"Brute, kneel for me!"

Li Yuan was furious, slapped Li Shimin to the ground, pointed at him and scolded, "I don't have a ruthless son like you, even my own brother dares to shoot him, do you still have a little brotherhood in your heart." ”

Li Shimin knelt on the ground, bowed his head and said: "When my father ordered the arrows to be released, he didn't consider his life and death......"

Li Shimin's implication is that in fact, his father also wanted to kill Li Zhiyun in his heart, but he did it himself, and it was okay if he didn't say it, this sentence made Li Yuan even more annoyed and angry, and rushed up with a kick and kicked Li Shimin to the ground.

"What are you talking about, you bastard?"

Li Yuan was furious, he picked up a stick from the corner of the wall, and hit Li Shimin with his head, "I'll kill you brute!" ”

Li Shimin didn't dodge, a stick hit him on the forehead, blood flowed, Li Yuan didn't give up, and hit him with a second stick, Li Jiancheng finally couldn't bear it, although he also hated Shimin for killing his younger brother, but Shimin's face was full of blood, and he couldn't bear it, he had already died a brother, and he couldn't die another brother, he rushed up and grabbed his father's arm and knelt down, begging: "Father, people can't be resurrected after death, spare the second brother!" ”

At this time, Li Yuan's wife Dou Shi also rushed in, hugged Li Shimin's head and cried, "Master, I am willing to die for Erlang, you can kill me!" ”

Li Xuanba also knelt on the ground and cried, he didn't understand what was going on? Li Yuan saw that the blood was pouring from his second son's forehead, and he was so hateful that he threw the stick to the ground, pointed at Li Shimin and scolded, "You get out of here!" I don't want to see you again, get out! ”

…….

Li Yuan kicked everyone out of the study, he sat down in pain, in the past three days, he was in the happiest cloud of his life, the throne of the emperor was beside him, he could sit down at any time, but the arrival of Yang Yuanqing instantly pulled him from the clouds to hell, making him taste the pain of losing his son, but he was killed by another son.......

Li Yuan's heart became extremely dark at this moment, in fact, Li Shimin was not wrong, the moment Yang Yuanqing pulled Li Zhiyun out, Li Yuan's first thought was to kill Li Zhiyun and extinguish his mouth, and he must not let the news of his collusion with the Turks spread, but the second son Li Shimin turned his idea into reality.

This is an extremely contradictory psychology, on the one hand, Li Shimin's unscrupulous ruthlessness and decisiveness in order to do great things made him secretly admire, and on the other hand, he hated Li Shimin for killing his brother, and this contradictory psychology put Li Yuan in a painful entanglement that he did not know.

He thought about the future, one day, will the second son Shimin kill him and seize the throne? A chill rose in Li Yuan's heart.

At this time, Li Jiancheng's voice came from outside the door, "Father, Pei Changshi is here." ”

Li Yuan's heart was so confused that he couldn't think of it, but as soon as he thought about it, this was Pei Lian, and he couldn't see it, so he said, "Let him in!" ”

After a while, Pei Lin walked in and asked with concern, "Is Tang Gong still angry?" ”

Li Yuan asked Pei Lin to sit down, and he sighed, "The rebel son mutilated his siblings, can I not be angry?" ”

Pei Lin was the only person in the know, Li Yuan ordered the arrows to be released, and at that time, the arrows were fired together, and Li Shimin took this opportunity to shoot Li Zhiyun, basically no one knew, but Li Yuan was standing on the left side of Li Shimin, he found that Li Shimin released the arrows, and Pei Lin was standing on the right side of Li Shimin, he also found that Li Shimin released the arrows, in addition to the two of them, there was also Li Jiancheng standing behind Li Shimin, he also saw it, except for these three people, almost no one knew that Li Shimin shot Li Zhiyun, so Li Yuan wanted to see Pei Lin for this reason, He couldn't let Pei Lin talk about it.

Pei Lin smiled slightly, "It depends on why the people of the world want to release arrows, if it is to fight for power and profit, it is not possible to spare it, but he is not, he is to protect the reputation of Tang Gong, it can be said that he killed his brother for his father, Zhou Gong sage punished his brother and let go of his brother, and it is still known as the righteous destruction of relatives, and the people of the world for the sake of the overall situation, for the sake of their father's society, can be called to punish the younger brother to save the father, this is not the righteous destruction of relatives?" If Zhiyun hadn't endangered Tang Gong's reputation and society, I don't think Shimin would have shot this arrow. ”

Although Pei Lin gave Li Yuan the military resources and food of Jinyang Palace when Li Yuan raised troops, Li Yuan had the capital to raise troops, making Pei Lin the first hero to raise troops, and therefore he was named Changshi and became Li Yuan's most trusted subordinate.

But Li Yuan's trust in Pei Yuan is not because of the materials in Jinyang Palace, but because Pei Yuan has a very thorough understanding of Li Yuan's thoughts, and he can relieve Li Yuan's worries at the most critical moment, for example, now, he knows that Li Yuan actually wants to kill his son Li Zhiyun to kill his mouth, he doesn't really hate Li Shimin for killing his brother, but they need a step to free them from the ethical sin of killing their son and killing their brother.

So Pei Lin had an excuse to kill his relatives in righteousness, this is the best step, not only for Li Shimin, but also for Li Yuan.

Li Yuan's heart was relieved, he came out of the darkness, his heart was full of gratitude, after a while, Li Yuan sighed: "Not everyone can be as wise as Pei Gong, I hope that Pei Gong will not spread this matter." ”

"Of course, three people become tigers, and I don't want Shimin to be mistaken for a vicious person."

Li Yuan's heart relaxed, and he snorted heavily and said: "The bane of this matter is still Yang Yuanqing, he has ill intentions and uses my son as a threat, and as a result, a human tragedy happened, this revenge for killing my son, I Li Yuan will remember it in my heart." ”

Pei Lin smiled bitterly in his heart, in fact, the bane of this matter was Li Yuan himself, he sent his son to the Turks as a hostage, which eventually led to today's tragedy, but Pei Lin didn't dare to say this, he groaned and asked: "Tang Gong thinks, what is the real purpose of Yang Yuanqing's coming to Guanzhong?" ”

Li Yuan also fell into deep thought, of course he would not think that Yang Yuanqing just came to Guanzhong in person to expose himself, Yang Yuanqing is not such an impulsive person, let alone the so-called revenge for his father, with Yang Yuanqing's identity and the city government, and Li Yuan's understanding of Yang Yuanqing, he knows that Yang Yuanqing must have a deeper and bigger plan to come to Guanzhong in person, so what could it be?

Li Yuan glanced at Pei Lian, saw that he was smiling quite secretly, and had an epiphany in his heart, so he smiled and said, "It turns out that Pei Gong has already thought of it, why didn't he come early?" I can't figure it out. ”

Pei Xiao said apologetically: "Actually, it suddenly occurred to me that I think that Yang Yuanqing's real intentions may be the same as Tang Gong's. ”

Li Yuan reacted suddenly, "Pei Gong refers to Guan Nei and Longyou?" ”

Pei Lin nodded slowly, "Other than that, I can't think of any other purpose for him." ”

Li Yuan pondered, his next step was to take Guannei and Longyou, consolidate the rear, and then turn east to dominate the Central Plains, and Yang Yuanqing controlled the six counties of Guanbei, especially directly occupied Lingwu County, he is very likely to use Lingwu County as the foundation to expand to Honghua County and Pingliang County, so he personally went south this time, which is actually a signal for his forces to go south.

This is absolutely not a no-go! If there is only Guan Nei and Longyou without Guan Nei and Longyou, it is just like a person who only has a head and no limbs and torso, and he Li Yuan will never do it.

"The matter is urgent, I will immediately deploy troops to seize Guannei and Longyou."

Li Yuan finally made up his mind, and then he remembered something again, and couldn't help but ask worriedly: "Today, Yang Yuanqing publicly accused me of colluding with the Turks, I am very worried that the people's hearts have changed, what is the best way for Pei Gong to save it?" ”

Pei Lin smiled slightly: "The people are stupid, and the people are also cloudy, as long as Tang Gong repeatedly confesses, the fifth prince was stolen by Yang Yuanqing from Taiyuan, the so-called letter is also a fake book, the Turks with the army are just horse sellers, Yang Yuanqing is to avenge the killing of his father, deliberately to slander Tang Gong, so repeated indoctrination, the people will believe." ”

Li Yuan nodded, Pei Lin made sense, Pei Lin smiled again: "In fact, most of the ordinary people are people who see small profits and forget the great righteousness, as long as Tang Gong uses a little trick, he can make the people in Guanzhong praise Tang Gong's virtues, and no one cares about the pain of the Turkic Koubian." ”

Li Yuan asked curiously, "How do you do it?" ”

"It's very simple, Tang Gong only said that the military budget is tight, Taiyuan has not yet transported the money, borrow 100 money from each family in Chang'an, and repay it with 130 yuan after three days, if every household is willing to borrow, it means that Tang Gong's reputation has not been lost, three days later, Tang Gong repaid it with 130 good money, Chang'an people will only say that Tang Gong is an honest person, and no one will say bad things about Tang Gong."

Li Yuan squinted and laughed, "This is extremely good!" ”

…….

In the afternoon of the same day, some soldiers posted a notice of borrowing money in various squares in Chang'an, and the military budget was tight, so each household temporarily borrowed 100 yuan, and repaid 130 yuan after three days, all of which were voluntary and never reluctant.

One hundred dollars is not much, a hanging of money, can only buy three liters of rice, every household can get it, the next morning, Fang is going door to door to play IOUs to collect money, except for a very small number of stingy people, almost every household is willing to lend money to Li Yuan's army, but most of it is the rotten money minted after six years of the great cause, three days later, Li Yuan ordered people to return all the capital and interest, and they are all good money during the emperor's reign, for a time, Li Yuan's prestige skyrocketed, everyone praised him as a virtuous and generous elder, and the notoriety of colluding with the Turks is still talking about it except for a few people, Most people have forgotten about it, or they don't pay attention to it.

An image crisis faced by Li Yuan in Guanzhong was easily resolved by one hundred and thirty yuan, and for a famous family with brains, it didn't matter if Li Yuan colluded with the Turks, what was important was what kind of benefits Li Yuan could bring to their family?

…….

Yang Yuanqing's 5,000 cavalry has left Guanzhong, and the army has withdrawn to Pingliang County, because Dou Kang led the army to resist Yang Xuangan's attack on Fufeng County, the county soldiers of Guannei and Longyou counties have been requisitioned, and the defense of each county is empty, Yang Yuanqing led 10,000 cavalry to the south, and there is almost no resistance.

The strategy of Pingliang County is extremely important, it is the throat of Xiaoguan Road into Guanzhong, especially the Danzheng Gorge that is as long as 20 miles, it is the throat of Liupan Mountain, also known as the three passes, the widest part of the Danzheng Gorge has a mile, the narrowest place is less than a zhang, the cliffs on both sides of the bank are numerous, it can be said that the Danzheng Gorge is guarded, and the Xiaoguan Road is also cut off, and it is the place where the soldiers must fight.

Yang Yuanqing's 5,000 cavalry was stationed at the west entrance of Danzheng Gorge, and that afternoon, Liu Wenjing was ordered by Li Yuan to come to negotiate with Yang Yuanqing.