The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 379 Return to Chang'an

After reading Duke Zheng's letter, the father and son sat in the hall in silence for a long time. They saw that the rain outside was getting heavier, and it seemed that God was preventing the emperor from returning to Chang'an.

The emperor left in a depressed mood, as if all the excitement after the Fengshan ceremony had disappeared.

The wind brought autumn rain that fell on the ground. The autumn wind blew into the hall, causing a corner of the letter to be constantly lifted up.

Li Chengqian stood up and walked outside the hall, looking at the rain that was falling all over the sky and showed no signs of abating.

There were also eunuchs who were constantly moving the luggage to be transported back to Chang'an. One eunuch shouted, "Hurry up, what's wrong with a little rain? Don't be lazy."

The eunuchs were soaked by the rain, but they did not dare to slow down at all.

Li Chengqian said to the palace guards standing by: "Have someone prepare ginger soup to drive away the cold for them."

The guard saluted and said, "Yes."

Then he walked away quickly, and there was a faint sound of collision from the armor on his body.

The next day, the rain finally stopped, but the sky was still gloomy.

The carriage for the emperor and his family to return to Chang'an is ready.

Today's morning court ended quickly. Feeling that the emperor was eager to return home, everyone reported as briefly as possible.

Eunuchs could be seen everywhere in the palace moving things out of the palace. They were busy until late yesterday and were busy again today.

Seeing the prince walking out of the palace again, the guard in front of the palace yesterday reported: "Your Highness, yesterday I made all the eunuchs in the palace drink ginger soup."

Li Chengqian nodded.

The guard added, "There were a few who didn't like ginger soup, so I gave them three big bowls."

Li Chengqian suddenly smiled and said, "Very good."

"Ah."

The guard nodded heavily.

This guard looked very good, Li Chengqian asked: "What's your name?"

The guard replied, "I am Gao Chongde, the eldest son of my family, and my father is Gao Kan."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Those who come from the Gao family of Bohai are all quite capable."

Gao Chongde nodded with a smile.

After a while, Zhangsun Wuji also walked outside the hall and said, "We have learned that Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are going back to Chang'an. The residents of Luoyang and the counties all hope that Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can stay."

Li Chengqian said: "Uncle also knows that if I don't leave now, I'm afraid I won't be able to see Duke Zheng for the last time."

Changsun Wuji looked into the distance without saying a word.

Xu Xiaode came hurriedly and said, "Your Highness, is the construction of the Luoyang Palace going to be…"

"We'll talk about it later."

Xu Xiaode nodded in understanding and said, "Yes."

In fact, this also made it difficult for Xu Xiaode, because the crown prince stayed in Luoyang for two years and the emperor stayed in Luoyang for one year.

If the Luoyang Imperial Palace was to be renovated, people might think that the emperor wanted to make Luoyang the capital.

If a wise emperor wanted to build Luoyang into Chengdu, the residents of Luoyang would naturally be willing.

But how many manpower would be needed to build the Luoyang Imperial Palace, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands?
Back then, Yang Guang used nearly one million people to rebuild Luoyang City.

Although there had never been an order to build the Luoyang Imperial Palace, this was not something a prince could advocate. As it concerned the location of the capital, it required the emperor's approval.

Xu Xiaode was not unprepared for this.

The court is now accustomed to this kind of advance preparation. Even if money is needed somewhere, they have to find Yu Zhining to coordinate the budget.

Li Chengqian looked at the open space in front of the palace and said, "Let's go back to Chang'an."

Xu Xiaode and Zhangsun Wuji performed the ceremony together.

By noon, everything was ready for the trip to Luoyang.

Several eunuchs carried a sedan chair, and sitting on it were the emperor's old grandfather and old eunuch.

Then all the civil and military officials walked towards the team.

Li Chengqian walked with Ma Zhou and listened to him talk about recent events.

Ma Zhou said, "Your Highness, this village is newly built and was completed in the summer of this year."

Hearing this, Li Chengqian looked up and saw the village consisting of only a dozen houses.

Gao Ji Fu followed beside the prince.

Li Chengqian looked at him and said, "Ma Zhou will follow my father and me back to Chang'an. You must pay more attention to the people's livelihood when guarding Luoyang."

Gao Jifu bowed and said, "I have heard from Xu Shaoyin about the governance of Jingzhao Prefecture. Your Highness and Your Majesty can rest assured while I guard Luoyang."

"Zhang Da'an is the prefect of Luoyang Jingzhao Prefecture. If you encounter any difficulties or are unable to make a decision, you can ask him. Zhinu and Shendi will also stay in Luoyang. If you encounter any difficulties, you can ask them for help."

"I accept your order."

Li Ji, Xue Rengui, Xue Wanbei, and a group of veteran generals were in the team.

More and more people came to see the emperor off. When my father arrived outside the city of Luoyang, the surrounding villagers knelt down and saluted him.

Just as many people saw the emperor off during the Eastern Expedition last year, so many people now hope that the emperor can stay.

But the emperor still walked into the carriage. Li Chengqian looked at the villagers kneeling on the ground beside the official road, stepped forward and helped an old man up, saying: "Old man, the emperor will not forget Luoyang."

The old man looked at the prince with cloudy eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't speak for a moment, not knowing whether he was afraid or excited.

The prince had never been so close.

There was also a group of villagers who raised their heads and looked at the young crown prince. It was the first time they saw that the crown prince was so close to them.

The crown prince drove away many wealthy people in Luoyang, killed thousands of people captured from Hebei, and exiled more than 5,000 people.

But people's hearts are simple. They know where the reason comes from that their lives are no longer in extreme poverty and that there is surplus in their homes.

The old man took out a pear from his arms and handed it to me, saying, "This is the autumn pear from Luoyang."

Li Chengqian took the pear, took a bite and tasted it carefully, saying, "What a good autumn pear. I should come to Luoyang more often in the future to eat the pears here."

The old man smiled and fumbled around his body trying to find another pear.

"Listen carefully, I will be the crown prince soon, and you will all be my subjects!"

A childish voice came from behind. Li Chengqian stroked his forehead in distress and said, "This is an orphan's child."

The old man smiled and said, "What a spirited child."

Xiao Yutu put his hands on his hips and said, "When I become the crown prince, I will let all of you wear fine clothes and eat good meat."

All the villagers suddenly laughed.

Li Chengqian picked up the boy and said, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you all."

People looked at the extremely impressive child with kindness, and Li Chengqian carried the child into the carriage.

The vast number of Luoyang villagers knelt down and bowed once again.

When Li Ji shouted out the military order loudly and the sound of horse hooves rang out, the emperor's carriage headed towards Chang'an.

When the carriage had traveled for a distance, Li Chengqian looked back and found that all the villagers had dispersed.

Inside the carriage, little Yu Tu lowered his head in front of his parents.

Ning'er and Su Wan sat together and looked at the boy with great worry.

Su Wan said in a deep voice: "You are not allowed to spread the word that you want to be the crown prince everywhere in the future."

Little Yutu sat on a small stool and nodded. Su Wan continued, "Don't spread the news that you climbed Mount Tai."

"But the child has climbed Mount Tai."

Su Wan held her forehead with her hand in distress and asked in a deep voice, "Did you climb Mount Tai by yourself?"

"General Xue carried me up there."

"Well, do you still feel proud enough now?"

"No."

Su Wan said sternly, "You are not allowed to spread the word that you want to be the crown prince anymore."

Little Yutu whispered, "Does that mean you want the child to be subtle but clear, and to be gentle but distinct?"

Su Wan asked again: "Did the old master teach you to use the words in the Spring and Autumn Annals like this?"

"The kid doesn't understand."

Su Wan hesitated to speak...

Li Chengqian listened quietly to his wife's words teaching the child. Su Wan was from a noble family, so she was very knowledgeable. Yu Tu had a very high starting point. He was only seven years old and had already started reading the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Analects of Confucius, or the Book of Han.

Although he cannot recognize all the characters and cannot write them well, this does not prevent his starting point from being higher than that of ordinary people.

Li Chengqian smiled and said nothing as his wife taught his son.

It was really interesting to hear Su Wan quoting from classics while teaching her children. Just now, when she mentioned the story of moving firewood to the curved tunnels, she could relate it to the humble character of Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Let’s talk about how Liu Xiu defeated Wang Mang, implemented the land measurement order, suppressed local gentry, and buffered the various reasons for land annexation.

Most of the teachings that Yu Tu received came from Su Wan or the Four Sages of Wenhan.

He will have other teachers in the future.

Compared to himself, Li Chengqian suddenly felt that this child was more influenced by classical literature.

Although he, the crown prince, had been taught by Prime Minister Fang and his uncle, or Li Gang, who passed away early, he was a teacher he had never met.

After passing Tongguan, autumn rain began to fall again in the night sky, dripping into the fields and rivers in the distance.

This time the carriage was not moving slowly. Grandpa and uncle did not feel comfortable sitting in the carriage, but the two old men did not say anything.

Dongyang jumped on his horse and said, "Brother, I will go to Chang'an first."

Li Chengqian said, "If there is any change in Mr. Zheng's condition, we must send the news as quickly as possible."

"Okay." Dongyang wore a straw hat and a raincoat. He held the reins in one hand and carried a medicine box on his back. The horse raised its front hooves and neighed.

Little Yutu looked at his heroic aunt with envy.

Li Lizhi arranged several female guards to accompany her.

"Gee!" Dongyang whipped the horse and rode away carrying the princess.

"father!"

"what happened?"

"When can the child ride a horse?"

Li Chengqian glanced at his son and said, "When you can climb onto the horse's back by yourself, you can ride a horse."

Little Yutu looked at his own short legs in dissatisfaction.

Ahead is Weibei, and you can see a number of workshops near the official road in the distance. After ten years of accumulation, one year of restructuring, and another year of sedimentation, Guanzhong's workshop system, which mainly produces cotton cloth and soap, grape wine and paper, has now matured.

It should be said that these four industries are the four pillars of Guanzhong's industry today, and the upstream and downstream industries are basically built on these four pillars.

Li Chengqian looked at the Zhenguan Book compiled by Mr. Gu Nalu.

Little Queer came out from the carriage and said, "Daddy, my sister has fallen asleep."

Li Chengqian glanced at his little daughter who was sleeping in the carriage, then turned back to look at the book. The autumn wind brought some drizzle.

Xiao Que'er took down the lantern beside him and placed it next to his father, "This way you can see clearly."

After all, his daughter was considerate. Li Chengqian said, "Don't play like your brother."

She grabbed her father's arm and said, "My daughter would never do that. What kind of book is this?"

Li Chengqian handed the heavy scroll to his daughter and said, "This was given by old Master Gu Nalu to teach the people in the court."

"Is Mr. Gu Nalu very powerful?"

"He is a great scholar of the time. He has great prestige. Your great grandfather and great grandfather asked Dad to use him as soon as possible, in case this old man dies and he becomes useless."

"Oh..." The little magpie nodded obediently.

As the night deepened, some people were left on both sides of the team to continue guarding, while the rest went to sleep and rest.

Li Chengqian did not sleep deeply in the carriage. He woke up before dawn and continued to read the book while sitting beside the carriage.

Since ancient times, etiquette and morality have been top priority. As Mr. Gu Nalu said in his book, there are many workshops built in Guanzhong and Luoyang now, and people still need to study, so it is very important to teach people to acquire good morals.

"His Royal Highness."

Li Chengqian looked up and saw Lord Ying, and said with a smile: "Lord Ying, you didn't take turns to be on duty, and you didn't sleep all night?"

Li Ji said: "I dare not relax."

The air smelled of earth, and villagers could be seen working in the fields while the sky was still gray.

After this autumn rain comes the Frost Descent season, when the radishes and persimmons in Guanzhong should be harvested.

When the sky was bright, everyone ate their dry food and set off for Chang'an again.

Along the way, officials kept riding horses from Chang'an to report the current situation in Chang'an.

The team marched for another day, and when they could see Chang'an City, everyone had a smile on their face.

In the carriage at the rear of the team, Li Chengqian and his father were sitting together eating dates.

"This year, the harvest of dates in Guanzhong is good." Li Shimin said while eating.

"My brothers and sisters haven't had Chang'an's zongzi for a long time."

"Well, I plan to visit Duke Zheng when I arrive in Chang'an."

"Alright, I will go with you, Father."

Chang'an City was in sight in the distance. Changsun Wuji and Li Ji were walking at the front of the convoy. The two were very silent and didn't say much.

They both knew in their hearts that once the prince ascended the throne, the situation would change and they would both have to face the new emperor.

The villagers on the official road made way for the emperor and bowed to the ground before him.

Two years have passed. I returned to Chang'an again. It was still the same and the city wall had not changed.

The team stopped in front of Chunming Gate in Chang'an. Li Chengqian and his father got off the carriage and came to the city gate.

Fang Xuanling, whose hair and beard were already white, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully welcome your Highness the Crown Prince back to the court."

Li Chengqian quickly stepped forward to help him up and said, "Thank you for the past two years, teacher."

Fang Xuanling said: "I have learned that Your Majesty has recovered the four Liaodong counties from the Han Dynasty, and that Your Majesty and the Crown Prince have performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai. I congratulate you..."

Li Shimin held Fang Xuanling's hand and said, "You and I have known each other since we were young. There is no need to talk about this. Let's go see Duke Zheng first."

Fang Xuanling nodded and said, "Yes."

The Queen Mother took Su Wan and Ning'er back to the palace first, and Li Chengqian followed his father's footsteps all the way into Chunming Gate.

(End of this chapter)