When Li Yuan beat Li Shimin but failed, Pei Ji took him out alone and praised him for being brave and resourceful. Wasn't this just a reminder to Li Yuan that he could be used to deal with Li Shimin?
Is Li Shimin so easy to deal with?
If Li Shimin was easy to deal with, he wouldn't be able to become an emperor through the ages.
The Tiance Mansion and the Xiuwen Museum in Li Shimin's hands almost took over more than half of the talents in the early Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin also controlled nearly 60% of the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty.
What did Li Ji do to Li Shimin?
Courage?
"The trees want to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop!"
"Pei Ji, you piece of shit, wait for me. Sooner or later, I will kill you and dig your grave!"
Li Ji gritted his teeth and muttered.
Li Ji was really angry at Pei Ji.
Pei Ji's trick was sinister and ruthless.
Even if he does nothing, Li Shimin will stare at him with suspicion.
After Li Jiancheng found out about this, he would also be wary of him.
There is an allusion called Suspecting Neighbors Stealing Axes, which roughly means that when you think a person is a thief, no matter how you look at him, he still looks like a thief.
If Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng keep looking at him with suspicion, sooner or later they will regard him as a 'thief'.
At that time, in order to survive, he would have to compete with Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng.
Li Ji was angry, but he also realized two truths from Pei Ji's tricks.
First, it is not easy to escape from a cage.
Second, if you don’t have enough strength and are being plotted by others, you can only be at the mercy of others.
If Li Ji had Li Shimin's strength, would he still care about what Pei Ji said?
If Pei Ji dares to plot against him, he can lead his troops and kill Pei Ji and Li Yuan at once.
Li Ji carefully analyzed and found that Li Shimin now has the strength to replace Li Yuan.
The reason why Li Shimin hesitated to move was because Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng had not yet fought to the death, and Li Shimin had not yet had the intention to kill his brother.
Li Shimin now still has great expectations for Li Yuan, hoping that Li Yuan can pass the crown prince's position to him as promised.
"Since I can't easily escape from the cage, and I don't want to be manipulated by others, I can only survive in the struggle. And the first task of the struggle is to strengthen myself.
Damn Pei Ji, you are really hurting me."
Li Ji already completely hated Pei Ji.
He could have closed the door, turned his back on what was happening outside the window, and just wanted to be a happy king.
If Pei Ji does this, he will not be clean even if he closes the door.
Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng would only think that he was hiding his strength and hiding his weakness.
While scolding Pei Ji, Li Ji thought about ways to strengthen himself.
He has no shortage of money, land, or manpower.
The only thing he lacks is people who will follow him loyally.
However, the talents in the early Tang Dynasty either entered the East Palace or went to the Prince of Qin's Palace. There were almost no people who could be recruited by him and who had to ensure their loyalty.
"No...no!"
Li Ji suddenly thought of a group of people who might be able to be used by him.
They were a group of people who were not favored by Li Yuan. Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng were unwilling to use them because of Li Yuan's reasons. As a result, they only had a wealth of scriptures and great martial arts, but could only serve as low-level officials in the Tang Dynasty.
.
"If Li Yuan had listened to Pei Ji's slander and used me to deal with Li Shimin, he probably wouldn't have minded me recruiting those people. If Li Yuan had not listened to Pei Ji's slander and didn't need me to deal with Li Shimin, then if I recruited those people, Li Yuan would have scolded me twice at most.
You know, you won't really do anything to me."
Li Ji thought of this and immediately shouted outside the hall: "Thank you, Uncle Fang?"
The guard outside the palace appeared tremblingly in the palace, carefully knelt on one knee in front of Li Ji, and reminded in a low voice, "Your Highness...it's the second watch...Xie Zhizhan has gone back to sleep..."
Li Ji was a little embarrassed. He was so engrossed in thinking about things that he actually forgot about the time.
"Then please step back. When Uncle Xie wakes up tomorrow, ask him to come over."
"Here!"
The guard agreed with relief and exited the main hall.
Li Ji thought for a while, and after feeling sleepy, he went to sleep on the treasure couch behind the screen in the main hall.
Not long after Li Ji fell asleep, a figure carrying a bowl of soup entered the hall softly.
The queen who was in the hall did not see Li Ji's figure, so she walked around the screen and appeared in front of Li Ji's couch.
Seeing that Li Ji was already asleep, she prepared to leave with the soup.
He was a little hesitant when he saw Li Ji kicking off the quilt and stretching one leg out of the quilt.
She gritted her teeth, put down the soup, walked tremblingly to Li Ji, and carefully put Li Ji's feet into the quilt.
During this period, she did not dare to take a breath.
After covering Li Ji with the quilt and confirming that Li Ji was not awake, she quietly left the main hall with the soup in her hands.
Walk to the entrance of the main hall.
The guard guarding the door couldn't help but said: "Mrs. Chen, Your Highness has gone to bed and will probably not wake up until tomorrow morning. You should go back to sleep too."
The guards watched with their own eyes as Chen Shanyi stood guard in a corner not far from the main hall for most of the night. He waited until Li Ji was idle before delivering soup to Li Ji.
Chen Shanyi hesitated for a moment, said nothing, and left in a hurry with the soup.
"Why……"
The guard let out a long sigh.
…
The next day.
Accompanied by the bells from the bell tower, Li Ji opened his eyes.
The maids had already brought things for washing and were waiting in front of the treasure bed.
Li Ji sat up, and the maids immediately came forward to serve Li Ji.
While Li Ji denounced the corruption of feudal society in his heart, he enjoyed the service of his maids with peace of mind.
Li Ji can also refuse to let them serve him.
But the consequence was that Officer Shang Yi held them accountable.
Until Li Ji clears out the Shang Yi officials in his house, Li Ji can only enjoy their service with peace of mind.
After Li Ji washed up and dressed neatly, he walked to the head of the main hall and saw Uncle Xie Fangzheng kneeling on the ground on one knee, with the eunuch Liu Jun standing next to Li Yuan.
When Liu Jun saw Li Ji, he bowed and said, "Your Highness, Liu Jun, has met."
Before Li Ji could speak, Liu Jun straightened up and said, "Everyone has spoken, from now on, His Highness will no longer need to be grounded."
At the entrance of the palace, Chen Shanyi had just walked up the stone steps with his meal. When he heard Liu Jun's words, his body dropped to the spot.
The guards guarding both sides of the palace entrance sighed deeply in their hearts and closed their eyes, unable to bear to look at her.
People often say that the Tian family is ruthless, but no one expected that the Tian family would be so ruthless.
Li Ji was banned because of his disobedient behavior towards Chen Shanyi.
After only a few days, it was lifted.
Who cares about Chen Shanshan’s thoughts?
Chen Shanyi may not want Li Ji to be punished because of her.
But how could Chen Shanyi endure Li Yuan's perfunctory way of doing things?!
"No, I think being grounded is good. Go back and tell my father that I like being grounded very much."
Li Ji sat down a few seats behind him and said carelessly.
Liu Jun did not respond to Li Ji's words, nor did he say much. He just saluted Li Ji again and said, "I take my leave!"
Li Yuan's oral instructions have been conveyed to him, and his duties have been completed. Whether Li Ji will listen or not depends on Li Ji.
When Liu Jun walked out of the palace gate, he saw Chen Shanyi holding food in his hand. He was slightly startled, gave a slight salute to Chen Shanyi, then bypassed Chen Shanyi and left the Wude Palace.
"That's not what we did."
Li Ji sighed in a low voice after Liu Jun left.
Li Yuan didn't regard Chen Shanyi as a human being at all. When he gave the oral instructions, he didn't care about Chen Shanyi's mood at all.
Even though Chen Shanyi was born as a servant of the Li family, he still had the kindness to raise his son.
Li Yuan was obviously a bit ungrateful in doing this, or he never acknowledged Chen Yishan's kindness in raising his son from the beginning to the end.
He may feel that Chen Yiyi is not worthy enough to raise his son.
But is this a matter of deservingness?
"Go, pass the order, and say that I have grounded myself. During this period, I will not leave the Wude Hall unless ordered. As for the period of the grounding, it depends on Mrs. Chen's mood."
Li Ji gave instructions to Xie Shufang.
Xie Shufang agreed and immediately went out to deliver the order.
Chen Shanyi, who was at the entrance of the palace, had red eyes for some reason after hearing Li Ji's words. She took the food and left the entrance of the main hall of Wude Palace as if running away.
The guard guarding the door suddenly opened his eyes, with a look of disbelief on his face.
When did His Highness become so affectionate and righteous?!
This is not normal!
Li Jicai doesn't care about other people's thoughts. Li Yuan doesn't treat Chen Shanyi as a human being, but he has to treat Chen Shanyi as a human being.
When Li Yuan dealt with this matter, he didn't care about Chen Shanyi's feelings, he did.
Not long after Xie Shufang left the main hall, he returned to the main hall and replied to Li Ji, "Go back to your highness, I have already given you your instructions."
Li Ji nodded with satisfaction.
Xie Shufang added: "I have also investigated the matters you asked me to investigate."
With that said, Xie Shufang took out a stack of paper from his arms and placed it respectfully in front of Li Ji.
Li Ji did not rush to look at the paper handed to him by Xie Shufang, but asked with a smile: "You are now a grown man, do you have a girl you like?"
"ah?!"
Xie Shufang was stunned for a moment.
"Is there any?"
"No...no."
"It's boring. When other people were your age, their babies were all over the place, but you didn't even have a girl you liked."
Li Ji waved his hand at Xie Shufang in disgust, leaving Xie Shufang confused.
Xie Shufang stepped aside and glanced at Li Ji from time to time. He always felt that Li Ji had been a little unruly in the past two days.
Li Ji picked up the paper on the table and read it carefully.
After two full sticks of incense, Li Ji finally read Xie Shufang's 'investigation report'.
Li Ji put down the paper and said with emotion: "The female officials and subordinate officials in my house are all extremely rich. A small official from the eighth grade has thousands of acres of fertile land outside Chang'an City.
There are four shops and two houses in Chang'an City."
When Xie Shufang heard this, he immediately stood up and said: "Your Highness should be talking about Chen Dianxuan. The ministers verified that among the thousands of acres of farmland outside Chang'an City, only a hundred acres belong to Chen Dianxuan himself, and the rest belongs to him."
There are cases where he steals land from other maids and eunuchs’ homes, and there are cases where he usurps people’s lands.
The four shops in Chang'an City were all obtained by plunder, and of the two houses, one was given by His Highness, and the other was taken by him in the name of His Highness."
Li Ji tapped his fingers and asked: "After they learned that I was investigating them, did any of them escape? Did anyone plead guilty?"
Xie Shufang was a little panicked when he heard Li Ji's words. He hurriedly explained, "I investigated this matter in secret, and no news was leaked."