Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

"Are you going back already? Won't you spend more time with your mother?"

"It's only been a short time since the Lantern Festival, why are you in such a hurry to go back to your territory?"

Ganlu Temple.

Li Shimin spoke as if he was reluctant to part with the weapon, but in his hands he frantically wielded the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow, throwing out one attack after another, only to have them all neutralized by the dodge and impeccable strikes in the hands of his own crown prince.

All he could do was stare intently at the brocade box in front of Li Chengqian.

The sound from his nasal cavity was like that of an old ox panting.

Li Chengqian remained expressionless, reached into the deck, and drew two cards, attaching two equipment cards to himself.

"There are too many important matters over there right now. Your son is in Chang'an, and there's not much I can do, is there? I've already read through all the memorials in the Imperial Study, Father. We should just proceed step by step, following the model of Bingzhou."

"Your subject can be chaotic, but Your Majesty should prioritize stability on your side."

"That way, even if we cause a major disaster in Bingzhou or abroad, Father Emperor will be there to clean up the mess..."

Li Shimin curled his lip in disdain and reached out to draw a card from the deck.

"Me, clean up your mess? Ridiculous! You, the Crown Prince, actually need me to clean up your mess now? I thought I was about to join your imperial grandfather..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li You hurriedly reached out his hand.

He pressed his hand down.

"Father, it's my turn. My turn hasn't even ended yet, why are you drawing cards again?"

"Wait a minute, Father, how many cards do you have in your hand right now?"

Li You's eyes widened, as if he had discovered something.

Just as he was about to get closer to count the number of cards in Li Shimin's hand, the other party suddenly glared at him and immediately closed up the cards that had been spread out in a fan shape.

"Take your card!"

Li You looked at his elder brother, seemingly wanting him to uphold justice.

Li Chengqian silently put away the cards he had laid out in his hand.

Pretend you didn't see it.

“Father is joking. I am the Crown Prince. Your position will be mine sooner or later. And now you have given me such great power... Even you, Father, did not have this much power back then.”

Seeing that his crown prince was finally speaking in a more agreeable way today, Li Shimin couldn't help but let out a haughty snort.

"What I can give you, I can also take back! If you do anything in Bingzhou that threatens the foundation of the nation, I will absolutely not let you off easily!"

Li Chengqian smiled and nodded. The Eastern Palace, as well as Xiao Rui and the others who had followed him back from Bingzhou Road, were now preparing to set off.

Today is also his last day in Chang'an.

"Hahahaha! Look what I drew! The Southern Barbarians have invaded!" Li Shimin suddenly burst into laughter, and threw the card he had just drawn onto the table.

Then, in the next second, a hand quickly picked up the card he had dropped and inserted it under the deck.

Li You looked displeased.

He reached out and pointed at a set of cards in front of Li Shimin.

"Father, you're so engrossed in your pleasure that you've forgotten everything else! You can't touch the cards!"

Li Shimin: "......"

He stared at his son with a sinister look in his eyes, seemingly certain that he couldn't do anything about him.

"Hehe, Chengqian, are you really going to take Li You and Li Yin to Bingzhou? I think Li You seems to be a bit weak. I'm afraid he won't adapt to the climate and water in Bingzhou."

"Why don't you take that boy Zhinu with you? He's strong and was personally trained by me."

Li Shimin sneered as he looked up and down at Prince Chu, Li You, whose face was already turning pale.

"Once Li You has matured a bit more, I'll have someone send him over to you..."

Li You was instantly numb.

He couldn't help but look at his elder brother in a flustered manner.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you mustn't listen to Father! I'm much more useful than that brat Zhinu. He's been eating too much candy lately, and now he even speaks with a lisp."

Li Chengqian smiled.

"Although I am your elder brother, I am still your son. Look at your sixth brother, who always loves playing with this stuff. Why is he absent today?"

Li You's pupils contracted, and he realized that the large amount of medicine he had prepared for his father had been taken away.

At this moment, they all slid down.

"That sixth brother actually schemed against me!?"

The father and son were locked in a fierce battle at the card table, one sitting to the north and the other to the south.

During this time, Li Ke, Li Tai, Li You, Li Yun, and Li Zhen arrived one after another, either sitting down to participate in a couple of rounds or standing aside silently watching the father and son's dirty tricks behind the scenes.

Hearing that there was a card game going on here, Li Yuan came in a menacing manner.

He left grumbling and cursing.

That night, the Wude Hall echoed with the Emperor Emeritus's scornful remarks, such as "relying on deception, theft, heartless, and ruthless."

Finally, after Li Shimin had drunk two jugs of fine wine and fought for several hours, from noon until late at night, he could no longer hold on and slowly collapsed onto the soft couch next to the card table.

A snoring sound came from inside.

Li Chengqian also slowly got up and stretched his somewhat sore and tired body.

Gently placing the brocade box beside Li Shimin, she bowed respectfully and quietly walked out of the Ganlu Hall.

Lizheng Hall.

Empress Zhangsun stroked the cheeks of her two sons and daughter, her eyes filled with tears of reluctance.

Gently, she tied two red scarves, which she had been knitting for nearly a month, around the necks of Li Chengqian and Li Tai.

"Go ahead. Since traveling at night will make you feel more at ease, then go quietly. When you get to Bingzhou, remember to write to your mother often, especially to you, Gaoming. When you're busy, you always forget everything else."

"Take good care of yourself. No matter how healthy you are when you're young, you'll eventually break down..."

"Lizhi, once you get there, you must listen to your elder brother and the others. It's fine to have some fun in the palace, but once you leave, you'll be a princess of the Tang Dynasty. You must be careful with your words and actions..."

Empress Zhangsun rambled on, giving instructions sentence by sentence.

Li Chengqian listened attentively.

The sorrow of parting ultimately rested on Empress Zhangsun's side; it was unavoidable.

As they finally walked out of Lizheng Hall, Li Tai and Li Lizhi, who were standing to the side, were already in tears.

A similar scene.

In the Tang Dynasty imperial palace late at night, the proceedings were taking place in the palaces of the mothers of the other princes.

Consort Yin usually complained about how unruly Li You was and how much of a headache he caused her, but at this moment she was clearly flustered, constantly asking the palace maid beside her if there was anything she had overlooked and had not packed for Li You.

Consort Wang, Li Yun's mother who was not highly regarded, took out almost all of her savings.

He kept instructing the other party that once they arrived in Bingzhou, they should obey the Crown Prince's orders and do whatever he asked.

On Consort Yang's side.

I thought that after experiencing the separation from his brother last year, he would stubbornly insist that he wouldn't cry.

But when he truly realized he was about to leave his mother, Consort Yang, the boy cried the loudest...

The carriage, with its "gurgling" sound accompanied by the ringing of bells on its eaves, gradually emerged from the palace gates.

West of Ganlu Hall, on a wooden building.

Li Shimin kept tiptoeing and gazing into the distance. Empress Zhangsun seemed to have known all along that he must be pretending to be asleep, and went up to the wooden building.

When he saw the Imperial Seal of the State, which Li Shimin had casually tossed aside.

He paused for a moment, though.

"Your Majesty spent half a month arguing with Chengqian over this very thing, so why don't you cherish it now?"

talking.

They carefully placed the items into the brocade box.

Li Shimin looked towards the direction of the imperial palace gate and let out a long sigh.

In the distance, a procession of vehicles, with torches forming a long line, was already waiting at the palace gate.

He gently shook a piece of white paper in his hand, which was printed with the words "By the mandate of Heaven, may your life be long and prosperous," and then suddenly tore it into pieces and scattered it in the wind.

The white scraps of paper resembled snowflakes falling from the wooden building.

"Guanyinbi, what Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han had, I also have!"

"What Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han didn't have, I still have!"

Li Shimin watched the caravan, which was beginning to leave the city, with a happy yet wistful smile on his face.

"Tell me, do you think I have surpassed them and become a great emperor for all time?"

......

“Uncle, Zhenbei Road is now truly devoid of anything. Apart from Dingxiang City, the only other place left is Dali City, which only the Turks can call a city.”

"Being an official in Zhenbei Road is far less comfortable than being in Chang'an."

Out of the palace gate.

When Li Chengqian saw it, which he had only recently learned, he took the initiative to request to take up the post of Governor of Zhenbei Circuit, serving as the Duke of Zhao, Changsun Wuji.

He said it with a hint of helplessness.

Changsun Wuji, however, burst into laughter.

“Back then, your mother and I were penniless. I’m not too comfortable with that Wang Ming. These people from the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families are very good at feigning weakness to survive, but if they find an opportunity, they will not hesitate.”

"Duke Zhao, you're talking nonsense!" said Wang Ming, the governor who was also returning to Bingzhou with the caravan that day.

Upon hearing this, he immediately became so angry that he started cursing.

"You say my Wang family is ungrateful? Fine! Do you dare to gather all the men of your Changsun clan and come with me to fight against the Tuyuhun!"

"I'll bring all the men of my Wang clan and see who's the first to cower and flee!"

Although Wang Ming still holds the nominal title of Vice Minister of War, he currently possesses the weakest military force among the Wang clan of Taiyuan.

What he said was incredibly assertive.

"Alright, alright, stop arguing..."

Li Chengqian felt a headache coming on. For some reason, his uncle seemed quite interested in the heads of the Five Clans and Seven Families.

It is said that on that day, Cui Mingan, the head of the Cui family of Boling, had his head retrieved from the mass grave.

He was even scolded by his own father, the emperor, for this.

"lets go!"

Following Li Chengqian's order.

The convoy, consisting of thousands of carriages, headed out of the city under the command of the Six Guards of the Eastern Palace and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The official road from Chang'an to Taiyuan Prefecture is now under repair on both sides of Chang'an and Bingzhou.

It is now fully connected.

Inside Li Chengqian's carriage were only Li Chengqian himself and the female official Qian Yingying, who was in charge of taking care of him.

"Yingying, tell me, what do you think the Tang Dynasty will be like when we return to Chang'an next time?"

......

Goguryeo.

In the royal palace late at night.

When King Goryeo Go Geon-mu received the messenger's report, he didn't even bother to put on his royal robes and went directly to meet the king in his pajamas.

"You mean, the Tang emperor is willing to sell us weapons and armor, and even help us train our army?"

"What are the conditions?"

The Messenger shook his head.

"They didn't mention any special conditions, only that we must publicly declare and issue arrest warrants for those Tang Dynasty noble families who fled from the Tang Dynasty into our country."

"As for other things, the prices offered by the Tang Dynasty for weapons and equipment are not too outrageous..."

"It's even about the same price as in China."

Upon hearing this, Gao Jianwu's pupils contracted, and he hurriedly took the document handed to him by the messenger.

Upon seeing the document, which even bore the seal of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

I was so excited that I almost burst out laughing on the spot.

"Copper coins, gold and silver, grain, ore, slaves... all of these can be used for trade. This is an extremely lucrative trade!"

The messenger nodded repeatedly.

"Furthermore, the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty privately met with me and said that this deal would absolutely not be given to those people from Molizhi."

Now, Gao Jianwu understood perfectly.

The Tang Dynasty was supporting him, wanting him to truly become the king of Goryeo.

"Very well! Send a reply immediately. I agree. In two days, no, tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow, I will order all the prisons in the country to be emptied, and all the people imprisoned inside will be reduced to slaves and sent to the Tang Dynasty!"

And at the same time.

Within the territory of the Tang Dynasty, there were numerous envoys sent to Tang China from prominent Japanese families.

They also began to sell off some of their original properties and shops in the area.

They set off for Bingzhou in a grand procession, carrying all their wealth and servants.

.......

Taiyuan Prefecture.

After the Lantern Festival, the government offices in Taiyuan began to get busy.

Even during holidays, all the major companies did not stop production. As per Xiao Rui's request, they were paid three or even five times the normal wage to maintain high-volume production.

"Ding ding ding..."

On the Fen River, after clearing the waterway and widening some sections, the officials of the Bingzhou Canal Transport Office hurriedly rang the bronze bell to signal their arrival.

One after another, cargo ships began to enter the inland ports in accordance with the rules of the Grand Canal.

Merchants who had been waiting in the port arrived at the shore with their cargo ships.

They hurriedly began to call upon the hired laborers to carry the goods onto the ship.

Boxes of soaps, perfumes, mirrors, pencils, books, and other items produced in Bingzhou began to be loaded onto the ships.

It is close to Taiyuan Prefecture.

The official road was noticeably several times wider, and in some places, it was even wide enough for twelve horse-drawn carriages to travel side by side.

Even so, caravans continued to travel on the roads in an endless stream.

The commercial atmosphere became even stronger after entering the territory of Taiyuan Prefecture.

Li Chengqian's younger siblings lifted the carriage curtains one after another, looking at the scene around them, which was completely different from Chang'an, as if it were two different worlds. Their eyes were filled with excitement and curiosity.

Changsun Wuji kept glancing at the carriages coming and going.

He was also someone who followed Li Shimin, traveling all over the country and fighting in the south and north for many years.

They have a keen eye; some people can even determine roughly where these people come from simply by observing their attire, facial features, and the style of their carriages.

"hiss!"

"Taiyuan Prefecture has only implemented its new policies for half a year, yet it has already attracted so many merchants from other places?"

Although it is inevitable for businessmen to pursue profit.

However, given the current distance between north and south in the Tang Dynasty, it would take at least two months to receive a reply if you wrote a letter from the north to the south.

From this perspective, wouldn't it be that the new policies had just been implemented, and those merchants from Jiangnan Road who were far away from Taiyuan Prefecture were affected?

Having received the message, I immediately set off for here?

"If we collect commercial taxes over the next six months, how much could we have gathered...?"

Just then.

The outline of Taiyuan City appeared at the end of the official road. Changsun Wuji saw that around the city gate outside the city, a concrete open space of at least thirty or forty hectares had been leveled.

The carriages were arranged in a staggered manner, parked in positions with specific numbers and sequences.

At the city gate, a flag with a corresponding number is slowly raised every once in a while.

Then, Changsun Wuji saw that the carriages that had been stationary at their marked positions started moving and headed towards the city gate...

"This...this Taiyuan Prefecture has become so prosperous that the number of carriages entering the city needs to be controlled?!" Changsun Wuji's eyes widened.

As he combined the news from the "Great Tang New Daily" in his mind with his imagination, he fantasized about just how prosperous Taiyuan Prefecture must be.

"Dang~dang~dang~"

A series of sounds, like the clanging of bronze bells in a temple, suddenly came from inside the city.

Li Chengqian, sitting in the carriage, suddenly brightened up.

"Haha, it just so happens to be lunchtime at 12 o'clock..."