Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 131 Do you know how much a stone of rice costs? Five hundred coins!

Li Ming clearly felt that the arrogance of his number one general was suddenly reduced by half.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked curiously.

Yuchi Xunyu hid behind Li Ming smoothly:

"I... don't know him."

Li Ming:?
"Make way, make way, don't block the road." Fang Yize squeezed in with a businesslike look on his face and pushed to the front.

As the chairman of the Finance Committee and the only accountant in the village, he was exhausted from counting the spoils of war in the past two days.

"One set, two sets... This set of helmets is badly damaged and can't be used anymore. Report it as a spare part..."

Xiaofang directly counted the armor on the prisoners, to prevent these rough guys in the village from losing helmets, arm armor or something like that when entering the warehouse, which would cause disputes between the militia and the warehouse manager.

"Hey, this set of armor is really high-end, it seems to be used exclusively by high-ranking generals."

Fang Yize finally pointed at the commander who was "resisting stubbornly" and his eyes swept back and forth across his bright armor, all the way to his helmet.

Then he saw clearly the face of the rough man who shouted "Cut me off quickly".

Li Ming clearly heard Fang Yize's heavy breathing.

"I'll go supervise the warehouse keeper putting the goods into storage." Xiaofang turned and left.

He was grabbed by Li Ming.

"Wait, you know that general?"

"I don't know him!" Fang Yize denied it flatly and hid behind Li Ming with Yuchi Xunyu.

Li Ming: ? ?

"Brother Ming, you are here. It took me a long time to find you." Chang Sunyan called them from a distance and reported to Li Ming as he walked over:

"The wheat in the village has been planted, and this year's farm work is basically completed, so there is some free labor.

"Before it snows in the mountains, let's organize the laborers and prisoners of war to...build...the road?"

He casually glanced at the face of the Tang army officer who would rather die than surrender, his tone paused, and he stopped behind Li Ming very smoothly.

The three of them hid behind their leader, looked at each other, and said nothing in tacit understanding.

Li Ming: ???
"You three are older than me, can you hide behind me?"

"We're not hiding!"

"Do you know the Tang army officer who was shouting?"

"do not know!"

Li Ming was too lazy to expose them and walked up to the general.

He was wearing Ming Guang armor and a heather helmet, and his pair of big copper bell eyes revealed his heroism and rudeness.

"Are you the leader of this group of defeated soldiers?" Li Ming said with a relaxed smile.

The general glared at the brat and turned his head away sulkingly:

"You damned bandit, if you want to kill me, just kill me. Why did you send a child to humiliate me?!"

Li Ming crossed his arms playfully:
"General, you are joking. I am the leader of these rebels. I have something to discuss with you."

He felt that this guy was a real man and wanted to personally persuade him to surrender.

He had already heard in detail from Yuchi Xunyu the entire process of capturing the enemy.

After entering the village, the officer did not massacre or rob the remaining villagers, or loot property and food like the other servants did, nor did he set fire to the village.

He was strict in military discipline and never violated anyone. Compared with a worm like Murong Yan, he looked like a saint.

After being trapped in a sea of ​​traps and surrounded by a large number of people, this officer was in command with great confidence. His several waves of counterattacks made the Red Scarf Army cry for their parents and almost allowed him to escape from the desperate situation.

If it weren't for the strong fighting spirit of the newly recruited militia, he would have really escaped.

The losses suffered by the Red Turban Army in this battle even exceeded the sum of all previous losses.

This rough guy is indeed talented and virtuous, just right for Li Ming to make up for his military shortcomings.

He is in urgent need of talents, especially military commanders. He only has a promising young talent, Yuchi Xunyu, who leads a group of ordinary faces.

It would be a bit difficult for this makeshift team to reach Lulong from Yanshan.

If there were one more experienced officer, the fighting capacity of the Red Turban Army would be greatly enhanced.

"Pah!" the rough man spat contemptuously:

"I, Xue Wanche, really had a setback! I just took a few recruits to the mountains to look for someone, but I didn't expect to be attacked by bandits!

"If I use my real strength, I will flatten the whole mountain for you!"

"presumptuous!"

The Red Turban Army was so enraged by the scolding of the defeated general that they were about to spit back when their pants were tugged by a messy little hand.

"Wait...wait, don't, don't get excited..." The corners of Li Ming's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Wait, what does this guy call himself?
Xue Wanche?
Damn, isn’t this Hou Junji’s deputy, the fierce general who destroyed the Turks, Gaochang, and almost destroyed Li Shimin at Xuanwu Gate?

Isn't this the remnant of Li Jiancheng that his mother asked him to subdue, and the former deputy guard of the Prince of Qi's Palace of Li Yuanji? !
This……

so awkward.

In a sense, the person was indeed obtained.

But in another sense, it seems like we are getting further and further away.

Li Ming finally understood what those three little bastards were hiding from.

The three of them must know Xue Wanche.

Well, it was a bit embarrassing to be discovered by my father's colleagues that I was involved in gangs. I was a bit embarrassed to recognize them...

"I am Xue Wanche, and I will never change my surname or my given name!" Old Xue was still roaring passionately:

"You red-turbaned bandits, surrender quickly and hand over the princes and young masters you have kidnapped! Otherwise, once the heavenly soldiers arrive, they will send you all to heaven one by one!"

The Red Turban Army was completely confused.

You guys are the ones who lost people, don't put the blame on us peasant uprising army!
A young soldier couldn't help but retort:
"What do you mean by kidnapping the prince? Don't make it sound like we are bandits!"

Aren't you bandits? ! ... Xue Wanche was stunned and pointed at Li Ming and the other four.

"There are four children of this age who were kidnapped by you from Murong's mansion!"

Everyone's attention was immediately focused on these four people.

"He's about the same size and age as the other four, and one of them has a similarly dark face!"

Xue Wanche was spitting with passion, but when he saw the familiar, iconic black charcoal head, his slow brain finally started to work:
"Hiss... Hey, you look familiar, don't cover your face with your hands. Aren't you... that guy from the Yuchi family?!

"And you, that so-and-so from the Changsun family! And... damn, aren't you the youngest son of the old man with the facial paralysis?"

Under the astonished gazes of their father's colleagues and brothers, the three little ones covered their faces and wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Finally, Xue Wanche's gaze fell on Li Ming in front of him.

The little kid who was handling it with ease just now is now sweating profusely.

"We have found Yuchi, Changsun, and the one from the Fang family. So you must be..."

"not me."

"Isn't it?"

"No, I wore silk and satin at that time."

“This is you.”

"This...ha, ha, ha, that's right, I am Li Ming!"

…………

Li Ming stopped pretending and came clean. He personally untied the general who was his uncle's generation and told him the whole story.

"There is actually such a story. So, Your Highness and the princes are now the leaders of this group of bandits... er, these rebel forces and villagers?"

Xue Wanche looked around Wuli Township curiously. This small township between the ravines was much more lively than Lulong County.

Maybe people's lives are still very poor now, but they are spiritually progressive and their fighting spirit is very high.

In time, this place will not be much worse than the prosperous Central Plains.

I have to admit that these four little bastards are quite capable in governance.

"That's it." Li Ming looked at the laborers carrying soil, digging stones, and cutting roads in the mountains:

"The people of Lulong and Linyu counties are my people, and the villagers in the mountains are also my people. I just want to lead them to survive and develop together."

Xue Wanche looked at Li Ming beside him in surprise.

It is really hard to imagine that such plain and hard truth could come out of the mouth of a little kid who was raised by women in the deep palace.

While in Beijing, he had heard all kinds of legendary stories about Prince Li Ming, but they seemed like fairy tales that were out of touch with reality.

Now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I realize that this child is actually quite down-to-earth in doing things.

There is no big talk, just start the governance from the fields.

In just two months, the poor and chaotic Yanshan mountainous area was transformed and restored to order.

There were two moments.

In addition to his civil administration, he was also good at martial arts.

With a few bandits and peasant rebels, using the captured armor and weapons, and taking advantage of the terrain and the people, they actually captured Xue Wanche.

Who is Xue Wanche? He was a founding general who followed the emperor. He led a hundred men to defeat Dou Jiande's 200,000 troops and conquered Jie Li Khan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.
No matter how many objective reasons there were, he lost, and he accepted his defeat wholeheartedly...

and many more.

Xue Wanche suddenly remembered the purpose of this trip.

He was not here to inspect the construction of Wuli Township, and was almost led off topic by Li Ming.

"Your Highness is the governor here. You can govern at any time. Now come back to Lulong with me."

He said excitedly:
"General Hou and Envoy Wei are still waiting for you to come back!"

Li Ming raised his eyebrows:
"Are they really still alive?"

Although he felt that those two guys didn't deserve to die, Murong Yan wasn't bold enough to murder high-ranking officials.

But when he confirmed that his left and right arms were indeed safe, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Moreover, he has now finally confirmed the location of the two people.

We can find a way to bring them up the mountain!

Xue Wanche thought Li Ming's question was strange:
"Of course they are still alive, probably sitting in the state capital and leisurely drinking tea."

The master was kidnapped by the bandits. Guess why they dared to be so leisurely... Li Ming found that Old Xue was worthy of his reputation. His brain was indeed not very smart. He said carefully:

"You know Murong Yan, the local emperor of Pingzhou, right?"

"Yes, he lent me these soldiers."

"Murong Yan was actually a traitor. He was the one who killed the governor Liu Xin."

Xue Wanche's eyes immediately widened like copper bells, like a furious King Kong:

"How dare that fellow deceive us and the imperial court!
"We won't go back to Lulong. We will first rescue General Hou and his men, and then go to Yingzhou to gather troops..."

Halfway through the conversation, Li Ming waved his hand and said leisurely:
"Of course we have to report this to the imperial court, but we don't really need reinforcements. My Red Scarf Army is enough to wipe out Murong Yan."

Li Ming never reported the matter to the court, probably because he didn't have the ability to know it at first.

Although they gained control of the Red Turban Army, their strength was still weak and they could only move in the mountains. They were unable to break through Murong Yan's roadblocks and could not reach Yingzhou in the east and Youzhou in the west.

You can't just go north along Yanshan Mountain to find Goguryeo, right?

Later, he gained some ability and was able to infiltrate Lulong County. He found that Murong Yan did not change his flag and was openly defecting.

This shows that the local emperor has not yet fallen out with Hou Junji and Wei Daijia, who are under his control.

For the safety of these two people, Li Ming chose not to expose the matter for the time being.

And now, after gaining comprehensive advantages.

He felt that there was no need to ask the court for help anymore.

The peaches are almost ripe, how can we let others pick them?

He hasn't yet defeated Murong Yan, an inexperienced baby who has no ability to fight back.

"Why are you still being polite to your father?"

Xue Wanche said he couldn't understand:
"As long as we clarify this matter to His Majesty, it will be easy to destroy a local tyrant. Why should we go far away?"

Li Ming felt that it was difficult to explain anything to this dull-witted man who only knew how to fight.

He changed it to a more understandable statement:
"Do you know how miserable the people are under the oppression of the landlords? Do you know how much the price of a stone of rice in the mountains has risen?
"Five hundred bucks!"

Xue Wanche frowned:
"Are you going to rebel? No, no, the last time your father and your uncle had a conflict, I almost lost my life."

The corner of Li Ming's mouth twitched.

Shit, as soon as he saw the people were living in misery he immediately thought of rebellion. How come this wooden-headed idiot’s imagination could only make such a leap to this level?
…………

At Murong's house.

"So, the weapons workshop beside the Luan River and the mansion was also secretly destroyed by the Red Scarf Bandits? All the armor disappeared?"

Murong Yan's fingers were spinning the rosary beads rapidly, and the anger on her face could no longer be concealed.

The servant who informed him nodded tremblingly:

"Yes Yes."

"roll!"

Murong Yan was so angry that she swept everything off the table.

The servants retreated tremblingly, as if they had been pardoned.

"Useless, useless trash!" Murong Yan was still not satisfied, so she picked up the Buddha statue on the ground and threw it out the door.

Damn it, damn it!
Just a little bit, just a little bit, and we can completely wipe out the Red Turban bandits!
How come they were helped by God and revived, burning all over the mountains and fields in the blink of an eye!

I have clearly not been slacking off and have been fighting bandits all the time!
The villages in the mountains were massacred, the crops were uprooted, and the farmland was sprinkled with salt.

This is to prevent the Red Scarf bandits from getting any supplies, so that they will be completely frozen to death or starved to death like the autumn cicadas in this winter!

But why are there more and more bandits the more we suppress them?

Why don’t they just die?

Not only did he not die, the Red Scarf Bandit even controlled most of the suburbs of Pingzhou, turning the Lulong County and Linyu County under his control into two isolated islands!
What was even more unacceptable to him was that the legend that the new leader of the Red Turban bandits was the incarnation of the angry King Kong had not only spread throughout the county, but had also reached his house!

This made people in the mansion uneasy, and he personally executed several maids who were whispering to each other, but was unable to stop this trend!

"Why doesn't the Bodhisattva bless me! Why the hell don't you bless me!"

Murong Yan picked up the Buddha statue on the ground and laughed angrily at the expensive ivory sculpture:

"It was me who fasted and chanted sutras every day, it was me who burned incense and kowtowed every day, and it was me who paid for the golden statue you made!

"Why don't you bless me, but bless those bandits instead!"

He threw the Buddha statue heavily to the ground, breaking it into pieces.

"Humph, humph, you forced me to do this."

Murong Yan spread out a piece of silk cloth and quickly wrote a letter:

King of Goguryeo, Go Jianmu.

We, Great Yan, are willing to be a vassal state of Goguryeo for generations... We will open our city gates for you, provide you with armor, weapons and horses for the Tang army, and pay tribute to you...

I only ask that you come south quickly and help me put down the rebellion...

(End of this chapter)