The word "side by side" king of the Tang Dynasty

A few days after Beijing planned the grain transfer, Li Ji, who received Li Shimin's transfer order, also arrived in Chang'an City.

Outside Chang'an City, a dusty army marched from the official road in the distance. This army numbered about several thousand people. The passers-by looked at this army with curious eyes.

Because they found that this army was different from the mighty Black Armor Army or the Imperial Guard in the city. Each soldier of this army had many damages and gaps in their armor, making them look very shabby..

But they felt a frightening evil spirit from the soldiers of this army, and they were as silent as a group of dead people, with only the slightly chaotic footsteps of walking.

In front of this army, a veteran who looked to be over fifty years old was riding on a lean war horse, leading the team forward.

The goalkeeper stationed in front of the city gate also noticed this army. He suppressed the fear in his heart, stepped forward and gave a military salute to the veteran general who led him, and asked in an anxious tone:"General, who are you?"……"

"Li Ji."

The veteran said calmly, his face expressionless.

"General Zhenxi!"

The goalkeeper's expression changed drastically, and he was filled with horror. He turned around and shouted directly to the soldiers on the wall:"Hurry up and open the city gate! Welcome the general into the city! Hearing this, the soldiers on the city wall quickly opened the heavy city gate without hesitation.

The gatekeeper then respectfully said to Li Ji:"General, your Majesty has ordered that if you arrive in Chang'an, you can directly lead your troops into the city. No need." Notification, go directly to the palace to meet the saint."

The goalkeeper was excited and excited. The common people may not know how much Li Ji's reputation is, but he is famous in their army! He single-handedly shocked the entire western border, even though it was not as good as King Wu's unparalleled achievements in conquering the barbarians. Inferior, but still admirable

"Border generals are not allowed to lead troops into the city. This is a rule and this precedent cannot be broken."

Li Ji refused, and then after giving a few instructions to his lieutenant, he rode into the city alone and headed for the palace.

Naturally, the goalkeeper did not dare to have any objections, but carefully looked at the Zhenxi Army standing silently like a sculpture outside the city. , feeling sincerely in awe in his heart.

He was a soldier of the Xuanjia Army who had fought against the Dragon Cavalry Guards and was lucky enough to survive. From these soldiers of the Zhenxi Army, he felt the same sense of oppression as the Dragon Cavalry Guards.

This is an army A real army of hundreds of battles!

……

Tai Chi Hall

"Your Majesty, Li Ji, is here to see you."

In the Taiji Hall, Li Ji saluted Li Shimin.

"General, please wake up quickly! Li

Shimin stepped forward quickly, helped Li Ji up, and said with a smile on his face:"The general guarded the country gate for Tang Dynasty and guarded Tuyuhun. It is really a great achievement for his hard work." When you enter the palace to see me in the future, you don’t need to salute!"

Li Shimin took Li Ji's hand. His attitude and smile made people feel like spring breeze. He was not like a superior emperor at all.

He had to try his best to win over Li Ji. After all, this was the last general he could call upon!

And he was still a general. A general known as the God of War!

Li Changqing established the Martial Arts Temple, and among the seventy-two sons, he had a seat! But

Li Ji took a step back, cupped his hands and said seriously:"The etiquette cannot be abolished. Your Majesty is the emperor, and I am a minister. If you see If you don't bow, wouldn't it be a loss of etiquette?"

Seeing Li Ji's respectful and serious attitude, Li Shimin no longer persisted, but felt more and more satisfied, but with a dim look on his face, he said:

"It is really a helpless thing to transfer the general back to Chang'an. The traitor Li Changqing conspired to steal Li Tang's kingdom.

Although I am angry at his evil deeds, the rebel Li Changqing is really powerful and I am afraid that he will counterattack Chang'an, so I have to send the general back to take charge of Chang'an. Li

Ji's face remained calm as he said,"I will do my best to protect Chang'an for Your Majesty!""

He never cared about the struggle for imperial power. He was only loyal to the royal family and the emperor. He didn't care about Li Changqing's"rebellion", nor did he care about how Li Shimin became the emperor. Li Shimin was overjoyed and said with a face full of joy:"With generals in charge, Chang'an is worry-free. That’s it!"

"The general is coming with me, and I will hold a banquet to welcome the general! Li

Shimin said and was about to take Li Ji to the side hall, but Li Ji refused him again and said:"I see that the defense of Chang'an is really loose. I hope that your majesty can leave the army to my training and management, so that we can resist King Wu's army.""

If someone else had said this, Li Shimin would definitely have doubts, but Li Ji's character has always been straightforward, and his loyalty to the Tang royal family is well known, so he had no doubts at all and readily agreed, saying:

"No problem, I will hand over the tiger talisman of the 700,000-strong army to the general, and I will entrust everything to the general."

It is said that when you employ people, you don't trust them, and when you don't trust them, you don't use them. Li Shimin knows this very well, and now he has no one he can completely trust except Li Ji.

After handing the army tiger talisman to Li Ji, Li Ji left the palace and acted without any sloppiness.

Watching Li Ji leave the hall, Li Shimin looked away from his back, then looked at an ordinary-looking man in a Confucian shirt standing in the corner, and said:"Shu Jie, what do you think of Li Ji? Hearing this

, the man in Confucian shirt raised his head, cupped his hands and said with a smile:"General Li Ji is a man of true temperament and has the talent of a commander. With him commanding an army of 700,000 to guard Chang'an, Your Majesty will have nothing to worry about.""

This man in scholar's shirt is Wang Gui. He was originally a confidant of the deposed prince Li Jiancheng. He was extremely resourceful. He was the one who advised the Xuanwumen incident. It was only because of Li Changqing's amazing force that his success failed.

After Li Jiancheng's death, he He was taken under Li Shimin's command, but he was never reused.

Nowadays, the civil servants and generals around Li Shimin were killed and rebellious. There was really no one available, so he was reused again.

Li Shimin nodded and sneered:"You The state is located in the north, close to the desert, with barren land and extremely scarce food. In previous years, food had to be transferred from the south of the Yangtze River for disaster relief.

Although Li Changqing has an army of 410,000, the distance from Youzhou to Chang'an is more than two thousand miles. I want to see how he can open such a long front!

Now I have Li Ji in charge of Chang'an and an army of 700,000 men. If he wants to attack by force, I will fight against him! Let's see how long he can last!"

Speaking of his pride, Li Shimin couldn't help but smile.

But Wang Gui shook his head and said:"Your Majesty, you have forgotten one thing. Although the land in Youzhou is barren, it... is not poor."