The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 259 Lu Dongzan Comes to Chang'an

Yuan Tiangang stroked his beard, looked at the terrain here, and said: "It is not a good thing for the nobles to use the terrain to build their foundations, but they think it is good."

"It's a good thing for the Taoist priest to preserve the landforms here, right?"

"For me, it doesn't matter whether we build or not. The terrain is here. How to build it in the future is up to future generations."

Li Chengqian nodded and listened to Taoist Yuan continue speaking.

He said that generals, ministers and princes would all look for better terrain to build mausoleums or palaces, but this actually destroyed the terrain.

It is natural for the emperor to build a palace in Longshouyuan, but if the emperor does not build landforms in Longshouyuan, it is actually a good thing.

Every time a precious land like this is used, there will be one less. The emperors throughout history have been digging again and again, which will only make such good places less and less.

I listened to Master Yuan say a lot, and most of what he said was like this.

I have never talked so much with Master Yuan before, but now it seems that he is a very thoughtful person, and he has a long-term vision to seek better welfare for future generations.

The emperor wanted to build a summer palace here, and he neither opposed nor approved.

Sitting on the plateau with Taoist Yuan, Li Chengqian took out two cakes from his sleeves and handed one to Taoist Yuan, while he ate one himself. "Now that the court is prosperous, Father has more things to think about."

Yuan Tiangang smiled and said, "Your Highness's cakes are indeed delicious."

"I was quite confused at first, now I am grateful to Master Yuan for enlightening me."

"I don't have much to say. It all depends on your Highness's intention as to what to do."

Li Chengqian asked again: "Master Yuan, are you going back to the Imperial Observatory?"

Yuan Tiangang finished the cake in his hand and said, "Let's go for a walk and see. I'll go see His Majesty when winter comes."

After saying that, the old Taoist priest stood up and left towards the west.

Li Chengqian bowed and said goodbye, then asked the general to drive the carriage back to the palace.

After the great victory in the battle of Qinghai, many officials who were originally on leave also returned. They began to sort out the battle reports and the situations in various parts of Qinghai that had been sent in continuously in the past few days.

Twenty years ago, Tuyuhun was entrenched in Qinghai and almost covered the entire territory of Qinghai.

Now, twelve years later, it is Tang Dynasty's turn to govern Qinghai.

There was another rumbling sound of thunder in the sky, and just when the rain was about to fall, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace returned to Chang'an City.

Hou Junji was also hiding under the city wall from the rain. When he saw the prince getting off the carriage, he hurried forward and saluted, saying, "Your Highness."

"General Hou's complexion has improved a lot recently."

"I have been recuperating since I came back from the Western Regions."

It was pouring rain. Li Chengqian stood with his hands in his pockets looking at the scenery in front of him. Many people were walking into the city gate in the rain, and some wanted to leave the city, so they had to stop temporarily.

For a while, on both sides of the city wall, residents and vendors gathered in groups of three or four, chatting casually, and some even sat by the wall drinking a bowl of soup.

The rain fell on Zhuque Street, and the water quickly flowed along the road surface to the ditches on both sides. In the square city of Chang'an, there were square markets one after another.

If the work of repairing Chang'an City is completed, there will be 108 market towns in Chang'an City, and each market town will have a new drainage canal.

The intact ditches were repaired on the old foundations. Some of the ditches were almost abandoned and there was often water accumulation in the streets, so they had to be completely demolished and rebuilt.

Rebuilding the market town and the drainage canal together required nearly 6,000 manpower, which is dwarfed by the manpower required to build the silt dam.

The investment was also huge. In total, nearly 50,000 strings of cash were spent.

Now the rainwater flows into the newly built ditches, and you can see that the water flows very fast in the ditches under the city wall.

Li Chengqian thought that at this time Yan Liben should be checking whether the ditches were still blocked and doing the finishing work of this major project.

From last winter until now, when autumn is almost here, progress has been slow.

When the rain subsided a little, Li Chengqian got back in the carriage and returned to the palace.

The heavy rain turned into a drizzle. Li Chengqian returned to the East Palace where his younger brothers and sisters were taking a nap.

A map was spread out on the table. It was the map of Longshouyuan. Only after seeing it in person did I know how to arrange this land.

Draw an area on the map and go to see the emperor.

Li Yuan sat at the door of Chongwen Hall. He had lived here for many years and had no plans to move back to Wude Hall.

Seeing his grandson hurriedly leaving on the wet ground, he took a sip of wine with a worried look on his face.

When we arrived in front of Ganlu Temple, the drizzle was still falling, but it was not disturbing.

"Is the emperor here?"

The eunuch bowed quickly and said, "Your Majesty has gone to Lizheng Hall to dine with the Queen. He will most likely be back by now."

The old eunuch who was speaking was always by the emperor's side, and he knew his daily routine best.

Li Chengqian walked into Ganlu Hall, put the drawings aside, picked up the document beside him and started reading.

There are a total of fifteen volumes of documents, all sent from Songzhou and the Western Regions.

Liang Jianfang returned to Fuqi City to garrison, and handed over the entire Qinghai to Niu Jinda to garrison.

Just as he had expected, his father also wanted the Tibetans to control the south of Qinghai. Comparing with the map hanging on the wall, with Qinghai as the boundary, the current Tibetan territory is only two-thirds of that on later maps.

"how?"

Hearing the voice behind him, Li Chengqian put down the document in his hand and said, "Father."

"I heard that you were coming to Ganlu Palace, so I put down my bowl and chopsticks and came here."

"Excuse me for interrupting your father's meal."

Li Shimin walked past his son, sat down and looked at the military reports on the table, and said in a deep voice: "In this battle, 20,000 men defeated the 50,000-strong Tibetan army. I am still thinking about how to take back Qinghai."

"Oh, right." Li Shimin picked up the tea bowl and said, "I asked Liu Lan to come back. I heard that he was very upset in Songzhou because all the credit was taken away by a group of juniors. He also kept clamoring to fight Liang Jianfang to the death."

Li Chengqian fetched a stool from the side and sat down next to his father, looking through the documents here and listening to his father's stories and complaints.

It was very quiet in the Ganlu Palace. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sat beside His Majesty, listening quietly and occasionally reading the military newspaper.

The rain outside the window was getting heavier, so the old eunuch stood guard outside the hall, afraid of disturbing the harmonious scene between father and son.

I listened to my father talking about Liang Jianfang's bold use of troops. If the army that went around behind was discovered by the Tibetans, the consequences would be disastrous.

In fact, the Tibetan army of 50,000 people did not have strong cohesion. Once they fell into a disadvantage, they dispersed. Fear forced them to flee for their lives.

Listening to his father's analysis of the battle, and saying that Lu Dongzan was too clumsy in using troops, Li Chengqian smiled and asked, "If Lu Dongzan were in his father's place, how would he fight this battle?"

My father's expression suddenly became full of vigor and vitality. With a confident smile on his face, he talked about the strategy in his mind.

They pretended to attack Songzhou and captured Fuqi City overnight. By the time the Tang army reacted, they seized Fuqi City and took away its food and grass, then rushed thousands of miles to attack the Western Regions Protectorate which was under construction.

In this way, the Tang army would be exhausted and could send out a third group of troops to launch a surprise attack on Liang Jianfang's troops.

Listening to my father’s story, it felt like I was really on the battlefield.

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Based on my father's style, he wouldn't fight like this."

"Oh?"

"I think that if your father were Lu Dongzan, he would feint an attack on Songzhou, then lead the main force to capture Fuqi City, advance eastward to the Hexi Corridor, and capture the Hexi Corridor, which was only built three years ago. By then, the Tang Dynasty's years of hard work would be destroyed."

Li Shimin suddenly laughed heartily.

At this point, Li Chengqian put down the document in his hand and took out a map from the side, "I have been to Longshouyuan and met Taoist Yuan."

Thinking that Cheng Qian was actually working on the construction of the Summer Palace.

Everyone in the court and the country was still rejoicing over the victory of the war, only this son was still working hard for these matters.

Li Shimin felt somewhat relieved and picked up the tea bowl to drink again.

Li Chengqian pointed to an area drawn on the map and said, "I want to build a house here and enclose this area. It won't be large in scale, and I hope to preserve the topography of Longshouyuan."

"Is this what Yuan Tiangang meant?"

"Not really. Taoist Yuan said that the landform of Longshouyuan is very rare. If a palace is built, it will take away this originally good landform, and there will be less scenery in the future."

Li Shimin nodded.

"So I think that instead of building a palace here, we can preserve the scenery of Longshouyuan and build a mansion here. Father can go there to walk around and take a look in his spare time. Isn't this a good story?"

Emperors all liked good stories, which would often spread through people’s conversations and eventually become stories, praised by later generations.

"You will arrange this."

After the father and son finished talking, Li Chengqian did not leave, but packed up silently, putting some files on the bookshelf and then packing up some loose items.

Then I sat aside and tasted the new tea sent from Jiangnan this year.

The maid brought a basin of cakes and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, this is the rice cake that Princess Changle roasted. I asked this maid to bring it to you."

Li Shimin was writing his orders to the generals at the border.

Seeing that his father was too busy to talk, Li Chengqian took the bowl of rice cake and asked her to leave. While eating, he looked at a piece of silk hanging on the chair.

Li Chengqian was chewing a rice cake, or more precisely, a rice cake, which was very soft and sticky, while he was sizing up the silk.

Noticing his son's gaze, Li Shimin put down his pen and explained, "This was presented to me by Dilish Khan of the Ili River."

Li Chengqian picked up the thick silk and looked at the flower-shaped embellishments on it.

"When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty married Princess Xijun to Wusun, they had domes as rooms and felt walls. This kind of felt can last for decades without breaking."

"So this is the craft of Wusun."

Li Shimin chuckled and said, "The ancient Wusun Kingdom is gone, but the old people of the ancient Wusu Kingdom are still here, and these skills have been preserved. Some of them became Sai people, some became Western Turks, and some became Gaochang people."

In fact, my father was also a very knowledgeable man. He could tell many stories just by mentioning an ancient country in the Western Regions, and he could even tell the rise and fall of the ancient Wusun Kingdom by a floral carpet.

He also talked to his father about Lu Dongzan who was about to be escorted to Chang'an. In fact, Lu Dongzan had long lost his favor in the eyes of the people in Chang'an. This soldier who invaded Songzhou would most likely be drowned in saliva.

Autumn was about to come in Guanzhong, and the wind seemed cooler. When the court ended its holiday, Li Chengqian came to Taiye Lake to wash the fawn raised by his sister.

While using a brush to wash off some of the mud and stains on the deer, Li Chengqian said, "Dongyang has been raising you but doesn't care about you. I am the only one who can take care of you."

I noticed that the prince was actually talking to a few deer, which made the palace maids passing by laugh secretly.

Hearing their laughter, Ning'er turned around and glared at them. The two palace maids put away their smiles, lowered their heads and walked away quickly.

The prince is already over twenty years old, so it is natural that he will attract the attention of young girls.

While washing, the deer stood still. After washing one deer, they would wash the next one.

"Ning'er, are there any pickled radishes to eat today?"

"Your Highness, Xiaofu just pickled some radishes. A cart of vegetables arrived from the palace yesterday. It will be better if we pickle them for a few more days."

After washing a few fawns, one of them was still butting its head against his knees. Li Chengqian raised his foot slightly and pushed its head away.

Standing by the waterside pavilion, he said with his hands in his pockets, "Next year, I will build a house in Longshouyuan for my father."

Outside Chang'an City, a group of soldiers were heading here.

Lu Dongzan was the prime minister of Tubo. Even though he was captured by the Tang army, he was given enough face and was placed in a horse-drawn carriage instead of a prison cart.

When the team arrived in front of the city, Liu Renyuan, who was on duty, checked the documents and reports, and then said, "Enter the city first, and don't make any noise."

Liu Lan dismounted, had someone bring Lu Dongzan out of the carriage, and entered Chang'an City in a low-key manner.

He was a great prime minister in Tubo, but became a prisoner in the Tang Dynasty.

Lu Dongzan lowered his head and was escorted by the Tang army on Zhuque Street. Looking at the footsteps on both sides, there were many pedestrians coming and going.

At this moment, he seemed to be unable to hear any noise in this bustling city.

After walking for a while, they stopped and General Liu Lan stepped forward to ask questions. He learned that the visitor was the Minister of Rites. Li Baiyao brought a group of officials from the Honglu Temple, who took Lu Dongzan away from the team of officers and soldiers and sent him all the way to the post station.

Until he was taken into a room in the inn, Lu Dongzan was pushed and staggered. He stood still for a moment, but the door behind him was closed heavily.

There were wine and food on the table, which seemed to be used to entertain the Tibetan prime minister.

Lu Dongzan smiled self-deprecatingly. This Heavenly Khan was truly generous and courteous. He had originally thought that he would be thrown into the Tang dungeon and later beheaded by the Tang people.

"Prime Minister." Sambuza stepped forward to support Lu Dongzan who was about to faint, and asked, "Where is the Zamp? Did we lose?"

Lu Dongzan stroked the windowsill. Looking out, he saw the bustling and prosperous Chang'an City, and there were vendors hawking their wares under the post station.

Suddenly, Lu Dongzan suddenly became dark and fell to the ground.

Sambuza supported the fainted prime minister and shouted, "Help! Help!"

In the last moment of his blurred consciousness, Lu Dongzan heard many footsteps.

(End of this chapter)