A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 652 What if he declares himself king?
Dragon Boat Festival.

The wheat in Daibei is ripe.

The wind from beyond the Great Wall blows into the area, and gray azaleas perch on the branches, singing incessantly.

'Calculate the profit, calculate the loss, calculate the profit, calculate the loss!'

The cuckoos were urging everyone to hurry up and harvest.

As Li Yi walked through the wheat fields outside Taiyuan, listening to the familiar four cuckoo calls, he felt as if he had suddenly returned to Luojiabao Village at the foot of Shenhe Plain in Guanzhong.

Every year when the wheat ripens, these little birds arrive as scheduled, chirping merrily and frequently.

After the wheat harvest begins, their shouts become even louder, continuing day and night until some time after the summer solstice.

The wheat fields rippled in the breeze.

Everyone threw themselves into the busy harvest season, and even the landlords would personally go to the fields.

Soldiers stationed in Daibei also joined the harvest effort.

Racing against time, taking advantage of the good weather to harvest and thresh the wheat...

Every grain is hard work.

"This year's summer wheat harvest is good, but unfortunately the Turkic invasion last year affected planting and management."

Ma Zhou stood beside Li Yi, watching the golden wheat fields being harvested, and sighed.

This year's land reclamation began with spring planting, but the wheat was sown last autumn.

Only Weizhou is doing better. Last year, Li Yi promoted the military-agricultural settlements in Weizhou, and this summer the military-agricultural settlements in Weizhou have yielded a bumper harvest.

"Is the wheat harvest underway back home?"

"Yes, the wheat in Guanzhong is harvested earlier."

Wheat in Guanzhong usually ripens first, while wheat in Longyou and Shuofang ripens later. Therefore, every year many people from Longyou and Shuofang go to Guanzhong to work as wheat harvesters.
They work hard all season just to earn some food to take home.

Living outdoors

During the day, they bent over and worked hard to cut wheat under the scorching sun, but at night they could only spend the night in the straw piles on the drying ground.

When you find work, things are good. You work hard, get paid, and have food to eat. If you're lucky enough to have a generous employer, you might even get some meat.

They were afraid of rain or not being able to find work, so they carried their bedding rolls around looking for jobs, but they couldn't even afford to eat.

The Li family of Wujibao at the foot of Shenhe Plain were renowned philanthropists for miles around. They hired many wheat harvesters each year, provided them with good food and wages, and rarely haggled over small amounts of land with them.
If any wheat lodging occurs, they will pay extra wages.

Many farmers who have visited once will definitely come back a second time.

"Governor Yang Wengan of Qingzhou, under the banner of 'purging the court of corrupt officials,' has led his troops south and captured Ningzhou. Doesn't the Minister of Works have any worries at all?" Ma Zhou admired Li Yi. Even at this time, he could still wear a straw hat and a short shirt to come to the fields to watch the wheat harvest.

Li Yi held the command of 100,000 border troops in Daibei.

At this time, however, there was no mobilization at all, and most of the soldiers were involved in the summer wheat harvest.

"The wheat is ripe, it's time to harvest it." Li Yi looked up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. May was indeed a terrible month. "Yang Wenqing's uprising is a great thing for us."

Once Yang Wengan raised an army, regardless of what banner he used, it confirmed the fact that he was rebelling.

And they even dragged the crown prince into it.

And now he's even using the ridiculous pretext of "purging the court of corrupt officials" to falsely claim that the King of Qin is plotting a rebellion and that the emperor has secretly summoned him to the capital to defend the king.

This might temporarily deceive some officers and soldiers who were unaware of the truth.

They even managed to launch a surprise attack and capture Ningzhou City, south of Qingzhou.
There's absolutely no need to worry about him.
An imperial edict, and a court envoy,
That would be enough to make the loyalist army of Qingzhou turn against him. Yang Wengan hadn't been in Qingzhou for long, so he wouldn't have many confidants.

The vast majority of soldiers were deceived. When they learned the truth, in order to atone for their mistakes and to protect themselves,
They must cut off Yang Wengan's head to atone for his sins.

If Yang Wengan doesn't rebel, the discovery of those three hundred sets of armor won't pose a significant threat to the Crown Prince, and the Emperor won't actually do anything to him because of it.

But now the emperor has summoned Yang Wengan to the capital, but he has forged an imperial edict to raise troops and enter the capital to "purge the emperor's inner circle."

The crown prince is now in a terrible predicament; even if it's not excrement, it's still excrement.

This is a truly serious transgression, and it endangers the emperor.

Now, Yang Wengan, a key confidant of the Crown Prince who is currently stationed outside the palace, is certain to die, and other generals who are closely associated with the Crown Prince and command troops outside the palace will also inevitably face a major reshuffle.

Not to mention the Eastern Palace soldiers and the generals of the Crown Prince's faction within Chang'an City.

Li Yi, the Prince of Yan who was stationed in Jingzhou, was definitely not going to be the governor of Jingzhou.

"With such a major incident, will His Majesty change the heir apparent?" Ma Zhou asked with a hint of hope.

As Li Yi's confidant, he naturally knew about the Xuanwu Plan and even offered advice to Li Yi. He was well aware of the plan's audacity and madness, and even more aware of its dangers.

If this incident can lead the emperor to depose the crown prince and install the Prince of Qin as heir, it would undoubtedly be better than the Xuanwu Plan.

Li Yi plucked a blade of grass and tied a grasshopper to it.

He shook his head, saying very clearly, "At this point, we should stop having any illusions and be firm in our resolve, without wavering."

Everything is proceeding according to plan.

The crown prince will be dealt with by the emperor this time, but he will not be deposed.

They planned all this not with the expectation that the emperor would abolish Jiancheng, but simply to buy time and take the opportunity to remove some obstacles.

The Crown Prince transferred three hundred elite cavalrymen from Youzhou to the capital, along with two thousand elite soldiers who had previously guarded the Changlin Gate of the Eastern Palace.
In addition, there were some desperate criminals hidden by the Prince of Qi in Chang'an, and the guards of the Prince of Qi's mansion.

These troops should not be underestimated.

Historically, Li Shimin took a desperate gamble and, when pushed to the brink, launched the Xuanwu Gate Incident with eight hundred guards. However, he almost failed at the last minute, as the palace troops led by Xue Wanche, Feng Li, Xie Shufang, and others nearly ruined his plans.

Even the Prince of Qin's mansion was almost breached by the palace guards. Princess Changsun and Du Ruhui had to help carry bows and arrows for the guards on the mansion's walls.

If we could eliminate the troops stationed in the Eastern Palace and the Qi Prince's residence in Chang'an now...
They even expelled Xue Wanche, Feng Li, Xie Shufang, Li Anyan, as well as other civil and military officials of the Eastern Palace such as Wang Gui, Zheng Shanguo, and Tang Lin, from the capital.
That will make things much easier.

noon,

Li Yi had a picnic in the fields under the shade of trees.

Looking at the harvested wheat in the field, and smelling its fragrance, even the food tasted much better.

The northern border troops laid down their weapons, changed out of their uniforms, and busied themselves with the summer harvest in the fields, creating a peaceful scene.
The soldiers and civilians of Daibei were completely unaware of the impending storm that was about to engulf Chang'an. That night,

Li Yi looked at the intelligence report that had been sent by fast horse from Chang'an.

He maintained close ties with Chang'an.

"Wei Renshou, the Chief Administrator of the Xizhou Prefecture, was in charge of establishing seven prefectures and fifteen counties in the south. The Emperor ordered the establishment of the Nanning Prefecture Prefecture, appointing Wei Renshou as its Inspector. Wei Renshou led troops on inspection tours, summoned the Man and Yi peoples to build the prefectural city and repair official residences, and appointed their tribal leaders as governors and county magistrates. The Man and Yi peoples also sent their sons and brothers to pay tribute..."

This is a seemingly ordinary message.

The newly established Nanning Prefecture was originally Wei County during the Western Han Dynasty, Yijiang Prefecture during the Shu Han Dynasty, Nanzhongning Prefecture during the Jin Dynasty, Nanning Prefecture during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and Nanning Prefecture General Administration during the Sui Dynasty.

This area is the core of the eastern part of South China, located in what is now Qujing.

There was a note following this seemingly ordinary message.

"The Emperor intends to enfeoff the Prince of Qin next year and establish his fiefdom in Nanning Prefecture."

The new city that Wei Renshou summoned to build, also called Shicheng, was actually the royal city built for the Qin King's vassal state.

The emperor was not affected by Li Shimin's poisoning, nor by the crown prince's unauthorized troop deployment to the capital and smuggling of armor to the governor of Qingzhou.

Next year, the King of Qin will, like the King of Qi, enfeoff and establish vassal states, leaving the capital to take up their fiefdoms.

Nothing has changed.

Therefore, the little fantasies that Ma Zhou and Zhang Liang had were laughable.

The emperor's imperial power is now under threat. The threat posed by the crown prince is not so great. What truly makes the emperor feel threatened is the King of Qin.

Therefore, the King of Qin will soon be enfeoffed in the southern frontier, far from the central government.

All those titles, such as General of Heavenly Strategy, Grand Chancellor of Shaanxi East Circuit, Grand Commandant and Minister of Works, Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and Grand Chancellor, and Commander of the Twelve Guards, will become honorary titles.

Even with the Qin king's enfeoffment in his fiefdom,

These titles will eventually be taken away, perhaps only a title like Grand Commandant will remain.

The seven prefectures of Xining, Yu, Xiping, Li, Nanyun, Mo, and Nanning may well be the fiefdoms of Li Shimin in the future. Seven prefectures sounds like a large territory.
They were all barbarians, but the barbarians here truly obeyed the Cuan clan, who had ruled the southern region as local emperors for three hundred years.

If Li Shimin really went there, he would be finished.

Li Shimin only had one path to take.

The next morning,

Li Yi, sporting dark circles under his eyes, ate breakfast in the government canteen.
Liu Shiche brought him a cup of milk tea, saying, "Have some tea to refresh yourself."

Boiled eggs, steamed buns, millet porridge, and some pickled vegetables.

After a simple breakfast,

Li Yi went for a walk, and Liu Shiche followed.

"You seem to have something to say. Just say it, why are you holding it in?"

"Sikong, are we really not going to do anything? Yang Wengan has already captured Ningzhou. What if Prince Yan, Li Yi, also raises an army in Jingzhou? If both armies march south and end up at the gates of Chang'an, what will happen?"

"Won't the boat capsize?"

"Should we also gather troops and march south to defend the emperor?"

"No, we won't move, not a single soldier. Let the princelings put on this one-man show. We'll just quietly harvest the wheat and not attract any attention from the Emperor of Chang'an."

"What if?" Liu Shiche was a little uneasy. "I think that now that Yang Wengan has started a rebellion, it would be perfect for us to send troops to support the emperor. Maybe we can even turn the chaos into an opportunity and directly help the Prince of Qin ascend the throne."

“Yang Wengan will not accomplish anything. His troops will not be able to leave Ningzhou and will soon be pacified.”

As for Li Yi, that guy is actually quite shrewd; he won't act rashly unless he sees a clear benefit.

Li Yi gently swung his arm. "As for us, we cannot move. Even if we casually mobilize some troops to go south, it will inevitably arouse His Majesty's endless suspicion and will only affect the King of Qin."

Sending too few troops from Daibei to Chang'an to defend the emperor would be ineffective and would only arouse the emperor's suspicion. In that case, the Prince of Qin might also be accused of treason.

If too many troops are sent, the emperor will be even more uneasy, and he will absolutely not allow them to enter the capital.

Forcibly entering Guanzhong would be tantamount to rebellion, and the King of Qin is still in Chang'an. Wouldn't this be driving the King of Qin to his death?

The 100,000 soldiers in Daibei are being watched by countless eyes.

Every move they made was reported to the emperor.

Their remaining still here is the best support and cover for the King of Qin.

It's getting hotter and hotter.
A storm is about to hit Chang'an.

A palace coup could seize supreme power in the empire and complete a power transition, perhaps preventing this nascent empire from internal strife and chaos, and allowing it to move forward with its head held high.

The world has been in chaos long enough; it's time for ordinary people to enjoy a few days of peace.

"Hurry up and harvest the wheat!"

After the wheat harvest, quickly prepare the land and plant another crop of corn, soybeans, or millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes, or yams.

Having food in hand gives you peace of mind.

Only when the border regions have grain reserves can the nation be secure.

Liu Shiche lowered his voice and asked, "What if, I mean, what if the Xuanwu Plan fails and the King of Qin meets with misfortune?"

They commanded 100,000 border troops in Daibei, and Li Yi also had a sworn brother who had been appointed as the Great Khan of the Turks. Liu Shiche wanted to know if Li Yi would raise an army if Li Shimin failed or even died.

Will they march into Guanzhong and Chang'an under the banner of avenging the King of Qin, or will they hold power in Daibei and establish themselves as kings?

Li Yi chuckled coldly twice and shook his head.

He gazed at the rising sun; though it had only just risen, its heat was already palpable.

There are no "what ifs".

"I mean, what if?"

"There's no chance of anything going wrong."

(End of this chapter)