The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 301 Personal Guard
"Your Highness, I am here letting the villagers grow crops." Guo Zhengyi said, pointing to a field in the distance.

Li Chengqian looked up and saw an acre of cabbage planted in the distance.

According to the records of Qi Min Yao Shu, white cabbage looks like turnip.

According to historical records, Han Yu, Han Changli, a great literary figure of the Tang Dynasty, was a great lover of white cabbage.

Now Sinong Temple plans to plant it on a large scale in Guanzhong and make it a staple crop like radish and celery.

Li Chengqian asked, "How about cabbage?"

Guo Zhengyi replied: "It has been planted and can be picked in a few days."

As they were talking, Li Chengqian noticed that there was a book tucked on the belt around Guo Zhengyi's waist. This book was the Collection of Stories from the Eastern Palace.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, the Prince of Hejian was selling his books. It was said that the old man Cheng Yaojin bought 10,000 volumes and the Duke of Zhao bought 3,000 volumes.

The problem of unsale of books in the emperor's uncle's house was easily solved by a banquet.

When people live in this world, material wealth is their primary pursuit, followed by spiritual wealth.

Li Chengqian let Guo Zhengyi lead the way and looked at the current achievements of Sinong Temple. Under the leadership of Guo Zhengyi, Sinong Temple fully upheld Guo Luotuo's farming spirit and focused on rural farmers to carry out improvements based on local conditions.

Guo Luotuo understood this very well. He clearly realized a concept: there had to be people before there was land in this world.

Li Ji could see that the Crown Prince was not interested in the crops but seemed to be waiting for someone.

As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince leaves the palace, many people will get the news.

Li Ji glanced at the open fields around him and saw a group of people riding horses towards him.

When the horse came closer, the other party dismounted and walked over quickly.

The people who came were wearing official uniforms, and they were Yan Qinli and Wen Ting.

Yan Qinli handed over a piece of cloth and said in a loud voice: "Your Highness, everything has been arranged according to the instructions of the Jingzhao prefect. The price of all cotton and linen cloth will be increased by 40%."

“Haha…” Li Chengqian chuckled and said, “Give Xu Jingzong a knife, and he can cut off all the flesh of those merchants.”

Yan Qinli said: "Your Highness is absolutely right."

Li Chengqian looked at the cloth. There was a label hanging on it, which read: 60% cotton and 40% linen.

Yan Qinli explained: "At first, the merchants said they wanted to sell the cloth at a lower price. After creating this brand, Xu Shaoyin not only did not lower the price, but raised the price of the cloth to 200 coins per foot."

"Well, it's good. It should be more expensive after the standard is set." Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and raised his hands, saying, "Don't belittle the labor income of the villagers."

"I accept your order."

The more expensive Xu Jingzong sold the goods, the more city taxes Jingzhao Prefecture would collect.

In fact, up to now, Jingzhao Prefecture’s way of doing things in Guanzhong is still very rough and simple.

As soon as the contradiction between cotton and linen began to emerge, the signs of commercial sophistication were already evident.

This sign has just appeared a little, just like a tiny bit of green in a field.

If we do this well, Tangren's business will be able to move forward one step further. If we fail to do this, even the tallest buildings will collapse and people's enthusiasm for production will plummet.

Li Chengqian ordered: "Let Xu Jingzong think more carefully in the future."

Yan Qinli said: "I understand."

After they left, Li Chengqian still looked at Wen Ting's back, and he didn't look thin.

"This Wen Ting looks quite healthy."

Li Ji replied from the side: "I heard that the Prince Consort has been obsessed with Jingzhao Prefecture affairs recently."

Li Chengqian said: "I thought that after Mr. Wen passed away, it would be a bigger blow to him. Now I think everything is fine. Mr. Wen is sixty-four years old. As a descendant, he should not be depressed."

From a selfish point of view, Li Chengqian hopes that more people will work hard for the country.

From a human perspective, I hope they can live a more comfortable life.

Seeing that Guo Zhengyi had finished talking about crop cultivation, Li Chengqian asked General Li Ji to escort him back.

After the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace came to power, he was able to mobilize enormous resources. The Crown Prince's sister wanted a mansion, so the Crown Prince gave the palace in Longshouyuan to the two princesses.

This incident again caused criticism in the court.

The prince is so generous and dotes on his sister.

Although the house in Longshouyuan could hardly be called a palace, its specifications were not much different.

When Zheng Gong was visiting Chai Shao, he also mentioned this matter.

In the past two years, Chai Shao also started taking medicine and taking care of his body, and he no longer resisted taking medicine.

At the beginning, Chai Shao once wanted to commit suicide and even said that he wanted to go and accompany Princess Pingyang.

After arriving in Chang'an, Chai Shao began to recuperate. After several treatments by Princess Dongyang, his complexion improved a lot.

But there are still a lot of white hair on the temples.

It seemed that after meeting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Chai Shao thought that he could live as long as possible.

Duke Zheng had just received the autumn apples sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and he stroked his beard for a long time without saying a word.

Chai Shao poured him some tea and said, "Please forgive me, Lord Zheng, I cannot drink tea while I am taking the medicine."

Wei Zheng did not even go to take the teacup, saying, "I will take my leave now."

Chai Shao smiled and said, "Next time Lord Zheng comes, I will prepare some more autumn spinach."

As they were talking, Duke Zheng had already walked away.

After saying that, Chai Shao coughed twice again, his face turned pale, his temples were gray, and his skin was pale. The great general of that year was now like a candle in the wind, and looked like he would fall down at any time.

Although Chai Shao was over forty and weak, he was born into a noble family and still maintained the demeanor of a noble family at this age.

Today, Chai Shao is a handsome middle-aged uncle, but he is very weak.

He took out a piece of silk, handed it to a servant beside him and instructed: "Give all the guards left by the princess to Princess Changle."

"Here."

The servant carried the cloth and silk given by General Chai and did not dare to be negligent, so he went to arrange the matters.

Xue Wuniang, who was far away in Jingyang, got this piece of cloth, which was indeed Princess Pingyang's personal belongings back then.

Wei Chang is still teaching his three-year-old son how to use chopsticks.

Normally, Xue Wuniang didn't have any relatives, but after she saw the red cloth, she burst into tears.

Wei Chang stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xue Wuniang said, "Our family will go to Longshouyuan to live. This is Princess Pingyang's order."

"Princess Pingyang?"

Wei Chang was still a little confused.

Xue Wuniang then started talking about the past events. In fact, Princess Pingyang's personal guards were still there, but they were scattered all over the place.

Princess Pingyang gave instructions back then, and this instruction was the last thing Her Royal Highness ordered. Anyone who sees this handkerchief must obey orders.

Upon learning that she would be protecting Princess Changle and becoming her personal guard from then on, Xue Wuniang agreed immediately.

Wei Chang held his son in his arms and watched Xue Wuniang start to clean up the house and move the whole family to Longshouyuan.

It is unknown how many of the personal guards like Xue Wuniang will be able to come back, as they have all started their own families.

Five days later, outside Longshouyuan's house, there would often be several women wearing armor and carrying swords on their waists standing, guarding the place.

No one knew where they came from, as these women seemed to have their own armor and swords. The armor was patched, but the swords were shiny and looked like they had been polished for many years.

Now there are still such women gathering in Longshouyuan one after another.

As a family, Wei Chang lived with his children in a village behind Longshouyuan, where all the people living there were relatives of the female army.

They are all the same, their wives were the personal guards of Princess Pingyang.

Wei Chang was a bad man and had to obey the orders of Jingzhao Prefecture, Dali Temple and Wei Mansion, so naturally he had to work for Li Tang.

Because of a promise she made that year, Xue Wuniang became Princess Changle's personal guard.

Now both husband and wife have to work hard for the Li Tang Dynasty.

A carriage slowly stopped in front of the house, and three palace maids came down. They were taking the books out of the carriage and putting them all into the house.

The house still has no door plaque and no name, but this does not prevent the place from being heavily guarded.

After all the books were placed in the house, they drove away in their carriage.

In Chang'an City, Li Zhi, Li Shen and Di Renjie were sitting in the palace, looking at the five old men in front of them.

It would have been fine if I had to attend classes every day in the Eastern Palace, but now I have to attend classes outside the Eastern Palace. My father has invited five teachers to come and teach me.

The leader among them was Mr. Kong Yingda.

Li Shen’s head was as big as a bucket, he really didn’t want to learn.

Li Zhi also had a numb look on his face. When he first moved into the palace, he finally had a few days of freedom.

In just a few days, my father arranged five teachers to come and teach.

Li Zhi looked up and wondered why Li Zhi had to endure this torture.

Master Kong Yingda said, "From now on, I will come to explain the classics to Prince Jin and Prince Ji every day, and I can take a day off in the middle of each month."

"Huh? Why does His Royal Highness Prince Jin look so grim?"

Zhang Jianzhi! Li Zhi looked at this fellow, who was actually gloating outside the door.

Li Zhi slammed the table angrily and said through gritted teeth: "Aren't you going to teach?"

"Oh..." Zhang Jianzhi explained, "Chongwenguan doesn't allow me to teach there anymore. They want me to write teaching books."

Zhang Jianzhi looked around again and said, "In fact, my father can also teach His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin."

"Come here, catch him!" Li Zhi shouted
Hearing this, Zhang Jianzhi turned around and was about to run, even creating a gust of wind on the spot.

Li Zhi and Li Shen rushed out of the house with a group of servants.

Kong Yingda stood there in astonishment.

After a while, Zhang Jianzhi's screams were heard from outside.

Di Renjie laughed dryly and said, "Excuse me, old man."

Kong Yingda leaned on his cane and squinted his eyes and asked, "Are the King of Jin and the King of Ji beating people?"

Di Renjie explained: "I was trying to stop the fight, not hitting anyone."

Kong Yingda sat down again and ordered: "Tell the King of Jin and the King of Ji not to stop the fight. I will give the lecture myself today."

"Boy, go and stop the fight."

"Ah."

Di Renjie first brought Li Shen back, and then Li Zhi came back as well. As he walked, he straightened his clothes and brushed off the dust on them, saying, "This Zhang Jianzhi really won't be satisfied unless he beats him up."

Back in the palace, Li Zhi and Li Shen had to face lectures from several old teachers.

After listening for an hour, I felt dizzy. It was a huge torture to hear Master Kong Yingda explaining the Five Classics.

And this time will last for a long time.

It was finally over, and the two of them had to send these old masters back home.

After sending all the old masters back home, Li Zhi and Li Shen walked on the street thinking.

"Brother Shen, we can't keep doing this."

"Ok!"

"We must deal with these old masters."

"Ok!"

"How about we go back to the East Palace?"

"Ah?" Li Shen was surprised, and then said: "No, others will laugh at me."

Li Zhi said in distress: "How about pretending to be sick?"

"It's not the best strategy, but it's worth a try."

"Ah."

The two brothers returned to the palace. Li Shen felt that it was inappropriate no matter how he thought about it, so he wrote a letter and asked someone to send it to his sister in the East Palace.

In the Eastern Palace, Princess Linchuan received her brother's letter with a serious look on her face. She wrote a reply and asked someone to deliver it to her younger brother Shen.

On the side, the beautiful imperial sister was still comforting grandpa, who had received the handkerchief from Aunt Pingyang.

Grandpa silently put the red handkerchief into his arms, with a sad look on his face.

Grandpa can no longer cry at his age, he can only respond with a sad expression.

The sisters in the East Palace were all born relatively late. No one knows how much price Li Tang paid to pacify the world. Even their grandfather lost his daughter.

Dongyang brought little Sizi here and asked him to accompany his grandfather.

At my grandfather’s age, he can’t have too many mood swings.

Inside the palace, Li Chengqian was walking towards Chengqing Hall. When he reached the outside of the hall, he saw his father scolding a eunuch.

It seems that these days, people in the palace...are not in a good mood.

Li Chengqian asked the eunuch waiting outside the palace, "What happened to your father?"

"Your Highness, His Majesty played chess with a few of us old slaves. When we lost, His Majesty said that we were unworthy of playing chess with His Majesty. Then His Majesty talked about his conquests in the past and scolded us old slaves again."

"If Your Majesty can make me feel better by scolding me, I am willing to do so, but..."

Li Chengqian nodded as he understood the reason, signaled him not to say anything more, and walked into the hall.

Li Shimin stopped scolding when he saw his son coming, sat upright and drank a sip of tea, and ordered: "Take away the chessboard!"

Hearing this, the eunuch quickly picked up the chessboard.

Li Shimin let out a sigh of relief and said, "I heard that Jingzhao Prefecture has made a fortune selling cotton and linen cloth?"

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "We only earned a few tens of thousands of strings of cash in taxes, which is not enough to sell. All counties are stepping up production, and some people have even started to pre-order. The cotton cloth that has been pre-ordered will be shipped away as soon as it is produced."

"Haha..." Li Shimin snorted coldly: "Long sleeves are good for dancing, and more money is good for business."

Li Chengqian agreed, "Yes, these merchants are too cunning, and their monopoly on profit is ingrained in their bones. Jingzhao Prefecture dare not relax and must keep an eye on both production and sales."

"They put a brand on the cotton cloth. The cotton cloth with the formula brand is recognized by Jingzhao Prefecture, so the price is higher. The cloth without the brand is cheaper."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "It stands to reason that people prefer to buy cheap things. I found something very interesting. Those merchants only want cotton cloth listed by Jingzhao Prefecture. They are willing to pay several times the price."

Li Shimin snorted again: "If the goods are genuine, the price will naturally be higher!"

(End of this chapter)