Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 201: The supervisor is the one who looks after the house, but this house is a little special
The Taiji Hall was completely silent.

The ministers were in awe.

"Jianguo" means to look after the house, but this "house" is a bit special, it means "country".

When the emperor is away, whoever is in charge of the country will be the actual person in charge of domestic affairs.

The importance of its position is self-evident.

Therefore, the term "regent" is often used in conjunction with another word, that is, "crown prince".

Apart from the crown prince, to whom could the emperor safely hand over the country's internal affairs, even for just a few months?

Apart from the crown prince, who else could have the power and honor of being regent?

Therefore, His Majesty Li Shimin was almost making it clear to all the ministers.

The translation is:
"I think Li Ming is a good guy. He will be your boss in the future. Who is in favor and who is against?"

Almost no one dares to stand up and act like a clown.

This is true even for die-hard Ming and Hei.

Considering the abilities demonstrated by Li Ming and his huge influence among the people of Chang'an.

No one wants his or her name to go down in history as a synonym for "a mantis trying to stop a chariot".

What's more, Li Ming is a narrow-minded and ruthless person, and no one wants to offend him in person.

If they wanted to oppose, they had to do it in private, or secretly do ideological work on the Emperor.

I object! ... Changsun Wuji wanted to be a hero for just one second.

Unlike other ministers who can jump left and right.

The blood relationship between Changsun Wuji and his legitimate sons destined him to fight Li Ming to the end.

In addition, he had acted a little too harshly before, which led to some small misunderstandings between him and Li Ming.

For example, they surrounded the Lide Hall, almost chopped Li Ming to death, almost gave Li Ming to a dead man as a son, tried to make Li Ming encounter an "accident" on his first way to Liaodong, and so on.

To be honest, if the indecisive prince hadn't stopped him, Changsun Wuji would have had at least two or three chances to kill Li Ming.

Now the situation has changed, forcing Changsun Wuji to think from another perspective.

If he fell into the hands of Li Ming, who was magnanimous and never held grudges, would he have a good ending?
Impossible, absolutely impossible.

He was probably first granted a powerless title as one of the Three Dukes, then accused of rebelling, and kicked off to Danzhou, where he died of an inexplicable "sudden illness" on the way.

"minister……"

However, as soon as he opened his mouth, Changsun Wuji suddenly found that it was difficult for him to openly oppose in this Taiji Hall.

The reason why he dared to take the lead in firing Li Ming from his position.

First, it was because the emperor did not express his opinion; second, he underestimated Li Ming's charm on the ministers; third, the money shortage was over, so it was natural for him to be dismissed from his position.

But now, all three reasons are gone.

At the grand court meeting, he confronted His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness Li Ming face to face. Even he had to consider the importance of this.

It's okay, don't worry.

Your Majesty is still in the prime of life and in good health.

Over time, anything can happen.

Especially in the Tang Dynasty with its Xuanwu Gate tradition.

Changsun Wuji finally decided to stay out of the spotlight for the time being and let Li Ming take the first battle.

Since the position of crown prince has not been officially announced, Li Chengqian is still the nominal crown prince. Even if it is officially announced, there will still be variables until the last moment.

Even if Li Ming is allowed to be regent first, what will happen?

In the eyes of others, since even the number one Minghei had fallen silent, there was even less reason for them to take the lead.

So, in the first moment, the Taiji Hall fell into an embarrassing silence.

Everyone present, regardless of their positions, was trying to digest the profound meaning of His Majesty's actions and think about their next steps.

"Your Highness, obey your order~"

Fang Xuanling was the first to break the silence.

The fourteen treacherous gang members immediately followed suit and praised Your Majesty for his wisdom.

The situation was set, and the matter of the Fourteenth Prince acting as regent was thus happily decided.

For Li Ming's party, this was a milestone victory; but for Ming's followers, the best time to challenge him was after Li Ming actually became regent.

The tug-of-war between the two sides continues.

"I have reservations." Student Li Ming raised his hand:
"Can you postpone it for a few months, until I am in Liaodong and have dealt with Goguryeo, and then let me supervise this country..."

"Since no one objects, it is settled."

His Majesty Li Shimin simply ignored it and happily announced the adjournment of the court.

All the ministers left, only Fang Xuanling remained sitting in his original seat.

Lao Fang neither moved nor had any secret to convey to the Second Saint. He just stared at the floor.

"Husband, are you feeling unwell?" The eunuch who was clearing the area waited beside Fang Xuanling somewhat awkwardly, not knowing whether to rush him away or not.

Li Ming jumped down from the small dragon couch, patted his numb legs, and strolled to the teacher's side.

"Father, do you have any tips for me?"

Hearing this arrogant tone, Fang Xuanling suddenly woke up from his dream. He held Li Ming's hands tightly, and his dim old eyes flickered with light.

The seeds I planted last year have almost ripened this year.

The old minister had mixed feelings.

"Teacher, I beg for your advice." Li Ming had a gentle smile on his face.

Fang Xuanling's lips moved, trying hard to hold back his overwhelming emotions, his voice trembling a little:

"Your Highness is wise and brave, and I have nothing else to teach you.

“There is just one thing I want to say, Your Highness, please always keep it in mind.

“Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes.”

…………

Looking at the old minister's staggering back, Li Ming couldn't help but feel a little emotional and scratched his head.

"Oh, Lord Xuanling is right. Your warning is similar to mine." Li Shimin, who was watching the whole process, said with some pride:
"You are just too young and impetuous. If you are governing a city or a pond, this is an advantage, you can cut the Gordian knot quickly. But if you are governing a country, you must be more calm."

"If you're not angry, can you still call yourself a young person?"

Li Ming retorted, and when he saw his father slowly clench his fist, he immediately gave in:
"I was joking. I will definitely remember the teachings of my father and teacher and be patient and cautious."

Li Shimin looked at his son's dodging eyes and still felt uneasy. He repeatedly warned him:
"During the time I'm away at the battle site, you will be my rear support, so please be steady.

"Don't wait until I come back to see that you have caused chaos in the Tang Dynasty, not to mention that the logistics have been ruined in the middle of the war."

He's just like an old otaku who lends his treasured action figures to the neighbor's kids.

Li Ming nodded solemnly:
"I will."

Li Shimin confirmed Xiao Li's eyes, and then he felt relieved and formally raised an important question that had been on his mind:
"How's your investigation going on with this case?"

"Which case?" Li Ming asked subconsciously.

He has too many unsolved cases on his hands.

Jiucheng Palace case, Pingzhou false alarm case, Zhang Liang's connection with the prince case, Li Ming's assassination case, Li Ming's murder case in the palace...

It can be said that from the first chapter to more than 200 chapters, the famous detective Li Ming has not actually solved a single case thoroughly.

The real mastermind is still at large.

"What else could it be? Of course it's the culprit that caused this money shortage." Li Shimin's expression gradually became serious:

"Who hoarded so much copper and iron all at once, causing our country to almost run out of copper coins?"

After going through a complete economic crisis, Li Shimin had a basic understanding of economics.

Hayek's big hand can amplify market disturbances, and when copper and iron are in short supply, it drives people to hoard them.

The question is, where does the initial supply disruption come from?

Who hid or transported away such large quantities of copper and iron at once?

Now that the main body of the economic crisis has been resolved, he has the time and energy to trace the source of the problem.

In particular, iron is extremely sensitive.

It is a strategic material.

Even if it violates the free trade of the market economy, the imperial court must use a visible hand to prevent it from flowing into foreign countries (except for Liaodong's dumping on Goguryeo).

If the finished iron products flowed into the grassland and into the Xueyantuo, they would be processed into armor by the local "orc technology".

Although it was not as light and strong as the Tang armor, it was enough to cause trouble to the Tang army compared to using the flesh to withstand arrows.

This was also one of the reasons why some ministers reported Li Daozon and Qibi Heli for rebellion.

They were worried that someone in the Tang Dynasty would collude with foreign forces to export ironware to the grassland.

"As soon as I took office, I ordered all state governments and government-run mines to strictly investigate the export of copper and iron," Li Ming replied.

Li Shimin recalled that this item was indeed on the long list of tasks at that time.

"What's the result? Did you find out anything?" Li Shimin asked.

"Well...it's hard to put into words." Li Ming showed an expression that was hard to describe.

Li Shimin frowned:
"If it's found out, then it's found out. If it's not found out, then it's not found out. How can it be so hard to explain?"

"How should I put it..." Li Ming scratched his head:

"It has been found out, but it seems that it has not been fully found out."

He then shared his investigation results and findings from the past few months.

Checkpoints were set up in all states and counties, and many people who were transporting copper and iron out of the city or outside the mines were caught... well, porters.

Yes, only the porters were caught.

The duty of those people was to transport the metal ore from State A in the south to State B in the north.

Then another group of porters would transport the goods to Bingzhou further north.

Just like that, it was transported all the way north to Yunzhou, Shuozhou, Xiazhou, Lingzhou and other northern border areas of the empire adjacent to the desert.

"Then what?" Li Shimin asked.

"And then...there was nothing else, and I can't find out." Li Ming sighed.

Li Shimin choked:
"inability."

Li Ming's face flushed, veins popped out on his forehead, and he argued:
"I have no ability! ... I can manage the counties and prefectures in the border areas!"

Although the Tang Dynasty had export controls, ironware was strictly prohibited from leaving the country.

But in border areas, there are international trade tax-free specialists.

They played the role of the invisible hand for Hayek, optimizing the allocation of scarce resources on a global scale.

In simple terms, it's smuggling.

To be honest, the Tang Dynasty couldn't really control it.

Even in the modern 21st century, if Grandpa has a bamboo helicopter, it would be difficult to stop Da Fei from smuggling pig's feet.

"You just keep talking tough." Li Shimin scolded him, but in his heart he still admired Li Ming's ability to handle cases.

Don't underestimate Li Ming's few words.

This was an agricultural society where communication basically relied on shouting, transportation basically relied on walking, and it took ten days or half a month to deliver a letter.

We need to clarify the smuggling links that span states and counties and across the north and south.

This in itself is a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task that requires a great deal of coordination between the central and local governments.

The devil is always one step ahead of the good. The initiator of this smuggling is also very cunning.

Goods were transported to the north from all over the country like ants moving house, which increased the covertness of the crime.

At the same time, artificially adding intermediate links prevents the same group of people from transporting goods from the source to the destination.

This greatly increases the difficulty and time-consuming nature of investigations.

"Did you find out anything from the interrogation of those porters?" Li Shimin asked.

Li Ming shook his head:

"They don't know anything. They are all hired for the first time."

Li Shimin was shocked:
"All the porters, all of them?"

"All of them." Li Ming nodded.

Hiss... Li Shimin took a deep breath and felt that this matter was not simple.

First of all, we must rule out the mastermind as the business was intercepted by the imperial court on its first opening.

Because copper and iron are actually in short supply.

In other words, this smuggling activity has occurred more than once or twice by the mastermind behind the incident.

Looking back, when Li Ming was returning to Chang'an from Liaodong and passing through Youzhou half a year ago, he saw the donkey cart teams transporting iron ore to the north. They were most likely a part of the smuggling case.

However, all the porters intercepted this time, without exception, were taking on this business for the first time.

These porters are spread all over the country, which basically eliminates the possibility of collusion.

What does this mean?
This shows that the mastermind never hires the same porter repeatedly to prevent the news from leaking out.

The other party is very cautious, not an ordinary person...

"So many ironware just disappeared in the south of the desert?" Li Shimin looked solemn.

Considering the worst case scenario, if these iron tools were made into rudimentary armor and fell into the hands of Xueyantuo.

Then he must make major adjustments to his Northern Expedition strategy.

"This is one of the doubts." Li Ming said:
“Among the smuggled items seized this time, there was not a single piece of finished ironware, sword, or armor, but all of it was iron ore.

"At most, it is an ore that has been initially ground, but has not been smelted and extracted."

"Really?!" Li Shimin breathed a sigh of relief after all the trouble.

The grassland tribes did not have the ability to smelt metals.

Even if this technology is unlocked, charcoal fuel cannot be found in the grasslands and deserts to heat the ore to its melting point.

Therefore, even if these minerals really fall into the hands of nomadic people, they are no different from ordinary stones.

This is a blessing in misfortune.

"Who is smuggling this batch of ore? What is the purpose of smuggling?" Li Shimin was a little puzzled.

If these raw ores were transported to major seaports such as Yangzhou and Quanzhou.

It was smuggled by sea to countries such as Persia, the Arabs, Japan, or Silla and Baekje that had the ability to smelt iron ore.

That's all.

But you go by land, and carry it all the way to the desert grasslands...

What is the picture?

I can't figure it out, I really can't figure it out.

"There is another suspicious point." Li Shimin heard the hidden meaning in Li Ming's words.

"The second biggest doubt is, as I just said."

Thinking back to this strange situation, even Li Ming couldn't help but frown:

"The smuggled items that were seized were all iron ore, no copper."

Li Shimin widened his eyes in surprise.

"There is no copper at all, whether it is copper ore, copper utensils, or copper coins." Li Ming said word by word.

Li Shimin almost immediately asked:
"So what's going on with this copper shortage? Where did the copper go?!"

There has been little fluctuation in copper production and usage, but there is a shortage of copper in the market.

It even caused deflation in the Tang Dynasty, which used copper coins as legal tender.

But only iron was smuggled, and the whereabouts of the copper were not discovered.

Where is my copper? Where is that large batch of refined copper?

It won't disappear out of thin air, right?

"Two possibilities." Li Ming explained one by one:

"One possibility is that only iron was smuggled, and the copper was maliciously hoarded and stored away by unscrupulous merchants. The two events were independent and just happened to happen at the same time."

Li Shimin shook his head disapprovingly: "How can there be so many coincidences?"

"I think so too, so there is another possibility."

Li Ming said:

"That is, the mastermind of this smuggling case stopped smuggling copper in time, so he was not discovered; or, the route of smuggling copper is more covert and has not been exposed so far."

Li Shimin savored it and said:
“I think the second possibility is more likely.

"The mastermind is so cunning, there is a high possibility that he has other tricks we are not aware of."

cunning……

This cautious and cunning method of committing the crime inexplicably reminded Li Ming of a familiar stranger——

The mastermind behind the Jiucheng Palace incident and also the suspected culprit of other mysterious cases.

He had no direct evidence.

But the other party made a big move that affected the whole country, and at the same time it was clean and efficient without leaving any trace.

This in itself is a piece of evidence...

"While I'm away, you should investigate this case carefully."

Li Shimin patted Li Ming's shoulder encouragingly:

“Whether they are profiteers who hoard goods or traitors who support nomadic people, we must find out the scum who ruins our country!”

Li Ming nodded solemnly.

Regarding this case, he actually had an idea in his mind to solve the problem.

In the previous cases, King Qi Li You was pushed to the forefront.

Although there was no direct evidence to convict the muscular guy.

But can we change our thinking this time and use Li You as a breakthrough point and investigate him first?

If this guy is also involved in smuggling...

The amount of information will explode!
…………

"So, please go to Qizhou, sneak into the Prince of Qi's mansion as a maid, and monitor the actions of Prince of Qi Li You for me. Report any unusual movements to me in a timely manner.

“Especially any clues related to smuggling, Jiucheng Palace or Liaodong, no matter how big or small, must be recorded and reported to Chang'an immediately.

"do you understand?"

Chang'an Newspaper Office, in the secret room of the Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries Committee.

Li Ming solemnly handed over this undercover mission to Hu Sanniang.

No one knows how to lurk better than her.

She has a low presence and has worked in a large factory as a maid in the palace.

It's easy to sneak into Prince Qi's palace.

"Eh? But I still want to enter the palace. I really want to make progress..." Hu Sanniang was a little unhappy.

"You'll get a raise after you solve the case."

Li Ming used the Li family's ancestral skill of making big promises, and finally made his top killer willingly embark on the journey to Qizhou.

"As for you in Chang'an——"

Li Ming turned to Lai Junchen, Di Renjie, and the spies under their command.

"We will continue to investigate the case. The smuggling case, the assassination case, the Jiucheng Palace case, we will not miss any of them."

"Yes." The members of the Purge Committee were all full of fighting spirit.

In the past, they were very cautious when investigating cases, fearing that they would break the law and be arrested and unable to get out.

Now that their backer Ming Ge has become half-emperor, what else do they have to worry about?
Just check it out!

"Hey...hey, Master Ming." Lai Junchen still couldn't get rid of his wretched temperament, and leaned over with his back hunched.

Li Ming resisted the urge to slap him in the face: "What can I do for you?"

"I heard that Master Ming found out that the magistrate of Chang'an County was corrupt, but that guy escaped."

Lai Junchen's expression became more flattering:

"Can we use the smuggling case to bring him down this time?"

What does Li Qianyou’s corruption case have to do with you... Li Ming also didn’t want to talk more about the corrupt official who almost caused him to suffer a Waterloo.

Suddenly, he remembered a detail from when he first met Lai Junchen -

As soon as the boy found out that Li Ming had some background, he pestered him to report the Chang'an County Magistrate, hoping to bring down the official.

What resentment what?
"Li Qianyou has nothing to do with you, right? Why are you so hostile to him? How did he offend you?"

Lai Junchen's eyes dimmed noticeably.

It was the first time that Li Ming saw such an indecent thing so solemn.

"This... is a long story, a long story."

Lai Junchen shook his head and walked away, as if he didn't want to talk more.

Looking at the dejected figure of his younger brother, Li Ming sighed helplessly and shouted to him:
"As long as you think there is suspicion, you can investigate it if you want."

Lai Junchen immediately straightened his back, bowed deeply to Li Ming, and walked away.

(End of this chapter)