Judging from Li Shimin's heart, he prefers his second son, Li Tai, the king of Wei, who is only one year old from Li Chengqian.

Li Tai is talented, he belongs to the kind that can't be covered up, since he was a child, Li Chengqian is not as good as his younger brother, so Li Tai is very favored by Li Shimin.

But no one ever thought that Li Shimin would make Li Taili the crown prince.

Because a simple cleverness cannot be a reason to establish a prince, Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of Sui, is also the smartest and most talented son of Emperor Wen of Sui.

As for Li Shimin himself, he became the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, which has little to do with his intelligence since he was a child.

Li Shimin single-handedly led the founding and unification war, which gave Li Shimin the prestige of becoming the Son of Heaven, and then the strong military threat of the Winter Turks caused Li Yuan to continue to increase Li Shimin's weight, and finally led to Li Shimin having the strength to become the Son of Heaven, and the two were superimposed, and finally Li Shimin became the Son of Heaven, which was expected.

Especially after Li Shimin appointed Luo Xuanye, the king of Zhoujun, as the crown prince and prince and the prince, Li Chengqian became the future son of heaven in Zhuxia and the future emperor of the Tang Dynasty, which is already a sure thing in everyone's eyes.

And in reality?

Li Chengqian is very benevolent.

Well.

Li Chengqian is very benevolent.

……

"See Father." "See Your Majesty, Your Majesty Wan'an."

"Meet the teacher." "Father Wan An."

Li Chengqian and Luo Juncheng immediately saluted, and Li Lizhi ran directly towards Li Shimin, opened his arms and said, "Father." ”

After saying that, he directly hugged Li Shimin's arm, Li Shimin touched her little head dotingly, Li Lizhi gave Luo Xuanye a blessing again, and said prettyly: "Uncle." ”

Luo Xuanye smiled.

When the two walked into the hall, Li Shimin casually asked Li Gang: "What has the prince been studying recently?" ”

Li Gang said solemnly: "Back to Your Majesty, the prince has been reviewing "The Royal Road" recently. ”

Li Shimin nodded with a smile when he heard this: "The royal road is good, the book written by King Su, which is subtle and righteous, and it is necessary to teach perfectly, the prince of the country, and he must not slack off."

Has Cheng Qian been tired lately? ”

Li Gang hesitated slightly, Li Shimin noticed it, and his expression immediately became serious and asked, "What?" Is there anything you can't say? ”

Li Gang immediately said: "Your Highness may have been a little quiet recently, likes to play, and is a little relaxed about schoolwork, and the minister is admonishing." ”

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze, Luo Xuanye's eyes swept over Luo Juncheng, Luo Juncheng nodded slightly, Li Shimin had already turned to Li Chengqian, who was cowering, and asked, "Chengqian, what the young master of the prince just said is true?" ”

Luo Xuanye is the prince and the prince, the prince is the prince, and Li Gang is the prince and the young guard, but Li Gang is the one who is really responsible for teaching Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian said excitedly: "Father, I, I ......"

Li Shimin was about to get angry when he saw this, Luo Xuanye coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has something to say to Your Majesty, let's go to the side hall." ”

Li Shimin snorted coldly at Li Chengqian, and followed Luo Xuanye to the side hall, Luo Juncheng whispered to Li Chengqian: "Don't worry, Prince, Your Majesty will not blame you, but you can't be obsessed with having fun and playing in the future." ”

Li Chengqian said with a bitter face: "Fortunately, my uncle is here, otherwise I would have been scolded today." ”

Li Shimin and Luo Xuan walked at night, and Luo Xuan said at night: "Your Majesty still tries not to reprimand the prince in front of everyone, and it is normal for the prince to not like to read at this age."

The crown prince is a descendant of the Li family, and there is boiling blood in his veins, and inside are knives, guns and arrows.

Has Your Majesty forgotten that when you were young, you didn't like the ways of these sages, but you especially liked to gather people to play, shoot arrows and dance, but it didn't affect Your Majesty to become a holy king.

As a king, as long as you can know how to use people, it is enough to cultivate a good character, under the most verdant tree, there will be no such holy king as Your Majesty, who will always exert great pressure on his heirs, and it is necessary to restrain this pressure more. ”

Li Shimin's expression softened a little when he heard this: "Don't be too tolerant of him, he will be the master of the Tang Dynasty in the future, and he must be extremely good in all aspects, the prosperity of the Han Dynasty was the result of several generations of kings, and he has to work harder." ”

Luo Xuanye shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, if you use the standards of the Holy King to ask the crown prince, you will only be disappointed in the end."

The holy kings in this world are all born, just like you, the posture of the dragon and the phoenix, the watch of the sky, this is the excellence given by God, and the day after tomorrow can never be cultivated.

If you look at the prince with a normal heart, you will end up feeling that the prince is much better than you expected.

These are the minister's heartfelt words, and I ask Your Majesty to think about it more. ”

The anger in Li Shimin's heart was basically dispelled by Luo Xuanye's words, he turned his head and glanced at Luo Xuanye, and said helplessly: "I shouldn't let you be the prince and the prince, Qingyang, don't be biased towards the prince because of these two official positions, the national reserve position, the top priority." ”

Luo Xuanye said solemnly: "Your Majesty, rest assured, in the Luo family, there is a very classic sentence for educating the children, so that the children's hearts are strong, better than the body, so that the children are confident and self-aware, and the ministers will pay attention to this aspect." ”

Li Shimin's anxiety about the prince's education calmed down slightly, "There are still many years to go, I am still young now, and there will be time to teach the prince slowly in the future." ”

There is time.

Luo Xuanye secretly muttered this sentence in his heart, but a trace of worry rose in his heart, Li Shimin is only in his twenties now, and he may be the emperor for thirty or forty years, at that time, will the prince still be able to hold on?

But he didn't show it on his face.

Li Chengqian is not the future emperor, it has little to do with him, he is Li Shimin's courtier, once a son of heaven and a courtier, in the new dynasty, he is at most a mascot like a Dinghai god needle, that is the era of Luo Juncheng.

After Li Shimin and Luo Xuanye came back, Li Shimin just said calmly to Li Chengqian, "The prince should give more encouragement, don't let your mother and the Manchu Dynasty civil and military down." ”

Then he left directly, Luo Xuanye nodded at Li Chengqian with a slight smile, and left with Li Shimin.

Li Chengqian couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised: "Uncle is too powerful, as powerful as the queen mother." ”

In Li Chengqian's opinion, the people who can persuade his father and emperor are very powerful, Luo Juncheng whispered beside Li Chengqian: "Prince, we have to work hard in the future, otherwise one day, the queen and the minister's father will not be able to suppress it, and it will be miserable." ”

Li Chengqian thought so, but when he thought of studying, he had a headache, and secretly said in his heart: "If only I had the brain of King Wei." ”

……

The policy of the early years of the Tang Dynasty Zhenguan revolved around recuperation, and the monarchs and ministers suppressed other things, but everyone knew that it was destined to take action against the Turks, so the Tang Dynasty has been collecting information about the Turks, so that they can know themselves and the enemy, and win all battles.

The situation with the Winter Turks is really not good.

As a purely nomadic regime, it paid more attention to the time of day than the Western Turks, who were mixed with agriculture and nomadism, and unfortunately, the natural disasters in the steppe have been very serious recently, which has led to the death of a large number of cattle, sheep and horses in the Turks.

Not only that, there is a Han man in the Turks who became the guest of honor of Jieli Khan, his name is Zhao Deyan, this traitor has a little ability, but not much, it can be said that he is a clown-like person.

His biggest problem was that he would not adapt measures to local conditions and bring the policy of the Central Plains to the grasslands.

The kind of environment on the grassland, even if it is the most Sinicized Xianbei, the blood high-level was all Sinicized at the beginning, but the final organizational form is still the tribal aristocratic alliance.

Because there, there is no economic foundation like the Central Plains, of course, you can't rule according to this form of the Central Plains, and play centralization on the grassland, which is what only people with brains can do.

But Jieli Khan had a brain pump.

Or it can be said that it is not that his brain is pumped, but that the form of centralization of power is too tempting for a king, and Zhao Deyan just described it, which made Jieli Khan as obsessed as if he had taken ecstasy.

In the steppe, because of nomadic reasons, there is no fixed residence, and people follow the tribe, so people are a very precious property, and this kind of people are extremely attached to the tribal leader.

In this case, if you want to centralize power, it is not only against the tribal leaders, but also those ordinary tribesmen will not appreciate it, because most people may never see the Great Khan for the rest of their lives.

As a result, the various departments are resentful.

Natural disasters and man-made disasters have caused the Turks to have a bit of a stormy taste, and in this case, the Tang Dynasty, which is like a cloud and a fierce general, is naturally ready to move.

At the end of the first year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin reluctantly vetoed the proposal to send troops to the Turks, because the time was not yet ripe, and it was not sure how much the strength of the Turks would be damaged, and most importantly, the strength of the Tang Dynasty had not been completely restored, and the national policy that had just been formulated could not be overturned immediately, otherwise the people of the world would not be able to see the characterization of the imperial court, which would be extremely harmful.

Time passed slowly, and Zhenguan Junchen barely sent a single soldier, relying on diplomatic means and economic means to communicate with the surrounding Hu regimes, almost entirely relying on wisdom and qualitative means to solve the surrounding problems that may need to be solved by sending troops.

Conscription and military service are not very prosperous, the people have experienced so many years of war, and finally can farm well, bursting out with great enthusiasm, perhaps God is also merciful, there is no major natural disaster, at the end of the year, at the end of the first year of Zhenguan, the end of the second year, when the prime ministers report the annual tax, the waist pole is up.

In particular, Li Shimin said, "It is not the ability to get a lot of taxes from the imperial court, and the treasury and granaries of the Sui Dynasty are full of coins, cloths and grain, but they are all taken from the hands of the people. ”

Then Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the price of folk rice in Zhenguan for three years is a full three percent lower than that of the Sui Dynasty.

It should be said that this is the best life for the people in recent decades, and this is all due to His Majesty.

Your Majesty! ”

Even Wei Zheng said in unison: "Shengming has no past Your Majesty!" ”

Li Shimin was really happy now, and laughed loudly: "This is not only my credit, but also the credit of Zhuqing, I am not afraid of fighting, that is what I am good at, but governing the country, I have made a lot of mistakes, but fortunately, Zhuqing has given me advice, especially Wei Zheng, he dares to speak and corrects many of my mistakes, and it will be like this in the future, I and Zhuqing will work together for a great cause." ”

At the end of the third year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin, who was well versed in military affairs, felt that the country's strength was already sufficient, and the internal and external troubles of the Winter Turks were already relatively serious, and it was time to fight the Turks, so he came to Lingtian Pavilion again to see Luo Su.

After Li Shimin saw Luo Su, he went straight to the point and said: "Duke Wen, I think the time has come to deal with the Winter Turks, what do you think about this?" ”

Luo Su smiled slightly: "Your talent in military affairs is outstanding, since you think the time has come, then I naturally have no opinion, you come to ask, I will give you some suggestions in other aspects." ”

Li Shimin immediately sat up straight when he heard this, and he was solemn, he has also figured out in the past few years, Duke Wen can either chat with him, but as long as he gives advice, it is an extremely important matter.

Luo Su did not hesitate, and said slowly: "On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to snore, there can only be one sun in the sky, and only one supreme king on the earth."

After the strength of the Tang Dynasty recovers, it is destined to expand its power in all directions, as an immediate emperor, you can endure it for three years without doing anything, which is already very unexpected to me.

The specific tactics of fighting a war are not something I consider, you have your own ideas, and there are generals and commanders with outstanding martial arts, but you have to think clearly about the strategy of the Turks, and then the strategy of the surrounding countries.

Datang, what kind of face do you want to appear in front of the grasslands, the Western Regions, and the Liaodong Regions, I believe that you must want to rule these regions, and the attitude of the Tang Dynasty towards the Winter Turks is related to the ease of obtaining these lands in the future. ”

Li Shimin groaned: "What does the national teacher think? ”

Luo Su said decisively: "Huairou."

Build Datang into a place that the surrounding Hu people yearn for, and cultivate people who are interested in Datang in various Hu tribes.

Let them become the agents of the Tang Dynasty in those Hu tribes.

Let their interests be transferred from their tribe to the Tang Dynasty.

In the way of fighting a tough battle, the grassland and the Western Regions can still fight, but Liaodong is not so easy.

A strong fortress is the easiest to breach only from the inside, and if you can create a pro-Tang faction to outwit the anti-Tang faction within other tribes, you can even surrender the army without a fight.

When you and Li Jiancheng were competing for the storage position, you asked Li Jiancheng to do it first, so everyone in the world now thinks that you are forced to fight back, and the same is true for facing Hu Ren.

Hold high the banner of morality, there is an alliance between you and the Turks, and it is not a good thing to break the alliance at will, especially if you cannot challenge the kingdoms of the world yet.

Credit is a kind of power, so that Datang's promise becomes a kind of power, just like Luo's promise, you should know very well that Luo's commitment is better than a daughter.

As long as Rockwell does not need any guarantee, there are people who will lend millions of money for this, which is credit.

If Datang can forge this level of credit, then the benefits that can be brought to Datang in the future are unimaginable.

Moreover, this can greatly alleviate the jealousy of other Hu tribes against you, as well as the hatred of the Turks for you, and you can't kill them all, and this kind of psychological superiority can greatly relieve the moral pressure in the hearts of the soldiers, you should know very well that if you kill too many people wantonly, people will be perverted, I think you shouldn't want that kind of soldiers. ”

Of course, Li Shimin doesn't want that kind of soldier, once a person reaches that level, it will be difficult to control, the real strong army is one who can kill people and know why to kill, simple killing, once not allowed to kill, it will cause mutiny.

Find a reason to declare war on the Turks!

Construct Datang's foreign foreign policy!

This foreign policy is to be persistent, not to change at any time, which will allow the Tang Dynasty to have a relatively fixed image in the world, from this image, the future policy can be extended, and even the surrounding Hu tribes can automatically determine their own tendencies according to the Tang Dynasty.

The more Li Shimin thought about it, the more he felt that this idea was perfect, this was a good idea that could benefit all generations, and he couldn't help laughing: "What the national teacher said can always make me refreshed." ”

Luo Su raised the teacup, through the rising heat, as if his eyes fell on Li Shimin's face, and said leisurely: "My biggest plan, I haven't told you yet, when you defeat the Winter Turks, it's probably time, I hope you can hurry up, time waits for no one, the faster you do things, the greater the achievement in the end." ”

The biggest planning!

It was the first time Li Shimin heard Luo Su say this, and he was immediately extremely curious, but since Luo Su said that he would wait to defeat the Winter Turks, Li Shimin knew that he was in a hurry, he had to wait, and the top priority was to deal with the Winter Turks.

After leaving from Lingtian Pavilion, Li Shimin immediately began to prepare for the matter of targeting the Winter Turks, as for the reason for declaring war, it is too easy to find, the Winter Turks are now full of disasters and difficulties, and they must go south to fight the grass valley and attack the Tang border.

The soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, and there is a lot of grain in the government treasury in the past three years, and there is no need to collect grain from the people.

Sure enough, as Li Shimin expected, the Turks, who had been suffering in natural disasters, couldn't help but go south again, and the Turkic royal family Ashina Sheer led the army south to attack Hexi on the border of the Tang Dynasty.

……

Li Shimin was the first to find Luo Xuanye, the two sat opposite each other in the Taiji Palace, Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "The Turks are rampant, I want to send troops to fight against the Turks, and now I need to find a commander to coordinate the armies of all walks of life, Qingyang, who do you say should be sent?" ”

Luo Xuanye was very excited about Li Shimin's move against the Turks, as a military general, he had long been unhappy with the Turks, and the Tang Dynasty was robbed of gold and silver cloth by the Turks several times, although it was exchanged for many children who were taken captive, but it was still a shame.

Luo Xuanye knew that it was impossible for him to lead such an important war, and he said after a deep sigh: "Your Majesty, I am a fierce general in the Tang Dynasty, but among the generals, most of them are fierce generals like ministers, but they are not real commanders.

The war with the Winter Turks is related to the great fortune of the country, if this battle is lost, the Tang Dynasty will have to recover for a few years, so it must be foolproof.

Therefore, the minister suggested that Li Jing, the secretary of the military department, should be the commander of the army, and the ancestors appreciated his talent, thinking that he was not inferior to the commander of the ancient famous generals. ”

What Luo Xuanye said was the same as what Li Shimin thought in his heart, Li Shimin said with a smile: "Qingyang, you would recommend Li Jing, this is something I never thought, I remember that you never invited him to the banquet." ”

Luo Xuanye said casually: "The minister and Li Jing are probably incompatible, there is no fate to be friends in this life, the so-called foreign moves do not avoid hatred, and the minister and Li Jing are not enemies, he has talent and can do things that are beneficial to the country, and the minister naturally recommends him, this is the minister's loyalty to His Majesty, not what he has a good impression of Li Jing." ”

Li Shimin immediately smiled when he heard this: "I have a courtier like Qingyang, it is my luck, what else can I say?" ”

After that, he said to the eunuch who served: "Go and summon Li Jing into the palace." ”

Li Jing is the secretary of the military department, naturally in Shangshu Province, received the emperor's summons, he did not dare to slack off, and soon hurried to the palace, and saw that there were only the Son of Heaven and Luo Xuanye, the king of Zhou County, in the palace, and he immediately saluted.

After the ceremony, Li Shimin got straight to the point and said: "The Turks betrayed the alliance and attacked the four counties west of the Tang River, and I could not tolerate it, and I was determined to send troops to the Turks.

King Zhou Jun recommended Aiqing to be the general manager of the march of Dingxiangdao to lead the war against the Turks, what does Aiqing think? ”

Zhou Junwang recommended me?

Li Jing lowered his head and was a little shocked, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was very reasonable, although he had an average relationship with King Zhou Jun, but King Zhou Jun had actually done something, and it was normal to recommend himself now.

The thoughts in his mind flashed, and Li Jing immediately said loudly: "The minister will live up to His Majesty's trust, and he will not live up to the recommendation of King Zhou Jun, and make meritorious contributions to my Tang Dynasty." ”

He didn't mean to say no.

From the low-level official of the Sui Dynasty to the current inspection of the school and the book of the Ministry of War, he has been regarded as a sentence of glory and wealth, and he led the war of the Tang Dynasty to unify the south and destroy Xiao Mill, which is his merit.

If it were someone else, it would probably be enough to be satisfied, but for Li Jing, it was not enough, far from enough, he had endless pride and ambition in his heart, what he wanted was to be ranked first in history, and to be ranked with legendary people like Taigongwang and Han Wumu, if he couldn't reach it, he was sorry for the sins he had suffered.

Li Shimin liked this kind of Li Jing's resolute attitude, and immediately said: "I will now convene the prime ministers and generals to announce this appointment and discuss the subsequent affairs. ”

Li Shimin's vigorous and resolute actions were brought over from the war years, and all the generals who were still in the political hall and on duty were all summoned.

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, Wei Zheng, Xiao Yu, Feng Deyi, Zhang Liang, Hou Junji, Wei Chigong, Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie, Li Ji, Zhang Gongjin, Li Daozong, Li Daoxuan, Li Xiaogong, Li Shentong and other civil and military generals are all in the palace, which is rare.

These are almost all members of the three grades, and they are the top magnates in the imperial court, and when all these people arrived, Li Shimin sat with a golden sword, quite imposing and majestic, looked around and said slowly: "The Winter Turks invaded my Tang Hexi, presumably all the secretaries already know that I am determined to crusade against the Turks, do you have any objections?" ”

Naturally, there are no objections, the grain and grass have begun to be prepared, these are all matters that have already been passed, unless something unpredictable happens, otherwise whoever has a problem with his brain will oppose before the war.

Seeing this, Li Shimin still said in a deep voice: "Since all the secretaries agree, then it's good, I want to appoint Li Jing as the general manager of the Dingxiang Road march, responsible for this attack on the Winter Turks, what do you think?" ”

Li Jing!

This candidate shocked everyone, but it was not very surprising, many people turned their eyes to Luo Xuanye, who was sitting at the front, Luo Xuanye had a good time and did not react.

Everyone turned their attention to Li Xiaogong, the king of Hejian, this is the only person who can threaten Li Jing's position as commander, and the commander with the most military achievements in the Tang Dynasty has three people, Li Shimin, Li Xiaogong and Li Jing, Luo Xuanye is more special, and he is not counted among them.

It is impossible for Li Shimin to go on the expedition, and the remaining two people have always been controversial about who is actually the first merit in Pingnan, and now the emperor's choice seems to have determined that Li Jing's credit is greater.

It stands to reason that Li Xiaogong should be unconvinced.

But he didn't think so, because Li Shimin and Li Yuan are different, Li Yuan attaches importance to the clan, so let the clan guard the Quartet, and let the clan rush to the forefront when fighting, but Li Shimin is not like this, on the contrary, Li Shimin suppresses the clan, in this case, as Li Xiaogong, who has the most merit and the highest prestige in the clan, he must consider political factors.

Luo Xuanye, the king of Zhou County, has too high a status to go on the expedition, can he, the king of Hejian County, go on the expedition?

Thinking of this, Li Xiaogong was the first to speak out even in the eyes of everyone: "Shengming has no past Your Majesty, Li Shangshu is outstanding in martial arts, and the ministers have been with him, and he is deeply admired. ”

What a chicken thief!

This is the idea of the prime ministers in the political affairs hall, Li Shimin also narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard this, he actually didn't have much fear of Li Xiaogong, or rather, he didn't have much fear of most people.

He knocked some people, not really afraid of rebelling and losing the throne, he simply didn't want to kill the heroes.

However, Li Xiaogong is so sensible, Li Shimin is still very happy, this is the embodiment of his majesty.

————

"The Turks are prosperous, still more than the Xiongnu", this is the description of the strong Winter Turks at that time, the Turks who were divided and suppressed during the period of Emperor Wen of Sui, due to the various failed foreign policies of Emperor Yang of Sui, as well as the cruelty to the world, led to a great decline in the power of Zhuxia, and almost caused a catastrophe that swept the world by Rong Di, but fortunately, after Emperor Yang of Sui, the world ushered in Li Shimin, the real holy king, and Zhenguan Qunchen, the first ruling group throughout the ages.

……

"Li Shimin wielded the hammer in his hand, the army of the Tang Empire was forged into a strong bow by him, and the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were like sharp arrows, Li Jing became the person who replaced Li Shimin in charge of this strong bow and sharp arrows, the arrow was on the string, and it had to be sent, and the day the arrow came out was the end of the Winter Turks." ——"The History of the Rise and Fall of the Tang Empire"

(End of chapter)