Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 127: The Battle Between Father and Son
Zhang Liang clearly felt that the king in front of him was breathing heavily.

It was as if he was not facing a human, but a ferocious tiger that wanted to devour people...

Li Shimin's calm voice broke his illusion:
"I understand, this matter cannot be told to outsiders.

"Speaking of which, have you found out anything about the Jiucheng Palace incident?"

Zhang Liang replied calmly:
"We have discovered the correspondence between Ashina Jieshe and Xueyantuo, and there is indeed a connection between the two sides."

"Is there an insider?" Li Shimin went straight to the core of the problem.

"Not found yet." Zhang Liang lowered his head slightly.

Li Shimin sighed lightly and said earnestly:
"The incision should be directed inwards, scraping the bone to remove the poison."

"I will obey your order!" Zhang Liang answered immediately.

Li Shimin returned to his chair and turned his attention back to the memorial:
"Go."

Zhang Liang respectfully withdrew, and before leaving the study, he couldn't help but defend himself:
"Regarding the incident involving Prince Ming, there were many witnesses, and there were also spies who infiltrated the Red Scarf... Army. After cross-verification from many sources, it is confirmed."

Li Shimin didn't even raise his head:
"If you are a fool who believes the one-sided words of the people below, would I allow you to enter the Lizheng Palace at night?"

Zhang Liang bowed slightly and retreated calmly.

Just as he left the study, he stumbled and had to hold onto the wall to avoid falling.

The wet clothes were sticking to his back.

He was absolutely certain that at some point just now, His Majesty had the intention to kill him!
"Being with the emperor is like being with a tiger... Being with the emperor is like being with a tiger..."

Zhang Liang felt like he had survived a calamity and staggered out of the Lizheng Hall.

…………

Li Shimin sat upright in his study, listening to the footsteps gradually fading away, and couldn't help but covering his temples.

Dizzy and painful...

My thoughts are in a mess and my mood is extremely complicated.

Good news, my son is safe.

Bad news, why did His Highness rebel?

He is no longer worried about his son being killed by bandits.

He was now worried that his son would be "killed" by the government troops.

No matter what the outcome, it will be an irreversible loss to the Tang Dynasty.

"What the hell is this brat thinking? Why doesn't he want to be a prince and become a bandit?!" Li Shimin's brain almost exploded.

After all, he underestimated Li Ming's ability to make things happen.

Come to think of it, this guy almost demolished the Liangyi Hall in the Taiji Palace with me watching him, and made Kong Yingda and a bunch of other old Confucian scholars mad to death.

Now that guy has let the fish into the sea and the tiger return to the mountains, he is doing things in Liaodong, that precious land with simple and pure customs.

It's just like the turtle and the mung bean, they fell in love with each other!
"what is going on?"

Li Shimin repeatedly read the urgent report sent by Hou Junji.

This is the only way to understand the whole story.

"When he went to the Murong residence for a banquet, the Red Scarf bandits broke in and burned, killed and looted... He must have been abducted.

"Murong Yan and the government searched all night without success, destroyed the Red Scarf bandit's lair, and killed the bandit leader... Murong Yan's countermeasures were urgent. Compared with the safety of the prince, he was more concerned about his own rule in Pingzhou. This is expected."

However, the style of painting took a sharp turn for the worse afterwards.

The Red Turban bandits did not collapse, but instead revived.

Almost in an instant, the fire spread to every corner of Yanshan Mountain, connecting the remote villages into one piece, and moving swiftly among the mountains and forests, engaging in guerrilla warfare with the Tang army.

Moreover, the size of this gang of thieves is growing like a snowball.

They actually established a political power in the countryside, promulgated laws, appointed officials, collected taxes, and trained armed forces.

According to Hou Junji's latest intelligence, the Red Turban bandits have actually built roads in the mountains and forests, and seem to have plans to connect all the villages in the mountains!
It is simply a country within a country, and is even more tightly organized than Li Mi's Wagangzhai back then.

Not to mention, there is a time difference of eight days between Pingzhou and Chang'an.

According to this trend, the power of this group of peasant rebels called "Red Scarf Army" may be even more considerable...

"..."

Li Shimin couldn't help but hold his forehead.

With the help of Zhang Liang's intelligence, he also discovered the "Ming" traces in this series of operations.

"This brat really refuses to give in. Even if he is hanging out with the bandits, he will still be the leader..."

Li Shimin shook his head and smiled bitterly.

This temperament of not wanting to be inferior to others can be said to be very much in the style of the Li family.

There is indeed reason to suspect that this group of unfortunate "Red Scarf Bandits" were possessed by his own eldest son Li Ming.

Moreover, Haodaer was quite capable. He started from scratch and in just a few days, he had conquered half of the territory outside Pingzhou.

His mood at this moment was extremely complicated.

As the head of all civil servants in the country, it is really difficult for me to cope with the situation when my son has a criminal record.

But even if his son had a criminal record, he would be the principal offender and not an accomplice, which made Li Shimin secretly a little proud.

He even f*cking recruited bandits and negotiated with bandit Li Ming to release Jiedushi Li Ming. What a joke...

"Cough cough!"

Li Shimin gathered his scattered thoughts and rationally thought about a new question:

If the new leader of the Red Turban Bandits is really Li Ming.

So what does he want to do?
Why don’t you reveal your identity to the government and Murong Yan?
Instead, they continued to encroach on land and attack government troops.

Have they been assimilated into bandits?
Yanshan has such great charm?!

Hou Junji didn't know that Murong Yan was the traitor who killed the governor Liu Xin, nor did he know that this matter had been discovered by Li Ming. The two had become mortal enemies.

If he didn't report it, Li Shimin would have no way of knowing.

Therefore, the emperor could only guess his son's motives based on past experience.

"Li Ming, you want to rebel?... Ugh!"

Li Shimin suddenly felt a splitting headache and was in excruciating pain.

For an average family, it is a fantasy for a son to rebel against his father.

But in the imperial family, especially for Li Shimin who had already demonstrated it once.

It's not impossible.

He remembered, and Li Shimin remembered everything.

Li Ming had been afraid of being murdered by the royal family since he was a child, and had always sought to leave the royal family.

And the facts have proved that there is indeed a force that has been plotting evil against him.

The motive for rebellion is there...

After the Jiucheng Palace Incident, Li Ming took advantage of his favor to demand complete autonomy for the two states of Liaodong, including the most core power of personnel appointment and dismissal.

There are signs of rebellion...

However, Li Ming ultimately failed to gain complete personnel control over Ping and Ying states, and had to face pressure from the local aristocratic family, the Murong clan.

Now I have a reason to rebel...

Li Shimin's breathing became heavy again and he clenched his fists.

He had indulged Li Ming's willfulness more than once.

He gave Liaodong to Li Ming, gave him people to Li Ming, and gave him exclusive control of the newspaper. But tolerating Li Ming does not mean that he was ignorant of Li Ming's evil intentions.

"What I give you is yours. If I don't give it to you, why the hell do you snatch it away?
"This really gave me a difficult problem..."

Li Shimin endured the headache and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth.

As a father and an emotional man, he was unwilling to admit that his favorite bastard would rebel.

But as a ruler, he had to ensure that his political authority was not challenged.

No matter if the challenger is a bandit, Goguryeo, or his own son...

"What to do, what to do..." Li Shimin's eyes turned red.

At this time, light footsteps were heard outside the study.

Yang hugged the blanket and looked at her husband who was working at his desk with heartache.

"Your Majesty, please take care of yourself."

As soon as he saw Li Ming's biological mother, Li Shimin, who was worried and tortured by illness, suddenly became angry and roared:
"Go away! I don't want to see you!"

Yang was startled and bowed respectfully:

"I apologize for interrupting you so abruptly. Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will return to Lide Palace right away."

Having said that, he left silently without any resentment.

After venting his anger, Li Shimin's headache eased a little, but he couldn't help feeling guilty:

"These are just groundless guesses. Don't jump to conclusions."

Li Ming might have rebelled, or maybe he didn't and was just being held hostage by the bandits.

The road to Liaodong is long and communication is inconvenient, and everything there seems to be shrouded in fog.

And he, Li Shimin, as the ruler of the empire and Li Ming's father, had to make decisions based on this ambiguous intelligence.

If there is any mistake.

On one hand, Liaodong was divided, and on the other hand, his son died.

These are losses that he cannot bear.

How difficult it is to make a decision that satisfies both parties!

"We must curb the power of the Pingzhou bandits and prevent their potential connection with Goguryeo, while also ensuring Li Ming's safety..."

Li Shimin picked up the pen and quickly wrote the next arrangements on the paper.

First of all, the Yingzhou army, do not move.

Because Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, had a conflict of interest with Li Ming.

Swords and knives have no eyes. If the Yingzhou army enters Pingzhou and takes the opportunity to "accidentally injure" Li Ming, it will be too late.

The strategy of the Yingzhou army was changed to defend against Goguryeo to the north, and no one was allowed to enter Pingzhou without orders.

Secondly, recall Hou Junji and Wei Daijia.

The two are currently unaware of the information that Li Ming may be the leader of the Red Turban Army.

If this is true and the two of them know about it.

Li Shimin also had no confidence as to whether these two people would continue to be "loyal ministers" of the Tang Dynasty, or join hands to go to Yanshan to join hands in the cause and start a business together to become bigger and stronger.

Li Ming, this little succubus, has an inexplicable attraction to his subordinates.

Third, the Tang army in Pingzhou was required to adopt a gentle approach towards the bandits, proceed step by step, and not to provoke civil unrest or anger the Red Turban bandits.

At last……

Li Shimin sighed, temporarily putting aside all his human emotions, and rationally and coldly wrote down his final plan:
Li Shiji was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Road, commanding the Weizhou Military Governor's Office, the Yingzhou Military Governor's Office, as well as the troops of Pingzhou and Youzhou.

He gathered the armies of the four underworlds, recruited soldiers locally, distributed armor, weapons, and food to them, and prepared for war.

If there is any change in Liaodong, attack it!

…………

"All the Murong family lackeys captured today are in shells!"

Yuchi Xunyu led the militia and a group of dejected soldiers and returned to Wuli Township in a triumphant manner.

At first, when faced with these armed servants wearing Tang army uniforms, Yuchi Xunyu was a little hesitant.

He felt like a traitor.

But now he just wants to say: Fight, it’s fun!

Wuli Township is located near mountains and rivers, is easy to defend and difficult to attack, has a relatively open terrain, and is the hub of various villages in the mountains, so it became the core of Li Ming's mini-regime.

The villagers on the roadside originally wanted to watch, but now they were racing against time to plant winter wheat, so they could only spit at the prisoners from a distance.

In the past, villagers were all tenant farmers, working for the village head for free, so they worked without putting in any effort and everyone starved together.

Now that I am working for myself, my enthusiasm for work has been aroused immediately.

They were even willing to cooperate in paying taxes, and even felt that the agreed 30% was too little.

Is there enough for Bodhisattva Li Ming? Would our fellow villagers like to gather some more?

Everyone wanted to worship Li Ming like a bodhisattva in a temple——

Giving them land, food, a way to survive and hope, and even giving them the power to resist that damn Murong Yan, isn't that a living Bodhisattva?
And leaving aside superstition, they also knew clearly that this new regime was extremely fragile and needed support.

If the Red Turban Army is defeated, let Murong Yan's Homecoming Corps fight back.

That's the end of the big guy.

The villages destroyed by Murong Yan during this period are living examples.

"Kill the running dog! Kill the running dog!" Children on the roadside threw stones at the prisoners.

Yuchi Xunyu hurriedly protected the captives and drove the children away:
"Go away! Don't you know Li Jiedu's order? You are not allowed to mistreat the prisoners!"

The captives lowered their heads even lower as they were escorted by the Red Turban Army all the way to the former village chief's residence - now the seat of government of the new regime.

"Brother Ming!" Yuchi Xunyu walked into the yard, his throat clattering:
"All fifteen of these men fell into a trap and were captured after being starved for two days. Their armor is not damaged!"

Li Ming rushed out of the study room:

"Good! I'm rich, I'm rich."

He counted the results of this battle with satisfaction.

In terms of conventional warfare, the poorly equipped and briefly trained militia is no match for the soldiers.

The question is, who will fight a conventional war with them?
What about digging trenches and laying traps, and the mantra of guerrilla warfare: "When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy is tired, we attack."

Li Ming used all the tricks he learned from old black-and-white movies on Murong Yan.

Facts have proved that even though he himself is only a half-knowledgeable strongest king, his advanced theories are far ahead.

It still constituted a dimensionality reduction attack on the servants of the feudal landlords.

The fifteen prisoners stood in front of Li Ming, trembling like sick chickens.

Even when they are facing a cute little baby, there is only fear in their hearts.

Because in Murong Mansion, the legend of the new leader of the Red Scarf Bandits was circulating everywhere.

It was said that he was an evil star that had descended to earth and that he liked to devour people. He could use magic to turn the trees and forests in the mountains into his minions!

And their experiences seemed to confirm this point.

As soon as they entered Yanshan, it seemed like there were "talking trees" everywhere, attacking them from all directions.

"Brother Ming, what should we do with these people?" Yuchi Xunyu pointed at them.

The captives suddenly tensed up and their eyes were filled with despair.

(End of this chapter)