The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 481: Mountain Bone

After the family finished their meal, they listened to their father's instruction and someone from Prince Jin's Mansion came to report.

Di Renjie put down his chopsticks and said, "I'll go see the King of Jin."

Dickson nodded and said, "Go ahead."

The couple sat at the dinner table, talking in low voices.

Mother Di said, "Huaiying is just too thoughtful."

Di Zhixun responded, "Yeah."

Mother Di looked at her husband who was only concerned with eating and thought that it was a good thing that she was in the family.

At the Prince of Jin's Mansion, Di Renjie walked into the mansion and saw the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Ji drawing blueprints.

Following the servant forward, Di Renjie looked at the blueprint for a moment. The dots and dashes on the blueprint were very dense, and he asked curiously, "What kind of blueprint is this?"

Li Zhi then put down the charcoal pencil in his hand and said, "I just happened to have something to ask you."

Di Renjie took the grapes handed to him by the servant and ate them while saying, "Your Highness Prince Jin, please speak."

The three of them ate grapes while talking about Zhang Jianzhi's recent situation.

Di Renjie explained: "He is very close to Pei Yan."

Li Zhi understood and said, "I knew there must be someone behind Zhang Jianzhi who was guiding him. It turned out to be Pei Yan."

It was the grape harvest season in Guanzhong. Di Renjie looked at the baskets of grapes being transported into the palace and wondered, "Are these all gifts from His Majesty?"

Li Shen explained: "My brother gave us the orchard in Jingyang. It was the place where grapes were first grown in Jingyang. Now it has become an orchard. In fact, it is called an orchard, but it is also the place where Sinong Temple tried to grow crops."

Di Renjie ate grapes and nodded.

At this moment, far south of Liaodong, on the coast of Silla, Tang army general Liu Boying was waiting here with a thousand soldiers. On the fifth day after a typhoon, the sun finally broke through the dark clouds and shone on this coast.

The sea water kept hitting the coast, and Liu Boying looked at the ships coming from afar. This was the southeast coast of Silla. According to the records of the Goguryeo and Silla people, this place was also called Donglai. There was also a cauldron-shaped mountain here, and some people called this place after the shape of that mountain.

When the enemy's ship came closer, Liu Boying saw Jin Chunqiu getting off the ship.

Whether in Japanese territory or here, no matter how dirty or tiring the work he did was, his official uniform was always neat and tiring.

Jin Chunqiu got off the boat holding his official hat with one hand and saluted, "Meet General Liu."

Today, Kim Chunchu is the king of Silla, but he still wears the clothes of a Silla minister.

Liu Boying was a governor of Xizhou during the Zhenguan period and served in Jiannan Road. He was transferred to Liaodong and had not yet gotten used to the climate and food. When he saw someone approaching him, he said, "You are the king of Silla. You should wear the clothes that a king of Silla should wear."

Jin Chunqiu said with a smile: "My King of Silla was appointed by the Heavenly Khan. I am the subject of the Heavenly Khan, and the people of Silla are also the subjects of the Heavenly Khan. How dare I?"

On weekdays, Jin Chunqiu always stayed in the Japanese territory and occasionally came to Silla, but now many affairs of Silla were handled by Liu Boying.

This impoverished Silla was not as wealthy as the four newly established counties in Liaodong.

Liu Boying knew what this man was thinking. He just wanted to go to the Tang Dynasty. After he had the goods shipped up, he smiled and said, "These are all given to you by the Khan of Heaven."

Jin Chunqiu bowed towards the direction of Chang'an City and shouted, "Thank God Khan."

It was not known whether he was worshipping in the right direction, but his posture was very respectful. Liu Boying smiled and said, "You have done very well. The Khan will certainly reward you."

Jin Chunqiu saw a lot of silk and satin, as well as several crystal clear glass bowls in a cart of rewards, and a piece of clothing caught his attention.

He found an official uniform from a box of silk. It was the official uniform of a third-rank official in the Tang Dynasty.

Seeing his confused look, Liu Boying explained: "Your Majesty cannot give you an official position yet, so I will give you the official uniform first."

Jin Chunqiu actually cried for a moment while holding his official uniform.

Liu Boying also understood that Jin Chunqiu’s dream was not to become the king of Silla, but to become a Tang person. Goguryeo was destroyed, and Baekje was also destroyed.

His only dream was to become a Tang citizen and enjoy wealth and prosperity in Chang'an City with his achievements.

Maybe this man had the thought of rebellion in his heart several times. If he really rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, he would have to live on an isolated island overseas, eating salted fish all day long, and would never be able to get his wealth and glory again.

Jin Chunqiu's eyes turned red from crying. It took her a long time to calm down. She bowed and said, "I lost my composure."

Liu Boying continued: "Do you want to go back there?"

Jin Chunqiu replied: "Yes, the Heavenly Khan has appointed me as the King of Silla. I need to do more for the Heavenly Khan and finish the work for him."

Liu Boying added: "I also want to go back to the Central Plains. I hope you can finish your work as soon as possible so that we can go back together."

"Here."

Jin Chunqiu once again boarded the ship heading east.

Liu Boying stood on the shore to see him off, his eyes gloomy.

"General, if Jin Chunqiu has the intention to rebel, he must be killed."

"I know." Liu Boying washed his hands with sea water and said in a deep voice: "Let's go back to Liaodong first and arrange a few skilled seafarers to explore the Japanese territory."

"Here."

In September of the seventh year of Qianqing, Silla's sea vessels were still traveling frequently.

On this day, a memorial describing the Japanese territory left Liaodong and was on its way to Guanzhong.

It was not until November of the seventh year of the Qianqing reign that the old grandfather Gao Shilian passed away. Li Chengqian personally wrote an epitaph for his uncle, posthumously conferred him the title of Taiwei, and gave him the posthumous name of Wenxian, and buried him in Zhaoling Mausoleum.

My grandfather passed away at the beginning of this year, and my grandfather also passed away this winter.

Snow fluttered in Chang'an City. In the residence of Duke Xu, Li Chengqian finished carving the inscription and whispered, "Send the spirit tablet of my uncle to the ancestral temple."

Li Chongyi bowed and said, "Yes."

This was the most difficult year for the Emperor, as two of the most important people to him passed away.

Li Chengqian brushed his hand over the inscription and whispered, "Uncle, I know you have wanted to be buried for a long time. I will keep my word and write the inscription myself. I hope you will not dislike it."

After saying this, Li Chengqian picked up a bowl of his uncle's favorite Sichuan wine and poured it on the inscription.

Then he turned around and looked at his uncle kneeling before the spirit tablet, and his mother kneeling before the spirit tablet wearing mourning clothes, and his father sitting outside the door, silent.

When the wind blew, some white hair fell out of my father's bun.

Li Chengqian sat down next to his father.

Li Shimin said: "According to etiquette, you shouldn't have come."

Li Chengqian said, "My uncle and I made an agreement before he died. I must come to see him off and write the epitaph for him myself."

Li Shimin said slowly: "Now that you are sitting on the throne, he should be able to smile."

Li Chengqian looked up and saw the snow falling. He said, "I want to keep this place as it is."

"Yes." Li Shimin patted him on the back and said, "You still have to deal with state affairs. Leave the matters here to me and your mother."

Li Chengqian held the hands of his son Yu Tu and daughter Ling Que and walked outside the mansion. There were many relatives of his uncle outside the door, some of them were crying, and some were lowering their heads with solemn expressions and keeping silent.

When everyone saw the emperor coming out, they made way for him and saluted. Li Chengqian walked past everyone and went straight to the palace.

The heavy snow kept falling on his body, and Li Chengqian felt the emptiness in his heart. His grandfather was gone, and his uncle was gone too. He still remembered the scene when his uncle and grandfather had argued.

They all left in the same year.

Along the way, the two children were also very quiet.

Uncle's funeral was handled by his father and mother. When they entered the palace, Xiao Que'er held his father's rough hand and said, "Father's hands are all broken."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "It's okay, you can go back."

Xiao Que'er and Yu Tu hurried back to Liangyi Hall. Li Chengqian looked at his right hand, which was the wound left when he was carving the inscription for his uncle.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of War and the Minister of Works request to see you."

Thinking of the state affairs he still had to deal with, Li Chengqian said, "I will meet them in Xingqing Palace."

"Here."

The old people passed away one after another. My teacher is now 75 years old, and my uncle has more and more white hair.

It seems like we all grew old overnight.

Back in Xingqing Hall, Li Chengqian sat down and took a sip of hot tea.

"Your Majesty, people are here."

Li Chengqian nodded and motioned them to enter the hall.

The two ministers walked into the Xingqing Hall, and Yu Zhining and Xu Xiaode handed in their memorials respectively.

Li Chengqian first opened the memorial from the Ministry of War, which was seen by spies sent by Liu Boying in the Japanese territory, and also contained a painting.

There was a volcano drawn on the brown paper, and underneath the volcano were corpses all over the ground. The corpses piled up together formed a very desolate picture. Those were the people killed by Jin Chunqiu.

God knows how many people he killed there. Jin Chunqiu was building a Jingguan with all kinds of bones piled together, even above people's knees.

In the records of the memorial, the scene described was a place that was not like the human world. The villages were all empty, and there was no human presence for thousands of miles into the island. There were flocks of birds and beasts, and occasionally corpses were lying on the roadside.

The only places with people are under the mines, where living people are still carrying ore.

The Silla people even captured more Japanese from the south and forced them to mine.

This Jin Chunqiu seemed to be out of control. He committed even more brutal acts and was about to slaughter all the people there.

The Minister of War Yu Zhining stood in the hall without saying a word.

Li Chengqian lit the memorial and the painting and put them in a brazier to burn.

Eunuch Yang opened the window to let the wind in, and the paper burned even more vigorously.

Yu Zhining couldn't understand what the deep meaning of His Majesty's actions was?
It seems to be offering sacrifice.

Li Chengqian watched the flames devour the memorial and whispered, "The Ministry of War sent a message to Liu Boying, asking him to order Jin Chunqiu not to leave anyone alive. Report back after everything is done."

Yu Zhining replied: "Yes."

Li Chengqian took the memorial from the Ministry of Works, which showed the current situation of canal shipping.

Xu Xiaode said, "Your Majesty, there are now more than 20,000 people working on the canal construction, scattered along the canal, 13,000 people from Liaodong to Luoyang, and the rest are heading south to Tongji Canal."

Li Chengqian flipped through the memorial and asked, "Are there fifty major ports along the way?"

"Your Majesty, there are still more than a hundred small ports to dredge the river. The work has only been stopped now. We will continue the repairs next year and it will be completed next summer."

The progress of this construction project is faster than expected. After all, this is not conscription, and the court will pay for it.

Twenty thousand farmers need food for twenty thousand people, so compared to the war pressure during the Zhenguan period, the pressure is indeed not that great.

This time, the main focus was on making repairs on the basis of the Grand Canal dug by Yang Guang to ensure smooth river transportation.

It has been twenty years since the construction of Guanzhong and Luoyang during the Zhenguan period, and Guanzhong and Luoyang have been settled for twenty years.

Wealth accumulated over the years needs to be transported and expanded.

At this point, the Central Plains had two important channels for the circulation of goods, one was the canal east of Luoyang, and the other was the Hexi Corridor west of Guanzhong.

The east and west directions constitute the economic lifeline of the world today.

In the next few years, the population of the Tang Dynasty will experience explosive growth. More people will require more jobs, more production tools, and rewards for labor.

Li Chengqian added: "The construction of the canal transport on both sides of the canal must be controlled by the court. The Censorate must strengthen supervision. Anyone who wants to recruit canal transport workers to challenge the court will be arrested."

Yu Zhining and Xu Xiaode saluted together.

Li Chengqian added: "We should improve the treatment of the laborers, and keep the order of the canal circulation in good order. All officials who seek personal gain should be arrested, and all those who bully the laborers should be questioned."

"Here."

In the early years of the Qianqing reign, under the strict laws, batches of people were arrested in the court, and the emperor also killed batches of people.

As early as the Eastern Expedition, people had already been aware of the changes in the court.

Even the dignitaries who had close contacts with the retired emperor during the Zhenguan period did not dare to show off, because they all knew that the current emperor would not show the favors he had in the past, and they could not think of impressing the current emperor with favors.

The first large-scale infrastructure project of the Li Tang Dynasty was the repair of the canal, which mobilized tens of thousands of laborers, and was also the largest number of laborers mobilized during the Qianqing period.

After Xu Xiaode and Yu Zhining left, Li Chengqian stood alone in Xingqing Hall looking at the snow.

Several eunuchs knew that His Majesty was in a bad mood, so they stood in the back without saying a word.

Li Chengqian took the teacup and took a sip of hot tea. The tea in the cup was still steaming in the snow.

This winter, my uncle no longer has to come to the palace to visit my grandfather. Li Chengqian whispered, "Arrange more people to take good care of my father and mother."

"Your Majesty, the Queen has arranged for someone to take care of it."

"Ah."

After half a month of peace, my uncle was buried and my father and mother returned.

On a cold winter morning, the court was on break, and Li Chengqian rode in a carriage, escorted by Duke Ying, to the camp in Guanzhong.

It was morning and still very cold. Li Chengqian saw his son practicing horse riding and archery in the cold wind. His hands were not wearing cloth gloves and it was unknown how frozen his hands were in the cold wind, but the child still gritted his teeth and shot an arrow on horseback.

The arrow had just gone a short distance when a gust of wind blew by, changing its direction and falling to the ground.

Li Ji asked, "Your Majesty, do you want to go and take a look?"

Li Chengqian sat in the carriage, retracted his gaze and said, "Let's go to Longshouyuan."

The carriage started moving again, all the way to Longshouyuan and Anning Village.

Li Chengqian got off the carriage, wrapped in a cloak in the cold wind, and looked at the quiet village where a group of children were playing in the snow.

……

Note: There is one more chapter, two updates
(End of this chapter)