At present, the Tang army has a total of more than 300,000 troops, which are divided into six major factions, one is Li Shimin's Kansai faction, about 100,000 people, and the other is Li Xiaogong's Bashu and Jingxiang factions, which also have about 100,000 troops, these two factions constitute the main force of the Sui army, which is called the Qin Wang faction by those in the know.

Secondly, there are four small factions, one is Li Jiancheng's Kwantung faction, about 30,000 people, then Li Shentong's Guannei and Hexi factions, also 30,000 people, and then Li Yuanji's new army faction, which is also 30,000 people, and the last one is Chai Shao's Chang'an Jiucheng faction, about 20,000 people, responsible for maintaining law and order in Chang'an.

Among these four small factions, the removal of Chai Shao is from the Dragon faction, and the remaining three factions are Li Jiancheng's forces, all of which are also known as the prince faction.

In addition to these six major factions, the Tang military also has tens of thousands of Li Yuan's Imperial Forest Army, and this time Li Shimin asked for more troops, but there could only be two sources, either to draw troops from Li Jiancheng's faction, or to recruit new soldiers.

At nightfall, a carriage stopped in front of the palace of Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, who had been deposed as a citizen since the Tongguan incident to appease the military's anger.

But after all, he was Li Yuan's son-in-law, and punishing him was just for show, and it didn't take long for him to quietly restore the prince, and he was immediately sent to Bashang to train recruits.

In the past two days, Li Yuanji happened to return to Chang'an and rest in the house.

The carriage waited at the gate of the mansion for a while, and a butler walked out quickly, arched his hand in front of the carriage and said with a smile: "The prince invites the waiter to enter the mansion for a while." ”

The door opened, and Feng Deyi, the waiter of the inner history, walked out of the carriage and said with a smile: "Uninvited, disturb your prince's rest." ”

"Where! Where! The prince has always been very hospitable, and he is very welcome to visit the waiter. ”

The housekeeper waved his hand, "Squire, please!" ”

Feng Deyi put his hands behind his back, and followed the housekeeper to the palace unhurriedly, until he walked to the guest hall. I saw Li Yuanji personally greet him in front of the steps.

Li Yuanji wore a brocade robe embroidered with a dragon in white satin. Wearing a golden crown on his head and a jade belt around his waist, he has a bit of a jade tree in the wind. Since Li Yuanji was dismissed from his post and became a citizen, Li Yuan handed him over to the crown prince Li Jiancheng to be controlled.

In the past year, Li Yuanji has been very low-key and robbed people's daughters. The bad incident of injuring people on a horse did not happen, and Li Yuan was quite satisfied with his transformation, and crowned him as a champion general, responsible for the training of the Chang'an new barracks.

Li Yuanji has seen Feng Deyi twice, he knows that his father is very fond of this former Sui No. 1 imperial pen, such a person is useful to himself, so he specially waited in front of the steps, he saw Feng Deyi arrive, and hurriedly stepped forward to give a salute. "Yuan Ji couldn't go out of the mansion to greet him, please forgive me with me."

Feng Deyi smiled, "Your Highness is too polite." It was uninvited. Disturb His Highness's rest. ”

"Feng Shilang said this is too outward, I can't invite a guest like Shilang. How dare you say the word 'disturb', please come in! ”

Li Yuanji invited Feng Deyi into the guest hall, and ordered the maid to serve tea, and the two exchanged a few words, and Feng Deyi turned to the topic.

"Today, the Holy Lord and I talked about the battle situation in Luoyang, and the Holy Lord is very worried about the Battle of Luoyang!"

"Humph!"

Li Yuanji snorted coldly, "That's someone who is incompetent, he can't capture Luoyang with an army of 100,000 troops, he has failed his father's expectations, and the entire Tang Dynasty has been humiliated, since he is so incompetent, what are you doing in a high position?" ”

Feng Deyi smiled a little embarrassed, "Your Highness, after all, this battle is very important, and it is normal for the Holy Lord to be worried, and now the King of Qin has asked the Holy Lord to send reinforcements, and the Holy Lord feels very embarrassed." ”

"Reinforcements?"

Li Yuanji showed a look of disdain on his face, "He already has an army of 100,000, and Li Xiaogong still has an army of 80,000, which is far more than the strength of the Sui army. ”

"But His Highness was also mentioned by the Holy Lord."

Li Yuanji was stunned, and his face immediately sank, "What did my father mention about me?" ”

Feng Deyi said quietly: "Actually, it is not that the Holy Lord mentioned His Royal Highness, but that the Holy Lord said that there were no soldiers to be sent in Guanzhong, and Yu Wenshi mentioned the new army!" ”

"!"

Li Yuanji stood up and scolded: "It is not enough for him to have an army of 100,000, and he has to seek my army again, I have never seen such a shameless person." ”

"Your Highness is angry."

Feng Deyi hurriedly waved his hand and explained to him: "The Holy Lord didn't agree to this matter, the Holy One only said that he needed to think about it again, and I just came to remind His Highness that if the Holy Lord summons His Highness, please ask His Highness to understand the difficulties of the Holy One, and don't anger him too much, he is under a lot of pressure now." ”

Li Yuanji suppressed the anger in his heart, arched his hand and said, "Thank you Feng Shilang for reminding me, I won't anger my father." ”……

Feng Deyi said goodbye and left, Li Yuanji sat on the couch alone, his face was pale, and the anger in his eyes appeared from time to time.

Li Yuanji has not had any bad relations with Li Shimin since he was a child, and the relationship has always been good, but Li Shimin's shooting of Li Zhiyun made him feel cold, even his own brother can do this, this person is really ruthless, he is his own brother, will he also attack himself one day?

It was Li Zhiyun's incident that made Li Yuanji wary of Li Shimin, in contrast, his eldest brother Li Jiancheng was generous and treated him with brotherhood, which moved Li Yuanji, who has always been indifferent to people.

What's more, in the Tongguan incident, Li Shimin supported Li Xiaogong to challenge himself, which led to his final dismissal as a citizen, and it was this incident that made Li Yuanji and Li Shimin have a grudge, and he began to fully support his eldest brother Jiancheng.

Li Yuanji pondered for a long time, he resolutely got up and said, "Prepare to drive, I want to go to Xianyang." ”……

At this time, Li Jiancheng was not in the capital, but in Xianyang to inspect Xia Chong, this Central Plains War Li Jiancheng did not participate too much, on the one hand, he was heavy in government affairs, on the other hand, this Central Plains Battle was the strength of the Qin Dynasty, he did not want to participate too much.

Summer planting in the Guanzhong area is a few days later than in Henan Province, the paddy fields are full of water, and the farmers are busy planting rice in the fields.

Li Jiancheng wore a hat on his head, a short coat like a farmer, and his trouser legs rolled up high, he had just planted half an acre of seedlings, and was sitting on the ground drinking water and chatting with several old farmers.

A guard poured a large bowl full of herbal tea and handed it to him, "Your Highness, please drink water!" ”

Li Jiancheng took the tea bowl and asked a few old farmers with a smile. "How is the summer harvest in Xianyang today?"

Although Li Jiancheng is the crown prince. But he was approachable, worked with the farmers, and everyone was not afraid of him. An old farmer sighed and said: "This year is a small year, and the crops are generally not very good, and even the fruits on the trees are sparse. This year's wheat yield is two percent lower than last year's, and it is estimated that the autumn rice will not be too good. ”

Li Jiancheng nodded, "Just say it!" ”

"Your Highness, can you ask the imperial court to be a little flexible in the field tax, for example, when the production is reduced in a small year, can the field tax also be reduced a little."

The old farmer said this suggestion, and the rest of the old farmers agreed with it. Speaking of their hearts, Li Jiancheng groaned and said, "You have a point, I will go back and discuss this matter with the ministers." Then draw up a reasonable plan. Obtain the consent of the Holy One. ”

The old farmers were overjoyed and thanked one after another. At this time, another farmer finally couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, I have something I want to reflect. ”

Li Jiancheng smiled, "But it doesn't hurt to say it!" ”

"I have a nephew, who participated in the Battle of Goryeo and was captured, has been doing hard labor in Goryeo, was rescued by the Sui army a few months ago, and then returned home, and brought back a horse given to him by the Sui Dynasty, in this case, he is grateful to the Sui Dynasty is also human nature, occasionally will think of the benefits of the Sui Dynasty, but unexpectedly annoyed the government, insisted that he was a spy of the Sui Dynasty, arrested people to the government, and the horses were confiscated as officials, and now the people are still locked up in the county government, I don't know if His Royal Highness can ......"

"How can it be!"

Li Jiancheng's face sank, and he took out his gold medal and handed it to the guards behind him, "Just say that it is my order, let the county government release the people immediately, return the horses to the people, and no similar incidents will be allowed to happen again." ”

The old farmer immediately knelt down, and his heart was full of gratitude, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your help!" ”

Li Jiancheng hurriedly helped him up, "No need to be polite, I don't notice this matter, I will order the local governments not to arrest the soldiers released from Goryeo, the Sui Dynasty saved people, but we arrested people, will this chill the hearts of the people in the world?" ”

"Your Highness is a generous person, and I hope that the officials of the Tang Dynasty will be the same as Your Highness, and that will be the blessing of our small people."

As he was talking, a guard ran over and reported: "His Royal Highness the Prince, the King of Qi is here, saying that there is an urgent matter." ”

Li Jiancheng saw a carriage parked on the official road not far away, and there were more than 100 horseback guards next to him, so he stood up and walked towards the carriage, and soon came to the carriage, Li Yuanqing had already stepped down from the carriage, he saw that the eldest brother Jiancheng was dressed as a rural farmer, and his legs were still stained with mud, and he couldn't help laughing: "How did the eldest brother become an old farmer?" ”

Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "If you don't do farming, you don't know how to compassionate farmers, if you sit in the temple every day, how can you know the suffering of the people, forget it, if you don't tell you this, what does it matter to you?" ”

"Big brother, please get in the carriage and talk in detail, it has something to do with my army."

The two brothers got into the carriage, and Li Yuanji told him in detail about Feng Deyi's search for him last night, Li Jiancheng squinted his eyes and suddenly asked, "Are you very familiar with Feng Deyi?" ”

"I've met twice, the relationship is very average, and I don't have a good relationship with him and Yuwenchen, but Yuwenchen hasn't told me either, and I was very strange last night, why did he come to me and tell me about it."

Li Jiancheng shook his head slowly, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, "He's not looking for you, he's actually here for me, do you understand?" He knew you were going to turn around and come to me. ”

Li Yuanji suddenly felt that he was being used, and he hated for a while: "I said how could he suddenly become enthusiastic about me, it turned out that he was just asking me to talk, but he didn't say it clearly, this person is so scheming, which is unpleasant." ”

Li Jiancheng smiled slightly: "This is normal, don't blame him, he is deeply favored by his father, if he comes to me openly, it will make his father suspicious, which will affect his career, this person is very good at doing things." ”

"Alright! Even if I don't blame him, what about it? The second brother fights my new army's idea, how should I deal with it? ”

Li Jiancheng sneered, "He wants to take the opportunity of this battle of the Central Plains to take away all military power, today is your new army, and in a few days I will transfer my Kwantung army, I know very well what he thinks, hum!" He didn't want to be happy. ”