The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 52 Grandfather and grandson

In the past two days, my uncle has been waiting at the gate of the East Palace every morning, fearing that the prince would not attend the morning court.

Can the Crown Prince take a rest while overseeing state affairs?

Li Chengqian frowned and thought for a while, then took out a few eggs from the East Palace and put them in the basket. He wrapped the tea leaves in a piece of cloth and hurried to the Taiji Hall.

As they walked along, Changsun Wuji took one more look at the basket in His Highness's hand and said, "The Ministry of Central Secretariat has reviewed the memorial approved yesterday."

"What do Fang Xiang and the others think?"

Chang Sun Wuji raised his head and looked towards the Taiji Hall, saying, "It's quite remarkable."

Looking at his eldest nephew's expression, Changsun Wuji whispered, "I heard that during the autumn hunt yesterday, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei killed a deer. The Prince of Wei thought the deer was still young, so he let it go. When His Majesty heard about this during the autumn hunt, he praised the Prince of Wei."

Li Chengqian smiled nonchalantly and said, "My brother is kind-hearted."

"If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gets the fawn, will he release it?"

Li Chengqian did not answer immediately, but smiled and said: "In fact, it doesn't matter if Qingque kills the fawn on the spot, because if it doesn't die at the hands of my brother, it will die at the hands of other hunters."

"Even if Qingque killed the deer, Father would not criticize him. On the contrary, Qingque felt that he had to let the deer go in order to get Father's praise."

Changsun Wuji remained silent, lowered his head and followed the prince's footsteps, not knowing how to respond to these words.

This is very heartbreaking and realistic.

Suddenly, I felt that I didn’t know much about this nephew.

When he reached the front of the palace, Li Chengqian said to the guards in front of the palace: "Help me get it."

"Yes!" the guard answered loudly, taking the basket with one hand and keeping the other hand on the hilt of the knife.

All the ministers had already arrived, waiting for the Crown Prince to come for the morning court.

Normally, the prince would rush to the morning court on time. Now that his majesty has gone to Mount Li for autumn hunting, in the eyes of the ministers, the prince's behavior remains the same as usual.

It makes no difference whether His Majesty is here or not.

Li Chengqian walked in front of everyone and said, "Please ask Prime Minister Fang to preside over the morning court."

"Yes." Fang Xuanling responded, stood up and began to preside over the morning court.

In fact, the East Palace approved all the memorials that needed to be approved yesterday. Even the salary issue that had troubled the court for a long time was distributed by His Highness using rice and silver in various proportions according to the official rank.

In the past, Your Majesty was still worried about salary, but after the approval of the East Palace, this problem was solved.

There is nothing wrong with this. Lu Mi is food. You can keep it at home or sell it.

Once they are sold, they will be absorbed in market transactions, and the burden on the court will also be reduced.

Even if I don't sell it and give the money, I won't be without money in the short term.

This arrangement received positive reviews from the majority of officials in the court and the public.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has just started to run the government, and he already has the bearing of a wise ruler.

As a result, there were no other questions in today's morning court. After Fang Xuanling listened to the reports from various departments, he asked about the food and fodder needed for the autumn hunt by His Majesty, and then the morning court ended.

Watching the officials in the hall leave in twos and threes, Li Chengqian was about to leave when he saw Fang Xiang still standing there. He asked in confusion, "Fang Xiang, do you have any other instructions?"

Fang Xuanling waved his hand and asked Li Baiyao to come over first, saying, "Go ahead."

Li Baiyao whispered, "Your Highness, the Persian envoy has come all the way to Chang'an, asking for troops to help them."

"Persian messenger?"

As he spoke, Li Chengqian walked out of the hall.

Fang Xuanling and Li Baiyao followed behind the prince.

Li Chengqian took the basket from the guard in front of the hall, and holding the basket of eggs, he hurriedly said: "Let's go to Wude Hall and tell him that I will visit Grandpa Huang on the way."

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is filial, so as a subject, there is naturally nothing to object to.

In the Wude Hall, Li Yuan was muttering to himself with a compass in his hand.

Li Chengqian led Fang Xuanling and Li Baiyao into the hall and asked curiously, "Grandpa Emperor? What are you doing?"

Li Yuan hissed, "I am looking for the direction. Which direction do you think south is?"

Li Chengqian frowned and asked, "Huh? Is this Si Nan?"

"Of course." After walking around again, the Si Nan didn't move at all. Li Yuan lost his mood and said, "It's fake. The thing that the bastard Taoist priest Li Chunfeng gave me is fake!"

Li Chengqian sighed in frustration and ordered someone to bring a basin of water. He took the Si Nan from the compass, put a piece of wood on the basin, and floated the small Si Nan spoon on the water.

Li Yuan leaned over and stared. Seeing that Si Nan finally pointed to the south, he turned the basin to try, "So this is how you should use Si Nan?"

Li Chengqian took the compass and looked at it carefully. There was a needle on the compass, which was inserted in the center of the compass. In ancient times, people relied on the sun's sunshine point to confirm the solar terms and time. Once the scale on the edge of the compass and the shadow of the pointer overlapped, they could get a rough idea.

Fang Xuanling stood aside, watching the harmonious scene between grandfather and grandson, smiling without saying a word.

He asked the people from the Wude Hall to bring a stove, and Li Chengqian poured water into a large ceramic bowl and added some tea leaves.

The bowl was not big, only enough to hold five eggs. Li Chengqian said, "Cook them for half an hour and you can eat them."

The grandfather and grandson sat down. Li Chengqian asked Fang Xiang and Li Baiyao to sit down in the hall first, and then talked about yesterday's inspection of Chang'an city defense.

"Grandpa, General Cheng Yaojin said that he and my grandson share the same views on heroes." Li Chengqian brought the tea to the emperor and said, "Do you think my grandson can become a general?"

Li Yuan's mouth twitched, and he snorted coldly: "Remember this, kid. There are so many generals in Chang'an. You can trust anyone but Cheng Yaojin."

"My grandson will definitely listen to you."

In the past, it was His Majesty who came to visit the retired emperor, but now with the crown prince coming to visit, the old man in the Wude Hall is in a better mood than ever.

The prince spoke in a casual and humble tone, and his occasional jokes could make Li Yuan laugh.

The closeness between generations is very obvious at this moment.

Li Yuan looked at Fang Xuanling and Li Baiyao who were present and asked, "Do you have any government affairs to discuss?"

Let grandpa have fun first, then go to him to learn how to draw the bow and shoot arrows.

The archery skills of the ancients are very different from those of later generations, and it is particularly interesting to learn.

This was originally the plan. Li Chengqian sat by the stove with his hands in his pockets, looked at the two of them and said, "Go ahead."

Li Baiyao bowed and said, "Yesterday, the Persian envoy came to Chang'an."

Hearing this, Li Yuan suddenly said, "I remember Persia is very far away, even farther than Gaochang."

Li Chengqian nodded and asked to continue.

Li Baiyao received the look and said, "This Persian envoy said that the Arabs are becoming more and more arrogant and wanted to conquer Persia. He hopes that the Tang Dynasty can come to their aid."

Since the Han Dynasty, when the Silk Road prospered, exchanges between the Central Plains and the West mainly relied on this ancient trade route.

At that time, Persia was not yet called Persia. They also developed rapidly by taking advantage of the ancient Silk Road and occupied important intersections of the Silk Road. After the former Sui Dynasty restored this ancient road, they became very rich over the years.

A dynasty that is rich but not very powerful, and has no natural defenses, will naturally be targeted by its enemies.

Li Chengqian refilled his grandfather's tea and asked in confusion, "Why did you go to the Tang Dynasty instead of going to a place near you?"

Li Baiyao further explained: "The Persian envoy went eastwards to look for reinforcements. He asked the Western Regions along the way, but no one was willing to send troops. He then went to the Western Regions to find the King of Gaochang, who pointed out a way for him, and he arrived in Chang'an." "The Persian envoy said that he had written a letter in Gaochang and asked someone to return to Persia, saying that he was inviting the Persian prince to come to the Tang Dynasty to show Persia's sincerity."

In the Wude Hall, Fang Xuanling remained silent.

Li Chengqian whispered, "This envoy traveled across the entire Western Regions and was able to come to Chang'an alive. This person's ability is really extraordinary. What do you think, Prime Minister Fang?"

"Your Highness." Fang Xuanling bowed and said, "The war with Tuyuhun has just ended. It is not appropriate to start another war. We should be more cautious in sending troops on a long expedition."

"I don't think it's necessary to rush to Persia to help. Of course, my father has to make the decision on this matter." Li Chengqian put down the kettle and said, "Persian envoys are valuable to the Tang Dynasty. My brother is compiling a comprehensive geographical record. Many maps of the Western Regions have been lost or destroyed. It's better to send them to the Prince of Wei's Palace."

Fang Xuanling nodded with satisfaction.

Li Baiyao bowed and said, "I will arrange it right away."

"Wait." Li Chengqian took a tea egg out of the pot, put it in a small bowl and handed it to him, "Eat a tea egg."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Li Chengqian gave one to Fang Xiang, one to his grandfather, and kept two for himself.

Li Yuan peeled the tea egg, took a bite and chewed it carefully, saying, "This tastes very good. Not many people ate it before."

He took a few more eggs out of the basket and put them into the pot to continue cooking.

Fang Xuanling and Li Baiyao left, and there were no outsiders around. Li Yuan sat down next to his eldest grandson and took another bite of the tea egg. Just as he put it in his mouth, he leaned closer and whispered, "I asked you to curry favor with your uncle. Did you do it?"

"Don't worry, my grandson is trying to please you."

"really?"

Li Chengqian replied: "It's just that my uncle is not easy to control, and my grandson is quite passive."

Li Yuan said: "Don't look at me, I can't do anything to that old fox Gao Shilian."

The grandfather and grandson were silent for a moment. Li Yuan finished one and took another from his eldest grandson's bowl. He continued, "Don't learn from your father."

"Don't worry. If my grandson doesn't make progress and is ignorant, he won't learn from his father. If he can't secure his position as the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, the Li Tang family might fall apart."

Li Yuan nodded in agreement and said, "I heard from Xiaogong that your life in the East Palace has not been easy?"

"Uncle Huang...he also said that?"

"Haha." Li Yuan said, "That kid doesn't dare to tell a lie in front of me. I'll tell you a secret."

"What a secret."

Li Yuan whispered: "Don't think that my Wude Hall is nothing special. In fact, I have hidden a lot of gold sand in the hall."

"Golden sand?"

"Back then, I ground a lot of gold into sand and hid it in this Wude Hall. If your East Palace needs anything, please tell me."

Seeing that Li Chengqian was still hesitating, Li Yuan continued, "Your father is a cold-hearted person. He treats both the royal family and the relatives outside the royal family with respect and distance from your father. Except for your uncle, the rest of the royal family and relatives outside the royal family all keep their distance from your father. So..."

After a pause, Li Yuan looked sad and said, "Your father was not like this before. At that time, Erlang was a good man with great righteousness. At that time, most of the heroes in the world bowed down to him."

Seeing that Grandpa was sad, he took another tea egg. Li Chengqian interrupted and said, "Eat less. If you eat too much of this egg, your stomach will feel uncomfortable."

"Boy, do you think I eat too much?" Li Yuan said with an unhappy look.

"No more for you." Li Chengqian took out all the tea eggs from the pot and put them in a bowl.

"Great!" Li Yuan said angrily, "If you don't give me food, I won't teach you to draw the bow."

"If you don't want to teach, then don't teach."

After saying this, Li Chengqian hurried out of the Wude Hall, holding a bowl of tea eggs, like an angry child.

Li Yuan said angrily, "You bastard, come back here!"

It's sunny outside the temple.

There was no sign of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Of course I can’t call him back.

Then I thought, even if I don't teach him how to use a bow, there are plenty of generals in the court who can teach him, and as a grandfather, I can't threaten this grandson at all.

Instead, Li Yuan did not feel angry. He was even happy about Cheng Qian's playfulness and cleverness.

The eunuch at the side said, "I will go and summon His Highness right away."

"Forget it." Li Yuan was full after eating the tea eggs. He half-lay down and closed his eyes to rest. He said slowly, "Let the child go."

The eunuch stepped aside in response.

Li Chengqian returned to the East Palace with a bowl of tea eggs, walked into the palace, dragged off his boots, and said, "Xiao Fu."

Hearing this, the fat girl Xiaofu came out from the side room, holding ramen in her hand, and said, "What do you want, Your Highness?"

"Is Donggong eating noodles again?"

Xiaofu looked at the ramen in his hand and said, "Her Royal Highness the Princess and the Queen said they wanted to eat noodles."

Li Chengqian instructed: "Make the noodles and send this tea egg to mother and sister as well."

Xiaofu nodded and went back to work.

The autumn rain finally stopped, and Ning'er took out some books and papers from the East Palace to dry in the sun.

The maids in the East Palace all had their own things to do. They took out some clothes to dry in the sun and hung them up on poles one by one.

The clothes were connected together to form a wall. In fact, they would hide behind these clothes, just lying there motionless and enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Ning'er knew that they were being lazy, but she pretended not to know.

Compared with the living environment in other places in the palace, the East Palace is very warm and comfortable.

As long as they take good care of His Highness's daily life, they will be very comfortable.

Ning'er also had to clean the East Palace's bedroom and ventilate it.

After moving out the tables and chairs, Li Chengqian simply sat outside the East Palace and reviewed the memorials sent by the Secretariat.

Did the Emperor hide gold sand in the Wude Hall?
This thought appeared in my mind several times. Every family has some private money. Maybe even my father doesn't know about the gold sand hidden by my grandfather.

"Sister Ning'er?"

"The servant is here."

Li Chengqian finished reviewing the memorials in front of him and asked, "Are these the only six you have today?"

Ning Er replied: "That's all I sent."

When the autumn wind blew, the clothes hanging out to dry fluttered and the scent of soap filled the East Palace.

When he was free, Li Chengqian drank tea and planned to do nothing next. Suddenly he felt that supervising the government affairs and guarding Chang'an was a very leisurely job.

The Eastern Palace is quiet, but the court is very busy.

Inside the Suzaku Gate in the imperial city, officials were hurrying back and forth.

(End of this chapter)