The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 304 Winter
Mingda took out another date, and seeing that the deer did not come again, she put the date into her mouth again and sat cross-legged aside holding the whisk.

Sitting in the Taiye Lake, Li Chengqian told Xiao Sizi another story.

The emperor was also listening. This was a story that had been told in the East Palace. In the story, two groups of monkeys often fought over territory. One day, one of the monkeys loved to look at the moon. That night, it and its tribesmen killed a leopard.

The next day, it and its tribesmen stood in front of the enemy, holding a stick with a bloody leopard's head stuck on it.

The leopard was dead, its head stuck on the branch, motionless.

But the opponents were frightened and fled in all directions.

Because the enemy monkeys thought that the leopard was invincible, they defeated the invincible opponent.

The monkey who liked to look at the moon asked other monkeys to kill the enemy monkey leader. They didn't even have to do anything. The enemy bit the weak leader to death and surrendered to the stronger leader.

Li Chengqian said to Xiao Sizi: "You can remember this story first, and then you can slowly understand it later."

This is a very cruel story, and the story is very cold and not even suitable for children.

In the quiet night, Li Lizhi looked at the calm lake, on which the bright moon was reflected.

Seeing that there were no fish taking the bait, he returned to the palace in the night.

The next day, Li Chengqian learned that Li Zhi and Li Shen were pretending to be sick. This matter was discovered by Kong Yingda. When Kong Yingda went to visit, the two boys were eating roast duck.

Several teachers were so angry that they almost vomited blood on the spot.

Listening to Linchuan's story, Li Chengqian asked, "Are those old people okay?"

Linchuan replied, "Don't worry, my brother. Sister Dongyang has gone to visit, and the King of Wei has also gone to reprimand Zhinu and Brother Shen."

"That's good. It doesn't matter if the two brothers are just playing around or fighting. Don't make people angry to death."

Gao Yang and Qing He on the side tried to hold back their laughter and almost laughed out loud.

This home is still good, at least it is now.

The brothers and sisters in Donggong all take good care of their younger brother.

As long as Li Zhi doesn't make a big mistake, his brothers and sisters can help them pull back or cover up for them. Only his own brothers and sisters can help him at the critical moment.

The eunuch came hurriedly and reported, "Your Highness, His Majesty has learned that Prince Jin and Prince Ji are pretending to be sick. His Majesty asked this old slave to bring a message to you. Zhinu and Shen'er are ignorant. I am at fault. As the eldest brother of the East Palace, I cannot escape the blame."

Li Chengqian sat in the courtyard of the East Palace. He did not look at the eunuch standing outside the door. Instead, he sat on the chair with his hands in his pockets and replied, "It is my son who did not teach the young slave well. From now on, the expenses of the Prince of Jin's Mansion will be reduced. The Prince of Jin and the Prince of Ji will be confined for half a month to reflect on their mistakes. What do you think, father?"

The eunuch hurried off to deliver the message. Delivering messages to the Emperor and the Crown Prince was the most tiring job. How could there be such a tiring job in the world? Why was the palace so big?

Li Chengqian looked down at the boiling soup in the copper pot and ate hot pot alone.

The East Palace is becoming more and more quiet now, and not as noisy as before, because my younger brothers and sisters have grown up and are no longer the same as they were when they were little.

Li Chengqian was holding a volume of Jin Wangfu's daily records. This volume was brought by Linchuan. Fortunately, this volume was sent to the East Palace first. If his father knew what Zhinu and Shendi said behind his back, he didn't know what his father and those old teachers would think.

Of course, it has nothing to do with them. The East Palace is the support of the brothers and sisters. If the Li family is not united, who can they rely on in the future?

When Li Lizhi came over, Li Chengqian ordered, "Lizhi, replace all of Zhinu's servants in the Prince of Jin's mansion."

After saying that, Li Chengqian handed her a volume of daily records.

Li Lizhi nodded, opened it and looked at it, and said solemnly: "Switching them around won't solve the problem once and for all. It's best to let them control their mouths."

Linchuan nodded and said, "Zhi Nu was just questioning the words of some ancient sages. A teacher told him that the disaster sent by heaven was the result of the emperor's cruelty. They were very angry when they heard this. Don't worry, my brother and sister. Zhi Nu and Shen Di at least didn't say this in front of others."

Li Lizhi nodded and said, "Linchuan has done a great job. You can go and see them and give them some advice."

Lin Chuan stood up and bowed, saying, "Sister, I'll go right away."

Li Chengqian ordered again: "We still need to replace some people."

"Here."

Before Linchuan left, he took a small bag with him, probably to wash and change clothes for his younger brother.

Li Lizhi whispered, "All counties have resumed production this year."

Li Chengqian said: "Yes, I have seen it."

"Sister, go check the accounts again."

After saying that, she walked back into the hall.

Li Chengqian sat in the courtyard of the East Palace, looking at the snow in front of him, waiting for the mutton in the pot to be cooked.

The soup in the copper pot was boiling, with some green onion segments floating in it. Li Chengqian picked up a piece of mutton and put it into his mouth. In fact, there was another thing today, that is, Mr. Wang Gui passed away. This was why his father did not personally call Zhinu and Shen Di over to reprimand them.

This seventy-two-year-old gentleman did not spend his last years in Mount Zhongnan. Instead, he spent the last part of his life teaching King Wei Li Tai.

The passing of the old man is a sad thing after all.

Li Chengqian rarely picked up the wine pot beside him, poured a bowl of wine, and sprinkled it on the ground, saying loudly: "Rest in peace, old sir, thank you for teaching Qingque for so many years."

The next day, Li Chengqian left the palace and stood with Li Tai in front of Chang'an City to see off the old gentleman's funeral.

"Qingque, will the old man be buried in Zhongnan Mountain?"

Hearing his brother's words, Li Tai, wearing mourning clothes, looked at the funeral procession from afar and said slowly: "When the old gentleman was dying, Qingque had his clothes and hat buried in Zhongnan Mountain."

"Ah."

Li Tai had long thought that the old man's family did not want to bury him in Zhongnan Mountain, but instead hoped to bury him in his ancestral land, and he had made preparations in advance.

In matters like this, there is no need to worry about Li Tai, he will be prepared in advance.

The Li family paid even higher respect to the old gentleman. The emperor wore plain clothes to mourn, and the crown prince and the King of Wei led all the officials to see him off. He was posthumously awarded the title of Minister of Personnel and given the posthumous name of Yi.

All the officials returned to Chang'an City one after another, and Li Chengqian looked at Li Zhi and Li Shen who were standing beside them.

The early years of the Li Tang Dynasty were also difficult, with old ministers in the court dying one after another. The last one was Mr. Wen Yanbo, then Mr. Yu Shinan, and now Mr. Wang.

Li Chengqian looked at his uncle who was standing in the distance and had already turned his back and walked back. It seemed that his uncle's back had also aged a lot.

The atmosphere in the court and the public was very depressed these days. Only the grandfather was still smiling while holding little Yu Tu. Perhaps only an old man who was indifferent to life and death could still be so cheerful.

Little Yu Tu was getting fatter and fatter. His eyes were bright. He grabbed his great grandfather's beard and grinned, pulling it from time to time. The child was very strong and powerful.

The Li Tang Dynasty is always associated with tragedy, and tragedy is always associated with power.

According to historical records, Empress Changsun died young, and Li Chengqian's rebellion failed. He was exiled to Qianzhou with resentment in his heart, and dozens of royal family members and generals in the court were implicated.

In the same year, Princess Changle Li Lizhi, who had married early, passed away, and the following year Li Chengqian died in Qianzhou.

In the same year, Li Tai was demoted for being involved in the fight for the throne, and he died in depression in his fiefdom.

Xiao Sizi also died early.

During this period, Qi Wang Li You rebelled and was exterminated. Li Zhen committed suicide by taking poison.

Later, Li Ke was implicated in a case of treason, and the royal family and relatives killed each other.

Li Ke was demoted to a commoner and stripped of his royal status. His brother Li Yin was implicated and died in exile.

And several younger sisters also fell apart in this political arena.

After that, only Li Zhi was left sitting on the throne.

Li Zhi, sitting on the throne, was like a child who had lost all his support and was alone and helpless.

Perhaps at that time, Li Zhi, who was already in his old age, could not understand why the Li Tang Dynasty was always stuck in the vortex of power struggle and could never get out of it. Everyone wanted power. Later people felt that the Li Tang Dynasty was the most ruthless dynasty. The struggle for power was like a cycle, and each scene was so similar.

The heavy snow in Chang'an has not completely melted yet, and it started snowing again today.

There were two eunuchs who wanted to feed the fawn in Taiye Pond. Actually, they didn’t have to do it, but after all, this was an auspicious animal raised in Taiye Pond, so it had to be treated as such.

Two eunuchs were walking in the heavy snow, carrying a basket of dried fruits. They placed the basket in front of a small house where the auspicious beasts were now nestling.

The younger eunuch counted them and asked in confusion, "Why is there one missing?"

"Maybe they went out. These deer are very smart and will come back on their own."

"That's right, that's right."

They wanted to finish the work here as soon as possible. The ice and snow here were freezing to death and it was so cold that people were shivering.

When the two eunuchs were going back, the younger eunuch suddenly stopped and squinted his eyes to look into the distance in the heavy snow, where a little fire was flickering.

Then they saw the familiar fishing rods, a man wearing a hat and a cloak, and the deer that was not in the house before was standing next to him, with its head raised and its antlers erect.

Then the two eunuchs realized who was fishing, bowed, and walked away quickly on the snow.

In the cold winter, the East Palace was still warm. Li Shimin hugged his granddaughter and asked, "Is Cheng Qian not back yet?"

Empress Changsun said, "She will probably be back soon. This child never misses mealtimes."

"Stop shaking your legs!" Li Lizhi yelled at Li Zhi.

The shaking legs suddenly stopped moving. Li Zhi, wearing warm new clothes, whispered, "Brother, I know I was wrong."

Li Shen was smiling with glee at the side, but his sister glared at him and he quickly put away his smile and dared not move.

It’s a rare occasion for them to come to the palace to eat, so the two brothers behaved as honestly as possible.

Little Sizi ran quickly into the Chongwen Hall and said, "Oh, it's snowing so heavily."

Li Yuan stroked his beard and smiled, "It's so cold this year, winter clothes should be selling well in the counties."

Li Shimin put his granddaughter back in the baby seat and said, "Not only are they selling very well, I heard that the people in Jingzhao Prefecture were counting money all night last night. They couldn't count all the money they earned, and their fingers were frozen from counting."

"Hahaha!" Li Yuan continued, "My grandson has made the court rich, so he should have more ministers supporting him."

Li Lizhi said, "Grandpa, my brother has long stopped caring about these things. It was all done by Jingzhao Prefecture."

"Is... is that so?" Li Yuan nodded again.

Li Lizhi held a bowl of tea and explained, "My uncle taught my brother, and my brother often talked about my uncle's teachings, saying that as a crown prince, one cannot always pursue immediate interests, but must have a longer-term vision."

She said with some pride: "Over the years, my brother has always had a long-term vision."

As he was speaking, a figure holding a fishing rod walked up to the Chongwen Hall.

"Royal brother!" Little Sizi ran forward first.

Li Chengqian half-knelt down, hugged his sister, looked inside the hall, and asked, "Are Qingque and Brother Ke coming yet?"

Li Shimin said: "It's time to go."

Little Sizi found a place with his hands in his pockets and said, "My daughter is hungry."

Empress Changsun smiled and said, "Let's eat first."

After the family sat down, Li Tai and Li Ke came hurriedly.

Li Yuan looked up at the two children and said, "Let's eat."

In the snow, the family sat together eating. Su Wan took care of the two children, while Ning'er placed a pot of freshly cooked spinach on the table.

As soon as the spinach was placed on the table, my younger brothers and sisters started fighting for it.

Li Lizhi said, "I didn't like eating spinach when I was in the East Palace before."

Li Zhi held a piece of spinach in his mouth, shrank his neck and said, "That's because you can't eat such delicious dishes in the palace."

Li Lizhi snorted coldly and ate her meal.

In winter, heavy snow blocked many landscapes, and the wind and snow submerged the entire Chang'an City. Only scattered lights could be seen in the windows of each household.

The next day, people began to remove the snow, and it was even colder in Guanzhong in the early morning.

Li Chengqian woke up early, wrapped in thick winter clothes, walked to the front hall, lit the candlestick beside him, sat down, picked up a file and started reading it.

Li Shimin also woke up early because the children in the Eastern Palace all got up very early.

Your Majesty fell asleep holding his little grandson last night.

As long as the emperor father and mother came to the Eastern Palace, it would really relieve the pressure on the three couples who were new parents in the Eastern Palace.

Li Shimin walked to the side, picked up a bowl of noodles on the table and started eating.

Li Chengqian raised his head slightly and said, "Father, this bowl of noodles is for you, your son."

Li Shimin said unhappily: "Does your East Palace still lack a bowl of noodles?"

As they were talking, Xiaofu brought another bowl of noodles. Her cheeks, which were red from the cold, were covered with a smile, and she hurriedly went on to prepare the meal.

Li Shimin sat on the steps in front of his son's desk, eating noodles and looking at the file, asking, "Is this also an account book?"

"Lizhi has calculated the current amount of silver, gold, and copper in the court."

Li Shimin asked: "How many are there?"

Li Chengqian closed the file cautiously and said, "There are a lot."

"There should be more gold and silver, but why are you so concerned about copper?"

"I discussed with Li Zhi before whether we should change to another kind of currency. The main currency in circulation on the market now is Kaiyuan Tongbao. Nowadays, trade has led to a large amount of copper coins flowing into Guanzhong and Luoyang. There are too many copper coins in Guanzhong."

(End of this chapter)