Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 397 Strategic Ambiguity

When Li Ming quietly left his father's room and closed the door again, he heard crying outside.

Led by Li Jing, the generals of the Ming and Tang dynasties, who had been happily attacking each other during the day, were now kneeling together happily and crying happily.

Crying for your mother... Li Ming felt a headache after hearing this and complained violently in frustration.

But at the same time, his tear glands instinctively secreted a large amount of tears. He randomly picked a strange Tang army general and cried with him to show that the Ming and Tang families had put aside the past and had a blood relationship as brotherhood.

While pretending to cry, she was still mumbling:

"It's hard for you, it's really hard for you..."

The surrendered Tang army general - Cheng Zhijie - looked at his new leader, then at the gossipy historians and reporters who were recording the situation with wide eyes, and began to howl.

"Ouch~owoo~"

He is now literally "crying without tears".

After a whole night of fake crying, there is not a single drop left.

The first team building of the new Ming army’s top brass ended with a peaceful cry.

But the generals' work was done, and the emperor's work had just begun.

Li Ming resisted the urge to yawn and tried hard to get his tired brain moving.

As soon as he got started, his father threw a difficult problem at him -

Should the "Tang" dynasty be retained?
It seems to be just a matter of name.

But the name is not a small problem, it contains a big pitfall.

It is extremely difficult to change anyone's name on land.

Changing the titles of tens of millions of people in the world requires extreme caution.

If you don't listen to your father, this war will be defined as a war of dynastic change and the country's name will be changed to Ming.

Leaving aside the vast southern regions for now, Guanzhong, Longyou and parts of the Central Plains are definitely dissatisfied.

There is a sense of humiliation of being jointly colonized by people from Liaodong and Hebei.

This laid the seeds for regional conflicts.

After the generation that was intimidated by Li Ming's bravery passed away, there was no guarantee that the people in these places would not become restless and launch an "Anshi Rebellion" in the opposite direction to the Ming Dynasty that he had founded.

But if I listen to my dad and change the country's name back, I will still step on landmines -

The core territories of the Ming Dynasty will definitely be unhappy.

It’s disposable after use, right? It has no value for united front work, right?

Ultimately, the issue of the country's name reflects the question of how to resolve the conflicts between the warring parties.

If not handled properly, it is hard to guarantee that it will not evolve into a "dispute over the foundation of the country" that will shake the foundation of the country.

How can we have both and satisfy two completely different groups of “ordinary people”?
At this point, what is being tested is the leader’s ability to strike a balance.

And while carrying the water, he had to step on two eggs at the same time.

"It really poses a difficult problem for me."

Li Ming sighed lightly, but he didn't feel embarrassed.

This heavy topic, which was enough to cause the civil service group to debate for decades, was nothing more than a matter of moving his fingers slightly for the master of keeping balance.

…………

Soon, an explosive piece of news quickly spread throughout the Ming Dynasty's temporary capital, Pingzhou.

The front-page headline of Pingzhou Daily: The rebels surrendered and the fake emperor Yu Yu abdicated.

The whole city exploded.

"The rebels surrendered en masse. We won!"

The people cheered loudly and the whole place was boiling.

The war is finally over!

Although to be fair, the battle didn't actually last very long. It was a situation where "you fell down before I even put in any effort."

Except for a "slight" increase in oil prices in the final stage, the war did not bring much impact on people's daily lives, and the people of the Ming Dynasty were basically indifferent.

However, winning the war is always a good thing and worth celebrating by the whole country.

…………

A mansion in the center of Pingzhou, tentatively called the "Imperial Palace".

Li Zhi’s “sleeping palace” was actually just an exquisite small courtyard with a private entrance.

"Two orioles sing in the green willows..."

Li Laojiu was reciting poetry and painting at the same time, just like usual.

After settling down in Pingzhou, he never left the place, and rarely even left his own room. He stayed in the room all day long, writing and painting.

He heard that such a hobby is better for health.

It can make you live longer.

"The rebels surrender!"

The sudden roar of excited people outside the window frightened him so much that his hand trembled and left a deep brake mark on the canvas.

Li Zhi's residence was not located next to a main road. It was separated from the outside world by high walls and gardens. It was a quiet and pleasant place in a bustling city.

However, compared with the exaggerated scale of the Taiji Palace, this small house, and even the entire Ming Dynasty "Imperial Palace", seems a bit cramped and too "people-friendly".

Usually, the atmosphere here is quite lively, which gives Li Zhi, who was born in the deep palace, a different experience, but he doesn't hate it.

But today, the news that was being loudly spread outside was not what he wanted to hear.

Tsk... Li Zhi subconsciously wanted to curl his lips, but he restrained himself. He calmly put down the paper and pen, closed the window, and returned to the canvas.

Even though there was no one around and he was the only person in the room, he always paid attention to managing his facial expressions.

"The painting is ruined, but I still feel uneasy..."

Li Zhi ground the ink again, thinking about how to remedy the painting of the singing oriole.

"There is."

His pen just touched the canvas.

I heard the door being pushed open, and a voice as clear as an oriole shouted:
"Brother Zhinu, do you know that Jinyang City has been breached and my father has surrendered?"

Li Zhi's hand trembled, and he added another line to the two orioles. He looked up at the person who came in speechlessly.

It was his own sister, Princess Jinyang Li Mingda.

She was wearing a bright yellow gauze dress, which was light and fluttering, just like a little bird.

Li Zhi sighed and smiled bitterly:

"You are a Princess of Jinyang, why are you so happy that Jinyang City was conquered?"

"Of course I am happy, because it means the war is over, and father and everyone is safe!"

Li Mingda skipped to Li Zhi's desk, took out a newspaper from his arms and slapped it on the table.

I discovered the abstract paintings my brother drew.

"Eh? Brother Zhinu, why did you draw a cross on the two orioles?
"Forget it. Have you read today's newspaper? The headline on the front page! It says that the emperor and his subjects in Chang'an have surrendered, and the country has been unified again. There is no need to fight and die in wars anymore!"

Looking at his sister's bright eyes, Li Zhi didn't know where to vent his frustration.

First of all, the painting looks like this because of external factors...

"First of all, who gave you the newspaper in your hand?" Li Zhi lowered his voice cautiously.

"I bought it from a vendor for a penny." Li Mingda answered cheerfully, not seeing any problem with it at all.

"How could you leave the palace without permission and even go to buy a newspaper..."

Li Zhi was trembling and scolding when another person came in from outside.

It was my eldest brother, Li Chengqian. He was limping on one leg, staggering, looking depressed and muttering:

"It's gone, it's gone, the Tang Dynasty is gone..."

The corner of Li Zhi's mouth twitched.

"Brother, you also went out of the palace to buy newspapers?"

Li Chengqian shook his head in disappointment:

"No, I bought a bun and the vendor packed it in newspaper for me."

Are there any experts?

Li Zhi didn't know how to scold this pair of thick-skinned brother and sister.

Did he forget who he was? Did he forget that he was a member of the royal family captured by the enemy?
Don’t you have any awareness of being a dependent and at the mercy of others?
Aren’t you afraid of giving the other party an excuse to kill you for no reason?
"You guys..."

Li Zhi was about to start chanting.

The attendant reported:

"Your Highness the Queen Mother, please come and have a seat."

"Well, okay." Li Mingda agreed readily.

Li Chengqian struggled to move his injured leg, and seeing that Li Zhi did not move, he urged:
"Let's go."

"Oh, oh..." Li Zhi's face was pale and his expression was dull.

It was as if he was going to the guillotine.

…………

"After so many years in politics, when have I ever seen the people of the country celebrating?"

In Pingzhou Prefecture, Changsun Wuji leaned against the window, folded his arms and looked down at the bustling street.

Fang Xuanling, who was in the same office, did not put down his work and casually replied:
"Isn't 'celebrating with great joy' a commendatory term? Isn't that how Chang Sun Gong usually phrases his sentences?"

In response to the ridicule from his old colleagues and rivals, Chang Sun Wuji just shrugged his shoulders with a sneer:

“I just meant it to be derogatory.”

Fang Xuanling said calmly:

"As the leaders, we will naturally know the battle situation ahead of the common people. This is not a reason for you to feel superior."

Zhang Sun Wuji curled his lips:

"That's not what I meant... Alas, how can you, a person without a king or a father, understand?"

Unlike Fang Xuanling who surrendered voluntarily, Changsun Wuji was "forced to go to Pingzhou".

As the uncle of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he still had some indescribable and confusing emotions towards that bygone dynasty.

In his eyes, the scene of the Ming people celebrating the fall of the Tang Dynasty could really be described as "celebrating with one's hats flipping".

"Alas... all is past."

Chang Sun Wuji smiled bitterly and said:
"In order to bridge the contradictions between the two sides, according to your majesty's latest instructions, the differences between the Ming and Tang dynasties need to be blurred.

"In this case, I can tentatively assume that Ming is Tang and Tang is Ming. The Great Tang still exists, right? Hahaha..."

These words are really self-deception. Even when he said them out loud, he felt that they were full of flaws.

But unexpectedly, Fang Xuanling, who was always sharp-tongued, did not respond.

The room was quiet, without any sound.

"Hmm? Lord Xuanling?"

Changsun Wuji turned his head away.

Fang Xuanling, the chief prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, his biggest stumbling block in the court, and the old fellow who had fought with him for half his life, was lying quietly on the table, as if he had fallen asleep.

In many cases, the elderly cannot wake up after sleeping like this.

Changsun Wuji's eyelids twitched, and in that short moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

If Fang Xuanling died at this point, wouldn't he be...

However, the great cause of the Ming Dynasty, this world...

After fighting with both hands for a while, he finally sighed, quickly walked to Fang Xuanling, and put his fingers around his mouth and nose.

There is still a faint breath, which has not yet cooled down completely.

You are lucky, old man... Changsun Wuji retracted his finger, immediately changed to an anxious expression, and shouted to the outside:
"Someone come! Go find a doctor! Fang Xiang is dying!"

…………

In the joyful streets of Pingzhou, in a corner where no one pays attention.

As usual, the sub-edition of Pingzhou Daily was filled with a bunch of boring political and economic news.

Things like "Oil prices are stable and improving, user sentiment is stable", "Rapeseed planting area hits a new high", and "Warm congratulations on the perfect conclusion of the 100-day steel-making campaign" are of no interest to people.

In the middle of this sea of ​​alternative “clickbait” articles is an especially boring headline:

"We are now distributing to you the resolution regarding His Majesty's highest instructions on nine long-standing unresolved issues, including the unclear functional positioning of cities in the country."

There is no desire for people to click in and take a look.

In this eye-catching yet not "eye-catching" article, in a long professional discussion on the functional positioning of cities, there is a matter that can be big or small:

Our country officially established its capital in Pingzhou.

Speaking of big, hasn’t Pingzhou always been the capital of the Ming Dynasty?
Even before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Pingzhou was the lair (crossed out) base camp of His Majesty Li Ming.

This is common sense that every three-year-old child knows.

Is there any need to emphasize this again?
But if you say this matter is small, it is not small at all.

Because the definition of "our country" is slightly different now -

In addition to the old Liaodong, Hebei, Goguryeo and Xueyantuo, it also includes the entire Central Plains, Guanzhong, Sichuan, the two lakes, and the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers...

In short, this is the most complete China in the Chinese people's cognition.

In the past few thousand years, since the Xia and Shang dynasties, the unified China has basically only established its capital along the line from Chang'an to Luoyang.

The Tang Dynasty in the past was no exception and also established the system of two capitals in the east and the west.

Pingzhou in Liaodong was thousands of miles away from the core of China. Even after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, its official status was only a "temporary capital", which was just a temporary capital.

Now, it is equivalent to officially moving the capital from Chang'an to Pingzhou.

How could this matter not be a big deal?

Of course, this is the privilege of the winner, and the people of the Ming Dynasty will not make a fuss about it.

Naturally, they would not pay attention to the other hidden danger in this boring article.

That is, to celebrate Pingzhou's official upgrading to the country's best capital, approved by His Majesty Li Ming.

Pingzhou was officially renamed "Tangzhou".

Although it made the die-hard Ming fans a little unhappy, why was their own capital wearing the clothes of the neighboring Tang Dynasty?

But this is not a big deal. After all, Chang'an's position as the capital has been seized, and the real benefits have been obtained, so there is no need to care so much about false reputation.

What's more, most people don't even know about this and are still immersed in a sea of ​​joy.

Newspaper reporters and even government clerks seemed to be immersed in the ocean of joy and unable to extricate themselves.

The evidence is that in the documents they wrote, the names of their own countries were very confusing.

Some called themselves the Great Ming, some called themselves "our country", and some used their capital as their abbreviation and called themselves Tang.

There are also those referring to it as Han or Han family.

There are so many different names, highlighting the fact that there are many schools of thought, which is enough to drive people with obsessive-compulsive disorder crazy.

If someone were to check every word, they would definitely curse:
Is there no one to proofread and verify such a huge government office? Is our country just a huge makeshift team?
However, on the great day of Victory Day, no one was idle enough to dwell on this issue.

(End of this chapter)