Tang Dynasty

Li Jiancheng looked at the chess game in front of the case, and dropped a white stone on his own.

At this moment, the door was pushed back from the outside, and Li Yuan strode in aggressively, followed by Li Shimin and Li Yuanji.

Seeing the situation, Li Jiancheng vaguely felt something, but he also hurriedly stood up and bowed his hands in salute.

However, Li Yuan glanced at the chess game on the table, and without waiting for him to say hello, he said, "The prince is quite relaxed, presumably he is in control of the situation?"

Li Jiancheng raised his head and said, "I don't know what the father means by this statement?"

"Yang Wengan, governor of Qingzhou, raised his troops to rebel, and tens of thousands of horses have already rushed to Chang'an." Li Yuan suppressed his anger, and said word by word, "Prince, what else do you have to say now?"

Li Jiancheng's heart tightened when he heard the words, and he instinctively looked at Li Shimin behind Li Yuan.Li Shimin did cast his gaze elsewhere, but for the first time when his eyes met, Li Jiancheng felt "unfathomable".

After a pause, Li Jiancheng withdrew his gaze, knelt down to Li Yuan, but didn't say a word.

He knew that if before this, Li Yuan still had trust in him, then at this time, in the pediatrics department, Yang Wengan really set up a flag of rebellion, and his charge of "rebellion" may have been confirmed.

However, Yang Wenqian rebelled for no reason?This matter... I'm afraid there is someone who knows better than myself.

With a sneer secretly in his heart, he slowly said: "I'm afraid that my son wants to explain, but the emperor doesn't have the heart to listen at this time." "Iron evidence" is in front of him like a mountain, so what's the use of empty excuses at this time ?

"Nizi!" His unusual calm made Li Yuan's hesitation the day before, and his disbelief today turned into fury in an instant, and he yelled and threw his palm over.Under the strong force, Li Jiancheng was hit in the face, but his body was still kneeling straight and motionless.

Seeing this, Li Yuanji immediately knelt down at the side and said earnestly: "Father, please calm down! My son thinks that with the nature of a prince, he would never do such a treasonous thing. There must be something inside. I also hope that the emperor will see clearly!"

"Mingcha?" Li Yuan knew that he was in the same party as the prince, so he sneered indifferently at this moment, and scolded, "Yang Wenqian has turned his back on him, so what's the inside story?"

Li Yuanji didn't know how to explain this matter, so he just knelt in silence for a while.The three father and son stood facing each other like this.

After a long time, Li Shimin, who had been silent for a long time, finally came forward and said to Li Yuan, "Father, please calm down. My son thinks that the rebel army is coming fiercely, and the father should put down the rebellion first." His eyes were on Li Jiancheng. After a slight pause, he continued, "As for the matter of the prince's rebellion, it won't be too late to make a decision after the chaos is put down."

His voice was unusually calm, so calm that he seemed to be really out of it.Hearing this, Li Yuan let out a breath slowly, and said: "Shimin is right, we should put down the chaos first." Then he turned his gaze to Li Jiancheng and said, "Jiancheng, you have disappointed father. From today onwards, you don't even have to leave this house. After I put down the chaos, I will deal with it." After saying that, he turned around and strode away.

Li Shimin followed closely behind. Before going out, he glanced this way and walked out.

After the two left, Li Yuanji was still kneeling in the room.Li Jiancheng tilted his head slightly, and whispered to him: "Go ahead, don't get implicated because of me."

Li Yuanji said: "Brother...but what do you want?"

Li Jiancheng smiled and said, "Yuan Ji doesn't have to worry, there is no unparalleled road."

Li Yuanji secretly thought in his heart, if he is convicted of treason, he will only die, so where is the road to enlightenment?However, it was hard for him to say anything in this situation, so he could only stand up and said: "Brother, please take care, Yuan Ji will do his best on the father's side."

Li Jiancheng stood up slowly and said, "Thank you Yuanji."

After he was alone in the room, Li Jiancheng slowly walked back to the case.Maybe it was because he had already died once, and this time when the catastrophe was imminent, he didn't feel much panic.

He smiled self-deprecatingly, but felt a fishy taste in his mouth.Li Jiancheng lowered his head and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

Suddenly a hand stretched out from behind and clasped his wrist firmly.

Although Li Shimin walked in front of him slowly, he slowly raised that part of his sleeve.On the plain white and flowing satin, there are spots of blood, like red plums in the heavy snow, proud but sadly beautiful.

"Shimin, why did you turn back when you left?" Seeing the person in front of him clearly, Li Jiancheng withdrew his hand and said with a smile, "You don't want to miss my description of being down and out?"

Li Shimin also withdrew his hand, and said with a light smile: "It's a pity that even though the eldest brother has fallen into such a situation, he still doesn't appear to be in the least bit of despair, as expected of a prince."

"Unfortunately, you didn't." Li Jiancheng finally sneered, "If I were you, I wouldn't come here so eagerly to show off my villainous scheme."

"Brother's words are true, and Shimin is ashamed." Seeing his point, Li Shimin didn't shy away from it, but smiled, "However, if I were the eldest brother, I would be very curious about why Yang Wengan raised his troops suddenly. On the contrary, let yourself give people a pretext overnight."

Li Jiancheng looked at him fixedly, clearly waiting for him to speak, but did not ask any questions.

"Big Brother's coming to Renzhi Palace is known to everyone, but no one knows what will happen next." Li Shimin waited for a while, then walked up to him and stood still, lowering his eyes, looking at the other party's red marks because of his palm just now. With a side face, he said quietly, "At this time, you only need to tell him that the emperor executed the prince in a fit of anger, and Yang Wengan was desperate, and the only way to follow was to rebel."

Li Jiancheng was silent for a long time after hearing the words, and finally said with a chuckle: "Shimin, I shouldn't underestimate you."

"Brother, do you finally understand?" Li Shimin moved closer to him, almost sticking to his ear, and said in a low voice, "If I can't replace you, I'm afraid even the brothers who were born like me won't be able to." Save them one by one. Brother, if you want to hate me, just hate me."

With the warm breath blowing against his ears, Li Jiancheng took a step back and said coldly, "This is just an excuse you made for your own ambition."

"Ambition?" Li Shimin followed closely, forcing him to the wall, and there was no way to retreat.Picking up a strand of the other's hair and wrapping it around his fingertips to play with, he approached Li Jiancheng with a low smile, "It's better to say, what I want..."

All the unfinished words have been turned into plunder between lips and teeth.

The kiss is overbearing and tough like never before, and there is no room for refusal.There was no way for Li Jiancheng to retreat, and in the midst of intertwined breaths, he suddenly reached out and clasped the back of Li Shimin's neck, biting his lips hard.

The smell of fishy smell quickly permeated his mouth, but Li Shimin was not moved at all, instead he kissed more and more happily, as if nothing could satisfy him.It was only when the two of them were almost exhausted that they separated a little bit.

Li Jiancheng turned his head, gasped lowly, and said, "I remember telling you that this farce has come to an end."

Li Shimin leaned on the wall with one hand, and slowly straightened up, but his eyes did not move away.

"Brother, maybe I can't help you in the future." He wiped the fishy smell from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, suddenly laughed, turned and walked away.

Li Jiancheng turned his head and leaned against the same spot, seeing Li Shimin walk to the edge of the chessboard, reaching out to shake the chessboard.

"Brother, there is no need to continue this game. I will win this game." With a sneer, Li Shimin held all the black and white pieces in his palm, gritting his teeth every word.

Then he slowly let go of his palm, let it scatter all over the ground, turned around and strode away.

----

The troops sent to quell the chaos fell into a stalemate for a while, and Li Yuan was furious and anxious. A few days later, he sent Li Shimin to lead the troops himself to take Yang Wengan's head.

The day before his departure, Li Yuan called Li Shimin into his room.But after a few days of hard work, he seemed to have aged a lot.Li Shimin knew in his heart that Yang Wengan's rebellion alone was not enough to make him do this. What really made Li Yuan unacceptable was that this rebellion implicated the prince he had personally appointed.

Seeing Li Shimin coming, Li Yuan briefly explained the combat matters, then suddenly fell silent.Li Shimin vaguely felt that he seemed to have something to say, and he seemed to be able to guess what it was, so he tentatively asked: "The matter of the prince... I don't know how the father wants to deal with it?"

"This matter... I have my own considerations." Li Yuan sighed a long time, and said, "You must put down Yang Wengan in this battle."

"Yes." Knowing that the Sacred Heart is unpredictable, Li Shimin bowed his hands and left.

"Shimin." However, when Fang turned around, Li Yuan stopped him.

Li Shimin paused and turned back, "Is there anything else you can order, father?"

Li Yuan hesitated for a while, and said, "Shimin, do you know the origin of your name Tong Jiancheng?"

Puzzled why he suddenly brought up this question, Li Shimin was slightly taken aback, and then replied: "I don't know."

"The one who builds it will succeed in building the industry; the one who builds the world will help the world and the people. To me, both of you are talents who can help the world and stabilize the country." Having said this, Li Yuan was silent for a long time before replying, "If it is completed, it will be true. With the heart of rebellion, I will change the prince's position."

Although it was not strict, the meaning in the words was already very obvious.In fact, Li Shimin has long understood that he is the only one who can compete with Li Jiancheng for the crown prince in today's court.Only oneself is capable, only oneself is worthy to compete with him.

Therefore, if Li Jiancheng made a mistake, there is absolutely no possibility of losing the crown prince.He understood this point as well as Li Yuan did.

Hearing Li Yuan's words just now, Li Shimin's heart was shaken, but his expression was only unusually calm.After bowing to Li Yuan, he said in his mouth: "May the father and emperor find out the truth of this matter as soon as possible." After saying that, he took his leave and left.

It wasn't until he slowly walked out of the hall that a happy smile gradually appeared on his lips.

He understood that he was only one step away from success.

A few days later, Li Shimin led the conquest and sent his troops to Qingzhou. Unexpectedly, before arriving, news came that Yang Wengan was killed by his subordinates.Li Shimin acted according to circumstances, and hurriedly asked people to spread the news that the prince was still alive, and said that if the remaining rebels knew their way back at this time, surrendered and surrendered, they would all be pardoned.

As a result, the uprising without a leader was calmed down within a few days.

However, when Li Shimin's class teacher returned to Renzhi Palace, he unexpectedly saw a person outside the palace.

Wei Zheng was dressed in a neat official uniform, kneeling in front of the steps with a straight body, it seemed that he had been kneeling for quite some time.Seeing Li Shimin, he just bowed his hands calmly and said: "The minister Wei Zheng has seen King Qin."

Li Shimin stepped forward, looked down at him and narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "Why is Master Wei here?"

"The prince is in trouble, so I naturally came to intercede for the prince." Wei Zheng smiled and said calmly, "It's a pity that your majesty doesn't want to see me, so I have to kneel here until your majesty changes his mind."

He had a sincere expression, and his eyes were not only intentional or unintentional, but even vaguely infatuated.Seeing this, Li Shimin felt displeased for a while, and said with a sneer, "Master Wei is just a Zhan official in the middle of the prince's mansion, and he also wants to intercede for the prince, isn't it too presumptuous?"

Wei Zheng didn't seem to care about it at all, instead he said in a very serious manner: "If you don't try, how will you know? To repay the kindness of knowing you, this life belongs to the prince. Knowing that people speak lightly, I only wish to do my best with my own strength. If you can't save the prince, you should repay your kindness with death."

What he said was serious, but Li Shimin was aroused into a rage.He bent down, stared at Wei Zheng and said, "Even if you die for him thousands of times, it's still not as good as a word I said in front of my father." After a pause, a sneer appeared on his lips, "He can't die, because... I won't let him die. If you want to kneel, you can kneel until you die. It's a pity that the eldest brother is imprisoned, but there is no way to know."

After finishing speaking, he suddenly let go of Wei Zheng and strode into the hall.

Seeing Li Shimin's leaving back, Wei Zheng chuckled to himself.If it is said that before he met Li Shimin this time, he was sure that the other party's plan was to put Li Jiancheng to death, so he made the provocative speech just now.However, just now, from the eyes of the other party, he suddenly realized that perhaps Li Shimin really never had this intention from the beginning to the end.

Then what did he do this time?

----

Li Yuan called Wei Zheng into the palace in the early morning of the next day, and it had been a full day since he knelt outside the gate of Renzhi Palace.

Because his legs were already numb, Wei Zheng finally staggered to Li Yuan with the support of the palace servants.He barely stood still, intending to kneel down again.Seeing this, Li Yuan waved his hand to signal him to excuse himself.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Wei Zheng just stood there and bowed his hands slowly.At this moment, he described that although he was in a state of embarrassment, his expression was calm, but he did not appear to be at all cramped.

Li Yuan saw it in his eyes, and felt that this situation was quite similar to that of Li Jiancheng that day.Sitting in the dragon chair, he moved his body slightly, and said: "Although I have heard of Wei Zheng's name, but when the wind is turbulent, not only did you not avoid suspicion, but you dared to beg to see me alone like this, and bluntly pleaded for the crown prince. I really admire you for lifting it. Although you have been kneeling outside the palace for a whole day, it is really your luck that I never beheaded you directly."

Wei Zheng said with a smile: "Your Majesty is lucky to have summoned you, and I am naturally grateful."

"I summoned you today, but I just wish to hear your words." Li Yuan paused, his voice lowered a bit, "However Wei Daren wants to defend the crown prince, but it's okay to say. If you can speak to me, I will do it Thoroughly investigate this matter; if nothing can be said, then Lord Wei's life will stay here."

Wei Zheng smiled when he heard this, and said with a long bow, "Your Majesty is wise!"