Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 216 It's broken. His Majesty Li II seems to be in danger.
"Ahhh!"

A quarter of an hour later.

Sixth Aunt An was like a madman, howling inhumanly, hiding behind Li Ming, trembling like a little rabbit in a wolf's mouth.

Although there were no injuries on his body, the prisoner looked as if he had witnessed the end of the world. This counterintuitive scene made the prison guards present shudder.

Li Ming pulled his trouser legs away from the crazy woman with a look of disgust and asked:

"You didn't drive her crazy, did you? I still need to ask questions."

"No, I have severity."

Lai Junchen calmly wiped his hands with clean water and squatted in front of An.

"Bah, bah, bah!"

The woman subconsciously stepped back.

"Come here." Lai Junchen said lightly.

His tone was very calm, but what An heard was as if it were the whisper of the devil. She was terrified, but she still behaved like a dog and did not dare to disobey.

"My elder brother is asking you a question." Lai Junchen said in a friendly manner.

The Sixth Aunt raised her head pitifully, looked at Li Ming in fear, and nodded frantically.

Alai, no, Mr. Lai is good at training dogs... Li Ming muttered to himself and asked directly:

"Did you and others swindle Li Chongzhen's wealth?"

Nodded without hesitation.

Li Ming and Lai Junchen looked at each other and nodded slightly.

Yes, the idea is correct. There is indeed something wrong with these Sogdians.

"Do the swindlers you partnered with and the swindlers who swindled a huge amount of money in Chang'an know each other?"

An hesitated.

Lai Junchen frowned slightly.

An quickly confessed:
“No… not acquaintance.

"That's them. They're the same group."

Li Ming raised his eyebrows.

Oh, it’s a small world.

Yes, a three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight. This group of scammers must have been cultivating it for a long time to reach the scale of sweeping the whole city.

If the scammers cheat once and then switch to another scam, it would be too time-consuming for them.

"Who is the mastermind behind this group of scammers?" Lai Junchen asked immediately.

An did not hesitate:

"The magistrate of Chang'an County."

Li Ming frowned.

When Lai Junchen heard the words "Chang'an County Magistrate", his eyes clearly fluctuated, and a fierce light flashed across them:
"to be frank!"

It is an almost open fact that Li Qianyou is the protector of this group of Sogdians.

But being a protector is being a protector, but it is a bit too much to blame him as the mastermind as well.

Apart from anything else, Li Qianyou doesn’t have the brains to come up with a big scam like “pyramid scheme”!
"Bah, bah, bah!"

An let out an uncontrollable hysterical howl, which made the hairs on the head of everyone present stand on end except Lai Junchen.

Mr. Lai, are you sure this woman is not crazy... Li Ming reluctantly put on a white face and soothed her:
"Don't be afraid, I'm here. Just tell me and everything will be fine. What's going on?"

The woman grabbed the little prince's trouser leg and talked nonstop like a puppy that had found its owner.

Well, it was probably the same as the other concubine interrogated by Lai Junchen last year - the Turkic seventh concubine who directly poisoned Li Xiaogong. Her speech was illogical and she was emotionally agitated. She confessed everything from wetting the kang when she was a child to what she had for dinner yesterday.

The clerk of the Dali Temple Prison wrote until the tip of his pen was almost rubbing off sparks. After eliminating a lot of irrelevant content, he finally summarized the whole story of the case.

It's not complicated at all.

The general situation is that last year, not long after Li Xiaogong's death, Chang'an Ling Li Qianyou suddenly visited several Sogdians who didn't know how to work or do business, and taught them this set of scams.

Moreover, Li Mingfu also promised to open the door for these scammers, helping them to recruit people and cover up the matter.

With the help of well-connected local bosses, these scammers were able to sweep the capital's middle class and seize enormous wealth.

These Sogdian scammers essentially became Li Qianyou's white gloves.

Of course, as the mastermind and protector, the bulk of the profits naturally go to——

It doesn’t belong to Li Qianyou either.

Instead, according to the prior agreement, the defrauded money was transported out of Chang'an City and to a designated location.

These Sogdians were being followed at all times and places, so they would not have the guts to go against the orders of Chang'an Ling and embezzle the defrauded "public funds".

"In other words, there is someone behind Li Qianyou?"

Li Ming discovered the bright spot.

As a mere fifth-rank county magistrate, he could never afford to run this scheme or take in such a large amount of stolen money.

"I don't know, I don't know..." An shook his head in a trance.

"Where did those Sogdians escape with the money? What was the destination agreed upon by Li Qianyou and them?" Li Ming asked again.

An still shook his head.

Lai Junchen's eyes became stern:
"You don't know this, and you don't know that?!"

"Eeeeeee! I really don't know anything! Really!"

An pulled her hair frantically.

Lai Junchen rolled up his sleeves.

"Forget it, there's nothing more to ask."

Li Ming quickly persuaded Lai Zong, who had not had enough fun, to stop.

After leaving the torture room, Lai Junchen, who was quite excited just now, suddenly fell silent.

"What's wrong with you? Why don't you say anything?" Li Ming asked him.

Lai Junchen hesitated for a while and said:
"Brother Ming, that Li Qianyou...do you want to check?"

Seeing Lai Junchen's almost pleading eyes, Li Ming subconsciously looked away and hummed ambiguously:
"Well... let's look for more evidence."

Lai Junchen's eyes darkened.

"Do you have a grudge against Li Qianyou?" Li Ming glanced at him.

Lai Junchen curled his lips slightly and hummed:

"Kind of."

Li Ming didn't ask any more questions.

…………

The trace of the Sogdians who absconded with the money did not end with Sixth Aunt.

Because the Tang Dynasty was a feudal society that did not allow people to move freely across regions.

After leaving Chang'an, the Sogdians needed to apply for a "road permit" stating the starting point and destination of the journey.

This means that the final destination of this group of people can be pieced together piece by piece by tracking the guides to each city.

What they were carrying was a huge amount of stolen money, not ordinary goods, so it was unlikely that all of it could be handed over to others.

In other words, these people’s passes are also indirectly the “transfer records” of the stolen money.

However, the city gate surveillance stations in various places are not connected to the Internet, and it is time-consuming and laborious to use manpower to check the list one by one.

Fortunately, under the personal supervision of His Royal Highness the Regent, the whereabouts of these people - and most likely the money - finally became clear.

These people are very cunning. Each of them takes a different route and they are obviously deliberately interfering with the investigation.

However, they still underestimated the extent to which feudal society restricted personal freedom.

Although it took some time, their movements were clearly laid out on the desk of His Royal Highness the Regent.

Li Ming gave a thumbs up to the dark and corrupt feudal centralized system.

"The last counties they visited were Youyun, Shazhou and Lingzhou..."

This message consists of only a few words, but it embodies the day-and-night investigations carried out by counties and cities across the country.

Li Ming chewed on these locations and subconsciously looked behind him.

There, there is a geomancy map of the entire Tang Dynasty.

In fact, he didn't need to look at the map, these places had already lit up in his mind -

The You-Yun-Sha-Ling line is where large quantities of iron ore finally disappear during the "copper and iron shortage".

That place was also the northern border of the Tang Dynasty, where the Han and Hu peoples met. The Chinese dynasty's control over the place was relatively weak.

To the north is outside the Great Wall and south of the desert, which is the vassal area where the Simo Turks lived.

Further north is Yinshan Mountain, an accident-prone area. According to the division of Emperor Li Shimin, it should have been the sphere of influence of the Simo Turks, but is currently occupied by the Xueyantuo.

“Previous investigations into the copper and iron shortages have revealed that a large amount of iron ore was transported to the Youyun area, but there has been no similar abnormal outflow of copper ore.

"However, the copper crisis did happen. So far, it has not been determined which batch of copper disappeared, whether it was leaked or stored away..."

Li Ming pondered and naturally linked the two cases together -

"This batch of copper coins that Li Qianyou and the Sogdians transported to the northern border...

“Is it the copper that flowed out during the ‘copper and iron shortage’?”

This assumption cheered up Li Ming.

One million copper coins, this amount is already on the same level as the monetary portion of the court's annual rent, labor service and tax revenue (excluding the majority of corn, cloth and labor service).

Such bright copper coins were suddenly withdrawn from the Central Plains market overnight...

“It is indeed enough to cause a short-term shortage of money, inducing people to hoard money and reduce circulation, thus triggering a vicious cycle of deflation!”

Li Ming paced back and forth excitedly.

Finally, the causes of the economic crisis have been revealed.

As a result, the next question about this case becomes obvious - who is the main culprit and what is his motive?
Although we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the two cases are independent incidents.

However, judging from the modus operandi and the destination of the stolen goods, it is more likely that the two parties are under the same mastermind.

"What is the purpose of Li Qianyou and the mastermind behind him bringing copper and iron to the grasslands?"

Li Ming was thinking.

Obviously, their purpose was not to trigger the first economic crisis in the Tang Dynasty.

After all, with the level of economics at this time, it is not feasible to play such a big game.

It was only by a coincidence that the disaster occurred and eventually led to their "ant moving" behavior being exposed in advance.

Copper and iron are both high-tech products that are not available on the grassland.

Although iron ore requires a smelting process, it is less sensitive than finished iron.

Besides trading, copper coins have no real value in combat. You can't melt copper coins to make bronze swords, right? That's too retro.

But these two items were smuggled into the nomadic territory at the same time and in large quantities.

Still not a reassuring signal.

Especially since the ruler of the empire, His Majesty Li Shimin, was fighting the nomads in that place...

"If all this iron ore and copper coins fell into the hands of the nomads and the Xueyantuo..."

Li Ming habitually began to assume the worst.

Then I found out that this was of no use to the battle situation.

Iron ore is called "ore" in the Central Plains, but can only be called "red stone" in the grassland.

It's better not to have the technology and charcoal fuel for smelting.

As for copper coins, that's even more humorous.

Is there such a huge demand for transactions among nomadic peoples?

Don’t we still have to spend money to buy things from China?

However, judging from the financial statements, not only has bilateral trade not seen a corresponding increase, but it has continued to shrink due to the increasingly heated relations in recent years.

The Chinese did not sell goods to the Xueyantuo, so they were holding copper coins, which was no different from holding a pile of scrap copper.

In short, it is unlikely that the Tiele people of Xueyantuo could use this money and these mines to create an elite armored army with armored horses and men that could rival the Tang army.

"unless……"

Li Ming's gaze turned to the west of the grassland.

Western Regions.

A series of trade and handicraft city-states radiated from the Sogdian capital of Malakanda, also known as Samarkand.

Before being conquered by Genghis Khan, it was the second center for material exchange for northern nomads besides the Central Plains.

The Western merchants there are not as morally upright as the people in the Central Plains.

As long as the money is enough, he can even sell the rope to hang himself.

“Copper coins and iron ore were smuggled into the Xueyantuo’s hands through the smuggling method of ants moving their houses.

"The Xueyantuo handed the ore over to the people of the Western Regions and commissioned them to smelt, forge, and forge armor and weapons.

"And this batch of copper coins obtained through fraud will be used to pay the people from the Western Regions for processing the materials..."

Logic closed loop!

If that's the case...

Then, what Li Shimin was facing was not a nomadic cavalry that might be equipped with stirrups, armor, and even armor for both horses and men? !
This chess game was so ingeniously conceived and involved so many forces that it was almost impossible for it to be planned by the Xueyantuo side.

There must be a Han Chinese behind the scenes directing this.

The involvement of Chang'an Ling Li Qianyou added a touch of conspiracy theory to the case.

Things get further complicated.

"Li Qianyou and the mastermind behind him planned to transport copper and iron out of the country in order to arm the Xueyantuo...

"The northern expedition against Xueyantuo was a strategy that Li Shimin had decided long ago...

"Could it be that the real target of this conspiracy is Li Shimin?!"

Li Ming's body trembled.

A place name immediately popped into my mind:
Jiucheng Palace.

Is this the follow-up to the Jiucheng Palace incident?

The shortage of copper and iron was also a subsequent remedial measure taken by the mastermind of the Jiucheng Palace incident?

Through Xueyantuo, he struck another blow to Li Er and killed Li Shimin?

"It is very likely that the copper and iron fell into the hands of Xueyantuo, and the shadow of Xueyantuo was also seen in the Jiucheng Palace Incident. This is one of the reasons.

"According to Sixth Aunt's confession, this scam took place shortly after Li Xiaogong's death. This is the second point..."

According to step-by-step reasoning, this copper and iron smuggling case was gradually included in the Jiucheng Palace series of cases.

Could it be that the person behind this case is the same person behind the Jiucheng Palace incident? !
"If that's the case, given the other party's tendency to play big chess...

"It is definitely not just the move of arming Xueyantuo, there must be a follow-up move..."

Li Ming narrowed his eyes slightly.

A group of fully armored cavalry suddenly appeared in the north, instead of barbarians with arrows on their heads, which greatly disrupted the strategic deployment.

What's more, with the possible back-up plan...

He immediately put aside everything he was doing, lay down on the table, and wrote a secret letter for his father Li Shimin.

Although they are just some immature speculations and hearsay, as well as a bunch of so-called evidence that cannot be presented to the public.

But this concerns the future and fate of His Majesty the Emperor and 80,000 elite soldiers, and no mistakes can be made.

This warning must be brought to you as soon as possible!

"From Chang'an to Dingxiang Yazhang, we need to cross the Yellow River at the ferry crossing. Although it is not the flood season, it will take at least half a month for urgent reports to arrive...

"Damn it, Lao Li, please don't push too fast!"

…………

"Was there another night raid last night? Which wave is this?"

Dingxiang City, Simo Turkic tent.

Early in the morning, the grassland was filled with fog, dew wet the withered yellow grass leaves, and the air was filled with the smell of dust and blood.

In the middle of the big tent.

Li Shimin sat high on his seat, looking down at his subordinates majestically.

The chief commander of this expedition, Li Shiji, reported:
"Not counting minor harassments, and only counting night raids that killed more than a hundred people, this is the fifteenth since our army entered the country."

"Fifteen times. I was beaten passively fifteen times..."

Li Shimin's face didn't look very good.

For some reason, after entering the grassland, his temper became worse and worse, and his tongue began to blister.

Even the long-lost headache came back.

However, Li Shimin did not think that there was something wrong with his diet.

Because during the march, he was also trying to create conditions and strictly follow the "medical advice" of Dr. Li Ming -

Eat more vegetables and lean meat, and less fatty meat and offal.

Although the vegetables and lean meat were cooked in accordance with Li Chengqian's instructions, such as frying or stewing with mutton fat,

But the raw materials are all healthy.

So the finished product is bound to be healthy too.

Therefore, he simply attributed the recent decline in his physical condition to the drought in the grassland and Gobi Desert, coupled with the unsuccessful war situation, which caused his body to become a little inflamed.

And the recent war had indeed made him very angry.

Xueyantuo seemed to have opened his third eye and appeared and disappeared mysteriously.

However, the Tang army could not find the enemy's main force and was chased around in circles.

"Father, our army has defeated the enemy dozens of times without a single defeat, and we have accumulated a lot of strength, killing thousands of enemies and wounding nearly ten thousand.

"Why does father think he has lost?"

Li Chengqian asked in confusion.

"Because where to fight and how big the fight is are all decided by the other side, we can only passively accept it, which is very disadvantageous.

"Over time, logistics will become a problem."

Li Shimin explained:

"Besides, our army is tied up in Dingxiang City, and the daily food and fodder for the men and horses is very expensive.

"Just killing a few herders herding sheep would be a loss if we stayed one more day."

The emperor immediately patiently explained to his eldest son from both strategic and economic aspects.

The father-son relationship with Li Chengqian can be said to be the only progress made by Li Shimin during this period.

Now that they have unloaded the huge burden of "training a crown prince", the father and son can chat peacefully.

"Your Majesty, why worry so much? My tribe will take care of the logistics and supplies."

Ashina Simo took the opportunity to flatter the emperor in order to restore his dignity after being chased around by the Xueyantuo.

Your tribe has a total of 100,000 to 200,000 people. If you use your heads to support 80,000 soldiers, you will be lucky if you can guard the logistics route and not be cut off by the Xueyantuo... Li Shimin complained in his heart, but on the surface he was still very respectful to the Khan.

"With your assistance, my military efforts will be twice as effective."

At this time, the message came:
"Your Majesty, Cen Wenben has returned from his mission to the Great Xianbei Mountains and would like to see Your Majesty."

Li Shimin's gloomy face finally showed a hint of relief.

"Fortunately, we have a backup plan. With the support of the Shiwei people from the Great Xianbei Mountain and the Dongyi people, the Xueyantuo can't let our army fly so easily."

(End of this chapter)