Li Yuanji rode up to Li Xiaogong, looking dumbfounded.
Li Xiaogong looked impoverished, and people who didn't know better thought that his family was in ruins.
Li Xiaogong wiped the wine drops on his goat's beard, his eyes were cloudy, and he raised his head with a complicated expression and looked at Li Yuanji, "Now that things have happened, you are the only one who still regards me as your brother. Others are afraid to avoid me."
Li Yuanji jumped off the horse, handed the horse's reins to the guard, climbed into the carriage of the bullock cart, sat cross-legged with Li Xiaogong, and said in a funny way: "No matter what the situation is, the elder brother is the elder brother, and this will not change."
Yes. Our relationship is based on blood, not status. So whether you and I are beggars or kings, we are brothers."
Li Xiaogong fell into silence and did not speak any more. Instead, he raised his whip and threw it on the ground, scaring the old cow pulling the cart and starting to move forward step by step.
The carriages of Prince Qi's Mansion, as well as the accompanying personnel, started to move and followed behind.
Li Xiaogong waited for a long time after the bullock cart had gone out before speaking again, "You are right, but you are the only one who thinks so."
Li Yuanji ordered someone to bring wine, took a sip himself, and handed the wine bag to Li Xiaogong.
Li Xiaogong took the wine and poured it into his mouth.
Li Yuanji watched the wine drops flying around Li Xiaogong's mouth and said, "My father must think so too."
Li Xiaogong stopped drinking and looked straight at Li Yuanji with his eyes a little red.
"Saint...if the saint really thinks so, why do you treat me like this?"
Li Yuanji stared at Li Xiaogong and asked, "How did my father treat you?"
Li Xiaogong came closer to Li Yuanji little by little, and said with a tone full of unwillingness: "Don't you know how the saint treated me?"
Li Yuanji said seriously: "I'll take care of what you eat, what you drink, give you a salary, give you a title, and put you above tens of millions of people. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Li Xiaogong's eyes suddenly widened, "Don't pretend to be deaf and dumb with me anymore."
Li Yuanji said sincerely: "I didn't pretend to be deaf and dumb to you, I told the truth."
Li Xiaogong once wanted to stand up, but Li Yuanji pushed him back.
Li Xiaogong was shocked.
He was not weak and could not get close to him, let alone push him back with one hand.
Li Yuanji held him down firmly with one hand, and his strength was a bit abnormal.
However, he didn't care too much about this matter. He just wanted to know why Li Yuanji held him down.
Li Yuanji stared at Li Xiaogong and asked seriously: "My cousin has been back to Beijing for a few days. Haven't you figured out the joints yet?"
Li Xiaogong stared and said nothing.
Li Yuanji didn't know whether he had figured it out or not, so he could only say frankly: "My cousin was so majestic south of the river. He killed all the little people south of the river to a complete defeat, and made the snakes and rats fight at both ends."
People bow to me, the Tang Dynasty.
Everyone knows my cousin’s contribution to the Tang Dynasty.”
Li Xiaogong gritted his teeth and said, "Then why did the saint humiliate me like this?"
Li Yuanji asked without hesitation: "If my father wants to humiliate you, do you think people in the government and the public will avoid you?"
Li Xiaogong was stunned.
If Li Yuan wants to humiliate someone, people in both the government and the public will not avoid him. They will only find ways to find trouble for him and make him suffer even more humiliation.
What he is facing now is that no one dares to come to the door, as if to avoid disaster.
He roughly guessed some reasons.
Previously, he only thought about his contribution to the Tang Dynasty and the grievances he suffered, but he neglected to pay attention to other people's reactions and the profound meaning of other people's reactions.
"The First Minister of the Ming Dynasty"
Seeing that Li Xiaogong was silent, Li Yuanji asked and answered: "No, people in the government and the public will only try their best to embarrass you and humiliate you with my father."
Li Xiaogong's face darkened and he said nothing.
Li Yuanji continued: "So, everything you are suffering now has nothing to do with humiliation."
Li Xiaogong's eyes fell on Li Yuanji's face, but he still said nothing.
Li Yuanji sighed and said: "My cousin is south of the river, and he is called the Grand Manager of Jingzhou. In fact, he controls Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Jiaozhou, and half of Yizhou. The prefectures and counties under his control are spread all over the south of the river.
With the mighty generals like clouds and the huge number of soldiers and horses, it is not an exaggeration to call him the King of Jiangnan.
Didn't my cousin think deeply about it when he came back from his dream at midnight?
This King of Jiangnan, can you sit still?"
Li Xiaogong suddenly stared and shouted: "I never wanted to be the King of Jiangnan."
Li Xiaogong is not a fool. Li Yuanji said that for this reason, if he still doesn't understand why he was left out by Li Yuan and shunned by the civil and military officials of the dynasty, then his life will be in vain.
Li Yuanji nodded and said: "You never thought of becoming the King of Jiangnan, but when you were in Jingzhou, you were already a veritable King of Jiangnan."
Li Xiaogong gritted his teeth and said, "Everything I have done is worthy of a saint and worthy of the ancestors of my Li family."
Li Yuanji asked seriously: "You know what you are thinking, but others are the problem?"
Li Xiaogong's face became gloomy again, so gloomy that he could bleed.
Li Yuanji continued: "Especially after the rumors about Tianyou Er came out, when my father looked at the entire Tang Dynasty, the only one he saw was you.
Because only you, with enough military strength, can make this happen."
Li Xiaogong stared and shouted: "As a descendant of the Li family, it is absolutely impossible for me to betray the Li family."
Li Yuanji nodded and asked, "What if someone puts the Zhang uniform on you?"
Li Xiaogong shrank.
"Then I'll kill him."
Li Yuanji asked again: "What if everyone up and down south of the river wears your seal and uniform?"
Li Xiaogong's expression changed drastically, but he didn't speak.
Li Yuanji asked again: "What if the people under your command help you raise troops?"
Li Xiaogong's eyes suddenly widened.
Li Yuanji sighed and said: "My cousin should know that my father was like this when he raised troops in the past. My father only wanted to be the prince of the princes. It was my second brother and Pei Ji. Liu Wenjing and others thought that my father could be called
Emperor, so we planned in private and lobbied my father together.
In the end, with their help and lobbying, my father successfully raised troops and established the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop.
My cousin thinks that if the same thing happened to you, would you still be able to deal with it calmly?"
Li Xiaogong fell into silence completely.
Li Yuanji ordered someone to take another wine bag, took a sip of wine, and sighed: "This is how my father got into trouble, how could he let you follow his old path?
If you are coerced by others and do something treasonous and unethical.
You and I, brothers, are not drinking in this bullock cart, but we are fighting each other on the battlefield."
Li Xiaogong's body trembled slightly, but he remained speechless.
He had no intention of fighting against Li Yuan, so he knew very well how terrible it would be after what Li Yuanji said happened.
In the past, he only looked at issues from his own standpoint, so he ignored these.
Now that I look at the issue from Li Yuan's perspective, I understand why Li Yuan ignored him.
Because his power is too great, it has threatened Li Yuan, and it is powerful enough to cause the Tang Dynasty to split anytime and anywhere.
If he were in a different place, he would probably have gone under the knife.
There is no way he would allow such a huge threat to exist under his command.
Just like Li Jing under his command, his ability far exceeds his, so the number of troops he gives Li Jing will always only be three thousand.
If there are too many, none will be given.
Because he was worried that after Li Jing became powerful, he would have different intentions, which would threaten him and the Tang Dynasty.
In contrast, Li Yuan has been very restrained.
Not only did he not use a knife, he was able to live peacefully until now.
Li Yuanji accompanied Li Xiaogong on the bullock cart. When they were so far away that they could see the general outline of Jiulongtan Mountain, Li Xiaogong spoke again, with an inexplicable sound in his voice.
"But I...have returned to Beijing."
"So you're still alive."
Li Yuanji smiled calmly.
Li Xiaogong glared at Li Yuanji, "Then why does the saint still ignore me? Why do all the civil and military officials of the dynasty still avoid me?"
Li Yuanji glanced at Li Xiaogong and said amusedly: "Because you are still the chief manager of Jingzhou. Although you have returned to Beijing, Jingzhou is still your Jingzhou. You can't even see through this, right?"
Li Yuanji didn't believe it.
Li Xiaogong opened his mouth, but didn't speak.
It's not that he can't see through it, he just wants to pretend to be ignorant.
Because he couldn't let go of the authority of the Chief Manager of Jingzhou.
He is just over thirty now and looks like he still has decades to live.
If you hand over your authority now, you don't know if you will have the opportunity to take over again in the future.
He didn't want to waste the next few decades.
He has no intention of rebellion, he just likes the feeling of fighting on the battlefield.
If possible, he hopes to continue helping Datang in the war until the day he dies of old age.
Li Yuanji kept watching Li Xiaogong's reaction. He saw some disappointment on Li Xiaogong's face and roughly guessed what Li Xiaogong was thinking.
Because of the same decline, Li Yuanji also saw it on Qu Tutong's face.
"Cousin, the reason why my father gave you the cold shoulder was because he was waiting for you to come to him. The reason why the officials avoided you was because they were afraid that you would not come to him.
How much older are you than I am? You have been with my father much longer than I have. You should know my father's temperament."
Li Yuanji said slowly.
Li Xiaogong nodded silently and said nothing.
Li Yuan was waiting for him to take the initiative to come to the door, just waiting for him to come to the door to hand over his authority.
Li Yuan still thought that he was a nephew, so he didn't force him or take back his authority arbitrarily. He just waited for him to figure it out.
The officials were afraid that he would not take the initiative to come to the door, but they were afraid that he would not be able to figure it out and would be unwilling to hand over his authority and force Li Yuan to use force.
Once Li Yuan uses strong words, he will not take into account the relationship between uncle and nephew.
If the time comes to kill him and eradicate the root cause, all the officials who are close to him will also be implicated.
"My cousin is not willing to give in? Is he afraid that after handing over the position of Jingzhou Grand Manager, he will never have the opportunity to take power in the future, and will never be able to fight in battle?"