A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 764 The Emperor's Horror
Golden autumn October.

The soldiers who had conquered Shuofang returned in triumph.

Li Jing presented the captives to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Liang Shidu's head was hung on the city gate of Chang'an.

On this joyous occasion, the retired emperor moved into the Da'an Palace.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty officially entered the Taiji Palace and moved into the Ganlu Hall.

Chang Chao,

It was also officially held back in the Taiji Hall.

Sitting on the throne in the Taiji Hall, the emperor's face was flushed.

After more than a hundred days of ascending the throne in the Eastern Palace, something was still missing. Only when he sat on the Taiji Hall did he truly feel fulfilled.

"Li Jing, the Duke of Yongkang County, was promoted to Duke of Dai for his merits, with an additional 200 households granted, bringing the total to 600 households. He was also bestowed with 600 bolts of silk, two Qinghai horses, and a pair of silver vases!"

"Inspector-General of Liangzhou, concurrently Commander of the Left Guard of the Crown Prince!"

The graying temples peeking out from under the black turban, and the weathered face, couldn't hide the excitement.

I still remember when I was a boy of about ten years old, I discussed military affairs with my uncle Han Qinhu. My uncle, a famous general who was one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China, praised me and said that I would definitely become a famous general in the future.

Soon after he entered officialdom, he was praised by the powerful minister Yang Su, who said that he would one day be able to sit in Yang Su's position.

But decades passed by in the blink of an eye, and he was over fifty.

Who could have predicted this?

He was a late bloomer. In the past few years, he followed Li Xiaogong to pacify the southeast and appease Lingnan. Now he has finally taken charge and led his troops to quell the last rebel king in the land.

At this age when his hair has turned white, he was promoted to Duke, granted a fief of 600 households, appointed as the Inspector General of Liangzhou, and designated as the commander-in-chief for the campaign against Tuyuhun the following year.

Call it late blooming or a stroke of good fortune.
After years of preparation, it was finally time to showcase my talents.
Li Jing looked at Prince Wei, Li Yi, realizing that his current success was inseparable from his help.

He kept in mind the saying, "A fine horse is easy to find, but a discerning eye is rare."

After the imperial edict was read,
Li Jing expressed his gratitude.

The interpreter then produced several more imperial edicts and read them aloud.

Li Yi, who held the titles of Grand Minister of Works, Chancellor, Pillar of State, and Prince of Dai, was later enfeoffed as Prince of Wei.

Zhao Junwang Li Xiaogong was reassigned as Hejian Junwang and then transferred to Guanzhou as governor.

Li Yi, the Prince of Yan, was renamed the Prince of Lishi and then transferred to be the Prefect of Shizhou.

The emperor's sixth brother, Prince Zhao, Li Yuanjing, was reassigned as Prince Jing, and was granted the titles of Governor of Yongzhou, Right General of the Valiant Guard, and concurrently Grand Governor of Anzhou.

The seventh prince, Prince Lu, Li Yuanchang, was reassigned as Prince Han and concurrently served as the governor of Liangzhou.

The third prince, Li Ke, the Prince of Han, was reassigned as the Prince of Shu and appointed Grand General of Yizhou.

The fourth prince, Prince Wei, Li Tai, was reassigned as Prince Yue and appointed Grand General of Yangzhou, overseeing the military affairs of sixteen prefectures including Chang, Hai, Run, and Chu. He also concurrently served as the General of Yuezhou, overseeing the construction of the Yue, Wu, Quan, and Tai regions, encompassing six prefectures.

The emperor posthumously conferred the title of Prince of Chu upon his second son, Li Kuan, and granted him the titles of Governor-General of Liangzhou and Minister of Works. Li Linggui, son of Li Shidu, Duke of Jinan, was appointed as the heir.

Li Baoding, son of Li Qiong, the Prince of Xiping, was granted the title of heir to Li Xuanba, the Prince of Weihuai.

The series of imperial edicts was dazzling.

It involves the Eight Princes.

Li Yi changed his title from Prince of Dai to Prince of Wei, but remained the prime minister, and his status remained unchanged.

Li Yi and Li Xiaogong also had their titles changed, from a single-character title of Prince to a two-character title. In addition, one was transferred to be the Prefect of Guanzhou in Hebei, and the other was transferred to be the Prefect of Shizhou in Hedong. Both were far away from the core of Guanzhong, which can be described as a demotion.

Especially for Li Yi, who was originally a warlord who controlled a region, he was appointed as a general after entering the court and then sent to a town as a governor. However, after the new emperor ascended the throne, he was recalled to the court and has been sitting idly ever since.

This time, he was reassigned as the Prince of Lishi, a remote place dominated by the Ji Hu people. For Li Yi to be sent there as governor was an obvious demotion.

Li Xiaogong was demoted again and again; he was previously demoted to the position of Prefect of Jinzhou, and now he has been demoted to Hebei.

When Li Xiaogong and Li Jing teamed up, they once swept across half of the southeastern part of the country. Now, Li Jing has been promoted and ennobled, while Li Xiaogong has been demoted again and again.

On the contrary, the renaming of the titles and official positions of the two younger brothers and the two princes did not attract much attention.

Whether it was the sixth brother of the emperor, Li Yuanjing, who was appointed governor of Yongzhou and concurrently Grand General of Anzhou, or Li Tai who concurrently held the positions of Grand General of the Southeast and military commander of more than twenty prefectures,

Everyone knows that this is just a nominal title, nothing more.

Li Yuanjing was only six years old, while Li Tai was just over three years old.

These four princes, no matter how high their official positions are, are all just figureheads.

The four princes held three Grand Commanders and two Commanders-in-Chief positions, while Li Tai held two Commanders-in-Chief positions, effectively controlling half of the southeastern region. However, this was understandable, given that Li Tai was the emperor's second son.

However, shortly after his birth, the retired emperor adopted this grandson under the name of Prince Wei, Li Xuanba. From then on, Li Tai called Li Shimin his uncle. Now, when he changed Li Tai's title to Prince Yue, it was actually to bring this legitimate son back into the family and back under his own name.

Another member of the imperial clan, Li Baoding, was chosen and adopted into Li Xuanba's family.

Everyone can understand that the emperor wants to compensate his second son.

No one would really take a four- or five-year-old prince or grand commander seriously.

Although today is not the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, all officials of the ninth rank and above in the capital have come to the Taiji Hall for the court assembly.

After the morning assembly,
Li Shimin arrived at the Lizheng Hall.

Empress Zhangsun, accompanied by Consort Wei and other concubines, paid their respects.
Lizheng Hall and Donggong Lizheng Hall have similar names, but they are completely different.

"How is it here?" Li Shimin asked Changsun with a smile. Changsun replied that it was quite good.

Li Shimin and his wife, Changsun, also used to live in Taiji Palace, in the Chengqian Hall, which was called the West Palace, while Prince Qi, Yuanji, lived in the Wude Hall.

The couple also had their eldest son born in the Chengqian Palace, who was directly named Chengqian by the retired emperor.

Later, as the King of Qin's achievements grew, the emperor allowed him to move out of the palace. He was first granted a plot of land in the south of the city to build the King of Qin's residence. Later, due to his great merits, the emperor built the Hongyi Palace in the west of the Forbidden Garden as the King of Qin's residence.

They moved out of Taiji Palace several years ago.

Come back again,
My identity has changed drastically.

Today, this young couple are the masters of Taiji Palace, the supreme rulers of the world.

In the morning, Li Shimin held the morning court session in the Taiji Hall, while Empress Zhangsun received the court ladies in the Lizheng Hall.

Changsun felt that whether it was Chengqian Hall, Chengnanfang, Hongyi Palace, or the East Palace, or here, as long as the couple were together, it was all the same.

night,

Li Shimin stayed overnight at Changsun's Lizheng Palace.

The couple had endless things to talk about. "Isn't Your Majesty spoiling Qingque a bit too much? He's not even four years old yet, and he's already been appointed Grand General of Yangzhou and concurrently Grand General of Yuezhou, overseeing the military affairs of twenty-two prefectures, and also serving as Left Martial General. Isn't that going too far?"

After their tender moment, Changsun Yi spoke softly in her husband's arms.

"Back then, the Emperor Emeritus instructed me to adopt Erlang to my fifth brother Zhiyun as his heir, and Silang to adopt to my third brother Xuanba as his heir."

Actually, I wasn't really willing at first.
Especially Qingque, who was only a few days old then, still nursing in your arms, but the Emperor Emeritus's decree could not be disobeyed, and I could only watch them be adopted.
From the time Qingque could speak, she was unable to call you Mother. I saw you silently wiping away countless tears behind her back.

Now that I am the emperor, I will certainly bring Silang back. I have wronged you and him these past few years, and I will make it up to you.”

The eldest grandson's eyes welled up with tears. Thinking about the past few years, his own son could only call her aunt, and the heartache was truly unbearable.

“We will show more care for Silang in the future, but not in this way.”

"I know, I know what I'm doing," Li Shimin said, stroking his wife's long hair.

Changsun sighed, "It's a pity that Erlang's life was short."

The second prince, Li Kuan, was born to a palace maid. The retired emperor had him adopted by Prince Chu, Li Zhiyun, but Li Kuan died young.

“This child has a short life,” Li Shimin sighed.

Even now that he is the emperor, he still recognized Li Kuan and chose another member of the imperial clan to be adopted by his younger brother Li Zhiyun.

Li Kuan was too young, and although he returned to his own name, he could only be removed from the state.

No other member of the imperial clan was chosen to be adopted by Li Kuan, as he was still a minor.

"What do you think about the future, when they come of age, enfeoffing them in distant lands to establish their own kingdoms?"

Empress Zhangsun nestled against her husband, her eyes closed, feeling utterly at ease. "Crown Prince Chengqian is only five years old, and Qingque and the others are even younger."

It's too early to talk about these things now.

All I want now is to see them every day and watch them grow up.

Li Shimin gently patted his wife's back. He was very much in favor of the enfeoffment system, but it had few supporters.

Previously, the retired emperor had also planned to enfeoff not only members of the imperial family but also meritorious officials of different surnames, but he intended to enfeoff them in the frontier regions, granting them hereditary governorships and prefectural governorships.

He almost got appointed to a post in the south.
To be the ruler of the Wuman and Baiman tribes.

Now, with a different identity,

When he became emperor and reconsidered the enfeoffment system, he seemed to think that the idea of ​​the retired emperor, which involved enfeoffing members of the imperial family and meritorious officials in the four border regions to protect the central court, was quite good.

just,

Those who received hereditary titles were prone to opposition, seeing it as being kicked out of the central government, akin to being exiled.

"Your Majesty, go to sleep. You've been working tirelessly day and night lately, you're overworking yourself," Changsun comforted him.

"Ah."

Li Shimin also lay down.

The emperor gently patted his wife's buttocks, and Empress Zhangsun, knowing this, turned around, her back to her husband. Her husband liked to hold her from behind while they slept, and she liked to curl up in his arms.

The two fell into a deep sleep.

I don't know how long I slept.

Suddenly Li Shimin awoke with a start.
He was drenched in sweat and panting heavily.

"Erlang," Changsun woke up and, seeing her husband's appearance, quickly patted his chest, "Did you have a nightmare?"

The Queen prepared honey water for her husband to drink.

"I just dreamt of many soldiers who died fighting alongside me, the white bones beneath Shallow Water Plain and Gaozhi City, and will-o'-the-wisps rising from them."

I dreamt of the city of Luoyang, where the spirits of the dead wandered.

I also dreamed of,
I dreamt that Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Song Jingang, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, and others were ferociously lunging at me…

The emperor was still in shock.

He couldn't sleep at all that night.

The next day, the emperor held court early in the morning with dark circles under his eyes.
After the court assembly, the emperor summoned the monk Xuanzang to the inner palace, ascended the imperial throne, and invited Xuanzang to preach.

Eight prime ministers, ten virtuous officials, and twelve remonstrating ministers listened in.

After the young Xuanzang explained the Diamond Sutra, he also listed the methods of controlling wise and foolish rulers throughout history, and also expounded on the Buddhist doctrine of compassionate salvation.

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin was overjoyed, believing that the man not only had a deep understanding of Buddhist scriptures but was also able to advise the emperor, explaining the relationship between politics and religion as a wise ruler's art of governing the country.

It has been decided that slaughtering will be prohibited on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar calendar this year.

"Last night I dreamt of the soldiers who died fighting for the Tang Dynasty. Now that the world is unified, I have decided to build a Buddhist temple in each of the seven main battlefields where the uprising was launched, so as to pray for the souls of the martyrs."

A water and land Dharma assembly will be held, and the Venerable Xuanzang will preside over it.

"How dare I, your disciple?" Xuanzang quickly declined.

The Water and Land Dharma Assembly, officially known as the Great Salvation Ceremony for All Beings in the Dharma Realm, is an extremely solemn and grand Buddhist ritual.

Emperor Wu of Liang initially established the Water and Land Dharma Assembly at Jinshan Temple, but this ceremony was not performed during the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties.

And now,
Li Shimin wanted to hold a grand Water and Land Dharma Assembly at Daxingshan Temple, and selected 3,600 monks from Chang'an to participate in the rituals for 49 consecutive days to deliver the souls of the soldiers who died since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the wandering ghosts who died since the chaos of the Sui Dynasty!
Xuanzang declined, believing he was not qualified.

"I see that you are the most devout. This Water and Land Assembly will last for forty-nine days, and it will be difficult for the older and more virtuous ones to continue."
You are devout and young, so you shall preside over this ceremony.

The emperor forbade him to refuse any further.

"I have heard that you have made a grand vow to travel to the Western Paradise to seek the true scriptures?"

Xuanzang quickly agreed.

"Such piety deserves encouragement. Once you successfully preside over the Water and Land Assembly, I will arrange for officials and soldiers to accompany you on your journey to the Western Paradise to retrieve the scriptures!"

Xuanzang was overjoyed.

Finally, the emperor bestowed upon Xuanzang the title of "Great Master of Translation" directly.

Although the emperor bestowed titles upon more than a hundred eminent monks in the past few days, including thirteen different titles, Xuanzang, the great translator of Buddhist scriptures, still drew the attention of the Ten Great Eminent Monks.

too young.

He was neither a senior monk of a great temple nor a renowned monk of Buddhist studies. He was only in his early twenties, yet he suddenly became a great translator of Buddhist scriptures and was also in charge of such a grand Water and Land Dharma Assembly!

He was secretly impressed by the emperor's devotion to Buddhism, which would lead to the great flourishing of the religion, but he also felt a mix of emotions as he looked at the young Xuanzang.

(End of this chapter)