Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

Everyone had almost finished talking, but Li Tai started to hesitate.

Li Tai stood in front of Li Chengqian, his lips trembling slightly, and he wanted to say something else.

Seeing this, Li Chengqian showed a gentle yet somewhat anxious expression on his face. He quickly raised his hand and waved it in the air to interrupt him.

Li Chengqian knew what Li Tai was going to say at once.

"Okay, there's no need to say those hypocritical words anymore. There's no such thing as debts between us brothers."

Li Chengqian's voice was mellow, carrying the intimacy and unquestionableness that only an elder brother could have.

He paused briefly, then continued, "Brothers united, we can break any obstacle. If we join hands, why should we worry about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty?"

As he spoke, he took a step forward and gently patted Li Tai's shoulder, his eyes revealing deep fatigue. "Don't you want to help your brother lighten his burden and govern the Tang Dynasty together?"

"Your elder brother is really dying of exhaustion."

Li Chengqian gave Li Tai a wry smile, and that smile concealed the hardships of being the emperor and shouldering the heavy responsibility of the world.

When Li Tai heard Li Chengqian's words, the words he had prepared were instantly stuck in his throat, and the rebuttal that was on the tip of his tongue was swallowed back.

He looked at his elder brother's slightly haggard face, and felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

"Brother..." Li Tai started to speak, but before he could finish his words, Li Chengqian saw through his thoughts and said first, "Don't worry, I will take good care of father."

Hearing Li Chengqian's words, Li Tai nodded solemnly, and his originally worried eyes now showed a bit of relief.

"Then I'm relieved, brother!"

Although Li Tai said so much, the person he was most concerned about and couldn't let go of was Li Shimin.

Although Li Chengqian always went to Xianyang to visit Li Shimin from time to time, when it comes to taking care of Li Shimin and doing his best, it has to be Li Tai.

As for Li Zhi, he is lively and cheerful by nature and is not the type to take care of others.

Although Li Shimin always criticized Li Tai, in fact, the person closest to him was his son, whom he nicknamed "Qingque'er".

Back then, Li Tai was fat and had great difficulty in moving, so attending court became a difficult task for him.

Li Shimin loved his son dearly, and instead of letting him suffer through the pain of losing weight, he even ordered someone to carry him to court in a sedan chair. This small incident alone was enough to show how much Li Shimin loved and doted on Li Tai.

But excessive pampering can sometimes backfire.

Spoiling a son is like killing him. Li Shimin's favorite son was ultimately unable to escape the temptation of power and was caught up in the vortex of rebellion.

When it comes to imperial talent, Li Shimin was a man of great talent and strategy. He initiated the Zhenguan era, which attracted people from all over the world to pay tribute to him. No one could match him.

But when it comes to being a father, he has undoubtedly failed in educating and balancing his children.

The preference he gave to Li Tai inadvertently caused discord and fighting between the brothers, and plunged the originally close princes into a brutal power struggle.

As for why Li Chengqian asked Li Tai and Li Zhi to go to Tokyo together to take up their posts, there is a deep meaning behind it.

Li Zhi is young and looks innocent and simple, with a silly look on weekdays, but in fact, he is very thoughtful and has many clever ideas.

Ordinary people could not control him at all, and only his brothers could make him restrain himself.

According to Li Zhi's personality traits, if he was allowed to go to Tokyo alone, with his restless nature, there was a real fear that he would cause unrest in the East. That was why Li Tai was arranged to go with him, hoping that Li Tai's calm character could play a certain role in restraining and guiding Li Zhi.

April of the twelfth year of Qianwu.

The Tang Dynasty ushered in a major administrative division change.

After several days of careful consideration and heated discussions with a group of close ministers in the court, Li Chengqian decided to redivide the various regions of the Tang Dynasty.

In addition to using the twenty-three provinces of the previous life as the names of the Dao (including the Taiwan land that is connected to the mainland by blood. In Li Chengqian's heart, Taiwan will always be an inseparable part of the Tang Dynasty), the Tang Dynasty also made detailed plans for the newly incorporated lands.

Goguryeo, which had fought against the Tang Dynasty many times, had its land divided into three provinces: Gonan Province, Central Province, and Gobuk Province.

The establishment of these three provinces aimed to strengthen the management and rule of the former Goguryeo territory and promote the integration of the local area with other regions of the Tang Dynasty.

As for the Japanese country across the sea, the Tang Dynasty established Chaoyang Road.

In the vast Mobei region, the Tang Dynasty also established two roads, the Inner Mo Road and the Outer Mo Road.

The Mobei grasslands have always been the world of nomadic peoples. Now that the influence of the Tang Dynasty has extended here, the establishment of these two roads is of vital importance for stabilizing the border and promoting ethnic exchanges and trade.

Looking at the Annan region, it is divided into five provinces, namely Andong Province, Anxi Province, Annan Province, Anbei Province and Anzhong Province.

The Annan region has complex terrain and numerous ethnic groups. The division into five regions can enable more effective administrative management and ensure the peaceful life of local people. It also opens up new space for the economic development of the Tang Dynasty.

From then on, the Tang Dynasty became a vast empire with thirty-six regions, and its territory was unprecedentedly vast.

(Neimo Dao is Inner Mongolia, but with the addition of Outer Mongolia, so there are thirty-six Daos!)

Looking around, from the prosperous heartland of the Central Plains to the distant frontier, all are the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, this was the territory Li Chengqian achieved when he intentionally postponed expansion.

With the current national strength and military power of the Tang Dynasty, if it is determined to expand, the Arab region far to the west may be incorporated into the sphere of influence of the Tang Dynasty and made to believe in Tang culture.

But since ancient times, expansion has been easy but governance has been difficult.

At present, population is still the most important problem facing the Tang Dynasty.

Judging from the current population base and distribution, it is far from enough to completely absorb the land of the Middle East.

Li Chengqian could only place his hopes on Li Jingyou and his group.

In the past ten years, the Tang Dynasty has experienced a peak period of population growth, with the total number of newborns reaching tens of millions.

When these children grow up and become the backbone of the Tang Dynasty, the strength of the Tang Dynasty will surely be further enhanced.

By the third generation, the population will be even larger.

By then, no matter which land the Tang Dynasty wanted to open up, it would have enough manpower and material resources to thoroughly digest and absorb it, and truly integrate the new territory into the blood of the Tang Dynasty.

Now, although the Tang Dynasty seems to have a vast territory, it actually hides hidden worries.

Because the area is too vast, without advanced communication means, it is difficult for the court's decrees to be accurately conveyed to every corner, and the court's administrative reach cannot reach that far.

This also gave Li Chengqian a huge headache, and this was when the Tang Dynasty's treasury was full.

If the Tang Dynasty was in a difficult situation where its treasury was short of revenue, acquiring these new territories would not only fail to bring wealth to the country, but would instead become a heavy burden that would have to be paid year after year, and not a single cent of tax would be collected.

In that case, even Li Chengqian would have to reluctantly give up those useless territories that were temporarily difficult to govern effectively.

Fortunately, Li Chengqian came from later generations and had seen a thousand years of history longer than people of this era.

These newly incorporated lands may seem barren and desolate, but they actually contain endless treasures.

As long as the resources are developed rationally, with the wisdom and strength of the Tang Dynasty, if we are lucky, we may be able to recover the cost of managing these lands in a year, and even bring in rich returns.

Therefore, even in the face of many difficulties, Li Chengqian was determined to hold on to these territories and lay a more solid foundation for the future of the Tang Dynasty.