Li Shimin has not been in court for almost two months. This was almost unimaginable before King Qi's rebellion. After Li Shimin came to the throne, he has always been diligent and involved in every detail. Like now, it is undoubtedly the behavior of a foolish king.
.
However, both the government and the public can understand. Any emperor would be upset if such a thing happened. Especially Li Shimin, his situation is more special, so everyone can understand it better.
The affairs of the imperial court will not be reduced due to the emperor's mood. Li Shimin has not shown up, and there is no order from the minister, so there is no way to decide many things in the court. When the six ministers asked, Li Shimin replied that the six ministers would handle it themselves.
If something is not decided, you can ask Fang Xuanling. But Fang Xuanling is famous for having difficulty in making choices. Otherwise, there would be no idiom called "Fang Mou Du Duan". He is better at planning, not
Decision. When encountering something that requires decision-making, Fang Xuanling will instinctively want to avoid it.
The combination of various factors brought the imperial court to almost a standstill.
Empress Changsun saw this in her eyes and became anxious. Especially, she found that in the imperial court, many matters concerning the Liubu were not decided by the Liubu or Fang Xuanling appointed by Li Shimin, but by her brother Changsun Wuji.
.Although Changsun Wuji has tried his best to push back, the winds in the court are now also rushing towards him. The issue of the exclusive power of his relatives is about to happen in the Tang Dynasty.
Since ancient times, the exclusive power of maternal relatives has been a sign of the decline of a dynasty. Empress Changsun has always been wary of the exclusive power of maternal relatives. She did not want to be Empress Lu, nor did she want Changsun Wuji to become Huo Guang. When she found this sign, she had to intervene.
Queen Changsun came to Taiji Palace.
Eunuch Gao was waiting at the door. When he saw Queen Changsun coming, he rushed towards her. Before he could speak, Queen Changsun had already bypassed him and barged directly into the palace.
"The Empress..." Eunuch Gao thought for a moment without moving his feet. He wanted to show that I stopped him, but I didn't. In fact, how could he dare to stop him? Empress Changsun was really angry. It was Li Shimin.
Everyone has to get out of the way. Others don't know it, but Eunuch Gao knows it very well. Li Shimin has coveted Wang Ou for many years, so he didn't dare to use the emperor's power to take Wang Ou as his own. In addition to considering the relationship between the Wang family in Taiyuan and the Cui family in Qinghe
In addition to the relationship, Queen Changsun is also one of the most important reasons.
The person who can make the emperor restrain his selfish desires is an ordinary woman?
Eunuch Gao would not dare to put his own life to the test.
"Emperor," Empress Changsun rushed into the palace and saw Li Shimin sitting on a futon, staring blankly at the map hanging in front of her eyes. She came over and called out. Li Shimin turned around when he heard the voice and saw it was Empress Changsun, and gave a wry smile.
He said: "How come you and I are called husband and wife so clearly?"
"I am reminding you that you are the emperor of the Tang Dynasty." Empress Changsun said solemnly: "How can you look like an emperor now? The government is neglected and does not care about anything. Even if you are a coward, you will not be able to do anything.
Isn’t it so ridiculous? You left the government aside and didn’t appoint someone to handle it. Now you go to my brother for all matters big and small. Do you want to kill him? "
"This is serious," Li Shimin smiled bitterly: "The auxiliary machine and I grew up together, and we -"
"Your Majesty, I have said many times that things that happened when I was a child should not be mentioned again. This time is not that time. Now you are kings and ministers. As kings, you must behave like kings. As ministers, you must not cross the line.
Otherwise, if the king does not rule and the ministers do not obey, the country will be in chaos."
Li Shimin sighed and thought, this hurdle cannot be bypassed. He is not thinking about it now, so he said: "In your opinion, who should I leave to safe and secure the important matters in the court?"
"You can't leave it to anyone." Empress Changsun said angrily: "Has Your Majesty forgotten your ambition? How can you not dare to come forward and face it just because of some rumors?"
"It's not that I don't dare to face it, I just-" Li Shimin wanted to defend himself, but when the words came to his lips, he didn't know how to say it. Did he really want to tell the truth? In order to draw out the power of Jisi Hall, he
At the expense of his own son, when he discovered that he had a problem, he not only failed to correct it in time, but actually added fuel to the fire.
Although, from the emperor's point of view, there is nothing wrong with this. But if it were said this way, based on Li Shimin's understanding of Empress Changsun, she would probably stop her. Even if she didn't stop her, she would be very disappointed and get sick by then.
Come on, her body can't bear it either.
Li Shimin sighed and said: "You are right, I really can't face it."
"Your Majesty," Empress Changsun came to Li Shimin and sat down next to him, saying: "What happened back then has passed a long time ago. Your Majesty has been working hard to prove yourself in these years. Everyone in the world can see your achievements.
, but if Your Majesty gives up on yourself now, how should the people of the world view Your Majesty? Won’t all the things Your Majesty has done and the hard work you have endured over the years be in vain?”
Li Shimin couldn't refute anything, so his mind changed quickly and he said: "Queen, it's not just that I can't face it, there are other reasons."
Empress Changsun only thought that Li Shimin was an excuse, and asked patiently: "Your Majesty, tell me, what other reasons are there? If Your Majesty does not explain clearly today, you will have to go to court tomorrow."
"Alas——" Li Shimin sighed and said: "These four words mean internal and external troubles."
Li Shimin said sadly: "Queen, I have been thinking about it these days. What went wrong with me that made my son decide to rebel. You'er is so young. If it is him who wants to rebel, I
I don't believe it. There must be someone around him who is instigating him. This person is not only Yin Hongzhi, there must be people who think the same as him and are in the same situation. How many are these people and what are their identities? How many of the five surnames and seven sects are there?
Are people involved in it? I don’t know anything about it. This is the so-called foreign invasion.”
"Let's talk about internal worries." Li Shimin sighed and said: "The Queen also saw it. Qizhou was rebelling. I couldn't find anyone to put down the rebellion. In the end, I had to rely on this kid Li Mu. Of course they have considered You
"Because of their identity, but are they just watching my jokes? Or," Li Shimin paused, emphasized his tone, and said, "thinking about their identities, I really can't help but suspect that someone is involved!"
Empress Changsun was stunned for a moment and said: "Your Majesty suspects that someone in the court is colluding...?"
"I have to be suspicious." Li Shimin said seriously: "So I have to wait and see what moves they will make. No matter what the auxiliary machine says, I still believe that he will not be involved with that group of people, so I let him
The auxiliary machine handling government affairs is an act of trust and helplessness, because I can't completely trust anyone else, not even Wei Zheng, but I can't trust him completely."
This time, Queen Changsun did not refute Li Shimin. She recognized what Li Shimin said. Changsun and the royal family had interests because of her relationship with Li Shimin, the Xuanwu Gate Incident, and even the relationship with Li Chengqian who had been established as the prince.
They have been tied tightly for a long time. Anyone may rebel, but Changsun Wuji will never rebel. All the glory of the Changsun family is obtained by relying on the royal family. Only by safeguarding the royal family can the Changsun family continue to maintain its current honor.
According to Li Shimin, it was indeed reasonable for him to make this choice.
After a moment of silence, Queen Changsun asked: "Your Majesty, when do you plan to show up? You can't stay away from court, right?"
"It won't take too long." Li Shimin received another flying pigeon letter from Li Mu today and knew that he had almost arrived in Qizhou. He had been looking at the map just now, thinking in his mind how many days it would take for Li Mu to return home.
towards.
Li Shimin's "Tiance General" is not fake, his military quality is extremely high. After the information from all parties is gathered to him, he can roughly deduce the direction of the war even without being on the battlefield in person.
"When the fight breaks out over Li Mu, all kinds of monsters will show up. My sword has been sharpened, and no one can escape."
Empress Changsun stopped persuading her.
She could tell from Li Shimin's attitude that Li Shimin had already planned it. Before the net was closed, no matter how hard he tried to persuade her, it would be of no use. As the empress of the Tang Dynasty, she could not act like a peasant woman because of her opinions.
If she doesn't get along, she will play petty tricks with her husband. Since Li Shimin has already made a plan and she can't find any fault, her choice is how to help her husband achieve his goal.
"Your Majesty," Empress Changsun hesitated for a while, then expressed her thoughts: "If Your Majesty trusts me, I can also read some memorials for Your Majesty."
"Oh?" Li Shimin was very surprised. Since he ascended the throne, this was the first time in his memory that Empress Changsun was involved in court affairs. Although before he ascended the throne, Empress Changsun had not been involved in major events, such as the Xuanwu Gate incident.
She participated in a lot of them. But after taking the throne, in order to take the overall situation into consideration and to avoid suspicion, she deliberately avoided these things.
This time, Li Shimin also understood that it was entirely because of Changsun Wuji that he would come forward. What Queen Changsun was worried about was that the power of the Changsun family was too huge.
Li Shimin knew that his persuasion was in vain. Empress Changsun would not change her mind. If she was forced to stop her, Empress Changsun would actually have to listen, but she would definitely get angry. She had a headache, and what she feared most was anger.
Thinking of this, Li Shimin showed a surprised expression and said: "If the queen can share the burden for me, I would be very grateful. I will ask the senior officials to send all the memorials to the Li Zheng Hall."
With that said, Li Shimin called Eunuch Gao to come in. Although Eunuch Gao was a little surprised, he understood what Li Shimin was thinking and quickly found a few young eunuchs to take out the memorials piled nearby for several days.
"They are all unimportant things. When the queen has free time, you can read some. If you don't have free time, don't read them. It doesn't matter."
Empress Changsun knew that Li Shimin was worried about her headache, so she felt relieved and said: "Your Majesty, after drinking the medicine prepared by Liu Shenwei, I have gotten better. I haven't had any problems recently. I think nothing will happen to me."
Already."
"Then you should be more careful." Li Shimin let out a long breath and said to himself, finally getting over it.
After chatting for a while about the family affairs, Empress Changsun took her leave and went out. Li Shimin waved to Eunuch Gao, and Eunuch Gao returned to the door to look after the enemy.
"Come out." Li Shimin said, and a person emerged from the secret passage, it was Changsun Wuji. He was sitting where the memorials were piled up to read the memorials for Li Shimin, but he was almost blocked by Empress Changsun.
Li Shimin was so nervous because he was afraid that Changsun Wuji would be discovered.
If Empress Changsun found out that he was here, the brother and sister would inevitably quarrel. Li Shimin was caught in the middle and would often have a headache.
"Your Majesty, since there is no memorial, I will retire."
"Let's go." Li Shimin pulled Changsun Wuji over and ordered Eunuch Gao to prepare dinner. He unfolded the map that he had not had time to look at just now and said, "How long do you think the war in Qizhou can last?"
Although Changsun Wuji was a civil servant, he had also served as a military officer under Li Shimin in his early years, and he was also familiar with military affairs. Seeing the intertwined forces on the map, Changsun Wuji was silent for a while and said: "I thought that there was no such thing as
Three months and it seems like it will never end.”
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said, "Tell me your reasons."
Changsun Wuji said: "If you look at the forces on both sides alone, Li Mu undoubtedly has the overwhelming advantage. But when you think about it carefully, it is actually not the case. There are three things to pay attention to in fighting: the right time, the right place, and the right people. Li Mu attacked Qizhou in winter, so he did not take advantage of the right time.
, trekking for a long time does not take advantage of the advantage, and the tired army does not take advantage of the people. We can only attack forcefully with absolute advantage, and the losses will be heavy."
At this point, Changsun Wuji looked at Li Shimin. Li Shimin did not express his position, but motioned to Changsun Wuji to continue. Changsun Wuji continued: "And in Qizhou, there are two factors to consider."
Changsun Wuji stretched out his hand and pointed on the map and said: "Bo Ling is here, Qinghe is here, not far from Qizhou. Now both families have a deadly feud with Li Mu, and Li Mu leads a lone army outside, with a total strength of 15,000
There are no less than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Qizhou, which is basically the same. With the power and background of the Boling Cui clan and the Qinghe Cui clan, the gap of five thousand troops can be easily made up. If the war is intense,
Not five thousand people, even if there are only two thousand people, if you find the right time to attack, Li Mu will not be able to resist."
After the analysis, Changsun Wuji came to a conclusion and said: "Your Majesty, please mobilize Li Ji of Qizhou and lead 10,000 reinforcements. If we speed up the march, we may be able to reverse the situation before Li Mu's defeat. And with Li Ji in the army,
, it can also scare all the people in the community, so that they dare not act rashly."
Li Shimin kept listening to Changsun Wuji's words. After he finished speaking, he said: "I can only agree with half of what the auxiliary machine said."
Changsun Wuji was not surprised. In terms of military matters, if Li Shimin fully accepted his opinions, he would not be General Tiance.
"The half I agree with is that the war will not end so soon. But for the rest, I think you are wrong." Li Shimin reached out and pointed to a location on the upper right side of the map and said: "Qizhou's foreign aid does not come from Boling.
Cui family and Qinghe Cui family are here!"
"On the sea?" Changsun Wuji was stunned, took a closer look, and said: "Baekje?" After a pause, he said again: "Could it be, Goguryeo?!"