The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 149 The Prince's Reputation

Inside the Ganlu Palace, the emperor and the crown prince were sitting across a table from each other. Li Chengqian was resting his wrists on the table, peeling walnuts with both hands.

He did not look at the eunuch kneeling beside him, but saw his father peeling a walnut with difficulty. Li Chengqian put the walnut between his fingers, squeezed it hard, and the walnut shell broke. He then stretched out his hand and placed it in front of his father.

Seeing his son handing him the cracked walnuts, he also handed the walnuts that he couldn't crack to his son.

As soon as the father and son exchanged hands, there was a crisp "click" sound, and the walnut in Li Chengqian's hand opened again.

Li Shimin looked surprised and doubtful, chewing a walnut in his mouth.

"I have been practicing archery frequently recently, and my strength has increased a lot." Li Chengqian said while eating walnuts.

"Alas, it seems that I am really old."

"Father is still in his prime, how can he say that he is old?" Li Chengqian raised his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Oh...Father must have neglected his exercise, and the IOU matter..."

Li Shimin threw some walnuts into his mouth and said in a deep voice: "It's just an IOU of three strings of cash. I don't take it seriously."

Inside the hall, there was the sound of a father and son eating walnuts and chewing them in their mouths.

Every time Li Chengqian finished eating one, he would pinch one open and give it to his father. Then he would pinch another open and ask, "What should we do about my brother Ke's matter?"

"This child..."

Li Shimin sighed first, then thought for a moment and said, "The Censorate just sent a memorial, in which Liu Rengui urged him to pay for the fodder, but he refused. Later, Liu Rengui brought the militiamen from Jingyang County to fight with his guards, and dozens of people fought each other..."

Li Chengqian ate while listening, it was really exciting.

"The guards brought by Gao Luxing were defeated by the militia led by Liu Rengui, and their legs were broken... When you talk about this matter, I really..."

"Your Majesty, please deal with Ke'er impartially and do not show favoritism."

Concubine Yang, who was standing outside the palace, spoke loudly again.

Li Shimin looked outside the hall, his expression becoming more solemn.

"You said..." At this point, Li Shimin looked outside the palace intentionally or unintentionally, fearing that Concubine Yang would speak again, he lowered his voice again and asked, "Did your uncle say anything?"

Speaking of his uncle, Li Chengqian looked a little embarrassed and replied, "Gao Luxing was driven away every time he went to see my uncle. Before they even met, Gao Lin drove him away."

Li Shimin sighed, "I can't say much about your uncle's family affairs."

Li Chengqian asked, "We can't let Brother Ke stand outside all the time. Father should at least punish him."

"Even if he is imprisoned, my prince will have a bad reputation among the people."

"Then save your reputation."

"How to recover."

Li Chengqian leaned a little closer to his father and whispered, "Let him go to Jingyang County to apologize tomorrow, and then let him do hard labor in Jingyang County."

Li Shimin also asked in a low voice: "Can he endure this kind of hardship?"

"Your Majesty!" Concubine Yang's voice could be heard from outside the palace again. "My child is disobedient and should be punished. I hope Your Majesty will not be partial to him."

Li Shimin said solemnly: "Let Ke'er go to Jingzhao Prefecture tomorrow, and let Xu Jingzong take him to Jingyang County to do hard labor."

Concubine Yang said in a clear voice: "Your Majesty is wise, I will take my leave."

The sound of footsteps on the snow was heard outside the palace, and Concubine Yang left with her maid.

Li Chengqian then spoke up: "Brother Ke is not a bad person by nature, but he is a prince and most of the people around him are playboys, so it is easy for him to learn bad things."

Seeing his father looking at him, Li Chengqian brushed off the walnut crumbs on his hands and said, "Father, you want to say that I am the same, right?"

Li Shimin said: "I didn't say that."

Li Chengqian stretched lazily, glanced at the eunuch kneeling on the ground, stood up and said, "I will go back first. Grandpa said that we will have dinner together on the winter solstice this year."

"I will go to visit."

After that, when the prince walked out of Ganlu Palace, Li Shimin looked at the eunuchs beside him and said in a deep voice: "The prince has left, what are you still kneeling for?"

The eunuch stood up quickly.

Li Shimin frowned and said, "You don't have to leave the palace. You can go to the Taiye Lake and guard the villa from now on."

The eunuch bowed as if he had been pardoned, and said, "I obey your orders."

When the wind and snow stopped a little, the city of Chang'an was covered in silver. Looking from the city wall, every house was covered with thick snow.

No matter how strong the wind and snow were, they could not conceal the enthusiasm of the residents in Chang'an City, and many people were already clearing the snow.

Zhuque Street was the first to be cleared.

In a house in East Market, it was warm and an old man walked into the house.

The old man was led to sit down. It was dark in the room with only an oil lamp on the table. He could not see the face of the person sitting opposite him.

No one else in the room spoke. He took out a cloth bag filled with copper coins and whispered, "Here are three hundred coins."

The other side of the room was very dark, and I could vaguely see a figure sitting in the corner, who asked across from me, "I gave you ten coins, but you only made three hundred coins?"

The old man replied: "It's the best thing that can be done after going through customs."

"Take these three hundred coins back with you. You don't have to work here anymore."

The old man lowered his head in disappointment and asked, "Is there anyone who earns more?"

"Well, someone made seven hundred coins." After that, a larger cloth bag was placed on the table, which was full of copper coins.

"The old man knows that his skills are inferior to others, so he gives in."

"You are all merchants who have been selected from a hundred. You can use these three hundred coins as capital to start a business in Chang'an in the future."

"Thank you for your guidance, sir."

"You go."

The old man supported the table and walked out of the hut carrying his cloth bag. There were quite a few people standing outside the hut.

They all came here to get work.

The old man walked away carrying a bag of copper coins, looking back at the street from time to time.

After finishing the work here, when the last person walked out of the hut, the oil lamp here was blown out. Those who came to find work did not know who the noble person who gave them the job was, they only knew that the other party paid generously.

There was a secret door at the other end of the hut. Wei Chang walked out of the secret door and a lot of snow fell when he opened the door.

He brushed off the snow in annoyance, walked out of another alley, and led his men out of Chang'an City.

Jingyang is different from other counties. The residents here are still very busy even in winter.

Wei Chang came to Xue Wuniang's house. Although he had no relationship with her, he liked to come here when he was hungry.

There was a bowl of porridge and a piece of cake on the table.

If this wasn't prepared for himself, who else could he give it to? Wei Chang naturally took the bowl and the cake, sat in front of the house and started eating.

Xue Wuniang had just returned from the workshop holding a roll of paper. Like other women in Jingyang County, she did some odd jobs in the workshop to earn wages.

But when she saw Wei Chang sitting at the door of her house, she naturally ignored him and walked into the house on her own.

Wei Chang was wearing a patched coarse cloth coat, which was torn in several places because he wore it so thickly. His eyes followed Xue Wuniang. Finally, she closed the door heavily.

The moment the door was shut, Wei Chang was so frightened that he choked on his porridge. It took him a while to catch his breath. He said to the inside of the door, "Everyone in the county knows that I eat at your place, so I'll stay here."

"I live very well on my own."

Wei Chang said: "You have not remarried since you retired from the army, and I have not married either. Isn't that good?"

"Say that again and I'll rip your mouth off."

Hearing the scolding from inside the house, Wei Chang was still smiling smugly, and said, "Then you always save food for someone."

The house was quiet again.

After a long while, Xue Wuniang's voice came from inside the house. The voice sounded a little muffled through the door. "You always help Master Du He do some shameful things?"

Hearing the other party's question, Wei Chang said: "I never do anything that goes against my conscience."

The house was quiet again. Wei Chang finished his porridge and cakes, put his bowl and chopsticks at the door, and stood there for a long time with a troubled look on his face. His breath turned into a cloud of white mist in the cold air.

He reached out to push the door open, then hesitated for a long time and then took his hand back.

Inside the house, Xue Wuniang heard the familiar footsteps leaving on the snow. She then put down the paper she was cutting, opened the door slightly, brought the dishes and chopsticks at the door back in, and quickly closed the door.

Although there was really nothing between him and Xue Wuniang, Wei Chang still felt a little proud when he heard people in the county talking about Xue Wuniang being his wife.

Xue Wuniang is very skilled and can kill a wolf by herself.

Wei Chang walked along the small path in the county, passing by one house after another, and several militiamen who were guarding Jingyang County bowed respectfully to him.

Without stopping, Wei Chang walked to a house next to the soap workshop and knocked on the door.

The door was opened by a servant, and Wei Chang walked in and saw Master Du He.

Du He turned the Rubik's Cube in his hand again and again with a solemn expression and asked, "How is it going?"

Wei Chang took out a list and said, "Master Du He, they are all on it."

Putting the Rubik's Cube aside, Du He picked up the roster and looked at it. He turned a page and looked at the number on it. "Are these all this year?"

"My lord, that's all."

Du He took out two more lists from the side and whispered, "Next year, call out all the top names on these three lists and let them work separately to see who can earn the most."

Seeing him take the list, Du He said, "Don't be too busy in this cold weather. Prepare in the spring next year."

"Yes!" Wei Chang walked out of the small room, took the three rolls of lists and left the workshop, then came to another small room. This room was messy and it was where he lived.

Putting the list on the table beside him, Wei Chang sat on a chair, closed his eyes and imagined the time he would live with Xue Wuniang in the future.

In the soap workshop, Ying Gong Wu Shigui said in a deep voice: "Are these things also arranged by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

Du He said slowly: "Yes."

"Jingyang is already rich enough, why do we need to do these things?"

Du He replied: "Mr. Ying, Jingyang's strength is all on the surface, but some things are not just on the surface, we need to keep a second plan, so we want to train a second person, this person will not be able to run a workshop, he is just a traveling merchant."

Wu Shigui was puzzled and asked, "How far do you want to go, Your Highness?"

Du He sat lazily cross-legged on the chair, turning the Rubik's Cube in his hand, without answering.

The next day, Xu Jingzong brought the King of Wu to Xianyang County. He did not ride a horse or bring any guards with him, but walked alone.

The residents of Jingyang County treated this prince as a formidable enemy.

Liu Rengui stood in front of all the villagers and shouted, "Your Highness, King Wu, are you here to seek revenge today?"

Li Ke bowed and said, "Everyone, I am here to apologize today. All the things that happened before were due to my ignorance."

He took out a few silver cakes and held them in his hands, and said, "Please forgive me."

Seeing this, a group of villagers dispersed. Liu Rengui looked at the King of Wu, stroked his beard and said, "Take back the money."

"Yes." Li Ke took back the silver cake and stood where he was, and said, "My father has ordered that I do hard labor here until the county residents understand."

"The official road in the village needs to be repaired."

"Here."

Li Ke went to do the work immediately.

Xu Jingzong frowned and looked at the King of Wu, who was wearing expensive clothes. He stopped him and said, "Your Highness, please change your clothes."

Seeing that the county residents were no longer making trouble, Li Ke's expression became much more relaxed. He walked forward into the county government office in Jingyang and changed into a set of coarse cloth clothes, which made him look a little thin, but he didn't care.

He enthusiastically joined a group of county residents to help them clear snow and then fill potholes on the pipes.

Liu Rengui stood beside Xu Jingzong and asked, "Is this really what your majesty meant?"

Xu Jingzong nodded and said, "Of course."

"Jingzhao Prefecture is under the Crown Prince's tutelage. Why do I feel that this matter was arranged by the Crown Prince?"

"You can think whatever you want."

Liu Rengui asked again: "Your Highness the Crown Prince only has a strategy for governing Guanzhong, but he did not say specifically that he wants to control the villagers in Guanzhong."

Xu Jingzong stood in the cold wind with a stern face and said, "I hate people always asking questions."

"Why?"

"You asked again."

Liu Rengui hesitated to speak, and could only say: "If I meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I will still ask."

Now Xu Jingzong finally had a preliminary understanding of Liu Rengui, he was a stubborn person.

Xu Jingzong took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, scratched his beard under his nose and said, "I remember that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that officials like us in Guanzhong should actively discover problems, face them, and make suggestions."

Liu Rengui looked at the villagers in the distance and said, "This humble official has raised a question."

Xu Jingzong pondered for a moment, then said, "Mr. Liu, you made a mistake."

"What is wrong?"

"The problem your Highness is talking about is different from yours. As a local county magistrate, you can be confused or puzzled, but these are all your personal problems."

Liu Rengui nodded, "Of course."

"This is not the same problem as that one. The problem of the millions of villagers in Guanzhong is what we should face up to."

"Yeah." Liu Rengui nodded with satisfaction. His expression was full of confidence. It was as if he had suddenly been enlightened. At this moment, the article about the prince became much clearer in his mind, and he gradually understood the key points of the article.

Compared with Liu Rengui, who was new to this kind of management and construction, Xu Jingzong had more experience and more insight.

Liu Rengui smiled and said, "I am a dull person. Thank you for your guidance, Xu Shaoyin."

Xu Jingzong smiled bitterly and said, "Don't ask again in the future."

(End of this chapter)