My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 222 Li Tai: I Want to Run Away
September 15th, the 17th year of Zhenguan.

The naval army led by Zhang Liang and Li Tai successfully occupied Beisha City.

Li Tai showed no joy at all about this, not even the slightest bit of happiness.

Instead, he looked worried and gloomy.

Inside the city.

While Zhang Liang was rewarding the three armies, Li Tai summoned Fang Yiai, Chai Lingwu, and Cui Shengyu for discussion.

Inside the house, the atmosphere was somewhat solemn.

There was a slight tremor in Li Tai's voice.

"I underestimated the prince after all. How could he hide it so deeply?"

"What a great Thunderbolt, I should have thought of that at the beginning."

"It is said that there are two Taoist priests in the East Palace, one of whom can condense water into ice, and the other can use the Five Thunder Secret Technique."

"Since the prince can control the ice technique, how can he not know the Five Thunder Secret Technique?"

"Now this Five Thunder Secret Technique is used by him to attack the city, and it is so powerful."

"Do you have any good strategies to deal with this?"

Li Tai was scared.

It was originally thought that he would achieve a great victory in this eastern expedition and defeat the crown prince.

But this is just the beginning.

The prince captured Liaodong City in half a day and stole all the limelight.

Now they are madly conquering cities and Goryeo has no ability to resist at all.

After one round of thunderbolt, most of them surrendered.

I'm afraid that before the New Year this year, the entire Goryeo region will be conquered by the prince.

These achievements are nothing, they are what Li Tai is most worried about.

By that time, will he still be able to return to Chang'an?

Will the prince let him return to Chang'an?

Hou Junji is also the prince's man.

"King Wei, why don't we run."

Seeing that no one spoke for a long time, Fang Yiai expressed his thoughts.

Normally, as soon as Fang Yiai said this, Chai Lingwu would be the first to stand up and oppose it.

But this time, Chai Lingwu's throat moved slightly, and he wanted to speak, but he swallowed the words back.

He was also afraid.

We are not in Chang'an now. I heard that the prince has taken over all the troops in Liaodong City and has 100,000 elite soldiers in his command. Now he is unstoppable. In just ten days, he has captured more than ten cities in Goryeo.

For example, the powerful Su Dingfang even achieved the feat of conquering three cities in one day.

In fact, these cities offered almost no resistance to the Tang army.

Even if there were some who wanted to defend the city, once the thunder fire exploded, the soldiers would be so scared that they would drop their weapons, and there would be no point in fighting.

Under such circumstances, the troops under the prince's command are expanding rapidly, and once they spread to the King of Wei.

How can the King of Wei resist the Crown Prince?
From this perspective, it would be better to just run away as Fang Yiai said.

Although it will have a slight impact on my reputation, at least I can save my life.

No one would think that the prince would not take action against the King of Wei.

The assassins were sent out at that time.

Not to mention now.

"I think there's no need to worry too much."

"On the contrary, judging from the current situation, the Crown Prince will not take action against the King of Wei."

Cui Shengyu expressed his thoughts.

Li Tai did not answer. He felt it would be embarrassing to ask directly, so he glanced at Chai Lingwu.

Chai Lingwu understood what he meant and asked, "Why did Master Cui say that? Everyone knows that the Crown Prince hates the King of Wei."

"If the prince's troops come and occupy Goryeo, how can they not attack the King of Wei with such a good opportunity?"

Cui Shengyu was silent for a moment, and then said, "Because the prince no longer takes the King of Wei seriously."

"If the Crown Prince attacks the King of Wei, it will only affect his reputation and will not have any meaning."

"The one who is most afraid of the Crown Prince right now is His Majesty."

"The Crown Prince secretly refined the Thunderbolt Fire, a siege weapon. We have lived in Chang'an for a long time, but have never heard any news. This shows how strictly the Crown Prince concealed it."

"Your Majesty probably doesn't know either. If he knew, he wouldn't have told the Crown Prince to just launch a feint attack, nor would he have mobilized the troops and started a war."

Having said this, Cui Shengyu stopped talking.

This is a more euphemistic way of putting it. To put it simply, the King of Wei is no longer qualified to be the Crown Prince's rival.

The difference in levels is too great, so there is no possibility that the Prince of Wei could seize the throne, or pose a threat to the Crown Prince.

If the Crown Prince takes action against the King of Wei, it will only dirty his hands.

Li Tai felt a little aggrieved. These words were like throwing his face to the ground and trampling on it.

But we have to admit that this has become a reality.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Tai said indignantly: "The Crown Prince concealed such military information and spent so much money. Father will definitely not let him off easily."

"I will report this to the king to accuse him of his crime."

Chai Lingwu was stunned for a moment, and quickly said: "King Wei, you must not act like this. We are now in Goryeo. If we anger the crown prince, I am afraid that disaster will come."

If you want to die, don't take us with you.

Chai Lingwu was also completely speechless.

Cui Shengyu has said it so clearly, the prince now wants to play chess with Your Majesty.

Why are you, King Wei, going in to cause trouble?

If the prince is unhappy and has no intention of taking action, he might use you as a sacrifice after doing this.

Your Majesty also killed his brothers in the past.

Do you really want the Crown Prince to repeat the same path that Your Majesty took?

Li Tai said in disbelief: "Does the prince dare to go against father?"

"My father is the Khan of Heaven and the Supreme General of Heavenly Strategy."

"How dare the prince?"

Cui Shengyu said calmly about this matter: "The prince now has 100,000 elite troops, and has recently captured a large number of cities with almost no losses."

"If they can capture Liaodong City in half a day, how many days can the King of Goryeo hold off the Crown Prince's army?"

"The prince has been recruiting Korean warriors, which shows his ambition. Hou Junji is still the prince's man."

"After conquering the capital of Goryeo, the number of troops under the Crown Prince's command will surely exceed 300,000."

"And with Thunderbolt attacking the city, what city can stop it?"

"If the prince leads his army to attack Chang'an, I wonder how many days they can hold out given the high and thick walls of Chang'an."

"It should be longer than Liaodong City, two days? Three days? Or five days?"

There was a hint of regret and relief in Cui Shengyu's words.

The Five Surnames and Seven Families have been supporting King Wei so hard over the years, hoping to seize the throne.

Until the Eastern Expedition to Goryeo, everyone could see hope.

Especially with Fang Xuanling's joining, many people feel there is great hope.

Everyone also hoped that this Eastern Expedition would make the King of Wei more famous. After all, they had the most elite soldiers and armaments, as well as so many warships.

Although the prince has 5,000 cavalry, what use is this for siege?

But now, the situation has suddenly changed. The prince is now at the peak of his power and is unstoppable.

Goryeo will become a stepping stone for the crown prince.

The only thing to be thankful for was that Cui Shengyu had already foreseen this and had secretly defected to the prince.

Maybe other aristocratic families would not be affected, but the fact that he was able to ascend to the throne was enough.

Li Tai was silent at this moment.

He suddenly realized that even his father might not be able to subdue the prince.

If the prince rebels.

Who else in this world can bring peace to this world?

Thinking of this, Li Tai felt a little desperate.

At this moment, he really wanted to accept Fang Yiai's advice and go back to Chang'an directly.

There is no place for him to stand in Goryeo anymore. At this time, someone suddenly came to report.

"what's up."

Li Tai said in a bad tone.

The visitor said quickly, "The Crown Prince has issued an order to recruit 3,000 officials. All students and tribute students can be directly admitted as officials."
-
Li Chengqian has been conquering Liaodong City since then.

He has been taking charge of the management of Liaodong City.

You must know that managing a city is a very troublesome thing. It is different from fighting a war and involves all aspects.

In the eyes of many native Goryeo nobles and landlords, even if Liaodong City was occupied by the Tang army, they could only rely on them to govern the people.

This was how the Tang Dynasty governed many places.

After all, the Central Plains dynasty has always been known as a benevolent and righteous army and rarely carries out large-scale massacres.

Moreover, the Tang Dynasty court is far away, and when this storm has passed, Goryeo will still be their Goryeo.

It's just a change of king, what does it matter?

Unexpectedly, Li Chengqian directly cut off the source of the problem.

Students refer to those who graduate from government-run schools.

Such as students from the six major higher education institutions: Guozixue, Taixue, Simenxue, Luxue, Shuxue, and Suanxue.

Their fathers usually had to be high-ranking officials in the court.

There were also students in local official schools. The local official schools had lower requirements for the background of admissions. After passing the school's graduation examination and obtaining student status, they could then participate in the provincial examinations prepared by the imperial court.

Xianggong refers to people who have learned through self-study or private schools. They must first participate in the "Fajie Test" organized by the county and state levels.

The county-level examination was presided over by the county lieutenant, and those who passed the examination would be issued a certificate by the county, qualifying them to take the state-level examination.

The state-level examination was presided over by the Sigong Canjun and was usually held in August or September, which was called the "Autumn Examination". After passing the examination, the state would issue a "Jie Zhang" to qualified candidates, obtaining the status of "Xiang Gong" and thus being eligible to participate in the provincial examination.

In fact, even if one obtains the status of a provincial tribute, one still needs to be recommended by the state government before taking the provincial examination.

In order to better manage Goryeo, Li Chengqian directly broke the threshold for becoming an official through the imperial examination.

The Crown Prince issued an edict in Liaodong City.

Students and local tribute students can directly become officials.

If a scholar did not achieve such fame, he could still be appointed as an official as long as he passed the examination.

After occupying Liaodong City, Li Chengqian sent out the news.

Now a large number of literati have begun to gather towards Liaodong City.

For scholars, the temptation to directly follow the prince's path and embark on an official career in Goryeo was enormous.

You have to know that the imperial examination is already very difficult nowadays, and the aristocratic families also control the investment banking files, which strangles the necks of the students from poor families.

This makes it difficult to become an official even if one has some talent and knowledge.

Now that we have such an opportunity, who wouldn’t seize it immediately?

Once the news spread, the students who heard about it no longer had time to prepare for the imperial examination, as this was a shortcut to success.

Who says that after becoming an official in Goryeo, you can’t go to Chang’an?

As long as you do a good job, you will still get promoted.

According to the prince's current behavior, there will be no Goryeo in the future. The entire Goryeo will inevitably be integrated into the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

By then, you will be an official of the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, on the other hand, there would be many troubles if we directly let people from the Tang Dynasty serve as local officials in Goryeo.

The language difference is one of them.

But what does this have to do with Li Chengqian?

If they don’t speak the language, officials will find translators themselves.

Anyway, it’s enough as long as the officials are Han Chinese.

We will educate them slowly later.

As for whether he could do a good job as an official, Li Chengqian felt that there was no problem.

In today's era, low-level officials don't actually need too much talent to manage the people.

If you are still unclear, just follow the law.

This is equivalent to replacing all the officials in Goryeo from top to bottom.

But this alone is not enough.

Because the most fundamental land issue of class contradictions has not been resolved.

However, this is not a big problem for Li Chengqian.

Immediately afterwards, a trial was held in Liaodong City.

All the native Goryeo nobles, landlords, and even wealthy families.

Anyone who had some money or land was arrested and brought to trial.

It was not Li Chengqian who judged them, but the people of Goryeo who judged them.

Li Chengqian was very familiar with this move.

At the beginning, the Goryeo people were a little scared.

So Li Chengqian arranged some people in there and started to stir up things.

Nowadays, among the nobles, landlords, and wealthy families, everyone has some dirty deeds.

Isn't it the most normal thing to bully the people?

Officials protecting each other and relatives covering up for each other is not just a catchphrase.

In this situation, Goryeo was even more corrupt than the Tang Dynasty.

The nobles and landlords seldom treated the common people as human beings.

If one person stands up, there will be a second, a third
Now with the support of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, all the past grievances have been brought to light.

There will be no mistakes or omissions.

then.

Batches of Korean nobles and landlords were overthrown.

According to Tang law, all their money and land were confiscated.

Then Li Chengqian distributed these lands to the people of Goryeo.

Oh no.

Now they should be called the people of the Tang Dynasty.

Who would not be grateful to the Crown Prince of Tang when the Goryeo people, who were already struggling to make ends meet, were so grateful to the Crown Prince of Tang?

Sometimes, people’s will is really simple.

The entire Liaodong city was filled with cheers for the prince.

Li Chengqian suddenly remembered a joke from his previous life.

Aliens rule the earth and enslave humans.

From now on, you will have to work a full eight hours a day, and only three meals and snacks will be provided a day.

And they only have milk to drink in the morning, and the lunch break is only one hour.

The people of Goryeo are now facing this kind of situation.

Trials were constantly held and large amounts of money were confiscated.

The amount of confiscated money was actually more than the treasury of Liaodong City.

Li Chengqian was not surprised by this.

This is a very normal phenomenon.

The people of Goryeo cheered and believed that they had met a truly wise ruler.

Taking Liaodong City as the starting point.

In the past, whenever a city was captured, officials were removed and a trial was held, which soon became a template.

Cartloads of gold, silver, copper coins, and grain were constantly being collected.

Li Chengqian was so delighted that he directly exempted the Goryeo region from taxes for one year.

This wave of income is really huge.

If we really collect it in the form of taxes, even in ten or twenty years, we may not be able to collect that much.

No matter what era or region.

It is always that small group of people who control the vast majority of wealth.

What benefits can poor people get?

(End of this chapter)