Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 121 Sister, you don’t want to be discovered for saving the wrong person, right?

"hiss!"

Li Shimin was awakened by a headache again.

Outside the Lizheng Palace, the autumn night was as dark as ink.

"Your Majesty?" Yang called out in a daze.

"It's okay, go to sleep." Li Shimin patted the person beside him gently.

Soon, the sound of even breathing could be heard.

Li Shimin sighed lightly.

A dull headache kept him from falling asleep, so he simply put on his clothes and went to the study.

Ever since Empress Changsun passed away, he felt that he had grown old.

The evidence is the deteriorating health and increasingly severe illness.

Dizziness, headache, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and occasional numbness in the limbs.

In modern times, any barefoot doctor would be able to tell at a glance that these are typical symptoms of high blood pressure, and would prescribe some antihypertensive drugs costing a few cents and the patient could go home.

But in the Tang Dynasty, even Li Shimin had to endure it.

The Li family's ancestral cardiovascular disease seriously restricted this wise ruler's ability to handle state affairs in his later years.

"Huh..." Li Shimin sat at the table for a while, supporting his head, and the pain finally eased a little.

The headache in the middle of the night was not bad.

The headache and tinnitus every afternoon really made him feel uneasy.

Li Shimin was completely out of sleep, so he simply picked up the memorials that had accumulated during his headache in the afternoon and began to read them under the candlelight.

The first report was the latest intelligence from the Pingzhou Prefecture.

It’s called the “latest” because it was two months ago.

This is a memorial of condolences submitted to Your Majesty by Liu Xin, the Governor of Pingzhou, after the Jiucheng Palace Incident.

It took a month for the news to reach Pingzhou. Liu Xin immediately wrote a letter of condolences, and it took another month to deliver it.

Except for military emergencies that are extremely costly and can waste several thousand miles of horses, this is the fastest communication from Pingzhou to Chang'an under normal channels.

How to play with a two-month delay?
It's better to take your hands off the keyboard.

Therefore, there are objective reasons why Liaodong is difficult to manage.

"Oh? The Pingzhou noble Murong Yan is suspected of having troops and armor? The Red Turban bandits are suspected of colluding with Goguryeo?"

Li Shimin obtained these two pieces of knowledge from Liu Xin's memorial.

Liu Xin wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to communicate and do his best to show his ability to the emperor.

Li Shimin just took a glance at it and threw it aside.

Liu Xin, this incompetent man, has to report such a small matter and he really can't tell priorities.

Were there few rebellions during the Zhenguan period?
Li Yi's rebellion began in the first month of the first year of Zhenguan.

Li Xiaochang and Liu Deyu rebelled, the Shan Liao people in eight southwestern states including Jingzhou and Wuzhou rebelled, the Dangxiang Qiang people rebelled, and the Taozhou Qiang people rebelled...

Until recently, Ashina organized a rebellion right under our noses.

Li Shimin had really seen a lot of storms and waves. He had suppressed every rebellion inside and outside the Great Wall, and he wiped them out with ease.

Wait until there is a rebellion like in Pingzhou and Taozhou in the ninth year of Zhenguan, when the local natives kill a governor to offer sacrifice to the gods, and then make a big news.

"Li Ming is an interesting guy. Why did he choose those two weird places, Pingzhou and Yingzhou..."

Li Shimin was puzzled.

Yingzhou was originally a vassal state, so let’s not discuss it for now.

Pingzhou can actually be considered as half of a vassal state.

Two months have passed since the decree was issued, and the day lilies on the graves have already gone cold. There is no way to manage it. What else can we do if we don’t “let the locals manage the land”?
"The Murong family is the largest aristocratic family in Pingzhou, descended from the Murong Xianbei royal family of the Former Yan in the Northern Dynasty.

"Whether it was Yang Guang's three expeditions to Liaodong or my expedition to the Eastern Turks ten years ago, I borrowed troops from the Murong family. Tsk..."

Li Shimin folded his arms and pondered.

He knew that Murong Yan had troops, and he also knew that Murong Yan collected taxes privately.

These are all old things, and the Tang Dynasty emperor was not completely in the dark.

However, he felt that these were not problems.

The chieftains of the vassal states could also command their own troops, and the princes of the principality could also set their own taxes.

What the Murong family of Pingzhou did was also done by the border states of the empire.

Even Murong Yan was still supportive of the central government and was still using the Kaiyuan Tongbao of the central dynasty.

Unlike Yingzhou, they minted their own currency.

There is no way. The Tang Dynasty is too big, and it cannot be managed without delegating power to local governments.

"I wonder how that little rascal who can't tolerate any injustice can do against the real local tyrants without the help of his father, me.

"It should be a wake-up call for him. In the future, if he wants to be the king of a place, he won't just be the only one in power. He will also have to take into account the interests of the wealthy and powerful families... Alas."

Li Shimin couldn't help feeling helpless as the gentry was encroaching on his local governing power.

But there's no point being unhappy.

Politicians must learn to compromise.

How could the Tang Dynasty carry out micro-control since there were no radio stations or airdropped handbooks?
Without local nobles like Murong Yan to help govern the place, are you going to endure a two-month delay in operations?
"Your Majesty, please take care of yourself."

Yang gently put a coat on Li Shimin.

Li Shimin held her hand on his shoulder and suddenly laughed.

"Why is Your Majesty laughing?"

"I'm worried..." Li Shimin patted Yang's hand:

"I'm worried that our stinky son will urinate in the hat of the Pingzhou nobles."

…………

"I...will use Murong Yan's skull as a chamber pot sooner or later!"

Li Ming roared in unwillingness.

"Brother Ming...keep your voice down, save your energy on running..."

Chang Sunyan was running out of breath.

Behind the four little ones, Murong Yan's private army was chasing them closely, and stray arrows were aimed at their little butts.

"We'll be safe if we head north into Yanshan!" The female leader pointed to the dark mountains.

Ah, what if we run into bandits when we go up the mountain in the middle of the night...Oh, you are the bandits? That's fine.

Under the escort of this group of careless bandits who had mistaken someone for someone else, Li Ming and his party ran to the side wall of Murong's residence.

"Climb over the wall and head north to reach Yanshan Mountain. I'll help you!" The female man half-knelt on the ground and motioned the child to step on her shoulders.

Li Ming and his team said, compared with the palace wall of Taiji Palace, this mound of earth can also be considered a wall?
The four little ones climbed up to the top of the wall like geckos, turned over and jumped, and disappeared into the dark Yanshan Mountain in the blink of an eye.

Red Scarf Bandit: ...

…………

Li Ming and his companions left the bandit group without hesitation and hid in the mountains.

If you don't run away, are you waiting to get them red flowers?

"Brother Ming, what should we do next?"

Fang Yize was tired from running and sat on the ground with a confused look on his face.

Li Ming looked at the brightly lit Murong Mansion at the foot of the mountain and smacked his lips.

I didn't expect that Murong Yan would dare to rebel like this!

Damn it, the Murong Xianbei also learned from the advanced experience of the Qiang people and repeated the Taozhou Rebellion of five years ago, killing the governor and rising up in rebellion, right?

He was now extremely grateful that he had the sudden idea to go on a "secret visit" and did not reveal his identity at the beginning.

Otherwise, he, a "Jiedushi" known for his tyranny, would most likely be killed together with Liu Xin by Murong Yan.

"I saved my life by accident..." Li Ming murmured.

Before one crisis is over, another one arises. The governance of border areas where Hu people gather is indeed a difficult problem.

He now had some understanding of why the imperial court had set up the Jimizhou and even took the initiative to assign the grasslands north of the Yellow River to the Ashina Simo tribe for grazing and management.

The Central Dynasty really couldn't handle it. "Wait until dawn and go down the mountain to the provincial capital to ask for help!" Chang Sunyan suggested.

Fang Yi almost immediately objected:
"What if there are Murong Yan's spies in the prefecture?"

This worry is very realistic. The Murong family has been deeply rooted in the local area for hundreds of years, and it is impossible that they have not infiltrated the grassroots government offices.

If any gatekeeper or messenger turns out to be a traitor, all of them will be doomed.

To take a step back, even if all the people in the government office are good people, they are like clay Buddhas crossing the river and cannot save themselves.

Once Murong Yan raises an army, it’s unclear whether the Pingzhou Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty will still exist tomorrow, so how can it take care of them!

Chang Sunyan was not convinced: "Then what do you say we should do?"

"We... escape directly to Yingzhou?" Fang Yize himself was not very confident.

Chang Sunyan was too lazy to refute him.

You definitely can't take the main road. Children who often rebel know that the first thing to do when rebelling is to block the road and set up checkpoints.

The four noble children survived by walking on mountain roads in the wilderness without the need for any rebels, bandits, or even man-eating beasts to attack them.

The cold and hunger in the mountains in late autumn can teach them how to behave.

What should I do?
Yuchi Xunyu slapped his head:
"How about asking the Red Scarf Army for help?

"They beat Murong Yan, and we beat Murong Yan too. Aren't we all companions?"

This sudden idea made Changsun Yan and Fang Yize laugh.

The bandits guard the country's borders, and the bandit leader dies for the country, right?
The bandits politely escorted them out of the country and summoned the heavenly soldiers to wipe them out, right?
"Brother Ming, what should we do?" The three little ones looked at Li Ming in unison.

Li Ming remained silent.

What he is most worried about now is not himself, but Hou Junji and Wei Daijia.

His left and right arms don’t know that Murong Yan has rebelled, and are still staying in the enemy’s lair in ignorance!

"We must save them, otherwise they will be in great danger!"

Li Ming stood up decisively.

"us……"

"So you were hiding here!"

Before Li Ming finished speaking, many dark shadows suddenly appeared around him.

The leader lit the torch.

When they saw who was coming, the four children felt a sinking feeling in their hearts at the same time.

"You guys ran so fast, we almost didn't find you!"

The red-turbaned bandit sister who had just saved them stood with her hands on her hips angrily.

"You guys left the team and hid here in the middle of the night. Are you trying to feed the tigers in the mountains? Come on, follow us back to the village!"

The four little ones looked at each other.

Okay, now you don’t have to rack your brain about what to do.

…………

Li Ming and his companions followed the "Red Scarf Army" whose identity was unclear, and walked with difficulty on the mountain path.

Even with torches and locals who were familiar with the terrain leading the way, they almost fell into the bottomless ravine several times. Fortunately, they were grabbed by the adults beside them.

The female bandit leader was right.

A few kids walking on a mountain road is no different from delivering food to a tiger.

As they walked, the other bandits in the team began to whisper.

A bearded man finally couldn't help asking the young female bandit leader:

"Auntie Wu, are these four children really from the Zhang family?"

In fact, everyone was skeptical from the very beginning.

The four children were dressed in silk and satin, had no idea what was happening in the mountains, and spoke with foreign accents.

What is even more suspicious is that these four people clearly have faces that look like they have never been bullied.

No matter how you look at it, he doesn't look like the Zhang family boy who was kidnapped by the Murong family...

"This..." The young female bandit leader named Aunt Wu was a little shaken.

She is called "Auntie" not because she is old, but because she is the eldest daughter in the family.

The rough man continued to talk:
“Auntie Wu, you are the daughter of Chief Wu, and this is your first time leading a team.

"Please don't make any mistakes. If you do, the leader won't let you go down the mountain alone."

Aunt Wu's mouth twitched, and her attitude immediately became extremely firm:

"I definitely didn't admit my mistake!"

The rough guy was still a little skeptical: "Really?"

"Really? We are all kids, how can we lie?" The four little ones echoed in unison.

"Oh." The bandits obviously didn't seem very smart.

Aunt Wu looked at the four sneaky strange children.

The four children looked at the bandit leader.

The five people inexplicably formed an offensive and defensive alliance.

…………

This fragile alliance lasted less than an hour.

The group crossed mountains and hills and came to an open valley.

Under the moonlight, you can see several protrusions in the valley, like graves.

Li Ming and his group swallowed nervously.

What you fear will come true. In the middle of the "grave", there seemed to be a light and floating thing like a human figure swaying.

"Ghost!" Fang Yize whispered.

Yuchi Xunyu patted his head:

"It's human!"

These "graves" were originally low earthen houses.

They came to an unknown village deep in the mountains.

Those floating black shadows are the villagers.

They were all so skinny that they seemed like they would be blown down by a gust of wind, so they looked like they were floating in the dark.

Their nutritional status is even worse than that of the refugees in Chang'an City.

No one spoke. They stood in a circle with their backs to Li Ming. A dim fire flickered in the middle of the circle. The atmosphere was solemn and eerie.

Aunt Wu took a deep breath and shouted cheerfully:

"Zhang Lizheng! Your son..."

"All the sons of the Zhang family are dead!"

The villagers made way for him.

In the middle of the circle lay the bodies of four children, about the same age as Li Ming and his friends, but they were all pale and skinny, curled up on the ground, about the size of a dog.

A man with a resolute face and a red headscarf walked silently to Aunt Wu and patted her on the shoulder.

"Grandpa..." Aunt Wu's mouth was dry.

The Red Scarf Army's leader Wu said in a muffled voice:

"You and I split into two groups to attack Murong Yan's lair. Where were you halfway? If you could have provided support, perhaps Zhang Lizheng's four sons would not have died!"

Aunt Wu opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

At this time, Chief Wu discovered four strange children behind her who were about to run away.

"they are?"

"Zhang...Zhang's son..."

brush!
The Red Scarf Bandits raised their sharpened wooden sticks and surrounded Li Ming and his three companions.

(End of this chapter)