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

Chapter 294 Half Emperor (Part )

"…The Crown Prince is to be in overall charge of shipbuilding and grain production, and is authorized to act at his discretion. Any local governor who fails to cooperate may be dismissed immediately. This is my decree!"

Qiu Xinggong stood in the Wude Hall and read the imperial edict.

"Your Majesty, we obey your order. Long live Your Majesty!" All the ministers kowtowed in unison.

Li Chengqian raised his hands, and Qiu Xinggong placed the imperial edict in Li Chengqian's hands.

Li Chengqian then stood up and nodded to Qiu Xinggong, saying, "Thank you, Duke of Tianshui!"

"I dare not!" Qiu Xinggong bowed slightly and then stepped back.

Li Chengqian turned and looked at the ministers and said, "My dear ministers, please stand up."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" All the ministers stood up and stood on both sides.

Li Chengqian walked over to the couch and sat down. Then, looking solemnly at the ministers, he said, "Father has led the Liaodong army into Goguryeo. The first phase of the goal is to capture Wugut City and then gain a foothold on the north bank of the Yalu River. Therefore, Wugut City will become the key to transporting food and fodder for the army."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed.

"There are two ways to transport grain and fodder to Wugut City: by land and by water." Li Chengqian paused briefly, then continued, "For land transportation, grain will be shipped from various places to Luoyang, and then from Luoyang it will be transported north along the canal. As for water transportation, we will build more ships this year to transport grain from Jiangnan, thereby alleviating the pressure on Hebei and Liaodong."

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian, Yang Shidao and others all bowed.

Although the emperor only granted the prince the right to act at his own discretion in matters of shipbuilding and grain planting, just by being able to dismiss local governors, Li Chengqian was able to achieve half the authority of the emperor.

After so long, all the ministers knew that Li Chengqian had this ability.

"Shipbuilding." Li Chengqian looked up at the ministers: "Ministry of Works!"

"I'm here!" Zheng Renji, the Minister of Works, stepped forward and bowed solemnly.

Li Chengqian nodded, then looked at Fang Xuanling and said, "Prime Minister Fang, Minister of Works Li Daliang, Vice Minister of Works Yan Liben, and Major General of the Imperial Household Yang Wulian have all been transferred to Liaodong by my father. Although Zheng Qing is still in the Ministry of Works, we still need someone to oversee the Imperial Household. Please give me a choice from the Council of State Affairs."

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling bowed seriously. If it was just the Ministry of Personnel, it would not have the right to appoint a major general on its own, but the Council of State Affairs was different.

The emperor was not in Chang'an, and Fang Xuanling stayed in Chang'an, so the Council of State naturally had this power.

Li Chengqian looked at Zheng Renji and said, "My dear minister, please travel more between Chang'an and Luoyang. The Duke of Tianshui will also be kind enough to assist you."

"Yes!" Zheng Renji and Qiu Xinggong bowed at the same time.

"The only thing left is the matter of food and fodder." Li Chengqian looked at his ministers with a cold expression.

The ministers bowed their heads in awe.

Li Chengqian continued, "From today on, the Ministry of Revenue and the Sino-Agricultural Ministry will send more personnel to conduct inspections in the local area. They will pay close attention to local farming issues, especially those involving wasteland. They will investigate the causes and, if they can, help resolve the difficulties and expedite the restoration of land. If anyone deliberately leaves land uncultivated, they will be confiscated directly."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed in unison, their expressions stern.

"In addition, I also want to know the details of spring plowing in various places. After the Ministry of Revenue has completed the statistics, please send it to me." Li Chengqian looked at Cui Renshi, the Minister of Revenue.

"Yes!" Cui Renshi bowed seriously, but there was still a hint of doubt in his eyes.

The Ministry of Revenue already has the relevant data, so why does the prince need a new set of data?

"It's already March, and the river water is warm." Li Chengqian looked at Gao Shilian and Xiao Yu and said, "The Ministry of Revenue will have to make more trips to Guanzhong this year, but I'll have to trouble my uncle and the Duke of Song to keep a closer eye on the Heluo area."

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your understanding." Gao Shilian and Xiao Yu bowed together, looking emotional.

By March, the weather in Luoyang is much better than that in Chang'an.

When the two old guys arrived in Luoyang, they felt much better, and the prince was taking care of them.

"Finally, let's talk about Jiangnan." Li Chengqian looked up at Fang Xuanling and said, "Let's send someone to Jiangnan to take a look, to inspect the area and supervise the supply of grain. Who do you think would be a good person to send, Prime Minister Fang?"

Fang Xuanling bowed slightly and said, "To inspect Jiangnan, I'm afraid we need important officials. However, it's difficult for important officials to be able to leave in Chang'an right now."

After a moment's silence, Fang Xuanling bowed and said, "I would like to ask that Fang Yiai, the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Household, be appointed as an Inspector General to patrol Jiangnan."

Although Fang Yiai was the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Household, to be honest, he was not of much use in Chang'an City.

The corners of Li Chengqian's mouth twitched slightly. He almost forgot about Gao Yang and Bian Ji.

But the only thing to be thankful for now is that Bian Ji has not yet come to Xuanzang's side and has not met Gao Yang, so there is still room for maneuver.

"That's it." Li Chengqian nodded directly, then said, "Dispatch Imperial Censor Su Liangsi as Deputy Inspection Envoy to Jiangnan, the Yangzhou Military Governor's Office, Runzhou, Changzhou, Suzhou, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Yuezhou, and other production areas. More inspections are required. Once the grain and fodder are collected, they must be transported to Beisha City as quickly as possible."

"Yes!" Fang Yiai and Su Liangsi stood up together.

Li Chengqian's eyes swept lightly over Su Liangsi, and Su Liangsi nodded slightly.

Li Chengqian's father-in-law Su Tan is now the governor of Hangzhou. When Su Liangsi goes to Jiangnan this time, he will naturally go to Hangzhou and will have to communicate with Su Tan.

This is Li Chengqian’s real purpose.

Last year, Su Tan was transferred to be the governor of Hangzhou after his term of office expired. However, Li Chengqian had a feeling that his father would definitely not let Su Tan continue to serve as the governor of Hangzhou after returning to Beijing. It was hard to say where he would be transferred to, but it was definitely not a bad thing for him to achieve good political achievements in advance.

……

"Finally, it's about India." Li Chengqian looked up at Fang Xuanling and said, "I understand my father. Although India is far away, it is located south of Tubo. Although the Tang Dynasty can't do anything to Tubo now, it may be able to do so in the future. Moreover, Tubo is now trying to completely annex Yangtong. In the future, it may even extend its influence into Tuyuhun. Tuyuhun..."

Li Chengqian snorted coldly, and all the ministers immediately became solemn.

Although the Tang Dynasty is now the overlord of the world, it still faces some challenges.

The Xueyantuo in the northern desert are always ready to make moves, and the Western Turks in the west are constantly harassing the border. Although Tuyuhun is now close to the Tang Dynasty, the anti-Tang faction has always been there.

The most disgusting one is Tubo.

The Tibetans lived on a plateau, separated by mountains, rivers, and uninhabited areas. Tang China wanted to conquer them, but the long food routes made it easy for them to take advantage. However, conquering the plateau proved easy for the Tibetans, as evidenced by the case of Songzhou.

The Tibetans could easily invade Songzhou, Shanzhou and Lanzhou. This is the most alarming thing.

The prince had no good feelings towards Tubo from the very beginning, and all the ministers knew it.

Now Tubo is trying to annex Yangtong, but it always encounters obstacles from all sides. How much of this is due to Li Chengqian's tactics?

"Let's talk about India." Li Chengqian looked at Yuwen Chongsi and said seriously, "The Honglu Temple will begin recruiting and training talents who are fluent in the Indian language. Remember, be prudent. Although the Tang Dynasty is now famous in the Western Regions, if it is too arrogant, it will easily lead to rebellion, and doing so will only achieve half the result with twice the effort."

Wang Xuance, this person's name, weighs heavily on Li Chengqian's mind.

Wang Xuance was sent as an envoy to India, but it happened that India was in turmoil and the delegation was robbed. Then he went from India to Tubo to borrow troops, and finally used Tubo's military force to destroy the country.

However, he was not taken seriously in the Tang Dynasty because although he had outstanding strategies, he lacked vision for the overall situation.

It was because he led the Tibetans into India that the Tibetan influence eventually penetrated deeply into India.

This allowed Tubo to draw a large amount of manpower and material resources from India and then attack the Tang Dynasty.

Because of this incident, the Tang Dynasty suffered immeasurable losses, and the border crisis continued for decades thereafter.

Li Chengqian still wanted to let Wang Xuance go to India, after all, he brought back a lot of things from India.

But this time, let him bring more soldiers.

At least thousands of people.

Isn't he a good fighter? He has thousands of Tang cavalry. It would be really interesting if he could use this to carve out a piece of Tang territory in Tianzhu.

However, if he does not have this ability, then it means that the so-called borrowing troops to destroy India is just an illusion, and it was Tubo that actually destroyed India.

It was just that the Tibetans borrowed Wang Xuance's name.

If this is true, the Tang Dynasty will suffer even greater losses.

"I will definitely live up to your expectations, Your Highness." Yuwen Chongsi, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, stepped forward and bowed.

Li Chengqian nodded slightly and said, "There's nothing else to say. All the ministers should go about their business. Remember to send a copy of each department's official documents to the Wude Hall promptly."

"Yes!" The ministers clasped their hands and bowed, saying, "We shall take our leave."

……

Li Chengqian walked on the palace road with a calm expression.

The setting sun was sinking in the west, and the palace was full of beautiful scenery.

Li Chengqian didn't care about these things.

He is now the Crown Prince Regent. With this authority, he has read many official documents from the six ministries. Of course, he only reads them and does not deal with them.

That would be exceeding his authority.

If he wanted to deal with it, he had to find Fang Xuanling first.

Standing under the Chongjiao sect, the image of Wang Xuance still flashed through Li Chengqian's mind.

Because of him, Tubo, with the help of India, became a huge dynasty spanning India, Nepal, Tubo, Zhangzhung, Yangtong, Subi, and Tuyuhun, and its tentacles eventually reached Anxi and even the Western Regions.

The entire Silk Road.

This matter must be stopped.

But it’s not now. The Tang Dynasty hasn’t even sent its first envoy to India yet, and the Tubo incident is even earlier.

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief and was about to take a step when a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.

Tubo became a huge dynasty that ruled over many countries, but the countries under it existed in a semi-independent form rather than being directly annexed.

This is different from the Tang Dynasty.

As the crown prince, even if Li Chengqian successfully ascends the throne to become emperor in the future, the areas from Mobei in the north to Annan in the south, as well as the countries in the East Island and the border of the Western Regions, not to mention Tuyuhun and Tubo, will all be his problems.

However, the approach of total annexation ultimately led to failure in all aspects.

As a result, the Tang Dynasty was destroyed in less than three hundred years.

He needs to think carefully about the correct way of governing here.

The goal of complete annexation is a good one.

After all, wherever the mountains and rivers reach, and wherever the sun and the moon shine, it is all Han territory.

But the direct annexation method is still a bit hasty. If we change to slowly nibbling away, perhaps it would be better...

Of course, the fall of the Tang Dynasty was closely related to Li Zhi's ascension to the throne.

Wu Zetian, several of Li Zhi's sons, and later Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's Anshi Rebellion were all reasons.

Another reason is that these people were not the eldest sons who ascended the throne.

Only when the eldest son ascends the throne can stability be maintained to the greatest extent possible.

Of course, the eldest son must become successful.

Li Chengqian took a deep breath. He needed to do something to consolidate the foundation for the eldest son of the Tang Dynasty to ascend the throne.

Suddenly, Li Chengqian was slightly stunned. Was it too early for him to think so? What would the emperor think if he knew that he was thinking about ascending the throne and the future so early?
(End of this chapter)