Chapter 0404 One-hand preparation, two strategic purposes(1/2)
Man Tang Hong
This is a power struggle.
When the coverage areas of power are adjacent and may intersect at any time, power struggles are inevitable.
And the struggle for power must never be retreated.
As long as you dare to retreat, others will think you are weak and can be bullied, and they will pounce on you without hesitation and rob you of every ounce of power in your hands.
During this process, others will not be merciful and will not give you any chance to breathe.
So when there is a power struggle, you must fight.
Even if you know from the beginning that you will lose badly, you still have to fight.
If you fight, you have a chance of winning; if you don't fight, you will definitely lose.
Ren Gui obviously saw that he wanted to stay dormant and be a person with no sense of existence when Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were fighting, so he said this.
"I thought about it carefully, and it's really a good thing."
Li Yuanji understood what Ren Gui meant and nodded in agreement with Ren Gui's words.
The smile on Ren Gui's face became brighter at a speed visible to the naked eye, "So, is Your Highness going to choose to lie dormant when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the King of Qin are fighting?"
Li Yuanji glanced at Ren Gui and said with a half-smile: "Are you testing me, or are you confirming your suspicion?"
Ren Gui didn't hide it, she smiled openly and said: "Both."
Li Yuanji smiled and asked: "Are you satisfied with my answer?"
Ren Gui nodded with a smile.
Li Yuanji asked again: "What is your purpose of testing me, and what is your purpose of confirming your guess?"
Ren Gui slightly cupped his hands and said: "Of course it is to better advise His Highness."
Li Yuanji nodded and said: "I believe your words for now. Then tell me, how will my second brother deal with my eldest brother?"
Ren Gui was stunned for a moment, tugged at his beard and said hesitantly: "Didn't I just say that? His Highness King Qin should start from two aspects, but I can't tell which aspect he will start from."
Li Yuanji stared at Ren Gui with a smile and said: "Someone died in the palace, have you heard?"
Ren Gui was stunned again, not understanding why Li Yuanji asked this question.
After thinking for a moment, I understood the deep meaning of Li Yuanji's words.
Ren Gui's eyes were full of brilliance as he said: "It turns out that His Highness has also noticed this matter. It turns out that His Highness has also guessed where His Highness King Qin will start."
Li Yuanji said angrily: "Can you tell me the truth now?"
Li Yuanji really has no temper for people who say half of these things.
It seems that they don't speak half of what they say, which completely fails to reflect their abilities.
If you don't have something in mind, you won't be able to talk to them at all, and you won't even know what they are really thinking.
The reason why Li Yuanji was so sure that Ren Gui had guessed where Li Shimin would start was because Ren Gui understood Li Shimin's actions so thoroughly that they almost overlapped with some historical developments.
Therefore, Li Yuanji concluded that Ren Gui must have picked up on Li Shimin's pulse, but he didn't know if he had any real information in his belly, and he didn't know what the scope of his acceptance was, so he deliberately hid it.
This is a basic method of being a courtier.
The purpose is to protect oneself, and also to have new things for the lord anytime and anywhere.
As a minister, especially one who works for others, it is really inappropriate to speak your mind.
Because once you have said everything and there is nothing new to give the lord, the lord will most likely abandon you.
As a person who has a lot of human resources to mobilize, people will not slow down and wait for you.
As long as you are no longer useful, it will be a matter of time before I abandon you.
As for thinking about old friendships, thinking about your past achievements, and still using you again, it is almost non-existent.
Because most of the owners have no friendship at all, and most of them don't like their old ministers to take advantage of their old achievements.
Even if the owner occasionally misses the old relationship and misses your past achievements, it is not really that the owner is nostalgic for the old relationship or the old achievements. It is purely because the owner wants to use it to achieve some political purpose, or to buy horse bones for a thousand dollars.
Li Yuanji poured some dry food for Ren Gui, and Ren Gui didn't hold anything back. He immediately said enthusiastically: "I think that His Highness the King of Qin should be able to attack both sides."
Li Yuanji raised his eyebrows, "A two-pronged approach? Starting from both the harem and the military?"
Li Yuanji knew that Li Shimin would start from the harem and what Li Shimin would do, but he didn't know that Li Shimin would also start from the military side, and he didn't even receive any news.
Historically, when Li Shimin destroyed Li Jiancheng's reputation from the harem and forced Li Yuan to depose Li Jiancheng, he did not mention what Li Shimin did with the help of soldiers and horses in this matter.
If Ren Gui's guess is true, the credibility is extremely high.
So this is undoubtedly an unexpected gain.
Facing Li Yuanji's question, Ren Gui nodded heavily.
Li Yuanji asked: "What will my second brother do in terms of soldiers and horses?"
Ren Gui subconsciously lowered his voice and whispered: "It's nothing more than buying off the guards from all over the Tai Chi Palace and inserting his own people inside."
Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment.
He does know this.
Li Shimin had already started doing it, and he was doing it too.
Li Yuanji asked: "What else?"
Ren Gui pointed in all directions and said: "Place your own men at the four gates of Guanzhong to cut off the possibility of soldiers and horses from various places entering Guanzhong when there is turmoil in Chang'an City."
Li Yuanji nodded thoughtfully.
The four major gates of Guanzhong refer to the four important passes in the four directions of Guanzhong, southeast, northwest and northwest.
They are East Hangu Pass, West Dashan Pass, South Wuguan and North Xiao Pass.
As long as these four major gates are guarded, it will be very difficult for soldiers and horses from outside to enter the pass.
This is also one of the main reasons why Guanzhong has been repeatedly chosen as the location of the capital.
In the eyes of the emperors who made Guanzhong their capital in the past dynasties, Guanzhong is surrounded by mountains and has four dangerous passes, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as these four major gates are guarded, even if the world is in chaos, it will be difficult for thieves to break into Guanzhong.
.
The idea is definitely a good idea.
However, judging from the history of changes in the past dynasties, almost no dynasty that established its capital in Guanzhong achieved such a strategic goal through the four passes of Guanzhong.
The main reason why this problem occurred is that when the founding emperors of the past dynasties established their capital in Guanzhong, they underestimated the corruption capabilities of their descendants and overestimated the combat effectiveness of their soldiers.
In their opinion, no matter how unbearable the descendants of future generations are, occupying such an important place, they can still defend Guanzhong as long as they randomly send out a few generals who are somewhat capable of fighting.
But in the eyes of their descendants, the four passes in Guanzhong are really useless. Even if they send their most powerful generals and most trusted ministers to guard the four passes, they will still be defeated.
So, the emperors who made their capital in Guanzhong had a good idea, but it was a pity that they looked down upon their descendants.
In their opinion, the four passes of Guanzhong can be defended casually, but in the eyes of their descendants, even if their ancestors resurrected with a group of founding heroes, they may not be able to defend them.
However, the Tang Dynasty is now at the beginning of its founding, and most of Li Shimin's men are among the founding heroes.
In Li Shimin's eyes, guarding the four passes of Guanzhong and cutting off the communication between Guanzhong and other places should be an easy thing to do.
Therefore, when he decided to use troops and horses to seize the crown prince's position, he would definitely not forget to control three of the four passes in Guanzhong.
The remaining pass is Hangu Pass.
Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the role of Hangu Pass has been gradually replaced by Tongguan Pass.
Therefore, if Li Shimin wanted to control the Guanzhong Pass, he would only attack Tongguan, not Hangu Pass.
Whether it was the insertion of people in the Taiji Palace as mentioned by Ren Gui, or the secret control of the four passes in Guanzhong, Li Yuanji had actually expected it and made many arrangements in secret, so there was nothing surprising.
It's just that the reason why Li Yuanji could predict these things was based on the analysis of everything that had happened in history, and he had a lot of foresight advantages.
It is not easy for Ren Gui to analyze this based only on the existing information.
After all, except for Ren Gui, Li Shimin and some of Li Shimin's insiders, most of the others still looked at him with a dark eye.
Especially Li Jiancheng and those under Li Jiancheng, I'm afraid they still haven't figured out how Li Shimin will fight back, how Li Shimin will lay out the plan, and how Li Shimin will calculate them step by step.
So looking at it this way, Ren Gui's mind and analytical ability have far surpassed the group of people under Li Jiancheng, and far surpassed most people.
With such a talent, Li Jiancheng didn't need to use it, he didn't kill him, he just let him run wild.
Li Jiancheng didn't know whether it was because of blind arrogance, or because he felt that the relatives under his command and the few military ministers who had never seen any big battles could really help him achieve success.
Thinking of this, Li Yuanji once again despised Li Jiancheng in his heart.
With disdain, Li Yuanji glanced at Ren Gui and asked, "What else?"
He already knew everything Ren Gui said. He hoped to learn what he didn't know from Ren Gui's mouth, and also hoped that Ren Gui could bring him more surprises.
When Ren Gui heard Li Yuanji's question, he was obviously stunned for a moment, his eyes widened slightly, and he quickly returned to his original state.
He suppressed the shock in his heart and asked tentatively: "Has Your Highness already known everything I said?"
Li Yuanji did not hide anything, nodded and said with a smile: "Do you think I am as brainless as the rumors say? Do you think there are any brainless people among our brothers and sisters?"
To be continued...