The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 544 Things to be done together

Originally, Changsun Wuji came to see Your Majesty not to listen to Your Majesty talk about these things, but to inquire about the criticisms in the court. Just this year, Your Majesty dismissed 2,000 officials from various places and transferred 6,000 people, which once caused panic among the people in various prefectures, Luoyang, and even Chang'an City.

The emperor trained a group of censors in the Censorate who were extremely good at observing the interactions between people and money. These censors made a living from this, and investigating hidden money and analyzing human relationships became what they were best at.

The most capable censor among them was under the command of Li Yifu.

Therefore, people in the court thought that Li Yifu was a cruel person and many people were afraid of him. Fortunately, the person in charge of the Censorate was Shangguan Yi, not Li Yifu.

When it comes to correcting unhealthy practices and investigating officials who are partial to others and take bribes for personal gain, His Majesty is very ruthless and those who deserve to be killed are killed, and those who deserve to be exiled are sent to the Western Regions to plant trees.

Speaking of planting trees, Changsun Wuji felt emotional again. The trees in the Western Regions have been planted for more than 20 years and are still being planted. The emperor has never given up the idea of ​​planting trees in the Western Regions.

Even if a batch of trees planted died, they would continue planting next year. After repeating this cycle for many years, they finally grew a large forest near Shazhou.

His Majesty is such a person. He can carry out one thing for decades without fail, whether it is planting trees or handling state affairs.

It has been more than 30 years since the Zhenguan period. These 30 years are enough to change a generation, and the country has also changed a generation.

His Majesty was talking about Songtsen Gampo, and Changsun Wuji stood aside and listened quietly.

Li Chengqian made a look at the eunuch, who, receiving the emperor's gaze, hurriedly handed over a chair and said, "Duke Zhao, please sit down."

Chang Sun Wuji bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the seat."

After hearing his son's words, Li Shimin asked again: "Xinfeng wine in Guanzhong is only three coins a bowl?"

Li Chengqian put the book in his hand on the table, sat down again, and said, "In recent years, there are many more wine-making workshops in Guanzhong, so Xinfeng wine is naturally cheaper."

Li Shimin asked again: "Auxiliary machine?"

Changsun Wuji responded, "The old minister is here."

"When you and I first came to Chang'an, how much did a bowl of Xinfeng wine cost?"

Zhang Sun Wuji thought about it carefully and said, "Twenty coins."

Li Shimin nodded, "You can drink to your heart's content, but I am old."

Zhang Sun Wuji added: "It was also very enjoyable to drink with Your Majesty back then."

Li Shimin smiled knowingly and whispered, "Songtsen Gampo is going to hand over Tubo to you?"

"Replying to Father, in fact, Songtsen Gampo wrote a policy paper. When Guo Zhengyi gave it to his son, he said it was a policy paper on governing Tubo, not handing over the throne to me. He also didn't say he wanted to abdicate."

Li Shimin snorted, "You are already the Heavenly Khan, why do you still care about the position of Zamp?"

"Your Majesty, what you said is absolutely right." Li Chengqian handed over a cup of tea and said, "I don't care about the position of a Zamp. What I care about is the Great Snow Mountain in the northwest of Tubo. I am determined to take this barrier."

Changsun Wuji took the teacup handed to him by His Majesty. The teacup had a frosted texture in his hand. It was a cup made of frosted glass.

Seeing his uncle's curiosity about the cup, Li Chengqian explained, "Originally, the Supervisor of the Imperial Household was going to make a glass cup with better quality, but something went wrong during the firing process. Although it is a defective product, it is a pleasant surprise to hold it in my hands. I am very satisfied with this accidental acquisition."

Changsun Wuji took a sip of tea and carefully placed the cup on the table.

"Songtsen Gampo said that if the Tang Dynasty wants to unify Tibet, it needs to be more determined. Just like those people I killed in Luoyang City, the old Tibetan nobles should also be wiped out."

Li Shimin understood and said, "Songtsen Gampo asked you to kill someone?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Killing the nobles of Tubo is not a good choice, and I do not intend to kill them. I understand what Songtsen Gampo means. Eliminating the old nobles is like breaking bones and reshaping the bones of Tubo. The 19 assistant ministers of the Secretariat have been discussing these matters for a month."

There are now nineteen secretaries and assistant ministers, and the Secretariat in the court is probably full.

Li Shimin knew in his heart that this matter would eventually be handed over to Xu Jingzong. Looking at the whole court and the country, Xu Jingzong was the most suitable person to do this.

Li Chengqian asked, "How is uncle doing lately?"

"Everything is fine, old minister."

"How are you feeling?"

Changsun Wuji shook his head and smiled, "It's still some old problems. I just heard that Your Majesty has dealt with many officials recently, causing panic among the people in the court and the country, so I came to ask."

Li Chengqian said, "There is an important thing to do at Kunming Lake today. Why don't we go and take a look?"

Li Shimin said: "Okay, I was just thinking about going to take a look."

His Majesty did not explain any more, and Changsun Wuji did not want to ask any more questions. Although he was old, he was still concerned about the court and the Li Tang country.

To this day, Changsun Wuji still remembers his uncle's advice, "Except for the crown prince, no matter who you help, the Changsun family will become the target of public criticism."

At that time, I did not explicitly agree to my uncle's request. This kind of thing should not be agreed to easily. He was loyal to the emperor. At that time, he always regarded Li Shimin as a commoner friend who could be trusted with his life. They were both monarch and subject and close friends.

Since they were close friends, they could not sway between the emperor's sons. Changsun Wuji was somewhat fortunate that the prince had been trying hard to win him over.

Changsun Wuji thought to himself, my uncle... Have I really helped His Majesty?
Probably the only time was the letter written in December of the 19th year of Zhenguan, only this one time.

Li Chengqian sat in the carriage with his father and uncle. Duke Ying drove the carriage himself, and the escort team left the palace and headed for Kunming Lake.

The Kunming Lake is very lively today, with groups of villagers gathering around it, and officers and soldiers maintaining order.

The people who arranged the military personnel to maintain order were Xue Rengui and Pei Xingjian, who brought three thousand soldiers.

When the emperor's carriage was about to arrive at Kunming Lake, the soldiers had already cleared the road. People stood on both sides and watched quietly as the emperor's carriage passed through here and headed for Kunming Lake.

When the carriage stopped, Li Chengqian got off first, and then personally helped his father and uncle get off as well.

Li Shimin looked back and saw a huge crowd of people looking at him.

The elderly Khan's hair and beard swayed in the wind. He suddenly nodded to the vast crowd. His movement was so subtle that perhaps the people in the distance did not see it.

There was an ignorant child nearby who ran over. It seemed that the child's adult did not keep an eye on him. The child looked only five or six years old. He bowed and saluted the two emperors of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Take good care of the child." "Yes." Pei Xingjian responded loudly and walked aside with the child.

Changsun Wuji looked around and could take in the entire view of Kunming Lake from here. The lake was full and a lot of water even overflowed and flowed onto the shore.

"What is your majesty going to do?"

Li Chengqian said: "Spring is coming to Guanzhong. March and September every year are the rainy seasons in Guanzhong. The water storage of Kunming Lake is full."

There were continuous drum sounds in the distance. Changsun Wuji looked up and saw many soldiers in leather armor carrying sandbags or digging deeper canals on both sides of a dry river.

The sound of drums was heard again. The soldiers here used the drums to pass messages. The soldiers here sometimes gathered to move goods, and sometimes dispersed to check certain parts of the canal.

Changsun Wuji had no idea where his Majesty's interest came from, so he just accompanied him.

As night fell, the villagers who had been watching went back, but many soldiers were still busy on the dried-up riverbed.

Soon the Queen, Concubine Ning, the Empress Dowager and the Crown Prince arrived.

Li Chengqian handed the baked cake to his son, and then continued to grill a fat fish. "The fish was caught by Xue Rengui from Kunming Lake. He said this fish is the fattest, so he presented it to me."

Changsun Wuji saw that torches were still being waving and the soldiers were giving orders with torches. He looked into the distance. Because the river runs from high to low, he could see very far by standing on the high ground on the bank of Kunming Lake. The torches were like two fire dragons in the night, lying on both sides of the river.

"Uncle, the canal below Kunming Lake needs to withstand the pressure before the gates are opened. They have spent half a month digging the canal here. The gates will be opened early tomorrow morning. Uncle, why don't you watch it with me?"

"I accept your order."

Father and mother were old, so they had fallen asleep in the carriage early. Li Chengqian kept looking at the torches swaying in the distance and said, "Uncle."

The sleepy Changsun Wuji finally came to his senses and said, "Your Majesty."

"Uncle, I have always felt that if a group of people work together on one thing, thousands or even tens of millions of people working hard for one thing, then that thing must be great."

Upon hearing this, Changsun Wuji's expression showed a look of enlightenment.

Li Chengqian said: "Just like when my father went on the Eastern Expedition, there were only 50,000 soldiers and horses at the beginning, but later people from all over the country volunteered to join the army without asking for weapons, military merits or military pay. They were willing to follow my father to complete the Eastern Expedition, and it was hard to refuse... until the Eastern Expedition had more than 100,000 or 200,000 soldiers and horses..."

"Father did not mobilize troops on a large scale, but in order to wipe out the hatred of the former Sui Dynasty, people can go all out, and the blood in their hearts has never cooled. Now I also feel that if millions of people can work together for one thing, countless people will work day and night for one thing."

"I think that was a great thing. The Tang Dynasty needs great things. Such things may be rare, but at least I hope there will be more in the future. In the future, there will be millions of people fighting for it. So I want to build the Western Regions, gather Tubo, and let the people of this land learn how to unite all the forces that can be united."

Xue Rengui, Pei Xingjian and the prince, who were standing in the back, listened to His Majesty's words in silence, their eyes still fixed on the swaying torches in the distance.

The next morning, the Minister of Works Xu Xiaode came hurriedly with his men. The hem of his official uniform was still covered in mud, and his boots were soaked with mud.

Li Chengqian said: "Eat something."

Taking the bowl of porridge handed over by His Majesty, Xu Xiaode bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

As soon as he sat down, Xu Xiaode, still holding the bowl in his hand, did not eat breakfast immediately. Instead, he told His Majesty about the situation of the canals. In order to relieve the pressure on Kunming Lake, the Ministry of Works and the army, with 20,000 people, opened six canals.

Once the embankment of Kunming Lake is dug, the water will flow down along the main canal in front of us, rushing down first into the main canal, and then diverted into six canals, and then flow to Peishui. The embankments on both sides of Peishui were raised, and the villages closest to the river were evacuated.

After hearing these words, Changsun Wuji also understood why the river bank had to be dug at this time. The busy farming season would begin in March, and they had to seize the time after the snow melted and before the spring rain came.

Li Chengqian said loudly: "General Xue, General Pei!"

The two generals came forward and saluted, "Your Majesty!"

Li Chengqian looked at the weather and ordered, "At 3:30 pm, dig the river bank."

"Here!"

Xu Xiaode hurriedly drank the porridge in the bowl in one breath, and hurried to give instructions. The sound of drums was still ringing beside the Kunming Lake, and the drums would not stop until three quarters past three in the morning.

The soldier beating the drum was now sweating profusely, and his arms were still swinging the wooden hammer and hitting the drum hard. His arms were probably extremely sore, but he still kept beating, and it seemed that he would not be replaced until he was exhausted.

The morning sun slowly rose from the east. Li Chengqian said, "Father, uncle, the morning sun here is very beautiful. Father should come and see it more often when he has free time."

Li Shimin was still eating a bowl of porridge and said, "It is enough for me to live in the village."

Xu Xiaode came hurriedly again, "Your Majesty, it is already three quarters past midnight."

Li Chengqian nodded: "Dig up the reservoir."

"Here."

Hundreds of civilian laborers had thick hemp ropes wrapped around their bodies, the sound of drums was more frequent than before, and war horses were galloping on both sides of the canal, patrolling the river. Even a stone in the river would be checked carefully.

Every three hundred steps there is a platform with people waving command flags on the platform.

Li Chengqian added: "This time, digging up the reservoir is related to the livelihoods of three counties, 25 villages, and 86,900 people. The court and the army have rationally mobilized nearly 20,000 people to try to cover all aspects."

As Xue Rengui waved the command flag in his hand, more than a hundred laborers had tied one end of the hemp rope to the wooden stakes of the embankment. The drumbeat suddenly stopped, and the laborers pulled the hemp rope, pulling the wooden stakes of the embankment to both sides.

Until some thin water columns came out from the cracks, the drum sounded again, and only the drum sound was left without any shouting, and people dispersed one after another.

At the dam gate, water columns increased more and more until the gate was opened. A huge flow of water rushed into the river channel, stirring up a cloud of water mist.

When people saw the water falling steadily into the canal and flowing away into the distance, the people who had been working hard for half a month cheered loudly.

Xu Xiaode looked at the gate at the other end of the dam, and after confirming that the water level would drop to a safe level, he hurriedly reported: "Your Majesty, it's going smoothly."

Li Chengqian asked, "Is the diversion in the rear going smoothly?"

Half an hour later, another soldier came riding up, dismounted hastily, saluted and said, "Your Majesty! The diversion went smoothly and has flowed into Peishui."

Another messenger came to report, "Your Majesty, the Peishui River is stable, and the village and the fields are all safe."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Inform all counties that spring ploughing can proceed as normal and they can wait for the spring rain with peace of mind."

(End of this chapter)