Li Yuan nodded, "Shimin is right, I do have this intention."

"But isn't this just falling into Zhang Xuan's trap?" Li Jiancheng was really puzzled. Since his father saw through Zhang Xuan, why did he still fall into the other party's plan?

Li Yuan smiled faintly and said, "Zhang Xuan just asked us to deal with Wang Shichong, but the final result is not entirely determined by him. We can also gain something. More importantly, hitting Wang Shichong can reverse the adverse effects of our failure in Jingzhou. This is called losing the East Side and winning the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the Side of the

Speaking of this, Li Yuan looked at his second son Li Shimin, "Does the emperor understand what I mean?"

Li Shimin immediately knelt down and said, "Please give me a month to me. My son will take over the three counties of Xiyang, Nanyang and Hongnong. If possible, my son will take over the two counties of Yuyang and Xiangcheng."

Li Yuan nodded, "I will give you a hundred thousand army, and let Qu Tutong be your deputy general, and destroy Wang Shichong for me, so don't let me down."

Li Shimin was overjoyed. His father actually reused Qu Tutong, which means that his father had already admitted his mistake in disguise, but Li Shimin did not dare to show anything. He lowered his head and said, "My son will never let his father down."

Li Yuan said to Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda again: "I will leave the negotiations with Zhang Xuan to you. Please discuss them and send someone to Jiangxia to negotiate with Zhang Xuan immediately. As long as people can come back, everyone else can be given up."

Li Yuan has already thought about it. It is crucial to protect the army. Other land, population, and material things are not important.

Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda quickly stood up to agree. Li Yuan had just breathed a sigh of relief, but heard a slight noise outside, as if he heard someone shouting.

Li Yuan was stunned and asked with some displeasure: "What happened outside? Why are there anyone making noise?"

A eunuch ran out to inquire and came back for a moment to report, "Report to Your Majesty, he is the Minister of War Zhao. He said he would submit his resignation to Your Majesty!"

Mr. Zhao of the Ministry of War is Li Yuan’s son-in-law Zhao Cijing. The son-in-law actually wants to resign. What’s going on? Li Yuan frowned and said, “Let him come in and see me!”

Li Yuan then said to the three of them: "You go back first and do what I have taught you immediately. I hope to send troops tomorrow!"

After a moment, Zhao Cijing walked in quickly, and could see that his anger was not yet gone. He knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I really can't continue to do it. I'm willing to resign and return home. Please forgive me!"

Li Yuan was really unhappy, but he saw Zhao Cijing's anger and knew that there was a reason for it, so he asked: "You are not a child anymore. Don't threaten me with resignation at any time. Explain what happened, what happened?"

"Your Majesty, my seven subordinates had dinner at Qingyun Restaurant at noon, but were captured by Xuanwu Jingwei in public. All the officials of the Ministry of War resigned to me. I went to find the King of Chu to discuss the matter. Only then did I learn that one of the seven subordinates had been beaten to death, and the other six were beaten to death. Finally, they showed me a bloody confession letter, the charge was for collusion with the Northern Sui Dynasty. I felt that the guilt was serious and could not serve as the Minister of the Ministry of War. I must resign because of my fault. I asked Your Majesty to approve it!"

At the end, Zhao Cijing was so excited that his whole body trembled, and could no longer control the anger in his heart. Tears surged out. He could not imagine that the King of Chu was so cruel that he would be beaten to death by him. If the emperor still protected this person, he would not do it if he fought to the death.

Li Yuan couldn't speak for a long time. Although Yuan Ji monitored all officials and obtained his approval and established Xuanwu Jingwei, he seemed to have done a little too much this time. He immediately picked up the gold medal and handed it to the guards and said, "Go to the King of Chu's Mansion immediately and ask the King of Chu to release the people. The injured person was transferred to the Imperial Medical Office, and the dead body was returned to his family. In addition, let the King of Chu come to see me quickly."

The guard bowed and took the gold medal and hurried away. Li Yuan then said in a eased tone: "You don't have to be so angry. You are not an outsider. I can tell you some things. I have received the exact news. There are many people in the imperial court and local counties who have secretly interacted with the Northern Sui Dynasty. But I was worried that it would cause turmoil in the imperial court, so I did not attack them. But if I did not intimidate them, these people would be more unscrupulous and more people would secretly go to Northern Sui Dynasty. Therefore, I asked the King of Chu to kill a warning to hundreds of officials with the appropriate opportunity. It is estimated that these officials of the Ministry of War just hit the knife."

Zhao Cijing said angrily: "Since you want to kill one and warn a hundred, let's take action with those who really colluded with the Northern Sui Dynasty. Why do you want to kill innocent people? Jiang Deqing is my confidant who was promoted by me. He is planning to recommend him as a doctor in the Ministry of War next month, but now he is beaten to death. Your Majesty, it will be difficult for anyone to accept this result."

"I am also very sorry for this matter, but since a person is dead, he cannot be resurrected. I can give him a title and be buried with a grand ceremony. My family can also be given a double pension. You can go and comfort them!"

Zhao Cijing was speechless. He could feel that the emperor had no intention of punishing Li Yuanji and was still extorting Li Yuanji, which disappointed him. At most, the emperor scolded Li Yuanji, but Jiang Deqing died in vain. For a moment, Zhao Cijing was discouraged. He really didn't want to be the Minister of War again. If it really didn't work, he went to the local area to serve as the prefect.

At this time, the eunuch reported outside the door: "Your Highness the King of Chu is asking for a meeting!"

Zhao Cijing really didn't want to see Li Yuanji, so he stood up and said, "I will go to appease my subordinates and take the leave first!"

"Go! I will ask you a clear explanation."

"Thank you, your Majesty, I will leave!"

Zhao Cijing slowly retreated, and as soon as he walked out of the imperial study room, he happened to meet Li Yuanji. He pretended that Li Yuanji was not the same person, and passed by him with a cold face. Li Yuanji turned around and looked at Zhao Cijing away, snorted coldly, and he quickly walked into the imperial study room.

"My son, please come to see the father and wish him long live the father and live long live long live long!"

"No gifts and calmness!"

"Thank you, Father." Li Yuanji stood up and stood beside him with his hands hanging down.

Li Yuan looked at him and said in great dissatisfaction: "What's going on with the officials of the Ministry of War? Why did you arrest them and beat people to death? How did you do this?"

Li Yuanji had already had a countermeasure and said calmly: "Father, first of all, they are really talking to the court. My people have heard them with their own eyes that they were rude to the court and the father. They themselves admitted that they had complained about the court. As for beating people to death, it was not the original intention of the son minister. The interrogation officer was eager to obtain confessions and used to torture too quickly. Moreover, the person who was beaten to death was too weak and could not bear it even if he had thirty sticks. In short, the son minister had dismissed the interrogation official, beat a hundred sticks and drove him out of the Chu Palace, and 100 killing sticks. He probably wouldn't survive."

After a pause, Li Yuanji secretly glanced at his father's face and continued: "Secondly, I found that the wind direction in Chang'an City has indeed been a little wrong recently. Rumors are everywhere and people are in panic. Everyone can talk nonsense, shake the hearts of the army and the people, but they don't have to bear any responsibility. This is not enough. You have to pay a price to speak nonsense. I decided to take firm measures to stop this unhealthy trend and beg my father to agree!"

Li Yuanji was also very skillful in speaking. He did not admit that he had arrested the wrong person. He just said that the interrogator did not know the importance of the attack, and he also underestimated the responsibility to the person being tried, so he could not even stand thirty sticks. In the end, he beat the interrogator and then dismissed him, which was also an explanation.

But then he became more and more powerful and expanded the surveillance from officials to civilians. He wanted to strengthen his speech control over Chang'an officials and citizens.

In fact, Li Yuan supported the plan of the fourth son Li Yuanji in his heart. He also believed that when the situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable to the Tang Dynasty, he must use iron-fisted means to control public opinion. Otherwise, all kinds of rumors and speculations would spread unscrupulously in the court and the public, which would shake the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, he did not have much objection to the death of an official from the Ministry of War. To a certain extent, the death of this official could make many people learn to shut up.

But Li Yuan is not as direct as Li Yuanji, and is easily caught by others. He is more implicit and more clever.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Don't publicly arrest and kill people at any time. This will cause panic in the government and the public, and it will also cause turmoil in the situation in Chang'an. You must learn to be smarter. You have to learn to operate in secret in many things. In addition, not only to eradicate bad elements, but also support a group of our mouthpieces. Only in this way can the public opinion in Chang'an be controlled and guided by us. Do you understand?"

Li Yuanji was overjoyed. His father agreed to expand his surveillance scope. He quickly knelt down and said, "My sons will work hard to maintain the stability of the Tang Dynasty's country and will never let anyone destroy it."

"Go! I'm a little tired and I need to rest for a while."

Li Yuan leaned against the dragon couch and slowly closed his eyes. Li Yuanji slowly stepped back. Before he went out, Li Yuan suddenly remembered something again and opened his eyes and said to Li Yuanji: "How are you prepared for what I asked you to do two days ago?"

"Please rest assured, my father is ready. All the information of big merchants in Guanzhong, Longyou, and Bashu have been collected, with a total of more than 1,300 households. My father will order the Xuanwu Jingwei to clean up from tomorrow, and will definitely raise the money and food required by my father in the shortest time."

Li Yuanji left in a hurry, and Li Yuan's brain cells that had just been preparing to rest began to become active again. The court's finances could no longer support it. It was meaningless to reduce expenses. It could only open up sources. Taking action against merchants was an inevitable choice for all dynasties in the face of crisis, and Li Yuan was no exception.

But it is still not enough to just take action against the merchants. The war against Wang Shichong that he was about to launch also requires a lot of money and food support. In addition to the merchants, another rich group is the Guanlong nobles. This time, the Guanlong nobles will inevitably make another blood.

However, Li Yuan also knew that in the past one or two years, he had deprived the Guanlong nobles too much. As long as they bleed without giving any benefits, it would trigger a strong backlash from the Guanlong nobles to themselves.
Chapter completed!