The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 23 The Crown Prince Visits Chang'an

There are few books that record farming activities, even fewer that record specific farming knowledge, and even fewer that record land, fertilizer, and planting techniques.

Even in a book like "Qiming Yaoshu", the relevant discussion is just a few brief sentences, and there is no professional guidance.

Li Chengqian looked at the table full of files in front of him, all of which had been turned into a mess.

I took the kettle off the stove and poured a bowl of boiled water.

He frowned and looked at the blank paper in front of him. Farming is a skill passed down by word of mouth among the people. The moisture and fertility of the soil and what kind of crops are suitable for planting also require experience to be summarized.

Guanzhong has no shortage of experienced farmers, but what it lacks is professional books on agronomy that have been passed down from generation to generation.

As spring is approaching, I want to plant more vegetables in the East Palace.

For my younger brothers and sisters to grow up, they need dietary nutrition and various trace elements in vegetables.

People cannot live without vegetables, nor can they not eat vegetables; just as they cannot eat meat and drink wine all day long.

His fat face turns red after drinking, so my sisters will probably look like Zhang Fei in the future.

Li Chengqian was lying on the couch holding a book, and he didn't even know how he fell asleep.

The next day, Li Shimin woke up early before dawn, and before the morning court session, the daily records of the Eastern Palace were delivered.

The emperor was accustomed to washing his face and hands with soap. After washing with soap, he felt much more refreshed.

Toothbrushes and soap are good things sent by the East Palace. These two good things have unknowingly become necessities of life in the palace.

Since the children were taken to the Eastern Palace, Empress Changsun had a lot of free time.

The queen nowadays rarely looks worried.

Li Shimin looked at the records of the Eastern Palace and said unhappily, "It is not a good thing for Cheng Qian to scold the saint like this."

Empress Zhangsun was tidying up His Majesty's clothes and said, "The maids in the East Palace are very sensible and will not tell anyone about these things."

"This child is dissatisfied with many things."

The emperor and the empress were talking in the hall. The morning light had just come out, making the Lizheng Hall a little brighter.

Li Shimin nodded and said, "He also seemed to be indifferent to state affairs in the court."

As the emperor's first wife, Empress Changsun understood her husband's thoughts but was powerless to persuade him. She wanted the crown prince to be sensible and diligent.

After looking at the daily records of the Eastern Palace, Li Shimin left the Lizheng Hall to attend the morning court.

Empress Changsun picked up the Eastern Palace Diary and placed it on the bookshelf.

The maid whispered, "Queen, Sister Ning'er said that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a conversation with Duke Xu yesterday. They talked for a long time, but no one knows what they talked about."

"Cheng Qian is a child with a lot on his mind. Your Majesty wants him to be sensible, diligent, and kind. This has unknowingly put too much pressure on Cheng Qian."

The palace maid whispered again, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is already fifteen years old. What young man wouldn't be given a name and have a ceremony of coming of age when he turns fifteen? He should have prepared earlier."

Listening to the chatter of the palace maids around them, they were still willing to speak for the East Palace.

Because the East Palace treated the palace maids very kindly, the prince was even willing to give the palace maids his warm bedroom.

These things happened in the Eastern Palace and soon spread throughout the harem.

Therefore, in the eyes of the palace maids in the harem, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is a very kind person, and if Cheng Qian could go to the Eastern Palace, their lives would definitely be much better.

Empress Changsun continued, "The matter of bestowing a name and performing the ceremony of coming of age..."

At this point, the Queen sighed again and said, "Since His Majesty has not mentioned it, you should stop discussing it."

The maid bowed and said, "Yes."

Li Chengqian woke up early, got up early and ran around the East Palace three or five times. When he came back, his younger brother and sister were still asleep.

After washing up and having breakfast, it was almost time.

In the morning, Ning'er would teach her younger brothers and sisters how to read and write, and at noon, they would go to the Imperial College to give lectures.

Compared to Li Tai who went to Taiji Hall early, Li Chengqian came to attend government meetings at the beginning of the morning court session.

When we arrived here, almost all the civil and military officials in the Taiji Hall had arrived.

The prince was the last to arrive.

Li Chengqian gave Li Ke a look, then stood in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.

After Li Ke understood, he stood beside his brother, always on guard against his brother falling backwards while sleeping.

After a while, His Majesty arrived and the morning court officially began.

Today's morning court was very quiet. Ever since Yan Shigu impeached the Red Mansion, no one has mentioned the matter again. In fact, the Red Mansion did not have much impact on the lives of the Tang people.

In the early Tang Dynasty, even at that time, most Tang families could not afford the kind of life in the Grand View Garden.

As a result, the simple and tough Tang people were still very far away from such stories. It was already difficult for them to have enough food and clothing, so how could they have the time to care about other things?
Most of them are spread among scholars.

The morning court was very boring, with each department reporting on yesterday's progress.

Compared with Li Tai, who was active in the court, Li Chengqian tried his best to minimize his presence in the court.

He remained in this state with his eyes closed and head lowered until the end of the court session.

Today's morning court ended exceptionally smoothly. All the court officials were very busy, not to mention the important officials in the court, Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, and Wei Zheng, all of whom held multiple positions.

As soon as His Majesty left, all the ministers hurriedly left the hall to attend to various government affairs.

After most people in the hall had left, Li Chengqian walked out of the Taiji Hall alone. He stopped in front of the hall, looked at the open square in front of the hall, took a deep breath, and the clean, fresh air made his brain clearer.

The sunshine is very nice today, and Guanzhong has unknowingly entered March.

The political system of the Tang Dynasty was simple and clear, and most of its rules were based on the system of the previous Sui Dynasty.

Li Chengqian walked towards the East Palace alone, not wanting to listen to Li Ke's advice, and he and Li Tai were in a fight.

Such inward-looking mentality will only make you exhausted and have no other benefits.

He walked briskly with his hands in his pockets. He was in a good mood today, especially since he had the support of his uncle and his sister Li Lizhi's marriage was temporarily put on hold.

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and hummed a catchy tune.

When he arrived at the East Palace, he had lunch with his younger brothers and sisters.

Ning Er said, "Your Highness, Yu Zhanshi and Xu Changshi will be here today."

Li Chengqian sprinkled some minced meat sauce and chopped green onions on the noodles, ate a simple bowl of臊子面, and said, "I want to walk around Chang'an today, so I won't see them for now."

Ning'er nodded and said, "I'll prepare it right away." After lunch and resting for an hour, Li Chengqian would take his younger brothers and sisters to the Imperial College for classes.

They would spend the afternoons in the Imperial College, planning to give them weekends off in the future.

But the prince does not have weekends off, not to mention the civil and military officials in the court who work for the emperor and basically have no holidays. In addition, when the court occasionally has difficulties in spending money, their salaries will be in arrears.

Sometimes they would be given some rice, silk, or tribute to make up for the shortfall in salary.

It seems that every dynasty was quite poor in its early days.

Many of the files of the Eastern Palace were left behind by the "predecessor of the Eastern Palace" during the Wude period. Among them were relevant discussions that it was very difficult for the Tang Dynasty to collect taxes, and to this day there are still many places in the Central Plains where taxes cannot be collected.

Ning'er is wearing a black men's suit today, looking very cool.

Li Chengqian said, "Sister Ning'er's outfit looks great."

Hearing this, Ning'er still looked serious and replied in a low voice: "This is what His Highness wore. It's a little too small."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Yes."

"Your Highness hasn't bought new clothes for a long time."

"is it?"

"Yes, I have already reported it to Lizheng Palace, saying that the Queen will arrange for someone to deliver it this spring."

"So, for some conditions, it's better to have them yourself than to have them by your parents."

Ning'er never refuted His Highness's words. Occasionally, she would make some suggestions on how to be more careful with words, but she would never talk back.

He took his younger brothers and sisters out of Chengtian Gate and sent them to the Imperial College to attend classes.

Li Chengqian stood outside the classroom and said, "I have been here twice, but I have never met the Imperial College's chief priest, Master Kong Yingda."

Ning Er replied, "If His Highness wants to see you, I can go and report it."

Li Chengqian waved his hand again and said, "Don't bother him. Just accompany me for a walk in Chang'an City."

"Yes." Ning'er followed His Highness with a gentle smile.

The two walked out of the Imperial College. There were not many students in the Imperial College. At this time, most of the students were in Hongwenguan.

It is difficult for ordinary students to find teachers, and most people receive elementary education as children, and then begin to study on their own after they learn to read and write.

The better ones are children, who read the Analects when they were young.

Therefore, being able to receive elementary education in childhood is a kind of selection. It is already very good. After the selection of elementary education, most people teach themselves.

Few people can afford to hire a teacher to provide guidance, so this is another round of screening.

So in other villages and counties in the Tang Dynasty, it was already very good to have someone who could read.

In other words, the education cause in the Tang Dynasty did not go smoothly. Even though paper was available, the price of paper remained high and books were not widely circulated.

The low efficiency of printing also led to the fact that most of the books among scholars were spread by hand copying.

They wanted to promote the imperial examination system, but they did not have enough productivity to produce more paper and print.

Without enough paper and books, it is difficult to cultivate enough readers.

This leads to a contradiction.

Li Chengqian didn't want to think about it any further. If he thought too much, he couldn't help but want to curse. He wanted to curse the evil God. How many years would it take for someone to appear in this world to benefit the people?

Is it all thanks to my good fortune?

Although Ning'er was wearing men's clothes, with a sword on her waist and dressed like a guard, she was alert to the surroundings and did not allow strangers to get too close to His Highness.

Zhuque Street is bustling with many pedestrians coming and going.

Ning'er described what Chang'an City looked like in the past. At that time, Your Majesty had just ascended the throne. In the first year of Zhenguan, Chang'an City was very depressed. Not to mention the Wude period when Li Yuan was in power. At that time, he was still suppressing rebellions in various places and had no manpower to govern.

Now, after years of governance, Chang'an City has finally improved, and the number of people moving into Chang'an City has gradually increased in recent years.

Ning Er said: "Your Highness, Chang'an City will definitely be better in the future."

Zhuque Street is spacious. Li Chengqian walked on the street with his hands in his pockets while observing the passers-by.

There were many people hawking their wares, and we walked all the way to the East Market. The market here was still very lively.

Some people were quarreling over buying a sheep.

Seeing His Highness stop, Ning Er also stood aside and watched
Because the gender of the four-month-old lamb was not clearly identified at the beginning, the woman who bought the lamb started to quarrel with the old man who sold the lamb.
Seeing that the quarrel was getting more and more serious, someone came to intervene. He was a man in his early twenties. He came forward and settled the matter with just a few words.

Finally, the man who sold the sheep compensated the woman with a ewe, and the matter was resolved.

And the little ram was returned to the man.

Li Chengqian frowned and asked, "Why must we use ewes?"

Ning'er replied, "Most likely, there is a woman in the family who is pregnant and about to give birth. She wants to buy a sheep to raise first. When the baby is born and the sheep grows up, she can feed the baby with goat milk."

The man who had settled the matter looked here, bowed and left quickly.

"Do people like this often come to administer justice in the East City?"

Ning Er replied, "It's not common. The one who came to settle the matter was most likely arranged here by the government."

Having said this, Li Chengqian nodded and stopped asking questions. He then bought a few radishes, some garlic, and some asparagus from the vendors here.

Sister Ning Er said, "Your Highness, when spring arrives in April or May, there will be more dishes to choose from."

"I plan to plant more vegetables in the East Palace. The soil in the East Palace is so fertile that it cannot just grow weeds."

"When I was little, I used to farm with my parents. If Your Highness wants to grow vegetables, I can do it."

Li Chengqian was in high spirits while shopping, and asked, "I've never heard Sister Ning'er talk about the past."

Ning Er replied, "I was just an ordinary child. At that time, Guanzhong was recruiting soldiers, so my father joined the army, but he died in battle."

Talking about the past, Ning'er said with a lost look, "My father had some military achievements, but I was the only child in the family. My seriously ill mother sent me to the Qin Palace relying on my military achievements and refused all military pay and rewards. The queen accepted me and promised my mother that she would take good care of the soldiers. Even if I was just a small sergeant, I was lucky to have the favor of your majesty and the queen."

"Later, your Majesty ascended the throne, and I moved from the Prince of Qin's mansion to the Imperial Palace. The Queen was a very good person, and she treated me, a descendant of a soldier, well and never criticized me. The Queen said that I was smart, hardworking, and sensible. When I was twelve years old, the Queen arranged for me to stay with your Highness. Now I have been in the Eastern Palace for six years."

Listening to Ning'er's words, Li Chengqian left the East Market. The hustle and bustle faded away with his footsteps. When he reached the remote market town, he saw many dilapidated houses. As it affected the appearance of Chang'an City, the main houses on both sides of Suzaku Street had been renovated.

However, some remote houses are still in a dilapidated state, with many collapsed empty houses covered with weeds and moss, and have been vacant for a long time.

(End of this chapter)