Li Ji processed a bunch of important official documents in the duty room, ordered the clerk to make a pot of tea, sat on the edge of the bed and sipped it, looking out the window at the trees with yellowed leaves in trance.
Early autumn has arrived, the autumn harvest is about to begin, and then there will be a snowy and harsh winter. It will not be long until the Eastern Expedition in the early spring of next year. However, as of today, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in Liaodong are waiting for action, and the situation in the DPRK has suddenly changed.
Bewildered.
If the rear is unstable, how can the soldiers in the front kill the enemy with peace of mind?
Although the Tang army is now equipped with a large number of firearms, and is armed with a cavalry of no less than 5,000 men, and the soldiers participating in the battle are elite soldiers mobilized from all over the country, after all, there are lessons learned from the mistakes of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. For this battle
Although the whole country believed that the war would be won without a doubt, Li Ji was still a little worried.
It is an excellent quality of a commander to think about defeat before victory. Even in a situation where he has the upper hand, he must be meticulous and steady.
However, now Li Ji has felt that it is not just that. Once the front line is defeated, or even the offensive is frustrated and fails to achieve the desired results, the center may cause a violent shock.
It’s not that he is unfounded, but the current situation of the Tang Dynasty cannot be messed up at all. Hundreds of thousands of elites are rushing to Liaodong. The whole country is empty. As long as there is a slight situation, it will be a prairie fire that cannot be stopped...
The soft sound of footsteps behind him interrupted Li Ji's deep thought. When he turned around, he saw Xiao Yu entering with his hands behind his back.
Li Ji put down his teacup, stood up and said, "It turns out to be Duke Guo of Song. Come, come, sit here."
Xiao Yu was not polite and casually sat down opposite Li Ji, leaning back on the chair. The large window was open, giving a panoramic view of the courtyard.
Li Ji sat down, poured tea with his own hands, and said, "The latest autumn tea was just delivered by Fang Erlang. Please try it."
Xiao Yu picked up the teacup, took a sip of the hot tea, and said with a chuckle: "Fang Erlang's generosity is recognized by everyone in the court. This kind of tea in the market probably costs a few thousand dollars a tael, but in the end he seems to be in vain."
Just give it away as if you picked it up, everyone has a share...I heard that the British father-in-law went to Pingkangfang last night? Haha, he ordered the most popular girl in Zuixian Tower, and sang and danced all night long. I was really in good spirits.
"
At this point, he paused and continued: "But I heard that Fang Erlang was with us when we left the Wei Mansion, but you later abandoned him and went to have fun yourself. This is a bit unkind."
Li Ji smiled, refilled Xiao Yu's teacup, shook his head, and said, "Isn't it true that Song Guogong asked knowingly? It was originally an appointment, but when he came out of the Wei Mansion, Fang Erlang was called by Zhao Guogong to talk.
He went first and then disappeared, but it’s not that we didn’t take him with us.”
Xiao Yu smiled meaningfully: "So... I don't want to play with you?"
Li Ji frowned slightly and remained silent.
At present, there is a rare sincere cooperation between Shandong aristocratic families and Jiangnan noble families. There are some things that there is no need to hide and cannot be hidden... He said: "It is said that after Fang Erlang and Zhao Guogong separated, they went to the palace to knock on the palace, and after leaving the palace, they went straight out of the city.
The Academy, it seems, still has concerns about us joining forces to fight against Guan Long."
Xiao Yu drank tea, with a comfortable posture, and said slowly: "When Fang Erlang came out of the palace, there was a wound on his forehead, and the blood was not stopping... It is obvious that this boy must have said something unpleasant to His Majesty.
, which made His Majesty very angry."
None of these things are secrets. As long as you want to know and pay a little attention, you can hear some rumors.
However, the meaning behind the matter cannot be ignored.
Why didn't Fang Jun go to Pingkangfang to attend the meeting? Why did he, who had always been incompatible with the Guanlong nobles, give up this meeting where everyone jointly targeted the Guanlong nobles?
When he went to the palace, what exactly did he ask His Majesty Li Er to advise him? He actually provoked His Majesty Li Er to beat someone?
…
Nowadays, Fang Jun has his own faction in the army. Although he cannot yet compete with military leaders such as Li Ji, Cheng Yaojin, Li Daliang, and Zhang Shigui, his own power is not small. In addition, Li Xiaogong, Li Daozong and others in the DPRK
, Ma Zhou, Sun Fuga and other Austrian aids are definitely a force that cannot be underestimated.
In particular, Fang Jun's "Holy Family" was unparalleled in the whole court. He represented the will of His Majesty the Emperor, and no matter which party, they were striving to win over him.
Otherwise, when many parties are competing, this person may be dispensable for success, but more than enough for failure...
No one knows what Fang Jun said when he entered the palace to meet the emperor, but since he left the palace and left the city without rushing to Pingkangfang, they knew something about his position.
Obviously, Fang Jun will probably not get involved in this alliance between the Shandong aristocratic family and the Jiangnan gentry...
Li Ji, who usually talks little, was silent now, just holding the tea cup in his hand and staring at his own hand.
Xiao Yu sat leisurely, looking out the window at the clerks walking around in the yard from time to time, and said softly: "Although Guan Long is in many crises now and seems to be on the verge of collapse the next moment, when he founded the country, he seized the largest
The interests of the people have penetrated into every aspect of the empire. How can they be uprooted so easily? You and I must join forces and deal with it carefully. If we are not careful, we will fall short of the success. We should unite sincerely and advance and retreat together.
...You guys are a little impatient."
Li Ji was stunned for a moment, a little dissatisfied, and said in a deep voice: "Why did Duke Guo of Song say this? My ambition is to eliminate the barriers and quit government affairs. We can work together to assist your majesty, create a prosperous age and establish unparalleled achievements, not just
When fighting for power and profit, if the party agrees and opposes those who are different, how can they hide their intentions?"
Xiao Yu sighed, shook his head, and sighed: "You and I have been officials in the same dynasty for many years, how can we not know your temperament? This time the two families have joined forces to fight against Guan Long.
I am willing to plan those dirty things. However, how many people can you represent in the huge Shandong family? There will always be some people who engage in some tricks in private, hoping to gain more benefits. This is human nature and is understandable."
Whether it is a Shandong aristocratic family or a Jiangnan gentry, they all represent countless people with numerous interests. Each of these people has their own needs, so how can we generalize and satisfy them all? Some people get their wishes, so they naturally keep to themselves, while some people refuse to give up.
Naturally, he had other plans.
Li Ji couldn't unite the Shandong family, so how could he, Xiao Yu, unite the Jiangnan nobles?
Li Ji frowned, still a little confused: "What did Song Guogong say that we are impatient? What do you mean?"
Xiao Yu came here today to open up his heart so that there would be no grudges between the two families. Even if there were some fetters, he hoped to eliminate them openly and honestly, so he did not hide them and said bluntly: "I heard that His Majesty intends to cancel the circle of His Highness King Jin.
We have issued the prohibition order and plan to allow him to enter the court as an official and open a palace and build a tooth."
Li Ji's expression suddenly changed.
Although he, the chief minister, is usually extremely low-key and has a very low sense of presence by pretending to be deaf and mute all day long, it does not mean that his political literacy is inferior. On the contrary, the more silent a person is, the more clearly he understands in his heart.
like.
They often stand aside while others are noisy and vying for each other. They become more and more clear observers and can understand the key points of the situation...
Li Ji had naturally heard about His Majesty Li Er's intention to cancel the Jin King's ban on confinement, but he never took it to heart. His Majesty had a deep love for licking calves and wanted to forgive this most beloved son.
What's wrong?
However, when Xiao Yu raised this matter alone, the meaning was naturally completely different.
According to Li Ji's previous thinking, even if the King of Jin opened a palace and established a new crown prince, since the Guanlong nobles had been jointly suppressed and collapsed, the loss of their staunchest supporters would naturally have no impact on the crown prince's status as crown prince.
But what if one of the Shandong aristocratic families or the Jiangnan gentry supports the King of Jin in his fight for the throne?
The two families even united to support King Jin...
It's absolutely possible!
Although Li Ji himself did not have much ambition, what's more, he had already reached the rank of prime minister and assistant, and could not be promoted. He wanted to clean up the court, unite all forces to unite with the outside world, and create a prosperous and prosperous hegemony for the ages. But those people below him
Woolen cloth?
Not everyone may be as ambitious as him. For ordinary people, the struggle with the Guanlong nobles is a process of fighting for their own interests. Any grandiose hegemony is too far away from them and they can't reach it. They just want to be promoted.
Get rich and gain power.
What better way to seize power than to support the King of Jin to successfully compete for the throne and ascend the throne as emperor?
This is the power of Conglong!
And Fang Jun was a staunch "princeling". Someone wanted to support the Jin prince in his fight for the throne, which had obviously touched Fang Jun's bottom line.
Li Ji not only looked up to the sky and sighed, but the alliance against the Guanlong nobles had not yet been established, and he was on the road to death because of some villains with unsatisfied desires...
But this is human nature, everything is inevitable by chance.