At the same time that the scholars were marching and petitioning, in a slightly remote village west of Taiyuan, a goshawk soared into the air, circled the sky a few times, and flapped its wings to the southwest.

In the Liangyi Hall of Taiji Palace in Chang'an, a court discussion on the imperial examination was underway, Li Yuan originally considered holding the imperial examination after pacifying the world and gathering the talents of the world, but the huge imperial examination in Taiyuan deeply stung him, Li Yuan only felt that the talents of the world were collected by Yang Yuanqing, and he was a little breathless.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have been thinking about why the Northern Sui Dynasty was able to hold the imperial examination when the country was just founded, but our Datang has not moved, I think we should also hold the imperial examination, sincerely recruit people from all over the world, and let the world's talents be used by my Datang."

Li Yuan also has a deeper thought, although the Tongguan incident of the third son Li Yuanji has gradually subsided, but that incident has dealt a heavy blow to his prestige, he is eager to save his reputation and image, the imperial examination is the best way, to win the scholars, buy people's hearts.

At this time, Pei Lin came out of the column to play, "Your Majesty, it is now late October, the cold winter is coming, I am afraid that many scholars will not travel to hold the imperial examination at this time, the minister suggested that the imperial examination will be held next spring, since the Northern Sui is called the autumn examination, then we can call it the spring examination, the minister thinks that it can also attract scholars from all over the world to come to Chang'an." ”

As soon as Pei Lian's words fell, Liu Wenjing stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the minister also wants to say a few words." ”

Li Yuan is no stranger to the infighting between Pei and Liu, as an emperor, he is happy to see the contradiction between the two important ministers, and Pei Lin and the second son Shimin are very close, and Liu Wenjing is the mouthpiece of the crown prince, and the contradiction between the two of them is also a metaphor for the contradiction between Jiancheng and Shimin.

Since the defeat of Hongnong, the contradiction between the eldest son Jiancheng and the second son Shimin has gradually become public, of course, this contradiction is not a dispute for succession, but only a difference in political opinions, for the contradiction between their brothers, Li Yuan did not interfere too much, he is the emperor, he has his own emperor's considerations, the contradiction itself is not terrible, as long as it does not endanger the community, then a certain degree of contradiction exists, but it is conducive to his control of the throne.

So in a sense, Li Yuan hopes that there will be factional disputes in his court, and the contradictions between Liu Wenjing and Pei Lin are evolving from personal grievances to factional struggles, and Li Yuan is also quietly watching the changes.

Li Yuan nodded and smiled: "Liu Aiqing, please speak!" ”

Liu Wenjing took a step forward, raised his voice, and said to the other ministers: "The minister thinks that the imperial examination is not an easy thing, although the Sui Dynasty has held it several times, but in fact it has been strongly resisted by the gate valve family, and it has not been successful in the real sense, the minister thinks that he can't wait for the spring to consider this matter, if the saint has the heart to hold the imperial examination, then he should start preparing now, only when he is fully prepared and makes the imperial examination deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, will there be thousands of scholars to respond, Your Majesty, don't listen to Pei Xiangguo's words of misunderstanding." ”

Pei Lin was furious, he glared at Liu Wenjing and said, "Liu Xiangguo, did I say that I won't prepare now?" I just said that the imperial examination will be held in the spring, and I did not say that it will be ignored now, and of course it is necessary to prepare as soon as possible. ”

Liu Wenjing glanced at him and sneered: "Listen to what you mean, it is clear that the imperial examination is a very simple matter, and it can be held with a pat on the head, but I don't know that the matter of the imperial examination is not handled well, it will arouse public anger at the lightest, and destroy the country at the worst, it is not a simple matter, Pei Xiangguo, you still don't understand." ”

Li Yuan's face suddenly sank, although Liu Wenjing was ridiculing Pei Lian, Li Yuan felt in his heart that he was ridiculing himself, because he was in a hurry to hold the imperial examination, which was clearly ridiculing him for wanting to implement the imperial examination as soon as he patted his head.

At this moment, Yu Wenxin, the young eunuch in the palace, walked into the main hall, bowed down and saluted: "Your Majesty, there is urgent information sent from Taiyuan. ”

Li Yuan glanced at Liu Wenjing dissatisfiedly, forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart and said, "Present it!" ”

A eunuch put a piece of information from Taiyuan on Li Yuan's imperial case, Li Yuan unfolded it and looked at it, his brows furrowed slightly, there was a large-scale parade of scholars in Taiyuan, he glanced at the prince Li Jiancheng who was standing aside, he was very suspicious that someone in Taiyuan was secretly provoking, would it be his own people, he handed over this information to the eunuch. "Show the prince!"

The Liangyi Hall was very quiet, more than a dozen important people looked at a piece of information in Li Yuan's hand with confusion, I don't know what major events happened in Taiyuan, Li Jiancheng was in charge of Datang intelligence, he took the note and read it, and immediately understood what his father meant, and hurriedly said: "Father, the ministers don't know about this matter, it should have nothing to do with us, maybe it was done by Dou Jiande in Hebei." ”

So many families in Hebei sent people to Taiyuan to participate in the imperial examination, how could Dou Jiande be kind to his heart, maybe it was he who did it, Li Yuan nodded, and said to Li Jiancheng: "Pass the note to the ministers to read!" ”

The message on the note is very short, you can read it at a glance, more than a dozen important ministers quickly passed it on, everyone's eyes showed a look of shock, tens of thousands of scholars marched, this seems unheard of, everyone has the same thought, is this really Dou Jiande behind the scenes?

At this time, Liu Wenjing came out again and said: "Your Majesty, this matter confirms the minister's concerns, the imperial examination is not an easy matter, it involves the interests of many people, the Northern Sui obviously did not deal with all kinds of entanglements of interests, which led to tens of thousands of scholars marching and petitioning, Your Majesty, this is our mirror, we must be careful and cautious in handling the imperial examination." ”

Although Liu Wenjing's words made Li Yuan extremely uncomfortable, but now he had an unintentional attack, this unexpected Taiyuan intelligence made him feel very confused, and he also realized the trouble that the hasty imperial examination would bring, Li Yuan waved his hand, "Ladies and gentlemen, let the matter of the imperial examination go for the time being, and discuss it later, and now retreat." ”

Li Yuan returned to his imperial study, stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, trying to calm the turmoil in his heart, since the defeat of Hongnong, his mood has been very depressed, and the guilty edict is like a huge shadow projected in his heart, making him depressed and decadent, making him feel that the Tang Dynasty is going downhill, without the excitement when the founding of the People's Republic of China, he now needs a big victory to boost the downturn of the Tang Dynasty, but the battle against Xue Ju has always been in a stalemate.

Li Yuan also understands Li Shimin's difficulties, the Tongguan incident and the fiasco of Hongnong County have made the morale of the Tang army low, if the campaign against Xue Ju is rashly launched at this time, once it fails again, it will lead to extremely serious consequences, and the entire Tang army may collapse because of this, and there has been internal strife between the two sons within Xue Ju, at this time it is best to wait for Xue Ju's internal self-defeat.

Li Yuan agreed to Li Shimin's suggestion, but the powerless decline of the court situation in Chang'an also made Li Yuan go crazy.

It was easy to think that the imperial examination could be used to reverse the disadvantage, but the Shizi Parade in Taiyuan poured cold water on his face, Li Yuan looked at the sky and the white clouds, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asks to see you!" A report from a eunuch came from the door.

"Announce him in!"

Li Yuan slowly returned to his imperial couch and sat down, at this time, Li Jiancheng hurriedly walked in, he gave a deep salute, "Sons see their father!" ”

"It's about the imperial examination, Erchen has a little idea."

"Say it!"

Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "Father, the sons and daughters think that the risk of the imperial examination is indeed very great, and it will inevitably touch the vital interests of the Guanlong nobles, didn't my father find out that many important ministers of the court meeting have remained silent today?" ”

Li Jiancheng refers to the silence of the Dugu clan and the Dou clan and others, which is expected by Li Yuan, this issue Li Yuan has also considered, not only the Shandong scholars have resistance to the imperial examination, but also the Guanlong nobles, the fundamental purpose of the imperial examination is to elect officials, which is precisely the most fundamental interest, he knows that the imperial examination will inevitably cause the resistance of the Guanlong nobles, so he initially considered not implementing the imperial examination for the time being before the unification of the world, so as to ensure the interests of the Guanlong nobles and obtain their full support, However, Yang Yuanqing's large-scale imperial examination in Taiyuan put great pressure on Li Yuan, so that he had to hold a special court meeting to try the matter, but the results were frustrating.

"I know that some people don't like the imperial examination, but the situation is also here, if I don't hold the imperial examination, sooner or later all the talents in the world will flow to Taiyuan, and I can't do anything." Li Yuan sighed.

Li Jiancheng saw that his father had been moved, and said cautiously: "Father, the son has also carefully considered this matter, the reason why Yang Yuanqing dared to hold the imperial examination is largely because he has given huge benefits to the Hedong scholars, and the purpose of his imperial examination is not really to recruit talents from all over the world, it is obvious that he is trying to win over the Hebei scholars, and at the same time make a fair and just gesture, which can understand why the 20,000 scholars marched, that is, because he is not really fair, so it caused public anger, This incident gave Erchen a lot of inspiration, in fact, we can also follow the example of the Northern Sui Imperial Examination. ”

Li Yuan had already been moved by his son's words, and Jiancheng said it very insightfully and found the root of the problem, which made Li Yuan feel a little suddenly enlightened in his heart, he nodded approvingly, and asked again: "How can we follow the example of the Northern Sui?" ”

"What Erchen means is that before the imperial examination, it is best for the father to fully communicate and negotiate with the Guanlong nobles and the Guanlong scholars, as long as their interests are guaranteed, Erchen thinks that the imperial examination can also be held."

Li Yuan sighed, "I'm afraid that their appetite is too big, and I can't satisfy their request." ”

Li Jiancheng hurriedly smiled: "So we must fully communicate, Erchen thought, in order to seize the world, they should be able to understand their father's hardships, and they will also give their father a face." ”

"Alright! I'll think about it again. ”

Li Jiancheng untied a knot in Li Yuan's heart, which made his mood cheerful, and he smiled: "The emperor's advice is very good, and I will give more such beneficial advice to my father in the future." ”

Li Jiancheng came to his father today for two major events, the imperial examination was only the first thing, he saw that his father accepted his suggestion, and his heart was also very happy, and he smiled again: "Father, there is a second major suggestion for his sons." ”