Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 236 The Final Solution to the Aristocratic Family Problem

"Are they all asleep?"

A voice asked from the shadows.

Another voice answered him:

"I've checked. All the lights in the bedroom are off. The Longxi guy should be asleep."

"Very good. Report to the master immediately!" the first voice ordered.

There was a rustling sound, and a figure left the shadows and quickly disappeared into the street.

"The Cui family's bastards are really doing something fishy with those Longxi farmers."

The first voice muttered angrily.

During the day today, the local bosses in Youzhou City suddenly discovered that a group of "Tang troops" had broken into the city.

When you are crooked, you fear your shadow. The local nobles, who had a guilty conscience, thought that the Tang army had come to settle accounts with them for their rebellious behavior of blocking logistics.

He sent out his retainers and assassins to secretly follow this "Tang Army".

Following them, they arrived at Youzhou Prefecture which was controlled by the Cui family of Boling.

Right under their noses, the Longxi army entered the provincial capital openly and was served with good food and drink.

The general who followed the army, as well as a woman and a child, who appeared to be the general's family members, entered the Cui Mansion and were treated as guests of honor by the Cui family.

The other local bosses immediately felt the urge to overturn the table.

My goodness, it was you, Old Cui, who distributed food to the Longxi people who were dying on the front line, and it was also you, Old Cui, who led the Tang army into the house.

You are always there when someone rebels!
Just as Li Ming's mother and son and Li Ling's couple were reuniting behind closed doors, the local gentry also held a short meeting behind closed doors.

Everyone quickly came to a unanimous conclusion: Cui Mingan was going to lead the Tang army and take revenge on the rebels (crossed out) and heroes in Hebei!
Therefore, they decided to strike first.

Take action that night.

Taking advantage of the dark and windy night, he gathered the militia and private soldiers to surround Cui's mansion, and sent Cui Mingan and the generals who led the army to heaven one by one!
"We just need to wait for the spy sent out to pass on the news of the attack. Once the main force arrives, Cui Min's attack on the second branch of the Cui family in Boling will become history."

The leading spy was filled with emotion.

The Boling Cui family, which was the number one surname in the world, was ranked only third in a book called "Clan Records" by the country bumpkin emperor of Longxi.

After being humiliated like this, Cui Mingan still had the nerve to curry favor with Chang'an. He finally ended up in such a disgraced state. It was all his own fault...

As he sighed and lamented, he felt something was wrong.

Why is the messenger so slow? Why hasn't the large army coming to kill and burn people arrived yet...

"Is this man one of your accomplices?"

Suddenly, a majestic voice came from behind.

The spies turned around in surprise and found that there was suddenly a bright light around them.

Suddenly, a group of "Tang troops" appeared from nowhere, holding torches, and surrounded them.

The companion who had just gone to deliver the message was being held in their hands like a little chicken, with bruises all over his face.

The leader was a burly middle-aged general.

Senior police officer, Su Dingfang.

Because of his profession, as soon as he entered Youzhou City, he noticed that there were some unemployed vagrants on the street who looked like thugs and were behaving suspiciously.

It was soon discovered that the main force was being followed.

Therefore, Su Dingfang quietly dispatched several professional Wuhou guards to patrol in the dark at night.

Sure enough, a few small shrimps were caught.

"Who are you? Where are you from? What are you going to do?"

Su Dingfang asked this spy three philosophical questions.

The spies were all confused.

I thought I was hiding in the dark, but I didn't expect that there was someone more sinister than me?
"Guanzhong farmers! Even if you kill us, we will never betray our master!" the leader shouted righteously.

Su Dingfang was startled:
"Oh? So you have a mastermind?"

The spies' mouths twitched at the same time.

…………

"Ah? The Youzhou nobles wanted to set fire to Cui's house? The flood washed away the Dragon King Temple. Why did they start fighting among themselves?"

Li Ming had just fallen asleep when he was woken up by the imperial guards and learned this explosive news from Su Dingfang.

"Because they mistakenly thought we were the Tang army sent by the imperial court to suppress the rebellion, and that Envoy Cui was colluding with the Tang army to destroy them, so they wanted to strike first."

Su Dingfang explained the whole story in one sentence.

As a senior police officer who was proficient in the art of restoring memory, he got the general information after treating those tough spies to a meal of fried pork with bamboo shoots.

"Oh, I thought it was infighting, but it turns out it's just rebellion..."

Li Ming's eyelids twitched, and he felt that things seemed a little troublesome.

I was just passing by, but I didn't expect the locals to suddenly rebel.

Lying gun.

The Frozen Throne really can't be without the Lich King.

Li Shimin's whereabouts were unknown, but the whole country was in turmoil...

"After interrogation, we found that the scope of their conspiracy to cause trouble is not small." Su Dingfang said:
"In addition to Youzhou, there are also other clans in Hebei, Shandong, and former subordinates of Dou Jiande and Liu Heita, who are all working together to make trouble... er, I mean, working together to make trouble."

Dou Jiande, Liu Heita, how come those two heroes from the previous version are involved again... Li Ming felt a headache.

Hebei’s problems are not just a few.

From the aristocratic families' natural resistance to centralized power, to the historical grievances between Li Tang and the heroes of Hebei, and even the Hell Knights of the two places.

What a mess.

"Your Highness, according to what they said, the private soldiers of these powerful people will probably come to kill us soon. What should we do?" Su Dingfang asked.

What else can I do?
Let’s go!

Although his troops could easily kill these private soldiers and servants.

But if you kill one, can you kill all the opponents?

You are already on the run, so don't exacerbate the conflict and create unnecessary trouble.

…………

"Ah, I didn't expect them to...Ah!"

Cui Mingan rode on the fast horse in a panic and looked back at the Cui family's old house with infinite melancholy.

After Li Ming's repeated persuasion, he finally made up his mind to take his whole family and Li Ming to flee to the northeast for refuge.

The emperor is missing, the princes are fighting among themselves, and the country's ruling order is about to collapse.

The Hebei and Shandong regions, which are naturally rebellious, are at the forefront of the country in terms of the collapse of rituals and music.

His position as governor was now in name only, and the world had returned to a state where whoever had the stronger fist was right.

There is no such thing as a thief who steals for a thousand days. Even if he can thwart the assassination attempt against him this time, what about the future?
Can he defeat all the rebels?

"Uncle, let's go!"

Li Ling and Cui Yi urged.

When the nest is overturned, all the eggs will remain intact. Naturally, the two of them had to follow Li Ming and run away.

"Hey... let's go!"

Cui Mingan rode away on horseback reluctantly, looking back all the way, until the empty mansion disappeared from his sight.

The so-called aristocratic families, to put it bluntly, are the big landowners.

Landlords are nothing without land.

However, land is valuable, but life is more valuable.

No matter how reluctant he was, he had to leave this land.

"Li Ming... Where is the world heading? What should we do?"

Yang looked confused.

Since running away, she has remained calm.

But what happened in Hebei made her feel overwhelmed for the first time.

The world is in chaos.

It was both unexpected and reasonable that Hebei was the first to fall into chaos.

However, this place was originally the escape route she left for her children.

So Li Ling and the others were married here. Unexpectedly, something like this happened...

"What should I do? I don't have to do anything. This is a great thing!"

Unexpectedly, Li Ming was in a very good mood throughout his escape.

"What are you talking about? Speak softly, don't let those people named Cui hear you!" Li Ling tried his best to shush Li Ming.

If it weren't for the horse, she would have been shocked.

"Ahem, my lady! His Highness the Regent must have his reasons for saying so." Cui Yi advised his wife in a low voice, ignoring the second half of her sentence.

Chang Sunyan, who was driving the horse for Li Ming, asked curiously:
"Brother Ming, do you have any ideas?"

Brother Ming frowned, it must be something complicated.

"I don't have any idea. They fight their battles and we fight ours. Our plan to fight the Xueyantuo in the north and rescue my father remains unchanged."

Li Ming was in a good mood and adopted a hands-off attitude.

Hebei is the key to Liaodong and the only way to go south.

This place is a mess, which can't be considered a good thing anyway, right?
Yang and others were very puzzled as to why Li Ming did not care about the matter and instead seemed to be gloating over it.

Could it be that the Regent has come up with some dirty tricks?
that's the truth.

Li Ming did think of a countermeasure, and it was indeed quite damaging.

As for the specific countermeasures, he has actually made it very clear - it really is to do nothing!

The world is in chaos, and the situation is very good!
Hebei, a place full of vitality and everything in it, could help him solve a problem that was giving him and Li Er and his son a headache.

Aristocratic family.

Originally, Li Ming was quite troubled about how to deal with the gentry in Hebei.

As we all know, breaking up local cliques, promoting centralization, and redistributing land rights are policies that he must implement regardless of whether he is the chairman or the emperor.

These local tyrants must be overthrown.

The problem is that Hebei is a hard-hit area for the aristocratic families, but these aristocratic families, headed by the Cui family, are also his staunch political allies.

There is both family affection and exchange of interests. These local tyrants are not easy to fight against, and we may not be able to do it when the time comes.

Even if he really did it, such an ungrateful act would be a huge blow to his prestige among the people and his reputation in the officialdom.

The chaos in Hebei this time was a blessing in disguise, and it provided him with a perfect opportunity to do this bad thing.

Let's make trouble, start a rebellion, and fight with Li Zhi, Li Tai and other rebel kings until both sides suffer losses!

All Li Ming had to do was stay in Pingzhou, blockade Yanshan, and wait for these feudal families to attack each other and destroy themselves.

Do this inconvenient and dirty work for him.

All he had to do was to keep adding fuel to the impending blaze.

While fleeing hastily to Pingzhou on horseback, Li Ming conceived the final solution to the problem of the Hebei clans.

…………

"My ninth brother, does he really want to be Young Master Xiaobai? He goes to the capital first to issue orders, and even slanders his brother as a traitor?"

Li Tai walked to the window of the study and closed it with a bang.

Ever since a new version of the rumor spread from Chang'an, "slandering" the Prince of Wei for punching the emperor and kicking the regent, mobs have been coming to the gate of the Prince of Wei's mansion every day to cause trouble in the past few days.

Li Tai was so annoyed.

Cen Wenben looked at the imperial documents on the desk timidly and echoed:
"Li Zhi is indeed full of schemes and is confusing right and wrong."

Li Zhi was so good at spreading rumors that he actually told the story again about what they had done.

Therefore, Lao Cen did not suffer any persecution in Chang'an.

However, after Li Zhi thoroughly exposed the rebellious conspiracy of the Prince of Wei's party to the whole world, he felt that people were talking about him behind his back every day when he went to and from court.

Plus there are spies everywhere, almost sticking their cards in his face.

Cen Wenben really couldn't stand the internal friction, so he found an excuse to quit the court, fled Chang'an, and defected to his master, King Wei Li Tai.

"Humph, you're giving orders in such a bossy way, do you really think you've been crowned Duke Huan of Qi?"

Li Tai angrily crumpled up the document on the desk and threw it into the wastebasket.

The style of official documents is the "command" from superiors to subordinates. The general content is:
The emperor and the regent have disappeared. It's all the King of Wei's fault. Everyone should turn back from their mistakes and not be misled by the King of Wei.

In Li Tai's opinion, this was a bit embarrassing.

After Li Zhi proclaimed himself regent and took control of the government, he acted in an orderly manner.

Whenever there were resolutions to be issued to local areas, a copy would usually also be sent to the King of Wei in Luoyang.

It was as if there had never been any armed confrontation between the two people or the two places, and they were still normal superiors and subordinates.

"Compared to Li Zhi, how to win the hearts of the people is the top priority now," Cen Wenben reminded.

Chang'an's political resources are much richer than Luoyang's.

When the meat trumpet over there started working at full power, there was no need for Li Tai to worry about anything.

Coupled with the rumors about Li Zhi's version, it really suits the appetite of the common people -

Our hero Li Ming was killed by treacherous officials, which is much more specific than the abstract "Li Ming's rebellion".

It is simply not suitable for pre-war mobilization.

If Li Tai did not come up with a countermeasure to hedge against this wave of public opinion, I am afraid that before Li Zhi took action, the Prince of Wei's Mansion would be burned down by the elders and villagers of Jiangdong (Weishui is also a river) -

In ordinary years when imperial power was consolidated, public opinion was nothing more than the common people fighting for land with their heads raised.

But at this critical moment when all forces are gearing up for the game, if we lose the greater good, we will be in big trouble.

Apart from anything else, Li Tai would not be able to suppress the seven princes he mobilized.

"That's true. The criticism has been so intense that it has damaged me. Now the public opinion against me is rampant. I don't think I can do it without giving an explanation to the people and the world."

Li Tai looked at Cen Wenben meaningfully:
"Duke Huan of Qi may not have gotten his Guan Zhong, but by my side, I do have a prime minister who can rival the famous prime ministers of the ancient times..."

Cen Wenben immediately bowed modestly and said:

"No, no, Your Highness, you are flattering me."

Li Tai added slowly:

"That famous prime minister is Sima Yi."

Cen Wenben's smile froze.

"Your Highness, you are praising me...right?"

…………

The next day, big news came from Luoyang.

The big traitor Cen Wenben is dead.

The wise and brave Prince Wei suddenly discovered that after Cen Wenben's diplomatic mission to the Great Xianbei Mountain, the Shiwei tribe suddenly rebelled and stabbed the Tang Dynasty in the back!

There must be something fishy going on here!

There is a problem with Cen's text!

After a great memory recovery operation, Cen Wenben confessed that all this was a conspiracy by Jin Wang Li Zhi!

It was Li Zhi who asked him to harm the emperor and the regent!
The countless letters between him and Li Zhi found in Cen's mansion also proved this point!
During the interrogation, Cen Wenben was stabbed eight times in the back and committed suicide out of fear of being punished.

Filled with righteous indignation, His Highness Li Tai dug up the corpse, whipped it, crushed its bones and scattered its ashes to inform the world.

Whether everyone believed it or not, Li Tai believed it anyway.

After sacrificing a trusted prime minister, Li Tai also raised a big flag in response.

Regardless of how credible it is, just tell me whether it is erected or not.

The other seven princes who had their own armies at least had a reason to unite under this banner.

From then on, the confrontation between Li Tai and Li Zhi was officially formed in the core territory of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Tai led the eight kings, with Luoyang, the eastern capital, as its core. His sphere of influence extended eastward to the Qizhou Military Governor's Office where Li You, the King of Qi, was located, and southward to the Yangzhou Military Governor's Office led by Li Zhen, the King of Yue.

Li Zhi's power was mainly based in the capital Chang'an, covering Guanzhong, Shanxi, Bashu and other places, and divided the east and west of the Tang Dynasty with Li Tai's power.

In the north of the Tang Dynasty, Hebei was in turmoil and declared its independence from the imperial court. The governors of various states were either killed or rebelled.

Outside Hebei is the Xueyantuo front.

The entire Tang Dynasty was in chaos.

And in the northeast corner of the Tang Dynasty.

Liaodong is isolated outside the Yanshan Mountains, and life there is peaceful and tranquil.

(End of this chapter)