Li Yan's incident was over, and the court returned to its former peace.
Since Ma Qi's incident had a huge impact on the princes of Yizhou, the princes of Yizhou did not dare to take any action for many days.
Li Shimin also ordered Huang Hao to send "secret guards" to monitor the movements of the Yizhou princes, hoping to surrender the Yizhou princes as soon as possible, and then implement the New Deal to strengthen the country and the army north to the Central Plains.
After the morning court that day, Huo Ge sent His Majesty several counter-insurgency battle reports.
While Li Shimin led several people to the Golden and Silver Palace, he asked Huo Ge to report on the counter-insurgency situation.
Huo Ge followed His Majesty and bowed:
"The king of Yueyong County and his colleagues defeated the local rebel generals Dongfeng and Weiqu, and recovered most of the land occupied by the rebels. They are currently stationing troops on the east bank of the Jinsha River to confront Li Chengzhi, Liu Zhou's remaining party.
Zhang Yi and others from Wenshan County went out from Guangrou to confront the Ranguyi tribe in Pingkang and Canling areas. Both sides attacked and defended each other.
Zangzhijufu and others have conquered the Pu people of Xinggujuding Kingdom and are now confronting the Puxizhu King in Yelang Kingdom.
There were also Lang Li, the leader of Yanniu Yi in Hanjia County, Wei Lang, Ma Wangyi in Yuejiu County, and Ding Laoyi in Yuejiu County, who were ready to join the rebellion.
Jiang Wei mainly focused on intimidation and surrender, relying on the Nanzhong clan that had surrendered and formed an alliance to suppress sporadic rebellions. Currently, we are suppressing bandits in Nanguang County, Zhuti County. "
Li Shimin felt a little reassured after hearing this. At least the counter-insurgency plan was going smoothly for now.
At this time, Li Shimin's bloodline of "Admiral Tiance and Tianhan" in his previous life was also quietly awakening, and he had a vague desire to go to various places to participate in countering rebellions.
"Taking advantage of the recent temporary stability in the DPRK and the lack of major events, it's time for me to visit various battlefields."
While Li Shimin was planning in his mind to participate in the counter-rebellion, he led several people to the secret passage of the Gold and Silver Palace.
At this time, the Golden and Silver Palace was already the headquarters of the Hundred Cavalry Division. There were flying cavalry guards on duty outside the palace, and secret guards patrolling secretly.
After retreating from the guards in the back hall of the main hall, Li Shimin ordered Huang Hao to open the secret passage.
The secret passage was opened, and Li Shimin left Chen Zhong on guard outside, and took Zhang Yan, Huo Ge, and Huang Hao into the secret passage.
Except for Chen Zhong, Zhang Yan and others did not know that there was another mystery in the secret passage.
Zhang Yan was straight-tempered and said nothing when she saw His Majesty. She just walked towards the secret room below the secret passage, so she stepped forward and asked:
"Brother Adou, the Golden Silver Palace is now the headquarters of Baiqisi and is extremely heavily guarded. There is no need to go to the secret room when we are discussing important matters, right?"
Li Shimin looked at Zhang Yan beside him by the candlelight in Huang Hao's hand.
Seeing Zhang Yan's serious face and wandering eyes, she thought to herself: "Is this little girl afraid of the darkness in the passage and the secret room?"
After thinking about it, he joked:
"Although the secret room is dark, there are treasures inside. I want to open your eyes. If anyone is afraid of the darkness, you can come down instead of Chen Zhong!"
When Zhang Yan was told what she was thinking, she said angrily:
"Brother Adou, don't look down on others. I am born with supernatural power and refined martial arts. I am not afraid of thousands of troops. How can I be afraid of the mere darkness?"
Just as he was talking, he arrived at the door of the secret room, and Huang Hao hurriedly stepped forward to open the door. Unexpectedly, in a moment of impatience, he accidentally extinguished the candle in his hand.
Suddenly, the passage was completely dark, and I couldn't see my fingers.
"Ah! Damn Huang Hao, light the candle quickly!"
Zhang Yan was startled by the sudden darkness, and subconsciously hugged the people around her, shouting for courage.
After a moment, Huang Hao lit the candle again, and then continued to open the door to the secret room.
At this time, Zhang Yan was hugging the person next to her tightly. When the candlelight came on, she realized that the person in her arms was actually His Majesty.
Li Shimin felt Zhang Yan's breath was like blue and her body was soft, and he couldn't help but feel comfortable in his heart, but he did not immediately escape from Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan felt she had lost her composure, and quickly withdrew her hands, keeping a certain distance from His Majesty, but her face turned red.
The two of them entered the secret room together with their own thoughts.
As soon as they entered the secret room, several people took a deep breath when they saw the scene in front of them.
The secret room was brightly lit, with a passage on each side, and tables, tables, couches, and mats all available, just like the front hall of the main palace.
Although he knew that Chen Zhong had already come here to take care of everything, after actually seeing him, even Li Shimin, who had lived in two generations and was prepared in his heart, couldn't help but sigh.
"It is really rare that the late Emperor could do such a shocking act back then!"
Huo Ge couldn't help but admire the late emperor's thoughtfulness.
Li Shimin followed what Chen Zhong said and entered the west passage directly. Seeing His Majesty's actions, several people gathered their spirits and followed His Majesty.
Li Shimin really couldn't think of any reason why Liu Bei went to such great lengths to build a secret room, so he could only try to explain in his mind:
"I'm afraid that Liu Bei has been wandering all his life and finally found a place to settle down. He is afraid that he will get into trouble again, so he has arranged his escape in advance, right?"
There were separate rooms on both sides of the west passage, similar to cells. Li Shimin followed what Chen Zhong said and walked to a larger room at the end.
"The key is on the candlestick on the right. Huang Hao, go and open the door."
The door opened, and he saw a thin man with twinkling eyes, sitting on the couch blankly.
Zhang Yan recognized this person as Ma Qi and couldn't help but said in surprise:
"Ma Qi! Wasn't he sent to death by His Majesty?"
Li Shimin walked towards Ma Qi and said to Zhang Yan:
"Ma Qi was once your father's hero and was deeply loved by your father. How could I be willing to let Ma Qi die?"
When Zhang Yan heard His Majesty mention her father, she felt a little nostalgic at first, then said angrily:
"Hmph! These thieves who repay kindness with vengeance and attempt to destroy the foundation created by the late emperor and my father do not deserve to live!"
After saying that, he drew out the sword from his back and stepped forward to kill Ma Qi.
Li Shimin was shocked when he saw Zhang Yan's fierceness, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop Zhang Yan.
"My aunt, please calm down. If you kill Ma Qi, won't Chen Zhong and I have been working in vain?"
Zhang Yan stopped her movements, spat at Ma Qi fiercely and said:
"You traitor and traitor! You are an unjust villain! I will spare your life for the time being!"
Ma Qi was as if awakened from a dream by the quarrel between the two. Suddenly, with tears in his eyes, he knelt down and kowtowed:
"Your Majesty! It was the villain who made a mistake. I regret that I should have listened to the traitor's slander and done such a treasonous and unethical thing!"
Li Shimin had already anticipated this and knew that Ma Qi was just a scapegoat and that there must be someone behind the scenes.
"Since you are repentant, I also intend to give you a chance to atone for your sins. So, tell me first, who instigated you?"
Seeing that His Majesty meant to let him go, Ma Qi's eyes became clearer. After wiping away his tears, he said hopefully:
"Your Majesty is aware of this! I just have a small request. I hope your Majesty will agree to it first. If not, I might as well end my life here!"
When Li Shimin saw the other party's conditions, he guessed that this person had a weakness and knew that his idea had a chance to be realized, so he pretended to be angry and said:
"Request? Now you are a rebel with evil intentions, and you actually want to ask for conditions? Since you don't want to tell me, then I will go and investigate myself. It's just a waste of time. Zhang Yan, don't you want Ma Qi to die? Let's do it. !”
After saying that, Li Shimin turned around and started to go out.
Zhang Yan raised her sword and was about to kill Ma Qi, but then she thought, based on her understanding of His Majesty, His Majesty should not be so hasty.
So he deliberately slowed down his movements and aimed at Ma Qi's ear to stab him in the side.
At the critical moment, Ma Qi suddenly put his head in his hands and shouted:
"Your Majesty, wait a minute! The guilty minister still has something to say!"
Seeing Ma Qi begging for mercy, Zhang Yan withdrew the sword.
Li Shimin also breathed out softly, glad that he had made the right bet on Ma Qi's thoughts and Zhang Yan's understanding.
If you make a mistake on these two points, you will definitely lose the talent of Ma Qi.
"Ma Qi, let me ask you first, did you personally train the dead soldiers you raised? Did you have anything to do with the assassination before?"
Now that he had Ma Qi's thoughts under his control, Li Shimin stopped nagging and directly asked what he was most concerned about. "
After hearing this, Ma Qi suddenly realized that no wonder His Majesty asked him whether he would personally manage the guests and staff in the Forbidden Army barracks that day. It turns out that His Majesty took a fancy to his ability to train dead soldiers.
"Reporting to your majesty, it was the guilty minister who trained him personally, but the assassination matter really had nothing to do with the guilty minister.
The method of training dead soldiers was also thought out and practiced when he was under General Yide.
You know, General Yide often whipped his soldiers. The guilty minister was afraid that the soldiers would bear grudges, so they often used rigorous training to get the soldiers accustomed to the harsh environment and reduce the resentment in the soldiers' hearts. "
When Li Shimin heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Ma Qigao, feeling that this man was not unforgiving.
"You said you had a request before, and I also have a condition here. If you agree to my condition, maybe I can consider your request."
When Ma Qi saw His Majesty relenting, he didn't care about that and simply said:
"Since Your Majesty intends to give the guilty minister a way out, don't mention a single condition. Even if there are ten or a hundred, the guilty minister will agree!"
"Okay! Let's talk about your request first!"
"The life of the guilty minister does not matter, but my wife, children, and children are all implicated because of the guilty minister's fault. I pray that your majesty will give the guilty minister, his family, and his family a way out..."
After Ma Qi finished speaking, he couldn't help but feel sad secretly. He knelt down and waited for His Majesty's decision.
After listening to what Ma Qi said, Li Shimin felt that Ma Qi was kind and righteous, and felt much more at ease.
After all, he was a talent that the late emperor and others loved and respected, so how could he be an unjust person?
"You should get up first. I already know what you want. Now I have to tell you my conditions."
After Ma Qi thanked His Majesty, he stood and waited for His Majesty's instructions.
Li Shimin put his hands on his back, walked around the room, and said slowly:
"I need you to live only in this secret room from now on as punishment for the crimes you committed before. During this period, I also need you to train and train elite dead soldiers like your guest and staff for me!"
