Tang Dynasty

Li Shimin's westward army is in full swing, with frequent success stories.By the time it approached Chang'an City in that year, its original number of more than 13 troops had increased to [-].

Among them, in addition to the surrendered army who surrendered halfway, there were also 7 horses from Pingyang Princess Li Xiuning and her husband Chai Shao, and Li Yuan's younger brother Li Shentong and son-in-law Duan Lun each had more than [-] people.Therefore, this team that originally started as a vanguard has now become an unstoppable main force.

When Li Yuan heard the news, he ordered Li Shimin to stay at the original place and rest the whole army, waiting for him to lead his troops to join him.

After fighting fiercely for several months, the weather is getting colder day by day.After the army rested for a few days, Li Shimin received a letter.

It was a sunny and cold day, and Li Shimin was standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at Chang'an City, which was faintly visible not far away.At first he thought that the letter was from Chaoyi, but when he saw the vigorous yet gentle handwriting on the envelope, his heart tightened suddenly.

Brother's reply.After such a long time, when he had long forgotten the expectations he had had, he actually received a reply from his elder brother.

Li Shimin couldn't wait to unfold it, but saw that the familiar handwriting filled several pages with eloquence.However, if you look carefully, every word and every sentence is just an account of the situation of the war in various places, and then he slightly reminds him that he should not fight too hastily, and he should always remember to spread benevolence.

However, at the end of the letter, a few small and slender words suddenly pulled Li Shimin's nerves.

"Profile, remember to add some clothes."

The short six words, which were so plain that they didn't even need any emotional color, made Li Shimin unstoppable for a burst of ecstasy.However, soon, he smiled self-deprecatingly, knowing that this was probably just his own sentimentality.

In fact, he couldn't understand better than that, in the eyes of the elder brother, the Li family's country is undoubtedly more important than anything else.If he has any concern for himself, it is probably only because of himself.

But even so, he was willing.If the eldest brother wants this world, he will take it down even at all costs.

With such thoughts in mind, Li Shimin carefully folded the letter and put it in his arms.

Looking around, Chang'an City is within easy reach.However, the Taiyuan Uprising established the situation of entering Chang'an, but it was just like yesterday.

If you take these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains as proof, big brother, are you willing to believe the wishes of the people of the world?

----

However, what Li Shimin never thought of, seeing Li Jiancheng again will only be half a month later.

On that day, Li Shimin personally commanded the troops, and went east to meet Li Yuan's army from Chaoyi.It was already winter, and there was snow rustling in the sky.In the light white falling snow, Li Shimin stopped his horse and saw the shadows of a line of people and horses in the distance.

He rode his horse over, and quickly saw Li Yuan, who was the leader in armor and had a young sword, and behind him... Li Jiancheng.

Li Jiancheng was still wearing silver armor, but this time, the silver armor was covered with a thick fox fur.The fox fur is snow-white in color, making people look noble and elegant.At first glance, it almost blends into the surrounding scenery.

Li Shimin stared at him approaching in a daze, and then suddenly came back to his senses.He rode his horse and approached, bowed to Li Yuan, "Father." After a pause, he turned to Li Jiancheng, "...Brother."

Li Jiancheng nodded slightly and said nothing.

Li Shimin hesitated and said: "Shimin thought that elder brother was still in Tongguan, why...he came here?"

Li Yuan said with a smile: "My father wanted to let Jiancheng stay in Tongguan for a while, but he asked for his own order. So he was asked to come with my father."

Li Shimin nodded when he heard this, and slowly turned to Li Jiancheng.Li Jiancheng smiled calmly: "The people of the world must be very tired after fighting for days. As the eldest brother, how can I stand idly by and not come to help?" He said, "Furthermore, Qu Tutong is seriously injured. He has been huddled in the city for many days, and he still has no time to take care of himself. He should be incapable of rescuing Chang'an at the moment. Besides, Master Liu is still staying at Tongguan, so there will be no mistakes."

"Jiangcheng has thought carefully, so I can rest assured as a father." Li Yuan smiled and looked at Li Shimin in a blink of an eye.

Sensing his father's gaze, Li Shimin hastily withdrew his gaze from Li Jiancheng's face, cleared his throat and said, "It's cold here, father and elder brother, please enter the accounts first."

Li Yuan nodded, and took his two sons to the camp.

The two Li brothers followed and walked side by side.Li Shimin couldn't help stealing glances at the other party. Li Jiancheng's profile was thin, and there was a beautiful arc in the falling snow.

Li Shimin watched steadily, but at this moment the other party suddenly turned his eyes to look at him.Looking at each other, Li Shimin knew that his eyes must be full of uncontrollable surprise and panic, but there was no wave in the other's eyes.

"Shimin, let's go." Li Jiancheng said indifferently, then lifted the reins of the horse and walked faster.

Li Shimin fell behind, looked at the white shadow in front of him, and sighed softly.

The heart knows that nothing has happened even if it can be pretended on the surface.In fact, everything is really as Li Jiancheng said, and there is no turning back.

----

Because the snow blocked it and made it inconvenient to march, Li Yuan simply ordered the army to stay and rest in place until the heavy snow faded.

During the day, Li Jiancheng discussed the strategy of attacking the city with everyone, and at night, he read the military books alone until late at night, for several days in a row.

It has been his long-standing habit to screen out the servants around him at night.In other words, it was his habit after rebirth.It's not that he doesn't want to trust others, it's just that he once trusted He Chang, the guard of the Xuanwu Gate, and Li Shimin, but in the end...

Instead of this, it is better to just believe in yourself.

The candlelight in front of the table suddenly picked up, and Li Jiancheng raised his head from the book and looked out the window.Outside the window is the quiet and endless night, only the sound of the wind blowing the surrounding branches and leaves, rustling.

Li Jiancheng closed the book, stood up, and stretched his limbs slightly.

Then he walked to the door of the room and gently pushed the door open.

The cool wind suddenly poured in, carrying the air that was icy cold enough to teach people to wake up in an instant.In the past few days, there was only a little bit of snow, but now it has changed into a goose feather.Li Jiancheng took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He narrowed his eyes slightly in the falling snow, but in an instant, he saw a shadow disappear behind the shadow of the tree.

No matter how fast you dodge, just a glance is enough to see clearly.

Li Jiancheng stood quietly by the door, the snow in front of the court had already covered the ground, and it looked very cold under the silver moonlight.

He turned his head away, turned and closed the door.

There is a slight warmth flowing in the room isolated from the wind and snow, and the outside separated by the same door is a completely different weather.

Since he came here, he hadn't seen Li Shimin in the rest of the time, except for meeting him during the discussions in the Bairi hall.Li Jiancheng didn't know how long the other party had been standing quietly in this wind and snow, and how many days had it been like this, watching silently outside his room door.As timid and careful as a child who has made a mistake.

And what he knew was that the moment he saw the shadow just now, his heart trembled for no reason.I don't know if it's because the night often shakes people's hearts, but for the first time, he actually felt that he was being too cruel to the people of the world.

No.

When this thought flashed through his mind, Li Jiancheng immediately laughed at himself.

It was this senseless kindness that allowed him to dig a grave for himself in his previous life.Li Jiancheng, in this life, do you want to repeat the same mistakes?

Somewhat irritably, he shook off the messy thoughts in his head, Li Jiancheng sighed lowly, walked to the bedside, and blew out the candle.

----

After the army had been stationed for a few days, the snow had finally eased.After the snow cleared and the ice melted, it finally came to the day when the army attacked Chang'an.

Li Yuanren, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin gathered together a total of more than [-] people from the three groups. As far as Chang'an is concerned, it is already a situation where soldiers are approaching the city.

Li Yuan's intention was that he was personally in command of the central army, with Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin in charge of the left and right armies, and launched a strong attack on the first day, making the opponent fall into a weak position in one go.However, as soon as he said this, without waiting for anyone to answer, Li Shimin took a step forward and said: "If father can trust Shimin, please ask Shimin to be the vanguard. Shimin will definitely live up to his expectations."

"Shimin, my father knows that you are eager to break the city," Li Yuan shook his head and said, "However, this battle is no small matter. If my father does not go out in person, how can we increase the strength of the three armies?"

Li Shimin pondered for a moment when he heard the words, then glanced at Li Jiancheng and said, "Then ask father to keep eldest brother in the camp."

Everyone was shocked when they heard the words, Li Yuan also frowned and said, "What do Shimin mean by this?"

Li Shimin didn't change his face, he just said: "There are Shimin in the army to protect father, and there are big brothers in the camp to guard the rear, that's the surest strategy."

As soon as this remark came out, before Li Yuan understood it, Li Jiancheng laughed and said, "Come on, Shimin's words are justified."

Li Shimin didn't expect Li Jiancheng to show such words, turned his head, met his gaze, and quickly moved away.He knew that he might not be able to hide his thoughts from his big brother's clear eyes.

I laughed at myself in my heart.In fact, he just wants to protect him from danger with his own strength, but he is afraid that he will make the slightest mistake in the flames of war... Even if he sees it, so what.

Although Li Jiancheng's sudden agreement was somewhat unexpected, but it was really the result he wanted.So Li Shimin turned to Li Yuan and said, "Let Shimin do it himself. As for the matter of stabilizing the rear defense, you can only do it thoughtfully and thoughtfully like a big brother."

Li Yuan has always trusted these two sons, seeing that the two spoke unanimously, he no longer insisted, and said: "So, I will follow the policy of the people of the world."

Li Shimin was overjoyed when he heard the words, and instinctively turned to Li Jiancheng, but unexpectedly found that the other party was staring at him.However, only when the four eyes were in contact, they moved away without a trace.

----

Three days later, the army set off.Although the snow has faded, the weather is still very cold.Li Jiancheng was still wearing the snow-white fox fur, standing in the procession of seeing him off, quietly watching the army preparing to set off.

After drinking the wine and saying goodbye, Li Shimin walked a few steps behind Li Yuan, turned around suddenly, and rode his horse to Li Jiancheng.

"Does Shimin have anything else to say?" Li Jiancheng looked at the person close at hand with a calm expression.

However, Li Shimin just looked at him silently.After a while, he suddenly leaned forward and hugged the other party forcefully.

Li Jiancheng knew that in the eyes of others, this was just an ordinary hug for parting brothers, but for the two of them, it had an indescribably extraordinary meaning.The two of them understand, and only the two of them understand.

Because he heard Li Shimin's low voice close to his ear: "Brother, this battle is not for others, but for...you alone."

Feeling the tightening strength of the opponent's arms gradually, and the accompanying warmth.Li Jiancheng looked as usual, but slowly, he also stretched out his hand, and wrapped his backhand around the opponent forcefully.

Then he heard himself whisper: "Shimin, take care."

----

After sending off the army, Li Jiancheng rode back to the camp, immediately wrote two letters, and called the school principal who was his confidant: "Let's start immediately. Be sure to send these two letters to Chang'an City before the army arrives. There must be no mistakes. .”

The small school ordered to resign immediately.Li Jiancheng breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at the sky outside the window, it was already a little dark.He walked to the wall and raised his face slightly to look at the hanging map.

Starting from Taiyuan, passing through the Xihe, Huoyi, and Hedong areas, to the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, they are all owned by the Li family.At this time, it was only half a year before the army started in Taiyuan.

However, Li Jiancheng knew that this seemingly smooth westward march was only the beginning of the journey.Occupying Guanzhong and taking control of Chang'an is far from the ultimate goal of this army.

The same is true for myself.

Li Jiancheng slowly shifted his gaze to the east, and finally landed on Luoyang, where he stayed for a long time.

More than once, he thought about what his rebirth was for.However, only he knew that no matter what, he definitely did not come here to avenge the accident in front of Xuanwu Gate.

Even though he was unwilling, puzzled, and even aggrieved, compared with the thousands of miles of country in front of him, those were nothing but personal enmity.Now that he is reborn, he will build another prosperous world with his own hands.

This was his unfulfilled ambition in his previous life.

As for Li Shimin... the name suddenly appeared in his mind, but Li Jiancheng didn't want to think about it.That person pierced himself with an arrow in his heart in the previous life, but only left a sentence of "I'm sorry"; in this life, he has desires for himself, but he is desperate for him time and time again.

Shimin, which one is the real you?

Li Jiancheng laughed at himself and told himself that no matter who it was, he would never be able to shoot himself off the horse so easily in this life.

While pondering, there was a sudden wind outside the window.Li Jiancheng looked around, but saw the shadows of trees cast on the window, mottled and intertwined, trembling slightly in the wind.He walked to the door and gently opened it.

The wind still poured in.Even though the heavy snow has receded, the early winter at night is still extremely cold.Li Jiancheng subconsciously pulled up the front of his clothes and looked up at the courtyard.

The courtyard is empty, only the moonlight spreads out on the steps like flowing water.The surroundings are completely silent, and the only thing that can be heard in the ears is the rustling of branches and leaves.

Li Jiancheng stood quietly for a moment, and suddenly laughed at himself in a low voice.Then he retreated into the room and gently closed the door with his hand.

But at this time, a voice suddenly sounded outside the door: "My lord, wait a minute."