As the sun sets, the purple-red sunset shines on the golden dome of Tai Chi Palace, and a magnificent light shines on the glazed tiles, as if indicating the final glory of an empire.

The imperial study room was very quiet, the curtains had been pulled up to most of the time, and the sunset shot through the crack of the window, dyeing the entire east wall purple.

Li Yuan sat behind the imperial desk, as if an old monk had entered a meditation. I don’t know how long he had been sitting like this, one or half an hour?

He was knocked down by a piece of news. On his imperial case was a letter of eagle sent from Xiangyang. On the slender note was Li Xiaogong's handwritten letter, just a short line of words, "Li Mi has been wiped out by the Sui army, and Yang Yuanqing is in Jiangnan."

This news completely shattered Li Yuan's dream of dividing the north and south. From the time when Chang'an City was broken, he considered moving the capital to the south, Bashu or Xiangyang, and implementing the north and south division with the Sui Dynasty.

Now that the Sui army has occupied Jiangnan, his dream has been completely shattered. The next step for the Sui army must be to attack Jingxiang. What should he do... Li Jiancheng has been waiting outside the imperial study room for nearly half an hour. He neither dared to disturb his father's contemplation, but he did not dare to leave. He didn't know what happened, but he heard from the eunuchs that his father was in a very bad mood, which made his heart suffocate in the air.

However, Li Jiancheng also vaguely guessed that something might have happened in the south. At present, more than 100,000 Sui troops were under the pressure of Guanzhong, but there was no movement. The Central Plains was also very calm, so there could only be war in the south. Xiao Xian's army and Du Fuwei's army joined forces to deal with Li Mi. Could it be that the battle had reversed? Or did the Sui army send troops?

Just as Li Jiancheng was thinking about it, an eunuch came out to report: "Your Highness, Your Majesty, you will be welcomed by your Majesty."

Li Jiancheng calmed down and quickly walked into the imperial study room. There was no light in the room. The curtains were pulled, and only a trace of sunset shining into the room. The light seemed very dim. The two eunuchs stood tremblingly at the corner of the house, not daring to move.

Li Jiancheng pointed to the two crane-mouth immortal longevity lamps beside him and ordered the eunuch, "Light on the lamp!"

"Don't light the lights." Li Yuan's low voice came from the room.

Li Jiancheng hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "See Father!"

"I just received a message from Xiao Gong."

Li Yuan's voice was still very low, full of helplessness and melancholy, "Li Mi has perished. Now Yang Yuanqing is in Jiangnan."

"What?"

This news made Li Jiancheng stunned. Although he had guessed that the Sui army would interfere in the Battle of Jiangnan, the news of Li Mi's demise still made him unacceptable for a while.

Li Yuan sighed, "It should be that the Sui army detoured Jiangdu from the sea and conquered Li Mi's rear, making it difficult for Li Mi to take care of the beginning and end. He was defeated in one battle."

Li Yuan's sigh also included the words that were not said, that was that his second son Shimin had seen through the Sui army's plans in advance and asked the Tang army to support Li Mi. However, they refused, which made Li Yuan a little regretful. What would have happened if he heard Shimin's words at that time?

Li Jiancheng was at the bottom of his head, and he heard his father's sigh, which made him feel very uncomfortable. He pondered for a moment and said, "Although Shimin judged in advance that the Sui army would go on the sea, it was just his inference from the map. Without accurate information support, we cannot rashly send troops to the Central Plains for one inference and tear up the agreement signed with the Sui army. The father should understand that this is not realistic."

Li Yuan suddenly realized that he could not blame the prince too much, so he turned his tone and said, "I do not regret not sending troops to the Central Plains. As you said, this is just an inference. To tear down the Sui and Tang agreement for one inference, it must be a stupid decision. I do not regret it, it is just..."

Speaking of this, Li Yuan sighed, "But what should we do now?"

Li Yuan's eyes turned to Li Jiancheng, and he was asking him what to do now? Li Jiancheng had considered this question for a long time and had his own plan. But he never dared to express his thoughts easily, but now he couldn't say it. As the prince, he should bear this pressure.

"The suggestion of the father and son minister is to move the capital to Bashu and establish a new capital in Chengdu."

"Move the capital!"

Li Yuan's eyes became stern, "At least 70% of the officials in the court were from Guanlong. Do you think it is possible to move the capital to Bashu?"

"But Father, we must at least leave some consequences for ourselves. Once the Guanzhong crisis is in danger, we can move to Bashu in time. At least it's time to prepare now."

Li Jiancheng was not frightened by his father's harsh eyes. He knew his father's thoughts very well. In fact, his father had wanted to move the capital long ago, but he just didn't dare to implement it. Otherwise, why would he propose to transfer the food and food resources in Guanzhong to Bashu?

More importantly, we must face reality now and make the worst plans. If there is no prior arrangement, once the preparation is insufficient and the Sui army invades Guanzhong, they will not even have a way out. At least they will gradually transfer the resources of the capital to Bashu.

Li Jiancheng mustered up the courage to say: "If people do not have long-term plans, they will have immediate worries. We must make the worst plans."

The severity in Li Yuan's eyes gradually faded and became sad. After a while, he sighed and said, "I am just worried that once we show signs of moving the capital to Bashu, it will cause chaos in the government and the country, especially the nobles of Guanlong, they will not accept it, and it will cause greater riots. Therefore, I am in a dilemma and have difficulty making a decision."

The imperial study room was quiet, and neither of them spoke. For a moment, Li Jiancheng said: "The father is just a worry. Are the court officials really opposed to moving the capital to Bashu? In fact, there is no conclusion. The son officials think they can test it."

"How to test it?"

"For example, the father can announce that he will go to inspect Bashu and see the reactions of the government and the people."

Li Yuan pondered for a moment. This method was good. Let's take a look at how the subjects reacted... In the afternoon of that day, news came out of Tai Chi Palace that Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty would tour Bashu in ten days later. This news immediately caused a sensation in the court and the people and the capital. Since ancient times, emperors' tours have always been a major event. Many times, it is actually a synonym for the emperor's escape.

For example, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui visited Jiangdu in the south, but in fact he fled to Jiangdu and never returned to Luoyang. Especially at such a sensitive moment, when more than 100,000 Sui troops were approaching the border and a war would break out at any time, the emperor suddenly announced that he would go to visit Bashu in the south. This really made people doubt his real motive.

As soon as the news came out, there were many discussions in the entire capital, and almost everyone fell into a sense of panic and was deeply anxious about the future and destiny of the Tang Dynasty. The public opinion crisis caused by the breach of Chang'an was triggered again after being silent for less than a month.

Dugu Zhen felt a little sick these days and took sick leave to rest at home. But in fact, he has been inspecting major manors in Guanzhong these days and returned to the Central Plains at noon today. But as soon as he returned to the Central Plains, he met the news that Li Yuan was going to make a southern tour.

This news also shocked him. He immediately keenly captured the profound meaning hidden behind Li Yuan's southern tour. Li Yuan was most likely to want to move the capital to Bashu.

This made Dugu Zhen angry. The Guanlong nobles exhausted countless money and food, supported the Tang Dynasty and supported him, Li Yuan. But in the end, Li Yuan wanted to abandon them ruthlessly. Where was the integrity?

Dugu Zhen paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. Although he had decided to surrender to the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan's attempt to move the capital to Bashu still deeply hurt him.

Thinking of the Dugu family giving up most of Luoyang's property when Li Yuan raised his army to return to Guanzhong, thinking that in the past three years, the Dugu family had almost exhausted nearly 60% of their money and food to support the Tang Dynasty, but in the end they were in vain.

An uncontrollable anger and disappointment deeply hurt Dugu Zhen's heart. The Dugu family might be able to surrender to the Sui Dynasty and save some interests. What about other Guanlong families? What should they do?

As the leader of the Guanlong nobles, Dugu Zhen felt that he had to take action and could not let Li Yuan hurt them without any scruples.

At this time, footsteps sounded outside the door, and then Dugu Liang's voice came, "Master, can I come in?"

"Come in!"

Dugu Liang walked into the room. He saw Dugu Zhen’s unconcealable anger, and smiled and said, “Is the head of the family angry about Li Yuan’s southern tour of Bashu?”

Dugu Zhen held back his anger and sat down, "Of course I'm doing this. What do you think he's going to visit Bashu in the south?"

"I think he is testing our attitude towards his move to Bashu. If no one opposes his southern tour of Bashu, perhaps he will really announce his move to the south. If everyone opposes fiercely, the southern tour will be left alone. In short, he himself wants to move the capital to Bashu."

Dugu Zhen sighed, "Since the city of Chang'an has been broken, the Tang Dynasty has begun to have a disintegration. Li Yuan did not find a way to fight a fierce battle to unite people's hearts, but he went to negotiate with the Sui Dynasty and signed those treaties that were powerless and humiliating, and survived in vain. It was really heartbreaking! How many days can such an imperial court support?"

Dugu Liang said in silence: "Maybe he wants to lie on firewood and taste gall, at least I think the prince is thinking so."

"Sleeping on firewood and tasting gall? Humph!"

Dugu Zhen snorted coldly, "I have been fighting for power all day long. I can't see where he is lying on firewood and trying to regain his military power. Did he take it back? Since he wants to collect military power, he should make a quick decision and imprison the King of Qin directly, but in the end he let him run away and hold military power. Now, he will see how he collects military power, it will probably be left in the end. I am worried that if this continues, how many days will the Tang Dynasty take to consume?"

Dugu Liang was silent for a moment and whispered to him, "Have the head of the family forgotten? We have reached a compromise with Yang Yuanqing."

"I know, I just hate Li Tang for being unable to help him. It's useless to waste the Dugu family supporting him so much. If we had known, we should have supported Yang Yuanqing in Fengzhou at the beginning, and we wouldn't have lost 70% of the land."

Dugu Zhen sighed hatefully, and he felt bloody hatred in his heart. This was his mistake as the head of the family, but it was this mistake that had brought a significant impact on the Dugu family and made him sigh and sigh.

But today Dugu Liang came to find the head of the family not for this matter, but for another thing. Seeing Dugu Zhen mentioning Qin King Li Shimin several times, but not mentioning that matter at all, he couldn't help but remind him: "Have the head of the family forgotten? Yang Yuanqing reduced the land of the Dugu family from 80% to 70%, but there is conditions."

Dugu Zhen trembled all over. He really forgot about that matter, thanks to Dugu Liang's reminder.

He nodded, "I get it, I will find a way to promote internal strife between their brothers."

As soon as he said this, the butler's report came from outside the door: "Master, Prime Minister Dou is here...

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