The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 513 Huaqing Palace

After the greeting, Li Shan handed over a bag of money and said, "Teacher, this is the proceeds from today's book sales."

Zhang Jianzhi took the money bag and nodded, saying, "Go and clean up the study."

After the child left, Zhang Jianzhi opened the cloth bag and poured out all the copper coins in the bag. There were a total of 130 coins, and he sold a total of ten volumes of books.

The books are just thin volumes and are not very valuable.

It was not until night that Zhang Jianzhi waited for the bad commander Wei Chang.

"It's just a small matter, there's no need for the bad commander to come and ask about it personally."

Wei Chang said: "It was ordered by the King of Wei."

From this, Zhang Jianzhi also understood the power of King Wei now. His Majesty had given King Wei the highest position of scholar, who was able to have oversight of all the academies in Guanzhong.

Zhang Jianzhi asked, "Is this all the money that kid earned today at Xianyang Bridge? Did he not keep it for himself?"

In fact, if you want to sell books, you can't go to Chang'an City, but you are not limited to going to Xianyang Bridge, just because there are bad people watching at Xianyang Bridge.

Wei Chang said: "That kid didn't even want to use the money to buy himself a cake. One hundred and thirty coins, no more, no less."

Zhang Jianzhi nodded when he heard this, handed Wei Chang a string of copper coins and said, "Thank you for your help."

Wei Chang took the copper coin and asked, "You are the head of Wenlin Academy. You should be cautious in selecting disciples. We can check his background again."

Hearing this, Zhang Jianzhi waved his hand and said, "No need, once is enough."

Wei Chang bowed again and said, "I'm leaving."

The bad commander left the backyard of Wenlin Pavilion, and Zhang Jianzhi sat quietly for a while.

The servant came with a steaming wine pot, walked over to the table on the snow, poured a bowl of hot wine, and handed it over with the bowl, saying, "Master Zhang, how about the student?"

Zhang Jianzhi took a sip of wine and said, "If we are to select talents for the country, he is not a good talent, but if we want to achieve something in a small corner, he is quite suitable for us."

The servant asked, "It seems that Master Zhang is not satisfied with this disciple."

Zhang Jianzhi held a wine bowl in one hand, looked at the snowflakes falling and drifting past the flickering lanterns, and whispered: "Whether it's the current affairs or the affairs of the country, it will never satisfy everyone."

"Master Zhang still doesn't want to go home? The old man has been waiting for you."

Zhang Jianzhi whispered, "Has Huizhi returned home?"

"gone back."

"It's enough to have Huizhi accompany me." Zhang Jianzhi whispered, "If I go back, I'm afraid I'll burn my house down."

The servant smiled awkwardly.

Zhang Jianzhi emphasized again: "I will really burn it."

The old servant still had a smile on his face as he stood beside Zhang Jianzhi. He was arranged by Zhang Xuanbi to take care of the young master. Although there was a deep rift between father and son, the young master was still his own child. Even if the young master was unwilling, even if the young master wanted to beat him to death, he was determined to take good care of the young master.

After repeated insistence, the young master agreed and stayed in Wenlin Pavilion.

In fact, the young master is a very good child. He can distinguish between good and evil, hang out with kind people, and keep evil people away from him.

In this way, the young master will not be led astray by others.

The young master’s close friends are Prince of Jin, Prince of Ji, Di Renjie and Pei Yan.

Therefore, it can be said that the young master is able to judge people.

Prince Jin and Prince Ji are both good kids, and Di Renjie and Pei Yan are the best among the young people. It is a good thing that the young master can get to know them, even though his achievements are not as good as theirs.

Among these close peers, the young master is actually the worst one.

In Jingzhao Prefecture, Yan Qinli was still reviewing documents.

"Prefect, Wei Chang is here."

Yan Qinli nodded and let the person in.

There were heavy footsteps outside the door, and Wei Chang walked into the room and saluted, saying, "Prefect, Zhang Jianzhi has accepted a disciple."

After that, a file was handed over.

Yan Qinli took the file, put it under the oil lamp and looked at it, frowning and said, "You should go back and rest early, the curfew will be coming soon."

"Here."

After the people left, Yan Qinli was still looking at the file in his hand. The file recorded the origin of a child and the child's whereabouts in Guanzhong.

The Bad People are the best at investigating these things. Their connections are spread across all the counties in Guanzhong, so it is very easy for them to find out about a person.

Therefore, the Bad People are also the hands and feet of the Jingzhao Prefecture. They can send people to investigate without alerting the county magistrates. Although they can arrest and investigate, the Bad People are still Bad People after all. They cannot enter the officialdom and can only obey the arrangements of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

After reading it, Yan Qinli put the file aside. There was no need to worry too much about Zhang Jianzhi. Zhang Jianzhi was a loyal person to Li Tang, extremely loyal.

This late spring snow fell intermittently for five days. As hundreds of truckloads of coal were delivered to Guanzhong, all the counties in Guanzhong that were suffering from coal shortages breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, a few years ago, Tongguan and Chang'an City had stored large quantities of coal.

This is the situation in the court now. The emperor advocates frugality. In the past, the court encouraged people to be frugal and refrain from extravagance, and they have been hoarding food and grass. I am afraid that after this late spring cold snap, the trend of hoarding coal will most likely arise.

Yan Qinli, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, stood in front of the Suzaku Gate, watching people watching or passing around the decrees issued by the court.

Yan Qinli raised his head and walked out of the Suzaku Gate with his back to the thousands of residents. In fact, people did not notice that behind this trend of frugality and hoarding of goods, it was actually the court and the emperor who were subtly changing people's behavior.

Because this is Guanzhong, a Guanzhong with a rapidly expanding population. As the population increases, Guanzhong needs more resources, so it needs to constantly siphon resources from all over the Central Plains. These resources include salt, iron, gold, silver, silk, cloth and even population and food.

For this reason, if we want to improve Guanzhong’s ability to resist risks, under the premise of rapid population expansion, we need to maintain the growth of resources and ensure resource reserves.

Because of this, there are still several mineral resources west of Guanzhong that are under government control and cannot be mined. In addition, to the south of Tongguan, the waterway connecting Guanzhong and Nanyang is still being repaired.

Among the smiling faces of the people in Chang'an City, Yan Qinli likes to see hopeful smiles on people's faces, which give them a vision for life.

The emperor had no plan to move the capital, but to continue building Guanzhong, which made the villagers of Guanzhong live enthusiastically with great respect in their hearts.

Li Tang started out in Guanzhong. Now that the Li family has become the emperor, they will not abandon this place. If the emperor really leaves, the wealth and people will leave with him.

Several decrees were issued in succession from the court and circulated among the people. One of them was to repair and continue excavating the Kunming Lake.

Second, repair the river channel between Tongguan and Nanyang to maintain smooth transportation.

Third, more than 300 officials were added to the counties in Guanzhong. Most of them were eighth-rank clerks selected from among the teachers who taught in the provinces.

This is the current policy for employing people in the court. If you want to be an official in the court, you need to have teaching experience or more than two years of experience in the military, otherwise you will not be hired by the court.

The emperor said that he had opened the imperial examination system, and that those who entered the court to serve as officials could be regardless of family background or wealth, but at the same time, the threshold for the imperial examination was strict. If a student's parents had a criminal in their side branches, they might not be able to enter the government. The emperor was implementing benevolent policies, but at the same time he was consolidating his power.

The emperor was equalizing taxes, but he no longer distributed land equally in some areas.

While maintaining population growth, we are also adjusting and migrating the population.

Batch after batch of people went to Luoyang and Chang'an, and batch after batch of people left Chang'an to teach or work in various places.

Generally speaking, if we really want to say that this is a prosperous age, it should be a busy and prosperous age with abundant national strength, and the people in this prosperous age have endless things to do.

In fact, the emperor did very little. To be precise, the emperor did not do much except a few edicts.

However, these decrees have caused thousands and thousands of people to run around and be busy for them.

The Tang Dynasty is heading towards a peak, and most people are still wondering how long it will take to reach this peak.

At this moment, the emperor had already had some ideas about the next peak of the Tang Dynasty on Mount Li.

In the middle of February in the eleventh year of Qianqing's reign, the late spring cold snap had just passed, and under the clear sky, the ice and snow on the mountains began to melt.

Li Chengqian brought his family to Mount Li for a visit, intending to stay in the palace in Mount Li for some time.

The father and son sat by the pool but did not go in to bathe. The hot spring pool was steaming and the water was turbid.

Li Shimin's hair and beard turned a little whiter. He took a sip of tea and said, "In the past, Yang Guang liked to spend the winter in the hot spring palace in Mount Li."

Li Chengqian picked up the walnuts from the stove. The freshly roasted walnuts tasted very good. He handed them over and said, "The walnuts sent from the Western Regions are very good. Father, please try them."

Li Shimin also picked up one, peeled off the shell, took a piece of the flesh and put it in his mouth, chewed it for a while, and said: "You have liked eating walnuts since you were a child, especially walnuts from the Western Regions."

Li Chengqian smiled and said nothing.

Li Shimin added: "I remember you said before that grapes from the Western Regions are good, but I know you don't like grapes. You have liked walnuts since you were a child."

Li Chengqian took a sip of tea, smiled and nodded without refutation.

Li Shimin continued, "Back then, some people said that the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace liked grapes from the Western Regions and wanted to sweep across the Western Regions. But they didn't know that you actually like walnuts."

Li Chengqian pinched open the thin and crisp walnut and said, "The people at Sinong Temple have begun to specialize in cultivating walnuts in various parts of the Central Plains."

"Any results?"

"Not yet. The same goes for jasmine. Hopefully we can plant it next year."

The water in the hot spring palace is very turbid, as if the water has not been changed for many years. Who knows if there are some snakes and insects living under the hot spring.

Eunuch Yang finally had the canal cleared, and the water in the hot spring pool was released until the bottom was dry, leaving behind years of debris that had accumulated at the bottom of the pool. Another group of eunuchs went down into the pool to clean it up.

A simple pool was left behind. Li Chengqian had no intention of sitting here. Instead, he walked outside the Hot Spring Palace and looked at the open pool in front of him.

There are many pools in Mount Li, including not only the hot spring pool in the Hot Spring Palace, but also the large pool outside.

The pool here also looked dilapidated, and several children were throwing stones into the pool for fun.

The water in the pool is green, which should be because the water environment in the pool is deteriorating.

It is rumored that the Lishan Palace was built in the Western Zhou Dynasty. When Lai Ji, an old man, arrived at Lishan, he said that he wanted to look for the remains of that time. These were the remains of King You of Zhou's trick of playing with the princes by setting fire to the beacon towers, and they were said to be in Lishan.

After that, the Lishan Palace is mostly associated with the tyrant emperors Jie and Zhou. Any emperor who stayed in Lishan for a long time was mostly not a good emperor.

Li Chengqian felt that this was very one-sided. One could not conclude that the emperor was a tyrant just because he went to Mount Li.

Your Majesty has always liked cleanliness. It is the fault of everyone present that His Majesty was allowed to see such a messy Lishan Palace.

Li Chengqian turned his back, looked at the Hot Spring Palace in front of him, and said, "Let's change the name of this place."

Li Shimin asked, "What do you want to change it to?"

Li Chengqian took the pen handed over by the eunuch and wrote the three words "Huaqing Palace". He then instructed: "From now on, this place will be called Huaqing Palace, and the pond here will be called Huaqing Pond."

The eunuch beside him replied, "Yes."

The new emperor of the Tang Dynasty arrived at Mount Li, and from then on the Mount Li Palace had a new name.

Today the family is here for a spring outing. The Emperor and the Empress both have a lot of white hair. Li Chengqian, Empress Su, and Concubine Ning are sitting at the table sorting the children's clothes. These children are getting older every year, and the clothes they made last winter will not fit them next winter.

Su Wan said: "I prepared a lot of good silk last year, which can be used by the children."

Ning'er held a stack of old clothes and gave a few instructions to the palace maid beside her. The maid left with the clothes.

In the palace, Empress Su was in charge of the palace expenses, and most of the matters concerning the care of the children were arranged by Concubine Ning.

The sun is shining brightly today, Li Chengqian said: "Let's clean up the Lishan Palace after summer. I don't come here often. I came once this year, and I don't know when I will come again."

"Your Majesty is worried that they will freeze to death. Your Majesty is wise."

Despite what they said, under the arrangement of the emperor father, they were still asked to clean up the Lishan Palace.

After all, this is the Lishan Palace. Since the emperor came here and gave it a name, for the sake of the emperor's majesty, Lishan must be cleaned up and rebuilt.

Even Lai Ji stood on his father's side.

Li Chengqian did not intend to make any excuses, and spent the remaining days walking around Mount Li with his family.

After the late spring cold, the next few days were sunny. It was so warm walking under the clear sky that I even felt a little sleepy.

Li Chengqian watched his father teaching the children how to use bows and arrows while drinking tea.

The wind still blew with a little chill, which made people feel refreshed unconsciously.

While drinking tea, Duke Ying also arrived at Mount Li.

Seeing the children standing together and drawing their bows and arrows, Duke Ying stared for a long time, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. He wiped away his tears with his sleeves and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty."

Li Chengqian said, "Please sit down, Lord Ying."

Li Ji sat down upon hearing the voice and explained, "Another 1,000 soldiers and three generals were sent to the Anxi Protectorate."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Still the same as before?"

"same as usual."

The king and his minister looked at each other and understood each other.

In fact, the number of troops sent to the Western Regions is not large, and there are even fewer troops in Guanzhong. There are now 60,000 troops in the Western Regions, of which only half are from Guanzhong. Most of the rest are a combination of Uighurs, Western Regions, and Tibetan soldiers.

(End of this chapter)