Li Shimin was extremely surprised to hear this, and looked at his eldest grandson with disbelief.

"Little one, you can even tell this is a memorial to the emperor?"

"Old Li, do you think I'm stupid? Isn't it obvious? The first sentence is 'Your subject Wu Shoudao respectfully submits this memorial.' If this isn't a memorial to His Majesty, is it for me?"

Li Shimin smiled awkwardly upon hearing this.

"It's alright, you can even read the memorials. As long as you can give a reasonable reply, I will not only exempt you from half of your homework, but also grant you a small wish!"

"Can I have any wish?"

"certainly!"

"I hope you won't assign me any more homework!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's face darkened immediately. He grabbed Li Jue and placed him on his lap, then proceeded to deliver a series of powerful blows to his buttocks with his iron palm.

"I assigned you homework for your own good, and you little ingrate, how dare you complain about it!"

"I'll beat you to death!"

"Old Li, please spare me! I was just joking with you, sob sob sob..."

"You can't even joke about it!"

"Okay, okay, I promise I'll never say that again. Please forgive me, please... sob sob..."

Seeing him crying so miserably, Li Shimin put him back on the ground and then deliberately put on a stern face to scare him.

"I'm only giving you one morning. If you can't come up with a reasonable answer, I'll double your homework this afternoon!"

Li Jue rubbed his buttocks with a wronged expression, then said with a disdainful look.

"This trivial matter doesn't need a whole morning; I can get back to you right now!"

"oh?"

"Grandson, children who lie get spanked!"

"Hmph!"

"The first memorial was written on the tenth day of the second month, but the storm season in Nanhai County is from May to November every year, especially in July, August and September."

"Therefore, the first report is most likely a lie, and the court should send someone to Nanhai County to investigate."

"If you think that Nanhai County is too far from Chang'an and that the round trip takes too long, you can also check the reports from other counties in Lingnan Circuit to see if any counties around Nanhai County have encountered storms or rainstorms."

“If such a situation exists, it can be determined that what Prefect Wu Shoudao of Nanhai Commandery said in his memorial is true. If only Nanhai Commandery in the entire Lingnan Circuit was affected by the disaster, then Prefect Wu Shoudao may be lying.”

"Because coastal storm disasters cannot only occur in one county or prefecture; once a storm disaster occurs, the entire coastal area will suffer!"

Upon hearing this explanation, Li Shimin was utterly shocked.

Is the storm season in Lingnan Road from May to November?

Even the emperor doesn't know this, so where did this grandson hear about it from?

However, Li Jue's other answer was even more unexpected.

It's unbelievable that someone so young could come up with a method of mutual verification.

To be honest, Li Shimin only learned this trick after he had been emperor for three years and had been tricked by local officials for three years!

He thought it was his closely guarded secret, but his eight-year-old grandson figured it out right away!

Thinking of this, Li Shimin looked at Li Jue with a hint of resentment.

He originally wanted to use this skill to show off to his grandson.

It's just that my grandson is too clever, making his grandfather lose face!

"And the second one?"

"The second one... let me see first..."

Li Jue quickly glanced at the memorial, then asked with a bewildered look.

"Uncle Li, who is this Zhang Liang? What did he do before?"

"Oh, this fellow used to be a farmer. Later, he joined the Wagangzhai uprising and became one of Li Ji's subordinates. After surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, he was quite diligent and successively served as the Prefect of Dingzhou, General of Chariots and Cavalry of the Prince of Qin's Mansion, Governor of Huaizhou, Duke of Changping, Imperial Censor, Guangshi, Governor of Bin, Xia and Fu Prefectures, Chief Administrator of Xiangzhou, Minister of Works, Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, Governor of Luozhou, and was enfeoffed as Duke of Yun."

"Old Li, what are this person's abilities like?"

"He's alright, but his abilities are more political; his military leadership are just average!"

Upon hearing Old Li's assessment of Zhang Liang, Li Jue couldn't help but let out a cold smile.

This old Li is too arrogant. How can someone who can be listed as one of the twenty-four meritorious officials in the Lingyan Pavilion be so incompetent in leading troops into battle?

In fact, Li Jue already knew who Zhang Liang was when he saw the memorial.

He asked the question simply to see how Old Li and Zhang Liang's relationship was.

If the relationship is just so-so, he'll tell the truth; if the relationship is closer, he'll just give a few perfunctory replies and call it a day.

However, judging from Old Li's rather disdainful tone, he probably doesn't have much of a relationship with Zhang Liang, otherwise he wouldn't be belittling Zhang Liang like that.

"Uncle Li, I suggest keeping this memorial in the purview, or offering some gentle words of comfort. If necessary, you can bestow honors upon his sons and brothers, so that Zhang Liang will be grateful for Your Majesty's kindness and then bravely fight for Your Majesty!"

Li Shimin was stunned when he heard this. He thought to himself that he had known Zhang Liang for more than 20 years and had long understood the man's temperament. Only now did he realize that the man was just using the fact that the waves were too big to negotiate with him.

But this grandson only glanced at the memorial in front of me and was able to come up with such a perfect solution. How did he do that?

"Grandson, tell me, why did you decide to do this?"

“Uncle Li, this is actually very simple. The waves usually don’t last for three months at a time. Besides, Shandong and Goguryeo are not far apart. They are only separated by a strait, which is at most a few hundred miles. Even if there are some waves, it won’t prevent us from going out to sea.”

"Therefore, it can be basically concluded that Zhang Liang's memorial was an imitation of Wang Jian's old trick, deliberately finding an excuse to delay, hoping to get more benefits from your emperor."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!