The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 243 Snow Queen
Li Lizhi said: "Don't worry, father, my brother and daughter will make arrangements."

Li Shimin put down the bowl in his hand and said, "I'm going out for a walk."

It was still very cold outside the tent. The snow had finally stopped. The heavy snow fell on the branches of the pine trees. When there was too much snow, it slid down from the branches.

Li Xiaogong was sitting on a Hu stool with a brazier in front of him, eating Hu cakes.

Seeing His Majesty coming, he handed over a hot Hu pancake.

Li Shimin took the cake, picked up a stool, sat down and ate the cake.

Between middle-aged brothers, no words are needed; just a glance can tell that each other is melancholy at the moment.

If Your Majesty was in a good mood, you would not come out to ask your brothers for Hu Bing at this moment.

"Do you think I am too harsh on Cheng Qian?"

Li Xiaogong shook his head and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is even stricter with Jingzhao Prefecture."

"Yes, I have always been fair." Li Shimin chewed a Hu Bing and looked at the soldiers sitting in groups of three or four not far away.

Seeing Li Xiaogong, who also looked unhappy, Li Shimin asked again: "What are you worried about?"

Li Xiaogong raised his chin and looked at several women who were arguing over the charcoal fire.

There were always people who were dissatisfied with Princess Changle's arrangements. Some felt that there was not enough food and charcoal. After all, the rich and powerful never lacked food and drink, and did not have to worry about warmth or cold.

Many powerful and wealthy families suffered a lot during this autumn hunt with His Majesty.

Li Shimin turned a blind eye to these arguments, and they did not dare to argue in front of Li Zhi and the Queen, so they asked in a low voice: "Xiao Gong?"

Li Xiaogong swallowed a bite of Hu Bing and nodded heavily, "Your Majesty, please tell me?"

"Chang'an sent a message that Du He went to see Cheng Qian. You are usually close to the East Palace. Do you know about Du He and the prince?"

Li Xiaogong was still holding the Hu pancake in his hand and was about to put it into his mouth when he replied, "I don't know."

Li Shimin sighed.

The two middle-aged brothers sat together by the brazier to keep warm.

The sound of horse hooves could be heard in the distance, and Su Dingfang came quickly and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Wu has returned."

Thinking of Ke'er who was working on flood control in Shanzhou and had just returned, Li Shimin said with a smile, "Let Ke'er come over."

Li Ke, wearing armor, walked over with steady steps and saluted, saying, "Father, I have been working on flood control in various counties in Shanzhou. Now the villagers have settled down and the houses have been rebuilt. We can resume farming next spring."

"Okay." Li Shimin smiled and said, "Did you have a rest after all the hard work?"

Li Ke bowed and said, "I am not tired. I heard that my father was trapped in Mount Li, so I rushed here day and night."

Li Shimin patted his son on the shoulder and said pertinently: "This little snow can't hold me back."

Li Ke bowed again.

In addition to Li Chengqian and Li Zhi, the child Li Ke is still under control.

Li Shimin took the report and listened to him talk about the water control matters.

Li Xiaogong was still sitting by the brazier, roasting Hu pancakes leisurely.

After His Majesty walked away, Cheng Yaojin came over with his neck hunched in the cold wind.

Realizing that a huge figure was blocking the sunlight, Li Xiaogong looked up with an unhappy expression and saw Cheng Yaojin's ugly face.

Li Xiaogong said solemnly, "If you block my sun again, I will fight to the death here."

Cheng Yaojin slowly moved his feet and walked to the other side.

Standing next to him was a huge body as big as a mountain and a bit fat in middle age. Li Xiaogong moved his stool and sat farther away.

Cheng Yaojin took a step forward and continued to stand aside.

"You..." Li Xiaogong was about to open his mouth to scold this annoying guy, but he had to swallow his words and said, "Zhijie, why don't you spend the winter in your home in Chang'an? Why are you coming to the Lishan camp?"

Cheng Yaojin opened and closed his big beard and said, "I am here to support the Lishan camp under the order of the crown prince."

"You can go back now. Everything is fine in Lishan Camp."

After that, Cheng Yaojin came closer and asked, "What did His Majesty say to you just now?"

"His Majesty said that the weather is very good today and he plans to return to Chang'an."

"Return to Chang'an?"

"Chop up your entire Cheng family."

Cheng Yaojin smiled, put his hand on Li Xiaogong's shoulder, and said, "You still love to joke as much as you did back then."

Li Xiaogong asked, "What's the matter?"

Cheng Yaojin asked, "I heard that the Prince of Hejian is close to the Prince of Jiangxia in Jingzhao Prefecture?"

"We are close friends."

"Is his daughter not married yet?"

Li Xiaogong came to his senses and looked towards the other end of the camp, where he saw Cheng Chumo.

At this time, the cold wind was blowing, and Cheng Chumo was looking at a war horse with deep meaning in his eyes, and he was about to say some love words to the horse.

Li Xiaogong shuddered at what he saw and quickly looked away.

Cheng Yaojin said: "My son is now serving as the Crown Prince's Right General, and you taught him all by yourself."

"The Crown Prince's Right Commander? Then there are only seven Right Commanders left."

"Didn't you say ten last time?" Cheng Yaojin asked in surprise.

"Three more have survived."

"That's still the Right Leader. Even if he's the only one left, he's still the Right Leader of the Crown Prince. This kid's marriage..."

Li Xiaogong couldn't bear to see Cheng Chumo being so affectionate towards a war horse, so he quickly said, "Go find Cheng Fan and tell me what's going on."

When he said this, he saw a pair of rough big hands holding his wrist. Li Xiaogong wanted to break free, but found that Cheng Yaojin was quite strong.

"Do it!"

"You are Chu Mo's teacher. You should go with a certain family to propose marriage. What do you think?"

Li Xiaogong finally broke free from his hand and cursed as he walked, "You're sick!"

After the snowstorm, Guanzhong was sunny for three days. Wei Chang returned home exhausted and lay down on the bed with his eyes closed as soon as he touched the bed.

Outside, he followed the people from Jingzhao Prefecture to rescue the villagers trapped in the snow, and he had not slept for two days and two nights.

Xue Wuniang cleaned the house skillfully, and even with her pregnant belly, she wiped her husband's face with a cloth soaked in hot water.

There were some ice chips on his beard.

"You have to know what's good for you, what should you do?"

Hearing his wife's complaints, Wei Chang hugged his wife's waist with his back hand, pressed his face, which was still a little wet from being wiped, against his wife's pregnant belly, and whispered, "I'll listen to you from now on."

Xue Wuniang lowered her head and stroked her husband's messy long hair, frowned and whispered: "As long as you don't do evil things, it's fine."

Wei Chang nodded dazedly.

Xue Wuniang thought back to two days ago, when she heard that heavy snow had buried many places and the Jingzhao Prefecture had summoned civilians from all counties to provide disaster relief. Wei Chang did not think much about it, and resolutely walked into the snow and left with the officials of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

He was a good man, but he had too many things to do with Jingzhao Prefecture. In the village, all the men who went out to help with disaster relief came back, and the quiet Jingyang County became lively again.

The ice and snow began to melt gradually. Under the prince's order, no one froze to death in Jingzhao Prefecture during this heavy snow.

Even the county magistrates spread the news, personally took people to the county government to avoid the disaster, and even provided food.

Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince took charge of Jingzhao Prefecture in the ninth year of Zhenguan, he has changed the counties and Guanzhong time and time again.

Who could have imagined that when this prince first took charge of agricultural affairs in Guanzhong, in order to seize power he dismissed nine of the twelve county magistrates in Guanzhong and replaced almost all the county officials.

At that time, some people used this as an excuse to impeach the government. However, after grapes were grown in Jingyang and there was a bumper harvest in Weibei, such impeachment voices began to disappear.

To date, Jingzhao Prefecture has gained unprecedented public support.

The most simple folks in Guanzhong speak crudely and they cannot express their gratitude in any beautiful way.

However, when officials from Jingzhao Prefecture returned from various counties and villages to report, many children saw them off.

Yan Qinli returned to Jingzhao Prefecture. This time when he went out to provide disaster relief, he beat to death a village chief because the chief demanded money during the relief process.

In a rage, Yan Qinli beat a village chief to death in front of all the villagers.

When this matter was brought to the attention of Li Daozon, the Ministry of Personnel ignored it and the Dali Temple did not dare to intervene either. This was not only because Yan Qinli was a compiler of the Chongwenguan under the prince's tutelage, but also because many villagers applauded Yan Qinli.

Xu Jingzong was a cruel official. He was the Shaoyin of Jingzhao Prefecture, and the officials working under him had more or less similar styles.

In Jingzhao Prefecture, Xu Jingzong slammed the table and said, "If anyone dares to touch Yan Shuling, I will fight him to the death. I have never killed anyone in Chang'an City, but I want to give it a try."

In Chang'an city, in the residence of Duke Xu.

Gao Shilian smiled and said, "I heard that you live and eat in the Secretariat. Now that you can come to visit me, it is likely that you have settled the matter well, right?"

Li Chengqian took the hot tea from Gao Lin and said, "I guess so."

"Really?"

After taking a sip of tea, Li Chengqian said with a slightly tired look, "We could have gotten through this year safely, but it's all because of God."

"Yeah." Gao Shilian stroked his beard and nodded.

"There are still some things left to be cleaned up. I will leave these matters to my uncle and Lord Zheng."

Gao Shilian observed his eldest grandson's expression and asked, "Are you disappointed?"

“It’s a bit annoying.”

Gao Shilian smiled and said, "Do you feel that there are always some people who cannot do things according to your wishes?"

Li Chengqian nodded slowly, "My grandson is ashamed that my uncle has seen through it."

"You." Gao Shilian slowly stood up, gently patted his grandson on the back, and said with a smile: "You are already very good. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, this river in Guanzhong has drowned so many people and flooded so many fields. But in the history books, how many people starved to death and drowned in the many years that followed? But for the historians, it was an extremely normal year after year, and they wrote all these things in the history books."

"Later, Emperor Wu of Han composed a gourd song and made up his mind to control the flood. That was another ordinary year. This is the story we learned from history books."

"My child, if you have aspirations in your heart, why fear the long and difficult road ahead? You have dismissed so many county officials, and who dares to neglect government affairs? Even though you are harsh and difficult, you know very well that you do not believe in the principles written by saints. You firmly believe that morality cannot always be used to restrain some people. Therefore, the officials in Guanzhong under your rule are trembling with fear and treading on thin ice."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Thank you for your teachings, uncle."

Gao Shilian said, "Half of my body is buried in the ground. When that kid from the auxiliary machine came, I taught him the same thing, but he never understood. Now, after saying these words, I can die with my eyes closed."

Li Chengqian held the tea bowl, feeling the warmth of the tea, and asked, "Is Uncle still playing cards now?"

Gao Shilian slowly shook his head and said, "No more fighting, it's boring."

This time the snowstorm was averted without causing any harm, and the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture once again made a great contribution.

When the cotton was successfully delivered to Chang'an, Du He generously distributed a bar of soap to everyone in Jingzhao Prefecture.

The powerful people who were originally in Mount Li returned one after another.

It was the day before the New Year's Lantern Festival, and many residents were already preparing lanterns. They were hoping that His Majesty would lift the curfew so that Chang'an, which had been dull for so many years, could have a lively Lantern Festival.

The emperor also returned to Chang'an on this day, and Li Chengqian greeted his father in front of Anli Gate on the north side of the imperial palace.

This time, my father did not lose his temper and returned to Chang'an safely.

Li Shimin was sitting in the carriage. He saw his son standing by the door, nodded slightly, and then looked away.

"Royal brother!" Li Lizhi came up first with a few sisters.

Watching his father's carriage enter the palace, Li Chengqian stood with his hands in his pockets and said, "I heard that you are in charge of the expenses of the Lishan Camp?"

She smiled and said, "Brother, are you worried that your sister will offend someone?"

"Who dares to complain to you?"

She smiled proudly, led her sisters, and called Zhinu and Shen Di to go to the East Palace first.

When most people had left, the prince was still standing there.

The old eunuch stepped forward and asked, "Your Highness, do you have anything else to tell me?"

"No, I still have some things to do. Please tell my father."

"The Crown Prince is working hard for state affairs. How dare this old servant delay him? I will go and inform His Majesty right away."

Li Chengqian nodded and walked to one side of Taiye Lake, where there was a lot of cotton, and Grandpa and Little Sizi were looking at it carefully.

"Is Taoist Priest Li still not out of retreat?"

"No." Mingda smelled the cotton.

Ning'er and Xiaofu spread all the cotton on the ground to dry.

Li Yuan pursed his lips and asked, "Is this what you were hoping for?"

Li Chengqian explained: "My grandson plans to let Qu Zhisheng return to Gaochang."

"Let him go back?"

"Grow cotton for my grandson and build the Anxi Protectorate at the same time."

Li Yuan seemed to be thinking about something, and hesitantly asked, "It's for this thing, can't Guanzhong grow it?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "This is not like grapes. Grapes grow on racks. Cotton will take up arable land. Besides, Guo Luotuo is still cultivating seeds, and there are large tracts of land in the Western Regions. Countless cotton can be planted along the Ili River."

The old eunuch who had just gone to report came running back in a panic. He bowed and said, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, His Majesty has summoned you."

Li Chengqian enjoyed the warmth of the sun, lying on the flat cotton, and said, "Didn't I tell you? I still have things to do."

"But...but His Majesty..."

Hearing the other party stuttering, he said: "You can report to my father that I am seeking progress for the Tang Dynasty."

"Yes." The old eunuch hesitated and looked back every few steps.

"Why did you summon my brother again?"

"I have placed in Ganlu Palace the reports of a number of events after the snowstorm, as well as the recent summary of court documents and the improvements in the governance of each county this year. There are a total of sixteen files. Please summarize them and the goals for the next three years."

Li Yuan took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "It seems that you have wasted a lot of effort these days."

"It doesn't matter. If the emperor doesn't care, Duke Zheng will go and advise him."

"How difficult would it be for him?"

"There are so many capable ministers in the court." Li Chengqian turned over and lay on his side on the cotton, and said, "This little thing is nothing to my father."

(End of this chapter)