Li Yuan nodded, "Shimin is right, I do have this intention. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"But didn't this just fall into Jang Hyun's trap?" Li Jiancheng really couldn't understand why his father had seen through Zhang Xuan, why did he still fall for the other party's plan.

Li Yuan smiled faintly: "Zhang Xuan just asked us to clean up Wang Shichong, but the final result is not completely decided by him, we can also gain something, and more importantly, beating Wang Shichong can reverse the bad impact of our defeat in Jingzhou, which is called losing the east corner and reaping the mulberry elm." ”

Speaking of this, Li Yuan looked at his second son Li Shimin, "Does the emperor understand what I mean?" ”

Li Shimin immediately knelt down and said: "Please ask my father to give his son a month, and his son will take the three counties of Xiyang, Nanyang and Hongnong, and if possible, the son will also take the two counties of Shuyang and Xiangcheng in one go." ”

Li Yuan nodded, "I will give you 100,000 troops, and then let Qu Tutong be your deputy general, and I will destroy Wang Shichong, don't let me be disappointed again." ”

Li Shimin was overjoyed in his heart, his father had reused Qu Tutong, which showed that his father had already admitted his mistake in disguise, but Li Shimin didn't dare to show anything, he lowered his head and said: "My son will never let my father down." ”

Li Yuan said to Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda: "I will leave the matter of negotiating with Zhang Xuan to the two of you, you discuss it, and immediately send someone to Jiangxia to negotiate with Zhang Xuan, as long as the person can come back, the others can be given up." ”

Li Yuan has already thought about it, keeping the army is the most important thing, and other land, population, and materials are not important.

Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda hurriedly got up and agreed, Li Yuan just breathed a sigh of relief, but he heard a slight noise outside, as if he heard someone shouting,

Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, and asked with some displeasure: "What happened outside, why are there people making a noise?" ”

A eunuch rushed out to inquire, and came back in a moment to report, "Your Majesty, it's Zhao Shilang of the Ministry of War, he said that he wants to submit his resignation to His Majesty!" ”

Zhao Shilang of the Ministry of War is Li Yuan's son-in-law Zhao Cijing, and his son-in-law is actually going to resign, what's going on? Li Yuan frowned and said, "Let him come in to see me!" ”

Li Yuan immediately said to the three of them: "You go back first, and immediately do what I have explained, I hope to send troops tomorrow!" ”

After a while, Zhao Cijing walked in quickly, and he could see that the anger on his face had not subsided, and he knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen, the squire of the military department, really can't do it anymore, I would like to resign and return to my hometown, please ask Your Majesty for permission!" ”

Li Yuan was really unhappy in his heart, but he saw Zhao Cijing's anger and knew that there was a reason for it, so he asked: "You are not a child anymore, don't threaten me with your resignation at every turn, and make it clear, what happened?" ”

"Your Majesty, seven of the minister's subordinates had dinner at the Qingyun Wine Restaurant at noon, and were arrested by Xuanwu Jingwei in front of the public, all the officials of the military department are resigning to the minister, and the minister went to the king of Chu to reason, only to learn that seven subordinates have been beaten to death, and the remaining six people have been beaten to death, and finally they showed the minister a bloody confession, accused of colluding with the Northern Sui, the minister feels deeply guilty, and can no longer serve as the post of the military department, and must take the blame and resign, please approve it!"

In the end, Zhao Cijing trembled with excitement, he could no longer restrain the resentment in his heart, tears welled up, he couldn't imagine that the king of Chu was so cruel that the dignified official would be beaten to death by him, if the Son of Heaven still protected this person, he would not do it to the death.

Li Yuan was speechless for a long time, although Yuanji had obtained his own approval to monitor the hundred officials, and the establishment of Xuanwu Jingwei was also approved by himself, but this time it seemed to be a bit excessive, he immediately picked up the gold medal, handed it to the guards, and said: "Go to the palace of the king of Chu immediately, order the king of Chu to release the people, let the injured be treated by the imperial medical department, and return the body of the deceased to the family, in addition, let the king of Chu come to see me quickly." ”

The guards saluted, took the gold medal and hurried away, Li Yuan softened his tone and said: "You don't need to be so angry, you are not an outsider, there are some things I can tell you, I have received accurate news, there are many people in the imperial court and local counties who have secret contacts with the Northern Sui, but I was worried that it would cause turmoil in the imperial court so I didn't do anything to them, but if I didn't determine, these people would be even more unscrupulous, and more people would secretly defect to the Northern Sui, so I asked the king of Chu to kill a hundred people at the right opportunity to make an example and deter hundreds of officials, It is estimated that these military officials happened to hit the knife edge. ”

Zhao Cijing said angrily: "Since you want to make an example of you, let's take those who really collude with the Northern Sui, why kill innocents indiscriminately, Jiang Deqing is my henchman, and I am going to recommend him to be the commander of the military department next month, but now he is being beaten to death, Your Majesty, it is difficult for anyone to accept this result." ”

"I am also sorry for this matter, but since a person is dead, he cannot be resurrected, I can give him a knighthood, bury him, and his family can also double the pension, you go and appease them!"

Zhao Cijing was speechless, he felt that the Son of Heaven had no intention of punishing Li Yuanji, and was still excusing Li Yuanji, which made him very disappointed, the saint reprimanded Li Yuanji at most, but Jiang Deqing died in vain, for a while, Zhao Cijing was disheartened, he really didn't want to be this military squire anymore, he really couldn't do it, so he went to the local government to serve as the guard.

At this time, the eunuch reported outside the door: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu asks to see!" ”

Zhao Cijing really didn't want to see Li Yuanji, so he got up and said, "Weichen go to appease his subordinates and retire first!" ”

"Go ahead! I will ask you about the situation and give you an explanation. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, the minister is leaving!"

Zhao Cijing slowly retreated, just walked out of the imperial study, and happened to meet Li Yuanji head-on, he just didn't think there was Li Yuanji, and passed by him with a cold face, Li Yuanji looked back at Zhao Cijing and walked away, snorted coldly, and he also walked into the imperial study quickly.

"The sons see their father, I wish my father long live, long live, long live!"

"No rudeness!"

"Thank you, Father." Li Yuanji stood up and stood aside with his hands down.

Li Yuan glanced at him and said extremely dissatisfied: "What's the matter with the officials of the Ministry of War, why did you arrest them and beat people to death, how did you do this?" ”

Li Yuanji has already taken a countermeasure, and said unhurriedly: "Father, first of all, they are indeed talking about the court in vain, my people have heard them speak disrespectfully to the court and their father, and they themselves admit that they have complained a few words to the court, as for beating people to death, it is not the original intention of the son, it is that the interrogator is eager to obtain a confession, and the punishment is too hasty, and the person who was beaten to death is too weak, and he can't bear thirty sticks, in short, the son-in-law has dismissed the interrogation official, and he has been beaten with a hundred sticks to drive him out of the palace of the king of Chu, and it is estimated that he will not survive under a hundred kills. ”

After a pause, Li Yuanji secretly glanced at his father's face, and continued: "Secondly, Erchen found that the wind direction in Chang'an City has been a little wrong recently, rumors are spreading, people are panicking, everyone can open their mouths to talk nonsense, shake the hearts of the army and the people, but they don't have to bear any responsibility, this is not good, you must pay the price for talking nonsense, Erchen decided to take resolute measures, we must stop this unhealthy wind, and implore my father to agree!" ”

Li Yuanji is also very skillful in speaking, he does not admit that he arrested the wrong person, but only said that the interrogator did not know the severity of the attack, and he also lightly shifted the responsibility to the interrogator who was physically weak, and he couldn't even endure 30 sticks.

But then he intensified his demand for higher power, expanding the surveillance area from hundreds of officials to civilians, and he wanted to strengthen the control of speech over the officials and people in Chang'an.

In fact, Li Yuan supports the plan of his fourth son Li Yuanji from the bottom of his bones, and he also believes that when the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to the Tang Dynasty, it is necessary to control public opinion with an iron fist, otherwise all kinds of rumors and speculations will spread unscrupulously in the government and the opposition and will shake the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, so he does not have much opinion on the death of the military official, to some extent, the death of this official can make many people learn to shut up.

It's just that Li Yuan is not as direct as Li Yuanji, and it is easy to be caught, he has to be more subtle and his methods are more ingenious.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment and said: "Don't openly arrest and kill people at every turn, this will cause panic in the government and the opposition, and it will also cause turmoil in Chang'an, you have to learn to be smart, you have to learn to operate in secret, and not only eradicate bad elements, but also support a group of our mouthpieces, so that public opinion in Chang'an will be controlled and guided by us, do you understand?" ”

Li Yuanji was overjoyed, his father agreed to expand the scope of his surveillance, and he hurriedly knelt down and said: "The sons will do their best to maintain the stability of the Tang Dynasty, and no one will be allowed to destroy it." ”

"Go ahead! I'm a little tired and need to rest for a while. ”

Li Yuan leaned on the dragon couch and slowly closed his eyes, Li Yuanji slowly retreated, he hadn't gone out yet, Li Yuan suddenly remembered something again, opened his eyes and said to Li Yuanji: "What I asked you to do two days ago, how prepared were you?" ”

"Please rest assured that the sons are ready, all the big businessmen in Guanzhong, Longyou, and Bashu have been collected, a total of more than 1,300 households, and the sons will order Xuanwu Jingwei to carry out the cleanup from tomorrow, and they will definitely raise the money and food needed by the father in the shortest possible time."

Li Yuanji left in a hurry, Li Yuan's brain cells that were just about to rest began to be active again, the imperial court's finances could no longer be supported, there was no point in throttling, it could only be open source, and it was the inevitable choice of the previous dynasties in the face of the crisis to do businessmen, and he Li Yuan was no exception.

But it is not enough to just do it to the merchants, and the war he is about to launch against Wang Shichong also needs a lot of money and food support, in addition to the merchants, another rich group is the Guanlong nobles, and this time it is inevitable that the Guanlong nobles will have another blood.

However, Li Yuan also knew that in the past year or two, he had deprived the Guanlong nobles too much, as long as they bleed and did not give a little benefit, it would trigger a strong backlash from the Guanlong nobles against him.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, then took up his pen and wrote an edict on a plain sign, and pressed his personal seal, he handed the note to a eunuch, "Go and hand over this edict to the prince quickly!" (To be continued.) )