Chapter 382 You Should Encourage
What is an open conspiracy? It is to put everything on the table, yet still make people submit.

Such as the Enfeoffment Order.

Such as the golden knife plan.

Li Yuanhui actually had figured out Li Yuan's thoughts, but he was still helpless.

First of all, the relationship between the emperor, his subjects, and his son is righteous and just. If you don’t want to learn from your second brother, you can only accept it passively.

But every policy has its countermeasure. Even if we want him to fight desperately to consume the enemy's resources, he needs the cooperation of Liu Xuanji in the north.

Will Liu Xuanji fight him to exhaustion? Li Yuanhui doesn't think so.

He originally wanted to come to Chang'an to give them a little shock, but the gentlemen in Chang'an really didn't like him.

But it doesn’t matter. Even if the old man’s trick is ineffective and cannot achieve his goal of consumption, when the Northern Expedition really comes, his army will still have to take the lead.

Unless they gave up the Heyang line and directly guarded the Yellow River, the natural barrier of the Yellow River would become a shared property of all, and the river bridge would become an obstacle to transporting grain, and the Tang Dynasty could only send troops to Hebei from Hedong and Jinyang.

But this is very dangerous. If you don't do it right, it can easily lead to a sudden flood. So unless it is absolutely necessary, this should not be done, and it is easy to be criticized.

After talking with a few trusted aides for a while, someone came to the Qin Palace and said that the Qin Prince would hold a banquet tomorrow and invited the families of the King of Jin, the King of Qi, Princess Pingyang and Prince Zhaode to come to his house for a chat.

Li Yuanhui naturally agreed.

On the second day, Li Yuanhui and the female members of the palace, including the princess, several wives, and two imperial grandchildren, went to the Prince of Qin's palace for a banquet.

A group of half-grown children were playing pitch pots, and the two children in the Qi Wangfu were basically just spectators. The adults and female relatives gathered together to play cards, forming three tables.

Li Erze took his two brothers to the backyard of the palace and talked about business.

"Now is not a good time to attack Wei. I think the Tang Dynasty should deploy troops in the order of attacking the north first and then the south, and attacking the difficult first and then the easy."

"Second brother is absolutely right."

"Then, fourth brother, are you willing to lend me a helping hand in the court?"

"This"

Li Er's words made Li Yuanhui understand his plan.

Unlike what Li Yuan thought, Li Er sought military merit in conquering Northern Yan rather than weakening the power of his Qi Palace. But having said this, Li Yuanhui could not agree to Li Er's request.

Because as long as Li Yuanhui publicly supports the use of military force against Northern Yan, then Li Yuan will definitely let him lead his army to the north and send troops to Hebei.

And they will not provide him with any additional support, at most they will just make a feint attack in the direction of Bingzhou to cooperate with him.

What Li Er wanted was to send troops to destroy Northern Yan, and then use this military achievement to get the position of crown prince. But in order to send troops to Northern Yan, he needed the support of the third and fourth brothers, and even the support of the fourth brother, who was the governor of the military affairs of Guandong and the governor of Shaanxi East Road, was crucial.

Seeing that the fourth brother was a little hesitant, Li Er did not say anything else. The three brothers stood together in silence so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Second brother, it's not that Silang doesn't want to help you. Aye is just waiting for him to fall into the trap." Li San, who couldn't stand it any longer, finally solved the mystery.

Li Er frowned at first, then smiled. He soon understood what the third brother meant. Li Si also sighed and said, "Second brother, we don't have to hide our relationship. You have made great contributions to the current situation of the Tang Dynasty. Third brother and I both respect you. But the left and right guards have been soldiers who have followed me for many years. Now Aye is worried about me and wants me to fight with Liu Xuanji until both of us lose. How can I bear it?"

Li Er was speechless when he heard this, because Li Si made the matter clear.

This clearly told him that it was not that I didn't want to help him, but that if I helped him, I would fall into a trap. Although Li Er also felt that Li Si might become too powerful to be defeated, he couldn't say no.

Because Li Si openly expressed in front of Li Yuan that he supports you, the second brother, to be the crown prince.

Everyone supports you to rule the world, what else do you want?

The third and fourth brothers are both capable and qualified to compete with him. Now they support you, but you still want to use them as cannon fodder. This is unreasonable anyway, right?

Li Er said with some self-mockery, "I never thought that the world is not yet unified, but fathers and sons are not like fathers and sons, and rulers and subjects are not like rulers and subjects. Haha, why is it so?"

Li San and Li Si were also somewhat bored after hearing this. After a while, Li San said, "Aye is very experienced. He will definitely force you, Silang, to fight Liu Xuanji to the death, and then he will lead the army to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out. You might as well agree to it first. After all, you will have the final say on how to act in Luoyang. As for the court, my second brother and I will naturally help you sort it out. In short, just wait and see. Unless Aye wants to lead the army himself, you don't have to care about Chang'an."

Li Si nodded and said, "For now, this is the only solution. But my second brother..."

Li San said: "You haven't seen it clearly yet? Even if my second brother destroys Northern Yan, my father may not be willing to fulfill Jinyang's promise. In my opinion, it is better to directly mobilize the ministers to recommend."

Li Si heard this and said, "Absolutely not. If the ministers really recommend him, wouldn't Grandpa think we are forcing him to abdicate? Grandpa is already afraid of Second Brother's popularity. I think it would be better to wait until the New Year to worship the ancestors and let a few uncles from the royal family take the lead and hint at him by saying 'the position of Crown Prince is vacant and people's hearts are unstable'. Grandpa will then understand."

Upon hearing this, Li Er and Li San also nodded, because this method was relatively gentle!
Li Yuan was already quite old, and generally speaking, the emperor should immediately appoint a crown prince after having a legitimate son. However, since the Tang Dynasty was just established, it was understandable that Li Yuan delayed the process for some reasons.

But the vacant position of the crown prince still has a huge impact. If a few brothers in the clan hint at it, Li Yuan might really have to consider this aspect.

Because the Li family is not a small family, it is a noble family.

After you became emperor, you delayed in appointing a crown prince. Are you planning to select an outstanding young man from your clan to succeed you?
After all, Li Yuan's family was not actually the eldest branch. The late Zheng Wang Li Shenfu was the eldest branch and was the patriarch during his lifetime.

Li Shenfu's son, Li Huaizhen, the Prince of Zhao, was the one whose achievements and reputation were second only to the three kings. There were even some sayings that Li Yuan went to Shuzhong and relied on Li Shenfu's prestige in Shuzhong to get the support of the people of Shu and leave Qinling Mountains and enter Guanzhong.

Li Yuan actually recognized this point, so among his brothers, only his cousin Li Shenfu was conferred the title of prince, while the others were all county kings.

But if people keep saying this, it will be a bit annoying. So Li Silang is planning to start from another angle and force Li Yuan to consider the issue of appointing a crown prince.

After all, there are some things that you really can't give people hope for, and you can't leave any room for them, otherwise there will be trouble.

After the three brothers came up with a plan, they felt much better and went to the front hall to drink and have fun.

When Li Yuan heard that his sons and daughters had gathered together for a banquet again, he brought the court painter to visit the Qin Palace and enjoy family happiness with his sons, daughters, and grandchildren.

The banquet lasted until very late. Princess Pingyang and her three brothers personally escorted Li Yuan to the carriage and respectfully sent him back to the palace.

However, before the fight started, Li Yuanhui was called over by Li Yuan and whispered a few words to him.

Li Yuanhui was stunned when he heard this, but Li Yuan patted him on the shoulder, got on the carriage and left.

"Your second brother has a leg disease, you have to work harder."

(End of this chapter)