Late at night, Li Jiancheng hurriedly walked towards the Wude Hall under the guidance of two palace maids holding lanterns, Li Jiancheng was quite surprised in his heart, it was already two watches, and his father had to summon him, what was the reason?

But Li Jiancheng still vaguely realized that something must have happened, otherwise, his father would not be still in the imperial study at this time. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Jiancheng walked into the Wude Palace, only to see that both sides were full of guards, heavily guarded, the hall was brightly lit, and there were more than a dozen eunuchs standing in front of the gate of the imperial study. ”

"What's wrong with my father?" Li Jiancheng asked in surprise.

"I don't know, the saint has locked himself in the room since the afternoon, the water and rice have not entered, Chen Xiangguo has come to persuade him to no avail, I beg His Highness to persuade the saint again!"

Li Jiancheng was even more frightened, what happened to make his father so out of shape?

At this moment, Chen Shuda hurriedly walked out of the imperial study and asked in a low voice, "Has His Royal Highness the Crown Prince come down?" ”

"Chen Xiangguo, I'm here!"

As soon as Chen Shuda turned around, he saw Li Jiancheng, and he smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness is finally here." ”

Li Jiancheng hurriedly pulled him aside, "Xiangguo, what happened?" ”

Chen Shuda's eyes were gloomy, "Duan Decao led the army to surrender to the Northern Sui, and Rulin County also fell, and the saint suffered a great blow, and Cheng Duo heard that he was also unfortunately killed in battle......"

Speaking of this, Chen Shuda's voice was a little choked, Li Jiancheng was silent, he really didn't expect the situation to be so serious, he hurriedly comforted Chen Shuda and said: "Life can't be resurrected, Xiangguo, please mourn and change!" ”

"I'm fine, Your Highness should persuade the Holy One! He was hit too hard. ”

Li Jiancheng patted Chen Shuda's arm lightly, and then walked quickly towards the imperial study, Chen Shuda hesitated, did not follow up, but stood at the door and waited for the summons.

In the imperial study, Li Yuan stood in front of the window with his hands in his hands, silently staring at the half-moon in the sky, his eyes looked very heavy.

At this time, Li Jiancheng walked in lightly, stood for a moment, knelt down and said in a deep voice: "The son sees his father!" ”

Li Yuan didn't move, and said slowly after a while: "Did Chen Xiangguo tell you?" ”

"A little bit of it."

"It's really not much, but the consequences are extremely serious!"

Li Jiancheng didn't say anything, waiting for his father to continue, Li Yuan slowly turned around, returned to the wall, looked at the map hanging on the wall, and said with a little sadness: "Diaoyin County is lost, Shuofang County and Yanchuan County Taishou have also surrendered successively, the Northern Sui army is marching towards Lingwu County, it seems that they are going to destroy Liang Shidu and take Lingwu County in one go, if the Northern Sui stops, it will be enough, Duan Decao's army surrendered, so that Longyou and Hexi have no army to resist, if the Tang army goes south, Longyou Hexi may not be able to keep, That's why I'm determined not to let them occupy the Loop, and the emperor should know the consequences are serious. ”

"Erchen understands!"

"Humph! Duan Decao actually betrayed me, and he trusted him so much and let him lead the army alone, he disappointed me so much! ”

Although Li Jiancheng did not participate in the decision-making of the imperial study that day, he was very clear about the cause and effect of this incident, and he also knew that the root cause was that his father had placed the Northern Sui envoy under house arrest and tore up the agreement reached before, which angered Zhang Xuan, and the army immediately went south.

In fact, Zhang Xuan's occupation of the Hetao does not necessarily want to move Diaoyin County, otherwise he would have sent troops a long time ago, Li Jiancheng can understand Zhang Xuan's attitude, first, he sees it for the sake of jointly fighting against the Turks, and secondly, he needs to consolidate the occupation of Hetao, so he will not move Diaoyin County for the time being, but his father did a little too much this time, resulting in Zhang Xuan's retaliation.

As for Duan Decao's surrender to the Northern Sui, Li Jiancheng can fully understand that under the high-pressure situation of his father, it is strange that Duan Decao does not surrender.

Although Li Jiancheng knew the ins and outs of the matter, he didn't know why his father was looking for him?

But he also vaguely guessed a little, could it be......

Li Yuan returned to his seat and sat down, he pondered for a long time and said, "I want to restart the negotiations, but the mistakes I made before need to be explained, so I brought the emperor here." ”

"Did my father ask his sons to negotiate with the envoys of the Northern Sui?"

Li Yuan shook his head, "You don't understand what I mean, someone has to come out and take responsibility for what happened recently......."

Li Jiancheng's heart sank suddenly, it turned out that his father wanted to take responsibility for himself and carry this black cauldron, this was his father's intention to find himself, but ...... Duan Decao is the second brother's person, why didn't his father let the second brother come out to take responsibility, but let himself take responsibility.

Li Jiancheng felt an indescribable grievance in his heart, he lowered his head and never said a word.

Li Yuan glanced at him and said, "In addition to the responsibility of the person in power, there is also the responsibility of the proposer, I have decided to remove Liu Wenjing's phase, and the emperor can recommend a successor." ”

This is a compensation for Li Jiancheng's responsibility, but Li Jiancheng wants to know more, what responsibility does his father have to bear? Do you want to take the opportunity to abolish your crown prince, of course, abolishing the crown prince is a major event that shakes the country's foundation, and the father will not do this kind of thing, so what responsibility does the father have to make himself?

After a while, Li Jiancheng asked in a low voice: "What responsibility does the father want his son to bear?" ”

Li Yuan smiled gently: "Of course, it is only symbolic to take responsibility, the day after tomorrow, I hope that the emperor can write to blame himself and take responsibility for the defeat of Diaoyin County this time, I will be fined for one year, and nothing else, as for the envoy of the Northern Sui, I will let Chen Xiangguo solve it." ”

Li Jiancheng nodded silently, he understood what his father meant, and he didn't have to be punished, but to bear the notoriety of losing his troops and losing his territory, it was his Li Jiancheng's decision, which led to Duan Decao's surrender and Diaoyin County was captured, Li Jiancheng felt extremely uncomfortable, but he had no choice, since his father decided that he had to implement it unconditionally.

"The son is willing to share the worries of his father!"

The son's attitude was not bad, Li Yuan nodded and smiled: "I also said just now, you can recommend a successor Xiangguo and tell me what you think?" ”

Li Jiancheng was silent for a moment and said: "Wang Junkuo's decision to fight jointly with the Sui army is completely the decision of his son, and it has nothing to do with him, and I implore my father not to hold him responsible." ”

Li Yuan looked at his son for a moment, took out a scroll from the cabinet next to him, handed it to Li Jiancheng and said: "This is what he did in the Sui army camp, frankly speaking, only removing him from his military post is already forgiving him, otherwise I will behead him for the crime of collaborating with the enemy, you can see for yourself!" ”

After speaking, Li Yuan threw the scroll heavily on the imperial case, "Take it back and read it!" After reading it, you will understand that my eyes can't rub sand! ”

Li Jiancheng had no choice but to pick up the recital and leave......

The eldest son finally agreed to take responsibility for himself, and Li Yuan's mood was a little better, mainly because Duan Decao's surrender had too much impact, which not only shook his prestige among the ministers, but also caused a series of reactions, especially in the Longyou Hexi region, which would make many counties and counties disagree, and it was not enough to have the prince take responsibility, but also to solve the real threat that Longyou would encounter.

At this time, a eunuch came in and reported: "Your Majesty, they are coming!" ”

"Let them in!"

Not long after, the second son Li Shimin and the fourth son Li Yuanji walked in quickly, and the two knelt down and saluted, "The son sees his father!" ”

"The two emperors are exempt!"

Li Shimin and Li Yuanji stood up and stood aside with their hands down, although Li Yuanji was robbed of the prince because of the battle of Yan'an County, but he was Li Yuan's son after all, Li Yuan only punished Li Yuanji severely in order to explain to the civil and military officials, in private, Li Yuan still liked this son very much.

Li Yuan first said to Li Shimin: "You must also know what happened in Diaoyin County, I know that you value Duan Decao very much, but he has already surrendered to the Northern Sui, so don't mention this person again in the future, understand?" ”

Li Shimin nodded helplessly, "Erchen remembers!" ”

Li Yuan said at this time: "Looking for you to come, there are two important things to be handed over, the first is to transfer power, Erlang's military affairs are heavy, and he has no time to take care of trivial matters in internal affairs, so Xuanwu Huofeng will be handed over to Shilang!" ”

Li Shimin was shocked, this is equivalent to handing over the power of internal supervision to the fourth brother, does the father want the fourth brother to monitor the hundred officials?

But for such an important matter, his father did not discuss it with him in advance, and Li Shimin suddenly felt an unspeakable blockage in his heart, just like his eldest brother heard that he was going to take responsibility for his father.

Li Yuanji couldn't hold back the joy on his face, he immediately knelt down, "Erchen will never let his father down!" ”

Li Shimin glanced at the fourth brother with an excited face, and he understood in his heart that his father must have talked to the fourth brother beforehand, otherwise how would the fourth brother know the Xuanwu Fire Phoenix in his hand? That's top-secret information.

Li Shimin was helpless, so he had to agree, "The son obeys the order, and he will hand it over to the fourth brother in the next two days." ”

"No!"

Li Yuan shook his head, "You hand over early tomorrow morning, and I want you to lead the army to Longyou tomorrow afternoon." (To be continued.) )