The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 138 Never give in

Li Chengqian took the memorial and looked at its contents.

As the Minister of Personnel, he is in charge of the promotion and dismissal of officials. Nowadays, even the county magistrate is under the supervision of the Ministry of Personnel.

Chang Sun Wuji said: "The county magistrates of Gaoling, Huayin and Liquan counties have all submitted their resignations."

Li Chengqian looked at the memorial and his face turned cold. "What do you think of the county magistrates of these three counties?"

"The county magistrate of Gaoling County was awarded this position for his military exploits. His name is Chen Yuan and he is fifty-three years old this year. The county magistrate of Huayin County is from the Hongnong clan and has a high prestige in Huayin. The county magistrate of Liquan County is from the side branch of Concubine Yang, but Concubine Yang has not had any contact with him for many years."

Li Chengqian said: "My uncle is also very familiar with the county magistrates of each county, and knows their backgrounds very clearly."

"I was ordered to serve as the Minister of Personnel. Not to mention the officials in the court, the counties in Guanzhong are of great importance. I know this clearly."

Li Chengqian asked: "Teacher, how do you think we should deal with this matter?"

Fang Xuanling continued to review the documents and said, "This is your Highness's business. Please feel free to arrange it."

Zhang Sun Wuji said: "There is no need for Prime Minister Fang to remedy the situation. The Ministry of Personnel will take care of this matter. Your Highness, rest assured."

Fang Xuanling did not reply, but continued writing.

Looking at his nephew beside him, Changsun Wuji said, "The other two counties are fine, but the matter in Huayin County is a bit tricky."

Li Chengqian sat down again, his expression calm, and said, "Are they trying to threaten me with resigning?"

"What do you think, Your Highness?"

"Even if they don't come to resign, I still want to dismiss them."

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in charge of agricultural affairs in Guanzhong, and with the pressure that Xu Jingzong puts on the counties, these county officials must either adapt to these changes and improve their own abilities.

Or you can just resign and leave as soon as possible like the three counties before you.

Changsun Wuji looked at his nephew's courage and thought that the sixteen-year-old boy really seemed to be fearless of any difficulties.

Your Majesty was also so high-spirited back then.

Li Chengqian said in a deep voice: "If they want to leave, let them go."

Chang Sun Wuji asked: "Who should we find to fill the vacancy?"

"Select several capable people from Jingzhao Prefecture, have Xu Jingzong select them, personally teach them and send them to these three counties, and tell them that if they don't do the job, there are plenty of people who will fill the vacancies."

After seeing his uncle write approval on the three memorials, Li Chengqian left quickly.

Looking at his nephew's back, Changsun Wuji handed the memorial to a clerk beside him and instructed, "Tell the county magistrates of the three counties that the court has allowed them to retire."

"Here."

Fang Xuanling put down the pen in his hand and said, "This alone is not enough."

Zhang Sun Wuji said: "Of course it is not enough. The relationship between the various counties in Guanzhong and the dignitaries in Chang'an City is complicated. How can it be settled by the prince with just a few words?"

"So what else do you think needs to be done?"

"What does Fang Xiang think?"

Fang Xuanling walked outside the Secretariat, enjoying the sunshine he hadn't seen for a long time. He tapped his lower back with his hand, straightened his back, and raised his head and said, "Let Ma Zhou go to Huayin County."

Zhang Sun Wuji said: "Let Chu Suiliang go to Gaoling as well."

The two smiled at each other and left.

The next day, after the morning court session, Li Shimin heard that three counties had submitted resignation letters to the Ministry of Personnel.

"Cheng Qian must be so angry that he's smashing things now."

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince returned to the East Palace early yesterday. He seemed to be in a good mood and was chatting and laughing with the guards of Chengtian Gate."

"Hehehe..." Li Shimin took the brush and brushed the white horse in front of him with a smile on his face.

The father was so happy when his son encountered difficulties. Empress Changsun looked at her husband's smiling face and shook her head, "Do you still think that Cheng Qian will come to Your Majesty for help?"

"Cheng Qian has always advocated self-reliance. Since he boasted that he wanted to make Guanzhong rich, he should handle the troubles himself."

Li Shimin smiled happily and said, "Guanyin, if Chengqian comes to tell me, I will naturally help him."

Hearing this, the queen's face showed even more displeasure.

Little Sizi ate raisins quietly, sitting in his mother's arms without saying a word, his eyes fixed on the white horse that his father was washing.

Soon, a eunuch came hurriedly.

Li Shimin asked, "Have you found out?"

"Your Majesty, I have found out that Jingzhao Prefecture is currently conducting training."

"Training?" Li Shimin asked puzzledly, "What training?"

"It was arranged by Xu Shaoyin. He said that some people would be trained so that they would have enough ability to deal with county and township issues. Therefore, they would need training. After that, Jingzhao Prefecture would select some people and assign them to various counties."

Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "As I expected, this child will not compromise."

The queen's expression became more worried.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing that I am not sure whether I should tell you."

Li Shimin patted the white horse's neck heavily and said, "Speak."

"Yes." The eunuch bowed and said, "Prime Minister Fang sent the Censor Ma Zhou to Huayin County and arrested the county magistrate who had just resigned, and also arrested several elders of the Hongnong clan, saying that they found some private transactions."

Seeing that the smile on His Majesty's face froze, the old eunuch lowered his voice a little, and then said: "And the Duke of Zhao sent Chu Suiliang to Gaoling County. The original Gaoling County Magistrate and his family moved out of Guanzhong."

The queen smiled again. She stopped letting Xiao Sizi eat raisins and said, "Your brother said that you can't eat too many raisins."

Little Sizi asked in a confused manner, "Royal brother?"

"When I have some free time, I will take you to the East Palace first. In the future, you will also go to the East Palace to learn skills like your brothers and sisters."

Little Sizi grinned, as if the three-year-old girl understood the meaning and agreed to it.

His Majesty's face was gloomy, and the eunuch stepped aside and dared not say a word.

The white horse snorted, as if it also felt the anger of the human beside it. It padded quietly to the side, sniffing the fragrant grass on the ground.

"Xuanling, assistant?" Li Shimin said with a dark face, "They are the elders, how can they act like this?"

Empress Changsun suppressed her smile and looked at her husband.

Li Shimin breathed heavily and continued, "I want to use this incident to train him as the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. I have never said that I will not help him settle the counties. As long as I say a word, the counties in Guanzhong will not dare to disobey."

His Majesty was so angry that he put his hands behind his back, paced back and forth, and shook his head. "They are elders after all, and we should take this opportunity to train him more. How can they act like this... How can I train this prince? This is unreasonable!"

The queen left with little Sizi in her arms, smiling, leaving the emperor sulking here.

"A teacher helped his student to clean up the mess, and an uncle helped his nephew to drive people out of Guanzhong..." Li Shimin pointed at the eunuch beside him, his fingers trembling with anger, and asked: "Which county is the one who wants to resign?"

"Your Majesty, it is Liquan County."

"Yes! What about Liquan County?"

"The news just came that the county magistrate of Liquan County said that his son drank too much and wrote a letter of resignation by mistake. Now he wants to withdraw the letter of resignation, and the Ministry of Personnel has agreed to let him continue to serve as the county magistrate of Liquan County."

"Look, look!" Li Shimin pointed outside and said to the eunuch beside him, "Now all the counties think that the prince has an assistant and Xuanling is taking care of him. The prince is extremely powerful. Who will dare to speak out and make direct criticisms in the future?"

Li Shimin glared at it again. The white horse that he had liked so much just now was becoming more and more unpleasant to his eyes. He ordered, "Take it away. I feel upset when I see it."

"Here!"

Back at Ganlu Palace, His Majesty overturned a pile of documents and angrily asked, "Is it just because you ate a few bowls of noodles and a few meals in the East Palace?"

The eunuch quickly picked up all the documents on the ground and said in a panic, "Your Majesty, Minister Fang is here."

Li Shimin took a few deep breaths, straightened his clothes and said, "Let him in."

"Here."

There were still a few scrolls of books that had fallen on the ground. The eunuchs picked them up swiftly to prevent Prime Minister Fang from noticing that His Majesty was angry.

After everything was tidied up, Fang Xiang was invited in.

Fang Xuanling walked into the Ganlu Palace and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I..."

"What is Cheng Qian doing now?"

Before he finished speaking, His Majesty asked him a question. Fang Xuanling cleared his throat and said, "Your Highness is calculating the expenses of the court this year. There should be a lot of surplus."

Li Shimin took a sip of tea, looked at the man who had followed him for many years, and asked, "Xuanling, how can you help the prince like this?"

Fang Xuanling replied: "Your Majesty, I did not help the Crown Prince."

"The county magistrate of Huayin County just resigned from his post, and you asked Ma Zhou to arrest him."

"Your Majesty," Fang Xuanling bowed and said, "The Censorate had long since discovered that the magistrate of Huayin County was acting improperly. We had wanted to investigate for a while longer, but now that he was about to resign, we were afraid that he might escape, so we went to arrest him."

"Run? In this 800-li Qinchuan area, where can he run to?"

"Your Majesty, it is better to be prepared. Acting early can save a lot of trouble, and we are also afraid of being silenced."

Li Shimin patted the table and said, "I think you are saving the prince trouble."

"I have absolutely no intention of doing so."

"You..." Li Shimin started coughing violently again, as if the cold that had long since subsided had returned, and he coughed heavily for a long time.

After calming down his breathing, he asked, "What's wrong with the auxiliary machine?"

"The county magistrate received a letter from a distant relative and was in a hurry to leave Guanzhong, saying that the relative was seriously ill."

Li Shimin calmed his breathing, took a few deep breaths, stood up, put his hands behind his back, and said, "I can see that these are all coincidences. There are so many coincidences."

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "Your Majesty is worrying too much."

"You are the prince's teacher. You should be sensible in your actions. Let Yao Chengqian handle some things himself so that he can learn his lesson."

Fang Xuanling handed over the memorial with both hands and said, "Your Majesty, this is the five-year production plan for Guanzhong written by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Shimin took the memorial with a stern face and asked again, "Did he write it?"

"I saw it written by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with my own eyes."

When he opened the memorial, what caught his eye was the handwriting of his son writing regular script in a cursive style. Li Shimin frowned and first looked at the length of the entire article, which was several hundred words long.

The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is good at writing articles, but the words he uses are a bit unfamiliar. However, after reading them, you can still savor them for a long time.

The writing skills, insights and foresight are all very good.

Even this son's wording has improved a lot recently, which can be attributed to Cheng Qian's hard study in the Secretariat.

Fang Xuanling explained: "Now Jingyang is a rich county in Guanzhong. His Royal Highness hopes to use Jingyang to drive three or two counties to take action first, and then let the rich counties drive other counties. In this way, one county will lead three counties. The effect will be seen within three years, and the tax revenue in Guanzhong will increase threefold within five years."

Li Shimin looked at the memorial carefully. He felt uncomfortable reading it while standing, so he sat down again and carefully considered every word.

Fang Xuanling continued, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is using a complementary industry approach. Whatever Jingyang lacks, the other two counties will provide it, forming an upstream and downstream according to the manufacturing method."

Li Shimin nodded, trying to understand these words.

Fang Xuanling went on to say: "In addition to the independent development of each county, they can cooperate with each other or compete with each other."

"My son is quite ambitious."

"I have discussed the specific rules with the Crown Prince. As long as we can grow grapes in Weibei and Gaoling next year, then within three years, it will be no problem for the tax revenue in Guanzhong to double again."

"Grapes are valuable, and grape wine is even more valuable." Li Shimin nodded and said, "It's not a difficult task for him."

"I am the prince's teacher and will keep an eye on the actions of the counties. The Secretariat and the Censorate will also monitor the counties, so if there are any mistakes, they can be corrected in time."

Li Shimin put down the article and said, "After all, you and Fu Ji are still helping Cheng Qian."

"Your Majesty, even if we don't help, if Your Majesty takes action, it means that the prince has caused a great disaster. Only in this way can Your Majesty keep a close watch on the prince."

Li Shimin laughed and said, "I underestimated this child at the beginning. Now that he has grown up, I can't control him anymore."

"The Crown Prince is strict with himself and his officials. Everyone in the court praises him for his wisdom. I congratulate Your Majesty."

"He said in his article that the county clerks are no longer just clerical records, but a guide for the county's work. What does this mean?"

"Your Majesty, this is the Jingzhao Prefecture that will lead the chief clerks of each county to learn the governance experience of Jingyang and the new ideas of Guanzhong governance to improve the appearance of Guanzhong, including various requirements such as clean villages and counties. After the chief clerks learn, they will inform the counties of the Jingzhao Prefecture's ideas and governance methods."

After a pause, Fang Xuanling continued, "In the future, it will no longer be the case that counties will go to Jingzhao Prefecture only when they have problems. Instead, counties and Jingzhao Prefecture will frequently visit each other to help each other. In the words of the crown prince, the way to be an official is not static. The way to be an official is to keep learning. Officials in Guanzhong should seize the opportunity, no matter whether they are in the court or in the counties, being an official is a job that requires constant learning."

Li Shimin asked, "What do you think of the prince's strategy?"

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "It's very interesting. You can see the results in a short period of time. The whole article is nothing more than learning and applying."

Li Shimin rubbed his brows and slowed down his tone. His previous anger also disappeared. "It's easy to say, but it's actually the hardest thing."

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not back down or give in because of the resignation of the three county magistrates. This is a good thing. Otherwise, it would be worrying."

"Haha, he even dares to contradict me, let alone several county magistrates. If the prince wants to win the support of the people, he must have achievements to show for himself."

(End of this chapter)