Li Yuan is a master of playing tricks. He not only likes to watch his subordinates fight among themselves, but also likes to watch the leaders of various factions crawling at his feet like a dog in order to obtain more benefits, which greatly satisfies his vanity.

.

As early as the peak period of the Tang Dynasty, he divided the court into more than ten large and small factions through differentiation, support, alienation and other means. The most famous ones are undoubtedly the Emperor Faction, Li Jiancheng's Prince Faction, Li Shimin's Jinwang Faction, and Li Yuanji's.

The King of Qi sect, the clan sect, the southern Shanxi sect of Pei Ji, the northern Shanxi sect of the Taiyuan Wang family and the Wen family, the Guanlong Dugu sect, the Guanlong Dou sect, the Jiangnan Xiao sect, the Jiangnan Chen sect...

Each faction has its own interests and needs. Therefore, when the political hall votes on a certain resolution, the seven prime ministers often consider the interests of their own faction first, and then the overall situation of the country and national interests. For example, Pei Ji seized the military power of Li Shenfu in the Battle of Bingzhou,

In fact, the Southern Shanxi faction took advantage of Li Yuan's fear of leading the clan generals, and launched an attack on the clan faction in the name of the emperor and the court. As a result, Pei Ji, who did not know the military affairs, made a fool of himself, and Li Shenli's defense was reasonable.

They were all removed, and all the key positions were replaced by the Southern Shanxi faction. The result was undoubtedly an advantage to the Sui Dynasty. There are many, many more examples like this...

This kind of factionalism has also been brought to the army. Although it has disappeared a lot now, there are still many factions in the army. Take the pitifully few tens of thousands of soldiers in Chengdu City, divided into Li Shimin and Li Shimin.

Although Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng have lost their real power, their influence still exists in the army.

Li Shimin had the intention to integrate the army and the imperial court into a community of shared interests with shared honors and disgrace, but the situation was not frozen in a day, and the Sui Dynasty did not give Li Shimin time to integrate, so he had no choice but to give up.

This time Li Shimin agreed to Zhang Shigui's request for additional troops. There were only three sources of troops. Either he could draw troops from Ma Sanbao, who was obeying Li Yuan's orders, or he could transfer his own troops. The other option was to recruit new troops. As for what was left of Tubo

The 10,000 men were not good enough to defend the city, and their military discipline was lax. They went there just to deliver food.

As night fell, a carriage stopped in front of the mansion of King Li Yuan of Lujiang. Li Yuan was Li Yuan's cousin, and he was also a talented man with both civil and military skills. Although he didn't have any impressive achievements, he also held military and political power.

He went to Zuopushe, Xingtai Province, Yizhou, and worked with Zhang Changxun to control the military and political affairs of Yizhou.

Li Yuan was very close to the former prince Li Jiancheng, and had a good relationship with Li Yuanji. After the Xuanwu Gate incident, he and Li Shentong came to an end sadly.

However, Li Yuan, who had been serving in Yizhou since it was owned by the Tang Dynasty, took Yu Wenxian, a famous Northern Zhou clan general who had served in Yizhou, as a model. During his tenure, Li Yuan not only commanded various people to quell rebellions, big and small, but also carefully

He governs the counties and counties in Yizhou and has an excellent reputation and influence here. Therefore, Li Shimin is deeply afraid and does not dare to substantively punish him. His move to remove him from the people's government is just a pretense for himself.

His subordinates thought that Li Yuan was also in order to regain Li Yuan for his own use. Not long after, Li Shimin restored his royal title and appointed him as the general of the army. He was then sent to recruit young men from Shu County.

Before the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan was very demonized, and Li Yuan had a high reputation in Shu County. When he went to recruit troops with the slogan of "defending the family, the country, and the fields," he was in a closed place and did not know the real situation of the Sui Dynasty.

The young men of Shu County responded one after another, so in less than half a month, Li Yuan had recruited more than 30,000 recruits.

What he didn't know was that his army, which had not yet undergone any formal training, was already being targeted by Li Shimin.

The carriage waited at the gate of his mansion for a while, and a steward quickly came out and bowed in front of the carriage: "The prince invites Prime Minister Yu Wen to come into the mansion to have a talk."

Yu Wenshiji stepped out of the carriage: "I came uninvited and disturbed King Lujiang's rest."

"Where! Where! My prince has always been hospitable and welcomes the Prime Minister to visit." The butler waved his hand respectfully: "Please, Prime Minister!"

"Please!" Yuwenshi returned the greeting with a smile, and followed the housekeeper unhurriedly to the living room, where he saw Li Yuan personally greeting him at the front steps.

Li Yuan is a low-key person who works in a high-profile manner. After this ups and downs, he has become more cautious. He knows that Yu Wenshiji is Li Shimin's confidant, so he does not dare to neglect, and specially comes to the front steps to wait to see Yu Wenshi.

When he arrived, he quickly stepped forward and saluted: "I am unable to leave the house to greet you, so please forgive me, Prime Minister."

Yu Wenshi returned the courtesy and smiled: "Your Highness is too polite. I came uninvited and disturbed Your Highness's rest."

"Xiangguo's words are unheard of. I can't even invite such a distinguished guest as Xiangguo. How dare I say 'bother'? Please come in, Xiangguo!" Li Yuan welcomed Yu Wenshi and his wife into the living room and ordered the maid.

Serve fragrant tea.

The two exchanged a few words, and then Yu Wenshiji changed the topic to the main topic: "Your Highness, I went to the palace to meet the Holy Emperor today, and I talked with the Holy Emperor about the current war situation. He is very worried!"

Yuwen Shiji and Li Yuan were good friends before, and they had a good personal relationship. Moreover, Yuwen Shiji's sister Yuwen Zhaoyi was very favored by Li Yuan. Their personal relationship and kinship made Li Yuan favor Yuwen Shiji, especially Yuwen Shiji.

After Shiji and Princess Nanyang fell in love, Li Yuan also betrothed a princess of the Li family to him, and now they have both sons and daughters. Although the Xuanwumen coup happened, Yuwen Shiji still did not enter the palace, but became Li Yuan

Liaison person with Li Shimin.

"That's because Liu Hongji is incompetent, Duan Zhixuan is incompetent, Wei Xiaojie is incompetent, Li Zhongwen is incompetent, Han Wei is incompetent, Zhang Changxun is incompetent, Xia Houxun is incompetent, Li Xizhi is unfaithful, and Liu Dewei is unjust." Li Yuan snorted coldly:

"Both of them are nothing but wine and rice bags. They have failed to live up to the expectations of the Holy Emperor and the Crown Prince, and have put the Tang Dynasty into such an unfavorable situation. If the true nature of these things had been seen clearly one day earlier, why would the Tang Dynasty be in this state?"

Most of the names that Li Yuan read were generals who were direct descendants of Li Shimin. Like Li Xinzhi, although Liu Dewei was not a close general of Li Shimin, he was assigned to a key position by Li Shimin. Li Yuan now selectively singles out these people to accuse, which is a bit strange.

It means mulberry and scolding huai.

Yu Wenshiji smiled a little awkwardly and said in front of those who didn't hear: "Your Highness, this battle is related to the life and death of the Tang Dynasty. It is normal for the Holy One to be worried. Zhang Shigui asked the Holy One to send troops to Jinyuan City to contain the enemies in the north.

'The Holy One' feels very embarrassed now."

Li Yuan said in astonishment: "You still send troops? Are you embarrassed to ask for reinforcements?"

"Uh!" Yu Wenshiji was stunned for a moment and said quickly: "That's right, General Manager Zhang still wants soldiers."

Li Yuan said angrily: "Zhang Shigui originally had 50,000 soldiers. Although Zhang Yu lost 10,000 soldiers in Tongquan County, he gathered all the defeated Brazilian soldiers in Xincheng. His current strength has increased a lot. After all, there are six."

Probably about 10,000 troops; Hou Junji who defended Ziyang with him also had 60,000 troops. If Zhai Changsun's Longshan Army was also included, the strength of the three of them far exceeded the Sui Army on the South Road. Zhang Shigui actually wanted reinforcements now.

, fortunately he has the nerve to say it out loud, why do you still need to show some shame?"

"Your Highness, a battle cannot be won with a large number of people!" Yu Wenshi and Li Yuan, who had always been cautious, did not expect such a violent reaction, and said with a wry smile: "You also know that Zhai Rang and Li Mi attacked Xingyang with an army of more than 200,000 people, and the result was stunned.

They were defeated by Yang Tong with 30,000 Xiaoguo troops. They were just a mob, so that's all. But the more than 200,000 Hebei coalition troops led by Dou Jiande were fierce soldiers who had survived more than ten years of war.

The fighting power was amazing, but Yang Dong defeated them all. Our soldiers were only a little stronger than Zhai Rang's soldiers, but the Sui army was brave and good at fighting, and none of them was worse than the original Xiaoguo army, which is even more unacceptable.

The only thing is that they are not much less numerous than us."

"..." The corner of Li Yuan's mouth twitched a few times, and he sighed: "The key is that there are only so many people in the city. If we send out the army, if Yang Tong breaks through Luoxian County and defends Jiulong, what troops will we use?

To intercept? If hundreds of thousands of Sui troops are directed towards the city of Chengdu, how can we defend the city?"

"But the 'Holy One' mentioned His Highness." Li Yuan was startled: "Why did the Holy One mention me?"

Yu Wenshiji said calmly: "Actually, it was not the Holy Sage who mentioned it, but the Holy Sage said that there were no troops to send. He was deeply worried. King Li Shentong of Huai'an said that His Highness's new army could also be used."

"What a mess!" Li Yuan stood up and said angrily: "The 20,000 men are just a rabble now, and it is useless to go there. Anyone who knows a little bit about military affairs knows that once the war reaches a stalemate, or

In an unfavorable situation, this kind of mob will not only have no effect at all, but will be defeated first and shake the morale of the army. Why is Uncle Wang Huai'an so unwise?"

"Your Highness, calm down, Your Highness..." Yu Wenshiji waved his hands quickly to calm Li Yuan down, and patiently explained to him: "Actually, the Holy Sage and the Crown Prince didn't agree either. The Holy Sage and the Crown Prince just said that they needed to think about it. I just came to remind him.

Your Highness, if the Holy Emperor or the Crown Prince calls you, please understand their difficulties. After all, the Tang Dynasty has reached this stage, and as long as there are people available, we will have to bite the bullet."

Li Yuan was silent for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister, for reminding me. I will not anger the Holy Emperor and the Prince."

"Then I won't disturb His Highness's rest." Seeing the division and alienation between Li Yuan and Li Shentong, Yuwen Shiji said that Li Shentong's goal had been achieved, and he knew that he had more to say, so he left.

"Prime Minister, hurry up!" Li Yuan sent Yuwen Shiji away and returned to the study. Although he was close to Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, he actually did not have any enemies with Li Shimin. However, Li Shimin personally burned Li Yuanji to death and killed his family.

The cruel methods made him feel chilled and frightened.

This is not Li Yuan's unfounded worry. After all, throughout the ages, when new emperors ascended the throne, they almost without exception generously rewarded those who had the merit of following the dragon, and never showed mercy on those who had resisted him. Judging from Li Shimin's performance, there is no doubt that

is also like this.

What chilled him even more was that Li Shimin not only killed his younger brothers, but also imprisoned his own father. This man was so vicious that he was even three points worse than an animal.

He had a good relationship with the former prince, and he must be the one Li Shimin wants to liquidate. The reason why he can still survive now is simply because he has a good reputation in Shu and is worth using.

But what about the future?

Li Yuan shudders just thinking about it.

And this Yu Wenshiji was Li Shimin's confidant. Although he kept saying "Holy Lord" and "Holy Lord", Li Yuan knew that this was actually Li Shimin's intention. In name, he wanted his army to support Jinyuan City, but in reality?

Could it be that he can no longer recruit troops and has lost his use value, so Li Shimin is ready to kill the donkey?

This realization made Li Yuan hate, fear, and regret. He felt that Li Shimin's butcher's knife was already hanging over his head. Once his troops were lost, the fate of Li Yuanji and his family would be his tomorrow.

He also thought of Li Jiancheng, who was imprisoned in Mianzhu County by Li Shimin, and now that there was news of his death at the hands of the Sui army, he felt even more uneasy.

He believed the news that Li Jiancheng was dead, but he did not die at the hands of the Sui army. Instead, Li Shimin ordered his bodyguards to kill him. After that, he passed the notoriety of killing his brother to the Sui army, so that he would not have to bear the bad reputation and could attract Li Jiancheng's attention.

The remaining forces share the same hatred of the enemy, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Li Yuan sighed and fidgeted in the room. At this time, an elegant woman with a heavenly beauty, graceful temperament, and elegant manners brought a cup of hot tea into the study.

This beautiful woman is in her thirties, wearing a light blue and white orchid skirt, and a jade-colored half-armor. Her face is like a full moon, her eyes are bright, her eyebrows are long, but she is Li Yuan's princess Wei Shi. Wei Shi's single name is Xiao,

She was born into Du Lingwei, a famous family in Guanzhong. Her father, Wei Yi, and Li Yuan's father, Li Zhe, were generals in the same dynasty, and they had a very close relationship. The two elders hit it off right away, and their marriage was set as early as when they were children.

Li Yuan was older and got married when Wei Xiao turned sixteen. The two had been married for more than ten years and had a son and two daughters.

We have been together with her husband for more than ten years. Webster knows that he is a person who hides his tears outside. When he comes home, he will face himself and the children with a smile, as if nothing has ever been difficult for him. Today, my husband is

Anxious, this was the first time she had seen him.

Webster didn't know what had happened and was worried, so she came to visit her husband on the pretext of bringing tea. She put the tea cup on the table and saw her husband sometimes standing up and pacing, sometimes sitting down and sighing.

He also became nervous and frightened, and couldn't help but ask softly: "Husband, is it possible that the Sui army is coming?"

"As a woman, you don't need to ask any more questions!" Li Yuan replied impatiently.

Webster walked to her husband and sat down, held his hand and said softly: "Husband, we have known each other since childhood and have been married for sixteen years. I have never seen you so nervous and anxious. It must have been a big mistake.

Something happened. As the saying goes, one person can calculate the shortcomings, and two people can calculate the shortcomings. Just tell me, and we will bear the big things together."

Being held by his wife's smooth and warm hand, Li Yuan calmed down a little, caressed his beloved wife's palm, sighed, and said with great regret: "I was deceived by the prince! He asked me to go to various places to recruit troops, and

I also wanted to do my best for the country, so I ran around and used my reputation in Shu County to recruit 30,000 young people from Shu County. And today he asked Yuwen Shiji to tell me that if he wants to send this army to the battlefield, it must be

He felt that I was no longer useful, so he planned to kill me. If he had known this, he shouldn't have worked so hard to recruit troops. Unfortunately... alas, it's too late to regret."

"Husband!" Webster said in surprise: "Although I don't know the state affairs, I also know that the war ahead is tense. Isn't it normal for the prince to send your army to support? Are you worried too much, husband?"

"If he could transfer the troops normally with an imperial edict in the name of the Holy One, I wouldn't be worried. But that's not the case!" Li Yuan said the exact meaning of Yuwen Shiji's words, and also expressed his own worries.

After that, he finally said: "If the prince takes away this army, he might kill us all. I am very anxious now and don't know what to do."

"What should we do?" Webster said in a trembling voice, his face turned pale with fright, and there was no trace of blood on his face.

"I'm so confused right now and I don't know what to do!" Li Yuan said at a loss.

"Now everyone is saying that Li and Tang will perish? Everyone has to say that the Sui Dynasty can kill Chengdu at will, but for such a simple thing, I really don't know what the Sui Dynasty emperor is waiting for." Wei Shi complained angrily.

: "If the Sui army had conquered Chengdu earlier, we might have a way to survive because of Xiuning...Does he have to let Li Shimin kill us all before he is willing to do it?"

The speaker didn't mean it, but the listener had it in his heart. His wife's complaint made Li Yuan's heart move.

This is indeed the case. The Sui army was suppressing the Tang Dynasty in all aspects. It was very simple to defeat the Tang army, but why didn't Yang Tong?
To be continued...