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Chapter 805 The Prince is Missing
It is said that it is better to use the remaining courage to pursue the enemy rather than to seek fame and emulate the tyrant.

Li Jing and Cheng Yaojin decisively ordered a pursuit, and the Turks had already been completely defeated. This was the time to hit the fallen dog hard, and the generals at all levels led all their troops into the grassland without waiting for orders to expand the victory.

We must not give Jie Li a chance to breathe, break up his last bit of strength, and eliminate all future troubles.

The Turks were originally a tribal alliance, and Jie Li simply brought these tribes together with his powerful influence. When they were winning battles in a row, they could obey orders and advance and retreat together.

But now that they had suffered such a disastrous defeat, many tribes fled, and those who could not escape surrendered.

The Tang army was unfamiliar with the grasslands, and most of them could only wander around in the southern desert. However, Yi Nan and Bi Heli, the two local tyrants, would never give up easily in the face of such a great opportunity.

Yi Nan led all the troops of the tribe and attacked Jie Li to the death.

Jie Li tried to break off his retreat several times to survive, but was discovered by Yi Nan, who chased him all the way to the area of ​​Qikou. Jie Li gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, intending to turn the situation around.

As a result, Yi Nan joined forces with the Flying Tiger Army, which had been carefully trained by the Tang Dynasty, and launched multiple crazy offensives, defeating Jie Li again.

After this defeat, Jie Li's trusted general Zhisishili was captured. Jie Li could no longer organize a large-scale resistance, so he fled to the northern desert with his trusted general Botie, his son Shiluodie and dozens of guards.

On Gengchen day of March in the fourth year of Zhenguan, under the leadership of Yi Nan, Jie Li was finally captured alive by Zhang Baoxiang, deputy commander-in-chief of Datong Road, and was ordered to be taken to Chang'an.

Taiji Palace, Chengqing Hall!
Li Shimin had just convened a grand court meeting in the Taiji Hall and announced the news that the Turks were defeated by the Tang Dynasty and Jie Li was captured alive by the Tang army. This made the Tang emperor and his ministers, who had long been under the shadow of the Turks' iron hoof, burst into great excitement.

In celebration of this rare victory, Li Shimin announced that the whole country should celebrate and the three-day curfew in Chang'an City would be lifted, allowing people to take to the streets to celebrate spontaneously.

The government also organized a grand community firework festival, and the entire city of Chang'an was plunged into a sea of ​​joy. People sang and danced, firecrackers rang, and gongs and drums sounded.

While everyone was immersed in the festivities, many ministers gathered in Chengqing Hall, but everyone's expressions were rather solemn.

Among them were the Left Prime Minister Fang Xuanling, the Right Prime Minister Changsun Wuji, the Right Guard General Hou Junji, the Imperial Clerk Xiao Yu, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Cen Wenben, the Minister of Rites Tang Jian, the Counselor Wei Zheng, the Minister of Rites Wang Gui, the Minister of Works Du Chuke and other important officials gathered here.

The third prince Li Ke and the fourth prince Li Tai were among them.
From the composition of the ministers in the palace, we can also see the current power distribution in the core of the Tang Dynasty. Fang Xuanling, Xiao Yu and Wei Zheng have always remained neutral.

They did not clearly favor any particular prince, and these people were considered neutral.

Although Fang Xuanling sometimes lent a helping hand to the Eastern Palace because of the Empress, his son Fang Yiai was an official in the Prince of Wei's palace, and his eldest son Fang Yizheng was serving in the army far away in Mayi, so they did not participate in any party struggles in the court.

Fang Xuanling, as the chief civil official, served as the Zuo Pushe, but he did not actually take a clear side, which was also the requirement of Li Shimin.

However, Zhangsun Wuji and Hou Junji were members of the prince's party with clear positions. With Hou Junji's return to the court, Li Shimin promoted Tang Jian, who was on good terms with Li Ke, to be the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Hongwen Hall in order to pacify the power of the Eastern Palace faction.

After Du Ruhui's death, Du Chuke, the chief secretary of the Prince of Wei's Palace, was promoted to the Minister of Works.

Cen Wenben and Tang Jian were considered to be on the side of the King of Shu, while Wang Gui and Du Chuke were clearly on the side of the King of Wei.

The ministers in Chengqing Hall basically represent the current power structure in Li Shimin's court.

Although Prince of Qi Li You was very active, his mother Yin was implicated by his grandfather Yin Shishi and had to serve as a maid in the palace. She was of humble origin and her mother's family was weak, so she was excluded from the core of power in the Tang Dynasty from the very beginning.

From the fact that Li Ke and Li Tai were able to stay in Chang'an as they grew older and did not go to the local fiefdoms, while Li You, as the fifth son, was obviously younger but was sent to Qi, it can be seen that Li You was the kind of prince who was not welcomed.

Li Shimin didn't even give him a chance to serve as a foil. If so many princes had not been implicated in the last Flying Tiger Army incident, it would have been difficult for Li You to get away easily. Even so, Li Ke and Li Tai were scolded.

However, Li You was punished by Li Shimin to serve as a minister for three years and was confined to his home for three months. This shows that Li Shimin's attitude was actually very skewed.

At this time when the whole country was celebrating, the atmosphere in Chengcheng Hall was particularly depressing and gloomy.

This is because among the good news constantly coming back from the front-line troops, there is also a piece of very disappointing bad news.

The Tang prince Li Chengqian is missing
After learning the news, Li Shimin's passion and joy in the Taiji Hall disappeared without a trace in an instant. He did not even attend the celebration held by the Ministry of Rites. He said a few words in a hurry, and after the court was dismissed, he summoned several important ministers to Chengqing Hall to discuss.

At this time, Li Shimin's face was as gloomy as the ice in December, and it seemed that he would kill someone at any time.

"What did Yi Nan say?" After a long silence, Li Shimin asked slowly, without any emotion in his voice. Honglu Qing Tang Jian was not in charge of the prince's affairs before, but Zhang Xuansu was still at the front line and had not returned. Zhangsun Wuji was supervising the army's food and grass, and he was too busy to do anything else. Naturally, the task of connecting with the Turkic tribes fell on him.

I didn't expect this to happen.

Tang Jian silently greeted Yi Nan's ancestors in his heart, and then he said with a stiff face: "Your Majesty, Yi Nan said that when Jie Li retreated to the Yinshan and Yellow River line, the Crown Prince was still in the Xueyantuo tribe."

"But because of the attack on Jie Li, Yi Nan pulled most of the tribe's military forces to the front to attack Jie Li, and thus neglected to take care of the prince."

"Later, Jie Li was completely defeated, and Yinan put all his energy into hunting down Jie Li's main force, and rushed forward with all the members of the tribe."

"Of course, the prince is of noble status. Yi Nan was afraid that something might happen to him if he stayed on the battlefield, so he brought him with him to the army for protection. In the battle of Qikou, Jie Li was very tenacious, and the two sides fought very fiercely. The Xueyantuo and the Xibi tribes were mixed together."

"I couldn't take care of it at that time. After that, all parties dispersed to encircle and suppress. When Jie Li was captured and his people were gathered, I found that I had lost contact with the prince."

"Yinan is very sorry about this. He said that he and the people from the Fubi tribe will search for Your Highness on the grassland. I think they will find him soon."

"We in the Tang Dynasty can also order the soldiers at the front to search for him. Your Highness the Crown Prince will surely be blessed by heaven and return safely."

More than half a year has passed since Li Yan left Chang'an and formed an alliance with Tuli last autumn, and now the Tang Dynasty has completely defeated Jie Li.

Be it Li Ke or Li Tai, the more important ministers in the court, all knew that the prince had gone to the grassland on behalf of the emperor to win over the second Khan Tuli, and was later asked by Yi Nan to be a hostage and was dragged into the battlefield.

Li Ke was initially very dissatisfied that his first love Ashina Yun was married to the prince by Li Shimin. Later, when he learned that Tuli wanted to temporarily detain the prince and keep him in the grassland, he was extremely grateful that he did not get involved, otherwise he would be stranded in the grassland and unable to return to Chang'an.

Li Ke was unwilling to give up his dream of becoming the emperor because of a Hu woman.

Li Ke felt heartfelt gratitude towards Tuli and his daughter for leaving the prince in the grassland. It would be best if the prince would never come back, so that he would have another chance.

Now the Tang Dynasty has achieved an unprecedented victory, but the prince who made the greatest contribution has disappeared on the battlefield ahead.

Li Shimin was in a very bad mood at the moment, but for Li Ke, Li Tai, and their subordinates, it was a rare double happiness. Fortunately, the ministers were well-informed and shrewd, and their true thoughts would not show on their faces.

Li Ke and Li Tai were standing at the front, their joy and excitement almost unable to be suppressed. Li Tai pinched his thighs with his hands hidden in the sleeves of his wide robe, using the stinging pain on his skin to cover up his gloating expression.

Li Ke's face twitched a little, his mouth was tightly closed, and he glanced at Li Tai beside him. The two of them lowered their heads tacitly so as not to let Li Shimin discover their dirty thoughts.

There was a loud "bang" sound.

It sounded particularly harsh in the silent imperial study, making everyone's heart shudder and everyone became more cautious.

Li Shimin slammed the table and roared in anger, "Yinan, that bastard. The Crown Prince has sworn an oath with him on my behalf, but he still doubts my intentions and wants to take the Crown Prince as a hostage. If he hadn't caused trouble, how could such a thing have happened while Cheng Qian was in the Tuli camp?"

Faced with Li Shimin's thundering wrath, no one dared to respond.

Fang Xuanling looked around, sighed, and then said, "Your Majesty, calm down. Tuli will stay in Monan. Yi Nan and Xi Biheli are worried that we will reveal the news of our alliance to Jie Li, causing the two families to kill each other."

"So it makes sense to invite the prince to go and provide more protection."

"The prince was also afraid that Yi Nan and Xi Biheli would stay in Mo Nan and arouse Jie Li's suspicion, so he risked his life to go deep into the tiger's den."

"It was the Crown Prince's decisiveness that strengthened the trust between us and led to Cheng Yaojin's victory in the decisive battle of Eyangling. This made Yinan and Xibiheli firm in their determination to join us, and led to a series of subsequent victories."

"Under such circumstances, Yi Nan is a minister of our Tang Dynasty. Moreover, he wants to marry Princess Ankang and become the son-in-law of our Tang Dynasty, so there is no need for him to harm the crown prince."

"The battlefield situation was extremely chaotic at the time. Everyone agreed to extinguish the last spark of Jie Li. Not only Xueyantuo, but even Li Jing, Cheng Yaojin, Li Ji and Chai Shao fought like crazy during those days. They traveled thousands of miles a day, and usually, a troop of tens of thousands of people would be left with only a few thousand men."

"So I still believe that the actual situation is as Yi Nan said, they got separated."

"You can ask the soldiers in front to search slowly. As for Yi Nan and Xi Bi, Your Majesty should focus on comforting them and not lose the big picture for the sake of small things!"

(End of this chapter)