Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 175: Zhang Sun Wuji's Face Was Terribly Cold (Part )
On March 15th, the sky is clear and the air is fresh.

With a creak, the gate of the East Palace opened wide.

Li Chengqian was wearing a light yellow python robe, a golden crown on his head, and walked out calmly, holding a horse in one hand.

Zhang Xuansu and Ma Zhou followed closely on the left and right, with more than a dozen Eastern Palace officials behind them.

Li Chengqian glanced at Chengtian Gate in the distance and saw that many civil and military officials had already arrived at Chengtian Gate.

"Your Highness, are you really not going to do anything today?" Ma Zhou couldn't help but glance at Li Chengqian and said solemnly, "If Your Highness has anything to do, please let me know in advance so I can prepare."

During the past half month in the Eastern Palace, Ma Zhou has gradually realized that many of the previous things the prince did were not done according to Dai Zhide's advice, but were the prince's own ideas.

Today, King Wei decided to take advantage of Empress Wende's birthday to present the "Guo Di Zhi" and win the emperor's favor.

This news has been gradually discovered in the past few days.

"Guo Di Zhi" involves not only the King of Wei, but also many people including the son-in-law Su Xu, Xiao Deyan, Gu Yin, Jiang Yaqing, and Xie Yan.

As soon as the King of Wei made a slight move, many people figured it out.

Ma Zhou is now the Junior Secretary of the Crown Prince's Office in the Eastern Palace. He has already found out the news and reported it to Li Chengqian, but Li Chengqian's attitude is very calm.

So Ma Zhou guessed that either Li Chengqian had known the news in advance, or he had already thought of a countermeasure.

In the past two years, the Eastern Palace and the Prince of Wei's Palace had fought many times, and in at least half of them, the officials of the Eastern Palace knew nothing at all, and the prince had already defeated the Prince of Wei.

Now, Ma Zhou is the Prince's Junior Secretary. He doesn't want him to be like Zhang Xuansu, a blind man who knows nothing.

"Do you think I should do something today?" Li Chengqian pulled the horse slowly towards Chengtian Gate, while looking sideways at Ma Zhou with a calm expression.

"Yes, but the means must be clever." Ma Zhou was very cautious.

The fight for the crown prince position must be done with extreme caution and not allow for any mistakes.

Li Chengqian smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, I don't plan to do anything today. Pass the word on, all officials in the Eastern Palace, don't do anything extra today. Just wait for the Qinghua Temple to open, and then return to the palace."

"Yes!" Ma Zhou immediately bowed, then looked at Li Chengqian uncertainly and asked, "Your Highness, are you really not going to do anything?"

"No!" Li Chengqian smiled calmly, then raised his head and walked forward.

Ma Zhou pondered for a moment, and suddenly, his eyebrows raised, his expression lit up with joy, and then he looked at Li Chengqian in surprise.

Sometimes, doing nothing is the best response.

……

In Jinchangfang, the emperor, dressed in a scarlet and yellow dragon robe, rode in the front.

General Zheng Rentai of the Left Jinwu Guard and General Liang Jianfang of the Right Jinwu Guard were guarding on both sides.

The entire long street was completely blocked by densely packed Zuo Jinwu Guards.

The common people stopped a hundred feet away and watched from afar, not allowing themselves to get close.

Li Chengqian followed behind the emperor, with Li Tai, Prince of Wei, who had not appeared for a long time, on his left, and Li Zhi, Prince of Jin, on his right.

Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian, Yang Shidao and more than a dozen other court officials of the third rank and above, as well as more than a dozen princes-in-law including Changsun Chong, Du He and Chai Lingwu also followed.

The princesses are not here today, so the princes-in-law will go on their behalf.

Li Tai was riding on his horse, carefully thinking about all the accidents that might happen today. Finally, his eyes fell on Li Chengqian.

Today, Li Tai's most perfect idea is to use the "Guo Di Zhi" to dilute the prince's credit, and then use this incident to spread the news that he has completed the "Guo Di Zhi" as quickly as possible throughout the world and announce it to the world.

At the beginning, Li Tai was also very excited, but the closer it got to March 15th, the more uneasy he became.

The biggest obstacle in what he did was Li Chengqian.

The Eastern Palace was quite powerful now, and with a minister like Ma Zhou, who was highly trusted by the Emperor, joining the palace, he wouldn't be able to hide his intention to profit from the Comprehensive Geography of the Land from them. If they came up with some bad idea to sabotage his plans...

If they fail, it will be fine, but if they succeed, all of Li Tai’s plans will be ruined.

So in the past few days, Li Tai has been having people secretly monitor and spy on the actions of the Eastern Palace, and the prince seemed to have not guessed it and did not make any preparations.

No, it wasn’t that he did nothing. He called Zhinu.

But there should have been a young slave today.

For some reason, Li Tai had the illusion that Li Chengqian had already made complete preparations for the response, but he himself hadn't noticed anything.

He wanted to ask Li Chengqian something, but Li Chengqian never even looked at him, leaving him wanting to speak but not knowing how to start.

Before they knew it, the group had arrived at Jinchangfang.

In the northeast corner, Taiyi Qinghua Temple is right in front of you.

……

The entire Taiyi Qinghua Temple is not luxurious, and can even be said to be somewhat simple.

Li Tai didn't even know where the money they earned from melting the entire golden Buddha went.

Nine-foot red door, six-foot black tripod.

Above the gate are five large characters painted in gold on a black background: "Taiyi Qinghua Temple." On either side of the gate are couplets that read: "In Qinghua Temple, purple mist lingers around the Leo constellation; Taiyi Cizun pours nectar and willow trees to save all living beings."

Yin Wencao, the head of Louguan Dao, dressed in a purple Taoist robe, brought with him a dozen high-ranking Taoists, chanting the Taoist mantras and performing the sacrifice with a solemn expression.

Finally, amid the curling green smoke, the emperor was invited to come forward and burn incense in person before entering the Taiyi Jiuku Hall.

A high-ranking monk in purple robes stepped forward and removed the red cloth from the statue of Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun.

Then another high priest in purple robes came forward and wiped the face of the statue with a new towel.

Finally, Yin Wencao stepped forward personally, dipped a new brush in a mixture of cinnabar, white hyacinth and white wine, and then painted the eyes, mouth, nose and ears of the statue respectively to open up the five senses and seven orifices.

Li Chengqian was standing outside the hall. At this moment, a golden light shot in from the courtyard and went straight into the five senses and seven orifices of the statue.

The statue is consecrated and the gods descend.

The emperor stepped forward again to burn incense.

Li Chengqian, Li Tai, Li Zhi, Zhangsun Wuji and others bowed and finally inserted the tall incense in their hands into the incense burner in the courtyard.

……

From Taiyi Jiuku Hall, to Sanguan Hall, and then to Sanqing Hall, the emperor and his ministers burned incense and paid their respects at each hall.

Walking out of the Sanqing Hall, Li Tai saw a man in a white Taoist robe standing under a majestic bell tower.

"Master Sun!" Li Shimin nodded and walked over, smiling and saying, "Master Sun is indeed a trustworthy person. Are you prepared to provide free medical treatment to the people of Chang'an at Taiyi Qinghua Temple for a year?"

"Of course!" Sun Simiao bowed, then said, "I have accepted a few untalented disciples, as well as several masters of the Louguan Dao. We will practice medicine together in the future."

"The sage has boundless blessings and virtues." Li Shimin nodded earnestly in approval.

The people of Chang'an City are all his people, and he hopes to see them suffer less from illness.

"Your Majesty is blessed with immeasurable virtues." Sun Simiao nodded calmly.

"Haha!" Li Shimin laughed.

Shaking his head, the emperor looked up at the bronze bell in the bell tower above him. Then he turned sideways to look at Li Tai and Li Zhi and said, "Qingque, Zhinu, you haven't been here before, right? This bell tower was built using old clothes from the palace. It also used a few pieces of clothing that your mother gave to your brother."

After a brief pause, Li Shimin looked at Li Chengqian and said, "The last time I came here, your brother couldn't help crying... Chengqian, you are not allowed to cry anymore today."

"Your son obeys your command." Li Chengqian bowed seriously.

The ministers could sense that the prince's emotions were fluctuating greatly.

Li Tai stood aside and couldn't help cursing in his heart. How could he forget that his royal brother cried bitterly when he came to Taiyi Qinghua Temple last time? If he cried again today, wouldn't the gift that Li Tai had carefully prepared be ruined by him?

Thinking of this, Li Tai stepped forward slightly, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, today is the grand opening day of the Taiyi Qinghua Temple, and it is also the birthday of our mother. The 'Comprehensive Geography' that I, along with the ministers of the royal palace, have compiled has just been completed, and I am presenting it to Your Majesty today as a gift."

"Good." Li Shimin nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile, "Not bad, not bad. I have been waiting for it for a long time."

Li Tai turned sideways and asked someone to bring in 550 volumes of "Guo Di Zhi" and then presented it to the emperor.

Li Shimin opened it with satisfaction, and then began to read it one volume at a time.

Li Tai looked at Li Chengqian with some pride, but Li Chengqian's expression remained gentle.

Ma Zhou was also watching Li Chengqian from behind. He didn't know what Li Chengqian would do next.

However, no one noticed that later on, Changsun Wuji's face had become terribly cold.

……

Li Tai rode on his horse with some pride, and then followed the emperor to the palace.

The matter of Taiyi Qinghua Temple was settled, and the prince did not do anything tricky.

The sound of the bells ringing "dong dong dong" echoed throughout the city of Chang'an.

Li Tai turned sideways and looked at Li Chengqian. Li Chengqian's expression was still calm, but his expression made people feel a little sad.

Li Tai's brows suddenly frowned.

For some reason, Li Tai felt extremely disgusted with Li Chengqian's hypocritical appearance.

But at this moment, with the emperor in front of him and the ministers behind him, Li Tai couldn't say much.

After entering the palace, Li Tai and the ministers of the Prince of Wei's Mansion followed the emperor into Chengtian Gate.

It was obvious that the emperor was going to bestow a reward.

The other ministers returned to their official residences.

They still have official business to attend to.

Li Chengqian did the same. Surrounded by the ministers of the Eastern Palace, he headed towards the Eastern Palace.

Just when Li Chengqian and his companions had not taken a few steps, Zhangsun Wuji's voice rang out from behind them: "Crown Prince!"

Li Chengqian, who was walking towards the East Palace, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He then turned around, looked at Zhangsun Wuji who had followed him, and said with a bow, "Uncle!"

(End of this chapter)