The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 117 Kind Words
By the waterside pavilion of Taiye Lake, Li Lizhi said, "Father has a prejudice against my brother."

Hearing his daughter's complaining words, Li Shimin continued: "I have no prejudice against Cheng Qian."

Li Lizhi put the washed clothes into a small wooden basin, looked at her father with suspicion, and quickly left the pavilion.

The morning breeze blew, creating ripples on the surface of Taiye Lake.

Li Shimin sighed, looked sad and remained silent.

After Princess Changle left, Princess Dongyang also came here to wash clothes.

Li Shimin took another look at his daughter and inexplicably felt that whether she was Lizhi or Dongyang, these daughters were very skilled in washing clothes.

Noticing her father's gaze, Dongyang also looked up. When she saw her father's face, her clear eyes were filled with a smile, and she quickly saluted and said, "Father."

Li Shimin retracted his gaze, took out a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to her.

The distance between the father and daughter was not far. Seeing that she did not extend her hand, he said, "Dongyang, I have never given you anything. This jade pendant has been with me for many years. I give it to you."

Hearing this, Dongyang wiped his hands, took the jade pendant with both hands, saluted solemnly and said: "Thank you, father."

Li Zhi is somewhat immature now. Li Shimin feels that Dongyang is more sensible, and sees her solemnly accept the jade pendant.

Li Shimin smiled comfortingly and said, "Gang Lizhi said that I have a prejudice against the prince."

Seeing her hesitate and embarrassed, Li Shimin sighed and said, "Forget it, I know."

Dongyang quickly added: "My daughter feels that my brother is a very complicated person."

Li Shimin shook his head, "Cheng Qian, your brother... is actually not complicated."

Hearing his father's worried words, Dongyang bowed again and continued to wash his clothes.

Li Shimin sat in the waterside pavilion and raised his fishing rod but saw no fish taking the bait. He said he came here to escape the summer heat and the villa was indeed a nice place to live.

But no matter how I think about it, I feel uncomfortable.

But Cheng Qian is a child who likes to read "Qimin Yaoshu". Such children tend not to become too bad.

Perhaps he was thinking about something, Li Shimin looked sideways and saw a figure walking out of the palace.

The figure looked tall and his steps were steady and heavy.

Li Shimin took one more look and after confirming that it was the prince, he retracted his gaze and continued to look at the surface of the Taiye Lake.

"Brother Emperor!"

I heard my daughter's words from behind.

"Dongyang is here too."

"Hehe." Dongyang smiled and said, "My sister thinks this staircase is very convenient for washing clothes. My sister also likes to come here to wash clothes."

Then the son's voice was heard again.

"Next year Gao Yang will be ten years old, let her wash her own clothes."

"Brother is right. I will teach her."

After saying that, Li Shimin heard Dongyang's footsteps walking away quickly on the gravel beside the lake. When a figure slowly approached him, he asked, "Is today's morning court over?"

Li Chengqian replied: "The rest of the matters will be arranged by the teacher, and I will have time to visit my father."

Li Shimin still held the fishing rod and whispered, "You should learn more from Xuanling's way of dealing with people."

Li Chengqian replied: "I have been learning all the time."

"Hehehe..."

"Why is Father laughing?"

"However the Crown Prince of the East Palace acts, his subordinates will follow suit. When your words and actions can influence others, you should restrain yourself."

Listening to his father's sermon, Li Chengqian said with an unhappy look, "So it was Xu Jingzong who beat up the county magistrate. Sometimes you can't reason with others and have no choice but to take action. This is just a helpless act."

Li Shimin emphasized: "There is another county lieutenant."

"Xu Jingzong's beating has nothing to do with me." Li Chengqian sighed, put his hands in his pockets and said, "But if you want to force this connection on me, I have nothing to say."

Li Shimin looked back and saw that he looked reluctant, so he patiently said, "Many years later, you will find that what I said makes sense."

It’s okay for a prince to have shortcomings.

The simple thing is that after beating Li Yuanchang up, this negative impact will follow him for a long time.

It's just the normal temper and mentality of a teenager. When he grows up and experiences more things, he will naturally understand. Suddenly, I feel that this son is no different from other children of the same age.

Li Shimin sat on a stool and said in a deep voice, "I have heard about the trade. Has no one in the court raised any objection?"

"It's just a little trick. I'm sorry to make you laugh."

In fact, this is a very simple psychological game. When court officials speculate about each other, they naturally don't think about raising objections, but think about how to restrict each other, so the conflict is diverted.

There was silence in the water pavilion for a moment.

"You should use this method less often in the future."

"Thank you, Father, for your teachings."

Li Shimin simply put down his fishing rod, walked out of the pavilion, and breathed in the fresh morning air.

Li Chengqian followed beside his father, one step behind, and walked along the edge of Taiye Lake.

As I walked to the villa, I could hear the laughter of my younger brothers and sisters. Skipping rope, kicking shuttlecock, or doing sit-ups were their morning exercises.

Li Zhi was kicking a sepak takraw ball, and the ball rolled to his father's feet. He ran over quickly, picked up his sepak takraw ball, and said with a smile, "Father, my brother."

Li Chengqian asked: "How is your homework going?"

Li Zhi said: "It's almost finished."

Li Shen said: "It's not written at all."

After saying this, seeing Li Shen trying to run away, Li Zhi, who was exposed, shouted angrily: "Don't run!"

The two younger brothers ran away in a hurry again.

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and sighed, "Are they always so noisy like this?"

The father and son had a rare tacit understanding and frowned at the same time at this moment.

"It's rare for the court to have a day off, and it's rare for the emperor to have some free time to escape the heat, so it would be nice to let them enjoy themselves for a while longer."

We sat down at the stone table in front of the villa. There was a chessboard carved on the stone table. This was a stone table made by craftsmen ordered by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. It could be used for drinking tea as well as playing chess.

At the moment, Li Shimin was unwilling to play chess with his son. After losing to his uncle several times, he had not played chess, a game full of killing and gambling, for a long time.

He took out a military newspaper and placed it on the stone table, saying, "I have something for you to do."

Li Chengqian took the military newspaper suspiciously and opened it to read.

"The military report was delivered last night. Niu Jinda was stationed in the Hexi Corridor. The Khotanese rushed thousands of miles to the Hexi Corridor and brought an urgent report that the Tibetans attacked them, killing and wounding more than 3,000 people. I heard that the Tibetans are still continuing their attack."

Listening to his father's story, Li Chengqian also finished reading the military report, put it aside, sat down with his hands in his pockets, frowned and said nothing.

Li Shimin whispered: "Khotan has always been subservient to the Central Plains, but now that the country is declining, the Tibetans have become disloyal."

Seeing that his son was still silent, Li Shimin continued, "I know that the East Palace has always had contacts with the Tubo Prime Minister Lu Dongzan."

At this point, Li Chengqian probably understood what his father was going to say, but he still kept his hands in his pockets and said nothing. "If you can get Lu Dongzan to withdraw his troops, Khotan will continue to submit to the Tang Dynasty."

Seeing his son still silent, Li Shimin emphasized: "This is very important for the country."

Li Yuan walked away silently. Li Chengqian felt that his grandfather's passing by was deliberate, so he said, "Grandpa."

"Oh my." Li Yuan suddenly stopped and said in surprise, "The Western Regions, the Western Regions are good, we should have taken them earlier."

After saying this, seeing that Grandpa had also sat down, he stroked his beard and said, "Chengqian, your father is right. If Khotan can submit to the Tang Dynasty, it will be of great benefit to the country in the future."

Li Shimin nodded, still looking at his son.

Feeling the gazes of his grandfather and father, Li Chengqian said in a dilemma: "In fact, I am not familiar with Lu Dongzan."

"I heard that Nalu Dongzan often said in Tubo that the Crown Prince and he were like brothers!"

Li Chengqian stroked his forehead painfully and said, "It's all a misunderstanding."

Li Shimin said: "Misunderstanding? This misunderstanding is quite big."

Li Yuan took the noodles brought by Li Lizhi, and he also served noodles to his son and grandson, put them on the table, and then placed chopsticks on the bowls.

Afterwards, Li Yuan started eating by himself.

The grandfather, grandson, father and son were silent for a long time.

Li Shimin also picked up his bowl and chopsticks and started to eat noodles.

Li Chengqian said, "Okay, I will write a letter to Lu Dongzan. Whether I can persuade him depends on luck. But no matter what the result is, Khotan will present enough gifts to the Tang Dynasty next year. This letter from me is very valuable."

Li Shimin nodded, put down his bowl and chopsticks and said, "I have another secret report here."

Generally speaking, those who were able to make secret reports to the emperor were ministers whom he trusted most.

He took the secret report from his father's hand and was about to take it away, but when he exerted force, he found that his father was still holding it in his hand.

"This secret report was sent from the Hexi Corridor."

"Let me see."

The emperor then let go of his hand. Li Chengqian took the secret report, looked at his father and grandfather with a strange look, and then opened it.

Empress Changsun was taking care of little Sizi's meal, and from time to time she glanced at the father, son, grandfather and grandson who were not far away.

Seeing that His Majesty and Cheng Qian had not yet started eating, I couldn't help but sigh. These father and son couldn't even eat in peace.

What will happen to this family in the future...

Li Chengqian looked at the contents of the secret report and saw that it was signed by General Li Daliang. The content was that Li Yifu recruited Tuyuhun people to serve as laborers to supplement the manpower to build the Hexi Corridor.

"It turns out that my father has been sending the general to monitor us."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "You chose the person. Li Daliang was worried about chaos and the matter involved the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, so he gave me a secret report."

Li Chengqian said: "That's right, this matter was arranged by this son, and it was also my son's instruction that Li Yifu did this."

Li Yuan was still sitting there eating noodles, the sound of him slurping the noodles was very loud, and it was obvious that he was enjoying his meal.

Li Shimin continued, "Li Yifu intends to pay the Tuyuhun people with soap."

"Du He said that he was willing to give soap to the Tuyuhun people as wages. If a Tuyuhun worked in the Hexi Corridor for a month, he could get three bars of soap, which was a lot of money. In the Western Regions, a bar of soap could be sold for sixty coins, and a scented soap could even be sold for five hundred coins."

"Of course, these are also my instructions. Otherwise, only 50,000 strings of cash would not be enough to build the Hexi Corridor. I also arranged to do this with the lowest cost."

Noticing his father's gaze, Li Chengqian added, "My father asked me to supervise the government affairs. I cannot sit idly by and watch such a great opportunity."

"I have said that I want soap to become something that can be used as money, like pepper. If ordinary soap is worthless, people will flock to it if it is replaced by scented soap. For those who rarely take a bath, making themselves smell good is a very happy thing."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Should I remember Du He for a great achievement?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "No, it doesn't cost much for Du He. After summer, the soap season will be over. Since the workshop in Jingyang cannot be stopped, he is worried that the soap will not be sold and will occupy the warehouse. It is also a good way to clear the inventory."

"Du He can make a lot of money and doesn't need a reward from the emperor. Instead, he should thank the court for giving him this opportunity."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Really not necessary?"

Li Chengqian folded his hands and said, "Father, please don't give people rewards without authorization. This is not good."

Seeing that the father and son had almost finished their conversation, Empress Changsun brought a plate of loquats, placed it on the stone table, and whispered, "The noodle soup is cold."

Only then did Li Shimin pick up his chopsticks and start eating with relish.

After hearing what his mother said, Li Chengqian also quickly picked up his chopsticks.

Li Yuan chewed his food and said, "Give me another bowl."

Li Zhi took his grandfather's bowl and helped to serve the noodles.

After lunch, Li Chengqian stood up, took two loquats, and said, "I will go back to the East Palace first."

Li Shimin nodded and ate loquat as fruit after meal.

After leaving the villa, Li Chengqian put the loquat in his sleeve and pondered over his father's words.

"Brother Emperor!"

After walking for a while, Li Chengqian heard someone calling him from behind and stopped. He saw his sister Dongyang running towards him. She handed him a pair of cloth gloves and said, "Is this for my brother?"

Li Chengqian took the cloth gloves and asked curiously, "Did you make them?"

Dongyang smiled and said, "It was my father who gave my sister to my brother."

Hearing this, Li Chengqian looked at her suspiciously. The stitches looked a little rough, so it was probably made by her own hands, and his father never used gloves.

I only use it when I am in the East Palace, repairing chairs or helping to repair the roof.

It was clearly made by her own hands, and originally intended to be given to me, her brother the Emperor, but she insisted that it was a gift from our father.

Knowing this white lie, Li Chengqian said, "Thank you, father, for me."

Dongyang said again: "Sister will go back first."

She ran away quickly again.

Dongyang is a usually quiet younger sister, two years younger than Lizhi and only twelve years old this year.

Li Chengqian put away the cloth gloves. This sister probably wanted to reduce the quarrels between me and my father.

A white lie, my younger brothers and sisters also hope that the family will be more harmonious.

Don't I want to? Even so, can my brothers and sisters help me make my father abdicate?
Dongyang quickly ran back to the villa and sat next to his sister Li Lizhi.

"Sent it to my brother?"

Dongyang nodded and said, "Yes, my sister said it was a gift from my father."

Hearing this, Li Lizhi, who was solving a problem, put down her pen, propped her cheek with one hand and said in distress: "My brother has probably seen through it."

Dongyang blinked his bright eyes innocently.

Li Li asked, "How did you reply?"

Dongyang whispered, "My brother said he would thank my father on his behalf."

"Alas..." Li Lizhi sighed, "My brother has never thanked my father for his reward."

(End of this chapter)