The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 352 Heavy Rain in Luoyang
Ning'er closed the window. She knew very well in her heart that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince didn't care about these things at all, had never cared about them, so there was no doubt in her.

There was a rain in Luoyang after the autumn. After the sky cleared up, the city of Luoyang was wet. God was telling the people here that this year's autumn rain had begun.

Li Chengqian looked at the ground in front of the Zhenguan Palace. There were potholes and some water on the ground.

Although the potholes are not big and the water is not accumulated much, the Luoyang Imperial Palace has been in disrepair for a long time, which can be seen from these details.

Besides, the Ministry of Works had only built a main hall. Li Chengqian was thinking about renovating the entire palace, which would require a lot of manpower, stone materials, and wood.

"Your Highness, Mr. Gu Na is here."

Li Chengqian met the old gentleman in the Zhenguan Hall.

Gu Nalu leaned on his cane and said, "I have heard about what happened in Hebei."

"It's been half a month."

"I've been waiting for half a month."

"What are you waiting for?"

Gu Nalu pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness said before that you have many questions about Confucian classics, so I have been waiting for Your Highness to summon me to answer your questions."

Li Chengqian said: "It was indeed an oversight."

After hearing His Highness' honest admission of negligence, Gu Nalu smiled and nodded, "I heard that Your Highness wants to kill all the nobles in Hebei?"

"I have never said this before." Li Chengqian sat down in front of the old man and asked, "Who told you this?"

Gu Nalu said: "They are all old friends. They are trying to guess what Your Highness is thinking."

After saying this, the old man sighed again: "A gentleman really shouldn't speculate about the prince like this. Hmm... Your Highness never said that he wanted to kill all the nobles in Hebei."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Old sir, the people arrested in the court are all bad guys, and they all have solid evidence of their crimes."

Gu Nalu said: "A gentleman standing between heaven and earth should have a clear conscience. Your Highness the Crown Prince should do so. I am pleased and it is a blessing for the country."

The eunuch brought tea and placed it on the table.

Li Chengqian handed over the tea and said, "I usually like to drink this kind of tea."

"Um……"

Gu Nalu took a sip of tea and said, "I heard that the trend of tea frying started in Chang'an. I heard that the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace also liked to drink this tea. It became popular in Chang'an and Guanzhong in the past two years. Until now, many people in the Central Plains also drink tea this way."

"What do you think of the method of frying tea, old gentleman?"

Gu Na Lu added: "Some people say that when guests come, we should boil tea and warm the soup. There are also many people who don't like the taste. It is related to etiquette. Some people say that frying tea is simple and casual, which is not in line with etiquette."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "I have never heard of these words."

"In fact, people in the world attach too much importance to red tape. Those who don't know how to simplify things can only stay in the present."

"If you don't advance, you will retreat?"

Gu Nalu shook his head and said, "These are all side issues."

Li Chengqian smiled and nodded.

"I do have a question."

"Please speak, old sir."

"In the beginning, how did Your Highness decide to clear Hebei?"

"Because my father, the emperor, is on an expedition to the east."

Gu Nalu stared at the prince in front of him and shook his head, "What I am asking is not the reason of your Highness."

Li Chengqian changed his words and said, "Except for the reason that my father is on the Eastern Expedition, it should be that there is something in his heart that he cannot swallow."

"What's wrong with you?"

“Righteous.”

Gu Nalu laughed again and continued, "Where does your righteousness come from?"

Li Chengqian sat with his hands in his pockets and replied, "If I say that the righteousness was cultivated from those sages' books, it would seem too far-fetched and too hypocritical."

Gu Nalu smiled with relief and nodded again.

"Everything in this world cannot be separated from struggle, and the struggle between people has been going on for thousands of years. From a selfish point of view, when my father went to the Goguryeo expedition, tens of thousands of villagers followed him because my father wanted to fight, to fight for the concerns of millions of people. My father wanted to fight against the defeat of the Sui Dynasty and fight for a bright and peaceful world."

"When the Hebei incident happened, many people advised me to stop. If I had given up, the righteousness in my heart might have disappeared, and I would never have recovered. From a public-spirited point of view, only through struggle can we know the righteousness of the world and unite the officials with the same goal and the same enemy."

Gu Nalu took another sip of tea and whispered, "What happens next? How should this end?"

Li Chengqian said: "We are considering it. The people from the Censorate and the Dali Temple will stay in Hebei. General Niu Jinda will be stationed in Hebei to replace Wei Ting in charge of the dispatch of grain and grass."

"What happens after that?"

"Increase supervision and punishment to govern Hebei."

Gu Nalu sighed, "Actually, there is another reason why I came here today."

"Please speak, old sir."

"It was Duke Xu who asked me to enlighten Your Highness."

Li Chengqian frowned and took a sip of tea, thinking that his uncle could actually talk to this great scholar of the time.

"Your Highness is presiding over state affairs with strict laws and regulations, which has never been seen before. I have also heard that there were some disturbances when Jingzhao Prefecture governed Guanzhong, but Guanzhong later became a prosperous place. It is also rumored that the villagers in all counties and districts of Guanzhong are looking forward to the day when Your Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne."

Li Chengqian felt something was not right as he listened to these words. If the old gentleman continued to say this, would he try to dissuade him from ascending the throne?

"I think that laws alone are not enough, and education is also needed. After the Han and Wei dynasties, the rites and laws collapsed, and people's livelihoods in Hebei Province declined. The prince returned the land and household registration to the villagers. Is that enough?"

"I will naturally govern."

Realizing that the tea was probably getting cold, the eunuch quickly refilled the cup with hot tea.

Gu Nalu said: "I heard that His Highness also ordered Jingzhao Prefecture to buy a paper-making workshop in Jingyang?"

How long has this great scholar been in Luoyang? About half a month?
Knowing so much about Guanzhong, a great scholar who was not interested in worldly affairs came to Luoyang, and everything he heard was the key.

But when I thought of my uncle, I felt that it all made sense.

Gu Na Lu said: "If the world can regain the etiquette, live in peace, know good and evil, know what can be done and what cannot be done, even if I die, I will have no regrets in this life. Therefore, Your Highness should print books and spread them everywhere."

Li Chengqian replied: "Chongwenguan has always had people teaching."

"I think books are needed."

"What the old gentleman said makes sense. I will consider it carefully."

"In this case, I will be relieved."

Li Chengqian helped the old man out of the Zhenguan Hall.

Before leaving, Gu Nalu looked at the Zhenguan Hall behind him and said, "I heard that there is a Wude Hall in the Chang'an Imperial Palace."

"Yes, I can take the old man to have a look in the future."

"Ah...whatever."

Li Chengqian asked several eunuchs to lead the old gentleman out of the palace and instructed them to make sure to send him to his residence.

He just walked two steps away and said, "I suddenly remembered something."

Gu Nalu stopped and said, "Your Highness, please speak."

Li Chengqian said: "People are born without memories. A child is born without knowing this world."

"That's natural."

“It is always the relatives who teach children about the world, but it is not only books that teach people knowledge, but also teachers. It is because of the teachers who teach the generations that knowledge can be passed down.”

"So, I think it's more important what kind of teachers people are taught by."

Gu Nalu raised his head and thought for a moment, then stroked his beard and smiled, "That's right, that's right..."

Li Chengqian bowed and said, "Goodbye, old sir." "Yes."

Gunalut left the palace with the help of eunuchs.

Li Chengqian watched the old gentleman leave. This was what his uncle meant by holding a knife in one hand and appeasing with the other. The so-called appeasement was education and governance.

"It turns out that my uncle is also a good omen for the Tang Dynasty."

Li Chengqian muttered to himself and left quickly.

After arriving in Luoyang, Chu Suiliang was in a very good mood. This good mood came from the fact that Xu Jingzong was not in Luoyang.

Without the troublesome Shao Yin of Jingzhao Prefecture, Chu Suiliang felt comfortable even though he was busy in Luoyang.

He hurried to the Ministry of Justice and was about to look through the files when he saw a woman standing there. She had a sword on her waist and was wearing armor, standing in the hall looking quite majestic.

Facing this cold-blooded woman, Chu Suiliang bowed and said, "May I ask who you are..."

Xue Wuniang replied, "The General of Beiyuan Garrison has been ordered by Princess Changle to review the Hebei files."

"Ah..." Chu Suiliang was puzzled for a moment, then went back to his own business.

Soon, a clerk came with a pile of files. Xue Wuniang put all the files into a package and quickly left the imperial city.

Chu Suiliang asked Di Zhixun curiously, "Where did that woman come from and why is she so majestic?"

Di Zhixun said: "He is a member of Princess Changle's army. I heard that he once followed Princess Pingyang."

Chu Suiliang understood and said, "Let's drink together after we're done?"

"You are so busy, but you still drink?"

"Take a break from your busy schedule."

Rolls of files were sent into the palace, and little Sizi led little Yutu and little Lingque to Huiyou Palace.

When they reached the entrance of the hall, Xiao Sizi frowned.

At this moment, the hall was filled with files, and the entire floor was covered with them, with only a small gap in the middle large enough for people to stand.

"sister!"

Hearing Xiao Sizi's words, Li Lizhi, who was looking at the file, looked up and asked, "Why are you here?"

Little Sizi led the two children and said, "Yutu and Que'er said they missed their sister."

"aunt!"

Li Lizhi quickly put down the pen in her hand, placed the scroll on the ground, held Lingque in one hand and led Yu Tu out of Huiyou Palace in the other.

Little Sizi whispered, "Sister, my brother said that we can't read for too long. It's bad for our eyes."

Li Lizhi said: "It's okay, I will make sure to relax my eyes."

"Well, when do we have to see these files?"

"I've finished reading it all." Li Lizhi sent a look to the maids behind her, and they began to clean up.

They were playing jigsaw puzzles with their two children.

In fact, these two children are very easy to take care of. They can have a lot of fun as long as they have a toy.

Luoyang in autumn has ushered in continuous rainy days, which is a unique weather condition.

The autumn rain in the northwest of the Central Plains is also called the Western China autumn rain.

Under this climate, the rain is intermittent and sometimes there are more than 20 rainy days in a month.

This year's autumn rain in western China came earlier and lasted longer.

Both the amount of rainfall and the number of rainy days exceeded those in previous years.

The Luo River flows rapidly, but fortunately the riverbank is high, so the river remains stable.

The silt dam upstream of Luoyang, that is, in Guanzhong, has begun to open the gates to release water.

The Wei River flows through Tongguan all the way towards Luoyang.

After passing through several downstream river channels, the turbulent river water is separated by distant tributaries and flows into deep dug canals.

There are still fields that are flooded, and several villages are submerged.

Fortunately, there were no casualties and the government evacuated people as soon as possible.

Zhang Da'an arranged personnel from Jingzhao Prefecture in advance to evacuate villagers from the dangerous villages downstream.

"Zhang Shuling, we checked again and found no villagers left."

Many villagers waded through knee-deep water as they left the downstream area and headed upstream.

Zhang Da'an wore a bamboo hat and looked up at the gloomy sky. He didn't know when this autumn rain would end.

The river channel in Luoyang was repaired several times in those days.

In previous years, such heavy rain would have inevitably caused floods. Now, it is only affecting a few villages downstream, and no one has been killed. This is the best outcome.

Zhang Da'an watched the flood destroying houses one after another, and once again lamented the insignificance of human power.

"Shu Ling, these villages will be flooded every time there is a flood. Don't worry, the villagers all know it."

“Never let them drink raw water.”

"I understand."

Zhang Da'an took another look at the flood in the distance and had no choice but to turn around and leave.

This year we experienced heavy rains that have been rare in more than a decade. Fortunately, several workshops in the north were not flooded and Luoyang City remained intact.

"Shu Ling!" An official from Jingzhao Prefecture wearing a bamboo hat, straw sandals, and rolled up trouser legs, with his trousers tucked in at the waist, saluted and said, "Someone is spreading rumors."

Zhang Daan asked: "What rumor?"

"Some people say that it was because the prince killed so many people in Luoyang that the gods were angry, so they sent down such heavy rains, bringing disaster to Luoyang."

The rain kept falling, flowing down the hat, and almost formed a curtain of water in front of my eyes.

Zhang Daan ordered: "Take the person who spread the rumor to Jingzhao Prefecture and detain him for a few days to make him repent. If he does not repent, send him to the Western Regions to plant trees."

"Here."

The villagers who were relocated from downstream were settled in huge warehouses, where there were special people to cook and boil water.

Zhang Da'an walked to the door of the warehouse and looked at the villagers sitting on the ground and the families sitting together, eating freshly baked cakes and porridge to fill their stomachs.

"The orders have all been recorded."

Zhang Da'an took the record, opened it and checked it. There were more than 3,600 villagers who were relocated this time.

"I will report to the prince. You take good care of this place and don't let anyone cause any trouble."

"Here!"

The heavy rain is still falling, which is worrying.

At this moment, the morning court was still going on in the Qianyuan Hall.

Zhang Daan hurried to the palace gate and shouted, "I am the Secretary of Jingzhao Prefecture, and I have come to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

The guard said, "His Highness said that Zhang Shuling can enter the palace directly when he arrives."

"Yes!" Zhang Da'an responded loudly again. He had to speak loudly in the rain. He didn't care about his wet body and walked quickly to the front of Qianyuan Hall.

The morning court was still in progress. All the civil and military officials were in the main hall, and Cen Wenben was reporting.

Li Chengqian noticed Zhang Daan standing outside the palace and said, "Let's go into the palace and talk."

"Yes!" Zhang Da'an didn't care about his wet body and walked into the hall, leaving wet footprints behind him.

(End of this chapter)