Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4700: Establishment of the Old Department

There is an armory on the west side of the Chongwen Pavilion in the Eastern Palace, which is adjacent to the Taiji Palace through a wall and is less than a hundred feet away from the Wude Hall. When Li Daozon led his army to attack the Taiji Palace and headed straight for the Wude Hall, Jin Bummin's three thousand "Hwarang" were hiding here. They rushed out at the critical moment and almost defeated Li Daozon directly.

The armory covers a huge area. It not only has warehouses for storing weapons, armor, and ice blade ordnance, but also has barracks with a garrison of one thousand soldiers, who are the guards of the Eastern Palace and directly protect the safety of the crown prince.

It is also separated from the Wude Hall armory by a wall, so they can support each other in times of crisis.

As the sky was just getting bright, the huge palace slowly woke up from its silence. Water carts drove into the palace, and carriages carrying night incense and sundries left the city from Xuande Gate. Palace servants from various palaces began to work, sweeping the ground and washing away stains. As the sun rose, the palace gradually became lively.

After getting up in the morning, Li Anyan personally led his guards to exercise. After returning, he took a bath and changed clothes in the barracks on the side of the armory, had a simple breakfast, dealt with official documents for a while, had someone make tea, and drank it leisurely.

His current official title is "Donggong Qianniu Beishen", which was inherited from the Northern Wei Dynasty, meaning "an attendant holding a Qianniu sword to guard the Eastern Palace". He is responsible for the Eastern Palace guards, which seems to be an important position, but in fact there are no chores. There are several "Donggong Qianniu Beishen", who are in charge of different areas of the Eastern Palace. He only needs to record the entries and exits of the armory, be responsible for the maintenance of weapons, and the safety of this area.

So many years have passed, the vigor and vitality of those days have long since dissipated like yesterday's smoke, hatred has been buried deep in the heart, and gradually accepted this peaceful and quiet life...

There were footsteps outside the door, and then someone walked into the room without notifying anyone: "Big brother!"

Li Anyan put down his teacup, frowned and looked at his younger brother Li Siliang who pushed the door open, and said unhappily: "How can you enter and leave the Forbidden Palace and the military camp without permission? You don't know the rules at all!"

Li Siliang didn't care. He walked in and sat opposite his brother. He poured himself a cup of tea and drank it. He praised: "Good tea!"

Then he looked up at the furnishings in the room, sighed, and said, "It's a pity that my brother, a great hero, has now fallen on hard times and has to condescend to this humble room. His ambitions cannot be realized and his talents cannot be displayed. It's really a pity."

Li Anyan sat upright, not even raising his eyelids: "If you have something to say, just say it. If you have something to fart, just fart. You are so sarcastic. Do you want me to chase you away?"

The two brothers have completely different personalities. Li Anyan is old-fashioned, simple and meticulous, while Li Siliang is lively, cheerful and optimistic. Therefore, after the great changes that year, Li Anyan is only a "Eastern Palace Qianniu Beishen" today, while Li Siliang is already a Tongshi Sheren beside His Majesty. Together with Li Jingxuan and others, he has gained the trust of Li Chengqian and has a bright future...

Li Siliang said helplessly: "Brother, you are a very boring person. Otherwise, with your talent and military strategy, why are you trapped in this East Palace? You should have led the army to fight and conquer the four directions, established great achievements, and revitalized the family. Why did you let the rats like Fang Er run rampant and arrogant?"

These words hit Li Anyan's chest like a hammer, making him look a little dazed.

Leading troops to fight and conquer the four directions was once his supreme ambition...

Rubbing his temple, Li Anyan shook his head and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Fang Jun has made great contributions and is both civil and military. Do you think he is just a lucky person? You are now at the side of His Majesty, obeying His Majesty's orders. You should be careful in what you say and do. You and I are where we are today thanks to the forgiveness of Emperor Taizong. Don't be reckless."

Li Siliang whispered, "Emperor Taizong is indeed magnanimous, but can your Majesty compare to him? Even if your Majesty is magnanimous, what about the Crown Prince? What about the future Emperor? Brother, don't forget the big mistake you made back then. Sooner or later, there will be a time to settle accounts. When that time comes, where will you, my brother, and our family, wives and children go?"

Li Anyan stared at his brother and asked word by word: "What do you want to say?"

Li Siliang said: "Only by completely washing away the mistakes of the past can the whole family be at peace and there will be no worries about the extinction of the descendants."

Li Anyan remained silent, his thoughts seemed to go back to that night in the ninth year of Wude...

The entire Taiji Palace was filled with blood and fire, with corpses lying everywhere and blood flowing like a river under the city walls. When he was isolated outside the Xuanwu Gate and fought hard but heard the news that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were defeated and killed, he was heartbroken, but did not lay down his arms and surrender. Instead, he led his troops in a bloody battle and strived to repay his country with his death.

He was not only Li Jiancheng's subordinate, but also Li Jiancheng's brother-in-law. His wives were both from the Zheng family of Xingyang. Li Jiancheng always regarded him as his confidant and treated him with great favor.

Feng Li could surrender, Xie Shufang could surrender, but he, Li Anyan, could not.

However, he was captured after a fierce battle, and had to surrender for the sake of his family. This made him feel ashamed, and he was even inferior to Xue Wanche, a vulgar man whom he had always looked down upon. The latter was able to gather the remaining troops to counterattack the Qin Palace to avenge Li Jiancheng, but fled to Zhongnan Mountain after his defeat...

He was once an enemy of Emperor Taizong. Could Emperor Taizong's descendants really tolerate him?

The reason why he was placed in the position of "Eastern Palace Qianniu Beishen" was because they had no suspicion of him, or was it just a posturing?

After a long silence, he slowly shook his head: "Emperor Taizong repays evil with kindness and is magnanimous. How can I bear the name of 'rebellion' and be laughed at by the world?"

Although he didn't say it explicitly, he understood what Li Siliang was going to say, and he also knew that Li Siliang was very close to those people...

But is it easy to do something like "regicide"?

Once you suffer backlash, there will be no recovery.

Li Siliang saw that Li Anyan was slightly interested, so he quickly struck while the iron was hot: "Everything has been planned properly. As long as brother takes action in time to control the situation, someone will naturally be blamed. It has nothing to do with us."

Li Anyan didn't believe it: "Who would be so guilty as to take the blame for something like this?"

Once "regicide" occurs, everyone will benefit, but the "regicide" will definitely be pushed out to bear the backlash, because no matter which side or faction, they must maintain a legitimate name, and "regicide" is absolutely not allowed.

Therefore, the "regicide" will inevitably be abandoned by the interest groups...

Li Siliang leaned close to Li Anyan's ear and whispered a few words.

Li Anyan's eyes widened in shock, "How could such a thing happen?!"

Li Siliang said: "Whether it is true or not, no one knows, but as long as we stir up this trend, it will be like someone is taking the lead for us, and the crime of 'regicide' will fall on her head. What we have to do is to turn the tide and restore order."

Li Anyan's heart was surging with emotions. The trauma left by that night twenty years ago often woke him up from his sleep. Many of his comrades-in-arms charged forward bravely but fell on the road. Blood was flowing and corpses were piled up like mountains under the Xuanwu Gate. He saw with his own eyes the King of Qin riding his horse at full speed with the prince's head in his hand. His brilliant life and bright future came to an abrupt end at that moment. Although he survived afterwards, all that was left was shame and regret.

Hatred has long been engraved in the bones and cannot be erased.

What is particularly important is that even though Emperor Taizong was magnanimous and would not pursue the crimes of this "traitor", would the current Majesty one day bring up the past and cause Li Anyan and his entire family to fall into an abyss from which there is no escape?

"Rebel" is a sword hanging over your head.

If you want to remove this sick sword and wash away this crime, there is only one way, to turn the "traitor" into a "servant of the dragon"...

*****

In the imperial study, there were only Li Chengqian and Li Junxian.

The latter was reporting the news that Li Siliang was heading to the Eastern Palace armory...

Li Chengqian was silent for a long time, and finally he exhaled a long breath and sighed: "Emperor Taizong was forced to fight back and kill Prince Yin. Later, all the generals of Tiance Mansion advised him to cut the grass and root out the roots, but Emperor Taizong refused. He believed that those people were the pillars of the country, and even if they died, they should die on the battlefield to drive out the Turks, not in a coup. It is true that many people were impressed by Emperor Taizong's grandeur, but among them, there were inevitably some petty people who repaid kindness with resentment and were ungrateful, which eventually left hidden dangers."

After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, there was a heated debate on how to deal with the subordinates of Crown Prince Li Jiancheng.

Most people thought that they should cut the grass and root out the Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji lineage, leaving no future troubles. However, Emperor Taizong, Fang Xuanling, Xiao Yu and others thought that they should leave a way out and not kill them all.

Facts have proved that the decision at that time was correct. The empire was not seriously damaged by the civil strife, allowing foreign tribes to take advantage of the situation. When Jie Li Khan arrived at the north of Wei River, it was precisely because he saw that the Tang Dynasty was united that he plundered and then returned north. Many of the direct descendants of the hidden prince made great contributions in the subsequent suppression of the Turks and conquest of the Western Regions.

This is also the important reason why the emperor Taizong is recognized by the government and the public as "the model emperor of a thousand years"...

But human hearts are always hard to understand. Some people think that they should be grateful for Emperor Taizong's forgiveness, while others think that they should endure humiliation... It is difficult to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, good and evil.

To this day, there are still many hidden dangers.

Li Junxian whispered, "Do you need me to arrest him and interrogate him?"

Li Chengqian glanced at him and shook his head, "Can you catch them? After you have arrested Li Siliang and Li Anyan, do you want to arrest Xue Wanche, Wei Ting, Xie Shufang, Feng Li and others? If there is real evidence of their conspiracy, it's fine. But arresting them first and then trying them is a false charge. Not to mention those former subordinates of the hidden crown prince, do you think the Duke of Ying, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, and the Minister of the Court will agree?"

The most important thing is that Emperor Taizong treated those people kindly and generously, and they were loyal and devoted to serving the country. But when it came to Li Chengqian, those people were plotting rebellion and deserved to be put to death?

Is it those people’s problem or yours, Li Chengqian’s problem?

You are narrow-minded, intolerant, retaliatory, and destabilizing the country. Are you a wise ruler or a foolish one?

Li Junxian understood: "I will keep a close eye on them and take action if there is any sign of trouble."

You can't arrest people without evidence, but once there is evidence, no one can say anything, right?

Li Chengqian nodded, and when Li Junxian left, he took a sip of tea with a deep look in his eyes.

"Li Anyan..."