Chapter 233 Mutation
"Your Majesty, Prince Qi, has some truth in what you said, but please forgive me for refusing. Your Majesty sent me here because he hoped that the matter would be handled impartially, not because he wanted to consider the overall situation."

Li Yuanji looked at Wei Zheng's face and suppressed his impulse to pounce on him and beat him beyond recognition, then strangle him to death by grabbing his neck.

"Oh, I really don't know how my brother can tolerate you. If I were the emperor, I would tear you into pieces."

"Your Highness, I will also inform His Majesty of your words."

"Do you think I really don't dare to kill you?"

Wei Zheng leaned forward slightly and said, "I thought that Your Highness the Prince of Qi did not have the courage to do so."

In the eye-to-eye contest, Li Yuanji was the first to look away. No matter how cruel he pretended to be, it could not change the fact that he did not dare to kill the imperial envoy.

Wei Zheng shook his head with some regret: "He doesn't even have the courage to fight. Not to mention compared with Your Majesty, even compared with His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, Your Royal Highness is far inferior!"

Li Yuanji finally couldn't bear it anymore. He stood up, leaned over, grabbed Wei Zheng's robe, and almost lifted it up.

Wei Zheng's expression did not change at all: "He has some courage, but I don't know what contributions he made in the founding of our dynasty?"

"You want to provoke me to kill you?"

Wei Zheng smiled and nodded: "If you were an ordinary citizen, you would have been beheaded long ago for what you did. If you can use my life to get justice for the innocent people, it will be worth it."

Under Wei Zheng's contemptuous gaze, Li Yuanji loosened his hand and said, "Your Highness, Prince of Qi, I will take those people away. You should also rush to Chang'an immediately."

.........

At night, Li Jiancheng sat beside the queen and asked, "How many palace maids have been released?"

“Nearly four thousand.”

"Four thousand is not a small amount." Li Jiancheng nodded: "But I heard that the emperor is unwilling to release them?"

Xiao Chanyan took off her phoenix hairpin and said, "I only sent someone to ask once, but my father was not particularly willing, so I just ignored it. I can't let the people think that your majesty and I are treating the emperor harshly and end up being accused of being unfilial."

Filial piety can sometimes make people feel uncomfortable. Li Jiancheng was dissatisfied in his heart, but he still smiled and said, "That's right. There is no shortage of those people around my father and mother."

Because of Li Yuanji, the originally relaxed relationship between father and son immediately became distant and hostile again.

Originally, the father and son had a tacit understanding, and Li Jiancheng also promised not to kill Li Yuanji. However, after Li Yuan met Pei Ji and some members of the royal family, his attitude changed again.

He returned to the standard aristocratic mentality, thinking that as long as his youngest son did not rebel, then it would not be a big deal.

Even if the family has not reached this position, as fathers and brothers, they should do their best to take care of their fellow countrymen, not to mention that the Li family already owns the world.

The emperor should naturally be supreme, but it is also natural for his brothers to enjoy wealth and honor.

It's not that Li Jiancheng didn't try to have a heart-to-heart talk with him, but the result was that they simply could not reach an agreement. Li Yuan even began to openly order him around.

It is obvious that the ambition of the emperor was aroused by certain people.

If it was before the founding of the country, this matter would be easy to handle. There were not so many rules and regulations when conquering the world, and there were no censors or ministers under your command who were qualified to speak up.

But now that the country has been established, Li Jiancheng's every move has been recorded by historians, and his every word and action has been advised and restrained by censors. In addition, Li Yuan also occupies the character of filial piety, which is really amazing. "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother's health is getting worse, and I am very worried."

Li Jiancheng frowned when he heard this. In fact, he and Li Yuan had no feelings for each other. Even when they were children, the father and son would only talk to each other when they were practicing archery.

But it was different with Dou. People are always kind-hearted. After enjoying maternal love for twenty years, she really had feelings of admiration for her.

"Doesn't the imperial physician have any good prescriptions? Tomorrow I will issue an imperial decree to offer a generous reward to a good doctor to treat my mother's illness."

Since giving birth to Li Yuanji, Dou's health has been poor. She has sought help from countless famous doctors and miraculous medicines. Li Jiancheng actually knows that this condition cannot be cured by medicine or food.

In the future, we should summon Shi Min, Xuan Ba ​​and Xiu Ning to the palace more often to accompany her, so that the queen mother can enjoy more family happiness.

After the couple turned off the lights, they began to chat in low voices again. They had never been so close to each other when they were first married, but since he ascended the throne, the emperor and empress had become closer and closer day by day.

After talking about trivial matters, the two of them were about to deal with the matters of yin and yang between heaven and earth. The emperor and empress only had one son now, which was naturally not enough, and they had to continue to have children for the country.

But before it officially began, it was interrupted by a servant outside the palace. The female official said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent military report. The ministers have arrived at the front court to wait for Your Majesty."

The couple stood up immediately. The empress did not even bother to dress herself, but hurriedly helped the emperor to dress. The palace maids also came in with court robes that had been scented with incense to serve him.

After leaving the bedroom, he got on the sedan chair and went straight to the Xuanzheng Hall, and ordered people to let the ministers in quickly. After all, it was night time, and they could not enter the palace without an imperial decree.

Li Jiancheng arrived at the main hall first, and then the civil and military officials filed in. The emperor said directly: "Okay, no need to be polite, let's discuss politics first. What's the urgent report?"

Pei Ji stepped out and replied, "Your Majesty, the two Turkic tribes that were originally fighting suddenly stopped fighting and made peace. They gathered 200,000 troops and marched south together. They have passed Lingwu and are approaching the capital!"

Qin Shubao, Li Mi, Xu Shiji and others immediately stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, we request your order to send troops to resist the Turks and protect the capital!"

Fang Xuanling stepped out and said: "Your Majesty, if we are caught off guard and lose the war, then the country will be in danger. It is better to follow the example of Emperor Kaihuang and appease him with gold, silver, silk and satin, and avoid the war for the time being so as to plan for the future."

Shan Xiongxin angrily accused Fang Xuanling: "When facing a powerful enemy, dodging left and right will lead to the loss of morale. That is the danger."

Fang Xuanling said sincerely: "I know that you are all brave generals, and I also know that you are not afraid of dying in battle for your country and your king, but this is a matter of life and death for the country, you can't win by blood and bravery, you should worry about losing!"

Qin Shubao held Shan Xiongxin back and said, "We warriors will only obey your majesty's orders."

Everyone's eyes finally fell on Li Jiancheng. Among them, Li Mi suddenly felt much more comfortable. It was really not easy to serve the lord.

It is easy to enjoy yourself, but it is difficult to make decisions when life and death are at stake.

Li Jiancheng had no time to consider why the two tribes suddenly joined forces, nor did he care why Tong Yehu, who had been actively seeking an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, suddenly went back on his word.

The most urgent task now is how to make them withdraw their troops, and this battle must not become a battle to attack and defend the capital, otherwise the world that has been stabilized with great difficulty will be in turmoil again.

There are about 200,000 soldiers and horses in the capital, but it is impossible for all of them to go to fight. At least 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses must be left behind in Chang'an to avoid complete defeat.

That is the disadvantage in military strength. At least it will be like this within ten days or half a month before the troops from various places arrive to support the king.

You can still fight, but it’s better not to fight. In order to avoid fighting, you have to fight first when the time comes!
...............

(End of this chapter)