The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 479 Expert advice
Du Zhenglun handed the empty bowl to the eunuch beside him, bowed and left the new palace. He breathed the air outside the palace and looked up. The sun was shining brightly overhead. He didn't know why, but it felt like scorching heat in May this year.

Your Majesty must be dissatisfied with Kim Chunchu's achievements, otherwise he would not have been named King of Silla.

The Tang Dynasty naturally does not need a Silla king, and the newly appointed Silla king will definitely come to Chang'an.

It seems like a reward, but it is actually a threat. Silla must also belong to the Tang Dynasty.

Some people say that the current emperor is a murderer. In the Wei Ting case, people were killed in front of Luoyang City.

Some people also said that the current emperor loved the people. The emperor gave all the confiscated land to the people in various places, and after the Eastern Expedition, he exempted most of the Central Plains from taxes.

Du Zhenglun didn't know how future generations would talk about this emperor, he was just very worried and troubled.

After walking two steps, he suddenly felt his stomach churning and he burped. The bitter taste of the herbal tea came up again. Du Zhenglun's face turned bitter and he quickened his pace and left.

In the city of Chang'an, people were sitting lazily under the eaves to enjoy the cool air on this hot and sunny day in May.

Pei Yan met Wei Xuantong again. They came to Chang'an together for the imperial examination. Since then, he went to the Western Regions to teach, while Brother Wei went to work elsewhere and was able to come to Chang'an now.

Compared to his appearance when he came to Chang'an after studying abroad, Wei Xuantong now has a short beard and a smile on his face.

There was another person standing next to Wei Xuantong, who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old.

Wei Xuantong said with emotion: "It has been many years since we last met, and you are already a doctor in the Ministry of War."

Pei Yan bowed and said, "Brother Wei, it's been many years since we last met."

The young man at the side bowed and said, "I am Li Youdao."

Wei Xuantong explained: "He is a student I accepted when I was teaching in rural areas. He is a studious child. I brought him to Chongwenguan this year, thinking of letting him teach in rural areas for two years first, and then come to take the imperial examination after two years."

"Ah, very good."

After hearing Pei Yan's brief reply, Wei Xuantong said again: "I will take him to Chongwen Hall first."

Pei Yan said: "When you have free time, you can come to Anyifang to find me."

The two sides saluted again and left in a hurry.

As time goes by, Wei Xuantong feels that he has been transferred from a county magistrate in a remote place to Chang'an to serve as a clerk, while Pei Yan has already joined the Ministry of War. The gap between people is so huge.

Looking back, Wei Xuantong still remembered that Pei Yan took the imperial examination two years later than him.

"You Dao, Pei Yan was like this back then. He never smiled or smiled. You don't have to feel that you have lost your manners."

Li Youdao asked, "Is that Pei Yan, who is famous in Congling? How come he looks so young?"

Wei Xuantong nodded, "The current emperor attaches great importance to young talents. Many talents in the court have gone to teach at a young age, or to help the border areas. If they have achievements, they can be entrusted with important tasks in the court. Pei Yan is one of the best. You don't need to compare yourself with him."

Li Youdao said with emotion: "I heard that there are many talented people in the court now, including Pei Xingjian, Xue Rengui, and Di Renjie. I am ashamed of myself and am far inferior to them."

Wei Xuantong said, "You will teach for two years first. During these two years, read more articles from Chongwenguan. Those articles often analyze the government's policies. Chongwenguan often sends these articles to various places and asks you teachers to read them to the local villagers."

“Students understand.”

After meeting Pei Yan, both of them felt that they were born at the wrong time.

They are all ambitious people. Who doesn't want to make a career and participate in state affairs for the country when this prosperous era is about to come?

But there are so many talented people in this world.

Walking in Chang'an City with Li Youdao, Wei Xuantong suddenly remembered some different words said by some old guys.

Most of these old guys have lived from the Sui Dynasty to the present day. They always speak with sarcasm towards the current government policies, expressing their worries about the country and their dissatisfaction and resentment towards the current emperor.

These people even said that the Tang Dynasty should adopt the strategy of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.

Especially when the court issued a decree that the emperor wanted to build the Anxi Protectorate and the canal for water transport, those old people said that the Tang Dynasty had finally shown signs of prosperity, and the emperor's large-scale construction was a sign of destroying the prosperity and would make the Tang Dynasty follow in the footsteps of Emperor Yang of Sui.

Wei Xuantong brought Li Youdao to Chongwenguan.

The person in charge of affairs at Chongwenguan was Lu Zhaolin.

Now Lu Zhaolin has been appointed as the chief clerk of Chongwenguan. Li Youdao feels even more numb when he sees Lu Zhaolin, a talented man famous in Youzhou, who is only appointed as the chief clerk in Chongwenguan.

After looking at the other person's name and hometown, Lu Zhaolin took out a roll of paper and said, "Answer the questions, and then go to Buliangtang to study for a month."

Li Youdao stared at the chief clerk in a daze and asked in a low voice, "Are you really Lu Zhaolin?"

"Ah."

"You don't work in the court? I..." Li Youdao organized his words and said, "I just met Pei Yan."

"Do you think it's unfair that I'm appointed as the chief clerk of Chongwenguan?"

Li Youdao shook his head vigorously and said, "I don't feel it's unfair, I just think you should be in a higher position in the court."

Lu Zhaolin explained: "Your Majesty does not employ people based on their reputation, but only on their ability. Being able to enter the Chongwen Hall is just the beginning, and passing the imperial examination is just the beginning of the threshold. Once the imperial examination results are announced, one foot has entered the court, and the road ahead has just begun. Do you think that passing the imperial examination will allow you to become an official, and you don't have to study anymore, and you can rest easy?"

"When you meet the heroes in the court and see the many complicated government orders, you will not dare to think about the complexity of government affairs. Putting on the official uniform is just the beginning. Teaching does not even count as admission, and the imperial examination is only the qualification for admission."

Lu Zhaolin patiently said to the junior: "There are many things to learn in life. There is a saying in Jingzhao Prefecture that actually makes a lot of sense. If you want to live to old age, you must also learn to old age. If you want to be an official in the court, you must be prepared to learn to old age."

"If you feel unhappy, you can always resign in the future. In recent years, many people have resigned."

Lu Zhaolin handed over the pen again and said, "Finish the paper."

Only then did Li Youdao take the pen and start answering the questions.

If Lu Zhaolin had not been the chief clerk of Chongwenguan, he would not have had to say so much to a junior. But as he was working here, he had the responsibility to teach the juniors. This teaching was mostly in the form of guidance, telling those who came to participate in the teaching what to do, where to go, or how to arrange a two-year teaching plan.

I remember when the emperor was still the crown prince, the Chongwenguan even had to be built in the backyard of Jingzhao Prefecture, and there were only three people in the Chongwenguan at that time.

The first person in charge of Chongwenguan was Mr. Wen Yanbo, who was of great significance to Chongwenguan.

To this day, the portrait of the old gentleman is still in Chongwenguan.

Only after that did Chongwenguan begin to expand slowly.

At present, the Chongwenguan in Chang'an City has more than 200 clerks coming and going, but these 200 people are not enough, because the Chongwenguan is in charge of all the teaching teachers in the world, including the more distant Chongwenguan in Tianzhu and the Chongwenguan in Liaodong.

These complex affairs require more people to handle. Before there is an efficient way to deal with them, we can only rely on numbers to solve these heavy tasks.

However, as the chief clerk, he also had a team of 36 people under him, but it was still difficult to coordinate and dispatch them. This was Lu Zhaolin's feeling when he worked at Chongwenguan. He had a feeling that his ability could not keep up with the development, and the result of this phenomenon was long-term fatigue.

Seeing that the other party was concentrating on answering the questions, Lu Zhaolin thought of the two famous scholars, Cao Xian and Wang Yifang, who had taught him. This court was different from what the two teachers taught, and the city of Chang'an was also different from what he had imagined before.

Director Su once said that teaching in remote areas is a world-changing event, and this cause requires perseverance from generation to generation, and we are just one of those generations.

After a long while, Li Youdao handed over the answer sheet and said, "I have finished writing."

Lu Zhaolin frowned and looked at the answer sheet. "There are many wrong answers."

"This..." "It's okay. This won't affect your teaching. This answer sheet is just to get a feel for it." Lu Zhaolin took another document from the bookshelf beside him, wrote his name and place of origin on it, handed it to him, and said, "Go to the Bad Boys Hall in Lantian County."

"Here."

In this way, the first step of Li Youdao's participation in teaching is completed, and the next step is the assessment of whether he can participate in teaching.

The policy of supporting education in the DPRK has been constantly being improved, with amendments made while in practice, and gaps filled. At the beginning, there was a shortage of manpower for supporting education, so the selection of personnel was much more relaxed.

From now on, the government should improve the ability and quality of teachers who provide teaching support in order to improve the quality of future teaching support.

On an official road in Guanzhong, Li Zhi and Li Shen guarded their grandfather's tomb for a month before being summoned back by their father.

The two men rode side by side on horseback and came to a large camp in Guanzhong, where they saw a child practicing swinging a sword.

Li Shen looked up and said, "Isn't that Yu Tu?"

Li Zhi was also puzzled and asked, "Why is he here in the army?"

After Yu Tu finished practicing his chopping moves, he put the knife back at his waist and quickly ran towards his warhorse.

Xue Wanbei, wearing armor, shouted at the side: "Hurry! Run faster!"

Yu Tu slipped and fell to the ground. He gritted his teeth, got up and started running again.

He didn't have time to shake off his clothes that were covered in dust from the fall. He ran to a pony, stepped on Hu Deng, and with his thin body, he jumped onto the horse's back, pulling the reins.

"Hurry!" Xue Wanbei shouted again.

Yu Tu spurred his horse and headed towards the shooting range in the distance.

Xue Wanbei ran along and shouted, "Bow! Take the bow!"

Yu Tu picked up the bow hanging at his waist, drew the bow, put an arrow on it, and shot an arrow at the target in the distance.

Perhaps because the young prince was too weak, the arrow did not hit the target but landed nearby.

But he couldn't care less because he was about to face the second target. With a look of unwillingness on his little face, he shot another arrow.

He shot five arrows in a row, but only one arrow hit the target.

After practicing all this, Yu Tu was tired and wanted to get off the horse.

Xue Wanbei hurried to help.

"General Xue, you don't need to support me." Yu Tu got off the horse, staggered two steps, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Xue Wanbei saw that the child's hair was wet with sweat, so he handed him a pot of water and said, "Your Highness is not strong enough."

Yu Tu gulped down the water, wiped his mouth after swallowing it, and replied: "I will practice hard, my great grandfather, my father are all good at archery."

Xue Wanbei said, "When your majesty was young, he often said that he didn't have enough talent. Now your majesty's archery skills are indeed amazing. Back then, your majesty defeated the emperor with archery outside Xuanwu Gate, but your majesty, who was still the prince at that time, said that it was just hard work."

Yu Tu wiped the sweat off his face and said, "I can also practice hard."

Xue Wanbei felt a little sorry for the young prince, and said, "Your Majesty practiced archery in the past, regardless of the cold or the heat."

Yu Tu took a deep breath and said, "I've only been practicing for a month, I can still practice."

Xue Wanbei sat down beside him and said, "Don't worry, relax your muscles first, otherwise your hands and feet will ache again tomorrow."

Li Zhi and Li Shen looked at each other from a distance and then left.

"My grandfather passed away, and Yu Tu suffered a big blow." Li Shen whispered while riding on horseback.

"Yes, the child cried and trembled several times."

The two brothers left the military camp and went all the way to the Buliangtang in Lantian County.

Here I met Zhang Jianzhi who was enjoying the cool air.

Li Zhi said: "I heard that there are many students here recently. How come you are so free?"

Zhang Jianzhi smiled and said, "I will keep the students who have completed their studies here to teach the new students. This way, I will have some free time."

Thinking of this man's recent experiences, Li Zhi felt something was wrong. How come this man was getting better and better recently? Back then, he was beaten to the point of crying for his parents by Pei Xingjian in Xizhou, but now he has so much free time that people envy.

Zhang Jianzhi said, "Your Highness, Prince of Jin, I am short of books."

Li Zhi snorted coldly: "Don't worry, there will be many books in the future."

"I would like to borrow the good words from His Royal Highness Prince Jin."

Li Shen said: "If you don't go back, your father will be worried."

Li Zhi nodded, and then he stopped arguing with Zhang Jianzhi and rode his horse to Longshouyuan.

Along the way, Li Zhi thought more and more that something was wrong, "Brother Shen?"

"Ok?"

"You said that Zhang Jianzhi never did anything good before. I wanted to come and see him make a fool of himself, but I didn't expect that he is doing well now."

Li Shen said disapprovingly: "Maybe this job is suitable for him?"

Li Zhi still shook his head and said, "Hundreds of students come and go from the Buliang Hall every month. Can he arrange matters for so many people?"

After hearing this, Li Shen also hesitated and asked, "Has he come to his senses?"

Li Zhi was still confused and said nothing.

Li Shen asked again: "Is there someone behind Zhang Jianzhi helping him?"

Li Zhi didn't think any more about it and rushed to see his father.

When Prince Jin and Prince Ji returned, they had someone bring the newly made movable type printing on the third day after they met their father.

In front of the Wude Hall of the Imperial Palace, rows of molds are placed before your eyes. These molds are all made of wooden blocks.

Li Tai's father-in-law, Yan Lide, participated in the manufacturing of this project.

Li Chengqian picked up a mold from the ground and asked, "Is this thing useful?"

Yan Lide said: "It's not as useful as the woodblock."

"Not necessarily." Li Chengqian added: "It is indeed convenient to use the engraving plate, but it must have taken a lot of time to make it."

Yan Lide thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, what you said makes sense."

(End of this chapter)