August Ding You (the first day of the new year), only fifteen-year-old Yang Yu died, after learning the news, Li Yuan issued a decree for Emperor Gong of Sui, because Emperor Yang Yu of Sui Gong did not leave an heir, had to be the son of the same brother Yang Xinggong as the heir, so far after Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Yang Guang, the royal children of the Sui Dynasty who were supported by the three major separatist forces were all annihilated in the long river of history, and the Sui Dynasty also justifiably withdrew from the stage of history.

Since Zhang Jian's incident, Li Shimin, in accordance with Chu Mofeng's suggestion, secretly conducted a comprehensive screening of the generals and soldiers under his command, and sure enough, the emperor lived up to his wishes, and really asked Li Shimin to find out a few soldiers who were connected with the generals under Li Jiancheng, so Li Shimin quickly cut through the mess and publicly sentenced these soldiers who had a heart of disobedience to the public to death.

At this time, in a house where a general lived in Changchun Palace, a person sat in the house and quietly looked at the dancing candle flame in front of him, and cold sweat flowed down unconsciously.

Although he took refuge in Li Shimin in the early days, he had done several cases of exterminating the door when he was young, at that time, the law of the Sui Dynasty was not strict, and he absconded to the field early, and the government never caught himself, until the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the heroes rose together, thinking that everything had been settled, but who knew that this matter was inadvertently learned by Li Mi, the prince of Xing Guo at that time, and Li Mi then used this to blackmail himself and forced himself to become his eyeliner in the imperial court.

Later, when Li conspired against him and was arrested, he couldn't sleep for several days, and as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the imperial court with a group of soldiers coming to arrest him, how many times did he wake up in a cold sweat in his midnight dream, and then he was relieved to hear that Li Mi was dead.

But who would have thought that after a while, Zhang Jian, the captain of Li Shimin's own army, found him and pointed out that he was Li Mi's eyeliner, and originally wanted to kill this person while no one was around, but who knew that Zhang Jian looked fearless.

I only heard Zhang Jian say with a little ridicule: "The general doesn't have to think about killing my mouth, since Li Mi died, he has taken refuge under the prince, and the prince also knows about the general, if I die today, then tomorrow your situation will be played to Your Majesty, so please think carefully before you start." ”

After listening to Zhang Jian's words, the long sword that was originally drawn out was slowly stuffed back into the scabbard, and he looked at Zhang Jian helplessly and said, "Say, what do you want me to do?"

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, as long as you keep an eye on His Royal Highness King Qin, if there is any situation, report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince at any time, and you don't have to worry about the rest. Zhang Jian sat on the chair, took a sip of the teacup in front of him and said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also said that your family members will be taken care of by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in Chang'an, and you just need to do things with peace of mind." ”

"When is it going to end? I'm afraid I'll show my feet after a long time. Thinking that his wife and children had all fallen into the hands of Li Jiancheng, he had no choice but to agree.

"It won't be too long, and after His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ascends to the throne, you and your family will be able to reunite. I saw Zhang Jian smile and said: "As long as you do things with peace of mind, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not treat you badly in the future." After saying that, he laughed and walked away.

A few days ago, I heard that Zhang Jian was killed by Li Shimin because he was exposed, and his originally soothing heart hung again, God knows what Zhang Jian said in front of Li Shimin before he died, maybe he confessed himself in order to save his life.

And he once inquired in private, but who knew that there were only Li Shimin and Zhang Jian in the house at that time, and it was not until Zhang Jian became angry that he was killed by Chu Mofeng's subordinates.

When he was worried, a shout suddenly came from outside the door, which instantly startled the people in the house, only to hear someone shouting outside the door: "General, His Royal Highness the King of Qin has an order, please hurry to the lobby of the King of Qin's courtyard, there is something important to discuss." ”

I heard a voice in the room and said, "I know, didn't His Royal Highness King Qin say what happened?"

"General Hui, my subordinates don't know, but I heard that something big seems to have happened, so please hurry to the lobby. As soon as the voice fell, I saw this person disappear outside the door.

Tidy up his clothes, pushed open the door, walked out of the mansion step by step, and walked towards the courtyard of King Qin, when he came to the courtyard, he found that all the generals under Li Shimin were present, only to see Li Shimin cough lightly and said: "Since you have all arrived, there are a few things that need to be discussed by you at the moment." After speaking, he picked up a few battle reports on the table and handed them to everyone, saying, "Let's take a look at it first, and then discuss it later." ”

At this time, it was the fourth day of August in the second year of Wude, since the beginning of July, wars have broken out frequently throughout the country, first Wang Shichong sent his general Luo Shixin to attack Xinzhou, who knew that because Wang Shichong's shamelessness has been disgusted by the people of the world, so Luo Shixin led more than 1,000 soldiers to come to the Tang Dynasty; The captives were exhausted; when Jiashen (18th) Liu Hongji, the head of the Tang marching army, sent his generals to attack the Heyang City occupied by Wang Shichong as he wished, and destroyed the Yellow River crossing bridge placed by Wang Shichong and returned to the army; and then Xinmao (25th) Song Jingang invaded Haozhou; and at that time] Dou Jiande led more than 100,000 troops to rush to Zhaozhou, and Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, heard the news and led all the troops and horses to retreat to Xiangzhou. In the third day of the first month, Dou Jiande's army arrived at the state city.

As a report of the war was circulated in the hands of the generals, the discussion gradually became louder, and I saw Liu Wenjing, the left servant of the Shaanxi East Dao Xingtai, walking forward, and said to Li Shimin: "His Royal Highness the King of Qin, since the war is in full swing everywhere, why can't we ask Your Majesty to go to war through the Duke of Qi?"

"At this time, if the king applies to His Majesty to go to war, the Duke of Qi will definitely help him with all his strength in front of His Majesty, but the king knows that His Majesty will not allow it, and when the Duke of Qi sent someone to come before, he also carried a handwritten letter from the Duke of Qi, which clearly told the king that no matter how fierce the fight is outside, the king is not allowed to ask Ying to fight. After listening to Liu Wenjing's words, Li Shimin was also a little helpless in his heart.

The fact that he was alienated by the crown prince and His Majesty, at this time, he could not disclose it to these people anyway, after all, Zhang Jian's incident happened before, although after a thorough investigation, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no fish in the net.

And Chu Mofeng once confessed to himself, he was also waiting for the best opportunity to persuade His Majesty to let him go into battle again in one fell swoop, and his current task was to train his soldiers and be ready to go into battle at any time.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin smiled and said to the generals in the hall: "You are all people who have followed this king for many years, and at this time, your heart for war is sympathetic to this king, but the top priority is to train those recruits quickly, and this king guarantees that there will be no need to fight at that time." ”

When everyone heard this, they knew that once Li Shimin opened his mouth to assure, there would be no failure to fulfill it, so they all smiled and said: "Then please ask His Royal Highness King Qin for everything, and his subordinates will go back and start training soldiers and horses." ”

And the person in the crowd, who was also a spy with Zhang Jian, looked at Li Shimin curiously, thinking that it was not me who was exposed, and he was worried in vain, so he slowly put down the hand that had been holding the hilt of the sword.

When he returned to his mansion, he hurried back to his study, wrote down the day's events in a note, and waited for the night to release the carrier pigeons.

As time gradually advanced, the Tang Division, Dou Jiande's Division, and Wang Shichong's Divisions fought each other, and the city changed hands frequently, until the end of August, the Liang Division, which could not bear the loneliness, joined forces with the Turks to invade Yanzhou with thousands of cavalry, and Duan Decao, the head of the Tang marching army, was outnumbered and outnumbered, and closed the city gate without fighting, only waiting for the Liang Division's subordinates to gradually relax.

In September Bingyin (the first day of the new year), Duan Decao sent Liang Li, the deputy governor, to lead troops to attack Liang Shidu. Just when the battle between Liang Shidu and Liang Li was fierce, Duan Decao used light cavalry to raise many banners and suddenly attacked Liang Shidu from behind, Liang Shidu's army was defeated, and the Tang army chased and fled the enemy for 200 miles, conquered Weizhou in Liang Shidu, and captured more than 2,000 men and women.

However, a subsequent incident made Li Shimin and Li Yuan's father and son gradually begin to deviate from morality, and strengthened Li Shimin's belief in replacing him.

It turned out that Pei Lian, who recommended himself to lead the troops to the battle, led the army to Jiexiu, and was stubbornly resisted by Song Jingang with the city. In desperation, Pei Lin camped in Dusuoyuan, drinking mountain stream water in the barracks, who knew that Song Jingang quickly sent someone to cut off the water source after learning about it, and the Tang soldiers were thirsty and tired.

Pei Lin suddenly wanted to move the camp close to the water source, but before pulling out the camp, he didn't know that he had sent a scout horse to inquire about the surrounding situation in advance, and committed a taboo in the soldiers, but Song Jingang took the opportunity to wave his troops to attack, so Pei Lian's army was quickly routed and almost wiped out.

Pei Lian, who fled in a hurry, galloped to Jinzhou after a day and a night, and before that, Liu Wuzhou repeatedly sent troops to attack the West River, Tang Haozhou assassinated Liu Zhen to resist the enemy, Li Zhongwen led troops to Haozhou, and Liu Zhen guarded the West River.

When Pei Lin failed, all the towns north of Jinju fell, but Xihe was preserved. Jiang Baoyi, who was stationed in Xihe, was captured by Song Jingang again, and Jiang Baoyi, who was concerned about the Tang Dynasty, planned to abscond back to Chang'an, but was unexpectedly learned by Song Jingang, and he was quickly executed after being captured. At this time, Pei Lin wrote a letter to apologize, and Gaozu comforted him and asked him to calm Hedong again.

And Chu Mofeng, the Duke of Qi State, learned that another general under his command had died for no reason, and he was furious in the court and walked away, and it was the night relatives who led the other side flower team to Pei Lian's mansion, and escorted Pei Lian, who was still asleep, to the prison of the Criminal Department, and then the screams in the prison of the Criminal Department were repeated, and even the veteran who had been in charge of torture for many years couldn't help but cover his ears, not daring to let the poignant sound enter the eardrums.

In the early morning of the second day, Pei Lian, who was covered with scars, was pulled to the door of the mansion with a flatbed cart and thrown down, until the people of the house opened the door and went out, only to find that his master was lying at the door, already dying.

Later, Pei Fu invited a famous doctor for diagnosis and treatment, and on the other hand, he was ready to entrust someone to play the matter to Li Yuan, but Pei Lin was defeated and lost most of the land in Longxing, and indirectly killed Jiang Baoyi, and no one in the Manchu Dynasty was willing to undertake this matter.

The disheartened Pei Lin had already planned to resign and return to his hometown, but a guest came to the house, and after asking Pei Lin about the whole story, he showed a sign to Pei Lian, and then Pei Lin made up his mind and recuperated at home with peace of mind.

A few days later, the matter spread to Li Yuan through the mouth of the crown prince Li Jiancheng in the court, and Li Yuan, who learned the news, was not as angry as he imagined, but just blamed Chu Mofeng for a few words in the court, which also made Li Jiancheng, who originally planned to watch the play, unhappy.

Who knew that what happened next exacerbated the estrangement between Chu Mofeng and Li Yuan, it turned out that Liu Wenjing, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, thought that his intelligence, strategy and merit were higher than Pei Lian, but his position was lower than Pei Lian, and he was resentful in his heart. Whenever Pei Lin agrees with politics in the court, Liu Wenjing must oppose it, and often bullies and humiliates Pei Lian, so the two are at odds.

Liu Wenjing and his younger brother Liu Wenqi drank together, and a few days ago I learned that Pei Lin was beaten by Chu Mofeng because of the defeat, and he couldn't help but feel angry after drinking too much, he pulled out his knife and cut the pillar, and said: "Qi Guogong is still too merciful, this matter should cut off Pei Lian's head!"

Later, there were many strange phenomena in Liu Wenjing's house, and Liu Wenqi summoned a wizard to wear his hair loose under the starlight and hold a knife in his mouth to ward off evil spirits.

Liu Wenjing had a concubine who was not favored, so she asked her brother to sue Liu Wenjing for rebellion. Li Yuan learned of this because Liu Wenjing was a subordinate when Taiyuan raised troops, and sent Pei Lian, who had returned from injury, to review the matter with Xiao Yu.

At this time, above the court, Li Yuan looked coldly at Liu Wenjing, who was kneeling in the hall, and said angrily: "What do you have to say about this matter?"

I saw Liu Wenjing say expressionlessly: "Your Majesty, when Taiyuan raised troops, the subordinate officials were ashamed of Sima, and the prestige of Pei Changshi's position was roughly the same. Now Pei Lone's official residence is a servant, according to a house that is superior to everyone else, but the official titles and rewards received by his subordinates are no different from those of others, he is fighting in the east and west, and his mother stays in Beijing, and has no shelter through the ups and downs, and he is indeed a little dissatisfied, because he is drunk and complains, and he can't protect himself. The minister knows that he is wrong, and hopes that His Majesty will forgive the minister's unintentional actions. ”

Everyone present listened to Liu Wenjing's words, and they all admired him in their hearts, since it was a drunken remark, it was an unintentional mistake, as long as he sincerely admitted his mistake, His Majesty should not be punished too heavily.

Who knew that Li Yuan said to the ministers: "Listening to Liu Wenjing's words, it is obvious that he wants to rebel. Li Gang and Xiao Yu, who were at the next station, were shocked when they saw this, and hurriedly dodged out of the queue, which showed that Liu Wenjing did not rebel.

And Li Shimin, the king of Qin, who was recalled to the capital, repeatedly interceded for him, saying: "In the past, in Jinyang, Wen Jing first decided to raise troops before telling Pei Lian, and after conquering the capital, there was a huge difference in appointment and treatment, which made Wen Jing dissatisfied, and he did not dare to rebel. ”

At this time, Chu Mofeng, who was standing behind Li Shimin, walked out slowly, and said to Li Yuan: "Your Majesty, the minister also thinks that Wen Jing has no intention of rebelling, thinking that since Longxing, Wen Jing has always taken the lead in fighting everywhere, and he is fearless how many times he has wandered on the edge of life and death, if such people will rebel, then those who have lost the city and rebelled again and again should not all be exterminated by the Nine Clans? So I hope Your Majesty will be cautious in this matter." ”

Li Yuan listened to Chu Mofeng's words, and knew that there was something in this kid's words, in view of the previous incident with Pei Lian, Li Yuan was also a little embarrassed in his heart, if he wanted to say that the courtiers had a rebellious heart, they must be severely punished, but Liu Wenjing was different, everyone could prove that he was loyal, and he was the old man of Longxing back then, so at this time, Li Yuan didn't know what to do, and after thinking about it, it seemed that there was still one person who did not express his opinion, so he said to Pei Lian: "Pei Qing's family, what do you think of this matter?"

I saw Pei Lin think for a moment and said to Li Yuan: "Your Majesty, Wen Jing's intelligence and strategy are above everyone, coupled with his rough and sinister temperament, if it is undecided today, it will definitely be a trouble to keep him." As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar in the court, and many people instantly looked at Pei Lian with a trace of disdain and resentment in their eyes.

And Li Shimin couldn't be angry because of his identity, so he had to stare at Pei Lin coldly, and his eyes were full of anger.

Chu Mofeng on the side knew his good brother's mood at this time, in view of the fact that he was a rampant person in the court, he snorted coldly and said to Pei Lian: "Lord Pei has good opinions, my country's public is really admired, and I hope to consult Master Pei, my country's wisdom and strategy are above Wen Jing, and he is a person with a bad temperament who kills and decides, and there is a mobile team under his command, since the world is undecided, whether to keep his own prince is also endless?"

As soon as these words came out, the voice in the court suddenly increased a lot, and Li Yuan, who was on the dragon chair, quietly wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, thinking that this kid really dared to say anything.

I saw Pei Lian take a few steps back with a weak heart, and said tremblingly: "Grandpa Guo is joking, you are a hero of the founding of the country, and you are in charge of the world's soldiers and horses. ”

Chu Mofeng glanced at Pei Lian, turned to Li Yuan and said, "Your Majesty, since such a stubborn person can be forgiven, then the quiet matter is purely his drunken nonsense, and I hope Your Majesty will deal with it impartially." ”

As soon as Chu Mofeng's voice fell, everyone looked up at Li Yuan, wanting to see how Li Yuan handled this matter.

As everyone knows, Li Yuan has always been close to Pei Lin since Jinyang, and after wandering for a long time, he still adopted Pei Lian's opinion in his heart. Then he slowly spoke: "Spread my message, detain Liu Wenjing to the prison, remove all official positions, send people to Liu Wenqi's mansion to arrest him, and behead him together on a later date. After speaking, he got up and left the Taiji Palace.

Li Yuan's words were equivalent to pronouncing Liu Wenjing's death sentence, and at this time, Liu Wenjing slowly got up and bowed to Li Shimin and Chu Mofeng and said: "Wen Jing thanks His Royal Highness the King of Qin and Grandpa Guo for fighting for Wen Jing's reasoning, this matter has brought trouble to the two, and Wen Jing is here to make amends to the two." ”

Chu Mofeng helped Liu Wenjing up and said angrily: "Old Liu, if you don't want to die, I'll find someone to bail you out later, and send you to Zhangye with your family." ”

I saw Liu Wenjing slowly shook his head, and said to Chu Mofeng: "Wen Jing thanks Grandpa Guo for his kindness, if this is the case, it will inevitably bring unnecessary trouble to Grandpa Guo, which makes Wen Jing unbearable, I have made up my mind, and I hope that Grandpa Guo and His Royal Highness King Qin will cherish it a lot in the future." ”

The warriors who came to get people on the side didn't dare to step forward, because one of the two people next to Liu Wenjing was His Majesty's second prince, and the other, forget it or not, it's better not to provoke anyone in the entire Tang Dynasty.

At this time, Liu Wenjing said to the warrior on the side, "Please take me away." ”

Hearing that Liu Wenjing had made up his mind, Chu Mofeng didn't want to say anything, and after glancing at Li Shimin, he said to the warriors on the side: "After being taken to the prison, you will eat and drink well, if you dare to use torture at will, don't blame your country for not giving him face in the Criminal Department." ”

Hearing this, the two hurriedly nodded, and lightly took Liu Wenjing to leave the Taiji Palace, at this time, Pei Lian, who was not far away, was about to leave, only to hear Chu Mofeng say provocatively: "Master Pei stayed, are the injuries on his body healed?"

When Pei Lin heard this, he suddenly felt that the scabbed scars on his body seemed to have that kind of hot pain again, so he had to turn around and pretend to smile because of the identity of the other party, and said: "Grandpa Guo said that he was laughing, and the lower official has no pain on his body for a long time." ”

"Oh, that's good, so that you don't break your previous wounds when you get beaten again. Chu Mo said lightly, and everyone present couldn't help but be shocked in their hearts, thinking that this master is really ruthless, it can't be beaten, it seems that he has to be beaten again, and this time the surname Pei is unlucky.

"You, Grandpa Guo, don't go too far, otherwise the lower officials will definitely be Ming Your Majesty, and see how you explain to Your Majesty at that time?" Pei Lian pointed at Chu Mofeng angrily when he heard this, and his whole body trembled.

"The surname is Pei, I think you are a little carried away by the majesty of Your Majesty, right?" At this time, Chu Mofeng leaned into Pei Lian's ear and whispered: "Do you think Your Majesty's son-in-law beat His Majesty's servant, and the father-in-law will punish his son-in-law?" In fact, you have a saying that is very right, I am in charge of the world's soldiers and horses, so I have the final say on the affairs of military generals, from now on you no longer belong to my military generals, the farther you go, the better, as for the soldiers in your hands, I will take it back after the war. ”

After speaking, ignoring Pei Lian, who was standing on the spot, he greeted Li Shimin and said, "His Royal Highness King Qin has not returned to Beijing for a long time, can you please come to the Guogong Mansion for a while?"

Li Shimin, who was on the side, said with a smile: "What the king invites, how dare you not obey?" After speaking, he left the Taiji Hall with Chu Mofeng.

After returning to the Guogong Mansion, the two of them carried four bottles of Zhang Ye drunk and rushed into the study, only to see Chu Mofeng raise the bottle and take a sip and say, "I didn't expect today's incident to be like this." ”

"My father is a little too unkind, and Wen Jing was also a person who made great contributions back then, and he said that he would be killed. Li Shimin raised his head and poured most of the wine in his hand, slammed the wine bottle on the table, and said angrily with red eyes.

"Have you ever heard of a saying? The birds are all gone, the good bow is hidden, the cunning rabbit is dead, and the lackeys are cooked. I hope that the old man will not treat me like this in the future, otherwise I will retreat to Zhangye, and no matter how many people come to the imperial court, I alone can be worth a million male soldiers. Chu Mofeng drank all the wine in the bottle, then opened another bottle, and said with a solemn face: "I always feel that there is a shadow of Li Jiancheng in today's events, but I can't grasp the clue. ”

"Let's reveal this for the time being in advance, what do you think about going on another expedition?" When Li Shimin heard that there was still Li Jiancheng in it, he couldn't help but feel a little disgusted in his heart, and hurriedly pulled the topic elsewhere.

"Don't worry, isn't your idiot brother still self-righteous in the north? If there is any more important military information from the north, then I will recommend to Your Majesty that you lead the Northern Expedition, and maybe I will go into battle at that time." As soon as he heard Li Shimin mention the Northern Expedition, Chu Mofeng hurriedly restrained his expression and said his plan.

"Okay, I won't urge you on this matter, Guanyin is about to give birth, I will stay in Chang'an City for a while now, let's contact more if there is anything." Li Shimin nodded, picked up another bottle of unopened Zhang Ye, drunkenly turned around and walked towards the outside of the study.

Seeing this, Chu Mofeng scolded viciously: "You kid is a bandit, should I go back to the back kitchen to give you some food? ”

I saw Li Shimin waving his hand without looking back, and walked towards the outside of the Guogong Mansion.

Xin Wei (the sixth day of the first month), Liu Wenjing and Liu Wenqi were executed for their crimes, and their family property was finally preserved after the efforts of the ministers.

Two days after Liu Wenjing asked about the beheading, the concubine and the brother of the concubine who denounced him were found dead on the side of the road five miles east of Chang'an City, and there were more than 20 fatal wounds on the two of them......

As the saying goes, three years old is set to be eighty, and seeing that Li Yuanji lives up to expectations and loses Taiyuan, Li Shiren looks forward to wearing armor and going out, wanting to know what will happen next, and listen to the next decomposition......