The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 281 Ke Understood
Fang Xuanling said with emotion: "The food in the East Palace has always been so good."

Chang Sun Wuji added: "The notices for this year's imperial examinations have all been sent out."

Fang Xuanling said, "That's good."

The four people in Ganlu Palace, including the Crown Prince and His Majesty, did not mention Luoyang again.

After finishing his lunch calmly, Li Chengqian walked outside the hall and took a deep breath.

Then the teacher and uncle also left.

Li Chengqian returned to the East Palace in a good mood.

Su Wan was hanging out clothes to dry. When she saw her husband come back, she smiled brightly.

In the sunshine, the wife has a beautiful smile, and the sunlight shining from the side adds a little brightness to her eyes.

Li Chengqian took her hand and said, "Father will go to the West Garden of the Imperial Palace to worship at the Yu Temple and pray for a good harvest this year. He will let me supervise the government these days."

Su Wan held her husband's hand and nodded in response, "Yes."

"Father and Mother will be staying in Xiyuan for half a month. We should pay more attention to the affairs of our younger brothers and sisters."

Su Wan still nodded and said, "Mingda learns to read very quickly, and now he can barely write an article."

When the prince sat down to rest for a while, Su Wan sat beside him and played the piano. Ning'er took out this year's new tea so that His Highness could brew it at any time.

In Chang'an City, Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji walked together.

"Nowadays, more and more people in the government and the opposition are supporting the prince."

"Yes." Fang Xuanling said with emotion: "The right thing will naturally be supported by the court officials. The tax issue must be sorted out. It concerns the salaries of the civil and military officials, the war in the Western Regions, and whether the Li Tang Dynasty is strong or not. You see, even you will not oppose the prince on such a matter."

Zhang Sun Wuji said bitterly: "After all, I am the prince's uncle. I can't hide my selfishness. I made Fang Xiang laugh."

"It turns out that the assistant had selfish motives and wanted to help the prince."

"As the prince's teacher, isn't that right?"

Fang Xuanling added: "To control Luoyang, we must control the canal that Yang Guang built. Fortunately, several counties along the canal are all my students and old friends."

They both smiled at the same time, and Fang Xuanling told them his arrangements frankly.

Fang Xuanling added: "But Yang Guang didn't accomplish this back then."

"The prince is still young. Even if he fails once, there are still many years to come."

"I'm afraid that if I fail once, it will wear away my spirit. I've seen too many people who were very ambitious when they were young, but after encountering a big setback, they never got up again and became depressed for the rest of their lives."

Zhang Sun Wuji said, "It's just Luoyang. Prime Minister Fang is worrying too much. Mao Gong said that the prince is a very determined person."

In Luoyang in April, at dusk, a group of people came out of the workshop where they were working. They received their wages today, and all of them had smiles on their faces.

Huang Dazhuang received one string of money, which was his wages for this month's work. In the workshop, the more you work, the more you get paid. He was quick and hardworking, so he earned more than others.

Just cut the paper, press the knife to cut a thick stack of paper.

That's his job.

Huang Dazhuang came to the river, washed his hands with the river water, and stood waiting in the dusk.

Many people are still moving to Luoyang. It seems that the government has been doing this in the past two years. The government hopes that many people can come to Luoyang to settle down.

Huang Dazhuang and his wife and children also live in Luoyang. His wife works in another workshop weaving baskets and can earn thirty to fifty coins a day. Although the wages are low, at least she can take care of the children.

There were more and more laborers in the workshop, and Huang Dazhuang even saw people from Lingnan.

In the distance, a family was pulling a cart towards them. Huang Dazhuang took a closer look and shouted in his hometown language, "I'm here!"

The family quickened their pace and came here.

The strong man pulling the cart is Huang Erzhuang, Dazhuang's younger brother. The two elderly people in the cart are Dazhuang's mother and father.

There were also two children and a woman, who were Erzhuang's wife and children.

Huang Dazhuang stepped forward and took a closer look, then asked in surprise, "Where's the third brother?"

Da Zhuang's mother covered her face on the spot. Er Zhuang whispered, "The third son was beaten to death by the owner of the family as a runaway slave. The owner paid five strings of cash to the government and the matter was settled."

The lawyer shouted, "My brother's life is only worth five strings of cash?!"

"Boss, if the third brother hadn't stopped the murderers from the main family, our family wouldn't have been able to get out."

Hearing his father's words, Da Zhuang knelt down and punched the ridge of the field with his fists.

My mother advised, "That's better than dying of starvation in the hands of the master. From now on, we will follow Da Zhuang and not starve."

Looking at his skinny nephew, Da Zhuang nodded heavily and said, "There is work to do in Luoyang. As long as there is work, we won't starve to death. Chongwen Hall can give us the status of a good man. We don't want to be servants anymore! We will starve to death if we work for the master!"

The old lady asked, "Isn't this against the law?"

"No! Many of the people here used to be servants, and they have made their new homes here."

Hearing their son's decisive reply, both the mother and the father felt relieved.

Da Zhuang thought about the ten strings of cash he had saved in Luoyang. When he thought about how his brother's life was only compensated with five strings of cash by the master, he felt pain in his heart again.

He walked quickly, at the front of the family, with his back to his family so that his parents and younger brother would not see his tears.

Huang Dazhuang and his family lived in a house on the edge of Luoyang city. Many years ago, he was one of the militiamen who built the river embankment. Later, many people settled here and it became a village.

When they pushed the door open, Huang Dazhuang's wife came to greet his parents.

Another old man from the neighboring house said, "Da Zhuang, your parents are finally here. Great! It would be better if you could come to Luoyang earlier."

Huang Dazhuang nodded silently.

As Huang Dazhuang's family settled down, a team of soldiers arrived in front of Luoyang City. The man said to the soldiers in front of the city: "I am Su Xu, the Literary Museum, and I am here to deliver a letter to the King of Wu on the orders of His Royal Highness the King of Wei!"

Su Xu was invited into the city.

Li Ke's residence in Luoyang was quite spacious. A letter was delivered to him. "Your Highness, King Wu, Su Xu, a disciple of King Wei, sent a letter."

"Well, go on."

"Here."

Li Ke opened the letter and looked at Qingque's handwriting. There was a story written on it, which Qingque said in the letter was told by his royal brother.

During the Jin Dynasty, the dynasty was suffering from a population decline. A prince asked how to govern the country. Someone replied that the prince should collect taxes, leave enough food for the villagers to keep them from starving to death, and give them seeds for the next year. They would naturally farm the crops, and that would be enough.

Holding the paper and looking at the contents of the letter, Li Ke fell into deep thought.

A cup of hot tea was placed in front of her, and the woman said in a soft voice, "Your Highness, this is the new tea sent by Chang'an."

Li Ke raised his eyes slightly and looked at her. This was the princess who had just married him, a woman from the Hongnong Yang family. He said, "Princess, go and have a rest. I have something to think about." "Well, I will sit aside and not disturb Your Highness."

The night enveloped Luoyang. Li Ke drank his tea and sat on a chair. His brother's words lingered in his thoughts. You should think more about it. The difficulties our family is facing now are actually very interesting.

Li Ke fell asleep unknowingly. In his dream, he saw a scene. It was a wasteland everywhere. People who had died suddenly could be seen here and there in the wasteland. There were also people working, but their food had been taken away. A man who picked fruits was being whipped.

For some unknown reason, Li Ke suddenly felt cold all over and woke up abruptly.

"Your Highness, did you have a nightmare?"

Li Ke saw the princess holding the oil lamp. He breathed heavily and felt the princess's cold palm on his hand.

Li Ke held the princess's hand and said, "Ke had a very bad dream."

Princess Yang patted Li Ke on the back and said, "Your Highness has too many worries."

Li Ke spread out a piece of paper and pressed down a corner of the paper with an oil lamp. He suddenly realized something.

Pick up the pen and start writing. After the land was annexed, the grain grown belonged to the owners, the princes and nobles, while the common people were left with only enough grain to avoid starving to death.

Li Ke held the pen in his hand and wrote. This was a picture of the ultimate land annexation. All the land in the world was annexed by princes and nobles, and all the food belonged to them, and they could squander it at will.

Why are there corpses everywhere? Because those people starved to death after losing their food and land, and the population is declining.

Why is the population declining? Because the masters only care about their own wealth. They don’t care whether the land needs to be cultivated, so they don’t need too many people.

It didn't matter if the land was left barren, because they owned all the land in the world. If 30,000 hectares of land were left barren, even if they only cultivated 1,000 hectares, they would be rich enough. As a result, more and more people starved to death.

This is the ultimate picture after the land has annexed the entire world. It is a world that is not like the human world.

Even though it was just a dream, the world shouldn't be like this...

Li Ke covered his face with one hand and crumpled up the paper covered with words with the other hand, squeezing it into a ball in his hand.

Princess Yang whispered, "Your Highness, what's going on?"

Li Ke shook his head and said, "Nothing."

His Highness covered his face while speaking, and Yang became more worried. She placed her hands on His Highness's clenched fists and felt that his fists were still trembling a little.

The next day, Li Ke did not sleep all night. After dawn, he walked in the prosperous city of Luoyang and met Zhang Daan who was busy.

"Your name is Zhang Daan."

Hearing this, Zhang Daan threw all the fodder into the trough and saluted, saying, "Your Highness, King Wu."

Li Ke walked forward, patted Ma'er's neck, and asked, "Are all the people in Luoyang okay?"

Zhang Daan said: "Some say it's good, some say it's not good."

Li Ke asked, "You said these things will stop when we reach Luoyang?"

"Your Highness, King Wu, are you talking about the ministers and nobles who paid the back taxes?"

"That's it."

Zhang Daan sat down beside the manger, looking at the sun that was about to rise outside the city gate, and said with a smile: "Maybe not, maybe when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne... I can't say for sure, I don't know."

Li Ke asked, "Is the aristocratic family difficult to deal with?"

"Who would go after the noble families? Your Highness, King Wu, you are joking. As officials, we are just doing what we should do."

After listening to Zhang Daan's words, Li Ke asked again: "If it were you, what would you do?"

Zhang Daan leaned his back against the pillar of the stable and said, "I am working in Jingzhao Prefecture. Li Yifu is the head of Chongwen Hall. He can help His Royal Highness the King of Wu."

Li Ke shook his head and said, "I don't like Li Yifu's character."

"He did act arrogantly. He is a man with his own strengths. He is also a man of means."

The horse was eating hay. Zhang Da'an patted the horse's head and said, "Li Yifu said that the people from the noble families are all in touch with each other and they won't make things difficult for each other. Li Yifu also said that he was just a kid who was bullied in the past. He came to Chang'an to take the imperial examination and was looked down upon by the children of the noble families. This person was bullied since he was a child."

"Later, Li Yifu said that when he gained power one day, he would pay back those who bullied him tenfold or a hundredfold. In fact, he had thought about becoming a disciple of those young men, but he was unwilling to serve them. If he failed the imperial examination, he would become a disciple of those men only because he thought that they had bullied him and Li Yifu wanted to stab them in the back."

"Stab them in the back?"

Zhang Daan laughed and said, "He is a very calculating person, no wonder His Royal Highness the King of Wu dislikes his character."

After that, Zhang Da'an said that there were important matters that needed to be presided over in Luoyang Jingzhao Prefecture, so he left first.

At noon, Li Ke came to the Chongwenguan in Luoyang. The Chongwenguan here was not in the city, but in a house one mile outside the city.

This house is very big and many people come and go here.

Li Ke walked into Chongwenguan and found that no one came up to question him. It seemed that no one who entered here was stopped.

"Master Li, we have found traces of Cui Yao and his group in the southeast of the city."

"Really?" Li Yifu stood up and said, "Call the brothers and follow me to capture them!"

"Here!"

When he was leaving, Li Yifu saw the King of Wu and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, the King of Wu! I have something important to do. I wonder what your Highness is here for?"

"I need a dozen people to obey my orders."

"Your Highness Prince Wu can choose the people here." Having said that, he hurriedly left with his people.

The sound of horses neighing was heard outside the door. Li Yifu shouted a few words and rode away with a group of people.

Listening to the sound of horse hooves getting farther and farther away, Li Ke stood in Chongwenguan. There were many people holding books and many people talking.

These people are all very young, probably around twenty years old.

Li Ke wanted to call out to someone, but the other person left in a hurry. It seemed that everyone in Chongwenguan was very busy.

Then I thought that I was too reckless. How could I be so careless about such a thing?

Li Ke walked out of Chongwenguan, took a deep breath, returned to Luoyang City, and went home to write a letter.

First of all, you have to choose the most loyal people, those who will not defect halfway and those who will not sell out themselves even if they defect.

Royal heirs are not allowed to do this kind of thing, but have to let others do it.

After writing down his idea, Li Ke had it sent to Chang'an and handed over to the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.

Speaking of backers, Li Ke knew that his backer was his elder brother the Emperor in the Eastern Palace.

I'm afraid my father would not agree with this kind of thing. I can only feel at ease if I let my elder brother make the arrangements. It has been proven many times that most of his arrangements are very meaningful. These six years have been the six years in which Ke has gained the most in his life.

He watched the man leave with the letter and said, "Royal brother, I was stupid before, but now I finally understand a little bit."

(End of this chapter)