Great Tang Southern Emperor

Speaking of which, the reason why these forces chose to show their banners when attacking Li Zhen and Yegang is not because they are stupid, but because they have their own considerations. Doing so will indeed reveal their own details, but it can also be done accordingly. It disgusted Li Shimin so much that he wanted to cry without tears.

After all, there is no proof of death. Once they succeed in the assassination, Li Zhen and everyone under his command will die. In the vast sea, in the endless deep sea, where to look for evidence?Even if occasionally one or two people survived by chance, so what?They can push [-] and say that they don’t know. Anyway, they just showed their respective flags—it’s just a flag, and the enemy can copy it. Anyway, the distance is so far, how can you be sure? Is that flag real?Is it true that those who fly under our banner must be our people?Then if I bear the banner of the Great Tang Empire, wouldn't it mean that I have become the Royal Family of the Great Tang?It doesn't make sense at all.

What's more, even Li Shimin can't convict them based on the words of a single person. Even if they want to forcibly convict them, don't forget that the people behind them are not vegetarians. Even Li Shimin can't ignore their attitude.If he really chooses to do this, the major forces that are forced to form an alliance will definitely choose to form a real alliance. Once so many forces form an alliance, it will be a force that can destroy Datang. How dare Li Shimin dare to easily provoke?Turning a blind eye and minimizing the influence will be his only choice. Maybe if he finds out about this, Li Shimin will be pissed off.

As for failure?They didn't even think about it. With so much power assembled and by surprise, how could Li Zhen avoid it?

What's more, even if the assassination failed this time, so what?As the saying goes, don’t blame the crowd, so many forces add up, and the power behind these forces is almost equivalent to one-third of the power of the Tang Dynasty. Even if Li Shimin knew that they were the chief culprit in the assassination of Li Zhen, Li Shimin could take How is he?Does he really dare to take action to punish him?Not to mention Li Shimin, even if Li Zhen ascended the throne, the only way to go is to calm things down, want to take revenge?None of us have said anything yet.

These forces think so, and the people behind them also think so. The only problem is that they didn't expect that while they were scheming Li Zhen, Li Zhen was also scheming them, and knew their deployment in advance. Using himself as a bait, attracted most of their troops and defeated them. Not satisfied with this, they even sent troops to raid their lair.

You must know that in this action of killing Li Zhen, except for Cheng Jianxi and a few other big forces, most of the other forces involved were all mobilized and assembled a large number of troops, which also caused them to The emptiness of the lair, even Cheng Jianxi is weaker than before. At this time, Li Zhen's shots can be said to be accurate, whether it is Mahatian or Cheng Jianxi, or Spring and Autumn Pavilion and Blood League, even including The subversive forces planted by foreign countries in Datang were wiped out, and suffered a huge loss.For example, Mahatian, usually the guards at the headquarters are still very strong, at least they cannot be attacked by a mere [-] Tang elites, but because they want to participate in the assassination of Li Zhen, the strength of the headquarters was withdrawn from the local area, and they were eventually defeated. The elites of Tacheng have been ripped off, and even the most important information is gone.The rest of the forces are similar. Although some of them have not been completely eradicated, their vitality has been seriously injured. Don't think about making troubles in a short time.

Of course, after suffering such a big loss, these forces will naturally not let it go. They have not received the news of the failure of the battle at this time, and they don't know that the fleet that raided Yegang was attacked by Li Zhen's secret weapon. Not only did they suffer heavy losses, they survived. All the people who came down were also captured. Li Zhen already had enough fatal evidence, so they all began to cry to Li Shimin, complaining about Li Zhen's bad behavior, and begging Li Shimin to punish Li Zhen.

You must know that these forces also have superficial identities. For example, the Royal Merchant Group, on the surface, is just a tool for the royal families of Datang to make money, but now the headquarters of the Royal Merchant Group in Yuezhou was suddenly sealed up by Li Zhen. Almost all high-level business groups were arrested.The old men in the business group will naturally not admit what they have done, but bite Li Zhen. The reason for doing this is because the royal business group and Li Zhen's chamber of commerce have business conflicts, so Li Zhen used crooked tricks , and implied that Li Shimin, such a petty person is not qualified to be an emperor.

In addition, there is the Confucian Spring and Autumn Pavilion. On the surface, this is a learning alliance led by the Confucian family and then formed by scholars. It is usually used for students to communicate with each other and discuss knowledge, but now it is located in the Spring and Autumn Pavilion in Qufu. However, they were raided by the Marine Corps of the Dengzhou Fleet, hundreds of students were arrested, and dozens of disciples of the Kong family were even taken away.

The head of the Confucian family, Kong Delun (Baoshenghou, son of Kong Sichen, 32nd grandson of Confucius, nephew of Kong Yingda) ran to Li Shimin and cried, saying that the prince hated Confucianism, but now he is trying to destroy Confucianism. Confucianism has been passed down for thousands of years. All dynasties have relied heavily on it. It can be seen that Confucianism is the best. What the prince is doing now is tantamount to going against the sky.However, the crown prince is wise and powerful, and he probably would not do such a thing himself. He must have been bewitched by the villains around him, so he asked His Majesty to make the decision to eliminate the villains around the prince.

In addition, Buddhists, aristocratic families, and spokespersons of foreign powers in the court, etc., all began to criticize Li Zhen. One said he had a small belly, the other said he had no overall perspective, the third said he was bloodthirsty, and the fourth accused Li Zhen. Zhen will be punished if he does not teach... In short, all kinds of smears are close to making Li Shimin depose Li Zhen as the crown prince.

But these memorials were all suppressed by Li Shimin. Of course, Li Shimin couldn't turn a blind eye to the accusations of these people. After all, this was equivalent to one-third of the power of the Tang Dynasty. Once they made a fuss, Li Shimin would not feel well.

So even though he knew that these forces had ghosts in their hearts, Li Shimin still met their representatives and after hearing their grievances, he immediately stated that this was just their one-sided words. As the emperor, he must be fair and just. After arriving in Chang'an, I will listen to what he said before I talk about it. If this is the case, then I will definitely uphold justice for them.

Chapter 1229 Li Shimin's Considerations

Chapter 176 Li Shimin's Consideration

In Chang'an City, Daxing Palace (also known as Taiji Palace, but Taiji Palace was renamed during Ruizong's time, in fact, it was still called Daxing Palace in the early Tang Dynasty), in the Lizheng Palace, Li Shimin was correcting the memorial.

Because of taking elixirs for a long time, a large amount of erysipelas (that is, heavy metal toxins) has accumulated in his body, so his health is not good, and his vision is extremely blurred. Even the glasses that Li Zhen specially gave him are useless, because he is so It's not presbyopia, but the optic nerve is polluted by toxins.According to the imperial doctor's deduction, if he continues to work so hard, not only will his body not last long, but his eyes may be completely blinded.And this was also one of the reasons why he chose to abdicate. He didn't care if he died of exhaustion on the throne. So many emperors in history, how many really died well?It can be said that almost all Mingjun are exhausted, and Li Shimin has long been prepared for this.

The problem is his eyes. This is the most important point. Datang can have an emperor who is sick and dying of exhaustion, but he is absolutely not allowed to have a blind emperor, because the eyes are the most important thing for a king, otherwise you will not even have a memorial. If you can't see it, how can you manage state affairs?

At this time, Li Shimin was wearing reading glasses and looking at the memorial in his hand. There was still a lot of uncorrected papers piled up in front of him. After all the papers were approved, it would probably be time to wait—this shows that the emperor is indeed a hard job. , I don’t know why there are so many people vying to do it.

At this time, Li Shimin was obviously not in a good mood. He hadn't done nothing these days. Although Li Zhen was still floating at sea and there was no news, Baiqisi still collected a lot of evidence from the side, which was sufficient It shows what these forces have done these days, and Li Zhen's follow-up secret report also proves the accuracy of Baiqisi's information... This made Li Shimin surprised and angry. Such a large layout was completed in secret, and the anger is that these forces are really brave, they dare to assassinate the prince of the dynasty, and they are even more shocked by the thickness of their skins, after assassinating Li Zhen, they still have the face to attack themselves Cry here?It's really shameless.

"Crack~"

The memorial in his hand was slammed onto the ground by him: "These rebellious officials are really thick-skinned. Do you think I don't know what they did? They still have the face to cry to Zhongzhen, I really don't want any face at all...cough cough cough..."

Li Shimin was obviously very angry. He coughed violently as he spoke, and Wang Tingchu, who was standing beside him, immediately stepped forward to pat him on the back in fright, and comforted him, "Your Majesty, why do you have to be as knowledgeable as these clowns? They can only Playing some tricks and tricks, how can you be the opponent of His Royal Highness? You have a good rest, after all, the dragon body is important..."

"...You're right, I don't deserve to be angry with them...Forget it, I won't read it." Pushing the memorial, Li Shimin closed his eyes and got up.

"Yes, the servants also don't think it's necessary to read it." Wang Tingchu picked up the memorials. He knew what was written in these memorials without reading them. It was nothing more than Li Zhen's recent actions that touched the interests of many people. These memorials are all The one who impeached him, if it wasn't for Li Shimin's cautiousness, for fear that something important would be involved in it, otherwise he wouldn't need to look at it at all.

"Your Majesty, there are petitioning students kneeling outside the palace again. Do you want to see them?" Wang Tingchu asked again after packing up the memorial.

"A group of fools who have been taken advantage of, I won't see you." Li Shimin waved his hands in annoyance.

Seeing that Li Shimin was perfunctory to them, these forces would naturally not give up. On the one hand, they bombarded Li Shimin with a large number of memorials, and on the other hand, they incited the students to petition.

Of course, inciting the students to petition was not to put pressure on Li Shimin. They knew Li Shimin's character so well that he ignored the participation of the ministers, so how could he be shaken by a few students?What's more, this is still a major issue related to the stability of the crown prince's position, and it will not be so easily shaken.

Their real purpose is to make things big. They say that Ning is opposite to the actor and not next to the students. The students are really lawless when they are bad, especially the students who are incited can do anything. They It can do many things that officials cannot do—for example, the May [-]th Movement. Wasn’t the May [-]th Movement started by a group of students?As a result, a group of students even captured and beat the foreign minister at the time, and even burned Cao Rulin's house, which shows how destructive they are.

In particular, no matter what era it is, students are the group that attracts the most attention. What's more, so many students gather in front of the palace gate, which will attract more attention. After saying that, then Li Zhen's reputation will naturally stink...

But facing a group of students, Li Shimin has no other better way, he can't arrest them all, can he?That thing spread even more powerfully.Not only Li Zhen, but even Li Shimin will be written down by the history secretary.

"But if you just ignore it, these students think that His Majesty is guilty." Wang Tingchu persuaded: "Why don't Your Majesty meet them anyway? Give them an explanation, and maybe they won't make such a fuss."

"The matter is not that simple. If I go out, the matter will be even more difficult to control." Li Shimin shook his head. If the matter was that simple, he would have dealt with it long ago. On the surface, this is a group of students petitioning for Li Zhen to destroy the Spring and Autumn Pavilion , but in fact it was a test for the court—the students were not fools, some of them might have been instigated, but there were definitely people who understood.

But they still came, and the reason was Li Zhen's body—almost all the students in the world now study Confucian classics, and it is well known that Li Zhen doesn't like Confucianism, and then the problem arises, no Li Zhen, who likes Confucianism, what choice will she make in the face of Confucianism after she ascends the throne in the future?Should we continue to use Confucianism?Or should we ignore Confucianism and use other schools of thought?

If Li Zhen continues to use Confucianism, it’s fine, everyone will continue to hello me, hello everyone, but what if Li Zhen wants to dismiss Confucianism?so what should I do now?Doesn't this mean that what I have learned through studying hard these years has become useless?Doesn't my ten years of hard work mean that I have learned in vain?Not to mention taking the imperial examination, if you enter the officialdom, you may not even be a teacher.

This problem almost plagued the students of the entire Tang Dynasty, and the group of students outside the palace gate was pushed out to test the court—if Li Zhen was dismissed because of his own pressure, this would naturally be the best , but if this matter fails in the end, we should test Li Zhen's attitude. If Li Zhen finally chooses the latter, then these students must make the most important choice in their lives, or go to a small remote country to develop , or change to another school and start over, or directly rebel and overthrow Li Zhen...

And this is why Li Shimin couldn't give an answer, because even he himself didn't know Li Zhen's attitude towards Confucianism, so naturally he couldn't answer the students.

Chapter 1230 The wind is surging (1)

Chapter 177 The Stormy Storm (1)

"Your Majesty, things don't seem to be that complicated?" After listening to Li Shimin's explanation, Wang Tingchu asked suspiciously: "The actions of these students may indeed be as you said, and they have other meanings, but the eyes they surrounded here are only the princes. Your Highness is destroying the Spring and Autumn Pavilion...Since this is the case, why don't we pretend to be deaf and dumb and just answer this question?"

"Yeah, why are you so confused?" Li Shimin patted his forehead suddenly, because he was thinking too much. Since these students used Li Zhen to destroy the Spring and Autumn Pavilion, then he only needs to answer this question. As for the hidden meaning in their actions, it can be completely ignored.After all, as an emperor, I have a lot of things to do every day, and answering one of their questions is already a time out of my busy schedule. If these students are not satisfied, then it is because they are greedy. At that time, Li Shimin will drive them all away. No one would say he was insane.

"Let's do it this way." Li Shimin said with a smile: "Go out and tell those students that I already understand their problems. There is also his reason, I can't just listen to your one-sided words and jump to conclusions, all this will wait for the prince to come back, I will ask him personally, and then I will naturally give the world an explanation."

"The servant understands. I think this answer should be able to deal with them." Wang Tingchu also laughed. This answer was like saying nothing, but kicked Li Piqiu to Li Zhen, but no one else could say anything.After all, even the county government has to pay attention to a plaintiff and a defendant in adjudicating a case. Now that the defendant has not yet appeared, how can he convict someone?Could it be that you think the emperor is a fatuous king who listens and believes?

Once this is said, who dares to question it?This turmoil will naturally be resolved, and Li Shimin is not worried about whether Li Zhen will be deceived by these words. He believes that Li Zhen definitely has enough evidence to prove his innocence.

Sure enough, after getting the answer from Wang Tingchu, those students retreated although they were very unhappy, otherwise the guards of the palace might kick them out. Being scolded deserves it.Therefore, after they couldn't get Li Shimin's real answer, they could only leave unwillingly, saving their strength and waiting for Li Zhen to come back and attack again.

Of course, they are destined not to wait until this day, because if the assassination fails in the end, then the forces behind this operation will continue to make up for it, and they will definitely not let Li Zhen return to Chang'an alive.Otherwise, once Li Zhen returns to Chang'an, they won't have to play anymore?Just wash your neck and lie on the ground, waiting for Li Zhen's butcher knife to arrive.And even if Li Zhen returns to Chang'an alive, he will ascend the throne directly. By then, he will already be the emperor, and all the decisions that should be made have been made. They will know these questions without asking them.

Of course, the forces behind the scenes will never allow Li Zhen to come back alive, so there are two main things they have to do right now. The first is to confirm the results of the operation. Whether it is the assassination of Li Zhen or the Raiders of Coconut Port, they must know The final result, and corresponding countermeasures, no matter whether the operation is successful or not, they will not be able to let Li Zhen return to Chang'an alive. It is of course the best if it succeeds. Once it fails, then they will prepare for the second operation. In short In any case, Li Zhen must not be allowed to succeed to the throne.

As for the second step, it is to re-select a new spokesperson. If Li Zhen cannot inherit the throne, besides killing him, there is another way, and that is to support a new emperor to succeed him before he does. Then help the new emperor to stabilize the throne... After all, the throne is similar to toilet paper, and can only be used by one person at a time, so if someone can be pushed to the throne before Li Zhen returns to Chang'an, the scene will be overwhelming. it will be exciting...

It's the same as when Zhao Gao supported Hu Hai back then, so the next thing will be much more fun... It is definitely impossible for the new emperor to inherit the Datong and ignore the former prince Li Zhen, not to mention that Li Zhen still has such a huge power , will become the new emperor's thorn in the flesh, maybe the new emperor will follow Hu Hai's example and directly issue an imperial decree to force Li Zhen to death.

The problem is that Li Zhen is also not easy to mess with. He himself controls almost the entire huge territory south of Lingnan, which is almost equivalent to half of the land of the Tang Dynasty. Not as good as the Youth Army, but it can be regarded as an elite army - there are millions of strong soldiers outside, and hundreds of officials support inside. called.

And Li Zhen's character also determines that he will not be slaughtered like Fusu. Once the new emperor's death edict is issued, he will definitely rebel—even if he doesn't rebel, the people under his command will force him to rebel Yes, you must know that there are also a large number of interest groups gathered under Li Zhen's command. The reason why these groups work desperately for Li Zhen is to wait for him to gain benefits after he ascends the throne?Now that they have paid so much, Li Zhen wants to commit suicide in accordance with the order. Doesn't this mean that all their investment has been in vain?Not only that, but as Li Zhen's old department, they will all be liquidated by the new emperor after Li Zhen's death...Of course they don't want to see this scene. It can be said that once that time comes, even if Li Zhen is not happy, they will Forcing Li Zhen to rebel.

In this way, the new emperor has great righteousness, and Li Zhen has unparalleled power. The two sides are equally powerful, and they will definitely fight hard. However, the distance from Lingnan to Chang'an, which is thousands of miles away, cannot be completed in a short while, even if Li Zhen occupies To determine the advantage, it will take at least a year to fight from Lingnan to Chang'an, and in such a long period of time, anything can happen, and they may not have a chance of winning—unless Li Zhen directly separates Lingnan Split Datang, but based on their understanding of Li Zhen, he would never do this...

Of course, for their own benefit, they will definitely not choose a wise monarch. It is best to be their spokesperson directly, or at least an incompetent waste, because only in this way can they take over the emperor and completely control the court—— —After Li Zhen's example, they feel that only by holding the power in their own hands can they feel more at ease, otherwise, if there is another person like Li Zhen...they can't stand another Li Zhen's troubles.

Chapter 1231 The wind is surging (2)

Chapter 178 The Stormy Storm (2)

It’s still Chang’an City. In a certain secret manor, a group of people are having a secret gathering. If anyone sees it, they will be extremely surprised, because among these people, any random one will be the top of the Tang Dynasty. Among them are representatives of the seven clans and five surnames, as well as people from other aristocratic families, such as the Dou family, Yang family, Xiao family, Pei family, etc., who also participated. These are also the most powerful aristocratic families in the world, Even if it is compared with the seven clans and five surnames, it is not much different.There is even the shadow of the Changsun family in it, and besides these aristocratic families, there are also representatives of the various schools of Confucianism and the forces of Buddhism, but the representatives of the royal family did not appear.

It's not that they look down on the Royal Merchant Group. On the contrary, the Royal Merchant Group is powerful and ranks high in financial resources among all forces. If the Royal Merchant Group can be added, their success rate will be much higher. The problem is that today they Seeking to seek but the matter is too taboo, treason is not enough to describe, it is really not suitable for the royal family to know.

Because what they were discussing was actually which prince should be elected as the emperor.This is simply audacity. You must know that the choice of the emperor is always appointed by the previous emperor. Although there are ministers who support him, it is usually because the previous emperor passed away and there was no crown prince. This is the choice of the courtiers.But now not only Li Zhen is still alive, but even Li Shimin is alive and kicking, but they not only ignored Li Zhen, but even Li Shimin didn't know, so they started to choose the new emperor in such a grandiose manner.