Chapter 311: Slipping
For a family that values ​​inheritance, the status of the eldest son is unquestionable.

Li Yuan devoted all his efforts to the training of his eldest son, Li Xiaoyan, and valued him the most. He even planned to make him the crown prince after accepting the abdication.

He had even thought of arrangements for his sons.

The second brother lived in Liangzhou, resisted the Turks, controlled the Western Regions, and clamped down on the Qiang, Hu, and Tuyuhun. The core area of ​​Hexi, Wuwei, was also prosperous and had the advantage of trade routes.

The third brother lives in Shu, a land of abundance and a relatively independent geographical unit. It must be guarded by his own relatives, and it can also contain Cao Xuan in Jingzhou.

The fourth one is still in Huainan. When he takes over Jiangdong, he will live in Jiangdong.

As for the eldest brother, after being named the crown prince, he was allowed to stay in Luoyang, managing the Guandong states. He was also given elite soldiers and generals, and he would surely be able to unify Hebei and secure the position of crown prince.

But he never expected that the heir he had high hopes for and carefully trained would be gone just like that.

Li Yuan was heartbroken at the moment.

Li Sanlang and his wife Li also had sad expressions on their faces. Sanlang and Silang were not much different in age and were also raised by their eldest brother, so naturally their brotherly love was extraordinary.

Li Xiaoyan's eldest son, Li Cheng'an, even knelt in front of the coffin and cried bitterly.

After Li Yuan returned to Chang'an, preparations for Li Xiaoyan's funeral officially began.

Sima Xiuye, who presided over the funeral, had already prepared the etiquette for the death of a prince. In fact, it was against the etiquette, but Li Yuan was very satisfied and praised Sima Xiuye.

A few days later, Li Er led his army back and arrived just in time for Li Xiaoyan's funeral, where he was buried at Longshouyuan outside the city of Chang'an.

It was not until the fifth day after the funeral that Li Si led his army back to Chang'an.

Although he had expected it, Li Si still felt it was unreal after learning that his elder brother Li Xiaoyan had passed away. He did not even go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to hand over the troops and seals, but directly ordered someone to take him to his elder brother's tomb outside the city.

Even after seeing his brother's tombstone with his own eyes in Longshouyuan outside the city, he still looked incredulous.

In an instant, all that flashed through his mind was the image of the man, who was almost middle-aged, calling him "Silang" in a gentle and polite manner.

Her voice, appearance and smile kept circling in my mind.

He didn't shed tears, nor did he look extremely sad. He just stood there, frowning, stunned and motionless.

After a while, Li Yuanhui felt someone patting his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was his father who was ordered to find his third brother.

"Shiro, go back, Aye is waiting for you."

Li Yuanhui nodded, rode his horse and followed his third brother back to the city, then went straight to the Prime Minister's Mansion in the imperial city to meet his father Li Yuan.

In the lobby of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Li Yuan's confidants and several nephews were all there. Li Yuan looked older than when they parted more than ten days ago, and there was a clear sense of hostility on his face.

Seeing Li Yuanhui coming in, he was also annoyed: "Why are you late?"

Li Yuanhui answered truthfully: "I went to see my elder brother."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan's anger immediately dissipated, and he couldn't even utter the words of blame he wanted to say.

When his confidant Pei Ji saw this, he knew that Li Yuan must be unhappy because he was thinking about his eldest son who died young, so he quickly changed the subject and talked about business.

The so-called serious business is the matter of abdication.

After Murong Chang was brought back by Li Er, he was placed under house arrest in a side hall in the palace and was supervised by special guards.

Those who followed him in the rebellion, including He Chang, Murong Yanqing and other main participants, were all imprisoned and would be dealt with for treason, which was basically the extermination of their entire clan.

Hundreds of soldiers who participated in the rebellion were all executed, except for some who fled. Li Yuan wanted to implicate his family, but was persuaded by Sima Xiuye ​​and Pei Hongde.

Li Sanze personally brought Queen Li Rong and her child to see the young emperor Murong Chang. After seeing his child, Murong Chang finally agreed to cooperate with the Li family's subsequent abdication process. The first step was to issue a self-criticism edict, taking all the blame for killing ministers and colluding with the Turks.

The next step is to go through the process of abdication. The whole process takes a month, with three resignations and three abdications.

Originally, Li Yuan wanted to depose Murong Chang first, then establish an emperor, and then have the new emperor abdicate.

But Sima Xiuye ​​said that since the emperor had committed misconduct, it was a good opportunity for him to issue an edict of repentance and then "actively" abdicate. Wouldn't that be more legitimate?
Li Yuan didn't want to wait any longer. After all, the longer the night, the more trouble there is.

In fact, after taking Chang'an, Li Yuan had already met the conditions for becoming emperor. However, he did not rush, but planned to recapture Luoyang first and then proceed with the abdication procedure.

But unexpectedly, complications arose.

Now that Murong Chang had done this, the coup had failed, and his collusion with the Turks had almost destroyed the last hope of the ministers in keeping Great Yan.

Therefore, it is the right time to abdicate.

The Li brothers did not intervene in these matters, and there was no need for them to worry about these trivial matters. Naturally, the prime ministers would take care of them.

But what we are going to discuss next is related to them.

This includes personnel appointment adjustments in many counties and prefectures such as Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou, garrison rotations, and adjustments to the defense of Luoyang.

Basically, the biggest disagreement was between Li Er and Li San, and who would guard Luoyang.

It’s not that Li Yuanhui was modest. None of Li Yuan’s core team and ministers in the court supported him.

There is none.

Generally speaking, the generals and staff who followed from Liangzhou and Longxi, and several ministers in the court who had a seat in the Prime Minister's Office all supported Li Er to guard Luoyang, while most of the followers who followed Li Yuan from Shuzhong supported Li Sanlang.

Li Si was just a spectator.

This also shows that Li Si's foundation in the court is a bit too shallow.

After all, his base is all in Jianghuai. The only ministers he is familiar with in the court are probably Gao Zhixing, who was transferred from the Governor of Yangzhou to the Minister of the Imperial Household, and Lu Xiang, the former Prefect of Lujiang, who is now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Although these two people hold high positions, they have not entered Li Yuan's core decision-making circle, so naturally they cannot be of any help.

Li Yuanhui indeed had never thought of incorporating Luoyang into his sphere of influence, so he was just watching the fun, and because he was thinking about some things, he was inevitably a little absent-minded.

Li Yuan was feeling annoyed. He didn't expect that not long after Dalang's death, the people below would start to take sides.

Then, seeing Li Yuanhui's daydreaming look, he felt a little annoyed. Even though it was none of your business, it didn't have to be like this, right?

So Li Yuan asked, "Silang, what are you thinking about?"

Li Yuanhui heard this and withdrew his thoughts. He looked at the people in the hall and paused. "I was wondering how Yuan Shao, who controlled four states and had a strong army and sufficient food, could lose to Cao Cao?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall fell silent and looked at Li Yuan.

However, Li Sanlang, who had been silent just now, smiled and agreed, "Silang, I can see that you didn't read the book carefully. This is naturally because after Yuan Shao's death, the Yuan brothers killed each other and were defeated by Wei Wu. But you don't know that among us three brothers, which one is Yuan Tan and which one is Yuan Shang, hahahahaha."

Li Erlang couldn't help laughing when he saw this.

The three brothers laughed, but everyone in the hall was very embarrassed. Because Yuan Shao's subordinates supported Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang respectively, which led to internal divisions, and finally the prosperous Yuan family was destroyed by Cao Cao. Of course, there were other factors, but the most direct one was undoubtedly the internal strife of the Yuan brothers.

If Li Si's words were unintentional, then Li San made it so clear that he was obviously telling everyone and his father that both internal strife and party struggles must have limits.

(End of this chapter)