The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 367: View Luoyang

The eunuch came with a cart of gold and silver and reported: "This is a tribute from the Tibetan king."

Li Chengqian took out a bead from a pile of gold and silver. Songtsen Gampo was more patient than expected.

The eunuch said again, "Your Highness, this is the memorial from Sambuza of Sifang Pavilion."

Li Chengqian took the memorial and asked, "Didn't Lu Dongzan write a memorial to congratulate him?"

"Your Highness, the Tibetan Prime Minister was busy with the affairs of the Literature Institute today and did not mention it."

"Well, you take these gold, silver and jewels to the warehouse."

"Here."

Li Chengqian sat down again and looked at the congratulatory memorial sent by Sambuza. Since the curfew in Luoyang was lifted three days ago, all the congratulations had arrived.

Apart from several small countries that were destroyed around the Tang Dynasty, it was unexpected that Tubo was the first to come to congratulate.

Songtsen Gampo became famous at a young age in Tubo. After he turned ten, he practiced martial arts, read poetry and books. That’s right... from that time on, he began to read books from the Central Plains.

He began to show his talent at the age of sixteen, and began to pacify various parts of Tibet at the age of seventeen. After integrating the scattered Tibet at the age of nineteen, he conquered the small tribes around Tibet and married with Nepal, giving Tibet a stable rear base.

Up to now, even though he had lost Qinghai and Lu Dongzan, he had stabilized the rear of Tubo, and the internal situation of Tubo has been relatively stable.

Although Lu Dongzan was in Chang'an, Songtsen Gampo personally raised Lu Dongzan's children in order to consolidate Lu Dongzan's old subordinates in Tubo.

Whether it is Songtsen Gampo or his father, the life experiences of these two are really interesting. On the contrary, in this era where everyone wants to do something big.

Li Chengqian suddenly felt that his life was extremely dull.

Thinking about it carefully, I find Liu Rengui's attitude towards life very interesting. He is a person who is content with being ordinary and can also strive to move forward.

The little magpie said in a tender voice: "Daddy, the baked buns are delicious."

Li Chengqian smiled and nodded, "Xiaofu's cooking skills have always been very good."

"There's something delicious, why...why aren't you happy?"

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "I just thought of some people."

“That must be a bad person.”

After saying that, she took another big bite of the bun.

Li Chengqian suppressed his smile and said, "Don't eat too much. You can't eat too much."

The little magpie was chewing, and after eating one, she stopped eating. She jumped off the stool and washed her hands carefully with a basin of water. After washing, she opened her slightly red hands to indicate that they were clean.

Then, the girl quickly ran to her grandmother.

Li Chengqian put down Sangbuza's congratulatory letter and sat alone at the table, thinking.

"I heard that you want to reform Jingzhao Prefecture?"

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Yes, I'm preparing."

Li Shimin looked at the sky and said, "I heard that the Secretariat proposed several reforms, but you rejected them all?"

"Ah."

"You're still not satisfied after several changes?"

"Because their ideas are not grassroots enough and take all aspects into consideration, it is worse than it is now. What's the point of reforming it now? I will try my best to make Jingzhao Prefecture more comprehensive."

This son is always like this, and Li Shimin is used to it.

The eunuchs who serve the emperor and his family have been very anxious recently. This anxiety comes from the crown prince. Originally, the crown prince should be happy that His Majesty has returned from the eastern expedition.

But the prince doesn't seem happy now.

"Captain Yu, the Crown Prince looks like he is worried."

The eunuch in charge looked at the canal behind him and said, "There are no fish in the canal in the palace."

The remaining eunuchs understood.

The Luoyang Imperial Palace was different from the Chang'an Imperial Palace. There was the open Taiye Lake to the north of the Chang'an Imperial Palace, but there were no fish in the canals of the Luoyang Imperial Palace. It was not that they had not thought about raising fish in the canals, but they were always unable to keep them alive.

It should be that Emperor Yang of Sui did not like eating fish, so when he was building the Luoyang Imperial Palace, he did not consider building a pond or an artificial lake.

The next day, there was no morning court session. The emperor and the prince left the palace, but the father and son did not leave Luoyang, but walked around the city.

Li Shimin sat in the carriage, and Li Chengqian drove the carriage for his father.

The journey was very quiet, and we arrived at a study room where a group of children were reading with their teacher.

Outside the door of the study, there were several teachers looking at books with frowns on their faces.

The carriage stopped and Li Shimin said, "Don't disturb the children who are reading."

Xue Wanbei nodded and ordered all the soldiers to stay where they were and not to act rashly.

But even so, the emperor and his son were escorted by thousands of guards, and the villagers around them had already knelt on the ground.

After getting off the carriage with his father, Li Chengqian said, "In Luoyang, there are not many schools like this in every county. Generally, children from three counties are in the same school. There are not many teachers, so it is maintained like this for now."

Li Shimin walked up to the two young teachers and said, "Thank you for your teaching."

"We will follow the orders of the court and obey your majesty's orders."

Li Shimin liked the teacher's attitude and asked, "What's your name?"

The teacher said in a clear voice: "I am Guo Daiju, from Yingchuan."

Li Shimin took the scroll from his hand. The teacher had just been looking at the book. After flipping through a few pages, he saw some familiar words in the book and asked, "What is this book?"

"Your Majesty, this book came from Guanzhong and was printed in Jingyang. It is said to be a kind of doctrine called dialectics."

Li Shimin looked at his son beside him again and immediately understood the reason. This book was not written by Cheng Qian, but by his daughter Li Zhihou.

The daughter has always wanted to write a book to pass on to future generations, and now she is doing so.

Li Shimin handed the scroll back to him and asked, "What do you think of this book?"

Guo Daiju replied: "Your Majesty, it is difficult to understand, but the dialectic is quite interesting."

In the study, the sound of reading continued, and Li Shimin returned to the carriage.

Li Chengqian took another look at Guo Daiju and drove away in the carriage. It would be great if Li Zhi could become the founder of a new school of thought in the Tang Dynasty, or the leader of an academic school.

"That book was written by Li Zhi?"

Li Chengqian said, "Don't worry, Father. Whenever a book is to be printed, it must be approved by the Secretary General and the Imperial Court. It will not be printed privately. The paper mills in Guanzhong and Luoyang will keep records of all paper expenses by county officials."

Li Shimin said again: "Li Zhi has made some achievements now." Li Chengqian replied: "The so-called dialectics is just something Li Zhi does by chance, it is not her future direction. However, with her theoretical level, it is just something she does by chance, and it may be extremely obscure and difficult for others to understand."

"Did you bring me out here just to let me take a good look at Luoyang?"

Before Cheng Qian could reply, Li Shimin said, "Well, I haven't really taken a good look at it since I came back from the Eastern Expedition."

Li Chengqian sat on the shaft of the cart, still driving the horse slowly and watching the situation in the village.

There were also couples arguing with each other, speaking in different accents.

After Luoyang was greatly governed and reformed, more and more families moved to Luoyang, and many villagers from all over the country married each other, and thus families were formed.

Generally speaking, Luoyang's prosperity was caused by these people.

Therefore, wealth never comes out of thin air, but is created by pairs of hardworking hands.

Li Chengqian took out a pamphlet from his sleeve and handed it over, saying, "Father, please take a look at this."

Li Shimin was surprised and asked: "Is this the Zhenguan Book?"

"No, this is the summary of Guanzhong's experience over the years."

I heard that this son and Gunalut were going to compile a book to educate the people of the world, but no one has ever seen the true appearance of this book.

Li Shimin was curious and never let anyone see it.

"Mr. Gu Nalu's book is still being written and has not yet been completed. It will not be completed in one or two years."

Li Shimin put a booklet aside and looked at the scenery outside the car. He was in a very good mood. This time he came out to relax, not to discuss political affairs with his son.

If Cheng Qian didn't talk about those political affairs that spoiled the mood, then everything here would still look beautiful.

The carriage stopped in front of a group of workshops, where there were five large workshops.

Li Chengqian said: "There are 3,000 people working here. The city tax generated here every month is roughly nearly 2,000 strings of cash. However, it is not this much every month. After each commodity transaction, the city tax must be paid."

Li Shimin thought that the current price of rice in Luoyang was eleven cents per dou, and these workshops could already provide food and fodder for tens of thousands of soldiers in a state.

Is this also the reason why Cheng Qian was willing to exempt most of the land taxes in the Central Plains?

The workshop in Luoyang alone is enough to make up for the losses.

Li Chengqian said: "Land in Chang'an and Luoyang is expensive now. In order to curb housing prices, I also want Xu Jingzong and others to limit rents and taxes. Of course, under the current rent and tax adjustment rules under the Tang Dynasty law, these things are very troublesome to do. That is something we will prepare to do in the future."

Li Shimin whispered, "You must be wary of harsh taxes."

"Father, the Tang Dynasty does not have harsh taxes. Besides, taxes are the foundation of the country. I only hope that taxes can be collected more efficiently, just like Guanzhong and Luoyang have begun to collect rents from houses, and the higher the price of the house, the higher the rent."

Under the emperor's autocratic rule, there is no need to care about the interests of the so-called vested interests.

Li Chengqian said: "I am planning to build more houses."

The carriage continued to move forward shakily. The experience accumulated through trial and error in the past ten years in Guanzhong and Luoyang was too valuable. Without these ten years of accumulation, there would be no great achievements today.

The father and son came to a village, which was built at the foot of a mountain. The small hill not far away was yellow-brown in the autumn and had many not-so-tall trees.

After the autumn rain, Luoyang also feels the northwest monsoon coming from Guanzhong.

The team prepared the meal, and the father and son sat together beside a newly dug ditch to eat.

The current population of Luoyang City, including the surrounding villages and counties, has exceeded two million and is heading towards three million. The more population Luoyang absorbs, the faster wealth will accumulate.

In fact, the court was very troubled by this situation. In this era when agriculture was still the main industry, Luoyang's rapid development caught other parts of the Central Plains off guard.

The more prosperous the population of Luoyang became, the more depressed the areas east of Luoyang would become, and it even threatened the farming population in other places. But what if there were not enough farming population?

In other words, Luoyang's population of more than two million people depended on food from all over the Central Plains for their survival. There were not enough people farming in various places. Once food was restricted, Luoyang would suffer from famine.

For this reason, Chu Suiliang advocated restricting the population moving into Luoyang.

But Xu Jingzong, who had always advocated development, was different. Under the rule of Jingzhao Prefecture, he certainly hoped that the population of Luoyang and Guanzhong would be as large as possible.

Chu Suiliang said that Xu Jingzong was draining the pond to catch all the fish.

Xu Jingzong said that Chu Suiliang was short-sighted.

They both had their reasons.

As the crown prince, he naturally cannot get involved in the fight between them.

Or maybe there aren't enough people and not enough food. People, food, and land, what a typical problem.

The Tang Dynasty could have developed blindly, or it could have served as a lesson for future generations. There is nothing wrong with being bolder. The past, future and present in the history of human civilization... aren't they the results of active exploration and creation?
For the cheerful and tough Tang people, it is enough to remain fearless.

Good or bad, exhausting resources or being short-sighted, time has given human civilization the opportunity to develop. So why shouldn't we move forward?
Li Chengqian ate the Liang rice slowly and leisurely. He didn't want to say these words to his father anymore. It would be better to let his father enjoy the scenery here.

The emperor has been very fond of eating braised pork recently. Braised pork without sugar is very salty. After his majesty took a bite of the braised pork, he started to eat the rice in big mouthfuls. As for the pot of pickled plums, his majesty didn't even touch his chopsticks.

Li Chengqian said: "Father, this pickled mustard greens is also good."

Li Shimin said with a bitter face: "Cheng Qian, you don't know that after the army went to war, the most eaten thing was pickled mustard greens. There was too much food and grass, and some people in the army even mixed pickled mustard greens into the grass to feed the horses."

"I think that from the perspective of transportation and food collection, pickled mustard greens are an excellent military ration."

Li Shimin said: "I ate pickled mustard greens with my soldiers for a year in Liaodong."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly and asked Xue Wanbei to distribute the pickled mustard greens to the accompanying soldiers.

Li Shimin said, "Don't put so much salt on pickled mustard greens in the future."

When the father and son returned to Luoyang, it was already night.

Guo Zhengyi once again submitted a memorial regarding the reform of Jingzhao Prefecture.

After the morning court session the next day, the crown prince ordered Yu Zhining, Chu Suiliang, Xu Jingzong, Xu Yushi, Yan Qinli and Zhang Da'an to discuss the matter in the Qianyang Palace.

The Crown Prince will not participate in this meeting, which will be presided over by the Duke of Zhao, whom His Royal Highness the Crown Prince trusts the most.

Xu Jingzong is an example of someone who rose from a low-level county magistrate to the current position of Secretary of the Central Secretariat in the court. He has risen from a low-level county magistrate to the current position of Secretary of the Central Secretariat.

The prince must promote this person. A minister with outstanding achievements should naturally be promoted and reused so that successors can make progress.

Xu Jingzong's promotion was not due to his currying favor with the crown prince, but because he worked his way up from a county magistrate. The court was convinced of his ability, but his character was another matter.

When everyone arrived in front of the Qianyang Palace, Chu Suiliang said with a stern face: "Today's meeting is about Jingzhao Prefecture. Thank you, Minister Xu, for your help."

Xu Jingzong said: "The weather is getting colder very quickly."

After saying this, he ignored Chu Suiliang and walked into the hall.

(End of this chapter)