The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 515: Specious Relics

Yu Zhining replied: "Your Majesty, I have forgotten what I said back then."

The thunderstorm came suddenly, and the heavy rain, like water pouring down from heaven, came quickly and stopped quickly.

The sound of Xu Jingzong and Chu Suiliang's argument could still be heard. Their voices coming from inside the hall were still a little hazy. They were basically just yelling at each other. There was no point in just listening to their argument.

In fact, it is enough to discuss such matters with three or two people. When it involves the Ministry of Household Affairs, it is easy to argue when there are too many people.

In fact, this is how government affairs work. The emperor says that his orders must be carried out 100%, but when they reach the hands of court officials, the execution may be only 80%, and when they leave the court, there may only be 60% of the execution left. When it comes to the local level, there may only be 30% left in the end? 50% is considered good.

Therefore, it is necessary to consolidate the strength of the centralized center of power while also making local responses more efficient. This is a long process that requires both discipline and changing the atmosphere.

Li Chengqian told Shangguan Yi what he was thinking.

After hearing this, Shangguan Yi said again: "Your Majesty, I think since the execution below is not appropriate, the person should be replaced."

Yu Zhining stood aside without saying a word.

Shangguan Yi is an optimistic person and a person with positive ideas. Since the execution is not effective, he will find someone else to do it.

Li Chengqian said: "Even if you change it, there is no guarantee that everyone will be the way you want them to be."

Yu Zhining added: "Your Majesty, I think discipline is more important."

Li Chengqian asked: "How to discipline?"

Shangguan Yi and Yu Zhining fell silent again.

Li Chengqian whispered, "In fact, the so-called discipline is still a question of who surrounds whom. If the court officials surround the emperor and serve him, then the people below only need to be responsible to the emperor and need the emperor to look after them."

"On the contrary, if officials need to be responsible to the villagers, then there is no need for the emperor to supervise them. The villagers will supervise the officials for their own benefit. In this way, the position is different. The court only needs to establish a place to contact the villagers. The court does not need to keep an eye on them all the time. The villagers will keep an eye on the officials."

Shangguan Yi said: "Your Majesty, officials are still in power after all."

The conversations in the hall stopped. It must be that Chu Suiliang and Xu Jingzong also knew what was good for them and didn't want to continue arguing.

The matter of merchants passing through the customs was handed over to the Ministry of Rites and Jingzhao Prefecture. Firstly, the Ministry of Rites was in charge of the exchanges between envoys from various countries, and secondly, Jingzhao Prefecture already had experience in dealing with merchants.

Furthermore, the court will not contact the merchants in person, and the Ministry of Rites will not contact the merchants either. Instead, the merchants must act spontaneously and voluntarily.

This is the proposition of Shangguan Yi and Yu Zhining.

After several people left the new hall, Li Chengqian sat in the hall, drinking tea alone and looking at the book in his hand. This book was compiled by Chongwenguan and was used for elementary school. The book contained simple mathematics and geographical knowledge.

The Chongwenguan compiled all the elementary books into one volume, so that one could learn most of the knowledge needed with just one volume.

There is no way around it. Although the scale of paper and printing in Guanzhong and Luoyang has been increased, and the number of people has increased, the number of books is still not enough. It is extremely difficult to ensure that every student in the world has a book.

Eunuch Yang saw that His Majesty was just drinking tea, as if His Majesty also felt that there was nothing to do?

After leaving the new palace, Li Chengqian walked on the wet ground, turning his head from time to time to look at the palaces in the palace. In fact, there were not many green areas in the imperial palace. The closer to the Liangyi Palace, the more open it was, and the more people came and went.

When we arrived in front of Qianqiu Palace, Xiao Que'er was practicing bow drawing.

Li Chengqian stood there for a long time.

Yang, the eunuch, said, "Since returning from Mount Li, Her Royal Highness has been very diligent."

Li Chengqian said: "If grandpa were still alive, he would definitely be happy."

This generation of children in the Li family are still practicing archery diligently. In fact, they don’t expect their children’s archery skills to be very good, but they just hope that future children of Li Tang can remember that their ancestors’ archery skills were amazing.

Now is not a time of chaos, but a time of peace and prosperity. There is no need for children to have unique archery skills, as long as they know how to use them.

Li Chengqian did not disturb the child. He walked to the Liangyi Hall nearby. An eunuch came forward to report, "Your Majesty, Lai Ji found the remains of the beacon tower left by King You of Zhou."

Li Chengqian asked: "Is the beacon tower still there?"

"Your Majesty, the beacon tower is gone, but a piece of rubble and sand was dug out. Lai Ji deduced that this is the trace left behind from the past."

Li Chengqian said, "What he said is probably correct. Lai Ji is well versed in history books, and the location supported by historical data is probably correct. Let the Ministry of Works send some people over to surround that place."

Hearing this, Su Wan and Ning'er, who happened to be passing by, stopped.

Ning'er's expression was a little solemn.

Su Wan asked, "Your Majesty, are you going to rebuild King You of Zhou's beacon tower?"

Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Of course not. I just think that we should fence off that area to warn future emperors not to become King You of Zhou."

Ning Er then nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

It is still unknown whether Lai Ji really found the relics left by King You of Zhou, as that was an event in the Western Zhou Dynasty more than a thousand years ago.

The mountains and rivers have changed over who knows how many years, so where can we find the location of King You of Zhou's beacon tower?
Even the appearance of Mount Li has probably changed several times over the past thousand years.

Of course, the physical objects left behind cannot be found anymore, as they have long turned into dust and soil.

Lai Ji only found an approximate location and treated it as a relic, allowing the story to continue to be passed down.

Little Que'er came with her brother and sister and said, "Father, let's play chess."

In the Liangyi Hall, Li Chengqian was playing chess with the children, dealing with three children and three chessboards at the same time.

In the imperial city, Yu Zhining didn't know how many cups of tea he had drunk. After he went out of Chengtian Gate, he went to the toilet.

After returning to the Secretariat, he went to the toilet three more times. As soon as he sat down, Yu Zhining said, "It has been increasingly difficult to talk about state affairs with Your Majesty recently."

The Minister of Personnel Du Zhenglun asked curiously, "What state affairs did your Majesty talk about again?"

Yu Zhining said: "These are all matters of the Ministry of Rites, and have nothing to do with me."

Du Zhenglun nodded slightly, and then continued: "Your Majesty is now diligent in government affairs, and we still need to take care of him."

In Chang'an City, in addition to the four major universities, Li Tai planned to rebuild the Imperial College and move it away from the imperial city. He also designated a new piece of land next to the Chongwen Academy in Anyifang to build a Hanlin Academy.

The decision to abolish the Imperial College was made by Prince Li Tai of Wei and approved by Your Majesty.

The old regulations of the Imperial College had to be abolished, just like the Tang Dynasty had to re-plan the tax law, everything was new.

The court never mentioned the new policy, but all signs indicated that the emperor was implementing it.

An edict that had never been seen before, a decree that had never been seen before, and under the emperor's will, it was never said from beginning to end that this was a new policy, but this was the new policy.

There are endless comments about the new policy. Li Tang is going to change. Li Tang is going to be different.

Although Li Shimin lived in the village on weekdays, he would still come to Chang'an City in his spare time. Today he came to Chang'an City to eat noodles.

Changsun Wuji said that the noodles in this noodle shop were delicious, so he came over to try it.

Although the weather has warmed up, it is still cold in this season. Although fishing is a very relaxing thing, Li Shimin feels that he cannot fish like his son. Cheng Qian has been like this since he was a child. No matter what he does, he does not distinguish between severe cold and severe heat.

Li Shimin took two bites of noodles and didn't think there was anything special about the noodles in this shop. The taste of the noodles was very ordinary. Maybe he was used to the food in the palace.

Then look at Changsun Wuji who is eating happily in front of him.

Li Shimin sighed in boredom, he didn't know what this guy was eating, the taste was obviously just average.

Chang Sun Wuji finished the sauce in the bowl and said, "His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei has demolished the Imperial College."

Li Shimin said: "It's better to demolish it. I felt annoyed when the Imperial College was still there."

Li Xiaogong was still stirring the noodles, thinking that the emperor had never mentioned that the Imperial College was troublesome back then, so why did he only mention it now that the Imperial College was going to be demolished?

Zhang Sun Wuji said calmly: "Without the Imperial College, the children of nobles will go to Chongwenguan to study."

Li Shimin put down his bowl and chopsticks, looked at the Suzaku Street outside and said, "After the implementation of the imperial examination, students studying in the Imperial College also have to pass the imperial examination before they can enter the officialdom. The Imperial College is of little significance."

Changsun Wuji nodded.

In Li Xiaogong's opinion, the reason why His Majesty wanted to build the Imperial College was actually to win over Kong Yingda. But now Kong Yingda has passed away, the foundation of Li Tang has been consolidated, and the Tang Dynasty is no longer the same as it used to be.

Li Xiaogong could still sense some reluctance in his Majesty's words. As a father at an old age, it was inevitable that he would feel a little lost when faced with new things and new rules. He deeply sympathized with this.

He knew that he was not as resourceful as the old fox Changsun, but he was also smart.

Li Xiaogong sat down beside him and whispered, "If your majesty feels uncomfortable, just drink some wine."

Li Shimin said: "My children won't let me drink anymore."

Li Xiaogong laughed and said, "My children are not allowed to drink alcohol, but life would be so boring without alcohol."

After saying that, Li Xiaogong slapped the table and said, "Shopkeeper, serve the wine!"

The shop owner enthusiastically handed over a pot of warm wine and poured three bowls.

Li Shimin picked up the wine bowl and smelled the aroma of the wine, saying, "I remember, this is the smell of Xinfeng wine."

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Sir, our shop only serves Xinfeng wine to you."

It seems like a great honor for this shop owner to be able to sell Xinfeng wine.

As the Imperial College collapsed, Li Shimin, Li Xiaogong and Zhangsun Wuji burst into laughter in the tavern.

Li Chengqian only got the news later. He heard that Uncle Wang of Hejian and his uncle were drinking happily and did not allow anyone to disturb them.

The next day, the warm sunshine shone on Guanzhong. In the warm city of Chang'an, Li Chengqian ended the morning court session.

The two eunuchs hurried to the Wude Hall. As they walked, they said, "Your Majesty, we have to go to the Wude Hall to clean up today. Why did Lou Shide come to disturb Your Majesty like this?"

"Yes, Your Majesty is a very filial person."

Inside the Wude Hall, Li Chengqian was personally cleaning up the place, while the censor named Lou Shide was standing inside the hall.

This person was holding the tablet used in the morning court, with his head lowered and not saying a word.

Li Chengqian wiped the bookshelf and whispered, "Are you so determined to go to the Western Regions?"

Lou Shide said: "I hope Your Majesty will grant it."

Li Chengqian stopped what he was doing and sighed, "Everyone knows that the battle of Congling is imminent, and we don't know when we can return."

Lou Shide added: "Your Majesty, being an imperial censor is not what I want."

"I know that you were about to resign and transfer to the army, but Shangguan Yi stopped you." Li Chengqian sat down and ate cakes and said, "Well, there is indeed a group of people going to the Western Regions recently, you can go with them."

Lou Shide said loudly: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"In fact, few people would ask me for orders. They all think that I am a person who doesn't like to be asked by others." Li Chengqian sighed again: "In fact, I am still willing to listen to their advice."

Lou Shide bowed again.

Li Chengqian instructed: "We will be leaving in a few days, so you should prepare early."

"Here."

"Wait a minute."

Lou Shide just turned around to leave, but when he turned back he heard the voice of His Majesty, so he could only stop and salute, "Your Majesty."

Li Chengqian continued: "You can go to the Western Regions, but when you come back you must bring the prince back to me."

"Here."

Lou Shide bowed again and left the Wude Hall.

Li Chengqian sat on the rocking chair that his grandfather once sat on, looking at the blue sky of the Wude Hall. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows that were built for his grandfather were still there, some of the yellowed glass was now blocked by curtains, and no sunlight shone in through the windows.

Suddenly he sat up again, and Li Chengqian said, "Close the door and keep it as it is."

Several eunuchs nodded and saluted.

To the west of Guanzhong, across the border of Longyou is the prosperous Hexi Corridor. Xuanzang still looked like a monk. He came to the newly built Guzang City.

The former Guzang was the capital county of Wuwei County in the Han Dynasty. It is located in the strategic location of the Hexi Corridor and is a pearl of the Hexi Corridor.

Now, under the emperor's order, Guzang City was rebuilt.

With the resurgence of the Hexi Corridor, Xuanzang felt that Guzang City would definitely be the most prosperous place in this area.

Guzang flourished during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the Han Dynasty. According to the Book of Han, Guzang had a population of more than 70,000 and 17,000 registered households.

The newly built Guzang City is precisely intended to restore its former glory.

"In fact, the emperor wants to build a city gate." said an official sitting at the city gate.

"Why do we need to build a city gate?"

Hearing this, Xuanzang, who was holding a few pieces of cotton cloth, stopped and listened with a frown.

The official said: "At the strategic intersection between Qilian Mountain and Beishan Mountain, at the throat of Hexi, we will build a huge city pass. If this pass can be completed, it will be the best pass in the world!"

Listening to the official's heroic words, Xuanzang looked towards the direction of Chang'an and sighed again.

Who says that the current emperor doesn’t like to build houses? In fact, the emperor still likes to build houses, but the current emperor likes to build cities and city gates.

The Western Regions rebuilt Jiaohe City, built Suiye City, built the four counties of the current Hexi Corridor, and built Guzang City, and will continue to build city gates in the future.

(End of this chapter)