Chapter 154: Those Who Dare to March Southward Shall Die (Requesting Monthly Votes)

——The situation changed in an instant!

After Li Yuan's handwritten edict was taken to Xuanwu Gate by Pei Ji and Yuchi Jingde, this sudden palace coup swiftly came to an end.

Then, several more handwritten edicts were sent out from Linhu Hall.

The entire city of Chang'an's garrison and imperial guards fell completely under Li Shimin's control.

Chang'an had utterly changed hands!

As the palace lockdown ended and news spread, every corner of Chang'an erupted instantly!

No one wanted to believe any of it.

They could not imagine the Crown Prince and the Prince of Qi dying at Li Shimin's hands.

But before reality, they could only accept it.

The entire city of Chang'an became like a lit powder keg, exploding in an instant.

In panic and fear, Li Jiancheng's supporters naturally tried to flee—but alas, Li Shimin would never give them that chance; he had already stationed men to wait for them.

Li Yuan had fully submitted.

No matter how much grief and regret he felt inside, he had no choice but to accept the reality Li Shimin had seized.

Amid this shock to court and realm—

Three days later, he formally transferred the Crown Prince's position to Li Shimin.

He further proclaimed before all ministers: "All military and state affairs, great or small, shall be decided by the Crown Prince, then reported to me."

He had effectively handed the entire Tang Empire into Li Shimin's hands.

The situation had changed utterly.

By now, everyone understood that from this day forward, the Tang Empire had already changed hands.

Although Li Yuan was still nominally Emperor,

all the powers of the Emperor had been completely hollowed out by Li Shimin.

No one in the entire realm could now stop Li Shimin.

But what could they change?

Appointing Li Shimin as Crown Prince would not trigger unrest across the land.

Because Li Shimin's prestige had long surpassed anything Li Jiancheng could match.

Even among the lowest peasants of the realm, many had long believed Li Shimin was the Crown Prince—how could they rise up now over this?

As Li Shimin gained complete control,

the post-political struggle purges officially began in Chang'an.

If once Li Shimin had been a ruler who still showed a trace of mercy toward his enemies,

after all he had endured, he had now become a blood-soaked statesman who fully understood: "Cut the grass but leave the roots, and the wind will bring it back to life."

Political struggle has always been life or death.

Once he won this battle, everything was already sealed.

He had no intention of showing any mercy to the descendants of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.

This must end completely.

Hatred must not be allowed to continue flowing through the Tang imperial clan.

Li Jiancheng's five sons; Li Yuanji's five sons—all were ordered executed by him.

This act struck terror into hearts.

But unexpectedly, toward Li Jiancheng's supporters, he showed clemency.

He did not kill them; instead, he praised their abilities and loyalty.

This was Li Shimin's extraordinary quality.

Li Jiancheng was the reigning Crown Prince.

That status guaranteed he had countless supporters—if Li Shimin showed even a hint of relentless vengeance, the resulting conflict would be a fatal blow to the Tang at this moment.

Li Shimin had indeed changed.

But his grand ambition remained, even more resolute than before.

Gu Yu was currently abroad dealing with the possible threat of Turkic attack—Li Shimin would not choose to create chaos at such a time.

This indeed gradually eased the minds of some.

——The Tang court was in constant turmoil.

Though Li Shimin would not kill outright, to swiftly stabilize the current situation, he had to make a series of adjustments.

He placed his trusted allies in power.

And he began monitoring the powerful clans across the realm who had supported Li Jiancheng.

Li Shimin displayed his political acumen to the fullest.

He was never merely a brute who charged on the battlefield—he was a true all-around talent.

First, he appointed Yuwen Shiji as Right Minister of the Shandong Circuit Administrative Commission to take control of Luoyang;

appointed Zhang Liang as Governor of Luoyang to secretly monitor the eastern powerful clans;

used every means to spy on the former supporters of Li Jiancheng.

At the same time, he followed Fang Xuanling's advice and sent agents across the realm to spread prophecies.

Rumors such as "The White Planet reappeared across the heavens," and "Prince Qin's merit surpasses all under heaven, hearts from near and far turn to him," arose one after another.

Coupled with the prophecies concerning Gu Quan,

all manner of rumors about him spread rapidly from Chang'an throughout the entire realm.

In addition,

To quickly stabilize the situation, he enacted a series of favors, soothing the hearts of the powerful clans while also winning over the common people.

The entire realm erupted in chaos.

After several years, the name "Li Shimin" once again resounded throughout the Nine Provinces.

And this time, it rang far louder than before.

Gu Yi could see it clearly.

Perhaps precisely because of what Gu Yu had once said, Li Shimin now regarded the Turks with greater vigilance.

He intended to swiftly quell the unrest and once again mobilize troops to support Gu Yu.

But in the end, Gu Quan persuaded him otherwise.

He trusted his father's abilities.

For Tang at this moment, Li Shimin's urgent priority was to firmly secure his position; should any accident occur, Tang would surely descend into unimaginable chaos.

Moreover, the Nine Provinces needed rest and recuperation—they could not afford to fight the Turks to the death right now.

How could he not advise Li Shimin?

Gu Quan understood Li Shimin's ambition.

Especially after all that had happened, this ambition would far surpass anything before.

Although the Incident at Xuanwu Gate had been suppressed by him, how could the myriad thoughts in people's hearts change so easily?

Li Shimin must forge an unprecedented golden age to soothe the doubts lingering in people's hearts.

Precisely because of this, Li Shimin had grown strangely restless.

Gu Quan had to make him understand what was truly important.

For Gu Quan, Li Shimin naturally granted complete trust, and gradually his tightly wound spirit eased, allowing him to calmly prepare for the path ahead.

Yet even so, rebellions could not be avoided across the realm.

This world always produces die-hard loyalists, and those with nowhere left to retreat.

Unable to accept this outcome, they naturally chose to incite chaos.

But compared to Li Shimin, they were vastly, vastly inferior.

Li Shimin never even left Chang'an.

He merely entrusted these matters to Gu Yu, and soon the storms across the land gradually subsided.

The name "Gu Quan" rose again throughout the realm under another identity.

His face—unrecognizable and chilling—unconsciously deepened the aura of prophetic superstition.

The entire realm spread rumors that Li Shimin had received divine aid, that this was a god-sent, invincible general sent by heaven, and other such tales.

Even the ministers in court were somewhat influenced.

They were not common folk.

They still knew the details of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, understood that this man had achieved Great Merit there, and were deeply curious about his identity.

But neither Li Shimin nor Yuchi Jingde nor the others would speak of him—they all claimed complete ignorance.

Gu Yi had silently watched all of this, and within him stirred a quiet bitterness.

For the sake of the family's legacy, generation after generation of descendants had paid far too much.

Although Gu Quan had yet received no rewards.

But Gu Yi knew well.

Given Li Shimin's nature, such blessings would eventually return to the Gu clan, bringing it immense hidden advantages.

Wasn't this also what Gu Quan had done for his family?

He betrayed neither his family nor his own heart—he had carved out a path for future generations of Gu descendants.

Gu Yi's emotions were strangely complex.

Yet after this complexity, watching the realm's endless speculation over Gu Quan's identity, a new thought suddenly arose in his mind.

If Gu Quan continued like this—

Would his identity one day become one of history's unsolved mysteries?

Meanwhile, Shuofang.

The storms of Chang'an had not yet reached here, but Gu Yu seemed to have anticipated it long ago, and had been preparing for the Turks all along.

Gu Yi naturally kept watch over Gu Yu.

In truth, the Turks' rise had not surprised him.

Long ago, when he manipulated Gu Ye, he had foreseen this—but back then, he could not fully resolve all of the Nine Provinces' problems.

Because there were simply too many nomadic tribes across the land.

He could only make preparations against the relatively powerful tribes; those farther away and weaker posed no threat worth addressing.

The current level of productivity—was still insufficient for Gu Yi to undertake large-scale maneuvers.

The mighty Turks of today had once been merely a minor tribe subservient to the Xiongnu.

This too was one of the nomadic peoples' traits.

When a tribe produced a true genius, it gained the potential to rise.

Gu Yu had no intention of fighting the Turks to the death—he was merely preparing to prevent them from exploiting the chaos to attack Tang.

—The court's situation had already slipped beyond control.

He was certain of this.

And given the Khan's temperament, once he heard of this, he would never let such a heavenly opportunity slip away.

He was preparing for exactly that.

The Nine Provinces were too weak now; since the reign of the tyrannical Emperor of Han, the realm had known no true peace.

Although after Yang Jian unified the realm, he stabilized the situation on all sides and brought a brief period of recuperation to the entire Nine Provinces, the various measures Yang Guang implemented after ascending the throne undoubtedly dragged the entire Nine Provinces back into the mire once more.

It was even weaker than before.

—The Nine Provinces need recuperation.

The core of this battle was to block the Tujue's intention to attack.

He had already made thorough preparations for this.

Along all the roads the Tujue had to take in the border regions, he had trenches dug and abatis set up, all aimed at countering the Tujue's mobilization.

Besides this, Gu Yu was also working to split up the various Tujue tribes.

The name of the Gu family's children was still extremely useful; although compared to the Gu family children of former years, today's Gu Yu was a complete nobody.

But under all those legends—

It was still of great use against certain small tribes in particular.

Although Gu Yu's command ability was the worst among all his attributes, under the effect of the Luoshu Xielü Qi, his attributes were constantly shifting.

Even though the adjustable attributes amounted to only ten points.

For Gu Yu, who already possessed extremely high base attributes, this was still a tremendous boost.

This was the terrifying aspect of the Luoshu Xielü Qi's effect.

Ten points of attribute allocation;

It could bring a qualitative leap to any family member's attributes, guaranteeing a family's floor.

Although it could only be used on one person.

For the Gu family, which had not yet begun to split, this was still a tremendous help..

News came in like a tide.

Shuofang Main Camp.

When Gu Yu heard the news that Li Yuan had already established Li Shimin as Crown Prince, no extra emotion showed on his face.

The rest of the people were the same.

Although outsiders did not know of Gu Quan's actions, how could the brothers who had grown up with him since childhood not know?

How could they possibly be happy now?

Whether it was victory or defeat—

Gu Quan was already dead.

Everything he had done in his life would, in ways unseen, be left to the family—so how could anyone possibly be happy?

Even Gu Yu was somewhat affected.

Still, he adjusted quite quickly. Looking at the crowd, he slowly began: "Pass down the order—immediately have people spread the word—"

"Tell the Tujue Khan, tell all the foreign races."

"The Gu family is here—"

"Anyone who dares to march south shall die!"

His tone was extremely calm, but as he spoke these words, a hint of sharpness flashed through his eyes.

Gu Yu truly was no longer young.

By now, his hair had long since turned completely white.

Yet the feeling he gave off was not one of old age, but rather one of unfathomable depth—just like Gu Xi and Gu Chen of former years.

This was a change in bearing brought about by extraordinary attributes and a profound comprehension of the world.

"Yes!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the Gu family children immediately cupped their fists and obeyed, every one of their expressions resolute.

Bluffing and luring the enemy deep in!

This was the core strategy Gu Yu had long since set—to make use of the Gu family's remaining prestige among the foreign races.

Even though the Gu family's prestige today was a far cry from what it once was.

As long as one tribe felt wary, it could influence the others.

This was one of the unavoidable weaknesses of tribal peoples like the Tujue.

The entire Tang army quickly sprang into action.

And the words Gu Yu had spoken, together with the news streaming out from Chang'an, spread toward the Tujue as a whole.

It did not come as a surprise to Gu Yu.

A man like Khan Jieli could never let slip such a heaven-sent opportunity.

After all, in any era, the impact of a court in turmoil could never be fully resolved in a short span of time.

Not to mention he had never forgotten everything Liang Shidu had said to him when he had invited him in former years.

Keeping the Great Tang in a state of continuous weakening was one of the core policies he had set.

This was the blood bag he had left for the Tujue.

It was also preparation for the day he could truly descend upon the Nine Provinces.

Though he was of a foreign race, who among them did not wish to become Emperor?

Completely different from the original history.

Today's Nine Provinces culture, under the Gu family's influence, was continuously spreading to all sides.

Khan Jieli could never let slip this opportunity that had come knocking at his door.

As for Gu Yu's proclamation—

Although it made quite a few small tribes feel wary, it could not change Khan Jieli's mind.

In his eyes, what could the Gu family possibly do?

If he truly showed fear, he would not only miss such a fine opportunity, but it would also affect his prestige within the Turkic Khaganate — something Khagan Jieli absolutely could not accept.

Under these circumstances, Khagan Jieli suppressed all the voices of doubt within the Turkic Khaganate.

In the seventh month, he led nearly a hundred thousand troops in a direct assault on Great Tang!

The target—

Straight at Chang'an!

(PS: Begging for monthly votes here, that's all for today, seems like I've caught a bit of a cold, last night the air conditioning was blowing hot and cold, switching on and off, and today my head is all woozy, sorry!)

(End of chapter)