Just as Li Qishen had expected, the next day the eunuch Feng Yan, who was in charge of the imperial court, came in person to deliver the message, but he was asked to go not to the Hall of Eternal Life but to the Hall of Purple Cities.
The Purple Palace was where the inner court held meetings, and Li Chengjin only called Li Taoqi and Li Qishen to fulfill his duty as a father and teach his two sons how to handle government affairs. But to be honest, it was not really teaching, it was nothing more than bringing up recent events and asking and answering them.
This matter was troublesome, and it might bring bad luck. Li Qishen always pretended to be dead and would not speak if he could. Li Chengjing did not make things difficult for him, but thought he was stupid in his heart, and he was indeed half Tuyuhun. Thinking of this, he began to like him again. It was rare for him to act like a loving father to Li Qishen, and he stopped asking him questions and even asked the palace servants to serve him some cheese snacks.
Li Qishen was enjoying his leisure time. He held a cup of slightly hot almond yogurt in his hand and listened to the questions and answers between Li Chengjing and Li Taoqi, finding it funny.
This father and son are really interesting. The father served as the crown prince for more than 20 years before ascending the throne, and the son had to serve for at least another 10 years. The two had different political views. Li Chengjing tried his best to change the rules and regulations left by Emperor Pingxing, while Li Taoqi tried his best to reverse them.
The huge empire was like a saw, pulled between the emperor and the crown prince, barely maintaining balance, teetering on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, since Li Chengjin ascended the throne, there have been good harvests and peace everywhere, and nothing has gone wrong to this day.
But Li Qishen could always vaguely smell the smell of impending storm, and if he was not careful the whole building would collapse.
As he listened, the conversation turned to Concubine Xiao.
In the past two years, Xiao Guifei has been favored by all the people. Li Chengjing has done so many things that he wants to play a trick on the princes just to make the beauty smile. This time, no one knows who is lacking this great virtue, and he suggested to him that the hot springs in the north of Chang'an should be brought into the Daming Palace, and lotus should be planted in the hot spring pool, so that the lotus can bloom all year round.
Let's not talk about how cold it is outside, and whether it would be useful to just heat the water; it's not easy to draw hot spring water, you need to find hot spring water, open a waterway, and maybe even move the Taiye Lake. Li Qishen thought it was unreliable, but Li Chengjing thought it was a good idea, so he brought it out and asked Li Taoqi.
Now it was Li Taoqi's turn to play dead. He was vague for a long time and couldn't explain clearly. Li Chengjing simply made the decision: "Yucheng, you decide on the arrangements."
"This..." Pretending to be dead is one thing, and accepting the offer is another. Li Taoqi couldn't go against his conscience. "Excuse me, if it's just for Concubine Xiao... it's not necessary. Aye has sent lychees to him in the past few years, and he has visited Huaqing Palace several times. The hunting is also large-scale. Some censors are dissatisfied, and the money spent is also..."
"Are you saying I did something wrong?"
Li Taoqi fell silent for a moment. After all, he was still the crown prince. When the emperor was in good health, the crown prince should speak less, otherwise he would be forced to die suddenly from a serious illness.
"Do you think I don't understand these things?" Li Chengjing glanced at him, "I know how much it will cost, but I am the master of the world, and all the people in the world are my children. Now that the world is peaceful and prosperous, there is more money, food, and labor. Instead of leaving it unused, it is better for me to use it. The old grain is consumed, and new grain can be stored in the warehouse; the copper coins are spent and flow into the people; the young and strong laborers have work to do. Besides, your father has spent his energy to discipline his children and pave the way for them. Shouldn't the children give back to your father?"
He specifically mentioned "Aye" and "children". Li Taoqi knew that this was meant as a warning and lowered his head: "Sure."
"Let's make the arrangements." Li Chengjing was relieved. "Before it snows, I think we can renovate Huaqing Palace and add a racecourse."
"… yes."
Afterwards, Li Chengjin raised a few more requests, such as renovating the palace or selecting palace maids. In his and Li Taoqi's mouths, they sounded light, as if they were chess pieces that a chess player mentioned and did not care about.
At the end, Li Taoqi had already given up and agreed to everything. Li Chengjin was very satisfied with his eldest son and his eyes fell on Li Qishen: "A Shen, what do you think?"
Li Qishen considered himself not a good person, but he could not say against his conscience, "Father, I think this is a great idea. Don't worry about how much it will cost to bring the hot spring water, or the lives of the craftsmen in Chang'an City. You bring it and I'll watch." He glanced at Li Chengjing, shut up and pretended to be dead.
Originally, he could have just let him go, but Li Chengjing had been rejected by his eldest son before, so he wanted to make up for it with his other son. He cleared his throat and said, "Just say whatever you want to say."
In fact, Li Qishen didn't believe that he could just say it casually, but Li Chengjing was particularly persistent when he wanted to do something. Li Qishen knew that he couldn't escape, so he simply stood up and pretended to be stupid and natural: "I don't know what to say."
Li Chengjing choked and looked at the bewildered Li Qishen. He thought he was stupid, but also felt some inexplicable pity for him. He paused and said, "Then let me ask you first, what do you think a prosperous and well-governed world is like?"
He waited for Li Qishen to say something like "It was just like this", but Li Qishen pretended to think for a while and said bluntly: "I know that during the heyday of Emperor Zhaoxuan, a dou of rice cost only twelve coins, and the highest price of rice was twenty-two coins."
"You mean, I am not as good as Emperor Zhaoxuan?"
Li Qishen didn't quite understand why Li Chengjin could say such obvious nonsense. He still looked completely confused and continued, "At present, a bucket of rice in Chang'an costs thirty-five coins."
"What else?" Li Chengjin didn't want to get angry with him, "Think about it again, what else can we expect in a prosperous age?"
"I think," Li Qishen said, "it's good enough to be full."
Seeing his silly look, Li Chengjin was so angry that he laughed. Then he thought, why should he be angry with Li Qishen? The emperor and the prince can be regarded as opponents of checks and balances, but Li Qishen doesn't even have this qualification. He sighed, "Then let me ask you again, what do you think the emperor is?"
This question was so confusing that Li Taoqi broke into a cold sweat. He guessed that Li Chengjing was asking Li Qishen a question and was trying to get at him indirectly, so he stepped forward and said, "Aye, A Shen is not interested in this and is still young. I'm afraid he can't answer properly."
"There are only three of us in the palace, father and son. So what if it's inappropriate?" Li Chengjing glanced at Li Taoqi and was quite satisfied with his reaction. He also treated Li Qishen better. "A Shen, just say whatever you want to say. It doesn't matter if it's inappropriate."
"Mechanism." Li Qishen said.
Li Chengjing was stunned.
"The emperor is the mechanism that runs the empire. The people should serve him, but he cannot ask for anything from them." Li Qishen said softly, "It is better to build dikes and open roads than to spend money, food and labor for the emperor's enjoyment. The emperor cannot ask for too much."
Li Taoqi sweated so much that his clothes were soaked with sweat, but Li Chengjing was stunned for a moment.
This was the first time he heard Li Qishen talk so much. In his impression, this son of Xianbei descent was stupid and unruly, so Li Chengjin ignored Li Qishen and allowed him to go in and out of the palace or do other things. He never cared about this son. Giving Li Qishen a place to live and enough money and food was considered as his responsibility for his temporary pleasure. He did his best.
But he suddenly realized that Li Qishen had grown up so much, and he even vaguely saw the most fearful thing in his life in this son.
Li Qishen reminded him of Emperor Pingxing and Emperor Zhaoxuan.
In Li Chengjin's memory, ever since his mother's death, his father had not appointed another queen or consort. He was taciturn and although he was the emperor, he lived a life of asceticism. His memory of his grandfather was even more vague. He only vaguely remembered that in the two years after his grandmother's death, his grandfather walked slowly on the palace road with long black hair, like a ghost wandering in the Daming Palace.
Li Chengjing only had a little bit of warmth in his memory. He didn't remember the reason, but it seemed that he asked why it was so hard, and his father held him on his lap, touched his forehead, and said softly: "How can being a king not be hard? It's not that easy to be an emperor."
"Isn't the emperor the master of the world?"
"No," said my father, "the emperor is just a machine."
Emperors Zhaoxuan and Pingxing really considered themselves to be machines. The throne did not allow them to experience the pleasure that ordinary people desire, but only brought them pain day and night. As the huge machine of the empire was running, Li Chengjing watched his father and grandfather being oppressed until they were finally ground into ashes.
Now he heard these words from his son again, and was in a trance for a moment: "… Who taught you that?"
"No one taught me." Li Qishen returned to his previous confused expression, "I learned it from books."
"What book?"
"Written communication. Written by my grandfather." Li Qishen began to talk nonsense. "I saw it in the study."
It turned out to be Emperor Pingxing. Li Chengjing breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What are you going to do with that?"
"I think the inscription is beautiful and the interior is clean."
Li Chengjin never expected that Li Qishen could come up with such a reason. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and closed his eyes: "Go back. If you can learn the Chinese style, it's good enough. Can you understand what your grandfather wrote down? You are almost fifteen years old, and you still do such a thing."
"Feng Yan," he called the eunuch in charge over, "the seventh prince secretly took the written communication of Emperor Pingxing, and he shall be caned five times and confined to his house for one month."
**
Five solid strokes of the cane were not so easy to bear. Li Qishen lay on the couch, breathing in the cold air while writing. After breathing in too much cold air, he also felt that he was too much in the Purple Palace at that time, so he should let Li Chengjing do whatever he wanted. Anyway, it was Li Taoqi who deserved to be in such a mess. Even if the country was really destroyed in the end, he could just carry coal briquettes to Tuyuhun to herd horses, and he might be happier than now.
He was thinking about all sorts of things, but Chang Zu, who was standing beside him, was about to cry. He was still alive and well in the morning, but after going to the Purple Palace, he could only lie on the couch. Chang Zu wiped his eyes and said, "Your Highness, how did you offend His Majesty?"
"Let me ask you, if someone insisted to tell you that someone in your village just took in his eighteenth concubine last year and gave birth to a chubby son this year," Li Qishen asked back, "would you be annoyed?"
Although other people's concubines and children have nothing to do with me, as a eunuch, Changzu's fate is to have no descendants in this life. Hearing this, I feel a little uncomfortable: "Forgive me for speaking frankly, but running to someone like me who has been stabbed, saying this, isn't it deliberately irritating me?"
"You know it well. You hate what you lack, and you beat anyone who mentions it." Li Qishen smiled, blew the ink dry, folded it twice, stuffed the Huanhua paper into the envelope, handed it to Meiqiu, and touched the cat's head, "Go."
Meiqiu bit the envelope, kicked off the couch with his hind legs, and ran all the way to the food bureau.