The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 123: Lu Dongzan who harmed himself
Li Shimin was getting tired of talking to his son. He looked at the pavilion in front of him and asked, "When can the Lingyan Pavilion be built?"

Li Chengqian replied: "The Ministry of Works will arrange the construction of Lingyan Pavilion, as early as this winter."

Li Shimin took another look, stroked his beard and remained silent.

"By the way, Father, are you going to go hunting again this year?"

"What if I say I want to go?"

Li Chengqian stood there and replied, "No money."

I had expected my son to say this, and I had prepared myself mentally, but when I heard him say this, I still felt irritated and upset.

Looking at his son again, Li Shimin asked, "Where are you going to use the money in the court?"

Li Chengqian bowed and said, "Father, I will discuss any useful matters with the Censorate and my teacher."

What this kid meant was, why bother asking such unnecessary questions?
In fact, all the affairs of the court are under my eyes, and the facts are indeed so.

"I heard that you want to invite Lu Dongzan to Chang'an?"

"I have asked the people from the Honglu Temple to make the arrangements."

"Will Lu Dongzan come?"

Li Chengqian said: "If he doesn't come, it's fine. This is just a personal invitation from me, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. It has nothing to do with the attitude of my father or the court."

Li Shimin nodded slightly.

Seeing that his father had nothing else to say, Li Chengqian started talking to his mother. When he mentioned his sister Li Lizhi's current learning ability, his mother covered her mouth and laughed softly.

Li Shimin stood aside with a stern face and remained silent.

The parents and child were sitting in the Sanqing Hall, talking in low voices.

As a son and subject, Li Chengqian never talked about his ideals in front of his father, the emperor and his mother.

Instead, he was talking about the changes in the Eastern Palace and Li Zhi and Li Shen who had never been able to learn well.

The palace maids and eunuchs stood by and watched the family of three talking and laughing.

In fact, everything His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said was very interesting. There was also the story that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin raised a duck as a friend, but it was eventually thrown into the Taiye Lake.

The palace maids and eunuchs all saw it, and when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince talked about these funny things, His Majesty wanted to laugh, but he just kept a straight face.

As the sun gradually set, Li Chengqian said, "It's getting late, I will go back to the East Palace first."

Before His Majesty could speak, Empress Changsun said, "Go ahead."

After bowing to his father and mother, Li Chengqian left quickly.

The queen frowned and looked at her husband who was hesitant to speak, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, what else do you want to complain to Cheng Qian about?"

Li Shimin said: "I didn't mean to complain to him, it's just... that's all!"

Empress Changsun added: "Even if Cheng Qian does not achieve anything, he is still the child of me and Your Majesty, and the eldest brother of all the children in the palace."

Li Shimin nodded slowly.

People from the Honglu Temple rushed overnight and delivered the letter from the prince to Lu Dongzan to the Hexi Corridor.

Then it was sent to Tubo by people from the Hexi Corridor.

When autumn came in October in Guanzhong, the reply from Tubo arrived.

Jingzhao Prefecture was very busy in October. Du He found a way to convert copper coins into assets. He used a large amount of copper coins to buy 2,300 pieces of purple cotton satin and 2,000 pieces of fine cotton silk, which was a total of 56,000 strings of coins.

To the prince, Du He’s current wealth did not meet his initial expectations, but if he was not rich, he was still quite wealthy.

This noble son of the Jingzhao Du family still has to work hard.

The silk shipped from Jiangnan was woven in the summer and arrived in Guanzhong in the autumn. Except for one thousand pieces of purple cotton silk presented to the palace, most of them were bought by Du He, a big buyer.

The Jingzhao Prefecture collected a total of 10,000 strings of cash in taxes from both sides of this transaction.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Prefect of Jingzhao were sitting in a hall on the second floor, drinking tea and watching Du He chatting and laughing with the merchants from Jiangnan.

Xu Jingzong waited on the side, watching bags of copper coins being put into the box.

Yu Zhining also had to archive the money and put it into the files.

"Your Highness, the reply from Tubo has arrived."

Li Chengqian took the reply, opened the roll of burlap, read the contents and laughed, "This Lu Dongzan is really weak and sickly."

"Really?" Li Daozon asked curiously.

Not everything goes smoothly. Clearly, everyone was on good terms with each other through correspondence, but when it came time to invite him to Chang'an, the Tubo Prime Minister happened to be ill again. What a coincidence...

If you don’t dare to come to Chang’an, then you don’t dare to come.

"He gets seriously ill every other day and can't travel far. What does he think of me?"

The second floor of the main hall became quiet again, but the laughter of the merchants downstairs could still be heard.

The two sides even agreed on the process of trading grape wine for the following year, and southern merchants were willing to exchange tea for soap from Guanzhong.

The current crown prince has frequent correspondence with Tubo and is almost becoming pen pals with the two.

Li Chengqian sighed and wrote: My heart is shining like the bright moon, but the bright moon only shines on the ditch. People's hearts can change easily, but it is said that people's hearts are easily changed.

After writing two lines of poetry, he handed them to the official from the Honglu Temple who brought the letter and instructed, "Send it to Tubo."

Li Dao Zong took a look and praised: "What a good sentence."

"It is indeed a good sentence." This was the first time Xu Jingzong saw the prince write a poem, but after thinking about it again, he felt that it was not right. Why did the poem not read smoothly and the artistic conception was not clear?

But he didn't say it on the spot, Xu Jingzong just thought about it secretly in his heart.

Li Chengqian said calmly, "I wanted to treat Lu Dongzan as a friend, but I didn't expect him to be perfunctory to me several times."

Li Dao Zong said in a deep voice: "If I still have military power in my hands, I will definitely lead a hundred soldiers to attack Tubo and capture Lu Dongzan alive and bring him to Chang'an."

Xu Jingzong whispered, "One hundred soldiers?"

Li Daozong said: "It's just Tubo, one hundred soldiers are enough."

Xu Jingzong stood there in a daze, not knowing how to respond.

Yu Zhining said, "Your Highness, everything is ready."

Li Chengqian stood up and said, "Let's go back."

"Here."

Yu Zhining ordered his men to take all the boxes and carry them back.

Du He was still negotiating with these merchants from Jiangnan. These people did not know that the person walking through the main hall was the current crown prince, nor did they know that the crown prince had actually been here all along.

Except for Du He, who had a respectful look on his face but did not say a word, everyone else was still immersed in the joy of the successful transaction.

In the transaction of 50,000 strings of cash, both sides of the court collected taxes. Du He handed over 5,000 strings of cash, and several merchants from Jiangnan also handed over more than 5,000 strings of cash.

The court collected taxes on this transaction. To be precise, this should be considered a market tax, which was levied based on the value of the goods traded.

Letting Jingzhao Prefecture preside over this transaction is also to reassure both sides. In the future, all bulk commodity transactions between the counties in Guanzhong and various parts of the Central Plains will be presided over by Jingzhao Prefecture.

Since the first attempt was successful, you can do it a few more times in the future.

When you walk outside the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture, you will see several vendors selling green onions and pork on the street, and even buns made with green onions and boiled lamb.

Xu Jingzong stood in front of the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture, bidding farewell, and said with a smile: "This is all spontaneously initiated by the villagers of Jingyang and Weinan." The green onions are from Weinan, and the pork is from Jingyang.

All these were arranged by Xu Jingzong, the Shaoyin of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Under the micromanagement of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, a new model of cooperation between counties emerged.

The power of a single county is limited. If only Jingyang County develops, its power will be too weak.

Some things require the concerted efforts of all counties in Guanzhong to achieve results.

Having one more food and more dishes on people's tables is certainly a good thing that benefits the country and the people.

Li Chengqian patted Xu Jingzong's shoulder heavily, then left with a solemn look.

Xu Jingzong, who thought he had done a pretty good job, saw the crown prince's expression and wondered if it was because the crown prince was still not satisfied or because Lu Dongzan's letter had made His Highness in a bad mood?

Looking at the prince's leaving back, he bowed and saluted with fear.

The persimmons and dates in Lantian County should have a good harvest in a while, Xu Jingzong thought to himself and walked back to Jingzhao Prefecture.

Because the prince has good intentions towards Lu Dongzan, I will turn my heart to the moon.

But the reality went against one's will. Lu Dongzan used such a perfunctory excuse to prevaricate, which was that the bright moon was shining on the ditch.

It is said that the minds of old friends can change easily, but it is also said that the minds of old friends are easily changed.

Lu Dongzan is a bad guy. How dare he treat the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty in such a perfunctory way.

When this poem, some of which did not express the meaning and the artistic conception were not clear, was circulated in the court and the country, the officials in the court and the country had an increasingly negative opinion of the Tibetans.

The actions of the Tubo prime minister lowered the favorable impression of the majority of Tubo people in the court and the public.

Character is credibility, so it would probably be more difficult for Tubo to obtain trading documents for mutual trade with the Tang Dynasty.

From now on, we will be able to legitimately refuse the Tibetans from participating in trade.

Although the prince's not very fluent poem was discussed by literati, Lu Dongzan's character was rated poorly by all the intellectuals in Guanzhong who liked poetry because of this poem.

This man was also the prime minister of Tubo, and even Songtsen Gampo of Tubo was given a bad review by the cultural people in Guanzhong.

Poetry is the easiest to spread. Even Li Chengqian, who usually went to work, went home and went home, did not expect that two lines of poetry would be discussed like this in the court.

Half a month later, the weather in Guanzhong turned cooler as autumn arrived.

Li Chengqian had a rare moment of leisure, sitting in the Secretariat and eating tea eggs.

Eating tea eggs in autumn has become a rule in the Eastern Palace and a common practice in the court.

In the eyes of the Turks or people from the Western Regions, eating tea eggs after the beginning of autumn is a new fashion in the Tang Dynasty.

And this tea egg is really expensive.

Li Chengqian peeled the shell of a tea egg and asked, "Why is my uncle looking at me like that?"

Chang Sun Wuji was also peeling the shell of a tea egg and whispered, "It is said that the hearts of old friends are easily changed."

"It's Lu Dongzan who's fickle, not my uncle."

There are only uncle and nephew in the Secretariat.

He was very satisfied with his nephew's abilities. This year's salaries for all civil and military officials in the court were distributed smoothly, and there was even a surplus of 100,000 strings of cash in the court.

This Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace was in charge of the court's expenses for two years. He adhered to the principle of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, and made the court gradually prosperous.

Zhang Sun Wuji sighed: "Your Highness the Crown Prince should not write such a poem."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Will it make people think you are stingy and calculating?"

Changsun Wuji nodded and said, "That's right."

"Uncle is too paranoid." Li Chengqian ate tea eggs and said, "I am the crown prince of the Eastern Palace. I support the construction of Guanzhong and control the expenses of the court. So far, I have only these two powers. Being in the center, I have to be very calculative. I must also be a stingy person, so that the court officials can be convinced."

Chang Sun Wuji sighed: "That too... Alas!"

With a sigh, he added: "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have put Your Highness in this position."

Li Chengqian said: "The whole court is watching me. Rather than being watched and worried that the Crown Prince will be partial to me in spending, it is better to be a stingy person."

"As the saying goes, if you have too many lice, you won't feel the itch; if you have too many rumors, you won't care about them."

Zhang Sun Wuji added: "This is not a nice thing to say. Your Highness, please do not judge yourself in this way."

Li Chengqian asked again: "What kind of poem do you think I should write?"

"If Your Highness the Crown Prince cannot write poetry, he can choose not to do so, so as to avoid being criticized again."

"Uncle really loves to joke."

Li Chengqian smiled awkwardly.

Changsun Wuji also smiled knowingly and ate the tea eggs happily.

I was free and wanted to go out for a walk, but I have to wait for some news today.

After eating two tea eggs, Li Chengqian put the small stove aside. The fire in the stove was still burning the kettle, and the tea eggs in the kettle continued to cook.

About an hour later, I heard voices outside the door.

Cen Wenben ran in first, holding a file and saying, "Your Highness, the money has arrived, and the people from the Censorate and the escorting officers and soldiers from the Ministry of War have returned."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Please come in."

One team was civil servants, the other was soldiers from the Ministry of War, the two teams were escorting boxes of silver and money.

Ma Zhou walked in front and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, Duke Zhao, this is the silver for this year's trade."

After opening the two boxes, Li Chengqian looked at the gold and silver inside.

Ma Zhou added: "These were all given by the King of Gaochang."

Li Chengqian picked up a piece of gold and asked, "Have you checked it all?"

Ma Zhou said: "I have checked and found that they are all real gold and silver. The King of Gaochang is very generous."

Only then did Li Chengqian realize that the wealth of the Silk Road was far more exaggerated than he had expected.

Making money is so hard, you might as well just rob it.

Taking Cen Wenben's file, Li Chengqian looked through the accounts of this trade. The main goods in this trade were tea, soap, cloth, silk, and some salt and iron.

One ounce of tea leaves is equal to three ounces of coarse salt, which is equal to ten bars of soap. Twenty bars of soap are equal to one bar of scented soap. Five bars of scented soap can be exchanged for eight ounces of refined iron.

This is basically the price agreed upon between the people of the Western Regions and the Tang people.

Everyone stood in the Secretariat, watching His Royal Highness the Crown Prince walking back and forth with files in his hands, as if he was thinking something.

At this moment, it was very quiet here. Everyone listened to their own breathing and waited for the Crown Prince's next instructions.

When the mutual trade reached the Western Regions, it evolved into a transaction based on trust between countries. Seeing the boxes of gold and silver, with gold and silver mixed together and piled up in a mess, Li Chengqian became more and more unhappy.

"How can this be mixed together?"

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly said something that surprised everyone.

After Yu Zhining understood, he quickly poured out the gold and silver, and separated the gold and silver cakes into their respective boxes.

Li Chengqian felt much more comfortable, and said, "It would be even better if they could be neatly stacked and all the same size."

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(End of this chapter)