The prince's words seemed to show his attitude, telling his ministers that as long as they followed him, they would gain trust and power, but there was also something behind the words: it's not time to fight for power and gain, so please calm down and focus on the overall situation.
Heavy……
Xiao Yu quickly agreed: "Your Highness's words are reasonable. Our ministers will do our best to assist Your Highness, make further progress, and continue the prosperous era of Zhenguan for thousands of years and never fade away."
Liu Jie also felt awe-inspiring and expressed his attitude: "Your Highness is generous and kind, and he is the master of the prosperous age. It is our blessing to be able to follow His Highness. I have long been determined to dedicate myself to death and assist Your Highness to achieve a glorious and prosperous age and great achievements for thousands of years."
"
He understood that he and his group had come to seize power today and had made the prince dissatisfied, so he spoke out. He found that his assessment of the prince's character was wrong. In the past, the prince was indeed weaker, unlike His Majesty Li Er.
He kept his eyes open and tolerated most of his dissatisfaction. However, after experiencing this mutiny and turning the corner of life and death, his temper became a little fierce.
He is no longer the good old guy who said hello, me, everyone, and everyone...
But it is easy to change one's nature. Although the prince expressed his dissatisfaction and criticized him, he still gave the benefits that were due and was still tolerant towards his ministers. If it were His Majesty Li Er, he would certainly not treat Xiao Yu and Cen Wen like this.
How about the old minister, but he is just a servant, I am afraid that he has been sternly warned, or even fucked to the end.
You must be careful with your words and deeds in the future and not be aggressive, otherwise if you offend the prince, there will be endless troubles...
Cen Wenwen said "hum hum ah ah" and didn't care much.
He had already decided to serve as an official and return home. However, the East Palace had just experienced a huge crisis and had not yet stabilized its position, so he stayed for a while, but he would never easily get involved in Xiao Yu and Liu Jie's fight against Ma Zhou.
middle.
Moreover, my nephew Cen Changqian firmly stood on the side of the East Palace during this mutiny and assisted Fang Jun in killing all parties outside the Xuanwu Gate. He made great contributions. Coupled with his qualifications and popularity as an experienced minister, I think he will definitely be awarded the title after the prince ascends the throne.
Official position. With the prince's respect, Fang Jun's support, and his uncle's political legacy, Cen Changqian's future is bright.
So before I left, I had to leave a good impression on the prince...
*****
When Li Ji arrived at Xinxiang, north of Lishan Mountain and on the south bank of the Yellow River, he received an edict from the prince.
In the temporary camp, all the generals and commanders were present. Li Ji respectfully opened the edict and read it over. His face was calm and no one could tell his mood.
Then, Li Ji put down the edict and pondered without saying a word.
Zhang Liang asked: "I wonder what His Royal Highness's order is?"
The others also looked at Li Ji.
Li Ji tapped his fingers on the edict and said calmly: "The prince said that after the defeat of the private soldiers of the powerful families, it was a disaster for Guanzhong. To this day, there are still several defeated soldiers running around, looting homes, looting, burning and killing, which caused great disasters. Two days ago, there was a big disaster.
They raided the Cui family manor in Fengqiyuan and killed Cui Yuqing, the minister of punishment of the imperial court, which aroused the indignation of both the government and the public. The people in Guanzhong were worried... Therefore, the prince ordered us not to return to Chang'an, but to temporarily station ourselves east of Baqiao and send troops to search and suppress this area.
The rogue bandits and rebels in the area assist the 'Royal Rescue Team' in rescuing the affected people."
There was silence in the tent, and none of the generals spoke.
The edict was very clear and reasonable, but it had only one core purpose - to prevent Li Ji from leading his army back to Chang'an.
This is also easy to understand. Since Guanlong raised his army, Li Ji led the Eastern Expedition army and turned a blind eye. Even if the rebels besieged the Taiji Palace and the Eastern Palace was in danger and could collapse at any time, Li Ji continued to march leisurely and slowly as always. It feels like sitting on a mountain and watching a tiger fight.
No one was sure of Li Ji's stance or his tendencies. There were many speculations and rumors. Under such circumstances, how could the prince dare to let Li Ji return to Chang'an City?
What if Li Ji is disloyal and takes the opportunity to lead his army to capture Chang'an?
Li Ji glanced around and asked, "What do you think?"
There was a silence, and after a long time, Cheng Minzhen said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is ordered to supervise the country. At present, he is the master of a country. The Crown Prince's edict is equivalent to the imperial edict and must be obeyed. Moreover, the edict also clearly states that Guanzhong Wandering bandits are causing harm in various places, and our soldiers have the responsibility to suppress the bandits. The commander-in-chief should obey the order and station to the east of Baqiao, command the army to suppress the bandits, and then go to Chang'an alone to report everything to His Royal Highness."
Everyone glanced at Cheng Mingzhen and remained silent, but they all had their own ideas in mind...
Let Li Ji enter Chang'an alone?
Judging from Li Ji's various behaviors after withdrawing from Liaodong, the prince may have already hated him deeply. Naturally, he did not dare to do anything when he had a large army in hand. However, if Li Ji entered Chang'an alone, he would be afraid of being killed once he entered the city gate. He was tied up by Wu Huada and sent to prison, and then the three divisions interrogated him, and the owl's head was shown to the public...
Everyone knows that your son, Cheng Mingzhen, is a close confidant of Fang Jun. He also contributed a lot to the Chang'an mutiny and is considered a die-hard confidant of the East Palace. But if you give Li Ji bad ideas like this, you are not afraid that Li Ji will clean it up in anger. you?
Li Ji had a calm look on his face, and could not see any emotional fluctuations. He turned a deaf ear to Cheng Minzhen's words and ordered calmly: "In compliance with the imperial edict, all armies arrived east of Baqiao one after another and selected places to station themselves. My military orders are not allowed to act without authorization. Anyone who disobeys the order cut."
"Here!"
All generals will obey orders.
Li Ji asked again: "Where is Zhou Daowu now?"
Zhang Liang said: "I sent you a letter yesterday. I have already led my army through Luoyang and will probably arrive here this evening."
Li Ji nodded slightly: "How are the prisoners he escorted?"
During the Liaodong War, before the withdrawal of troops, Zhou Daowu was ordered to escort tens of thousands of Goguryeo captives back to the Tang Dynasty. Zhou Daowu returned along the way he came, but encountered the extreme wind and snow weather in Liaodong winter. He did not continue the march, but arrived and stationed in the Liaodong City area. Willing to hit the road.
The army of the Eastern Expedition returned to Chang'an from Liaodong for half a year like a sightseeing tour, but Zhou Daowu fell behind...
Zhang Liang paused for a moment and then said: "The prisoners he escorted lacked food and warm clothing. They had no shelter under the raging snowstorm and most of them froze to death. Now there are less than five thousand prisoners left, who are returning to Guanzhong with Zhou Daowu."
Li Ji was dissatisfied and frowned: "Those tens of thousands of prisoners were originally to be escorted back to the country to participate in the repair of rivers and the construction of cities in various places, but now they were all lost on the way. Zhou Daowu neglected his duties, and his crime is unforgivable!"
The generals remained silent.
In fact, everyone knows very well what happened. Tens of thousands of captives lacked food and clothing, and it was a severe winter. It was inevitable that some of them would freeze to death. After all, no one would care about the lives of the captives. But if we say that most of them freeze to death But it is a bit unbelievable. It is probably more frostbitten, but the injured will not only slow down the marching speed, but also consume a lot of food, fodder and medicinal materials. Therefore, discarding the frostbitten people and leaving them to fend for themselves in the ice and snow of Liaodong is what many generals will do. thing.
This kind of thing itself is irrelevant. It just depends on whether someone pursues it. After all, it can be accused of being "inhumane" or accused of being incompatible with the dignity of the empire...
Li Ji didn't say much, but just expressed his position: "After Zhou Daowu returns, I will order him to go to Chang'an to plead guilty to His Highness the Crown Prince."
Zhang Liang paused for a moment, nodded and said, "Here."
He knew in his heart that Zhou Daowu was doomed. When the prince ascended the throne, not only would there be no chance of promotion, he would even be thrown into disuse. Everyone in the court who had some status in the court knew about the conflict between Zhou Daowu and Fang Jun, but now Fang Jun was the first person in front of the prince. As a famous man, as long as the prince asked how to deal with Zhou Daowu, how could Fang Jun not add insult to injury?
It's just that Li Ji abandoned Zhou Daowu so easily. He doesn't know whether it was because he was dissatisfied with Zhou Daowu in his heart or because he was deliberately showing favor to the prince and Fang Jun in an attempt to save him from the bad influence caused by his delay in returning from the Eastern Expedition... This soldier The position and tendencies of the prime minister who controls an army of hundreds of thousands are still confusing and unpredictable.
After putting away the prince's edict and putting it in the drawer under the desk, Li Ji asked: "The Duke of E disobeyed the military order and sent troops to Zhongnan Mountain without authorization. How do you think it should be punished?"
Military orders are like a mountain. If Yuchi Gong suddenly disobeys military orders and deviates from the marching route, and rushes to Zhongnan Mountain to confront Zuowu Wei, a big battle will happen at any time. Under normal circumstances, it is absolutely intolerable. The army is different from the local government. Under the orders of superior officials, When you are an official, you can discuss and review it. If your superior's order is wrong, you can even go beyond the level and file a complaint, but this situation is absolutely not allowed in the military.
Wherever he goes, even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire in front of him, he will move forward indomitably.
However, Yu Chigong was born in Guanlong, and the family clan rose in Daibei. He was connected with the Guanlong clan and came from the same lineage. He watched the Guanlong clan being defeated by the East Palace army's counterattack and did not start a riot with Qiu Xiaozhong and others. It is extremely rare, and it is reasonable to go south to rescue the remnants of Guanlong in violation of military orders.
Moreover, Cheng Yaojin himself disobeyed the prince's order and ignored the peace talks between Dong Palace and Guan Long, intending to eradicate all Guan Long's involvement. Yu Chigong's behavior is not unforgivable...
But in the current situation, who dares to talk nonsense?
If you plead for Yuchi Gong, you will inevitably be considered to be sympathetic to Guan Long, which will lead to endless troubles; if you add insult to injury, you may have something to do with the Shandong family, and you will be considered to be bribed by the Shandong family, and you will be blamed for it. Being implicated...
I can only remain silent.
Li Ji looked at Zhang Liang and said, "I'd like to trouble Duke Yun to go to the Youhou Guards in person and send an order to Duke E, ordering him to immediately lead his army back to the east of Baqiao to station. If you still disobey the military order and insist on going your own way, don't do it." It's my fault that I'm so indifferent."
Zhang Liang grimaced and cursed in his heart: Guan Long was at a critical moment, how could Yuchi Gong come back? He asked me to deliver the order at this time, because he obviously wanted Yuchi Gong to put me under house arrest. Li Ji, you are too wicked... …