My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 17: The Wei Wang Party is too strong

It is said that Li Shimin doted on King Wei too much. How much did he dote on him exactly?

How powerful is the Wei Wang Party?
In fact, we can see something from the official position of King Wei.

The Grand Commander of Yangzhou and the Commander-in-Chief of Yuezhou.

He was the Governor of Yangzhou, who supervised the military affairs of 16 states, including Chang, Hai, Run, Chu, Shu, Lu, Hao, Shou, She, Su, Hang, Xuan, Dongmu and Nanhe.

He also supervised six states: Yue, Wu, Quan, Jian, Tai and Kua.

There are five governors: Xia, Sheng, Beifu, Beining and Beikai.

While concurrently serving as the General of the Left Wuhou, he was also granted the post of Governor of Yongzhou.

He was remotely appointed as the governor of Xiangzhou, supervising the military affairs of seven states, including Xiang, Wei, Li, Wei, Meng, Xing and Bei. The other officials remained the same and were not appointed to office.

The Tang Dynasty had 360 states, and the King of Wei occupied nearly one-tenth of them.

The most critical one among them is the governor of Yongzhou.

The governor of Yongzhou. Li Shimin once served as the governor of Yongzhou.

Yongzhou Prefecture refers to Chang'an City.

In other words, the King of Wei also served as the highest chief of all 108 wards in the entire Chang'an City.

The magistrate of Chang'an County and the magistrate of Wannian County were both subordinates of the King of Wei and members of the King of Wei's party.

"Your Majesty dotes on the King of Wei too much, and Your Highness stays in the East Palace and does not care about court affairs."

"King Wei took this opportunity to secretly win over the ministers and generals in the name of the Academy of Literature."

"In front of the Prince of Wei's palace, there were constant carriages and horses, and officials and generals who came to visit were endless."

"In Luoyang, the Eastern Capital, Your Majesty has merged the lands of the towns, granted a large mansion, built the Weiwang Pond and Weiwang Dike, and attracted scholars from all over the world to come."

"Your Majesty wanted to allow the King of Wei to live in the Wude Hall but was blocked, so he awarded the Furong Garden to the King of Wei."

"The King of Wei opened the Furong Garden to all the famous people who came and went in Chang'an, and it became very famous."

"Under the ministers, the King of Wei integrated the bad people of Chang'an and established two bad leaders, Chang'an County and Wannian County, to control the affairs of the martial arts world. He also visited temples and Taoist temples many times and donated incense."

"From then on, all the ministers and officials in the court, from all walks of life, became friends with the King of Wei."

"I heard that even among the imperial guards, there are many followers of the King of Wei."

The more Su Tan spoke, the more excited he became, while the more Li Chengqian listened, the more silent he became.

I didn’t have a specific feeling before, after all, as far as I can remember, those were all things that happened three years ago.

Although the King of Wei was also favored at that time, he was still far behind the Three Temples and Ten Government Offices of the Eastern Palace.

Moreover, at that time, most princes served as regents and were in charge of the court, so things were naturally different.

Who could have imagined that in just three short years, Prince of Wei Li Tai would have become so powerful.

If Li Chengqian had been a good prince, he would have inherited the throne.

There is no doubt that Prince Wei Li Tai will follow his father's example and follow the Xuanwu Gate succession method.

Judging from the current situation, it can be said that Li Chengqian will be the next crown prince Li Jiancheng.

Previously, Li Chengqian threatened Helan Chushi that there was a spy from the King of Wei in the Eastern Palace.

Judging from the current situation, it is estimated that there are indeed some, and definitely quite a few.

Why was Li Shimin's Xuanwu Gate Incident successful?

That’s because Li Shimin had already planted spies in the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, and there were many of Li Shimin’s people around Li Yuan.

Every move of the Imperial Palace and the Eastern Palace was under the supervision of Li Shimin.

Now Li Tai, the King of Wei, is just copying homework.

"My brother, it seems, is not a simple man."

Li Chengqian said with a smile, and his words did not seem to take Wei Wang Li Tai too seriously.

Su Tan flattered him, "The King of Wei is powerful, but he is like a duckweed without roots. Your Highness is the legitimate ruler, and all the important officials in the court support Your Highness."

"There are many people who have heard of your presence in the court and the country. If Your Highness takes charge of the court again, they will naturally follow you." "Besides, since His Majesty has rewarded Your Highness with so much ice, he must be fond of Your Highness."

To be honest, the princelings are actually more powerful.

Zhangsun Wuji, Wei Zheng and other founding heroes were all considered members of the Prince's Party.

But the key point is that the relationship between the prince and the prince's party is not very good.

Previously, Li Shimin asked these old ministers to take turns to lecture Li Chengqian. Li Chengqian felt resentful and refused to change despite repeated admonitions, and the relationship between them became very strained.

Fortunately, even though the relationship is strained, the old ministers of the prince's party still support the prince.

Their support for the crown prince actually had nothing to do with Li Chengqian, but was mainly due to Confucianism and the system of primogeniture.

"My dear father, please forgive me for making a fool of myself. These ice cubes were not given by Your Majesty."

"It was Qin Ying, a Taoist priest in the Eastern Palace. After he was sentenced to death by His Majesty, his disciple contributed the mysterious art of turning water into ice to save his life."

"From now on, the East Palace will never be short of ice. This Sushan Mountain has ice in all seasons."

Su Tan was very surprised: "There really is such a magical technique in the world."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "It does sound very mysterious, but once you understand the secret, it's not a big deal. The principles are similar to making plasters, but the methods are very different."

When Su Tan heard this, he understood.

"That's it."

Li Chengqian continued, "Since ice is inexhaustible, I plan to open a Sushan Ice Shop in Chang'an City. On the one hand, I can share the fun with the people, and on the other hand, I can also make some money for the government treasury."

This is a bit exaggerated, after all, saltpeter is very expensive to make ice, but it is not an exaggeration to say that business would not be so easy.

In February of this year, Li Shimin issued an order to lift the spending restrictions on the crown prince.

But in fact, Li Chengqian couldn't spend money without restraint.

At that time, Zhang Xuansu appealed to Li Shimin and requested to withdraw the edict. Within sixty days after it was issued, the prince had spent 70,000 coins.

After being reprimanded, Li Chengqian ordered his servants to whip Zhang Xuansu with a horsewhip, almost beating him to death.

Seventy thousand coins for sixty days, only thirty-five thousand coins for one month.

It is a huge sum for ordinary people, but it is nothing for wealthy families or even businessmen.

In this sense, Li Chengqian can be considered thrifty.

So although spending restrictions are being lifted, there are still actual restrictions.

It’s better to just make money yourself, then no one can say anything.

"My clan has many shops, which can be given to Your Highness to open a Sushan Ice Shop."

Su Tan immediately said that this was a big business.

Officials in the Tang Dynasty were not allowed to engage in business, but in fact they all did business, but they relied on their clansmen and servants.

"That's not necessary. When the time comes, my father-in-law will open an ice shop and the East Palace can send us ice."

"The money collected can be divided into 40% and 60%."

Li Chengqian does not plan to open Sushan Bingsi himself, but is preparing to cooperate with others in the form of franchising.

They fenced off an area in the East Palace, arranged for guards to guard it, and made ice cubes to prevent the secret from being leaked.

The Eastern Palace was only responsible for arranging carriages to transport the ice out.

Open an ice shop and let others do the production and sale. This way, you can sell the Sushan to the entire Chang'an city as quickly as possible.

A 60% share is already very conscientious, and the 40% profit given up is enough for many people to eat their fill.

The most important thing is that Li Chengqian was able to use the advantages of Sushan to quickly win over a group of partners with common interests in order to fight against the powerful Wei Wang Party.

The world is full of goodwill, and the world is all good.

With such a great way to make money, many people want to join in.

(End of this chapter)