The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 328: Only People
Others think that the newly built Tongguan cargo distribution center can be used to solve the problem of how to buy and sell goods.

From then on, Jingzhao Prefecture would no longer be responsible for production, nor would it care about the affairs of the counties, and would only focus on the general direction.

The difficulties that followed left only the decision-making ability of Jingzhao Prefecture and the guidance of Chongwenguan, and these two things were particularly important.

The people in the hall began to talk, and the discussions became louder and louder, and there were even arguments.

Watching their argument, Li Chengqian smiled and thought to himself: It doesn't matter, there's no need to be afraid of change, even if it takes a few years.

It was already noon outside. In fact, His Majesty had been sitting outside the Xingqing Hall, quietly listening to the dull voices coming from inside the hall.

From previous doubts to gradual understanding, Li Shimin now feels that he really can't keep up with this son.

Several eunuchs stood aside, and His Majesty did not allow them to inform His Highness or disturb the conversation in the palace.

Little Sizi came over carrying a food box. She looked around, then at the closed palace door, then at her father, and said, "Huh? Where's my brother?"

Li Shimin pulled his daughter over, asked her to sit beside him, and whispered, "Your brother is still talking with the ministers."

"My mother asked her daughter to bring food to my father and my brother."

Li Shimin opened the food box and saw a bowl of spinach, a bowl of mutton, and two bowls of millet rice. He said, "Don't bother your brother. He doesn't need to eat yet."

After saying this, little Sizi watched his father pick up the bowl and start eating.

The emperor ate happily and soon finished his brother's bowl as well.

Noticing his daughter's unhappy look, Li Shimin cleared his throat and said, "Why? Is your brother still hungry?"

Little Sizi sat on the stone steps, propping up his chin with one hand and said, "Sister always says that it would be good if Father retired early."

When Li Shimin heard this, he smiled and said, "I am not old yet, I can still protect Cheng Qian for a few more years."

Little Sizi sighed again and looked at her father. She stretched out her hand and plucked a strand of white hair from her father's fallen hair. She said, "Father has one more white hair."

In fact, your Majesty's hair is still black, with one or two white hairs occasionally. Your Majesty is only forty-five years old now.

Li Shimin looked at his daughter and asked, "Have you been sick recently?"

Little Sizi, who had just turned ten, snorted unconvincedly: "They all say that my daughter is weak, but in fact, after learning skills from Taoist Li, my daughter has never been sick."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Your brother is good at raising children."

Little Sizi shook his head and said, "No, my brother is not good at raising children, so I, Yutu, can't take care of them."

Hearing this, he suddenly felt something was wrong and said hesitantly, "Tell me, where is that boy?"

Little Sizi said: "It is in the Ganlu Palace of the Emperor."

Li Shimin suddenly felt something was wrong.

Inside the Xingqing Hall, Cen Wenben and Chu Suiliang were still arguing.

We are all middle-aged now, and we use more vulgar swearing when we quarrel.

It would be inappropriate for middle-aged people to quarrel without some polite words.

Hearing some words that were not suitable for the current situation, everyone just smiled and kept silent.

Cen Wenben angrily slammed the table and said, "Shandong and Hebei cannot be like Guanzhong. The price of grain in Guanzhong is getting higher and higher. All parts of the Central Plains must still focus on farming as their main occupation."

Chu Suiliang said: "Even if you say so, can't people from all over the Central Plains see the prosperity of Guanzhong? Won't they follow suit?"

This is probably the contradiction between the two people's concepts.

From the livelihood of one million people in Guanzhong, we talked about the livelihood of tens of millions of people in the Central Plains.

We may have this argument dozens or even a hundred times in a row, not just today.

From the planning of Guanzhong, we have been talking about solving the problem of hidden households in Shandong.

Fang Xuanling said: "Guanzhong is Guanzhong. The rest of the Central Plains has not had the accumulation of Guanzhong in the past decade, nor has it been as united as Guanzhong. We cannot generalize. If we do not focus on farming, we still cannot solve the problem of hidden households."

Fang Xiang's words shifted the topic back to the fields. Chu Suiliang stopped arguing and just lowered his head in silence.

Li Chengqian said: "We will select six counties from Shandong, but I have one condition, that is, the county magistrates of each county will be replaced by officials who have passed the imperial examinations in recent years."

Everyone began to hesitate again.

I also understood why His Highness spoke behind closed doors. If what was said here were to happen in the court, who knows what kind of trouble it would cause.

The dozen or so people sitting in the hall had different expressions.

Zhang Xingcheng said: "It is probably inappropriate to dismiss the county magistrate without reason."

Li Chengqian nodded, "What about the transfer?"

Zhang Xingcheng looked at Changsun Wuji again.

The Duke of Zhao stroked his beard for a moment and said, "I can arrange to transfer the officials of each county and replace them with new officials. It will take some time."

My uncle's ability is still trustworthy, but perhaps this matter is a little difficult to handle.

Li Chengqian said: "In fact, we don't need to replace all of them. If we replace 70% of the staff, we can show our strength."

Changsun Wuji nodded and continued to sit upright.

Still thinking about His Highness' words.

Li Chengqian added: "The six counties of Liaoxian, Boping, Wushui, Qingping, Gaotang, and Tangyi in Shandong, that is, the entire Bozhou area in Hebei Province east of Luoyang, have 160,000 households and 500,000 people in the six counties and two cities."

Everyone in the hall started discussing again.

"Some people say that I am still young. Being young has its advantages. Even if I make mistakes, I can correct them afterwards. I have to try."

Chu Suiliang stood up first and said in a clear voice: "I obey your command."

Changsun Wuji became increasingly dissatisfied with Chu Suiliang. He sat in the hall with a sullen face and remained silent.

The production model needs to be adapted to local conditions, and small-scale farming is still the main operation in various parts of the Central Plains.

Before starting a business, there must be some reorganization. Li Chengqian instructed Shangguan Yi on some things.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate cooperated to go to Bozhou first, and also let Li Yifu go first.

When everyone came out of Xingqing Hall, His Majesty and Princess Jinyang, who were originally outside the hall, were no longer there.

Cen Wenben walked out of the hall and saw that it was already afternoon, so he hurriedly took a roll of paper and went to arrange personnel.

Advance preparations must be completed before this year's holiday.

Zhang Xingcheng and others felt that the current Secretariat might have to learn about production relations from the Jingzhao Prefecture.

After everyone left, several eunuchs were cleaning up the hall.

Li Chengqian returned to the East Palace and was having his meal.

Ning Er looked at the Crown Prince who was so busy that he could only eat now, and said, "I will serve another bowl of noodles to His Highness."

Su Wan talked to the palace maid outside the East Palace, then came in with a roll of letters, "Your Highness, a letter from my father." Li Chengqian took the letter, ate while opening the wax seal and looking at the contents on the paper.

After Su Tan returned to Wugong County, he began to reorganize the aristocratic families of the Wugong Su family. He believed that the aristocratic families should be based mainly on schools of thought rather than surnames, and he called on his own children to open schools in various places in Wugong County to teach the children in the countryside.

The Huaxi autumn rain in Guanzhong came in the afternoon. After dinner, Li Chengqian lay on the recliner, watching the rain falling from the eaves, and he relaxed.

This country still has a lot to do and there are still many difficulties in this country.

But this is a good era, and many people in this era are willing to do great things that will go down in history.

The rain was falling, watering the entire Chang'an city. Recently, Changsun Wuji often visited his uncle.

Firstly, Gao Shilian was getting older, so Changsun Wuji came to take care of him. Secondly, he had to tell his uncle about the recent actions of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, even though his uncle might not like to hear it.

Listen to Changsun Wuji telling what happened in Xingqing Palace today.

Gao Shilian said: "In order to ascend the throne, the princes of all dynasties would focus on political tricks and not know how to govern. Then, after they ascended the throne, they did not know how to govern the country. Then they would let the ministers do what they wanted. But the ministers were not the emperor after all. They could not do what the emperor wanted, so they would do some wrong things."

"They kept making mistakes, and finally they were beaten to a pulp by the world and people's hearts." Gao Shilian said: "Cheng Qian is a sensible child. He never resorts to political tricks, nor does he bother to use them."

Changsun Wuji noticed that there were a few mooncakes on the table. They seemed to be made in the palace and had been delivered to his residence before.

Gao Shilian whispered: "Cheng Qian, this kid, never cares about who is in power, he only cares about who is useful."

Looking at Changsun Wuji's expression, he asked again: "Why? Are you afraid that the prince will think you are useless and throw you away?"

Changsun Wuji shook his head.

Gao Shilian smiled meaningfully.

There was a lot of sandstorms in the Western Regions this year, so Pei Xingjian rode a horse all the way back to Anxi Protectorate from the Hexi Corridor.

Once you leave Dunhuang County, you can see a large forest of poplars. Five years ago, the prince asked them to plant trees here. Now the forest has grown into a mature forest, and there are still people planting trees in the front. These are the people arranged by Chongwenguan.

If you plant 300 trees here and ensure that they survive, Chongwenguan will give you ten sheep, so that you can have a flock of sheep to make a living.

There are fewer people planting trees now than in previous years, but people are still planting trees. Later, prisoners sent from the Central Plains will also be escorted here to plant trees.

They would plant poplar trees all the way from Shazhou and Guazhou to Anxi Protectorate.

With a group of soldiers, Pei Xingjian hurried back to the Anxi Protectorate.

After tying the horse in front of the city gate, Pei Xingjian saw Bai Fang again.

Walking into the city, Pei Xingjian asked impatiently, "Why are you still following me?"

Bai Fang asked, "When did you release Xuanzang?"

Pei Xingjian walked quickly, his boots kicking up some dust as he stepped on the bumpy ground. He added, "You have already drawn a clear line between you and them, do you still care about Xuanzang's life or death?"

Bai Fang said: "He gave me a name."

When they reached the gate of the Protectorate, Pei Xingjian picked up a ladle and scooped up some water from the jar. He said, "You are still guilty. If you don't go and repair the city properly, and if you continue to follow me, don't blame me for being rude."

"Protector Pei is joking. I will just ask a few questions and then leave."

Pei Xingjian didn't have many friends in the Western Regions. Bai Fang knew in his heart that Pei Xingjian didn't care about Xuanzang's life or death, but he cared about his friends.

Pei Xingjian covered the water jar again, burped, and walked into the dim Protectorate.

Bai Fang followed behind and said, "It should be winter in the Central Plains now?"

"Well, winter is coming."

Bai Fang continued, "Has the court decided to use the Sogdians?"

Pei Xingjian took off his boots, sat cross-legged barefoot, and brushed off the dust on his body. He replied, "News doesn't travel that fast."

Bai Fang understood and asked, "Is Chang'an really beautiful?"

"Not pretty."

“Are the people in Chang’an beautiful?”

"What does it have to do with you?"

"I want to go to Chang'an."

"You killed someone."

"I killed people who deserved to die."

"Giving you a five-year sentence is considered a light punishment. If the court investigates, your family might even be held responsible. How can you be so shameless?"

Bai Fang said firmly: "I will go to Chang'an."

Pei Xingjian said unhappily: "Nowadays, food is expensive in Chang'an. People like you will starve to death if you go to Chang'an."

"So why not."

Pei Xingjian kicked him and cursed, "Damn it, get out of here after you've asked me this question."

Bai Fang was kicked so hard that he almost fell down. He asked again, "I want to use the temple as a school to teach the children in the Western Regions and teach them Confucian classics."

Pei Xingjian took a roasted leg of lamb handed to him by the guard and was tearing into it.

"Protector Pei, I have recently been studying with the people at Chongwen Hall and have discovered something very interesting. In your Central Plains, we need Confucian ethics to educate people and we can even use them to judge whether a person is good or bad. But why do the people at Chongwen Hall say that people in the Central Plains have used Confucianism as a standard for judgment for a long time?"

He added: "They said that governing the Western Regions requires a peaceful environment, and that there must be enough food and money to stabilize it. In this way, even if there is an external enemy, the people of the Western Regions can be called upon to contribute to the defense of the Western Regions. If the people of the Western Regions are not stabilized, they will rebel again."

"Does this really have anything to do with Confucianism's sense of propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame? Then do I, Bai Fang, still need to learn Confucianism? If people don't want Confucianism's teachings, then what has Confucianism become?"

Pei Xingjian chewed for a long time with a blank look in his eyes. He hadn't read a book for a long time. Since he went to the Western Regions, he had been learning how to kill the enemies. Since he took office as the Protector General, he had been thinking about how to prevent others from killing people.

Now I am thinking about how to kill everyone so that I can have a moment of leisure.

Bai Fang still knew what was right and wrong. Seeing that Pei Duhu looked unhappy, he hurriedly bowed and left.

Pei Xingjian had never heard of these words, and didn't want to listen to them.

Shameless people like Bai Fang discuss Confucian classics and keep talking about propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame. Such people should be hanged in front of the Buddhist cave in Shazhou and let him debate with Buddha.

Pei Xingjian cursed inwardly and said, "They are all sick."

Walking in Xizhou City, Bai Fang went to Chongwenguan again to learn knowledge from the people there. Their knowledge was something Bai Fang had never experienced before.

If possible, Bai Fang hopes to have all people in the Western Regions study Confucian classics.

The knowledge in Chongwenguan is very realistic, so realistic that Bai Fang comes to study every day. They say that if you want stability in the Western Regions, you need to stabilize trade. The Western Regions governed by the Tang people must be fair and stable. An unfair and unstable Western Regions will have no one to protect it.

Let the people from the Western Regions speak the Central Plains dialect and write in the Central Plains language, so that they can take root here. People in Chongwenguan said that people are born without memories and have no afterlife, and those who teach knowledge and continue knowledge are those with limited lifespans. There are only people, nothing else.

Now, the white side hates the white-clad Hu merchants walking around here.

(End of this chapter)