Love Affairs in Chang'an - Chapter 465

Chapter 465 Dig One’s Own Grave
Chang’an Imperial Capital, within the Imperial City.

The fourth day of the first month was the day of the royal family banquet. Early in the morning, the Penglai Hall of the Great Ming Palace’s harem became lively. Princesses and concubines came to pay their respects to Emperor Li Shimin. Changsun Wuji, a high-ranking uncle, would naturally arrive as well. What was striking was that he had actually arrived alongside King Wei Li Tai.

In addition, the harem’s fourth concubine, ninth concubine, and the others who rarely showed up publicly once a year, Wei Guifei, Yan Xian Concubine, Yin De Concubine, and Yang Shu Concubine, were scheduled to be seated in separate seats. However, Fourth Concubine’s appearance at the same time was not as dazzling as a rookie, and that was one of the nine concubines that Li Shimin doted on recently, Xu Hui. It was said that this young woman was intelligent and knowledgeable, and she never forgot to say anything. She had very high attainments in poetry and prose calligraphy. Her personality was gentle, gentle, and generous, and she had political opinions and was able to remonstrate with the Emperor. She had the demeanor of Empress Zhangsun back then. At first, she was only a genius, but because she won the favor of Li Shimin, she regretted meeting him late. Soon, she was promoted to Jieyu, and then to Jieyu. Now, she was one of the ninth concubines second only to Fourth Concubine.

Whether it was the emperor or the prince, it was not only a matter of the emperor’s family, but also a matter of national importance. Since ancient times, there had been emperors in China, and it had always been “mother valued son, son valued mother”. After Empress Chang Sun’s death, Li Shimin had never set up a queen again. The officials guessed that he did not want to affect the establishment of a queen.

Many people secretly speculated that the harem had been left without a master ever since Empress Chang Sun’s death. Imperial Concubine Wei, who was second only to the Empress, had never been authorized to replace Empress Eldest Sun in command of the harem. Although the Wei Clan was one of the most prominent clans in Chang’an, the Wei Clan had never produced a single or two outstanding top figures to control the banner, and the Du Clan had even produced a Du Ruhui! In addition, Imperial Concubine Wei was so weak that she was no longer doted on by Li Shimin in recent years. Her son was also relatively mediocre, and was not even considered by the Li Shimin. Therefore, people speculated that in the future, there was almost no possibility of Imperial Concubine Wei being righted. Yan Xianfei was already out of favor. There were rumors that Li Shimin intended to reduce her to a concubine and make Xu Hui a Xianfei. Therefore, Yan Xianfei, who was already lacking in her mother’s family, had been treading on thin ice all along, and there was no possibility of her becoming a concubine.

The remaining two Imperial Concubines, Yin De Concubine and Yang Shu Concubine.

Over the past few years, the Yin De Concubine, who had always kept a low profile and endured it, seemed to have been at the forefront of the storm. Unfortunately, it was all “negative news”. It was a miracle that her daughter had married and her son had rebelled, and she was still in the harem. Without a doubt, the only things that this miserable Qing Guo socialite possessed were the Emperor’s tolerance for her, the world’s pity and respect for him, and the Azure Lantern Ancient Buddha.

The remaining Yang Shufei was King Wu Li Ke’s mother. She was the biological daughter of Yang Guang, the last emperor of the former Sui Dynasty. After being accepted as a concubine by Li Shimin, she was one of the most respected women in the harem, although she was ranked last among the fourth concubines because she entered the sect later. Even when Empress Chang Sun was still alive, she was called the same carriage as her sisters and sat on almost equal footing. However, Yang Shufei, the deceased princess, clearly did not have any political ambitions. In all these years, she had never heard of her being arrogant or meddling in state affairs. Her low profile and silence were comparable to Concubine Yin De’s. If it weren’t for her dazzling son’s frequent presence in politics and court, she would have almost been forgotten.

From this, it seemed that the chances of Fourth Concubine being appointed were low. Therefore, people couldn’t help but turn their gazes to Xu Hui, who was in the limelight recently. They expected that if she could give birth to a dragon son to the Emperor, they wouldn’t rule out the possibility that she would catch up from behind and become the Empress. However, the emperor had several sons who had already reached adulthood, and they were fighting to the point of losing their heads and bloodshed for the throne. Even if Xu Hui could give birth to a prince in the future, would this pair of shallow orphans and widows survive the Emperor’s funeral?

This was no wonder why Li Shimin hadn’t been restored. To put it nicely, he missed Empress Changsun, but in fact, he couldn’t make up his mind. This Empress had no way of standing. Without the Empress, the harem would be in chaos. There was no doubt about it.

If you don’t sweep a room, why do you sweep the world? Li Shimin really had a headache.

Beacons and smoke surrounded the Great Tang Dynasty, and battles raged. The party clans competed for cold spears and hidden arrows in the Imperial Court. Even in the harem, clouds and waves of strange undercurrents surged.

The Great Tang, which had been quiet for more than ten years, ushered in a troubled autumn.

Today, at the royal family banquet, Eldest Sun Wuji and King Wei Li Tai, who had never interacted with each other before, were chatting, laughing, living, and enjoying each other. Many people saw it in their eyes and thought to themselves that the two of them must be going to make peace and form an alliance. Right now, the military’s strength had greatly expanded, and even Commander Sun Wuji’s limelight had been suppressed. When Li Chengqian was still in the Eastern Palace, Li Shimin had thought of changing Li Tai to his heir. One of the important reasons why he didn’t make a decision was that Eldest Sun Wuji didn’t agree.

Fortunately, the two uncles and nephews had changed their faces even faster than turning over books, and they had actually become an alliance. However, Li Tai had already fallen out of favor, and Eldest Sun Wuji was not as powerful as before. Could an interim alliance like theirs, which could collapse at any moment, touch the Emperor’s heart?

After Li Chengqian’s fall, the seemingly clear structure of the Imperial Court had now returned to chaos. No one knew who would be the Eastern Palace Crown Prince or who would lead the court in the future.

Li Shimin smiled bitterly at the seemingly harmonious “family” who were pushing cups and exchanging glasses at the banquet. In his opinion, the smiles on the faces of these two people were not smiles, they were clearly Yin-Yang conspiracies. What he was eating and chewing wasn’t wine and meat, it was clearly power and benefit.

However, he was also unable to accuse these people, because he was also like this. Living in this arena of benefits was like sailing against the current and couldn’t help but feel helpless. Not everyone can be as calm as Imperial Concubine Yin De.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin raised his glass and said to Concubine Yin De, “Concubine Ai, let me propose a toast to you.”

“This concubine thanks Your Majesty.” Imperial Concubine Yin De stood up and drank. After drinking, she sat down and remained calm.

Li Shimin secretly sighed and felt depressed in his heart.

In recent days, the border has sent military intelligence reports, both good and bad. On the northern grasslands, Li Ji reported in detail the battle between Xue Rengui and the remnants of the Kansai 1st Brigade. Right now, Li Ji commanded the Tang Dynasty to join forces with the nine Tiele forces of the grasslands to conquer Xue Yantuo and defeat the enemy to capture the Emperor in an instant.

Li Shimin was already preparing to take care of the aftermath of the grasslands. At the same time, he began to pay attention to Xue Rengui, the once nameless general of Guanxi Army. I heard that he made an unconventional decision. He went north to break through the barrier and cut through the desert. In the end, he preserved the strength of the Western Expedition Army. After breaking through Xue Yantuo, he borrowed tens of thousands of troops from Huihe to help Kansai recover the lost land. The grassland tribes respected him like gods … All of this was done by famous generals.

That’s good news. The bad news was that Shanzhou’s Li Dao Sect had played. Shortly after the victory of Illusory Moon Valley, Yang Guan had fallen and Xue Wanche had died in battle. Qin Mubai had already personally led his men to save him.

Li Shimin knew that after Yang Guan lost the victory in Illusory Moon Valley, it didn’t matter. The main battlefield was still Da Feichuan. As long as the situation there was not out of control, even if Yumen Pass and Yangguan Pass fell together, the Tibetans on that side would not be able to dominate the outcome. Moreover, Qin Mubai would personally lead the troops to save him, so he would definitely be able to turn the situation around and protect himself.

What made Li Shimin feel depressed was Xue Wanche’s death. He had personally said that now (after Li Jing retired) there were no more than three famous generals in this dynasty, Li Xi, Li Daozong, and Xue Wanche. As for Xue Wanche’s battle, it was either a big victory or a big defeat. Now that he had agreed to this, he had lost his pass and died in battle.

Xue Wanche was Li Shimin’s brother-in-law. Right now, Xue Wanche’s wife, the daughter of the high ancestor Li Yuan, Princess Danyang, was sitting in the middle of the banquet, smiling as she held a cup of wine with the crowd. She did not know the news of Xue Wanche’s death.

“Forget it, it’s better to wait a few days until the Spring Festival. Xue Wanche’s coffin has been delivered to Chang’an. I’ll tell her!” Li Shimin thought to himself.

Within this palace forbidden zone, even if it was a family banquet, there were strict rules. The atmosphere could not be very lively. At most, it could be considered peaceful. Princes and noble relatives came to congratulate Li Shimin on the Spring Festival in turn. In private, they were busy exchanging glasses and exchanging glasses. It was not so much a family banquet as a round of political capital exchange.

Li Shimin was a little unhappy because he had something on his mind. After drinking a few glasses of wine, it was odd and tasteless. Just as he was about to change his clothes and leave the table to take a breath, his attendant, Huan Huan, gently walked over to him and whispered, “Your Majesty, Chu Suiliang, the guard of the Hongwen Pavilion, said that an emergency military report was sent from the frontline, so he requested to see Your Majesty.”

Li Shimin’s heart skipped a beat, thinking that if it wasn’t for the military intelligence, Chu Suiliang wouldn’t have reported the army to the harem at such a time. Thus, he quietly stood up and walked out, secretly instructing the attendant to ask Chu Suiliang to meet him in the Imperial Study Room of the Zi Chen Palace of the Great Ming Palace.

Shortly after, Li Shimin arrived at Zi Chen Palace. Chu Suiliang was already waiting outside the Imperial Study. As soon as they met, Chu Suiliang whispered in shock, “Your Majesty, there has been a change in the Western Region. It is extremely urgent!”

Li Shimin’s heart jammed, “Xi Jiang? Not Kansai, not Mobei, not Jian Nan?”

“Taozhou!!”

“Enter the Imperial Study Room!”

The monarch and subject quickly entered. Chu Suiliang delivered the military report, and Li Shimin hurriedly opened it and sat down to take a look. As soon as he sat down, he suddenly stood up again.

Chu Suiliang looked nervously at the emperor. The expressions of both the monarch and the subject changed.

“How … how is this possible?” Li Shimin’s face was filled with shock and anger, “Why did the Garqin Mausoleum reach Taozhou?”

“I don’t know either! However, this is clearly the truth in front of me!” Chu Suiliang hurriedly said, “Taozhou City was destroyed, under the rule of Taoyang, Lintan two counties were bloodbathed in massacre, a total of more than 13,000 people, none of them survived, the city was also burned!” After the incident, Yuchi Jingde, the chief marching officer of the South Sword Road, quickly led the army to save him, but it was all in vain. Garqin Ling led his troops to retreat and pounced on River Prefecture. Yuchi Jingde led the army to pursue and ordered the nearby military forces to guard against the enemy to prevent the Garqin Mausoleum from attacking Guanzhong!

“Foolish!” Li Shimin suddenly shouted, “Why is Yuchi Jingde so foolish!”

“What’s wrong, Your Majesty?” Chu Suiliang said in surprise.

“He was led by the nose by Garqin Mausoleum!” Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice, “Garqin Mausoleum intentionally set fire to slaughter the city. The purpose is to attract the nearby Sword Confederate Army to save him. He is trying to divert the tiger away from the mountain!”

“But General Yuchi, you dare not not not save me! What if the Garqin Mausoleum is still in the vicinity, bloodbath or even reattacking Guanzhong?” Chu Suiliang was shocked. “After the defeat of Garqin Mausoleum, he has been retreating to the Qingluo Plain. It is already a shocking move to surprise Taozhou. Could it be that he still has the ability to divert the tigers away from the mountain and split up troops to take Chuanshu?”

“That’s not true. Killing Guan and seizing the city is not Gaer Qinling’s ultimate goal.” Li Shimin’s expression darkened as he said, “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to my hinterland like a moth pouncing on fire. Unless he’s crazy, can he destroy my Great Tang with just a few men?”

Chu Suiliang suddenly came to a realization and said, “So … he has another purpose? Is he trying to disrupt our army’s defensive line in the western border?”

“He’s trying to escape!” Li Shimin said resolutely, “However, he didn’t dare to retreat so easily with the Great Feichuan pursuers behind him and the Sword Confederate Army blocking him! Thus, he used the offensive to divert the attention of our army and draw our troops to buy time and space for him to retreat from the fleeing camp!”

After saying that, Li Shimin strode to the screen behind the imperial study and ordered someone to take the map of the military and government of the Western Region and hang it up. He pointed his hand at Taozhou and said, “Look!” When he took down Tao Province, Yuchi Jingde, who had stationed troops in Song Province, would definitely come to save him, because this defensive area was originally under his control. As you said, if Gaer Qinling were to attack Guanzhong and Liangjing, Yuchi Jingde would die. At the same time, the fire in the backyard in Lanzhou would shake. Dafeichuan and Lanzhou would definitely move along the entire line, and they had no choice but to shift from attacking to defending. The center of gravity of their troops would shift to the hinterland of Taozhou. Look-once Taozhou is broken, the entire western border of the Great Tang will collapse. Regardless of whether it is Kansai or Jian Nan, all of our previous strategic arrangements have been broken! Although it was extremely unlikely that Gaer Qinling would kill his way to Guanzhong, he had no choice but to guard against it. Guanzhong and Beijing will also be jittery! ”

Chu Suiliang’s face tightened, and he didn’t even dare to breathe. When he first received the military report, he knew that the situation was serious, but he didn’t expect it to be so serious. Now that he heard the Emperor’s analysis, his heart was pounding-Duwei Rib was already in the Imperial Capital! Gaer Qinling’s lightning-like attack was like a sharp knife piercing into the heart of the Great Tang. It was truly formidable!

“This Gaer Qinling!” Li Shimin gritted his teeth and spat out these words, his expression becoming more serious and grim. After pausing for a moment, he asked, “Dafei Chuanshoujiang seems to be Hou Junji, right?”

Chu Suiliang could vaguely tell from Li Shimin’s words that something was wrong!

“Your Majesty, it’s Hou Junji.”

“He guarded Da Feichuan and suppressed the remnants of Gaer Qinling’s defeated army. Why did he let him slip away from under his nose?” Li Shimin did not roar, but with a single word, he was as sharp as a cold blade.

Chu Suiliang felt a chill in his heart-killing intent! His Majesty the Emperor … had a murderous intent!

Li Shimin pointed at the map with one hand and cut his back with the other as he pondered. Chu Suiliang did not dare to interrupt. He only whispered, “Your Majesty, would you like to inform the Cheng Zai of the Pavilion Department to convene an emergency military meeting?”

Li Shimin didn’t seem to hear it. His expression was still grim as he looked at the map. He slowly moved his finger on it and muttered, “Capturing Taozhou, he can continue to slaughter through the River Continent, or cross the Taoshui River and stab behind Lanzhou, or take over Min Continent and quickly take down the city, using this as a basis to resist Yuchi Jingde’s troops, or even point his sword at Qin Continent and attack Guanzhong, endangering the two capital cities.” “Taozhou is surrounded by land and water. Why didn’t Qin Mubai and Yuchi Jingde pay attention to such a military hub?”

Chu Suiliang did not dare to reply. In terms of military attainments, Li Jing was the only person in the dynasty who could keep pace with the emperor. He was analyzing the situation, and there were very few people who could talk to him. However, when Chu Suiliang vaguely heard the words spoken by the Emperor, he seemed to be quite dissatisfied with Yuchi Jingde and Qin Mubai!

“Horn!”

Li Shimin slapped the map, startling Chu Suiliang. The parchment map had a hole!

“We must exterminate Gaer Qinling! Otherwise, there will be endless damage!” Li Shimin said in a deep voice, “Right now, he is like a winter flea, sneaking into a person’s thick fur. How hateful!”

“Your Majesty, would you like to notify the Pavilion’s Cheng Zai to convene an emergency imperial military meeting?” Without any useful military advice, Chu Suiliang could only repeat these words.

Li Shimin paused for a moment. This time, he seemed to have heard it. He said, “We must first strictly guard against the leakage of information, so as not to cause panic among the people and confuse the capital.” The Imperial Military Council could not be held for the time being. It was spring break, and most of the ministers were celebrating the holidays. “In this way, you go and call me Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Li Daliang, and Li Junxian. These people are either in the Imperial City or in Chang’an.”

“Yes!”

“Wait!” Just as Chu Suiliang was about to leave, Li Shimin called out. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Also, King Jin and King Wei, call over together.”

Chu Suiliang was a little shocked and didn’t dare to say anything else, so he hurriedly left.

Li Shimin took a deep breath and looked at the big map with a hole in it. He said to himself, “Gaer Qinling is indeed a military genius! … Qin Mubai, Yuchi Jingde, what should I say about you?”

“However, Gaer Qinling’s action is precisely to dig a grave for Tibet!!” Li Shimin’s eyes shone coldly. “Do you want to die and live again?-I want you to die, not live again!”