The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 9: Sowing the seeds of a new doctrine
Ning Er frowned and asked, "Your Highness, do you want to get involved in the business of the merchants?"

"I was just asking casually."

"Your Highness, if you have any questions, I will answer them."

Li Chengqian frowned and said, "The Prince of Hejian has married so many concubines. He must be the most unbelievable among all the princes."

Ning Er replied, "Back then, the Prince of Hejian was one of the four generals of the royal family who held military power, but now he has returned the military power to the court. It is rumored that when Your Majesty and General Li Jing pacified the Central Plains, the Prince of Hejian pacified the Jiangnan and Lingnan regions, and there were rumors that the Prince of Hejian was plotting a rebellion."

After hearing this, Li Chengqian finally understood why the man had to marry so many concubines even though he had lost his military power.

Logically speaking, the character of Hejian Prince Li Xiaogong should be that of a scum among the royal family, but he was still trusted by his father, the emperor.

In this way, the absurd behavior can be explained.

Li Chengqian smiled and asked, "Does he like to watch Red Mansions?"

Ning Er said, "Your Highness is joking. The Prince of Hejian is a general, and warriors don't like this kind of story."

"With so many concubines, his family must have a lot of money."

"Logically speaking..." Ning Er hesitated, "It should be."

"How much can a copy of Red Mansions sell for outside now?"

"Many scholars in the Hongwenguan and Sifangguan copied it, and one scroll probably cost 20 or 30 coins."

Li Chengqian stood up, looked at his bookshelf, and took down a volume of Dream of the Red Chamber. "These are the three volumes that have not been taken out yet. Have someone give them to the Prince of Hejian."

Seeing her suspicious face, Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Do you think it is inappropriate for me to give the Red Mansion to a warrior?"

Ning'er took the volume and replied, "Yes."

"Have someone deliver it and tell them that this volume has not been shown to anyone else."

"Here."

When Li Lizhi returned with her younger brother and sister, it was already night. They had lunch in the Lizheng Hall, but were still hungry when they returned to the Eastern Palace.

Ning'er was busy making arrangements, and the East Palace became lively and busy.

This is good, she feels that His Highness talks more.

In fact, the reason why I was still hungry was because the noodles made by my royal brother were delicious.

Even in Lizheng Hall, I deliberately left my stomach empty.

Li Lizhi sat in a row with a group of her younger brothers and sisters, eating noodles with happy smiles on their faces.

Children's emotions are simple, and a delicious meal of noodles can make them feel very happy.

Li Zhi opened a bundle and said, "Brother, look! This is what I brought from Lizheng Palace."

The younger brother was still at the age of changing teeth. He smiled and said, "Brother, look, this is the jade cup that father usually drinks from."

Li Chengqian picked it up and smelled it, and there was even some residual smell of alcohol.

"Brother, here are the paperweights and brushes that father used. This..." Li Zhi was a little puzzled. "Huh? Why is father's shoe here? Why is there only one?"

He scratched his head and looked through his bag.

Li Chengqian looked at him in distress, then looked at the things in front of him. He had originally wanted to ask them to take some daily necessities, but he didn't expect that the child would also take his father's things.

At night, in Lizheng Palace, Empress Changsun had just put little Sizi to sleep.

Li Shimin looked at the empty hall and felt a little uncomfortable for a moment.

However, after there was no incense burner in the palace, the queen's cough was relieved a lot.

His Majesty wanted to drink, and several palace maids were looking for something. Occasionally, they suddenly remembered something and stood aside with their heads down.

Li Shimin nodded and said, "What's wrong?"

"Your Majesty, the jade jar has been taken to the East Palace by His Royal Highness Prince Jin."

Li Shimin frowned and asked, "What is he going to do with it in the East Palace?"

"Today, the princes came to Lizheng Hall and said they wanted to get some daily necessities. They left with quite a lot of things."

The annoyed emperor was furious when he saw that one of his shoes was missing. He clicked his tongue and was at a loss for words, but he couldn't get angry for a moment.

Empress Changsun smiled and said, "Chengqian is a sensible child. He will send her back."

Li Shimin wanted to practice calligraphy, but found that there was not even a pen left. He said slowly: "None of these children is sensible."

In the city of Chang'an, in the Prince of Hejian's Mansion, the current Prince, and the emperor's cousin, Li Xiaogong, was sitting in his own mansion, drinking wine and looking solemnly at the people sent by the Eastern Palace.

The woman with her face covered by a veil was standing outside. She said in a loud voice, "Prince Hejian, Mr. Cao asked the East Palace to give you this scroll of Red Mansions."

"I have never had any contact with Mr. Cao."

"This is what Mr. Cao asked me to do. He has left Chang'an, leaving behind only the complete book of Red Mansions. His Highness said that this book will be the last one to be published. I hope the Prince of Hejian will treat it well."

Li Xiaogong looked at the books in front of him for a long time without saying a word, and asked his female relatives to send the palace maid back to the palace.

I opened one of the volumes and looked at the beautiful words on it. This was the original version of Dream of the Red Chamber.

Li Xiaogong even suspected that this so-called Mr. Cao was a woman?
Of course, giving a book like Dream of Red Mansions to Li Xiaogong is like a cow chewing a peony. Li Xiaogong told people about the current situation in the palace. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince brought all the princesses and princes to live in the Eastern Palace so that the Queen could recuperate well.

Thinking of this, Li Xiaogong nodded and understood some of the reasons.

The next day, the Eastern Palace received a lot of things, including rice, flour, cloth, chicken and duck eggs.

The rice and flour were not of the best quality, the cloth was all coarse, there were also some chicken and duck eggs, and even a whole slaughtered lamb.

Li Chengqian listened to Xiaofu's report.

"The Prince of Hejian said that in the future, the Red Mansion can be handed over to him. As for what the Eastern Palace lacks, just tell him."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "I will choose a good day to reminisce with him and ask him about his past experiences in Jiangnan."

"Here."

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer had to worry about the living needs of the Eastern Palace. After noon, Li Chengqian took his younger brothers and sisters to run around the Eastern Palace twice, and then he started to teach them.

The teaching of his younger brothers and sisters also fell on the shoulders of the Crown Prince of the East Palace.

I don’t know how my younger brothers and sisters taught me in the past, or how the palace arranged things.

Princess Changle Li Lizhi had attended classes at the Imperial College, and she was the only child with a foundation.

After they were all seated, Li Chengqian said loudly, "Count."

"one two Three……"

They counted from left to right, their voices were childish but loud.

Li Chengqian put his hands behind his back and looked at them and said, "In the past, we always said that the people are more important than the emperor. In fact, we can also extend another truth from this principle, that is, the importance of the mass base. Because you are all princes and princesses, what I am talking about starts from our identity. We are different from ordinary people. You were all born in the royal family. As princes and princesses, you must understand this principle even more."

Using my own understanding, I explained to them the importance of mass base.

We don’t expect them to understand much. The purpose is to plant a seed in the children’s hearts first, and then slowly consolidate it and let it grow.

If we really want to establish new knowledge and new thinking, these younger brothers and sisters will be the best disciples.

As they were talking, except for Li Lizhi, Princess Runan, and Dongyang, the other three children were listening attentively. The other children had already lost their minds after hearing the second half.

"Okay, I'll give you another homework assignment. Write down what you think are the key points of what I said today."

"get out of class is over!"

At the command, Gao Yang and Qing He, who were originally sleepy, seemed to have turned on a switch and immediately became lively again.

Ning'er wrote down all the knowledge taught by His Highness, the princesses and the princes today and sent it to Lizheng Hall.

The emperor has been very idle recently, and Li Shimin had originally planned to go winter hunting, but Wei Zheng dissuaded him and he had no choice but to give up.

When he had nothing to do, Li Shimin started looking at the daily records of the Eastern Palace, wondering what my prince was telling the children.

"Mass base?"

Seeing these four words, Li Shimin suddenly became alert and looked at them carefully. "Everyone has self-awareness, and the self-awareness of people from different classes is different, and the effects are also different... In the final analysis, millions of people, millions of ordinary people are the main components of the advancement of history, and the hard-working people are the real creators of material wealth..."

After reading this article, Li Shimin couldn't help but take a breath. In the past, he would only feel as if he was facing a formidable enemy when he saw declarations of war from various rebel kings or various anti-enemy manifestos.

But I have never felt such a tingling sensation when reading an article.

Li Shimin slowly put down the article. There have been many discussions on state governance by ancient sages, but he has also seen people like Cheng Qian, who opened up people's hearts and minds and discussed them in detail.

Is this Huang-Lao school of thought? Confucianism? Or Legalism?
It doesn't seem to be.

Li Shimin whispered: "Where did this kid learn all this knowledge?"

Empress Changsun asked in confusion, "Why is your majesty sweating?"

Li Shimin subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Empress Changsun said, "It's probably because the heater is too hot."

Li Shimin said to the eunuch beside him: "Summon Xuanling and Fuji to Xingqing Palace to see me."

"Yes." The eunuch lowered his head and hurried away.

It was a rest season, and in the depths of winter, most court officials were busy dealing with relatives visiting Chang'an or drinking and having fun with a few good friends.

After receiving the order from His Majesty, Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji hurriedly walked into Chengtian Gate and went all the way to Xingqing Hall in the imperial palace.

Li Shimin was sitting in the hall, reading the articles from the East Palace over and over again. When he saw the two people coming, he did not say anything, but motioned for them to sit down first.

Then, Fang Xuanling sat aside and saw His Majesty looking at a book, sometimes whispering, sometimes thinking.

After a long while, Li Shimin said, "Tell me, who do you think is the creator of material wealth?"

Zhang Sun Wuji hesitated and said, "Material? Wealth? That's so strange."

Fang Xuanling frowned and said, "Since ancient times, wealth has been concentrated in the hands of nobles, and after the Wei and Jin dynasties, all the wealth in the world is in the hands of aristocratic families."

Li Shimin asked again: "Where do you think the family's wealth comes from?"

Take the ten surnames and seven families in front of us for example, where does their wealth come from?

Fang Xuanling replied: "Since the chaotic times of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the emperors have promised benefits to the aristocratic families, and then the ten surnames and seven families have continued to accumulate and become the behemoths they are today."

"No." Li Shimin shook his head and said, "Xuanling, your statement is wrong."

Fang Xuanling was stunned... and remained silent for a long time.

Chang Sun Wuji asked, "What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Li Shimin finally took his eyes off the book and asked the eunuch beside him to hand the two books to the two men.

Fang Xuanling took the scroll with both hands, looked at it carefully, and suddenly smiled, "This is how it should be for the common people. I am too narrow-minded."

After reading it, Changsun Wuji took a deep breath and asked, "Your Majesty, who wrote this article?"

Li Shimin remained silent and asked the two to continue reading.

Should he clearly state that this article was written by his son? Cheng Qian is only fourteen years old. How could he write such an insightful article?
This is of course impossible. Could it be that my son is more promising than me and understands the truth of this world better than I do?

This is impossible. How old is he?

Is he more suitable to be the emperor than me?
How can it be!

Li Shimin thought about it again and again, and all his worries turned into a sigh. He swallowed a mouthful of wine in a depressed mood. Is there an expert around Cheng Qian?
Fang Xuanling stroked his beard and said, "The explanations in the article are consistent with those of the ancient sages who governed the country. The material wealth and the masses mentioned in the article all speak of the importance of the masses."

Chang Sun Wuji put down the article and said, "I second the motion."

What I mean is that this article is not about forgetting one's roots. It is good to listen to and learn from it, and it does no harm at the moment.

It is also very suitable for the current national policy of the Tang Dynasty, which needs to recuperate.

As the emperor and his two ministers were talking, Li Shimin never said who wrote the article, let alone said that the article came from the East Palace.

(End of this chapter)