Thief Emperor

Chapter 1162 Taking Root
In the twelfth month, Prince Zheng, Li Cang, bid farewell to his parents, the crown prince, and his family, and with dozens of his personal attendants, left Luoyang for Suzhou to prepare for the task assigned by His Majesty the Emperor.

I haven't spent any of the years with my family.

General Su, on the other hand, barely made it through the year-end, but even so, his health was already quite poor.

On the third day of the first lunar month, the Emperor's elder brother, Prince Chu, Li Feng, along with the fifth prince, Prince Xiang, Li Ling, came to visit Su Sheng.

At this time, General Su's health had improved slightly, so he personally met with the two princes. When they had finished talking, Prince Chu, Li Feng, sent the Fifth Prince away.

In the main hall, only he and Su Sheng remained.

Prince Chu looked at Su Sheng, paused, and then said, "General, you've seen this child yourself. What do you think of him?"

Su Sheng coughed, his face flushed an unnatural red, and shook his head: "What do you mean by that, Your Highness?"

Prince Chu looked at Su Sheng and said quietly, "Prince Xiang will probably be going to Xiangzhou Kingdom next year or the year after. His Majesty's idea is that if the General finds him suitable, Prince Xiang should marry the General's daughter."

Su Sheng was taken aback.

Prince Xiang was the son of Consort Lu and the younger brother of Princess Lujiang. Among the princes of this dynasty, he was basically second only to the emperor's legitimate son.

Su Sheng remained silent for a while, without saying anything.

Prince Chu sighed and said, "His Majesty has put a lot of thought into the Su family. Anyway, the Su family has already married Princess Lujiang, so there is not much difference between marrying Princess Lujiang's younger brother and the Su family."

In the past month, General Su's health has been deteriorating. The Emperor made this arrangement because he wanted to take care of his elder brother.

In this way, although the Su family was inevitably bound to the Lu family, the Su family now had a grand prince consort and a princess consort.

Even if no more outstanding figures emerge from the family later, the family will not decline.

General Su hesitated for a moment, then reached out and poured a cup of tea for Prince Chu, shaking his head and saying, "Thank you, Your Highness. Please convey to His Majesty that I think this matter is not quite appropriate."

If the emperor himself had brought this up, then to deny it would be to disrespect His Majesty. But since the emperor sent the Prince of Chu to discuss it, it was actually a discussion.

Everyone discussed and negotiated.

Su Sheng coughed again and said, "The Su family originated from my father. Our family was originally from a poor family and didn't have much of a foundation."

“If the favor is too great, they will not be able to bear it, and their whole family will be ruined.”

The Prince of Chu looked at Su Sheng and sighed, "The General sees things very clearly."

He said a few more words, then stood up and said, "General, you are not feeling well, so I won't bother you any longer. If there is anything I can help with, please send someone to the Chu Prince's residence to find me."

Su Sheng forced himself to stand up: "I'll see Your Highness off."

The King of Chu quickly shook his head and helped him back to his seat. Seeing that Su Sheng insisted on seeing him off, he said seriously, "General, please don't do this. Although I am just a King of Chu, my contributions to the new dynasty are far inferior to yours. If you insist on making me feel uncomfortable, I will never dare to come to your residence again."

After much persuasion, Su Zhan finally escorted the Prince of Chu away from the Duke of Wei's mansion.

After leaving the Duke of Wei's residence with the Prince of Xiang, the King of Chu returned to the palace with the Prince of Xiang and met with His Majesty the Emperor in the Ganlu Hall. After briefly explaining the situation, the Emperor nodded, indicating that he understood.

After dismissing the Prince of Xiang, he gestured for the Prince of Chu to sit down and then asked, "Elder brother, have all the men for the Imperial Clan been recruited?"

The King of Chu said with a wry smile, "It's not that easy. Not to mention where to recruit people, the Ministry of Revenue hasn't approved the money yet. I have to go to the Ministry of Revenue in a bit to ask Minister Zhuo for the money."

The emperor shook his head and said speechlessly, "If not, I'll give you some from my private treasury?"

King Li Feng of Chu shook his head: "That won't do."

“Since the court’s rules have been set, they must be followed. The Imperial Clan Court is not a department of the palace, and the palace cannot pay for everything. I have to go to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for the money.”

The emperor smiled and said, "Then it's up to you."

"As for recruiting people, the Imperial Guards have some older veterans who retire every year. You can go to the Imperial Guards and find those generals to select people from them to join the Imperial Clan Court as its staff."

“These people are physically strong and capable, and we have given them a job.”

The King of Chu said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid we'll need your warrant, Erlang."

"I'll write a note to my elder brother later. He can go find Chen Da or Qian Zhong, either way is fine."

The King of Chu nodded and said "Good".

"Throughout this year, I've tried my best to increase the manpower of the clan. Erlang, how many people do you think we need for charity?" "Let's start with five hundred to a thousand. As the number of members of the Li family increases, we can expand to two or three thousand people as appropriate."

Emperor Li said with a smile, "If you do a good job, I will have another team of people who can get things done in the future."

The King of Chu lowered his head and replied, "Yes."

…………

In the blink of an eye, another month has passed.

It's mid-February now, the time when all things come back to life.

On this day, His Majesty the Emperor, along with several princes around ten years old from the palace, cultivated a small plot of land in the Imperial Garden.

Prince Xiang, Li Ling, was among them. The father and sons worked from morning until noon before finally clearing out this small piece of land.

Around noon, the father and his sons washed their hands, and the eunuchs brought them food. It was only then that His Highness the Crown Prince received the news. He rushed over and, upon seeing the Emperor and his brothers, immediately stepped forward and bowed to the Emperor.

"Father."

The young princes quickly bowed to the Crown Prince and addressed him as "elder brother."

The crown prince waved his hand, indicating that they should dispense with the formalities, then looked at the emperor, and then at the small plot of land, and asked, "Today is not the day for the Heaven-worshiping ceremony, so why are you personally plowing the field?"

Every year in the first month of the lunar calendar, the emperor would offer sacrifices to Heaven and personally cultivate a field to show his respect for agriculture. However, it was already the second month, and the time for the emperor to personally cultivate the land had long passed.

"Personally tilling the land is just a formality."

The emperor was physically strong. After plowing the land for half a day, he was only slightly sweaty. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "This piece of land is the real key. I will personally manage this land from now on and come to check on it every day."

As he spoke, he stood up, took out an exquisite cloth bag from his sleeve, and poured out dozens of golden seeds from the bag.

He placed the seeds in front of the crown prince, who looked at them, pondered for a moment, and then said, "These are seeds that the third prince brought back from overseas?"

"That's it."

The emperor stood up, looked at the holes that had been left in advance in the newly cultivated fields, and then patted the crown prince on the shoulder.

“You’ve come at the right time. My son and I will plant these seeds together.”

The emperor was barefoot at the time, and after speaking, he walked directly into the field.

The crown prince looked around, but had no choice but to take off his fine clothes and boots and follow the emperor into the fields.

His Majesty the Emperor tossed the seeds one by one into the pit.

His Highness the Crown Prince followed closely behind him, filling in each and every pit.

The field had been cleared and there weren't many seeds. Before long, the father and son, working together, had planted all the seeds. His Majesty the Emperor stepped out of the field first and then pulled his son up with him.

By now, His Highness the Crown Prince's hands and legs were covered in mud. He said with a wry smile, "Father didn't even tell me beforehand that I should have changed my clothes before coming. These clothes were made for me by Mother Empress herself."

The emperor waved his hand dismissively, and said with a smile, "Just wash it. If it's not clean, I'll have your mother make you another one."

As he spoke, he picked up a bucket from the side and watered each of the seeds he had just planted.

Finally, he planted the sweet potato tubers he had prepared in advance and watered them in the same way.

After finishing these tasks, Emperor Li wiped his sweat, looked back at the field, and felt a surge of excitement.

He then summoned Gu Chang and instructed him, "Send someone over every day to watch over my fields. No one is allowed to touch them or water them without permission. Understand?"

Eunuch Gu nodded hurriedly: "This servant understands?"

"As long as it can sprout, as long as it can sprout..."

He murmured a few words, looked at the Crown Prince, and slowly said, "As long as it can sprout, in two or three years at most, this thing will be in our Great Tang..."

"It has taken root here."

(End of this chapter)