The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 392: Unmerciful People

The fish was still flapping its wings in the bamboo basket. Xuanzang looked away from the basket and saw the other side of the Wei River.

“How’s the view here?”

Hearing this, Xuanzang replied: "When I left Chang'an, this place was not like this."

Li Chengqian put down his fishing rod again, sat on the chair with his hands in his pockets, and said, "Do you know how much effort we put in to build Guanzhong? How much time and effort we put in to achieve the current situation?"

Xuanzang clasped his hands together and chanted the Buddha's name.

Li Chengqian looked up at the riverbank opposite and said, "It used to be a wasteland, but now it has turned green again."

"I also heard that the monks in Chang'an now want to follow you."

Xuanzang said: "They are compiling scriptures, which is a great achievement for Buddhism."

"Xuanzang, do you believe in God's will?"

Xuanzang bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, what do you think God's will is?"

"Suppose God wants to kill you, and you have to die?"

"Just like when you go fishing, Your Majesty, if you don't catch anything in a day, why bother to doubt whether there are still fish in the river?"

Talking to him is a headache. What's a headache is that every sentence he says is full of mysteries?

Li Chengqian still had his hands in his pockets, looking at the calm river surface, and said, "Xuanzang, you are wrong."

"May I ask, Your Majesty, where did I go wrong?"

Li Chengqian added: "There are too many sufferings in this world, but the lessons in history books tell people time and time again. Even if Dayu were still alive, he would probably say that people should not believe in fate."

"You were able to go all the way to India with a firm will, and you were able to refuse the wealth and glory offered by the King of India and Songtsen Gampo. This is enough to show that you have always been fighting in your heart. In fact, you don't believe in fate."

Xuanzang chanted the Buddha's name again.

"I am a person living in the human world. Now, as an emperor living in the human world, I want to make a few requests to you."

Xuanzang said, "Your Majesty, please speak."

Li Chengqian said: "When I was still the crown prince, Popo asked me to treat you as an ordinary monk. But now I will not let you return to secular life. With the feat you have accomplished now, it would be a waste to let you return to secular life."

"You can say that I only care about profit, but I won't let you return to secular life because of the agreement I made with Popo. Although I don't know whether you regard Popo as your teacher, I always keep my promises and do what I say."

"Secondly, since the Wei Dynasty, the expansion of monks has produced a large number of hidden households, and even with the development of the temple economy, they have continuously annexed land, which is contrary to the Confucian concept of governing the country and pacifying the world."

"In front of my country, for me it's nothing more than the difference between fewer or more people dying. Don't think I'm too wise. If someone must die, he will definitely die..."

The conversation by the Wei River lasted for a long time, and Your Majesty and Xuanzang talked a lot by the river.

Until the present Majesty left here at dusk.

Xuanzang was still sitting by the river fishing, but all day long, no fish took his hook.

The monk was still sitting here until late at night.

The sound of horse hooves came from afar. Shangguan Tingzhi, who was riding on horseback, looked at the monk who was still sitting quietly by the river and handed him a cake, "Don't starve to death."

Xuanzang nodded and took the cake handed to him.

Shangguan Tingzhi nodded and said, "Fishing should be done day and night, your majesty is like that."

The night wind blew Xuanzang's monk robe, and he stared at the bright moon in the sky in a trance.

"What did you say to His Majesty?"

"If I tell you what His Majesty said, would Shaoqing Shangguan arrest me and put me in jail?"

“Hahaha!” Shangguan Tingzhi laughed and said, “You are quite smart, monk. The same method won’t work on you.”

Xuanzang held the cake in his hand and said, "Thank you Shangguan Shaoqing for the cake."

Shangguan Tingzhi asked: "What are you going to do after that?"

Xuanzang whispered, "Go and have a look at the human world."

"Is this the agreement between you and His Majesty?"

Xuanzang faced east and walked into the night.

Shangguan Tingzhi, who was still sitting on the horse, called out, "You're not going to compile the scriptures anymore? Will you come back?"

The shouting echoed in the night. Xuanzang, who was wearing white monk's robes, did not respond, but just watched him walk further and further away.

Shangguan Tingzhi came to the river bank and saw the fish bones. The fishing rod was still there and the fishing line was still in the river.

After staring at the fish bones on the ground for a long time, Shangguan Tingzhi frowned and asked, "Could it be that Xuanzang likes to eat fish?"

Then he took out the file and wrote a line on it very arbitrarily: Xuanzang loves to eat fish.

The next day, after the morning court session, Li Chengqian came to visit his grandfather.

Li Yuan has been waking up lately, and he would not wake up until dawn, around noon, when the morning court was about to end.

Li Chengqian sat by the Taiye Lake, eating fruits sent from the Western Regions.

Li Yuan came out holding a small wooden hammer, hitting his back, and asked, "Why did you drive Xuanzang away?"

"My grandson didn't drive him away. He wanted to see the world on his own."

"You also confiscated all his scriptures?"

"The grandson is just keeping it for him."

"You also dismissed all the monks from Shengguang Temple?"

"That was his own request."

Li Yuan sighed: "Whether it's Guo Luotuo or Sun Simiao, I thought Xuanzang was the same as them. How come he was…"

Li Chengqian handed Grandpa a piece of melon and said, "This year's melon is very refreshing."

Li Yuan put a piece of melon into his mouth and chewed it.

"My grandson is an emperor who wants to benefit the people, and he is a monk who wants to save all living beings. We have different philosophies and cannot work together. My grandson has made a three-year agreement with him. If the world no longer needs his beliefs after three years, he will retire from the world."

Li Yuan shook his head and said, "Governing the country is your business."

"It's the grandson's business, of course."

Li Yuan whispered, "If your father were still on the throne, he would definitely treat Xuanzang well."

"Grandpa is right."

"You are different."

"Grandpa, are you saying that your grandson is a clean-handed person?"

"You are so unmerciful, kid."

Li Chengqian ate fruits leisurely, looking at the scenery of Taiye Lake and smiling without saying a word.

Li Yuan said uncomfortably, "Why do I feel that you have become more and more free since you ascended the throne?"

"In fact, being a good emperor is not difficult. All you need to do is make the right choice with the right people."

Li Yuan sat aside, also feeling that the time was peaceful at the moment, and shook his legs unconsciously. Lin Chuan, who happened to be passing by, said unhappily: "Grandpa, you are already this old, stop shaking your legs."

Li Yuan's shaking legs suddenly stopped.

Perhaps many years later, Li Chengqian hoped that Xuanzang would be able to stand between heaven and earth wearing a monk's robe, holding a three-foot-long sword, and shouting that Buddha could not save the world.

It takes faith to save the world, but saviors are never merciful.

This is also true from the perspective of human history.

To the west of Chang'an City, a group of laborers were rushing to Jingyang, and the leader of this group of strong laborers was the current Palace Attendant Censor Du Zhenglun.

Du Zhenglun never expected and could not understand why the prince, when he ascended the throne, asked him to come to Jingyang to supervise the construction of a printing workshop.

Du Zhenglun, riding on horseback, scratched his head. He couldn't figure it out. He really couldn't figure it out.

Supervising construction is the responsibility of the Ministry of Works. What does this have to do with me? Could it be that Yan Liben is going to retire and wants me, a censor, to be the Minister of the Ministry of Works?
In fact, there is nothing wrong with being a Minister of Works. Du Zhenglun feels that with his own merits, it is not impossible for him to be the Minister of Works.

A member of the Jingzhao Du family rode up on horseback. He hurried to Du Zhenglun and said, "Uncle, there is another appointment in the court."

Du Zhenglun, who was already over 40 years old, swayed as the horse moved. He asked sternly, "What appointment?"

"Master Yan has really retired."

Du Zhenglun asked: "Who is the current Minister of Industry?"

"It's Xu Xiaode who's taking over temporarily."

"He? He knows about craftsmanship?"

"The court said that the Minister of Works does not necessarily need to understand craftsmanship, he just needs to be able to dispatch people temporarily. After all, it is an official position in the court, and it always needs to be arranged by officials."

Du Zhenglun came back to his senses after arriving in Jingyang unknowingly.

There is a very large workshop here, which originally belonged to Du He.

But now this place has been taken over by the court, and Du He sold the workshop to the court at an extremely low price.

There is no need to worry about something that is consensual. Now Du He enjoys repairing the house all day long.

Fortunately, the Jingzhao Du family did not expel Du He from the family. Du He was originally her uncle's child, and Du Zhenglun could not stand Du Gou's character.

Du He dismounted and listened to the county magistrate describing the situation there.

The court plans to build a large workshop covering nearly a thousand acres here. This is a huge project. If the emperor wants to enjoy himself, he should also build a palace.

Du Zhenglun met the Duke of Ying, Wu Shigui. Now the old Duke of Ying no longer cared about the affairs of the Jingyang workshop, but spent his days raising turtles for fun.

This was also a long-lived old man, and Du Zhenglun treated him with great respect.

In June of the first year of Qianqing, the door plaque of Shengguang Temple was removed, and the bell in the temple was also taken down. After all the monks left, Su Tan led hundreds of students from Chongwenguan into the temple and hung up the door plaque of Chongwenguan.

As for those monks who have left, they may have no choice but to return to secular life. Even if they go to other temples, there is no guarantee that anyone will take them in.

No one knows what the current Majesty and Xuanzang said.

When Xuanzang left the Western Regions, he abandoned everything there. Now that Xuanzang left Guanzhong, he abandoned the monks in Guanzhong.

Many monks were still confused and didn't understand.

Why did Xuanzang do this?

Su Tan was now the director of Chongwen Hall. He said to an old monk, "We have sealed up the money here. Please return to secular life in the future."

The old monk didn't say much. He firmly believed that Xuanzang must have his reasons for his choice, and left with the other monks.

In fact, Shengguang Temple was very wealthy. There was a lot of money in their warehouse, even Sui coins that few people use today.

Afterwards, people from Jingzhao Prefecture would arrange work and accommodation for these monks.

The rest of the matter has nothing to do with Chongwenguan.

Su Tan saw boxes full of books being carried in, and he was flipping through the books.

A student walked over quickly and reported: "Master Su, there are a few people outside who want to ask if we can print books for them."

Su Tan continued to look at the book and asked, "What book are they going to print?"

"They want the volume of old Master Ingunaru."

"When printing books, we need to consider the paper quota in Guanzhong. Tell them to follow the arrangements of the court."

"Here."

"Master Su, what should we do with the scriptures in the temple?"

Su Tan ordered: "Seal it up."

"Here."

There are more and more students in Chongwenguan now. Especially after the imperial examination this year, more than 2,000 teachers have been sent out to teach. Now each county has at least ten teachers, and hundreds of libraries have been built.

These libraries also need to be reorganized and coordinated, and teachers from various counties need to be arranged to teach, and even courses need to be divided.

There has never been such a grand occasion since historical records began.

Despite the grand occasion, Su Tan was still very worried. There were too many things to do. He whispered, "Now I know why Your Majesty wants to hand over the management of Chongwen Hall to me."

A student nearby asked, "Why?"

Su Tan whispered, "I need more manpower to inform the nobles in Guanzhong and ask them to arrange more children to teach."

The student asked again, "In fact, some children of the noble families are unwilling to teach."

"Then bring them to Chongwen Hall, and I will reprimand them in person. I want to see who among the noble families in Guanzhong dares to disobey me."

At this moment, Su Tan finally showed the courage of the head of the Guanzhong gentry.

This is the power given to Su Tan by the current Majesty. When the gentry from all over Guanzhong wanted to nominate Su Tan as the head of the gentry, have they ever thought that Su Tan is the father-in-law of the current crown prince and that he and the crown prince are in the same boat?

As for what kind of person the current prince is, people thought of the blood shed in front of Luoyang City in the past, which could never be washed away.

The Yang and Du clans were the first to respond, followed by clans from all over Guanzhong who sent people to Chongwenguan.

Any teacher who wanted to participate in the teaching had to be selected by Chongwenguan. As the head of the Guanzhong gentry, Su Tan was appointed as the director of Chongwenguan and quickly solved the problem of insufficient staff in Chongwenguan.

Su Tan also formulated various rules and regulations for Chongwenguan, allowing Chongwenguan, which was originally almost integrated with Jingzhao Prefecture, to have relatively independent regulations.

It only took Su Tan one month to resolve these issues, and he implemented the efficiency required by the current emperor to the extreme.

Li Chengqian looked at the memorial sent from Chongwenguan and read it carefully.

In the palace at night, it was so quiet that only the sound of the wind could be heard. Li Chengqian sat in the new palace and began to write. He merged the already large-scale bookstores in Guanzhong and divided them into different levels. He also coordinated with the officials of various counties to jointly manage them and formulated the basic content of teaching.

Children aged seven were divided into different levels, and teaching contents were formulated for children from seven to fifteen years old. Each county was ordered to provide professional guidance on future labor for children aged fifteen and above.

Additional schools and book transfer locations were set up in various places.

……

Li Chengqian wrote a lot in a very eloquent manner, all of which were about the future Chongwenguan and all aspects of its reform.

After writing them, Li Chengqian asked someone to deliver them overnight. These policy papers may not be very good, and may not be applicable in many places.

(End of this chapter)