My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 135 Inspection
Yang Guang curiously took the memorial, glanced at it a few times, and was overjoyed after just a few glances.

"Go back to the palace first!"

Yang Guang didn't care about the falconers who were putting on a great show. He took Yu Shiji and turned to walk into the hall. He walked very fast and was already sitting in the seat of honor a moment later. This time, he looked at the memorial in his hand carefully and didn't miss a single word.

"Loufan is just a small prefecture with three counties, yet it has so many private mines. These scoundrels don't care about the world at all; they only think about enriching themselves. I didn't even know about it."

Yang Guang was genuinely angry this time.

He wasn't this angry about the Zheng family's affairs before; it was probably because so much had been uncovered that the saint was somewhat on guard.

Yu Shiji immediately said, "Many things were decided before the sage ascended the throne. Now that the sage has discovered them, it is likely that such things will not happen again in the future."

Yu Shiji seemed different from Zhao Yuanshu, but his words carried weight. His statement was practically saying that all the blame lay with the late emperor and with your father.

If this were any other ruler, he would probably have turned against Yu Shiji by now. But the Sage is clearly different from other rulers. Upon hearing Yu Shiji's words, Yang Guang's mood immediately improved.

He smiled and looked at Yu Shiji, "What you say is absolutely right!"

His emotions fluctuated wildly. Just a moment ago he was furious, but now he was looking at the memorial with a smile, exclaiming, "Duke Tang is truly a pillar of the state! I sent him to Loufan to deal with these private mines, but I didn't expect him to achieve results so quickly!"

Yang Guang suddenly looked at Yu Shiji, "What do you think about sending him to Taiyuan?"

Yu Shiji's face twitched slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and said, "Your Majesty, the Duke of Tang has only just received his reward. He should not be promoted again in the near future. We can wait until he has accumulated more merits before bestowing further rewards upon him."

"However, his memorial does indeed prove that there are still many private mines in the region. If Your Majesty wishes to resolve these issues, you can directly appoint someone to conduct a thorough investigation in various places."

Yang Guang thought Yu Shiji's words made some sense and nodded.

This time, however, he was quite satisfied with Li Yuan's actions. He was somewhat conflicted about Li Yuan. On the one hand, Li Yuan was a talented man with a high reputation. If he could be given important responsibilities, he could solve many problems for him. On the other hand, he did not trust Li Yuan. This man had too many friends and would make friends with local powerful families wherever he went, which made him uneasy.

This time, however, Li Yuan was willing to offend those powerful clans for his own sake, which caused Yang Guang's opinion of Li Yuan to change somewhat.

Yang Guang was quite generous to these loyal ministers who followed him wholeheartedly.

Of course, Li Yuan's memorial did not only mention the mining industry, but also the situation of the local people. Li Yuan said that the local people were being forced into a terrible situation because of those mine owners, but they were still willing to make up for the grain tax and dared not delay their corvée labor.

However, in order to ensure that these people could recover as soon as possible and produce more food, he wanted to recruit laborers to develop farmland and cities, and at the same time, he wanted the local mine owners to hire more local people to work, so as to increase the population and farmland of Loufan and continue to serve the sage!
Li Yuan knew very well that the emperor wouldn't care how miserable the people were if he told him, but as long as he said he wanted to increase arable land and population, the emperor would agree, since taxes and corvée labor depended on these two items.

In the eyes of a sage, the people of the world are no different from cattle and sheep. He doesn't care at all whether the cattle and sheep eat well or live well.

As expected, Yang Guang didn't pay attention to this trivial matter, and didn't even discuss it with Yu Shiji. His main concern was how to punish those mine owners and how much benefit he could gain.

He talked with Yu Shiji for a long time, but the emperor became restless.

He stood up and paced back and forth for a long time before suddenly looking at Yu Shiji.

"Minister Yu, since I ascended the throne, I have visited many places, but I have never been to Loufan. It's perfect timing; I can also see how the new palace is being built along the way. Have them prepare, I am going to Loufan!"

Yu Shiji was taken aback. "Your Majesty, what about the west?"

Yang Guang turned his head to look at him, his eyes full of warning.

Yu Shiji dared not offer any further advice. These people had been following the Sage for a long time and were very familiar with his personality. The Sage was usually very gentle, but if they thought they had gained favor and presumptuously offered advice, their fate would be extremely tragic.

Yang Guang immediately made up his mind and changed his course.

He then issued another edict to Li Yuan, firstly to respond to the matter of the private mine, and secondly to instruct him to prepare for the arrival.

In Loufan, Li Yuan resumed his old ways from Xingyang, spending most of his time with his family and leaving external affairs to the officials.

These officials are now working very hard. They will carry out Li Yuan's orders to the best of their ability, and they don't even dare to cut back on grain supplies too much.

The situation inside and outside the city gradually calmed down.

At this time, Chai Shao finally paid a visit.

Li Yuan finally had the opportunity to host a banquet for this young man he highly regarded. After Chai Shao arrived, Li Yuan didn't wait for him to say much and immediately ordered a banquet to be prepared. He also called over several other children, and everyone ate together. Chai Shao was arranged to sit next to Li Yuan, even closer to him than Li Jiancheng, which moved Chai Shao deeply.

Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao were acquaintances and had interacted before. When they met again, they exchanged pleasantries with smiles. Li Shimin was naturally the happiest and treated Chai Shao with more enthusiasm than he would his own brother, which made Li Jiancheng glance at him several times.

The third and fourth brothers were also very curious about this real general, and they were both secretly observing him.

Li Yuan was very happy. He said, "Logically speaking, you shouldn't have entered the city, and I shouldn't have hosted a banquet. However, let's set aside our personal feelings for now and not talk about the law. Let's drink until we're drunk!"

Chai Shao quickly replied, "Your Excellency, I dare not. I must return to my camp later and cannot afford to get drunk."

"Okay, then I'll eat a few less bites!"

Li Yuan didn't ask about the camp's affairs, but chatted with him about family matters for a while. Chai Shao also seized the opportunity to talk about the purpose of his visit.

“Duke, your second son is exceptionally talented and should not be wasted. There is currently no war in Yingyang Prefecture. If you allow, I would like to take him there so that he can train with the soldiers. He can learn a lot in the military academy that he cannot learn outside.”

Li Shimin looked at him gratefully, then looked longingly at Li Yuan.

Li Yuan simply smiled.

In fact, he had originally wanted his sons to receive military training here, especially his second son, who was the right age and liked it. But since Chai Shao had spoken first, he didn't intend to say anything more.

“My son is unruly, and I’m afraid that if he comes to live with you, he’ll cause you trouble.”

This time, before Chai Shao could say anything more, Li Shimin quickly stood up. "Father, I will definitely study hard and will never cause trouble or make things difficult for my brother. If such a situation occurs, I will never mention martial arts again in my life!"

Li Yuan ignored him and only looked at Chai Shao.

Chai Shao said, "No, I think Erlang is quite well-behaved and sensible. With me watching over him, he won't cause any trouble."

"This will cause a lot of trouble."

"Not at all, it was just a small favor."

Li Yuan then had a new set of clothes brought to Chai Shao as a gift, and Chai Shao rose to thank him again.

Li Shimin was overjoyed and personally went to serve Chai Shao.

Li Jiancheng suddenly asked, "Father, why don't we let Sanlang come along too?"

Li Yuan was taken aback, then looked at his third son and pondered for a moment, "Let's wait a bit. Sanlang's body has only just recovered and he is not as strong as his second brother. Military training is by no means easy. Let's wait until he is a few years older."

Li Jiancheng said no more, and Chai Shao began to sized up the third son of the family.

He knew Li Laosan. The matter of Li Xuanba being granted a marquis title had caused a great uproar in various places, and many people were dissatisfied with it.

"How were the arrows I gave you before?"

Chai Shao suddenly asked.

Li Shimin paused, then quickly interjected, "Yes, it works very well, he likes it very much."

Li Xuanba glanced at his elder brother, as if he understood something, and said, "Thank you for the arrows, brother."

"Have you learned archery yet?"

"Not yet, for now we're just building up our strength."

"Okay, you keep practicing. I'll teach you horseback archery skills when I have the chance later!"

Seeing Li Xuanba, Chai Shao finally felt a little relieved. Sure enough, not everyone is as intimidating as Li Shimin. This Sanlang looks quite normal. He is currently still working on his strength, so it seems that his body is a bit weak and he can't draw a bow yet.

Once he's stronger, I might be able to teach him some practical horsemanship skills.

(End of this chapter)