The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 641 Quietly Expanding Strength
The recent series of events happened very quickly, and Li Shimin was angry, so he temporarily ignored the imbalance of power. But as time goes by, as a qualified emperor, he will soon calm down and support Li Ke again, or bring out the King of Wei to restrain himself.

Instead of asking him to do something that you cannot predict, it is better to take the initiative to help him establish this balance again.

Previously, the King of Shu was afraid that Quan Wanji's affairs would drag him down, and the cost of rescuing him was too high, so he wanted to give up this chess piece. However, because Cheng Huailiang's accidental death had greatly damaged the strength of the King of Shu's Palace, he naturally did not want to sacrifice another Quan Wanji. Moreover, with his own no longer pursuing the matter and no resistance, with the influence of the King of Shu and Cen Wenben, Quan Wanji could get away quickly.

The chess piece of the King of Shu can be saved again!

To be honest, if it wasn't a last resort, Li Ke would not be willing to give up Quan Wanji. After all, Quan Wanji worked for him and now took on the responsibility for him. As a prince, he had no sense of responsibility and ruthlessly abandoned the other party immediately after the other party got into trouble. The reputation of the King of Shu was ruined in the officialdom.

Everyone knows that at critical moments, the King of Shu is irresponsible and unreliable. Such an image is almost fatal to a prince who aspires to compete for the throne. Then who will follow him in the future?
Li Ke was young and inexperienced, and was ordered by Li Shimin to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors. At the same time, he suffered a series of blows and was a little confused. Cen Wenben just wanted to teach Quan Wanji a lesson and let him be less flamboyant in the future.

No matter how much he hated Quan Wanji, out of consideration for paying a huge sum of money for a horse's bones, he would rescue Quan Wanji for the King of Shu and keep the reputation of being affectionate and attentive to the King of Shu.

Quan Wanji was in the middle of the situation and couldn't see clearly, but Li Yan, who was watching from the sidelines, could see clearly that Quan Wanji could still be saved, so he took advantage of this opportunity and replaced Quan Wanji in Cao's camp with Han Xin, making him his own trump card and nailing him to the Shu Palace.

After a period of time, the King of Shu will certainly compensate Quan Wanji, and with his secret support, Quan Wanji will soon be able to turn a disaster into a blessing, grow rapidly, and become another big tree in the King of Shu's Palace, filling the gap caused by the absence of Cheng Huailiang.

Even stronger, in history, Quan Wanji had reached the position of the fourth-rank Imperial Clerk. With his own secret support in this world, Quan Wanji would be promoted faster.

Li Yan returned the Zuotunwei Army vacated by Cheng Huailiang to the King of Shu based on the same consideration. With the return of the Zuotunwei Army and the strong rise of Quan Wanji in the future, Cheng Huailiang's death can be ignored.

On the surface, it seemed that Li Yan had worked in vain. But in fact, he replaced Cheng Huailiang, Li Ke's loyalist, with Quan Wanji, who had secretly defected to him, and indirectly severed the connection between Li Ke and Cheng Yaojin.

Cheng Huailiang inherited the bandit nature of Cheng Yaojin's Wagangzhai. He was bold and daring, and dared to do anything. He did not abide by the rules of political games, and secretly instigated Cheng Yaojin to kill Li Yan. Such a lawless person controlled the 5,000 imperial guards in Beijing, and would be the second father Yuchi Gong, which was too dangerous.

In the original drama, he dared to take advantage of the emperor's absence in Beijing, disregarding Li Chengqian's orders to supervise the country, and wantonly threatened the prince. It is conceivable that at the critical moment, he really dared to support Li Ke to launch a Xuanwu Gate Incident like Yuchi Gonghou Junji.

Moreover, Li Yan is a narrow-minded person. If someone wants to murder him, he may not care if the idea is just an idea, but he will never let go of someone who puts it into action.

Among those who were known to have attacked him, Feng Deyi was dead, Li Ke was a foil and still had great value to be used; and Cheng Yaojin actually did not have such strong murderous intentions towards him, he was just confused for a moment because of the instigation of his son, and he would not set his sights on people of the younger generation like him.

Moreover, as a prestigious general, Li Yan couldn't act rashly, for fear that it would cause an earthquake in the officialdom and end up shooting himself in the foot.

So after thinking about it, Cheng Huailiang became the final target locked by Li Yan. Without the amulet, he still wanted to eat Tang Monk's flesh, so it was natural for him to be killed by Sun Wukong's golden hoop. Even if Chang Sheng and Wu Qing did not take action, Li Yan would find an opportunity to get rid of him during this period.

Cheng Huailiang's death was the same as Feng Deyi's. They both did not follow the rules of political struggle and suffered the consequences. You have to know that rules restrict you, but they also protect you. If you can't fight others within the circle of rules, how can you be a nobody outside?
Since you broke the rules, others will use this method against you without hesitation. Don't blame anyone. It's your own fault.

As a participant in the Game of Thrones, it is too narrow-minded to only see the side of the rules that restricts oneself but fail to see the side that protects oneself.

Following the rules is actually protecting yourself and restricting your enemies from breaking out of the circle.

Why is it that gangs in Hong Kong Island often fight in the streets, killing each other, chopping off arms and legs, and no police care? But if you chop up passers-by, a case will be filed and investigated to the end.

It’s because you guys are in gangs that the society has its own set of rules.

But passers-by are innocent. They are not in your circle and are not bound by your rules. They abide by the rules set by the Grand Governor's Office and will naturally be protected by the laws and regulations of Hong Kong Island.

This is why there are often strange scenes in movies: if a passerby suffers a minor injury, the police will investigate, but if members of a gang are found dead on the street, the police are too lazy to care. If you call the police when someone is injured, will the police first ask if the person is an ordinary citizen?
In police news, it will also be mentioned whether the person involved is an ordinary citizen, because there is another group of people who do not abide by the law and are not protected.

Li Ke's other military assistant, Chai Zhewei, was not so extreme in his actions. Although he also followed Li Ke, he only helped Li Ke in a positive way and would not take the initiative to attack and offend him. In public, whether it was Chai Shao or Chai Zhewei, when they saw the prince, they were respectful and polite. They would not take risks to support Li Ke.

Therefore, if Li Yan gave up the Zuotunwei Army, it would most likely fall into the hands of Chai Zhewei. At that time, he would pretend to be stuck at a critical moment. Chai Shao would definitely come to show his goodwill for the sake of his son's future. He would then do a favor, which would invisibly weaken the support of Chai Shao and his son for Li Ke, killing two birds with one stone. He could also show his magnanimity as the eldest brother of the crown prince in front of Li Shimin and the court officials, and at the same time remove the last trace of doubt that Cheng Huailiang might have died.

Yes, although Chang Sheng and Wu Qing did it perfectly, but considering their motivation to gain benefits in the end, there was still a flaw. In addition, Chang Sheng and Cheng Huailiang had previously competed for the position of General of the Zuotun Guard.

If Zuotunwei finally fell into Changsheng's hands, it would certainly not be hidden from the eyes of those who were interested, and might even arouse those people to investigate the death of Cheng Huailiang.

And Changsheng is his own man, so Donggong becomes the one who benefits in the end?
Li Shimin, Zhangsun Wuji and Cheng Yaojin all knew the inside story of the conflict between Cheng Yaojin and Luo Yi. If things went wrong, Chang Sheng might bring this disaster upon himself, so Li Yan must not take the position vacated by Cheng Huailiang.

If he didn't care about Zuo Tunwei at all, he would have no motivation to get rid of Cheng Huailiang. The fact that Zuo Tunwei finally fell into Li Ke's hands dispelled the doubts of those extremely smart people about him at a very high level.

After all, in everyone's eyes, attacking the enemy is to weaken the enemy and gain benefits.

Li Yan did the opposite and helped the other party. Who would still doubt that he had carried out a series of inhumane attacks on Li Ke during this period?

I'm afraid even Li Ke himself would ask hesitantly, was I raped?
Finally, on the surface, the strength of the King of Shu has increased instead of decreased, and Li Shimin will no longer support him.

With the empty shell of the Prince of Shu's Palace as a cover, he would be safe, and Quan Wanji was in his hands. This was equivalent to lending the Prince of Shu the excess power that might cause Li Shimin to be wary.

Let the King of Shu use his name to raise these forces for the Eastern Palace, and then let him use the power lent to him to check and balance himself, so that he can get rid of Li Shimin's restrictions on the power of the Eastern Palace and quietly expand his strength.

These hidden strengths, unknown to the emperor, are the forces that can have miraculous effects at critical moments.

This is probably a covert way for Li Yan to develop his strength while failing to win over civil officials and recruit military generals in a legitimate way.

On the quiet street, Li Yan and Wang Xuance walked slowly, thinking as they walked.

Wang Xuance was also restless at this time. Li Yan had been in there for nearly an hour. He didn't dare to eavesdrop on what he talked about with Quan Wanji because there were two doors and a corridor between them. He could only guess wildly.

"Xuan Ce."

Wang Xuance heard Li Yan's call and quickly responded, "What do you want, Your Highness?"

Li Yan reviewed the recent series of events and felt vaguely uneasy, as if he had missed something.
He frowned and thought for a while, and felt that the remnants of the Hidden Prince in Yongtong Canal were still what worried him. They were a little out of control, so he reminded them, "Just find someone to keep an eye on Chang Sanduo. As for Yongtong Canal, you still need to keep a close eye on him, especially Chang Sheng. You must keep a close eye on him. If there is any movement, report to me at any time."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Wang Xuance was involved in the matter and knew some of the inside story. He knew that Chang Sheng might do something weird, so he quickly agreed.

In fact, in his opinion, Chang Sheng must have some ulterior motive in hiding his family background. Such a high-ranking general, who is in charge of thousands of imperial guards, is too dangerous. If he is arrested and tried directly, everything will be clear. However, the prince is the one who makes the decision. Perhaps he has other considerations, so he can only obey his orders.

After this series of events, he no longer dared to underestimate the prince, knowing that what the prince was planning must be a big game.

At this time, all the gates in Chang'an City were closed, so it was inconvenient to return to the East Palace. It was also hard to be sure if you encountered patrolling soldiers on the street.

Fortunately, tonight's itinerary had been arranged in advance. Wang Xuance took Li Yan around a few corners and found a house that had been rented in advance. The two planned to rest there for one night and return to the East Palace the next day.

(End of this chapter)