The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 53 The Positive Influence of the Prince

At the Lishan hunting ground, a group of soldiers came out of the hunting ground. Li Shimin, wearing a round-necked robe, walked in front.

Yuchi Gong and Ma Zhou are on both sides of Your Majesty and have had a fruitful hunting haul these days.

General Yuchi is the general who guards the entire Mount Li, and today's censor Ma Zhou is one of the young civil officials most valued by His Majesty.

Looking from the west side of the foothills of Mount Li, you can see a plain west of Weinan in the distance. In the distance, there is a group of people walking in the fields. Most of these people are wearing official robes.

Li Shimin frowned and looked again. There were three or five villagers walking ahead of the officials. He asked, "What are you doing?"

Ma Zhou replied: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the Crown Prince has recently advocated improving the governance capabilities of local officials."

"Local officials?"

"Your Majesty, when the King of Jiangxia was appointed as the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, he encountered a difficult problem. The officials did not know the order of priority. Some of them did not know how to deliver documents, and some of them did not know how to govern the villagers."

"Alas..." Ma Zhou said worriedly, "Just as the prince said, most of the counties in Guanzhong only obey orders from Chang'an, but rarely contact the higher authorities. This is what His Royal Highness the Prince advocates, that is, to maintain contact with the grassroots county officials at the front line, and to send surplus personnel from the court to the counties to guide the work."

Li Shimin looked into the distance and listened to the story in silence.

"This is the news we received yesterday." Ma Zhou held the reins of his horse with one hand and looked into the distance. "Although it was just a few words from the Crown Prince, Prime Minister Fang and Duke Zhao took it very seriously. Now that this situation has occurred, the governance of Guanzhong cannot just follow orders from the court. Governance needs to be adapted to local conditions."

After a pause, Ma Zhou took out a letter, glanced at the contents of the letter, and said, "This is what Your Highness advocates. Specific problems require specific solutions."

After saying this, he handed the letter in his hand to His Majesty beside him.

Li Shimin took the letter and looked at it carefully. The content described in it was consistent with what Ma Zhou said.

"Jingde!"

"I am here!" Yuchi Gong said loudly.

"Is the prince very diligent these days?"

Hearing His Majesty's question, Yuchi Gong replied: "It's not that he is diligent. According to the news sent by the palace, His Highness inspected the city defenses two days ago, and recently he often seeks out the retired emperor in the Wude Hall to practice archery."

Li Shimin handed the letter back to Ma Zhou, looked back at Wei Zheng who was riding a horse behind him, and said with a smile: "What do you think of the prince's plan, Lord Zheng?"

Wei Zheng said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, it is the duty of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace to supervise the government affairs. The people who implement these measures are Fang Xiang and Zhao Guogong. The court and the people listen to their arrangements. According to Xuanling's usual behavior, if the Crown Prince's words are wrong, he will not easily implement them."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "I naturally believe in Xuanling's ability."

Wei Zheng said: "If you do less, you will miss something. If you do more, you will not go wrong. Let's see what the results are."

At present, the actions of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace can still bring some positive impact to the court.

It's surprising.

Li Shimin said with a straight face, "I knew from the beginning that this kid would get into trouble sooner or later."

Yuchi Gong and Ma Zhou quickly lowered their heads. Is His Majesty unhappy?
Then, Li Shimin pulled the reins to turn the horse around and headed for the Lishan Palace. As he walked, he whispered, "Jingde, send someone to Chang'an and tell them that the prince is still young and needs Xuanling to teach him well."

"Yes!" Yuchi Gong rode away first.

Wei Zheng and Ma Zhou were standing on either side of His Majesty. They looked at each other and were both silent.

Your Majesty is a very complicated person, and the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace has been living in seclusion recently, making it difficult to tell his true intentions.

At least now it seems that there is nothing wrong with the prince's actions.

But there is much dissatisfaction in your Majesty's eyes.

The emperor's thoughts are hard to guess.

The emperor, as a father, rarely praised the crown prince, but instead often praised His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei.

Most fathers probably rarely praise their most beloved sons. Even if they do, they keep it in their hearts and everyone tries to think positively.

When it came to the Crown Prince's supervision of state affairs, the people accompanying him had to keep silent and did not dare to comment on the Crown Prince.

In Chang'an, Li Daozon has been very busy recently. The Secretariat gave him a few clerks, and also because of the so-called rule of officials going to the countryside introduced by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

His Jingzhao Prefecture became even busier because of this.

Today, Li Daozon will take a group of clerks from the Secretariat to check the counties, and Cen Wenben is still chattering along the way.

It was not until he arrived in Gaoling County that he made arrangements.

The local county magistrate and chief clerk came to greet him in person.

Recently, Li Daozon's life has basically been like this. He takes clerks to various counties. In addition to instructing on governance methods, he also guides villagers to measure land and check household registration.

Cen Wenben was a man of outstanding talent and learning since he was young. He entered the officialdom at the age of seventeen and became a secretary in the court at the age of twenty-five. Now he is thirty-two years old and serves as the Minister of the Secretariat.

Like Ma Zhou and Chu Suiliang, he was also the backbone of the younger generation in the court.

The terrain of Gaoling County is distinctly high and low. Part of it is a loess remnant plateau with high terrain in the west and low terrain in the east, while the entire Gaoling County is located in a basin with lower terrain.

Li Daozong bowed and said, "I'll trouble Minister Cen with the next matter."

Without him saying anything, all the clerks under Cen Wenben had gone to work. He rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands by the river. Looking at the river, he whispered, "The Jingzhao Prefecture cannot just lead the way and lead people for the court."

For Li Daozon, running errands for the court was already the easiest job. Not to mention governing the counties in Guanzhong, one or two counties would be fine, but there were twelve counties in Chang'an and thirty-six counties in the entire Guanzhong!
For a military general like him, the pressure is enormous as his major is not suitable for him.

In other words, it would be fine if the county magistrates under him were more capable, but some of them were illiterate, even worse than him, a military general who had been stripped of his military power.

Seeing that the other party did not answer, Cen Wenben sighed: "Do you know why the prince always mentions the grassroots level in his memorials?"

Li Dao Zong remained silent.

Cen Wenben explained, "Prime Minister Fang said that the court has always followed the example of the superiors, but this has led to uneven governance in the counties. It is very simple to understand this principle. Your Highness can maintain more contact between the court and the counties, thereby tightly binding the Chang'an center and the counties in Guanzhong together."

"Prime Minister Fang said that these measures will have no harm if implemented, and they can boost the appeal of Chang'an. If the 800-li Qinchuan in Guanzhong can really be put together..."

At this point, Cen Wenben commented: "The center is indeed important, but emperors of all dynasties, whether in the Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Sui Dynasty, rarely looked down."

Li Daozon scratched his ear, still looking absent-minded.

Cen Wenben felt quite resentful towards the Jingzhao prefect, but what could he do?

Li Daozon is the Prince of Jiangxia and was appointed by Your Majesty himself.

It was not up to the court to agree or not on this matter, and no one dared to disagree.

Cen Wenben sighed and said, "In fact, the prince has high hopes for Jingzhao Prefecture."

Li Daozon sniffed and seemed to feel that the autumn wind was even colder.

Chang'an City, the residence of Duke Gao.

Gao Shilian has been obsessed with playing cards recently, and recently the old men have a new card-playing friend, Ouyang Xun.

Ouyang Xun was rewriting on each cork card. He held the pen very steadily and his handwriting was refined.

Yu Shinan, who was sitting next to him, sighed, "Xinben's writing skills have become more and more profound." Ouyang Xun, with white hair and beard, smiled and said, "I have already prepared to die."

Hearing this, Yu Shinan laughed out loud. Everyone present was an old man, and they were all about to be buried. It would not be strange if they died at any time.

Gao Shilian said, "You said that your family was obviously a military family, but you became a master of cursive script. How are you going to face your ancestors after you are buried?"

"So what?" Although Ouyang Xun is old, his eyes are still full of energy.

Gao Lin, a servant in Duke Xu's mansion, has been serving by his side. He was a eunuch during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui. After the turmoil in the world, he was rescued by Gao Shilian and stayed there. He has been following the emperor until now and is now old.

All the old people present were the same. They had experienced the turmoil during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Chen, witnessed the prosperity of the former Sui Dynasty, and witnessed its collapse.

Over the years, the lives of the elderly people present have gone through several twists and turns, and only now have they settled down.

Gao Lin smiled and said, "Everyone, the tea is ready."

Ouyang Xun took the tea leaves and made himself a cup of tea.

This way of brewing tea immediately attracted the mocking gazes of Gao Shilian and Yu Shinan.

Ouyang Xun said with a smile: "You old guys just wait and see, this way of brewing tea will soon become popular in Chang'an."

They are all elderly people who have experienced ups and downs, so they are actually very open-minded.

Because they like playing cards, everyone became card friends. Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, Wang Gui and others have been here this autumn. Several old men live together and play cards when they have free time.

Wang Gui whispered, "I want to say goodbye to Your Majesty."

Although Ouyang Xun was old, he was the most carefree of the old men. He said, "Are you going back to your Zhongnan Mountain again? Why don't you just become a Taoist priest?"

A joke made Wang Gui's face turn black.

Yu Shinan and Gao Shilian both laughed.

Several elderly people were laughing happily when a monk came to the door. Gao Lin immediately went to ask what was going on.

After a while, he came back and said to the elders present: "The Indian monk Bopo wants to build a temple and wants to ask Mr. Ouyang to write a few words for him."

Ouyang Xun was about to play cards when he stroked his beard and said, "I have no affinity with monks, so I won't go."

Gao Lin nodded in reply, and the monk who came to ask questions had no choice but to leave tactfully.

Gao Shilian sighed, "My eldest grandson's East Palace hasn't been renovated for many years, but the monks are quite wealthy."

At night, Gao Shilian wrote down what the elders had said today and asked Gao Lin to deliver it to the palace.

In the Eastern Palace, Li Chengqian was looking at the files of Li Tai's Literary Institute. The compilation of the Comprehensive Geography was still just an outline.

Send the Persian envoy to the Literature Institute so that a map of the Western Regions can be compiled.

My uncle then brought me the outline of Li Tai's Comprehensive Geography.

In fact, this matter did not have Li Tai's permission. He is now accompanying his father in Mount Li. In fact, it is nothing for his uncle to ask someone to copy an outline. He is my uncle, and naturally Li Tai's uncle as well.

Li Tai's Comprehensive Geography should not be much different from the previous geographical outlines of the Han Dynasty. It would be better if the climate, water and soil, as well as historical evolution of the geography could be recorded.

Geography is a very complex subject. In fact, most natural sciences are very complex.

Xiaofu has been getting fatter and fatter recently, with a chubby face. At the age of twelve, he is still a little ignorant.

She is the cook of the Eastern Palace, so everyone thinks that she has been getting fatter and fatter in the past six months, most likely because she has been cheating on her friends.

But whenever other palace maids teased her, she would quarrel.

Fortunately, Sister Ning'er has always protected her.

Xiaofu handed over a bamboo tube wrapped in cowhide and said, "Your Highness, this was sent by Duke Xu's mansion."

Li Chengqian put down the outline in his hand, took the bamboo tube, and looked up at her.

Xiaofu's cheeks were red and he stood aside with his head down.

Li Chengqian asked again: "What? Did you quarrel with them again?"

Xiaofu pursed her lips and bowed slightly, saying, "If they dare to talk again, I will tear their mouths apart."

Li Chengqian suddenly smiled and said, "The books in the back hall have been dried. Please help Sister Ning'er to clean them up."

"Here."

After watching her leave, Li Chengqian took out the letter paper from the bamboo tube and saw that the seal on the wax seal was from his uncle.

The East Palace was even quieter at dusk, with a cool breeze occasionally blowing into the palace.

The northwest wind in Guanzhong is sometimes very strange, and occasionally blows into southeast wind.

The sun was setting and the hall was dim. Li Chengqian opened the letter and read its contents by the oil lamp. Wang Gui planned to live in retirement in Mount Zhongnan. He was determined to go this time. The monks of Shengguang Temple wanted to build a temple. And Ouyang Xun was living in his uncle's house these days. He liked tea.

The three pieces of news are also very important.

Wang Gui now serves as the Minister of the Court, a position equivalent to that of Zhangsun Wuji's Minister of the Central Secretariat, and is the highest official rank below the Prime Minister.

If he leaves the court and insists on living in Zhongnan Mountain to retire, the position of Shizhong will be vacant.

The news that Shengguang Temple is going to be built seems to be a piece of news that is neither important nor trivial.

The third news: Ouyang Xun likes tea?

Li Chengqian said loudly: "Xiaofu!"

Xiaofu, who was packing books in the back hall, came in again with a few books in her arms. She hurried, "What do you want, Your Highness?"

Li Chengqian asked: "Who is the person who sent the letter?"

Xiaofu said, "As usual, the one who delivered the letter to Duke Xu was an old man without a beard, and he is still waiting for a reply at the Suzaku Gate."

Li Chengqian picked up a bag of tea hanging nearby and said, "Give it to the messenger."

Xiaofu put down the book in his hand again, took a bag of tea from the prince, and trotted away again.

Ning Er walked out from the back hall, picked up the scroll on the ground, and said, "This girl is always so impetuous. She could have put the scroll away first and then served the tea leaves."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Her brain can't do two things at the same time."

Ning Er covered her mouth and chuckled, saying, "I will teach her well. She entered the palace relatively late."

After saying that, Li Chengqian walked into the kitchen of the East Palace again, and found that the girl had indeed not cooked the millet.

She had to cook dinner by herself. In fact, Xiaofu had a very high status in the East Palace because she could cook.

For a long time in Donggong, she cooked dinner for her younger brothers and sisters.

(End of this chapter)