Chapter 3585 Puzzled
To put it bluntly, if Donggong cannot announce a change of course and change its governing philosophy at this time, then the world's elites will still stand on Guanlong's side. Even if Guanlong is defeated, they will still oppose Donggong.
Whether Xiao Yu or Cen Wenwen, they are both members of the family...
So Cen Wenwen immediately understood what Xiao Yu meant. He wanted to go to see His Highness the Crown Prince together. If an edict could be issued at this time, promising not to continue His Majesty Li Er's national policy of weakening and suppressing the clans, he would immediately gain access to many clans. response.
Although no clan will send troops to support the East Palace with great fanfare at this time, the help provided to the Guanlong clan will inevitably decrease.
As one goes and the other goes, the situation facing the East Palace will surely ease...
But now, Dong Palace is facing almost the entire power of the Tang Dynasty. Even those who have clearly stated their support for Dong Palace, the Shandong family and the Jiangnan nobles are just sitting on the sidelines.
Even Xiao Yu must put the interests of the family first, and naturally he would not want to watch the complete collapse of the supporting Dong Palace, but it is a fact that he has not really given any substantial help to the Eastern Palace.
The trade-offs and calculations are thought-provoking...
The age spots on Cen Wenwen's face were already very heavy, and his complexion was a little gray. At this moment, he raised his slack eyelids and glanced at Xiao Yu, then lowered them again, took a sip of rice wine, put a few shreds of ginger in his mouth, and chewed it for a long time. , and then slowly said: "The current situation is still far away from being determined. The key to the change of the current situation is not Chang'an, or even the clan, but the Eastern Expedition Army."
Xiao Yu was slightly stunned: "Brother Jing Ren's intention, may there be changes in the Eastern Expedition army?"
Cen Wenwen nodded and frowned: "Since His Majesty fell from his horse and was injured outside Pingrang City, then bad news came, and then there were various delays in the return of hundreds of thousands of troops. To this day, we still have more than a thousand miles to go before we reach Guanzhong... All of them are unreasonable and extremely unusual.”
Xiao Yu nodded slightly in approval.
In fact, he had not never had this kind of suspicion, because the Eastern Expedition army was moving too slowly, the snow-covered mountains and rivers were difficult to travel, and there was insufficient food and fodder. These obvious reasons were naturally not enough to convince those who were extremely resourceful. Although they are understanding people, almost everyone attributes the extremely slow progress of the army to the competition and struggle between various forces in the army, and the mutual constraints, which gave the Guanlong rebels enough time.
But now after being reminded by Cen Wenwen, he immediately realized that things might not be that simple.
Are all the strange things in the Eastern Expedition army just caused by the various factions in the army wrestling and fighting with each other? Not necessarily so. Even though His Majesty passed away, the British Duke Li Ji's position in the court has long been unshakable. Especially when it comes to controlling the army, the Tang Dynasty has almost no second thought. Moreover, this man is deep-minded and resourceful. How can he be like that? Easily swayed by military factions?
I am afraid that Li Ji may not have condoned or even deliberately participated in all the weird things that the world saw in the Eastern Expedition Army...
Then the situation will be really troublesome. Although the Eastern Expedition army involves many factions, Li Ji's will can represent the vast majority of the army to a large extent. His tendency will have a huge impact on the changes in the situation in Chang'an.
So, what is Li Ji's tendency?
*****
"What is the tendency of the British public?"
In the guard room inside Xuanwu Gate, Zhang Shigui, the Duke of Guo State, also asked the same question in front of Li Chengqian.
The duty room here is located within the Inner Chongmen, sandwiched between the Inner Chongmen and Xuanwu Gate. In the past, it was the garrison of the Beiya Imperial Army, and the Xuanwu Gate was safe. At this moment, all the Beiya imperial guards marched to the city to prepare for the attack, and many houses were vacated to accommodate the royal family members who had evacuated from Taiji Palace.
The light in the duty room was dim and several candles had to be lit. Li Chengqian and Zhang Shigui sat opposite each other, with Li Chengqian accompanying them on one side.
Hearing Zhang Shigui's question, Li Chengqian said in a deep voice: "People's hearts are separated from each other. Although the British Duke has always been loyal to Gu, but where will he go under the general trend, how can he accurately predict? Apart from the Duke of Yue, I don't know anyone who is so loyal and willing. Live and die with the East Palace.”
In fact, he was not upset by it.
People will be punished by heaven and earth if they don't do it for themselves, not to mention that most of the ministers in the DPRK are involved in clan influence? With interests at stake, everyone's decisions are not arbitrary. The more involved, the more concerns there will naturally be.
Li Chengqian feels very satisfied to have a minister who can be 100% trusted like Fang Jun...
But for Li Ji, it was difficult for him to figure out his position. After all, Li Ji was far more loyal to his father than he was to himself. If his father really died in the Liaodong Army, no one knew where Li Ji would go in the future.
Zhang Shigui nodded, sighed, and said: "The Duke of Yue is the pillar of the East Palace. He is so loyal that he does not hesitate to travel thousands of miles to help His Highness. I admire him... However, the current situation has changed suddenly because the Duke of Yue has rushed thousands of miles to help. But in the end, it is the Eastern Expedition army that can decide the overall situation.”
Li Chengqian and Li Junxian both nodded and expressed their agreement.
This is indeed the case. Fang Jun is now rushing to attack Chang'an. If Donggong can defeat the rebels and bring order to the chaos, he will also have to face the rebel army after Guanlong's defeat. It is almost impossible to eliminate them in one fell swoop, and it will even cause Guanzhong to be corrupted.
If Fang Jun's return of reinforcements could not save the defeat and Guan Long's remonstrance was successful, by the same token, Guan Long would not be able to wipe out all the six soldiers of the East Palace in one fell swoop. As long as the prince escaped westward under the protection of the six soldiers of the East Palace, once he passed After reaching Longxi, the Guanlong army was beyond reach, and the pattern of "one country, two masters" was about to be formed. What followed was a civil war that would last for several years, even ten or even decades.
The only one who has the power to determine the overall situation is the Eastern Expedition Army with hundreds of thousands of troops. Li Ji, who has absolute control over the Eastern Expedition Army, is the one who can influence the situation of the court.
Therefore, Li Ji's position is extremely important.
Is he loyal to the East Palace and sending his troops into the pass to annihilate the Guanlong rebels and purge the world?
Are you just following the trend and acquiescing to Guan Long's recommendation of King Qi to the throne, just for the smooth transition of imperial power?
Or should they simply not help each other and lead the army directly into Chang'an to start a new battle?
No one can guess accurately.
……
Prior to this, Li Chengqian believed that Li Ji might be more inclined towards the stability of the empire, considering the overall situation, and would adopt a default attitude once Guanlong's remonstrance was successful. Perhaps Changsun Wuji also believed this, otherwise how would he dare to issue military advice at this moment and disturb the empire's society?
But now, the Eastern Expedition army has been unable to return to Chang'an, and various delays on the way made him doubt Li Ji's thoughts again.
If you are truly selfless and just let nature take its course, why would you deliberately delay your trip and sit back and watch Chang'an decay while keeping troops outside to watch?
Its intentions are really incredible.
Zhang Shigui's heart suddenly jumped, and an idea came to his mind. After thinking about it, he found it incredible, but he couldn't suppress it no matter what, and it was soaring uncontrollably.
He raised his brows and thought about it again and again, and then said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, now all the clans in Hexi and Hedong have sent troops to help Guanlong. There are also tens of thousands of troops arriving in Chang'an. I heard that many more are gathering in various places, and there will be more Heading to Chang'an, although the Shandong aristocratic family and the Jiangnan nobles came to the palace to support you. However, there is no real action. Once the situation in Chang'an deteriorates and internal and external divisions really form, they will not rule out the possibility of changing their tactics and joining the Guanlong camp. In this way, it can be said that all the powerful families in the world will mobilize their troops. , His Highness can be said to be the enemy of the world..."
After saying this, Li Chengqian was shocked and opened his mouth, but no words came out.
This is indeed a near-desperate situation, but it is not impossible. Once this situation is formed, the East Palace will become the target of public criticism. Under the disparity in power, even with Fang Junzhi's support, there is only one way to fall.
However, as the saying goes, a sword has two edges, and everything has its pros and cons. Being the target of public criticism in the East Palace, and being opposed and attacked by all the clans in the world, it means that all the clans and clans in the world are standing against the East Palace.
In any case, the East Palace occupies a great position and is the imperial Zhengshuo.
This also means that all the nobles in the world will become rebels plotting rebellion...
Those who succeed become princes, those who fail become bandits. This is an eternal truth. As long as the world's nobles can depose the prince and overthrow the East Palace under the leadership of Guan Long, they will naturally become the righteous people of the world, seize their fame and righteousness, and then give it to him. This prince was accused of countless heinous crimes and allowed to be denounced and smeared by historians. Naturally, he could be bound to the pillar of shame forever and be reviled...
It's over, the community has been completely blocked. We used to cheer for all parts of the country, but now it's the turn of all the countries to cheer for us... Our small town on the 18th tier can finally show its face in front of the people of the whole country, but this is the situation Next... I wish He Qing and Haiyan peace and quiet in the years to come. Let's all work hard together.
(End of chapter)