The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 25: The Northwest War is Coming
The conversation in the hall continued. Sambuza continued, "I heard that many envoys came to pay tribute this year and asked the Tang Dynasty to marry the princess."

Hearing this, Li Chengqian smiled and said nothing, quietly looking at this proud Tibetan envoy.

Seeing that the crown prince of the Eastern Palace did not reply, Sambuza realized that he had asked the wrong question again. He frowned and thought for a moment, and inexplicably felt that it was very tiring to talk to this prince.

"Your Highness, I have another question. I heard that His Majesty the Khan of the Tang Dynasty has sent more troops to Liang Province. Is he going to go to war with Tuyuhun?"

Li Chengqian suddenly smiled and said, "I am still young, and my father will not let me participate in these state affairs, so how can I know."

Sambuza was speechless for a moment.

"How about I introduce you to the emperor? Or the messenger asks him in person?"

Hearing this, Sambuza, who was originally somewhat proud, showed some panic, and bowed again and said, "Your Highness, I am a messenger arranged by the Zamp to come to the Tang Dynasty to deliver a letter to Your Highness, not an envoy."

Li Chengqian folded his hands and sighed, "I'm afraid you don't know. As the crown prince, I can't participate in many state affairs. You can also ask around. Now, the most popular person in the court is my younger brother, the Prince of Wei, Li Tai. I really can't give you an answer to what the envoy wants to know."

Sambuza bowed again and said, "As an outsider, I shouldn't ask such a question."

"I can't make any promises to you. For the sake of our friendship with Lu Dongzan, you should take a piece of soap back to Tubo when you leave."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Sambuza heard the hidden meaning in the words, and the prince was going to expel the guest, so he quickly said: "If the Tang Dynasty goes to war with Tuyuhun, I think the Tang Dynasty will definitely win."

"Well, I hope so." Li Chengqian said with a worried face, "What do you mean by winning the first battle? There is no war in this world that can be won for sure."

"Everything the foreign officials saw and heard said that the Tang Dynasty was powerful."

Li Chengqian said with a smile: "Excuse me, envoy. You only see the surface. In fact, the Tang Dynasty is not that powerful. Those are all rumors. For example, your prime minister said that the Tang Dynasty is very wealthy, but now life in the palace is very difficult. What he said about the wealth is all rumors."

Sambuza was silent for a long time, not knowing how to respond, and looked somewhat suspicious. A prince who knew nothing about state affairs and was unpopular in the court, yet he still said that the Tang Dynasty was not strong?
But he is the crown prince after all. Are all the crown princes of the Central Plains dynasties like this?

Thinking in his heart, Sambuza bowed before leaving and said, "Actually, this time I came to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I have something to say to His Royal Highness."

"Go ahead." Li Chengqian's attitude was perfunctory.

"If the Tang Dynasty wins the battle against Tuyuhun, the Zanpu will ask the prime minister to come to the Tang Dynasty again to pay tribute. Even if the Tang Dynasty cannot defeat Tuyuhun, the Zanpu will lead the Tibetan warriors to attack Tuyuhun."

"I know."

The prince still responded lightly.

Then Sambuza left with a bar of soap.

The prince came out of Chongwen Hall, and Ning'er said, "Your Highness has already given Tubo two bars of soap."

Li Chengqian said with his hands in his pockets: "Just think of it as giving us some of our Tang Dynasty's specialties. If you think about it carefully, we really don't have much to give them when they come to visit us. Soap is more practical."

Ning Er covered her mouth and chuckled, "This envoy has been trying to find out the intentions of the Tang Dynasty and wanted to get information from Your Highness. He shouldn't have given Lu Dongzan the soap in the first place."

"Alas..." Li Chengqian sighed and walked towards the East Palace, saying, "Let Tubo feel the good intentions of the East Palace, and Songtsen Gampo will naturally think that I want to make friends with Tubo, because when Lu Dongzan came to pay tribute, no one looked at Tubo straight in the eye."

"This envoy said that Tubo will also attack Tuyuhun?"

Walking into the East Palace, Li Chengqian looked up at the blue sky and said, "Songtsen Gampo is an ambitious man. He has great ambitions and should not be underestimated."

After the messenger came to the Eastern Palace, he went to the Prince of Wei's Mansion to meet Prince of Wei Li Tai.

Although it is not known what Sambuza said to Li Tai again, the messenger then left proudly.

As for what his younger brother Li Tai said to the messenger, Li Chengqian didn't care.

After spring came to Guanzhong, Chang'an City became more lively and the warm sunshine made people feel comfortable.

That morning, Li Chengqian gave his younger brothers and sisters a day off and took a group of people from the Eastern Palace out for a spring outing.

The prince was going out for a day, and Li Daozon, who was then the deputy general of the Jinwu Guard and a member of the royal family, personally escorted him.

Li Lizhi took her younger brothers and sisters to Xuanwu Gate and asked them to report their numbers one by one. After confirming that there were no fewer people, she took the group of still somewhat excited children to get on the carriage one by one.

Li Chengqian looked at the desolate Xuanwu Gate, where the city defense was still tight.

Noticing His Highness's gaze, Li Dao Zong said, "Your Highness, everything has been arranged."

Li Chengqian retracted his gaze and bowed, saying, "Uncle, you look really young."

"I'm already over 40, how can I say I'm young?" Li Daozon said with a stern face, looking like a cool uncle.

There's no point in talking to a serious person for long.

Li Chengqian tried to climb onto the horse, but it was obviously not going well.

Li Daozon stepped forward and wanted to help the prince's nephew onto the horse.

"Wait." Li Chengqian stopped Li Daozon who was about to move forward, and took a hemp rope from the carriage beside him. There were wooden stirrups hanging on both ends of the hemp rope, and hung it on the horse's back.

Under Li Daozon's gaze, Li Chengqian stepped on the stirrup, exerted force, and sat on the horse's back smoothly.

This scene made Li Daozon curious, and his eyes fell on the prince's novel stirrup.

Li Chengqian did not like the current stirrups. The stirrups from the Tang Dynasty always felt somewhat unreliable when stepped on.

After climbing onto the horse, Li Chengqian felt the horse was a little uneasy. He patiently soothed it until the horse stopped its restless hooves. It even snorted, as if it was dissatisfied with the prince on its back.

Fortunately, it was just a horse. If it was a person who dared to be dissatisfied with the prince, Li Daozon would kill that person immediately.

The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were all decisive in killing. Li Chengqian also admired Li Daozon very much because he was the youngest among the current royal family generals and one of the most prestigious ones. He was also one of the few royal family brothers who was allowed to command the army with the permission of his father.

But when it comes to conversation, Li Chengqian prefers chatting with Li Xiaogong.

Li Daozon led the three hundred soldiers in front, and Li Chengqian, escorted by a group of soldiers, slowly walked out of the Xuanwu Gate.

The Xuanwu Gate was very clean and no blood was seen.

It was clearly a warm spring breeze, but when it blew into the door, Li Chengqian still felt a little chilly, perhaps because of a psychological effect.

It’s not that I’m afraid, I just feel that the “former lover of the East Palace” died here, and his body is probably still warm.

After the team passed through Xuanwu Gate, they headed towards Weinan.

The feeling of riding a horse for the first time was great. When we reached the Wei River, the team walked along the downstream of the river.

Li Chengqian glanced at the carriage behind him. His younger brothers and sisters were also sitting on the shafts, looking at the spring scenery.

Li Chengqian asked the horse to quicken its pace, and then he came to the side of Li Daozong, holding the reins in one hand and said with a smile: "I am not very skilled in riding a horse, I am sorry to make you laugh, uncle."

The polite word "uncle" brought some smile to Li Daozon's wooden expression, but he was still silent.

Li Chengqian looked ahead at a riverbank covered with green grass and said, "Why don't we rest up front?" Li Daozon nodded when he heard that.

I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but when the team stopped at this river beach, they saw a man fishing.

This person was none other than Li Xiaogong, Prince of Hejian.

Uncle and nephew have feelings? Li Chengqian was thinking about the Prince of Hejian when he met his uncle here.

Li Dao Zong also dismounted and walked up first, bowing and saying, "Brother, why are you here?"

Li Xiaogong covered the water bag with a wooden stopper and handed it to him, "Come out to relax, oh... Chengfan, are you going to the northwest this time?"

Li Dao Zong looked at the prince behind him and said, "Your Majesty did say that, but brother shouldn't publicize it."

"This kid will find out sooner or later."

The court has already decided on the generals who will lead the expedition to the Tuyuhun in the northwest, and Li Daozon is one of them.

The brothers of the royal family also seemed to be at odds with each other. Li Daozon left to arrange the defense of this place. Those here were all princes and princesses. If there was any mistake, no matter how many heads the Jinwu Guards lost, it would not be enough to compensate.

Li Chengqian said: "I didn't expect the emperor's uncle would come here."

“Hehehe…” Li Xiaogong said, “I heard about the arrangement at the clan residence and knew that you were going out to play, so I rushed here to meet you.”

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets, thinking, frowned and said: "It turns out there are not so many coincidences, it's all arranged."

I heard another burst of laughter behind me. It was my younger brothers and sisters who were skewering mutton with wooden sticks. Their laughter was the most beautiful sound this spring.

The uncle and nephew sat down by the river and placed the fishing rod on the shore. They didn't know how many times the fishing line moved and they didn't care even if the fish took the bait.

There were still some women working on the other side of the Wei River.

Li Xiaogong pointed at one of them and said, "What do you think of this one?"

Following his uncle's gaze, Li Chengqian saw a woman who was wearing very thick clothes, as if a lot of cloth was stuffed in her hips, while her upper body looked small.

Seeing this appearance, Li Chengqian whispered: "Like a fat duck?"

As soon as he took a sip of wine, Li Xiaogong almost burst out laughing. He straightened his face and said, "It is rumored that the crown prince of the East Palace likes to take advantage of other people's daughters."

"Why? Have I become the sex demon that people are talking about?"

Li Xiaogong laughed again and said, "I'm an experienced man in matters between men and women."

"It seems that the emperor's uncle wants to enlighten me."

"As an uncle, if the prince is ignorant, the uncles and uncles of the royal family will be to blame."

"No need, uncle. I don't like Pingkangfang. It's good that I haven't demolished it now."

This nephew understood everything immediately, and Li Xiaogong sighed in silence.

Li Chengqian looked at the Weishui River and said, "I am still a young man. Many people my age may have already started a family."

Li Xiaogong nodded in agreement.

Li Chengqian continued, "The candidate for the Crown Princess of the Eastern Palace has not yet been decided. How many families are eyeing my Eastern Palace? They wish I could take advantage of their daughters. Do I need to explain?"

"Forget it. I know that old man Gao Shilian's worries are unnecessary."

Having said this, I finally understood that it was my uncle who was helping the Eastern Palace again.

This good uncle still cares about me, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.

The aroma of roasted lamb came from behind me. A small amount of pepper and salt was mixed and sprinkled on the lamb, making it more fragrant.

Li Xiaogong walked over quickly, snatched a skewer of mutton from Li Zhi, and began to eat it with great enjoyment.

He ignored Li Zhi's dissatisfied and resentful look.

Li Chengqian picked up Li Xiaogong's fishing rod, and when he pulled out the fishing line, indeed, even the bait was gone.

The water of the Wei River is still a little turbulent now, mostly because of a late spring cold snap in March before the beginning of this year and because of the abundant rainfall in early spring.

Since ancient times, the Yellow River has been the mother river of the Central Plains, nurturing generation after generation of people. However, this "mother" is also irritable. Once she gets irritable, not to mention what will happen to Guanzhong, many areas in the downstream Luoyang and Shandong will be flooded.

This is also the reason why successive dynasties have always emphasized the control of the Yellow River for thousands of years.

Li Chengqian thought carefully about the various methods used in later generations to control the Yellow River, such as building terraces to reduce soil erosion, allowing more rainwater to remain in the fields after rain to prevent mud and sand from entering the river. This would also ease the slope of the high slope and form a buffer.

Furthermore, the construction of silt dams and afforestation in the Northwest are three major undertakings that have been carried out in parallel and have been persisted in for nearly a hundred years, bringing benefits to both sides of the Yellow River. This is a great cause that will be remembered for generations.

"Royal brother, this is freshly baked naan." Li Lizhi handed over a piece of naan.

"Well, did you have fun out here?"

"Happy." Li Lizhi grinned, her little face was red from the sun. She stood beside her brother with her hands behind her back, also looking at the wide Wei River.

Li Chengqian stood there eating a cake and said, "Take a day off today and continue with the class tomorrow."

Li Lizhi nodded and said, "I heard from the emperor's uncles that there will be a war."

The baked naan is a bit crispy when chewed, but it is quite fragrant. The wheat aroma is hard to resist.

"We have so many brothers and sisters to take care of in this family. Thank you for your hard work."

"My sister can't say it's hard work."

"It's OK for Li Tai, Li Ke, or other brothers and sisters who have left the palace. You and I need to take good care of these younger brothers and sisters at home. I am the eldest son, and you are the eldest princess. If you and I slack off, who can they rely on in the future?"

Li Lizhi nodded heavily, as if she had accepted an important mission, and said, "It is important for brothers and sisters to unite."

Li Xiaogong sat among a group of children, chewing mutton in his mouth, looking at the brother and sister in front of him. His big eyes like copper bells looked at Li Daozong again, "These are the most sensible brother and sister in the Li Tang family."

Li Dao Zong nodded and said, "Brother, what do you want to say?"

Li Xiaogong patted his shoulder heavily and said, "After we finish the battle against Tuyuhun, it's time to give up the military power. You should be more sensible. You and I are the only ones left among the royal family generals."

As he was talking, he saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Princess Changle coming back, and Li Daozon hurriedly bowed his head.

Li Chengqian said: "Uncle, I want to ask you about the war with Tuyuhun."

(End of this chapter)