At the beginning of August, just after Yuanji's marriage, Gaozu began to discuss with the courtiers about dealing with Wang Shizhu and Dou Jiande, and Wang Shichong was just that, although he occupied Luoyang in recent years, he proclaimed himself King Zheng.

But when he was a minister, he was good, and his means for the king were obviously not good, so he first killed Yang Tong, the king of Yue, which aroused the spurning of the subjects of the eastern capital.

After ascending to the throne, in order to show that he was not a greedy for wealth and wealth, but a good monarch who was dedicated to the country and the people, he not only asked all the courtiers of the court to express their opinions every day, but also gave sincere advice to everyone.

In order to be close to the people, there is no cordon on the street, and he often talks with the people cordially, asks the people's opinions like a magistrate, and sets up a letter and opinion submission box outside Suncheonmon Gate, so that everyone can express their opinions and report any opinions on the court of the country.

His original intentions were good, but the problem was that he forgot that a person's energy was limited, and the so-called art was specialized, but as an emperor, he took all the responsibilities of ordinary officials on himself, and the result was that he was tired half to death every day, but he didn't handle anything well.

Because of his distrust, the officials did not dare to make decisions about anything, and within a few days, the entire court was in chaos.

Wang Shichong also found that this didn't work, but he couldn't think of a better way for a while, so he broke the jar and broke it, simply shrunk in the palace and didn't go out, pushing everything to the people below, and the order under his rule was worse day by day.

At the beginning of the third year of Wude, his palace supervisor Dou Lu surrendered to Li Tang, and the hearts of the counties and counties fluctuated, Wang Shichong was extremely angry when he saw this, so he tortured him, and if there was a person in the family who escaped, the whole family should be punished, and if the father and son, brother, and husband and wife could be denounced, they could be exempted.

At the same time, he ordered the five families to be one protector and supervise each other, and if someone defected with the whole family, and the neighbors did not find out, the neighbors would be executed.

As soon as this order came out, it made people even more disheartened, everyone was in panic all day long, and Wang Shichong's prestige also fell to the bottom in his unreliable harsh torture.

After Li Tang's army invaded Luoyang, there was almost no effective resistance in Yiying County outside Luoyang City, and they were welcomed into the city by the local people, and it took no effort to deal with Wang Shichong.

The key is that this fight has been fought for so many years, and he claims to be the king, but he has no martial arts backbone at all, and when he heard that Gaozu was going to judge him, he immediately cried bitterly in prison, and kept writing a table of surrender, begging for mercy and begging Gaozu to spare his life.

Seeing that he was also a generation of heroes, it was not easy to beg for mercy with such a spineless begging, so he discussed with the courtiers again and again, and decided to spare his life, and was only sentenced to exile.

Punished Wang Shichong, and then to deal with Dou Jiande, but Gao Zu made a difficulty, Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong are completely different, he is the leader of the authentic peasant uprising, he is quite a bit heroic, and knows the suffering of the people.

For this reason, he established a power group, called the queen in Hebei, and treated the people under his rule quite preferentially, punished the strong, reduced harsh taxes, and recuperated with the people.

After being arrested and returned to Chang'an, from beginning to end, he didn't say a word of begging for mercy, his bones were so hard that he was ruthless, how to deal with this person, Li Yuan was quite worried for a while, let's kill it, for fear of provoking the resentment of the people of Hemin, if he doesn't kill it, he is afraid that with his prestige, he will make a comeback again.

"Zhongqing, about Xia King Dou Jiande, do you have a good disposal plan?" After much thought, Gao Zu decided to ask the courtiers for their opinions.

In fact, this question was raised by Gaozu when dealing with Wang Shichong two days ago, and everyone argued at the time, but there was no result.

"According to the opinion of the sons, he should be awarded a generous knight and let him be honored in Chang'an." Seeing that no one spoke, Li Shimin was the first to stand up and spoke loudly.

Gao Zu frowned when he heard this, and Pei Lian, who was good at grasping the emperor's heart, immediately stood up: "The minister thinks that the view of the king of Qin is not advisable, and according to the opinion of the minister, he should be killed." ”

"Why? Dou Jiande, the king of Xia, is not as good as Wang Shichong, Wang Shichong is angry in Luoyang, even if we don't kill him, if he wants to make trouble again, no one will attach to him, but King Xia is different, his reputation in Hebei is incomparable. Gao Zu's gaze fell on Pei Lian.

"It should be like this, so that the people who should be killed, such as Wang Shichong, there are tigers without claws and bones, whether they are dead or alive, they can't turn over the wind and waves, but King Xia is different, as Your Majesty said, this person has a very high reputation in Hebei."

"If he is spared, as long as he raises his arms, it is easy for him to gather a large number of troops again and confront my Datang, only by killing him can he make his old troops die." Pei Lian's face was full of words.

"What do you think?" Gao Zu listened thoughtfully, and turned his eyes to look at the other courtiers.

"The ministers also agree with what Master Pei said." Feng Deyi, Luo Yi and others all stood up and echoed Pei Lian.

"The minister also agrees with what Master Pei said." Xiao Yu hesitated for a while, and then stood up and echoed Pei Lian.

"Prince, what is your opinion?" Gaozu asked Li Jiancheng again.

"Erchen also thinks that Master Pei is reasonable." Completed replied.

"Father, the son thinks it's inappropriate, Master Pei only said one thing, but never said the other, everyone knows Dou Jiande's influence in Hebei.

"If we are appeased and treated him well, the people on both sides of Hebei will see that I am broad-minded, tolerant, and able to treat their former lords well, and the people on both sides of the strait will naturally gradually have the intention of returning to my Tang Dynasty."

But if we insist on going our own way and killing Dou Jiande, it is very likely to anger the rest of his troops and provoke them to fight to the death against my Datang. ”

"After all, in their opinion, my Datang can't even tolerate their monarch, how can I tolerate those of them?" King Qin, who was watching coldly, couldn't help but say angrily.

Gao Zu frowned again when he heard this, he had never been able to make up his mind and was worried about this matter, but if he didn't kill Dou Jiande, he was really uncomfortable in his heart, his sister and Princess Tong'an and his younger brother Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, had been captured by him.

Although after Dou Jiande caught them, he has always treated them with courtesy, and has never been humiliated, but this matter has left a shadow in Gaozu's heart, if Dou Jiande has been wandering in Chang'an City, Gaozu panicked in his heart.

"His Royal Highness the King of Qin, you only said that he would be rewarded generously, and the hearts of the people on both sides of Hebei might return to their hearts, but I didn't think if King Xia was willing to sincerely return, if he didn't have the heart to belong at all, no matter how generous the reward Your Majesty gave, it would be useless."

"If he doesn't have the heart to belong at all, once he is released, and then accidentally let him escape, then he will return to the mountain."

"Besides, without Dou Jiande's power, he is a tiger without claws, even if he is really dissatisfied with his deployment, with King Qin's ability, you still can't subdue them?" Pei Lian, who was very good at grasping Gao Zu's thoughts, saw this and immediately refuted it.

"You?" Li Shimin was furious.

"Okay, that's it, Dou Jiande will be executed, and he will be executed in three days." Li Shimin still had to say more, but Tang Gaozu, who had already made up his mind in his heart, didn't want to listen to it anymore, so he directly cut off his words.