Chapter 1994: Strange peaks emerge one after another
After dawn, the clouds were overcast, the drizzle was falling in the wind, and the air was fresh and cool.
In the Chinese military tent on the right guard outside Xuanwu Gate, Fang Jun, wearing a helmet and armor and a military uniform, was discussing matters with Cheng Wuting, Cen Changqian, Wang Fangyi and others.
Cheng Yaojin took the tea poured by Cen Changqian, nodded in greeting, and then turned to Fang Jun and said: "In addition to what was said in the letter, my father also sent someone to specifically tell the commander to be careful of the British sires. He believed that the British sires' breeding measures were unreasonable." As I thought, the control of the Eastern Expedition Army has been lost, which may cause internal disagreements and turmoil at any time. Once the hundreds of thousands of Eastern Expedition troops lose control, all forces in the army will inevitably trigger violent conflicts for their own interests. It may have a great impact on the situation in Guanzhong."
Cheng Mingzhen was in the Eastern Expedition Army, and he was naturally extremely sensitive to the changes in the atmosphere in the army. Although Li Ji restrained the entire army with an iron-fist policy, various measures had already caused conflict among various forces, making it difficult to implement the commander's will.
Under high pressure, seemingly calm waters can cause the undercurrent to become turbulent, and a slight inadvertence can cause turbulent waves...
Fang Jun did not take it seriously. He took a sip of tea and said casually: "Tell your Majesty that the Eastern Expedition Army cannot cause chaos. Let him stay in the army with peace of mind. Whoever wants to cause trouble must stay away to avoid being affected. "
Cheng Mingzhen said curiously: "Why is the commander so sure? Qiu Xiaozhong and others wanted to break away from the Eastern Expedition Army and return to Guanzhong. Although they were wiped out by the British Duke, the morale of the soldiers may not be stable. The greater the oppression, the greater the resistance. The British Duke is certainly powerful. We have it under control, but if we want to steadily suppress the hundreds of thousands of troops, it will be difficult to reach the sky. Maybe just the slightest external cause will trigger an internal storm."
Li Ji has high prestige, high qualifications, and high power. He can now be called "the number one person in the court." One person is worth more than ten thousand people. When His Majesty Li Er dies, even the prince has to look up to Li Ji's breath... But if It is a delusion to say that Li Ji can always suppress the hundreds of thousands of troops under his command.
People die for money, and birds die for food. These well-dressed big men in the court, Zhang Guoji, keep silent about people's livelihood. They spend their days being arty and ambitious. They talk and laugh, have scholars and scholars, but are not bound by various interests. ?
Interest has pushed these people to the highest level of power in the empire, and naturally it is necessary for these people to seek benefits in that position and give back.
This is a restriction of power, and it has never been like this at all times and in all countries.
Everyone understands the principle that the greater the risk and the greater the reward, the various forces in the Eastern Expedition feel that it is not worth offending Li Ji, but once those forces feel that there is a positive ratio between offending Li Ji and the possible benefits, they will He would resist without hesitation and completely tear Li Ji's prestige into pieces.
Fang Jun remained unmoved and simply said: "If you need to worry about this, even if the British Lord loses control, the Eastern Expedition Army will not be in chaos."
Cheng Mingzhen and others were puzzled, but Fang Jun obviously didn't want to talk anymore, and said to Wang Fangyi: "Send a message to Gao Kan and order him to restrain his soldiers and guard the station. Lu Guogong seems to be reckless, but in fact he is extremely cautious and will definitely not attack our army in a large scale. Station, Duke E's mission is only to protect Guanlong, as long as we block Zuowu Wei, he will not use weapons without permission."
He naturally knew Cheng Yaojin very well.
This is a man who looks like a tiger, but is actually a man with a delicate mind. He is rough on the outside but beautiful on the inside. He and Li Ji are both the banner figures of the Shandong family in the court, but it is not Li Ji who rushes to Dayun Temple to exterminate the remnants of Guanlong. But if Cheng Yaojin goes there, there must be benefits that Cheng Yaojin cannot give up.
However, interests are not only linked to risks, but also need to be weighed against effort. Eliminating the remnants of Guanlong will only allow the Shandong family to take more initiative and seize more benefits in the future, but it will not help the Shandong family in one fell swoop. If he becomes as powerful as the former Guanlong clan and dominates the government, the benefits given to Cheng Yaojin will be extremely limited. It will only establish Cheng Yaojin as the spokesperson of the Shandong family in the court. Replaced Li Ji.
But if we take huge risks to attack Youtunwei, completely defeat Youtunwei and then wipe out the remnants of Guanlong... what a huge loss is this?
No matter how much benefit the Shandong family gave, it was not as important as Zuo Wuwei to Cheng Yaojin, so Cheng Yaojin would not consider any behavior that might weaken Zuo Wuwei's combat power in his eyes.
Since Cheng Yaojin would not storm Dayun Temple, how could Yuchi Gong brazenly attack Zuo Wuwei?
Therefore, the current situation in Dayun Temple seems to be dangerous, with ups and downs, and tensions are about to break out. However, it is just a show-off between everyone, or to gain benefits, or to make an explanation. That is all. There will definitely not be a melee between the three armies...
Outside the door, a soldier quickly walked in and presented the letter from the palace to Fang Jun: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's guards just sent it from Xuanwu Gate and presented it to the commander-in-chief for reading."
Fang Jun stood up, took the prince's letter with both hands, opened it and looked at it, his face a little solemn.
Cen Changqian asked curiously: "What are your orders from His Highness the Crown Prince?"
Fang Jun was silent for a while, put the letter away, thought deeply for a while, and then said: "The prince's letter stated that in three days he will lead all officials from the court to the Chunming Gate to the Baqiao Bridge to welcome His Majesty's return. Beijing."
There was silence in the tent.
Although there is no official document confirming His Majesty's death until now, the situation in Chang'an and even the situation in Guanzhong has developed to this point. Everyone believes that His Majesty Li Er has passed away long ago - otherwise, how could His Majesty Li Er let Guanlong go? The family conspired to depose the prince, which plunged Jinxiu Guanzhong into a war. The hard work of more than ten years since Zhenguan was wasted?
Since he knew that His Majesty had passed away, the Crown Prince still wanted to go out of the city to Baqiao to greet the Holy Emperor. He made it clear that he wanted Li Ji to inform the world about His Majesty Li Er's life and death, and to expose all the conspiracies and calculations to the world. Everyone had to give His Majesty Li Er a state funeral, and then—he ascended the throne and succeeded to the throne.
Why did the Guanlong clan dare to raise troops and start a rebellion?
Just because the prince only has the power to supervise the country and is not the head of a country, but after Li Chengqian ascends the throne, the behavior of the Guanlong clan is outright treason, and there is no reason to prevaricate it. Li Chengqian himself has gained legal invincibility. land.
Cen Changqian let out a sigh of relief and said in appreciation: "His Royal Highness, you are very courageous. This is to make all parties in the DPRK and China give up their coveted interests and honestly support the imperial power, even if it causes a fight between the parties."
As long as Li Chengqian ascends the throne, everyone will have no choice but to cease their activities, even if huge benefits are about to be reaped, otherwise it will be regarded as "treason". Even the powerful families in Shandong and Jiangnan can only become obscene and cannot make a big show of it.
But this destroys the "tacit understanding".
If Li Chengqian wanted to control the court and truly establish imperial power, he could not do without the support of the powerful clans in Shandong and Jiangnan. Otherwise, these two powerful clans could simply hide in their respective territories and ignore the imperial decrees, cede territories and become kings, or even
Rise up... Although Li Chengqian has never made it clear to the clans in Shandong and Jiangnan, everyone has already had a tacit understanding with each other, that is, Shandong and Jiangnan will try their best to seize the benefits left by the Guanlong clan, and wait until everyone is full and full.
Then Li Chengqian ascended the throne as emperor, and everything was back on track.
As a result, Li Chengqian suddenly stopped playing halfway. After the Guanlong clan was suppressed, he wanted to ascend the throne immediately, and used the rebound of the Guanlong clan to check and balance the clans in Shandong and Jiangnan... Do you really think that the clans in these two places are vegetarians?
In the face of interests, father and son turned against each other, and their loyalty was even more vulnerable.
Maybe this move will anger the elites in both places and make the situation more dangerous...
But Li Chengqian dared to do this, but he separated all the current conflicts, solved them together whether they were alive or dead, succeeded or failed, and then quickly got back on track.
This requires great courage.
Fang Jun nodded slightly, agreeing with Cen Changqian's words, but in his heart he just wanted to laugh: I really want to see Li Ji's face at this moment...
He said to Cheng Wuting: "Leave three thousand people to guard the camp, and the rest will be ready. When the time comes, they will rush to the Chunming Gate with the prince to take precautions to prevent those nobles from causing trouble."
"Here."
Cheng Wuting respectfully accepted the order.
*****
The news that the Crown Prince was going out of the city to greet His Majesty came out from the Taiji Palace, causing a huge shock in Chang'an City. Almost everyone had recognized the fact that His Majesty had passed away. So at this time, the Prince's true intention was clearly revealed when he went out to greet His Majesty.
This made Xiao Yu extremely angry.
In the Duke's Mansion of the Song Dynasty, Xiao Yu and Zhang Xingcheng sat opposite each other and said with a sullen face: "Your Highness's move is tantamount to crossing the river and demolishing the bridge. At present, Guanlong is not destroyed, and we have just begun to control the situation of the court. It is far from dust."
When the decision is made, His Highness must not be allowed to act arbitrarily and must be stopped."
Zhang Xingcheng was dressed in commoner clothes and had a pale appearance. Running back and forth these days required a lot of energy, which made him look very haggard.
Hearing this, he picked up the tea cup, took a sip, exhaled, and said calmly: "His Highness is the prince of the Tang Dynasty. He is responsible for supervising the country. Sooner or later, he will ascend the throne. If we go against His Highness's will at this moment, we will be punished.
Holding a grudge is not worth the gain."
His expression was indifferent, and he seemed to be disapproving of the prince's method of "forcing the palace".
Xiao Yu frowned, his thoughts turned around, and he sneered: "This matter concerns the interests of Jiangnan and Shandong. If we work together, we will control the court. If we are under one person, we will fight endlessly and both sides will lose. I hope you will think it over carefully.
Don’t think of letting the Jiangnan nobles take the lead and you, the fishermen of the Shandong aristocratic families, benefit.”
For the clan, the four words "profit first" can be applied almost at any time. As long as it is profitable, the clan does not care about doing any unthinkable things. Whatever ethics, etiquette, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, as long as there is profit, they can all be discarded.
Into the smelly ditch.
Therefore, cooperation between clans will definitely be accompanied by suspicion, and there will never be true collaboration and exchange of knowledge.