In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Li Yuanchang said, "Take the rest of the wound medicine; it's a special supply from the palace."

"You don't need to go to Shangba tomorrow."

"Your Highness, my injury is nothing serious." Chi Lian wanted to follow.

"Take your men and do another important thing," Li Yuanchang said.

Chi Lian was stunned for a moment.

"What is it?"

"..."

The next day, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

Go to the dam.

This place is the largest plain outside Liangzhou City, and it is also one of the few fertile areas with a large amount of farmland.

Because of the heavy rain last night, the ground was muddy and difficult to walk on, and there seemed to be not many tenants at the moment.

"Whoa!!"

Li Yuanchang reined in his horse, dismounted, and stepped into the mud.

The others followed suit and dismounted.

Li Yuanchang approached a tenant farmer working on the edge of a field and said, "Brother, can I ask you something?"

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The tenant farmer was actually only forty years old, but due to wind and rain and lack of food, his skin was dark and he looked old.

He glanced at Li Yuanchang, said nothing, and quickly dodged away.

"Hey!" Guo Chao said unhappily.

Li Yuanchang stopped him, assuming the other man was afraid of strangers and therefore refused to speak; there was no need to make trouble for a tenant farmer.

He then questioned several tenant farmers, even offering them some fine flour as a reward, hoping to get some information from them.

But everyone regarded Li Yuanchang as a monstrous threat, avoiding him at all costs, even refusing to eat his noodles, and keeping their distance.

After trying for a long time, no one paid any attention to me.

"Your Highness, something seems amiss," Guo Chao said, puzzled.

"Why is everyone like this?"

"I don't want refined flour."

Li Yuanchang also found it strange.

This is the only place Wang Hongzhi visited after his assassination attempt, and it's also the place where he said he wanted to return immediately to report important information to me.

Coupled with the unusual reactions of all the tenants, he instinctively felt that something was amiss.

He looked around and finally focused on a young man in the field. He was a tenant farmer, probably employed by someone.

While he was working, he carried an elderly man with white hair on his back.

Li Yuanchang jumped directly into the paddy field.

"Your Highness!" Guo Chao and the others called out, thinking to themselves, how could a person of such noble birth jump into the field?

Li Yuanchang didn't care at all and even gestured for everyone not to follow.

Then she slowly approached the young man.

The young man seemed to have noticed the sudden arrival of a large group of burly men and had also heard Li Yuanchang asking around for information. When he saw the approaching group, he immediately dodged.

"Eh!"

"Young man, don't go yet."

Li Yuanchang called out to them with a broad smile.

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, the young man could only bow and say, "This humble one greets Your Excellency."

"What's your name?"

"embolus."

"Is this your mother?" Li Yuanchang asked.

"right."

"Sir, I don't know anything. Please ask someone else. If there's nothing else, I still have to do some hard work," Shuanzi said apologetically, his forehead covered in a mixture of mud and sweat.

Before he could even ask, the other party had already blocked him, so Li Yuanchang was basically certain that something must have happened here.

In order to find out more information, he said directly, "Your mother is not young, and her health doesn't look very good. She probably can't take care of herself, otherwise you wouldn't have to carry her while doing chores."

"I have three strings of cash here, enough for you to get medicine for your mother, and while you're at it, find a wife to take care of her."

"You just need to answer a few questions for me, okay?"

Shuanzi's eyes lit up. Three strings of cash!

During the Zhenguan era, one coin could buy about one pound of rice, which was an astronomical figure for these lowly tenant farmers!

His eyes were filled with longing, and he clearly struggled and hesitated, but he was reluctant to agree.

Seeing this, Li Yuanchang immediately spoke up again: "Your mother raised you with great difficulty, and you're willing to let her suffer in the fields with you?"

"That's unfilial!"

In short, it hits the nail on the head.

Shuanzi's face showed shame, and he finally wavered, revealing the reason: "But, but sir, I don't know what you want to ask. If I say something I shouldn't, I will be in trouble."

A cold glint flashed in Li Yuanchang's eyes. Someone had put a gag order here?

"What's wrong? Tell me, and I'll take care of it for you."

"Sir, you can't solve this." Shuanzi looked like he had a bitter pill to swallow.

Li Yuanchang decisively pulled out his waist token: "Can you read?"

Shuanzi shook his head.

Li Yuanchang was completely stumped. He couldn't read, so what was he supposed to do? Even if a sign reading "Li Shimin, as if I were personally present" came, he wouldn't know what it meant.

"I am the King of Han!"

"The King of Han of Liangzhou!"

Shuanzi was shocked and almost collapsed to the ground: "Han...King of Han?"

"Are you the King of Han?"

"Boy, what else? Besides the Prince of Han, who else would speak to you properly? We are all the Prince's guards! Hurry up and report the truth!" Guo Chao brandished his Tang sword to prove his identity.

Since the other party is illiterate, this is the only option.

Shuanzi was shocked and horrified.

Although he was illiterate, he could clearly see that Li Yuanchang was no ordinary person, as he had so many guards, all of whom were equipped with Tang swords.

He was so frightened that he almost knelt down. This was no longer an official; this was a legendary figure!

Li Yuanchang helped him up.

"No need to kneel."

"Your Highness, I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness just now. Please forgive me," Shuanzi said tremblingly.

Li Yuanchang laughed and said, "How about it? Do I have the ability to solve your problem?"

Shuanzi was embarrassed and nodded repeatedly.

Li Yuanchang directly stuffed the money into his hand.

"Speak! If anyone causes you trouble, I guarantee they won't see the sun rise tomorrow!"

Shuanzi swallowed hard, as if to reassure himself.

"Your Highness, last night, the local bullies went door to door warning everyone that no matter who came from Liangzhou or what they asked, no one was allowed to answer."

"If anyone dares to say a word, he'll burn down their house and cut off their hands and feet."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanchang's face immediately darkened.

"Who put it there?"

"Wang Tao, the bully of Dongcun."

Why did he suddenly silence you?

"Well, I don't know either. He specifically warned us not to talk about anything in the fields."

"What's going on in the fields?" Li Yuanchang asked suspiciously.

"Your Highness, didn't Lord Wang come to Shangba to deal with the land issues? Liangzhou Prefecture also gave a lot of seeds to the refugees who suffered from disaster last year," Guo Chao reminded him in a low voice.

Li Yuanchang had already vaguely grasped something and was about to say something.

suddenly!

The loud sound of horses' hooves on the horizon of the paddy field caught his attention.

Then, dozens of people on horseback charged in, recklessly trampling and destroying a lot of crops.

"Yes, it's Wang Tao!"

"Your Highness, it's him!" Shuanzi exclaimed in a conditioned reflex of terror.

The tenants throughout the entire Shangba area were terrified at the mere mention of his name; some even fled immediately. Clearly, he had become infamous in the region.

A cold smile appeared on Li Yuanchang's lips. He was just about to go looking for someone when they delivered themselves right to his doorstep.