Outside the palace.
Li Shimin didn't leave but waited in place. When Du Qi pushed open the door of the palace and came out, Li Shimin immediately walked over and said with a sigh of relief, "Erlang, it's good that you came out. What did Imperial Father say to keep you here? "
Du Qi immediately talked about the topic Li Yuan asked and also talked about enlightening Li Yuan.
Finally, Du Qi said, "Crown Prince, His Majesty said that since you are in charge of the Tang dynasty, you must not follow Yang Guang's path and let the Tang dynasty prosper. Otherwise, His Majesty won't forgive His Majesty until his death."
Du Qi directly changed the way he addressed Li Shimin, no longer calling him King of Qin.
He called him Crown Prince.
Because Li Yuan had already issued a decree to make Li Shimin the Crown Prince and let Li Jiancheng be the regent. Changing the topic, Du Qi continued, "Although Your Majesty keeps saying that you can't let go of Li Jiancheng's death, Your Majesty still understands."
Li Shimin heard this and sighed in relief again.
This was his purpose of keeping Du Qi.
He wanted to enlighten Li Yuan.
All the officials in the court, even Pei Ji, Chen Shuda, and the others, didn't receive Li Yuan's high regard as Du Qi. Li Shimin hoped that Du Qi would enlighten Li Yuan, and now he did achieve this result.
Li Shimin said, "Erlang, thank you!"
Du Qi shook his head and said, "Crown Prince, you flatter me. This is just a little bit of what I can do. If it were other aspects, it wouldn't be possible. "
Li Shimin said, "Let's go. Everyone is still waiting for us."
"Yes!"
Du Qi followed Li Shimin.
The Imperial City was now under Li Shimin's control. Yuchi Gong continued to protect the Imperial City and isolated it from the outside. This was done to prevent Li Yuan from causing trouble here.
When Li Shimin took people out of the Xuanwu Gate, Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, and Hou Junji had already solved the crisis outside, but Xue Wanche had temporarily escaped, and they couldn't catch up.
"Report!"
At this moment, another soldier galloped over.
These soldiers were the personal guards of the Duke of Qin's residence.
The soldier came to Li Shimin's side and reported, "Your Highness, the Duke of Qin's mansion was attacked. Because there were soldiers stationed there in advance, the Duke of Qin's mansion repelled the enemy. The people from the Eastern Palace have already escaped. "
Li Shimin nodded.
If the Duke of Qin's Mansion was safe, then the overall situation would be settled.
Li Shimin brought everyone to the Eastern Palace. Because Li Shimin was still the Crown Prince and not the Emperor, he temporarily stayed in the Eastern Palace. Li Yuan made him the Crown Prince regent first, and then abdicated. This required a process. Only then would it be convincing.
The process had to be passable. Otherwise, it would be easy to be criticized.
As soon as Li Shimin arrived at the Eastern Palace, he ordered people to kill Li Jiancheng's son. At the same time, Hou Junji was ordered to lead soldiers to kill Li Yuanji's family. None of Li Jiancheng's or Li Yuanji's children were spared.
On this day, Chang 'an was under martial law.
Li Shimin quickly took control of Chang 'an City and dealt with Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's families.
The situation was settled, and the Eastern Palace was still brightly lit.
Li Shimin sat on the main seat. Below him were Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Du Qi, and the other civil and military officials. Everyone was gathered in the hall.
All of them had bright smiles on their faces.
It was a success!
They had the merit of supporting the Emperor.
This was a great merit.
Li Shimin said with a solemn expression, "Now that the main culprit has been executed, what's next is to deal with the officials of the Eastern Palace and Qi Manor. What do you all think about this?"
Hou Junji's eyes were fierce as he said, "Your Highness, what's there to hesitate about? Naturally, we should kill them all. Now, we only killed Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and their children. However, these accomplices are still alive. If these people are left alive, they could be a disaster. "
Li Shimin did not comment. His gaze fell on Zhangsun Wuji and the others.
Zhangsun Wuji was the first to speak, "Your Highness, according to this subject, the most important thing now is not to kill to intimidate the people, but to pacify the officials and stabilize the world. This subject suggests that we use Your Majesty's name to pardon the people and only kill Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, not implicating their subordinates. This way, we can show the people and all the officials that Your Highness will not bring up the past. "
Hearing this, Hou Junji said, "Your Highness, although Zhangsun Wuji's words make sense, the Eastern Palace's Crown Prince Wei Zheng is extremely despicable. He targeted Your Highness at every turn, causing Your Highness to be in a difficult situation. This Wei Zheng has to be eliminated. Apart from him, the subordinates of the Eastern Palace like Wang Gui should be killed. "
As these words were spoken, the civil and military officials expressed that Li Shimin should be pardoned.
The problem was that the military officials expressed their stance and wanted to kill them all. This was because they believed that the people of the Eastern Palace might be plotting against the Eastern Palace, especially if they were pretending to submit. They might even be waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.
After hearing this, Li Shimin made his decision.
However, Li Shimin's gaze fell on Du Qi. He smiled and said, "Erlang, what do you think?"
Even if Li Shimin had his own thoughts, he was still willing to ask. This was especially so for Du Qi's opinions. Sometimes, they could be useful to Li Shimin.
Du Qi was the youngest among them. He was only eighteen years old and had just reached the age of twenty.
Du Qi's prestige in the King Qin Residence was not low.
He had his own methods.
Du Qi said in a neither servile nor overbearing manner, "Your Highness, this subject thinks that this matter is actually very simple. It is to stabilize the situation, so naturally, we should pardon everyone related to the Eastern Palace. The Eastern Palace's Crown Prince Wei Zheng is Li Jiancheng's top strategist. There are two benefits to pardoning Wei Zheng. "
Li Shimin asked, "What are the two benefits?"
Du Qi said, "First, we can tell the world that the Crown Prince has truly pardoned everyone in the Eastern Palace. Even Wei Zheng, who had acted against the Crown Prince several times and nearly caused him to fall into dire straits, has been pardoned.
"This arrangement will make the majority of the people loyal to the Crown Prince and cause the Eastern Palace to lose their will to fight.
"Second, we can use Wei Zheng to draw hatred. The Crown Prince has succeeded in killing Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Although the Eastern Palace's stubborn members will hate the Crown Prince, they will hate the traitors even more.
"Once we have Wei Zheng, we can use him to draw these people out and have them target Wei Zheng instead of the Crown Prince. This plan is to use Wei Zheng to draw the snake out of its hole and kill the stubborn members who are unwilling to submit to the Crown Prince. "
Du Qi spoke frankly and with assurance. "Of course, this subject has his own selfish motives. For better or worse, the Du and Wei clans are in-laws. If we can take care of the overall situation and not affect the Crown Prince's position, we can help the Wei clan. This is the best of both worlds. Not only did you fulfill my loyalty, but you also fulfilled my benevolence and righteousness. "
Li Shimin stroked his beard and laughed, "Alright, let's do it according to Du Erlang's plan. In the name of Imperial Father, we will pardon everyone in the Eastern Palace. "
"The Crown Prince is wise!"
Everyone spoke in unison.
Even if the generals were unwilling to show mercy and wanted to kill everyone, the order had already been given. There was nothing to argue about at this point. They could only carry it out.
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