This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

The so-called "replacing native chieftains with appointed officials" meant abolishing the hereditary native chieftains of Lingnan Circuit and replacing them with appointed officials directly dispatched by the imperial court, who had fixed terms and could be transferred.

Simply put, it means changing from "indirect rule" to "direct rule".

Today, the Tang Dynasty has established a tributary state in Lingnan Circuit. To put it bluntly, Lingnan Circuit is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, but in reality, it is governed by local powerful chieftains with hereditary official positions.

Li Shimin was well aware that the current system in Lingnan Province was prone to rebellion, and once a rebellion broke out, the court would have to send troops to suppress it. This is why, upon learning of Feng Ang's rebellion, his first reaction was to send troops to suppress and quell the rebellion.

However, after the morning court session, upon returning to the Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin calmly analyzed the situation and discovered that suppressing the rebellion would not completely solve the problem, but would instead cause new problems.

That is, after suppressing Feng Ang, who will govern Lingnan Circuit?

Sending officials from the imperial court to govern? It wasn't unheard of before, but the results were very poor.

The reason for this is that there are too many powerful chieftains in Lingnan Province, and the people of Lingnan Province recognize these chieftains but not the imperial court.

This resulted in the officials sent to Lingnan having far less influence than the local chieftains.

Paying lip service while secretly disobeying is just a basic tactic.

Just now, Li Shimin was in the Ganlu Hall, having a headache over this matter, but after seeing Cheng Jun's memorial, he suddenly felt enlightened.

Although the method of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials may sound outdated, it is a different story since the person who proposed it was Cheng Jun.

Li Shimin looked up at Cheng Jun and asked:

"Minister Cheng, since you have written this memorial, can I assume that if I send you to Lingnan Circuit, you will be able to implement the 'replacing of native chieftains with centrally appointed officials' policy?"

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "If Your Majesty thinks that the method of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials is feasible in Lingnan Province, I think it would be better to entrust it to someone else rather than to me."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin was greatly pleased and nodded with a smile, saying:

"Before seeing your memorial, I never thought that the policy of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials could be implemented in Lingnan Province. After reading your memorial, I am indeed moved."

As he spoke, he sighed, looked towards the direction outside the Ganlu Hall, and said:

"After the incident of accusing Feng Ang, I felt that if the Lingnan Circuit was not handled properly, it could very well become a major threat to our Great Tang in the future."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jun glanced at Li Shimin a few more times. As expected of the Second Princess, her insight was truly extraordinary.

As a time traveler, Cheng Jun knew very well that Lingnan Road would indeed cause the Chang'an court a lot of headaches in the future.

After the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty frequently conscripted troops from Lingnan to the north in order to quell the rebellion. In the Battle of Ye County, the Lingnan army was completely wiped out, resulting in a depletion of military strength in Lingnan.

The powerful clans of the Lingnan region seized the opportunity to unite with tribes in Luzhou, Wuyang and other places, and gathered 200,000 people to rebel. They called themselves the King of Zhongyue and the King of Guinan, and successively occupied eighteen prefectures including Guiguan, burning down the prefectures and counties for four years.

In other words, once the troops stationed in Lingnan are left sparsely populated, powerful chieftains in Lingnan will inevitably harbor treacherous intentions and plot rebellion.

This is not a problem with people, but a problem with the system!

This is because the Lingnan region was governed by local powerful chieftains, rather than being directly controlled by officials sent by the imperial court.

Li Shimin was also aware of this, but he didn't have a good solution before.

If Cheng Jun's proposed method of replacing local chieftains with centrally appointed officials can be successfully implemented, it will fundamentally and completely resolve the future threat of rebellion in Lingnan.

Li Shimin lowered his head, stroked his beard, and said thoughtfully:

“Minister Cheng, if you want to implement the policy of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials in Lingnan Province, the most important thing is that Lingnan Province is stable, that is, Feng Ang does not rebel.”

"Only in this way can you put it into practice. If Feng Ang really rebels, we can only send troops to quell the rebellion, and your method cannot be implemented in a short time."

As he spoke, he sighed, "I now hope that Feng Ang will indeed not rebel, just as you predicted."

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "I still think that it is impossible for Feng Ang to rebel. Your Majesty has already sent people out to investigate, and we will know the results in ten days."

Li Shimin pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Ten days is too long. Here's what you'll do, Minister Cheng, you should select the right people today and then set off for Lingnan Road."

"If Feng Ang does not rebel, all will be well, and you will have ten more days to travel. If he does rebel, you can turn back halfway."

Cheng Jun nodded. "Your subject understands."

Li Shimin then asked, "What kind of manpower do you need?"

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "I need Yuchi Baolin, Li Dejiang, Qin Huaidao..."

Li Shimin asked, "Do you want all the sons of military generals?"

Cheng Jun nodded. "Yes, I want them all."

This trip to Lingnan involves the abolition of the native chieftain system and the replacement of the native chieftain system with centrally appointed officials, which is bound to cause great upheaval. Bringing the sons of these military generals is the safest option. At the same time, Cheng Jun added, "In addition to them, I also need the assistance of 107 talented individuals from the wards, including Du Jingjian and Zhang Wenguan, who participated in the selection of censors last year."

Li Shimin nodded slightly, understanding his intention. Since it was a policy of replacing native chieftains with appointed officials, the key was the word "appointed," meaning that people sent by the imperial court would govern Lingnan. Therefore, these talented individuals from the local communities were indispensable, and they were the most suitable to go.

"Accurate."

After Li Shimin finished speaking, he thought for a moment and then said, "Minister Cheng, when you go to Lingnan this time, take the Crown Prince with you as well."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jun was taken aback. "Bring the Crown Prince along?"

Wen Yanbo frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the Lingnan Road is dangerous. Is it not advisable for His Highness the Crown Prince to go there?"

Li Shimin looked at him and said, "No matter how dangerous the Lingnan Road is, can it be more dangerous than the Tuyuhun?"

"Chengqian has been to Tuyuhun, so why should he be afraid to go to Lingnan Road again?"

Li Shimin slowly said, "It would also be beneficial for the Crown Prince to go. Firstly, it would appease Feng Ang, and secondly, it would allow him to oversee Lingnan on my behalf, so that Cheng Jun could carry out his work without any worries."

There was a third point, which Li Shimin did not explicitly state, but Wen Yanbo and Cheng Jun both understood that if this matter were accomplished, the Crown Prince's prestige would rise significantly, playing a crucial role in his future ascension to the throne and governance of the empire.

Wen Yanbo cupped his hands and said, "Your subject understands."

Then, Wen Yanbo added, "Your Majesty, I think that Cheng Jun is also a censor of our Censorate. This trip to Lingnan can also be done under the guise of inspecting the local area."

Li Shimin nodded slightly, "Very well."

After saying that, he looked at Cheng Jun and asked, "Minister Cheng, what other preparations do you need to make?"

Cheng Jun looked at the official document on the dragon's desk, pointed at it and said, "Your Majesty, I need the document accusing Feng Ang of rebellion."

Li Shimin immediately handed him the official document, saying, "Here you go."

"What else do you want?"

Cheng Jun looked at Li Shimin and said earnestly, "I also need money and grain."