and the King of Qi also look up and don't look down, Li Yuan thinks that if they are given such an opportunity, they should be more harmonious.

Early in the morning, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, had just walked out of the gate of the Chengqian Palace when he met Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, who had just walked out of the gate of the Yanying Palace. Qin King Li Shimin's face suddenly sank, but he still greeted Wang Yuanji very enthusiastically and said, "Morning, fourth brother." ”

Qi Wang Yuanji also showed displeasure, but he also responded hypocritically: "Second brother, early." ”

At this time, the crown prince Jiancheng walked out of the East Palace, and when he saw Li Shimin, the king of Qin, his good mood suddenly disappeared without a trace, as if he had swallowed a fly, and he was disgusted. But he had to pretend to smile and say to Li Shimin, the king of Qin: "Morning, second brother." ”

Li Shimin, the king of Qin, saw Qi Wang Yuanji as soon as he went out early in the morning, and he was complaining in his heart that he didn't look at the yellow calendar when he went out, which was unlucky enough, but he didn't expect that the second one he saw was the prince who was even more hateful than Qi Wang Yuanji. Li Shimin, the king of Qin, said secretly in his heart: "Why am I so unlucky? As soon as I went out, I saw the two most hated people in the world, which made it impossible to live. But he faced the prince Jiancheng who had a bitter gourd face but pretended to be smiling, and he couldn't help but respond, so he also said to the prince Jiancheng with a bad mouth: "Prince, early." ”

After that, I felt unusually disgusted and hypocritical. So, he arched his hand to the crown prince Jiancheng and Qi Wang Yuanji: "Prince, Yuanji, I still have something to do, take the first step." ”

After that, without waiting for the crown prince to be completed and the king of Qi Yuanji responded, he fled.

After Li Shimin, the king of Qin, left, Yuanji, the king of Qi, said fiercely to the crown prince: "As soon as I went out early in the morning, I ran into him. Bad luck. ”

The crown prince Jiancheng was also speechless, and complained: "The father thought of a good idea, three people are together, and all three of them are uncomfortable. ”

Qi Wang Yuanji said to the crown prince: "Brother prince, let's go hunting today, okay?" A change of mood? ”

Prince Jiancheng responded: "Okay, I met him early in the morning, and I don't want to do anything this day." ”

In Taiji Palace, Emperor Li Yuan heard that the crown prince, the king of Qin, and the king of Qi got up early and began to greet and greet each other kindly, and he was very happy. He said with emotion: "That's good." That's a good start. ”

At this time, the prince's east palace was noisy.

The chief eunuch of the East Palace, the companion of the crown prince, Wang Duohai, summoned the palace people and palace maids of the East Palace and said: "The relationship between King Qi and the crown prince in Yanying Hall is good, you must be careful and not offend; The palace people in his palace, you can also contact more, but remember that we are from the East Palace. Life is a person in the East Palace, death is a ghost in the East Palace, you must be loyal to the prince and loyal to the East Palace; The one in the Chengqian Palace, don't look at him as the prince's brother, but he is the person our prince hates the most, the people in our East Palace are not allowed to have contact with their Chengqian Palace in the future, if someone dares to contact the people in the Chengqian Palace, the miscellaneous family will make him worse than death. Do you understand everything? ”

The palace people and palace maids in the East Palace all replied in unison: "I understand." ”

Feng Li, the leader of the six guards of the East Palace and the henchman of the crown prince, said to his guards: "That Chengqian Palace, which is not far from the East Palace now, for the safety of the prince, the guards of the East Palace must be strengthened. I asked for five steps and one post, ten steps and one sentry, and one post and two people. The palace guards were all dressed in heavy armor, armed with spears, swords at their waists, and long bows on their backs, ready to charge at any time. Additional manpower has been deployed at all exits to step up patrols. Any items entering or leaving the East Palace are to be carefully inspected. The food eaten by the prince had to be tasted by two guards before the prince could eat it. Pay close attention to the movements of the Chengqian Palace, all the guards of the East Palace who are on duty to rest, and the swords must not leave their bodies at night, and they can immediately enter the battle when they get the order. ”

At the same time, the chief eunuchs and guards of the Chengqian Hall and the Yanying Hall also gave lectures to the palace people and guards, all asking them to raise their vigilance and strengthen their vigilance.

Datang will be the prisoner. It is located in the middle of nowhere, covering an extremely large area, heavily guarded, and highly confidential.

As a department that provided equipment for the Tang army, the work of supervising the prison was strictly confidential and extremely busy.

The general who was dressed in the five-grade scarlet official uniform of the Tang Dynasty found Yan Lide, the highest official of the general and wearing the red official uniform of the Tang Dynasty, and said: "My lord, I just received three warrants for equipment, these three warrants are from the hands of big people, and the equipment requested is extremely important and urgent, I don't know what to do with it?" Adult, please decide. ”

Yan Lide took the warrant, and when he saw the famous thorn, he was stunned, and when he looked at the content, he was even more surprised.

He said slowly: "The crown prince's decree, the Qin Wang Ling, and the Qi Wang Ling, what are the three of them asking for large defensive equipment at the same time-bed crossbow?" It's still so urgent, could it be that something big is going to happen in the capital? ”

After a moment's thought, he asked the general as a prisoner, "Have you asked the person who sent the warrant?" The crown prince, the king of Qin, and the king of Qi want large-scale defensive equipment - what is the use of bed crossbows? Which place to equip? ”

The general replied, "Yes." The guards of the prince's east palace said that the prince was going to equip the east palace and strengthen the guards; His Royal Highness the King of Qin's guards said that His Royal Highness the King of Qin should be equipped with a Chengqian Palace; His Royal Highness the King of Qi's guards said that His Royal Highness the King of Qi should be equipped with the Yanying Palace. ”

"Donggong? Chengqian Palace? Yeonyeongjeon? Hearing these three places, Yan Lide understood, and he smiled helplessly: "Is this a problem from Your Majesty?" It's all the people below us who are embarrassed. ”

After that, he ordered: "At the same time, equip the East Palace of the Prince, the Chengqian Palace of the King of Qin, and the Yanying Palace of the King of Qi with large defensive equipment - bed crossbows, remember to be equipped at the same time, at the same time." ”