The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 106 Father and Son "Trust" Each Other
Li Shimin flipped through the file in his hand, glanced at his son who came in, and said slowly: "Why do you have time to come to my place?"

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Your son is here to visit your father."

The emperor's eyes were still on the file, and he just said lightly, "Please take a seat."

"Thank you, Father."

"And there are grapes sent from the Western Regions."

Li Chengqian picked a grape from a bunch of grapes nearby and ate it.

Li Shimin laughed and said, "Why? Haven't the grapes in Jingyang been planted yet?"

Two wet eunuchs were still kneeling on the ground in the hall, their faces pressed against the ground and trembling.

Li Chengqian suddenly asked: "What are you kneeling for?"

Li Shimin whispered, "They feel they have done something wrong."

"What did you do wrong?" Li Chengqian walked aside and whispered, "Didn't you just bring me firewood at Taiye Lake?"

"Your Highness!" The eunuch knelt on the ground and trembled, "Old slave, old slave..."

Li Chengqian smiled and continued, "You must have done something wrong to be forced to kneel like this. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Li Shimin also smiled and said, "Did you hear that? Your Highness, you don't have to kneel anymore."

The eunuch was still kneeling on the ground, not daring to look up at His Majesty, let alone look directly at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

"Father, I went to see the construction of the villa today. The construction is going smoothly and it will be completed before June. When your Majesty lives in the villa, he may even be able to eat grapes grown in Jingyang."

"My son is very thoughtful."

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and frowned, "Father, you should trust me."

"Of course I believe you."

"I hope your Majesty will not send anyone to monitor me."

"Hehehe..." Li Shimin said with a smile: "Why would I send someone to monitor you? You are my prince, and you are the one I trust the most."

Li Chengqian bowed and said, "Thank you for your understanding, Father. I already knew that you would never send anyone to monitor me."

"Is there anything else?"

"I'm leaving now."

“Take the grapes too.”

"Thank you, Father."

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince picked up a plate of grapes, then walked out of the Ganlu Palace at a leisurely pace, and then heard the sound of raindrops falling on the umbrella.

Li Shimin finally put down the file in his hand, looked at his son walking into the rain, then looked at the eunuch who was still kneeling on the ground and said, "Did you hear what the prince said?"

"I heard it."

Li Shimin whispered, "From now on, you will stay in Ganlu Palace and work."

The eunuch kowtowed again and again, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

The rain was sometimes heavy and sometimes light. It was not until the evening that the sun finally appeared on the horizon.

Li Chengqian sat in the front hall of the East Palace, correcting the homework of his younger brothers and sisters. Except for Li Zhi and Li Shen who were still a little behind, the rest of them could learn the more complicated word problems.

Li Lizhi ate grapes and whispered, "Brother, does geometry really require so many formulas?"

Li Chengqian nodded, "Yes, I just expressed some more complicated mathematical principles in the form of formulas."

The palace was still wet after the rain, and the palace maids were quietly wiping the floor of the front hall to keep it as clean as possible.

Li Lizhi looked at the geometric formula, frowning and thinking.

The next day, after the morning court session, Li Chengqian came to the Taiye Lake and worked with the group of craftsmen to build this villa for his father with his own hands.

"Your Highness, you don't have to do this." The old craftsman at the side said with a smile.

"I can learn as much as I can. You don't have to be so reserved." Li Chengqian took a wooden hammer and hammered the mortise and tenon into the joint of the wooden frame.

The prince was a very serious person, so he mastered the carpentry work here very quickly.

Li Chengqian wore an apron and cloth gloves. He first used the wood here to make various rulers, and even made a compass for himself.

After marking the wood, cut it down with a saw.

Some craftsmen were curious about how His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would use these tools.

Craftsmen used to hang a stone on a wooden frame to confirm the verticality of the wall. This is a technique passed down by word of mouth among craftsmen.

The prince had a triangle ruler in his hand. By placing it in the corner, he could know whether there was any offset. He could even use a semicircular wooden board to measure the angle.

Li Chengqian could easily measure an angle of 90 degrees and 45 degrees.

Most craftsmen rely on their experience to mark the two ends of the right angle to find what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince calls the two forty-five degrees.

Craftsmen did not know what a forty-five-degree angle was; they generally referred to it as an opposite angle.

"Brother Emperor!"

Hearing shouts from afar, Li Chengqian looked up and saw his two younger brothers running towards him.

Li Zhi and Li Shen often came running, and Li Chengqian was used to their behavior. They always came like the wind and left like a rabbit.

When they came closer, looking at the sweat on their foreheads, Li Chengqian said, "Run slower, be careful not to fall."

Li Zhi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Brother, come to see the emperor."

There are no eunuchs stalking the Taiye Lake now, and my father will most likely not send any more eunuchs here.

"Did the Emperor ask you to come?"

Li Zhi said: "Father said that my brother was building a house at Taiye Lake, so I wanted to come and see it."

Li Shen explained: "My younger brother wants to help my elder brother."

Li Chengqian looked at the wood he had just sawed off, used a ruler to confirm the flatness of the cut surface, and whispered, "Building a house is not a fun thing."

Looking at his two silly brothers, Li Chengqian ordered, "Help me hang up these wooden rings."

Li Zhi asked curiously, "What is this used for?"

"Hang the curtains."

Continuing to work on his hands, Li Chengqian glanced to the side, fearing that his two younger brothers would wave the sticks like Monkey King.

Looking again, fortunately they did not do that, and were sensible enough to hang the wooden rings one by one.

Not long after, Ning Er came over with a food box. She handed it to him and said, "Your Highness, it's time to eat."

Li Chengqian washed his hands by the pool and called his two younger brothers to have dinner together.

Looking back, I saw that the craftsmen all brought their own dry food and they could work by eating a piece of bread.

Li Zhi whispered, "Brother, don't they need to eat meat?"

Li Shen said: "The craftsmen are paid for their work. Your Majesty will pay them. Of course they can eat meat, but they don't want to eat meat in front of us." Li Chengqian smiled and said nothing.

After a simple meal, Li Chengqian put the bowl and chopsticks back into the food box.

Ning Er took out a roll of paper and whispered, "This is a letter from Jingzhao Prefecture."

The prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture was the emperor's uncle Li Daozon, who could report the situation in each county to the Eastern Palace or to his father the emperor at the first time.

Pei Xingjian, the county lieutenant, finally started to do his job. In fact, what he was asked to do was very simple. The so-called three-year plan for Weinan was much easier than the five-year plan for Jingyang.

Based on the water and soil conditions in Weinan, green onions and persimmons are grown on a large scale.

I originally wanted to plant more day lilies in Weinan, but in Guanzhong now, day lilies are everywhere, so there is no need to plant them on a large scale yet.

Therefore, growing onions and persimmons and making better persimmon cakes has become Weinan County’s plan for the next three years.

After all, the green onions from Hua County, Weinan have always been a major feature of Guanzhong.

It’s just that this feature is planted in advance.

With enough scallions, pork can be eaten in more ways.

In a sense, Jingyang's pig farming industry began to take root at the beginning of this year, and Weinan's green onions will bear fruit next year.

The two sides complement each other and can cooperate for a long time.

However, Pei Xingjian and Xu Jingzong now don’t know the relationship between their two counties.

As the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, he has always adhered to the strategy of adapting things to local conditions.

This is the principle of doing things and also an instinctive habit.

Slowly build the Northwest and change its destiny. In the near future, plant a large forest in the Northwest and turn the Gobi Desert into a forest.

There are many ideals in life, and what is happening now is just a small step towards achieving that ideal.

The framework of my father's summer villa has been completed, the walls have been built, and the beams have been erected. All that remains is to lay the tiles and pave the floor.

Once summer arrives in Guanzhong, the palace becomes indeed hot and stuffy. Young people can still endure it, but my mother and the emperor cannot.

"Brother, I can use a ruler now." Li Shen grinned, revealing his newly replaced front teeth.

Li Chengqian continued: "Draw a triangle, and then draw a circle from the triangle."

Upon hearing this, Li Shen took a ruler and drew a triangle on a wooden board. Then he drew a circle using a compass while attaching three sides of the triangle.

This younger brother also has a talent for architecture?

Li Chengqian ordered: "Draw the overall framework of this villa."

Li Shen smiled and nodded, looking at the villa under construction. He drew a blueprint with a ruler and used what he saw to draw a general plan of the villa.

As the emperor's elder brother, he would go to see his progress from time to time and give him some advice from time to time.

In fact, Li Shen’s math performance was very poor, just as bad as Li Zhi’s.

But if you look closely, you will find that Li Shen has a strong understanding of graphics.

Ning Er asked, "Your Highness has any other instructions for Jingzhao Prefecture. Do you need me to relay them?"

Li Chengqian whispered, "No need."

County Lieutenant Pei finally started to work. The new county lieutenant had only been in office for half a month.

We have only started to do things now. In addition to taking the lead in making local achievements, only when the counties in Guanzhong become prosperous can the court become prosperous, and only then can we build bridges and roads and put the tax reform on the agenda.

Therefore, the wealth of each county also indirectly affects the strength of the central government.

After being busy at the Taiye Lake for a whole day, eunuchs would occasionally come to the Taiye Lake to fetch water. These eunuchs would try their best to avoid the villa that was being built, for fear of seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

According to rumors in the palace, the two eunuchs who were watching the prince were seriously ill and could not get up.

This personally involved prince even built a villa for the emperor.

There was no shortage of discussion in the court about the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. He ordered his men to beat Li Yuanchang and then quarreled with His Majesty.

Rumors about the Crown Prince have been circulating in the court. Recently, except for occasionally going to the Secretariat to handle the allocation of money and grain, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been spending most of his time building a villa for the current emperor.

When June was about to begin in Guanzhong, good news came from Jingyang. The grape racks in Jingyang began to bear fruit. Although the fruits were still very small, even smaller than beans, this was extremely exciting good news.

Xu Jingzong simply lived under the grape trellis and looked at the grapes every day.

On this day, Li Chengqian took his father to walk by the Taiye Lake. The father and son were silent for a while.

In fact, the Eastern Palace can no longer accommodate outsiders. The Eastern Palace has always been run by these palace maids. Even the Chongwen Hall where the retired emperor lives, the eunuchs who served my grandfather are not allowed to enter the Eastern Palace.

Therefore, the emperor knew less and less about the Eastern Palace.

Li Chengqian ate a cucumber himself and passed one to his father.

Li Shimin took the cucumber and ate it while whispering, "I heard that grapes are grown in Jingyang?"

"Ah."

"I thought you would tell me this good news as soon as possible."

"Father, the emperor knows everything, so I did not report this matter."

As we got closer, we saw a villa, which was about a hundred feet from front to back. It didn't look very big, but fortunately it had a main house, a back house, a front yard, and a backyard.

There is also a waterwheel in front of the door. The water brought down by the waterwheel will flow into a bamboo tube suspended in the air at both ends. As the bamboo tube swings up and down, it will flow into the reservoir on the side.

Li Chengqian explained: "I use the reservoir and the waterwheel to form a water flow, and the water here has become running water."

There are also many craftsmen leveling the road surface of the villa.

Li Chengqian continued, "In two days, the emperor and the queen will be able to move in. Since summer has arrived in Guanzhong, the palace is hot and stuffy. I want to ask the emperor to move in as well."

Li Shimin said: "I originally wanted to build a summer palace for your grandfather in Longshouyuan. Now that it has been built, let your grandfather live here too."

"Father, you are understanding. I feel that all my efforts are worth it."

When the emperor talks to the prince, they don't always use sarcasm. Just like now, the father and son are walking together in harmony.

"There is news recently that the new Khan of Tuyuhun is busy with the Jingyang caravan?"

Li Chengqian nodded and explained, "Yes, Xu Jingzong and Murong Shun have a very good relationship. Murong Shun helped the Jingyang caravan and he earned a lot of money. I heard that he made hundreds of coins just from this trip to the Turks."

Li Shimin suddenly smiled, "You really didn't arrange these things?"

"Your Majesty, you are joking. This was all Murong Shun's own will."

"You let a Tuyuhun Khan earn so much money, aren't you afraid that he will betray the Tang Dynasty in the future?"

Li Chengqian walked beside his father with his hands in his pockets and whispered, "If there is no threat, then of course we are not afraid. Even if he betrayed the Tang Dynasty, he only gained some wealth. Jingyang can continue to operate with another person."

"The Tuyuhun people knew what their new Khan Murong Shun had done, and they felt that their Khan had abandoned his people."

"My father is the Heavenly Khan, and the Tuyuhun people are also his subjects. He has never abandoned us." Li Chengqian stopped and said, "It's time to send out the envoys from the Sifang Pavilion to persuade the Tuyuhun people."

(End of this chapter)