Chapter 317 Choice
Gao Huang's words actually hit the nail on the head for Li Yuanhui. Chang'an was not a place where he could live for long.

Although Li Yuan has not yet decided whether the second or third brother should go to Luoyang to deal with the situation in Hebei, Li Yuanhui believes that the second brother is unlikely to do so.

Because in this battle, my second brother made such a huge contribution and his performance was so outstanding.

Although Li Yuanhui also made great contributions, his basic cards were in Jianghuai, and there was no one in the court. Although he was in a vassal state, he was completely controllable for Li Yuan.

The third brother's supporters are the veteran faction who followed Li Yuan out of Shu. These people are undoubtedly Li Yuan's confidants, so they are also controllable for Li Yuan.

The second brother's team, that is, the army of Longyou and Liangzhou, and even a large number of generals of the central army. This is entirely because of his extraordinary performance on the battlefield and his personal charm.

It’s not that these people look down on the third and fourth brothers, but in comparison, the second brother’s performance is more outstanding.

In addition, the locations of Longyou and Liangzhou are high above Guanzhong, posing a great threat.

So next, according to Li Yuanhui's prediction, his father will definitely gradually reduce his second brother's power.

It would be the same even if he were made the crown prince.

Moreover, Li Yuan attached too much importance to his eldest brother's son. He personally brought him to the palace to educate him, which was exactly the same treatment he gave to his eldest brother back then.

In terms of title, although Li Cheng'an was only a prince, he was indeed the Prince of Longxi. Longxi was the county name of the Li family, and was known as the ancestral home of the Li family throughout the world.

Li Yuan inherited the title of Duke of Longxi County.

This made Li Yuanhui very suspicious. Wasn't the old man going to follow the example of Old Zhu and establish his grandson? If this was the script, then wouldn't the final winner be?
After staying in Luoyang for less than ten days and finishing all the things that needed to be done, Li Yuanhui was ready to go south. It was already April.

It is the busy season of spring plowing again. The ice and snow have melted. We take a boat from the Yellow River into the Cai River, then into the Ying River, and head south.

At this time, in Xindu City, Anping County, Jizhou, Liu Xuanji looked at the handwritten letters from Li Yuanhui and Li Er, as well as the imperial edict from Li Yuan, and felt quite emotional.

Once upon a time, he was still an unknown military officer, but he was treated with courtesy when he entered the Li family, and was able to enter the house and pay a visit to Li Yuan, the Duke of Longxi, who was an important official in the court at that time. This made him brag about it for a long time after he returned to the army.

Later, he was transferred to Li Yuanhui's army and was treated with great courtesy.

Now that Li Yuan has been crowned emperor, and the Tang Dynasty has occupied half of the world, he was given an imperial edict at this time, appointing him as the Grand Commander of Youzhou, the General of the Northern Expedition, and the Prince of Zhuo County, and even implicitly acknowledged Liu Xuanji's actual control over the land currently occupied by Hebei.

It can be said that both the substance and the appearance have been given.

The condition is to lead the troops back to Youzhou and stop fighting southwards.

If he is willing to lead his troops back to Youzhou now, he will officially board the ship of the Tang Dynasty and become the only king of a different surname in the Tang Dynasty.

The treatment can be said to be very generous.

If it were two years ago, he would not even dare to imagine such treatment, but people's ambitions and desires are constantly expanding.

After Xue Shixiong's death, he was elected governor of Youzhou, and he finally tasted the pleasure of power.

He also gave a satisfactory answer. In more than a year, he took over all the counties in Jizhou except Wei Prefecture. Now he dominated Hebei and had more than 100,000 soldiers. His power was second only to the Li family who had already founded the Tang Dynasty.

At this time, he was really hesitant to submit to the Tang Dynasty.
Seeing Liu Xuanji's hesitation, Anping Governor Xing Luan could not help but say, "Why are you hesitating? The general is now in power in Hebei, with the support of the people and the emperor in hand. You should serve the emperor and punish the thieves who stole the country. Why are you hesitating?"

After Xing Luan finished speaking, Liu Xuanji was about to say something when Li Yuanzhong of the Zhaojun Li family, now Liu Xuanji's governor of Youzhou, Lu Wei, also spoke up: "What Lord Xing said is very true. Hebei is a vast land with abundant resources. If we take it, we can bring peace to the world. Now heroes from all directions have emerged. Although the Li family has two capitals and is very powerful, Li Yuan's sons are all outstanding people. Sooner or later, they will fight for you. It will be easy for you to defeat them."

At this time, Zhang Shiwu, an old brother, said, "General, we are the rest of you who followed me. Now we have a thousand miles of land. Why should we go to others and suffer? Brother is a descendant of the Han Dynasty. It is not impossible to restore the Han Dynasty!" A group of generals also spoke up, and the core meaning was to tell Liu Xuanji that you have to stand up. Look at the Li family, they can become emperors, why can't you?

Liu Xuanji looked at everyone and finally made up his mind.

"My friendship with Li is a private one, but Li's seizure of the Great Yan Empire and establishment of the Tang Kingdom is a public matter. How can I sacrifice public affairs for personal reasons? I will go to see the emperor and ask him to grant me full authority to fight against the rebels."

This Son of Heaven is naturally referring to Murong Yang, the Taixing Emperor of Dayan. According to the reign of Dayan, it is only the second year of Taixing.

He had already lost the capital Luoyang and fled to Hebei.

Before this, Murong Yang had been placed in Fuliu County around Xindu City, and Liu Xuanji also made it clear that he wanted to wait and see the situation.

So he didn't even get to meet this fallen emperor.

Now that the strategy of competing with the fledgling Tang Dynasty for the world has been established, this signboard can be put to use.

So Liu Xuanji led his men to Fuliu to meet Murong Yang in person, and then the king and his ministers met, both in tears. Murong Yang accused Li Yuan of treason and usurpation of the throne, and Liu Xuanji said that he must seek justice for His Majesty.
Afterwards, Murong Yang was also very aware of the current situation and issued an edict, appointing Liu Xuanji as the Grand Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of All Military Forces at Home and Abroad, General of the Cavalry, Recorder of the Secretariat, Grand Prime Minister, and Grand Master of the Imperial Court. His title was a very imaginative one, Duke of Han.

After Liu Xuanji obtained the power granted by Murong Yang, he officially became a powerful official.

Liu Xuanji then proposed that Murong Yang go to the former territory of the State of Yan during the Warring States Period and establish the capital in Ji County, while he himself would stay in Xindu to prepare to suppress the rebellion.

After Murong Yang agreed, he continued to head north to Ji County.

Liu Xuanji had his reasons for placing the emperor in Ji County.

First of all, Youzhou is his hometown and foundation. He can rest assured that the emperor will be placed there and will not cause any trouble.

Secondly, he wanted to temporarily use Xindu as the seat of government. On the one hand, he wanted to continue to use troops against Yecheng. On the other hand, Xindu was also the place where Emperor Guangwu turned the tables, and it had great symbolic significance.

But he still had to take into account the opinions of his subordinates, the people of Youzhou, so he placed the emperor in Youzhou, which is nominally the capital of Dayan at present.

This way the people of Youzhou can rest assured.

Liu Xuanji's choice was undoubtedly expected by the Tang Dynasty.

However, Zhao Da, who was guarding the isolated city, made a completely different choice. When the imperial edict of the Tang Dynasty arrived, he immediately changed his flag and accepted the official positions offered to him by the Tang Dynasty: General Zhenbei, Governor of Jizhou, and Marquis of Handan County.

At the same time, he asked his second brother Zhao Jiong to go to Chang'an to meet the new emperor, express his loyalty, and most importantly, ask for help.

The brothers Tuoba Jun of Taiyuan and Tuoba Tianbao of Dai County made completely different choices.

Tuoba Jun chose to serve the Tang Dynasty and became the Duke of Dai, General Anbei, Commander-in-Chief of Bingzhou's military affairs, and Envoy with Special Powers.

Tuoba Tianbao accepted the official position granted to him by Murong Yang, or more precisely, by Liu Xuanji, which was also the Duke of Dai, the Commander-in-Chief of Bingzhou's military affairs, and the Envoy with Special Powers.

The difference is General Zhenbei.

The entire Hedong and Hebei regions quickly formed their lines.

Guanzhong, Yizhou, Longyou, Liangzhou, Jingbei, Jianghuai, which had long been under the control of the Li family, as well as the newly acquired Sili, Zhongyuan, Xuzhou and other areas, changed their flags and banners almost without any hindrance between March and April and became territories under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)