Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

You know, even his father had never criticized him so loudly since he was a child, but Kong Yingda dared to yell at him.

It's like a beggar going to the toilet, looking for death!

Li Tai took out all his anger on Kong Yingda.

Kong Yingda was pointed at in the nose and scolded by Li Tai, and his face turned as black as ink.

"Huh~"

His chest rose and fell violently, and his breathing became heavier and heavier, as if he was about to pass out from anger at any moment.

Kong Yingda's opinion of Li Tai underwent a huge change.

The usual courtesy, humility and eagerness to learn are all pretended!

What a mean person!

Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a bit of a bastard, he would not talk back to them when he was scolded by them.

At this moment, he missed the days when he taught the prince in the East Palace.

long silence.

"Hey~"

Kong Yingda let out a long sigh.

He is a man who always sees things through to the end. Since Your Majesty has sent him to teach the King of Wei, he will certainly do his best.

Now the King of Wei’s thoughts are wrong, and he can only guide the King of Wei slowly in the subsequent teaching.

Thinking of this, Kong Yingda frowned and bowed to Li Tai to admit his mistake: "Your Highness, Prince of Wei, I was wrong and shouldn't have made unwarranted guesses."

"Humph!"

Li Tai turned his head and snorted heavily.

He originally wanted to continue scolding Kong Yingda, but after thinking of his identity, he suppressed his anger.

Li Tai said with a straight face: "Master Kong, from now on you just need to teach me knowledge, and you should not interfere in other matters."

"Also, keep your mouth shut about what happened today and don't tell Father about it."

"Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

In front of his father, he was a good boy who was respectful to others, quick-witted and studious. If Kong Yingda spoke ill of him, wouldn't it affect his image in his father's heart?

This kind of thing can't happen to him.

Kong Yingda was so angry that his beard stood up. He gloomily cupped his hands and said, "I know."

Li Tai turned around and ordered him to leave: "Master Kong, I am tired. Let's stop learning here today."

"Old minister, please retire."

Kong Yingda bowed with a dark face and walked out of the Wude Hall without saying a word.

His body formed a habit and involuntarily walked towards the Tai Chi Hall, but halfway through the journey, he stopped.

Because the King of Wei is not the Crown Prince!

If he finds faults in the King of Wei, it will only make His Majesty unhappy.

Moreover, as the teacher of the King of Wei, it was his fault that he did not teach the King of Wei well. It is okay to tell tales on the Crown Prince, but not on the King of Wei.

"Hey!"

Kong Yingda glanced at the Wude Hall, then at the East Palace next to it, and let out a long sigh.

Then he walked out of the palace with a lonely look on his face.

The initial enthusiasm was no longer on his face.

He has been doing well for decades, but this year his luck seems to be particularly bad.

First he suffered a great loss at the hands of Du He, and now he suffered a setback at the hands of Li Tai.

It seems that I have to go back to my hometown in Qufu to pay homage to my ancestors.

...

Five days later.

The recruitment list of Hedong Road was sent to Li Chengqian.

Inside the East Palace Hall.

Du He held the name list in his hands, his hands slightly excited.

Turning to the first page, there is a summary of recruiting data.

Du He looked at the total number of new recruits recorded above and asked in confusion: "Your Highness, why are there only 2855 recruits in Hedong Road? There is still a gap of nearly 4000 people from the full 1000!"

Hedong Road is a densely populated area in the Tang Dynasty. Could it be that it couldn't even recruit 4000 people?

Seeing the confusion on Du He's face, Li Chengqian explained with a smile.

"Hedong Road is the core area for recruiting soldiers. Many civilians have been conscripted into the army in recent years."

"And in order not to delay farming, the emperor set a requirement for recruiting soldiers: families with only one able-bodied man were exempted from corvée."

After decades of fighting, all major forces were recruiting soldiers in Hedong Road and had long since run out of troops.

If the expedition to Goguryeo had not been carried out under the banner of recovering the homeland of Han and Jin, it would have been even more difficult to recruit soldiers.

Li Chengqian continued, "Zhang Shigui wrote to say that the recruitment of soldiers in Henan and Hebei provinces was very effective. We will mobilize another 1000 soldiers from Henan when the time comes."

"I see."

Du He nodded.

He began to look through the list, looking for the name of the white-robed general that he had been dreaming about.

Zhang Shigui’s recruitment information was very detailed, not only recording the soldiers’ names, ages and birthplaces, but also their heights.

At a glance, most of these recruits are just over five feet four inches tall, about 1.65 meters, not too tall.

In the Tang Dynasty, one foot was about 30.7 centimeters and one inch was about 2.95 centimeters.

"Hey, I didn't expect the height difference between these new recruits and the palace guards is so big."

Du He complained in his heart.

The palace guards and the prince's personal guards were all over five feet seven inches tall, and each of them was strong and powerful.

Not to mention the group of black-armored soldiers I saw in the printing workshop a few days ago, not a single one of them was shorter than six feet.

It makes sense when you consider that these recruits are a group of poor people.

They don't have enough to eat on normal days, and they can only have a few bites of meat during festivals. How can they be that tall?

After flipping through most of the roster, Du He still didn't see Xue Rengui's name, and he became a little nervous.

"Did Xue Rengui not join the army?"

This time Du He flipped the pages even more slowly. He pointed at the names one by one and looked at them carefully.

After turning a few more pages, Du He's pupils suddenly dilated.

Xue Li, courtesy name Rengui, was 29 years old. He was from Xiu Village, Longmen County, Jiang Prefecture, Hedong Province. He was six feet and five inches tall.

What the hell!

White robe defeated Xue Rengui!

Du He slapped the table excitedly and said excitedly: "Great, the White Robe God of War finally found you!"

"Who?"

Li Chengqian came over curiously.

"Xue Li, six feet five inches tall? He's actually an inch taller than Xi Junmai!"

After Li Chengqian murmured softly, he glanced at the heights of the other recruits.

Looking at the group of people who were just over 5 feet 4 inches tall, he suddenly realized.

This man named Xue Li stands out from the crowd, so it is natural that Du He would be attracted by his appearance.

This man is tall and is at the prime of his life, so his strength is definitely not less than that of the others.

Du He excitedly said to Li Chengqian: "Your Highness, please bring Xue Rengui and his family from Longmen County to Chang'an and let him train in Chang'an."

"He's just a new recruit, you shouldn't take him so seriously, right?"

"Of course. I think Xue Rengui has the potential to be a great general!"

"Uh..."

"Okay, I'll draft a letter now."

Although he was somewhat puzzled by Du He's behavior, he still nodded and agreed to this small request.

Li Chengqian did what he said and directly took out the pen and wrote a handwritten letter.

"Someone is coming."

Outside the main hall, the personal guard who was responsible for running errands for Li Chengqian ran in, clasped his fists respectfully and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian handed him the letter and said, "Give it to the general in charge of recruiting soldiers in Hedong Road and ask him to send Xue Rengui and his family to Chang'an."

"Follow the order."

The personal guard took the imperial edict and ran out quickly.

Seeing how decisive he was, Du He flattered him and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is wise and decisive. I admire you."

Flattery never wears out, and Li Chengqian was very happy with the small compliment.