On April 21, the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, the inner court passed a decree - Xu Hui, the daughter of Xu Xiaode, the daughter of Xu Xiaode, and Xu Cairen were concubines of Xu Xian, and Xu Xiaode was the assassin of Guozhou, and the edict of the harem was temporarily handled by Concubine Xu Xian. The vacancy of the inner chamberlain was taken over by Liu Donghe, the young eunuch of the inner chamberlain, and the inner court was able to be quiet.

On April 24, the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, the emperor issued an edict - although the abolished prince Li Chengqian conspired and rebelled, but did not carry it out, although his heart can be punished, his actions are particularly forgivable.

On April 25, the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, it was the day of the early dynasty again, but after the courtiers arrived at the court, Li Shimin issued an order to boycott the court again, in addition to summoning Situ Changsun Wuji, Sikong Fang Xuanling, Shizhong Wei Zheng, Li Daozong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Li Ji, the general of Zuo Wuwei, Cheng Zhijie, the general of Zuo Jinwu, and Ma Zhou, the imperial historian, and other seven important ministers entered the Ganlu Palace.

Abolish the public for private reasons? What is private and what is public? Li Zhen, who arrived at the court room early, heard this will, and immediately sneered in his heart, without him, the old man's various measures these days have basically been deduced by Mo Li and Nalong's two major strategists, Concubine Jin Xu stabilized the harem and pardoned Li Chengqian to show mercy, and at this time he summoned the important ministers who did not express their support for any prince, and his intentions were not obvious, in Li Zhen's opinion, the old man is going to establish a prince, and Li Zhen also knows what the result is, isn't it the incompetent old nine Li Zhi, There was nothing to say about this article, and the only thing that made Li Zhen curious was how the old man planned to persuade the courtiers to support Li Zhi's unsupportable Adou.

It's just that curiosity is curiosity, Li Zhen has long known that the old man will make such a choice, but he is not very worried, seeing a group of courtiers looking at each other, Li Zhen except for sneering a few times secretly in his heart, he didn't even say anything, and he didn't want to talk to the courtiers more about this matter, as soon as he turned around, he planned to go straight to the military headquarters, but he never thought that before Li Zhen left the door of the court, Li Tai would make trouble.

"Father-in-law Liu, my father has been absent twice, and it is not my father's intention to delay official business, so this king wants to meet his father immediately and make it clear." Li Tai, the king of Wei, walked out from among the courtiers and asked loudly with a righteous face.

"Yes, Your Majesty has always been diligent in government, even if there are occasional failures, but you will find time to make up for it, and now it is ten days of not going to court, could it be caused by the instigation of eunuchs such as you?" Fang Yiai, who followed Li Tai's side, said a word of sympathy, pointing the finger directly at Liu Donghe.

"Yes, Your Majesty is the Lord of all peoples, how can you be so wasteful about government affairs, we must face the saint immediately!"

"The lord humiliates the ministers, we should die to your majesty, and we must not let down the hearts of the courtiers!"

……

The courtiers of Li Tai's family were already numerous, and this commotion was about to start, and suddenly the court room was in chaos, noisy and shouting, completely losing the dignity of the minister, and under the anger of the crowd, the level of excitement was comparable to that of the vegetable market.

Ha, damn, it looks like the fourth guy should be coming back to his senses, hey, if he doesn't make a fuss, after today, I'm afraid he won't be able to make trouble if he wants to. Li Zhen paused to go out, and hid aside with great interest to watch the excitement.

"Eighth brother, my father's actions really hurt the hearts of the courtiers, hehe, it's just that the fourth brother is so troublesome that I'm afraid it's too much, or you and my brother persuade the fourth brother, by the way, how about handing over a sign to see?" Just when Li Zhen was watching the excitement with cold eyes, Wu King Li Ke quietly squeezed to Li Zhen's side and asked with a smile.

Anyway, you kid just didn't have a fucking good heart, hey, how can the fourth child have good fruit to eat with such a troublesome method, and how can you kid fall into the well? No matter how much you count the candidate for the prince in the old man's mind, it won't fall on your kid's head! As soon as Li Zhen heard Li Ke's words, she immediately guessed Li Ke's sinister intentions, and she just wanted to push Li Tai and let him make a fuss, it was best to completely ignite the old man's anger.

"Hey, hey." Li Zhen smiled evilly, glanced at Li Ke, and replied lightly: "If the third brother has the heart to persuade him, then persuade it, the junior brother has a lot of things to do, and he can't afford to delay official business, hehe, farewell, farewell!" As soon as the words fell, he didn't give Li Ke a chance to speak, and he didn't look at anything lively anymore, turned around, strode out of the courtroom, and slipped away.

"This Hachi!" Seeing that Li Zhen slipped away quickly, Li Ke shook his head with a wry smile, muttered helplessly, straightened his sleeves, squeezed forward from behind, blocked in front of Liu Donghe, turned around, raised his hands and said: "Everyone be quiet, quiet, and let King Ben say a word?" ”

Although Li Tai was intent on making a big deal about it, he didn't plan to immediately have a "big fight in the court" with the people of King Wu's family, at this time, seeing Li Ke come forward, he immediately gave a secret signal to the henchmen who were making a fuss around him, signaling everyone to calm down first, and then arched his hand to Li Ke and said: "Third brother, you came just in time, my father has always been a diligent person, how can he be so lazy now, the younger brother thinks that this eunuch is making trouble, you and my brother should immediately face the saint, and ask my father to sweep away the traitorous ministers, don't lose the glory of my Tang Dynasty." ”

Li Tai's words were impassioned, quite a bit of loyal ministers' death, but it was not a taste in Li Ke's ears, but Li Ke's city was very deep, although he wished that Li Tai would make a big fuss, but he would never say anything in words, at this time, seeing that the court room was gradually quiet, he did not directly answer Li Tai's words, but just smiled and arched his hand, turned around, and looked at Liu Donghe, who was blushing by the courtiers, with a sincere face, and bowed his hand very politely: "Father-in-law Liu is invited, My father said that he would not be in court today, but did he have any other explanations? ”

Although Liu Donghe has been an official in the inner court for a long time, he has seen a lot of big scenes, but he has never been besieged by the ministers like today, and he is already sweating profusely at this time. ”

"Oh, I see." Li Ke nodded with a look of sudden realization and said: "Gonggong Liu, you have been in the inner court for a long time, you should know the important point that government affairs cannot be delayed, now that my father has not been in court for more than ten days, I am afraid that there will be too many court affairs accumulated, and the ministers are also anxious that the government affairs will be so gaffe, and please don't mind Gonggong Liu, hehe, since my father has nothing else to explain, then please Gonggong Liu go on one more trip and turn the matter that the ministers asked to face the saint on your behalf, okay?" ”

Li Tai is making trouble openly, Li Ke is secretly squeezing, although he speaks and does things differently, but the adjustment is the same, that is, he coerced hundreds of officials to coerce the saint, and he didn't have any kind eyes, this old and sophisticated Liu Donghe can be seen, but it can be seen that the positions of the two princes are there, but it is not something that he can afford to offend as a newly promoted inner eunuch, seeing that the matter has come to this point, he knows that he is afraid that he will not be able to avoid it, but he is not hesitating, nodded and said: "Your Highness, please wait, let the old slave go back to Your Majesty, Let's see how His Majesty's will is decided. ”

"There's Father-in-law Lao Liu." Li Ke was still as humble as ever, and thanked him politely.

"Don't dare, don't dare, please wait." Liu Donghe didn't care about wiping the sweat off his face, squeezed out of the crowd with a smoke, and ran straight to the Ganlu Palace.

The death silence in the spacious manna hall at this time, except for the generation of emperor Li Shimin who sat on the top dragon chair and the seven important ministers who stood at the bottom of the civil and military affairs, there was no one else, that is, even those little eunuchs who served tea and poured water were driven out of the main hall, and the eight monarchs and ministers were silent except for the programmed meeting etiquette when they met, and no one spoke first, and the monarchs and ministers confronted each other quietly, until the footsteps of Liu Donghe hurriedly came, which broke the previous dead silence.

"Your Majesty, the ministers ask for a holy face, the old slave is incompetent, and he can't stop persuading, please ask Your Majesty to make a holy judgment!" Liu Donghe fell to his knees and reported in a trembling voice.

"Who's going to pick the head?" Li Shimin asked with an unchanged face.

This question is not easy to answer, Rao is Liu Donghe is also a bold person, but he didn't dare to speak, until the old man snorted coldly, then he was frightened, and hurriedly replied: "Yes, ah, it is His Royal Highness King Wei, and His Royal Highness King Wu also proposed to face the saint." ”

"Humph!" Although Li Shimin had long expected such a play, he couldn't help but be angry, and snorted coldly: "Spread the decree: The ministers will disperse immediately, and those who dare to disobey will be punished according to the crime of resisting the decree!" ”

This will is very heavy, Liu Donghe remembered the posture of being besieged by the courtiers in front of his head, and he didn't dare to get up, but he didn't think that Li Shimin was furious, and slapped the dragon table and said: "Liu Donghe, you dare to resist the decree!" ”

"The old slave doesn't dare, the old slave doesn't dare, it's true, it's really ......" Liu Donghe was so frightened that he kowtowed again and again, but his words were still slurred.

"Hmph, I don't dare, go, pass on the palace guards, if there are those who dare to make trouble, hand them over to the palace guards to arrest them immediately, I will be severely punished, and I will not retreat!" Li Shimin got up anxiously, glared at Liu Donghe angrily, and waved his hand impatiently and said. As soon as he heard that he could get the support of the palace guards, Liu Donghe's courage seemed to grow up immediately, and he was busy kowtowing to agree, and he went to transfer the palace guards without mentioning it.

"Hmph, I'm not dead yet, I'm just waiting to make housework, dare to force the palace today, and dare to enter the palace tomorrow if I'm afraid, let's talk about it, what should I do with this group of rebels?" After Liu Donghe went, Li Shimin glanced at the "mud bodhisattva" who was standing with his eyes and nose and nose, and asked in a quiet voice.

The important ministers present are all old rivers and lakes, accustomed to life and death, none of them are vegetarians, and their hearts are very bright, how can they not understand what is going on today, and how can they not see that Li Shimin and Liu Donghe were in collusion to act, and before they completely understand the holy will, everyone is silent, and no one wants to be the first bird, even Wei Zheng, who is known for his outspokenness, also played the trick of "wooden man" at this time.

Seeing that all the ministers didn't speak, Li Shimin was really angry this time, his face immediately turned blue, and his cold eyes were patrolling back and forth with the ministers, and after being silent for a while, he focused his eyes on Wei Zheng, and said lightly: "Xuancheng, you have always been good at decisiveness, I want to hear your opinion." ”

Since the old man opened his mouth, Wei Zheng knew that he couldn't hide, so he had no choice, hunched over, paced out of the hall, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that this matter is because of the position of the prince, since it should be determined by the position of the prince, the prince, the country is also prepared, very comparable, now the position of the East Palace has been vacant for a long time, if it is not determined early, there will be trouble in the long run, the old minister implores the saint to establish the prince as soon as possible, in order to determine the hearts of the people." ”

"Well, Si Yan is very good, and I think so." Li Shimin was very satisfied when he heard Wei Zheng say this, nodded with a smile, paced back to the dragon table, sat down, looked at Wei Zheng with great interest, and said, "Xuan Cheng, in your opinion, who among my sons is the one who can be the successor." ”

As soon as Li Shimin's words came out, everyone's eyes all looked at Li Shimin, and they waited for Wei Zheng to speak, and then look at the reaction of the saint to determine his advice, but he never thought that although Wei Zheng was old, he did not have Alzheimer's disease, rolled his eyes, and replied leisurely: "The old minister has been ill for a long time, neglected the government and politics, and is not familiar with the princes, so he does not dare to make suggestions easily." ”

Look at the old man Wei's words are very complete, it's not that he can't say it, but he doesn't dare to say it, the meaning of prevarication there is so strong that he was stunned Li Shimin choked for a moment, he didn't expect that Wei Zheng, who has always been known for his outspokenness, could say such slippery words, and for a while he really couldn't cry or laugh, but when he looked at Wei Zheng's full head of white hair, he immediately felt unbearable in his heart, and he was not too forced, and in desperation, he waved his hand and signaled Wei Zheng to retreat.

Li Shimin was determined to negotiate a result today, and seeing that Wei Zheng refused to say anything at this time, he turned his gaze to the eldest grandson Wuji in desperation, but he never thought that the eldest grandson Wuji was like a mud bodhisattva who was sitting still at this time, and his eyes did not look at Li Shimin at all, but looked at the floor under his feet, and the "affectionate" eyes of the old man Li fell into the void.

"Yizhen, what do you think?" Li Shimin saw that it was not a solution to remain so silent, so in desperation, he had to name him again, this time on Cheng Yanjin's head.

Lao Chengtou is a killer, and his temper is also very hot, but he is not a thorough rough person, otherwise he would not be deeply favored by Li Shimin, at this time, seeing Li Shimin on his head, he couldn't help but feel numb in his scalp, looked left and right, and then stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that this candidate for the prince is related to the country, and he should be cautious. ”

Lao Chengtou said a lot of nonsense, but he didn't say why, and he laughed at Li Shimin angrily, but people were right, and Li Shimin was not good at attacking, so in desperation, he could only shake his head and say: "What Yizhen said I know, what I ask is who among my sons can inherit my great cause." ”

Yes, as soon as the old man's words came out, he immediately forced Cheng Biting Jin to the corner, poor Comrade Cheng's face was red, and he couldn't find an excuse not to say, after a long time in a daze, but seeing that Comrade Cheng's eyes rolled, his mouth was big, and he said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, there are three categories of Lichang, Liyan, and Lixian, according to this, Lichang is the Royal Highness of King Wu, and Lichang should be His Royal Highness King Wei. As for what kind of method should be taken, the old minister did not dare to say anything, and asked His Majesty to make a holy judgment. ”

I have to say that Cheng Biting Jin is really able to talk nonsense, it's all nonsense for a long time, it's all something that the big guys have known for a long time, and this word went around and around, and it turned out to be back in Li Shimin's hands. Looking at Cheng Yanjin's smug appearance, the ministers really couldn't help laughing, but they were afraid that the emperor should not be rude, and they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, everyone's faces were red like blood, and everyone was extremely uncomfortable.

All the ministers wanted to laugh, but Li Shimin didn't have the slightest smile on his face, but sank, his face showed a trace of sadness, lowered his head, was silent for a long time, and said with a long sigh: "You all know that I went to see Cheng Qian a few days ago, alas, that poor child. I asked, why do you want to oppose me, do you know how Cheng Qian answered? When Li Shimin said this, he was already in tears, and he sobbed, and then continued: "Cheng Qian said: 'The minister is the prince, what do you want? But for the group of brothers, and the courtiers to seek peace, no form, so the ministers are wrongdoing, if Tai and others are the prince, it is making them wait for the ear. 'I'm so ashamed, speechless! What do you have to teach you? ”

As soon as Li Shimin's words came out, his heart was already fully revealed, not only Li Tai and Li Ke, but also Li Zhen were swept in, and these three kings almost had no share in the position of prince! Although the ministers are all scheming and calculating, they were also dizzy by this shocking news, everyone changed color, but they didn't dare to ask each other, they could only look at Li Shimin stupidly, at this moment, the eldest grandson Wuji, who had been lowering his eyebrows, suddenly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that what the abolished prince said is very true, if the matter of establishing a prince can not calm the hearts of the people, but will provoke the court to fight, resulting in the chaos of the Xiao Wall, it is by no means a blessing for the court, nor is it a blessing for the Tang Dynasty, the minister implores His Majesty to establish an indisputable and virtuous person as the prince, The image of the chaos can be quelled! ”

"Good words, I have made up my mind, but whoever is not virtuous, and the vassal king peeps at it, will abandon it, this is the iron law of the Tang Dynasty, and it will never change!" Li Shimin saw that the eldest grandson Wuji finally stood up, and immediately made up his mind, took the case, and said angrily.

Although Li Shimin never said from beginning to end who should be the prince, but as soon as these words came out, the important ministers present already knew what the holy will was - from Li Ke, the king of Wu, to Li Zhen, the king of Yue, everyone in this prince was involved in the battle for the heir, according to Li Shimin's iron law, they all have no hope for the position of the East Palace, and the rest, whether it is Lichang or Liyan, it should be Li Zhi, the king of Jin, as for Lixian, it should also be Li Zhi, without him, the other princes are still young, and they have not shown much for the time being, so they are not in consideration, and at this time, Although the ministers may have other thoughts in their hearts, they dare not mention it again, and can only be praised by everyone.

"Today's discussion should be top secret, and no one is allowed to leak it, otherwise I will not spare it!" Seeing that the ministers had no objections, Li Shimin's eyes flashed with a glimmer of light, his face was calm, and he issued a gag order.

"Your Majesty, the old minister still has a doubt." Just as Li Shimin's words fell, the eldest grandson Wuji came forward again and said: "Your Majesty, Li Yuanchang and Hou Junji's rebellion is a lesson from the past, if you are not careful, Jingshi may still have chaos." ”

There are words in the words of the eldest grandson Wuji, and the spearhead is directly aimed at Li Zhen, the king of Yue - whether it is military power, dark forces or even their own martial arts strategy, no one among the princes can compare with it, this article is full of ministers in their hearts, and they all know why the eldest grandson Wuji said this, although it is the truth, but there are many people who are afraid of the personal vendetta communiqué inside, others may pretend to be confused, but Cheng Biting Jin can't help it, except for being kind to Li Zhen, What's more important is that Cheng Yanjin's son-in-law Qin Huaiyu is an important member of Li Zhen's family, even if it is not for Li Zhen's sake, Cheng Yanjin will never tolerate Qin Huaiyu being adversely affected, and strode out unceremoniously: "Your Majesty, Lord Situ's words are suspected of stealing the axe, and the old minister does not dare to agree!" ”

"You ......" The eldest grandson Wuji was selfish by Cheng Yanjin in front of him, and immediately some of them couldn't let go, and just wanted to refute it, but saw Li Shimin get up and said: "That's it, there is no need to discuss this matter, I have my own arrangements, you just need to wait for my will, and you can retreat!" ”

Li Shimin's words have been said to this point, the ministers did not dare to make any more noise, each kowtowed and retreated, and the figures of everyone had just withdrawn from the hall, and the figure in the hall flashed, and Yuan Tiangang, who was dressed in a robe and had a childish face, had appeared in the hall......

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