When all the ministers saw Li Chengqian covering his face and crying bitterly, they all felt sad. Although they could not say they felt the same way, they could all sympathize with his pain.
As the crown prince, he is always on guard against being deposed. However, his father single-handedly created the Zhenguan era and was so powerful that he did not even dare to say "objection". He could only fearfully admit that he was "stupid" and had no resistance in the face of fate.
Power.
Throughout the ages, has there ever been a deposed prince who could have a good death?
Being deposed from the reserve position means that the whole family is sentenced to death, waiting for an unknown death... This kind of psychological torture is far more unbearable than the dethronement of the reserve position itself.
Originally, His Majesty Li Er died in the Liaodong Army, which was regarded as a "happy event" for Li Chengqian. After all, he no longer had to worry about being deposed, and he could naturally ascend the throne as emperor, leaving all his unwilling fate behind.
It's raining and it's bright.
But who would have thought that even on his deathbed, His Majesty would still leave a will and urge his close relatives and confidants to achieve the goal of saving it easily at all costs?
This was a huge blow to the prince. He was in a different place, and no one could say "it doesn't matter" calmly...
I don’t even know how to persuade.
Fortunately, Li Chengqian is now used to seeing storms, and is no longer as timid as before. He cried for a while, wiped the tears from his face, raised his head and said, "I am a little rude, which makes you all laugh."
Xiao Yu and others hurriedly said: "Your Highness misses His Majesty and is filial. It is human nature."
After all, the Crown Prince lost his temper and cried bitterly because of His Majesty's determination to make Chu. It would not be a good thing to spread the news...
Li Chengqian glanced at him gratefully, cheered up and said: "Gu Fei is a stubborn person. Although he is determined to die, he can accept advice with an open mind. Since you think Gu Fei can't die now, then don't die for the time being and talk to you.
Let’s exit Xuanwu Gate together and wait until the situation changes before making a decision.”
Everyone let out a long breath and put their hearts in their stomachs: "Your Highness is wise!"
Li Chengqian stood up and said: "If the front line of Chengtian Gate is lost, I will immediately rush to Xuanwu Gate with you, and I will go to convince Duke Guo personally. With Duke Guo's profound understanding of righteousness, I will not be disappointed."
*****
In the Tongguan Yamen office, Li Ji and Wang Shoushi were sitting opposite each other, standing one at a time.
There was an oil lamp burning in the house, and the rain was pattering outside the window, with a faint hint of fish belly white. Li Ji put the battle report in his hand on the table, raised his hand and rubbed the center of his brow.
Wang Shoushi's face was expressionless, and his voice was hoarse and jerky: "Xue Wanche is simply lawless. He was asked to monitor the movements of the Youtun guards. Not only did he meet Fang Jun privately to drink, but now he even gave away all the grain and fodder to the general. Does he want to rebel?"
"You can eat randomly, but you can't talk nonsense."
Li Ji frowned and retorted: "First of all, Xue Wanche allocated grain to Fang Jun for the purpose of rescuing the people in Guanzhong..."
Wang Shoushi interrupted rudely: "What we do is based on His Majesty's will. What does the life and death of the people in Guanzhong have to do with us?"
"Dangdang"
Li Ji knocked on the table, his anger already showing: "You are just a chamberlain, so you can naturally ignore the life and death of the people in the world. I am the head of the Prime Minister and Fu, and I am ordered by the emperor to govern the world. I cannot care about the life and death of the people. In addition, don't interrupt others when they are talking.
, this is very disrespectful."
Wang Shoushi was silent.
Li Ji then continued: "Secondly, Fang Jun is not a rebel. Until now, the prince is already the emperor's official, the legitimate crown prince. Xue Wanche's support of Fang Jun is against military orders, but it is not a rebellion."
This is a matter of honor and justice. Although I am dissatisfied with Xue Wanche's lack of military discipline, after all, he is the general under his command and cannot allow others to place a random accusation, causing him to be irreversible.
Wang Shoushi said calmly: "You want to protect him?"
Li Ji was unceremonious: "This is military affairs. The mistakes made by Xue Wanche and the punishment of free military discipline have nothing to do with you."
He cannot tolerate this chamberlain inserting his hands into the army. In that case, everything will be out of control...
Wang Shoushi said no more, hunched over, turned around and walked away slowly.
Li Ji was sitting in the government office with a gloomy look on his face. After a long time, he called the soldiers outside the door to come in and said, "Send an order to Duke Lu. If the commander-in-chief wants to discuss with him, let him come immediately."
"Here."
The soldiers walked away quickly, and Li Ji stood up, opened another door behind him, walked out, and went straight to the latrine.
A moment later, Cheng Yaojin rode his horse and galloped all the way to the government office. Regardless of the soaked clothes on his body, he strode into the government office. Seeing that there was no one in the room, he said to the clerk who came in to serve tea: "Master. The commander-in-chief called me here to say that he has something to discuss, but why is he missing?"
The scribe said respectfully: "I've probably gone to the hut, Duke Lu will wait for a while..."
Then he backed out.
Cheng Yaojin sat on the chair in front of the desk, took the tea cup, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and exhaled a breath of cold air.
There was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and a clerk quickly walked in. After looking around, he didn't find Li Ji. He was a little hesitant in applying. Cheng Yaojin frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"
The scribe hurriedly said: "I would like to inform Duke Lu of the battle report that has just arrived from Chang'an."
Cheng Yaojin said casually: "The marshal has gone to the latrine. You can just put the battle report here. I will remind the marshal to review it later."
"Why is there Duke Laolu?"
The clerk stepped forward and placed the battle report on the desk, turned around and exited.
Cheng Yaojin took another sip of tea and casually glanced at the battle report, which was not sealed. He looked around and, curious as he was impatient, he picked it up and opened it, reading ten lines at a time.
It doesn't matter if you don't look at it, but when you look at it, you immediately feel a little nervous. Changsun Wuji actually transferred all the "Woye Town Private Soldiers" stationed outside Jinguang Gate into Chang'an City to participate in the siege? Although the "Woye Town Private Soldiers" were in Youtun. The guards were disgraced and lost their troops, but their combat power was by no means comparable to that of the Guanlong army that had been put together temporarily. With such a strong army participating in the siege, trouble arose for the Sixth Army of the East Palace.
In fact, it is very likely that the rebels will break through the Chengtianmen defense line...
Looking further down, it is Changsun Wuji who ordered the "private soldiers of Woye Town" to storm Chongmingmen... Although Cheng Yaojin's military strategy is not as good as that of Li Jing and Li Ji, he has fought for most of his life, winning more than losing, and his military quality is very good. But it was absolutely correct. Looking at the situation in the battle report, combined with the situation in Chang'an that I knew in my mind, it was easy to come to the conclusion that this time the East Palace Six Rate would probably suffer a huge defeat.
He put the battle report back, drank tea distractedly, and pondered the current situation in Chang'an in his mind, until a scolding sounded in his ears, and suddenly his hands shook in fright, and half the cup of tea spilled on his crotch... …
He hurriedly picked it up and shook it a few times. He looked up and saw Li Ji, and said angrily: "What are you doing so mysteriously? He's shouting and drinking. It's scary."
Li Ji stood with his hands behind his hands, his expression serious: "Who let you in?"
Cheng Yaojin was stunned: "Didn't you send someone to call me here?"
Li Ji angrily scolded: "You are considered an old man in the army, how come you don't even understand the most common rules? This is the Chinese Army Festival Hall, with countless military aircraft. You come in and out at will, and sit in front of the desk to drink tea in a dignified manner. If military discipline is stolen, can you bear the responsibility?"
He may not have meant it when he mentioned "military discipline was stolen", but Cheng Yaojin's heart skipped a beat and he felt a little guilty. He quickly stiffened his neck to cover up his guilt and glared with a pair of bull's eyes: "Bah! Xu Maogong, you are such a damn chicken. It's time for an arrow, right? You sent someone to call me here, but you didn't let me enter the house. Is it possible that I have to stand in the rain and wait for you while you squat in the hut? Not to mention you are just a minister, even if you rebel one day Once you become the emperor, don't expect me to kneel down and kowtow to you three times!"
"Unbridled! Simply lawless!"
Li Ji was so angry that his white face turned red, and he almost hit Cheng Yaojin's forehead with his finger. He gritted his teeth and cursed angrily: "You are already old, and the loess is buried up to your neck. How can you still be so rude?" Don’t choose words? Is this what you and I can say?”
Cheng Yaojin snorted, knowing that he said the wrong thing, but he did it on purpose: "Whatever you say, what will happen to you?"
Li Jiqi's Qiqi orifices were full of smoke: "What else? I want to punish you with military discipline!"
Cheng Yaojin rolled his eyes, cupped his hands and clasped his fists: "It's our fault today, what I said was wrong, but you can't just chop off my head, right? Let's leave now. I haven't been here before at all. This kind of love We’ll note it down for future reference!”
After saying that, he turned around and spread his legs and ran.
Li Ji was so angry that he jumped to his feet and yelled: "You bastard! You are such a stupid thing. Do you really think I dare not chop you up?"
The soldiers outside the door and the clerks were trembling, wondering why Cheng Yaojin made his handsome man so arrogant...
Li Ji cursed for a while, and seeing that Cheng Yaojin had already run away, he stopped continuing. He turned back to the desk and sat down, looking at the battle report on the desk with a gloomy expression.
After a long time, he picked up the battle report and leaned it against the burning candle on the table. He watched the candlelight sweep up the battle report, and the flames "spurred" for a moment, then the battle report turned into ashes and the flames were extinguished.
On the other side, Cheng Yaojin rode his horse back to the camp at a gallop. When he got to the camp gate, he dismounted and quickly walked in. He said to his soldiers: "I'm waiting with pen, ink, paper and inkstone!"