Chapter 150: Annoyance
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After Zheng Xiong finished speaking, everyone present exchanged uneasy glances.
Once food and supplies were cut off, leaving the common people without clothing or sustenance, it would be tantamount to openly breaking with the imperial court. There would be no way back.
The great clans were not yet willing to take such a risk.
They lowered their heads and whispered among themselves.
“What? You are unwilling?” Zheng Xiong asked.
“Uncle... Surely things have not reached that point yet?” said Qian Lai, the eldest son of the Qian family.
“How have they not?”
“If this continues, the court will only become more oppressive!”
“To ease the present crisis, we have no choice but to stake everything on one desperate gamble!” Zheng Xiong declared firmly, throwing his full support behind the mad plan.
The great clans, however, had no desire to risk their lives in such a manner.
Then news arrived from Taiyuan once more.
The clansmen who had been released had jointly written a letter, pleading with every faction in the Guanzhong and Longxi regions not to oppose the imperial court.
“What sort of request is this?” Zheng Xiong raged. “The court has bullied us to the very limit, and they still ask us not to resist. What on earth are they thinking?”
“We are all members of the great clans and ought to stand together, yet they are dragging us down!”
...
Qian Lai, the eldest son of the Qian family, said, “It is hardly surprising. Their families are being held by the authorities, so they have no choice but to hold back for fear of harming their own people.”
“Hmph!”
Even so, Zheng Xiong remained furious.
To prevent the court from taking any further action, Zheng Xiong unilaterally decided to create some trouble for Li Shimin. Although the great clans were not eager to support him, out of regard for Zheng Xiong’s standing, they would still offer a measure of cooperation.
That day, Luo Tong, whose injuries had largely healed, prepared to return to Chang’an.
Because Qin Huaiyu and Li Longjiang had arrested members of the great clans, those clans were seething with anger. If they were assassinated as well, it would not serve as a restraint. Instead, it might drive them to cut off food and supplies entirely.
Qin Huaiyu returned with him.
Before they departed, Li Longjiang said, “My two young lords, once you return to Chang’an, please say a few good words on my behalf. I beg you!”
“Hahaha...”
“Put your mind at ease,” Qin Huaiyu said with a laugh.
Put his mind at ease?
It was precisely because of Qin Huaiyu that he could not feel at ease!
Li Longjiang grumbled inwardly.
If Qin Huaiyu had not insisted on arresting those clansmen, he would not have been forced to compound one mistake with another.
“I shall rely on you both, my lords!” Li Longjiang said, bowing respectfully.
Afterward, all the prisoners held at the provincial governor’s office were loaded into prison carts and escorted toward Chang’an.
To ensure that the prisoners would not be seized by the great clans, Li Longjiang had carefully selected five thousand elite soldiers for the escort. With such overwhelming military strength, the clans no longer had the power to take them by force.
...
No sooner had Qin Huaiyu and Luo Tong departed than the great clans in the city learned of it.
Their relatives were being taken to the capital.
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They would likely never return.
“We will fight them to the death!”
“Gather our men and seize the prison carts!”
...
Several clan heads shouted their approval.
They soon reached a consensus.
They called upon the great clans throughout the Guanzhong and Longxi regions for aid, borrowing a group of top experts.
Li Dejiang was among them.
He would take part personally.
Guanzhong.
At the border between Henei and Hedong, the prison convoy proceeded in orderly fashion.
Qin Huaiyu held a pair of iron maces and kept glancing from side to side.
“Huaiyu, what are you looking for?” Luo Tong asked.
“We are almost at the capital. Why have the great clans still not shown themselves?”
“You mean the clans will send people to seize the prison carts?” Luo Tong asked.
He had been worried about the same thing, which was why he had remained especially vigilant throughout the journey. Whenever they encountered narrow roads with complicated terrain, they took a detour whenever possible, leaving the clans no opportunity to ambush them.
“Of course!”
“This is their only chance. If they do not act now, will they still be able to seize the prisoners once we reach Chang’an?” Qin Huaiyu said with complete confidence.
He had been watching the road all along, his senses stretched taut, waiting for the men attempting the rescue to appear so that he could wipe them out in a single stroke.
“Haha... That is true!”
“However,” Luo Tong said with a frown, “if the clans come to rescue the prisoners, we must not slaughter them all. Be careful not to drive them into a corner and make them do something even more extreme.”
“Luo Tong, there is something I have never understood,” Qin Huaiyu said. “If we are always so constrained by fear of the consequences, when will we ever be able to destroy the great clans? Every time we move against them, you worry that they will cut off food and supplies and damage the nation’s economy. Is that not far too passive?”
“The Prince of Jin has his considerations.”
Once sweet potatoes and rice had been stockpiled in sufficient quantities, or once these two crops had been widely planted throughout the realm, the food and wealth controlled by the great clans would no longer pose a fatal threat.
Luo Tong had understood this long ago.
He simply had no wish to say it aloud.
Whish, whish, whish!
Just as the convoy was crossing a dense forest, a storm of arrows suddenly filled the sky, shooting toward Luo Tong, Qin Huaiyu, and the Golden Saber Guards escorting the prisoners at close range.
“An attempt to seize the prisoners! Soldiers, guard them carefully!”
Roars rang out.
The accompanying troops truly deserved their reputation as elite soldiers.
They reacted with astonishing speed.
As soon as the Golden Saber Guards came under attack, the soldiers advanced in disciplined formation, replacing them and guarding the prison carts.
The arrival of the army strengthened the convoy’s defenses.
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No matter how many experts the great clans possessed, they could not possibly snatch the prisoners away from five thousand elite soldiers.
“Kill!”
The great clans did not give up.
Before long, they clashed with the army.
Qin Huaiyu was about to join the battle, but Luo Tong caught hold of him.
“Leave them to fight. This is a good opportunity to gauge the strength of the regular troops from Jinyang. Once the clans suffer enough losses, they will withdraw on their own.”
“That is terribly frustrating...”
“It is all because of you!” Luo Tong had not even begun to reproach him.
Their original plan had been to restrain the great clans while gradually weakening their strength. But Qin Huaiyu had meddled recklessly, and now Luo Tong did not even dare kill their people.
He feared that, driven into desperation, the clans might take some irreparable action.
...
The battle lasted half a day.
Outnumbered, the great clans were defeated by the imperial army and scattered in flight.
The outcome had been entirely expected. There was nothing surprising about it.
What puzzled Luo Tong was that the clans had knowingly entered a battle they could not win.
“I only hope they learn their lesson and stop opposing the imperial court.”
“Indeed.”
“Order the convoy to quicken its pace. We must cross the Luo River by tomorrow morning,” Luo Tong said.
Luoyang lay south of the Luo River.
Tong Pass was to the northwest.
Once they crossed Tong Pass, Chang’an would be within reach.
At that very moment, Li Shimin summoned Li Zhi to the palace and asked him about economic affairs. Though Li Zhi was still young, after everything that had happened, Li Shimin had come to regard him as a rare talent.
Not merely a talent, but a genius.
Inside the Imperial Study, Li Shimin said, “The markets have been in considerable turmoil lately. The great clans have repeatedly used their power to suppress every government-run and privately owned shop, causing severe losses across many industries.”
“Most troubling of all, the prices in the market are entirely dictated by the great clans!”
“Whatever price they set becomes the price. Their word carries more weight than mine!”
“Do you understand what is happening?”
...
Li Shimin was furious.
As sovereign of the realm, he issued orders that could not be carried out, while the great clans flourished as though they were fish in water.
Who, then, was the ruler?
And who was the subject?
Li Zhi said, “Father, you must understand that the great clans have used their connections, industries, and immense wealth to seize a firm grip on the market.”