The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 433 Envoys from Two Countries

People tend to get irritable in hot weather. Guo Daiju didn't want to continue fighting, nor did he want to listen to the Persian envoy's poor Guanzhong dialect. After sending the envoy to the post station, he returned to the imperial city to continue his duty.

By the Taiye Lake behind the imperial palace, the sunlight weakened a little in the evening and the wind became cooler, so this is still a good place to escape the summer heat.

Li Chengqian was sitting under the shade of a tree and talking with his grandfather. Little Que'er and Little Mengji were sharing a smoothie beside them, along with their young son who was lying in a stroller.

The eunuch came quickly and said, "Your Majesty, the Persian envoy has arrived."

Li Chengqian picked up a peach beside him and took a bite. The peaches were a bit hard at this time of year. "Let them stay in the inn first."

The eunuch said again: "Your Majesty, there is more news. The Arabs have reached the border of Longyou."

Li Chengqian nodded while chewing a peach.

Li Yuan said with a smile: "Both the Arabs and Persians have come to pay their respects to you. Grandpa will be content even if he is buried in the ground."

"Grandpa, you're joking. They're probably not here to congratulate you."

"So what? Since you are here, then you are here to congratulate me."

Li Chengqian stood up and began to modify the telescope, putting lenses into each frame and comparing them repeatedly. This was a boring and lengthy process, as he had to select lenses of different thicknesses while also ensuring clarity.

The lenses produced now are very transparent. If there is enough raw material, the palace can even use it to make windows.

When I had free time in the East Palace, I made toilets. Now I make telescopes.

"I promised Mingda that I would make her a telescope. This thing looks simple, but it is not easy to make."

Li Yuan asked in a daze, "Can this thing see what the moon looks like?"

"Probably not."

Li Yuan relaxed his body, lay on the recliner, and hummed a tune leisurely.

When the Arab envoys also arrived in Chang'an, there were more interesting stories in this hot and humid midsummer season. It was said that the Persian envoys and the Arab envoys had a fight in the post station.

It was the Arabs who conquered Persia, and the Persians had a deep hatred for them. The court placed the envoys of the two sides in the same post station, giving the idle residents of Chang'an more things to talk about during the summer.

Even if the envoys of both sides met on the street, they would fight each other, so two Persian envoys were killed and three Arab envoys were killed.

And by the Taiye Lake behind the imperial palace, the emperor and his family were living a peaceful life.

A gentle breeze blew across the surface of Taiye Lake, and the branches of the trees began to sway.

Li Chengqian looked at the drawings one by one, confirming the appearance of the first telescope in the Tang Dynasty.

Little Mengji asked, "Dad, is this thing really a clairvoyance?"

While flipping through the blueprints, Li Chengqian added, "It can be considered a clairvoyance. It allows you to see distant scenery more closely."

She looked into the distance through the telescope and said, "It's so blurry."

Li Chengqian took out a lens from a large box beside him and put it into the telescope. He then took out the original lens and said, "Would you like to try it now?"

Little Mengji looked again and said in surprise: "I can see the bugs on the other side."

Li Chengqian patted his daughter on the back of her head and said, "You're not doing well enough now."

"My daughter wants it too."

Li Chengqian picked him up and said, "Okay, I'll give you one when you can write a good article."

Little Mengji pursed his lips again and said, "Writing is so difficult."

In fact, she is quite good. Under Xiao Que'er's guidance, her literacy progress has surpassed that of her peers.

The emperor's family had their own language, which was not Guanzhong dialect, but a language made up of pinyin. Only a few children in the family knew it, so they learned to read very quickly.

Then converting it into Guanzhong dialect becomes much easier.

The children master two languages. In addition to Guanzhong dialect, the other language is clearly pronounced, with one word for each sound, and sounds very nice.

If the royal family really wants to plot something in the future, or exchange secret letters, this language and writing can also be used.

Every night, Li Chengqian would set up a three-foot-long telescope high up and look up at the night sky. Although it was not as good as the telescopes of later generations, it could discover some darker stars that were not easy to see with the naked eye.

It was the night just after the summer solstice.

Xiao Que'er quickly ran to the Imperial Observatory and said happily, "Aunt Mingda, Daddy asked you to go to Taiye Lake."

Mingda was standing on the ropes reading a book. He looked up and said, "He has grown a lot taller."

Xiao Queer smiled and said, "Go quickly."

Mingda walked into the palace with her, and passed through the palace, accompanied by palace maids holding lanterns on both sides, all the way to Taiye Lake.

There were many candlesticks lit by the Taiye Lake, and Empress Su and Concubine Ning were preparing dinner.

Little Magpie took her aunt's hand and came to the pond. She pointed at the telescope and said, "This is what Daddy and the officials of the Taifu Temple spent the whole spring making."

Seeing Xiao Que'er's signal, Mingda put away the hem of his Taoist robe and looked through the telescope. Under the starry sky shortly after nightfall, the stars were brighter and more numerous as far as his sight could reach. He also saw that the moon had an arc of heights. Although it was not obvious, it could be judged.

Mingda watched for a long time, and even ignored Xiao Que'er when she urged her to eat several times.

"Aunt Mingda!"

Mingda retracted his gaze and said, "This is the treasure that Taoist Li Chunfeng has dreamed of all his life."

Xiao Que'er pulled her sleeve and said, "Aunt Mingda, please eat first."

At the dinner table, Li Chengqian helped Grandpa sit down and asked, "We can build a bigger one later. The telescope made of a wooden tube is too crude."

"Royal brother, this is great. Taoist Li has been in seclusion in Laojun Mountain for many days. I can write a letter to ask him to come down the mountain."

Li Chengqian just sat down and asked again: "How long has he been in the mountain?"

Mingda replied, "I have been in the mountains since my father's expedition to the east, and I have not come down since."

After dinner, Li Chengqian handed her a key and said, "This is the key to the Drum Tower on the north side of the palace."

Mingda took the key, a little confused.

Li Chengqian explained, "That is the highest point in Chang'an. You can have a panoramic view of most of Chang'an City and get a closer look at the sky. If you want to go to Laojun Mountain in the future, I will give you the entire Laojun Mountain as your fiefdom."

She happily took the key and said, "Thank you, brother."

Li Yuan watched his granddaughter leave happily and whispered, "You are really generous."

"Grandpa, you are joking. If Mingda can make achievements in astronomy, my generosity will be nothing." The family was sitting in the Taiye Lake, enjoying the coolness of the summer, when another eunuch came to report, "Your Majesty, the Persian envoys and the Arab envoys are asking for an audience, and they are fighting again in front of the Suzaku Gate."

Li Chengqian nodded slowly, took a sip of tea, and ignored his daughter who was learning to write.

Xiao Que'er has started to copy Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. The children's starting points are higher than each other, and the handwriting they begin to learn is that of famous calligraphers.

In the Tang Dynasty, there are still many authentic calligraphy copies of Wang Xizhi left, and there are dozens of copies preserved in the palace. These were all collected by my father or presented by others.

The eunuch said, "The man has been arrested by Jingzhao Prefecture. The Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong asked Your Majesty if he wanted to intervene."

Ever since the Tibetan incident, both Jingzhao Prefecture and the Dali Temple have stepped up patrols in Chang'an City.

"Leave it to Liu Rengui of Jingzhao Prefecture."

"Here."

On this summer night, His Majesty still did not meet with the envoys from the two countries. It was a holiday in the court and people were avoiding the scorching heat. The court meeting would not be held again until the summer harvest season in Guanzhong.

The envoys from Persia and the Arab world were taken to the dungeon of Jingzhao Prefecture by Liu Rengui.

"I am the Prince of Persia! You can't do this to me!" Peroz shouted.

The sound echoed in the cell.

The jailer asked, "Liu Shaoyin, these people are actually envoys from the Arabs and Persians. Should we take better care of them?"

Liu Rengui walked out of the dungeon with a stern face and ordered: "Treat them like ordinary prisoners. On weekdays, let them sweep the streets. If they dare to cause trouble again, they will be sent to the Western Regions to plant trees."

"Here!"

In the past two years, the public security in Chang'an City has been very good, and there are many officials in Chang'an City. After the current Majesty's national policy was announced, people all know what the current court officials should do.

Your Majesty's national policy can be summed up in four simple words: protecting the country and the people.

In the next five years, we must consolidate our borders and focus internal governance on people’s livelihood.

When these national policies were posted outside the wall of Suzaku Gate, a situation of supervision by the residents was vaguely formed. Moreover, the current emperor was an extremely strict one. Since the new emperor ascended the throne, there had been at least thousands of officials replaced from all over the country, including the court. The pressure on officials in the court increased suddenly.

When my father was in power, he handed over state affairs to the Crown Prince several times. Now that he has abdicated, he is even more concerned and worried that his son will not be able to be a good emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Upon hearing that the emperor had detained the envoys of the two countries, the retired emperor summoned the former Prime Minister Fang and Duke Zhao.

Just like when they were discussing state affairs in the past, Li Shimin sat at the top, while Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji sat on both sides.

Li Shimin said worriedly as he poured the wine into the bowl, "If he does this, the other countries will be wary."

Seeing that the two were silent, Li Shimin asked, "Fuji, what have you been doing lately?"

Chang Sun Wuji replied: "I am trying to appease some old people in Longxi."

Fang Xuanling said: "The major clans in Longxi are very dissatisfied with the court. This is a relief for Duke Zhao."

"If I can't persuade them, when Your Majesty wants to deal with them, I'm afraid they will be in trouble. I'd better persuade them now. It's for their own good."

"It's not easy for you either. You still have to deal with these things even when you are old." Fang Xuanling said this with emotion.

"These are all the bad things that happened in the past. I am not as brave as Your Majesty in making decisions. If Your Majesty were to deal with them, I'm afraid you would kill them."

Li Shimin cleared his throat.

Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji then realized the presence of His Majesty and stopped talking.
"I have heard that many Confucian scholars are dissatisfied with the court now."

Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment and said, "Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty valued Confucianism very much. There were many scholars in Qi, Lu, Zhao and Wei. They traveled thousands of miles to seek their teachers. The sound of lectures and recitations filled the streets..."

Chang Sun Wuji recalled the past and said: "Many Confucian scholars stayed in those years."

Empress Dowager Changsun really disliked this kind of gathering. A few old guys got together to discuss state affairs and seemed to care about everything. No matter how much they said... they couldn't change the current situation, let alone change Cheng Qian's mind.

Is there anything wrong with what Cheng Qian did? Obviously, the court is getting richer and richer, and the people in Guanzhong are living better and better.

Fang Xuanling whispered, "Your Majesty values ​​people's abilities. For example, Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu... they have outstanding abilities, but their ways of doing things are easily criticized. Your Majesty must be in a difficult position."

Zhang Sun Wuji shook his head and said, "Your Majesty has always valued the ability of his subjects."

The two discussed for a long time, and Li Shimin suddenly said, "Announce the court's decrees to the world. This is nothing more than a means for him to force the court officials. He has used this method many times."

Fang Xuanling said: "But it is very useful."

Li Shimin's expression became even more unhappy.

Changsun Wuji nodded and said, "Not using interests to drive infighting among court officials, not participating in court struggles, and not distinguishing factions within the court. Instead, letting the people supervise officials and strengthening the power of the censors to submit memorials is already a powerful method."

Fang Xuanling blew the tea in the tea bowl and said slowly: "In other words, this is another means of centralizing power. The emperor does not reduce the power of officials in the court, but uses the people to supervise. This makes the emperor's power even stronger invisibly. It is really a good method."

Li Shimin closed his eyes and stopped talking.

Chang Sun Wuji asked: "Has anyone ever done this in the past dynasties?"

Fang Xuanling shook his head. "In the past, when a new emperor inherited the throne, he often chose to support ministers who were worthy of reliance. The emperor promised benefits, even marriage, and then suppressed the old ministers and supported the new ministers to regain power. But then the ministers became a hidden danger to the emperor, and thus the emperor divided the country again and reduced the power of the other side."

"This cycle will repeat itself, and many people will die in the process of power struggles. It will also make it more difficult for the emperor to completely centralize power. The people who come after him will be good at power struggles but neglect state affairs. The chaos in the court will cause the emperor's harem to start a fire..."

"Cough cough cough..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Shimin coughed again and said in a deep voice: "I am tired."

Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji bowed together and said, "I will take my leave."

After the two left, Li Shimin soaked his feet and said, "Guanyin, do you think these two people have changed?"

"Mr. Liang and my brother are both old."

“I think their hearts have changed.”

"They are loyal to Cheng Qian. Your Majesty, are you wronged?"

"I feel wronged? Ha..." Li Shimin felt the temperature of the hot water and said, "Let Zhijie, Jingde and others come to my place tomorrow. I will treat them to a banquet."

Empress Dowager Zhangsun lifted her husband's feet and poured the foot washing water at the door. As soon as she put down the wooden basin, she went to see how her grandson was sleeping and whether he would kick off the quilt.

After abdicating, he was too idle to sit still, and he didn't want to go out hunting in the hot summer. He asked someone to invite Zhijie and Jingde over, but there was no news.

Li Shimin was walking in the village. He came to an old farmer and asked, "How is the price of grain this year?"

The old farmer smiled and said, "Now I don't have to worry about no one wanting my crops. I feel at ease growing them."

(End of this chapter)