The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 91 Crowning Gift
Li Ke also came out of the Taiji Hall, looked at Li Tai, and then quickened his pace and left.

Li Shimin walked to the back of the Taiji Hall and outside the Liangyi Hall.

The grand court meeting had just ended, and His Majesty was not in a hurry to eat, but was walking around casually outside the palace.

Three or two eunuchs and guards stood by.

"Has the prince been in contact with anyone recently?"

The eunuch replied, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has been close to General Li Ji recently."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "I asked him to teach the prince archery."

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has been visiting the Secretariat recently, and there are no guests at the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace. I heard that the Crown Prince is not close to the two officials of the Eastern Palace."

Li Shimin put his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky and said with a smile: "My prince is becoming more and more withdrawn."

The eunuch lowered his head and said nothing.

Li Shimin whispered, "Send the bow I left in Ganlu Palace to the East Palace as well."

The eunuch continued, "That is the bow that your majesty left behind during the war..."

Li Shimin sighed: "Although Cheng Qian's talent is average, fortunately he practices archery diligently, so it's okay to send him."

"Yes." The eunuch bowed and said, "I will prepare it right away."

After the morning court session ended, Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling hurried to the side of a barracks.

"This prince is so bold!" Changsun Wuji walked back and forth, angrily saying, "The Tibetan envoy mentioned the marriage, and Your Majesty hasn't even opened his mouth yet, how dare the prince refuse on the spot!"

Fang Xuanling consoled him: "Even so, you are still speaking for the prince."

Zhang Sun Wuji was angry and pointed in the direction of Taiji Hall and said, "If I hadn't stood up and seconded the proposal in the court, how would His Majesty have spoken?"

Fang Xuanling sighed and smiled helplessly.

Despite such reproaches, he never said it in front of the prince, and he still helped the prince time and time again.

Fang Xuanling took a letter from the barracks and walked towards the Secretariat with Changsun Wuji.

"What did the pharmacist say in the letter?"

Fang Xiang handed the letter to Changsun Wuji and said, "Pharmacist Li said that in this battle between the Turks and Mobei, the Turks have little chance of winning."

Since returning victoriously from the expedition against Tuyuhun, Li Jing has been living in seclusion.

When asking about the war situation with the Turks, Li Jing had to ask someone to deliver the letter.

In the East Palace, three eunuchs stood in front of Li Chengqian. They smiled and said, "Your Highness, this is the bow that your Majesty used to conquer the world."

Li Chengqian tried the bowstring. This bow was quite old, but the bowstring was still strong and well maintained. He smiled and said, "I understand what my father meant."

The three eunuchs bowed one by one and then left the East Palace.

The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace came of age, although there was no formal celebration or formal banquet for the ministers.

But the Queen gave the Crown Prince his coming-of-age clothes, and His Majesty also gave the Crown Prince the bow that had accompanied him for many years. All the members of the royal family heard the news and each family took out gifts to congratulate the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace on his coming of age.

"Your Highness, the Prince of Hejian has sent armor over."

A suit of armor on a wooden frame was carried in. Just by looking at the knife marks on the armor, it was obvious that it was quite old.

"Your Highness, the Prince of Jiangxia sent me a volume of military strategy."

The military generals of the Tang Dynasty were all simple, and the things they sent were all related to fighting.

There is no gold, silver, jade, or large amounts of agate or rare animals.

But many of their own favorite objects.

This kind of simple emotion is good, at least it won't make people think that the Crown Prince of the East Palace is fond of money.

After all, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace has been practicing archery for more than half a year.

The Li family, including grandfather, grandson, father and son, are all martial artists.

Xiaofu had already prepared the sauerkraut noodles and said, "Your Highness, you may have your meal now."

Li Chengqian was eating his meal, looking at the gifts in front of him, and said, "If there are more gifts, go find Ning'er. She knows which gifts should not be accepted and which ones should be accepted."

Xiaofu nodded and said, "Yes."

After dinner, Li Chengqian quickly left the East Palace. Today, the Crown Prince was wearing new clothes and a hair crown, which was very different from before.

When they reached Chengtian Gate, Li Daoyan said, "Congratulations to the Crown Prince on his coming of age."

Li Chengqian said: "My father has not formally performed the ceremony of coming of age for me, so there is no need to be polite."

Li Daoyan added: "Etiquette cannot be abolished."

"Thank you for your duty. I still have to go to the Secretariat."

"Yes." Li Daoyan replied loudly.

Li Daoyan was also a member of the royal family. Unfortunately, the royal family general Li Shentong died early, so they were of the same generation.

Li Daoyan had shouldered the family pressure of their branch early on.

The imperial city was bustling again.

There were many officials coming and going at the gate of the Secretariat, as they had many things that were not completed last year and had left them over for this year.

After the morning meeting, everyone went back to work.

Prime Minister Fang specially reserved a seat in the Secretariat so that Yu Zhining and Xu Xiaode could sit here and deal with the file budget. This is a seat close to the gate of the Secretariat.

Li Chengqian walked into the Secretariat silently. Seeing that his uncle and teacher were busy, he simply sat aside and looked at several memorials in front of him.

"Any department in the court that needs money needs a budget first."

"Budget? What budget?"

There was an argument at the gate of the Secretariat.

Yu Zhining led the people out of the door and whispered, "This is the current rule of the Secretariat. If you can't make a good budget, we can help you, but it will be more troublesome. If you have a budget, we just need to proofread it and check it in person. If there are no omissions, we can give you money."

Duan Zan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, said: "Our Ministry of War is still waiting for the money, so we have to wait for them to check the budget."

Zhang Daxiang, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, said in distress, "How long will it take, one before the other?"

Yu Zhining said: "As soon as possible."

The Secretariat is very busy. When various departments in the court need to spend money, all the money must be approved by the Crown Prince himself.

That means Zhining and Xu Xiaode have completed part of the budget.

Li Chengqian also wanted to see it personally.

As we were busy, it was getting dark.

The officials in the imperial city left in twos and threes, while Li Chengqian sat in the Secretariat and was still looking at the budgets of various departments.

When most of the people here had left, Fang Xuanling said, "Your Highness, it's getting late. We'll make arrangements tomorrow."

Li Chengqian said, "No, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue are very busy. They involve military pay and food supplies from various places. They must be handed over to them tomorrow morning. If we delay for half a day, we will delay the military offices in various places."

Fang Xuanling placed an oil lamp on the prince's desk, nodded approvingly, and left.

The Ministry of War raised military pay. The three garrisons in Handan, Shuofang and Liangzhou needed military pay totaling 5,651 strings of cash.

Li Chengqian picked up the memorial from the Ministry of War and the troop statistics of the Wei Palace and checked them carefully.

A figure flashed past the Secretariat.

Li Chengqian smelled the fragrance of the food, looked up and saw that it was Li Lizhi, put down his pen and said, "I'm just hungry."

Li Lizhi walked into the Secretariat carrying a food box and said, "My royal brother is the only one here. If there were others here, I wouldn't be able to come in. I feel relieved that only my royal brother is here." Li Chengqian took the food box and brought out two pots of dishes and a bowl of millet rice.

"Xiaofu, you always say you want to eat well. I know that my brother must still be busy in the Secretariat, so I helped to bring it to you."

"Have you all eaten?"

"Yeah, I've eaten. I also made mutton bone soup tonight."

As she spoke, Li Lizhi picked up a file and began to read it. She whispered, "Father handed all these matters over to my brother. Father was so kind that he relaxed today, drank with several generals, and even met with the Prince of Gaochang."

Li Chengqian finished the millet rice in his bowl and continued to review documents.

"Sister, please help me sort it out."

"These are the expedited ones, so keep them separate from the others."

"Ah."

……

The night wind was still a little cold. Li Lizhi placed her frozen hands next to the oil lamp to warm them up for a while before continuing to make annotations.

After the memorials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue were confirmed to be without problems, Li Chengqian stamped them and placed them on Prime Minister Fang's desk.

He walked out of the Secretariat with his sister and closed the heavy door.

On the way back to the East Palace, Li Lizhi whispered, "Brother Emperor, is the court short of money now?"

Li Chengqian said: "Well, at most, being able to come up with 50,000 strings of cash is pretty good. Once the trade is successful this year, we should be able to get richer."

When we arrived at Chengtian Gate, we found that there was a door specially left open.

The guard at the door clasped his fists and said, "The general has specifically ordered that if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince comes back late, the door must be kept open."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Please say thank you to Daoyan for me."

"Here."

Li Lizhi followed her brother with a lantern in hand and said, "A lot of things have been piled up in front of the East Palace gate today. They were all sent by members of the royal family."

There were indeed quite a few things placed in front of the East Palace gate, including silk and jade.

Ning'er is arranging people to clean up.

Seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince coming back, she stepped forward and said, "These were all sent by the royal family to celebrate His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's coming of age. At first, they sent them and let them leave them outside."

Ning'er is still very reliable in doing things. She knows who she can approach and who she cannot associate with.

Instead of collecting them one by one, it is better to treat them all equally and place them all outside the East Palace.

Li Chengqian said, "Thank you for your help."

Ning Er quickly said, "It's what this servant should do."

Walking back to the East Palace, Ning Er handed over the written gift list and said, "Your Highness, it's all written."

Li Chengqian opened the gift list and looked at it carefully. In fact, there were already quite a lot of people from his father's uncles and cousins, from General Li Shenfu to Prince of Jiangxia Li Daozon.

There were more than ten of my grandfather’s sons who were crowned kings, from King of Jing Li Yuanjing, to King of Han, King of Huo... I didn’t know any of them and wasn’t familiar with any of them.

Seeing that she was still standing aside, Li Chengqian asked, "Are you worried about something?"

Li Lizhi whispered, "Brother, I heard that at the court meeting today, some Tibetans mentioned Princess Shang?"

Li Chengqian drank a bowl of cold water and said, "Don't worry, we brothers and sisters are united as one. I will not let my sisters marry Tibetans or Mobei people."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of a jar falling to the ground outside the door, followed by a rustling sound of voices.

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Most likely it's Gao Yang and Dong Yang."

Li Lizhi smiled and said, "Most likely."

Princess Dongyang hurried to her room, followed by Qinghe and Gaoyang.

She whispered, "My royal brother has already rejected the Tibetans in the Taiji Palace and will not let us marry."

Princess Qinghe nodded heavily and said, "Now only my brother will protect us."

The sisters nodded in unity.

The next day, before dawn, Li Chengqian did morning exercises and practiced archery.

My father's bow was placed in the East Palace, and he didn't want to take it out and use it, because he had been practicing archery for many days and had become accustomed to the horn bow in his hand.

An arrow was released and it hit the target firmly.

Li Ji took a look and said, "Your Highness, the strength is sufficient now."

Li Chengqian said helplessly: "I have been practicing for so long and only now have enough strength."

"Compared to ordinary people, it is not easy to have such strength at a distance of 100 steps. Moreover, Your Highness has only been training for more than half a year."

This great general has never been one to flatter others, and telling the truth is a good quality.

It was still early for court, so Li Chengqian put down his bow, stretched his limbs, and saw his uncle leading a group of people towards the East Palace.

Looking more closely, the person coming was none other than Duke Zheng.

Zhang Sun Wuji said, "Recently, I have heard that the noodles in the East Palace are the best. Lord Zheng refuses to believe it, so I will bring him to the East Palace to see it for himself."

Li Chengqian said: "It's already been prepared. It's time for dinner."

Today's breakfast is simple, with a bowl of dumplings for each person, and some pickled vegetables and garlic on the table.

Several people sat around the table, and Li Chengqian said as he ate, "Mr. Zheng, try it."

Wei Zheng picked up the chopsticks, picked up a dumpling, put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully. Finding that it tasted really good, he picked up a few more.

Li Ji liked to eat dumplings with garlic. The general would not talk while eating and would be focused and serious.

Li Chengqian asked, "Uncle didn't sleep well last night?"

Changsun Wuji nodded slowly.

Li Chengqian asked again: "Are you worried about something?"

Changsun Wuji glanced at his nephew, took a deep breath, and said nothing more, but continued eating dumplings.

Wei Zheng burped, put two more in his mouth, and said, "It's great! At my age, there are not many meals that can be eaten so happily."

Li Chengqian placed a pickled radish in front of him and said, "Mr. Zheng can come to the East Palace with your uncle for dinner more often in the future."

Wei Zheng picked up a piece of pickled radish, put it in his mouth and chewed it. The crisp texture and the perfect saltiness were very appetizing.

Li Chengqian poured each of them a bowl of tea and said, "Lord Zheng can come to the East Palace anytime from now on."

Wei Zheng said with emotion: "It is still necessary to report it. Etiquette cannot be abolished. Your Highness is the crown prince and should pay more attention to etiquette."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "I still have a lot to learn. If you have time, please give me more guidance, Lord Zheng."

Wei Zheng bowed and said, "I dare not give you any advice, but if you have any doubts, I am willing to help you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Changsun Wuji stood up and said, "It's getting late, it's time to go to the morning court."

Li Chengqian asked Ning'er to take the palace maids to clean up the dishes, and followed Duke Zheng and his uncle to the morning court.

As they were walking, Changsun Wuji suddenly asked, "I heard that His Majesty gave the bow to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian said: "Yes, maybe my father thinks that I practice archery hard and hopes that I will continue to practice hard."

"Well, Your Highness is not surprised by honor or disgrace, which is good."

"Uncle is right. I will definitely keep it in mind."

(End of this chapter)