Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 902

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The reason why Li Yan supported Li Podi, the third generation, and promoted Li Podi, the third generation, to run for the crown prince was mainly because Li Yan was not optimistic about most of the candidates for the crown prince this year.

A few examples:
Like Li Ji, who has the greatest opportunity now, Li Yan is not too optimistic.

Although Li Ji is deeply popular among the royal family, he is also known as the Eight Sage Kings.

But in Li Yan's view, Li Ji's ability is not strong, at least it has not been proven.

At first, Li Yan threw Li Ji to the Eastern Karahan Dynasty, leaving Li Ji alone.

But within a few years, under Li Ji's governance, the Kangli and Geluolu people rebelled, which led to the second Western Expedition in Dazhong.

After Dazhong conquered Central Asia, Li Yan enfeoffed Central Asia, and enfeoffed one-third of one Gul (Afghanistan in later generations) to Li Ji, becoming Ji State.

however--

This Ji country has not developed well in recent years. Not only is the economy not average, but the local Gur people also broke out in an uprising.

Of course, you can also say that Li Ji has been participating in the crown prince election all these years and has no energy and time to govern Ji.

But in Li Yan's view, this reason is not sufficient.

Li Bi, who has the same situation as Li Ji, is not like Li Ji—although Li Bi is not in the country of Bi, the ministers he appointed still manage the country in an orderly manner, the economy is prosperous, and the law and order and politics are very stable. .

In the final analysis, there is still a problem with Li Ji's employment.

This is a big taboo of being an emperor - being an emperor, you can bear it if you don't have the ability, but you can't do it if you don't use people's eyes.

Therefore, in Li Yan's heart, he did not want Li Ji to be the crown prince, and then the emperor.

In fact, not only Li Ji, but also Li Mao, Li Ci, Li Jian, Li Xu, Li Dian, and Li Yan were all unfavorable.

Li Mao and Li Jian, especially the former, are too bookish. In Li Yan's opinion, such people are the most unsuitable to be emperors, because they have heard too much, and they will not make decisions. The key is, such people The emperor can easily be kidnapped by those civil officials, or even emptied, and then lose his imperial power.

Li Ci is just the opposite, too decisive, that is to say, Li Ci's murderous intent is too heavy, such an emperor is not good, he will cause panic among the courtiers and the people, and it is not conducive to stability. It is said that stability is more important than anything else. What those in power fear most is change. Civil change, official change, and palace change all mean that the rule may be overthrown. Moreover, if you are used to killing problems to solve problems, it is really possible after a long time. Will become a tyrant, and then will often use force to solve problems, will become militaristic.

I would like to add here that if one were to be elected emperor among Li Mao, Li Jian, and Li Ci, Li Yan would choose Li Ci without hesitation.

Although Li Xu is Li Yan's most staunch supporter, and he has perseverance and tenacity in doing things, Li Yan is still not optimistic about Li Xu being the emperor. People who are emperors must have their own judgments and cannot blindly follow the trend. After all, political struggles are extremely complicated, and it is impossible to always have a bright light for you to refer to. Therefore, a character like Li Xu is definitely not suitable for being an emperor.

As for Li Dian, it is because he is too businessman-like, and such a person is too calculating, so he lacks a sense of the overall situation and is worse in terms of trade-offs, and the emperor will inevitably have to face trade-offs, which is very important for Li Dian In addition, Li Dian is so smart and capable that he has never suffered setbacks at all, and often such people, once they suffer setbacks, are likely to be depressed, or even drift with the tide, just like the Sui Dynasty. After Yangdi suffered setbacks, he broke the pot and threw away all his land.

But Li Yan is optimistic, and the chances are not great.

Like Li Bi and Li Xu.

Li Bi grew up step by step from the army.

This kind of Li Bi is not lacking in tempering, nor lacking in decisiveness.

The point is, Li Bi is not as bloodthirsty as Li Ci, he has always killed what should be killed, and never killed what should not be killed.

Moreover, Li Bi is good at commanding troops and fighting with wisdom, which is in line with the qualities that an emperor should have.

Let's talk about Li Xu.

At a young age, Li Xu could bear his temper and stayed in the desolate Mobei for 13 years.

This is extremely difficult. I am afraid that one of the 1 young people will not be able to find one.

The point is, Li Xu built Beining City into a first-class city in such a difficult environment, stabilizing the northern frontier for Dazhong.

This is even more rare.

In Li Yan's opinion, if Li Xu becomes the emperor, he will definitely be a good emperor.

But the problem Li Bi and Li Xu faced was that their voices were not high. Li Bi, who had already run for the election last year, received the second-last most votes last year.

In fact, there is no way to do this. After all, not everyone can see the bright spots in Li Bi and Li Xu, and they are not as good at speaking and packaging themselves as Li Mao and Li Jian.

Since it was unlikely that Li Bi and Li Xu would win the crown prince, Li Yancai pushed Li Podi out.

Those who engage in intelligence are generally relatively low-key.

However, there are always exceptions.

Li Podi, who is only in his twenties, especially since he is not the second generation of the emperor, but the third generation of the emperor, has become the head of intelligence in Central Asia and Europe. One person is responsible for the intelligence collection of more than 100 vassal states in the two regions. Even if he wanted to keep a low profile, it was impossible.

More importantly, the kings of those vassal states are all in his hands. If he runs for election, he will definitely get votes from many vassal states.

That's why Li Yan pushed Li Podi out to see if he could defeat Li Ji and the others to become crown prince.

However, Li Yan can achieve this level - the rules are specified by Li Yan, and it is impossible for Li Yan to take the lead in breaking them.

Therefore, whether Li Podi can defeat his uncles and become the crown prince in the end depends on himself.

Furthermore, if Li Podi depends on Li Yan for everything, then Li Podi is not worthy of being the emperor.

In a word, no matter who wants to be an emperor, he has to defeat others on his own.

The election is not just to select the crown prince, it is also a test of the real crown prince.

You must know that the election process is full of political games, and it is absolutely impossible for anyone who is not a master or a person with great wisdom to win.

This is something that others cannot help.

Therefore, before the election, Li Yan did not give anyone too much help, but just told Li Xu, Li Xu, Li Dian, and Li Podi, who were new candidates for the election this year, about some methods he knew to solicit votes.

in fact--

Li Yan, this is completely superfluous.

After the last election, they should have summed up a lot of methods, and these methods should be much better than Li Yan's platitudes.

When Li Yan told Li Xu and the others, it could only show that Li Yan treated them equally.

In the autumn of the tenth year of Dading.

Li Ji, Li Mao, Li Ci, Li Bi, Li Jian, Li Xu, Li Xu, Li Dian and Li Podi embarked on the journey of the crown prince election.

At the same time, Li Yan also started his life as an emperor for the last few years...

……

(End of this chapter)