"Envoy, what's going on?"

Seven or eight people all looked at Jiang Qingde, their eyes were full of nervousness and expectation, Jiang Qingde hesitated and said: "The situation in the south is absolutely sealed, I just heard a little bit by chance, I can reveal a little bit to everyone, but just listen to these things, but you must not go out and talk nonsense, otherwise everyone will lose their officials." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

"Don't worry! We know in our hearts, so that you can speak quickly. ”

Jiang Qingde lowered his voice and said to everyone: "The situation in Jiangxia is very bad, I heard that Zhang Xuan personally led the army to intercept the northern retreat of the Tang army in Fushui, the Tang army was cut off from food, Li Xiaogong was forced to lead part of the army to retreat to the west, and the rest of the tens of thousands of troops all surrendered to the Sui army, Li Shenfu urgently asked the court for help, and there was another news this morning, Wang Shichong led the army to kill Xiangyang County. ”

Everyone looked at each other, and they were all stunned by the news, it was such a fiasco, and after a while, an official stammered and asked, "Then how did the imperial court decide?" ”

"Who knows! It is estimated that there is still an urgent discussion on the Wude Palace, and no one has the heart to eat. ”

Jiang Qingde muttered, drank all the wine in the cup, and slammed the wine glass on the table, and said indignantly: "A clown like Wang Shichong dares to take advantage of the fire to rob, if the court does not send troops, there is really no way to explain to the subjects of the world." ”

As soon as the words fell, the door of the elegant room was kicked open with a bang, and more than a dozen guards with knives rushed in, dressed in black armor, they were the Xuanwu Jingwei under Li Yuanji, specializing in arresting people and officials who slandered, discussed and betrayed the imperial court, rampant in Chang'an, with great power, eavesdropping on the conversations of the people and officials everywhere, they hid next door, and happened to hear the discussion of a group of military officials.

The captain pointed at Jiang Qingde and said: "Dare to talk about the imperial court and arrest them!" ”

Seven or eight officials stood up in shock and shouted together: "Is there any mistake, we are officials of the military department!" ”

The first lieutenant raised a golden order and sneered: "I am ordered by His Royal Highness the King of Chu to monitor the hundred officials, and those who discuss the court in vain will be arrested, and I will arrest them!" ”

The guards with knives rushed up, where were these weak officials the opponents of this group of big men, they were tied up like chickens one by one, Jiang Deqing shouted angrily: "We didn't talk about the court in vain, you can't just arrest people." ”

"If you have anything to say, go to Jingweilou to explain, take it away for me!"

A group of weak officials were escorted out by the guards with knives, and the officials of the entire Qingyun Liquor Store were shocked, Li Yuanji's Xuanwu Jingwei dared to openly arrest the court officials, but everyone dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, no one dared to speak out, and no one wanted to cause trouble at this time.

The officials silently watched as a group of officials were pushed into a sealed carriage like ducks, and the carriage departed immediately, and everyone's hearts were heavy, and the dignified court officials were arrested after chatting a few words during dinner, and their court was so dark that it was so dark?

.......

In the Wude Palace, the military and political deliberations that began early in the morning have continued to noon, but there is still no result, the son of heaven Li Yuan can't bear the fatigue of his body, and has returned to the imperial study to rest for a while, while the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the second son Li Shimin are still tense, the argument is very fierce, and no one is willing to give in.

Li Jiancheng advocated temporarily abandoning Jingzhou, implementing strategic contraction, and negotiating in exchange for the Tang Dynasty army in Jingzhou, but Li Shimin resolutely disagreed with the decision to give up Jingzhou, especially the seven counties of Jingbei, and even the southern counties.

For the first time, the two brothers tore their faces in the court.

Li Jiancheng's face was full of anger, and every word he said was loud, "You don't know the financial difficulties of the court at all, Zuozang is empty, the stock of copper coins is less than 100,000 yuan, the salaries of the court officials last month have not been paid, the warehouses in Bashu counties have been looted, and even the grain in Yicang has been diverted to the military, the locust plague in the three counties of Longyou cannot be extinguished, and there is no money and grain to help the victims. Our finances have reached this point, where can we support another big war, at this time we must learn to shrink, and wait until we get through the difficulties before thinking about retaking Jingzhou, which is a wise move. ”

At this time, the new household secretary Dou Lu Kuan also came out and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Qin, Weichen also thinks that what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said is reasonable, the war is a war of national strength in the final analysis, and now our national strength cannot support this war, and the fight with the Northern Sui is also bound to lose, and at that time it will cost more money and food, which will only make the court more difficult, it is better to give up Jingzhou, implement strategic contraction, make great efforts, and accumulate strength." ”

Not only did Dou Lukuan clearly support Li Jiancheng, but even Dou Jin, Chen Shuda and Pei Lin also expressed their support for Li Jiancheng, they are all Xiangguo, and they must be speaking from the position of the imperial court, the imperial court's finances are becoming increasingly difficult, and everyone feels very deeply, they all know that the national strength can no longer support the war. ”

Li Shimin saw that everyone was against him, and he turned his head to look at Liu Wenjing again, "Does Liu Xiangguo also think that we should give up Jingzhou?" ”

Liu Wenjing is a supporter of Li Shimin, he was silent for a long time and said: "Weichen understands His Highness's distress, once he withdraws from Jingzhou, the morale of the whole army will fall into a slump, the morale of the whole army will fall into a slump, the military spirit is likely to collapse, and the people of the world will also completely lose confidence in the Tang Dynasty, the consequences are very serious, but the situation is stronger than people, it is not that Weichen does not support His Highness, but it is really our national strength can no longer be supported, we have to retreat, and if we continue to fight, the prices of Chang'an will be completely out of control, and we will lose the hearts of the people, between the military heart and the people's hearts, Weichen values the latter more." ”

In the end of the argument, Li Shimin had no supporters, he looked very lonely, and his heart was very bitter, did he really want to give up the people's support for the seven counties of Jingbei? Thinking that Jiangxia County, which had been painstakingly operated for many years, was thrown away like this, he felt extremely painful in his heart, and he couldn't say a word.

At this time, a eunuch said in a loud voice under the hall: "There is a decree in the Holy Spirit, His Royal Highness Prince Xuan, His Royal Highness the King of Qin, and Chen Xiangguo will go to the imperial study to meet him, and the rest of the ministers can go back to rest first." ”

The crowd breathed a sigh of relief, for noon had passed, and everyone was starving, and it seemed that the Holy One was going to mediate the relationship between their brothers, and the crowd dispersed.

Li Jiancheng and the three of them came to the imperial study behind the Wude Palace, they had lunch first, and then walked into the large room, Li Yuan had rested for nearly an hour, and his strength gradually recovered, he saw the three people come in, so he waved his hand and said, "You sit down!" ”

Li Jiancheng and his brother Li Shimin never spoke, the two seemed to be unable to see each other's existence, although they were only because of their different governing concepts, but the-for-tat heated argument still made their brothers a little hostile.

This is also the main reason why Li Yuan invited Chen Shuda, Chen Shuda can ease the atmosphere in the imperial study at a critical moment.

Chen Shuda understood and naturally sat between the two brothers, separating their brothers.

Li Yuan took out a volume of letters, and said slowly: "This is a secret report from Li Shenfu to me, the content of the report is still relatively objective and credible, from this report I probably understand the causes and consequences of the Jiangxia Campaign, and I also know what the outcome of Jingzhou will be, I don't want to say that the people's idea is wrong, but from the Northern Sui preparation for nearly half a year, and did not hesitate to use all means to conceal the Jianghuai troops, Zhang Xuan's capture of Jingzhou is inevitable, at most a month our army will be annihilated in Jiangxia, I don't want to admit this, but from the perspective of the Battle of Fushui, No matter the right time, the right place and we have lost, in this case we must stop the loss, although it is sad to withdraw from Jingzhou, but we can only face the reality. ”

Li Shimin bit his lip tightly, his father's statement was tantamount to the final verdict, cutting off his last glimmer of hope, and Li Shimin's face showed disappointment that could not be concealed.

Li Yuan glanced at him, and said with a slight smile: "Shimin don't have to be too disappointed, although we have lost Jingzhou, we may be able to make up for it from other aspects......

Li Shimin's mind changed, and he blurted out, "Wang Shichong!" ”

Li Yuan nodded slowly, "Wang Shichong attacked Xiangyang, and even wanted to attack Nanjun with great ambitions, it is said that it was Zhang Xuan who suggested that Wang Shichong attack Xiangyang, I felt strange, is Xiangyang so unimportant to Zhang Xuan?" Obviously, he can take it down, why did he give such an important strategic place to Wang Shichong and want to support Wang Shichong to sit big? A few years ago it might have been possible, but now ......"

Speaking of this, Li Yuan looked at the three of them, and finally his eyes fell on Chen Shuda, he didn't want to say it alone, and he also hoped that Chen Shuda would continue to say it himself.

Chen Shuda understood, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty means that Zhang Xuan deliberately pulled Wang Shichong into this muddy water?" ”

Li Yuan said with a smile: "I have dealt with Zhang Xuan for so many years, and I know him better, this person has always done things first and then seized, and this time is no exception, his delay in entering Jiangling is to introduce Wang Shichong into Jingzhou, and then we will fight with Wang Shichong, and use our hands to defeat Wang Shichong, and finally he will destroy Wang Shichong and seize Luoyang, this method is exactly the same as letting us deal with Liu Wuzhou." ”

Li Jiancheng, who had been silent, said slowly: "What does my father mean to say, let Zhang Xuan deal with Wang Shichong by himself, and no longer repeat Liu Wuzhou's mistakes?" ”

"Wrong!"

Li Shimin said coldly on the side: "Father said very clearly, although Jingzhou has been lost, it can be made up from Wang Shichong." (To be continued.) )