Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 287: Peace at home before fighting foreign aggression

The spring sun shines on the Songhua River, reflecting a dazzling light.

Low houses are dotted along the northern border of the former Goguryeo homeland, now the Ming Dynasty.

The layouts of these villages are highly similar, with a huge blacksmith shop at the center and residential houses surrounding it like stars surrounding the moon, connected to the blacksmith shop's hot water boiler with water pipes.

This is the second generation greenhouse that has been transformed through practice. In order to save costs, the outdoor hot water pipes are made of lead, and only the original copper radiator is used at the end entering the house.

The houses are half-buried in the earth and built as low as possible. The windows and doors are very small, and the walls are made of thick mud to keep warm.

The residents here include miners, loggers, hunters, ginseng farmers, etc., and there are quite a lot of them.

In order to make full use of the huge treasures in the hinterland of Northeast China and at the same time alleviate the growing population pressure in the Ming Dynasty, especially in Ping and Ying states, Li Ming mobilized a large number of residents to migrate northward.

Of course, unlike the Qin Emperor and Han Emperor Wu who used swords and guns to force the people to defend the border, our civilized Ming Dynasty adopted a policy of "inducement".

The pioneers worked in production teams to build houses, reclaim land, and mine together. They organized themselves in a unified way and worked together to enhance their ability to resist risks in adverse environments.

As long as you join the frontier expansion team, you will not only receive subsidies in money and food, but also the income earned locally will be completely tax-free within five years, and after five years, the tax will be permanently halved.

In addition, price subsidies can be obtained when selling high-value commodities such as minerals, mink fur, ginseng and antlers to the local market.

There will always be brave men when there is a big reward, and the people of the Ming Dynasty with pioneering spirit signed up enthusiastically.

Then they discovered that in the far northern frontier, the harsh natural environment was not the biggest enemy.

Other humans are.

Wow—the blue sky and the cry of the Saker Falcon are very shrill.

"The barbarians are attacking!"

On the high watchtower, the sentry immediately shouted the alarm.

"withdraw!"

At the command, everyone left the settlement without hesitation and hid in the dense forest.

After a while, there was the sound of horse hooves.

A Shiwei tribe rushed into the abandoned settlement and ran around it.

Not a single living person was seen, not even an old person or a child. They escaped completely.

"Hmm? Hum, are all those Han Chinese born in the Year of the Rabbit?"

The leader Moheduo snorted contemptuously and dismounted from his horse.

He was the accomplice who colluded with Li Tai and stabbed Li Shimin together with Ashina Simo.

But he was much more unlucky than Ashina Simo. Li Shimin did not kill him, but his main force was beaten badly by the Tang army commanded by Li Shiji, seriously damaging their vitality, allowing Xueyantuo to get a great advantage for nothing.

Moheduo led the remaining troops to escape death with great difficulty and fled back to the Daxianbei Mountains to lick his wounds and look for an opportunity to make a comeback.

Then something happened that he couldn't hold back.

One day, the Han people, who only knew how to farm in warm areas, led the Buyeo people, Khitan people, and even the Turks, and suddenly broke into the territory of their fishing and hunting people with a large number of boilers and equipment.

This group of outsiders, who were a mix of ethnic groups but highly assimilated into the Han culture, built a strange village. From then on, they were not afraid of the severe cold. They cut through mountains and built bridges over rivers. They slowly and steadily invaded the mountainous and forested areas where the Shiwei people had lived for generations.

Mo Heduo felt that something terrible was happening.

If this group of outsiders could overcome the cold winter, gain a foothold in the ice and snow, and give full play to their racial talents, they could start logging and farming in the Xianbei Mountains.

Then what does the Shiwei people have to do with it?

Take a shower and go to bed early.

In order to prevent problems from happening, Moheduo quickly contacted the Mohe tribes, explained the benefits and disadvantages to them, and together they launched a frenzied attack on the settlements of these Chinese people.

The effect was outstanding. The Chinese were frightened and abandoned their homes without any resistance.

"It was not enough to annex Goguryeo, but they wanted to continue their invasion northwards.

"The Chinese are so arrogant. They should have been spanked long ago."

Moheduo inspected the results of the battle proudly.

Advancing all the way from the Daxianbei Mountains to the Sulu River, his strategy of using the Mohe people as guns and instigating them to attack China proved to be extremely successful.

Not only did they use the enemy's own strength to drive the locust-like Chinese people out of their ancestral land, but they also consumed a wave of the Mohe people's manpower, leaving them no time to turn their swords inward and attack the Shiwei people.

Moheduo took advantage of the situation and followed the Mohe people to pick up spoils, and picked up a lot of supplies.

“As long as this trend continues, tribal revival is just around the corner.

"As long as the foolish Mohe people and the Chinese people are defeated, I will take the opportunity to accumulate sufficient strength, and then I can kill them all, command the entire forest, and even Liaodong is just around the corner!"

He was happily making his plans while his men were going door to door to collect the spoils.

However, as excited as they were during their search, they were as dejected when they returned.

"What did you say? We didn't find anything?"

Mo Heduo was furious.

Such a big village, but there is not even a grain of rice?
You must be kidding. Those Chinese people fled in such a hurry, how could they have time to pack their luggage and belongings?
"Could it be that you guys embezzled it?"

Mo Hedu's eyes became sharp and he glanced at everyone.

The minions all lowered their eyes in fear, and they didn't look like they would dare to do anything bad behind his back.

Not embezzlement?

It's impossible that those Chinese people carry all their belongings with them wherever they go, right?
Could it be...

Just as the Shiwei people gathered together in a daze, bursts of whistling sounds were heard in the sky.

It was the sound of a long-range heavy crossbow breaking through the air.

Before they could react, crossbow arrows were raining down.

"Enemy attack! It's a trap!"

Mo Hedu then realized that he had fallen into a trap and couldn't help but shout in anger.

But it was too late. His tribe happened to be gathered together, and without any preparation, they took a wave of arrows with their bodies, resulting in heavy casualties.

With shouts of killing, a group of ambushing troops arrived, with a brave young general leading the way, wearing a red turban and looking very heroic.

"It's Xue Rengui!"

Mo Heduo recognized the other person and his scalp suddenly went numb.

Xue Rengui once fought against the 150,000-strong army of Goguryeo in Liaodong, and his great reputation was known to everyone from Liaoshui to Heishui.

This is trouble.

Compared with the regular Red Turban Army, the Shiwei people were just a group of weaklings.

They themselves were well aware of their own strength, so they only dared to hide behind the Mohe people, or harass them in the marginal areas.

In a head-on battle, they are just a bunch of useless players and are no match at all.

"withdraw!"

Mo Heduo hurriedly issued an order to retreat and slipped away.

…………

After a one-sided massacre, the Shiwei people hastily withdrew from the battlefield.

It was already dusk, and Moheduo gathered his men, and after counting they found that most of them were dead.

His face was horribly gloomy.

He didn't understand how he ran into the Red Turban Army.

Shouldn't he be exhausted by the harassment from the Mohe people?
What were the Mohe people doing that allowed the other side to gather a large regular army on the border and have time to arrange an ambush?

Are we going to ignore the Mohe just to beat up the weak, pitiful and helpless Shiwei people?
"Something's wrong."

The more Mo Heduo thought about it, the more strange it seemed, so he turned his horse around.

"Go to the Mohe settlement and see what they are doing!"

…………

Not far from here, there happened to be a tribe of Heishui Mohe.

They fought all the way from Heishui (Heilongjiang) to Suluoshui with great bravery.

"...

"Is this the incomparably brave Black Water Mohe?"

Moheduo arrived at the Mohe settlement, only to find that this group of greedy barbarians suddenly became very peaceful and casual. They were either lying or sitting lazily, chatting around the fire.

"Hey! The Red Turban Army is out in full force! Why don't you go fight them!"

With a loud roar, he announced to his allies the news that the enemy camp was empty.

"Why do we have to fight?" the Mohe man asked lazily, touching his half-bald head.

"This..." This rhetorical question confused Mo Heduo.
"Because the main force of the Red Turban Army is in one place, you can take advantage of the opportunity and sneak in!"

"It's late at night, go take a shower and go to bed. Why are you still going out to fight?" the Mohe man asked lazily.

"..."Mo Hedu felt tired as if he was teaching a baby.

"When the Red Turban Army returns to garrison at dawn, the chance to fight will be lost! Aren't you good at night battles?!"

"Well, it's pitch black, what's there to fight about?"

"Of course it's for looting!"

"Robbery will damage your merits. I have accumulated merits as a pariah in this life. If all of them are wasted and my reincarnation is delayed, wouldn't that be a huge loss?"

"..."

Mo Heduo suddenly realized that the barbarian tribe that he had in mind, which was well-prepared and full of energy, would never exist again.

The group of people in front of him were nothing but zombies in Mohe skin. "You too, why do you have to work so hard? You have committed so many sins of killing, so you must work like a cow or a horse in the next life to pay for it? Why not join our Tiandi Shenjiao, live a poor and happy life, wash away your sins, and be reborn into a good life."

What kind of Heaven and Earth Religion is this? These guys are all crazy... Mo Heduo suddenly felt horrified, and immediately led the remaining troops and fled from the lifeless tribe at the speed of light.

In the next few days, he visited various barbarian tribes in the forest.

There are Mohe, Khitan, Shiwei, etc. There are many ethnic groups with different customs.

But these people all have two things in common.

First, they all stubbornly refused to assimilate into the Han culture and continued to live the life of moving about with the water and grass as their ancestors had done for generations.

The second is that they all accepted a strange belief, also known as "Heaven and Earth God Religion" or "Tengri Religion".

But the contents of these teachings that emerged out of nowhere were highly identical, and they all turned these once enterprising and greedy tribes into lifeless, stagnant living dead.

In this legal system, a small number of nobles could enslave and oppress the lower-class tribesmen at will without worrying about their rebellion.

The lower-class people also calmly accepted the title of "untouchables" and lived in a daze, waiting for death and reincarnation to turn the tables and become masters.

This poisonous thought was like a cold autumn wind, which quickly swept across the entire barbaric land, even crossed the Great Xianbei Mountains, invaded the grasslands and deserts, and the civilizations along the way quickly withered like fallen leaves in autumn.

Under the influence of this trend, countless tribes went from being greedy - in other words, enterprising - to being submissive and lazy.

The lower class of the tribe has no motivation to progress, and without the challenge from the bottom up, the upper class has no motivation to change, and everyone just muddles through, eating and waiting to die.

Moheduo seemed to see a pair of invisible hands slowly strangling the vigorous barbarians.

"Don't you think this is wrong? Why do you believe this crap!"

He couldn't help but ask a familiar tribal leader.

The leader smiled, with a shrewd light in his eyes:

"Why? Because as long as you convert to this teaching, you can pass on your position as Moheduo to your descendants.

“And your subordinates will never challenge this arrangement, they will just foolishly wait for reincarnation in the next life.

"Now why do you not convert?"

Mo Hedu was shocked by this idea:
"So, reincarnation... is there such a thing here?"

"Well, who knows." The old leader shrugged his shoulders:

"Does it matter?"

Hmm... Mo Heduo thought for a while, smiled "I understand", and shook his head slightly:
“I don’t think it’s important either.”

…………

Time flies, and several months have passed in a flash.

It's midsummer again.

"Oh? The settlements have been deployed to the Black Water Basin?"

In Pingzhou Prefecture, Li Ming couldn't help but smile as he read the latest developments.

Fang Xuanling was somewhat dazed:
"This spring, we were still troubled by the invasions from the Mohe tribes in the north.

"I didn't expect that after a few months, my Ming Dynasty has expanded to the Black Water Mohe's lair..."

He has now made the three words "our Ming Dynasty" his catchphrase, treating it as a regime on par with the Tang Dynasty.

Because under the leadership of His Highness Li Ming, the Ming Dynasty has demonstrated extremely terrifying soft and hard power.

The maliciously exported modified Indian religion quickly occupied the barbarian lands, and in just a few months, it solved the barbarian problem that had troubled Chinese civilization for thousands of years.

This created extremely favorable conditions for the expansion of the Ming Dynasty, allowing the Han people and people of all ethnic groups who had been sinicized to take root, grow and develop in these previously unimaginable bitter and cold lands.

It is Fang Xuanling's honor to serve such a powerful dynasty!

"Not bad, not bad. While the temperature is rising, we should continue to expand and consolidate our colonies in cold regions."

Compared to Fang Xuanling who was rarely excited, Li Ming was relatively calm.

He was not surprised at this result.

"It's so easy to destroy a nation without firing a single shot..."

Fang Xuanling still had lingering fears about this immoral method of subjugating the barbarians.

His Highness Li Ming's hands are really black...

"That's how religion works, so we have to be vigilant and not let the monsters we release backfire on us." Li Ming reminded tirelessly.

So-and-so said that religion is a spiritual leaf, and he is right.

What fighting power can a nation with its leaves flying have?

This is also why the Ming Dynasty had a green light all the way, beating the barbarians who were lying on the ground to a pulp and extending its tentacles to the banks of the Black Water.

Everything is reasonable and expected.

"Your Highness." Zhang Sun Wuji, who was standing aside, handed over a document tiredly.

"The Ming Dynasty's administrative structure has been revised based on your suggestions."

While Li Ming and Fang Xuanling were conquering the barbarians, the King's uncle was also not idle. He had been sorting out the official system of the Ming Dynasty, slowly adapting the entire bureaucratic system to a vast empire spanning thousands of miles.

"Very good. As long as we secure the rear, we can plan for the Chinese mainland."

Li Ming is very satisfied with the work of his right-hand man.

Now, the troublesome barbarian problem has been permanently solved, and the administrative structure has been further improved.

He and his new Ming Dynasty have eliminated their worries and can go into battle lightly to conquer the Central Plains!
Now that we are done, what should we do with our little brother Li Zhi?

"Brother Ming!"

Just as he was daydreaming, Changsun Yan, Fang Yize and Yuchi Xunyu came in with serious expressions.

"Huh? What happened?" Li Ming was stunned.

It's rare to have all three friends together, which is quite rare.

Behind the three friends is a strange face.

The person who came should be a man, but he inexplicably had a feminine temperament.

Eunuch in the palace?
From Changan?

"You are..." Li Ming looked at the stranger suspiciously.

"Your Majesty has issued an order. The Fourteenth Prince shall receive it immediately."

The eunuch shook out an imperial edict made of bright yellow silk and sang in a shrill voice.

Ha, ha ha... Li Ming thought Li Zhi was a little humorous.

Did Li Jiulang think that as long as he usurped the throne and became emperor, the whole world would automatically obey his orders?

Doesn’t he know the underlying logic of “power” and “rules”?

"How dare you! The angel is conveying the emperor's will, how can Prince Ming defy him?" the eunuch shouted angrily, but to Li Ming's ears it sounded as cute as the barking of a puppy.

So weak that even resistance seems like acting like a spoiled child.

"hehe."

Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji also found this very humorous and sneered.

"Why did the Taiji Palace send an order only now?"

Changsun Wuji sneered, completely losing the respect he had for the palace in the past.

Fang Xuanling was too lazy to pay attention to the ignorant "Son of Heaven".

Does Chang'an know what kind of opponent they are facing?

He was a politician who solved the eternal problem in a casual manner and essentially cut off the future of the barbarians in all directions. He was capable, skillful, and even more black-hearted!
With the King of Jin's ability, he is not even worthy of polishing shoes.

"you……"

The "angel" could accept being threatened and mocked, but he never expected to be ignored like this.

"Do you know what you are doing? Are you planning a rebellion?"

Li Ming found it even more humorous:
"I'm rebelling? Shouldn't the one who is rebelling be a usurper who abandoned my father?"

"Huh? What do you mean by usurping the throne?" The eunuch was stunned:
"Your Majesty was abdicated by His Majesty the Retired Emperor, so your legitimacy is beyond doubt..."

"Ha! Even the retired emperor is brought up. Is he dreaming of the Xuanwu Gate Incident again? Li Zhi is really unoriginal." Li Ming couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Now it was the eunuch's turn to deliver the imperial edict and sneered:

"I'm afraid this has nothing to do with Prince Jin. Your Highness, you may have some misunderstanding."

Li Ming's laughter stopped abruptly.

"You call him 'Prince of Jin'? Is he really not Li Zhi?"

He looked at Lao Fang and his eldest grandson in confusion, and received the same puzzled looks in return.

The person currently in Chang'an is Li Zhi, and he is the only one who can usurp the throne and call himself "Your Majesty".

Who else could it be but him?
"Ahem. Brother Ming, I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as you think." Fang Yize took over the conversation, his face full of solemnity:

"Just last month, the then Emperor, your father, returned to Chang'an accompanied by the Crown Prince.

"Then His Majesty announced his abdication, proclaimed himself the Supreme Emperor, and passed the throne to the Crown Prince.

"The current emperor was the crown prince at that time, that is -"

He leaned close to Li Ming's ear and lowered his voice, as if he was saying something extremely blasphemous:

"Li Chengqian."

(End of this chapter)