The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 76 I am the most mediocre
After putting the memorial away again, Li Chengqian saw a notice being posted in front of Chengtian Gate.

Li Daoyan stood in front of the door and said, "Your Highness, it's the beginning of winter."

Li Chengqian sighed and nodded, "Thank you for staying here."

Hearing this, the guards who were guarding here all saluted.

"Brother Daoyan, do you plan to go home early today?"

Li Daoyan clasped his fists and said, "After nightfall, the generals on duty will come to take over."

Li Chengqian patted his cousin on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work, soldiers."

The guards became more humble. When guarding Chang'an, the prince would personally inspect the city defenses.

If this prince were someone else, he might point fingers.

But the Crown Prince in front of him never gave any instructions when defending Chang'an.

On the contrary, the prince always looked at the soldiers with admiration, and this look alone could boost the spirits of many soldiers.

This feeling of being respected made the soldiers respect the prince even more.

Soldiers who fight for their country and defend a place are naturally worthy of respect. Li Chengqian does not know what these soldiers feel in their hearts. Perhaps instinctively, a dynasty that does not respect veterans and soldiers will not be very powerful.

Even without considering his status as the crown prince, these actions, looks and words were all expressed instinctively without any element of performance.

When His Royal Highness the Crown Prince entered Chengtian Gate and went straight to the East Palace, a guard beside him said, "Do you know? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has an ideal."

Someone asked: "What is the ideal?"

"After I came back from following the King of Jiangxia to conquer Tuyuhun, I was promoted to guard Chengtian Gate after receiving military merit. The general said that the Crown Prince wanted to go to the desert to grow rice."

"Rice?" Someone nearby asked suspiciously, "What is your Highness doing in the desert?"

"Who knows? Maybe His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to sweep across the Western Regions."

Several people in front of Chengtian Gate were discussing in a low voice.

Li Daoyan cleared his throat, and several people fell silent on the spot.

Walking back to the East Palace, his younger brother and sister were taking a nap. Li Chengqian threw aside the memorial from the Ministry of Works to repair the Jiucheng Palace and did not want to read it.

In fact, from a personal emotional point of view, it is already very good for the Li Tang family to have the current surplus on their one and a half acre of land.

If everything really followed the rules of the court, the memorial to repair the Jiucheng Palace would most likely be approved by Prime Minister Fang when submitted to the Secretariat, and the entire process would go on like this.

The power of imperial authority is strong in this world. The emperor can mobilize a huge labor force and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses can be mobilized at any time with just a word.

Really, isn't this kind of power something to be yearn for?

To put it another way, in the future we will have to deal with hundreds of millions of people, develop the country, and build the Tang Dynasty. Which expenditure must not be handled with caution?
Therefore, from a fundamental ideological point of view, it is very important to have the world in mind.

The common people are the main body of history and society, and they are the summary of experience that must never be forgotten.

The Tang Dynasty was really not rich, and traveling thousands of miles to Jiucheng Palace to escape the summer heat was not the best option as the cost was simply too high.

Now that life is a little better and we are no longer as tight as we were in the past two years, can we not maintain the good virtue of living frugally?

As soon as my father has some spare money, he starts to spend it lavishly. This behavior is definitely not good.

Li Chengqian spread out the paper and continued to write about the specific strategies for governing Tuyuhun. At nightfall, Li Lizhi saw that her brother was still concentrating on writing, so she did not let her younger brothers and sisters disturb him.

Ning'er walked into the bedroom with a bowl of rice and saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was concentrating on writing something. He just put a bowl of braised pork with pickled mustard greens and a bowl of pickled radish aside.

Then he silently lit the oil lamp and candlestick and placed them beside His Highness.

It was already night without him noticing. When Li Chengqian finished writing the strategy, only the candlelight in front of him was still bright.

Looking at the cold food in front of me, I prepared dinner.

Ning Er saw this and said, "Your Highness, I will go and heat up the food."

"No, it's not cold yet."

"Here."

Li Chengqian was eating his meal, looking at the dark night outside the palace, and said, "It was still snowing at the beginning of winter last year, right?"

Ning Er nodded and said, "Yes."

The night wind blew, blowing up the papers on the table.

The next day, Li Ke also arrived at the East Palace early. Seeing his brother practicing archery, he stood aside and watched.

This younger brother was a little reserved when he came to the Eastern Palace, probably because he seldom came here. He stood aside with his hands a little restless, sometimes with his hands behind his back, and sometimes with his legs together and his hands hanging down.

Li Chengqian shot an arrow according to the general's words.

The arrows were more stable and faster than before, and a distinct whistling sound could be heard.

"You want to try?"

Hearing the words, Li Ke took the longbow handed to him by his brother, picked up the arrow beside him, and shot an arrow at the target.

The arrow did not hit the center of the target accurately, but was quite a bit off from his own target.

Li Chengqian frowned and looked at the target, remaining silent.

Li Ke quickly said: "Actually, my brother is not good at archery."

"Alas." Li Chengqian felt a little regretful for letting his younger brother perform. His performance was not satisfactory, and he might have thought that he was letting this lonely brother down.

Who do they think I am?
Li Chengqian sighed, "There are two rolls of paper in the Chongwen Hall. You can take them to the Secretariat first. Even if they are gifts from the Eastern Palace, I will go to Prime Minister Fang later."

"Here."

When his royal brother asked him to practice archery, Li Ke felt reserved or at a loss, but he could bring things to his royal brother and give him a hand. This simple task was easy for Li Ke and he was particularly good at it.

Li Ji whispered, "In the army, the King of Wu is actually very good at archery, better than most of his peers in the army, and even His Majesty has praised him."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Really?"

Li Ji nodded, "Maybe it's because I haven't practiced for a long time and I'm a little rusty."

"So what does he usually practice besides archery?"

"Battle formations, marching, riding horses, charging, and swordplay."

Li Chengqian snorted coldly: "There are quite a lot of subjects."

Are all of the emperor's sons so outstanding?
Not to mention Li Ke, there is also Li Tai.

Li Chengqian said: "Among my father's sons and my brothers, I am probably the most mediocre."

Li Ji said: "I think Your Highness is the most extraordinary."

"The general is joking."

"I'm not joking."

Li Chengqian said: "This brother is not good at communication. Let him try. He even deliberately gives in to me."

Li Ji nodded and picked up the arrows on the target.

It’s almost time, and I have to go to the Secretariat to participate in government affairs today.

"Brother, this is today's lesson."

Li Chengqian took the paper from his sister and studied it carefully before asking, "Is there no physical education class?"

"I just ran a long distance the other day, and my younger brother and sister don't want to run."

"After they come back from the Imperial College, we'll add a physical education class in the afternoon, even if it's shuttlecock kicking or rope skipping."

Li Lizhi took the paper and nodded, "Sister, I understand."

Li Ji packed up the arrows and left quickly.

Li Chengqian glanced at the sleeping grandfather and could still hear his thunderous snoring. The eunuch who served the grandfather said, "I have slept soundly these days in Chongwen Hall."

Li Chengqian asked, "Grandpa, didn't you sleep well before?"

The eunuch replied: "I haven't heard such snoring for a long time."

"Well, take good care of grandpa. I'm going to the Secretariat first."

"Here."

Li Ke just arrived at the gate of the Secretariat carrying two large rolls of paper.

There weren't many people here in the early morning.

Seeing the person coming, Cen Wenben put down the broom in his hand and stepped forward and asked, "Your Highness, King Wu, what are these papers for?"

Li Ke put down the two large rolls of paper on his shoulders. The two thick rolls of paper stacked together made a heavy muffled sound when placed on the ground.

The Secretariat also had no paper. Paper was delivered to them on ordinary days, but it was rare.

It was the first time I saw so much paper that the Secretariat could use it for three or two months without saving paper.

Li Ke explained: "These papers belong to my brother. I went to the East Palace this morning and he asked me to bring them to you."

Cen Wenben nodded and said, "It turns out to be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Ke asked again: "Where are these papers?"

Cen Wenben looked around and said, "Just put it here."

"Yeah." Li Ke nodded heavily and left quickly.

"Your Highness, Prince Wu, take care."

After saying that, Cen Wenben untied the rope that tied the roll of paper, spread out a large roll of paper, and looked at the paper carefully. This kind of paper was very thick, better than Xuan paper, but a little rougher than Xuan paper.

Soon, Chu Suiliang also came. He saw two rolls of paper that could only be hugged by one person and asked, "Where did this come from?"

Cen Wenben cut out some of them and used them to write memorials today. He explained, "They were sent by the East Palace. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu helped bring them here."

Chu Suiliang looked at the thickness of the paper and nodded, saying, "Although it is not as good as rice paper, it is not bad for writing."

When Prime Minister Fang and Duke Zhao arrived, the Secretariat began to get busy.

Li Chengqian came hurriedly with yesterday's strategy and said, "Teacher, this is the strategy I wrote."

Changsun Wuji, who was standing by, cleared his throat.

Fang Xuanling whispered, "Duke Zhao is in charge of this matter."

Li Chengqian nodded and handed the memorial to his uncle.

He first took a look at the contents of the memorial, which was filled with a lot of words, and even said that diplomacy should be initiated before the war begins.

After a long while, Changsun Wuji said, "The envoys from Gaochang and Mobei Xueyantuo should arrive in a few days."

Li Chengqian nodded and sat aside obediently, being as sensible as possible and never disturbing his teacher and uncle when they were handling official business.

Zhang Sun Wuji added: "There are already many conflicts between Mobei and the Turks. When all their envoys arrive, we can meet them together with the Turkic envoys."

Li Chengqian asked in a low voice: "Uncle wants to test their attitude first."

Zhang Sun Wuji shook his head and said, "Let them know the rules of the Tang Dynasty first, and then test them."

"Is the feud between Mobei and the Turks deep?"

"Well, it started four years ago." Changsun Wuji was still looking at the prince's article, nodding and speaking in a low voice.

Fang Xuanling suddenly asked, "I sent a memorial to the Ministry of Works yesterday, but why hasn't there been a reply yet?"

"Go back to Fang Xiang, it was sent yesterday." The clerk hurriedly said, "I will go ask again."

"Ah."

Li Chengqian sat upright, pretending not to hear.

The clerk walked hurriedly out of the Secretariat, passing the deserted Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel, which were also empty. Most people were on leave, and many places in the imperial city were deserted.

I went straight to the Ministry of Industry, whose door was ajar.

When I pushed the door open, I saw only three or two clerks sitting here, chatting.

"Excuse me, is Master Yan here?"

"I'm going to see His Majesty. I'll probably be back after noon."

When the clerk heard the news, his face became solemn and he left quickly.

Inside the Ganlu Palace, Yan Liben was reporting to His Majesty on the preparations for renovating the Jiucheng Palace.

Li Shimin listened to Yan Liben's report and frowned, "So if we don't send people to build it now, we won't be able to escape the summer heat next year?"

Yan Liben replied, "Your Majesty, now that the court has approved it, we will send people to Jiucheng Palace. Construction will probably start in the spring of next year. If we want to avoid the busy farming season and rush it before summer, it will be very tight."

Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "Hasn't the Secretariat given its approval yet?"

Yan Liben kept his mouth shut. He originally wanted to give it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who would then give it to Prime Minister Fang. However, he had not received any approval until now. He regretted that he should have given it directly to Prime Minister Fang yesterday, so as not to have to go through all these twists and turns now.

It's really annoying, Yan Liben complained secretly in his heart. The Ministry of Industry is already busy enough.

Now that the Secretariat has not responded yet, is it a problem with Prime Minister Fang of the Secretariat, or a problem with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, or is it a problem with the Secretariat?

How come Your Majesty wants to build a Jiucheng Palace, but there is still no news?

I calculated in my mind and cursed again, it was really annoying.

Can you say it’s because of the prince?

You said that Prime Minister Fang was wrong? He is Prime Minister Fang, the person His Majesty trusts the most.

Who else can I say?

Yan Liben was confused for a long time without saying anything. He was a person who was easily confused, and now he was at a loss.

Li Shimin asked, "Why? Prime Minister Fang doesn't agree."

Yan Liben said: "It should be..."

"You, the Ministry of Works, should try to save manpower and materials. The government is short of money, so don't make things difficult for the Secretariat."

"I understand." Yan Liben bowed and said, "I was negligent. I will discuss this with Prime Minister Fang when I return."

"Ah."

After getting the nod from His Majesty, Yan Liben was about to leave.

Suddenly I heard your majesty's voice again.

"Forget it, it's almost time for dinner, you stay." Li Shimin said to the eunuch beside him, "Please invite Qingque and Ke'er, as well as Chengqian, Fang Xiang, and Duke Zhao."

"Here."

Yan Liben's steps froze in place, he was caught in a dilemma. Whenever things went wrong it would be very annoying, especially when it shouldn't have been handed over to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. But he couldn't blame His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so who else could he blame? He could only blame himself.
I felt very upset and wanted to resign...

Li Chengqian was discussing the reform plan of Tuyuhun with Fang Xiang and his uncle. They were going to start with the children at the grassroots level and send several scholars to teach Tuyuhun.

A eunuch came hurriedly and said, "Prime Minister Fang, Duke Zhao, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

The eunuch bowed respectfully and then said, "Your Majesty, please go to Ganlu Palace for dinner."

Li Chengqian frowned and said, "I am talking to Fang Xiang..."

Zhang Sun Wuji took a deep breath, fearing that his nephew would speak ill of His Majesty, and quickly bowed and said, "I obey your order."

(End of this chapter)