The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 403: Words Living in the Heart

The village in Weibei has just harvested grapes this year, and some people in the village are making grape wine.

After saying this, Fang Xuanling walked away, following the aroma of wine, into a place in the village where there were more residents. Here there was not only the aroma of grape wine, but also the aroma of wheat.

When he arrived at a wine-making workshop, Fang Xuanling saw dozens of men pouring wine into wine jugs.

Chai Shao asked his son behind him to take out a few copper coins and buy a bowl of wine.

Fang Xuanling smelled the aroma of the wine, took a sip and said, "Good wine."

Seeing that the wine was about to be brought to him, Chai Shao waved his hand and said, "You can't drink anymore. The people from the Imperial Medical Bureau said that if you want to live a few more years, you can't drink anymore."

Fang Xuanling took another sip and handed it to Chai Lingwu beside him.

Chai Lingwu took the wine bowl, drank the grape wine in one gulp, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Liang."

Chai Shao asked again: "Brother, how much money do you earn for working here per day?"

The strong man who was carrying the wine jar said, "After the war, we didn't want the land, but asked for more than ten strings of money. Several families put money together to open this wine shop."

Chai Shao asked, "How many families are contributing together?"

The wine was being steamed in the winery, and it was very warm. The strong man wiped the sweat off his face and sat down at the door, saying, "In the past, the government would give land, but now it's different. Each county wants to get rid of poverty. In the past, families were poor, but after winning silver from the war, they want to live a richer life."

As he spoke, the strong man pointed to the people working behind him and said, "These are hired laborers. Each person is paid fifty coins a day. I am their store owner. This wine shop has only been in business for three or two years, and my family has some money left."

Chai Shao asked about the other party's experience in war.

The sturdy man seemed to have endless things to say. He talked about the war that he had fought to rescue Songzhou, and then the war that swept across the Tianshan Mountains.

Chai Shao asked, "How are your drinks selling?"

Speaking of this, the strong man smiled happily and said, "This grape wine business used to belong to the county. After Jingzhao Prefecture changed its management, each of us can buy it out. This winery was divided from the county's winery."

Fang Xuanling listened to the words of the sturdy man. A large workshop in the county was split into more than ten small workshops, which were then run by the villagers themselves.

Although he was old, Fang Xuanling had his own ideas in mind and understood the reasons just by listening to a word or two from them.

In fact, the reason is very simple. As Jingzhao Prefecture was striving to expand its production capacity, the production model based on the county as a collective had limited upward momentum.

Only by breaking this shackles and delegating management rights to villagers can we create competition and boost productivity.

When a workshop in a county disappeared, many small workshops appeared in the same county.

The productivity and vitality of these small family-run workshops are much better than expected.

This winery is part of the former county workshop, and it also has a complete winemaking process. It has to be said that the people who run it are quite capable.

Today, the business conditions in various counties in Guanzhong are roughly the same.

When the county workshops were first split up, Jingzhao Prefecture and the counties acted recklessly several times, which led to the closure of many small workshops. The ones that remain now are the good workshops that have survived the test of time.

It took four years, from the labor pains that began in the 18th year of Zhenguan to the 2nd year of Qianqing, to complete the transition.

After saying goodbye to the shop owners here, Fang Xuanling and Chai Shao went to the other end of the village.

There are many buildings in this village, including cotton cloth workshops, pottery making workshops and carpentry workshops.

There are also many militiamen in the village. Fang Xuanling said, "There used to be many idle militiamen in the village, but now there are fewer. Six years ago, when Duke Zheng was still alive, Jingzhao Prefecture ordered all counties to lock up all the idle militiamen in the workshops to work."

As he spoke, he smiled and said, "At that time, as soon as the morning was over, there was no one in the village except the elderly and children. People were working in the workshops, and they were almost driven to work. If any idle man dared not go, he would be beaten by the government. If he implicated his neighbors, he would even be driven out of the village."

"There were a lot of incidents at that time, and some people even formed groups to resist, but they were all suppressed by the government. Only by changing the environment can people be changed. Jingzhao Prefecture didn't have so much patience and guidance, and most of them were forced to do something."

Upon hearing this, Chai Shao suddenly laughed.

The mayor of the house at that time watched people go through these changes.

Under the moonlight, the night wind was still a little cold. Chai Shao raised his eyes and saw a slogan written on the side of someone's house.

Fang Xuanling cleared his throat and said, "These are the words left by Duke Zheng. In order to deal with the words of those people in the court, Xu Jingzong had them written on the wall, and they remain until now."

There are eight big words written on the wall: Be prepared for danger in times of peace, and avoid extravagance and practice frugality.

These are indeed the words that Duke Zheng often used to advise Your Majesty.

Chai Shao said: "Duke Zheng advised Your Majesty in this way back then, why are you telling these words to the villagers again?"

Fang Xuanling recalled what happened back then, and smiled in surprise again, saying, "As for Xu Jingzong...he himself did not have the talent and brilliance of Duke Zheng. He asked the secretaries to keep all the memorials Duke Zheng had written to persuade His Majesty. Later...he discovered that there were quite a few words in them."

"The slogans in the counties now are all left by Duke Zheng at that time. Every county has a different slogan. They say things like 'listen to both sides and you will be wise'... 'prestige spreads abroad, good harvests every year, etiquette and morality flourish'. These slogans are used in most places."

"Hahaha..." Fang Xuanling laughed again and said, "These words are eye-catching and ear-piercing. They are much more useful than Confucian classics. Just a few sentences can express the meaning concisely."

After that, Fang Xuanling paused for a moment and said, "Mr. Zheng actually read the book of diplomacy."

Chai Shao sighed and said, "No wonder your majesty doesn't want to enter the village."

The two of them suddenly started laughing again, very happily.

Outside the village, there is an area surrounded by guards. This is the bank of the Wei River and the place where the Wei River Alliance was formed. A group of old ministers and generals from the Zhenguan period gathered here.

Li Xiaogong, still in his court robes, came hurriedly, "Your Majesty!"

Li Shimin looked up, pointed at Li Xiaogong, and said to Li Daozong beside him: "Look at him, he is the last one to arrive."

Cheng Yaojin said with a smile: "It is probably because the gods and Buddhas in his family will not let him go."

Everyone laughed again after hearing this.

Su Dingfang looked around and found that only Duke Zhao had not come, and the people who should have come were all there.

When Fang Xuanling and Chai Shao arrived, everyone talked about the old days, and several bonfires illuminated the smiling faces of these old generals.

As everyone was talking, they began to talk about Wang Xuance's efforts to quell the civil strife in Tubo.

When we get older, we love to talk about these things.

Cheng Yaojin said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the court is really resourceful. They pacified Tubo so easily that Songtsen Gampo could not find any fault with it. It is reasonable and justified."

Li Shimin snorted coldly, "That kid is now also the Khan of Heaven. He regards all the people in the world as his own people. He always sets high standards for everything he does. The Tibetan children were disobedient, so the Tang army just taught them a lesson. Naturally, it was a lighthearted act." Looking at the group of old generals in front of him, Li Shimin drank the wine and said, "At first, I was very worried about him, afraid that he would not be able to do this well, and I even asked the bad guys to make preparations. Haha... Now I think I was worrying too much."

"Your Majesty is now enjoying his retirement, but he is still concerned about the affairs of the court. We feel ashamed." Qin Qiong suddenly said.

Yuchi Gong said: "Yes, the one in the palace is still young, and there are still some things that need your majesty's care."

Li Shimin nodded with satisfaction.

Fang Xuanling coughed twice, looked at these guys who refused to accept their age, and smiled helplessly.

It was not until everyone was drunk that Changsun Wuji came hurriedly, followed by Xue Rengui and other soldiers from Chang'an.

Cheng Yaojin shouted, "Hey! What are you guys doing here?"

Changsun Wuji stepped forward quickly and explained, "Your Majesty is worried about you all gathering here, so he came here to ask me to protect you."

Cheng Yaojin's shout was just a joke, and everyone just laughed it off.

Changsun Wuji sat down, raised the wine bowl to apologize, and took a big sip first.

Li Shimin asked, "Is the Lantern Festival banquet in the palace over?"

Changsun Wuji nodded and said, "Yes, it's past midnight."

It was already past midnight, but the old generals were not sleepy at all and were still eating meat and drinking wine.

Fang Xuanling looked at the current Zhangsun Wuji. If there was anyone in the court who was the most conservative and most stable, it would be him, the regent.

To Changsun Wuji, he felt that the collapse of the former Sui Dynasty was still very close to him, as if it happened a few days ago.

Duke Zheng might have thought so at that time, but he was a man who had the courage to say these words.

But Changsun Wuji is not like that. He will keep these things in mind and take action to ensure that the chaos in the world will never happen again.

Cheng Yaojin brought a group of children from somewhere and asked them to sing here. After the children finished singing, he gave each of them a roasted leg of lamb to take home.

There was already an old man present who had fallen asleep in his chair, and as everyone talked, they became more and more confused.

In the end, Li Shimin also fell asleep.

The sound of roosters crowing was heard in the village. He didn't know when he fell asleep or when he woke up last night. When Li Shimin woke up, the sky was still gray and the sun had not yet risen.

Li Shimin found that he was covered with a cloak, and there was still frost on his hair and beard from last night, and there was also a thin layer of frost on the cloak.

Many old generals were still there, and several bonfires were still burning, making the land warm.

Feeling quite reassured by the scene before him and hearing the voices, Li Shimin then opened his cloak, stood up and stretched his body. Just as he was about to pick up the wine jug beside him and take a sip of wine to refresh himself, he suddenly felt a thorn in his back for some reason.

When he looked back, he saw Li Lizhi and Dongyang, who were looking at him with unhappy expressions.

For some reason, seeing his two daughters, Li Shimin smiled with some shame, then put down the wine pot and said, "I never drink in the morning, bring me some hot water."

Li Lizhi personally poured a bowl of hot water for her father. She cleaned up the table in front of her and said, "I learned that my father did not come back all night, so my mother asked me to come and see you. I am sorry for disturbing your father's leisure."

The eldest daughter of the head of the family was becoming more and more imposing. Li Shimin sat down timidly and said, "I am drunk and forgot the time to go back."

Li Lizhi asked Dongyang to look at many old generals, and seeing that they were not seriously injured, she placed a long cup with a lid on the table of her father, and then said, "Dongyang, let's go back."

A group of old generals bowed and saw the two princesses off.

Li Shimin held the cup in his hand, feeling the warmth in his palms.

Soon, the families of the other old generals also returned.

Li Dao Zong was also helped to stand up by his daughter and said, "Your Majesty, I am old and sick, and my family is really worried about me."

Li Shimin thought that he was not the only one being controlled by his children. It turned out that the situations of the old guys were not much different. So he said, "I will not make things difficult for you. Brothers who have shared life and death for so many years, go back."

Everyone was still reluctant to leave and went their separate ways.

After His Majesty and everyone else left, a group of people from the palace cleaned up the place and distributed a bushel of rice to each household in the village as an apology for disturbing them.

They also cleaned up the place where the retired emperor and many soldiers had gathered, and then the last group of people left.

Fang Xuanling returned to Chang'an and heard about the current governance strategy for Guanzhong. Now the most common things in Chang'an were not workshops, but craftsmen.

Nowadays, there is construction going on in Chang'an city and in various counties in Guanzhong. At noon, bricklayers would sit together in groups of three or five to eat. They were all building houses for Guanzhong.

Xianyang County is going to build a new government office.

As soon as the morning court ended today, Liu Rengui came here to visit his old hometown. He had served as the county magistrate here for five years and still had feelings for the villagers here.

It is also because His Majesty has lowered the status of the morning court that an official like him, the Shao Yin of Jingzhao Prefecture, can also attend the morning court. If it is lowered further, perhaps the county magistrates of various counties will also be able to attend the morning court in the future.

The current Xianyang County Magistrate is Gao Chongli, who hurried out to greet him and said, "Shao Yin Liu."

Liu Rengui looked around and asked, "Are they all here?"

"It will probably take another hour or two for the county magistrates. The court has issued a lot of decrees, and I am also sorting them out."

The current Xianyang County is going to build a Xianyang Prefecture, and Guanzhong is going to be divided into four prefectures and thirty-six counties. This was arranged last year and must be accomplished this year.

Xu Jingzong was in charge of the areas east of Guanzhong, Yan Qinli was in charge of the counties south of Chang'an, and he himself was in charge of Chencang west of Guanzhong and the current Xianyang.

By the time the county magistrates from the west of Guanzhong arrived here, it was already noon.

Li Jingxuan rode up on horseback wearing the county magistrate's uniform. He dismounted and said in a clear voice, "I'm sorry that you kept Liu Shaoyin waiting for so long. I'm late."

Liu Rengui looked at the other person. This person was Xu Jingzong's student. He behaved in a very arrogant manner. The young man was wearing an official uniform and strode towards him.

"Knowing that the road to Chencang is long, it doesn't matter if we arrive later."

Li Jingxuan bowed politely and said, "I heard the request of Jingzhao Prefecture yesterday. I came here overnight and I am afraid I will delay the orders of the court."

More than ten county magistrates were present. Liu Rengui sat in the upper seat and talked with everyone about Jingzhao Prefecture’s arrangements for each county in the next six months.

(End of this chapter)