As the sun sets, the purple and red sunset shines on the golden dome of the Taiji Palace, and the glazed tiles shimmer with a magnificent light, as if heralding the final glory of an empire.

It was quiet in the imperial study, the curtains had been drawn halfway, and the sunset shè entered through the cracks in the windows, dyeing the entire east wall purple.

Li Yuan sat behind the imperial case, as if an old monk had settled down, and he didn't know how long he had been sitting like this, an hour or half an hour?

He was knocked down by a piece of news, and on his imperial case was an eagle letter sent from Xiangyang, and on the slender note was Li Xiaogong's handwritten letter, just a short line of words, 'Li Mi has been exterminated by the Sui army, and Yang Yuanqing is in Jiangnan. ’

This news completely shattered Li Yuan's dream of dividing the north and the south, and from the time of the destruction of Chang'an City, he considered moving the capital to the south, Bashu or Xiangyang, and implementing the division of the north and south with the Sui Dynasty.

And now that the Sui army occupies Jiangnan, his dream is completely shattered, and the next step of the Sui army must be to attack Jingxiang, what should he do? ……

Li Jiancheng had been waiting outside the imperial study for nearly half an hour, he didn't dare to disturb his father's contemplation, but he didn't dare to leave, he didn't know what was going on, but he just heard the eunuchs say that his father was in an extremely bad mood, which made his heart hang in the air.

However, Li Jiancheng also vaguely guessed that something might have happened in the south, at present, more than 100,000 Sui soldiers are pressing the pass, but there has been no movement, and the Central Plains is also very calm, only there is a war in the south, Xiao Milling Army and Du Fuwei's army teamed up to deal with Li Mi, could it be that the battle has been reversed? It was still the Sui army that sent troops.

Just when Li Jiancheng was thinking wildly, a eunuch came out to report: "His Royal Highness the Prince." Your Majesty has announced your audience. ”

Li Jiancheng stabilized his mind and walked into the imperial study quickly, there was no light in the room, the curtains were drawn, and only a trace of sunset shone into the room, which seemed very dim, and the two eunuchs stood in the corner of the room tremblingly. I didn't dare to move.

Li Jiancheng pointed to the two crane-beak immortal lanterns on the side, and instructed the eunuch, "Light the lamp!" ”

"Don't light the lights." Li Yuan's deep voice came from the room.

Li Jiancheng hurriedly stepped forward and bowed. "See Father!"

"I just received a message from Hyo-gong."

Li Yuan's voice was still very low, full of a trace of helplessness and melancholy, "Li Mi has perished. Now Yang Yuanqing is in Jiangnan. ”

"What?"

This news made Li Jiancheng stunned, although he had already guessed that the Sui army would interfere in the battle of Jiangnan, but the news of Li Mi's demise still made it difficult for him to accept it for a while.

Li Yuan sighed, "It should be that the Sui army detoured Jiangdu from the sea route and conquered Li Mi's rear, making Li Mi difficult to take care of and defeated in a battle." ”

Li Yuan's sigh also included unspoken words, that is, the second son Shimin had seen through the Sui army's plot in advance and asked the Tang army to support Li Mi. was only rejected by them, which made Li Yuan regret it slightly, what would happen if he listened to the words of the people at that time?

Li Jiancheng lowered his head, and he heard his father's sigh. This made him feel very uncomfortable, and he muttered: "Although the people of the world first judged that the Sui army would take the sea route, but it was only his inference from the map, and there was no accurate intelligence to support it, so we can't rush to the Central Plains for an inference and tear up the agreement signed with the Sui army." The Father should understand that this is not realistic. ”

Li Yuan suddenly realized that he couldn't blame the prince too much, so he changed his tone and said: "I don't regret not sending troops to the Central Plains, as you said, this is just an inference, tearing up the Sui and Tang agreements for an inference must be a stupid decision, I don't regret it, it's just ......"

Speaking of this, Li Yuan let out a long sigh, "It's just that what should we do now?" ”

Li Yuan's eyes fell on Li Jiancheng, and his eyes were asking him, what should he do now? Li Jiancheng has also thought about this problem for a long time, and he also has his own plan, but he never dared to say his thoughts easily, but now, he can't do it if he doesn't say it, as the prince, he should bear this pressure.

"Father, the son's suggestion is to move the capital to Bashu and establish a new capital in Chengdu Mansion."

"Move the capital!"

Li Yuan's gaze became stern, "At least seventy percent of the officials in the imperial court are from Guanlong, do you think it is possible to move the capital to Bashu?" ”

"But father, we must at least leave a consequence for ourselves, once Guanzhong is in danger, we can also move to Bashu in time, at least now it's time to prepare."

Li Jiancheng was not intimidated by his father's stern eyes, he knew his father's mind very well, in fact, his father had long wanted to move the capital, but he didn't dare to implement it, otherwise, why did he propose to transfer the grain and materials in the pass to Bashu.

What's more important is that now we must face the reality and do the worst [da] calculation, if there is no prior arrangement, once the preparation is insufficient, the Sui army will attack Guanzhong, and they will not even have a way to retreat, at least gradually transfer the resources of the capital to Bashu.

Li Jiancheng mustered up the courage to say: "People have no foresight, they must have near-term worries, and we must do a good job of the worst [da]." ”

The sternness in Li Yuan's eyes gradually subsided, and he became melancholy, and after a while, he sighed and said: "I'm just very worried, once we show signs of moving the capital to Bashu, it will cause chaos in the government and the opposition, especially the Guanlong nobles, they will not accept it, and it will cause even greater chaos, so I am in a dilemma, and it is difficult to make a decision." ”

The imperial study was quiet, neither of them spoke, and after a while, Li Jiancheng said: "Father and Emperor are just worried, are the courtiers really against moving the capital to Bashu?" In fact, there is no conclusive conclusion, and Erchen thinks he can test it. ”

"How to tempt?"

"For example, the father can announce that he will go to inspect Bashu to see the reaction of the government and the opposition."

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, this method is good, let's test it first and see how the subjects react? ……

In the afternoon of the same day, there was news in the Taiji Palace, the Tang Emperor Li Yuan will tour Bashu in the south ten days later, this news suddenly caused a sensation in the government and the opposition, a sensation in the capital, since ancient times, the emperor's patrol has always been a major event, many times, in fact, it is synonymous with an emperor's escape.

For example, Emperor Yang Guangnan of the Sui Dynasty toured Jiangdu, which was actually to escape to Jiangdu. never returned to Luoyang, especially at such a sensitive moment, when hundreds of thousands of Sui troops in the pass were pressed and a big war would break out at any time, but the saint suddenly announced that he was going to the south to tour Bashu, which really made people doubt his real motives.

As soon as the news came out, there was a lot of discussion in the entire capital. Almost everyone fell into a state of panic, deeply anxious about the future and fate of Datang, and the crisis of public opinion caused by the breach of Chang'an. After less than a month of silence, it was triggered again.

In the past few days, Duguzhen has felt a little sick, and he has taken sick leave to recuperate at home. But in fact, he has been inspecting the major manors in Guanzhong for the past few days, and he only returned to the Central Plains at noon today, but as soon as he returned to the Central Plains, he encountered the news that Li Yuan was going to tour the south.

This news also shocked him, and he immediately keenly captured the deep meaning hidden behind Li Yuan's southern tour, and Li Yuan most likely wanted to move the capital to Bashu.

This made Dugu Zhen angry, and the Guanlong nobles exhausted countless money and grain to support the Tang Dynasty and support him Li Yuan. But in the end, Li Yuan wanted to abandon them ruthlessly, where is the festival?

Dugu Zhen paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, and although he had decided to surrender to the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan's attempt to move the capital to Bashu still hurt him deeply.

Thinking of Li Yuan's army, the Dugu family gave up most of Luoyang's property in order to return to Guanzhong. Thinking that in the past three years, the Dugu family has almost exhausted nearly sixty percent of the money and grain to support the Tang Dynasty, but in the end, the bamboo basket [da] water is empty.

An irrepressible anger and disappointment deeply pierced Dugu Zhen's heart, the Dugu family may be able to surrender to the Sui Dynasty and keep a little interest, but what about the other Guan Long family? What should they do?

As the leader of the Guanlong aristocracy. Dugu Zhen felt that he had to take action, and he couldn't let Li Yuan hurt them without any scruples.

At this time, footsteps sounded outside the door, and then Dugu Liang's voice came, "Family master, can I come in?" ”

"Come in!"

Dugu Liang walked into the room, he saw the anger that Dugu Zhen couldn't hide, so he smiled: "The head of the family is angry about Li Yuannan's tour of Bashu?" ”

Dugu Zhen held back the anger in his heart and sat down, "Naturally, I'm here for this, what do you think he meant by his southern tour of Bashu." ”

"I think he is tempting, testing our attitude towards him moving the capital to Bashu, if everyone does not object to his southern tour of Bashu, maybe he will really announce the move to the south, if everyone opposes fiercely, then the matter of the southern tour will be over, in short, he himself wants to move the capital to Bashu."

Dugu Zhen sighed, "Since the destruction of Chang'an City, the Tang Dynasty has begun to lose people's hearts, and Li Yuan did not find a way to fight hard to unite people's hearts, but ran to negotiate with the Sui Dynasty and signed those treaties that lost power and humiliated the country, and lived secretly, which is really chilling!" How many days can such a court be supported? ”

Dugu Liang was silent for a moment and said: "Maybe he wants to lie down and taste his courage, at least I think the prince thinks so." ”

"Lying on the salary? Hum! ”

Dugu Zhen snorted coldly, "I've been fighting for power all day long, I can't see where he is lying on his back and trying his courage, saying that he wants to take back the military power of King Qin, has he taken it back?" Since he wants to collect military power, he should make a decision immediately and directly imprison King Qin, but in the end, he let him run away, holding military power, now it depends on how he collects military power, it is estimated that it will be over in the end, I am worried that if it continues to be consumed like this, how many days will Datang still consume? ”

Dugu Liang was silent for a moment, and reminded him in a low voice, "Has the head of the family forgotten?" We have reached a compromise with Yang Yuanqing. ”

"I know, I just hate Li Tang for not being able to support Adou, in vain the Dugu family supports him so much, I knew that we should have supported Yang Yuanqing in Fengzhou at the beginning, and we would not lose seventy percent of the land."

Dugu Zhen sighed hatefully, his heart was dripping with blood, this was his mistake as the head of the family, but it was this mistake that had a major impact on the Dugu family, which made him sigh for a long time and sighed with emotion.

But today Dugu Liang came to the head of the family, not for this matter, but for another thing, he saw that Dugu Zhen mentioned Li Shimin, the king of Qin, several times, but did not mention that incident at all, so he couldn't help but remind: "Has the head of the family forgotten?" Yang Yuanqing took away the land of the Dugu family from eighty percent to seventy percent, but there are conditions. ”

Dugu Zhen trembled, he really forgot about that incident, thanks to Dugu Liang's reminder.

He nodded, "I see, I'll find a way to bring about infighting between their brothers." ”

As soon as he said this, a report from the housekeeper came from outside the door: "Master, Dou Xiangguo is here." ”