"Beast, kneel down for me!"

Li Yuan was furious and knocked Li Shimin to the ground with a slap, pointing at him and cursing, "I don't have a cruel and vicious son like you, and I dare to shoot my own brothers. Do you still have any brotherhood in your heart?"

Li Shimin knelt on the ground and lowered his head and said, "When his father ordered the arrow to be fired, he did not consider his life and death..."

Li Shimin's implication is that in fact, his father also wanted to kill Li Zhiyun in his heart, but he just did it himself. It would be fine if he didn't say it. This sentence made Li Yuan even more angry and rush up and kicked Li Shimin to the ground.

"You bastard, what are you talking about?"

Li Yuan was furious. He picked up a stick from the corner and beat Li Shimin to the head, "I'll kill you beast!"

Li Shimin did not dodge, hit his forehead with one stick, blood flowed. Li Yuan refused to let go, and then hit him with the second stick. Li Jiancheng finally couldn't bear it anymore. Although he also hated Shimin for killing his younger brother, Shimin's face was covered in blood, which made him unable to bear it. One brother had died and could not die another. He rushed up and grabbed his father's arm and knelt down, begging: "Father, no one can be resurrected after death, so spare the second brother!"

At this time, Li Yuan's wife Dou also rushed in, hugged Li Shimin's head and cried, "Master, I'm willing to die for Erlang, you should beat me to death!"

Li Xuanba also knelt on the ground and cried. He didn't understand what was going on? Seeing that the second son's forehead was bleeding, Li Yuan threw the stick on the ground with hatred, pointing at Li Shimin and cursing, "Get out! I don't want to see you again. Get out!"

...........

Li Yuan drove everyone out of the study room, and he sat down in pain. In the past three days, he was in the happiest cloud in his life. The emperor's throne was next to him, and he could sit down at any time, but Yang Yuanqing's arrival instantly pulled him from the clouds to hell, allowing him to taste the pain of losing his son. But he was killed by another son...

Li Yuan's heart became extremely dark at this moment. In fact, Li Shimin was not wrong. The moment Yang Yuanqing pulled Li Zhiyun out, Li Yuan's first thought was to kill Li Zhiyun and silence him. He must not let the incident of colluding with the Turks spread, but his second son Li Shimin turned his thoughts into reality.

This is an extremely contradictory psychology. On the one hand, Li Shimin's sinister decisiveness and decisiveness in doing great things made him secretly praise. On the other hand, he hated Li Shimin for killing his brothers. This contradictory psychology put Li Yuan in a painful and entangled state that he didn't know.

He thought about the future, one day, would his second son Shimin kill him and seize the throne? A chill broke out in Li Yuan's heart.

At this time, Li Jiancheng's voice came from outside the door, "Father Pei Changshi is here."

Li Yuan was in a state of confusion and he couldn't think of it, but after a second thought, it was Pei Ji, so he must see him, and he said, "Let him come in!"

After a moment, Pei Ji walked in and asked with concern: "Donald Tang is still angry?"

Li Yuan asked Pei Ji to sit down. He sighed, "The unscrupulous son harms his brothers and sisters. How can I not be angry?"

Pei Ji was the only person in the matter, and Li Yuan ordered the arrows to be fired. At that time, the arrows were fired at once, and Li Shimin took this opportunity to shoot Li Zhiyun. Basically no one knew it, but Li Yuan was standing on the left of Li Shimin. He found Li Shimin shooting arrows, and Pei Ji was standing on the right of Li Shimin. He also found Li Shimin shooting arrows. In addition to the two of them, Li Jiancheng was standing behind Li Shimin. He also saw it. Except for these three people, almost no one knew that Li Shimin shot Li Zhiyun, so this was the reason why Li Yuan wanted to see Pei Ji. He could not let Pei Ji tell him about this.

Pei Ji smiled slightly, "That depends on why Shimin wanted to shoot arrows. If it is for the sake of fighting for power and profit, it is not allowed to be careless, but he is not. He is for the sake of protecting your reputation of Tang Duke. It can be said that he killed his brother for his father. The saint of Zhou Gong killed his brother and released his brother, and it is still called destroying relatives for the sake of justice. However, Shimin can be called killing his brother for the sake of the overall situation and for the sake of his father's country. Isn't this a killing relatives for the sake of justice? If Zhiyun did not harm the reputation of Tang Duke and the country, I think Shimin would never shoot this arrow."

Although Pei Ji gave Li Yuan the military supplies of Jinyang Palace when Li Yuan raised his army, giving Li Yuan the capital to raise his army, making Pei Ji the number one hero of the uprising, and was therefore named Chief Secretary and became Li Yuan's most trusted subordinate.

But Li Yuan’s trust in Pei Ji was not because of the supplies in Jinyang Palace, but because Pei Ji had a very thorough understanding of Li Yuan’s mind. He could relieve Li Yuan’s worries at the most critical moment. For example, now, he knew that Li Yuan actually wanted to kill his son Li Zhiyun and silence him. He did not really hate Li Shimin for killing his brother, but they needed a step to free them from the ethical sin of killing his son and killing his brother.

So Pei Ji had the excuse of destroying his relatives for justice, and this was the best way to not only Li Shimin but also Li Yuan.

Li Yuan's heart suddenly relaxed, he walked out of the darkness, and he was filled with gratitude. After a while, Li Yuan sighed: "Not everyone can be as wise as Mr. Pei. I hope Mr. Pei will not make any public information about this matter."

"Of course, three people become tigers, and I don't want Shimin to be mistaken for being a vicious person."

Li Yuan felt relieved and snorted heavily and said, "The root of this incident is Yang Yuanqing. He had ulterior motives and threatened my son. As a result, a human relationship tragedy occurred. I, Li Yuan, will remember this hatred of killing my son in my heart."

Pei Ji smiled bitterly in his heart. In fact, the root of this incident was Li Yuan himself. He sent his son to the Turks as a stalemate, which eventually led to today's tragedy. However, Pei Ji did not dare to say this. He pondered for a moment and asked: "Tang Gong believes that what is the real purpose of Yang Yuanqing coming to Guanzhong?"

Li Yuan was also in deep thought. Of course, he would not think that Yang Yuanqing came to Guanzhong in person just to expose himself. Yang Yuanqing was not such an impulsive person, nor was he avenging his father. With Yang Yuanqing's identity and cunning, and Li Yuan's understanding of Yang Yuanqing, he knew that Yang Yuanqing must have a deeper and greater plan when he came to Guanzhong in person. What would that be?

Li Yuan glanced at Pei Ji, and saw that he was smiling mysteriously, and suddenly realized it in his heart, and said, "It turns out that Mr. Pei had already thought about why he didn't come early? It made me think hard and confused."

Pei Ji said apologetically: "Actually, Bei Zhi suddenly thought that Bei Zhi thought that Yang Yuanqing's real goal might be the same as that of Duke Tang."

Li Yuan suddenly reacted, "Does Pei refer to Guannei and Longyou?"

Pei Ji nodded slowly, "Apart from that, I can't think of any purpose he has."

Li Yuan stroked his beard and pondered. His next step was to take Guannei and Longyou, consolidate the rear, and then turn east to fight for the Central Plains. Yang Yuanqing controlled the six counties in the north of Guan, and especially directly occupied Lingwu County. He was very likely to expand to Honghua County and Pingliang County based on Lingwu County. Therefore, his personal journey south was actually a signal of his power going south.

This is absolutely not possible! If you only have the Guanzhong and no Guannei and Longyou, it is like a person with only a head but no limbs and torso, Li Yuan will never do it.

"The matter is urgent, I will immediately deploy troops to capture Guannei and Longyou."

Li Yuan finally made up his mind. At this time, he remembered something again and asked worriedly: "Today Yang Yuanqing publicly accused me of colluding with the Turks. I am very worried that the people will change. What good way does Mr. Pei have to save me?"

Pei Ji smiled slightly and said, "The people are stupid and follow the crowd. As long as the Tang Duke repeatedly explains, the fifth prince was stolen by Yang Yuanqing from Taiyuan. The so-called letter is also a fake book. The Turks in the army are just horse sellers. Yang Yuanqing deliberately slandered Mr. Tang in order to avenge the murder of his father. In this way, the people will believe it."

Li Yuan nodded, Pei Ji made a point, and Pei Ji smiled and said, "In fact, most ordinary people are people who forget the righteousness when they see small profits. As long as the Tang Duke uses a little trick, the people in Guanzhong can praise the virtues of Tang Duke, and no one cares about the pain of the Turkic attack on the border."

Li Yuan asked curiously: "How to do it specifically?"

"It's very simple. Mr. Tang only said that military expenditure was tight. Before the transportation of Taiyuan, he borrowed 100 coins from each family in Chang'an and returned it with 130 coins three days later. If every household is willing to borrow it, it means that Mr. Tang has not lost his reputation. After three days, Mr. Tang will repay it with 130 good money. People in Chang'an will only say that Mr. Tang is a honest person, and no one will say bad things about Mr. Tang again."

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes and smiled, "This is a very good word!"

...........

In the afternoon of the same day, soldiers posted loan notices in various halls in Chang'an. The military expenditure was tight, and each household temporarily borrowed 100 coins and returned 130 coins in three days. Everything was voluntary and never forced.

One hundred coins were not much, just a hanging of money, and they could only buy three liters of rice. Every household could take it out. The next morning, Fang was going to write IOUs to collect money from house to house. Except for a few stingy families, almost every household was willing to lend money to Li Yuan's army. However, most of them were bad money minted six years later. Three days later, Li Yuan ordered people to return all the capital and interest, and they were all good money during the Kaihuang period. For a time, Li Yuan's reputation soared, and everyone praised him as a virtuous and generous elder. Except for a few people who were still talking about the bad reputation of colluding with the Turks, most people forgot it, or they no longer took it seriously.

The image crisis Li Yuan faced in Guanzhong was easily resolved by 130 cents. For a well-known family, it was not important for Li Yuan to collude with the Turks. What is important is what kind of benefits can Li Yuan bring to their family?

...........

Yang Yuanqing's five thousand cavalry had left Guanzhong and the army retreated to Pingliang County. As Dou Kang led his army to resist Yang Xuangan's attack on Fufeng County, the troops in Guan and Longyou counties had been recruited and all the defenses of each county were empty. Yang Yuanqing led 10,000 cavalry to go south without any obstacles.

Pingliang County's strategy is extremely important. It is the throat of Xiaoguan Road entering Guanzhong. Especially the twenty-mile-long Danzheng Gorge, which is also the main throat of Liupan Mountain. Also known as Sanguankou, there is one mile at the widest point of Danzheng Gorge, and less than one meter at the narrowest point. There are cliffs on both sides of the shore. It can be said that defending Danzheng Gorge will cut off Xiaoguan Road and is a place that must be fought for by military strategists.

Yang Yuanqing's five thousand cavalry were stationed at the west entrance of Danzheng Gorge. That afternoon, Liu Wenjing came to negotiate with Yang Yuanqing under the order of Li Yuan.

...........

[It's Monday, everyone voted for a recommendation vote for Lao Gao!]

(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!