Tang Dynasty

Everyone was slightly taken aback when they heard the words.Since King Qin was named Tiance Admiral, rumors about his outstanding military exploits that the prince would not tolerate have been raging in the court.Therefore, at this moment, Li Jiancheng did not take the initiative to ask Ying to seize the military power, but instead recommended Li Shimin. This move was beyond everyone's expectations.

And Li Shimin looked at his back steadily, and his heart was full of waves.

Li Yuan was slightly taken aback, looked at Li Jiancheng raised his eyebrows and asked, "What does the prince say?"

Li Jiancheng seemed to be unaware of the whispers around him, so he just bowed his head and said humbly: "Liu Heitai originally belonged to Dou Jiande's old department. This matter started because of the King of Qin, so it should be settled by the King of Qin, this is one of them." After saying that, Wei Wei paused, and looked up to observe Li Yuan's reaction.

Although his words were recommending Li Shimin to lead the army, the implication in his words was that the King of Qin should take care of the aftermath, but it was very sharp.

Li Yuan knew that when Li Shimin dealt with Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande's surrender, he executed many of his confidantes. Perhaps Dou Jiande's rebellion had something to do with it.He looked at Li Jiancheng and said slowly, "Go on."

Li Jiancheng nodded and continued: "Secondly, most of Liu Heita's troops were originally Dou Jiande's troops. The King of Qin captured Dou Jiande alive in a battle in Hulao. Forming a deterrent trend. From this point of view, my son thinks that this appointment cannot be done by the King of Qin." After a pause, he turned to look at Li Shimin, and said word by word, "I don't know the King of Qin, what do you think?"

Li Shimin was staring at his back, and when he turned his head, the two looked at each other, and the emotions in their eyes were clear.

Since that night, this is the first time the two have looked at each other like this.However, Li Jiancheng's expression was something Li Shimin had never seen before.

It's not like the gentle and light smile in the past, nor is it the expressionless indifference.When he turned his head, he slightly lifted his chin, the corners of his lips were half a smile, and the gaze he cast was condescending provocation and cold mockery.

Even before he could see clearly, the person turned around, but that expression was already engraved in his mind.

It was that one look that instantly froze the memories of the past and the turbulent impulse in his heart into ice.

I have been searching hard for many years, and my heart is thinking about something that is precious, and after the other party gives up, a few days and nights are enough to retreat and get away.As if nothing had ever happened.

Regardless of the pain from the tearing wound on his shoulder, Li Shimin clenched his fists hard, suddenly feeling that he was too ridiculous.

It's not that he hasn't heard of all kinds of rumors about the master of high achievements, what kind of ambitious city, but he has never taken it to heart.Because he thought that as long as the elder brother believed in him, it was enough.However, at this moment, Li Jiancheng's words in front of him, coupled with that look in his eyes, made him suddenly understand: Big brother doesn't believe him, maybe never, never did.

I wholeheartedly wanted to become stronger and become that person's right-hand man, but that person not only didn't need it at all, but instead became wary of me.

In the end, I still can't win a "letter".

With a sneer, Li Shimin stepped forward, glanced at Li Jiancheng, and then quickly looked away.Immediately, he cupped his fists to Li Yuan and said, "My son is willing to go! This battle will not destroy Liu Heita, and I swear that I will not return it!"

——Brother, since I am already like this in your heart... then it will be as you wish.

Every word is spoken loudly, and it seems to be gnashing one's teeth.Seeing it, Li Jiancheng looked away lightly, and the corners of his lips seemed to be raised on purpose, but he didn't smile for a long time.

Li Yuan looked at Li Shimin, and then turned his attention to Li Jiancheng.At the end, with an inaudible sigh, he looked up at the officials and said: "What the crown prince said is reasonable, so let the king of Qin be the commander in chief. I wonder if you have any objections?"

No one in the hall responded, but at this time Li Yuanji came out and clasped his fists and said, "I ask my father to allow my son to go and help the King of Qin!"

Hearing this, Li Shimin immediately raised his eyes and looked at Li Jiancheng fixedly, while the other party looked forward indifferently, as if he didn't care about his gaze at all.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and said: "That's all right, your two brothers are going to suppress the bandits together, so it's good to have someone to take care of you."

"Thank you, Father!" Li Yuanji clasped his fists to thank Li Shimin, and then turned his head to meet Li Shimin's gaze. His gaze passed Li Jiancheng without stopping too much.

However, Li Shimin saw it clearly. After receiving the decree with Li Yuanji, he stopped looking at Li Jiancheng. He just gritted his teeth and slowly clenched his fists.

----

On the eve of the dispatch of troops, Li Shimin came to Qi Wangfu to discuss with Li Yuanji about the use of troops.In fact, he has been fighting for many years, and he already has his own usual fighting method, that is, confronting the enemy to consume his strength, frustrate his edge, and then besiege with light cavalry several times, defeating him in one fell swoop.

This time against Liu Heita, the plan in his heart is probably the same.However, during the discussion, Li Yuanji proposed a strategy, that is, together with Li Yi, the general manager of Youzhou who had been defeated by Liu Heitai, from the south, he would attack from the north and the south, so that Liu Heitai would suffer from the enemy.

Li Yi's original surname was Luo, but he was given the surname Li after defecting to Li Yuan.And Li Shimin knew that this person had always belonged to Li Jiancheng.Thinking that although Li Yuanji is extremely brave, but he has few schemes in battle, Li Shimin looked up at him, and he probably understood in his heart who made this plan.

"Fourth brother's plan is very good," he said with a smile, "If that's the case, let's follow the plan."

After leaving the Hall of Martial Virtue, Li Shimin suddenly stopped and looked eastward.

The mansion where Li Yuanji lived at this moment was the Martial Virtue Hall when Li Yuan was not yet proclaimed emperor, and further east was the East Palace.

"Go to the East Palace." Li Shimin said softly when he got on the sedan chair, but he didn't know why he wanted to go there, and even if he went, what could he say.

However, when he was about to reach the Changlin Gate in front of the East Palace, Li Shimin raised the curtain, and what he saw was a row of strict guards.

His heart tightened, and Li Shimin said "stop" out of his mouth.

The palace man carrying the sedan chair hurriedly stopped, and after waiting for a long time, he heard a sighing voice from inside the sedan chair: "...return to the palace."

The sedan chair turned silently, and after traveling for a few miles, Li Shimin's voice came out again, "When were these palace armors in the Eastern Palace... added?"

The palace man who was walking with the sedan chair heard the words: "It was probably only three days before I returned to Your Highness. It was the time when His Highness was sick and never went to court. Three days ago, His Highness the Crown Prince recruited many young men in Chang'an and gathered in the East Palace. The Changlin gate guards are called 'Changlin Bing'."

Li Shimin has always been tolerant of his subordinates in the palace, so now he knows everything and tells everything he has heard.However, the voice fell, and there was no response for a long time.Although he was puzzled in his heart, he heard a loud noise in the sedan chair. He thought that someone punched the wall of the sedan chair with such force that even the sedan chair shook slightly.

The palace people carrying the sedan chair were all in a state of silence, but after looking at each other, they absolutely did not dare to ask any questions.

But at this moment, Li Shimin in the sedan chair leaned on his back, slowly withdrew his hands, and let go of his tightly clenched palms, but only sneered silently.

Who is this Changlin soldier guarding against and what is it for? His heart is as clear as a mirror, so clear that it is like a knife being twisted.

——He guarded against me in every possible way, but secretly helped me to win every time.

——Is it just for your thousands of miles?

Li Shimin looked down at his palm, slowly grasped it firmly, and sneered again after a long time.

——Brother, if I take away all the mountains and rivers that you care about with all your heart, what will you... what will happen?

----

In the first month of the second year, Li Shimin and Li Yuanji led an army eastward to conquer Liu Heita.The two acted according to their plan, and together with Li Yi who had gone south, they attacked Liu Heita, losing Xiangzhou and Shoumingzhou in a row.In February, Liu Heita made a comeback and attacked Mingshui City again.On the one hand, he besieged the city tightly, so that Li Shimin couldn't ask for help several times, and on the other hand, he ordered people to dig tunnels on both sides of Mingshui City.At that time, it was snowing heavily and there was no hope of reinforcements. Li Shimin took an expedient measure, pushed out of the city first, and lay down in the surroundings.

A few days later, Mingshui City fell, Li Shimin personally commanded the army, and together with the remnants of the city, they attacked from outside, and took back the city four days later.Liu Heitai was unable to attack the city under severe injuries, so he had to send people to challenge him repeatedly. However, this time Li Shimin could not hold on, and the two armies confronted each other.

In Chang'an in March, spring is warm and flowers are blooming.

After seeing off the last visitor in the East Palace, Li Jiancheng was alone in the courtyard, leaning over to pick up the first early-blooming peony this year.

The flowers are like splashed ink, and are a variety of shades of pink.At this time, the flowering period is still early, and it is still in the bud. Wait for half a month, and it will be enough to become proud.

Li Jiancheng smiled, and gently opened the hand holding the flower branch.The peony flicked a few times between the branches and leaves, throwing a few drops of dew.

Wei Zheng walked in from outside the courtyard in a hurry. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but slow down a bit.

Today, Li Jiancheng is wearing a jade-white robe with willow leaf patterns, the color of which echoes the uneven dots of plain white among the flowers, and it becomes a landscape at a glance.

Wei Zheng was still standing there, but the person opposite seemed to have noticed something, turned around, looked at him with a slight smile and said, "Mr. is here, I wonder how things are going?"

Wei Zheng stepped forward to salute, and said: "Your Highness has great expectations, and I dare not be negative." Then he took out several letters from his pocket and handed them to Li Jiancheng.

The owner of this letter is nothing more than the princes and ministers of the court, as well as the local civil and military chiefs, and the officials of the frontier.During these days, Li Jiancheng was active in all directions. Those who were in the court would visit them in person, and those who were not there would write books and send them to others, or send cronies such as Wei Zheng to visit them.

After a few months, whether the kings and officials of the various parties are enemies or friends, their hearts can be said to be as clear as a mirror.Whether it is promotion or suppression, I already know it well.

Li Jiancheng took it, and unfolded it one by one, from Li Xiaogong, King of Hejian, down to Wei Yunqi, Governor Xingtai Minister of Yizhou, his words were either straightforward or implicit, but none of them meant attachment.Knowing that it went well, Wei Zheng must have contributed a lot to this lobbyist. Li Jiancheng took good faith, looked at him and smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Lao."

Hearing this, Wei Zheng raised the corners of his mouth, bowed half-jokingly, and said, "I will do my best for His Highness, and I will die."

Li Jiancheng just laughed and stopped talking.

After a while, Wei Zheng said again: "Have you heard of today's battle report, Your Highness?"

Li Jiancheng looked at his expression sideways, and said, "I haven't left the house today, when did this battle report come?"

"I only heard about it an hour ago." Wei Zheng paused deliberately when he said this, and stopped talking.

Li Jiancheng seemed to have noticed it, and said with a smile, "But Liu Heita has been defeated?"

"That's right." Wei Zheng smiled and said, "The King of Qin cut off the river at the upper reaches of the Ming River and provoked Liu Heita's army to cross the river to fight. Hei Kai has led more than a thousand remnants of his troops to defect to the Turks. The King of Qin will immediately return to the court with his troops."

"This is really his usual method of fighting..." Li Jiancheng looked up into the distance, smiled softly, and said, "It's just a matter of fingers, this time he confronted Liu Heitai for only two months, and like this Returning to the heart is like an arrow, in the end...you have become aware of the situation in the court."

Wei Zheng said slowly: "The King of Qin is just the King of Qin. Even if he has the ability to reach the sky, he will not be a prince."

Hearing his blunt words, Li Jiancheng laughed lightly, and said: "After all, the courtiers are just courtiers, even if they all fall to my side, they can't influence Father's will."

Wei Zheng looked at him and said, "The more Yichen sees, although His Majesty favors the King of Qin, he will definitely not... abolish the Duke for personal reasons."

"Father, there is no need to be in a hurry." Li Jiancheng nodded lightly and said, "It will take some time for the people of the world to return to court. Before that, there is one thing that needs to be done."

He spoke suddenly, Wei Zheng couldn't help but said, "I don't know what His Highness is referring to?"

Li Jiancheng turned to look at him, suddenly took his hand, and slowly wrote two words on his palm with his fingertips.

After writing the last stroke of the first character, Wei Zheng already understood eight points.However, he couldn't figure out the reason for this.

When Li Jiancheng retracted his fingertips and stood with his hands behind his back, Wei Zheng finally opened his mouth and said, "I dare to ask, why...is this person?"

He originally thought that from the moment the other party told him of his heartache and weakness, he and Li Jiancheng were not only different from each other, but that the other party should completely trust him, and he could say nothing.

However, to his surprise this time, when Li Jiancheng heard the words, he just turned around and cast his eyes into the distance again, his expression was calm, and it was actually a little ethereal.

Wei Zheng looked at him for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "I've overstepped the rules, please forgive me, Your Highness."

"Forget it, sir, don't worry. I've made arrangements and told you, but I don't want to hide anything." Li Jiancheng didn't look away, paused, turned around and said with a smile, "I have my own reasons for this. Opportunity, you must tell sir."

Wei Zheng stared at him blankly, then smiled and said, "I'm waiting for that day."

Li Jiancheng nodded slightly and stopped talking, but turned around again and looked up at the distant sky.

In April, Li Shimin's army triumphantly returned to the court.But the first thing he heard after returning to the mansion was the news that Yu Chi Gong, the commander of the Youyi Mansion, was attacked and died violently.

In the battle with Wang Shichong, if Yu Chigong hadn't come to rescue him, he might have been the ghost of Shan Xiongxin at this time.It can be said that Yuchi respected himself for saving his life.

Li Shimin heard the news without any delay, even before entering the palace to meet Li Yuan, he came to Yuchigong's mansion first, tremblingly lifted the white cloth from the corpse, but saw an arrow cluster stuck high in his chest, and the surrounding area had already dried up of red and black blood.

Li Shimin stretched out his hand, and slowly closed the other's eyes, which were still open, and said sadly, "What's going on?"

"Return to Your Highness," the Yuchi mansion said while wiping away tears, "The master took his servants to hunt in the outskirts of the city as usual the day before yesterday, nothing was different, but who would have expected... when he came back... it was... ...it's already..."

Li Shimin stood up and looked down at the dead body.

However, for some reason, at that moment, the breath in his chest stagnated.Li Shimin staggered back a few steps and almost fell down.Fortunately, others came to help in a hurry, so they stabilized their steps.

Wei Wei calmed down, then raised her eyes to look at the cluster of arrows on the corpse.

It's just... clean and neat, piercing the heart with an arrow.