The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 282: Changes in Luoyang
"Master Li, Cui Yao is in front!"

Li Yifu, who was riding a horse, looked up and saw a group of people in the distance. The other side seemed to have just noticed that soldiers were approaching, and the figure was swaying and trying to jump onto the horse.

"Gee!" Li Yifu waved the whip to make the horse run faster.

Fifteen students from Chongwenguan who came out of Luoyang whipped their horses to catch up.

Just as he was about to catch up, he could see clearly what the other person was wearing, and suddenly he saw an arrow coming towards him, and the whistling sound of the arrow passed by his ears.

Li Yifu was frightened, and then several arrows came towards him.

The opponent's archery skills were not very good, and no one on our side was hit by an arrow.

Li Yifu laughed and said, "Don't let them get away. It's a great feat for them to hide the weapons. Chase them!"

An ordinary person might stop chasing at this time, but Li Yifu is different. Once he gets a perfect opportunity, he will definitely hold on to it.

"Go and report to General Chai!"

"Yes!" Three or five people responded and left.

It looked like there were about twenty people on the other side, and they were escorted by three or five armored soldiers.

Li Yifu followed them from a distance, neither in a hurry nor in a hurry, keeping a certain distance. If they dared to turn back and attack, he would retreat immediately. If they continued to escape, our people would continue to chase them.

Cui Yao, who was riding a horse in front, was cursing in his heart. These people from Chongwenguan neither chased him nor ran away. They just kept following him from a distance.

He wanted to leave someone behind to stop the people from Chongwenguan, but there were only three soldiers around him, and if one was missing he would be in greater danger.

Cui Yao was a seventeen-year-old young man. He used to live a wealthy life in Luoyang. He was surrounded by flatterers who would give money to others whenever he pleased.

After running for about three hours, Cui Yao was riding on the horse and the horse slowed down. He looked back and saw Li Yifu and the others were still following him from a distance. This man was like a mad dog and would not let go of anyone he bit.

We have already left Luoyang, what else does Li Yifu want to do?
As the team continued to move forward, they saw a group of people and a boat on the river in the distance. Cui Yao grinned, knowing that they would not fall into Li Yifu's hands this time.

Cui Yao urged the horse under him to the riverside. The group arrived in front of the boat and boarded the boat under the escort of the visitor.

When he stepped on the boat, Cui Yao shouted at Li Yifu who was chasing him, "Idiot! You can't catch me! Hahaha!"

The wild laughter echoed on both sides of the river. This arrogant laughter was not pleasant to listen to.

Li Yifu came to the river and pulled the reins, looking at the boat in the distance. All that was left in front of him were the horses that they had left by the river, exhausted from running.

"Master Li, shall we go back?"

"No, follow me."

"Here!"

At night, the boat was sailing on the river bank. Cui Yao lay on the boat tiredly, thinking back to the excitement just now. He thought that Li Yifu's expression must be very interesting now. "It's a pity that I can't see Li Yifu's angry look."

"Hahaha!" Cui Yao laughed wildly again.

"Sir, don't mess around anymore. When you get home, get married properly."

"Don't talk too much. This house is so boring, just full of old guys." Cui Yao turned over and fell asleep comfortably.

At daybreak, the boat stopped at the ferry crossing of Gubei Ferry and slowly docked at the shore. Cui Yao got off the boat and strode onto the solid land under the escort of his guards and entourage. This was Sishui County of Xingyang.

Cui Yao and his party came to a tavern and sat down. He said loudly: "Give me some good food, I want fish!"

Half a minute later, the shopkeeper brought a pot of mandarin fish, fish lips and mutton.

After a day and night of traveling, Cui Yao was already starving. He ate with big mouthfuls, still looking at the passers-by, thinking about where to go next. He said, "Those people in the court still want to arrest me? When I return, I will have someone kill Li Yifu! This bastard!"

Cui Yao, who had always been a playboy, had never suffered such humiliation.

He wanted to take revenge on Li Yifu for all the humiliation he had suffered in Luoyang.

A middle-aged scholar who was accompanying them advised: "Master Cui, we have finished our meal, so we should leave quickly. This place is not far from Luoyang, and we are worried that they will catch up with us."

Cui Yao nodded in response, and then said: "He, Li Yifu, is nothing outside Luoyang."

After having a meal here, Cui Yao wiped his mouth, drank some soup, and then prepared to leave.

When they came to the ferry again, Cui Yao looked at the river and smiled, "We will have to settle accounts with them sooner or later."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a group of soldiers walking towards here.

Cui Yao's originally swaggering walk suddenly stopped, and he looked hesitantly at the soldiers coming from a distance.

The middle-aged scholar at the side said again: "Sir, no matter whether it is coming for us or not, get on the boat quickly."

Cui Yao nodded continuously and walked quickly towards the ferry.

The further we went, the more we found that there were more and more officers and soldiers here.

There were many businessmen walking around, and people's shouts and laughter mixed together.

"Mr. Cui, wait!" a man in the county magistrate's uniform shouted from behind.

Cui Yao's mind raced. The ferry was right in front of him, and his boat was right in front of him too. He quickly ran to the boat.

He tripped over something and lost his balance, falling to the ground.

He looked up and saw a very familiar face. Looking at this face, he turned over and took a few steps back, "Li Yifu?"

Li Yifu had a ferocious smile on his face and said, "Master Cui, it will be easy for me to find it."

Cui Yao was about to run again but was stopped by a group of soldiers.

The county magistrate in the back came hurriedly. He saluted and said, "I am the magistrate of Sishui County. I am honored to meet the chief historian of Luoyang."

Li Yifu said: "Thanks to County Magistrate Chen for helping."

"This county was ordered by Prime Minister Fang to supervise the water transport to and from Luoyang. Catching a criminal was just a matter of convenience."

"you……"

Li Yifu said with a smile: "Master Cui, I have been running around for a whole day and night without sleeping, and finally I have caught up."

Cui Yao shouted, "Let me go, and I'll give you money."

A few silver cakes fell to the ground, and Li Yifu sighed, "Mr. Cui's silver cakes are nothing. If we arrest Mr. Cui, I can get more."

After he finished speaking, a group of soldiers surrounded him and tied Cui Yao up.

At this moment, he still had some hope in his heart. When he sat in the prison car, he felt regretful. He shouted, "Li Yifu! Let me go."

"Mr. Cui, please return to Luoyang. I will treat you to delicious food and drink and will not let you die."

"Li Yifu! When have I ever offended you?" He shouted loudly while holding onto the prison car with both hands.

After saying goodbye to the county magistrate, Li Yifu had actually been busy all day and all night. He had also taken a boat down the Yellow River, and asked Chai Zhewei to send people down the river day and night to deliver the news here.

Now, Li Yifu knew that the county magistrate was a disciple of Prime Minister Fang, and he understood a lot more.

Prime Minister Fang is the prince's teacher. Since the prince is going to govern Luoyang, the court cannot be without preparation. The counties along the river are all spies of the court.

Li Ke has been traveling around Luoyang these days. Today, he helped a teacher in a county build a schoolhouse. From a distance, he saw Li Yifu escorting a prisoner car and a team of soldiers tying up many people. When the team arrived, Li Ke smiled and said, "Master Li, I haven't seen you for three days. Are you going out to arrest someone?"

Li Yifu said, "Your Highness, King Wu, I rushed all the way to Xingyang and finally captured this traitor. If I had been a step later, this thief would have fled to Zhengzhou."

Li Ke clasped his fists and said, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Li."

"No problem! This thief has his own private army and dared to assassinate me. In addition, he did not pay enough taxes. I will punish him for multiple crimes. I will skin him alive!"

Li Ke frowned slightly and said, "Master Li is very capable."

Li Yifu led the team all the way into Luoyang City.

Ma Zhou and Zhang Xuansu were very busy these days. They spent two months checking the accounts.

"Only 20% of the people paid the city tax, and all of them paid less than 1,000 kan."

Ma Zhou asked, "What about the others? Have they all given up their families?"

"Give us another two months and wait a little longer." Zhang Xuansu said as he put a thick stack of accounts in the car.

A long line of horse-drawn carriages were carrying the confiscated property, all of which were to be escorted to Chang'an.

Zhang Daan handed over a blueprint and said, "This is the blueprint sent by Chang'an, ordering us to build Luoyang."

Another government decree came from Jingzhao Prefecture. Ma Zhou opened the blueprint and saw that straight roads would be built from Luoyang City to the surrounding counties and villages. The straight roads were distributed outside and converged into Luoyang City from all directions.

The workshops were built on important roads between counties, and the scope of construction and the number of houses were marked.

Zhang Daan said, "I still have to write a report to the Jingzhao Prefecture in Chang'an, so I'll take my leave now."

"Wait." Ma Zhou asked in confusion, "How many people are there?"

Zhang Daan replied: "There are approximately 150,000 able-bodied men that can be mobilized from the counties and Luoyang, and they can participate in the construction after the busy farming season."

In the past two years, Luoyang has been absorbing people from all over the place, but now the population size is still not enough because more people are going to Guanzhong.

Moreover, after the alternating droughts and floods in the previous few years, the population shortage situation did not improve until the tenth year of Zhenguan.

Zhang Daan said: "We in Jingzhao Prefecture have always believed that as long as a place is well built and has more wealth, it will naturally attract more people."

Ma Zhou nodded and said, "Thank you for your help."

"But if you have any instructions, please tell me. I am the secretary of Jingzhao Prefecture and can report Luoyang's affairs to Chang'an at any time."

Zhang Xuansu has arranged for people to send out the confiscated property.

Ma Zhou and Zhang Xuansu need to discuss the remaining matters regarding the construction of the workshop with the merchants.

Ma Zhou asked, "I heard that Master Du He came to Luoyang?"

Chai Zhewei, who was wearing armor, stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying, "I just arrived in Luoyang yesterday."

After a major overhaul, Luoyang is now beginning to undergo construction, which requires a large-scale labor force. Many of Guanzhong's strategies must be implemented in Luoyang.

Zhang Xuansu watched the carts of wealth go away and said with emotion: "I have not done a good job in collecting taxes. I have only collected 20% so far, and those people are still unwilling to send silver, money and food."

"You have done a good job. They are unwilling to use their huge fortune to exchange for their relatives detained in Luoyang. It is their short-sightedness that has nothing to do with you."

Hearing this, Zhang Xuansu turned around and saw Zhang Xingcheng wearing the official robes of the censor.

Zhang Xingcheng had been in Luoyang for two months, and the turmoil in Luoyang had only subsided during these two months.

"Let the censor laugh at me."

Zhang Xingcheng put his hands behind his back, looked up to the west, and whispered: "Luoyang needs to be developed. According to the vision of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Luoyang will become a prosperous place comparable to Chang'an. What we are doing and building is for the next few decades."

Zhang Xuansu bowed and said, "Back then, I told Your Majesty that we should sort out taxes. Now it is so difficult to implement it just in Luoyang. Thinking back to when I said that, I feel ashamed."

Zhang Xingcheng stroked his beard and smiled, "Can you fish?"

"What's so hard about this?"

"You see, you know fishing is not difficult until you have tried it patiently. But when you sit by the river and let the fishing line go, you will know the beauty of fishing. Some things have to be done. Only after doing them can you know how difficult it is."

Zhang Xuansu said: "No wonder His Royal Highness the King of Wu often says that doing something does not mean it is done well."

Zhang Xingcheng smiled and said, "That's right. The world is huge and we still have a lot to do."

In the dungeon of Jingzhao Prefecture, Cui Yao squatted in a corner of the dungeon in a daze. He stammered, "My family will definitely come to rescue me, right?"

The middle-aged scholar in the next cell whispered, "When we came down to pick you up, did your guards really shoot arrows at Li Yifu?"

Cui Yao shook his head and said, “No…no.”

"Really?"

"Have……"

The middle-aged scholar was named Xu Shishan. He was a disciple of the Qinghe Cui family. He married a woman from the Qinghe Cui family and started working for the Cui family.

It is not easy to be the son-in-law of aristocratic family. Xu Shishan knows very well the character of the children of aristocratic families.

Seeing Cui Yao trembling with fear, he shouted, "Is there one or not?"

Cui Yao suddenly came to his senses and grabbed the collar of the man in front of him and said, "Mr. Xu, save me, save me, Li Yifu said he wants to peel my skin off."

Noticing the other party's staring gaze, Cui Yao said with red eyes: "They shot the arrows on their own initiative. It has nothing to do with me."

"If you dare to assassinate a local governor, Li Yifu will fabricate a charge of treason, and the entire Qinghe Cui family will be finished!"

"I..." Cui Yao was so scared that he didn't know what to say.

Xu Shishan shook his head slowly, thinking that he should not have gone to the river to pick him up. He looked at a small window on the wall of the dungeon. Sunlight shone in through the window, and he could even see the floating dust in the light.

Suddenly smiling, Xu Shishan took out a needle hidden in his hair at the back of his head. The needle was long and thin, enough to kill a person.

With a ruthless look on his face, Xu Shishan held a needle in one hand and reached towards the next cell with the other. He suddenly grabbed Cui Yao's hair and pulled him to the side of the cell. Through the slender pillar of the cell, he grabbed Cui Yao's chin with his hand.

With one hand holding the needle, he suddenly stabbed it into Cui Yao's throat.

Cui Yao grabbed the robe of the person in front of him, stared at him, and wanted to speak, but his throat was blocked by blood.

"For the Qinghe Cui family!"

After whispering something, Xu Shishan stabbed Cui Yao's heart with the needle again.

"It cannot be destroyed by your own hands."

"It can't be destroyed in your hands."

Every word Xu Shishan said stabbed Cui Yao in the heart.

The blood spurting from Cui Yao's throat dyed the two men's prison uniforms red.

(End of this chapter)