The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 308: Under the Crown Prince's Rule
Among the praises in the court, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's wisdom lies in his ability to get straight to the point and analyze the key points when handling government affairs, and he is also very efficient and able to implement them in moderation.

Normally, things that would take His Majesty three or two days to handle can be approved by this prince in half a day.

After finishing the morning affairs, Li Chengqian accompanied his grandfather in front of Chongwen Hall at noon.

Li Yuan was holding a toy in his hand. It was a windmill with a connecting rod underneath. When the wind blew the windmill, the blades of the windmill would rotate, driving the connecting rod at the back. Then the small hammer at the back would keep hitting the small drum.

Linchuan explained, "This is a toy made by Zhinu. Someone sent it here this morning, saying it was for Xiao Yutu."

Li Yuan nodded and said, "I didn't expect Zhinu to have such a clever idea."

Li Chengqian waved the palm-leaf fan in his hand and said, "Zhi Nu should make better things."

Qinghe, who was playing a puzzle with Xiao Sizi, looked up and explained, "Brother Zhinu just doesn't want to work hard. In fact, Brother Jin Wang is a very smart person."

Li Chengqian said with emotion: "So, Dongyang has always said that he is a late bloomer."

Linchuan chuckled aside.

Li Yuan said: "Cheng Qian, how long will it take for your father to return from this trip?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "It will take about a year or so."

Li Yuan snorted coldly: "He left so easily, leaving behind such a large family for you to take care of."

Li Chengqian was lying on a bamboo chair. Hearing his son's laughter, he sat in the stroller and stretched out his hand to Li Yuan, saying, "Grandpa..."

The child can already speak and call people, but now he can only say grandpa, dad, mom... and his speech is a little slurred.

In fact, little Yutu could already walk, but he just couldn't walk steadily.

A one-year-old child is the most curious about the world.

Li Yuan held the child in his arms with a smile on his face.

The daughter was usually much quieter. She sat on the ground, pushing a small cart. Everyone in the Eastern Palace was paying attention to these two children.

After having these two great-grandchildren, grandpa stopped drinking.

Just holding the child happily.

I'm afraid that many years later, this will be the first song that children learn.

Chang'an City is bustling and busy. People with jobs are busy working, and people without jobs are looking for jobs everywhere.

Xu Jingzong brought Li Shen, Li Zhi, and Yan Liben to a workshop.

There were craftsmen mixing mud here, and Li Zhi instructed: "The wood ash must be settled before use."

Several craftsmen did as they were told.

Yan Liben asked, "How did His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin find this secret recipe?"

Li Zhi said proudly: "This is the method my brother used before."

Mixing the stirred mud with fine sand and gravel makes a building paint that is cheap, easy to make and can be mass-produced.

It was the time when the summer harvest in Guanzhong had just ended. After the slack season, many laborers left the fields and participated in production. This was also the busiest time for Xu Jingzong and Jingzhao Prefecture.

"Xu Shaoyin, there are still people herding sheep."

"Anyone with more than ten sheep will be fined."

"Yes." After hearing the words, the clerk left quickly.

Xu Jingzong was holding a book in his hand. He said that the construction of Guanzhong cannot be done without resources. If sheep were allowed to graze on the grass on a large scale, what would happen if the land could no longer grow crops?

This is also the meaning of planting trees.

After finishing the current tasks, Xu Jingzong also went to check on the silt dam. The silt dam had been repaired three times in the autumn over the past two years.

The construction of the silt dam was not smooth, and it was mostly just a patchwork process.

The silt land has been formed and some crops can be planted on it. A lot of beans are planted now.

While walking along the Wei River, Xu Jingzong looked up and saw a group of soldiers heading towards Chang'an City. This group of soldiers came all the way from the west.

"Is that Qibi Heli?"

Yan Liben also looked up and said, "It's him. I haven't seen him for many years."

"I didn't expect that he would also come back from Tianshan."

The one who welcomed Qibi Heli and Ashisher was Cui Dunli, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War.

The next day, after the morning court session, Li Chengqian met the two men, especially Qibi Heli, the grassland general most trusted by his father.

"I, General Qibi Heli, pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"I, Ashina She'er, pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian sat in the Xingqing Hall and said with a smile: "The two great generals, you have worked hard in the battles for the Tang Dynasty."

The two men said in unison: "I am willing to die for the Khan and for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian said loudly: "Give me tea."

Qibi Heli raised his head and drank it, saying, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the tea."

Ashina She'er drank the tea and breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Chengqian looked at Qibi Heli and said, "The general has fought for my father for many years. I have not seen the general many times."

"I have met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. It was the sixth year of Zhenguan when I met His Royal Highness."

"is it?"

Li Chengqian's expression was filled with reminiscence, and he said, "General, why don't you tell me about what happened back then? I almost forgot about it."

"Yes." Qibi Heli saluted first, then said: "In the past, my tribe often fought with the Tuyuhun people. At that time, Fuyun was powerful, so I moved to Shazhou with my mother and family. Thank God that Tian Khan did not abandon me and took me and my mother in. My younger brother Qibi Shamen also guarded Helan for the Tang Dynasty."

Then they talked about the war with Tuyuhun in the past. Qibi Heli, who had always been bullied by Tuyuhun, had long wanted to deal with Fuyun and avenge his previous humiliation. They marched in the desert, and when they ran out of water, they killed horses and drank their blood, chasing Fuyun all the way.

Li Chengqian was also clear about what happened afterwards. Qibi Heli's wife is the daughter of the current Li Tang royal family and a county lady of the royal family. Although she is not of a high generation and is only a county lady, it is enough to show that his father values ​​Qibi Heli and treats him as his own.

Ashina She'er asked excitedly, "I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is planning to mobilize troops against Mobei?"

Li Chengqian asked back: "How much do you know about Mobei?"

Ashina She'er said in a clear voice: "Zhenzhu Khan of Mobei is a fool. Your Highness, give me a thousand light cavalry and I will pacify Mobei."

The hall was silent for a moment, and only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could be heard letting out a long sigh.

Ashina She'er shouted again: "Your Highness!"

"Don't worry, you two have come a long way. You should take some time to rest. The court will make plans later."

After the two men left Xingqing Palace, another eunuch came to report, "Your Highness, the Duke of Zhao is here."

Li Chengqian put the pen aside and said, "Enter the hall."

"Here."

Heavy footsteps were heard from outside the palace. "I thought Ashina She'er knew a lot about Mobei, but I didn't expect him to say that it would be easy to wipe out Mobei. I don't think he is very useful. What do you think, uncle?"

Zhang Sun Wuji walked into the hall and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, this is the tax for Songzhou."

Li Chengqian took the memorial without even reading it and said, "Uncle, what do you think of Ashina She'er?"

"I think that although Ashina She'er is brave, bravery alone is useless in important military matters."

"My uncle's evaluation is very stable."

Changsun Wuji bowed and said, "This man is brave but not wise."

The prince still did not read the memorial from Duke Zhao. Recently, the prince did not approve all memorials while presiding over the government. He selectively put aside some unnecessary memorials and ignored them.

Li Chengqian handed over a list and said, "Next year, the students of Chongwenguan will take part in the imperial examination. This is their list. I will give it to you first."

Originally, Changsun Wuji had a lot of questions to ask, but when a list was placed in front of him, he didn't know where to start. He even didn't know how to start asking about Chu Suiliang.

I want to remind the Crown Prince that the promotion of officials requires the approval of the Ministry of Personnel, so in the future don't let Chu Suiliang take charge of the Ministry of Rites on just one word.

At the moment, Changsun Wuji was full of doubts. Why did His Majesty suddenly want to inspect Luoyang?
The people who are handling the government affairs and grasping the situation and national affairs are no longer the common people they used to be.

The person who holds power before him is the current crown prince, even though he considers himself to be the crown prince's uncle.

Changsun Wuji also felt a sense of uneasiness that he had never felt before.

This uneasiness came from the prince's expression and words.

In a trance, I realized that the prince was not Your Majesty, nor was he the commoner friend he used to be.

It is well known in the court and the country that this prince is strict and is very clear about rewards and punishments and is firm in his words.

Facing him, unlike facing His Majesty, Changsun Wuji woke up vigilantly, so it was reasonable for Chu Suiliang to make arrangements bypassing the Ministry of Personnel.

Changsun Wuji remained calm and took the list with both hands.

Li Chengqian added: "Of course, students from Chongwenguan do not need special treatment. Yan Qinli thinks it will be more convenient to draw up a list, so he will be prepared."

"I understand."

"Thank you, uncle."

After saying this, Li Chengqian sat back down.

When Changsun Wuji turned around, he glanced at His Highness sitting in the upper seat, which was where His Majesty usually sat.

It was not until he walked out of Xingqing Hall that Changsun Wuji stopped, opened the list, looked at the names and hometowns one by one, and confirmed that this was just an ordinary list.

The prince has grown up and is able to control his subjects.

So, as an uncle, should I be proud or worried?

Changsun Wuji smiled in surprise, and was actually stunned by his nephew.

During the two months that the emperor was away from Chang'an, the court officials were surprised to find that the prince did not ask Prime Minister Fang about state affairs.

Normally speaking, Prime Minister Fang is the prince's teacher. When the prince encounters difficulties in state affairs, it is reasonable and normal for him to ask Prime Minister Fang for advice.

Many times, or should I say most of the time, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince completed these tasks independently, and each memorial was approved and then sent back.

The Secretariat began to work overtime again, and the court officials came to their senses and discovered that there had been no floods in Guanzhong, Luoyang and Tongguan in the past two years.

Is it because it doesn’t rain much, or is it because a silt dam was built after the river channel was repaired?
Let’s not talk about all this for now. In the past two months alone, the city tax in Guanzhong has seen a huge increase. The monthly city tax is as high as 300,000 strings of cash. The warehouse is piled with copper coins. Many eunuchs in the palace have been exhausted just from carrying the money into the warehouse.

After the victory in the Tianshan battle, the court was troubled by the issue of land distribution. There were good and bad fields, and if wasteland was given away, people would criticize the court for being unfair.

Perhaps, Your Majesty is also troubled by this kind of thing, so why would you go on a trip at this critical moment?

But even this difficult problem was solved in half a month under the prince's instructions.

And it made more than 50,000 soldiers in Guanzhong satisfied.

Under the inherent thinking of court officials, the distribution issue has always been a difficult one.

But a new kind of wealth emerged in Guanzhong, and it was more valuable than the farmland.

The problem of distributing military merits and receiving generous amounts of money was solved through employment and workshop contracting, or the soldiers themselves could choose whether to have land.

In the words of Jingzhao Prefecture, it is better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish, and it can also fully mobilize their enthusiasm for production.

Therefore, the price of grain in Guanzhong rose as expected, from five cents per dou of rice to eight cents per dou of rice.

This is the first major event accomplished by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince during his tenure as the head of state affairs.

Outside Chengtian Gate, three eunuchs were carrying a basket full of copper coins, their hands shaking as they pulled the ropes.

Finally, one of them lost his strength, loosened his grip and fell to the ground. He said in a tantrum, "I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Oh, the head eunuch said that the fatter the fish in Taiye Pond, the happier the prince will be."

The eunuch had no choice but to get up again and continue pulling a basket of copper coins to the warehouse. At this moment, the warehouse was full of copper coins.

As soon as the door of the warehouse was opened, copper coins flooded in, almost burying people.

Several eunuchs were busy in the corner, holding wooden boards to push back all the copper coins that had spilled out, then they blocked it with the boards and poured in a large basket of copper coins.

After confirming that there was not a single copper coin left outside, he breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door of the warehouse with great effort. He collapsed from exhaustion immediately.

There were many eunuchs who were equally exhausted. They were exhausted just from moving copper coins these days.

Even His Highness was served by an old eunuch.

Li Chengqian ordered: "Send someone to ask Jingzhao Prefecture whether the individual contracting of the workshop has been finalized."

"Old servant..." The old eunuch looked outside the palace and saw that there was no one there. He bowed and said, "Old servant will go there in person."

The prince stopped talking, and the eunuch left in a hurry.

The emperor took many eunuchs with him when he traveled, and the eunuchs left in the palace were not enough for the prince to use, because too many of the tasks involved were passing messages, transporting files, or delivering messages, which was very labor-intensive.

In front of the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture, Zhang Jianzhi looked at the Suzaku Gate and said, "The current crown prince is wise. He has solved the slow construction of Guanzhong workshops and the problem of military merit. I heard that the crown prince has nothing to entertain himself with, and even his life is boring and simple. With such a wise crown prince, we should serve the country with all our might."

Li Zhi snorted coldly. This bitch was about to kneel down in front of the Suzaku Gate.

Zhang Jianzhi added: "What is the Son of Heaven? With a wave of his sleeve, the world changes dramatically, and the sky changes color. Your words and deeds can cause a dramatic change in Guanzhong. When we see it, we all submit."

Di Renjie asked, "Are you going to take the imperial examination next year?"

Zhang Jianzhi put one hand behind his back and held the scroll in the other, and said in a clear voice, "Of course."

"Will you pass the exam?"

"Of course."

Just as he finished speaking, a stone hit him on the head. Zhang Jianzhi covered his head in pain and said, "Why did your highness the Prince of Jin hit me?"

Li Zhi said: "Oh, I'm so sorry, why can't I control my hands!"

Zhang Jianzhi turned his head back in anger. Just as he was about to say something else, he felt a pain in the back of his head again. A stone fell at his feet. He shouted, "Your Highness, the Prince of Jin, you are going too far."

(End of this chapter)