Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 214: Problems must be addressed, and even if there are no problems, problems must be created and addressed
In the speeding carriage, Li Ming's brain was spinning rapidly.

The originally tangled thoughts were straightened out one by one and gradually became clear.

In theory, the princes’ military positions were just honorary titles and they did not directly command the army.

However, an honorary title does not mean having no title after all.

Under special circumstances, the prince is not unable to command the troops he leads remotely.

The Jiucheng Palace incident is such a special case.

The emperor delegated power and summoned the princes to serve the country.

At that time, the legal restrictions on Li Tai's command of the Zuo Wuhou Guard were lifted.

In other words, within a short period of time after defeating Ashina Jieshe, Li Tai had the opportunity to mobilize the Zuo Wuhou Guard to the ambush site on the banks of the Wei River.

The leader of the silencer gang was Li Tai.

In other words, the mastermind behind the Jiucheng Palace incident, who collaborated with the Xueyantuo from within, was Li Tai?
Was it Li Tai who instructed his foolish brother Li You to look for Sun Simiao, obtain the recipe for realgar wine poison, and poison Li Xiaogong and Li Shimin?
Was it Li Tai who attempted to assassinate Sun Simiao in order to prevent him and me from meeting?

It was Li Tai who used Li You as the middle node, manipulated Li You to contact Zhang Liang, and slandered me for setting up my own faction in Liaodong and rebelling against the Tang Dynasty?
"Awesome Li Tai, who said five men can't do it..."

Li Ming murmured.

After the sudden realization, he felt waves of horror.

Is it really Li Tai?

Is he really the culprit behind the mystery that has been bothering him from the beginning to the end?

From a feasibility analysis, as one of the three legitimate sons, he was once a strong contender for the crown prince.

Li Tai is very feasible, whether he is manipulating Li You, infiltrating Zhang Liang, or instigating Ashina Jieshuli to rebel.

Below the emperor, few people can achieve this level.

And from the motivation analysis.

There was hardly anyone more motivated to rebel than Li Tai.

In the Jiucheng Palace Incident, apart from Emperor Li Shimin, the one who suffered the most severe siege was the Crown Prince.

If something really happened between these two people.

Under the circumstances at that time, the throne belonged to Li Tai!

The same is true for the Liaodong smear incident.

By manipulating Zhang Liang to spread rumors, Li Tai struck both the crown prince and Li Ming at the same time.

If Li Ming had not turned the tide against all odds, overthrown Goguryeo and returned as a king from Liaodong.

If Li Ming really died in Liaodong.

Then the position of crown prince would naturally belong to Li Tai!

"Damn it! There's a tiger snoring beside my bed!"

Li Ming couldn't help but scream.

"Your Highness?"

The driver heard the noise in the carriage and immediately turned around and asked.

Li Ming was always easy-going towards the palace service staff - or "servants" as other feudal lords called them.

Therefore, everyone did not feel restrained when talking to the little prince who controlled the world.

"Go back to Liaodong!" Li Ming shouted subconsciously.

"What?" The driver felt as if he had heard it wrongly.

I seemed to hear "Liaodong" or something.

"Uh... just keep driving forward." Li Ming changed his tone.

Don't think about hiding back in Liaodong when something happens. This kind of thinking is unhealthy. He leaned back on the soft seat cushion in the carriage, trying to calm himself.

Even if Li Tai was really the mastermind behind this, he couldn't command the army with Li Shimin around.

He could not even command Su Dingfang and Zuo Wuhouwei.

As long as Li Shimin was still there, he would remain safe.

There is no need to worry about the army turning against you.

"At least now I don't have to worry..."

Li Ming felt that he had returned to the state before last year——

I am suspicious and always think someone is trying to harm me.

This vigilance is not groundless.

Assume that the above situation was indeed set up by Li Tai.

My current state can definitely not be described as being carefree.

First of all, Li Tai will definitely not stop here, and he might be carrying out a new conspiracy.

Moreover, his control over Chang'an is far from solid.

Rather than being a ruler, he, as the "regent", is more like a steward.

He has to do all the hard work, but he has no power.

Not only was he unable to get any military power at all.

Even among his nominal civil servant subordinates, there were quite a few insects who pretended to obey him but actually disobeyed him and held him back.

Although he was the nominal ruler of the empire, he did not feel safe at all in the capital.

Instead, he was cautious and nervous everywhere, and was not even allowed to visit the palace.

I was very aggrieved.

Chang'an, and even the entire Tang Dynasty, still needs a major reform that will dig deep into the ground.

"Liaodong is still the best. From the people, officials to the army, they are all shaped by me and they only obey my orders..."

Li Ming began to miss his base again.

He originally thought that after becoming regent, his focus would gradually shift from Liaodong to governing the entire country.

After all, the entire Tang Dynasty is much stronger than Ping and Ying states, right?

However, he was wrong.

The deeper he ruled, the more he felt how indispensable a new and efficient organizational structure designed by himself from the grassroots to the top was.

Although the Tang Dynasty only lasted for two generations, the entire basic political system, including the equal-field system, the military service system, and the rent-and-labor system, all originated from the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

After going through the Five Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, this system has been running for more than a hundred years and has accumulated a certain number of bugs, making it seem a bit bloated and outdated.

"If I continue to stay in Chang'an, I will follow the steps to become the crown prince from the regent and wait for the throne.

"It means I have to continue to endure this system for more than ten years or even decades.

“By then, the vested interest groups in the current system will be even more powerful. Will I be able to carry out reforms after I take over?
"What's more, in the past few decades, I have had to live cautiously, endure attacks from the opposition party, and may even have to face several assassination attempts..."

Whether from a national perspective or from an individual standpoint.

It’s not a good idea to stay in Chang’an any longer.

Li Ming has never returned to Liaodong like he is now, accumulating strength and bringing about a thorough reform of the entire country from north to south.

According to his own ideas, he completely shaped the Tang Dynasty into his own shape.

“No, no… you can’t avoid the problem.

"The troubles encountered in Chang'an should be solved in Chang'an."

Li Ming once again pulled his thoughts back from Liaodong.

I have finally climbed to the position of regent, and I have made a good start and governed the country well.

On the surface, everything is going well.

He really had to suddenly abandon it all and go back to the mountains to fight guerrilla warfare.

It still takes a lot of courage.

"Calm down, take things one at a time.

"The first important thing is to confirm the identity of the real mastermind. Is it really Li Tai?"

At this time, the carriage also arrived at his destination for leaving the palace tonight.

Di Mansion.

The accompanying imperial guards raised their fists as big as casserole pots and banged on the door.

"Who is it~"

The doorman came out yawning and cursing.

Everyone was stunned when they saw the fully armed imperial guards and the luxurious carriages coming from the palace.

What crime did Mr. Di commit that a noble from the palace knocked on his door and invited him to have tea in the middle of the night?
"I, I, I... I will go and ask Mr. Di to come out and greet you!"

Li Ming stuck his head out of the car window:

"That's not necessary. I'm only looking for Di Renjie."

The housekeeper naturally did not dare to slack off and called Di Renjie and his dog father Di Zhixun out of bed.

"Your Highness... Your Highness?"

Di Zhixun was completely frightened awake, and recalled all the bad things he had done since he was a child, starting from the time he spit his snot into his brother's bowl.

All officials in Chang'an knew that His Highness Li Ming and his henchmen particularly liked to raid the homes of corrupt officials in the middle of the night.

Di Zhixun recalled several times, but he couldn't remember what he had done wrong during his tenure that caused His Highness to visit him in the middle of the night...

Di Renjie looked at his father's useless appearance, his face full of black lines, and deliberately said loudly:

"Brother Ming, are you here to see me?"

"Yes."

Li Ming jumped down from the carriage:

“Let’s go in and discuss.

"Sima Di, I apologize for disturbing you."

"No, no!" Di Zhixun was very respectful to his son's friend.

Di Zhixun is now also serving as the military officer of Li Yuanyi, Prince of Zheng and the biological son of Emperor Li Yuan. Calling him "Sima" is considered a courtesy.

Prince of Zheng, Li Yuanyi, had not yet gone to Zheng to be established as a fief, so the Di family could still stay in the capital.

Most of the princes went to other places to become vassal kings, but many of the young "imperial uncles" born to the princes by the retired emperor still remained in the capital.

…………

"You and Lai Junchen organize the personnel and focus all your work on Li Tai."

Li Ming instructed Di Renjie.

The first step is to ask if there is one.

The prince cannot investigate openly, not to mention the possibility of the news leaking out.

It would also cause a huge uproar in the political arena, turning the turbulent court into a mess, and even make the sensitive Emperor Li II make a sharp explosion thousands of miles away. So he had to use "his own people" to secretly investigate this case.

Li Er’s fathers include Zhang Liang and Li Junxian, and Li Er’s sons include Lai Junchen and Di Renjie.

"These major and suspicious cases...were they really done by the King of Wei..."

After listening to Li Ming's account of the case, Di Renjie felt a chill on his back and lost all desire to sleep.

"That's not necessarily the case."

Li Ming said.

"As long as you find any clues, notify me immediately and I will arrest Li Tai for treason."

Di Renjie finally felt relieved.

Li Ming glanced at him and continued:

"If no evidence is found, then I will fabricate evidence and I will still arrest Li Tai for treason."

Di Renjie's heart, which had been at ease, was weighed down again.

"Among the three legitimate sons, Li Chengqian went with the army, while Li Zhi is still in the capital. Although the whereabouts of these two are unknown, they are generally controllable."

Li Ming explained:
"But Li Tai, that fellow Li Tai has been staying in his old nest in Luoyang for several months. I don't know what he is doing..."

"He is communicating with his brothers to keep in touch with them." Di Renjie added:
"We usually keep an eye on him."

However, Li Tai was very cautious and his palace was difficult to infiltrate, so the committee could only secretly check Li Tai's communications through an insider who infiltrated the post station.

As for Li Tai, even his speech was roundabout and his letters were so obscure that it was hard to understand. It was enough to compile a book of "Li Tai's Fables".

If you don't have the relevant background knowledge, you have no idea what this guy is talking about.

Li Ming nodded:
"Then continue and increase your efforts."

If conditions permit, he would have wanted to say "If he can achieve his lofty ambitions one day", and kill Li Tai.

When he reached the top position, his stance changed accordingly and he could not wait to persecute the brothers who posed a threat.

Unfortunately, conditions do not allow it.

The Tang Dynasty had not yet fully grasped the advanced concept of "if the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects must die", and killed people for no reason. Even Emperor Li Shimin could not tolerate this.

The target was especially Li Tai, your Majesty's beloved darling.

Li Ming is just a housekeeper now, and there is no one to execute Li Tai even if he wants to.

Even if he really killed Li Taiga through conspiracy,

When Emperor Li Shimin returns, he will surely remove Li Ming's crown prince and let Li Zhi reap the spoils.

Therefore, Li Ming could only find a reason to detain Li Tai first, at least until Li Shimin returned.

Even so, he has already taken a huge political risk, and in the next few months, he will surely be impeached by countless insects.

"In short, we need to prove Li Zhi's guilt. It would be best if we could directly collect strong evidence that Li Tai is guilty." Li Ming said:

"If there is no evidence, then the fabricated evidence must be logical, establish a clear chain of evidence, and distance yourself from me, otherwise it is easy to shoot yourself in the foot."

Di Renjie nodded solemnly:

"knew--

"Brother Ming, there have been some unusual movements in the harem recently.

"A few days ago, Concubine Wei asked all the palace servants to take shelter temporarily and received other concubines in the bedroom until late at night. It seemed that they were discussing something."

Although Li Ming lived in the Lide Hall in the harem, in order to avoid suspicion, she never wandered around in the territories of other concubines in the harem.

Otherwise, those insects in the court would really make up rumors that he was "incestuous in his harem."

Even though he is still an undeveloped baby.

Therefore, Li Ming could only get second-hand information about what the other concubines were doing through his mother Yang and spies who infiltrated the Taiji Palace.

Damn it, is Taiji Palace a whack-a-mole nest? People keep popping up one by one... Li Ming smacked his lips and arranged:
"The focus is still on Li Tai. Compared with the threat from Luoyang, the harem is still controllable."

"Okay." Di Renjie nodded:
"So, the recent Sogdian fraud case..."

"You don't have to worry about it. Let the Ministry of Justice do what they can do. You can save your energy and use it on more important things."

Li Ming said.

Allocating tasks in this way can mobilize all official and civilian departments and avoid the phenomenon of "one nuclear power in trouble and eight nuclear powers watching", which is very reasonable.

However, Di Renjie frowned and hesitated to speak.

"Is there any problem?" Li Ming asked.

"Hmm... speaking of the Sogdians cheating people out of money, it reminds me of a case within a case." Di Renjie pondered.

Li Ming: "What case?"

Di Renjie: "The assassination of Prince Hejian."

This case was handled jointly by Li Ming and the famous detective Di Renjie.

Xiao Di's forensic skills - to be exact, stabbing the throat with a silver needle - amazed Li Ming.

Li Ming was puzzled:

"? What's the connection between Li Xiaogong and MLM?"

Di Renjie: "Brother Ming, do you remember the concubines that the Prince of Hejian married?"

Li Ming: "Remember, there were seven concubines in total, both Han and Hu people."

This also earned Li Xiaogong the nickname "Seven-Star Ladybug".

There are only wrong names, no wrong nicknames.

Di Renjie continued:
"Among Li Xiaogong's seven concubines, one, I think the sixth, was a Sogdian."

After Xiao Di reminded him, Li Ming also recalled a little:
"Yes, yes, yes! It seems that she is having an affair with the third son of Li Xiaogong, who seems to be called Li Chongzhen."

Most of Li Xiaogong's seven secretaries had affairs with his three sons.

This can be considered as the family tradition of the Li family. He is worthy of being a general of the royal family.

"If I remember correctly, Li Chongzhen also fell victim to a scam and lost all his savings."

Di Renjie's memory is still very good:
"That's why he was suspected of patricide and spent several days in the Dali Temple prison."

"Yes, yes, I almost forgot." Li Ming slapped his forehead.

"Do you think that the Sogdian Sixth Aunt might be involved in this case?"

"The ice is three feet thick and it didn't freeze overnight. It can affect tens of thousands of people and involve millions of taels of silver. This scam will not last too long."

Detective Di Renjie pondered:

"The deception of Li Chongzhen might have been done by the same group of people. Even if not, they might have known each other.

"And the Sixth Aunt may be an accomplice of the scammer, who seduced Li Chongzhen into the game."

Make bold assumptions and verify them carefully. It is definitely not enough to arrest someone based on this conjecture alone.

But Di Renjie's imagination did provide a new idea and breakthrough for the investigation of the case.

At the moment, if there is any major event that can be compared with the urgency of dealing with Li Tai, it is the fraud case.

If the situation is not handled properly, the capital will be in chaos again.

"I'll ask the Ministry of Justice to investigate her thoroughly." Li Ming nodded.

…………

After discussing with Di Renjie, Li Ming left Di’s house.

The dog's father, Dickson, was waiting respectfully at the door.

"Excuse me." Li Ming just said politely to his friend's parents.

Di Zhixun was almost falling asleep, and he said, trying not to sleep:
"Your Highness, since His Royal Highness Prince Zheng is about to take up his fiefdom, I will also be going to Zheng to take up my post."

Li Ming frowned:
"What about Di Renjie?"

Where's my spy chief?
It would be ridiculous if I lost an arm because of "my parents' job change".

"I will naturally stay in Chang'an, waiting for your orders at any time."

The dog's father quickly expressed his loyalty.

Everyone knows how important His Highness Li Ming is, so he was not stupid enough to give up on Li Ming's strong thigh.

Li Ming's eyebrows relaxed:
"Thank you for your hard work, Di family."

He was about to leave when he saw Lao Di hesitated to speak.

Talking like he has prostatitis, is this a family tradition of your Di family... Li Ming complained fiercely in his heart and had to stop and ask:
"What else does Sima Di want?"

"That..." Di Zhixun seemed to have a lot of urine. He kept mumbling for a long time. After a long ideological struggle, he lowered his voice and said:

"Your Highness Prince Jin has been in frequent contact with His Highness Prince Zheng during this period."

Prince of Jin...Li Zhi?
What is he doing hanging out with his uncle Li Yuanyi?
Visiting relatives?
Not really, there are still a few months before the Chinese New Year.

Damn, the actions of the legitimate sons are really unnerving...

Sitting in the carriage on the way back to the palace, Li Ming did not feel relieved at all. Instead, he became more and more uneasy.

His eyes were looking at the streets of Chang'an, but his mind had already flown to the Northeast.

Only in the Northeast, on his own territory, could he feel the long-lost peace...

"Military power. The fundamental reason is that I don't have military power in Chang'an."

Li Ming murmured.

He never had the chance to get involved in the Tang Dynasty's army.

He didn't even get the honorary position of "General".

He originally wanted to use Xue Wanche and Hou Junji to gradually bring the Tang army under his command, just like he peacefully transformed Zhang Jian's Yingzhou Military Governor's Office.

However, both of them served as civil ministers and were transferred out of the army.

It seemed as if His Majesty Li Shimin had always been on guard against him.

Allowing him to keep a Red Turban Army in Liaodong was already the limit the emperor could tolerate...

“But I am in Chang’an, and I cannot let myself be bullied by others or leave my safety in the hands of others.

"Although I don't have the power to command troops, it doesn't mean I can't have a good relationship with the Chang'an garrison. People are all made of flesh and blood, and it may be able to have miraculous effects at a critical moment.

"And the most important army in Chang'an is..."

Li Ming briefly sorted out the power distribution in the city, and a name came to mind -

Li Junxian.

And his Xuanwu Gate Guards.

…………

"Your Highness, Prince Jin, I haven't seen you for a long time... well, I haven't come to see you often. It is my fault. Please forgive me."

General Chang He of Youtunwei rubbed his hands, spoke in a hoarse voice, and entertained the guests in a somewhat helpless manner.

He didn't expect that Prince of Jin Li Zhi would visit him suddenly.

(End of this chapter)