Chapter 741: The Prime Minister's Warning
Li Yuan has entered Shu, and the mess in Jingzhou naturally falls on Li Jiancheng. He has many follow-up matters to deal with. In addition to handing over territory with the Sui Dynasty and withdrawing the troops on the Han River defense line, the key is to eliminate the lingering troops.
The noble family seized their money and food for the imperial court's use.
Li Jiancheng also knew that these people would no longer work for the Tang Dynasty. They only cared about their own interests. However, there were less than three out of ten aristocratic families who entered Shu with his father, and there were a lot of people involved. If there was a big fight, there would be a lot of heads and blood.
It flowed into a river, which also made him unable to make up his mind.
In the study room of the East Palace, there were only two people, Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda. The outside was guarded by Li Jiancheng's guards and no one was allowed to approach.
He knew that his father had always arranged many spies around him. If he had not been careful these years, he would have been eliminated long ago.
After Li Shimin's example, his father was more suspicious of him than before, so at this time, he was even more careless.
"Chen Xiangguo, I heard that many people from the Su Mansion came to discuss the matter with Dr. Su Gui's family. What's going on?" Li Jiancheng asked.
"Your Highness, Dr. Su Tongyi's father, Su Wei, died of illness at his home. Everyone went to pay homage." Chen Shuda replied: "Su Wei was rejected by Yang Tong first, then went to Xiangyang to seek an official position, and was ridiculed by the Holy Emperor. Su Wei
Wei was filled with regrets and fell ill in a fit of anger. The key is that Su Wei was old and his body could not bear the pain, so he died of illness today."
"Hey... this is the fate of traitorous ministers." Li Jiancheng smiled coldly and said scornfully: "If Su Wei had gone into seclusion like Yu Shinan and Li Baiyao and had not accepted the official position of Yu Wenji, he would not have ended up in such a miserable state.
, Yang Tong spared his life, which was an act of mercy beyond the law."
Chen Shuda did not comment, but changed the topic and said: "Your Highness, the Holy One has entered Shu, shouldn't we also take action against the wealthy families who are lingering?"
Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly and said: "The implication is very wide and there are too many people involved. I really can't bear it."
"You have to endure it even if you can't bear it." Chen Shuda sighed and said: "The Wuchuan Secretary is all watching His Highness. If His Highness does not follow orders, I am afraid that His Highness will not be able to protect himself."
"I know I can't do it without killing him, because even if he doesn't do it, Wuchuansi who stayed in Xiangyang will take action. Wuchuansi is a sharp blade in the hands of my father. If my father didn't leave any secret orders, I wouldn't believe him. There are even
Supervise my secret order. In the final analysis, my so-called left-behind, auxiliary monarch, and new monarch is actually just a puppet in the hands of my father." Li Jiancheng sighed: "My father went too far this time..."
Chen Shuda was silent for a moment, shook his head and said: "That cannot be said completely. The Holy One has already given them a choice. They are seeking death on their own. There is no one to blame. What's more, after the Holy One paid for the families of the fallen soldiers and their families, the money and food copied from the Guanlong nobles was extremely expensive.
Much. But at this critical moment, His Highness the King of Jin paid a lot of money and food and took it to Dangchang, so he forced the Holy One to make up his mind to deal with the wealthy families in the territory. Although it was said that drinking poison to quench thirst, if not, the Tang Dynasty would die of thirst.
"
"This is the crux of the problem. In fact, money and food are not the problem. What's more, my father is too attached to power. My father doesn't even believe in his sons. How can I not understand him?" Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly.
Chen Shuda nodded silently, "Maybe. However, the matter of clearing out the aristocratic families is also one of the tacit agreements reached with the Sui Dynasty. Speaking of which, the Sui and Tang Dynasties jointly suppressed the aristocratic families. It can even be said that the Guanlong nobles conspired to rebel.
The case was entirely driven by Yang Tong behind the scenes, but Yang Tong stood behind the scenes and let us be the knives. This is the fundamental reason for the truce. There is no need to threaten the Tang Dynasty with war, so that we can concentrate on completely liquidating the Guanlong nobles.
and various aristocratic families."
"It is indeed true." As the person who directly reached the truce agreement, Li Jiancheng naturally knew it, but it was not written on paper and Chen Shuda could not see it. However, this tacit understanding could not be hidden from this wise man.
At this time, Chen Shuda lowered his voice and said: "I came here today and there is another thing I want to tell His Highness!"
Li Jiancheng said: "Chen Xiangguo, please speak."
"Your Highness should pay more attention to His Highness King Qi." Chen Shuda said:
"What's wrong with Yuanji?" Seeing Chen Shuda's extremely serious look and bitter tone, Li Jiancheng was surprised.
"Your Highness, King Qi is not a person who is willing to be mediocre. I have long discovered that he has the intention to seize the heir. It was not until the purge of the Guanlong nobles that his ambition was confirmed." Chen Shuda solemnly said: "Wei Chen is definitely not sowing discord. Please
Your Highness must not be careless and must be extremely careful.”
"Did the Prime Minister discover something? Or is there any clear evidence?" Although Li Jiancheng didn't believe that Li Yuanji had the ambition to seize the legitimate son, Chen Shuda was prudent and not a person who was aimless, and he would not joke about such a big thing as seizing the legitimate son.
"Wei Chen was ordered by the Holy One to work with Wuchuan Division to clean up the Guanlong nobles in Xiangyang City. Although Wei Chen had not left the city, he still sent several officials to the major manors outside the city. Everyone said that King Qi
At that time, he was extremely promiscuous and cruel, and no woman with any appearance could escape the clutches of the King of Qi. After being replaced by Han Zhi, although he did not molest the poor women, he also embezzled a large amount of precious jewelry, and then transported it to the King of Qi overnight.
The mansion, but the grain soldiers, the servants of each manor, and the young and strong servants did not make any mistakes, all were reported to the court, and the accounts were kept clearly." Chen Shuda said.
Li Jiancheng was greatly puzzled and frowned: "Doesn't this mean that he is greedy for pleasure and has no ambition?"
"Weichen thought so at first, but after learning one thing, his idea completely changed." Chen Shuda said solemnly: "The King of Qi racked his brains to expand the Wuchuan Guard. First, he persuaded the Holy Emperor to give him 15,000 soldiers from
Private armies of various families, but they were afraid that General Dou Cong would give him some recruits who had not experienced battles, so he secretly reached an agreement with Dou Cong, at the expense of not moving part of the Dou family's Yizhou farm.
Fifteen thousand elite soldiers. As if the King of Qi had obtained a treasure, he not only immediately appointed his confidants to control this army, but also rewarded these elite soldiers with the embezzled property. His Highness did not find it strange that he cared so much about this army but turned a blind eye to the food and soldiers.
?"
"Chen Xiangguo said he did it on purpose?" Li Jiancheng understood.
Chen Shuda nodded: "As the saying goes, what you can't get is always the best. And on the surface, he pretends not to care about the military, but it just shows that he cares about military power more than anyone else. His lustful and greedy behavior is completely pretentious.
He showed it to the Holy Spirit, making the Holy Spirit think that he is a greedy and lustful person who cannot achieve great things. His behavior is 'too much and not enough'."
"Wei Chen followed the clues and found out his behavior that many people didn't know about. He found that the reason why the new army was so powerful and why it couldn't even defeat the Jin King's Red Armor Army was not that he was good at training the army, but that he used a kind of
He trained in an extremely cruel way. Anyone who failed to pass the training was treated as a hunt by him, and then he recruited people from the private sector to supplement them. Under the butcher's knife, everyone could not train unless they worked hard. Over time, the new recruits became an unworthy force.
Compared with an army of beasts, these soldiers have no sense of community and are selfish one by one. Wuchuan Wei's various animalistic behaviors were cultivated in cruel training. King Qi is a jackal disguised as a dog, cunning and vicious.
, is insidious and will not give up until he achieves his goal. Your Highness must keep an eye on him and be careful to avoid being harmed by him."
"Thank you, Prime Minister, for your advice. I will keep it in mind." Li Jiancheng took a deep breath and said, "The Prime Minister asked me to attack the wealthy families staying in Xiangyang as soon as possible. Is it because of Wuchuan Wei?"
"Exactly." Chen Shuda nodded and said: "I have good relations with His Highness King Jing, Chai Consort has 120,000 troops. Can Your Majesty not worry that Your Highness will imitate King Jin and become independent? Your Majesty now only trusts King Qi, Wuchuan Guards, and Wei Chen.
I'm worried that by chance, there will be some imperial edict that is detrimental to His Highness, so I urge Your Highness to complete His Majesty's mission as soon as possible."
"I understand." Li Jiancheng sighed.
"That's good." At the end, Chen Shuda sighed again, "I am the prince of Nanchen. I have been a minister of the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. I have experienced too many things in my life. I have seen through the harsh world and have already put my life and death at risk.
Only then can I dare to tell the truth."
Li Jiancheng smiled sadly, the Tang Dynasty had become like this, father, son and brothers were still fighting for power and plotting against each other.
If the Tang Dynasty does not die, who will die?
If the Tang Dynasty did not die, it would be called a lack of justice.
…
When Li Jiancheng recovered from the pain, he realized that it was getting late and Chen Shuda didn't know when he would leave.
After this conversation with Chen Shuda, Li Jiancheng finally made up his mind to uproot the aristocratic families staying in Xiangyang at any cost, even if it caused huge turmoil. This was not only for the Tang Dynasty, but also for his own family.
While he was thinking about it, a guard reported at the door, "Your Highness, Shi Hanzhi, the commander of the Wuchuan Guard, wants to see you."
"Invite him to the Li Zheng Hall to serve tea."
"Here." The guard responded and left.
Chapter completed!