The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 22 The Prince Who Loves to Scold the Saint

Ning'er followed behind His Highness with a smile on her face.

The Eastern Palace team, so far, truly consists of only Ning'er and her uncle, so far there are only two people.

What can we do about this?

I can't just shout about the republic in the Taiji Hall and let all the ministers follow me, the crown prince, in rebellion?

This is obviously unrealistic and will make you fat.

Besides, no one would respond.

The bean sprouts in the East Palace are growing better and better, and my younger brothers and sisters have completely adapted to life here.

Li Chengqian was thinking about the current quality of life in the Eastern Palace. He couldn't just eat ramen all the time, and he began to worry when he looked at the few kitchen utensils.

Eating is a very important thing, especially when my younger brothers and sisters are growing up, nutritious meals are very important.

This is also important for myself.

The first rule of the Eastern Palace is to eat on time and not miss any meal.

Ning Er said, "Your Highness, there have been recent rumors that the King of Wei has invited a group of guests and is talking about compiling a geographical record."

Li Chengqian stood in front of the East Palace, looking at his brothers and sisters who were taking a nap, and asked in a low voice: "What geography?"

"Is it a Comprehensive Geography?"

Li Chengqian replied calmly: "Geography?"

"Geography?" Ning Er frowned and said, "That should be what you mean."

Li Chengqian stroked his forehead and walked to the back hall alone. He said to Ning'er behind him, "This younger brother is very smart. He is not only talented, but he has also started to compile classics. This alone is not as good as him. In terms of being obedient, sensible and proactive, he is really going to be the one to die."

Imperial City.

Gao Shilian walked out of Chengtian Gate, passed through the busy imperial city, and then walked out of Zhuque Gate. In front of him was the bustling Zhuque Street.

He said in a deep voice: "No need to support me."

"Yes." The two servants let go.

Gao Shilian recovered from his drunken state. The few bowls of wine in the East Palace were not enough to make him drunk.

The servant followed Duke Xu from Zhuque Street into an alley and came to a house.

The gate of the courtyard was open and Gao Shilian walked in.

There is an old man sitting in this courtyard. He is Zhen Quan, the current medical officer of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Seeing Duke Xu coming, the old man held a book in his hand and nodded, saying, "You are here."

Gao Shilian sat down and asked, "Have you sent someone to see Sun Simiao?"

Zhen Quan had snow-white hair and beard, and he continued, "I have seen him, and he also told me about the condition of Empress Chang Sun. The immortal Sun said that the incense burner would not make the condition worse, and the Empress's illness came from her mental strength."

Gao Shilian said slowly: "She was fine when she woke up in the morning, but she would cough non-stop when she was tired."

"The incense burner is nothing to ordinary people, but it will cause the Queen's condition to worsen. The Crown Prince is right. We have neglected it in the past."

Gao Shilian said slowly: "When can Dr. Sun come to Chang'an?"

Zhen Quan said, "Bashang's malaria is almost cured. Doctor Sun also wants to see the prince."

Gao Shilian frowned and said, "Just because he discovered the problem with the incense burner?"

Zhen Quan stroked his beard and shook his head. He smiled and handed over a persimmon as a treat for Duke Xu, and then said, "It is rumored that the East Palace does not drink raw water. In fact, many years ago, Divine Doctor Sun advised the world not to drink raw water. Many diseases come from raw water."

"Including abdominal pain, chills, or now malaria. I don't know if the prince also has a talent for medicine. Doctor Sun admires the prince very much."

Gao Shilian suddenly smiled, then quickly returned to his serious expression.

Zhen Quan asked again: "Have you been to the East Palace today?"

Gao Shilian straightened his sleeves, sat upright and nodded.

"It is said that Duke Xu is very good at judging people. He can tell a person's future at a glance. He is in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and is responsible for the dispatch of officials in the court." Zhen Quan put the medicine book aside and asked, "So what does Duke Xu think of the Crown Prince?"

Gao Shilian suddenly smiled again and said, "In the past, Cheng Qian would have given the position of Right Leader of the Eastern Palace to Zhao Jie because Cheng Qian felt that his aunt's child must also be loyal to the Li family. Now that the Eastern Palace child has changed his mind, he feels that Zhao Jie is useless to the Eastern Palace and will only cause trouble."

Zhen Quan chewed a persimmon and said, "My teeth are getting worse and worse. Now I can only eat some persimmons."

Gao Shilian said: "In a few years, I will be like you."

Whenever Gao Shilian talked about the prince, he actually looked somewhat proud.

The Li family's country and the blood relationship between the Changsun family and the Gao family cannot be explained in a few words.

It was Gao Shilian who raised Changsun and his sister. Now that Changsun Wuji is the Duke of Zhao, he doesn't have to worry about him anymore.

But Gao Shilian watched her marry Li Shimin with his own eyes, and he also handed her over to Li Shimin personally, making her the current queen.

The Imperial Palace, Xingqing Hall, the afternoon sunshine is very nice.

Li Shimin was sitting at the back of the hall and eating.

The eunuch at the side reported: "Your Majesty, when the court was dismissed, the prince left the Taiji Hall alone."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Is there no one following him?"

"Your Majesty, he did not follow anyone else. He came alone to court and left alone after court."

The old eunuch continued, "When His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei attends the morning court, there are always three or two court officials accompanying him. After the morning court, he leaves with a group of ministers. Sometimes, when I see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he is always alone, lonely."

Li Shimin laughed and said, "Chengqian is a very proud child."

"Your Majesty is right. The Crown Prince is the most noble young man in the Tang Dynasty, so he is naturally arrogant." The old eunuch continued, "I heard that the Crown Prince does not get along well with the two officials of the Eastern Palace. It is written in the Eastern Palace Diary of the Head Female Official that the Crown Prince has never been satisfied with Zhining and Xu Xiaode."

Li Shimin put down his chopsticks, picked up the wine bowl and took a sip of wine, saying: "So what if he is not satisfied? These two palace maids were selected by me and my uncle after careful consideration."

The old eunuch replied: "The prince will surely understand your majesty's painstaking efforts."

Soon, another eunuch came over and whispered, "Your Majesty, everyone is here."

Li Shimin put down the wine bowl, stood up, straightened his clothes and walked into the hall.

Standing in the hall at this moment were Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Yuchi Gong, Duan Zhixuan, and Li Daozon.

Watching everyone salute, Li Shimin picked up a military report and placed it on the table. "Another urgent report came from the west. The Tuyuhun barbarians attacked the border town."

Duan Zhixuan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we can't wait any longer. If we wait until summer to send troops, the food in the border towns will not be ripe yet and will be looted by Tuyuhun." Li Shimin looked at the civil officials again.

Before the civil officials on the other side could speak, Jiangxia County Prince Li Daozon stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the people of the Western Regions have never been like the soldiers and horses of the Central Plains. The soldiers and horses of the Central Plains are restrained and have rules for marching and sending troops, but those barbarians don't have so many military tactics and regulations. They always fight when they can and rob when they can."

"We can't think of them by the rules of the Central Plains. The court considers food and fodder, and the mobilization of troops, but the Tuyuhun will not wait until our summer harvest is ripe before plundering. Sometimes they come in groups of three or five, sometimes in tens of thousands. They rob today and come again tomorrow. This is their style."

Li Shimin looked at the line of civil officials again. Zhangsun Wuji stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, what the King of Jiangxia said is correct. We can first send a group of generals to garrison Liangzhou and send more troops to prepare for the follow-up army. We can also prevent the Tuyuhun from mobilizing troops."

After much discussion, they came up with a compromise solution, which was to send generals to garrison in Liangzhou first to be on guard.

Li Shimin looked at the location of Liangzhou on the map and remained silent for a long time.

Liangzhou was also known as Xiliang, and during the Han Dynasty it was also called Wuwei County, involving the important area of ​​Dunhuang.

The hall became quiet again. Li Shimin was still sitting in the hall hesitating about how to make a decision, but he saw a child looking around outside the hall.

Li Shimin frowned and looked again, and saw that it was Zhinu.

The child stood outside the hall, looking left and right, and his eyes finally fell on a roll of rice paper.

Li Shimin was about to speak when he saw Li Zhi quickly walk into the hall, holding a roll of rice paper and an inkstone, and quickly fled out of the hall. In less than a moment, he disappeared. It seemed that he was running towards the Eastern Palace.

As a father, Li Shimin took a breath and then let out a sigh of relief.

Looking at the group of civil and military officials in front of him, they all had their eyes closed and their heads lowered, as if they hadn't seen anything at all.

Finally, Li Shimin made a decision and ordered Niu Jinda to lead 3,000 soldiers to garrison in Liangzhou first, and ordered Li Daozon and Duan Zhixuan to organize the army and be ready to attack Tuyuhun at any time.

As for what Cheng Yaojin said, he could sweep across Tuyuhun with just his own troops, just pretend you never heard of it.

At this moment, if the East Palace needed anything, they would go to their father to get it. Now the East Palace was short of paper and ink, so Li Zhi got them from Xingqing Palace.

Originally, as the eldest sister, Li Lizhi would have scolded him for such things, but after living in the Eastern Palace and knowing the financial difficulties there, she acquiesced.

Li Lizhi was sitting in front of the East Palace's front hall, mending clothes for her brother Li Shen.

Princess Dongyang was sitting nearby. She whispered, "My brother never plays with these toys."

Li Lizhi whispered, "Yes, there is nothing around my brother that is for his own enjoyment. This is the case throughout the Eastern Palace. Nothing is there unless it is necessary."

Dongyang glanced at his brother who was resting with his eyes closed, and said, "Tomorrow, my brother will ask us to go to the Imperial College to listen to lessons. What is the Imperial College like?"

Among the brothers and sisters, only Li Lizhi had been to the Imperial College. She said while mending clothes skillfully, "There are many children in the Imperial College, but I think they are very noisy."

After hearing what his sister said, Dongyang lost all interest in the Imperial College.

The next day, Li Chengqian woke up before dawn, ran around the East Palace three or five times, then changed his clothes and washed up, went to court alone, and left court alone at noon.

In this era, it is easy to develop the habit of going to bed early and getting up early, because you can't do anything at night, and many things have to be done early in the morning, leaving you no choice but to adapt.

I couldn't catch up with the morning classes at the Imperial College.

After lunch, Li Chengqian took a group of his younger brothers and sisters to the Imperial College.

Ning Er had already arranged everything. She walked aside and said, "Old Master Kong Yingda originally wanted to arrange a separate class for them. According to His Highness's request, the princesses and princes must take the same classes as other children, so there are no special arrangements."

The Imperial College symbolizes the highest institution of learning in the Tang Dynasty, but there are not many students here, and most of them are children of powerful families.

The Imperial College was not big. Compared with many houses in Chang'an City, it just had a few more rooms.

Today is the first day that my younger brother and sister come here to attend classes.

As the head sister, Li Lizhi took them into a classroom where there were many children who were still learning elementary school.

We are all about the same age.

In fact, Kong Yingda still made special arrangements and specially arranged the classes with the least people for these princesses and princes.

The teacher who was giving the lecture was an old man in his sixties. No one knew where he came from. He started talking about mathematics right away.

Li Zhi listened absent-mindedly.

Li Shen even began to doze off.

The teacher held a scroll in his hand and said, "You have come to the Imperial College to listen to the lessons, why are you so lazy?"

After hearing the Master's speech, Li Zhi said, "I have already learned what you have said."

In the Imperial College, you must call yourself a student and never call yourself a prince or princess.

The Master said, "Okay, let me test you. If two people go shopping together, and each person pays eight cents, there is a surplus of three cents. If each person pays seven cents, there is still a shortfall of four cents. With so many people, how much will the price be?"

Li Zhi scratched his head and didn't understand for a moment, then looked to his brother Li Shen for help.

Who would have thought that Li Shen would actually fall asleep in class? He really was used to taking a nap in the East Palace.

Dongyang raised his hand and replied, "Master, seven people, fifty-three coins."

The teacher was a little surprised to see such a quick answer.

Raising your hand to answer is also a courtesy unique to the Eastern Palace. Dongyang saw her brother's back outside the window and knew that he had been waiting outside the door. This gave her great courage and allowed her to face the difficult teacher.

The Master's lectures are still going on. In fact, after the teachings of the Emperor's elder brother, the younger brothers and sisters still have some basics, but the Emperor's elder brother's teaching method is different from the Master's.

It was not until the evening when the teacher left the classroom that Dongyang came out first. She asked obediently, "Brother Royal has been waiting outside the door all this time?"

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and said calmly, "Yes, I am a little worried about sending you to school on the first day."

Soon, Li Lizhi also came out with her younger brothers and sisters.

Their first day of classes at the Imperial College went smoothly.

Children’s childhood should not be limited to the palace, it should be more enriched.

It was already evening when I returned to the Eastern Palace. It was much warmer tonight, but angry curses were heard again in the prince's bedroom in the Eastern Palace.

Seeing this, Xiaofu sighed and said, "Alas, Your Highness is scolding the ancient saints again."

Another maid asked, "Does our Highness have a grudge against the Saint?"

"The saints and sages of the past have been dead for many years. What grudge do you have against them?"

"Perhaps Your Highness had a grudge against the Saint in his previous life."

Ning'er listened to their discussion and was speechless again.

Angry curses were heard again in the bedroom. "You shitty predecessors, the productivity has been stagnant for many years. If you have spirits in heaven, please take a look. If you had thought about the livelihoods of the millions of people, would I still have to worry about having a meal?"

(End of this chapter)