While Li Jue was being imprisoned and starving in the palace dungeon, Cheng Yaojin had already been beaten to near death by Li Shimin.
"Cheng Yaojin, will you talk or not!"
"Your Majesty, I truly do not know what to say..."
"Was it you who ordered the burning of the granary?!"
"Your humble servant..."
"Your humble servant is a subject of the Great Tang Dynasty; how could I possibly do anything to harm the Great Tang..."
"Are you still being stubborn?"
"Keep hitting him!"
At Li Shimin's command, the batons of the Hundred Cavalrymen immediately rained down on Cheng Yaojin's back, causing him to vomit blood.
Seeing this, Li Shimin felt a pang of pity and immediately waved to the Hundred Cavalry Commandery.
"Summon the imperial physician to treat his injuries!"
"promise!"
Although Li Shimin spared Cheng Yaojin for the time being, he still did not give up on finding the mastermind behind the granary fire.
In fact, he knew from the beginning that this matter had nothing to do with Cheng Yaojin.
But if Cheng Yaojin is not dealt with, the real mastermind will not come forward.
Therefore, he felt guilty towards Cheng Yaojin, but he couldn't show it until the truth came out.
Li Shimin left the prison cell and went outside. Looking at the silent sky and the snow-white earth, he fell into deep thought.
Who did it?
Changsun Wuji?
Yeon Gaesomun?
Or someone else?
Li Shimin suspected many people, but he removed many of them from his blacklist as soon as they were added.
The reason is simple: these are all his old brothers who fought alongside him to build his empire, and he doesn't believe they would betray him.
However, Li Shimin only pondered for a moment before putting the matter of arson aside.
Because there is a more pressing matter to deal with right now: how will Pyongyang, which is already short of food, survive the winter after most of its granaries have been burned down?
Li Shimin racked his brains for an entire afternoon but couldn't come up with any solution, so he had no choice but to summon Ma Zhou and the others again.
"Gentlemen, what do you suggest we do now to alleviate Pyongyang's food shortage crisis?"
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent and lowered their heads.
As the saying goes, even a clever cook cannot cook without rice. Now, it's not just Pyongyang that's short of food; the entire Goguryeo region is facing a food shortage.
Moreover, they were unfamiliar with the situation in Goguryeo and had no idea where Goguryeo had any surplus grain.
Just when everyone was worried, Changsun Wuji spoke up.
"Your Majesty, I have a suggestion that could slightly alleviate the food shortage crisis in Pyongyang..."
"explain!"
"Your Majesty, Pyongyang is not short of food. It is only because our 50,000 troops have been stationed in Pyongyang that the food shortage has occurred."
"If we withdraw our troops, we don't even need to return to Chang'an. As long as we cross the Liaoze River and return to the Hebei and Shandong regions, we can use the grain from Shandong and Hebei to get through the winter."
"At the same time, with 50,000 fewer people in Pyongyang, the food shortage crisis will be alleviated immediately!"
Li Shiji immediately objected upon hearing this.
"Withdraw troops?"
"Your Majesty, you absolutely must not withdraw the troops!"
"If we withdraw now, all our previous efforts will have been in vain!"
Li Shimin naturally knew what withdrawing the troops meant. Not only would their previous efforts be in vain, but the Tang Dynasty would probably not have the idea of attacking Goguryeo again for decades to come.
After all, it's easy to conquer, but difficult to maintain stable governance.
After all, the Tang Dynasty conquered cities and territories to gain taxes and people, not to dump domestic grain in these desolate mountains and wilderness.
"The matter of withdrawing troops will be discussed again..."
"Ma Zhou, do you have any ideas?"
Upon hearing this, Ma Zhou shook his head helplessly.
"Your Majesty, I cannot think of a solution..."
"Unless Your Majesty borrows grain from wealthy families in Shandong and then transports it to Pyongyang by sea."
"this……"
Li Shimin did not particularly like Shandong because there were too many powerful families there, and most of them looked down on him as emperor. They believed that he came from a poor background and had non-Han ancestry, making him unworthy to be the ruler of the world.
Therefore, he has consistently demoted and excluded scions of prominent families from Shandong from serving in the imperial court. Even when appointing local officials, he would try to assign them to people from humble backgrounds in Shandong, specifically using the poor to counter the local powerful families.
During Li Shimin's twenty years of stagnation, Shandong had long since become alienated from him.
If he were to go and borrow grain from wealthy families in Shandong, not only would they refuse to lend it to him, but they would also secretly mock him.
"Don't bring it up again when we're borrowing grain!"
"I will never bow down to the powerful families of Shandong in my entire life!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shiji suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"Your Majesty, why don't you send Zhang Liang and me to Shandong to procure grain?"
"You two go and gather grain?"
"Yes!"
"This humble subject is not going to negotiate with them, but to rob them with a knife in hand!"
"Rob?"
Li Shimin glared at Li Shiji with disdain.
"Go outside and cool off, don't stay here and annoy me..."
Li Shiji asked, puzzled.
"Your Majesty, I did not mean to upset you. I was telling the truth!"
"Since Your Majesty dislikes the powerful families of Shandong, I will naturally deal with them on your behalf. Taking only some of their grain is already letting them off easy!"
"Shut up!"
"Your Majesty, what are you so afraid of?"
Li Shimin was directly defeated by Li Shiji's naivety; this guy really has no brains.
"Li Shiji, you don't care about your posthumous reputation, do you?"
"Posthumous fame?"
Li Shiji wasn't stupid; upon hearing this, he immediately shut up.
As Your Majesty said, he, a murderer, may not care about his reputation, but Your Majesty is destined to be a wise ruler; how could you do something like robbing your own people...
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
