The person who wrote the letter was naturally Zheng Yuanxuan. He told Li Jiancheng in the letter that Li Shuliang, the king of Changping, stubbornly wanted to send troops to attack Zhu Can despite his opposition. In the letter, Zheng Yuanxuan analyzed in detail the strength of the enemy and ours, the terrain advantages, and the possibility of victory.
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In summary, Zheng Yuanxuan believed that the chance of winning was very small, and hoped that the prince could tell the saint and the saint would order to prevent Li Shuliang from rashly launching an army.
After reading the letter, Li Jiancheng remained silent and circulated the letter to everyone.
All parties have their own interests to safeguard. Zheng Yuanxuan was finally pulled out from Taichang Temple by Li Jiancheng and sent out to contact the army. If he is defeated by Zhu Can in Shangzhou, he will have no choice but to return to the capital to do his job honestly in the future.
A Taichang Qing.
And this is not what Li Jiancheng wants.
"If you have any ideas, please tell me."
Wei Ting said bluntly, "If Zheng Shijun did not exaggerate and Zhu Can really has an army of 200,000, then His Highness will immediately enter the palace and persuade the saint to stop King Changping from attacking Zhu Can."
Wang Gui also said: "I agree with what Wei Gong said. Zheng Shijun's expedition to Zhu Can has achieved some results. Now we must not make any mistakes. Otherwise, the saint will definitely blame Zheng Shijun, and then His Highness's plan will be in vain.
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Zheng Shanguo asked in confusion: "It was King Changping who advocated attacking Zhu Can. Once the army was defeated, why would the saint blame Yuan Xuan?"
Hearing this, everyone fell silent.
This is a tacit understanding that all officials of the Tang Dynasty know. The saint prefers the clan generals to lead the army. Once the army is defeated, he will try his best to protect the clan. When the time comes, the people below will definitely take the blame.
But it was difficult to explain this kind of thing to Zheng Shanguo in front of the prince.
It can only be said that Zheng Shanguo has not returned to Tang Dynasty for a long time, and he is not aware of these twists and turns.
Li Jiancheng reminded: "My father has always favored King Changping."
When he said this, Zheng Shanguo immediately understood.
In fact, Li Yuan not only favored Li Shuliang, he also favored all clan generals. Li Yuanji and Li Shuliang had both suffered defeats before, but Li Yuan not only did not let them take the blame, but also made them take the blame.
"So, Your Highness really wants to stop King Changping." Zheng Shanguo said.
Li Yuan was puzzled and said: "Why did Emperor Changping suddenly attack Zhu Can? I remember that we were in a confrontation in Shangzhou before?"
This question was not mentioned in the letter, and they did not know the situation on the front line, so no one present could answer it.
"No matter what, we must stop the emperor." Li Jiancheng rubbed his temples with a headache.
It's really sad that something like this happened after we finally reached out to the army.
Wei Ting reminded: "Your Highness, all matters in the army should be reported to the sage by the general, but Zheng Shijun privately informed your highness that he had violated the rules. Can your highness think of how to explain it to the sage?"
"You're right, Gu Gu almost forgot."
Wang Gui said: "This matter is easy. Since you want to prevent King Changping from launching an army, you will definitely offend him. In this case, your highness might as well tell the saint that Zheng Shijun's hard persuasion has not yielded any results. He can only take this policy. He must obey the authority in urgent matters and return the favor."
Please forgive me, saint."
"good."
The current situation is urgent and there is no room for Li Jiancheng to find a better reason than this to explain Zheng Yuanxuan's behavior.
Li Jiancheng did not dare to neglect this matter. After bathing and changing clothes, he went to the palace to meet Li Yuan.
Sunlight fell through the cracks in the window and fell on the yellow paper. Li Yuan carefully read every sentence on it, and then asked: "Why didn't Zheng Yuanzhen write to you instead of reporting to me?"
"Back to my father, I feel that Commander Zheng was worried about the safety of the army and could not take too much care. He made some omissions in his haste. Please forgive me for this."
Li Yuan glanced at him without exposing him.
Zheng Yuanxuan belongs to the prince, and he knows it well.
"Does Zheng Yuanxuan really think he can't defeat Zhu Can?"
"Father, Zhu Can is extremely cruel. He has already preyed on living people. Moreover, he has an army of 200,000 in his hands. However, our dynasty only has 30,000 troops in Shangzhou. Once the emperor takes the initiative to attack, even if he can win, he will definitely win.
Both sides suffer. At this time, Wang Shichong is watching, how can we let Wang Shichong take advantage?"
Li Yuan put down the yellow paper, picked up the wine glass and took a sip.
"King Changping made a surprise attack on Qinzhou before and defeated the Western Qin Dynasty. This shows that he is good at fighting. Now he takes the initiative to attack Zhu Can. Maybe he also has something in mind?"
"But Zhu Can has 200,000 troops after all."
After saying this, Li Yuan suddenly hesitated.
This is correct. After all, the opponent still has 200,000 troops, but the Tang army in Shangzhou only has 30,000 troops. There is a huge disparity in strength.
Seeing Li Yuan's hesitation, Li Jiancheng further persuaded: "Shangzhou is the southeastern gateway of our Tang Dynasty. We must not lose it, otherwise the pass will be in danger! At present, our Tang Dynasty troops are concentrated in Xiliang, Bingzhou, and Hebei. If Shangzhou is once
If you lose it, the consequences will be disastrous!"
Hearing this, Li Yuan became a little worried. He hesitated and said: "But if we rashly recall King Changping back, wouldn't it mean that we don't trust him?"
Li Jiancheng said: "My father only gave an order not to allow the emperor's uncle to attack without authorization. Just guard Shangzhou. Why should we recall the emperor's uncle to Chang'an?"
Everything the eldest son said made sense, which made Li Yuan hesitate.
"What are you worried about, father?"
Li Yuandao: "Although Zhu Can has an army of 200,000, they are only composed of refugees, with uneven armor and lack of weapons. How can they be the opponent of our Tang army? Furthermore, I believe that your uncle will not advance rashly."
Li Jiancheng was speechless. He analyzed his feelings for a long time, but it was all nonsense?
"That's it, I'll think about it again and I'll definitely give you an answer tomorrow," Li Yuan said.
Li Jiancheng said hurriedly: "Father, the military situation is urgent. If you are too late, you will miss the opportunity to make corrections."
"What are you correcting?" Li Yuan suddenly became unhappy, and with a stern look on his face, he asked again: "What are you correcting?"
Seeing that Li Yuan seemed to be angry, Li Jiancheng was worried about the war in Shangzhou and didn't know why Lao Li was suddenly unhappy.
Therefore, he could only say: "My son made a mistake."
"Hmph, you just need to handle the government affairs well. I will be the one to take charge of external matters."
"Yes, I understand."
"Go down."
Li Jiancheng pursed his lips and said goodbye.
After Li Jiancheng left, Li Yuan looked at the yellow paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it away.
By coincidence, the ball of paper fell under Zhang Jieyu's skirt.
She walked in with a jade plate and a jug of fine wine on it.
"Your Majesty is in a bad mood?"
Zhang Jieyu glanced at the paper ball with charming eyes, said softly, moved her steps lightly, swayed her slender waist and round hips, and approached Li Yuan.
Li Yuan said nothing and leaned against Yang He.
Zhang Jieyu smiled slightly, her charming face full of spring.
"If Your Majesty is angry with me, I can just go down there. Why do you need to get so angry over me?"
With that said, he made a gesture to leave.
"Oh, I'm not angry with you." Lao Li said helplessly.
Seeing this, Zhang Jieyu smiled, sat next to Lao Li, poured him a glass of wine, brought it to his mouth, and fed him to drink.
After a glass of wine, Lao Li said unhappily: "I have already asked him to supervise the country. Does he still want to teach me how to do it? He is not greedy enough!"
"Who is your Majesty talking about?"
Lao Li originally wanted to say prince, but when the words came to his lips, he waved his hand and said, "Forget it, it's annoying, just ignore him."
"Then let's have a drink."
Zhang Jieyu served Li Yuan to drink with a smile.
"Well, drinking is good, drinking is good," Lao Li said.