After the decision was made, a plan to storm Chang'an City was quickly formulated.
No matter who Li Yuan set his sights on, any general no longer tried to retain his own strength. Several rebels from Guanzhong and green forest tycoons even had a dispute over the ownership of the main attack mission. No one was willing to lag behind, and they were so embarrassed that they almost became red-faced.
They fought in front of Li Yuan.
"Okay, let's attack on all sides at the same time! Regardless of priority!" At the critical moment, Tang Gong Li Yuan made a decision again, "Hou Junji, Sun Hua, Wang Yuantong, Qi Po Ning, you guys decide for yourself who will climb the city first.
Who will fight the second wave?"
"No!" Hou Junji and other generals happily came out and took the order arrows from Li Yuan's hand.
"The north gate belongs to Jiancheng's left army. I will personally lead the Chinese army around the east of the city. Whoever enters the city first will be the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition!" After a pause, Li Yuan continued. "You and others are much younger than me.
Don't hold back and let me take the lead!"
"The final general will not dare to lose to Duke Tang!" the heroes responded loudly.
"Go down and rest. At sunrise tomorrow morning, it will be time for me and you to compete together!" Li Yuan waved his hand and commanded with a smile.
"No!" The generals bowed to him again, and then came out of the tent one after another. When the bustling Chinese army tent returned to silence again, Li Yuan, who had looked confident and energetic just now, immediately became exhausted. At this time, he had grown
He took a breath and slowly sat back on the bed behind Shuai An.
He was really tired, not only because of the complicated military affairs in front of him, but also because of the many invisible wars taking place in the dark.
It was not easy to conquer the world, and the emperor was not comfortable in his position. Before raising his troops, Li Yuan had made preparations in his heart. However, he never expected that the surging undercurrent would come so early and so violently.
"Tang Gong just handled it wonderfully!" Hedong heard that Pei Ji had recently joined Li Yuan's subordinates, and his voice sounded from beside him. Li Yuan was so shocked that he immediately put his hand on the handle of the knife.
"My lord, I'm a subordinate! Not an assassin!" Pei Ji, who was used to having trouble with Li Yuanxiao, walked forward quickly, pulled up a stool, and Shi Shiran sat opposite Shuai An.
"Sit down, you don't make any noise when you walk, you look like a ghost. Whoever is on duty tonight let people in without saying a word!" Li Yuan was angry in his heart, but he didn't take Pei Ji's rudeness at all on his face.
Dissatisfied, smiled and scolded lightly.
Pei Ji smiled and shook his head and said: "Please make atonement, my lord. I didn't leave the tent at all just now. My lord was too tired, so I didn't see my subordinates!"
"I'm a little tired. I'm old and no longer as energetic as I was when I was young!" Li Yuan sighed and responded in a low voice. He and Pei Ji have been old acquaintances for many years, so Li Yuan intentionally or unintentionally said this without being in front of the generals.
Don't show too much formality.
His job as the head of the family is already tiring enough. If he can't even find anyone to chat with, wouldn't it become more and more boring?
Pei Ji knew that Li Yuan's mood was not as happy as he showed in front of everyone, and he also knew the specific reasons why he was exhausted.
And he also knows that this is one of the prices to pay for fighting for the world, and no one can escape it.
Like his brother Pei Shiju, he is good at observing people's emotions and speaking eloquently, but he has methods to make Li Yuan's life easier, such as chatting with him about women and wine.
"I heard that Yang Guang hid many beautiful women in his palace in Chang'an. Many women entered the palace at the age of thirteen and did not get their turn until they were in their twenties!"
"That's Li Mi spreading rumors to cause trouble. Although His Majesty the Sui Emperor is careless about government affairs, he is very devoted to the Queen. It's not like you haven't seen the palace officials we released along the way. The total number does not exceed 300, and
Many of them entered the palace when the late emperor Yang Jian was alive!" Li Yuan knew that the close ministers had good intentions, so he cheered up and said.
When the heroes rebelled against the Sui Dynasty, they naturally wanted to completely defeat Yang Guang in terms of personality. Therefore, in recent years, rumors about Yang Guang's debauchery and stupidity have been widely spread.
But Li Yuan and Yang Guang have known each other since childhood and are cousins. How could they not know that most of them are not worthy of scrutiny.
Yang Guang is certainly a tyrant, and no one can deny this conclusion.
But Yang Guang is neither a pervert nor an idiot, otherwise he would not have deceived Yang Su, Yu Wenshu, and Mai Tiezhang, who were all heroes of the world who came from different backgrounds and had conflicting interests, to support him and forcefully pushed his biological brother out of the position of crown prince.
Thinking of the tragedy that happened to Yang Yong's family, Li Yuan thought of his two sons. His mood, which he had just cheered up, became depressed again. He sighed in his heart: "It's easy to laugh at other people's jokes. If it was really my turn, I would probably be laughed at without even realizing it."
Oh! If I had known this, why would I have planned anything in the world?"
At this time, the wind outside suddenly became stronger, blowing the candlelight crookedly. Marching Commander Shi Pei Ji quickly stood up and closed the felt door of the military tent again.
He pricked up his ears and listened while Li Yuan was not paying attention. After making sure that no one was approaching, he sat back down opposite Li Yuan and spoke cautiously: "Actually, every family has sutras that are difficult to recite. Several young masters have
Are there any future prospects? Parents don’t know who to hand over the family property to. But if the children have no future prospects, the parents will be even more worried. So, Lord, you might as well be more open-minded. Who will you choose when the time comes?
It is not up to the master to decide whether to inherit the family business!"
Recalling that Zhangsun Wuji and Hou Junji openly opposed the eldest son Li Jiancheng on behalf of the second son Li Shimin, and with someone taking the lead, even if the second son was not present, the eldest son Jiancheng's words failed to prevail, Li Yuan sighed and shook his head.
Said: "I'm afraid, if the children's wings become stiff, it will be difficult to control the old ones!"
Having said this, Li Yuan paused for a moment, and then said with emotion: "Pei Qing, I don't want to sell anything to you. Anyway, there is no one around."
, don’t treat me like a lord, just think that I am still Old Woman Li, who was hanging out with you in Jinyang Palace to peek at beauties!”
Pei Ji was amused by Li Yuan's words and laughed. He stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Then I have to hurry up. I'm afraid there won't be many opportunities to talk to the lord like this. When I enter Chang'an, the lord might as well give me a thousand
A hectare of land, a hundred thousand dollars. My lord, please don’t pretend to be fair and honest with me, or I’ll follow you to rebel for nothing!”
"You heard that the Xishi family still lacks such land, so you are not afraid of pushing yourself to death!" Li Yuan glared at Pei Ji, smiled and said, "With that kind of money, I still have to help the refugees. Here, your Pei family is already rich.
It’s already oily, so why add icing on the cake!”
"One code means one code!" Pei Ji smiled and stretched out his hand again with a salivating face. "Everyone follows Duke Tang today for the sake of justice in the world. But justice cannot be eaten as food. As long as you keep your head in your belt
Some of them are not here to grab money, land, or women. My lord, you might as well look at the heroes in the world, and no matter what banner you use to rebel, the ultimate goal is to boil down, isn't it also for the three benefits of money, land, and women?"
It was just to grab money, land, and women. Tang Gong Li Yuan did not expect that the war he launched in the name of his righteous "Qing Jun Side" would be so unbearable in the eyes of his old friends.
But he couldn't get angry and refute Pei Ji's words because it was true.
Development and growth require money and food, and the competition is for territory. As for women, even the greatest heroes will occasionally feel lonely...
Chewing on his old friend's words, Li Yuan sighed and nodded, saying: "Pei Aiqing is right. Chang'an, which is waiting to be conquered, should indeed be rewarded for everyone's efforts. The impulse to rally in the name of righteousness will not last long, and everyone will have to do it."
Have a meal!"
"Then my lord, is this loyal advice worth a thousand hectares of good land?" Pei Ji followed the trend and sought benefits for himself again.
Li Yuan picked up the official document on the desk, threw it at Pei Ji, and cursed with a smile: "Bullshit loyalty, you are just a treacherous person. There are no good people in your old Pei family, but some treacherous and cunning people!"
Pei Ji couldn't dodge and was hit so hard that his official hat was crooked and his clothes were disheveled. He didn't rush to clean it up. He laughed and replied in a low voice: "My lord, if you want to be a wise and upright king, you must have a few people like me around you."
Such a treacherous person. In this way, whatever it is inconvenient for my lord to say, and what I cannot bear to do, I will do it for you. Others can say whatever they want, as long as lord and I know it in our hearts!"
Li Yuan was greatly moved by these words. No one was willing to admit that he was an unscrupulous traitor. On the road to becoming an emperor, he had to always pay attention to his words and image. And what Pei Ji could do was
The other hand of the emperor is an invisible, vicious and sinister black hand.
"One thousand hectares of land can be given, but it is all wasteland. You have to organize your own manpower to open up wasteland. Forget it for one hundred thousand gu, we have just established a foothold, so we have to spend money carefully!" Li Yuan suddenly felt envious of Wang Junlin under his command.
The policy implemented on the territory does not require that every time a territory is conquered, a large piece of the pie must be given to the big and small families who support him.
But it was really difficult for him to understand what methods Wang Junlin used to make his civil and military officials willing to die, especially some of them who came from well-established families.
"Thank you, Lord!" People of the Pei family have been cultivating the ability to observe words and emotions as a minister since childhood. At this time, when Pei Ji saw the change in Li Yuan's expression, he guessed what he was thinking, rolled his eyes, and hurriedly
He bowed his hand to Li Yuan and said solemnly: "My lord, in fact, Guanzhong and Hedong have been at war in the past two years, and there is a lot of unclaimed land. In the name of the Qing emperor, I copied some large households that supported the tyrant, treacherous people, and Xiaoxiao. After all, the land obtained
It is enough for each of the brothers to get dozens of acres of land. We are looking forward to the peaceful days and waiting for the refugees to get a few acres of land. With land and hope, people's hearts will naturally settle down!"
"What you said...isn't this Wang Junlin's strategy of equalizing land on his own territory?" Li Yuan was very smart and at the same time very alert. He could see the benefits of the strategy suggested by Pei Ji in consolidating his own territory.
You can also be keenly aware of the risks hidden therein.
"Of course we cannot share the same strategy as Wang Junlin. He confiscated the land of the great nobles at will. But we are different. We came for the Qing Emperor. Anyone who is stubborn and follows Yang Guang to the dark side has a reputation of greed and sycophancy.
, as well as those who oppressed the people and were unkind to get rich, can be classified as being cleared. The land that can be vacated and the money and food confiscated will not be less than what Wang Junlin did. And Chang'an has been rich since ancient times, so just vacate several houses.
It is enough for the Lord to spend several months. As for the soldiers and the people, they will only remember who gave them money and land, and will not ask where this strategy originated!" Pei Ji put away his playful smile and said seriously.
Li Yuan took a deep look at Pei Ji, nodded and said: "I will appoint someone else to do this. You can help from the side, so that you will not take the opportunity to commit corruption. If you are impeached in the future, I will not be able to help you!"
"My lord, you know how to employ people in silence!" Pei Ji flattered Li Yuan without leaving any trace, making the other party shake his head and laugh.
Seeing that his lord was in a much better mood than before, Pei Ji thought that most of today's goals had been achieved. He thought about it again and continued: "Actually, lord, there is no need to take what happened just now too seriously. In my opinion,
The talent of the Second Young Master has appeared, but he did not intend to win over the military. He was just out of temporary enthusiasm and forgot to consider the Lord's feelings as a father!"
"I hope so!" Li Yuan took a long breath and responded lightly.
"Then again, the power to reward money, land, and women is in the hands of the lord. Others want to establish prestige, but it's not that easy."
Pei Ji saw that the expression on his face was still a little lonely, so he continued to explain it with good words.
Li Shimin was skilled in bow and horse, brave in battle, and had never been defeated in a battle under his command. He had a high prestige in the army and was well-connected, which obviously made Li Yuan, a father, afraid of him.
Having reached this point, Li Yuan had no choice but to confess his thoughts and sighed: "I'm not worried about how Shimin treats me as a father. After all, he is my biological flesh and blood, Li Yuan, and he will not become Lian's father."
They are all bullies. I am worried that after a hundred years, Jiancheng will be a generous brother, but in terms of using troops to fight, he will indeed be far inferior to the people of the world!"
After hearing Li Yuan's concerns, Pei Ji, who has always been known for his ability to change, hesitated for a rare moment. After a while, he sighed and said gloomily: "Maybe the prince needs more opportunities to practice. After all, he has been satisfactory along the way.
Even though I haven’t won any big battles, I haven’t made any big mistakes either!”
"I don't know how to create opportunities for him. At the beginning of the army, except for Liu Hongji, I sent all my most capable generals and best counselors to the crown prince's command! As for Changsun Wuji and Hou Junji, they were both together at that time.
He didn't show any talent, but after following Shimin, his talent showed up and he repeatedly made great achievements." Li Yuan sighed and shook his head, very disappointed with Jiancheng's performance.
As a father, he has done enough partiality. But it is a well-known fact that Li Jiancheng's record is far inferior to Li Shimin.
Even though Li Shimin is not in Guanzhong now, some of the victories still have Li Shimin's shadow. In addition to Chai Shao who repeatedly killed famous generals under Li Shimin's command, Hou Junji and Changsun Wuji have also made great achievements. The person who most embodies Li Shimin is Zuo Yitongjun Liu
Hongji fought from Huoyi, Fufeng and Weishui all the way to the foot of Chang'an. He fought and won consecutively and was invincible. Before other brothers could catch up, he killed Wen Sheng, the guard left in Chang'an, with only one vanguard force until he hugged his saddle and vomited blood.
.
If he had known that Chai Shao, Changsun Wuji, Liu Hongji, and Hou Junji could achieve such great achievements, Li Yuan would have rather sent them all under Jiancheng's command. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his second son Shimin's
sharp.
As someone with many years of experience in knowing and employing people, he is very aware of the relationship between whether the talents of his subordinates can play their role and whether the person in charge can know and utilize them properly. As the saying goes, a raging army will bring a nest of cowards.
On the other hand, in Jiancheng, there are veterans such as Chen Yanshou and Qian Jiulong who are helping but they have made very little achievements. How can we explain it if it is not due to lack of ability?
You must know that the second son Li Shimin himself is not in Guanzhong yet. If the second son is in Guanzhong, there will be no chance for the eldest son to make great achievements.
In a short period of time, Li Yuan could help the eldest son suppress the second son's edge. But as the battle for the title became more and more fierce, at that time, why should Jiancheng compete with his younger brother?
If an elder brother who is not very capable but kind-hearted becomes the crown prince, and the younger brother is both brave and ruthless, and has a good reputation in the military, wouldn't he be the second Yang Yong or Yang Guang?
"My lord can think of this in advance, and he is far wiser than Emperor Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty." Pei Ji was also helpless about the dilemma Li Yuan was facing, and could only try his best to say something that Li Yuan liked to hear, "My lord has made preparations so early, and there will be nothing wrong with him."
The effect. Moreover, the lord’s previous arrangement itself had problems. It seemed to take care of the prince, but in fact it restricted his space for display!"
"Oh! How do you say this?" Li Yuan heard that Pei Ji's words contained a hint of justification for Jiancheng, and he hurriedly listened attentively.
"Old Chen, Lao Qian and the others are indeed veteran generals, but they are old after all. They are more than capable of being established but not aggressive enough. And my army is moving south in full force. It is the time of development. My lord uses a few established generals to assist the prince in opening up the frontier.
Tuotu, why didn't he intentionally tie his hands and feet? My lord, take a closer look. Since we sent out troops, the most skilled fighters are Hou Junji, Changsun Wuji and other young people. Especially those who are inexperienced, use
Raising troops is so imaginative and unconstrained that ordinary people can’t fathom it!”
"Indeed!" Li Yuan thought for a moment and nodded repeatedly, expressing his deep agreement.
"So, my lord may wish to send more young people to the Crown Prince's command in the future. The Crown Prince is always tolerant, and young people will not have to worry about being useless under his command!" Pei Ji said while sorting out his thoughts, and finally thought of a few.
It was a brilliant idea that could be appreciated by Li Yuan, but only the devil knows whether it is actually useful or not.
"Indeed! These few words of yours are worth a thousand hectares of land!" Li Yuan's frown gradually relaxed. He must create more opportunities for Jiancheng and work hard to increase the thickness of Jiancheng's team. But now he still has in his hands
Who is suitable to be placed under the command of the eldest son?
Liu Hongji, Hou Junji and Changsun Wuji had always been alienated from Jiancheng, and it was difficult to win them over for the eldest son.
The newcomers Wang Yuantong and Qi Poning are quite capable, but they are far behind Liu Hongji, Hou Junji, Changsun Wuji and others.
After much thought, Li Yuan could not find anyone among the younger generation under his command who could rival Liu Hongji, Hou Junji, and Changsun Wuji.
Of course, he could force Hou Junji and Changsun Wuji to work under his eldest son Jiancheng, but they had already become Shimin's biggest supporters. As a father, he was already very partial, so he couldn't do anything that would offend his second son too much.
It was not until midnight that Li Yuan finally found two suitable candidates in a daze. One of the two people was his third son Li Xuanba, who was brave and invincible, and the other was Li Jing, who was resourceful and good at fighting.
"With the help of Xuan Ba and Li Jing, we will be able to suppress the people of the world!" Turning over, the stone in Li Yuan's heart suddenly fell to the ground, and he finally fell asleep peacefully.
ps: The second update of more than 5,000 words is here. Once again, I wish the brothers who read my book are immune to all kinds of poison————————