In the northeast corner of Chang'an City, the Yuanfang leads the river outside the city to form a water system, and countless water pavilions and towers are built, and strange and different grasses are planted. iǎ bridges and flowing water, rich courtyards abound, and now this place is even more beautiful than the original Xingqingfang Five Princes' Mansion. At this time, the ūn wind is coming, and Wan Hong is waiting to be released, and it is shy to be released in the ūn wind with a warm breath, which is really like heaven and earth. Day and night, the sound of silk and bamboo orchestras does not stop for a moment, and you can see the delicate iǎ Niang everywhere.

The crown prince Li Chenghong lives here, and when he sees such a beautiful scenery, he will sigh every time: What a place to dissipate his ambition.

Now he is playing chess with the officials of the Prince's Mansion. The life of the elite class is very comfortable and leisurely, and the things that everyone likes are nothing more than polo, banquets, songs and dances, poems, etc., as well as Go, which is very popular with people at this time, and the rules are very different from the rules of later generations, but now it is Baizi first.

There is a faint sound of silk and bamboo outside the window, but if there is no sound is very iǎ, the prince's mansion is still relatively quiet, most of the time the two people playing against each other are silent thinking about the chess game, occasionally chatting a few words, and then there is the sound of "popping".

The old-fashioned house has a pale pattern wallpaper on the walls of the rammed clay panel, ornate and beautiful wooden windows, and a spotless floor, so you won't feel dirty even if you sit directly on the ground. However, they were sitting on a futon next to a low table, Li Chenghong was kneeling, and the master opposite was sitting very relaxed.

The crown prince took a step, and then said silently while waiting: "Mr. Li feels that King Jin has a large amount of money, what will he do with it?" ”

The old master's name is Li Wenda, and he has the same surname as the Tang clan, but there are many people with the surname Li in the world, and there is nothing surprising when he always meets people with the surname of the country.

Li Wenda casually put a flag in his hand and said: "What does Princess Taiping do, he will do the same, maybe he will do better...... 'money method' is better than the 'oblique sealing official' method?" ”

The prince frowned and said: "What Mr. Li said is extremely true, at that time, he will buy a large number of talents, and his power will be even greater!" and colluded with the palace queen Gao inside and outside, and our Li Tang Jiangshan fell into the hands of others! ”

"Your Royal Highness calmed down first, there is no way to do this, the King of Jin will definitely promote the money law through Queen Guò, the prime ministers of the court and the central government have all received the benefits of Princess Taiping, who is willing to stand up against it? At this point, it is useless to dwell on it...... Your Highness, you lost this game. Li Wenda pointed to the chessboard and smiled calmly, "Admit it." ”

The prince looked down and looked a little ugly.

"His Royal Highness was distracted, so he lost quickly, alas, I wanted to let one go. My horse is not worth much, and I will earn it if I lose it to His Highness in exchange for a treasure. ”

The prince said: "The horse is not about value, but about personal preference. I like white horses, and it is rare for Mr. Li's white horse to be tall. ”

Li Wenda said: "It's good-looking, not very useful." If you want speed, you don't have speed, you have to stamina, you don't have stamina. Your Highness likes it, and you can take it away. ”

"No, it's good to win chess before you win the horse." The prince frowned and said, "It's not over yet, I don't think I've lost." ”

Li Wenda looked at the chessboard in amazement: "Although there is still open space, according to the rules, it will not be finished." But the general trend has been decided, and when it is obvious, why bother to fill it up again? ”

The prince said: "According to what you said, at the beginning, Princess Wei Hou Anle held the government in her hands, and the internal and external places were almost full, and the general trend has been decided, why would she let others have a chance to turn around?" ”

"Lao Yu is talking about chess, although Go is deep, but the rules are dead, how can it be compared with the changes of the temple?"

"It's the same with chess, Mr. Li will stay with me for a while, wait and see." The prince said persistently.

Li Wenda sighed, shook his head a little boringly, and had to continue to accompany him. The two fell silent again, and only the sound of "crackling" fell around.

After a long time, Li Wenda said "Huh" and suddenly said: "The first two steps were carelessly wrong. ”

"No repentance." The prince laughed.

"It's just careless, what's the matter." Li Wenda also laughed and argued.

"Okay, you are allowed to regret two steps, otherwise you will not accept the white horse for me."

So Li Wenda picked up two white seeds, and the prince also picked up two and started again. Unexpectedly, just a few steps down, Li Wenda wondered again: "Why is it still like this?" ”

The prince laughed and said, "If you want to regret the chess at least twelve moves, then Mr. Li began to make mistakes." ”

Li Wenda threw the flag in his hand back into the porcelain jar: "Old decay admits defeat." ”

The prince clenched his fists proudly and said, "Admit it." Mr. Lee's horse...... But you can go to the stable and pick any one later. In addition, I have gold and silver artifacts, antiques, calligraphy and paintings in this house, just pick one at will. ”

"How embarrassing is the old decay." Li Wenda said.

The prince said: "You really have to pick one, otherwise I will feel like I am angry." ”

"The old decay is respectful, it is better to obey his fate." Li Wenda stood up and looked at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and said silently, "Although His Highness's surprise victory convinces the old man, it is not a good thing to be too concerned about winning or losing. ”

"Thank you, Mr. Lee, for your words." The prince pondered for a moment and said, "I tried to win a hand in the matter of money law, but I soon found that the chance was not big, and now that I think about it, I can only do it." Didn't Mr. Li just say that playing chess is playing chess and doing things is doing things, and you can't talk about it...... If he has the advantage here, why should I fight him head-on? Finding a different way is the way to win. ”

……

Prince Li Chenghong's hand is indeed so bad that it can't be helped, and it is 108,000 miles worse than what Li Longji had in his hand at the beginning. Xue Chongxun didn't regard him as a fierce rival, just a stumbling stone.

Li Longji was the crown prince at that time, although his power was worse than that of Taiping, he had someone available in his hands, and he also had the support of the prime minister in the court at first. Moreover, the Tang Long coup d'état after the overthrow of Wei was a righteous act to support Li Tang's power, and he gained enough fame and prestige in the hearts of the forbidden army and the scholars.

On the other hand, what does Lee Seung-hong have? Except for the status of the crown prince, there is almost nothing. His father, the emperor, was still supported by Princess Taiping, and he has not made achievements compared to Zhongzong and Ruizong; Looking at the temple again, none of the prime ministers and ministers of the various factions were willing to stand on his side. The generals in the forbidden army are also former ministers of the Taiping Party......

Although Princess Taiping can't take care of things now, the pattern of the court is almost the same as when Empress Wei was in power, from the army to the courtiers, all of them are other people's people. At the beginning, there were Li Dan and Princess Taiping, who were more powerful; Who else is there today?

The people in the Li family's bloodline who are close to the center of power are nothing more than the sons of Gaozong and Wu Zetian, and the blood relatives of other clans are far apart, and there is almost no foundation anymore. Wu Zetian's three sons, Li Xian, the prince of Zhang Huai, Li Xian of Tang Zhongzong, and Li Dan, the current emperor of the Taishang Dynasty (the person with the temple name Ruizong).

Prince Zhang Huai had several sons, most of whom died in the Wu Zetian Dynasty, and only the current emperor Li Shouli survived, and then Li Shouli spread out and had dozens of sons.

The four sons of Zhongzong Li Xian have all withered away by now. The eldest son died in the Wu Dynasty; When Ruizong ascended the throne, he called the emperor Zhongyuan and the year name Kefu in Junzhou, and took the post from Junzhou to the eastern capital Luoyang, in order to enter Tongguan in the west and enter Chang'an, compete for the throne, and was chased by the cantonment soldiers and fled to the mountains, and committed suicide by jumping; The three-character Li Chongjun launched a coup d'état as the crown prince and was killed in a failed manner; The fourth son, Li Chongmao, ascended the throne at the age of sixteen, but less than a month after his accession to the throne, Li Longji, the king of Linzi, and Princess Taiping jointly launched a coup d'état, and he was removed from the throne and "died" in Fangzhou in the second year of Changyuan.

Li Dan is in the same vein, and during the Jingyun coup, several sons were all killed by Princess Taiping's henchmen. The third son, Li Longji, fled and staged a coup d'état in Luoyang last year, gathering troops west to Tongguan, where he was killed by the Jin king Xue Chongxun and his official army. Li Dan is now a lonely man, cultivating immortals in the Sanqing Palace.

Only Li Shouli, the son of Prince Zhang Huai, was left with the throne in a daze, but Princess Taiping couldn't afford to fall ill, leaving a mess, he was powerless, and he spent time on the side of the Tai Armpit Pond every day. He has always been so confused, so several of Prince Zhang Huai's sons were all killed by Wu Zetian, and he should have his personal reasons for living well. When Li Shouli was doing assassination in Youzhou, except for playing NV, he was hunting and playing, and he didn't care about official and family affairs, so although there were many of his sons, there were few of them. Most of the sons are not doing their jobs, and the NV children are not chaste.

In the more than 20 years since Wu Zetian's death, there have been dozens of coups inside and outside the Tang court, which greatly weakened Li Tang's morale. Originally, people in the world expected Li Longji to try the endgame again and make a comeback, but unexpectedly, the success and failure are still the same as in the past.

The political situation in the Tang Dynasty has not been stable for a long time, but the society is constantly developing and progressing, and the production of goods is becoming more and more abundant. The movements of the upper strata were digested under the condition of strong national strength, and failed to cause the invasion of foreign invaders during the great period of the world, and the reckless Y - took the opportunity to start an incident, and they were all beaten all over the ground by the regular troops of the powerful Tang Army, and Tubo was defeated the year before last, losing most of the strategic points on the eastern front. This is a wonderful era, where the instability of the upper class coexists with the open development of society.

Forming the current status quo, the Li family's luck is weak, no matter who wants to regain the endgame, it will only become more and more difficult, from Zhongzong to Li Tang, to Li Longji's attempt to regroup, and now to Li Chenghong, the conditions are more and more harsh every time. The stall that Lee Seunghong faced was more difficult, and there was almost no room for leverage......

Xue Chongxun was also thinking about these general trends when he was quiet, he didn't think that Li Chenghong could shoulder the great task of reviving Li Tang. It's just that the conditions are too poor, and I can't see that Li Chenghong has any ability to defy the sky.

In Xue Chongxun's eyes, Li Chenghong's ability is worse than Li Sanlang's more than eight streets.

Since this is such a situation, the posture that Xue Chongxun should take is clear, and it is not Taoguang Yang Hui (who is it for?). and not rashly...... Instead, he made a fortune, managed his own power chain, and cultivated overwhelming forces, which was the wisest way for him to do it. The so-called digging deep and accumulating grain slowly became king. A