Chapter 158: Those Who Dare to Go South Shall Die (Seeking Monthly Votes)

—The situation changed in an instant!

Following the delivery of Li Yuan’s handwritten letter to the Xuanwu Gate by Pei Ji and Yuchi Gong, this sudden palace coup quickly drew to a close.

And with several more handwritten letters sent out from the Linhu Hall.

The entire garrison and imperial guards within Changancheng fell completely under the control of Li Shimin.

Chang'an had completely changed masters!

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

No one was willing to believe any of this.

They could not imagine that the Crown Prince and the Prince of Qi would actually die at the hands of the Prince of Qin.

But in the face of reality, they had no choice but to accept it.

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

In panic and fear, those supporters of Li Jiancheng naturally wanted to flee, but unfortunately, Li Shimin would never give them such a chance, having long since had people waiting there.

Li Yuan had completely surrendered.

No matter how much grief and regret he felt in his heart, he had to accept the fact that Li Shimin had fought for.

At this moment when the imperial court and the public were shaken—

Three days later, the position of Crown Prince was officially handed over to Li Shimin.

He even announced before the assembled officials: "All matters of the state, whether large or small, are to be entrusted to the Crown Prince for decision, and then reported."

It could be said that the entire Great Tang had been completely handed over to Li Shimin.

The situation had completely changed.

By now, everyone understood that from this day on, the entire Great Tang had effectively changed masters.

Although Li Yuan remained the Emperor in name.

All the powers belonging to the Emperor had been completely hollowed out by Li Shimin.

There was no longer anyone in the world who could stop Li Shimin.

But what could they change?

Appointing Li Shimin as Crown Prince would not cause turmoil among the people of the world.

Because Li Shimin's reputation was already something Li Jiancheng could not compare to.

In the current world, many of the lowest-ranking commoners had always assumed that Li Shimin was the Crown Prince, so how could they rise up because of all this?

And as Li Shimin gained complete control over everything.

The purge following this political struggle also officially began in Chang'an.

If one were to say that the Li Shimin of the past was a ruler who even held a shred of mercy for his opponents.

Then after experiencing so much, he had now completely become an iron-blooded politician who understood that "if you do not remove the roots when clearing the grass, it will grow again with the spring breeze."

Political struggle has always been a matter of life and death.

Once he won this battle, everything was effectively destined.

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

This whole affair had to be brought to a complete end.

Hatred must absolutely not be allowed to continue to circulate among the royal clan of the Great Tang.

Li Jiancheng's five heirs and Li Yuanji's five sons were all ordered to be executed by him.

Such actions were chilling.

But unexpectedly, he showed leniency toward those who had supported Li Jiancheng.

He did not deal a fatal blow to these people, and even praised their abilities and loyalty.

This was the extraordinary aspect of Li Shimin.

Li Jiancheng was the Crown Prince of the current dynasty.

This status destined him to have a great many supporters; if Li Shimin had shown an attitude of targeting them to the end, the resulting conflict would have been a fatal blow to the current Great Tang.

Li Shimin had indeed changed.

But the grand ambition in his heart remained, and was even more firm than before.

Currently, Gu Yu was away dealing with a potential Turkic attack, so Li Shimin naturally would not choose to cause trouble at such a time.

This did indeed cause some people to gradually set their minds at ease.

—The entire Great Tang imperial court was in constant turmoil.

Although Li Shimin would not deal fatal blows, in order to quickly stabilize the current situation, he also had to make a series of adjustments.

Arranging for his own confidants to hold power.

As well as monitoring the powerful clans in the four directions who had supported Li Jiancheng.

Li Shimin displayed his political prowess to the fullest.

He was never a brute who only knew how to charge on the battlefield, but a truly all-around talent.

First, he sent Yuwen Shiji as the Right Vice-Director of the Shaanxi Eastern Circuit Branch Secretariat to take over Luoyang;

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

Using various means to monitor those powerful forces that had supported Li Jiancheng in the past.

At the same time, he followed the advice of Fang Xuanling and had people spread prophecies in the four directions.

Rumors such as "Venus appearing in the sky" and "The Prince of Qin's merits cover the world, and all hearts turn to him" arose one after another.

Coupled with those prophecies regarding Gu Quan.

Various rumors about him spread rapidly from Chang'an to the entire world.

Besides this.

In order to quickly stabilize the situation, he also carried out a series of favors, soothing the hearts of the powerful clans while also winning the hearts of the common people.

The entire world was in a state of agitation.

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

And this time, it was far louder than before.

Gu Yi could see it.

Perhaps it was precisely because of the words Gu Yu had once spoken that Li Shimin was now even more vigilant in his attitude toward the Turks.

He wanted to quickly pacify the situation and mobilize troops again to support Gu Yu.

However, this matter was ultimately dissuaded by Gu Quan.

He believed in his father's ability.

For the current Great Tang, Li Shimin's top priority was to firmly secure his position; if any accidents occurred, the Great Tang would surely fall into unimaginable chaos.

Moreover, the Nine Provinces needed to recuperate and could not fight the Turks to the death at this moment.

How could he not persuade Li Shimin?

Gu Quan knew of Li Shimin's ambition.

Especially after all that had happened, this ambition would far exceed the past.

Although the Xuanwu Gate incident had been suppressed by him, how could the various thoughts in people's hearts about this matter be easily changed?

Li Shimin had to create an unprecedented golden age to soothe the doubts in people's hearts.

It was precisely because of this that Li Shimin was somewhat inexplicably impatient.

Gu Quan had to make him distinguish what was important.

Li Shimin naturally gave Gu Quan his full trust, which gradually eased his constantly tense state of mind, and he began to calmly make a series of preparations for the path he would take next.

But even so, rebellions were still inevitable throughout the world.

This world would always have loyalists, and there would always be those with nowhere left to retreat.

They could not accept this outcome and would naturally choose to stir up trouble.

But compared to Li Shimin, they were ultimately far too inferior.

Li Shimin had not even left Chang'an.

He simply handed these matters over to Gu Yu, and then the disturbances in the four directions gradually subsided.

The name "Gu Quan" gradually began to resound throughout the world again under another identity.

His face, which no one could recognize and which chilled the heart, unknowingly deepened the sense of "prophetic superstition."

The whole world was saying that Li Shimin had received the help of gods, that he was a general who won every battle sent by Heaven to support him, and so on.

Even the ministers in the imperial court were somewhat influenced.

They were not commoners.

They were quite clear about the process of the Xuanwu Gate incident and knew that this person had performed great meritorious service at the Xuanwu Gate, so they were all very curious about this person's identity.

But let alone Li Shimin, even Yuchi Gong and the others were tight-lipped about this person, all claiming to know nothing at all.

Gu Yi had been silently watching all of this, and his heart felt somewhat bitter.

For the inheritance of the entire family, these generations of descendants had ultimately paid far too much.

Although Gu Quan had not yet received any rewards.

But Gu Yi knew very well.

Given Li Shimin's character, such blessings would eventually return to the Gu family, and could bring great benefits to the Gu family in the shadows.

Was this not also what Gu Quan had done for the family?

Neither abandoning the family nor betraying his own heart, this was also a path he had paved for the future descendants of the Gu family.

Gu Yi's state of mind was somewhat inexplicably complex.

However, amidst this complexity, seeing the various discussions regarding Gu Quan's identity among the people of the world, another thought suddenly arose in his mind.

If Gu Quan were to remain like this—

Would Gu Quan's identity become one of the "unsolved historical mysteries" for future generations?

Meanwhile, in Shuofang.

Although the turmoil currently in Changancheng had not yet spread here, Gu Yu seemed to have already formed some judgments and had been making various preparations to deal with the Turks.

Gu Yi was naturally keeping an eye on Gu Yu as well.

In fact, the rise of the Turks did not exceed his expectations.

He had already thought of these things back when he was manipulating Gu Ye, but at that time, he was unable to completely resolve everything for the Nine Provinces.

Because there were simply too many nomadic tribes throughout this entire world.

He could only make arrangements targeting the relatively stronger tribes, while there was absolutely no need to take action against those tribes that were further away from the Nine Provinces and weaker in strength.

The current level of productivity was not yet enough for Gu Yi to engage in large-scale tossing and turning.

The now-powerful Turks were, in the beginning, merely a small tribe floating under the feet of the Xiongnu.

This was also one of the characteristics of nomadic peoples.

When a true hero appeared in a tribe, there would be a possibility of rising.

Gu Yu had no intention of fighting the Turks to the death in this campaign; he was merely preventing the Turks from taking advantage of the situation to attack the Tang Army based on his own judgment.

—The situation in the imperial court could no longer be contained.

He was very certain of this.

And given the temperament of the Turkic Khan, as long as he heard of this matter, he would absolutely not let go of such a heaven-sent opportunity.

He was making preparations for this very reason.

The current Nine Provinces were too weak; ever since the Tyrant Emperor of the Flame Han, the entire world had not known a single day of true peace.

Although after Yang Jian unified the world, he stabilized the situation in all directions and allowed the entire Nine Provinces to enjoy a brief period of recuperation, the various measures taken after Yang Guang ascended the throne undoubtedly dragged the entire Nine Provinces back into the quagmire.

It was even more weakened than it had been initially.

—The Nine Provinces needed to recuperate.

The core of this battle was to block the Turks' desire to attack.

He had already made full preparations for this.

Digging trenches and setting up horse-repelling obstacles on the roads that the Turks would inevitably take throughout the border regions was all aimed at countering the Turkic cavalry.

Besides this, Gu Yu was also working to disperse the various Turkic tribes.

The reputation of the Gu Shizi was still extremely useful, although compared to the Gu Shizi of the past, the current Gu Yu was completely a nobody.

But under the weight of various legends.

It was also of great use against some specific small tribes.

Although Gu Yu's ability to command troops was the worst among all his attributes, under the effect of the Luo Shu Harmonic Device, his attributes were also constantly changing.

Even if this adjustable attribute was only ten points.

For Gu Yu, who had a very high base attribute, it was still a huge boost.

This was the terrifying aspect of the Luo Shu Harmonic Device's effect.

Ten points of attribute allocation;

Could allow any family member to have a qualitative leap, ensuring the lower limit of a family.

Although this could only be used on one person.

It was still a huge help for the Gu family, which had not yet begun to split.

News came in like a tidal wave.

The Shuofang Great Camp.

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

The others were the same.

Although others did not know about Gu Quan's actions, how could these brothers who grew up with him not know?

How could they be happy now?

Whether it was victory or defeat—

Gu Quan was already dead.

Everything he had done in his life would invisibly be left to the family; who could be happy now?

Even Gu Yu was affected to some extent.

However, he adjusted very quickly, looked at the crowd, and spoke slowly: "Pass the order, have someone release the news immediately—"

"Tell the Turkic Khan, tell everyone among the foreign tribes."

"The Gu family is here—"

"Those who dare to head south shall die!"

His tone was extremely calm, and as he said these things, a hint of sharpness also appeared in his eyes.

Gu Yu was indeed no longer young.

Now, he already had a full head of white hair.

But the feeling he gave was not one of old age, but a profound and unfathomable feeling, just like Gu Xi and Gu Chen of the past.

This was a change in temperament brought about by extraordinary attributes and a deep understanding of the world.

"Understood!"

The group of Gu Shizi did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately bowed to receive the order, the expression of every person being that firm.

Blustering and luring the enemy deep!

This was the core strategy Gu Yu had long decided upon, which was to utilize the remaining prestige of the Gu family among the foreign tribes.

Even if the Gu family's prestige was no longer what it once was.

But as long as one tribe felt fear, it could influence others.

This was one of the unavoidable shortcomings of tribes like the Turks.

The entire Tang Army moved quickly.

And the words spoken by Gu Yu also spread to the entire Turkic people along with the news coming from Changancheng.

It did not exceed Gu Yu's expectations.

A person like Jieli Khan could not possibly give up this heaven-sent opportunity.

After all, no matter in what era, the impact caused by turmoil in the imperial palace could not be completely resolved in a short time.

Not to mention that he had never forgotten everything Liang Shidu had said to him when he invited him in the past.

Letting the Tang Army continue to weaken was one of the core systems he had set.

This was the blood-replenishing pack he had left for the Turks.

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

Although he was a person of a foreign tribe, who would not want to be the Emperor?

It was completely different from the original history.

The culture of the Nine Provinces was now, under the influence of the Gu family, constantly influencing all directions.

Jieli Khan could not possibly give up this opportunity that had been delivered to his doorstep.

As for Gu Yu's declaration—

Although it made many small tribes feel fear, it could not change Jieli Khan's mind.

To him, what could the Gu family do?

If he were truly afraid, not only would he miss such a good opportunity, but it would also affect his prestige within the Turks, which was something Jieli Khan could never accept.

Under these circumstances, Jieli Khan suppressed all voices of doubt within the Turks.

In the seventh month, he led an army of nearly one hundred thousand and headed straight for the Tang Army!

The target—

Pointed directly at Changancheng!

(Ps: Asking for monthly tickets. That's all for today. I seem to have caught a cold; I was blowing the air conditioner last night, blowing hot and cold, turning it off and on, and now I have a dizzy head. Sorry!)

(End of chapter)