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

"Isn't Your Majesty worried that this action might attract some malicious individuals to His Highness the Crown Prince..."

Looking at the grand promises and rosy blueprints for future high-ranking officials that Emperor Zhenguan had tossed out in just a few words, they were already completely captivated.

Lu Shiming went out to run errands with great excitement.

Du Ruhui sighed.

Li Shimin curled his lip.

"Malignant? No matter how maliceful you are, can you be as maliceful as that brat Li Chengqian?"

The thought of the monks and nuns he had encountered since entering Jiannan Road, carrying official documents from the Tang Dynasty and ordered to go to Tibet to spread Buddhism, made Li Shimin's lips twitch.

Tibet must be weakened, and Confucianism and Buddhist scriptures were sold out of wedlock.

Now that they've finished messing with other countries, they're not even letting go of the Buddhist communities in China that have already shown obedience and compliance, sending these people directly to Tibet to spread their teachings.

It's called a nice name.

Spreading the Buddha's glory...

Li Shimin could easily guess that these bald monks had gone to Tibet, and with the Tang Dynasty backing them up, they were in a predicament.

The things that happened to the Tang Dynasty will surely be reflected in the Tibetans.

Especially now, under the leadership of Songtsen Gampo, Tibet is engaged in a large-scale slave trade with the Tang Dynasty, and is so poor that all it has left are gold and jewels.

A cold smile played on Li Shimin's lips.

"Once I've organized a force here in Jiannan Road, who knows, Li Chengqian's scheme against Tibet might actually benefit me!"

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui: "..."

They've really lost all sense of shame!

Lu Shiming was incredibly efficient; in no time, the Qing Shu Palace, a former imperial palace that had been preserved in Chengdu, was restored.

They allowed Li Shimin and his entourage to move in.

The number of people Li Shimin brought this time was significantly more than when Li Chengqian set off for Taiyuan Prefecture.

Let's leave aside the three thousand Xuanjia soldiers and the Hundred Cavalry.

Accompanying the grain transport team were a mix of the Left and Right Generals of the Martial Guard, as well as elite troops drawn from various places and departing from Luoyang, totaling as many as 50,000.

In addition, there were skilled craftsmen whom Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui helped Li Shimin prepare at the beginning of the plan.

In addition, there were some top engineering talents sent by the Crown Prince from Taiyuan Prefecture to Chang'an.

They had originally planned to hand these people over to the emperor, and for the two of them to retire in Taiyuan Prefecture, so that everyone could part ways peacefully.

Who would have thought.

Qing Shu Palace.

Fang Xuanling stared with dead fish eyes as the emperor snapped back the stack of documents he had just finished processing.

Fang Xuanling even considered assassinating the emperor.

"I hereby resign from my official post!!!"

A loud roar, almost a howl, came from Fang Xuanling, a senior minister of the Xuanwu Gate.

Seemingly too excited, Fang Xuanling coughed repeatedly after shouting.

The sudden commotion startled the Chengdu officials who had followed Lu Shiming in.

Lu Shiming looked embarrassed.

He bowed to His Majesty the Emperor.

"Your Majesty... as you instructed, these are the officials in charge of various departments under the Chengdu Prefecture..."

"Your Majesty, we, your humble servants, pay our respects!"

All the officials spoke with a standard Sichuan accent.

At this moment, most of the officials, who had never seen an emperor in their lives, immediately knelt down to pay their respects to Li Shimin, but Li Shimin waved his hand to stop them.

He seemed oblivious to Fang Xuanling's protests, which sounded like those of an animal beside him.

He casually placed the invigorating tea that He Ding had brewed for him in front of Fang Xuanling.

He left behind the saying, "The capable should do more."

He then pulled Lu Shiming and the others toward a side hall.

Fang Xuanling: "......."

Du Ruhui looked at his old friend and sighed.

They comforted the other person and helped them sit down again.

"Sigh, let's accept our fate. We can't even send a letter now, let alone ask the Crown Prince for help..."

Upon hearing these words, Fang Xuanling, already furious, glared fiercely at the members of the Hundred Cavalry Division inside the hall.

"The emperor's lackey!"

Members of the Hundred Riders Division: "..."

If the emperor hadn't tripled their salaries and provided ample funding, they would have been different.

They wouldn't care about such a strange job!

Meanwhile, Emperor Li Shimin, like a pyramid scheme leader, was using the skills he had learned and imitated from his own crown prince to paint a vivid picture in the minds of the officials in Chengdu Prefecture.

They were told that in the future, each of them would be able to secure a high position for their wives and children, and would rise to the ranks of generals and ministers.

They can all be remembered in history.

All they need to do is help the emperor, the current crown prince, and get the reforms in Jiannan Circuit going.

At this moment, we are thousands of miles away from Jiannan Road.

Harsha's Dynasty.

On a fertile plain where a small river flows.

Songtsen Gampo looked around at the fertile land and felt the pleasant living environment here.

When his gaze fell upon the army of the Harsha Dynasty before him, it was as if he were seeing his father's killer.

"Tibetan warriors! Charge!!!"

"Woo!!!"

The savage war horns sounded.

The Tibetan cavalry, already well-versed in this trade, abandoned the Harsha Dynasty slaves they had bound behind them, drew their long swords, and led by Songtsen Gampo.

The force of less than 10,000 men launched a preemptive charge against the more than 30,000-strong army of the Harsha Dynasty.

"Shoot the arrow!!!"

Before the troops of the Harsha Dynasty could even settle in, arrows purchased from the Tang Dynasty using slaves and gold and silver were already flying from the bowstrings of these valiant Tibetan cavalrymen.

The whistling rain of arrows traced an arc and instantly disappeared into the ranks of the Japanese army.

All of a sudden.

There were screams.

And at the same time.

As a neighboring country of Harsha, the army of Nepal was now deployed, and its supply lines were much easier to obtain than those of Tibet.

The Tibetans could only wage one major battle, and then immediately withdraw with their spoils and slaves.

Their Niva Kingdom, however, was supported by the weapons and armor of the Tang Dynasty.

In a true sense, the annexation of the Harsha Dynasty began.

Having witnessed firsthand how much wealth the Tibetans had amassed from the Harsha Dynasty, Dewa Cheti, the lord of Piye Valley, a border city of Nepal, was now dressed in a suit of fine steel armor from the Tang Dynasty.

Holding a fine steel spear, driven by a primal desire for wealth and status.

He fiercely led his soldiers into yet another city of Harsha.

"Kill all the old people! Tie up the women and men and take them away."

"Kill all the very young children too!"

"Mark the larger ones with slave marks and take them back to the country!"

The chariot hooves issued cruel commands.

The moment swords are stained with blood, all rules become invalid.

Yes, only in a clash of strengths can the victor be king and the loser a bandit.

Within just a few months, the Harsha Dynasty had already been plundered and robbed of a considerable amount of wealth and people by Tibet and Nepal.

The capital of Harsha.

King Harsha looked at the dejected and disheveled generals in front of him with disbelief.

He looked on at the thirty or forty city lords who had lost their cities and came to the capital to ask him, King Harsha, for help in reclaiming them.

King Harsha was so angry by the news these guys brought back that he coughed violently.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"What did you say? You've lost! How could you have lost! You have a combined army of 100,000!"

King Harsha, whose understanding of the art of war was limited to numerical and weapon superiority, was utterly unable to accept this absurd reality.

Even the ministers of Harsha who heard the news were all shocked and their mouths were agape.

Among the generals who were driven back.

Jaya Kumar, who was of noble birth in Harsha, looked extremely grim.

Thinking of the Tibetans' brutal fighting style, fear trembled involuntarily in his eyes.

"Your Majesty! We truly did not lie. Those Tibetans are too strong. Our weapons cannot penetrate their armor, and even the armor of our elephant cavalry can be easily pierced by their arrows..."

At this point, a dozen or so General Harsha, including Jaya, who had fled back in a sorry state, were mentioned.

They couldn't help but think of the soldiers who were trampled into mincemeat by the frenzied elephant soldiers.

Even among these generals, some were rammed by the frenzied elephant cavalry and died instantly...

Inside the magnificent royal palace, the high-ranking officials of the Harsha Dynasty looked at each other and whispered worriedly.

"Even the armor of elephant cavalry can be pierced by arrows? How is that possible?"

“I know about the Tibetans. They live on the other side of the mountains, on the plateau. They are a group of barbarians who have trouble even getting enough to eat. How could they possibly obtain any divine weapons?”

"Could it be that a true god has appeared over there?"

"What nonsense are you spouting! God can only appear on our land of Harsha, how could He deign to go to such a filthy place!"

The Harsha dynasty had five or six hundred cities of varying sizes.

The population of Harsha was more than ten times that of the combined populations of Nepal and Tibet. However, the long-term favorable environment fostered a lazy and lax atmosphere throughout the Harsha Kingdom.

Even though they knew that Tibet and Nepal were arresting people everywhere.

The cities, which are relatively far from both countries, made absolutely no preparations to deal with the situation.

North of Harsha, Vulture Peak.

Nalanda Temple.

Lu Wenhu looked at the latest intelligence about the Harsha Dynasty that had been delayed for several days before finally being delivered to him.

He wanted to fire this lazy Harsha's messenger, but the thought that at least the messenger could still deliver messages to him, compared to the previous ones, made him feel frustrated.

He glanced at Xuanzang, who was still meditating on Zen, and snorted coldly.

"Xuanzang, the Kingdom of Nepal and Tibet will soon be attacking this place, yet you monks seem completely unconcerned!"

He glanced around and saw monks everywhere, looking as serene and peaceful as Xuanzang, seemingly engaged in some kind of meditation. His anxiety grew even stronger.

“Benefactor Lu, you…”

"Lunima! If you call me 'benefactor' again, I'll kill you with one stroke right now!"

Now, Lu Wenhu gets furious whenever he hears those two words.

He's in a hurry!

Since they arrived here, they have sent very few messages back to the Tang Dynasty. Apart from the fact that the drawing of some geomantic maps went smoothly and no one in the area was alerted.

Information such as the type of city, its natural resources, and its population.

There's still no sign of anything happening!

The thought of his own Fanyang Lu clan, whose relatives betrayed the Tang Dynasty and are now still in Goguryeo, is unbearable.

Then, thinking about the Tang Dynasty's ever-growing national strength, if he didn't quickly earn some great merit, he wouldn't even be able to protect his second branch of relatives who had been coerced into going to Goguryeo.

He couldn't even protect his own parents.

Xuanzang had clearly grown accustomed to this guy's barbarity. It was Zheng Wuyang, the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the Harsha Dynasty, who had recently gone to meet with someone to exchange intelligence.

otherwise.

Even when he speaks, he always talks to Zheng Wuyang and would never pay attention to Lu Wenhu, that brute.

At this time.

A series of footsteps sounded.

Zheng Wuyang stepped up from the side path.

Upon seeing the two, he first subtly winked at them, and then waited until they reached a secluded place.

Only then did he speak with a solemn expression.

"The commander ordered us to assist the Harsha Dynasty in weakening the Tibetan army!"

Xuanzang was briefly taken aback, then took a deep breath and began chanting Buddhist mantras.

"Amitabha... Commander Zheng, this humble monk would like to ask... Could those so-called divine weapons carried by the Tibetans have originated from the Tang Dynasty?"

Zheng Wuyang did not speak, but his eyes clearly told Xuanzang the answer.

The latter sighed softly.

Looking at the monks on Mount Lingjiu, who were completely unaware that dark clouds were about to cover the sky, they were still immersed in their own world.

He couldn't help but murmur a sad sigh.

"The city of Rajagaha below the mountain was once the capital of Magadha, and the name Magadha means 'harmless country' or 'a place without evil'..."

Lu Wenhu let out a cold laugh.

He interrupted this bald monk he disliked, who was now wallowing in self-pity.

"A harmless country, therefore it is without harm!"

"This world now belongs to the Tang Dynasty, the Harsha Dynasty, and Tibet!"