Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

They are called a quasi-army because they have never actually fought a war.

As Li You traveled, he inquired about the Langya Wang clan from the clerks. Yan Hongxin, Yan Hongliang, Zan Junmo, and Liang Mengbiao followed closely behind.

Although Liang Mengbiao received 20 lashes for his fondness for sex, it did not affect his ability to ride a horse.

The clerks of the governor's office were also drawn into the procession. They were all clever men and had already guessed what Li You wanted to do.

One of the older clerks was named Xu Liangzhou.

This person advised, "Your Majesty, the Langya Wang clan enjoys a high reputation among scholars. If we act rashly, I fear... I fear it will cause disaster and cause us to lose the hearts of the people..."

Li You sneered, "Calamity? I will bring them calamity. Haven't we been riding roughshod over the people for centuries enough? As for the will of the people… I am the will of the people!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Liangzhou felt embarrassed and dared not say anything more.

As an elderly scholar, Xu Liangzhou had received favors from the Langya Wang clan in his youth, and therefore did not wish to witness such a tragedy. However, as a human being, he was still afraid of death. He wondered what kind of destruction this great chaos would bring to the land of Qi and Lu.

When the uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty took place, Xu Liangzhou was only in his twenties.

Old Xu still vividly remembers the scenes of war and turmoil that year, and many people died in front of him.

In the blink of an eye, thirty or forty years have passed. I never imagined that I would encounter war again in my old age.

Thinking of his wife and family, Old Xu wondered if he would ever live to see them again.

If only I had known this would happen, Old Xu would have moved the whole family to Guanzhong a few years earlier when he had the chance!

Li You was unaware of Xu Liangzhou's thoughts and regrets.

Now, all he hopes for is that the next move will be swift and effective, ideally defeating the Langya Wang clan in an instant.

Based on the information currently available, the size of the Langya Wang clan alone is not enough to disrupt the entire Shandong province.

Li You secretly plotted that it would be best to win over one of the five most prestigious families, as that would have a significant impact.

The closest family was the Zheng family of Xingyang.

After eliminating the Zheng family, Li You will have sufficient resources to carry out his next plan.

Now, we must race against time with the Tang Dynasty's government forces!

"Hurry up and get going!"

Li You and his generals kept urging their 4000-plus able-bodied soldiers to advance.

Unfortunately, humans are not perpetual motion machines; after traveling a certain distance, they always need to stop and rest. The mules and oxen that transport grain, just like humans, also need to rest.

Fortunately, the team was in high spirits because of the previous encouragement of the equal distribution of land.

Li You continued to issue incentive policies, promising his soldiers that once they conquered the Langya Wang clan, they would receive more land and gold and silver.

Despite constant urging, the entire team only advanced forty li (approximately 20 kilometers) in a day.

It's getting dark, so we can only rest for now.

Li You summoned his four generals to the side to discuss their next move.

"Hongxin, at the normal pace, has news of our rebellion reached Chang'an yet?"

"Your Majesty, it is now the fourth day since the uprising began. At the rate that messengers can travel 300 li per day, it will take six days for news of the rebellion to reach Chang'an. So, in about two more days, Chang'an should receive the news," Yan Hongxin said.

Li You frowned: "I've heard that urgent military intelligence needs to be delivered by express courier, even if it's only 800 li away?"

"Your Majesty, the fastest courier service is the 800-li express, but it requires fast men and horses. Currently, only military reports from the border can be delivered so quickly. Reports of rebellions from various places cannot be delivered that fast." Zan Junmo, who had served at the border, spoke the more truthful version of events.

In other words, for the Tang Dynasty, the military intelligence level of the rebellion launched by the Prince of Qi in Qi was lower than that of the military intelligence level at the border.

Li You pressed further, "How fast could the Tang army have moved from receiving the news to dispatching troops?"

The Yan brothers exchanged a glance: "We can send out troops in three days at most."

"Have the imperial troops arrived in Qizhou?"

"If it were cavalry, starting from Tongguan, they could travel 150 li a day and reach Qizhou in ten days."

"No, they can also issue an order to go straight to Luoyang. Starting from the Luoyang camp, it will take them at most seven days to reach Qizhou."

Besides the Guanzhong region, the Tang Dynasty stationed troops in all the important prefectures. Excluding the border troops stationed at the frontier, the garrisons in Luoyang and Taiyuan in the north, and Yangzhou in the south, each exceeded 20,000 men.

"Seven days, three days, two days... In other words, in twelve days, we may encounter the imperial army. And it could be a massive force of tens of thousands, along with renowned generals like Li Jing, Li Ji, Yuchi Gong, and Hou Junji. Gentlemen, do you still think rebellion is easy?"

The King of Qi's summary sent chills down the spines of the four generals.

Yan Hongxin cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, how about we... escape?"

Li You laughed and patted Yan Hongxin on the shoulder.

"Escape is inevitable, but not now. Although the road ahead is treacherous, we are not without a chance. Hongliang, Junmo, you two lead the scout battalion and set off immediately to gather intelligence and pinpoint the exact location of the Langya Wang clan's ancestral home, so as not to waste time later. Our current actions must be as fast as possible, understand?"

"clear!"

……

Three days later, Yan Hongliang and Zan Junmo returned.

Their investigation revealed that the ancestral home of the Langya Wang clan was quite large, housing over a thousand people. Most of these people were servants to the sons of noble families, and while there were also household guards, their total number was not large.

"So, you're saying we can take it down with fewer than four thousand men?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. As long as those servants are killed, the royal family will be nothing more than fish on a chopping board."

Sure enough, when the world was at peace, the local military strength of the aristocratic families experienced a decline in their sanity (sanity value).

After a moment's thought, Li You immediately decided to speed things up and use the elite troops he could muster to quickly wipe out the Wang family.

He dismounted, used tree branches and stones to mark the location, and discussed countermeasures with his four generals.

"This is Langya, and to the west is Xingyang, which is 900 li apart. If we want to take down the Zheng family in Xingyang before the government troops can react, there simply won't be enough time for a round trip."

"Does Your Majesty intend to divide your forces?"

Yan Hongxin followed Li You's line of thought.

Li You nodded and asked, "Are there any other prominent families around here?"

"Nearby... there is a Xi family from Gaoping, not far from here."

How many horses do we have?

"There are two hundred horses and more than one hundred mules."

"Therefore, I will personally lead elite troops, using horses, to launch a surprise attack on Xingyang. The remaining men, led by Hongxin, will head straight for the Xi family in Gaoping. We will use the same methods and the same rhetoric to burn the land deeds, distribute the Xi family's land, and use land and gold and silver as bait to lure young men into joining our ranks!"

"promise!"

"Your Majesty, what about the Xi family? Should we execute them all?"

"Simply kill the man surnamed Xi. His servants and laborers are not to be harmed, but they must be given land as well. Understand?"

"clear!"

"Once you've finished your work, you can sit here in Gaoping."

"promise!"