There was a moment of silence in the house. It was stormy outside the window. Big raindrops pattered on the window, making it noisy. The wind leaked in through the cracks in the window and the candlelight flickered on and off.
After a long time, Changsun Wuji sighed and said slowly: "Although I don't know the truth, my guess is not far off. We can be His Majesty's 'sword', but we cannot be used by His Majesty." It is about to be destroyed, so we must go all out to conquer Taiji Palace this time. As long as the East Palace is destroyed, the prince is killed, and all the nobles and private armies are destroyed, Li Ji may not be willing to drive Guan Long to death. This is also Guan Long's only chance."
Everyone nodded, agreeing with this speculation.
Although Li Ji holds His Majesty's imperial edict, he must have a mission against Guan Long, but as long as the powerful private army is destroyed, Guan Long will not be able to cause trouble. There is no obstacle to Li Ji's control of the government and monopoly of power. Moreover, once Guan Long is completely purged After leaving the court, the Shandong aristocratic families and the Jiangnan gentry will inevitably swarm in to fill the gap left by Guanlong and seize the benefits that Guanlong spits out. Without the Guanlong clan to take over, the Shandong aristocratic family and the Jiangnan gentry will definitely face each other head-on. Once again, there was a fight in the court, and there was no peace in the court.
Now that the war has been nearly half a year, half of the city of Chang'an was destroyed by the war, and Guanzhong is a white land with refugees everywhere. Restoring production and rebuilding the city after the war is an extremely arduous and long process. Since Li Ji has monopolized power, he must have some influence in it. How can we allow the internal fighting among the parties to consume the last bit of vitality of the empire, and the road to reconstruction is far away?
Therefore, it is very likely that Li Ji would stop here and use it as a tool to ease the direct conflicts between the Shandong aristocratic families and the Jiangnan gentry.
This is the only chance for Guanlong Gate to survive.
However, Yu Wenshiji suddenly frowned and found a flaw: "This guess is generally reasonable, but there is a flaw in it. With your Majesty's wisdom, how can you not know Fang Jun's loyalty to the prince? As long as Youtunwei is here. , even if we enter the Taiji Palace, the prince can withdraw from the Xuanwu Gate, and Fang Jun will lead the Youtun Guards to retreat to the Hexi counties to regroup and wait for a comeback. Until that day, it will be the time when the empire is divided, because regardless of Either we or Li Ji must establish another prince, announce it to the world, and declare the orthodoxy... By then, there will be two princes and even two emperors in Guanzhong and Hexi, one inside and one outside. In this way, a long-lasting civil war will I don’t know how many years it will last... The prosperous era of Zhenguan is the work of your Majesty’s life, how can you be willing to bury it with your own hands?”
If there really is a posthumous edict, the purpose of His Majesty Li Er ordering Li Ji to do this is to have Guan Long overthrow the East Palace, and then let Li Ji clean up the mess, so that Yi Chu's matter will be justified and there will be no future troubles. But once The prince was escorted out of Guanzhong by Fang Jun, and the pattern of the civil war was doomed, and it was impossible for anyone to reverse it.
How could your Majesty make such an arrangement?
Changsun Wuji looked at Yuwen Shiji and said in a faint tone, "You forgot one thing. The prince is not in the Youtun Guards."
Yu Wenshi was puzzled: "But outside the inner gate is the Xuanwu Gate. As soon as you exit the Xuanwu Gate, you will immediately join the Youtun Guards. Even if we capture the Taiji Palace, we will not be able to prevent the prince from withdrawing from the Xuanwu Gate... Are you talking about the Xuanwu Gate?" Door?!"
At this point, he realized what Changsun Wuji meant and couldn't hide his exclamation.
A thunder exploded outside the window, shaking the beams of the roof and extinguishing the candles. Yu Wenshiji's words shocked the other two people to their feet.
Linghu Defen exclaimed in surprise: "Another Xuanwu Gate Incident?"
In the ninth year of Wude, His Majesty Li Er, who was oppressed and had no choice but to set an ambush at Xuanwu Gate, killed Prince Li Jiancheng and King Qi Li Yuanji who came to the palace for an audience. Since then, he has usurped the throne and ruled the world.
.
Now, he wants to leave a legacy after his death and assassinate his eldest son under the Xuanwu sect, thereby achieving his goal of destroying the family's private army and establishing a new king in Yichu?
Changsun Wuji nodded slowly, put the already lukewarm tea cup on the table, and said: "Zhang Shigui, the Duke of Guo State, is your Majesty's true confidant. Otherwise, how could the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty be entrusted with the important task of guarding the imperial palace?"
For him? You must know that the "Bei Ya Forbidden Army" commanded by Zhang Shigui was originally part of His Majesty's personal "Xuanjia Iron Cavalry". If you entrust your life and property to Zhang Shigui... how can you not help but...
Will Zhang Shigui execute it?"
A chill arose in the hearts of Yu Wenshi and the other three people.
It is almost conceivable that when the Guanlong army defeated the Sixth Army of the East Palace and invaded and occupied the entire Taiji Palace, the prince saw that the situation was over and had to withdraw from the Xuanwu Gate to the outside of the palace. He met up with Fang Jun, whom he trusted most, and tried to retreat all the way west to Hexi.
The counties stabilized their positions and regrouped... Unexpectedly, the Xuanwu Gate had been tightly blocked by Zhang Shigui. The prince was faced with the situation of chasing the tiger through the front door and entering the wolf through the back door. He could only grieve on the spot... and all of this was due to him.
Planned by that beloved father.
Linghu Defen shook his head, a little unbelievable: "This inference is indeed reasonable, and His Majesty is indeed one of those heroes who will use any means to achieve his goals... But don't forget, no matter how unbearable the prince is, he is still your Majesty's eldest son
In the past, Yi Chu's heart often arose, and each time he gave up because he was worried that the prince would rarely die a happy death after Yi Chu. Now that His Majesty has passed away, how could he leave such a vicious plan on his deathbed to completely cut off the prince's hope of survival? "
Your Majesty is indeed cruel to your brothers and father. He pursues the principle of "eliminating the root cause and never causing future troubles." Back then, the East Palace and Prince Qi's Mansion killed so many people that even the children who were crying for food were not spared... But over the years, Your Majesty has treated you all
The prince's love and care is exemplary.
How could such a loving father treat his eldest son so viciously?
Changsun Wuji asked in return: "Do you think in His Majesty's heart, which son is more important, or is the Li and Tang dynasty more important forever?"
Linghu Defen was speechless.
Not just His Majesty Li Er? No matter who you are, your temperament will change drastically once you ascend the throne. This is determined by your supreme power and your position, and few people can escape.
How can a mere eldest son compare with the continuation of the Li Tang Dynasty?
Even not just the eldest son, as long as there is one son left in the end, even if there is only one left, the rest can be abandoned under the threat of the empire's inheritance.
If the prince is not dead, how can he tell the world to crusade against the powerful private armies?
Another point is that if the prince does not die, it will inevitably create a situation of two princes, one inside and one outside, or even two emperors. At that time, all forces in the world will take sides, and a huge and protracted civil war will be inevitable. That is His Majesty Li Er
What I least want to see.
Therefore, as long as the prince dies, everything will return to His Majesty Li Er's plan...
Everyone was silent again, despite the loud sound of wind and rain outside the window, but did not want to speak for a long time.
Eighteen years ago, they experienced a fratricidal war and fratricide. Now, they are about to experience a father-son antagonism and a massacre of flesh and blood...
The most ruthless emperor's family.
Changsun Wuji glanced across the faces of the three of them one by one, and asked in a deep voice: "Now, do you still question my decision to use all my strength to attack Tai Chi Palace?"
Everyone was silent and didn't speak.
There is no doubt that this is the most correct and only way to survive at present.
If peace talks are reached with the East Palace and the mutiny is eliminated, I am afraid that tomorrow Li Ji will command the army from Tongguan and attack Chang'an. He will be the first to attack the Longmen clan. The crime is "raising troops and plotting to cause trouble and causing trouble to the imperial court." All the Longmen clan will be attacked. Everyone will be implicated in it. All the adult men in the clan are arrogant. When they were young, they were sent away for three thousand miles. The female family members were sent to the Jiaofang Division. This was already the most merciful punishment...
At that time, Zhang Shigui would even urge his "Bei Ya Forbidden Army" to enter the inner gate, kill the prince, and then put the blame on the Longmen clan.
The Guanlong crime will be increased by one level.
The prince died, Guanlong was destroyed, and all the clans and private armies outside Guanzhong perished in Guanzhong. The power of clans in various places was reduced sharply, and they could no longer intimidate the local areas and roam the countryside as before. When the new king succeeded to the throne, the imperial examinations were implemented for twenty or thirty years. After that, a large number of students from poor families entered the court, further disintegrating the political foundation of the wealthy families, and finally reaching the point where the wealthy families and the poor families ruled the world together, complementing each other and checking and balancing each other...
Yu Wenshiji let out a long sigh, feeling both shocked and admired, and sighed: "As expected of Your Majesty, you have absolutely no plans... I'm afraid that when we raised our troops to start an attack, Your Majesty had already calculated all the possibilities, so he died before he died. If you leave a legacy behind, you will be considered a hero in the world."
Changsun Wuji raised his head and looked out the window with deep eyes.