Li Yuan's four adult sons were all born to Dou. Among the four sons, Dou liked the second son Shimin the most, which is normal. After giving birth to several daughters, he finally gave birth to another son. He was extremely smart, so how could he not be loved by her?

More importantly, the Dou family supported the Qin King Li Shimin and always spoke well of Li Shimin in front of Empress Dou. Over time, Empress Dou became more partial to her second son in addition to loving her.

When Queen Dou heard her husband praise Shimin, she immediately smiled, "That child has been smart and capable since childhood. She has been sharing worries for the emperor as a teenager. Did the emperor forget it?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten, I still remember..."

Before Li Yuan finished speaking, an eunuch shouted loudly: "Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

This shout interrupted Li Yuan's words, and he nodded, "Please give him an audience!"

Queen Dou was a little disappointed. She glanced at Zhang Jieyu coldly, "Crown Prince is here, don't you know how to avoid it?"

Concubine Zhang was shocked and quickly put down the soup bowl, "I'm going to avoid it now."

She quickly bowed to Li Yuan and left from behind. Queen Dou snorted in displeasure, "Some people in the palace are becoming more and more ignorant of the rules. It seems that I am too tolerant."

Li Yuan knew that his wife was taking advantage of the problem, and that Zhang Jieyu did not avoid it in time, which was indeed a bit inappropriate. He had to smile bitterly in his heart and dare not say much.

At this time, Prince Li Jiancheng walked in quickly, but found that his mother was also in the room. He was shocked and hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down, "Son Minister Jiancheng, come to see his father, mother!"

Empress Dou is far from loving her eldest son as much as Li Shimin, but after all, she is her biological son, and she also smiles on her face, "Is the emperor here to visit her father's condition?"

"Yes! My son is worried about the dragon body of his father and the emperor, so he comes to visit him."

Li Yuan also nodded, "The emperor's son is flat!"

"Thank you, Father."

Li Jiancheng stood up, and hesitated a little in his heart. Is it appropriate for his mother to sue the second brother again? He knew that the mother loved her second brother very much, and he said too much. I am afraid that the mother's mother would be dissatisfied.

Li Yuan was so experienced. He could see at a glance that the prince looked strange and seemed to have something to say, so he smiled, "Is there anything important to the emperor?"

Li Jiancheng still wanted to say that if he didn't say it, the forces of Linjin Pass and Yongtong Cang would not be able to be saved. He said implicitly: "I have always been worried that the Sui army would attack Tongguan. But today I heard Luo Yi talk about it. Tongguan's second brother is now the head coach and commands the Tongguan army to defend closely. In this way, the Sui army will be flawless and the father can rest assured."

The mother lived in the deep palace and might not know the division of forces in the army. Li Jiancheng used this method to implicitly complain to his father. Dou did not realize it. She also heard about the discord between the two brothers from her parents' home.

But she didn't know that her two sons had reached the point where they were incompatible with each other in order to fight for the throne, and no one in the palace dared to tell her about this.

Dou thought his eldest son was praising his brothers, so she laughed with relief: "You brothers are all sharing the worries of the father. Just now your second brother submitted a memorial, and you were deeply praised by your father. You are the ruler of literature. Shimin governs martial arts. Brother Wen and martial arts can protect the Tang Dynasty forever."

Li Yuan understood that his second son Shimin took the opportunity to seize the military power in Tongguan and disrupted the balance of power. This was undoubtedly a mess in chaos. He was a little annoyed. But now he also needed his second son to defend Guanzhong for him, and it was not the time for his brother to turn against each other.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment and it had happened. It was impossible to let Shimin withdraw from the military power of Tongguan again. For the sake of the present plan, he could only give the prince another benefit and calm the brotherly dispute.

In fact, Li Yuan also considered that the prince had to hold certain military power to balance the Qin King's dominance in the army. Now most of the Guanlong army is in the hands of the Qin King, and Xiaogong also occupied the two major forces of Bashu and Jingxiang. If it was too lenient, it had to be divided into part of the prince. It happened that Xiaogong was defeated in this Central Plains War, so he could take the opportunity to adjust the distribution of power between them.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan said lightly: "The Sui army occupied the Central Plains, but its ambitions may not be willing to stop. I am very worried that the Sui army will attack Guanzhong. I am considering letting Shimin be fully responsible for defending Guanzhong. In addition, Xiaogong must also do his best to recruit troops in Jingxiang. Bashu and Hanzhong will not let him interfere. He does not have so much energy. I want you to recommend Hanzhong and Bashu General Managers. Who do you think is more suitable?"

Li Jiancheng was stunned and was immediately overjoyed. This was his father's intention to assign the military forces of Hanzhong and Bashu to him. Although his father had another meaning to make him give up Guandong, Guandong was nothing compared to Hanzhong and Bashu.

He almost did not think, "The son-in-law recommended Luo Yi as the general manager of Hanzhong. As for Bashu, it was a place where the imperial court had a lot of money and grain, and most people could not guard it. The son-in-law recommended the fourth brother Yuan Ji as the remaining guard in Shuzhong. The fourth brother was not experienced enough, so he could let Sheng Yanshi be the deputy and assist him."

It is a good suggestion to let the old four Yuan Ji guard Bashu, but Yuan Ji's defeat in Shan County still needs to be liquidated. Before the liquidation is completed, Li Yuan would not consider letting Yuan Ji take up an important position.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Okay! Let me think about it, I will make a decision as soon as possible. Is there anything else for the emperor?"

"Report to the emperor, and also about saving Dugu Huai'en, I want to discuss with my father."

...........

Queen Dou returned to the harem, and her anger was not gone. Thinking that Zhang Jieyu did not avoid the prince, the hatred in her heart once again surged into her heart.

Empress Dou was born into a Xianbei nobleman. She was not only the daughter of the Dou family, Guanlong nobleman, but also her mother was also a princess of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which made her attach great importance to the court etiquette system.

Concubine Zhang was also a child with many eldest sons and was born to charm the witch. If her husband was sick and they had been together for a long time, would they have gone there?

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The more Queen Dou thought about it, the more she became more and more angry she became. She immediately ordered: "Call Concubine Zhang to me!"

Zhang Jieyu was a palace concubine in the Sui Dynasty. Yang Guang liked to talk about pomp and repair the palace. According to the etiquette, he selected girls to enter the palace. However, he was not a lustful person. In just over ten years of emperorship, he spent most of his time inspecting the world. Most of the beautiful girls he chose became decorations, and Zhang Jieyu was one of the decorations.

However, Li Yuan was a very lustful person. When he was a minister, he needed to use the Dou family as the backstage and did not dare to indulge himself too much. However, after becoming the emperor, he showed his nature and came to the palace concubine unscrupulously. Among them, Zhang Jieyu and Yin Defei were the most favored, and their father and brother became successful because of this.

Zhang Jieyu is an extremely smart woman. She knew that the queen was already dissatisfied with her. In order to escape this disaster, she took off her heavy makeup as soon as she returned to the palace and changed into jewelry and palace clothes. Then she followed the palace maid to meet the queen.

Concubine Zhang knelt down in front of Queen Dou, lowered her eyebrows and said with a pleasing look: "Present maid Zhang, see the Queen!"

When Queen Dou saw that she had changed her makeup, she knew that she was afraid of herself and calmed down a little. But if she didn't punish her today, she would not know that the world was high.

‘Bang!’ Queen Dou slapped the table heavily and angrily said, “If I hadn’t reminded me today, would you have to serve the emperor with the prince?”

Concubine Zhang was so scared that she was shocked. She said hurriedly: "The palace maid must avoid it, because the empress is here today, and the palace maid dare not make decisions without authorization."

Queen Dou sneered. "What you mean is that if I'm not here, you can make the decision?"

She leaned forward again, her eyes were extremely stern, and said word by word: "You seem to hope that I will be away soon, right?"

Concubine Zhang was so scared that she was disgraced and waved her hands repeatedly, "No! No! The palace maids have no intention of this."

"Hmph! You know people, face, but not your heart. Who knows what you think? I don't care about this with you, but today the prince comes, you don't avoid it. Violating the palace rules, and you should be severely punished and come!"

Several strong palace maids stepped forward, and Queen Dou pointed at Zhang Jieyu, who was trembling all over. "Drag this bitch down and hold on to twenty!"

"Empress, let the palace maids spare you! The palace maids dare no longer!"

It was useless for Zhang Jieyu to beg for mercy again and again. Several strong palace maids dragged her down like a mother wolf and slapped her twenty times in the face. How could Zhang Jieyu bear the tender face? She was so slapped with her hair disheveled. The corners of her mouth were bleeding, and half of her face was swollen. She had no beauty, but she looked like a female yaksha.

Concubine Zhang was taken back again. She knelt on the ground, covered her face and said with tears in her eyes: "Thank you for your teachings. The palace maids remember the mistakes and dare not make them again."

Queen Dou knew that her husband was very fond of this woman, so she didn't dare to deal with her too ruthlessly. Her anger disappeared and said lightly: "Today is just a small warning, I'll give you a warning. If you dare to commit it again, I will take your life next time!"

Concubine Zhang kowtowed with tears in her eyes, "The palace maid thanks the Queen for her teachings!"

"Go! Don't let me see you again."

Concubine Zhang bowed and retreated. Queen Dou thought for a moment and ordered her to go, "Distribute today's severe punishment throughout the palace. Who dares to commit it again? This palace will be severely punished!"

...........

When Zhang Jieyu returned to her bedroom, she threw herself on the bed and started crying loudly. Several confidant palace maids and eunuchs repeatedly advised her that the queen was jealous of her favor and became angry like this, which shows that she was extremely loyal to the holy ones. She thought about it carefully and slowly stopped crying.

She sat in front of the dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror. Seeing that she was half-swept and ugly, she was bleeding from hatred. She gritted her teeth and whispered: "One day, I will kill this old bitch!"

Next to him was an old eunuch named Zhang Xiaozhong. He was from the same hometown and village as Zhang Jieyu, and even had some distant relatives. He was Zhang Jieyu's confidant and had a little brain.

He whispered, "Empress, don't worry too much. The empress is old and in poor health. It will take a few years to wait. The old slave advises the empress to look longer and find a backstage for herself."

Concubine Zhang pondered for a while and asked, "What do you think is the backstage?"

Zhang Xiaozhong sighed, "Actually, the priest is extremely lustful and indulging himself is not a sign of longevity. The old slave advises the empress to consider the long-term. What if the priest is hundreds of years later, what should the empress do?"

"Then what should I do? What's the background?" Zhang Jieyu asked in confusion.

Zhang Xiaozhong looked around and saw that there was no one around, and whispered: "Now the Empress is favored by the emperor and can blow the wind beside the pillow. This is the capital of the Empress. The Empress might as well use this capital to get the prince and speak kindly for the prince. In the future, the Prince will be grateful and repay the emperor and give him a good end."

Concubine Zhang was shocked, "I am just being blamed for this. You asked me to make friends with the prince. Wouldn't you kill me?"

Zhang Xiaozhong laughed, "The Empress misunderstood. The old slave does not mean that the Empress himself communicates with the prince, nor does it mean that the Empress and the Prince are concerned about making friends with the Prince. The old slave is saying that the Empress is making friends with the Prince. If there is anything, you can pass on the message through your father and brother."

Concubine Zhang thought for a long time and finally nodded.

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Chapter completed!