The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 470: The Crime Not Punishable by Death

Zhang Jianzhi was also confused by what happened afterwards. It sounded like the prefect of Jingzhao was bargaining with the counties. In the end, the court was only responsible for building the road, and the rest of the operation and construction were handed over to the counties. How much effect they could achieve depended entirely on their respective governance skills.

Generally speaking, it was just bargaining back and forth on this aspect, and the counties certainly hoped that the court could give them more money.

Of course, this money would never be given to these officials, but to the working villagers and craftsmen. For this reason, the total construction cost was 6,000 strings of cash, and each county would not have much left.

There are thirty-six counties, and each county can only get a little over a hundred strings of money. If they are important counties, they can be given more, but they also have to be divided out of the six thousand strings of money.

For example, if Lantian County received 500 strings of cash, its share would be reduced from that of other counties.

Zhang Jianzhi listened to the general idea and realized that Jingzhao Prefecture was not absolutely fair. There were differences in wealth among counties in construction, so it was understandable that there would be bias.

These days, Zhang Jianzhi has been looking after the tasks assigned to him by Di Renjie. The wealth of each county is not only related to the workshops in the county, but also to the location.

Jingzhao Prefecture will first provide support to counties with good locations, especially Xianyang County, Xinfeng Township, Lantian, Weibei counties and Jingyang.

In a sense, Jingzhao Prefecture's arrangements for the counties were cruel yet fair.

Rumor has it that Xu Jingzong was a cruel official. Since Xu Jingzong took office as the governor of Jingzhao Prefecture, not only was he very strict in his governance, but in line with the principle of "the more capable you are, the more you get", Jingzhao Prefecture also attached more importance to results.

Each county should do its job if it can, and don't do it if it can't. If you can't even do the job of a county magistrate, the Jingzhao Prefecture will report it to the Ministry of Personnel without mercy, and you will be dismissed and replaced before you even have time to resign voluntarily.

Since Xu Jingzong took control of Jingzhao Prefecture, this situation has become even worse, both cruel and ruthless.

The Jingzhao prefect was a man of great ability, and he remained calm throughout the conversation.

When Zhang Jianzhi entered Jingzhao Prefecture for the first time, he felt the atmosphere here and saw that some county magistrates had already started fighting.

The atmosphere here is not very good and it is very tough.

It was really not a place for a weak person like himself to gain a foothold, but on second thought, Zhang Jianzhi felt that he had eaten sand and suffered hardships in the Western Regions, so he should not be weaker than them.

Looking at Di Renjie standing next to him, he was sitting there with a worried look on his face and didn't say anything.

After the noisy debate was over, Zhang Jianzhi walked out of Jingzhao Prefecture, still feeling a little dizzy. Was he going to give lectures to officials from various counties?
"Huai Ying?"

After the words fell, there was no response. Zhang Jianzhi lowered his head and continued walking, calling out again: "Huaiying?"

Still no response, Zhang Jianzhi looked back, but Di Renjie was gone. He asked the official beside him, "Where is Huai Ying?"

The clerk replied, "He said he was going to the Dali Temple, and he just ran out."

Zhang Jianzhi felt lost. The friendship of many years seemed to have faded. He walked in Chang'an in disappointment and unknowingly came to the Prince of Jin's Mansion.

Seeing that there were many busy figures in the palace, Zhang Jianzhi planned to leave. Just as he turned around and was about to leave, he bumped into Prince Ji again.

Li Shen said: "Brother Jianzhi? Why are you here? Come and help us, we are short of manpower."

"no no……"

"Brother Jianzhi is here!"

Hearing King Ji shouting towards the palace, Zhang Jianzhi looked painful.

Li Zhi, still wearing coarse cloth gloves and an apron, said, "Jianzhi, come and help cut the wood."

Zhang Jianzhi hurriedly said: "Prince Jin, I hold an important position and dare not delay..."

"What important position do you hold? It's just teaching. I am a close friend of the Jingzhao prefect, so feel free to delay."

After saying this, Zhang Jianzhi was dragged into the palace by a group of people.

Inside the palace, a group of craftsmen were busy at work.

Li Zhi asked, "I haven't seen you for a few days. Why do you look so depressed?"

Zhang Jianzhi did not intend to help, and did not want to touch the wood here. He said sadly: "I don't understand why I have to give lectures to officials."

Li Zhi measured a piece of freshly cut wood with a ruler and said, "Every arrangement in the court is carefully considered. Since you are needed to teach officials, there must be a reason."

Li Shen moved a basin of clay sculptures into another basin of water, then rolled up his sleeves and cleaned them skillfully, saying, "Well, the officials in each county are all young people now, so it's inevitable that they have some wrong ideas."

"How could it be wrong?"

Li Shen took his hands out of the basin, wiped them on his apron, and explained, "It's about the way of thinking about things, what kind of official you need to be, what you can't do, what you need to do, and the various problems encountered in construction."

Zhang Jianzhi scratched his head and said nothing...

After a while, seeing that Prince of Jin and Prince of Ji ignored him, Zhang Jianzhi left him. He didn't know who to look for as he only had a few friends in the court.

When I arrived at the tavern I often went to, I found Pei Heimian here.

Pei Yan said: "Brother Jianzhi, long time no see."

Zhang Jianzhi simply sat in front of him and asked the store owner for a bowl of noodles.

The noodles were brought to him. Zhang Jianzhi was just about to pick up the chopsticks to eat when he saw that Pei Yan had not changed much from the time he was in the Western Regions. He still had a sullen face, so dark that it looked as if someone owed him something every day.

It's not an exaggeration to say that he is Pei Heimian...

He picked up the chopsticks again, and the noodles were at his mouth. Zhang Jianzhi put down the chopsticks again, but the noodles were not put into his mouth after all.

This scene made the shop owner next to him frown, and he even drank a bowl of soup from his own pot, looking at the other party with an uneasy expression.

Zhang Jianzhi completely ignored the shopkeeper's gaze and looked at Pei Yan.

Pei Yan drank a mouthful of wine slowly and said, "If you don't eat this noodle, it will become a lump."

"Can you drink alcohol while on duty in the court?"

"I'm taking a day off today."

"Why?"

"I had a fight with General Li Daoyan in the army. Yu Shangshu from the Ministry of War helped me to talk to those generals and said that I should take a day off and recuperate before fighting with them again."

Zhang Jianzhi finally took a bite of noodles and said, "It turns out that we are all having a hard time."

Pei Yan nodded.

Zhang Jianzhi finally started eating the noodles, and even picked up Pei Yan's vinegar pot, poured a lot of vinegar into his bowl, and ate it.

The two were silent for a moment, and Zhang Jianzhi finally finished the noodles in his bowl. The shop owner's expression also became much better.

Pei Yan asked, "Now that you've finished eating, aren't you leaving?"

Zhang Jianzhi sat on a bench, one foot on another bench, and said, "Recently, there is something I can't figure out."

Pei Yan: “Yeah.”

"The Jingzhao Prefecture asked me to give lectures to the county magistrates. You said I have never been a county magistrate, so how can I give lectures to them?"

"Ah."

"I might as well resign."

"Alright."

"Why don't you try to persuade me?" Pei Yan looked at the book in his hand calmly and said slowly, "I never care about other people's affairs."

Zhang Jianzhi shook his head and looked around, then took his feet off the stool.

Pei Yan finally closed the book and said, "As for being an official, I think it is nothing more than controlling yourself and then controlling others."

After saying this, Pei Yan placed four copper coins on the table, took his vinegar pot and left.

Zhang Jianzhi was still sitting there, thinking about this sentence, when suddenly he had an epiphany and knew how to teach officials.

Just as arranged by Jingzhao Prefecture, Zhang Jianzhi finally received the first batch of officials who came here to attend classes. There were a total of ten people, all of whom were about the same age as himself. After asking, he found out that they were candidates for the imperial examination in the same year as him. They had been teaching for two years and had just taken up their posts this year.

Facing the crowd, Zhang Jianzhi said: "Everyone, I will not teach you how to be a good official, but I can give you some advice and suggestions."

"Please give me some advice, Master."

Seeing that everyone said the same thing in unison, Zhang Jianzhi simply took out the Quotations of Zheng Gong that were currently circulating in Chang'an City.

Duke Zheng is a man who controls himself before he controls others.

Pei Yan's words were brief, and Zhang Jianzhi thought to himself, "Nothing else!" He was referring to Duke Zheng.

The quotations left by Zheng Gong have become Zhang Jianzhi's current teaching materials.

Since Duke Zheng could advise the emperor, his words can now be applied to many officials.

Zhang Jianzhi, who has two years of experience in teaching in the Western Regions, has integrated these words very skillfully.

After finishing a day's lecture, Zhang Jianzhi breathed a sigh of relief. He had been under a lot of pressure while giving the lecture, but fortunately it went smoothly. He really wanted to kowtow to Lord Zheng and thank him.

The court is about to rest, but there are still many problems in the court. Jingzhao Prefecture is very busy, and the conflict between the Ministry of War and the army is becoming more and more intense.

Hao Chujun, the director of Hongwenguan, had a quarrel with Su Tan and said that Hongwenguan and Chongwenguan should live separately from now on.

Li Chengqian was sitting in a rocking chair, while his daughters Xiao Que'er and Xiao Mengji were rocking in the chairs behind him.

The chair rocked back and forth, but Li Chengqian saw a good thing. Zhang Jianzhi's teaching to the officials received a lot of praise. Looking at the records, it turned out that Zhang Jianzhi used Zheng Gong's words to teach the officials.

Haha... Since these are the words of Lord Zheng, who dares not to give good reviews?

The chairs were not shaking again. It turned out that the two daughters had gone to study.

Li Chengqian put aside a thick stack of memorials. After transporting the grain from Liaodong this year, everything that needed to be done this year was done.

As for the old problems in the court, he did not intend to pay any attention to them. Let them quarrel, let them make a fuss, let them fight with each other.

I don’t know if my father had the same feeling when he was in power, that he didn’t want to get involved in matters concerning people.

No wonder my uncle gets annoyed when he sees living people after he retires.

"Tell Ma Zhou to let the court rest tomorrow."

"Here."

After receiving the emperor's order, the court officials who had been busy for a year were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The current court is still very inward-looking. If we want to say who started this inward-looking trend, it is most likely related to Chu Suiliang.

Chu Suiliang was an extremely diligent person back then.

Therefore, even after the holiday, there are still busy officials in the imperial city.

It is a lifelong wish to be ranked in the Lingyan Pavilion, or even in the Zhongshu Province, which is worthy of the officials' internal competition.

These young people are so motivated that no one tries to persuade them.

There are only a few positions in the court, resources are limited, and the allocated positions are also limited.

Even if we were bystanders, how could we dare to persuade them not to work so hard? How could we dare...

There were still a few officials walking around in the imperial city, and people were still busy even in the cold winter.

When Li Chengqian had free time, he would often visit his father and go fishing with him by the river.

It started raining again in this cold winter, and the rain made the air around even colder.

Li Shimin said: "You are over thirty years old, but you look so good."

"Father's complexion has improved a lot recently."

Another gust of cold wind blew with snowflakes falling. Li Shimin said again, "I heard that it is even colder in the Turkic region now. Countless horses and sheep have frozen to death on the grasslands. Ashina She'er will probably not be able to march into the Mohe region again. What are your plans?"

Li Chengqian watched the rain continuously falling on the river surface, and the rain also flowed down his hat and fell in front of his eyes. He held the fishing rod in one hand and said, "He has been fighting a group of Mohe people for two years without any result. This Ashina She'er is brave, but he is not a talented general. He can only be regarded as a warrior."

"You're not going to help him?"

"Father, if I rashly help him, it will show that I don't trust him. As an emperor, I cannot treat a loyal Turkic general like this. I should wait until he really asks me for help before I help him. A stubborn and competitive Turkic Khan should be allowed to fight to his heart's content and expand the territory for the Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin whispered: "Well, with Maogong here, even if Ashina She'er had ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare to attack the Tang Dynasty."

Duke Ying is indeed the pillar of the country. With Duke Ying in charge, there is no need to worry that the country will be in turmoil from now on.

As a regent minister of the same period as his uncle, Duke Ying seemed much more calm. He never participated in court disputes and only did his job and nodded for the emperor.

Li Chengqian breathed in the increasingly cold air around him, picked up the kettle beside him and took a sip of hot water.

Li Shimin said slowly: "I don't even know the country now, don't talk to me about state affairs."

"Recently, Dongyang has given the palace a lot of tea and medicinal herbs. I feel pretty good after drinking them. They are all good for replenishing qi and maintaining health."

Li Shimin said: "You may as well send some to me."

As he spoke, Li Shimin felt that this son must be a very long-lived person. Being so young, he might live to be an old ancestor in the future.

"You can just move the capital to Luoyang."

"Luoyang is nice, but I am used to living in Chang'an. Besides, when the emperor left, the people left too, and the prosperity left with him."

The rain stopped, Li Shimin took off his bamboo hat, wiped the rain off it, but saw no fish taking the bait, so he said, "I'm going back."

Li Chengqian was still sitting by the river and replied, "Father, take care."

Your Majesty was the only one left on this river beach.

The two emperors had different ways of dealing with state affairs. During the Zhenguan period, there were wars for years, and the emperor emeritus at that time was good at using war to solve problems.

But now His Majesty is better at solving problems in another way, which is to place heavy burdens on officials.

Li Chengqian stood up and asked, "It's so cold this year, how is Songtsen Gampo's condition?"

Xue Wanbei replied: "Your Majesty, I heard that he has caught a cold again."

"This Tibetan king is really weak and sickly. I am worried about him."

After saying this, Li Chengqian stood by the river with his hands in his pockets and warned: "Don't kill him on your own initiative. He just made me worried, but it's not a crime punishable by death."

(End of this chapter)