The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 84 War Letter
Cen Wenben said: "I hope the court's preparations are unnecessary."

Ma Zhou nodded and asked, "When did Jie Li die?"

Cen Wenben said: "Your Majesty ordered Zhen Quan to treat him. He is now beside Jie Li. He said that he will most likely not live until next spring, and will live for two months at most."

Li Chengqian stood under the eaves of the Secretariat, listening to the two people's stories and the discussions of the people in the room. Groups of officials left quickly.

This winter doesn't look like it's destined to be peaceful.

The drizzle soon turned into snowflakes and fell on the wet ground.

This kind of weather is the most annoying, because after the snow, the originally wet ground condenses into ice, and it is easy to slip if you are not careful when walking.

Not only that, the same is true for farming. The soil under the snow will freeze into ice and form permafrost.

Auspicious snow means a good harvest, so more snow is not necessarily a bad thing.

Seeing that Cen Wenben and Ma Zhou were still discussing, Li Chengqian walked into the Secretariat.

Sitting in his seat, with nothing to do for a while, he looked at the busy crowd and picked up the file beside him and started to look through it.

Look at the various measures and ways of argumentation in the court.

This was a volume discussing the categories of responsibilities of the three provinces and six ministries. It was quite boring to read, so I just glanced at it and put it back on the bookshelf.

I picked through the files and found an interesting one.

This file records the discussion of the court on the execution of death sentences in the fifth year of Zhenguan. For any prisoner to be executed, each department must make five reports within two days. Even if it is under the jurisdiction of the prefectures, at least three reports are required.

On the day of the execution, the Shangshi Bureau was not allowed to admit wine or meat, and the Neijiaofang and Taichang Temple were not allowed to play music.

Since human lives are at stake, my father's opinion is to report this matter again and again until the person is really killed. This can be said to be extremely cautious.

Unless there is really someone who is unforgivable, there is no need to be so cumbersome and you only need to report it once.

There is another incident recorded in the file, which says that a militiaman in Guanzhong killed three people.

He was originally sentenced to beheading, but the court repeatedly petitioned the court, and finally someone in the community pleaded for mercy, because the person killed by this militiaman was a local villain.

Because they were harming the villagers, this militiaman killed them.

Therefore, the court released this militiaman and only allowed him to perform labor service for half a year before he could return to his hometown and become a good citizen.

Inside Ganlu Palace, Li Shimin looked at the heavy snow outside the palace. After reading the files in his hand, he asked the eunuch beside him, "What has the prince been doing these days?"

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince goes to the Secretariat every day and does not return to the East Palace until noon."

"Does he go there every day?"

"Your Majesty, except for the occasional unexpected event, I will definitely go if there is nothing else to do in the East Palace."

Li Shimin had just finished reading Zhangsun Wuji's memorial, and with his hands behind his back, he asked with a smile, "What is he doing in the Secretariat?"

"Your Majesty, the Secretariat has given His Royal Highness the Crown Prince a seat, and His Royal Highness has been looking through the files of previous years in the Secretariat every day. It is rumored that His Royal Highness has read almost all the files of the Secretariat in the past month."

"To see the files?"

"Exactly."

"Just looking at the files?"

The eunuch gestured and said, "Your Highness has chosen a corner so as not to disturb the officials from handling their official business. He usually sits in the corner, which is very dark. He needs an oil lamp to read the contents of the file clearly."

Li Shimin asked, "I asked him to participate in government affairs, and this is all he does?"

The eunuch hesitated and continued, "As Ma Zhou, Cen Wenben and others have said, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is very studious."

"What time do you go and come back every day?"

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince will leave after the morning hour. After noon, when most people have left, the Crown Prince will leave. Most of the time, the Crown Prince sits in the corner without saying a word. Sometimes, you almost forget that there is a Crown Prince sitting in the Secretariat."

Li Shimin sighed: "Haha, my son is really hardworking."

Regardless of whether the diligence that Your Majesty talked about was real or fake, the eunuch's scalp tightened, and he lowered his head and dared not speak.

Holding a memorial in his hand, Li Shimin walked towards the Lizheng Hall.

At this moment, in the Lizheng Hall, Empress Changsun was packing clothes. Li Lizhi helped her mother fold the clothes and put them in wooden basins.

There was a note in front of each wooden basin, with names written on it, such as Li Zhi, Li Shen, Dongyang, Gaoyang...

Because these wooden basins are usually used by younger brothers and sisters to wash, they usually identify which one is theirs by the labels.

Since the wooden basin from last year had been used for a year, it had to be replaced with a new one this year, and the queen mother also prepared new clothes for my younger brothers and sisters.

Whoever's new clothes are placed in that basin,
Empress Changsun said, "Fortunately, your brother brought the children here at the beginning of winter and measured their heights. Otherwise, we wouldn't know how to make new clothes this year."

"My brothers and sisters will definitely be very happy to have new clothes." Li Lizhi said with a smile as she put down the clothes.

As he spoke, Li Shimin walked into the hall.

Li Lizhi smiled and said, "Father."

"Yeah." Li Shimin responded and sat down in the hall.

Li Lizhi packed up and said to the palace maids, "Send these wooden basins and new clothes to the Emperor's Chongwen Hall. After I tell them to, they can take their new clothes one by one."

"Here."

Each palace maid walked out of the Lizheng Hall carrying a wooden basin.

Li Shimin drank hot tea and said, "Why do you have to come before you can get new clothes?"

Li Lizhi helped her mother sort out the clutter here and said, "This is order. This is the rule of the Eastern Palace. Brothers and sisters must queue up before they can sit down to eat. They must also queue up to wash and fetch water. Only in this way can everything be orderly. Otherwise, it will be a mess."

Empress Changsun said: "There are so many children in the East Palace, not just one or two."

Li Lizhi nodded, "Yes."

Hearing his daughter and the queen speaking for Cheng Qian, Li Shimin looked even more unhappy. He picked up the memorial in his hand and said, "Take a look."

"How can a concubine like me read the memorials from the court?"

"It doesn't matter. This is a solution that my prince came up with."

Empress Changsun frowned and took the memorial to read it. Written on it was a strange trade strategy. She closed the memorial and put it back on the table.

Li Shimin asked: "What do you think?"

Empress Changsun asked in confusion, "The memorial was written by my brother."

"I know that Cheng Qian would tell him this strategy, and he also said that it was Xiao Gong who told him." Li Shimin snorted coldly: "Hahaha... How could I not know what kind of morals these brothers of mine are."

When talking about the relationship between father and son again, Empress Changsun held her temple and remained silent.

Li Lizhi's movements were much lighter when she was tidying up the debris.

Li Shimin just picked up the tea bowl, but before taking a sip, he put it down again and said, "You know I asked Cheng Qian to participate in government affairs, but do you know what he does?"

Empress Changsun asked in confusion, "What's the matter?"

"He actually found a corner in the Secretariat and sat there every day looking through the files of previous years. He spent a month there and read almost all the files in the Secretariat." After helping her mother to sort out the miscellaneous items, Li Lizhi walked out of the Lizheng Hall lightly and listened outside the hall.

All the sensible palace maids came out, and only His Majesty and the Queen were left in the palace.

Empress Changsun looked at her husband's face and asked in a low voice, "Then how does Your Majesty hope Cheng Qian will participate in government affairs?"

"I..." Li Shimin hesitated to speak.

"Then may I ask, Your Majesty, do you want Cheng Qian to give instructions on state affairs and instruct the court officials on how to do things, and to be awe-inspiring in the Secretariat, with all the officials following his lead once he speaks?"

Li Shimin's expression eased a little.

"I would like to ask your majesty how Li Chengqian should participate in government affairs? How can a child who is not even sixteen years old rule the country and pacify the country? What kind of talent and strategy does Chengqian have that your majesty thinks so highly of him?"

His wife's two questions left Li Shimin speechless. He picked up the tea bowl beside him and took a sip of tea in a huff.

Empress Changsun sighed, "What kind of people are the civil and military officials under your majesty? For example, Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Cen Wenben, and Yuchi Gong, Li Yaoshi, and Qin Qiong?"

"Your Majesty, although Cheng Qian sometimes has some true insights, they are also the result of his diligent observation of politics. It is because Your Majesty has so many talented people under his command. Cheng Qian admires the talented people under Your Majesty's command, which is why he is like this in the Secretariat. This is out of respect, respect for the talents of Your Majesty's civil and military officials."

Li Shimin said discouragedly: "There is no need to do this..."

Empress Changsun said, "My uncle said that Cheng Qian is more mature than his peers. He knows what to do without your Majesty telling him. Why bother worrying about it and getting upset?"

"You men are always like this. You get angry at the moment and you have to wait for someone to scold you before you calm down. So many years have passed, and you are still like this."

A smile flashed across Li Shimin's lips, then quickly disappeared.

Empress Changsun pointed to the warm couch that had been prepared nearby and said, "Your Majesty has been busy all day. Take a rest first. I still have to feed Sizi."

After saying this, the queen picked up little Sizi and fed her patiently.

It is said that a mother understands her child best. No matter what happened to the Crown Prince, Empress Changsun would know the situation without having to go to the East Palace.

You can know what the child is thinking and what is in his heart.

Several children in the family, such as Princess Dongyang and Princess Gaoyang, were raised by the queen.

The Queen naturally knows clearly whether they are doing well in the East Palace.

His Majesty was lying on the couch, breathing became smoother, he was probably asleep.

After hearing that her father, the emperor and mother in the palace had stopped talking, Li Lizhi left with peace of mind.

In the eighth year of Zhenguan, just after the twelfth lunar month and on this day in January when it was still snowing, a piece of bad news reached Chang'an City: Jie Li Khan had passed away.

The Turkic Khan who was so majestic on the grassland passed away. Since Li Yuan had just gained a foothold in Guanzhong, the feud between this Turkic Khan and the Tang Dynasty had lasted until the Battle of Yinshan three years ago.

It was not until this Jie Li Khan was taken to Chang'an City that the feud between this Khan and the Tang Dynasty was finally settled.

The grudge was over, the person was dead, and She'er was kneeling in front of Jie Li's bed and crying loudly.

Zhen Quan stood aside in silence, while Su Dingfang stood outside the house, listening to the crying and looking at the heavy snow.

Three days later, an imperial decree came from the court, conferring the title of King Guiyi on Jie Li, granting him a posthumous title, and ordering the Turks to bury Jie Li using Turkic rituals and bury him in the Ba River.

A Turkic Khan who lived in Chang'an for a long time was buried in Guanzhong.

He was granted the title by the Heavenly Khan, and was given dignity after his death.

In the Eastern Palace, Li Chengqian would also bring the files of the Secretariat to the Eastern Palace to read, and return them the next day.

Li Zhi and Li Shen were sitting aside, revising the questions they had answered incorrectly. As errand boys for the Eastern Palace class, they were brought by their brother to do the questions.

"Royal brother?" Li Zhi suddenly looked up and asked.

"Yeah." Li Chengqian responded and looked at the file by himself.

"Why did Father give the title of Turkic Khan?"

"Because our father is the Heavenly Khan, he can give respect to Jie Li, and naturally he can also give respect to other monarchs or other Khans in the Western Regions. This is the tolerance of the Heavenly Khan and the spirit of the Tang Dynasty. Let them know that as long as they bow their heads and submit, they can be given respect."

Li Shen said: "The Turks are also the people of the Heavenly Khan."

"Has the problem been solved?"

Hearing their elder brother's cold question, the two younger brothers quickly lowered their heads and then scratched their heads while trying to solve the problem.

The Tang Dynasty took charge of Jie Li's funeral. Many Turks came to see him off along the way, and She'er buried his uncle personally.

On the second night after this incident, several envoys from Mobei got drunk in Chang'an.

A figure followed slowly from behind.

The man from Mobei was still talking about Jie Li, but he didn't know that there was someone getting closer and closer behind the two of them.

It was a dark night with heavy snow still falling, until the few of them came to an alley to relieve themselves.

A scimitar came out of the darkness, and a dark figure chopped down the men to the ground. The drunken men only shouted a few times before being drowned in the wind and snow. The blood could not flow in the snow and slowly seeped into the snow.

Ashina She'er took the wine jug they had thrown on the ground, took a sip of the wine, and started to get busy while watching the few people being chopped down.

The next day, just after dawn, Ashina She'er hung several human heads on the horse's neck and rode out of Chang'an City.

Upon seeing this, the defenders in front of Chang'an City hurried to report.

Su Dingfang, who had just finished dealing with Jie Li's funeral, heard the news and immediately chased in the direction Ashina She'er left.

They chased him all the way to the Wei River, where the Turk had already crossed the bridge.

Su Dingfang led a group of cavalrymen and faced him across the river, "She'er! What are you doing?"

Ashina She'er shook the head in his hand and shouted, "This is a declaration of war from the Turks to Mobei. It has nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty! You don't have to worry about it."

His words came from across the river.

Su Dingfang shouted, "You don't want to see the Khan anymore?"

Sheer said loudly: "Wait until the Turks conquer Mobei, then come and see the Heavenly Khan."

After saying this, Ashina She'er uttered the unique cry of the Turks, and headed north alone on horseback, carrying the head.

"General, shall we continue to pursue?"

Su Dingfang watched She'er leave, then looked at the wooden bridge a mile away and said, "If we cross the river now, we won't be able to catch up."

"How should we report this to the court?"

"Report truthfully."

"Here."

Su Dingfang urged the horse under him to go back.

Li Daozon, the prefect of Jingzhao, finally found the bodies in Chang'an and confirmed that no one else died last night. Only a few envoys from the Xueyantuo in Mobei died. He hurried to report to the court.

(End of this chapter)