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

Chapter 347: Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty, Two Women Sleeping with Them (Part )
In the East Palace, under the Tongxun Gate, the Crown Prince walked out of the Imperial Palace in a sedan chair.

Li Chengqian sat on the sedan chair, lowered his head and thought about something.

Changsun Xiang and Lai Ji followed on one side.

When the sedan chair arrived at Chongde Gate, Li Chengqian suddenly raised his hand and the sedan chair stopped immediately.

Li Chengqian turned sideways to look at Lai Ji and asked, "Lai Qing, there is something I almost forgot.

During the imperial examinations, there was a scholar named Luo Binwang. I've heard his poems, and they were quite talented. Why was it that among so many people admitted to the examinations this time, I didn't see him alone?

In the 18th and 19th years of Zhenguan, the imperial examinations were not held because the emperor went on an expedition to the east.

In the 20th year of Zhenguan, this was the first imperial examination in three years, and the number of people admitted was more than any previous time.

"Your Highness!" Lai Ji bowed and said, "I have heard of Luo Binwang's reputation, but this was his first time taking the imperial examination, and he made many mistakes that he shouldn't have made. Moreover, his essay was full of emotion but lacked depth, so he was ultimately rejected by the examiners."

"What a pity," Li Chengqian sighed, then said softly, "Many children from aristocratic families can master the phrase 'harmony among the world' without being taught. But for children from humble backgrounds to grasp this, it takes years of hard work... That Luo Binwang, his grandfather was originally the Chief of the Right Jinwu Guard during the early Zhenguan period, right?"

"Right!" Lai Ji bowed and said thoughtfully, "Although the rank of the Chief Clerk of the Right Golden Guard is not high, it is a very important position. At that time, the Grand General of the Right Golden Guard was Gong Xiuren of Shen State, and the Generals of the Right Golden Guard were Zhang Changxun and Sang Xianhe."

"They are all dead!" Li Chengqian sighed lightly.

"Yes!" Lai Ji bowed and said, "So his son Luo Luyuan eventually became the magistrate of Bochang County. The family gradually declined. Although Luo Binwang is famous now, the imperial examination..."

Nowadays, the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty are not anonymous, so when the examiners are admitting students, they will inevitably consider the family background of the students. This is unavoidable.

In addition, Luo Binwang was taking the imperial examination for the first time and was not familiar with some of the special taboos, which gave others the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

"Forget it, that's it." Li Chengqian waved his hand, then turned to look at Changsun Xiang and said, "Cousin, go check where he is now. If there's an opportunity, recommend him to the Ministry of Revenue as a clerk. If nothing else, at least let him get familiar with some of the rules of the court."

"Yes!" Chang Sun Xiang immediately bowed.

"Okay, let's stop here for today." Li Chengqian looked at the two of them and said gently, "Your Majesty, your father has now returned to Mount Zhongnan to recuperate. The officials in Chang'an may relax a bit, but the Eastern Palace will have to step up its efforts. While they haven't dared to slack off these days, why don't you all go back and rest? There will be plenty of busy times in the future."

"Yes!" Changsun Xiang and Lai Ji bowed at the same time.

Li Chengqian waved his hand again and walked into Chongde Gate on a sedan chair.

Changsun Xiang and Lai Ji looked at each other, then smiled at the same time, and then turned and headed towards Jiafu Gate.

……

Yixing Hall in the East Palace.

Li Chengqian walked in calmly. Two maids who looked identical bowed to him and said, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Li Chengqian nodded, glanced at the respectful expressions of the two men, and then walked into the hall.

Cui Luan, the Crown Prince's concubine, dressed in a red skirt, walked out of the hall quickly and bowed to Li Chengqian, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Li Chengqian's gaze did not fall on Cui Luan, but on Wang Youlan who followed her out.

He walked between the two of them and stepped onto the short couch in the inner hall.

Wang Youlan pulled Cui Luan over to Li Chengqian and bowed together, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Li Chengqian nodded calmly: "Get up."

"Yes!" The two women stood up together.

Cui Luan turned around, took the hot tea from the maid Qi Hui and placed it on the table, then respectfully took a step back and stood with Wang Youlan.

Li Chengqian raised his head and looked at Xu An behind the curtain.

Xu An nodded slightly.

Li Chengqian then took a sip of the hot tea. He put it down and turned to look at Wang Youlan, frowning and asking, "Why are you here?"

"Your Highness, don't you know?" Wang Youlan looked at Li Chengqian and said quickly, "Lan'er's aunt married Luan'er's uncle. We are actually relatives."

Li Chengqian was stunned, then immediately smiled bitterly. How could he forget that before the Tang Dynasty, the Cui family of Boling and the Wang family of Taiyuan frequently intermarried.

Even now, only a few branches of the main lineage are forbidden from intermarriage.

It is perfectly normal for the two to have a certain degree of kinship.

Of course, they are just relatives and the blood relationship is not that deep, but Li Chengqian believes that if you look into it in detail, there must be one.

Li Chengqian's expression calmed down. He looked at Cui Luan and waved gently.

Cui Luan stepped forward and stood beside Li Chengqian, biting her lip.

Li Chengqian reached out and gently stroked her cheek, then said, "I haven't been to your place for a while. Are you okay?"

Cui Luan immediately smiled sweetly and said, "I'm fine."

Cui Luan entered the Eastern Palace last winter, and it has been almost four months now. However, because she is not very old, Li Chengqian only came here to hold her while she slept.

Of course, his hands weren't so clean.

Li Chengqian looked at the two sisters Qi He and Qi Hui standing in the hall and asked, "They didn't cause you any trouble, did they?"

"No!" Cui Luan smiled cautiously, "My two sisters are usually very focused on what they do."

The two sisters Qi He and Qi Hui were born in Yifeng, Dingzhou, and were separated from Anping, Dingzhou, by a large sandy river, by the Cui family of Boling.

There were even many legitimate daughters of the Qi family who married into the Cui family, and many daughters of the Cui family's side branches who married into the Qi family.

Although Cui Luan and Qi He and Qi Hui had never met each other, they were still somewhat related.

Li Chengqian originally did not want Qi He and Qi Hui to serve Cui Luan, but Chang Sunxiang suggested that he do so. After all, although Qi He and Qi Hui were considered enemy women, there were more enemy women around the emperor, and the emperor subdued them one by one.

There were even many who gave birth to children for the emperor. Li Chengqian was the emperor's heir, so he had to follow their example.

Especially after he ascended the throne, the women whose countries he destroyed would inevitably fill his harem in the future.

He has to adapt to these things.

Therefore, Qi He and Qi Hui were placed with Cui Luan.

If the two of them attacked Cui Luan, the Cui family of Boling would ensure that their entire family and descendants were wiped out.

Of course, during these months, Cui Luan and Qi He and Qi Hui also developed a lot of feelings.

Although Li Chengqian did not come here often, he did rest here a few times, but every time there was someone watching him in secret.

Qi He and Qi Hui did not move at all.

Of course, Li Chengqian would not easily let his guard down against them.

Unless the two of them give birth to children for Li Chengqian in the future, they would be like the emperor's concubines.

……

Li Chengqian smiled and patted Cui Luan's slender waist. Cui Luan immediately breathed a sigh of relief, bowed and then stepped back.

Li Chengqian looked at Wang Youlan and asked, "Lan'er, do you know the new runner-up, Wang Fuzhi?"

"Wang Fuzhi?" Wang Youlan paused briefly, then nodded. "I know. He's Wang Fuzhi, from the Longmen Wang family. He's the third son of Wang Tong, the ancestor of the clan. So, he's my uncle, though the bloodline is more distant. However, their relationship to Prince Peng is closer... Great-uncle Wang Jing's daughter was a concubine of Emperor Gaozu, and she later gave birth to Prince Peng."

The Longmen Wang family is the maternal clan of Li Chengqian's twelfth uncle, King Peng Li Yuanze.

"I remember the Concubine Wang in my father's palace, who gave birth to my seventh brother, Prince Jiang." Li Chengqian nodded. The royal family had a close relationship with the Wang family of Longmen.

Basically, every generation of emperor had a concubine named Wang in his harem, and each of them gave birth to children for the emperor.

Li Chengqian glanced at Wang Youlan lightly, shook his head slightly in his heart, and then looked at Cui Luan again.

Every emperor of the Tang Dynasty had a woman named Cui in his harem.

Gaozu's concubine Cui gave birth to Li Yuanyu, the Prince of Deng, but the emperor's concubine Cui had no children.

"That's a clan aunt of the Wuhuan Wang family." Wang Youlan didn't notice Li Chengqian's gaze and whispered, "The Wuhuan Wang family moved north during the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China. Later, during the Northern Wei Dynasty, they changed their name back to the Wang family."

During the period of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, there was an incident that few people mentioned. Many members of the Wang family of Taiyuan, the Cui family of Boling, the Lu family of Fanyang, the Li family of Zhaojun, the Li family of Longxi, and the Zheng family of Xingyang went north to join the Hu tribe and changed their surnames to Hu.

The same is true for the Di family of Taiyuan.

It was not until the time of Emperor Xiaowen, Tuoba Hong, that the country was completely sinicized. The Tuoba clan changed their surname to Yuan, and many descendants of aristocratic families who had originally changed their surnames to Hu also changed back to Han surnames.

Although that period was humiliating, we have to admit that they made great efforts to end the era of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China.

"During the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, the Longmen Wang family moved south. The Taiyuan Wang family and the Langya Wang family were originally one clan, so they established themselves in the south. Later, after the Sui Dynasty unified China, they all returned to the Tang Dynasty." Wang Youlan sighed softly.

The emperor's Concubine Wang was actually the niece of the late Prime Minister Wang Gui, and the cousin of Wang Jingzhi, the son-in-law of Li Chengqian's third sister, Princess Nanping and the author.

……

"I've read Wang Fuzhi's writings; they're excellent." Li Chengqian nodded, then shook his head. "But he's thirty years old this year. Does the Longmen Wang Clan have any young prodigies?"

"A child prodigy?" Wang Youlan pondered for a moment, then said, "Speaking of child prodigies, my uncle Wang Fuzhi's eldest son, Wang Jie, was renowned for his studies."

"Yeah!" Li Chengqian nodded slightly without saying anything more.

Although Wang Zhen was famous, he was still far from being a child prodigy and could not be compared with Luo Binwang and Wang Bo.

By the way, Wang Jie is Wang Bo’s elder brother, and Wang Fuzhi is Wang Bo’s father, but Wang Bo was not born yet.

"Your Highness, speaking of child prodigies," Cui Luan approached Li Chengqian, carrying a bowl of lotus seed soup. He whispered, "The Lu family of Fanyang has a child prodigy named Lu Zhaolin. Last year, he went to Jiangnan to study. Perhaps Your Highness will be able to meet him in a few years."

"Okay!" Li Chengqian nodded with a smile.

The Four Talents of the Early Tang Dynasty, Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang, had already appeared one after another, and Wang Bo and Yang Jiong would not be far behind.

"Your Highness!" Cui Luan scooped up a spoonful of lotus seed soup and fed it to Li Chengqian's mouth.

Li Chengqian smiled gently and saw a hint of charm in Cui Luan's eyes at a glance.

"Sister, are there only His Highness's and no sister's?" Wang Youlan turned her head and looked to the other side.

Yes, just this one bowl.

Li Chengqian turned around, looked at Wang Youlan, and said softly, "My dear, the meal should be ready in Yiyue Palace. Why don't you go back and have dinner first?"

"Why not?" Wang Youlan stepped forward, hugged Li Chengqian's arm, and said with a pout, "I want to eat here tonight!"

Li Chengqian was slightly stunned and turned to look at Cui Luan, who was chuckling softly beside him.

"Well, you have to stay here tonight." Li Chengqian smiled helplessly and then said, "By the way, in half a year, Wang Fuzhi will be transferred to the Crown Prince's Chongwen Pavilion in the Eastern Palace as a proofreader. When the time comes, please entertain me a little, my beloved concubine."

"Yes!" Wang Youlan nodded happily.

Cui Luan stood aside and asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, may I invite my brother to come over for dinner?"

"Yes, Xing Gong is Erlang's tutor, so it's okay for him to have a meal with you." Li Chengqian smiled, then raised his finger and said, "Just once!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Cui Luan immediately smiled happily.

(End of this chapter)