Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 321: Oh my god, the emperor was almost angry to death!

"Is Jiaozhou in chaos again? I knew those barbarian chieftains had bad intentions. It's only been quiet for a few days!"

Li Chengqian started cursing directly.

The messenger's expression became subtle. Without saying anything more, he presented the urgent letter to His Majesty and left quickly.

Li Chengqian was still cursing as he unfolded the urgent letter from the governor of Jiaozhou.

"The southern barbarians are too barbaric and capricious! The chieftain seems to be surnamed Ruan...

"Bah! Do they deserve to be called Ruan? Do they deserve to be called Han? They are just like a toad wanting to eat...

"Eh? Uh..."

As he cursed, Li Chengqian's voice became softer.

Li Zhi had been waiting by the side with his head lowered and his eyes submissive.

Even though his curiosity was about to explode, as long as His Majesty did not give the order, he would never read the secret letters he shouldn't read, and would never ask questions he shouldn't ask.

"Cough cough."

Li Chengqian coughed awkwardly and continued to mutter angrily, but his arrogance was much less:
"The Southern Barbarians are truly despicable. How dare they invade the territory of the Great Tang Dynasty?"

It sounds similar to the previous sentence, but there are subtle changes in the wording.

"Invading my territory" means that the enemy is not inside but outside.

Li Zhi's brain started working quickly, and he tried to ask the safest question:
"Is Li Ming causing trouble again?"

It would definitely be right to put the blame on that guy.

When he heard the name "Li Ming", Li Chengqian's chest heaved violently, and he handed the secret letter to Li Zhi with a dark face.

"Look at it."

Li Zhi immediately took it with both hands respectfully.

With the approval of his royal brother, he dared to take a look at the information that made him curious.

The letter was from the Lingnan Dao Chao Jishi, reporting the latest situation in Jiaozhou.

The Chaojishi was the highest official at the "Dao" level in Lingnan Dao, and was held by a minister of the royal family, so he was still trustworthy.

As for the situation in Jiaozhou, why the chief officer of Lingnan Province had to report it personally? That's a long story.

Because although Jiaozhou was called the "Dudu Fu", the position of Dudu had been vacant for a long time.

Lingnan Road was originally the southernmost road, and Jiaozhou was the southernmost part of Lingnan Road.

Not only is it hot and humid, but there is also deadly miasma, so no one wants to be an official there.

Even salary increase or promotion is not possible.

Specifically, how much do officials not want to go to Jiaozhou?

For example, in the second year of Zhenguan, His Majesty Li Shimin appointed Lu Zushang of the Fanyang Lu family to serve as the governor of Jiaozhou.

Lu Zushang felt that he would never be able to come back once he left, so he would rather die than disobey the order.

As a result, he was really beheaded by Li Shimin, who was still very young and energetic at the time.

For example, in the ninth year of Zhenguan, His Majesty Li Shimin threw the hot potato of Jiaozhou to the royal family minister Li Daoxing, thinking that people from our Li family would always be able to sympathize with me, right?

Then, Li Daoxing felt that he would probably not be able to survive the miasma there, and he was worried every day. However, because of Brother Lu's wealth and talent, he did not dare to refuse.

As a result, he scared himself to death.

From this it is not difficult to see why, even at the peak of the Zhenguan period, China’s control over the South was not strong.

Even though the local natives were all docile sheep, the Tang Dynasty could not even pick out a few people who could herd sheep there.

There were indeed many capable ministers in the Zhenguan period, but not many of them had strong physiques.

Without the irrigation of the advanced productivity and organizational power of the north, there is a reason why that place has been lagging behind for a long time.

"What? Jiaozhou was attacked by armored cavalry? And the invaders came from further south?!"

With this premise, it is not difficult to understand how shocked Li Zhi was when he received the news.

Jiaozhou is already backward enough, and places further south than Jiaozhou...

It is questionable whether such a place is even suitable for human survival, let alone the development of advanced mining, metallurgy and forging industries.

"The south of Jiaozhou... is it Linyi? There isn't even a furnace that can make steel there, so where did they get the armored cavalry?!"

Li Zhi had a weird feeling like a monkey rubbing a nuclear bomb with his hands.

In fact, the envoys from Lingnan Province were no less surprised than he was.

This is reflected between the lines of the letter.

At that time, the imperial envoy was at the Jiaozhou Governor's Office, patrolling and pacifying the local Chinese people on behalf of the vacant Jiaozhou Governor, and cleaning up the mess left by the Nguyen family's rebellion.

If the government does not step in to pacify the situation, the few remaining Chinese people in the area will all flee back to the north, and by then Jiaozhou will really be lost.

The Lingnan Dao Chaoji envoy had the advantage of being close to the water and having a basic immunity to miasma, so it was natural that the difficult task of going on a business trip to Jiaozhou fell on him.

As a result, as soon as the envoys arrived, the natives of Jiaozhou attacked the government seat.

Did the Ruan family rebel again... The initial reaction of the imperial envoy was exactly the same as Li Chengqian's. He personally climbed the city wall to observe the enemy situation.

It turned out that the actual situation seemed to be somewhat different from what I had imagined.

Those barbarians brought their families with them and did not form a line.

It doesn't seem like they are coming to attack, but rather to seek refuge.

The envoy narrowed his eyes and looked carefully.

Then, he saw a scene he would never forget.

Behind the panicked natives, in the unfathomable jungle.

A group of warriors armed to the teeth rushed out.

He had seen armored warriors and tropical jungles.

But the combination of these two things just hit the blind spot of Chao Jishi's thinking.

Oh my god, could it be that those rebels from the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty suddenly had something wrong with their brains and chose to land in Jiaozhou, hoping to push forward from the south to the north?

He thought it was strange and took another look.

Then an even more bizarre phenomenon was discovered.

Those soldiers were holding Tang swords and their armor was also very exquisite, all in Chinese style.

However, the formation was very disorganized and undisciplined.

There are even many people who feel too hot and take off their helmets and armor and throw them everywhere, wasting resources.

It was this removal of clothes that allowed the imperial envoy to see the faces of the soldiers clearly.

They were even darker and smaller than the natives of Jiaozhou, like monkeys, and the armor they wore was several sizes larger, vividly illustrating the meaning of "a monkey in a human costume".

Obviously not Chinese.

"The enemy is the barbarians of Linyi. They picked up a large number of weapons from somewhere and went north to invade Jiaozhou."

Li Chengqian said this expressionlessly, already extremely angry.

Li Zhi opened his mouth, looked at his brother's ugly face, and swallowed the question that was about to come to his mouth.

Is there any need to ask? Who else but Li Ming could have given Lin Yi such a big treasure behind the scenes?

There won’t really be a full set of Tang armor and Tang sword growing in the jungle, right?
"He is really a good dog breeder! He first persuaded Jiaozhou, and if Jiaozhou didn't work, he persuaded Linyi. He can always find a good dog willing to work for him..."

Li Chengqian gritted his teeth, an unhealthy blush appearing on his cheeks.

Old Fourteen's outrageous actions really made him sick with anger.

He now regretted extremely that he had fired the first shot and colluded with Silla, the good dog of the Tang Dynasty.

As a result, there was no disturbance in the rear of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, it inspired Li Ming's younger brother to follow suit and raise dogs crazily in the back garden of the Tang Dynasty.

This dog-raising competition is very unfavorable to the Tang Dynasty.

Because unlike the Tang Dynasty which had weak control over the border, the Ming Dynasty basically dealt with the barbarians from all directions with three tricks: sweet dates, big sticks and love potions (magic religion).

The barbarians outside the country were lying in wait for death under the instigation of religion, while the barbarians inside the country were closely united around His Majesty Li Ming, jointly building feudalism with Ming characteristics.

This resulted in Li Chengqian being unable to find a strategic fulcrum in the rear of the Ming Dynasty to launch a reciprocal counterattack, and he could only passively take the beating.

"Your Majesty, calm down. Why should we bother with that naughty boy? Besides, the natives of Jiaozhou have the intention of rebellion. Why not just let them fend for themselves?"

Li Zhi looked at the emperor's increasingly gloomy face with concern, and quickly advised:
"Take a step back and think about it. No matter how chaotic Jiaozhou is, it is far away from the Central Plains and will not have much actual impact. "The more we pay attention to him, the more excited he will be. But if we ignore him, what can he do to us?"

Li Chengqian's gaze shifted to Li Zhi, scaring the other party so much that he immediately shut up.

"You mean to give up Jiaozhou and allow the barbarians to invade?"

Li Zhi didn't dare to say a word.

"Alas... you are not in the position, so you don't know the worries." Li Chengqian said it all.

Li Zhi's legs went limp and he immediately knelt down:

"I dare not! I would never dare to have any unreasonable thoughts!"

When the emperor says something like "Why don't you sit in my seat?", you'd better be low-key and don't answer stupidly with "Yes, yes."

However, Li Chengqian's original intention was not to test Lao Jiu, he was really talking about the difficulties of governing the country.

"Our Tang Dynasty is the Celestial Empire. How can such a great country lose its dignity?

"What will happen if we swallow our anger and make the barbarians lose their respect for the Celestial Empire?"

"We were attacked by barbarians from all directions..." Li Zhi knelt on the ground, muttering with his head down.

After all, the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China is a recent lesson.

"The Tibetans in the west are eyeing us covetously. If we show weakness, they will definitely reach out to us." Li Chengqian continued:

"Jiaozhou is far away from the core area of China, but what about Tubo? They are only separated from Guanzhong by the Dafei River."

Li Zhi's mouth twitched slightly when he heard this.

My father and my elder brother set out from Dafeichuan, accelerated all the way downhill to Chang'an, and drove him off the regent throne. This lesson happened a few months ago.

"Get up." Li Chengqian taught earnestly:

"When governing a country, we cannot just consider small things, we must consider big things."

Li Zhi was solemn.

"Your Majesty is right. I did not think carefully enough."

In this way, the general policy for sending troops was determined.

"only……"

It is easier said than done to send troops.

Even the officials were so scared that they would rather die than go to Jiaozhou to be the governor. The treatment of the soldiers was far inferior to that of the officials.

Four hundred soldiers went to Jiaozhou for a rotation of garrison duty, but half of them died of malaria in the first year.

If we really need to mobilize troops to pacify the rebellion, one can imagine how much it would cost.

Not to mention that the local natives have upgraded their guns to Ming Dynasty ironware, the quality of which is even better than that used by the Tang Dynasty itself.

The enemy is buffed.

The Tang Dynasty, on the other hand, was covered in debuffs and was facing the Ming Dynasty head-on along the Yellow River, which had almost exhausted its national strength.

Not only did military spending explode, but the front line happened to be right in the main grain-producing area of the Central Plains. The turbulent situation prevented the people from working with peace of mind, seriously dragging down the domestic economy.

Not to mention that the livelihood issues have not been resolved yet, and we have to reduce taxes, maintain military spending, and send troops to the miasma-ridden south...

My scalp tingles just thinking about it.

The hidden mines buried by Li Ming were like a series of firecrackers, exploding one after another in Li Chengqian's brain.

"Cough cough!"

Li Chengqian's blood suddenly surged up and he started coughing violently.

"His Majesty!"

Li Zhi pretended to support him.

Unexpectedly, His Majesty the Emperor really fell limply into his arms.

"Huh?!" No one had expected this development, and Li Zhi was horrified.

Only then did he realize that his eldest brother, who had become emperor, was extremely thin. In the hands of a young boy like him, he was as light as a woman, and his body was full of bones when he touched it.

Li Chengqian couldn't say anything and just kept coughing with blood oozing from the corners of his mouth.

"Imperial Physician! Your Majesty, Your Majesty... someone come quickly to protect you!" Li Zhi spoke without thinking and screamed in panic.

…………

This year's autumn hunting was interrupted because His Majesty the Emperor suddenly coughed up blood.

"Physician, how is the situation?"

Outside the ward in Lizheng Hall, Li Shimin anxiously inquired about the condition of his eldest son.

After putting aside the heavy state affairs and indulging in revelry every night, the retired emperor seemed to be visibly healthier, in stark contrast to his increasingly thin emperor son.

Li Er finally experienced the happiness of his father Li Yuan.

The imperial physician nodded slightly:

"Your Majesty, the Emperor is in good health. He is just too busy with state affairs and is exhausted, which has caused him a minor illness..."

"You're coughing up blood, is it just a minor illness?!" Li Shimin didn't tolerate him at all and started to scold him.

The old doctor knelt down tremblingly and stammered:

"I dare not deceive the emperor! His Majesty's pulse is normal, just weak, which means he is not sick. It should be caused by mental exhaustion..."

Li Shimin waved his hand impatiently:

"Okay, okay, I got it."

The old doctor then stood up as if he had been pardoned and hurried back to the room to continue treating the patient.

Li Shimin's eyes turned slightly red and he turned around angrily.

Led by Crown Prince Li Zhi, all the princes present knelt down in unison.

Old Li stretched out his movable left hand and lifted Li Zhi up.

"Tell me, what happened at that time?"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is probably..." Li Zhi raised his eyes slightly and secretly observed his father's expression.

"I got sick because of Li Ming."

He then recounted what had happened to Li Chengqian when he fell down.

As Li Shimin listened, his expression changed from worry to contempt, and finally he even laughed out of anger.

“Being beaten so badly by my little brother… You guys are useless!
"If it weren't for the purpose of establishing the rule of appointing the eldest son as the heir rather than the most capable one, and ensuring the long-term stability of our dynasty, would this position be yours?"

The retired emperor scolded the emperor and the crown prince in front of all the princes without any mercy, making Li Zhi blush.

After suffering a stroke, Li Er never wasted his energy.

"But the founding emperor of our Ming Dynasty was indeed a wise man. He won by combining the right tactics with the unexpected, and his strategy was steady and ruthless, without any flaws."

After the rant, His Majesty Li II felt much more refreshed and began to analyze the strategy seriously:

"First, use the momentum of the frontal army to press on, so that our country can remain tense at all times and waste our national strength.

“They are also making small moves on the sidelines to increase defense pressure and further weaken our country’s strength.

"After a long time, there will be no need to fight. Our dynasty will collapse on its own, and the Ming Dynasty will win without a fight."

At this point, he even sneered.

"Look, we've only just started, and we've already brought down the emperor."

Li Zhi lowered his head, trying to save face for his brother and himself.

"Your Majesty, I think you have seen through the other party's plot..."

"So what if you saw through it? It just proves that you two are not blind."

Li Shimin interrupted impatiently.

"Can you solve this conspiracy?"

"Yes." Li Zhi replied timidly but decisively.