The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 549 Liu Rengui and the Ministry of Rites are enemies
Lu Dongzan raised his head and said, "He is a friend, and he is also the Protector General of the Tang people."

The next day, Songtsen Gampo sent out another letter. The person who delivered the letter was a Tibetan warrior who rode his horse towards Chang'an City.

Lu Dongzan sat back in front of the gate of the Protectorate, and when he saw the warriors rushing to Chang'an City, he smiled knowingly.

The Protectorate was very busy today, with officers and soldiers running back and forth non-stop. Lu Dongzan drank barley wine and waited here until dusk, but he did not see Li Anqi come back.

Whenever officers and soldiers from the Protectorate passed by, they would see the decadent and old Tibetan prime minister, and could even smell the alcohol on him.

It was not until night that Li Anqi returned and saw Lu Dongzan, who was drunk outside the door.

It was night and the temperature was dropping. If Lu Dongzan just lay outside like this, he would probably freeze to death, not to mention that he was an old man now.

Li Anqi helped Lu Dongzan into the Protectorate and let him sleep peacefully in the house.

After coming back, Li Anqi still has to be busy with the matters at hand.

A month passed like this. Li Anqi left here before dawn every day and returned to the Protectorate at night.

Today, after a busy day, Li Anqi returned to the Protectorate and met Lu Dongzan with a cart of wine.

The wine on the cart is in jars, and only when the wine from Guanzhong is transported will such large jars be used.

Lu Dongzan said loudly: "We need to drink good wine today!"

Li Anqi got off his horse and asked, "Where did the wine come from?"

Lu Dongzan opened the wine jar, took a deep sniff, and said with a smile, "Haha! Good wine from Guanzhong."

I don't know why the Tubo prime minister brought so many jars of wine today.

Until Lu Dongzan got drunk and was vomiting from a basin, Li Anqi patted him on the back and said, "The wine in Guanzhong is stronger. You shouldn't drink so much."

After Lu Dongzan finished vomiting, he fell asleep holding the basin.

Li Anqi snatched the wooden basin from his hand and threw it outside the Protectorate, then covered Lu Dongzan with a blanket.

"Protector Li, the transfer order from the court."

Li Anqi was surprised and took the transfer order and looked at it with a frown.

A deputy general at the side asked: "Protector Li, the court wants to..."

Li Anqi nodded.

Upon seeing this, the deputy general smiled and understood what Li Duhu meant.

From the beginning of this year, everyone in the Protectorate knew that Li Duhu had been looking forward to the day of returning to Chang'an. Li Duhu had written several documents to inquire about the Ministry of War's opinion, but there was no response to the documents sent by Li Duhu.

Now that the response had finally come, Li Anqi smiled happily holding the document. He wanted to get on his horse and head to Chang'an with the document.

But before leaving, Li Anqi still had a lot of things to do. He confirmed that the protector general who would take over was Cheng Chumo, the son of the current Duke Lu.

General Cheng Chumo is still two days' journey from the Tubo Protectorate. If he sets out now and rides eastward, he will be able to see Cheng Chumo on his way to the Protectorate at dawn.

"When does the Protector General plan to leave?"

Li Anqi looked at the drunken Lu Dongzan and whispered, "If Young Master Cheng saw Lu Dongzan lying like this in the Protectorate..."

"The young master will most likely beat up the Tibetan prime minister and then throw him out. If we pursue the matter... the young master will most likely say that he doesn't know Lu Dongzan."

Li Anqi stayed in the Protectorate for another day until Lu Dongzan woke up from his drunken stupor, then he talked about the transfer order.

Lu Dongzan smiled and said, "You are finally leaving, my friend!"

Li Anqi patted Lu Dongzan on the shoulder and said, "Drink less."

"Hahaha! I can't live without wine."

Li Anqi said to this friend who he had known for less than a year, "I am leaving now. Don't come to the Protectorate anymore. Young Master Cheng is not someone you can easily mess with."

Lu Dongzan left drunk and it was unknown whether he heard these words or not.

Li Anqi mounted his horse and rode away with his men. The Protectorate was about to welcome a new Protector-General.

After riding his horse for ten miles, Li Anqi saw Cheng Chumo who was on his way to the Tubo Protectorate.

The two sides greeted each other briefly and left with their people.

Li Anqi served as the Protector General of the Tubo Protectorate for four years. This time he was able to return home and pay homage to his father.

In October of the 13th year of the Qianqing reign, autumn had arrived in Guanzhong. Li Shimin was walking in Anning Village, looking at the persimmons hanging on the branches. "In another month, these persimmons will be ripe."

Chang Sun Wuji said: "I would like to congratulate Your Majesty."

Li Shimin stopped under the persimmon tree and asked, "What do you want to congratulate?"

"There are many young people in Tibet praising the Tang Dynasty."

"Praise what?"

In the past two years, Li Shimin has been living in the village, never asking about state affairs, and naturally he doesn't know the current political situation.

If he really wanted to understand, Li Shimin could only know that his eldest grandson had been very busy with academic affairs recently, and the child would eat a lot every time he came to visit him.

"The subjects of Tubo praised the Tang Dynasty for giving them pastures, cattle and sheep."

Li Shimin was puzzled and asked: "Which pasture did the Tang Dynasty give them?"

Zhang Sun Wuji explained: "Those pastures were originally in Tubo, but they did not belong to the insignificant herdsmen at the beginning. Now the Heavenly Khan has distributed those pastures that did not originally belong to them to them, and tens of thousands of people have bowed down to Chang'an City for this."

The cold wind of late autumn blew by, and Li Shimin looked at the withered grass and trees and asked, "What on earth did my son do?"

Changsun Wuji recounted what happened in Tubo.

What happened in Tubo was very sudden, so sudden that before people could figure it out, group after group of Tubo people wanted to pledge allegiance to the Tang Dynasty.

"The Tang Dynasty built counties in Tubo. They thought that they had to build counties first before they could gather people together. So there were groups of people. The Heavenly Khan said that building counties was not suitable in Tubo and wanted the court officials to come up with a better solution."

"This matter has been debated for a long time in the court, but there has been no result. The Heavenly Khan hopes that the Tibetan herders can maintain their original lives without the need to divide them into counties and prefectures, and do not need to stick to the rules. However, the court officials think that if they want to control, they must divide them into counties, and if they want to govern and keep the people safe, they must share power."

Li Shimin snorted coldly and said, "He has so many talented people under his command, is there anything he can't accomplish?"

Tian Khan wanted to maintain the original living rules of the Tibetans, but the court felt that counties were needed to govern the people.

In the general trend of the Qianqing era, almost everyone firmly believed that the current governance policy was the best, and under the current circumstances, people had finally gotten used to the current government system, and the way people dealt with various matters tended to be more efficient.

Efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness are the criteria for most people and are also the behavior that everyone in the court is pursuing.

The situation of the times cannot be stopped, and this situation will continue for a long time in the future. People are walking out of the haze of the former Sui Dynasty. Most people of this era were born in the depressed times of the Wude period and grew up in the pride of the Zhenguan period.

Therefore, the people of Tang Dynasty are proud now, and under the influence of efficient governance, people firmly believe in the new policies, and even arrogantly believe that the current governance policy is the best.

This is why some people think that the county system should be implemented on the Tibetan plateau, dividing the Tibetan herders into small settlements, so as to better govern, control and centralize power. This was one of the few times that the emperor compromised with his courtiers, and this compromise was rare.

The emperor hoped to have a better way to govern Tubo, but before a more clever method was found, the emperor agreed to implement the county system.

In the palace, Li Chengqian looked at the report from the Ministry of War and instructed Pei Yan, "Let Li Anqi take charge of the Zhechong Mansion in Zhengzhou."

Pei Yan said: "General Li Anqi still has to go and pay tribute to his father."

Li Chengqian sat down and said calmly, "He has worked hard in the Tubo Protectorate over the years. I don't know if the position of the commander-in-chief of the Zhechoufu will comfort his soul in heaven."

Pei Yan did not know about the affair between the former Minister of Rites and His Majesty. Perhaps His Majesty was still the Crown Prince at that time, and he himself probably had not yet passed the imperial examination to enter the officialdom.

"Okay, let Li Anqi take up the post next year."

“This is a memorial sent by Silla.”

Seeing His Majesty accept the memorial, Pei Yan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, there are many ships from Silla coming to Laizhou, and there is indeed news recently that the Japanese have appeared in the East China Sea again."

Li Chengqian ordered: "In the territory of Silla, is there anyone willing to go to the territory of the Japanese?"

"Yes, there are many."

Hearing Pei Yan's affirmative reply, Li Chengqian said again: "Then let them go. Whatever they can get is theirs. The Tang Dynasty will not compete with them for it."

Pei Yan said sternly, "I obey your orders."

When leaving the new palace, Pei Yan paused and looked back. His Majesty did not issue an edict, but just said a few casual words. However, if he really did that, under the temptation of large amounts of gold and silver, more Silla people would rush into the Japanese territory, and would kill more than Jin Chunqiu.

As soon as he arrived at Chengtian Gate, Pei Yan saw Liu Rengui arguing with the Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Liu Rengui learned about the correspondence between Songtsen Gampo and Your Majesty, and that the Emperor and Songtsen Gampo had already planned it while the Ministry of War continued to send people to Tubo.

Originally, no outsiders in the court knew about this matter, but Li Anqi's sudden transfer attracted the attention of Liu Rengui, who wanted to get to the bottom of the matter.

It has to be said that Songtsen Gampo's letter has caused unnecessary trouble to the court. No one knows what the Zamp, who is far away in Tubo, thinks. If it were not for the Zamp's request, Your Majesty would not easily transfer Li Anqi.

Guo Zhengyi was explaining while Liu Rengui kept asking questions.

Until Liu Rengui waved his sleeves and left, Guo Zhengyi still stood there wanting to explain.

Noticing Pei Yan standing beside him, Guo Zhengyi bowed and said, "Excuse me for making fun of you."

"Minister Liu is such a person."

"He thinks that I can help His Majesty do these things now, and I will help His Majesty do more wrong things in the future."

Pei Yan smiled and said, "In fact, when it comes to the interests of the country, right or wrong doesn't matter."

Guo Zhengyi added: "I was negligent. I didn't expect that a transfer order would make him so persistent."

Pei Yan smiled and said, "He is not the only one like him. There are more and more people like him in the court."

When it comes to being a minister, Pei Yan is a very staunch realist. The reality is that right and wrong are never so clear-cut.

Liu Rengui was more of an idealist. He believed that right and wrong should be clearly distinguished.

Finally, Liu Rengui was dealt with, and Guo Zhengyi breathed a sigh of relief. He finally gave up the idea of ​​going to see the emperor.

If he were really allowed to meet His Majesty, Guo Zhengyi felt that he would offend Xu Jingzong, and once a man like Liu Rengui offended Xu Jingzong, things would be out of control.

Sometimes bad luck happens more than once. Guo Zhengyi was still worrying about this matter when he heard the discussions of officials around him.

"Liu Rengui went to see Xu Jingzong."

Upon hearing the news, Guo Zhengyi stood still as if struck by lightning. Misfortunes never come alone. What you fear is bound to come true.

As expected, Liu Rengui dared to yell at Xu Jingzong, which meant that he single-handedly challenged the entire Ministry of Rites officials, and there was constant cursing for a while.

Liu Rengui was able to fight back despite being besieged by so many people.

The chaos did not stop until the Jinwu Guards arrived.

Guo Zhengyi felt that life in the court was becoming increasingly difficult. Minister Liu thought that since the matter involved the Honglu Temple, the Ministry of Rites must also be involved.

But Guo Zhengyi knew very well in his heart that the correspondence between Songtsen Gampo and His Majesty had nothing to do with the Ministry of Rites and Xu Jingzong. It was all done by his own Honglu Temple with the help of His Majesty.

Minister Xu is a person who attaches great importance to old friendships. Regardless of whether this matter is related to the Ministry of Rites or not, Minister Xu will stand up for it.

"Hahaha! Xu Jingzong, you have finally met your fate." Outside the official residence of the Ministry of Rites, Chu Suiliang laughed in a very unkind manner.

After saying this, Chu Suiliang’s eyes went dark, and a shoe flew from somewhere and hit Chu Suiliang in the face.

The laughter also stopped abruptly.

Although Liu Rengui offended Xu Jingzong, he did not want to associate with Chu Suiliang.

However, as long as Xu Jingzong was unhappy, Chu Suiliang would be very happy.

Inside the city of Chang'an, at the residence of Prince Jin, Li Zhi stared in a daze at the charred copper furnace in front of him.

Zhang Jianzhi held two baskets in his hands, one in each hand, and the baskets were full of persimmons.

Li Shen did the same thing, he put the basket down with difficulty.

Li Zhi looked at the copper furnace that failed the experiment and poured cold water into his mouth. When he saw the two people coming, he asked in confusion: "What's going on? Are the persimmons in Guanzhong flooding again?"

Zhang Jianzhi said: "It is indeed rampant."

Li Shen put down the persimmon, picked up the orange beside him and ate it, and asked, "What's wrong with this stove?"

Li Zhi said: "Do you know why my brother told me not to rush for success?"

Li Shen asked in confusion: "Why?"

Li Zhi picked up two small copper objects on the table. This was the first copper mortise and tenon with threads in the Tang Dynasty.

"what is this?"

Li Zhi said: "This is the key to the furnace being able to be cast. Do you know how many days it took the Shaofujian to make these two small objects? How much copper was used? Just such a small thing took several months of hard work."

Li Shen said: "Now that we have this object, what are we waiting for?"

Li Zhi also stood up with great fighting spirit, "This copper furnace is useless, we need to cast an iron furnace."

Zhang Jianzhi ate a persimmon, feeling the cold wind of late autumn. Looking at the fighting spirit of Prince Jin and Prince Ji, he smiled helplessly.

Just when Li Zhi was eager to try, Li Shen poured cold water on him, "Oh no, we have no money!"

"It's bad!" Someone came hurriedly and reported: "Prince Jin! Prince Ji! Minister Xu's house was set on fire."

(End of this chapter)