Changsun Wuji sat in Mingfu Temple until Youshi, when the temple was lit with candles, he returned to Yanshoufang. The news that the Duan family in Nanyang outside the city of Zheng County had massacred the village without authorization had already been sent back, and thousands of private soldiers of the Duan family in Nanyang were killed by the left. The news that Wu Wei was annihilated in one fell swoop made the Guanlong army inside and outside Chang'an instantly tense.
Although Li Ji's position in commanding the Eastern Expedition army is unclear, he has never directly confronted Guan Long. This annihilation of Duan's private army in Nanyang inevitably makes people wonder whether he used this to declare his position and show his goodwill to the Eastern Palace?
And once Li Ji stands on the side of the East Palace, the Guanlong clan will face a disaster...
Changsun Wuji returned to Yanshoufang and immediately sent someone to call Yu Wenshiji, Linghu Defen and Dugulan.
There are candles burning in the side hall, the window is open, the rain is gurgling outside and the air is cool. The rainwater pours from the eaves on the roof, like flying beads splashing jade, falling on the bluestone in front of the window with a soft tinkling sound. There is a pot of tea on the coffee table, the aroma is In the dense atmosphere, four big men who could influence Guan Long's direction were kneeling on the floor, drinking tea slowly, and the atmosphere was a bit dignified.
Zhang Liang's words had been repeated by Changsun Wuji. When they learned that Li Ji did not declare war on Guanlong, but that Cheng Yaojin did it without permission, the other three people breathed a sigh of relief, but they were immediately seduced by Changsun Wuji's words. Arouse tension.
Changsun Wuji said: "Li Ji has made it clear that he supports Tongguan and sits on the mountain to watch tigers fight. But even if the city of Chang'an is reduced to ashes, what good will he do to Li Ji? As the saying goes, 'If you don't have any profit, you can't afford it early.' Li Ji's interests must be with us." When Guanlong and Donggong are both in danger, you only need to think carefully to know what they are planning for."
They are all the top figures in the Guanlong clan. Their wisdom, experience, and experience have reached their personal peak. When Changsun Wuji said this, the three of them immediately woke up.
Linghu Defen frowned and said: "It seems that our previous speculation that Li Ji favored his own troops and tried to take the opportunity to serve another prince to ascend the throne has been closely related?"
Changsun Wuji nodded and said: "That's probably the case, otherwise it would be impossible to explain Li Ji's behavior of standing still."
As the chief minister and commander of hundreds of thousands of troops in the Eastern Expedition, Li Ji was well-deserved as the "Dinghai Divine Needle" and "the mainstay". When a mutiny broke out in Guanzhong, the most important thing he should do was to quickly send his army back to Guanzhong to put down the rebellion. , stabilized the situation, and then announced the death of His Majesty Li Er, assisting the crown prince to ascend the throne.
However, since Li Ji withdrew his troops from Liaodong, he had been dragging his feet and not even allowing the various armies to speed up the process. His intention to sit back and watch the fall of the East Palace had long been obvious.
You can imagine how resentful this thought will be in the eyes of the prince. If the prince successfully stabilizes the situation and ascends to the throne in the future, he may tolerate it for a while at first, but sooner or later he will counterattack, and Li Ji will be doomed...
With Li Jizhi deeply involved in the city, how could he allow that day to appear?
But sitting back and watching the fall of the East Palace does not mean supporting the victory of Guanlong's rebellion. In the past, although Li Ji was the chief minister and the leader of hundreds of officials, with one person less than ten thousand people, Guanlong was so deeply entrenched that even His Majesty Li Er had to give in three points. Not only could Li Ji not be able to show his power, but he was restrained everywhere and felt very uncomfortable. If the Guanlong soldiers became victorious and supported the King of Qi to ascend to the throne, it would be a repeat of the old story of the Guanlong clan in the early Zhenguan years when the Guanlong clan controlled the government and covered the sky with one hand. Li Ji, the chief minister and assistant, would become more powerful. There are constraints everywhere, and you have to swallow your anger.
Who can hold hundreds of thousands of troops but be willing to make wedding clothes for others?
Therefore, Li Ji's various unreasonable behaviors can only be attributed to him sitting back and watching the fall of the East Palace, then commanding Chang'an to defeat Guanlong and eliminate the mutiny, and then establishing a prince as a puppet to achieve the goal of monopolizing power.
Yu Wenshiji sighed: "In this way, Li Ji not only won the honor of turning the tide and establishing the country, but also had the merit of following the dragon. He even swept our Guanlong out of the court. From then on, no one can stop him. As a prime minister, The auxiliary leader lives up to his name, holds great power, holds the sun and the moon in his hand, is one person inferior to ten thousand people, and can even imitate the likes of Lu Buwei, Huo Zimeng, and dominate the government and the public."
Huo Zimeng was Huo Guang, and both of them, together with Lu Buwei, were well-known powerful officials in the history books. They both supported the young master and held great power and reached the pinnacle of power.
If Li Ji really did this, he would not only have the reputation of being a loyal minister, but also have the ability to be a powerful minister, and he would be able to gain the upper hand by stepping on Guan Long's corpse...
Changsun Wuji nodded in approval.
As for whether Fang Jun has anything to do with Li Ji, or even whether he has betrayed the prince in private, these are not important. Even if Fang Jun has great achievements, his reputation and qualifications are still not comparable to that of Li Ji. , cannot make all the forces in the world obey the situation. If Guan Long fights to the death, he may not be able to defeat him.
Changsun Wuji said: "The question before us now is how to escape undefeated from the plan of the invincible Li Ji?"
If there is still a chance of winning in a desperate battle with the East Palace, then Li Ji will definitely lose against hundreds of thousands of mercenaries. At this point in the situation, Li Ji has jumped out of the water and become the biggest devil...
Since Li Ji is invincible, what needs to be done is to predict Li Ji's next move, so as to make targeted arrangements, reduce losses as much as possible, and plan how to retreat from Li Ji's thunderous offensive. .
At the very least, we must protect our family fortune...
Yu Wenshi had not been in the mood to drink tea for a long time. He only felt that the sound of rain outside the window was extremely noisy and disturbing. He pondered for a while and said in a deep voice: "On the one hand, we will speed up the peace talks with the East Palace. As long as the peace talks are reached, the East Palace will still be the empire." Zhengshuo, Mr. Li Ji can't lead his army into Chang'an and do what we failed to do, right? If he could, he would have done it a long time ago. Since he has not done it before, he will definitely not do it in the future. He is determined to I have decided to be a loyal minister and good general and cherish my feathers."
Everyone nodded.
Therefore, those who want to do great things in the past and present are shameless. Too many scruples will inevitably hinder everything. How to achieve success? Reputation is useful to ministers and common people, but it is not worth mentioning to the king. "Succeed the king and lose the bandit", as long as you win Now, even the history books can be written by you. Hundreds and thousands of years later, future generations will only remember your achievements. Who will remember what you did to achieve this achievement?
To take a step back, so what if you remember? Throughout the ages, heroes have only been judged by success or failure. If you win and have the last laugh, you are right...
Therefore, even if Li Ji currently has the advantage and is in an invincible position, he has too many concerns and naturally has many flaws, so there may not be no opportunities to take advantage of.
Yu Wenshi continued: "On the other hand, we need to estimate Li Ji's thoughts. Which prince does he want to support to ascend to the throne and become his puppet?"
Linghu Defen said: "Of course he is the King of Jin!"
Changsun Wuji also nodded in approval: "Prince Jin is the most suitable."
The reason why Guan Long supported the King of Qi was, on the one hand, because the King of Wei and the King of Jin sternly refused and refused to cooperate. On the other hand, he did not care much about the reaction of the people in the world. To stabilize the situation. But Li Ji was different. He cherished his feathers and cared about the opinions of the people in the world, so he could only choose one of his three legitimate sons.
The prince has been deposed. The king of Wei is only one year younger than the prince. He has always had a high prestige and a large city. It is impossible for him to let Li Ji do whatever he wants. The king of Jin is the most favored prince of His Majesty Li Er. He has a legitimate name and is not weak in the crown. Guan Long, who supported him, was completely kicked out of the court and could only rely on Li Ji, willing to become a puppet under his support...
Linghu Defen looked at Changsun Wuji and asked, "Do you want to contact King Jin in advance?"
Changsun Wuji said: "This is natural. In the past few years, we have spared no effort to support the King of Jin. How could the King of Jin be so smart and ignorant of the principles of checks and balances? Although he will become the crown prince with the support of Li Ji in the future, in order to get rid of Li Ji's control as soon as possible, we will also They will definitely rely on us, and this is Guanlong’s opportunity."
Now that the defeat has been decided, either the peace talks with the East Palace force Li Ji to surrender and enter Chang'an honestly, or he simply lets go and fights. Even if he loses, he still has to take the move of King Jin first and save Guan Long. Seed opportunities in advance for a comeback...
Dugu Lan, who had been silent on the side, suddenly spoke and said curiously: "Everything is based on the assumption that Li Ji intends to depose the prince, establish a new crown prince, and sweep us out of the court. But these are just our guesses. What if there is something wrong?" If you make a mistake, wouldn’t it be a big deal?”
He had already sensed Changsun Wuji's thoughts. He negotiated peace first, and then gave it a try if the peace talks failed. Finally, he took the King of Jin as an opportunity for Guanlong to make a comeback... But in this way, wouldn't it push the entire Guanlong clan into a life-or-death situation? within the crisis?
The Dugu family is not willing to take such a huge risk...