Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 128 Are you going to kill His Majesty?! [Subscribe please]

There was a sudden snowfall that lasted all night.

In the early morning, the ground and roofs inside and outside the Jianghu Villa were covered with white snow.

It's like being in the scenery of the Snow Kingdom.

However, Du Caigan refused to appreciate the beautiful scenery. Instead, he felt that the newly built villa posed a safety hazard under the cover of snow, so he adopted a style of doing things that won people over with virtue.

He directed the hospital's manpower to carry out rescue and relief work early in the morning.

Whether it was the black-clad guards or the maids and servants, they were all busy in the courtyard.

When Li Chengqian and Li Yuan got up, the snow in the yard had been cleared away.

As usual, Li Chengqian went to greet Li Yuan first.

"Grandpa, this winter is colder than last year. You must wear something warmer to avoid catching a cold!"

Li Chengqian reminded with a smile.

Li Yuan also responded with relief: "You are so foresighted that you built a kang. Otherwise, this winter would be really hard to endure!"

At this point, he seemed to recall something and sighed, "In the past, in the palace, we had to use several heaters before we could fall asleep at this time. And the quilts were not easy to warm!"

"Alas, the main reason is that there is no cotton. When cotton is available in the future and quilts are made, it will be much better!"

"What is cotton?"

"It's a kind of plant that blooms flowers that are as white as snow and feel like a ball of silk." Li Chengqian tried his best to describe it.

Li Yuan was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then looked at Li Chengqian strangely and said, "Are you talking about Bai Diezi?"

"White stack?"

Li Chengqian was also stunned: "What is that?"

"Ah!"

Li Yuan smiled, then pointed at Li Chengqian and jokingly said, "You're usually very clever in everything you do, except reading. Haven't you heard the saying, 'In Gaochang, the grass grows like cocoons, and the silk inside the cocoons is as fine as cotton yarn, and it's called Baidiezi'?"

"No."

Li Chengqian shook his head in confusion, then suddenly seemed to come to his senses and said, "So, my Tang Dynasty has this thing called Bai Diezi?"

"Yes! A few years ago, merchants from Gaochang brought them here. I thought they looked beautiful, so I planted a large patch of them in the palace garden!"

"The Imperial Garden?"

Li Chengqian's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but raise his hand to support his forehead: "Grandpa, are you going to use it as an ornamental flower?"

"Yeah! What's the problem?"

"This is a big problem!"

Li Chengqian was so angry that he almost jumped up: "Grandpa, do you know how important that white folded paper is to our Tang Dynasty?"

"Uh,"

Li Yuan was embarrassed and didn't know how to respond.

But then Li Chengqian said solemnly, "We need to get more white floribunda and plant it. It would be best if we plant it on a large scale. When it blooms next year, it will be of great use!"

"This"

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said with a hint of amusement, "You always find things that can make the Tang Dynasty better. It's a pity that Erlang hasn't noticed and is still staring at his own little piece of land."

Having said that, he added with some pride: "In this regard, grandpa is much better than him!"

"Yes, yes, Grandpa, you are the strongest. You treat the white folds as flowers!"

"Hey! You little brat, do you want to be beaten?"

As he said this, Li Yuan pretended to hit Li Chengqian.

At this moment, Lai Fu's voice came from a distance: "Your Highness, the Emperor, it's time for breakfast!"

"coming!"

Li Chengqian responded and quickly begged Li Yuan for mercy: "Grandpa, spare my life. Let's eat first. Only after eating a full meal can we have the strength to fight!"

"hehe."

Li Yuan smiled and did not really hit Li Chengqian, so he followed him to the restaurant.

The meat buns that Lai Fu had prepared in advance were freshly baked.

Li Chengqian picked up a meat bun and took a satisfied bite. Then he asked Lai Fu, "What day is it today? You actually have time to make buns?"

"Your Highness, today is the Little New Year."

Lai Fu smiled and replied, "According to your instructions, we have to eat dumplings on New Year's Eve, so I learned to make some dumplings. But I couldn't make them properly, so they turned out to be buns!"

"Hahaha!"

Li Chengqian threw his head back and laughed heartily, then said to Li Yuan, "Grandpa, after the Little New Year comes New Year's Eve. Do you want to hold a large banquet at the Jianghu Villa and invite everyone from Jiangling Prefecture to have some fun together?"

"Okay! I have experience organizing banquets, leave this to me!"

Hearing about the banquet, Li Yuan immediately became interested: "Grandpa, I love lively atmosphere the most!"

"Uh,"

Li Chengqian's mouth twitched. Somehow, he suddenly felt that he seemed to have made a wrong decision.

At the same time, in the Chang'an Palace, Taiji Hall.

Li Shimin held a court meeting for the first time after Zhangsun Wuji left.

The main topic was not the pacification of Liang Shidu, but the drought.

Although some time ago, Li Shimin used Li Chengqian's method to solve the food problem of the victims caused by the snow disaster.

But after the snow disaster, droughts broke out in various places.

Compared with the impact of the snow disaster on the border, the impact of the drought is more widespread. The most serious situation is that several counties in the Tang Dynasty will have no harvest next year.

Li Shimin had no choice but to take such a situation seriously.

Li Shimin was the first to speak: "My dear ministers, how do you think we should deal with the drought?"

"This"

The ministers exchanged glances, and one of them spoke up, "Your Majesty, droughts in previous years generally didn't last long, but this one is exceptional. In my opinion, we should notify all regions, hold sacrifices, and pray to heaven for rain!"

"Reports from various places say that they have prayed for rain, but the disaster has not been resolved so far!" Fang Xuanling shook his head.

"Since the local authorities cannot resolve the disaster, why not pray for rain in the capital?" an official of the royal family said.

Li Shimin frowned and asked, "If we pray for rain in the capital, is it the Minister of Rites who presides over the ceremony?"

"According to the ritual system, it is handled by the Taichang Temple. The Taichang Minister can preside over it, but cannot be the main priest!"

"Who will officiate the ceremony?"

"This"

The royal official hesitated for a moment and said, "The emperor should preside over the ceremony to show his sincerity!"

"Okay! I'll come!"

"Your Majesty!"

Li Shimin had barely finished speaking when Fu Yi, the Minister of Rites, stopped him. "The chief priest often endures inhuman suffering. Since ancient times, sacrifices like praying for rain have been extremely tragic. Your Majesty, please reconsider!"

Wow!
The whole place was in an uproar!

Many former ministers of the Qin Palace and the Tian Ce Palace heard that the sacrifice and prayer for rain were very tragic, and they glared at the royal officials who proposed the sacrifice and prayer for rain.

But Pei Ji suddenly said at this moment: "If it is not tragic, it will not be enough to move the heavens!"

"Fuck your mother's fart!"

Upon hearing this, Yuchi Gong couldn't help but scold Pei Ji, "What a bullshit prayer for rain! If the heavens really had spirits, they wouldn't have sent down such disasters to harm people!"

"Jingde, don't talk nonsense!" Fang Xuanling's face changed, and he immediately scolded Yuchi Gong to shut up.

At this time, an official from the Cui family stood up and sneered, "General Yuchi, are you saying that you don't even care about Heaven? Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, so doesn't that mean you don't even care about the Son of Heaven?"

"I didn't say that, it was you"

"Alright Jingde!"

Before Yuchi Gong could finish his rebuttal, Li Shimin waved his hand to interrupt him. He then looked deeply at Pei Ji and turned to Fu Yi and said, "What the Minister of Rites said was horrific. How does it compare to knife wounds and arrow wounds?"

"Ugh!"

Fu Yi sighed and shook his head, "It's more than just an injury, it's a sacrifice of life!"

Hearing this, Li Shimin's murderous intent suddenly rose.

He never imagined that these people from the aristocratic families would be so rampant that they would use natural disaster sacrifices to harm him.

But he had just agreed to pray for rain in front of all the civil and military officials in the court. If he refused because he was afraid of the tragedy, it would probably give people a reason to criticize him.

After a slight hesitation, Li Shimin finally suppressed the murderous intent in his heart and looked around at his ministers, saying, "People often say that the emperor is noble and fears nothing, but that's not true!"

"The Son of Heaven fears Heaven above, and fears the court and the people below!"

"I am terrified by the successive disasters!"

After saying this, he slowly stood up from the throne, looked down at the ministers present, and said word by word: "I hope that this prayer for rain will move the heavens and bring less disaster to our Tang Dynasty, so that our people can live in peace!"

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Upon hearing this, all the officials from the noble families complimented him in unison.

Fang Xuanling and others had ashen faces, held their tablets in their hands, which made them creak, and said nothing.

On the other side, outside the library where the Ministry of Personnel held its examination.

Pei Xuan and Zhang Ping had just finished their assessment.

Pei Xuan then said with a smile, "This test is easier than I thought! I'm confident I can pass it!"

"What a coincidence! I have confidence too!" Zhang Ping echoed with a smile.

Pei Xuan nodded in satisfaction, then glanced around and lowered his voice, "There shouldn't be any problems with the assessment. Now we have to hurry and do what the Crown Prince has instructed us to do. How are things going on your end?"

"This is not the place to talk, let's talk while we walk!"

"it is good!"

The two of them walked out of the Ministry of Personnel in tacit understanding. Only when there was no one else around them did they start to communicate with each other.

Zhang Ping excitedly exclaimed, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is truly a god!"

"Oh?" Pei Xuan's eyes lit up and he quickly asked, "What's going on?!"

"You don't know how powerful Su Dingfang is! The imperial court really is burying talented people!"

Zhang Ping said with a beaming expression, "At first, I looked down on him. Even my Uncle Li misjudged him, thinking he was a rebellious lunatic. But after I patiently interacted with him, I realized he was truly formidable!"

"So, Your Highness, the Crown Prince has found a treasure?"

"He's definitely a treasure! You don't know how unlucky Su Dingfang is. Every time he surrenders to a lord, he dies. He's almost lost all confidence!"

"Ah? Your Highness the Crown Prince dares to want such a person?"

Pei Xuan was startled.

Zhang Ping quickly waved his hand and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is very strong and will not be afraid of these things, but Su Dingfang is definitely a talented general!"

"This"

Pei Xuan gave Zhang Ping a strange look, then continued, "Besides Su Dingfang, how are things going?"

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and added, "I've given all the necessary gifts to the generals, but I don't have enough wine. Especially Yuchi Gong and Cheng Zhijie, they asked for quite a bit of liquor!"

"They are all wine lovers, so they won't miss out on any strong liquor they come across!"

"Yeah! What about you? How's it going?"

"I've also given quite a few gifts to the civil officials, and the tea is almost gone!"

Pei Xuan smiled and nodded, then sighed, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince really knows how to cater to people's tastes. The gifts we brought will probably cause quite a stir among the dignitaries in Chang'an. When that happens, it will definitely boost sales of our Jiangling products!"

"That's a good feeling!"

Zhang Ping agreed with a smile, then looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. My Uncle Li should be leaving court soon. I have to go say goodbye to him and prepare to return to Jiangling!"

"Then I'll go to my cousin's house and say goodbye to him!"

"No, your cousin is still stubborn."

"Ah!"

Pei Xuan sneered and said, "He still hasn't seen the situation clearly! I don't know what's going on in his head!"

"Who cares what he thinks! Doesn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince always say that it's hard to persuade a damned devil with kind words. Just let him be!"

"Yes, Your Highness the Crown Prince is absolutely right!"

Having said that, the two of them left separately.

At the same time, in the Ganlu Hall of Taiji Palace.

Li Shimin sat on the cushion with a grim face, not saying a word.

Ministers such as Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Wei Zheng looked at each other in confusion.

After a long pause, Fang Xuanling sighed and said, "Your Majesty, since ancient times, offering sacrifices and praying for rain have been just a formality. Why do you have to do it yourself?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, in my opinion, this matter should be handed over to the Minister of Rites. It is not a bad idea to let the emperor take charge of it on your behalf?" Du Ruhui echoed.

"If Your Majesty does this, I'm afraid you will lose the trust of the people of the world!" Wei Zheng interrupted suddenly.

Fang Xuanling immediately glared at him: "Wei Zheng! Are you trying to kill His Majesty?!"

"Your Majesty agreed to this matter in front of all the civil and military officials in the court. How can you say that I killed Your Majesty?" Wei Zheng retorted coldly.

"you!"

Fang Xuanling was speechless after being refuted.

Du Ruhui ignored them and said to Li Shimin earnestly:

"Your Majesty, although repeated disasters are not a good thing, the fundamental problem is food. As long as there is food elsewhere to solve the problem of disaster victims, we can hold on for a while longer and eventually get through this!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Alright, my dears!"

Before Fang Xuanling could finish his words, Li Shimin interrupted him with a wave of his hand. He said gravely, "This matter is not as simple as it appears. I have recently received many secret reports. Some say that the continuous disasters are due to problems in the court's governance and the wrath of heaven."

"This"

Several people looked at each other and then frowned.

But Li Shimin continued: "Some people also say, why there were no such disasters in previous years, but disasters have occurred year after year since I became emperor? Is it because I have a moral problem that has harmed the people?"

"absurd!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Xuanling flew into a rage: "This is definitely a rumor! The rumormonger must be severely punished!"

Li Shimin smiled bitterly and shook his head, then said with emotion: "It is more difficult to guard against the people's mouths than to guard against the river. This is an open conspiracy, and I can't shirk it!"

"But Your Majesty."

"I have made up my mind about this matter, so let me do it!"

"Your Majesty! In my opinion, this conspiracy is not impossible to solve!"

Just when Li Shimin made up his mind to pray for rain, Wei Zheng's voice rang out again.

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(End of this chapter)