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

Chapter 681 Rebellions Erupt
After the morning court session,

Li Shimin arranged for the prime ministers to eat under the eaves.

The morning light and auspicious air filled the palace towers, and colorful banners and dragon-shaped ornaments adorned all four sides.

Under the eaves of the Xiande Hall, officials from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices laid out the prepared meals; the standard of food served to the prime ministers under the eaves was quite good.

"Gentlemen, the Crown Prince has sent food!" A young eunuch led officials and servants from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices over, carrying food boxes to add dishes to the ministers' meals.

Even though the country has just been founded and everything is in ruins, there is still a supply of mutton, chicken, fish, cold rice porridge, and seasonal fruits after meals.

Set up the dining table and place the seats.

The servants carried water to serve the prime ministers as they washed their hands.

The cooks arranged the dishes from the food box one by one.

The six prime ministers tacitly walked to their seats, as the seating order could not be disordered; Pei Ji had been sent home last time because of his seating arrangement.

Once seated, people picked up their chopsticks and began to eat.
You can eat and chat at the same time.

Although the prime ministers would eat in the corridor after the court assembly, and there would be imperial censors standing by to watch, it was still relatively easy as long as one did not act too impolitely.

"I heard the Prince of Dai is going to sell land?"

While eating a cold locust leaf tea, Gao Shilian, the Grand Secretary, asked Li Yi a question.

"Yes, our family has bought quite a lot of land in the past few years, and we have too much, so we plan to sell some of it."

"Are they really going to sell land? I thought it was just a rumor."

"A few years ago, the country was in turmoil, and large tracts of land lay fallow and uncultivated. My family bought land and resumed farming. Now, the people who had been displaced are gradually returning to their hometowns, and the country is at peace."

With more people and less land, it's not good for me to keep occupying so much land any longer; selling some would be better.

Xiao Yu praised, "Li Sikong has a grand vision. He is willing to sell land so that many landless people can own land and have a foundation for a stable life."

Feng Deyi then said, "With the world at peace, land prices are gradually recovering. Selling now would allow the Minister of Works to make a considerable profit, which is a good thing both publicly and privately."

They ate and chatted.

When halfway through eating,

Li Shimin then sent a eunuch to deliver fruit.

Today's dishes include Xiaotiansu, a stir-fry of chicken and venison that Li Yi likes, and a large meatball soup.

After eating on the veranda,

The prime ministers did not return to their respective offices.
The Crown Prince, who was in charge of the state, summoned several prime ministers to continue the discussion.

Having weathered this near-bloodless mutiny, the central government quickly reorganized its affairs.
Li Shimin now needs to consider the next direction of the imperial court.

"Since the chaos of the Sui Dynasty, of all those who carved out their own territories and declared themselves warlords, only Liang Shidu of Shuofang remains." Li Shimin, dressed in a bright yellow round-necked robe and wearing a black turban, with a neatly groomed beard, said, "In the past, Liang Shidu received support from the Turks, which is why he was able to maintain his control over the prefectures of Shuofang, Xia, and Yin."
Now, the Turks have submitted to and become vassals of the Tang Dynasty.
It's time to settle things with Master Liang.

When Xiao Yu, the Left Minister, realized that Li Shimin intended to send troops to attack and destroy Liang Shidu, he immediately said, "Your Highness, I believe that Liang Shidu has lost the support of the Turks and is no longer a threat."

There's no need to conscript troops for a military campaign; simply sending an envoy to Xia Prefecture to persuade them to surrender is sufficient. If Liang Shidu is willing to surrender, the court can even grant him an official title and rank.
In this way, without losing a single soldier or expending a single grain of food, the northern frontier can be recovered.

Li Shimin frowned.
“Liang Shidu is very stubborn. Since Jieli was captured, the sage has sent several groups of envoys to persuade him to surrender, but this thief remains unmoved.”

Since he's refusing to listen to reason and is now resorting to force, there's no need to be polite anymore; we should just send troops to annihilate him.

Li Shimin didn't want to drag this out any longer.

He had just seized power through a coup, and although everything went smoothly, he was eager to make new contributions and demonstrate his abilities immediately.

Liang Shidu was a good candidate to establish merit and prestige.

Fang Xuanling and Gao Shilian both understood the Crown Prince's intentions and directly voiced their support.
Li Yi also supports fighting; some people can't be left out.

Six prime ministers

Yuwen Shiji naturally supported the crown prince.

So only the two Left and Right Ministers remained.

Upon seeing this, Feng Deyi immediately voiced his approval for using force.

Only Feng Deyi remained opposed to sending troops, believing that a single envoy could quell the rebellion.

During the discussion,
A palace attendant presented an urgent memorial.

After reading it, Li Shimin's face turned gloomy and ugly.

"Take a look!"

"Pang Xiaotai, the governor of Nanzhou, Ning Daoming, a resident of Nanyue Prefecture, and Feng Xuan, the leader of Gaozhou, all rebelled, capturing Nanyue Prefecture and attacking Jiangzhou. Ning Chun, the governor of Hezhou, led troops to its rescue, but was ambushed and defeated, and urgently requested reinforcements."

Li Yi frowned upon seeing this news.

Nanzhou was established in the fourth year of the Wude era by taking Nanchang and Hepu from Hepu County in Lingnan. At the beginning of the year, it was renamed Baizhou.

Hepu Prefecture was formerly Yuezhou. It was renamed Hezhou during the Sui Dynasty. In the fourth year of the Wude era, it was restored to Yuezhou and was divided into two parts, one south of Yuezhou and the other south of Kuaiji.

Jiangzhou was established under the jurisdiction of the Guizhou General Administration, with Fengshan County of Hezhou as its capital.

The states mentioned in this urgent report,

They were all located in Lingnan, and later in the Bobai area of ​​Guangxi.

Pang Xiaotai, Ning Daoming, Feng Xuan and others were all local powerful chieftains in Lingnan. When Li Jing led his troops south to Lingnan to pacify the region, these people all surrendered and were appointed as generals or governors.

To put it bluntly, although the entire Lingnan region had submitted to the imperial court a few years ago, its actual control was very weak.

It was still controlled by those local powerful families.

Now, several prefects have rebelled.
The reason for the rebellion is not important. In recent years, there have been various rebellions by powerful chieftains in Lingnan for different reasons, but they are basically vying for control with the central government and are unwilling to relinquish their power.

The rebellion involved several prefects from two of the most powerful families in Lingnan: the Ning family and the Feng family.

Feng Xuan was Feng Ang's half-brother.

Ning Daoming is Ning Changzhen's nephew.

This rebellion was actually not complicated.

Last year, the imperial court divided the territory of Hepu Prefecture into Yuezhou, Nanhezhou, and Jiangzhou, and appointed Ning Daoming as the governor of Yuezhou.

Ning Changzhen remained the governor of Qinzhou.

At the beginning of the year, Ning Changzhen sent people to present Hepu pearls as tribute, as was customary, but this time Emperor Li Yuan refused to accept them.

Hepu pearls are famous throughout the world.

Li Yuan's refusal was not because he disliked the pearls offered by Ning Changzhen, but because he wanted to change the landscape of Lingnan.

After Li Jing pacified Lingnan, the region remained largely fragmented, with local warlords holding positions such as prefect and magistrate. Each warlord commanded his own army.

The imperial court was unable to truly appoint officials to govern, nor could it collect taxes.
These powerful families in Lingnan only symbolically offered some local products as tribute to the court; they levied taxes but never paid a single penny to the court. Li Yuan refused to accept the pearls offered as tribute by Ning Changzhen.

The goal is to change the old rules and replace the tribute system with a tax system.

From the perspective of the central government, this is necessary.

But the powerful families in Lingnan, far from the emperor's reach, were not happy.

You reign as emperor in Chang'an, while we govern our people in Lingnan; we keep to ourselves and do not interfere with each other.

It's impossible for them to levy taxes on us, or even send officials and soldiers.

Ning Changzhen was deeply puzzled and felt that the court could not be allowed to continue in this manner.

Therefore, Ning Changzhen, one of the most powerful chieftains in Lingnan, immediately contacted the leaders of the Xidong Li Liao tribe.

They also contacted Feng Xuan of another prominent family, the Feng family.

They wanted to raise an army to oppose the imperial court and force it to make concessions.

After some coordination, Ning Daoming of the Ning family, Feng Xuan of the Feng family, and Pang Xiaotai and Tan Dian, the chieftains of the Li Liao barbarians, raised an army.

But Ning Changzhen, the governor of Qinzhou, remained unmoved, staying behind the scenes.

Ning Chun's decision to lead troops in resistance was actually an internal power struggle within the Ning family.
This is similar to the long-standing feud between the brothers Feng Xuan and Feng Ang in the Feng family.

This rebellion,

To put it bluntly, it was still the local powerful families in Lingnan who were resisting the central government's centralized power.

Ning Changzhen hasn't made a move yet; he's just leaving himself some room to maneuver.

Li Shimin also understood the true nature of this rebellion.
"The barbarians of Lingnan are ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth. I have decided to conscript 100,000 armored soldiers from the Jianghuai region to conquer Lingnan. Those who do not submit to the king's rule will be annihilated!"

The crown prince is very domineering.

To solve a problem, you must grasp its root cause.

The current situation in Lingnan, in essence, is that the imperial court has not yet gained real control. Those powerful local lords and barbarian chieftains have outwardly submitted and surrendered, but they neither pay taxes nor obey orders.
What's the point of such submission?

The imperial court had just begun to take action, preparing to investigate households and collect taxes in Lingnan, when they rebelled.

It must be quelled by force, and then troops must be stationed in Lingnan to suppress it.

Li Shimin believed this was the fastest and most effective method.

Cut the mess with a sharp knife.

Xiao Yu once again stood up and firmly opposed it.

"Your Highness, not everything can be resolved by military force. The country is newly established, and we should not rashly raise troops."
The movement of troops consumes countless resources, requiring the conscription of numerous laborers, a drain on the nation's resources and manpower that the country cannot afford.

"Lingnan is remote, with treacherous terrain and plagues, making it difficult to station a large army there."

Furthermore, a king's army should not be mobilized by barbarians; to win against them would be dishonorable, and to lose would be humiliating.

We should treat them with kindness and appease them.

Li Shimin retorted with dissatisfaction: "Appeasement? Appeasement now will only make the rebels think the court is weak and trustworthy, and they will become even more emboldened. What will become of the court's prestige in Lingnan?"

"We have to fight. They've already rebelled; there's no room for negotiation."

Li Shimin was not afraid of long journeys or treacherous terrain. He dared to directly attack even the powerful Turks, let alone the mere barbarians of Lingnan.

was saying,

Another eunuch came to report.

Urgent report from Longyou: The Tuyuhun have invaded Taozhou and Minzhou!
Li Shimin frowned deeply and gritted his teeth.
He had assumed that the Turks had been defeated and conquered.

The world will soon be at peace.

But now Liang Shidu of Shuofang is stubbornly resisting and refuses to surrender.
These powerful chieftains in Lingnan rose up in rebellion against the imperial court.

Even the Tuyuhun, who had been behaving themselves for a while, have started raiding the borders again.

He had just been named crown prince.
The situation on all four sides is getting worse and worse.

Li Shimin wanted to call for a fight, but facing prime ministers like Xiao Yu, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

We can't attack on all four fronts at the same time, can we?

He was an excellent military commander and knew that the court could not do this.

"Wu Yi, what's your opinion?"

Li Shimin looked at Li Yi, who was also an ever-victorious general who had never lost a battle.

"Your Highness, we will meet force with force and flood with earth. Liang Shidu of Shuofang is a stubborn rebellion that refuses to surrender, and the powerful chieftains of Lingnan are defying the emperor's rule and rebelling."
Furthermore, the Tuyuhun people in the northwest once again raided the border.
These are three separate matters and can be handled separately.

Liang Shidu, that's a war of unification, we have to fight it, and we have to do it quickly, we can't drag it out.

With swift and decisive action, they defeated Liang Shidu, recovered Shuofang, and unified the world.

Li Shimin nodded with a smile.

He rose and paced around the hall. "Wu Yi is right. There can be no hesitation in unification. Please continue."

Your Highness,
In fact, to defeat that damned Liang Shidu, the imperial court wouldn't even need to send many troops.

"Even without the imperial court sending a single soldier, it could annihilate Liang Shidu."

These words made the prime ministers sit up straight.

Even Changsun Wuji, the Minister of Personnel and General of the Left Martial Guard, and Du Ruhui, the Minister of War, who were specially summoned, showed curiosity.

Liang Shidu ruled over Shuofang for so many years, which was only a few hundred miles from Chang'an.
Although they mainly relied on the support of the Turks, they also had considerable strength of their own.

"Lord Li, I'm very curious, what method is there to destroy the Liang army that has been ruling Shuofang for so many years without firing a single shot?" Xiao Yu asked.

"It's very simple, the Turkic Khan Yiminishulbi is still in Chang'an."

Now that the Turkic tribes have submitted, the court has established nine governorates for each of them. The million Turkic people are all subjects of our Great Tang.

Now Liang Shidu has rebelled and established his own independent regime.
The imperial court is drafting an edict to summon the Turkic tribes to fight and destroy Liang Shidu. Is this not permissible?

"The Nine Turkic Protectorates can easily mobilize tens of thousands of troops, yet they can't even deal with Liang Shidu?"

"The imperial court only needs to send one envoy, carrying imperial credentials, to lead the Turkic troops to suppress the rebellion in Shuofang. It won't cost the court a single soldier or a single grain of rice!"

"Hahaha," Li Shimin laughed, "Your words are truly a wake-up call! Hearing your words is better than reading for ten years. I hadn't even thought of this before. Wu Yi is absolutely right!"

"Excellent!" Fang Xuanling clapped his hands in approval.

Du Ruhui and Changsun Wuji both praised it highly, saying, "Why not use such a good free vassal army from the Turks?"

(End of this chapter)