A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 455 Self-destruction
“Since ancient times, deposing the eldest son in favor of the youngest has been a path to chaos.” Wei Zheng took a sip of wine and looked at Li Yi. “You are now one of the Three Dukes, a prime minister. Why get involved in this?”
You hold the position of Crown Prince's official, yet you support the King of Qin; I truly cannot understand it.

There was no one else around.

The Song and Chen families will be standing at a distance, so there's no need to worry about being overheard.

"Senior brother, to be honest, I do not think highly of the Crown Prince. I admire the King of Qin, but I have never conspired with the King of Qin to seize the throne."

Wei Zheng, however, felt that given Li Yi's current official position and influence, if he, as a high-ranking official concurrently serving as the Crown Prince, did not support the Crown Prince, then he was supporting the King of Qin.

"The King of Qin defeated Xue Ju, destroyed Liu Wuzhou, pacified Luoyang, and conquered Hebei. His achievements are already too great to be rewarded. If the King of Qin harbors ambitions to seize the throne, I fear that before the world is settled, internal strife will erupt, and this could give the ambitious Turks an opportunity to take advantage of the situation."
"I fear that the Central Plains will be plunged into turmoil again, and the people will once again suffer." Wei Zheng sighed repeatedly.

Li Yi poured him another full glass of wine.

"I believe His Majesty will handle these matters well."

Wei Zheng shook his head. "How should we handle this?"

The principle of primogeniture, prioritizing the eldest son over merit, is a fundamental and stable aspect of the patriarchal system. Deposing the eldest son in favor of the more virtuous would trigger endless turmoil. Even if things pass smoothly this time, it sets a bad precedent, as future generations will likely follow suit.

That would sow the seeds of endless trouble.

“If the sage is decisive enough, then the King of Qin will be stripped of his power upon his return to court,” Wei Zheng said. Li Shimin already has a long list of official titles, and there is nothing more to add.

With titles such as Grand Commandant, Minister of Works, Chancellor, General of the Twelve Guards, Governor of Yongzhou, Grand Chancellor of Shaanxi East Circuit, and Prince of Qin, how could he possibly receive further promotions and titles?

There's nothing more to add, and the merits are so great.
Any prince with a bit of ambition would want to seize the throne, and that's the only path left to take him further.

As the second son of the emperor, the King of Qin has a great chance of seizing the throne with his current merits and status.

If an emperor wants to stabilize his country and keep the court stable, he has two options: either depose Li Shimin and establish a new regime, or kill Li Shimin.

Although Jiancheng's abilities and achievements were not as good as the King of Qin's, he was still considered above average. There was no reason to depose him just because he was not as good as his younger brother. Wei Zheng believed that the emperor would most likely try to control the King of Qin.

He summoned him to the court, first seizing his military power, then dispersing his followers.

They might even kill a few close associates or key members.

Then strengthen the position of the crown prince.

Li Yi couldn't help but admire Wei Zheng. Although he had been in Hebei for three years, he was still able to grasp the core issues of the court in Chang'an.

In fact, Li Yuan had intended to keep the Prince of Qin in check as early as after he eliminated Xue Rengao, but later he had to rely on the Prince of Qin to turn the tide, and he couldn't do without him.

Liu Wuzhou's attack on Hedong is the best proof of this. The emperor used Yuanji, Li Zhongwen, Pei Ji, Li Xiaoji, and Dugu Huaien, but he never used Li Shimin.

But in the end, they suffered a series of crushing defeats and were almost forced to relocate the capital. They had no choice but to continue using it.

As a result, Li Shimin destroyed Liu Wuzhou in Hedong, which further enhanced his prestige and made the army of the Prince of Qin even stronger.

When attacking Wang Shichong in Luoyang, Li Yuan wanted to use someone else, but the Turkic Khan Chuluo was aggressive, and Li Yuan had neither the opportunity nor the time to change commanders. He was forced to continue using the most reliable Prince Qin.

One war after another, wave after wave,
Was it that Li Yuan refused to use other people? Or was it that Li Yuan discovered that only Li Shimin was the most reliable and useful?

However, the emperor had been trying to suppress and weaken the power of the King of Qin.
For example, the establishment of the Twelve Armies of Guanzhong was to build a separate military system for the Guanzhong capital region outside of the Twelve Guards system. These twelve armies were not subordinate to the Twelve Guards, and their commanders were not subordinate to the Twelve Guards either. The King of Qin, as prime minister, could not command the twelve armies, and his concurrent position as the Grand General of the Left and Right Twelve Guards also did not have any control over the commanders of the twelve armies.

Then came the improvement of the six guards' offices on the left and right sides of the Qin and Qi kings' residences.
In reality, it was still about suppressing the power of the King of Qin, reducing his troops to 20,000, and assigning them to the Twelve Guards. The surplus troops were distributed to the King of Qin's residence, the Eastern Palace, and the Twelve Guards.

They even transferred some of the generals from the Qin Prince's mansion and replaced them with others.

But are these actions useful?
It should have been useful.

However, when trouble arises, the King of Qin still has to take command. For example, in this campaign against Hebei, 60,000 elite troops were placed under the King of Qin's command, along with dozens of generals and commanders.

This gave the King of Qin time and opportunity to win him over.
Furthermore, due to the great victory of the King of Qin, the generals were rewarded for their merits and naturally developed a good relationship with the King of Qin.

After the pacification of Luoyang, the imperial court conferred titles on thirty-six dukes, a host of marquises, governors, and generals, many of whom were rewarded for their meritorious service in battles alongside Li Shimin.

Hebei is now pacified.
The campaigns in Jingxiang were handed over to Li Xiaogong, Li Jing, and Li Yuan. Next, they will definitely be in charge of Jiangnan and Lingnan as well.

But can this really keep Li Shimin in check?

Unless the world is at peace from now on, which is impossible, the Turkic Khaganate's power has been consolidated, and he has begun to invade the borders again.
Moreover, history has long proven that Jieli would be more ruthless in his invasions of the Central Plains than his two elder brothers, Chuluo and Shibi.

It can be said that the Tang Dynasty has now almost secured the victory of unifying the Central Plains.

However, what follows is a full-scale war with the Turks.

Previously, the Turks only supported proxies to fight against the Tang Dynasty while also trading with it. But given the current situation, Jieli could not sit idly by and watch the Tang Dynasty unify the world so smoothly. Otherwise, the Tang Dynasty would definitely have to go north to deal with the Turks.

This is inevitable and cannot be resolved.

A full-scale invasion by the Turks would be far more powerful than any of the forces led by Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Li Gui, Dou Jiande, or Wang Shichong.

The Tang dynasty could only rely on Li Shimin to defeat Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, and others. However, when fighting the Turks, perhaps Li Yuan initially had other generals at his disposal.

However, if the war goes against him, he will have no choice but to use Li Shimin. Li Shimin will then gain greater prestige and authority through the war and will be able to win over more generals.

This type of hill formation,

The biggest problem is that once something becomes too powerful, it's hard to control. Even when the emperor finally decides to eliminate it, it's too late.

Li Yi did not tell Wei Zheng about these things.

Even the astute Wei Zheng couldn't see that far ahead. He felt that Li Shimin's return to court might lead to him being sidelined and stripped of power.

But to his surprise, the emperor's strategy was ineffective.

"You can't get too close to the King of Qin, otherwise the Sage might make an example of you. Think about how Liu Wenjing died. Was he really killed just because he said a few drunken words that he would kill Pei Ji one day?"

Liu Wenjing was always one of Li Shimin's strongest supporters, yet he was hastily killed by the emperor.

"I will stay in Hebei, and stay away from the intrigues and conflicts in the court," Li Yi said frankly.

The Crown Prince and the King of Qin haven't truly begun their struggle yet; there are only initial signs. Li Yi, this important minister, doesn't actually need to do anything, but he's already supporting the King of Qin.

Wei Zheng still felt that although the Prince of Qin had made great contributions, he was too young, and the Crown Prince was not mediocre either. The emperor would not depose the legitimate heir, after all, the precedent of Emperor Wen of Sui was there for all to see. Yang Guang seemed to be better than Crown Prince Yang Yong in many ways back then.

They could depose Yang Yong and install Yang Guang, but the Sui Dynasty only lasted two generations before it perished.

“If the Crown Prince ascends the throne in the future, and you, Wu Yi, an official of the Eastern Palace, secretly support the King of Qin, you will not have a good end. You should be careful.”

Wei Zheng repeatedly reminded him that Li Yi was still too young. Although he was ranked among the Three Dukes and appointed Prime Minister, he was only nineteen years old and lacked experience. He was unaware of the dangers of court struggles, especially the struggle for the throne.

noon,

Li Yi stayed at Wei Zheng's thatched cottage for a meal.

Thanks to the dishes personally prepared by Madam Pei, Mingzhou City has now returned to stability. With a large army stationed there, the military market is thriving, attracting countless merchants.
There is no shortage of various goods, except that they are a bit pricey.

Madam Pei specially prepared a mutton soup with lotus leaf pancakes and cucumber salad made from cucumbers grown in her own yard. To entertain Li Yi, she also bought some frosting sugar to sprinkle on top.

In addition, stewed eggplant and braised broad beans.

The dishes weren't particularly lavish, but it must have taken Pei quite a bit of effort to prepare them.

"Thank you for your hard work, sister-in-law, this is such a feast."

"Please don't find the food too simple, Wu Yi. Oh, I forgot to mention I also made some locust leaf pottery, which is hanging in the well for refrigeration. I'll go get it."

Wei Zheng was quite proud of his wife's virtuousness, saying, "I am truly blessed to have married your sister-in-law."

If Pei's father hadn't been captured, Wei Zheng might not have had the chance to marry Pei's daughter.

After all, he was over forty, while Pei was only sixteen at the time.

The war delayed Pei's marriage, and she remained unmarried until the age of sixteen. As a result, her family was trapped in Mingzhou, and she eventually had no choice but to marry Wei Zheng, an old bachelor. Although he was older and not good-looking, he was at least somewhat renowned.
The Wei family was, after all, from a noble family, and the Julu Wei clan was quite famous during the Northern Dynasties.

This was also the prevailing view among the gentry at the time: they would rather marry a fallen gentry than a nouveau riche, especially since many of Dou Jiande's princes and generals were farmers, vegetable growers, or salt merchants in their early years, and many of them had even been bandits. Pei Canjun looked down on them, which benefited Wei Zheng.

"Now that you're married, you should hurry up and have children. I have a good prescription here called Five Sons Progeny Pill. Do you want it? It will make you vigorous and energetic."

Wei Zheng laughed and scolded, "I am very healthy and don't need these things."

"In that case, shall I send two more young beauties to you as concubines, senior brother? To help you have three children in a year?"

Playing is about playing, making trouble is about making trouble.

Speaking of this, Wei Zheng still subtly reminded him, "I heard that the emperor specially issued an imperial edict to bestow Zheng Shanguo and Cui Shishu's daughters upon you as concubines. Why haven't you done this yet?"

“Isn’t this a war?” Li Yi said. Actually, this matter had been resolved a long time ago, but a conflict arose when communicating with the Zheng family. Li Yi also disliked their arrogant attitude as an old aristocratic family, so he simply dragged it out.

The situation is a bit tense now, especially with the Cui family.

"The war didn't stop you and Steward Huo from getting along. Tell me, what exactly happened? Huo Yu is much older than you, how did you manage to make such a fuss about it?"

"She's only in her early thirties. 'A woman three years older than her husband is like a gold brick,' she'll just have a few more."

"Is something really wrong?"

"She's a widow, so what if I have something going on with her?" Li Yi said with a smile.

"You, you, a dignified Minister of Works and Attendant-in-Ordinary, you should at least consider your reputation."

Li Yi picked up a piece of mutton and said, "Senior brother, I'm only nineteen this year, yet I'm already the Minister of Works and a Grand Councilor, having made so many contributions. If I were to act and conduct myself flawlessly, would you consider that a good thing?"

Wei Zheng was taken aback.

"So your affair with the Huo family, your falling out with the Zheng family of Xingyang and the Cui family of Qinghe, and your buying up land everywhere, revealing your greed, lust, and love of luxury—are all just an act?"

"Haha, I didn't pretend on purpose. I really am like that, I just didn't deliberately hide it."

Wei Zheng's opinion of Li Yi rose to a new level, and he greatly admired this young junior brother.

I thought I was getting carried away, but I didn't expect I'd stay sober all along.

(End of this chapter)